Pink with envy

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably noticed my extreme love of Domino Dollhouse.

Their Nuclear Seasons collection has finally been fully released, and I’m just…wishing that half of it would magically find its way to my wardrobe, without the involvement of my wallet or bank account.

Especially the pink velvet pieces.

DAMN.

Behold the over-the-knee leggings, bodice tank, and snap short sleeve babydoll dress. My life would be 200% more awesome with the inclusion of any of these–especially the dress.

Funnily enough, I used to wear that precise style of dress all the time in fourth and fifth grade. This version is definitely more grown-up and much more fun! Unfortunately, it’s $100 (!), which is understandable given that it’s made in the USA and supposedly really good quality, but still way out of my price range. Same with the $90 galaxy dress from the last collection, which I still really want. *sigh*

The accessories from the collection are also fabulous–especially the metal spiked collar, pixie stick necklace, and rainbow crystal waterfall necklace.

An anonymous benefactor would be pretty awesome right about now…just sayin’. 😉

Friday Links, 6/14/13

Boswell, a very sweet kitty who owns a bookstore in Shelburne Falls, MA

Fa(t)shion
-Marianne has a great roundup of plus size wedding dresses (many of which I suggested to her when she was looking for ideas on Twitter). Mmmm, so much tulle.
–ModCloth founders on doubling down, sizing up with plus size launch.
-Plump Polish’s second nail polish collection, Fat Beach Day, has launched.
-Jenna Sauers asks a complex and important question: what’s the solution to the world’s sweatshop problem?

Fat Acceptance
-I feel pretty much the same way as Lesley about the Smile, Sizeist! Tumblr.
-The program for this year’s NOLOSE conference looks amazing. I so wish I could go.
-Fellow Bostonians, check out this fat bellydance class starting soon, and Living X-Large and In Charge, a day of fat-friendly yoga, self-defense, and bellydance classes.
–How tattooing my fat body helped me fall in love with it.

Climate/Sustainability
-The Climate Justice Hub here in Somerville is officially open! Huzzah!
-A great cartoon about if climate change were a dude.
–Women must be heard in the climate change debate.
–In defense of the urban car. This is just another example of why I feel so strongly about focusing on structural, rather than individual, change.
–The Obama climate move that nobody noticed.
-Vermont’s Climate Change Cabaret sounds amazing.

Everything Else
–Nobody can “make” you feel anything–except when they can. YES YES THIS.
-Pretty much everything Captain Awkward writes is gold, and this recent post is no exception.
-Related to yesterday’s post, I love love love this essay: Exploding the limitations: what being a femme means to me.
–It happened to me: I take opiates for chronic pain.

This parody of the Cheerios ad is awesome:

Wednesday Fa(t)shion Inspirations, 6/12/13

The DIY Lady

Spicy Caramel

Friday Links, 6/7/13

Fat activism from 2004! Source, via Marilyn Wann

Fa(t)shion
–Chubstr interviews Rachel Kacenjar of Re/Dress.
–These dresses are pure eye candy.
–NYC’s textile recycling program reaches the one million pound mark.
-A fascinating post about the history and meanings of dapper style.
–Alison brings back platform flip-flops, to which I say, YES.

Fat Acceptance
–Fat dudes are hot. Yes, yes, and hell yes!
-Jes of the Militant Baker is organizing a body love conference that sounds awesome! Spread the word, and help them out on Kickstarter if you can.
-Boston fatties, there’s another fun event coming up: a day of bellydance, self-defense, and yoga classes.
–Government org photoshops a little girl to make her fat. Blehh.
-Marianne delves into the various issues surrounding professor Geoffrey Miller’s douchey tweet.
-Sarah makes an important point about the way class colors people’s reactions to the fatphobic statements of both Dr. Miller and Abercrombie & Fitch’s CEO.
-I love coming across adorable fat couples on wedding blogs!
–Ragen Chastain’s dance classes are now available to download for $5 each.

