Hi, Queens!

To see the pictures and links, visit: www.allynevans.blogspot.com. Also, would love to get your comments and feedback, which is as easy as pie to do.

Will unveil my new blog look next week. It's all part of the facelift we've been making. I think you'll like it!

Anyway...To read the plain text version, just keep reading.

Reprinted:

I love to walk into a bookstore and then wait for a book to find me. And you know, 'it' always does. On this particular trip with hubby and daughter in tow, a book titled "The Merry Recluse" caught my attention. The book is a compilation of mostly reprints from a weekly "Boston Phoenix" column written by the late Carolyn Knapp. I first experienced Caroline's work when I read "Appetites: Why Women Want."

Caroline, like Anne Lamont of "Traveling Mercies" shares openly the chapters of her life. I mean, she tells it all—good, bad and the ugly, and everything in - between. Caroline had so many demons, but the ones that plagued her the most were food and alcohol. Eventually, Caroline died of cancer in 2002. She was only 42 years old.

The other day, one essay grabbed my attention. Actually, she intended to make us laugh with this one. But as I read it, I wasn't laughing. The words were laced with pain. In “Beyond Bad Hair: Thin Lips, Square Breasts, and Other Horrors" Caroline shares things that plagues most women. She claims having a bad hair day is the least of our worries.

She shared plenty of other examples with us:

*Why - are - these - pants - pinching - me - around - the - waist Day. (Been there, done that.)
*My - lips - are - too - thin Day. (Can’t say that I own that one.)
*Since - when - have - my - pores - been - so - cavernous Day. (Oh, yes … definitely been there.)

Although I don't have all the same thoughts or moments, I do understand what she's saying. And I bet that most women reading her book or this article do too.

My recent beyond - bad - hair - day moments go something like this...

*My - face - is - swollen - and - my - eyes - are - puffy Day
*Where - did - those - new - wrinkles - come - from Day
*When - did - I - start - growing - gray - hair - on - my - arms Day (That happened yesterday.)

Probably the one that tickled me the most was Caroline’s mention of the: Oh - no - I - missed - a - patch - of - hair - on - my - knee Day. Okay, so I seem to have more of those than I care to mention.

And then it slaps me right in the face ... and Caroline has the perfect ending to it all. "God, it's hard to be a girl!" Amen, Caroline. Amen.

It is hard to be a girl. I'm ready to play another game now. So here's to trying especially hard to put this beyond - bad - hair thinking to rest. Really, I'm not listening anymore. Remember what I wrote last week?


Yep, it’s hard to be a girl, but today it just got a whole lot easier. And I’ll be the first to admit I’m SO not there yet, but baby, I’m getting closer with each passing day. Now, that’s something to celebrate.