Me Time branded apparel is where fun meets fashion, and where you can identify with the important me time message among our many fashion top designs. From shopping to sunbathing, wine to dog walking and everything in between, we have your favorite me time activities covered. Our tees make a statement and will draw comments and smiles.
You Don’t Have to “Get Out” to Getaway! Grab your pillow and go…to your girlfriends’ house for a “no guys or kids allowed” sleepover….grown up style.
Kate Hudson was quoted as saying the best advice she ever got from her mom (Goldie Hawn) is to “never forget how important your girlfriends are.” While we don’t all have time to take a multi-day girls getaways to re-connect with the girls, we can still find some much-needed relaxation and rejuvenation with our gal pals at a good, old-fashioned slumber party…. continue
Posted on November 20, 2009 by Amy in Celebrations |
This is an embarrassing issue, but I have lots of problems finding the correct bra for my shape. What should I do?
Signed,
Lumpy bumpy
Dear Lumpy,
Aren’t you lucky. Lingerie is my obsession!
For many years, I myself was wearing the wrong bra – until I was fitted and realized, not only did it make my breasts look bigger (a fabulous thing when you are an A cup), but it also made my posture improve, and me appear slimmer!
As luck would have it, my BFF is currently an associate at Victoria’s Secret in NYC, and she has learned tons from her time on the floor! Allison says finding the bra that fits is one of the most important things you can do to improve the way you look in your clothes. “The bra shouldn’t gap at the sides, and the cups shouldn’t create a dent in your breast tissue. If you’re having any of these issues, you should reevaluate your size or be measured. A bra that fits well can make you look slimmer and can improve your posture.”
She goes on to say that if your current bra is gapping, you might want to go down a cup size. If it is creating a dent or a lumpy appearance under your clothes, try going up a cup size, and the band should fit comfortably around your body and should not dig in to your skin.
Here’s some more tips to go by:
1 – If your cups are baggy, that’s a sign you are wearing the wrong size. Try going down one cup size. Also, if your cups are creasing around the nipple, try to decrease your band size so that the fabric becomes taut.
2. That said, the opposite problem is just as bad. If your cleavage is spilling out over the tops, your breasts do not look bigger, you just look lumpy. You are probably wearing too small of a cup size, so try going one size up.
3. Your support comes not only from the cups and straps, it comes from the band size. If you are wearing the wrong size, your bra will dig into your flesh and you’ll have those tell-tale marks when you take it off.
4. A great way to test your fit is to stand sideways and look at your profile in the mirror. If your bra band is at the same level all the way around, you are wearing the right size. If it’s riding up, you are wearing the wrong size AND creating the illusion of back fat!
5. Here’s a tip that I love: A great way to see if your bra band is the right fit is if you have just enough space to insert two fingers under the back band, and one under the center front. No more, no less!
6. When you get a new bra, don’t get one that JUST fits, get one that DOES fit. That means being able to close it on the last hook. You may not know this, but a bra band can grow as much as four inches after a series of wash and wear. That means with wear, you will ultimately need to tighten it, so you want one that starts out fitting snug (but comfortably). .
7. Is your underwire flat at the front? The center of the front of the bra should be flat against the breastbone. Otherwise, you may need to try on the next cup size.
8. In a related note, the wire at the side of the bra should also sit firm on the ribcage, but not dig in. (Again, those telltale marks!)
9. Do a test drive – put on a fitted t-shirt. Then, look at yourself from all angles. The idea is to have an uplifted look, but no sagging or bulges.
10. Once you have done your test drive, and walked around in your bra, seeing how it feels and looks, you are ready to go forth and enjoy!
So often women feel overwhelmed or stressed and feel the need to relax and unwind. Can you relate? There are moments I find myself sputtering “Oy, I need a vacation” or “Calgon take me away” (maybe I’m just over the hill dating myself here!).
For many of us, this economy isn’t lending itself to jet-setting to white sandy beaches where the surf will wash your troubles away… So in my quest for “destressing” resources… I came across a video I’d like to share… The video points out some really quick and easy tips to relax. I tried it and was able to destress both physically and mentally! Try it out. Below are some other articles from our resource center that you might find helpful!
It’s that time of year again – back to school – which means families everywhere are heading out, stocking up and forking over fistfuls of money on everything from pencils to peanut butter. According to the National Retail Federation, the average family spends more than $500 on school supplies each fall, making this time of year second only to Christmas for total consumer spending. Here are ways to save big bucks for back-to-school and throughout the year.
>> http://www.practicalmoneyskills.com: It’s a good idea to know what you need to buy and how much is available to spend before you go shopping. The site helps create a budget. The site also has a handy Back to School Calculator designed to help you and your kids determine school-related expenses, make necessary adjustments to stay within budget, and then hit the stores.
SURF AND SWAP FOR FREE STUFF
>> http://www.swaptree.com: Swaptree lets you trade used and like-new books, DVDs, CDs and video games with other people online for FREE. You pay shipping and handling.
>> http://www.zwaggle.com: great for musical instruments. You pay shipping and handling.
>> http://freepeats.org: great for sports equipment and other stuff. You pay $5 for freepeats, but they are a good network in 25 cities (including SF)
AVOID COUPON CLUTTER/LAYER DEALS One of the hardest parts about trying to save money is spending hours scouring fliers and websites for coupon deals, but some stores have really gotten smart about this.
>> For instance, you can go to safeway.com (click on a link, load online coupons directly onto your Safeway Club Card – and all the best deals are automatically redeemed at checkout time.
>> Another secret here is that you can layer on savings: find something already on sale. Then if you can get an even deeper discount – you’ve successfully layered some big savings.
DO NOT PAY RETAIL!
>> http://www.retailmenot.com: For clothes, shoes, things like that, always try to Double Dip on Savings. Sometimes you can even combine coupon codes online and double-dip for bigger savings. Go to this site to find coupon codes for more than 30,000 online stores. Often times there is more than one code per store – so you can double dip and end up with 50, even 75 percent off.
>> Google search with the name of the retailer and type in “coupon code.”
>> http://shopittome.com: Sign up for free – this site sends you “salemail” to your email inbox whenever what you want goes on sale. I bought my daughter this Ed Hardy shirt – got it for 75% off, these sparkly converse shows, I saved 50% — paid about $25 total for these hot finds.
http://www.billshrink.com: Most of us don’t put much thought into how we’re going to pay for these back-to-school purchases – just throw it on any credit card that has space? Use our debit card? If you use the wrong credit card, you might end up eating all these great savings by paying too high of interest and fees. Billshrink.com can help people find these low interest credit cards. If you don’t pay your bill off every month, BillShrink can likely find you a better rate than you’re paying now. If you do pay your bill every month, make sure you use a card that earns you cashback. They have several listed on their site.
LUNCHBOX LESSONS
>> Don’t buy juice boxes or bottled water – use a re-fillable water bottle and save as much as $400 a year!
>> Stock up on basic ingredients for your kids’ such as meats that can be remade into a variety of kid-friendly lunches. For example, grill up some chicken breasts on Sunday and pack them a healthy chicken sandwich on Monday, chicken strips with bbq sauce dip on Tuesday, a grilled chicken wrap on Wednesday and so forth.
>> Look for family-pack portions of poultry and meat at your local grocery and you can freeze individual pieces to last you weeks for an entire month of budget-friendly lunches.
About Jennifer Jolly Jennifer has been deeply embedded in consumer and lifestyle media for the past 15-years as a broadcast journalist, TV Host, guest columnist and PR advisor. Her popular TV segments, print and blog articles cover the very things most moms (and just about everyone else) are talking about today: Fabulous Freebies, How to Live Large on Less, No Sweat Workouts, Simple Tech to Save Time and Money, Valentines: Free Love, Spring Break Specials, More for Mother’s Day, The Skinny on Workout Wear, Summer Savings, Hi Tech Fitness Gadgets, Living Limber, and much, much more!www.jenniferjolly.com
Towards the end of summer, moms begin to think about the upcoming school year. While the summer may have meant lazy days without schedules or routines, the school year brings about something else entirely. Shopping for school supplies, instilling earlier bedtimes and a few last sleepovers are all being crammed into the next few weeks but at some point, new schedules, routines, clubs, play dates and commitments will all begin.
Brought to you by
Me Time Contributor
Debi Silber themojocoach.com
Think about how things went during the last school year. Were you stressed, overextended and overcommitted? You can follow the path you took last year and if it worked for you, that’s great. If it didn’t work for you however, you have another choice. The choice is to reevaluate the decisions you made previously, keeping what worked and changing what didn’t.
Each time you stop and reevaluate, you give yourself an opportunity to come up with a better strategy. You give yourself a chance to think about your values and what really matters most to you. Most importantly, you send a powerful message to yourself and those around you that your happiness matters too. So let’s say that you were overextended and overcommitted last school year. How can you make a change?
