The Rachel Zoe Project

Does Rachel Zoe not want to get pregnant because she's afraid of getting fat? She says no. But she also says she doesn't know if she's strong enough to make a successful pregnancy possible. Her marriage seems to be on the line over this issue, so whatever her thoughts or fears, she's playing for big stakes.

The Rachel Zoe Project - Photo Galleries - Show Shots - Episode 8: Fashion Addiction | Bravo TV Official Site

The Rachel Zoe Project - Photo Galleries - Show Shots - Episode 8: Fashion Addiction | Bravo TV Official Site

Double Standard

Suppose you opened your car door and found 20 butterflies fluttering about inside. Suppose you walk into your bedroom and see15 ladybugs on your wall. Would you freak out and think a plague has befallen you? You'd probably say awww, look at those pretty butterflies and carefully help them out of your car. The ladybugs would probably get the royal treatment, too. Butterflies and ladybugs are harmless, right? They don't carry diseases, they don't bite. They're completely harmless. Well, so are stinkbugs. They don't bite or carry diseases. Thankfully, I've never had more than 20 in my car, but let's face it - they're ugly. I hate them. I haven't talked to anyone yet who likes them. They look like a miniature prehistoric animal. They look scary and gross. The smell is not too bad unless you stomp a bunch of them at one time, so it all comes down to their looks. I'm starting to feel sorry for them. They're slow and maybe stupid or naive because they let you pick them up with a paper towel and mush them (of course you're making faces and cringing as you kill them). They go for rides on (and in) your car and get displaced. Do they miss their family? They hug a lot, maybe they bond and mourn when one of their own gets driven to Martinsburg, never to return. I feel sorry for them, but I hate them all the same. I wouldn't hate them if they looked like butterflies or ladybugs. I'm not sure I like what that says about me.

Dirty Sexy Politics

So while I was getting ready for work this morning, I caught part of an interview with Meghan McCain (daughter of John Mccain). She has a new book out talking about her experiences during her father's run for the White House. Supposed to be a quick, entertaining read. But I gleaned this great quote from her this morning when she was talking about how discouraging it is for young people and women specifically to go into politics. She said that when she began speaking out on various topics, the media reaction was, "Oh that's Meghan McCain. She's a size 12. She's too fat to talk!" And yet, she is out there talking; not a serious politico, but finding her own voice in spite of superficial criticism. BTW, she says she'd support Mitt Romney in the next election.....

Know Your 5

Speaking of losing weight for your health.....I watched these 2 Dr. Oz videos last night and thought they had really good (if scary) information about why losing weight has everything to do with better health. And for more health information,in addition to www.webmd.com, a good website is www.medlineplus.gov

How well do you know your own health? Dr. Oz reveals the 5 lifesaving tests everyone should take. From blood pressure readings to blood sugar levels,...

Chronicle of losing weight: Is it mind over method?

Over the course of three months I have gained 20lbs of the 30lbs I have lost of the course of a year and half.
This happened for some many reasons.  So lets say the stress and anxiety of life got the better of me.  Once I realized I had gained the weight back I was mad and upset with myself.  How could I do this!!  Instead of forgiving myself for dealing with my anxiety and stress the only way I know how at the time, I tried to punish myself my keeping myself on a DIET.  So instead of losing weight I kept getting frustrated.  The one day I realized I was trying to lose weight and that never worked for me. So why was I torturing myself for what I know does not work for me.  So I went make to what does.  Wanting to be healthy.  So I have lost 3lbs so far. YEAH!! But through this bump in my losing weight saga, I thought about the questions that I use as a title of this posting.  Is it really the method or the act that we use or is it how we choose the method that matters?  When I choose to lose weight by dieting I can't lose weight but when I choose to eat healthy for my own well being I do lose weight.  Both are to lose weight but one is, for me, torture and the other is way to keep me going.

Becoming High Maintenance

I'm 50-plus years old, and I had my first manicure/pedicure just a couple years ago.  I didn't grow up with such indulgences in my life - and never actually missed them.  It was only with socializing with other women, that I was drawn into the mani/pedi thing.  When I had my first pedicure, about 1/2 way thru it, I admitted that Ithis was my first pedicure. The pedicurist (?) said she could tell this was my first (sounds so virginal)!  Not because my feet were in bad shape, but because I was so anxious.  Who was I to ask someone else to attend to my feet!?  A friend who was there said she would have taken pictures if she'd known this was my first time.  A right of passage! However, since that time, I've gotten several more treatments and have relaxed a little.  These mani/pedi's include massage, and you get to sit in a chair that massages you while everyting else is going on.  Ahhhhh!!!!  Anyway, today I was getting a mani/pedi and while I was under the black light drying my nails, the beautician asked if I wanted my eyebrows waxed.  No!  She seemed to think it was a really good idea.  I asked how much it cost.  Eight dollars.  I'd already paid $79.00 for me and a friend (a gift to my friend for a favor she had done for me).  What's eight more dollars?  Okay. Let's go.  I was escorted to a private room with a couch/bed upon which I laid.  Wax was applied to my eyebrows and stripped off quickly (and harshly) with an application and removal of paper.  It took less than 5 minutes.  But, by gosh, my eyebrows did look better!  So, I asked, how often do I have to do this?  Every three weeks.  Add this to the routine: hair cut, colored, styled; nails done; eyebrows waxed; make-up; age defying moisturizers; teeth whiteners; and trying to lose weight.....  Can I keep up this maintenance routine indefintely?  Will I always want to?  Will it make a significant difference to those who care most about me?  And if I don't get a raise soon, what then?

