Indeed, as overworked, overburdened, overstressed women, doesn’t a little ME-covery sound perfect just about… now?

What does Saatchi & Saatchi mean by Me-Covery behavior? Here’s the full scoop, but essentially it is meant to show a trend where many women today are looking to:

 
• Buy healthier foods. More organic & high quality foods
• Consume LESS fast food
• Work out more, on their own, through online programs, videos and gaming systems
• Buy more vitamins and they are seeing their doctors more regularly
• Buy more skincare and hair-care products
• Plan to have more fun. That means vacations and getaways but also bedroom toys!

It is said that growth and change can only really be achieved as the outcome of difficult experiences. This economic crisis, though painful, has indeed brought us a whole new level of awareness, a definite realization that apparently we don’t need all that “stuff” and that things like our health are much more important… And that the little treats of a new workout DVD or $20 volumizing mousse can reintroduce just the right amount of yumminess in our daily routine, just enough to keep us going as we await the – economic – recovery.

We are smart consumers, always weary of being sold to under the pretext of a new trend or market segmentation, but personally, I love the term Me-Covery enough to feel like promoting the idea. If this appellation is all about making positive changes to look and feel better by eating better, getting active, primping up and having fun then… that’s a trend worth spreading the word about. Especially if merchants and service providers are looking to provide well-priced solutions to accommodate us.

Me-Covery? Bring it on!

Dear Shoppers,

Well dears, it’s that time of year again… the time of year when one purchase can make or break many a relationship… the time of year when you find yourself desperately succumbing to just any old thing because despite a month of thinking about it, 2 weeks of late night Internet browsing, and 4 days of running out to the local shops on your lunch hour, you’re still empty handed and have nothing to give your mother.

So you buy her a Snuggie and hope she gets the joke. Or maybe actually likes it! Because your mother, who Zumbas, day hikes and volunteers at the local chihuahua rescue is suddenly a helpless old woman who can’t stay warm and talk on the phone at the same time?

I think not my puppies.

Pour yourself a nice glass of eggnog, maybe with a splash of whiskey, and get comfy because I am here not to tell you what to buy but much more importantly, what not to buy this holiday season.

Drugstore gift packs. This includes drugstore cologne/perfume wrapped with a bottle opener or keychain but mostly anything with soap on a rope. Soap-on-a-Rope is the bane of every father’s Christmas stocking. Have you ever seen it in action? Of course not. Your father will smile and thank you and he will dutifully hang it in his shower where he may even try to use it and darlings, have you ever tried to wash yourself with a car shaped soap? It’s awkward. After this one half hearted attempt it will lose all distinguishing characteristics and it will hang, for months, a mocking blob, in the shower until your mother tosses it in a fit of aggressive mildew removal.

Teddy Bears for anyone over the age of 16. I don’t care if that bear is wearing a festive outfit and comes with a box of cut rate chocolate… if it doesn’t have a serious piece of jewelry bling around its wee furry neck, it doesn’t belong under the tree.

Speaking of the under 16 set… itʼs important to address toys. Toys, as you know, are my forte, my specialité, my, as the kids say, thang. Iʼve seen toys come and Iʼve seen them go and trust me when I say, drum sets, eleventy billion piece “some assembly required” kits and dolls with teeny tiny shoes and purses, are only appropriate if you A) hate the parents of the recipient and B) are fine living with the knowledge that someday, somehow, they will retaliate and you will be sad. So very sad.

If your gift for the small people in your life requires batteries, be certain that you include them. Tape them smartly to the front of the present, because the phrase, “Batteries Not Included” is known to strike terror in the heart of many a parent on Christmas morning… of course there will not be 3 D-Cell batteries or 12 AAAs floating around in the junk drawer and, over the hysterical sobbing of little Susie or Billy, the parents will curse you and be forced to trudge out to the only shop open on this national holiday, the local liquor mart, where they will pay twice as much for a shoddy and dusty package of batteries to a hostile and smug proprietor.

I’ve seen it happen. Again, one day, you will be so very sad.

Moving on…

Avoid anything “camp”. This includes the aforementioned Snuggie, as well as items such as the Chia Pet, the hanging tomato garden and most especially, the As Seen on TV Hat. There is just so very much wrong with this hat/video viewer that Santa threatened to put anyone who asks for it on the Naughty List. The very idea of grown ass men and women sitting around in a giant ball cap with what is basically a Tyco View-Master attachment is the stuff of which my nightmares are made…

Naughty lingerie. No one needs to be dressed up as a sexy elf (take it from me, they do not exist) or worse, a sexy Mrs. Claus. Men, if you want to see your wife or girlfriend in something a little racy, it is time to man up and make a stop if not at La Perla, than at least Victoria’s Secret.

Finally, I hope this next category need not be said, but unless your loved one has come to you and verbally stated, with at least 2 sober witnesses present, that all they really want this year is a gym membership/Wii Fit/Biggest Loser dvd collection, FOR THE LOVE OF DECEMBER never give anything that implies weight loss, firmer abs, or a perkier butt.

Once again, you will be sad. Very very sad. If you don’t believe me, ask Santa about Christmas 1997.

Gift giving can be a tricky minefield for the uneducated, so consider yourselves blessed as you set forth on your holiday purchasing with a clear understanding of what just constitutes a gift most horrible… remember, there is no such thing as a difficult person to buy for, only lazy shoppers.

Happy Holidays!

Love,
Mrs. Claus

So, please pardon our appearance as tweaks and retrieval of files  is still going on. A few pages and functions are still looking rickety in the process.

Thanks for your patience!

