Merry Christmas bigYOUtifuls!

Hi All,


Is it me or in spite of there being more available 'lovely' things to wear for the plus on the market it's still not enough?  I am still on the sweater hunt for plus size people.  Why are there no proper sweaters out there in this the coldest season of the year for the plus size?  I mean c'mon people?!  I just want something warm that will cover me appropriately and fitting and that doesn't look like a blanket you cut out to fit me!

Oh! and how about the glad rags that are glittery but not entirely sexy unless you're middle aged! (no offense middle aged ladies as I am one too).  But seriously. 

I won't diss too much because there are people doing their bit to improve this and things are getting better year on year.  A big shout out to the designers IGIGI.  Amazing creations.  Stunninly beautiful. Great for a high end market.  We just need more designers to come up with more affordable but fitting designs for the everyday people.  I know we're getting there and I'm doing my bit.  I can't wait to show off that collection when it's ready.  Will keep you updated.

So...apart from my grinchy groans y'all have a great, big, fat, wonderfully happy Christmas and may it be a big and happy 2013 for you all!

Lotsa Luv,

Ray Ray xx

Miss Piggy It's Time to Run!

The Muppets phenomenen was probably at it's highest in my generation growing up in the late 70s and early 80s.  Back then, not just the kids but the whole family watched it! We loved it.  Loved all the characters.  But probably my favourite characters were Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog.  Back then I would have been slightly too young to have fully understood or grasped the romantic goings on between the two but it made me laugh.  Poor old Kermit I always thought.  That Miss Piggy was always after him and so you always felt the need to look out for Kermit to protect him from that forceful Miss Piggy. "Hiiiii....ya!!!"

But looking back as an adult now and a plus size one at that, I see it differently and had I the chance I would have liked to have asked the creators of the show how they came about the idea of Miss Piggy's seemingly unrequited  love for Kermit.  It was as if they were implying that Miss Piggy was not worthy of Kermit's love just because she was a Miss 'Piggy'.  I find myself thinking now why and how did they come up with the name Miss Piggy?  I actually do love it.  I think of it fondly but ask why did the creators chose that animal?  Lovely though it is.  Why not Miss Curvy or Miss Elly? What body descriptions are asssociated with a pig?  Fat ? Plump? Big?  It was like they wanted you to be aware that Miss Piggy's size was an integral part of the characeter they had created.  They wanted to say fat without actually saying fat.  She represented a certain demographic of women in society.  To poke fun at that group and have people laugh at the joke. And so was born Miss Piggy.  The title 'Miss' implied the pig had given herself the title, because like all sows, she had grand delusions of self importance.  Like she called herself Miss because no one else never would.  Perhaps I am looking at this too literally but I felt I picked up on the subtleties of this.  However, to me Miss Piggy was a Miss in every way.  She just didn't stand for nonsense.  She was a pig but she was beautiful and glamourous and never a hair out of place.  So why did Kermit always run from her?  Why Kermit why?  Why didn't he just sit with her and get to know her?  Why could he not see her for who she was and not the frustrated pig he brought out in her? Perhaps he found her overwhelming, too obvious in her affections for him, too powerful?  But why would a skinny frog run from such a beauty?  It baffles me.  After all people, Kermit was no prince?  What was so special about him?  Why hadn't he transitioned yet into the prince most frogs become?  Shouldn't he have realised how fortunate he was that a skinny frog like him was incredibly lucky to have got the affections of a woman of quality like Miss Piggy?  But no.  Miss Piggy was portrayed as being desperate.  Always chasing after him. Having no hope because she was aafter all Miss Piggy.  But to me she wasn't desperate...she was simply frustrated!

Now as a plus size woman myself I see that in the love game this is similar to how love can work for some of plus size gals today.  Not all mind you but some of us.  You like a guy, he likes you.  But you're plus size so he either runs or wants to date you....in secret!  He doesn't want anyone to see that he is interested in someone who isn't acceptable to scociety's standard of normal.  So the plus size gal tries to encourage a bloke if he is interested and show him she is just as worthy of his affections but she can become quite overzealous in her efforts and come across as being slightly aggressive in her pursuit of him.  Just like Miss Piggy did with Kermit.  But that just feeds into the perception that plus size girls are desperate when in fact it is nothing like that.  What it is - is just frustration.  But don't be frsutrated plus size galz.  I say RUN!!!!!!!

I think in fact Miss Piggy should have run from Kermit!  As fast as her little fat legs in 6 inch heels could take her!  Kermit ain't no prize girlfriend.  Uh-uh.  No siree! He is some skinny frog who ain't never gonna be a prince!  He'll be a friend but no prince! All women, all sizes deserve a prince!  So if like me you've come across a few Kermit's along the way it time to turn on your heels and run!!!  Don't waste your time waiting for Kermit to change his mind.  If he runs after you then maybe but....

Your prince, count, earl, knight is waiting for you!  In the other direction.  Try it.

