Not Your Grandmothers Bun!!

SUMMER's here, hoorah, sizzling days, warm nights, pool parties, beach weekends, and oh right frizzy, humidity stricken summer hair....help!!!! 

I live in Miami where it's HOT and humid ten months out of the year, and talk about humidity, ugh, I've become an expert on anti frizz, but still am perplexed about how to pull my long hair up on sweltering days and Not look like I'm trying to copy a teenager, or worse a grandma bun! I've seen women in the summer with their hair piled onto the top of their head in a seemingly effortless style But when I've attempted just looks like I'm trying too hard, so I end up pulling it all out and wearing my hair down over and over again despite my melting neck and shoulders.

I was determined to find some " bun-nies" as I now refer to them since I don't want to go through another summer without a cute yet age appropriate " bun-nie" so I did a little research and am so pleased I came up with some pretty easy to do styles that I can't wait to try!!

 

How Not To Get A Hangover

It seems everyone I'm talking to these days, (around my age anyway 40's and up) who drink socially and the majority of people I know do, are trying to figure out a way of having a drink or two and not feel the effects the next day. When I was younger in my twenties and thirties I could stay out till 2:00 am have two cocktails easily and not feel terrible the next day! A lot of my Freind's are telling me the same thing, in fact a percentage of them are so effected by the effects that they've given up on drinking all together, in their words, " it's just not worth it!" I get it, I hardly touched a glass of wine much much less a mixed drink in the four years after my son was born, since it would render me completely functionless and sleepy exactly the opposite effect I needed for the high energy of our toddler boy. Now that our son is five and finally sleeping well I have some time and energy to go out with my husband on date nights but the " hangover" is not worth the second cocktail.

So here I am searching for an alternative that dosent effect my head, energy and mood the next morning.

 

A freind of mine tells me she rarely has a hangover and she isn't shy about her "after hour, unwind time" lets call it, she tells me her secret is for every glass of wine or cocktail she makes absolute sure she drinks one glass of water, then before she goes to bed she drinks another glass of water. 

I could try this and I just might but my initial worry is wont I be up peeing all night?!

Another freind suggests drinking Organic wine, or even kosher wine, another freind only drinks straight alcohol without any mixers and swears this is the way to go, she believes the sugar in the mixed drinks wreak havoc on her body and create terrible hangovers.

Hangovers and Wine

Sulpher dioxide is often blamed for headaches, but it's the naturally occuring histamines that are more often the culprit. Produced by wild yeasts and bacteria, these are common in foods in which some form of fermentation takes place. So those who get headaches after red wine may also suffer after eating cheeses, salamis, pickles, soy sauce and chocolates.

Others are sensitive to the tannins and phenols in wine. But alcohol's effect remains the same whether the wine is organic or not. Too much will strain your system and cause blood vessels to swell, including those in your nasal passages. What you won't find in organic wines are any traces of spraying chemicals- tastemag.co.za

SURGARY DRINKS Acoording to Dr. David Colbert, founder of New York Dermatology Group, Dr. Debra Jaliman, author of "Skin Rules: Trade Secrets From a Top New York Dermatologist" The danger with drinks like mojitos is the sugar. "Sugar anywhere in the diet, along with other excessive carbs, leads to systemic inflammation, which contributes ultimately to cell damage and increased skin aging," Dr. Krant said, "The less sugar you take in with your alcohol, the better for your long-term wrinkle risk." 

CLEAR ALCOHOL What makes the skin effects of one alcoholic drink different from the next is what else is in the drink. That makes shots the best option according to Dr Colbert since there's no extra sugar, salt or other harmful ingredients. "If you just have one shot of vodka or just a shot of tequila that you nurse," Dr. Colbert said, "you'll probably look and feel OK the next day." Dr. Jaliman added, "A shot of gin or rum would probably be the best."

Hmmm so a shot I will try, it's definitely not as exciting sounding as my old favorite "Cosmopolitan" but worth a try, I'll let ya know how it turns out soon!

What Being Spiritual Means To Me

I was raised very religious, church every Sunday, Sunday school after church, I went to a Christian school and our family conveniently lived across the street from our Presbyterian church, so you could say I was immersed in church life growing up. By the time I was a teen I began to question some of the core ideas of religion, and began to see certain flaws within our " church community".

When I was on my own at the tender age of seventeen having graduated high school and beginning my modeling career in NYC the last thing I wanted to do was go to church! Every so often in my modeling travels I would come upon a church service that drew me in, or another model and I would go to a service but basically the every week practice of going to church was not a part of my life any more. This didn't mean I didn't believe in God or fell to the dark side, I just didn't "feel" a connection to God when I was at church,  my connection with God was found in random life moments, in my nightly prayers, during difficult and emotionally stressful times, or when traveling through beautiful parts of the world with mouth open in awe of the beauty in our world.

