Project Perfect

There's been a lot of talk about the language we use to describe ourselves (and others, in some cases, unfortunately) out there in blogland recently. Who knows why, with LFW, the annual January health kicks, the 'gap' trend and so forth... it's been in focus. Which is a good thing; the online community need to find a way to use language to describe things as they are, but bearing others' (and our own) emotions in mind. I'm never one for sugar coating things, but I hate unkindness. Treating people kindly and fairly, through deed, representation and language is trickier than it seems - and treating ourselves kindly and fairly can be even harder.
It happens at an early age and it isn't just with looks - when my kids (the ones I work with, I don't have 25 kids) are reviewing their work, they have to write down three things that went well, and three things to improve. Guess which three they struggle the most with? Even the brightest and most diligent - well, usually, especially the most diligent. Perhaps we confuse hard-earned pride with arrogance, I don't know.

Flaws And All has started a new type of blog post - Project Perfect - to get a bit of this no-nonsense positivity out there into blogland. I think it's a great idea. She basically asks us to post a picture of ourselves we really like. Then, three things we're not so happy with about ourselves but with a twist, how might other people like that feature? And then the tricky part: three things we do like about ourselves. Right, best get on it.

So here is a picture of myself that I like. I like it because of the colours and the style - it reflects the kind of look I enjoy wearing. My hair is perfectly balanced between natural and styled, and falling over one half of my face (which I like) and as a consequence I don't look like The Moon off The Mighty Boosh.

Right- now three things I don't like:

1) I have a round, fat, gormless face no matter how skinny I get. I even have a double chin. On the upside, it does seem like this trait means that I still get asked for ID in Tescos sometimes. Other people might think I'm friendly and approachable (like the opposite of a posh model face) I suppose.

2) My knees look like baby knees, ugh, and they bend backwards a bit. I want knobbly knees. But as I tend to wear maxis and trousers, no-one's the wiser. To be honest I don't think other people would even notice my knees. They are quite good for scaring small kids at parties when they bend backwards!

3) I have hideous dark shadows under my (hooded) eyes and look terrible without make up. The only possible use these have is that if they look really bad, my husband and my mum tend to make me tea and look after me as it means I'm a bit run down. And I'm pretty good at recommending make-up skills and products to friends, which is useful for them.

Now three liked things:

1) I have an ample bosom, but not so big they're unmanageable. Yeah I am that shallow.

2) My eyes change colour depending on how rested and hydrated I am. I come with a free lightshow, how cool is that?

3) My hands are long and elegant and my nails grow easily. Gels or acrylics, you say? Pah. These are all natural baby.

Excuse the messy varnish.

If you'd like to join in with Project Perfect, pop along to Flaws and All to find out more!