Ray Ray xx 

BigaBelles Cafepress Store

BigaBelles

Check out my new Cafepress store.  More to come soon.

beYOUtiful bigYOUtifuls ;)

Ray Ray xx

BigaBelles Cafepress Store

BigaBelles

Check out my new Cafepress store.  More to come soon.

beYOUtiful bigYOUtifuls ;)

Ray Ray xx

Let Me See Beneath Your Beautiful

Hi BigYOUtifuls!



Every now and again you come across a song and it within it contains the most magical lyrcis ever!  This is how I felt recently when I heard a duet by UK singers, Labrinth and Emile Sandé.  It is one of the most beautiful tracks I've heard in a long time and it just fits in with my message about beauty on the inside, big, small, square, round whatever!  A love song with a difference.  Saying I see you're beautiful on the outside but I want to see beneath that.  You know?  Because to me this song seems to be acknowledging the fact that what's beneath a person's appearance is where the real treasure lies and it is what's most important.  I encourage you to listen to it.  Let me know how it makes you feel.  As a bigger person or as a smaller person does this speak to you?  Here are the lyrics:

You tell all the boys no
Makes you feel good, yeah
I know you're out of my league
But that won't scare me away, oh, no
You've carried on so long
You couldn't stop if you tried it
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it
But I'm gonna try

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight

You let all the girls go
Makes you feel good, don't it?
Behind your Broadway show
I heard a voice say please don't hurt me
You've carried on so long
You couldn't stop if you tried it
You've built your wall so high
That no one could climb it
But I'm gonna try

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now boy, take it off now boy
I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight
Oh, tonight

See beneath, see beneath,
I... Tonight
I...

I'm gonna climb on top your ivory tower
I'll hold your hand and then we'll jump right out
We'll be falling, falling
But that's okay
Cause I'll be right here
I just wanna know

Would you let me see beneath your beautiful
Would you let me see beneath your perfect
Take it off now girl, take it off now girl
Cause I wanna see inside
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight
Tonight, see beneath your beautiful
Oh tonight, we ain't perfect, we ain't perfect
Would you let me see beneath your beautiful tonight

Emile's voice is unreal.  It's rich but not too heavy and it carries you away with the feelings she puts in her voice and Labrinth's earthy organic realistic husky tone ensures every word he is singing is imprinted in your mind.  You understand what he's singing immediately.  He arrests your attention so you actually listen.  But here's the magic between the two.  The harmony!  It's so beautiful.  They are so in tune!  It's natural, two voices , yet one.  Can you tell?  I am in love with this song.  I really am.  Do check it out on Youtube.

Once you have heard it I challenge you my blog readers to see beneath your own beautiful.  Discover your own true beautiful worth!
"Take it off now girl!  Take it off now boy!"  You should look 'inside'.  It will start to set you free.

See beneath and beYOUtiful!!!

Ray Ray xx

The Curvy Celebrity Revolution





I have been so encouraged lately by the amount of celebrities in the entertainment industry who have finally found themseleves and their voices with it about the truth behind the unobtainable weight they have portrayed in the past.  Stars who are saying they are going to be true to themselves and to their fans about who they really are.  People just like you and just like me.  Some are small and some are just not.  It should have beens all about their talent not their weight!  Stars are hitting back and saying "so I am bigger now, that's who I really am and always was!  I did things to make myself a weight that was acceptable to other people but not to myself".  Wow!  That's what I'm talking about!  Adele's undeniable talent was so huge her weight was secondary.  Also, these days people are more likely to accept it than a decade ago when stars like Christina Aguilera started.  The pressure to stay thin so she could show her talent was a must.  One cannot imagine what she had to endure and go through to maintain that unatural state.  To be taken seriously God only knows what she had to to do to stay thin to be recognised.  If you're naturally thin then you're okay but if you're naturally bigger it's a problem because then you have to do unatural things to be a size that's not your own.  Christina is said to have said that because she wears her hair blonde and her eyes are blue that people forget she is not of European descent with a body to match but that she is of South American descent and her body is naturally curvy.  She is embracing her heritage and wearing her body.  Wearing her skin.  Other celebrities are starting to come out about feeling the same.  Lady Gaga has been trying to make a point.  The recent interest in her weight gain and back lash from that oh so irresponsible press prompted her to retaliate and say to people she was healthy now that she was the weight her body was naturally.  That can't have been easy.  It's like people morbidly prefer her unnaturally skinny but emotionally disoeriented with it rather than emotionally sstisfied and happy the weight she is - just as long as she looks perfect.  People don't understand anymore that perfect is what's right for you not for them.  We, as a society with the help (not) of, again, that irresponsible press expect too much of the people we look up to or appreciate.  We have to re-learn how to appreciate people, even celebrities, for who they are not who we create inour minds.  They do not belong to us.  Their beauty is their own and is in their talent.  I don't care if they have 2 heads!  I just want to hear the beautiful music they make.  It's not so long ago there were gasps and shocks of horror from people across the world when pictures of Mariah Carey's plus size body circulated the globe.  Poor Mariah.  She wanted so much to concieve but mother nature wasn't going to let that happen until Mariah let her body be what it needed to be to carry her children.  Did it mean because Mariah was heavier she didn't sing as well or write those amazing lyrics she is known for?  No!  But people were cruel.  She endured it and now she has her beautiful twins.  But in her time of anxiety instead of the support she should have got all she got was ridicule and added stress.  She was still Mariah to me.  Fan then. Fan now.  Fan always!  Whatever her size.  And I don't mind if they decide to give in to the pressue to be slim.  If it is too much and they want to lose the weight so be it.  That's okay.  Because that's the freedom and choice they should be allowed.  Being bigger doesn't mean it's an excuse to be unhealthy people.  I am happy being big but I am always striving to be healthy at my size.  My way.  If I need hep I'll ask for it.  But it's my choice.  I am always reading up on what as a big person is healthy for me.  No ridiculous diets I can't follow or exercises I can't do but doing my homework on the science of what a big person needs to stay healthy.  No real help from the medical profession.  And so these celebrities should have that same choice but they great thing is when they actually speak out about thier size and embrace it - what an amazing thing for those of us in the world living with our sizes which the world at large has a problem with.  If the celebrities are saying the same things we are it can be heard better.  That's why most worthwhile causes try to have a celebrity headline their cause for them.

