Watching the Golden Globes tonight made me realize, it’s not the silly little starlets that are being celebrated these days.  Yes, cleavage and ass shaking by 19-year-old’s is still glorified.

But, those girls didn’t win awards.

It’s the women who are seasoned writers and comedians that are not only nominated for awards, but asked to host the show.  The women who took the honors weren’t slutty or too thin or too plastic.  The winners were women like Adele.  She wrote a beautiful song, won an award, and admitted she was a new mom getting tipsy on a night out.  Anne Hathaway acted her brains out and performed a role we’ve seen a thousand times in a way we’ve never seen before.

Yes, there were risque dresses that objectified the female form.  Yes, award shows are circle jerks for the rich and famous.  But, I have to believe there is hope for Hollywood when Tina Fey and Amy Poehler bring the house down with insightful, unique comedy.  Jodie Foster is honored for a body of work spanning decades of perfecting her craft, not her body spanning a centerfold.  Anne Hathaway paid homage to the generation of women before her with her salute to Sally Field.

My favorite moment of the whole night was on the red carpet before the show when Claire Danes told Ryan Seacrest about how her mother is babysitting her one-month-old and how she really hoped she didn’t leak on her dress.  I fell out laughing and ran to Twitter to tell my fellow mom bloggers about how Claire Danes was my new hero.

It’s honesty like that, that gives me pride as a working mother.  20 years ago you probably wouldn’t see a woman making boob leaking jokes before winning a best acting award.  I’m so glad to be a mother in this era.  Rock on, career mamas!

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As a teenager I would stand at my bedroom mirror with a copy of Seventeen magazine propped up so I could see step-by-step how to style my hair with one of their umpteen “Get Gorgeous” or “Hot Hair” tutorials. I’m not sure why I remember one issue in particular.  Maybe it’s because  I spent a great deal of time modeling my ‘do after a model’s in that issue.  Alicia Silverstone was on the cover.

Ah!  There it is.  Thanks Google.

July, 1995.  That would have been a month before my 14th birthday and two months before I started high school.  I bet I had watched reruns of MTV Spring Break that day.  I wonder if I logged on to my America Online account that morning before ballet class?  Probably.  I no doubt took magazine quizzes to find out my dating style, even though I had never been on an actual date.  Basically, I was at the height of my adolescent insecurity and unknowingly headed straight for full-on teen angst and a diagnosed eating disorder in another year-and-a-half.

I think I remember trying for something new that summer.  I was headed for a new school, high school, so obviously a new hairstyle was in order.  No matter how many times I pulled my turquoise and magenta paddle brush through my hair, I couldn’t get it just right.  I would frown and say something to my reflection like, “Ugh!  I hate my hair!”  I slammed the magazine shut and stared at Alicia Silverstone in all her mid-nineties coolness.

Whenever the issue of beauty magazines and women’s body image comes up, I think of that issue of Seventeen.

Fast-forward 17 years to the other night.  I went through the Health and Fitness part of Pinterest to get some inspiration for working out and shedding a few holiday pounds.  Later, I stood at the bathroom mirror with my iPad propped against the mirror, trying to do my hair like a woman in a Pinterest hair tutorial.  I stared at my 31-year-old reflection, getting further frustrated that I suck at elegant loose fishtail braids.  Instantly Alicia Silverstone popped in my mind.  I looked at myself and shook my head loose of my attempted braid.

I thought of my two-year-old daughter and my pledge to not obsess over weight and appearance.  Yeah, I weigh more now than I ever have now that I have a desk job, but I’m healthy.  My husband and I  decided awhile ago not to describe people as “fat”, “skinny”, “chunky”, or “chubby” around our daughter there’s really no reason for it.

Just then she came in.  She was giggling and proudly showing me her full belly after dinner.  I closed my Pinterest app and scooped her up.  I said to her.  “Charlotte, you are so beautiful!  You have a beautiful, strong, healthy body.  Do you love your body?”  She smiled and said, “Ya! Lob my bodee!”  I smiled and instantly dismissed all the negative things I think about my appearance.  Whether it was 1995 Seventeen magazine or 2013 Pinterest, it seemed silly and I scaled back my weight loss resolutions.  I said “Mama loves her body too!”

