Be You, Not Them

Billboards show it. Magazine covers sell it. Reality t.v. stars succumb to it. Singers belt about it. Pop culture's definition of beautiful isn't the one we should ascribe to. It's not us. Airbrushing isn't beautiful. Hiding laugh lines isn't beautiful. Failing to embrace ourselves isn't beautiful. Pop culture sends a competing message - especially to young girls. This is our message back:

Source: notgonnasettle.tumblr.com via Kai Baby on Pinterest

Within which camp to you reside? Airbrushing 101 or Naturally Being Yourself? We'd love to see you in our camp.

Don't Stop Believin'

Source: weheartit.com via katie on Pinterest

Please, pretty please, with gum drops on top, believe it. Are you believing? Don't stop. You are beautiful.

P.S. How neat is it that you can spread this message too? All you need is a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Scribble the message and show it to others. You could transform another beautiful person's day.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (sorry, no machetes) (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

Beautiful YOU

We do a lot of seeing beautiful around here. We can't help it. Seeing beautiful is much more empowering and uplifting than seeing any other way. A woman who follows the same mantra with an inspiring book is Rosie Molinary. And that's why her book, Beautiful You, was chosen as our "See Beautiful's Grown Up" book choice for the month of August.

Beautiful You: A Daily Guide to Radical Self-Acceptance, winner of the Best Body Positive Book of 2010, exudes the mission of See Beautiful from start to finish. Rosie Molinary is a truly beautiful woman committed to helping all of us find acceptance in the beauty we carry with us everyday.

She writes, "As a child, you felt comfortable in your skin.  Your body was an instrument, an extension of your wholly unique mind and soul.  You used it to take you where you were going, to express what you felt, to get things done.  The world, for you, was hopeful and certainly not limited by the way you looked.  But then, somewhere on the way to adulthood, something shifted.  Your sense of your own brilliance faded. Your understanding of your own beauty dimmed.  Your faith in your radiance wavered.  Maybe it was the media that overwhelmed you.  With instant access to information, with thousands of images shot at you every day, maybe your digested and internalized too much of the scrutiny.  Maybe it was an unintended slight that stung you or a comment that someone delivered flippantly that you have held onto forever.  Maybe it was not being chosen for this or being ignored by them, maybe it was a loss so significant that it still seems like your soul is empty from it.  Maybe it was the way your body matured into adulthood that felt like a betrayal, or the way that it didn’t.  Whatever it may have been that stole away your understanding of your inner and outer brilliance, Beautiful You is the book that will help you get that feeling back."

This is a book I wish I could give to every young girl when she begins comparing her own beauty to pop culture's definition of beauty. With it's brilliantly crafted message, Beautiful You, can offer all of us a daily guide to greater self-acceptance of our very own beautiful.

To purchase this book online, click HERE.
To visit Rosie Molinary's beauty-filled website, click HERE. 

P.S., If you haven't yet checked out the See Beautiful's for August, click HERE. Only a few days left before we unveil September's See Beautifuls!
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (sorry, no machetes) (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

It's Time To:

Source: etsy.com via M on Pinterest

Are you ready? This time is yours. All yours. Get out there. Be your own very perfect kind of beautiful.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (sorry, no machetes) (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

Beauty In a Storm

Hurricane Irene has invited herself to the East Coast of the United States. As six states call for states of emergency we're trying to find some beautiful in a storm that is not.

As hundreds of thousands are required to evacuate their homes, here are ways we're trying to find some opportunities to see beautiful:

1. Being required to leave your home helps you take stock in the things that matter in it.
2. Required evacuations make you appreciate the home you have.
3. A storm of this magnitude helps us all reflect upon and appreciate what's important.
4. Hurricane Irene will lose steam as she travels.
5. Hurricane Irene will go away.
6. As of 8:10 a.m. on Saturday, Hurricane Irene had already weakened to a Category 1 storm.

Our hope is that Hurricane Irene decides it's more fun to play in the Atlantic Ocean than the actual coast, but if she comes ashore for a party and it's a destructive sort of one, we'll remember the following quote by Viktor Frankl, psychiatrist and long time prisoner in the Bestail Concentration Camp during the Holocaust once said, “The gift is in the struggle”.

