pink dilemma

having a baby comes with a lot of stigmas. if you're having a baby boy, you shower him in blue, trucks, and jungle-print. if you're having a girl, she gets smothered in pink, flowers, and butterflies. if you're one of those patient souls who doesn't want to know the sex of the baby until he or she is born, your options are green or yellow. however, these stereotypes pose several problems for me:

1- i don't like pink. i never really have. maybe it's because i was a tomboy (still am, i suppose) and didn't like the association. but mostly it's just not a color that i find aesthetically pleasing. the brights are too harsh and the pastels are too wimpy. ok, i rephrase it: i don't like most shades of pink. some are good. but i certainly don't want to decorate my nursery or dress my child primarily in a color that i don't like.

2- i hate stereotypes. my personal mission in middle- and high-school was to break stereotypes. i don't appreciate being categorized; i don't think many people do. so i created a new mold for myself, taking bits and pieces from each "type" as it suited me.

3- why pink?! why do girls necessarily get pink and boys necessarily get blue?! why does it have to be that way? i guess this comes from my sociology background but when i hear or think about the typical male and female stereotypes, i think, "oh great, just another stupid way we've been socialized to fit within our gender norms." and then i want to show myself and others that it doesn't have to be that way.

so pink... not that great of a color for me. but i do really like green. i thought i would decorate the nursery in green and brown because those are soothing, natural colors to me. one of my favorite color-combos (they were my wedding colors, incidetally). but then my sister-in-law did her nursery in those colors, which means i can't use the same ones (i know it doesn't really matter. but to me it does a little bit). plus, i thought, there are other great colors that need to be explored.

and then i found a solution! lavendar. yes, the other stereotypical (but less-often used) "female" color. i was flipping through my feb. edition of better homes and gardens (thanks, mom!) and i found my inspiration. lavendar. purple is an excellent color and i thought, "yes, i could deal with a whole lot of purple." it's one of those colors that looks great in tons of different shades, tones, and saturations, plus you can mix it up by using more or less blue in the color. so now i'm dreaming in purple. i even changed my blogging bg from green to purple. if it's purple, i love it.

note the color-scheme in this one. not a purple overkill, but still pretty. also, the green accents are nice.

i am in love with this picture. imagine the feeling of this room being transformed into a nursery. yep, that's what i'm dreaming of.

i wish i could find the original inspiration pics on bhg.com, but i can't. so for now, just know that one day when chris and i know where we'll be living for a while and when we have a room to make a nursery, it will be lavendar.