Beauty is...

Last night I went to the movies with Aly. As we were waiting for the movie to begin we started talking about...what else? Wrinkles. I say what else, because at this point in my life is there any more fascinating topic? It's probably how little kids feel when they start to realize they have eyeballs and they can't stop poking 'em. A fasinating discovery that deserves exploration.

So the talk moved to my blog on whether you should have plastic surgery or not, and then if not, what kinds of things you could and should do to improve appearance. Peels, micro-dermabrasian, botox, restalin (?spelling?) and other procedures were discussed. The point here is we were very focused on discussing how we could stop getting old and start looking better.

Then the movie started. For those of you who have seen the movie Penelope you've probably already made the mental leap to where this is going. Here's part of the synopsis:

'Penelope' is the story of a young woman, Penelope Wilhern (Christina Ricci), born to wealthy socialites (Richard E. Grant and Catherine O'Hara). Penelope is afflicted by a secret family curse that can only be broken when she is loved by one of her own kind. Hidden away in the family's majestic home, she is subjected to meeting a string of blue-bloods through her parent's futile attempt to marry her off and break the curse. Each suitor is instantly enamored with Penelope (and her sizable dowry)? until the curse is revealed.

Now I'm going to write more about what happens so..if you haven't seen it and want to consider yourself forewarned that this is a spoiler ALERT.

Penelope finally breaks out of the house, reveals herself to the world and after some shock discovers that she can make friends and not everyone is horrified by her looks. Finally, she has the chance to marry a blue-blood (one of her own kind) and get rid of her snout, but at the last minute she decides she can't do it if she doesn't love him. She runs in to the house with her mother following and her mother tells her this is her last chance to change. Penelope looks at her mom and says, "I like who I am." And of course, this is what finally transforms her--learning to love herself.

Maybe a bit heavy-handed and probably a flawed movie for most critics, but I loved it and the message it conveyed. Especially when perfectly juxtaposed against our pre-movie conversation. As Aly said, "Isn't that great that we were talking about plastic surgery right before we watched this movie on loving who you are??" Ah, life's lessons. Perhaps it was a message from the universe. Will I stop considering peels, and fills, and botox, oh my? Let's just say I did last night, but I'll probably have to watch the movie weekly to stop cold turkey.