With force winds topping 100 mph, Hurricane Irene is bound to struggle with the land. The struggle could result in massive damage, but if we use our See Beautiful lenses, we can perhaps search for the gift that isn't yet obvious. Hurricane Irene, you're really not welcome here. We'd like you to go away.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (sorry, no machetes) (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

Pay It Forward Friday: Think Twice Before Buying This

In a message to our Facebook & Twitter followers last week, we posted the following message:

Dear Pop Culture,

Your definition of beautiful can kick rocks.

Sincerely,

See Beautiful

We meant it. Here's what spurred the message:

Disturbing New Children's Book 'Maggie Goes On A Diet' Encourages Young Girls To Diet 

By Laura Wampler (published in the Huffington Post, August 20, 2011)

Photo linked back to Amazon.com

A chubby young girl with Pippi Longstocking braids stands in front of the mirror holding up a too-small pink dress and sees a different -- some may say better -- version of herself. Her mirror image is thin.

No, this is not an after school special on eating disorders; it's the cover of a (disturbing) new children's book with the (possibly more disturbing) title, Maggie Goes on a Diet. And, this will be in bookstores October 16.
The Amazon description of Paul M. Kramer's self published book reads:

'This book is about a 14 year old girl who goes on a diet and is transformed from being extremely overweight and insecure to a normal sized girl who becomes the school soccer star. Through time, exercise and hard work, Maggie becomes more and more confident and develops a positive self image.'

Barnes & Noble recommends the book to children aged 6 to 12. In the land of hypothetical, there could be some rationale behind the plot. Teaching kids to make healthy lifestyle choices from an early age is a worthy endeavor (one that first lady Michelle Obama has taken on as her own), and childhood obesity is a serious public health issue nationwide. According to the CDC, approximately 17 percent of children and adolescents are obese in the United States, over triple the rate a generation ago.


But Maggie isn't looking at an imagined reflection of herself dominating the soccer field. For this little girl, it's all about the dress. The book is promoting skinny first, with a side of healthy slipped in later.
Just as childhood obesity is on the rise, eating disorder rates are climbing, and affecting younger and younger kids. Last year, the American Academy of Pediatrics reported a 199 percent increase in the number of eating disorder-related hospitalizations for children under the age of 12 between 1999 and 2006. A 2011 study found that nearly one in 60 adolescents has anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. Over half of little girls aged 3 to 6 think they are fat.

Disturbing, yes. Surprising? With infant's onesies that were selling for $23.95 that read, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels," unfortunately not.
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Do you understand why our Pay It Forward Friday recommendation is THINK TWICE BEFORE BUYING THIS?!? People, is this really where we're headed? It's inexcusable.

Apparently we're not alone in thinking this way. Here are some of the "Tags" people have already labeled the book with on Amazon:

• Teaching kids to self-hate
• If you hate your daughter
• Waste of a good tree
• Anorexia bait
• How to develop your child's eating disorder
• Girl-hating

These tag designers are probably followers of See Beautiful.  If' they're not, we want to find them.

Another way to Pay It Forward this Friday: Tell a girl or woman she is beautiful. You are.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  
 

True Beauty: What Does Beauty Mean to You?

After being asked to share a guest post in Feelgood Style, we were so moved by the mission that we invited them to take a turn sharing their perspective here; it's one that honors our mission beautifully. We hope you enjoy!

True Beauty: What Does Beauty Mean to You?

by Becky Striepe, Site Director at Feelgood Style

We're bombarded every day with imagery from advertisers and marketers, telling us what "beautiful" means, but do the photos we see in magazines and on billboards really represent true beauty?

At Feelgood Style, we want to reclaim what beauty means by choosing products that are good for you and for the planet and by focusing on health, happiness, and natural beauty, inside and out. We want to celebrate beauty that’s healthy and fun.

Natural Cosmetics

Choosing truly natural and organic cosmetics can play a big part in taking control of your own beauty.
Whether you're looking to ditch the toxic chemicals in your face soap or are hunting for a lipstick that's free of lead and sassy to boot, making mindful choices in the beauty aisle is about seeing beyond the marketing and choosing products that are as good for your insides as they are for your reflection in the mirror.
It can be tricky to navigate the cosmetics aisle, and the more you know about ingredients to avoid and brands that are getting it right, the more informed decisions you'll be able to make for your health.

