It's day 29. Does your computer know when your period starts? My iPod just warned me that I'm about to be incredibly cranky. Using my past blog posts as a guide, by searching for key words like "horrible cramps" and "PMS", I found some details of my last few periods to set up the background data. For years I've found myself blogging in the middle of the night while crying and complaining. Then some commenter, usually my sister, will go "Your life sucks? You mean just like how it did right about this time last month?" How embarrassing that it always hits me as a giant surprise.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." "Beauty is only skin deep." "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Bartlett's Quotations is full of quotes about beauty. Great words by great poets.This week we'd like to introduce you to another great poet talking about beauty: Stephanie from The NieNie Dialogues is our BlogHer of the Week with her post Do You Still See Me?

I'm not a huge fan of scales. I'd like them a lot better if they were only used as tools to assist people in maintaining a healthy lifestyle or to help medical professionals treat patients. Unfortunately the scale is more often used as a weapon to harm ourselves and others (and the harm is done primarily to women.)

It's hard out there for a plastic surgeon. I mean, all you want to do is beautify the world when suddenly  the economy tanks and then man, it's like people aren't even spending money on a quick after-work liposuction treatment anymore! What's a surgeon to do?Well if you're Dr. Michael Salzhauer, you make an iPhone app.According to the press release, iSurgery "combines personal image modification with high tech gaming features."

I first became aware of the buzz about Sapphire's debut novel Push in 1995 or 1996. The novel gained attention for its distressing storyline but possibly more because the novelist received a $500,000 advance, a sum unheard of in those days for a first novel. Well, unheard of except that another writer that year had received even more, Jacquelyn Mitchard.

Ma Li has only one arm. Zhai Xiaowei has one leg. And below is a video of them dancing. They dance into the holes in people's lives. In the wordlessness of their dance, libraries of the soul open and volumes of unutterable wisdom fly off the shelves. A knowing comes forward. We all know this. We recognize the feeling of brokenness. We know what we do not have, will never have. We know that all the pieces in the world are not whole, not complete. We know that we needed, and that we need.

In September, Glamour magazine included a small photo of model Lizzi Miller. The photo wasn't on the cover, or even in a prominent spread; instead, it was tucked away on page 194, next to a piece about body image titled "What Everyone But You Sees About Your Body." The response, of course, was overwhelming; women were enthralled by Miller's size 12-14 body, particularly her tummy. Because she had a tummy, which was remarkable for a model in a fashion magazine.Jezebel's Margaret Hartman appreciated Glamour's attempt to include real women, but hesitantly:

My daughter's hair is crazy long. Like past-her-waist long. People ask me all the time if I've ever cut it (she had a bob when she was two and gets it cut every few months) and if it's hard to take care of (heck, yes). You see, I don't make her cut until it fails the toilet test.You read that right.

I read this article about a new show that will debut in January and my head exploded. I was IM'ing with a friend when I read about What I Hate About Me and decided that ranting to her alone was not enough. I had to share this nugget with you, dear BlogHer community and see if I'm over reacting or if a show about self-loathing sounds as loathsome to you as it does to me.

Is it possible to eat cookies and lose weight?  Well, Dr. Sanford Siegal would certainly like you to think so.  After all, at $56 for a week's supply, Dr. Siegal is going to make an estimated $18 million this year selling his weight-loss cookies.   It's called The Cookie Diet, and if you like cookies it may sound like a great way to lose weight.  But is it?

It used to be that parental praise was doled out sparingly, if at all. Our parents and grandparents didn't expect their folks to constantly tell them what a good job they were doing or how great they were; that's simply not what was done. And then pop psychology came along and told us that out kids need to develop good self-esteem, and that happens with our praise, and then somehow an entire generation of "Good job!"ers took over the world.

Not too long ago, designer Mark Fast caught our attention for including plus-sized models in his London Fashion Week runway show. Fast's decision inspired some really interesting discussion, both here at BlogHer and elsewhere, about everything from what constitutes a "plus" size to why couture matters. For the most part, though, everyone agreed that Fast's choice to show his clothes on women with actual curves was a step in the right direction.Everyone, that is, except Karl Lagerfeld.