Hello hello friends, and welcome to Wijvenweek here at Lilac Colored Glasses! “What is Wijvenweek?” you may be wondering. Well I’ll explain it to you in abridged format loosely based on the e-mail I received from Goofball last night:

In Belgium recently, they had the “Bwards” (a Belgian blog award election). Afterwards there were multiple reactions that the winners were only “wijvenblogs”. In February, a computer magazine Clickx had also given some blog awards and similar comments were made when female bloggers won prizes.
The Dutch word “wijf” literally means “woman”, but has a negative connotation. Generally “wijf” connotes the image of an bitchy, nagging, ignorant woman. I think in English it is the equivalent of house frau or maybe the stereo typic image of the 50’s wife or today’s superficial brand of soccer mom.
Anyway, after some comments that the winners of some blog awards were “only ‘wijvenblogs’” some Flemish female bloggers felt that this was an unfair depiction. They felt the comments were a bit denigrating and incorrect, made by some male bloggers that feel dominant in the blogosphere. Clearly they have no idea what a real wijvenblog would look like.
As a fun and humorous reaction they launched “wijvenweek” (the week of the wijven). From March 24 until March 30, the female blogosphere is invited to blog about purely feminine subjects. We’ll do so in the most feminine way we can. So take out your high heels, brush your hair, search your make-up and get ready for some real “wijvenblog” time! We’ll turn the blogosphere as female as we can! Everyday there is a specific theme to blog about, all of which are stereotypically feminine.

Lately I’ve had the clear desire NOT to blog. This past weekend I had plenty of opportunity to write something and have idled on the computer, eternally surfing but refusing to write. Most likely it has something to do with my upcoming trip to Pittsburgh (tomorrow morning, woohoo) and the bout of bitchy restlessness I get right before I travel somewhere important. I excel at complaining and let things that are usually important to me fall by the wayside. Well thank you Goofball for contacting me about this! Not only have I been jumpstarted right when I need it most, but this is also a fantastic way to lead into Proudly Proclaiming on April 3rd.

Time to get started on Wijvenweek!