When I first heard the term "spiritual" it intrigued me because I've always felt a strong connection to God and doing the right thing, the "do unto others as you would have them do unto you philosophy". So this "Spiritual" concept was interesting to me, maybe I was a "spiritual" person not a religious church going person.

According to Cheryl Peterson from beliefnet.com The fastest growing “religion” in the West is the trend toward spiritual independence. Spiritually independent people are eager to explore the teachings, texts, and techniques of all religions and refuse to be limited to or labeled by one religion alone.

The religion of Spiritual Independence is trending in the West. Refusing to be pigeon-holed into one religion, spiritual seekers eagerly explore the teachings, texts, and techniques of many religions.

Living with positive intentions

Creating a grateful diary

Taking time for ones self 

Playing it forward

Giving back

Mindfulness, it seems, is having a moment. 2013 saw a significant spike of interest in holistic health and mindfulness practices like yoga and meditation (not to mention a number of celebrities and CEOs hopping on the mindfulness bandwagon) and it's a trend that will likely continue to gain momentum in 2014/2015.

“What the culture is craving is a sense of ease and reflection, of not needing to be stimulated or entertained or going after something constantly," Soren Gordhamer, founder of the Wisdom 2.0 conference, told the New York Times. "Nobody’s kicking out technology, but we have to regain our connection to others and to nature or else everybody loses.”

My husband and I have seen this trend awakening for the past seven years in store in The Miami Design District, Turchin Love and Light Jewelry, we've been promoting our philosophy that through love all is possible, love is the answer. We have seen an unusual amount of customers from all parts of the world that wouldn't appear to be "spiritual" at all, but when they hear our message it becomes clear that they are thirsting for this feeling, craving something meaningful and mindful. So maybe Spirituality is the  new religion that will last through this millennium of high tech and constant change, maybe being Spiritual will be the grounding point we all need to feel the essence of life, of love, of ourselves.

turchinjewelry.com

What Mothers Day Means To Me

Mothers Day to me means that I spend a day or portion of one devoted to appreciating my mom, who did an amazing job of raising me, my brother and sister.  As a divorced woman in rural Connecticut in the late 1970's she was not the norm at all, especially in our conservative Presbetarian Church community, I remember feeling completely ashamed in junior high school and tried my best to hide the fact that my parents were divorcing. It would only be a few short years later that divorce was almost de riguer in rural communities in the US.

According to enrichment journal on the divorce rate in America:

• The divorce rate in America for first marriage is 41%
• The divorce rate in America for second marriage is 60%
• The divorce rate in America for third marriage is 73%

My mother dived into the workforce a place unfamiliar to this self proclaimed Stay At Home Mom who Loved her position as our compassionate, and loving caretaker. She ending up landing herself a position at a Credit a Union and worked her way up as far as she could until she was offered a position a few years later at a nearby Engineering company that trained her on early 1980's computers.

Looking back now knowing my mom much better I know she was terrified, you see my mom wasn't the outgoing type, she was always liked but very shy, almost painfully shy in social and unfamiliar situations.

Thinking about what she did for us, I'm so grateful and appreciative, and imagining the things that bothered me in my teens and twenties, not having this or that, what she did or didn't do or say, now just seems petty and absolutely Trivial!

Why does it take so long to appreciate what our parents or parent did for us and do some of  us ungrateful children ever fully, or even partially realize it? Probably not, so on Mothers Day this year 2014 I'm going to take some time to remember what my Mother did for me and my siblings, and also try and imagine some of the things she did that I may have foregotten and just needed a Special day to remember.

Eva Perón Happy Birthday (1919–1952)

Today May 7th is Eva Duarte de Perón birthday, better know as 

Eva Peron, coincidently it's also my father's birthday as well.

Eva Peron served as the First Lady of Argentina from 1946 until
her death in 1952 (she was only 33-years-old). She campaigned
for the position of Vice President, but her declining health
forced her to back down. Not long after, however, the Argentine
Congress declared her the Spiritual Leader of the Nation.

 Perón's life changed dramatically when she married Juan Perón, a colonel and government official, in 1945. He became president of Argentina the following year, and his wife proved to be a powerful political influence. Eva Perón used her position as first lady to fight for causes she believed in, including women's suffrage and improving the lives of the poor. She also unofficially ran the ministries of health and labor in her husband's government.

Perón became a legendary figure in Argentine politics. A skilled speaker, she was adored by the poor citizens she worked hard to help, but she was not without critics and detractors. Asked to run as vice president with her husband in 1951, she faced opposition by the army. Perón ultimately turned down the post—possibly due to the health issues she was battling around this same time, stemming from uterine cancer.

BRAVO Eva Peron for being a powerful woman who stood up for what she believed at a time in history when it was unheard of for a women to do so!!

Bio.com