But I want to say right here there are clebrities who right from start made no apologies about their weight.  I'm talking about succesful bigger womand Mo'Nique.  She has made the world stand up and take notice her in spite of their prejudices about weight.  Made them see her as she really was.  Beautiful and multi talented.  Ode to Mo'Nique.  She was the first real plus size woman I didn't think " good on you - you're plus size and doing it".  No.  I thought "you're so funny, talented and I see you".  I was blind to the weight.  I want to be that way.   Beautiful inside and out.

I think this curvy celeb revolution has been way overdue but I end by saying thank you to you brave brave celebrities and non-celebrities who've spoken out to educate people about living our size.

Beautiful people, beYOUtiful!

Ray Ray xx

beYOUtiful! bigYOUtifuls!!!

Hello beYOUtifuls!

A very warm welcome to my brand new blog.  I've been thinking about doing this a long time and I'm really looking forward to getting started.  Like my blog title?  Cute huh?  Love it! Love it! Love it!  It says everything I want to say to people just like me.  People living with weight and being happy with who they are. Inside and out.  The world's meaning for what is beautiful has gotten skewed over the years but I like to think that it's just the spelling that changed. I like to think that whoever invented the word meant that to be truly beautiful you had to be happy with who you were inside.  To be you.  Be yourself and that this should be the basis for our own happiness.  To be beautiful you have to be-YOU-tiful.  Because of all the skewed thinking about people who live with weight I struggled to understand who I was.  Instead I allowed skewed thinking to infiltrate my head and my heart so that I carried around horrible feelings of self hatred and body dismorphia.  Now that was a heavy weight!  Until I realised that I had to discover who I really was on the inside and that it was down to me to educate myself about how to live with my weight. Then maybe, just maybe the critical world at large could  learn from me, or you (if you're plus size too) and others all over the world like us about this.  Since I started this journey I have learnt so much about myself and I am beginning to feel for the first time in my life the embers of the fire of independence and freedom.  I've learnt so much from self discovery and from others further along this same journey.  So encouraging, so positive, so healing.  I want to help too and hope to share my discoveries and thoughts within this blog.  But I am not a girl that will ever be defined  This blog won't just be about plus size living, fashion, music, health, etc.  It'll be what it will be. From a plus size girl's perspective.

Finally, what an inspiring start for my new blog this week.  In last week's Best Magazine here in the UK is a story about one of our best loved English actresses/comediennes Dawn French.  She is incredibly talented and has been successful for a long time as a plus size woman.  Recently she got a lot of positive publicity about having lost all her weight in the summer by being on a certain drastic weight loss programme that I'd lost weight on myself before.  She looked great but I knew having gone on the diet myself how hard it was to smile on the outside but really hurt on the inside.  It hurts to lose weight that big and that fast.  No one tells you what you have to sacrifice inside to get there.  Now she is putting it back on.  I know the pressure all too well.  She apparently has found a new man who loves her just as she was before the weight loss.  Herself.  That is beautiful. Someone, loves her in spite of weight and is allowing her to be herself.  It's great!  That's what it is all about.  I am sure as big as she is Dawn is still trying to stay healthy but doing it as she is via the person she is on the inside and not via some desperate measure or health programme to make her beautiful on the outside.

So I say to Dawn - and to you all - beYOUtiful, bigYOUtifuls!!!


Lots of Love

Ray Ray xx