True Beauty

Of course, finding true beauty doesn't stop with products you can buy in a bottle. It might sound a bit trite, but true beauty really does come from within. You can't paint it on your face or measure it on a scale. Beauty is about our actions and our interactions. It's about finding that inner peace and happiness, so our beautiful selves can really shine.
Style is about more than conventional beauty. It’s making choices in our daily routines that are healthy for our bodies and for the planet. Whether that means using eco-friendly beauty products, choosing sustainably-made clothing, or staying fit, we believe that the way we treat our bodies is directly related to loving ourselves and the planet.

Feelgood Style is all about empowering you to make healthy choices and helping you unlock that true beauty.

What does beautiful mean to you? We hope you’ll check out Feelgood Style and share your own thoughts and comments with us!

Visit Feelgood Style on the WEB * Follow Feelgood Style on TWITTER * Like Feelgood Style on FACEBOOK

If you missed See Beautiful's feature piece, The Mirror, Mirror Game We Play, on Feelgood Style, click HERE.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Is Today the Day?

It's Wednesday. Hump Day. Middle of the week. No matter where you spin it, there's a middle of the week for everyone. You've got your head down, pressed to the grind, moving through the motions, but wait, what if...

Source: flickr.com via Scarlett on Pinterest

Oh, we like this very much. Intention, yes. Habit, no. Intention offers a different perspective to living. While you might do some of the same things, moving through these actions with intention is empowering, Moving through them out of habit can, overtime, become draining. Yes, using intention is seeing beautiful! Is today the day?

It's fill in the blank day:
Today I will do ____________________________ with intention, instead of habit.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Life's Too Short To Be Anything But Happy

Source: google.com via Chrissy on Pinterest

We find ourselves craving being in the presence of this furry creature. Doesn't he make you happy?

Source: google.co.uk via Alice on Pinterest

Life is just too short for the drama. We don't need it. We need happy. We need ears that hang low. We need smiles that are infectious. We deserve that. How can you find happy in the most unlikely of places today? It will certainly leave you seeing beautiful!

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  
 

Stretch Marks Can Be Beautiful

Photo by Cassie FX. Links back to her.

The following poem was written by Cassie aka LeFoxy to honor the love of a child. It is quite simply, beautiful:

The Beauty Love Left Behind

"A mark for every breath you took, every blink, every sleepy yawn. One for every time you sucked your thumb, waved hello, closed your eyes and slept in the most perfect darkness. One for every time you had the hiccups. One for every dream you dreamed within me.

It isn't very pretty anymore. Some may even think it ugly. That's OK. It was your home. It's where I first grew to love you, where I lay my hand as I dreamed about who you were and who you would be. It held you until my arms could, and for that, I will always find something beautiful in it."

Are You Wearing a Disguise?

This post is a continuation of our Free Hugs Campaign post. If you missed that one, click HERE (it's worth it).

Hugging PART II:

This furry friend is part of a larger movement in which we are to ask, "Must we disguise ourselves so that we may come closer to one another?" Ponder that thought while watching the following video, an add campaign from Pro Infirmis, an organization that aids and supports people with disabilities.

We ask again, "Must we disguise ourselves so that we may come closer to one another?" Are you wearing a disguise so others will grow closer to you? Let's just be ourselves. Shed the disguise, it's the real you who is beautiful. It's the real you who's worthy of so much. It's the real you who makes us all see beautiful. It's the real you who makes this world more beautiful. It's shedding time, People!

Stories of a Lifetime Through Hands

Your hands aren't ordinary, they're completely unique. They were inherited, but they're yours. They may be big, small, scarred, or soft, but they're yours. Your hands tell stories. Your hands pass stories from one generation to the next. They share stories of love, of memories, of happiness and laughter. With the touch of a hand someone can let you know they love you. With the gesture of a hand, you know your welcomed. With the wave of a hand, you've been acknowledged.

What does the following picture tell you about hands?

 

Source: bobowoodlake.tumblr.com via DeShawna on Pinterest

Your hands aren't ordinary, they're completely yours. They were inherited, but you choose how they impact the world. As you hold your hands over your computer, before clicking away from this blog and going about your day, think about the ways your hands can help others see more beautiful; they're yours after all.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Pay It Forward Friday: Scare Someone

We know what you're thinking, "Scare someone? That's not that beautiful." But look how hard it makes everyone laugh!

