“I want to grow old without facelifts. I want to have the courage to be loyal to the face I have made.” ~Marilyn Monroe

I was reading through a magazine this weekend and saw that Michelle Williams (the blonde actress from Dawson’s Creek, not the forgettable ex-member of Destiny’s Child) is going to be playing Marilyn Monroe in an upcoming production. I remembered this quote that I wrote down a while back, and it seemed to fit with the general theme of a holiday weekend.

I spent the weekend with my family, with my parents and sisters and nieces. I don’t want to be the kind of daughter, or sister, or aunt (or friend, girlfriend, etc.) that doesn’t live life to the fullest. I don’t want to skip a boat ride because it will be windy and make my hair look disgusting. I don’t want to not laugh and smile in fear of having lines on my face one day. I want my nieces to look up to me and think I’m a fun Aunt who is daring and silly. Man-go-round always tells me that one of the first things he noticed about me (five years ago, I was 21 for the record) is that I had little smile lines on my face, and that he knew that we’d get along great if I did that much smiling.

Therefore, I’d like to give a general “cheers” to Marilyn, to my family and friends, and to anyone anywhere who enjoys the spice of life without obsessing about the appearance of things (physical appearance, money, doing what’s expected… I could go on).

Here’s some photographic evidence that I’ve been doing just that:

What fun things did you do this weekend? Do you care if you get dirty, or don’t look perfect, or show signs of aging? Or do you see it as a life well lived?

Meri