When my due date came and went and I was still pregnant, I lost my mind.  I seriously read EVERYTHING about inducing labor naturally.  Foods, sex, bouncing on an exercise ball, walking, Evening Primrose Oil, you name it.  I was a woman on a mission.  I was HAVING this baby within the week.  41 weeks suddenly became a very long time.  There was one thing that I did that I never wrote about here.  Today, I found myself talking to my pregnant coworker and I had flashbacks.

I did two acupuncture sessions to try to induce labor.

October 2010. I’m starting to forget I ever looked like this.

I checked with the OB who gave me the all clear.  I think her exact words were, “‘It can’t hurt.  Tell me how it works for you.”  I think whoever answered the phones at these two acupuncture places could hear the exhaustion and exasperation in my voice when I begged them for appointments.  When I got to the first place I had to fill out a bunch of paperwork.  I think I ended up just paying for it instead of filing insurance claim forms to see if my PPO would cover it.  I was too tired to care.

At one of the places I got to lay on this massage table that had a net cut out of the middle of it so my belly could hang down and I could lay on my stomach.  Heaven!  It was AMAZING!  Anyone 7-9 months pregnant should get to lay on one of those.  Ahhhh!

It was what happened at the first place that was the most…um…moving.  The guy told me about all the spots on the body where they would put needles.  He explained there were certain acupuncture locations for labor induction.  The places were on my hands and my ankles.  It only hurt a little.  He attached little electrodes to them and turned on the machine.  My muscles twitched and my skin stung.  The baby stirred.   I asked him to turn it down a bit.  He did and left the room.

Ugh!  Oh no.  A wave of nausea came over me.  Keep in mind I went 40 weeks without throwing up.  Not once.  I was queasy in the First Trimester, for sure, but never puked.  I sure wasn’t going to let it happen now.  I yelled, “Um!  Excuse me!”  Thankfully the doctor wasn’t too far away and rushed in.  “I need to go to the bathroom!”  He unplugged me.  Fortunately I made it on time to poop.  (Why I got nauseous I’ll never know.) The acupuncturist enthusiastically told me this was good and that my energy was headed downward.

No shit.

Wait, no.  Yes shit.

The only needle that induced labor for me was the one attached to the IV of Pitocin a week later.

Yes, this is a resolution post.  It’s January 2nd for pete’s sake!  It was either write this blog post or go to the gym where I would have to wait an hour for an elliptical machine.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  So let’s just go with it, shall we?

I heard it said recently that “goals not written down are just wishes.” So true!  Some of my goals for 2013 are very personal, others mundane.  I won’t bother you with them here, but I wrote them down elsewhere.  I’m not wishing 2013 away.  “Ain’t nobody got time for that!”  (Wait, I’m starting to think that reference too 2012.  You think?)

Anyway, I read a lot of blogs today about resolutions, or choosing a single word that describes a theme for the year 2013.  I’ve come up with my word.

Question

Yep, as in asking questions.  Instead of resolutions, I’m asking questions.  Everyday I will ask myself this series of questions.  I made most of them open ended.  For example, I’m not going to ask myself, “Did you eat healthy today?’  But, instead I will ask, “What healthy food choices did you make today.”  It forces me to think about my decisions.  Here is my list of daily questions for 2013.

• What did you thank God for in your prayers today?
• What did you do today to show Greyson and Charlotte you love and appreciate them?
• When did you pet the dog?
• What did you do at work that accomplished a task or showed leadership?
• What step did you take to make your blog better?
• How many blogs did you comment on today?
• What healthy foods did you eat?
• How did you get exercise today?
• What junk did you get out of your car?

Is this a good idea?  Do you think I can do it?  Should I add to this list?  What questions are you asking  yourself in 2013?