Sometime in the early 90s, one of the Chicago radio stations played a song featuring an angry female repeatedly saying, “I’m beautiful, dammit!” The song was memorable simply for that line, and my girlfriends and I would often repeat it as we firmly believed in the power of suggestion.

But the psychology of positive thinking only goes so far when we’re talking about appearances. And let’s be honest, ladies: if you reach for the mascara before you can even think about leaving the house, you are concerned with your appearance (Cue theme song:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

).

So in the spirit of New Year’s Resolutions, I am offering my tips on enhancing the natural beauty all women have.

1. Take care of your skin (daily cleansing, exfoliating, moisturizing). Retool your skin-care routine with the seasons.
2. Ditch the black mascara and go for brown if you are have blonde or light brown hair and it’s daylight.
3. Lay off the eyeliner. Nine times out of ten, eyeliner detracts from your eyes, which are, after all, the windows to your inner self.
4. Learn what colors look best on you and where to apply them.
5. Find a foundation that’s an exact match for your skin tone.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask a professional for guidance! (Ahem.)

Think beautiful thoughts and take care of yourself, dammit.

Diver Dan mentioned me in his blog last night. Specifically he mentioned that I maintain the kids’ Web site. Once upon a time, this was quite true, but since we’ve moved closer to the family who used to only see the kids online, the site is updated only rarely and isn’t that impressive. So last night I scrambled to clean up the site, to make a few improvements I’d been meaning to do (like create a photo slideshow using Google’s Picasa to replace the static photo gallery) before Diver Dan’s tech buddies descended on the site and rolled their eyes. It’s still not impressive (at least not to someone technical; I think I wow my momfriends when they find out I run the site, not Dan), but at least all the links work.

In the same post, Diver Dan also bestowed upon me the title of Great Writer. I hear that a lot from my family and friends. I can’t say if it’s true. Are they taken in by a turn of phrase or an image that releases an old fond memory? Or am I just that good? The Internal Editor says they are fools, that I am not great. Big Ego disagrees, of course, but she also thinks I can sing and am the prettiest girl in the room (Cue theme song:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

).

Knowing that people may be flocking to the kids’ site put me on a deadline to spiff it up. But will knowing that people expect great things from me, the great writer, put me on a deadline to create something great? That will be my New Year’s Resolution, my deadline. This year I will begin The Great American Novel.

So Anna comes home from preschool today with a construction paper likeness of yours truly. It had blue eyes, red lips and goatee, and dark brown hair (time to hit the salon, I guess. Cue theme song:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

). The caption at the bottom of the portrait, written by the teacher, reads, “I love my mom because she runs the lawn mower!” I had to laugh at the out-of-the-mouths-of-babes statement. Of all the things she could have come up with on the spur of the moment, this is it. As I sat contemplating the sentiments hidden in her words, I came to realize that it says so much about her view of the world, about her ideas of gender equality. I grew up thinking of cutting the grass as a very Dad responsibility (I admit it, some viewpoints die hard). But in our house now, within this little family Dan and I have created, the kids see mom and dad sharing domestic responsibilities, and more important, I think, they do not hear us label jobs as woman’s or man’s work. And we love it each for everything we do, even the mundane. I think I’ll feel a little different the next time I’m outside pushing the mower.