Are Women Natural Naggers!?

ATTENTION: This is a "No Men Allowed" post, which means that if you are male, mentally, emotionally or physically. . . You can exit stage left. ::Pauses for exit:: Just in case, you (man) has decided to continue on and read this, I just want you to know that this by no means justifies you calling a woman a nag. This is just an unanswered question that I would like to pose to the female (mentally, emotionally, and physcially) population.

Thanks,

Managment.

As you all may or may not know, last year I went on this "Eat Pray Love" journey, which was like my God love, self-Love . . . self-discovery trip. This journey included a long list of self-indulging "To Do's," as well as a list of "To NOT Do's." One of the things on my "To NOT Do" list was "get into a relationship." For clarification, that means I was NOT suppose to get into a relationship. So. . . needlesstosay, this was something that I did NOT do so good at.

Just to save face, I will say that I did add that IF my dream guy came during this time period I would not say "NO, I MUST EAT, PRAY, LOVE. . . GET THEE BEHIND ME." Yet and still, I did say that I would just focus on me. . . which is fairly hard with a man.

ANYWAYS. . . the point of this post is not to discuss my failures but my issues. After a year (as of next week) of being in a relationship (Yay, Us!), I find myself with this increasingly urgent need to nag. It's like something innate that births itself in every conversation and results in my very wonderful boyfriend, thinking that he's just not so wonderful.

WHAT IS THAT!?

Is it just me? Am I cursed with a "nagging" gene? It's like one second I will be talking to my boyfriend about life, love, and happiness and then two seconds later I'm telling him something I don't like. I can't say that he is without flaws, but is it a female trait to have to address EVERY flaw?

I honestly have no idea. I just know that I'm starting to feel bad. I think part of my motivation to address EVERY little issue is that I really want to be pro-active about problem areas. I don't want to be one of those women that look back 30 years and thinks, "If I would have just told him that I don't like the way he chews on the first date, then we wouldn't be getting a divorce now."

Okay maybe the issues are a little bit more important BUT yet in still. . . How do we address issues without becoming a nag. That's what I want to know.

Help a sistah out.

Body Image & The Sauna

"Respect My Sexy" - Me

Do you know how many different body types there are in this world!? I thought I knew, but not NEARLY as much as I know now, especially, after going to JeJu, a Korean Sauna in Duluth, for the first time. First, I would like to thank my best friend for requesting a spa outing for her 25th birthday (Happy Birthday Za Za!). Although, I was super tired and felt like I was on the verge of death, I must say, JeJu def knows what it's doing.

Only $25 and you have access to a hot, warm, and cold Jacuzzi, wet saunas, dry saunas, hot saunas, cold saunas (if that makes any sense), food, mats to go to sleep, massages, showers, and the list goes on. I think it took us about 30 minutes, just to explore the options. 

Regardless, one of the things that was a little hard to take in, at first, was that one of the first rules of JeJu is that  none of the wet activities can be done with clothes (In other words, you have to be BUTT NAKED). Go figure! I can't really say that I thought I was liberated enough to walk around sans clothing prior to this trip,  with women I know and especially not with women that I don't know, all in the name of relaxation. . . so, as one would imagine this was a little difficult for me.

This was difficult for a couple of reasons, starting with the fact that it was weird. Let me correct that, it was weird to me. I have never been completely naked in front of my friends before. . . Let alone, "randomers". Another reason, this was difficult was because I couldn't find the point in it. . . like why would you just be naked. . . for no reason. Lastly and probably most important, I didn't want to see any one's naked body, nor did I want to share my own.

So. . . when it was time to strip. . . I did mine in s l o w  m o t i o n. Looking around, seeing if any one was looking and covering my goods. It was pretty intense for a moment. Fortunately, the two friends that I came with were naked before I could say. . . well, naked.

So, once I got over the nudity. . .The spa was WONDERFUL. So wonderful, that the nudity quickly became one of the things that I loved about it. Seeing so many women of different backgrounds, colors, ages, shapes, and sizes really challenged me to think about how I felt about my own body. I thought about how silly body image was in a room full of naked women, some un-scarred while others were scarred, some big, others small, but all beautiful and unapoligetic.

Which can very much so translate in the regular, clothed world as: Everyone has their imperfections, but we are all beautiful and other than health considerations, you have to learn to love your body, as well as your innerself.

All-in-all, Jeju was therapuetic for my body, as well as my soul. I highly suggest it! :)

Think. Happy. (Naked). Thoughts.