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The “Pedialyte® Healthy Holiday” mobile tour will be visiting Westfield Southcenter Mall in Seattle, Washington to help residents prepare for this flu season on December 4- 6 from 11am – 5pm. During the tour, families can stop by the Pedialyte booth to learn more about what things they can do to keep healthy this holiday season. In addition, families can receive samples and coupons, and try the new Pedialyte Powder Packs, which come in four kid-approved flavors.
When I first heard of the bikini baristas a while ago I thought, yeah – this will blow over like yesterday’s news, thinking that it was, quite possibly just a slow news day around The Sound.
Then Stephanie wrote about it here and I thought again, okay, obviously this is not going away – but it hasn’t really creeped into my coffee-getting ways yet, so hey – maybe this isn’t something I really care about.
Then I heard this out of my daughter’s mouth while driving past a local “sexpresso” stand the other day: Hey mom! Look, that girl is in her underwear. Why is she in her underwear?
Fabulous. That bubble I had been hoping to raise my daughter in has apparently sprung a leak.
And it was then that I knew that my war with the bikini baristas had just begun.
A little back story here, I used to be a barista. What does this mean? It means that I was Tully’s trained and can whip up a mean pot of coffee and a shot of espresso with the perfect amount of crema on top. I find great value in the perfecting of foam and the mixology involved with creating a unique flavor. I also know that there is a fair amount of skill involved in doing these things and to me, I really don’t care if you look like Cindy Crawford or John Belushi, if you can make a mean latte or a dry cappuccino, I’m yours.
That being said, there is little emphasis on quality in many of the drive-by espresso stands that litter the sides of our roads. Sure there are some who actually care about the beverages they are handing over to their customers for the price of a weeks worth of groceries, but many do not. If I want a good caffeine fix, I know exactly where to go to get it and I am fully aware that I am taking my chances pulling up to one of the roadside stands.
But the chance of bad coffee, not a peep show, is all I want to be concerned about.
Some compare the scantily-clad baristas to girls on the beach. Okay, fine. But seriously, tell me you wouldn’t you be just a little bit uncomfortable pulling up and ordering a mocha from a sixteen-year-old wearing less fabric than your own undergarments? And what if you have kids in the car? Double ick, in my opinion.
Some say, this is no big deal in Europe – that we all need to loosen up a bit and not be so offended by the display of the human body. Well, I got news for you folk, I love and appreciate the human body just as much as the next person, but hello – this is not Europe (although, that would be nice, wouldn’t it?). Our culture is not one of “hey, it’s just a body – get over yourself.” It is one of “hey it’s a body, let’s sexualize it as much as we can and make as much money off it as we can.” As much as I wish it were different, we live in America, land of the free, home of the boobies (real and artificial). That, is where my problem lies.
I want to teach my children that their bodies are beautiful, that all bodies are beautiful and should be treated with respect and admiration for all of their perfections and imperfections. But our society does not see it that way, which makes it a very hard uphill battle for those who want otherwise.
How do we teach our daughters and our sons that women aren’t sexual objects when they are slapped in our face that way every chance they get?
Of course, thereis the whole “freedom” and “constitutional right” angle to the argument as well, and I respect that wholeheartedly. But I can’t honestly sit here and say that I would be supportive of a coffee stand in my town that chose to go down that path, even if the barista made the greatest macchiato this side of Italy.
I can’t do that because of what it teaches my daughter and my sons. I can’t do that because although I feel everyone has a right to express themselves in any way they wish – our culture is just not there yet, even though we wish it were.
Therein lies the struggle. How do we support freedom and individuality at the same time teaching our children the morals and values and self respect that we so want them to have? How do we teach them to stand up for what they believe while not supporting the freedom of expression (if that is what it really is) of others?
Most of all, why does it have to be so hard? I read all of the time of the struggles people had to go through for social, political and environmental change and I wonder, is this one of those things we have to overcome? Is this just another roadblock on our way to a society that loves women for being women, not for being what we are told is beautiful or sexy? Is this it?
Someone please, hand me a guidebook.
