Muse Monday

"You know, I never felt like I was young at the time," she says, "and obviously having Mia was absolutely planned...It's only now when I meet people who are my age and single, [with] no kids, that I reflect and say, Bloody hell, I really have lived at a fast pace."

-Kate Winslet on becoming a mother at 25
from harpersbazaar.com



images via: Google

Muse Monday

"As a working mother, the last thing on my mind when I'm trying to get my son out the door and to school on time is how I look. I still love clothes, but they just don't fit into my life the way they used to. For work, I get to dress up and somebody does my hair and makeup, and its like a little holiday for a few hours. But for everyday, it would be foolish to spend more time on my outfit than I do on my son."
-Sarah Jessica Parker



images via: Google

Muse Monday

Everyone say hi to this week's Monday Muse Alexis, single supermom to two adorable twin girls McKinley and Crystal! Want to be my next muse? Click here!

I used to be the center of my universe. I spent my days completely preoccupied with myself; doing things that made me feel beautiful and having a lot of fun. These days I still have fun, but sometimes it's really hard. Sometimes I feel tired and alone and I want to cry. I never pictured my life turning out this way. And though there are fleeting moments of distress, I now know without a doubt that I am a woman in every sense and that I am absolutely amazing.
I love myself more than I ever did when I felt beautiful every day. I know exactly who I am and what I am made of. Giving birth to my two babies has shown me what my body is capable of. I respect it so much more now. I don't value my body according to the number on the scale anymore.
I am so honored and thankful to have been given the most important job in the world. Sometimes I don't feel worthy of the task. To help guide and nurture these two beautiful, amazing girls into incredible women whom I will help realize early what took me 23 years to figure out: That they are incredible and amazing, beautiful, and capable of everything wonderful in this world.




And with her girls after running a benefit for cancer marathon!

Muse Monday

I had a wonderful suggestion. Why choose celebrity moms when there are millions of other mothers who do not walk the red carpet or have personal stylists but have remarkable stories to tell and inspirational thoughts/hopes/experiences to share? I want YOU to be my next Monday Muse. All you have to do is e-mail me how motherhood makes you feel, how it has changed you, altered you, anything. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, or a full essay! Please include a photo of yourself doing something you love, or a picture that you look at and remember feeling beautiful or happy or completely fulfilled. Please send to stellagun@gmail.com. I cannot wait to read what you have to share.

xoxo,
Val and the pea

Muse Monday

"Sometimes I'll be telling my husband, 'I think I'm cracking up,'" she says with a sigh. "Sometimes you just need a minute to say, 'I think I'm cracking' and just acknowledge it."
-Tina Fey

Muse Monday

"The babies are amazing... They begin each day all warm and sleepy, smelling of promise."
-Julia Roberts, in a letter to Oprah Winfrey

image via: Google

Muse Monday

"When you're having dinner with your kids and your husband and someone says something funny or you're dying laughing because your three-year-old made a fart joke, it doesn't matter what else is going on. That's real happiness."
-Gwyneth Paltrow


image via: Google

Muse Monday

“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” -Sophia Loren

image via Google

photographed by Alfred Eisenstaedt