Bad Ass Babes is a monthly series that features women who have gone out into the universe and made it a better, more interesting place. These are the women who make the world go ’round. The women that our daughters need to know about and hear about and learn from.

Emma Watson is pretty much the epitome of Bad Ass Babe. Not only is she a talented actress that I’m happy to see my girls look up to, but she has also chosen to use her voice to speak out for a cause she feels strongly about: feminism.

Let’s start from the beginning…

I’m in love with Elizabeth Gilbert right now.

I mean, to be honest, I’ve loved her since Eat, Pray, Love. It waned, as loves like that do, but I’m currently experiencing a dramatic resurgence in my obsession with her thoughts and perspective (and the way she uses language like a boss).

First, there’s her new book, Big Magic, which I cannot wait to crack open. It’s more or less about embracing your creativity and letting go of suffering—um, sign me up.

Then there’s her new podcast, Magic Lessons, in which she talks to women who are having a creative problem, gives them advice, and then gets another perspective from one of her amazing, talented, successful friends. The goal of the podcast is to offer “road maps for the path to creativity, the extra nudge you need when you’re feeling stuck.”

I had been meaning to listen to this one but got my extra nudge when my friend Rena said it was awesome and started texting me quotes from the first two episodes. I was hooked without ever even listening to it. And once I did listen to it, I was left feeling so inspired. I was completely sure I could conquer anything.

Elizabeth Gilbert has this sort of infectious positivity that can’t help but rub off on you. But it’s not a fake, just smile and nod kind of positivity. She tells you that shit is hard but you need to pick yourself off, dust yourself off, and do what you need to do. She is at once a peaceful, loving, earth momma and a fiercely strong warrior queen. She’s basically my spirit animal.

I have a major girl crush on Mindy Kaling. Like MAJOR. And since season two of The Mindy Project starts tonight, I thought this would be the best possible time to force you onto my bandwagon. That way you’ll be bored tonight and you’ll decide to flip it on and then tomorrow morning you’ll be all sorority girl excited and ready to recap the episode’s events as if it were last night’s frat party. Or not. But you’ll definitely be way into it and thanking me for it at the very least.

So this post is mostly about my Mindy crush, but since she writes and stars in The Mindy Project (Jon Stewart calls her a triple threat since she is a writer, actor, and producer), it can’t help but be a love letter to that too.

My husband calls the show “twee.” I call him a jerk. Let’s be real here. He watches every episode with me (albeit fake begrudgingly) and has been known to giggle (yes, giggle) at some of the jokes. Why? Well, because…

Before I start, I should admit that I’ve never seen one of her movies. Strange, I know, but true. Silver Linings Playbook is totally on my list. I just haven’t made it happen yet.

But that doesn’t matter. Familiar with her work or not, I have a total girl crush on Jennifer Lawrence.

My Jennifer Lawrence lovin’ all started last year at the Hunger Games premiere with this dress.

I wrote a post last year about how in love I was with this look. It’s not something I would ever wear but she looked absolutely amazing in it. Like, insane. And I was immediately jealous (mostly of her butt). It was the first time I took notice of her.

From there I just seemed to stumble upon more and more reasons to crush on her. So what do I do when I develop major crushes on celebrities? Why I force reasons you should love them down your throat, of course.

Here are 5 reasons you should love Jennifer Lawrence too.