By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife

Father’s Day is coming up. Might you have a rabid vintage music fan as a husband, father, brother? Or a wannabe music historian? The Burton History Trees are for them. What an absolutely fantastic – and exciting – gift idea for those hard-to-shop-for men.

The Burton Trees are unique kind of wall art, a visual & artistic rendition of music history. These graphic “trees” document music history along the recognized “format” of the family tree. Each tree is arranged by chronological order, where the roots describe the “building blocks” of an era, a band or musical genre. The trunk represents its major influencers and instigators while the tree “leaves”  and “fruit” feature other prominent figures of the moment; the size of font reflects the significance of the bands during that time. It’s all meticulously thought out.

This was all started in Chicago by Bruce Burton who drew his first Burton History Tree of British Rock in 1979. The collection has now evolved to include history trees by genres of music or decade. Being from Chicago, the resident teams are represented (Bears, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox) as well as the St-Louis Cardinals and the Green Bay Packers. Golf and the Brazil World Cup get their own trees as well.

I loved these the moment I came upon them at the One of a Kind Show in town this past December. What greatconversation pieces and the perfect gift to trigger “remember when” nostalgia and memories.

You can buy Burton History Trees directly from their website. Do these deserve our Gift-Worthy badge or what?

By Liza Kovacs, M.S.C, M.A., Fitness Contributor

Wow. I know I am not the only one who thinks about the future and wish for this, to be spared somewhat from the ravages of time and to sail through the twilight of my life with ease and elegance. My older sister reminded me again recently about Baby Boomers and their needs. While I fall a year short of being officially included in that demographic group, I do feel their pain. Having been a dancer for 20 years, I understand the need to care for a body not too happy with what it has been put through over time.

Many of my movement students are middle aged. I see how they too struggle with issues that creep up after years of bad habits and, in this respect, I dare say that aging gracefully is also of concern to the young: their sphere of interest might lie elsewhere, as aging has not yet shown its disheartening effect, but many aspects of physical health that come into play later start to develop. The hard core physical activities we give ourselves to in the splendor of youth; or in reverse the physical activities we do not give time to {later we tell ourselves}; the postures we adopt; the habits that become ingrained and that are repeated day after day, year after year… all of this is part of living and will embed itself in our body, etching itself deeper and deeper with each day.

So… great! Now what? Most of us have not had “perfect” lives, doing the “perfect” activities for us, eating the “perfect” foods, sleeping a perfect night. Nor should we expect that of ourselves. Our bodies thrives on novelty. The issue however comes if one is physically feeling that they have been paying the price for this.

I would like to offer you a secret that would enable you to breeze through time and aging with grace and effortlessness, tips on how to wake up each morning without a twinge or two, on how to keep your hips swaying easily when you walk, on reaching up to high shelf without a click in your shoulder, on taking the stairs without knees complaining.

Alas I must disappoint you. There is no magic bullet, no special potion, no secret other than the daily efforts we put into our lives to care for ourselves and our body, our instrument of expression and communication with the world. Those deliberate acts of kindness feed our bodies, mind and souls and I cannot think of a more graceful approach to aging than a gentle nurturing and loving of the self as a whole. Well, that and my not-so-secret recipe for the fountain of youth as illustrated below:

Stay well my friends!

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

Recently, I wrote an article about feeling beautiful as I age. In the article I included BOOMbox Network’s beauty survey that asked the question, ”How do women over the age of 45 REALLY feel about ‘beauty’ at their age”. A not-so-surprising finding is how important hair is to women. Healthy hair defines our youth and can determine if we age “gracefully” or not.

I have a dear friend, you all know her, who has always had gorgeous hair, and for 20 years I have been jealous (yes, jealous) of her hair. Beautiful thick, silky long mane of hair. I have written about my hair in the past and you may know, it is limp, frizzy and now (gulp) thinning!

Stress, nutritional and thyroid imbalances can all trigger hair loss, but it is during peri- and menopause, and the hormonal imbalance that comes with it, that can cause the most amount of hair loss. You may have noticed yourself that your forehead has grown higher or that your part has gotten wider. One-third of women will experience this as they enter peri-menopause with thinning hair increasing to 75% after the age of 65.

Plus, adding to our hair loss is the over use of harsh products, the build-up of product on the scalp and hair, sun damage and over-styling over the years.

