real women.

this morning i had a good laugh browsing through some old vintage ads...

(via retronaut.co)

it made me realize that advertising hasn't changed all that much...except now we are told the complete opposite...

and i feel as though it's getting worse...

as i typed in the word "thinspiration" in the search bar of pinterest, 2 thoughts came to my mind: 

1. girls have it rough.

2. does my future/hypothetical daughter have any hope at all?

this isn't a post about size. 

some girls are naturally thin, and some aren't. 

instead of labeling each other, we should try and celebrate 

what we have.

i myself (like many other women) have always struggled with self esteem. it has definitely gotten better the older and wiser i get, but ever so often i catch myself wishing for something more. 

i wish i had a smaller nose. 

i wish i had an excuse to wear a bra. 

i wish i had longer legs. 

i wish i could be satisfied. 

it's hard not to want perfection when every day we are bombarded with ads and celebrities that tell us we aren't good enough. we envy women who have been photoshopped and digitally sculpted, and even if we already know this, we still want to look and be like them. 

instead of idolizing these ideal women, i say we try to aspire to be real women, like these ladies:

ANGELA- sister, math professor, puts the chic in geek

-at 28, has a PHD in doing what she loves 

-has seen every episode of every star trek series 

-loves her soulmate, dylan 

-doesn't like her hips

but those hips just naturally gave birth to the cutest baby girl, kara

DIANA- big sister, logan's mother, and funny partner-in-crime

-loves to travel 

-defends her family

-knows how to laugh until one of us pees our pants 

-has gone through many trials in her life, from bullying in school, horrible first marriages, and having a 3-month premature baby

-but with all of this has made her one of the strongest women i know

LORRI- responsible for my birth, kick-ass cook, and eternal-forgiver 

-had 5 kids in 9 years, went to university, cooked 3 meals a day, worked odd jobs, and still managed to read me "the paperbag princess" every night

-has always believed in her children's potenial

-one of the funniest women i know 

-compassionate, non-judgmental to those around her 

-doesn't like the spare tire she's acquired from traveling so much this year

but her permanent smiley-face deflects it 

KATIE- old-fart lover, domestic bliss achiever, best little sister around

-loves changing old people's diapers

-has the best teeth and hair out of the bunch 

-bungee jumps with no fear 

-sweet, friendly, hard-working, caring

-unfortunately was endowed with the same cursed hips like the rest of us 

but nobody does a better booty-shake than she!  

the list could go on with the women i need to aspire to be: 

-my nana

-my grandma

-my mother-in-law 

-my aunts

-my sisters-in-law

-teachers, girlfriends, etc. 

and then there's the person you need to love the most...YOURSELF

-i wish i didn't have hairy arms (thanks a lot, dad) 

-i wish my profile didn't look like the man in the moon

-i wish my crooked teeth didn't match my crooked nose

but in grade 4 i stuck it to the man by cutting off the ponytail of a boy who was making fun of me. 

we may not be ideal, but we're real.

and you can't put a size on that.