C'mon, you know you saw a little beautiful, right? Don't you sort of want to go hide in a stairwell or around the corner? Remember playing "hide-and-go seek" when you were a child? Remember how fun it was to crouch in the tiniest of places or the tip-toppiest of trees just waiting for the big "moment"? This is it. Pay it Forward Friday is taking you back in time to the simpler days of life. Jump around a corner. Shoot, you can even dress up as a bear or tree. We're setting no limits on the amount of paying it forward you can do today. We do request that if you pay it forward, share it with us. We can't wait to hear how it makes you feel.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

What's Your Superpower?

The following blog post was shared by our newest Guest Contributor, Allison Robin, from Tell Us Something Good. We were so inspired by her seeing beautiful mentality, that we invited her to pop in and write for us every now and then. We're thrilled she agreed! Here is but a taste of Allison's ability to see beautiful. We hope you find yourself channeling your inner superhero!

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FIND YOUR INNER SUPERPOWER. FLAUNT IT EVERYWHERE.
Written by Allison Robin, Tell Us Something Good.

Recently I had someone look me square in the face and ask me, point blank, “What is your Superpower?”

The question was a little off-putting at first, I have to say- this person inquiring was a grown man.  And he was asking with a totally straight face, in complete seriousness.  And we had only met five minutes beforehand.  But I could tell almost immediately that this grown man had the spirit of a child, had somehow managed to keep that, and thus, had the ability to know that this was one of the truly important questions to ask.

And so, in turn, I could sense immediately that it was an important question to answer.

I looked down at the floor and off to the side for a second before looking back up at him and quietly replying, “I guess that’s what I’m trying to figure out right now.”  The fact that I was feeling that way- I think that was the real reason I knew I had to take the question seriously.  He smiled and said, “I see.”  When I asked him what his Superpower was, a big smile flashed across his face as he quickly replied, “I can bring large groups of people together to accomplish things that seem impossible.”

What a beautiful response, I thought to myself.  We chatted for a few minutes and all of a sudden I interrupted him to declare/blurt out, “I can make people feel the things they didn’t even know they needed to feel!”  I sat back with a satisfied smile.  And then excitedly kept going, “I can love well.  Like really, really well.  Like wildly!”  And then exclaimed, “And I can get people excited about the things they need to get excited about.”  And the list went on in my head.  I was beaming.

Suddenly, I realized the truth about Superpowers:  It’s not about the “figuring it out” or about being on a constant search to find or cultivate something you want or wish you were.  It’s about remembering what you’ve got already and who you are in your deepest depths.  The “finding” is really just about reclaiming the very best of what you’ve been given and have always possessed.

And the “flaunting”, well, that’s just sharing and enjoying it in every way possible.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  
 

We're In the Muthahood!

While the following is primarily for mothers, many of us understand what it's like to literally need multiples of ourselves to make it through daily to-do lists unscathed. Comedian and Mom, Anita Renfroe describes what life is like "up in her Muthahood."

Now, if you successfully achieve the following tasks on a daily basis, the following video is going to be difficult for you to understand.

•  Your children always think you're right.
• You have time daily to take care of yourself.
• You pack perfect lunches everyday in brown paper sacks with little "love notes" to your children.
• You have homemade supper on the table every night.
• You wear pearls while dusting all your nicknacks. 
• You have a white picket fence with a manicured lawn.
• Your children behave perfectly in public.

However, if you find one or more of the following a bit ridiculous to successfully navigate on a daily basis, well, welcome to the Muthahood.

We see a lot of beautiful in the fact that Anita set out to make people laugh because they "relate to something I say than because I wrote a clever punchline. All my stuff is about my life – it’s real and it connects people – and that’s a wonderful thing." And while it's not our official "Pay It Forward Friday", we  hope you do so anyway. Celebrate and thank those moms working so tirelessly and lovingly and wonderfully and caringly and glamorously in tha Muthahood! Give them a hug. Write them a thank you. Tell them you love them. The Muthahood is tough!

We wish we knew the zipcode of the Muthahood. We think we'd fit right in.

Do you live in the Muthahood? What's it like for you?