Carrie Blankenship is the mother of three (four, if you count her goofy puppy). She writes her way through motherhood at Stop Screaming I’m Driving! She accepts bribes of lattes (especially Starbucks) and offers of free babysitting. If you’re really lucky, she may even do your laundry. She can be contacted at carrieb-at-seattlemomblogs-dot-com.
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Seriously. It’s a good question. Do you sue your employer for their hot coffee? Do you sue yourself for having so much skin exposed when you know you will be dealing with hot liquids? Do you sue society for being so sex crazed?
What do you think about espresso stands with bikini clad baristas? Are you comfortable with the fact that they opened one near the space needle?
We don’t have a “sexpresso” stand in our town, I’ve never actually seen one and I don’t drink coffee, but I am totally bothered by the concept. It doesn’t bother me that my children could be exposed to it (though pasties are a bit much) because I know they will see the same thing at the beach. Quite frankly, they would probably just laugh at the “naked” ladies and tell me they aren’t modest. But here is what I don’t like about it:
1. They are forcing other businesses to either shut down or dress down. Competition is healthy, and I realize that some businesses fail and that’s fine. But if you are going to have to close down because of the competition it ought to be because they have a better product, not because their employees are half-naked. In order to compete, you shouldn’t have to tell your employees to come to work in underwear. (What would you do if your boss suddenly changed the dress code on you?) But I guess that’s the way it goes in the business world sometimes…
2. Why are there so many women in this world with such low self esteem that they are willing to become soft porn to earn a few extra tips? A quote from the komo news.com article:
“I used to work mornings at another coffee stand. I used to make $30 in the morning, but here I make four, five times that much, if not more, because I’m wearing a bikini and people pay more for that,” said barista Nicole Corpuz.
Go to college! You’ll be able to make better money, still have your self respect and dignity, and you’ll be able to continue to make good money when your body isn’t so hot anymore! And sweetie, people pay more for that because they get a sick thrill from it– are you really okay with that?
3. If these girls are making better tips it means one of two things (probably both) a.) more customers and b.) bigger tips. This means that not only are husbands (and others) getting a quick boob ogling in the morning with their espresso, they are taking more money out of their family budgets to do so!
4. The picture in this article pretty much says it all. Eewwwww.
5. Could our society quit putting so much emphasis on sex? Sheesh, the way you see it in the movies, on tv and in advertising, you’d think all us Americans do is do it. This is just another example. And before you say this is not about sex because bikinis are on the beach, realize that they key word is beach. Bikinis taken out of context are all about sexy. It really wouldn’t even bother me if it was in California, because at least its HOT there. But Seattle? Seriously? Bikinis in the winter? Gross.
6. This is a point that I hadn’t thought of myself, and is not necessarily my sentiments, but it was a comment from a message board that brings up a good point:
“It seems that this generation of young women has forgotten the long struggle our mothers, grandmothers, and great grandmothers have fought to give us the sweet spot we have now in life. Over 50% of college grads are women, women are shattering the glass ceiling becoming CEOs and almost clinching the Democratic nomination for President of the United States. All while still having a family.
However, which women are actually breaking the glass ceiling? Women over 40. I guess Gen X and Y do not care, perhaps they have had it too easy. I hate to see women taking a giant step backwards by giving in to the rampant pornification of our society and accepting it as the status quo. Celebrating it even!
I hope women young and old will be picketing these disgusting excuses for coffee shops. Let’s keep the porn in the strip bars thank you very much, away from the eyes and ears of our children. I’ll be out there with my sign. I’m 26, and I’m proud to be selling my BRAIN not my good looks”
All right now there are my reasons. If you don’t agree, tell me why. If you have something to add, go on and say it! Let’s discuss.
With all the buzz around losing weight this time of year, it’s pretty easy to get dissapointed with the state of your body. Those holiday meals catch up quickly and you vow, VOW, to run/train/stretch/drink water. Right?
Or is that just me?
I realized in a fevered hurry, I’ve jumped the gun a bit. I do, in fact, have about twenty pounds to lose before returning to my pre-pregnancy weight. I should stop eating sugar because of the numbers my fasting blood sugar touts.
But the real goal here should be to reach a fitness level I can sustain for the next thirty years or so. And, most importantly, to teach my daughter that it’s OK to not be a size two.