Have no fear ladies. There is an INexpensive solution available. B’iota Botanicals has been available in Europe for over a decade and has just been introduced in the United States. This all natural herbal solution to thinning hair has been proven to not only reduce hair falling out but to also grow faster, thicker and fuller hair within 30 days.

How does it work? The blend of herbal extracts, vitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids (sound like we could drink this!) nourishes the scalp to encourage faster growing hair that is stronger, thicker and fuller.

And the best part is that it is available at all major pharmacies and Amazon for $7.99 to $9.99 for the shampoo and $29.99 for the serum.

To good to be true? Check out these testimonials!

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife

I’m a wannabe locavore (that means eating locally produced food all year round). But, living in the Midwest, it’s just not practical. I need food with color all year round, not just in the summer.

With farmers’ market season rolling in, I can play the locavore part  - for a few short months at least. I get ambitious strolling down the market, poking fruit and veggies and asking questions on how to prepare obscure produce such as garlic scapes or salsify. All this freshness is so tempting that I invariably stock my basket with much more than my family can reasonably consume over the course of the week.

I don’t want to be one of those unconscious persons that contributes to the horrible statistic that states that, as a society, Americans throw away 40% of their food. That is wrong for so many reasons.

The FreshPaper™ by Fenugreen is a great remedy to help me save my produce by keeping it fresh longer. FreshPaper, nicknamed the “dryer sheet for produce“, is a 5″ x 5″ sheet of spice infused paper that you simply drop at the bottom of your refrigerator’s vegetable bin. This will keep produce fresh 2 to 4 times longer.

How does it work? FreshPaper is infused with natural anti-microbial organic spices. Besides inhibiting bacterial and fungal growth, these organic ingredients also inhibit the enzymes that cause the over-ripening of produce. The sheets work well both in and out of the fridge and each biodegradable, compostable sheet of FreshPaper will last two to three weeks.

Now I can really have a field day at the farmers’ market!

Buy from Fenugreen.com or from your local Whole Foods store.

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

What does your perfect Mother’s Day look like? For me, it is breakfast in bed with the newspaper and my young girls competing on whose school-made gift I will open first. It is either going out to lunch or walking the dogs with my 20 year old son, who knows that spending an afternoon together has been our tradition on Mother’s Day for the last six years. Simple, right? How easy for us to enjoy this day that became an official celebration for mothers over 100 years ago.

Not all countries, mind you, have a day designated for mothers. But no matter what country we live in, all mother’s sacrifice much in the name of their child. Careers, goals, health and, yes, even their very life.

I know this sounds dramatic, but it is true. All over the world women have sacrificed much to having and raising their children. Should this not be what Mother’s Day is about? To acknowledge these sacrifices and support those who are struggling for freedom, healthcare or simple survival?

Below are some worthy causes that support mothers here, in Third World countries and globally. Your support can be as simple as joining their cause, sharing a post on your Facebook page or donating as little as $5.00 (you, of course, could do all three!).

Take a look, contribute somehow and make a difference:

Read the full story »

By Carol Cassara – Contributor & Midlife Wrangler

We’re the first generation to hit middle age (and official “senior” status) that knows we’re going to live longer—and healthier.  And that means we still have at least another 20 years to make our dreams come true.

Julia Child, Gandhi, Dr. Ruth, and authors Laura Ingalls Wilder and Frank McCourt were all late bloomers.

You can be one, too.

How?  That’s the question I asked myself, because I’ve recreated myself several times in these years between middle-age and whatever’s next. And I’m still doing it.

Life and opportunities are not over just because we’re aging. In many ways, this is the very best time to start a new venture, because we know so much more—about ourselves and life.

When I left my consulting job a few years ago to retire early, I had visions of a quiet, leisurely life of doing pretty much what I wanted to do. Sleeping in. Crafting.  But that’s not what happened.

I got bored.  Despite our extensive travel, there were plenty of in between weeks when I felt… disconnected. I wanted to contribute and knew that I could.

First, I started a memoir. Which I’m still working on.  But it wasn’t enough.

And then, an opportunity to teach appeared. I’d loved the several years I’d spent as an adjunct professor in another state, and figured eventually I might look for a similar gig. But I didn’t have to. Turned out, someone I knew from a writing group became chancellor of a local college. I dropped him a note and he introduced me to another “senior” who headed a college department and within weeks I had an offer to teach two college courses.  I’m ending my first school year this week.