To learn more about Anita Renfroe or see more of her work, click HERE.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Puddle Jumping: Obstacle VS Opportunity

"Childhood is that state which ends the moment a puddle is first viewed as an obstacle instead of an opportunity." ~ Kathy Williams

Puddles aren't the only things we start to see as obstacles as we grow older and perhaps, out of our wise-ness. Have you ever had the treat of watching children ride bikes? They're not doing it to burn calories, they're doing it because it's flat out fun. Pedaling up a hill means you've won an invisible race, not "gotten your burn on." Asking mom or dad if you can go on a bike ride isn't the equivalent of asking them to drop you off at a spin class. When did FUN become WORK? When did opportunities become obstacles? 

This topic certainly isn't a new one, but it's worth the reminder that this philosophical question is answered in a matter of perspectives. It's a mind game. Is the day ahead of you an obstacle or an opportunity? 

We're seeing beautiful in today being an opportunity. Wanna jump in puddles with us?
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  
 

You're Most Beautiful When...

**Thank you to all our wonderful followers who "Honked For Japan!" We reached our goal of 600 honks and donated $600 to the Japanese Red Cross last night. Thank you for helping to make a difference. To read more about the story and see screen shots of us donating, click HERE.**

See Beautiful™ was designed to empower women to see the beauty they inherently possess and empower all to see the beauty in the world. Pop culture would like us to think beauty exists in, or is defined by, reality t.v. shows, airbrushed models on magazine covers, or manikins in storefront windows. We see things differently. In an effort to capture some of the beauty that exists in each of us and all over the world, See Beautiful™ has started a movement. Will you join us? You can start here:

WHEN ARE YOU MOST BEAUTIFUL?

We LOVE this question because it's one we don't often stop to ask ourselves. Can you identify moments when you're most beautiful? Our favorite response is at the very end of this video.

The Jubilee Project inspires us again and this time they're collaborating with Becky's Fund, fighting for freedom from domestic violence. Every time this video is viewed, 7 cents is donated to Becky's Fund, so share our blog link with a friend, or watch it again.

Fill in the blank day:
I'm most beautiful when ____________________________________________________________.

To learn more about The Jubilee Project's awesomeness, click here.
To learn more about Becky's Fund click here.
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We're also honored to be featured on Feelgood Style's Website today, so check out our See Beautiful article over there,  

Changing the Mirror, Mirror Game We Play.

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Where Do You Keep Your Machetes?

* Our "Honk for Japan!" campaign is still going on, so please, please, please VISIT THIS BLOG POST and see how 1 comment from you can make a BIG difference to the Japanese Red Cross! We're trying to reach our goal of 600 comments for $600. All you have to do is honk."  *
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Always searching for beautiful in the most unlikely places, we offer you the opportunity to see beautiful in a machete. Here's how we're slicing it:

Setting: A See Beautifuler walks into a sporting goods store and approaches a sales rep to help her locate an anniversary present for her partner. 

See Beautifuler: Yes, I was hoping you could tell me if you have a specific item in stock.

Sales Rep: Okay, sweetheart, what are you looking for?

See Beautifuler (cringing at the sweetheart-dubbed name she's been given): I need to know if you have a machete in stock. Preferably the Bear Grylls extra large machete with the leather holding case that adheres to one's back.

Sales Rep (color draining from his face): Um. Well, you don't, um, look like you're the type who'd be in here buying a, um, machete.


See Beautifuler (now having the time of her life): Yes. I'm an avid machete-ist and I'm expanding my collection. If you could just point me toward your machete's I'll be on my way.

Sales Rep (backing away from "sweetheart"): Um, well, yes. We have those in the hunting department. Um, it's, um, upstairs, um...

See Beautifuler (beaming): Thanks, I'll just head in that direction.

Sweetheart and Man-Scared-of-Sweetheart part ways. 

See Beautifuler buys machete, but hasn't decided whether to share it with her husband or wear it herself everywhere she goes. Any thoughts?

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We imagine there are lots of ways you can see beautiful in this story, but we thought we'd share a few. Of course, we'd love for you to add your own comments below though:

1. Women rock.
2. Men think they know women, and then we surprise them with our strength (this is a constant cycle).
3. Calling a woman you don't know "sweetheart" can be nullified by responding, "Where do you keep your machetes?"
4. Never judge a woman. Never judge anyone for that matter.
5. Machetes rock.

P.S. Someone long ago decided a six-year wedding anniversary gift is supposed to be iron or candy. We here at See Beautiful™ don't really understand a stranger telling us how to celebrate a relationship with a loved one, let alone what that gift should entail, so we mock the system and buy machetes to fit the "iron" category...that makes us sweet, like candy, right? No?

