BLOGTONIA

I've been thinking about this idea for a while now. Sitting back and observing some behaviors {in myself and others} has finally pushed me to take this post out of draft and publish it. What got me here is not a new concept or a new set of thoughts so I wouldn't pop any corn if I were you.
I was in church this week and noticed the difficulty that women, in particular, have admitting weaknesses and imperfections {I'm sure men have the same problem}. It's sad really; we are all imperfect in our own way - yet we tend to see ourselves at our worst and everyone else at their best. It's really a trend in most social circles or networks - even the blogosphere.
Bare with me for a moment. I read a handful of blogs pretty regularly. Most are owned by women. All of these women are well accomplished; they cook fabulous meals, keep a spotless home and always look perfect. Oh, and most of them have thriving careers as mothers, artists or business leaders. Or so it seems.
Clemantine has no tag for "disasters" or "things I suck at" or "absolute failures". And why would I want to spend anymore time even thinking about these things? They suck enough when I'm actually going through them; I don't want to come home and share them with the world. Having said that, I think there is real value in understanding that everyone has moments of failure and embarrassment and disappointment. And it helps when we are willing to talk about it.
This is where I come in. I don't think my concept is going to save the world or anything. But it might just help one or two people out there come to grips with their own flaws and be okay with them; they are in such great company, after all.

Let me introduce you to BlogTonia:
My sister recently said to me, "I'm afraid to bring my girls to your house because they might break something." Now, it's important to note that aside from a few pieces of furniture and a rug, my house is empty. There is barely anything but a dish to break. But after reading through my posts, she assumed my house was totally put together, full of many of the expensive things I post about {er, dream of}. Without really thinking much about it, my sister has come to know me as BlogTonia.
BlogTonia is always in a good mood, sees the beauty in everything and everyone. She rarely if ever disagrees with her darling husband and usually has most things under control. Oh, she also moved into a beautiful home and knows exactly how she wants to outfit it. Did I mention she always has fabulous and expensive clothes and rarely worries about anything? Blogging has created lots of perfect women and BlogTonia is one of them.

Meet real Tonia:
Real Tonia often wakes up mean and ready for a good argument. She often wears a white v-neck Hanes undershirt {at least 2X per week} to work and never irons anything. Real Tonia has gained a few pounds so she, in truth, has about five pairs of pants she can fit into, barely. She's not happy about this and it's one of the things that makes her mean. Real Tonia picks at her cuticles, eats chips-n-salsa for dinner when her husband is traveling, currently has a sink full of dishes and wears Chuck Taylors more then just on casual Friday. She forgets people's birthdays, waits until the last minute for everything, and runs consistently at least five minutes late. She puts on sweats the second she gets home, sometimes sleeps with her makeup on and will admit at times to going to bed without brushing her teeth.

Well, anyway, you get the point, right? What I'm trying to explain is that what some of you have come to think is real, isn't. And while I'll probably go on thinking that all those perfect blogging women still exist, I'm bursting my own bubble.

What you can expect from Real Tonia:
BlogTonia will always be there because to write, always, as Real Tonia would put me more in the category of Plath's The Bell Jar and that's just not light lunchtime reading. But Real Tonia will try to be a bit more honest about things. If I try a project and it goes terribly wrong, I'll say so. If I have a mishap or crazy experience, I'll share it. The important thing is that I become a cohort and NOT an unrealistic girl with a house full of breakable things.

Update: What do you think of the idea of Tagging other bloggers to "get real"? Read more here.