Over the last few days, I’ve  been doing a little shopping in preparation for my upcoming trip to Hawaii (one week from tomorrow!). To be honest, these last few months curled up in a chair working long hours at the office, sitting in front of the computer, and eating lots of delicious lunches has taken a bit of a toll, and searching for the perfect swimsuit wasn’t quite as enjoyable as it could have been. It’s okay, though. A person can only have so many priorities at a time, and I know I wouldn’t trade managing this project for the world — not even to be a few pounds lighter. I’ll take care of that when I’m done with this.

Cue Lammily — this adorable little Barbie alternative designed by Nickolay Lamm. My cousin Grace posted a link to an article about this doll, and I thought it was really cool. I clicked through to the photos, and what happened next caught me somewhat by surprise. As a fairly rational, successful, 32-year-old human being, I can honestly tell you that seeing three pictures of this doll made me feel better about myself. Better than when people compliment my outfits. Better than when my boyfriend tells me I look beautiful. Better than when I’m having the most amazing hair day ever. That’s completely and utterly ridiculous if you think about it. I didn’t even know that I cared about not resembling a Barbie until I saw this doll. The world makes women think really strange things sometimes, I think.

And while I agree with these sentiments that Lammily isn’t any more ‘normal’ than Barbie (and labeling her as such would completely defeat the purpose), she’s a little closer to my five-foot-tall version of ‘normal’, and apparently, that means the world to me. =)