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 [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
I’m a baby boomer. And I think that I speak for many of us when I say that, despite all of our bravado that speaks of how much more confident we are as we age, how much better we feel about ourselves now that we are no longer caught up in the angst of youth… there are still a bunch of things that suck. Like thining hair. Arrrgh.
It never even occured to me that this would happen. I expected wrinkles, waistline expansion, gravity taking hold of various body parts… But thining hair? That was never something that [...]

Guest post by Dana Hoffman, Licensed Acupuncturist, Masters of Science in Oriental Medicine
I was blown away reading Audrey’s December article on her experience of receiving Botox injections for the first time. Hers is the first article I’d seen giving the not-so-good side of what happens when Botox (Botulism Type A) works too well at paralyzing the nerves that activate muscles. The part about drooling really frightened me…

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
This is my final post in my Turning 50 series and, I must say, it has been wonderful focusing on me this entire year. But, I got carried away and became a little too self-absorbed. I made a mistake. A huge mistake. Warning signs should have been noted but I kept plowing forward. I got botoxed! It is almost like being punked by yourself.
I saw a Botox deal, $84.00 for 20 units of botox, on one of those Deals-of-the-Day sites and thought, why not, I know so many women (and men) who have had it done. [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
As I was contemplating getting a much needed manicure and finding the time to squeeze in that nail appointment in these harried days, I remembered this product for DIY Gel manicure that I wanted to try. I haven’t tried it yet, but I still wanted to let you know about the Red Carpet Manicure. It gets uniformly excellent reviews whether on Amazon, Ulta or on Drugstore.com.
As I have mentioned last year,  I rarely got manicures until I discovered salon No Chip/Gel manicures. I’m completely hopeless at keeping – regular – polish un-chipped and un-smudged for more than five minutes. Well, [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Never one to focus too much on my appearance, I realized a few years ago that there is something to be said about aging gracefully and using products that would help with that. Admittedly, turning 50 and sharing this series has forced me to look at myself more closely…

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Leave it to the French to be the inventors of the bidet. Invented by a French furniture maker in the late 17th hundreds, the bidet was kept in the bedroom beside the chamber pot. Since, at this time, there was no indoor plumbing or toilet paper, the bidet’s sole purpose was to use after the chamber pot to clean the perianal and genital area. Once indoor plumbing became the norm, the bidet was then used whenever one needed to, shall we say, freshen up.
As teenagers traveling through Europe with my parents, my sister and I [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
Just like any other perfectly normal, healthy, emotionally well-balanced woman, I have a thing for shoes. Do NOT ask me how many pairs I have. That is completely irrelevant to this conversation.
I know you understand. There are so many reasons to love shoes. They can elevate a seemingly blah outfit to one that begins new trends. They can make you feel like can conquer the world… Comfort? Pfffftt… No kingdom was ever conquered on the basis of comfort. Or walkability factors.
But, most of all, I’m quite certain that women love shoes so much because they are [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Okay, I know this is going to sound vain but I want to look my best for my upcoming high school reunion. It is like Facebook – we want to be seen in the most positive light.
It will be 32 years since I have seen most of my high school buddies and I am really looking forward to this reunion of us all turning 50. Part of me wants to reconnect with some of my long lost friends and part of me is just curious to see what people look like and to know what [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Years ago, good friends of mine, Bernadette and Ilona, invited me to explore Little India in Los Angeles with them. I noticed that every shop (it did not matter what the shop was selling) offered facial hair threading. We were not sure what it really was but by the end of the day we had all decided to give it a try. For six bucks to get my eyebrows shaped I thought, why not! And I am so glad I did. Recently (okay, for a while now) I find that I have other unwanted facial [...]