I recently read this column on BlogHer, which completely touched me, and followed the links to here and here. I remembered my own body weight issues, my body image distortion, my eating problems. Somewhere in my mid-twenties I grew out of my hate for my body and became, generally, OK with it. Not happy, not all the time, but I started worrying about bigger things and stopped fretting quite so much.
Or maybe I just sort of gave up because chocolate was just so very yummy.
Either way, I ended up in a place, a little pudgy in the middle, a little unhappy about it but unwilling to freak out at the same time. I’m not sure I could tell my daughter how to reach this very “zen” where you can strive for a better fitness level without hating your own thighs but I believe in my heart she will learn from me more than the TV/Magazines/Peer pressure will teach her. That’s my hope, anyway, and it starts now. Today.
I want to vow to never let my daughter see me fret over my weight, to hear me utter the words, “I feel so fat” or to notice me cast my eyes away from the mirror when the body that produced my wonderful children stares up at me with a saggy mind of its own. I want to convey to her the importance of health and fitness, working out and eating right, drinking water, and being responsible with the body she has. I want her to be active and happy and to know she is ok, beautiful even, on the days she doesn’t feel like it. I want her to feel empowered by her body instead of held back. Somehow, we have to teach our little girls that a belly isn’t made to be flat and thighs can be powerful and strong.
There’s a happy medium between what Hollywood says and the 50% of obesity rate in children.
Maybe our New Years resolution should be to change how we think about fitness.
And then, to go do it.
*Don’t I wish I felt this free about my own self?
Read more of Leslie’s sarcastic blahblablah at Mrs. Flinger and find podcast reviews, interviews, crafts, events and topics for the Seattle Parent at Mamaspod.Com. If you have questions, anecdotes, or topics for Mom Friendly Fitness, email .
It wasnt until I sat down to beg you all for help that the severity of whats going on in the flood zones really hit me and I started bawling. If you want to understand why, go watch this video from the Lewis County Chronicle website. I really need your help everybody.
I spent yesterday demolishing a single mothers home in hopes of saving it. The main floor of her small house was filled with muddy contaminated water during this weeks record-breaking flood in western Washington. Apparently the water rose so fast that she and her 3 children were unable to get home and move their belongings from the main floor to safety.
4 days later while my 4 girlfriends and I were tearing the sheetrock and insulation from the walls of her home with hammers and shovels, she was still hauling her filthy belongings to temporary housing in garbage bags. A few of her childrens homemade Christmas decorations still clung to the higher walls.
Over 1600 homes were flooded in this disaster, the majority of which have no flood insurance. Businesses have been wiped out. As sad as it was to see Wal-Mart under water and Home Depot condemned, the hardest thing is to know that many small businesses may never recover. So even as their homes are destroyed, their livelihoods may be cut off as well, right at the busiest time of the year for many businesses.
One of my friends kept asking the disaster relief workers what the people would do now that their homes and belongings had been destroyed. Several families are walking away from homes and businesses with no idea what they will do next. The fact that Christmas is almost upon us is the least of their worries.
It was incredibly humbling to drive past homes and farms that had been completely submerged, some blasted by 14 feet of filthy water. Farms that have been handed down for generations are destroyed, their owners left with nothing. Some had to shoot their own livestock so they wouldn’t suffer while drowning. There are cars and farming equipment still under water or stuck in mud and much of it is completely unusable. We saw toys, clothes and furniture several feet up in trees. People are in shock. One elderly woman was found sitting alone in her mud-drenched home staring straight ahead, unable to move. Its a daunting task and several hours of hard labor yield negligible results. Its hard not to be discouraged by the slow pace of the progress.
One of the hardest hit areas is in Lewis county around Chehalis, a couple of hours south of where we live in the Seattle suburbs. My good friend grew up in Chehalis and her father is still a dentist and farmer in that area who, as a volunteer LDS church leader, is helping head up relief efforts. Taking few breaks to eat or rest, he has spent the past several days driving from home to home assessing needs, helping with cleanup, distributing donations and organizing hundreds of volunteers.
