This week’s Tank Top Tuesday submission comes from none other than my fabulous friend Jeanette!!! You may have seen her in any of the many pictures I’ve posted on our clubbing adventures. She inspires me and motivates me and I love her for it. She is also a fellow Scorpio lady, which is so nice ’cause I’d never met one before. She just got back from Puerto Rico and I cannot wait to hear all about it! Woo!

I think I started wearing tank tops regularly about three summers ago when I was unemployed and frankly just wanted to be cool and comfortable.  I didn’t really think of it as some form of self acceptance, but I guess it was unconsciously to some degree. It was about being more comfortable.  Prior to this I would occasionally put on a tank top with a skirt for work but would always add a jacket or shrug. I’d get self conscious in meetings if I was sitting close to someone and start wondering what they must be thinking about my arms. Crazy, huh?

I think the summer I started wearing them regularly, it was easier because I was around fewer people. However, when I went back to work, I kept wearing them.  And now they are an absolute staple of my spring, summer, and early fall wardrobe. Why should I be warm and worried about what people think,  when I can be cool and confident? They are just arms, people. We all have them, if we are lucky.

I’ve been learning a lot lately about getting outside of my comfort zone.  I mean four days in a rustic cabin in the Puerto Rican rainforest is not something I do every year, or well ever really!!  Not only did I do it, but I stayed that much cooler by baring my arms!

Sometimes getting comfortable, starts with discomfort. Seems obvious right?

Jeanette blogs at www.sustenanceaside.com about cooking delish dish for one (or more) and about random other things at www.theneighborupstairs.blogspot.com

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I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms for future Tank Top Tuesday posts! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion/venting area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)

This picture has been floating around ye olde web here for awhile and today my friend Carol Squires inspired me:

“Wow, just think how much fun it would be to make thousands of these and then plaster them in women’s bathrooms in schools, clubs, dressing rooms, any place we can. I want one for my home mirror. INNDD project?”

My response?
“Love that idea! May just have to make it a mission!”

And then I looked up a recipe for wheat paste and created a printable version so I could get a bunch on a page (email me for the word doc)…it just so happens that I was watching something on street art the other day and some famous artist mentioned a new product that could apply paint for street art and I thought it would be perfect for wheat paste application, too! (It’s like a small squeeze bottle with a sponge-wheel applicator at the top.)
Anyway, I think I will make this a mission of mine: to paste this message in as many places as I can.
I am not yet sure if I will document it somehow, but I will do it and will gladly talk about it!

What do you think? What would you think if you came across this message somewhere?

What other awesome things can we do like this?

Lay it on me!

<3

ETA: Or something more like this? I want lots more suggestions!

This week’s Today’s Tank Top Tuesday post comes from Bri of www.fatlotofgood.org.au! I’m not sure anyone could look happier in a picture:

“The pic is of me (Bri) and my daughter Ruby (now aged 5 in 2 weeks but was 3 1/2 in the pic). We went for a summer’s day drive in the hills about 30 mins away from where we live here in Australia and we ended up at a swimming hole which was where this pic was taken.

Prior to discovering Fat Acceptance I pretty much only wore arm-baring clothing when I was at home or sometimes when camping. If I wore such clothing in public I always wore a shrug or some such.  Nowdays I wear bare arms wherever I feel fit! I am currently working on a tattoo design for my upper arm which will give me even more of a reason to bare arms!”

Cheers,
Bri

I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms for future Tank Top Tuesday posts! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion/venting area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)

Today’s Tank Top Tuesday post comes from

Today’s Tank Top Tuesday post comes from Karyn of PhatSheepette! Looking amazing (and oh so chillax I must say) and proudly exercising her right to bare arms!

“Here I am in my tank, chilling in the shade with my sheep.  Fat Sheep has her own blog and it’s fascinating to see people’s reactions when you say that, yes, her name is FAT sheep.  However she is proud of her marshmallow-like figure.

I am taking submissions from anyone who wants to exercise their right to Bare Arms for future Tank Top Tuesday posts! Email your pics here: notblueatall@notblueatall.com, please include the name you’d like in the post, a blog or etsy shop you wanna plug, your thoughts on bare arms or other fatty philosophies. It does not have to be in a tank top, so long as your arms are bare. Have fun with it!

Also, feel free to still treat comments as TMI topic/discussion/venting area! Feel free to ask TMI questions or just vent/rant about your own stuff. I love it! We all do! =0)

And whew, am I tired! Ha-ha! It’s true though, and I’ve still got karaoke/going away get together tonight! It’s  been a whirlwind, but I was up for it and may have had the best weekend of my life, it was THAT fun!

Friday night my lovely friend Jeanette accompanied me to Big Moves Bay Area’s “Fatdance: What A Feeling!” featuring the fabulous Phat Fly Girls, Rubanesque Burlesque, Raks Africa and MCs Marilyn Wann & Amy Benson! It was so much fun y’all! I have a  hard time describing it because I think you have to live with fat stigma to feel the full effect of how beautiful and empowering and just downright powerful thing it is to see these incredible fat bodies Dancing!Dancing!Dancing! And every time I see Raks Africa I swear I will start belly dancing, but never do…until now! J & I are going to buy plus size hip scarves and a belly dance video for all sizes and we’re going to work it! =0)

Saturday night was a birthday/going away party for two very good friends. I got hella drunk and had the best time ever! I haven’t seen all of the pictures yet, but there will be many, no doubt. Oh man! Too much fun! And I was in a very saucy mood to boot! Hanging out and drinking and being silly and pervy with my favorite people in the world?! Oh yeah! It filled a void, I tell you what! Didn’t get home until 3! Woo Hoo!

Sunday night was a Birthday party/FUNdraiser for Marilyn Wann and her new project for a fat positive community center. We ate, we danced, we drank and some of us even sang karaoke with the live band “Nothing But Fun” and had a great time doing it! It’s always lovely to see and hang out with Marilyn, but there were so many rad fatties to chat and laugh with! And I got to network a bit and hopefully recruit some help for my big fat event in January! Woot!

All of this and I am pooped to say the least, but exhilarated by the experience and enjoyment of it all! I may be exhausted, but I just keep on going! I have a lot going on this week, too, but nothing specifically fat related. Ha-ha! I have my first job interview (since selling the cafe) on Thursday evening…Fingers crossed! I’m debating a haircut today or tomorrow? Hmm…I have a ton of errands to run and I’m just too tired, maybe. Ha-ha! I’m a little scattered I suppose, but I’m okay. I will manage, I always do. There is just something so healing and wonderful about being around other positive people, other fat people, other loving and hard working people! It makes me grateful to exist!

If you think organizing a fat event is hard or impossible or expensive, well, it’s not! It doesn’t have to be and it’s so very worth it! Think about it and if you’d like some help, hit me up! <3

Here’s one pic I love from Saturday night, I’m starting to own the “Bad Ass” title, ha-ha!: