Early 2009 Trends: Boyfriend Jeans

Although we saw this trend first pop up as far back as August, it didn’t necessarily stick, especially since the celebrity seen setting this trend was Katie Holmes struggling for whatever she could salvage from her post-marriage career.

Boyfriend jeans have recently been named as one of the first fashion trends of 2009 after being seen on several different high end celebrities. Luckily the powers that be didn’t officially deem “boyfriend jeans” as a real trend until seeing them sported on a myriad of other celebrities because, as we all know, Katie Holmes post-Tom Cruise is slightly less than a train wreck; considering her new fashion choice was not seen as a fashion choice at all, but caused a stirring about an alleged second child on the way for Katie and Tom.

As we can see from the picture above, some of the celebrities sporting this trend look a little fashionable, but can be explained by the fact that some of these women would look good in a burlap sack. This is merely yet another nail in the coffin of old trends coming back after a number of years with a new name; we can all rest assured that carpenter-style jeans are back again.

Why Women Let Themselves Go

Women aren’t on their own list of priorities.

“After taking care of everyone else, they are always putting themselves last on the list, and often have very little left to give. There are many women who aren’t living—they just exist. This is a form of self-abuse. Women often wear their exhaustion as a badge of honor. The more you do for your loved ones, the more acceptable it becomes to “let yourself go.” Women believe its okay to sacrifice themselves for their own families. This is a lie that we allow ourselves to buy into, but we need to wake up! The challenge for women is that they must re-language what it means to be a wife and mother. Being a good wife and mother means that if you don’t take care of yourself, in the long run you are ultimately harming all the other people you love in your life. You won’t be the only one who takes the hit.

Fear of Competition
Media and society frequently tell women we need to portray ourselves as “together” and be able to perform any task thrown our way. But when women look at the reality of how overwhelmed they feel in their own lives, they begin to feel like they are not good or worthy enough. Women often see other women who look like they are “doing it all”—and then when they compare themselves, they become overwhelmed and feel inadequate. It’s not easy to face feelings of inadequacy so women usually end up avoiding them. But women need to know you can’t show up in your own life if you are on the run. They tell themselves they are too tired and burdened to compete with others so they don’t believe they have the power to change anything. Then they “drop out” of the game—they give up and let themselves go.

Unresolved anger contributes to letting go
Sometimes women “drop out” because they don’t know how to send a verbal message that says, “Get off my back.” They have unresolved feelings of anger or rage toward someone or about something so they “let themselves go” to express that. When women give up on themselves, they are often sending messages of anger and it could be because of something traumatic that happened in the past or because of unhappiness in a current relationship…like with a parent, husband, or child.

We let fear take over.
Women become paralyzed in their lives and let themselves go because of an underlying fear. A fear of rejection, a fear to accept how they really feel about themselves, a fear of facing the idea that they aren’t enough, a fear of accepting how others may feel about them. They let the fear take over and let other people determine their own self worth. The internal barometer that gauges guides and directs your life as an empowered woman—that makes you know you are enough and okay—is broken and needs to be fixed”.

Rediscover Who You Are
The “Who Am I?” Journal
Who am I? It’s a lifelong question, and getting beyond appearances and labels is the crucial first step in launching your comeback. Be Still! Be Present! The primary thing in your life is the now…the present… there is never anything else”.

No matter who you are, where you live, how rich you are or what your age is, life happens to all of us. However, we are all different and we need to find our own way.

So, I ask you this; What does a valuable life mean to you?

Live passionately… what else have you got to do?

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Christine is a certified life coach for women. She is the founder of Girltime Coaching and also writes her blog, Live Passionately.

Embracing Self Care

“It takes courage to demand time for yourself. At first glance, it may seem to be the ultimate in selfishness, a real slap in the face to those who love and depend on you. IT IS NOT! It means you care enough to want to see the best in yourself and give only the best to others.” ~ Shale Paul

“If you are not taking care of yourself; body, mind, and spirit, the people in your life don’t get the best of you, they get what’s left of you!” ~ Lorraine Cohen

As women, we tend not to take care of ourselves, putting everyone else’s needs before our own. We are more about “embracing extreme self-neglect.”

In effort to fully embrace who we were created to be: women of passion and purpose, though sometimes that may look a little misty. To get clear on what our intentions for self-care are, we need to begin with self-care intention guided visualization.

One of the ways to take care of ourselves is to stay in the present moment. This is difficult to do if you are prone towards worrying about the future and fretting over the past.

The past has NO power and the future has NO presence
This behavior leads to fears, stress and anxiety. When we catch ourselves in one of those mental spaces, we must remember. One of the main reasons we get out of alignment with who we really are – which includes ignoring our self-care – is that we have stopped remembering.

Remember what? Remember who we truly are. The opposite of remember is not forget – We become ‘super hero’s’- scattered here and there, masters of multi-tasking. In order to pull ourselves together again and become whole, we must remember. What we are remembering is a feeling – the feeling of being whole and present.

Living your life for others is a very worthy sentiment. How can you care for others…when you are not taking care for yourself? Always putting others first can make you a doormat to be trodden on. Putting yourself and your need to rest, relax, have fun sometimes, and so on, will make you a better carer, provider or parent because you’ll be healthier and have more energy.

Here are some self-care practices that you can do on a daily basis in order to maintain a sense of peace and wholeness.

1. Set your self-care intention. Always begin your day intentionally. Remind yourself of your self-care feeling. The balance needed are these components:

• Harmony
• Balance
• Healthy lifestyle of exercise
• Beauty
• Inner Strength
• confidence
• self esteem

2. Three things you are grateful for. Start small, start with the basics: health, home, nourishment, friends, family, work…

3. Find a nutritious support person to check in with – this could be a good friend, an accountability partner, a life coach, a mentor – you don’t have to go through this transition alone; and creating new habits is transition. You can set up a time, preferably weekly, to get together.

KNOW YOUR OWN WORTH…KNOW YOUR OWN POWER

A few more things to remember; One of the things I have tried very hard to eliminate from my life is negativity. Negativity is nothing but toxic energy. This toxic energy can come in the form of toxic people, or energy whose only job is to suck and drain the life out of you; or toxic situations. When I find myself in one of these toxic environments, be it with people or circumstances, if I cannot turn the situation around, then I merely excuse myself and remove myself.

What you really want is to be surrounded by people you trust and treasure and people that cherish you.

“Breathing in I calm my body. Breathing out I smile. Dwelling in the present moment, I know this is a wonderful moment!” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

When you are in doubt, when you feel frustrated, when you are angry, stop… and take a breath. Breathing is the one thing you can do anywhere at any time. It does not cost you anything, but it may gain you much. Remember that stopping is a spiritual action; and so is breathing.

Once you have made the decision to do so, these three practices will easily incorporate into your everyday life.

Set the intention to embrace extreme self-care!
Taking care of yourself is vitally important to a happy survival and by no means selfish.
Keep in mind that if you are happy, you will treat others with respect and respect is earned, not given. By not being happy, you become irritable creating a tendency to disrespect others. Disrespecting someone only creates negative consequences and so amplifies your unhappiness.

If you feel you don’t trust people, you are insecure in your own world and need to balance the three components. If you are worried about what everyone else is doing, you also need to even the scales as this shows a failure to do what you need to be doing.

If you are married, you must be able to keep your identity, do the activities you love, and take care of your needs emotionally and physically. Don’t fall into the trap of being detached from yourself by constantly focusing on fulfilling other’s needs while ignoring your own. If you have children, there is no reason why you cannot take care of yourself first. Enjoy time as a family but step out, take a walk, take a class, or have lunch with friends every week as this balances your life and creates happiness.

“Fear less, hope more; Eat less, chew more; Whine less, breathe more; Talk less, say more; Love more, and all good things will be yours.” ~ Swedish Prove

Be mindful on purpose.

Live passionately… what else have you got to do!

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Christine is a certified life coach for women. She is the founder of Girltime Coaching and also writes her blog, Live Passionately.

What Deodorants Live Up to their Hype?

As a woman who found herself consistently being failed by deodorants, I know how hard it is to find a deodorant that actually works and left me still dry and smelling fresh at the end of the day. Most women think that they sweat more than the average woman because as women, we are sometimes too embarrassed to talk openly about deodorants, sweat and basically any bodily function that isn’t considered “lady-like.”

So what deodorants lived up to their hype and what deodorants crashed and burned?

Crystal Body Deodorant:

Form:
Stick solid

Pros:
Dries immediately, 100 percent natural, no clothing stains or irritation, aluminum-free

Cons:
Unconventional form, no antiperspirant, no 24-hour protection, slightly high price

Dove Ultimate Clear:

Form:
Stick solid

Pros:
Blocks perspiration, moisturizing formula, low price, no irritation, variety of scents (unscented available)

Cons:
No 24-hour protection, debatably pleasant scents, some clothing stains and balling up reported

Tom’s of Maine Natural Long-Lasting Deodorant Stick:

Form:
Stick gel

Pros:
Natural, soft formula, no clothing stains or irritation, variety of scents (unscented available), aluminum-free, low price

Cons:
No antiperspirant, some strong scents, drying time required, no 24-hour protection

Kiehl’s Superbly Efficient Antiperspirant & Deodorant:

Form:
Cream

Pros:
Blocks perspiration, moisturizing formula, unscented, no clothing stains or irritation

Cons:
Unconventional form, drying time required, no 24-hour protection, high price, limited availability

Secret Clinical Strength:

Form:
Stick solid

Pros:
Lasts more than a day, dries immediately, soft formula, no clothing stains or irritation

Cons:
High price, bedtime application recommended

I hope that this list of deodorants helps when trying to choose the right product for you. I have personally tried more than a handful of different deodorants and antiperspirants and know how hard it is to find the right one that works just the way you need it to. If you have tried any other products that you have loved and want to spread the word about, leave them in the comments!

L’Atelier Des Bijoux - Gorgeous Limited Edition Jewelry

I am always on the look out for that next hot thing, or the designer you need to look out for and this, my dear readers, is one that you should book mark and keep an eye on! Her simply sophisticated designs are masterpieces in themselves. With breath-taking careful precision on which pieces best bring out the others, she is a guru of design.

L’Atelier Des Bijoux has gorgeous pieces made with top of the line materials at an affordable cost that will make you dip into your gas fund just to look amazing for tomorrow. Her quick and courteous support is astounding along with fast and careful shipping, shows that no matter what the piece is, or how low the cost is the designer takes great pride in her work and shipping. I have to admit I went on a shopping spree and purchased a few too many items but there was one piece I loved and it was one of a kind and the designer unfortunately did not create earrings to go with it. I had to then fine tooth all the etsy shops looking for that perfect pair of matching earrings. The earrings couldn’t draw away from the necklace since the piece itself is elaborate, but could stand out on their own as exceptional pieces. They also had to be at least sterling silver and under $15.00. Boy, was I picky!

After a few hours of searching I finally found the perfect pair which led me to this amazing shop! The earrings shown that I purchased were only $8.00 and sterling silver. I couldn’t believe it, I felt like I was almost stealing from her with her exceptional prices. However, she knows how to price things just right which make you want to go back and spend a few more bucks on some of her other items! The prices range from $8.00 to $140.00+ depending on your budget and the type of piece you’re looking for. My second piece I am hoping doesn’t sell but I can’t say I don’t blame anyone for wanting it is a little on the pricier side for my normal budget it but I do have my pennies being stashed away its this beautiful pink necklace its priced at $112.00 and I have to tell you it is absolutely worth every penny. She is available to do custom pieces, and she makes sure she lets you know not to limit yourself to whats listed on the site. If you take the time to browse through the pieces she sold she can do her best to re-create a piece for you so you aren’t limited like you would be at some jewelers. Although, some retail jewelers do create custom pieces to fit your needs it also comes with a heavy price tag. Unlike this lady she knows how to do it just as well if not better for a mere fraction of the cost!

Visit L’Atelier Des Bijoux today and spend your heart’s desires. You can also create an account with a favorites list where you can leave it for your significant other to help them figure out what you want for this coming holiday!

Product I Will Not Live Without: Nature Babe Body Balm

When it comes to natural bath, body and beauty products, I am nothing less than a junkie; I have a vast collection of different lotions, body butters, body balms, lip balms and glosses, body washes and the list goes on, but for one product to not only stand out among the many I have, but to become a part of my daily regimen where I can not go a day without it, is amazing.

Nature Babe body balm by Bawdy Botanicals is an all-natural body balm with an uplifting fragrance of lavender, known for its stress relieving properties and lemongrass, known to be a sure mood lifter. I have come to love these fragrances because as an aromatherapy addict, I have come to find that lavender and lemongrass do exactly what they are known to do; lavender puts me at ease and lemongrass lifts my mood and takes the hectic edge off during the day and especially at night, leaving me able to relax and go to sleep so I can wake up feeling refreshed and ready for another day of work.

I came across Bawdy Botanicals over a year ago while browsing through Bust magazine’s Girl Wide Web and immediately fell in love with the names of the products. When a line of body bars are called names such as Burning Bush and Hypnotic Erotic and have body balms that complement them perfectly, your curiosity wins and you find yourself needing to know what these products are like, and that is precisely what happened with me and Bawdy Botanicals.