Several local churches of various faiths have been turned into shelters and clothing and food distribution centers. People are coming from all over the US to serve and help with cleanup. The main non-denominational relief organizations serving the area are the United Way and the Red Cross and they are doing amazing work.
I sent out an email to the women of my congregation asking for clothing, food and tool donations and within hours, we had a garage full of supplies which Dan drove down early this morning on his way to help with cleanup. When I got home from Chehalis last night, I talked to my neighbors about what I’d seen and they came up with 3 boxes of helpful donations.
Do you live nearby? Would you like to help with cleanup or reconstruction? Do you live far away? Would you like to help these people put their lives back together? Each year at Christmas we try to find someone in need who we can serve, something we should actually be doing all year long. This year the choice seems obvious for us. I can’t remember a time when I felt more blessed and more of an urge to give everything I can to help someone else. Even Laylee has gathered a mountain of clothes, toys and blankets in her room to take to the “flood people.”
Im gathering monetary donations which I will use to purchase gift cards to Home Depot and other local businesses with much-needed supplies. We will drive these cards down to Lewis County and, with the direction of local relief workers, give them to the flood victims to meet their immediate needs. Personally, I believe that people are capable of reaching out and helping each other directly.
Obviously I am not a registered charity so I do not have a Tax ID to give you a receipt for deductions. However, if you have $2 or $2000 that youd like to go directly to people in dire need this Christmas, and you trust me to get it to them, I know that together we can do a lot of good. If you’re more comfortable going the traditional route, please consider making a donation through The Red Cross or The United Way.
If youd like to help me give directly to victims, please click here to send money via PayPal.
All money that comes into my account for the rest of the year will go 100% to help rebuild the hardest hit areas of Washington. The people are cold, theyre wet and they need our help and prayers.
If you have a blog, please pass this information along to your readers. You can lift the graphic from the top and any photos from this post and post a link back to this entry. if you have any questions and please help these people any way you can. Imagine what it would be like to lose everything all at once with little or no warning. THANK YOU!
Cross-Posted at daringyoungmom.com
I’m going to post about something that hits close to home – an event that happened in Seattle a few weeks ago with a door-to-door magazine salesman. I just received an email forward written by the victim of this attack. It’s been passed through many friends of friends of friends but it brings it a lot closer reading the story from the victim.
In late August on a Wednesday afternoon, a man in his 20’s came to this woman’s door selling magazine subscriptions. He was very friendly and well dressed. She decided to help him out and bought 2 subscriptions.
Two days later, he came back to her house saying he lost the paperwork and she needed to fill it out again. She was running late but decided to let him in. The last thing she remembers is him coming down the hall at her saying, “I’m sorry.”
He put her in a choke hold and strangled her. She said she knew he was trying to kill her. She awoke 30 minutes later on her back in the bathtub and couldn’t figure out what happened. She saw blood coming from her mouth and head. Her phone was missing so she went outside and found a neighbor to call 911.
These people are all over the place. And while I’m sure most of them are legit, don’t answer the door if you’re not comfortable. This man is on the loose and a local news station said he may be on his way to FL. Here’s the news link if you’re interested in seeing his picture.
Moral of the story…BE SAFE.
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Somehow a post about Bible camp turned into a conversation of lawsuits against school systems. Which reminded me of this story.
A lawsuit arose in Idaho after school officials scrubbed face paint off of two kids in junior high. It seems that the school officials used rubbing alcohol, fingernail polish remover, and industrial cleaner. On the girls faces. This falls into the WWTT (What Were They Thinking) category. Im mean, schools are always getting charged with being TOO p.c., but these people were apparently not afraid of anything. Not even of just how bad an idea this was.
I think 12 is a little young for a chemical face peel. Dont you?
I am not pro-litigation (really! just be a lawyer and youll become that way too!), BUT if schools dont want to get sued, they should not do REALLY STUPID THINGS.
originally posted on Aug 21, 2007 at Let the dog in!
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Now I’ve seen it all.
Just read this article about a Chinese couple who were “seeking a distinctive and modern name for their child” when they tried to name their baby the ‘at’ symbol. That’s right, a kid called
I can just imagine that poor kid trying to have a phone conversation wherein he tries to call about a job.