Teaching is the way I give back. It satisfies me in a way that my traditional jobs never did. As an older instructor, I have much more to give back than I would have as a younger woman.

But that opportunity didn’t come out of nowhere—I’m a big believer in being awake to opportunity when it appears in your life. As in “any day can change your life, you just have to be there.”

Although I love teaching and writing, I’m not done recreating myself.

Here’s what I discovered: what I do when I procrastinate is what I’m really passionate about. I’m much happier if I incorporate those things into a new venture. Time passes quickly when you’re doing what you love, don’t you agree?

I know you’ve got a dream. Maybe more than one. Do you know what it is?

I’ve got more than one. Still. Too many, in fact. So many, that most die before they even get started! My life is a boneyard of dreams that died for lack of follow-through. It’s littered with them.  But I’ve made enough come true that I now know how to do it.

Since I love to teach and I love to write, I’ve decided to put together workshops that combine my two passions. I’m at the very start of this process: articulating my idea. Because I’ve learned the hard way through ventures that never got off the ground: state a dream in detail so you know exactly what it will take to make it come true. It’s like a trip—you can’t get moving until you know where you want to go, right?

Making dreams come true is a kind of specialty of mine and I’ll revisit this topic every month as I share my own process of making my latest dream come true. The good, the bad and the ugly—I’ll share it all. And, I hope, you’ll start the process of articulating your own dream—and share your experiences in the comments section.

So—what’s your dream?

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

As I recently delved into all sorts of questions regarding oh… little things such as the dichotomy of  love & desire in my marriage and the discovery of seeing myself as a sensual being, the thought pattern inevitably led me to questioning my “beauty”.

Actually, what does “beauty” mean? It’s hard to discern, especially in our society, exactly what makes a person beautiful. The continuous assault of “perfect beauty” imagery wants us to believe one thing. Wiser outlets – and even dedicated organizations – tell us that beauty comes in all colors, shapes and sizes… And ages.

I’m 50 now (soon to be 51), and clearly, my thoughts about beauty has changed. Has my beauty really faded to the extent the advertisers told me it would?  Am I less valuable and relevant now that I have (darn it) visible lines and wrinkles and a little misplaced pudge? The consumer marketplace is certainly making me feel like I no longer exist…

These thoughts were even further provoked by Dove’s latest campaign, “Real Beauty Sketches”. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It has racked up nearly 30 million views since it went up a week ago. It’s obviously striking a chord!

I wonder how I would have described myself just last month if I had been part of that same experiment. Probably not as harshly as the younger women in the video, since one of the benefits of age is indeed wisdom.

But, it turns out that us “older” women are not feeling so bad about ourselves – despite all the hard work the advertising industry is putting in to make us feel inadequate in the beauty department. Indeed, BOOMbox Network recently completed a beauty survey on Baby Boomer women: ”How do women over the age of 45 REALLY feel about ‘beauty’ at their age”. More precisely, how do they feel about their own beauty and about the advertising/marketing of the beauty products that targets them?

The major findings:

• For women over 50, hair is really, really important!
• We feel more beautiful in midlife than when they did in their 20’s (That’s the magic of confidence that comes with age!)
• We do NOT believe in beauty product claims (Can’t dupe us. Don’t even try)
• We do NOT like the use of younger models or celebrities in advertising of products targeted to them (C’mon, the twenty-something selling me wrinkle cream. Really?)
• We define beauty in completely different and unexpected terms (Our husbands, our girlfriends, a good night sleep are the types of things that make us feel beautiful)

So, us old gals are not doing so bad, huh? And we’re certainly not gullible. Age does have it’s advantages. It’s confirmed.

So you know, I’m not feeling like I’m fading at all. In fact, I’m more confident than ever about who I am (especially after reading François Roland’s “Being French!“). Yes, there are a few visible wrinkles, but these lines are well earned and are testimony to a life thus far well-lived. And as François Roland so eloquently states, “The tracery of wrinkles on your face creates and reflects the absolute uniqueness of who you are.” I know that the spark in my eyes and the mischievousness in my smile are alive and kicking, thankyouverymuch!