The good, the bad, and the UUUUGGGGGGLLLLYYYYY!!!!

Those who know me, know that I'm not super-girlie. In fact, I can go months on end without wearing makeup or jewelry. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE both. I have too much of both. Blame my artistic nature and love of beautiful things. 


This morning, on GMA, they were talking about bacteria in cosmetics and they all got grossed out about the cultures that were grown from their own products. So I started looking for images of really gross things at microscopic levels (cuz I'm just weird that way) and ya know what, scary, gross and harmful can be beautiful too. This image isn't an awesome piece of modern art ...it's Chlamydia! Yeah...EWWWW! (although it does inspire me to paint).


No seriously, IT IS! Not that this would form in your makeup (oh god I hope not!) but it did get me wondering...what do you consider to be beautiful? Your children? Nature? Sounds? Smells? And what is "ugly"? 


I loved the television show Ugly Betty, which recently saw it's final season, but I always hated the name. I know the whole premise of the show was that "different" does not equal "ugly" and I applaud the writers and creators for their amazing work and how well they wrapped it up. I managed to hold back the tears during the last episode until at the very end, they took away the "ugly"...I bawled! 


Recalling all the story-lines and plots that this show covered and all the characters, I considered: were any of these fictional people really "ugly"? Even "Willie" had her genuine human moments. So what is true ugliness? 


One of my favorite childhood anecdotes that always comes to mind when discussing ugliness; me, mom and my sister were up late one Easter Eve dying eggs. It was REALLY late and as tradition dictates, we get silly when tired. Well, the eggs cracked during boiling and we didn't have extras, so they got colored too. Someone decided to use those to make egg salad or deviled eggs or something. As the eggs were peeled and cut, mom observes that the dye made it well into the center of the egg, and said "Beauty is only skin deep, but ugly goes ALL the way thru". Now, this may not amuse you nearly as much as it did us, but "all the way thru" is still a standing inside joke with me and mom. 


Think about the past week and tell me one example of beauty and one of ugly that you experienced. I'm curious to know.