A Betty is more than just a pretty face.  A Betty is a gal who knows who she is, and who she IS is downright old-fashioned, thank you very much.  

A taste for the vintage is the first clue she is who she is.  The sweet scent of a fragrance she wears that is reminiscent of freshly budding apple blossoms in the spring surely is a hint that she is of the Betty persuasion.  Her decorating style tends to make visitors to her home feel as though they have stepped gingerly back in time... speaking of ginger, she LOVES to cook, especially baking (sigh).  AND she loves Ginger Rogers movies, and pretty much ALL old movies, when little things like characterization, plot, and nuanced dialogue WERE the action.  She loves pretty, feminine things, cottage style, anything pink....pin-up girl hairstyles with red matte lipstick, Big Band music, anything Victorian, and she was a down-to-earth simple nature girl, before it was cool to be green.  Maybe you know a Betty; maybe you ARE a Betty, and you didn't even know it.
 
You know, it isn't anti-feminist, being a Betty.  We can live in modern times and still feel completely comfortable to be proud- to- be- old-fashioned.  In fact, it's one of the most feminist things we can do, being feminine and proud to be so.  We may have grown up in an era when women were coming into our own, when women were told we could be anything we wanted to be, even if that something was traditionally a role assigned only to men.  But, unfortunately, what the last several generations of girls growing up took from that was: we SHOULD be, and we should WANT to be, like men.

Well, Apple Blossom Betty is here to tell you...things are changing.  Not back to the way things used to be, when women were women, men were men, and nobody got to be other than the roles they were assigned...Not forward in the way progression happened when we were still figuring this stuff out, when women had to be men or they were looked down upon...But forward to a place where we can feel free to choose and decide what we like and who we want to be and celebrate who we are, even if we end up being feminine women who happen to love to cook and keep house and raise children and swoon while dancing in the arms of the men we love...all the things women have been brainwashed into thinking were passive, wishy-washy, or downright Stepford Wives-scary.  How sad that we had to give up an essential part of our Betty natures to become "feminists".  And how ironic that it is precisely the feminine we have disowned in such a process.  We can embrace our inner Betty , and give her a voice.  And give her some fine lilac-scented talcum dusting powder, for her to slather on after enjoying her her vanilla-soda in a luscious bubble bath.  Ah, sounds good, dear readers...ABB has some soaking to do, so more to come in a later installment.  Be well, behave, strive to be a better Betty!

And by that, I mean, Dear Heart, follow your inner promptings, especially if they lead you into a gingham apron and toward a vintage Yellow Ware bowl waiting for you to whip up some homemade fudge brownie batter (no such thing as trans fats or preservatives in our recipes)...or into a soft Doris-Day-baby-doll-nightie with fuzzy slippers to match, while you watch classic movies with your Betty pals...well, you get the picture.  Dolls, we may well call this "The Feminine Movement"...don't you agree it's time we were empowered for our God-given gentle-spirited gifts?  In such a masculine and aggression-oriented society, it would be a welcome breath of fresh air that just may save the planet.  But that will have to wait until another night.  I'm off to take my bath now, my sweet betties...au revoir & toodle-loo!  Until next time...

~Apple Blossom Betty