Hello to all you beautiful, amazing people. I hope your year is off to a great start.

Looking back at last year’s posts I realize that there were more rants than raves about what happened in the fat community. I want to focus more on the positive, starting with my first post of the year:

First Rave: Somehow I missed this during the holidays but fullbeauty.com posted a wonderfully body positive video to promote their #OwnYourCurves campaign. Set to Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass”, the video features Stephanie Dunn, of dance troupe Pretty Big Movement, who enlists the help of models Nicole Zepeda and Racheal Hirsch to pick a kick ass outfit for a holiday event. Along with other members of Pretty Big Movement, model Christina Mendez, stylist Denise Caldwell, editor-in-chief of Plus Model Magazine Madeline Jones, and bloggers Liz Black and Shay Tucker, Stephanie proves that women of all sizes (with big bellies, legs, boobs and butts) are beautiful and stylish. We can dance joyfully and have a damned good time. While I’m still not crazy about the “skinny bitches” lyrics in Meghan’s song, fullbeauty.com put on a party that I want to attend!

Second Rave: The growing number who have taken notice of how harmful weight loss messages are… and doing something about it. Oprah Winfrey’s recent commercial for Weight Watchers begins with her saying “Inside every overweight woman is a woman she knows she can be. Many times you look in the mirror and you don’t even recognize your own self because you got lost, buried in the weight that you carry.” In other words, she’s not an accomplished woman unless she’s thin.

In response many women took to social media to state that they’re already the women they can be – fat or thin. Some tweeted photos of themselves to Weight Watchers with the message “This IS My Best Body”. Melissa Harris-Perry read an open letter to Oprah letting her know that she’s already “precisely the woman so many are striving to be. Who you are, what you have accomplished, how you have influenced and altered the world is all so much more important than your dress size. There is not one thing that you have done that would have been more extraordinary if you’d done it with a 25-inch waist.” Melissa also goes on to say that, “I worry as a mom, and as a woman, about the messages our daughters receive if they think a woman as phenomenal as you is still not enough unless she is thin”.

Also, at the time of year when we’re usually bombarded with countless “Lose Weight/Get In Shape” articles, more are encouraging the elimination of such resolutions in favor of focusing more on appreciating and loving the skin you’re in.

Third Rave: SmartGlamour’s #ImFlattered campaign. A couple of months ago, I attended their runway show and fell in love with Mallorie Dunn’s designs as well as the inclusion of models of various shapes, sizes, heights and abilities. Not to mention that, where most plus size designers and retailers have a limited size range, SmartGlamour’s clothing are ALL available in sizes XXS to 6X.

This recent campaign is an answer those who want to dictate what we should or shouldn’t wear because of our size or age. It points out that the word “flattering” means “pleasing” or “gratifying” and reminds us that the ones we should please and gratify when we dress is ourselves. If anyone has a problem with my wearing a dress that shows my arms or legs because I’m fat or in my 50’s… it’s THEIR problem, not mine.

Here’s to raving on in 2016 and beyond!!!!!!