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (sorry, no machetes) (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

Breaking Promises Can Be Beautiful

* Our "Honk for Japan!" campaign is still going on, so please, please, please VISIT THIS BLOG POST and see how 1 comment from you can make a BIG difference to the Japanese Red Cross! We're trying to reach our goal of 600 comments for $600. All you have to do is honk."  *

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Have you ever had someone break a promise to you? Did you feel like this?

 We're sorry. We're also giving you a new way to see beautiful through broken promises. There's a taboo behind breaking promises, that any promise broken is a bad one. See Beautiful™sees it differently because we hope you break some promises. We hope you love someone more than you promised. Sharing love more than you could promise means it's a feeling that surpassed your expectations, or perhaps even your imagination. Loving someone more than you promised; that's one promise we'll cheers to breaking. Here are a few others:
  

• Giving of yourself more than you promised.
• Donating your time more than you promised.
• Helping a friend more than you promised.
• Buying more goodies for others than you promised.
• Laughing with others more than you promised.
• Extending your visit with loved ones longer than you promised. 
• Playing with your children at the park longer than you promised.

It turns out breaking promises can actually feel like this:

Breaking promises can makes the world a better place. In fact, those broken promises, the ones that help us see more beautiful are to be cherished. Yeah, we're all about breaking promises.


How have your broken promises helped you see beautiful?  

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.

Pay It Forward Friday: HONK FOR JAPAN!!!!!

THANK YOU, SEE BEAUTIFULLERS! With your 600 Honks, we donated $600 to the Japanese Red Cross. We were THRILLED to donate in your honor! See the pictures below to confirm our giving. A honk will never sound the same. Please know you made a difference in the lives of many by simply giving a honk. That's seeing beautiful!

Here's where it started: 

Here's where it ended:

We made the donation in thanks to you and we truly cannot thank you enough. We're humbled by the number of people who HONKED FOR JAPAN! and we love knowing it will make a difference in the lives of many. 

If you're visiting this post for the first time, read below to get caught up. It's not too late for you to see beautiful in giving in your own way. 

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In case you missed our initial blog post to "Honk for Japan!" click over here and gain an understanding for the premise of today's Pay It Forward Friday!

Ryan Higa, creator of the "Honk For Japan!" initiative will donate $600 to the Japanese Red Cross for every 1,000,000 views of his "Honk For Japan!" video (can be viewed here). We love the video, we love his mission, we love the people from Japan, we love the country of Japan, so it only made sense for us support Ryan's "Honk For Japan" movement.

See Beautiful wants to match Ryan's next $600 donation to the Red Cross. And here's how we're hoping to make it happen. We need 600 "HONKS" to meet our $600 donation, and that's where you come into play.

Here's what you do on this Pay It Forward Friday:

1. Tweet "Honk for Japan! @weseebeautiful" on Twitter!
2. Comment "Honk for Japan!" on See Beautiful's facebook page!
3. Comment "Honk for Japan!" right here on the blog!
4. Spread this message to as many people as possible because we're tallying the "Honks!" this Sunday at midnight and we REALLY want to meet our 600 Honks! goal. 

Feel good going into your weekend knowing one simple "honk" made a big difference! Now, get honking!!!

See Beautiful will capture screen shots of us donating $600 to the Japanese Red Cross & our Confirmation Receipt and post them on the blog and on our Facebook account, so you can see our donation has gone through. Additionally, this donation in no way diminished the amount we will be donating to CARE this month, our August non-profit of the month. The donations to our non-profits of the month come from a portion of proceeds from sales. This donation from the "Honk for Japan!" initiative comes from our pockets. Are you honking yet?
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  
 

Toot Your Own Horn (with an exciting donation update!!!)

***Midday update*** 
We've never updated a blog post midday, but we're so inspired by the response to Honk for Japan! that we've got a challenge for our See Beautifullers! We need a combined number of 600 "Honks For Japan!" to be shared on Twitter and Facebook. If we reach this goal, See Beautiful will match Ryan Higa's next $600.00 donation to the Red Cross. Just like Ryan, we'll take a screen shot of our donation so you know it happens! Now here's what you can do:

1. Tweet "Honk for Japan! @weseebeautiful" on Twitter!
2. Comment "Honk for Japan!" on See Beautiful's facebook page!
3. Spread this message to as many people as possible because we're tallying the "Honks!" this Sunday at midnight and we REALLY want to meet our 600 Honks! goal. 

