Calling all goddesses - Fun Birthday Party Ideas with Girlfriends!

Along the transitions in my life, I have been empowered by many great goddesses that have surrounded me in a protective bubble of love, harmony, unity and wondrous kindness. This year for my birthday I called out to my ethereal friends and their demi-gods, to merge these energies to celebrate my birthday and nourish my soul with laughter at a local Hookah lounge.

I asked my girlfriends to come dressed in whatever made them feel goddess-like, flowers in their hair, glitter, draping chiffon … time to play dress up! I selected goddess names for each, framed as a keepsake

 and requested that if they wanted to extend gifts that they be hand made from the heart. I received a wondrous poem, art, and jelly! We were nourished with hummus, entertained by exotic belly dancers and enticed by the pineapple hookah!

Birthdays. Love em or hate em … they are inevitable. Why is it that we dread celebrating or wait until the milestone big-0 to commemorate them? It’s normal to feel reluctant about a change in your chronological age, but I encourage all of you to put away your expectations that you should be checking off a list of accomplishments. Life unfolds for us in such awe-inspiring ways and if you are too caught up in a scheduled path you may miss it!

Birthdays are good for you! A study published last year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that people get happier as they get older! Have you stopped celebrating your birthdays? How old would you be if you could decide your own age? Personally, I think you have to be over 40 to finally be REALLY happy! I read about a woman in Florida who celebrated her 100^th birthday on a treadmill … She said she “feels good after exercise!”

Here are a few ideas:

• An around the world party
• High tea
• Gratitude party
• Diva Safari ~ night on the town!
• Karaoke room
• SPA Shindig
• Street shopping ~ Walk down a quirky street for a trip down memory lane. Try on outrageous hats, check out an old bookstore, bargain shop at a vintage/resale store, visit a wine bar or funky bistro!

This is what I know:  One bite of birthday cake is never enough, I am the only one like me in the world and I want to live my life from the inside out, celebrating with the people I love most every year – at dinner with my kids, on a long weekend getaway with my husband or throwing a goddess party ... Singing happy birthday every year, right on key!

I would love to hear your birthday ideas!

XOXO 
from the 47 year old celestial brunette!

Wrinkled Elbows - How to Fix them at any Age without Botox!

As if there isn't enough to think about when we age ... but one dead giveaway that we often forget to pay attention to, because we don't see it when we glance in a mirror ... wrinkled elbows!

Our elbows are one of the first places to show aging. The skin is thicker and darker there due to dry skin, constantly leaning our weight on them, and leaving them unprotected from the sun’s harmful rays. My photographer friend says that even children need retouching for discoloration in this area!You have to have a little extra skin around the elbow or you wouldn't be able to bend it, but wrinkly elbows do not mean you're old - seen in this photo snapped at the MTV Video Music Awards recently, of 30 year old celebutante, Kim Kardashian.

                                       

Photo credit HuffPost

I did a fitness shoot last week and made sure I was not giving my photographer extra work in photoshop fighting with my elbow wrinkles. How? By cheating every photo a bit with a slight bend in my elbow. A modeling rule in posing is “if it bends, bend it.”And the best place to apply that rule is for your elbow! Never lock up the joint here, or you will have wrinkly elbows AND an awkward, unflattering pose! 

photo credit HuffPost

From the front, Kim gets it right with the bent skinny arm on the hip trick! Often photographers soften celebrity photos, but obviously not always. 


Regardless, “you cannot walk into the room with photoshop” so here are some things to try for better results in your pictures and in real life:

1. Exfoliate! Exfoliate! Exfoliate! ~ You want to make your skin glow again by removing all the piled up, dead, dry skin on your elbow that is making it discolored by using a scrub, loofah, or nubby washcloth in the shower.
2. Lighten 
   • Try cutting a lemon in half and sinking your elbows into them for about 10-15 minutes to lighten the skin.
   • Fade dark spots by using an over the counter hydroquinone to treat hyperpigmentation.
   • When self tanning don't forget to moisturize your elbows first so that the color is not over- aborbed into the elbow
3.  Elbow Grease 
   • Vaseline, olive oil, shea butter, anti-aging creams!
   • I use a product called AmLactin I  buy at Costco for $18, a steal compared to other stores. It contains an alpha hydroxy acid, a naturally occurring skin humectant to relieve stubborn dry, rough skin. (Works great for feet too)
4. Sunscreen
   •  SPF 15 or higher every day or you will sabatoge all the effort above because the sun promotes darkening and drying.

Guess who these elbows belong to? Hint: People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive cover boy, Brad Pitt used to rub elbows with her. Proof positive that not even a star is not immune to the wrinkled elbow of age.

photo credit TMZ

Dry shampoo - a dirty little secret for healthier hair!

One of the biggest underground trends for your hair DO is the "no-poo" routine, as in ... no more traditional shampooing. 

Most of the time when I go for a modeling job the instructions are always to arrive with clean hair and face, but recently I was scolded for not having "dirty" hair because it is easier to manipulate into a fuller, wavy style.  I have to admit that the thought of going days without shampooing seems almost “un-hygenic" to me, but I decided to revisit this idea after a trip to my salon where I was called a "DAILYwasher" ... like it was a bad thing.

Thankfully, the newer brands of dry shampoo’s have made the difference in being able to break this habit!  A few years ago, I tried a dry shampoo spray from Bumble and Bumble that had a brown tint, and after using it my hands were brown, I had places on my face where the brown spray landed, not to mention  brown remnants on my pillow the next morning. I threw it out and never looked back, until now. Every hair company seems to have a dry shampoo out there these days and definitely some are better than others. I happen to love the ones by Ojon and Oscar Blandi, around $20, but I have heard that Batiste for about $7 is a comparable and terrific product. Plus you can try making your own from corn starch for pennies.  Check it out {Here} 

Etiquette among the NY elite, used to be to go to the beauty parlor every week or so for a wash and set. So the idea of waiting a little longer between shampooing is nothing new. Washing hair every day is actually a little counterintuitive because there is no better conditioner for the ends of your hair than your natural oils, and by washing daily you aren’t allowing the oils time to penetrate down and absorb into the cuticle of each hair, to make them shiny and soft, naturally. Some people believe over-washing can cause your scalp to go into greasy overdrive trying to produce more oil to compensate. Also, the little bit of product build-up in your hair can add more control and volume than if you wash it every day!

My list of why to wait a little longer between shampoos:

1. Healthier hair.

2. Longer lasting color.

3.  Volume. 

4. It's green!

5. Saves time.

6. Let's me be a little lazy!- Careful, don't skip showering. Put your hair in a ponytail and wrap in a turban, careful not to get it wet if you have a lot of product in your hair or your hair will turn into a gumball!

I have friends with gorgeous hair that swear by this concept and although the dry shampoos of the past had a bad rap, thanks to the newer products, I'm a believer! I recently worked with a 20 year old model who often gets booked because of her gorgeous long thick hair who told me she uses Suave dry shampoo ($3) on her freshly washed locks just for added volume! Another beautiful friend, who likes to skip shampooing daily, suggests using a shot with the blow dryer to add body and sleeping on a silk pillowcase to eliminate bedhead in the morning.

In Sydney, Australia, a radio station issued a 6 week challenge for its listeners to stop shampooing. Emily Rowles, a 21 year old accepted this experiment and shared her final diary entry at week 6, "Well, I thought by now I honestly would have secretly 'snuck a wash' however I'm still just 'watering' my hair and it has never looked (or felt!) better!"