I did a review of Bawdy Botanical’s Nature Babe body balm and complementing body bar, Burning Bush on another site more than a year ago and after all that time, Nature Babe body balm is still a product I find myself using religiously, several times a day.

I also have a complexion that mocks me. During spring and summer, when I look in the mirror, it looks back and I swear, produces acne before my eyes and during fall and winter, several inches of my body become chapped and no amount of lotion seems to be able to fix the alligator skin I possess. Luckily, the shea butter that is used in Nature Babe body balm helps a considerable amount with alligator skin and cures chapped parts of the body within just a few days.

I find that using Nature Babe body balm right after a hot shower or bath in the morning and right before bed helps to energize me in the morning so I can work without getting bored or find myself getting off track during my work day and also helps a great deal with relaxing me before bedtime.

Hands down, Nature Babe body balm by Bawdy Botanicals is the best body balm I have used and that’s including all of the leading brands of lotions and balms currently on the market. And rest assured, everything by Bawdy Botanicals is all natural, made with 100% natural essential oils.

Shop It To Me!

What if you could find out when your favorite brands of clothing went on sale in exactly your size? Let’s face it, as women, a lot of us have a “thing” for labels, but when scouring the websites of the labels we love, we find apparel we cannot live without… until we see the price tag. When it comes to labels such as Marc Jacobs and Prada, we are likely to find a handful or more of “can’t live without” items, but as soon as we glance down at the price, it’s easy to feel like your finger just got pricked while reaching inside of a box, and you immediately close the website. What these fashion icons have yet to realize is that there are a lot of women who love their designs, but not all of us can stomach what our favorite pieces would do to our bank accounts and credit cards.

But now we have Shop It To Me, a website that lets you pick your favorite designers (listing over 500 in-demand designers and brands) and receive daily or weekly emails to let you know when your favorite designers put items on sale in exactly your size; best of all, the service is completely free.

Look at it like having a personal shopper, but with this, you don’t have to deal with conflicting attitudes and style; you just receive a daily or weekly summary that lets you know when your favorite items are on sale and it takes away the frustration I know I regularly deal with when trying to find my size in items I want.

But Shop It To Me goes a lot deeper than just that. Started by people with a keen sense of fashion who dealt with the same frustrations we all deal with like finding out about online sales too late to take advantage of them due to not having the time to scour the internet daily looking for sales on the items they wanted.

You can tell that the people behind Shop It To Me are a group who love fashion just by reading their blog. Paired with some wicked sense of humor and drool-worthy fashion items, their blog is a fast, fun and entertaining read. But there’s more! Yes, more! Shop It To Me also has an entire section featuring trendsetters from around the blogosphere.

The Trendsetters section shows an appreciation from Shop It To Me to many different bloggers running websites with a variety of themes, such as style, bags, shoes, celebrity fashion, deals and savings, men’s style, moms and kids, lifestyle, beauty and city fashions. Shop It To Me doesn’t simply show fashion love, they show blog love to others with the same interests and mission in mind.

Featured in publications like Daily Candy Deals and The Washington Post, Shop It To Me is gaining ground with fashionistas and enthusiasts everywhere; finally, there is a website that caters to the fashion forward and savvy savers in all of us. They bring frugal to fashion and with many, many women, that is an addictive and sometimes dangerous combination.

Get a Free Sample of Always Infinity

While reading one of my favorite sites, I came across a post for a free sample of a new menstrual pad from Always. First of all, being the type of person who hates to pay for pretty much anything, whenever I see something having to do with getting something for free, they have my attention.

So Always, a brand of menstrual pads that have been on the top of the charts for as long as I can remember when it comes to feminine products and have had an extremely dedicated following for years now, has come out with a new and improved menstrual pad.

Yeah, I know, we’ve all heard that before; a lot of companies say that they have a new and improved product when after we try it, we realize we just paid more money for the same product and the only thing that is different is the packaging that we’re throwing away anyway. To prove to us consumers, because they know that we are getting skeptical of buying anything with the recession and financial crisis the US is currently in, Always has set up a specific site dedicated to just the Infinity pad and why it is different. In fact, they have a video that shows you how this pad is different from others from other companies and from their other products and best of all, you can request a free sample of Always Infinity before it even comes out in stores.

All you have to do is go to their website where you can watch the video on how Infinity is different and also videos of women who have already tried it and what they thought of it and also text-based testimonials of the new product. On the right hand side of the website there is a form. Fill out the form and your free sample of Always Infinity will be on its way to your house!