HR representative:Hello, who is calling please?
@: Hi, I’m @
HR representative: Excuse me? Where are you at?
@:No, I’m the symbol.
HR representative: You’re at the symbol? Where’s that?
@: No, my name is @, the symbol.
HR representative: Your name is at the symbol. Ok. So you can’t just TELL ME your name? You have to make me go find it at this symbol place?
@: I AM telling you! It’s @!
HR representative: It sat? What sat?
@: It IS @!
HR representative:Whatever dude. (hangs up).
@: MOTHER!!!!!! I’m going to KILL YOU!!!
It makes me think that I should name my next child #. Or maybe . Or ^ (but how do you say that one?)
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Lately my husband and I are realizing that having one child is hard. I’m sure that having two or more children has its own unique issues. But here’s the thing about having just one: YOU (the parents) are the playmates. All day, every day, we are bombarded with demands to play:
“Mom, you be Zurg and I’ll be Buzz.”
“Dad, you pretend to be a tiger and chase me.”
“Mom, I’ll hide in my bed and you try to find me.”
To be honest, it’s exhausting. There’s a reason why kids play so well together… they have the same interests, inclinations, and (let’s face it) energy level. I just plain don’t. And no matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to get CJ to want to drink coffee and read the newspaper with me. So we decided that our darling son needs some playmates, and fast.
So… now what? Our circle of friends is decidedly lacking in the 3-4 year old area. And this leads me to my topic of the day.
Despite preschool, despite daily visits to the playground, zoo, and other child-friendly destinations, despite ex-coworkers and neighbors who have children, I find myself wondering,
How does a person make new friends in this city?
It brings to mind this article in Pacific Northwest magazine about “The Seattle Freeze.”
the dichotomy most fundamental to our collective civic character is this: Polite but distant. Have a nice day. Somewhere else…
Seattle is like that popular girl in high school. The one who gets your vote for homecoming queen because she always smiles and says hello. But she doesn’t know your name and doesn’t care to. She doesn’t want to be your friend. She’s just being nice.
More recently, I saw the Seattle Freeze debated again on Yelp. Seems that it’s alive and well.
I’ve been in Seattle for 10 years, longer than I’ve lived anywhere else. I consider it home, but really I’m a transplant. My husband was born & raised right here, so he’s what you’d call a native.
This is our experience.
Even 3 year olds encounter “the freeze.”
Just yesterday, at the Zoomazium, CJ went up to a little boy and tapped him on the shoulder. “Do you want to play with me?” The little boy looked up at the ceiling and calmly ignored CJ until his mom came to ‘rescue’ him from the affront of a strange little boy trying to be his friend.
photo by
As she studiously ignored my son, I could imagine her thinking, “What’s wrong with that boy? Why does he want to play with my child? Doesn’t he know that kids should keep to themselves at play areas?”
It’s gotten to the point where every time CJ goes out to try and make a friend I find myself cringing, wanting to pull him back, afraid of the possible rejection. But for every few failed attempts there’s the friendly one, the one that DOES want to play… and so we keep trying.
For the sake of openness and transparency, I will admit that I at times am prone to these same snobbish behaviors. I like to think that most of the time I’m a pretty friendly person, willing to talk to just about anyone. BUT if a person acts too friendly, too needy, I feel myself withdraw. Why are they so friendly? Do they want something from me? Is there something wrong with them? I know, I know, it’s not cool to act this way. But admitting you have a problem is the first step on the road to recovery, right? I do solemnly swear to be more friendly (truly friendly, not just surface friendly), to be more open-minded, and not to freeze out the poor people who are just trying to make a friend.
Then again, is it really just Seattle? ,
Can we honestly blame the Freeze on the good people of Seattle (and this I know- they ARE good people). Is it all the rain that gets us a bit muddled in our social ways? Or is the Freeze more of a general tendency of today’s society towards exclusion and solitude, as inferred by this article on LiveScience.com?
What’s your experience?
Have you encountered the “Seattle Freeze”? Is it unique to Seattle? And how does a person go about finding new friends (with children of similar ages to yours) in this town?