Operation Beautiful

nutritionista:

Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point recently launched Operation Beautiful. The goal is to end toxic fat talk. Like Caitlin says, “It hurts you emotionally, spiritually, and physically.”

To participate in Operation Beautiful, all you have to do is leave an anonymous positive message (or several!) on mirrors in public restrooms or wherever you see fit. Mine is pictured above (“You are beautiful in every moment!”), but I plan to do more. If you want to participate, email Caitlin a photo of your note and description of your experience.

What an absolutely brilliant idea this is! I fell in love with this project the moment I read about it. I have struggled to have a positive body image for as long as I can remember. I certainly know what it feels like to hate your own body; to dissect every flaw and imperfection, to wish that your stomach was flatter and your nose was smaller. These are things that I still think about and worry about, even though I know that I shouldn't. We are constantly being bombarded with unrealistic images, telling us what we "should" look like and making us feel like we're not good enough. It needs to stop! We need to be kind to ourselves and kind to each other. This is why it's very important to me to spread the word about Caitlin's mission.

Caitlin has created a website dedicated to this project which features every single Operation Beautiful note you send in and it's updated daily. I'm heading to the gym this morning and I will definitely leave a note in the locker room today.

Be sure to also check out the Operation Beautiful video featured here.

Photos: Operation Beautiful

Tribute To A Legend: Michael Jackson

I remember seeing the Thriller video for the first time on television when I was a little girl. I watched the whole thing, jaw agape and shrieked out loud...first in fear and then in delight. It scared the hell out of me. I had nightmares for weeks, but I still wanted to watch it again. This is the first of many memories that I have of Michael Jackson, whose complicated, fantasy infused and tragic life ended yesterday at 50 years old in Los Angeles.

via Sony Music here:

Michael Jackson, one of the most widely beloved entertainers and profoundly influential artists of all-time, leaves an indelible imprint on popular music and culture.

**Photos are not property of Work In Progress. They have been taken from various websites. If your photo has not been credited and you would like it to be, please e-mail me.*

"When it comes to settling down, never settle"

Photo: Focus Features

I needed some quality "me" time last night, so after my sweat session at the gym, I decided to take a walk up the street and see what was playing at the movie theatre. Sam Mendes' newest film, Away We Go. Perfect! It's an absolutely lovely little film that manages to strike an artful balance between satirical comedy and heart-wrenching drama. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Maya Rudolph ("Saturday Night Live") and John Krasinski ("The Office") are thirty-somethings preparing to have their first child. As they travel around North America in search of the perfect neighborhood, encounters with old friends and now neurotic parents, become hilariously terrifying paradigms for their baby's potential future. Soon the couple must define their responsibilities, or be swallowed whole by them. These eccentric friends (Allison Janney, Jim Gaffigan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Josh Hamiltion, Melanie Lynskey, Chris Messina) and quirky relatives (Catherine O'Hara, Jeff Daniels, Carmen Ejogo, Paul Schnieder) offer valuable lessons in family dysfunction and help the couple discover "home" on their own terms.

On a side note, the soundtrack is also seriously brilliant. I bought it on iTunes last night and haven't stopped listening to it on repeat.

Away We Go is a film about love: feeling it, making it and being in it with somebody else, all the way up to your necks. It's a soaring meditation on the endless transformations of family that is at once brutally honest, desperately funny, warmly absorbing and vibrantly illuminated.

It Started With Some Woop Woop

Jessica planned a special night this weekend for me and some girlfriends to celebrate my birthday. After a delicious glass of Woop Woop at my place (thanks Kristina) we headed over to our reserved table for the 7 o'clock Candy Girl Cabaret show at Maxine's Hideaway. Maxine's offers a unique dining and entertainment experience in the heritage space that was once an infamous brothel. It's Vancouver's only cabaret restaurant & lounge featuring Broadway Burlesque entertainment. It's provocative, classy and sexy. The girls dance and sing such burlesque favourites as the Roxanne tango from Moulin Rouge, Candyman and I Want Candy, naturally. Let me tell you, those girls were awesome! And they made me want to dance. I'm seriously considering taking a class at the Harbour Dance Centre after watching that show on Saturday night.


We were treated like royalty and the food and wine were delish. I definitely recommend this spot for a fun night out. The place was packed with birthday parties and stags, which made it a really fun atmosphere. We had a blast! I think it could be a pretty hot date spot too. Just sayin'.


Jess gave me the sweetest card (which obviously made me cry at the table) and the most beautiful necklace. Here I am showing it off. The charm says the word "inspire"...I love it.

When the show was over, we headed to The Lamplighter in Gastown so that we could bust out some moves of our own and shake our booties on the dance floor. Thanks for an absolutely fantastic evening, girls!