Climate and Sustainability
–This DIY kids’ playhouse stays naturally cool during the summer. I may be an adult, but I want a playhouse like that. It looks so fun!
–Cutting carbon dioxide isn’t enough: we have to invest in technology to remove the CO2 already in the atmopshere.
–Is Australia the face of climate change to come?
-Also in Australia, in a promising developlment, scientists print flexible solar panels.
–Corporate “sustainability” is not sustainable.
–An interview with one of my favorite climate change journalists, David Roberts.
–How two plant geeks grew a permaculture oasis in an ordinary backyard. I just started reading their book, and it’s really good. I like that they focus both on social justice and on repairing, rather than just sustaining, the natural world.

Everything Else
-It’s no secret that I’m a bit obsessed with Pantone. So I’m loving both this Pantone-themed dessert table, and this project in which a photographer matches Pantone colors to real world things.
–Why it’s time to genderflip Doctor Who. I doubt it’ll happen, but I’d love to see it. (My personal vote? Gina Torres.)
–I’m biracial, and that Cheerios ad is a big fucking deal. As someone whose future family may well look like the one in the Cheerios ad, I second this so much. Also, the ad is just ridiculously adorable…and now I have the burning urge to dump cereal on my dad.
–These two posts have good explanations of what’s going on in Turkey this week. Here is a list of ways you can take action. And check out these 36 surreal and defiant pictures from Occupy Gezi, this awesomely gutsy act of civil disobedience by a game show host, and this first-person account of practicing yoga at the protests.

This is fascinating, and a bit mind-blowing:

–Fuck purple, I want to be a footballin’ granny – YES!
–Dating from the margins: “She’s kind of insecure,” or the Catch-22 of marginalization.
–Elodie’s latest guest post at Captain Awkward is wonderful. And there’s a plush herpes virus involved. Go read!
–Why Tumblr is perfect for the trans community.
-A powerful story: My dentist was made to believe I was dead, and it made me realize why I shouldn’t kill myself and you shouldn’t either.

Best response ever to the question, “If you like girls, why don’t you dress like one?”

Even elephants aren’t immune from OMG-besity panic

This baby elephant gives zero fucks what anyone thinks about its size. (source)

I wish this were a joke, but sadly, hand-wringing about elephants’ weight is a real thing:

According to Morfield, who works as an animal endocrinologist at the Lincoln Children’s Zoo’s Wildlife Conservation Research Center, many captive elephants in the U.S. aren’t just naturally big, they’re in fact suffering from obesity. And like the threats associated with being dangerously overweight in humans, zoo elephants too suffer from cardiac disease, arthritis, and infertility because of it.

Or, you know, like in humans, correlation =/ causation. And healthy behaviors =/ weight loss.

If it weren’t so depressing, it would be kind of hilarious how this researcher measures elephants’ size:

As you might imagine, determining the body fat of an elephant is no easy task. But Morfield says she’s found a way that doesn’t require an extra-long waist tape measure. As it turns out, fatter elephants wear excess weight mostly in their hindquarters. So, after scouring over hundreds of photos of elephant butts, both in the wild and in captivity, Morfield created a scale (from 1 to 5) to describe the normalcy of their body mass.

Yes. There are people who get paid to look at pictures of elephant butts all day.

So when can I start getting paid to look at pictures of adorable baby animals?

Wednesday Fa(t)shion Inspirations, 6/5/13

Queen Sized Flava

Trans*(Fat)shion!

Fab fatty frolic = success!

Five fabulous fatties frolicking in a field 🙂

Yesterday was the Fab Fatty Frolic that I organized, and it was a lot of fun. It was a relatively small group, but that turned out to be nice because there was just the right number of people to talk together without splitting into multiple conversations. (Not that multiple conversations is a bad thing, but sometimes it’s just nice to hang out as one group.)

The weather cooperated as well–it was warm, but comfortable in the shade, and there was a good breeze.

We talked about fatshion, the lack of plus size stores in the Boston area, dance groups and classes, various forms of chub rub prevention, and how Kate Harding was most of our entry point to fat acceptance. It was great to have people to talk about these things with in real life.

My FA library

I brought a bunch of books to flip through, and of course, my trusty hula hoop.

We all agreed that there should be more fat frolicking soon–perhaps at the beach.