For those of you who have either tried Always Infinity and loved it or for those of you who have been die hard supporters of Always and their menstrual products and know that you don’t need to try this new pad because you think you’re going to like it already, hold your horses because Always Infinity doesn’t hit stores for another week!

Order your sample now!

Acne Treatment

Most people go through that awkward acne stage; most people also go through the agonizing experience of trying every face wash, exfoliant, moisturizer, cleansing wipes and creams that will get rid of their acne. When it comes to acne treatment, it can really start to feel like you are grasping at straws trying to find a solution. I went through my own awkward acne stage along with a frustrating experience trying to find an acne treatment that would work for me.

It is hard to pinpoint the causes of acne, but in most people, they find that the one thing that is always there is stress. Whether it is stress from school, work, or even from breaking out, acne can easily turn into something you just can’t seem to get rid of. A great way to reduce the amount of breakouts you have is to simply relax. Relaxation and exercise can do wonders for your skin and can also even turn into a skin care regime; keeping your body and mind healthy helps keep your complexion healthy and looking great. However, no matter how healthy you are, you may end up with a case of acne if someone in your family, especially a parent, had acne or still experiences adult acne; genetics is a big determining factor.

There are countless products on the market today to help ease, get rid of and treat acne for good but when it comes to acne treatment, there are so many options to the point where there are too many and while you may feel like you’re in the dark when trying to pick a few to try, it is best to start reading reviews and see what has worked for the most amount of people.

An effective treatment for chronic acne that is completely natural and is said to work better than a run of the mill acne cream is Acnezine. Acnezine is a dual cream and pill that work together to completely rejuvenate your skin from the inside out.

Acenzine not only sounds like a miracle formula, but it has been tested and reviewed and is considered to be the most effective product on the market today.

Good for Your Vagina, Good for the Environment

Yep, I said it–Your vagina! Most women don’t think twice about using store-bought pads and tampons. In most cases, this is what most women were taught to use when they first got their period and so the cycle continues, in a matter of speaking. A lot of women aren’t aware that we do have choices when it comes to what period protection we use.

We all know about pads and tampons, but what a lot of people don’t know about them is that the biggest companies producing these products for women are run by men. It’s true! Men! What do men know about what really goes on in there? Well, apparently not too much since standard pads and tampons contain synthetic fibers and bleach; yes that’s right, bleach. If you look at a container of bleach it will tell you several times throughout the container that you should not drink it and if you do, to contact a poison control center. Bleach is made up of very harsh chemicals that if you drink it, it could very well be fatal, so why are we putting it up inside of ourselves? Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it? So dangerous that tampons also have a little warning you never paid much attention to that tells you about Toxic Shock Syndrome, which women under 21 years of age are most prone to getting.

When it comes to pads, we’re talking about the same ingredients here–Synthetic fibers and bleach. While we’re not shoving pads up inside of ourselves, the synthetic fibers and bleach that are in pads are rubbing up against us all day which is not good for our skin, especially considering that the skin ‘down there’ is very sensitive and makes up the beginning of our entire reproductive area. Women think that pads and tampons have been sterilized, when in fact, no feminine hygiene product has ever been sterilized; meaning we’re more than likely putting dirty synthetic fibers and bleach inside of us. So to recap, synthetic fibers and bleach are bad for us!

Moving on to the environment. There are approximately 85 million women in North America who are menstruating. After pads and tampons are used once, they are disposed of and add to environmental pollution.

According to the March-April article in E Magazine, 6.5 billion tampons and 13.5 billion pads and their packaging end up in landfills and even in sewer systems. That is a whole lot of waste that is clogging up the planet that could be avoided.

Avoided? How!?

If you are a woman who feels most comfortable using pads, Lunapads are reusable pads. With a life expectancy of 5 years, Lunapads is a pad alternative that is great for the environment. Made with a dual layer of 100% cotton flannel and an additional layer of ultra-thin, breathable nylon. They come in an array of different sizes, sure to fit any woman, if you’re a teen, in your 20s, 30s, or even middle-aged with five children under you belt. Best of all, they work with any type of menstrual flow and they are made of something that will not harm you or your reproductive organs in any way. To make it even better, Lunapads are amazingly cute and come in a myriad of different patterns.

If you are a woman who feels most comfortable using tampons, Lunapads also offers the Diva Cup, made of medical-grade silicone.

Both Lunapads and the Diva Cup are great alternatives to pads and tampons that are good for you to use and great for the environment.

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