My Father's Daughter

Father's Day is a celebration of all the wonderful things that dads do. It's a day to give thanks for their wisdom, principles, confidence, strength and unconditional love. It's a day set aside to make sure dads know how much they are loved every day of the year. I'm lucky, because I have the best Dad in the world.


Not only is he my favourite person to watch a basketball game with, he's also a constant source of advice, encouragement, motivation and support. He is someone that I can always count on and I have learned so much from him. He also happens to be one of the funniest people I know. He calls me 'Francine' and he can do any accent known to man perfectly. We have the best talks. We well up at the same moments, whether they're in life or in movies. He'll always be my date for a concert or a sporting event. He helps me through my fears and failures, and turns all that he can into successes and dreams. He’s a true family man who has always worked his butt off to keep us on our feet. I love and respect him more than I can put into words. His love of life and down-to-earth wisdom are appreciated so much.

I’m absolutely honoured to have a dad I can confide in without fearing judgment, a man who would do anything to see me happy and who makes no secret of how proud he is of me. I'll always be my Dad's little girl.

Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you.

"Hey! There's Skittles In There!"

The Hangover is flat out hilarious from start to finish. The intricate plot choreography has a giddy rush, and the actors are just right for their roles. I know I'm not the only one with a massive crush on Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms is a genius (plus he sings so well) but it’s Zach Galifianakis who makes this film required summer viewing. The bearded underground comic’s character is essentially his own intense and awkward stand-up persona with a few extra-special needs thrown in for good measure. (I'm a huge fan!)

Sheer brilliance. You must all go and see this film.

Going To The Chapel Of Love

I'm sure you've noticed that the updates around here have been rather sporadic lately. Truth be told, blogging just hasn't been a big priority for me these last few months. I haven't felt inspired to put much energy into regular content. Life has been busy with, among other things, several days and nights of fun and celebration leading up to my dear friend Danielle's wedding to Tommy- which happened on May 30.

Rather than go into too much detail, I'm going to share some photos with you. Two stagettes, a bridal shower, the rehearsal and bbq that followed it, a bridal party spa day at Salon Montage for pedicures in the private room-featuring wine and amazing platters of food courtesy of Liane. The night before the wedding, we spent a fun filled evening on the Franco's patio. We drank more wine and feasted on Diana's delicious homemade lasagne and then we had a girls only slumber party. I don't think any of us slept much. We were all nerves and excitement.


As for the wedding itself, once the nerve-racking part where we had to walk down the aisle in stilettos was over, it could not have been more perfect. Danielle was absolutely stunning. She looked like a princess. The bride and groom asked if I would write something to be read at the beginning of the ceremony.


Here's what I wrote:

Danielle and Tom...

Separately, you are two incredible people, but together you are complete.

“As you sit side by side through the roller coaster of life, remember to scream from the peaks, hold hands through the dips, laugh through the loops, and enjoy every twist and turn.”

Your relationship was carefully built out of commitment and understanding, hope and love. May the same love and caring, warmth and sharing that has touched your lives from the start, always make your home happy, your life complete, and be the guiding light in your hearts.

The whole event on the wedding day was so "Tom and Danielle"... with the "wows" and the chants, the clapping instead of clinking to get them to kiss, not to mention all the incredible circles and singalongs out on the dance floor. My voice was raspy for days after singing to Journey and other group favourites at the top of my lungs. At one point, all the guests at the reception did the wave. I loved every minute of it.


I was so honoured to be a part of Danielle and Tom's special day. We're a tight crew, so of course we're very protective of one another, but we couldn't have ever asked for a better man to marry our best friend. Danielle and Tom truly are made for each other and we wish them all the happiness in the world as man and wife.

P.S. I did not catch the bouquet.

Marilyn Monroe- Never Before Published Photos

via Platinum Blonde Life:

LIFE magazine has released never before published photos of Marilyn Monroe, taken in August of 1950 in Los Angeles' Griffith Park by Ed Clark, a contributing LIFE photographer. The photos were discovered while LIFE was digitizing their archives. View all of the photos here.

Reaching

Photo: here

“I want health and healing and holding close. I want treasures. I want similar souls. I want passionate yeses. I want to be blown away. I want to trust. I want calm gladness and prayers and deep true breath talks.”

There is a stillness in the way we speak to each other.

At times I know how hard I seem,
the difficult way I look at things.
I know this. The real problem lies when
I don’t think people will see past this part of me;
how underneath, I am not like this.
I wish for my eyes to show this.

I think of this, automatically:

"I tell you that I have a long way to go before I am-
where one begins …
You are so young, so before all beginning,
and I want to beg you as much as I can to be patient
toward all that is unresolved in your heart and to try
to love the questions themselves. Like locked rooms
and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue.
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given to you
because you would not be able to live them.
And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it,
live along some distant day into the answer.
Resolve to be always beginning- to be a beginner."
-Rilke

My fingers are reaching, but I know it is wrong.
Still, I cannot help this, or myself.