Now, get honking (and better understand the midday update by reading our original post below)!!!

The sound of a honking car often sends the message to be aware - immediately. Some people honk their horn to wake-up the driver in front of them who failed to notice the traffic light has been green for 30 seconds. Some honk to say, "Move out of my way!" or "You're coming too close!" Ryan Higa found a new purpose for honking horns and it sends a truly beautiful message.

Today marks five months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan and we continue to look for ways to support the millions affected. In the video below Ryan Higa shares a unique way he's showing support and raising money for Japan. The following could forever transform the way you think about the sound of a honking horn.

What's even better? For every 1,000,000 views on YouTube, he's donating another $600.00. We were inspired because it illustrates how a little honk goes a long way. Perhaps you can toot your own horn by seeing beautiful in a sound that's often alarming, because it's making a difference.

If you're interested in continuing to let those affected by the tsunami and earthquake in Nippon (Japan) know you're thinking about them and supporting them, consider visiting some of the wonderful websites below that are dedicated to extraordinary causes within the country.

• Japanese Red Cross 
• MyGengo.com - Support translators providing vital information from Japan
• Ekokoro.jp (Japanese site)
• The Japan Committee for Unicef (Japanese site)
• Japan Society – Disaster relief fund. Recipient organizations to be decided.
• NGO JEN – NGO JEN is a Japan-based NGO that put their utmost efforts into restoring a self-supporting livelihood both economically and mentally to those people who have been stricken with hardship due to conflicts and disasters
• Global Giving
• International Medical Corps
• Oxfam Japan (Japanese)
• Salvation Army Japan
• Save the Children – Link to their base in Sendai to establish an operation base to assist the most vulnerable children and their families. You can also donate by calling 1-800-728-3843, or texting “JAPAN” to 20222 to donate $10.
• Shelterbox
• Socks for Japan - (you might remember we also featured a post about there HERE). 

You can also visit Ryan Higa's website HERE.

Snack Time Small Talk

The following conversations are true encounters with a group of three-year-olds over snack time. It makes us question why we don't stop to have snack time with children every day:

~With a mouth full of strawberry poptarts and sticky orange juice fingers, one student glanced around to her peers and exclaimed, "Chocolate milk makes me constipated." 

~During the same sitting, the small group of children were discussing the fact that they lived in the state of Tennessee. One child began shaking his head in disagreement (he had sticky orange juice fingers too), "I do not live in Tennessee. I live outside of the school, past that old lady house. You know where that is? She live right there."

~The following students were discussing the giraffes they were currently learning about in class. We know, they were really smart children. You can imagine in pride on their teacher's face. Alas, the teacher asks the students why they thought giraffes had long necks. One brilliant student's response was, "Because they have to clean their tail." Another replied, "Because they need room for all their spots." What'd we tell you? They're just brilliant!

~While having snack out on the playground one day, a beautiful child screamed excitedly, "AH, I FOUND A WISH!" She grabbed the teacher and pulled her over to a dandelion. The teacher asked the child what she was going to wish for. Her response was, "I wished for everyone to love me and for chicken nuggets."

In honor of snack time small talk leading to making wishes, we thought we'd invite you to do the same.
Congratulations, you found your wish!
For what will you wish?
Chicken nuggets?
Perhaps we'll wish for snack time small talk with friends.
If we listen carefully enough to each other there's a lot of seeing beautiful to be found.



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We're also linking up to the Happiness Is Blog Hop because of course, this post makes us happy!

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Beauty Is Best Seen With Your Eyes Closed

See Beautiful™ was born from a collective voice of concerned individuals who noticed:

(1) Women are beautiful! and 

(2) Why does society tell us otherwise?

We hopped over to the This is Nice blog written by Amy and found this blog post that mirrored See Beautiful™ so perfectly that we asked if we could share it here.

Aptly entitled "A Wink and a Smile" her post read the following:

"They told you that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. What they failed to tell you is that it is best seen with the eyes closed. What you look like isn't important. What is important is who you are on the inside and the choices you are making in life." {Tiana Tozer}

That would be pretty nice if people radiated on the outside just as much as they did on the inside. I would love for my wonderful friends and family to see themselves the way I see them. Absolutely beautiful."

