kabuki colors

Both of these ads are from the same 1959 issue of Mademoiselle. Although they're both for different products from different companies, they both use the Asian term "kabuki" to describe the bright colors of their respective products.

I thought this was rather interesting so I did a quick search on Wiki and learned that kabuki is a form of traditional Japanese theatre. I'm guessing that the Coro jewelry company and Merle Norman are using the term "kabuki" to compare their colors to the bright stage make-up used in traditional kabuki performances. Odd nonetheless.

While I don't see much of a connection between Kabuki theatre and Coro pearls, I think the ad is brilliant. I want a strand in every color!

chantix dreamin'

This not-smoking thing is a very convoluted process. According to the experts, I am waaaayy past physical withdrawal from nicotine -- that's over after the first 72 hours. What I'm still struggling with on a day-to-day basis is the psychological addiction which is a different animal altogether. It's gettting easier but it's still not easy. I rarely actually crave a cigarette anymore -- instead, there's just kind of a constant vague low-grade anxiety and the feeling that something's just not quite right. I'll gladly take that over the near-panic I experienced the first couple of days. I can't imagine how much worse this would be without Chantix.

It will be 40 days tomorrow. I'm even impressing myself. :)

baby love

You see the little arrow in the picture above? Do you see the little gray blob it's pointing toward? That's my grandbaby! Yes, Erin and Lee have announced that they're expecting their first child in September!

This might be the appropriate time to be pensive, introspective and contemplate the circle of life -- after all, my senior years are approaching just as this new life is beginning ........

Naw. I think I'll just go out and buy a whole bunch of cute baby stuff instead. :)

can't you hear my heartbeat

Bellasugar.com has long been included in my links so I was thrilled when they asked if they could use some of my flickr 60's cosmetics magazine ads in a slideshow presentation on their site. I almost feel hip! Thanks, Bella!

pretty woman

I don't know that anyone defines the 60's better than Twiggy. Just look at that face. I vividly recall pulling my long hair back and pinning it up and if I twisted and turned and stood just so while looking in the mirror, I could sorta maybe kinda see what I looked like with the short Twiggy cut.

Of course, the amount of time I spent doing that pales in comparison to the amount of time I spent with brown Maybelline cake eyeliner and an eyeliner brush creating arc-shaped creases in the hollow of my eyes and painting teeny tiny little lower eyelashes beneath my real ones. Truth is, I still love this look and would wear it again in a hearbeat if it came back in style (and if I were 20 years younger ........ ).

Twiggy, of course, is still beautiful ..... and still skinny.

shining, gleaming, streaming, flaxen, waxen

This ad for Cairol's Great Body Conditioning Shampoo created all kinds of frustration for me during my high school years. I had long poker-straight hair and became completely obsessed with achieving this hairstyle in which only the very ends of the hair were curly. Mind you, this was before hot rollers and curling irons were in vogue and the only hair dryers we had came with a bonnet and a long plastic hose.

Not comprehending that there was probably at least one highly-paid hair stylist on this photo shoot whose job was to lovingly create and carefully position each curl in between every shot, I spent hours trying to duplicate this look and never came close. I even tried a bottle of Clairol's Great Body Conditioning Shampoo. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

Eventually I gave up and returned to my old stand-by for giving my limp hair some life: pulling my slightly damp hair into a ponytail on the top of my head and rolling it on an empty orange juice concentrate can before hitting the sack. As any formerly long-haired 60's girl will tell you, it worked!

ice ice baby

It was 4 weeks ago today that I smoked my last cigarette. For decades cigarettes were my constant companion. If I was leaving the house, I made sure I had a pack with me. If I was going to another room for an extended period of time, I made sure I had a pack with me. If I was going out of town, I made sure that I had a lot of packs with me.

Meet my new constant companion: Dentyne Ice Arctic Chill sugarless gum. These days you'll rarely find me without a piece in my mouth or a couple of packs in my pocket. I can't say that I enjoy feeling so gum-dependent but it sure beats my previous addiction. As John Lennon said: whatever gets you through the night is alright ........

just like romeo and juliet

This ad from the November 1969 issue of "Seventeen" gives me all kinds of pleasant memories. It depicts two things that were near and dear to my romantic adolescent heart at the time: my beloved Yardley cosmetics and Franco Zeffirelli's incredible 1968 film "Romeo and Juliet."

"Romeo and Juliet" remains one of my favorite films of all time and former Juliet Olivia Hussey is still gorgeous!

happy together

My beautiful daughter, Erin, on her wedding day: November 17, 2007

All my girls. From the left: my stepdaughter Caitlin, my daughter Megan, Erin, Erin's best friend Brooke and my daughter Molly.

Erin and Lee, the couple of the moment at their wedding reception.

It was an amazing day and photographs could never come close to representing the beauty and the emotion of the day. I hope that Erin and Lee cherish the memory forever. I know I will.

hang on sloopy

24 days. Amazing. I know it's just a drop in the bucket of the rest-of-my-life as a non-smoker, but I never, ever would have dreamed that I could go 24 days without a cigarette -- I had a hard enough time going 24 minutes without one!

There are no miracle fixes .... this is outrageously hard work .... but there isn't a doubt in my mind that Chantix has made this much easier than it would have been otherwise. I have had a disturbing smoker's hack for years and years and it's almost gone now. I still get significantly strong urges to smoke but they're usually in connection with some activity I used to associate with smoking -- and I had many -- but they're gradually diminishing.

No, I don't own any stock in Pfizer, but I just can't recommend this product enough. Believe me, if it's working for me, it can work for anybody.