What's better than an average doll? One that gets her period, of course!
Wait, what?
Yep, that's right. Now your kiddo's doll can pretend to have her period, thanks to a new line of products called "Period Party."
Nickolay Lamm, creator of the Lammily doll — the one that's kinda like Barbie but has proportions similar to the average 19-year-old American woman — took things a step further: normalizing periods. (They're already normal, of course, but we don't always act like it.)
Why yes, this is a doll lying in a lovely field of doll-sized menstrual products. All images courtesy of Nickolay Lamm.
Called the "Period Party," this kit allows the Lammily doll to (pretend to) have her period.
It includes a pair of underwear:
A sticker sheet of pads and liners:
And a calendar with sticker dots to track cycles:
Cool idea, right?
The Period Party is all about helping everyone feel more comfortable talking about — and experiencing — a totally normal part of life.
I asked Nickolay Lamm what he had in mind when he created it. “Menstruation is still taboo in our society, and some even use it as an insult," he explained. That's certainly true — I've heard plenty of guys asking each other if they "need a tampon" or whether they "started their period" to imply they're not “manly" enough.
Even more importantly, let's talk about the girls who are, you know, actually starting their periods. “I just don't think that something as core to a woman's life and health as menstruation should be seen as embarrassing in any way, shape, or form,“ Nickolay said. “If it weren't for menstruation, I wouldn't even be alive right now! So why not celebrate it, why not make it as accepted as any other bodily function?"
Can I get an amen?!
Nickolay was inspired by these awesome ads by HelloFlo (they're super funny if you haven't heard of them). After seeing them, he thought it would be pretty cool if the Lammily doll could have her period. So he got to work, collaborating with his mom, who helped design everything.
The result is this great kit that comes with a fun sheet of facts, written in relatable language for preteen girls.
Normalizing something that's actually normal but that we don't always treat as normal? I'm totally here for that!
You can purchase the Period Party here.
Check out this great video. It's funny and cute!



A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 



An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
- YouTube youtube.com
Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.