Stay tuned for announcements about the time and location of the next fab fatty frolic!

Friday links, 5/31/13

Cute shoes I got from Roaman’s a while back. Unfortunately, they weren’t comfortable and I had to return them. But at least cute shoes came in my size, so there’s hope!

Wow, it’s almost June already. How did that happen?

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been reading this week. Feel free to share anything you’ve read or written!

Fat Acceptance
-Check out this call for testimony in support of an act against weight/height discrimination in Massachusetts.
–Sized up: why fat is a queer and feminist issue. YES.
–No more stitch-ups! Media literacy for fat activists.
-I really like this model of activism: focusing on the fabulousness.
-A fat dance company in Portland, OR is seeking dancers.
-It made me so happy to see this post about teaching kids to think critically about the “obesity epidemic” on National Geographic’s education blog.
-Miss Conduct has great advice on handling misplaced compliments about weight loss.

Fa(t)shion
–Reflections on plus size dress forms from a fashion student.
-New Yorkers, check out the Big Fat Flea, which is coming up on June 9th. They keep posting pictures of awesome clothing on their Facebook page, and I’m jealous!
-If you’re thinking about buying one of Gabifresh’s neon fatkinis, read this warning from two women who unfortunate wardrobe malfunctions while wearing them.
-This Harajuku-inspired shoot with unicorns and rainbows is amazing.
-Sadly, Natalie will no longer be making fat necklaces after June 4th. Make sure to snap one up before they’re gone! Luckily, though, you can still get the design on a t-shirt or sweatshirt.
–Mmmm, hat porn.

Climate and Sustainability
–Huzzah! Bill McKibben has won the $100,000 Sophie Prize.
–Signs of hope in the fight against climate change.
–Keystone: what we know.
–Harnessing citizen power to fund a U.S. solar revolution.
-This American Life has a great segment on climate activism.
-This ode to a New Jersey town that was hit by Hurricane Sandy is powerful and sad: “Place is not meant to be eulogized. I don’t want to think that my place may have to be.”

Everything Else
– My friend Kit has a great piece about the problems with the concept of “it gets better.” 
-I love this profound and hilarious poetry written by arranging book spines.
–How not to be a dick to your deaf friend, or your friend with depression.
–On working for free.
–What do dress codes say about girls’ bodies?
–11 things not to say to a woman who doesn’t want kids.
–Women are not their worst own beauty critics. I hate that meme, and I’m so glad to see someone taking it down.
-Marianne takes on the problems with trying to scientifically quantify beauty.

I love this way of naming things:

And this…this is just ridiculously adorable. Enjoy!

Quote of the day, part 2

There are just too many good comments on that Shakesville post. Here’s another one I really like (bold added by me):

“I also work in public health, which can occasionally be hazardous to my mental health as a ‘super-size’ person. I also see colleagues regularly equating fatness with personal failing despite systems-level thinking and intervention being fundamental to our field. Although, I will say that this framing of fatness as a systems issue also problematic for me, and I have a lot of trouble walking this line. My body is not a personal failure AND it’s not a systems failure either — it’s my body.”

– Commenter concatenate

Quote of the day

“I just got back from WisCon (feminist sci-fi convention which is AWESOME). One of the panels I attended was “When ‘Love Your Body’ Isn’t Enough,” and it was a discussion of the body-acceptance movement and what it means. One of the panelists was The Rotund (some may be familiar with her blog), and she said something that really struck a chord in me. She said, “I don’t need to love my body. I need Levi Strauss to love my body.” So that she could buy jeans that fit.

And that struck me as so true. 90% of the issues I have with existing as a fat person in the world isn’t internal: it’s the disgusted looks I get on the subway, it’s the snickering teenagers on the escalator behind me, it’s the verbal abuse hurled at me when I walk down the street, it’s the trouble I have finding clothes and shoes that fit, it’s the ridicule I get when I ride my bike in public, it’s the dismissal and derision I get from medical professionals.”

– Commenter Clawfoot on the Shakesville post Fatstronauts 101: Permission to Live (which is a great post, by the way, and you should read it).