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See Beautiful™ strives to be a place where girls and women feel empowered, can be themselves, and recognize their beauty.We are deeply committed to supporting females and spreading the message that YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL. Do you see beautiful? It looks good on you. 

If you haven't had the chance to visit the "Girls & Women" section of our website, we've worked to provide a list of online resources for both girls and women and ask that you share it with anyone you think might be empowered by it. Come join the movement!  

To visit Amy's beautiful Blog, This is Nice, click HERE. 

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.   

Take Your "Mark", Get Set, Go.

 When The Jubilee Project and Givology collaborated on their "Make Your Mark" campaign, it offered a whole lotta opportunities to see beautiful. How do you make your mark in the world?

We think it's a beautiful conversation for our readers to join. You're invited to fill in the remainder of the sentence below:

If I could leave my mark on the world, I would ___________________________________________.

To learn more about The Jubilee Project, click HERE.
To learn more about Givology, click HERE.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE. 

Hear Your Call

Celebrated as our See Beautiful™ Song of the Month, Hear Your Call, is nothing short of inspiring, empowering, beautiful, and giving all wrapped into four minutes and twenty-seven seconds. After reading the following, you'll understand why the words to the song carry so much meaning. 

Sami Yusuf helps the world see more beautiful through his writing, singing, and commitment to improving the lives of many around the world. With every purchase of Hear Your Call, Sami Yusuf will donate proceeds to Save The Children in an effort to support an estimated 20 million people in who have been devastatingly affected by the continued flooding in Pakistan.  His own biography heeds the following, "Sami however, dismisses fame and glory. For him, his position as an artist is a sacred trust, a trust best honoured in serving humanity. He was relentless in assuming his responsibilities as the first, global ambassador of Silatech, a Qatar-based initiative promoting entrepreneurial skills and open access to capital and markets for large-scale job creation. His Live8 concert in Wembley Arena raised millions of pounds for the victims of the conflict-laden region of Darfur, praised by the British government in appreciation and recognition of the efforts. Sami took the initiative to work in close tandem with the UN sponsored charity, Save the Children, to help uplift morale of the victims of 2010 Pakistan floods by sending a message of hope and undying support through his charity single, Hear Your Call. The single became the mouthpiece of awareness campaigns led by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, BBC and the CNN. "

One of our favorite lines in this song, is "Give me your hand brother, I will not let you fall. So don't look back sister, cause I swear I hear your call." These beautiful lyrics invite listeners to see beautiful in the commitment of many to make the world a better place. It acknowledges our responsibility to make a difference in the world and see beyond ourselves, and that is beautiful.

The Hear Your Call Video:

To purchase a copy of his Charity Single, Hear Your Call, click HERE.
To listen to part of Hear Your Call, click HERE (and then click on the Hear Your Call speaker).
To learn more Sami Yusuf, click HERE.

*Image retrieved from http://www.samiyusufofficial.com/ and linked back to original site.
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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.  

Eating In Bed For LOVE

Just so you know, this isn't one of those, "Breakfast In Bed" stories, though we can see a lot of beauty in having breakfast delivered to bed. This story was shared by a mom who didn't find it that beautiful when she discovered food popping in her bed. 

"A day in my life....

Mom (YELLING...and ANGRY): WHO was eating popcorn in my bed?!!!!

Will: I did. I was cold and your bed is warm and it smells like you when your covers give me a hug.

Mom (walking away, smiling, comment to herself): Damn! He is good!"

Leave it to the wisdom of a child to help us understand what it means to eat in bed for love. Here are a few ways he helped us see beautiful: 1) Covers give hugs. 2) Beds offer warmth. 3) Beds smell like people we love. 4) Finding a comfortable place to eat makes food taste that much better. 5) Eating in bed can be filling in more ways than one. 

 As you crawl into bed tonight, perhaps you'll see beautiful in ways you never have. Let the covers give you a hug and carry you to sleep, feeling more love than this morning when you climbed out of the hug-giver. 

And for those days you find crumbs in your bed, instead of anger, feel the love. Who knew popcorn could help you see beautiful?

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Are you looking for a tangible reminder to see beautiful, or know someone who needs one? Check out our See Beautiful™ products (and feel good knowing a portion of proceeds from every purchase is donated to charity. This month a portion of all proceeds will be donated to CARE.). Click HERE.