Here's the Skinny

Why is it we women are so hard on ourselves?

I’ve always had a thing about my hips. Or not exactly my hips, but that region where my legs meet the rest of me that I like to refer to as the buthigh. That’s never been my favorite body part.

I don’t have much up top, but I always have a gap in my waist band. If I was so inclined to describe myself as a piece of fruit, pear would be the one.

But I think the time has come to just let it go. I’ve wasted enough hours worrying over the size of my hips. When I look back at old photos of myself, I realize that I didn’t appreciate my twenty something body nearly enough. Not that I was ever super model material, but I definitely focused on my perceived flaws and missed the good stuff.

And really, life is too short for that nonsense.

I’m going to work on focusing on the positive things. I’m proud that I’m at my pre-baby weight. I feel healthy. I’m getting a decent amount of sleep these days. So what if my hips will always be bigger than a models?

The end result of all this soul searching is that I sported my first pair of skinny jeans this weekend. And I liked it!

I swore I would never, ever wear skinny jeans. I thought they would make my hips look the size of Texas. I thought they were all wrong for my body type. But I kind of forget how forgiving sketchy denim is. I don’t actually think they look too bad once they were actually on.

I also kind of forget how fun it is to wear tall boots. The boots were definitely part of the motivation to try the skinny jeans.

Even when both children are screaming in the middle of grocery store and the situation is totally out of control, you still kind of feel like a bad ass if you’re wearing tall boots. Or at least I do. (Let me keep my delusions if this is just me, I need the boast these days with my wild 4.5 and the little one about to hit 2.)

I’m not sure why, but I really do feel so much better on a bad day when I put on an outfit I feel good in. I guess it’s a bit like faking it until you make it, but it really does help me channel the right mood to get through a rough day. I can at least look the part and then maybe I can act the part. I certainly don’t feel at the top of my game when my hair is in a greasily pony-tail and I’m in baggy sweat pants.

So long live the skinny jeans! To hell with the hipless model in the magazines. My boots are going to walk all over your stereotypes. Okay, maybe that’s a bit too sweeping and melodramatic, but I am going to wear my boots and feel good while I'm doing it.