International Women’s Day and the Lady Fave

I have a friend, let’s call her Isabel (cos that’s her name), or you can call her Bez (cos that is what I call her) once you make friends with her too, and you will want to, she is very ace here’s why.  

Early last year we were having breakfast in Bez’s favourite café in her hood when her friend Katherine came and joined our table for a little bit. When she left I asked Bez who was still fairly new to Sydney how she met such an awesome woman, Bez said two words – Lady Fave. And I have been hooked ever since. 

To explain this is what she posted the other week on her faceberk page: 

“Ladies, if you ever think something nice about someone you really should voice it to that person. Even if it is a complete stranger, just do it. You may feel a little embarrassed at first and your kind comments may not always be appreciated but it doesn't matter. That one nice thought that you have about someone could make their whole week. It's called a Lady Fave and us ladies need to get amongst it and share the lady love. I frequently give Lady Faves, even if I am in the middle of a run and dripping in sweat, I will stop and tell someone I see if I think they look amazing or that their dress is real pretty. I have had a super crapola day today and I just had a colleague, that I don't even know, tell me that I looked amazing and it really made me feel better and put a smile on my face for the first time today.”

What followed underneath that status were 35 comments from other women offering Lady Faves to each other and to Bez, and then promising to share the Lady Faves.  It made my day to read and to share that one little status. 

We are so very quick to cut other women down, we critique their hair, weight, fashion, food, parenting and hell even their coffee choices! How often do you stop a stranger in the street to tell them their dress is gorgeous or the colour they’re wearing makes their eyes stand out or their hair look shinier, or that they’re shoes are just amazing? I’m guessing that it happens rarely, whether we’re too scared to talk to strangers or too busy to stop for a second or perhaps some days we’re so weighed down by the fact that no one says anything nice to us we forget that it can feel just as good to make another smile.

Like attracts like guys, so how about you go offer a Lady Fave to a random person? Heck, it doesn’t even HAVE to be a lady you offer it too, dudes like this stuff too! You may pick up! You make make a friend! Or you may just be the one good thing in that other person’s whole day, and who knows what sort of change that could make to someone! 

And then give one to Bez too cos she's amazing.   

Who knows maybe this will become a "thing"

xxpt

Old? Well yes I think I probably am…

What exactly is the definition of OLD though? I’ve been known to carry my own tea bags since the age of 19, although it has recently become quite the thing I have crocheted and knitted for a very long time, I’m in a relationship that has just passed the 10 year mark. Whilst I’m attending the weddings of some friends and others are having their first babies we are parenting a teenager in high school. I very often fall asleep before 10pm on the lounge trying to stay up so that I can retain my cool Gen X cred (and failing obvs), pottering around my house drinking pots of tea, having early dinners and long baths is a nice weekend for me. My bag generally contains a cardigan and two handkerchiefs, one for me and one to offer if needed.

So I guess in some ways yes I am old. Old as the hills dang-nabbit!

But then in other ways, I feel incredibly young, foolish and inexperienced. I have not travelled, nor have I been to Uni or undertook any tertiary studies at all (a year-long Cert 3 in Fashion Design doesn’t count does it?). I still colour my own hair with fairly hit and miss results (back to pink most recently) I wear bright playful colours rather than more appropriate work attire… I still have never had a proper Credit Card or a personal loan, and I happily remain a renter of houses rather than a home owner. But I guess the most telling thing to me that I am still young is I don’t know what I want to do when I grow up… I don’t feel like I’ve got a proper job, certainly not a career or a vocation, perhaps though this is something of a Gen Xer thing, a little like the character in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar who (from memory) pictures herself in a tree laden with fruit, so much fruit that she is unable to choose so sits there watching it all rot, choosing nothing instead.*

I always thought growing up that 27 was the special grown up age. And a lot of great things happened to me that year I met MrPt, TC and I moved to Sydney away from my home town for the 1st time** however I am now 37 (in a row?!***) and for a while this became my new proper grown up age… but it’s not really is it? I mean if I’m still having all this uncertainty going on I can’t be!

Perhaps it’s 47? I’ll let you know



xxpt

*I don’t know if I remembered that correctly but I can’t be arsed finding out, it is what I remember from the book.

** . I did actually move to Sydney once before but that all ended rather poorly so I do not count it.

*** I cannot help that I am a Kevin Smith tragic the line pops into my head every damn time

Jess over at Essentially Jess is a very entertaining and funny woman on Twitter; I was surprised this morning to find she was such a prolific blogger, I was not however surprised that her self-deprecating humour shone through and that she has a heap of fans and commenters. IBOT seems to be a pretty neat idea nad who knows I might be abel to stick to this once a week caper!


This is the first time I’m linking with Jess for IBOT, due to the VERY sporadic nature of my actually writing on this blog it may be the only time too!