First take a look at when you say “yes” and “no”. Chances are you’re saying “yes” to a task you’d rather not do leaving you to say “no” to things that would bring you greater joy, passion and purpose. Here’s an example. Your daughter has a classroom performance and she’s counting on you being there. In order to get there on time, you left work early, ate in the car and returned phone calls during the drive. You race through the doors of school where you’re stopped by an acquaintance who asks you help out at the next PTA fundraising event. Your thoughts are on your daughter and the look she’ll have on her face if she doesn’t see you this minute so you end the conversation quickly with, “yes.”
After the performance you hug your daughter, race back to work and realize that you just added a few extra hours to your already overly extended lifestyle by saying “yes” when your mind, body, and soul were all screaming “no.” Why did you say yes? Maybe you felt guilty that you haven’t participated as often as some of the other moms. Maybe you were afraid that you’d be accused of “not being a part of the team.” Maybe you felt you’d be disliked, rejected or perceived as selfish if you didn’t say “yes” and finally, maybe you just don’t know how to say “no.”
What are your priorities? While they may include many things, spending time with family is often found somewhere near the top of the list. If quality time with your family is important and taking on another commitment will only leave you with less time for those you love, is saying “yes” in the best interest of you, your family, your values and your priorities? Saying “yes” to another time stealer leaves you saying “no” to something else that could have been fun, enriching and fulfilling.
Many moms feel when they say “no” to a request they are rejecting the person who has asked for the help. You aren’t rejecting the person, merely the request. We all know what rejection feels like and hope to spare anyone from the pain it causes. However, by assuming the person is personalizing the request is an assumption and unnecessary burden on our part. The person asking simply wants to know the responsibility is taken care of so they can check one more thing off their to-do list if you say “yes.” Saying no to their request is nothing personal, it’s just another opportunity for them to ask someone else to do the job they’re asking of you.
Many moms say “yes” to avoid the confrontation or look of surprise they may receive if they say “no.” For these moms, it’s easier to take on the extra work than deal with the perceived unwelcome response or “wrath.” Here’s a thought. Yes it may be uncomfortable for a minute or two. You may feel tense, stammer and wish you were anywhere else. But that feeling is fleeting and the freedom you’ve retained by staying true to your values lasts much longer.
Many moms believe they’ll be perceived as mean, selfish or “above it all” if they say “no.” First of all, if someone is going to criticize, judge and critique you and your behavior, do you really care what they think? Secondly, is it mean or selfish if you use that extra time to cuddle with your kids, go on a “date” with your husband or catch up on some extra sleep so you’ll have more patience, energy and clarity? Lastly, you are your children’s greatest role model. They look to you to see how to feel, act and behave. If this extra commitment leaves you feeling stressed, overwhelmed and overextended, is this the way you want your children to always see you?
Many moms just don’t know how to say “no.” Maybe it just sounds too harsh or severe for you so a more subtle approach may work better. If this is the case, how about something like: “I need to think about it and get back to you.” This is a great way of buying time so you can make a clear decision after thinking it through. Another option may be: “I’d love to, but I have too much on my plate right now.” This is a straightforward, honest response that few moms can argue with. A final option may be: “Now’s not a good time but when I’m able to help, I’ll let you know.”
This approach keeps the door open for future requests while remaining true to your priorities and yourself. As the kids go back to school they will have another year to learn, grow and evolve. If we choose, we can use the opportunity to “go back to school” and take some lessons in self growth and development ourselves. This school term, let’s work on reevaluating old habits and unhealthy behaviors in order to help ourselves, improve our relationships and become the empowered moms we’d always hoped we’d be. It’s time to go back to school. Let’s make it a great year!
About Debi Silber, MS, RD, WHC Debi is a Registered Dietitian with a Master’s degree in Nutrition, a Personal Trainer, Whole Health Coach, Lifestyle Expert-just for moms, speaker, President of Lifestyle Fitness, Inc. and author of The Lifestyle Fitness Program: A Six Part Plan So Every Mom Can Look, Feel and Live Her Best and From Mom To Wow: Your Ultimate Body, Mind and Life Makeover Guide. Debi’s branded The Mojo Coach TM because for nearly 20 years, she’s inspired unfit, overweight and overwhelmed moms to “get their mojo back” through gradual lifestyle change. www.themojocoach.com
Towards the end of summer, moms begin to think about the upcoming school year. While the summer may have meant lazy days without schedules or routines, the school year brings about something else entirely. Shopping for school supplies, instilling earlier bedtimes and a few last sleepovers are all being crammed into the next few weeks but at some point, new schedules, routines, clubs, play dates and commitments will all begin. 