Should Jessica Simpson's Weight Gain be News?

Should Jessica Simpson's Weight Gain be News?

What makes us lose weight? Is it wanting to be what is promoted as pretty or is it something more.

I have been overweight my whole life.  I would go through stages where I cared that I was overweight mainly because I just wanted to fit in with the skinny people around me and other times I just could careless if I was overweight.  I would tell myself "Why do I care what other people think" when truly I did it was just easier to say that because no matter what diet I tried I could never lose weight.  But I learned over the past 40 years that is not a good reason to lose weight to impress people or to fit in.  I think this was the reason why I never did lose weight but gained weight. 

About two years ago, I started to realize I was getting older (not old but older) and that if I needed to start thinking about eating healthy for my health.  My mom has and my dad had health problems that if I don't start thinking about what I am eating there is a good chance I could get these heath problems too.  So I figured it was time to start eating health for myself.  So I decided I could not do this all at once.  So I started to take small steps in the process I started to lose weight slowly.  It amazed me when I was trying to lose weight to be skinny I could not lose weight.  When I stopped caring about losing weight started caring about my health I lost the weight.  

I want to chronicle my lifestyle changes and weight loss and I hope that I can help someone with my chronicles.

I do have question for you all to think about.  "Why are you losing weight and who is it for?"  "You or someone else?"  I think these questions are important to being healthy and losing weight.

In the eye of the beholder

Something that has stayed with me for years is when a female relative of mine asked me how I could stand working next to my coworker because she's so pretty. Of course that implies that I look like a dog (wait, dogs are cute) and should be ashamed of myself. Not go out in public at all maybe, or wear a veil over my head. That kind of comment gets said to so many girls/women (maybe not quite that bluntly) that they can't help but feel constantly judged on their appearance.

Cool New Title: "I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life Of Girls Around the World," by Eve Ensler

I don't want this blog to default to the female type all the time.  That said, I was browsing through some of our new books today and came across this title that I thought seemed compelling and related in many ways to issues of beauty or physicality.  So, of course, this has to be about girls, right?  Yes.  Still, I wanted to just spotlight this book for you: In her new book, Eve Ensler, the author of The Vagina Monologues, has collected fictional monologues and stories inspired by girls all over the world.  The voices in the book cover a world of topics and emotions.  They are smart, complicated, tender, and most of all, alive.  To give you an idea of the subjects covered, take a look at the titles of selected pieces:

•                   You Tell Me How to Be a Girl in 2010
•                   Bad Boys
•                   What I Wish I Could Say to My Mother
•                   It's Not a Baby, It's a Maybe
•                   Things I Heard About Sex
•                   hunger blog
•                   The Joke About My Nose
•                   A Teenage Girl's Guide to Sex Slavery
•                   Refuser
•                   Things That Give Us Pleasure

Ensler seems a born nuturer: both empathetic and empowering.  In her introduction she writes:

     "Everyone seems to have a certain way they want you to be--your mother, father, teachers, religious leaders, politicians, boyfriends, fashion gurus, celebrities, girlfriends.  In researching this book I came upon a very disturbing statistic: 74 percent of you say you are under pressure to please everyone.
     I have done a lot of thinking about what it means to please.  To please, to embody the wish or will of somebody other than yourself.  To please fashion setters, we starve ourselves.  To please boys, we push ourselves when we aren't ready.  To please popular girls, we end up acting mean to our best friends.  To please our parents, we become insane overachievers.  If you are trying to please, how do you take responsibility for your own needs?  How do you even know what your own needs are?"
She continues, "This book is a call to questions rather than to please.  To provoke, to challenge, to dare, to satisfy your own imagination and appetite."

To read more about this book Click here.  or  just check it out at the library on our New Books kiosk in the Main Lobby.

Okay, I'm off to get my hair color done.....see you later!  

How Did We Get Here?

Beauty.  It's important.  Apparently in ways we don't (usually) even think about.  Aren't we bombarded daily with information including, but not limited to: who looks good, what body types we think are hot, how we can look good, or at least better, how to grow more luxurious eye lashes, how to get white enough teeth,  what we can wear to look better, what we can eat to look better, etc. etc.? Obsessive?  In a way it's no wonder that Survival of the Prettiest is our common reading.  But our common reading goes beyond our day-to-day experience with prettiness.  It talks about how we human beings are actualy hard-wired to look for and be drawn to pretty people.  If we're all subconsciously attracted and drawn to pretty features, as opposed to the not-so-pretty, what implications follow for how that shapes relationships, business, values, consumerism, mental health?  What do you think?  How are you effected?  As you read this book, many related issues will arise.  This blog is one way to discuss those issues that matter to you.  Everyone is welcome - pretty or not.