Thanks so much for sticking with me. The last 6 weeks have been consumed by a cross-state move of home and business that has taken all my attention. The family is now – sloooowly – recovering and getting settled in our new ‘hood of Chicago’s North Shore. We chose to self-relocate to this destination, following a four year Q & A exercise that involved Excel spreadsheets (with weighted averages on each considered city’s quality of life and cost of living attributes), on-site reconnaissance tours and loads of reading, including Richard Florida’s instrumental “Who’s Your City” book:

Where we live is increasingly important to every facet of our lives. We owe it to ourselves to think about the relationship between place and our economic future, as well as our personal happiness…

And from Rana Florida, CEO of the Creative Class Group, here is how she compares the importance of choosing the right city/place to live for you:

…compares the search for a place of one’s own to finding the right mate. She says you have to look inward and figure out exactly what makes you tick in order to choose a place that will allow you to grow and develop. And remember if you don’t remain happy, there’s no shame in moving on.

Yeah. What she said… That’s what happened to us in Las Vegas. We needed to move on. Las Vegas was a weird destination for us to begin with, “imposed” upon by business relationships. The city was good to us and we met some awesome people, but it was time to move on. And hence the whole spreadsheet exercise. Ends up that Chicago’s North Shore area has already exceeded our expectations. Ask me again in January when it’s minus-something Fahrenheit outside, but I think we’ll be fine.

If you are thinking that you might not be happy, fulfilled, gratified or blooming where you’re planted, I want to say “MOVE”. It’s a pain, it’s a lot of work, things get broken and lost, but in our case, I can confirm that our quality of life has already improved a hundred fold. So, if you’re thinking about it, GO AHEAD. I’ll coach you if you need!

And now, among other things, I really look forward to updating the blog with posts on my latest discoveries, including the many delightful finds to be had right here, in my new backyard that is the Chicago area. Stay tuned.

“In heaven, there are no debts — all have been paid, one way or another — but in hell there’s nothing but debts, and a great deal of payment is exacted, though you can’t ever get all paid up. You have to pay, and pay, and keep on paying. Hell is like an infernal maxed-out credit card that multiplies the charges endlessly”.

I don’t connect nor dwell upon the notion of hell. But debt is certainly not my vision of bliss! I’m going frugal, meaningful and cash only!

We will become smarter in carefully considering our investment in big purchases and won’t squander on insignificant tschotchkies.  We won’t be so infatuated with fashion trends and fads because they don’t have
durability. Instead, we will each develop our own enduring style. We will become more resourceful and creative in finding ways to repurpose goods for another life. We won’t be so wasteful with our food and other
staples, and will buy only what we need when we need it. We will have more respect for our belongings because each has a meaning and purpose.

Without the means (and obsession) to indulge in reckless consumption, we might just become more of a community because we won’t be so focused on “stuff”.  We might just start caring more about people than material things. We could very well start finding more activities that bring us together in enjoyable, authentic and enriching ways. And, there’s a chance that we will learn to respect our elders again for all the wisdom and comfort they bring us.

Sounds like Utopia? Actually, doesn’t this remind you on how our parents and grand-parents used to live? It used to be a cash society where one would only buy what they could afford. Seems like a return to the olden days. Strange, huh, after we’ve sought and achieved so much advancement. I’m not saying we should go Amish. But I believe that a self-enforced “frugal living” scenario can feel very freeing. It’s an opportunity to see our spirits grow, something that can really only happen when we can start being unattached to “stuff”. No matter what I can afford, I will now, more than ever, look for style AND substance AND durability. Something that fits my needs and makes me feel good when I use it.

The bottom, bottom line? The impact on our environment. The planet can only benefit when we curb the pilferage of the planet’s natural resources and thus the pollution emitted in the manufacturing, packaging and transportation of our “stuff”.

See, this can become a good thing. As we’ve all heard, growth can only be achieved through pain. Bring it on.  Ouch.

Enjoy & let me know what you think…

What bothers me more than having a hard time reading the copy (and having to think that NO ONE but a two year old drinks out of a water bottle with such spill results),  is that Brita, the company behind this campaign is not so upfront about… being behind this campaign. I don’t know what there is to hide. The Brita home water filtration system proposes a legitimate way for hardcore water bottle users to make a switch. Anyhow, I’m still glad to see that the volume of noise on the subject is escalating. This will hopefully show some results before it’s too late. FWIW, there is also a pledge that you can take to indicate your involvement in the cause. Go to the FilterForGood website for that.

Vivienne Westwood. I love her! Not just because she is still so sassy and provocative and sexy at age 66 years young, but also because – and this is so totally counter-intuitive to anyone who is in the high consumerist world of fashion – she has the courage to say what’s right and what, incidentally, has been on my mind for some time.

“Dame Vivienne Westwood thinks we should all stop shopping for clothes. “If you ask me what I think people should be getting next season,” she says in that softly bossy northern accent of hers. “I’ll tell you what I’d like them to buy – nothing. I’d like people to stop buying and buying and buying.”

In Britain, we’re spending £38.4 billion a year on clothes. Pushing ourselves into debt and chucking our cast-offs into landfill, we’d be hard pushed to demonstrate that, as a result of this spending, we look any better”.

I think that our grandparents had it right: you have a few precious pieces of clothing and accessories that you cherish and wear and wear and wear. Not a closet full of “worn once” pieces that will be cast aside in 6 months. We’ve fallen victim to trends. And, have you noticed, trends are now changing faster and faster. Those truly hooked on trends can barely keep up. Certainly their salary-to-fashion-expense ratio must feature a negative number. It’s only to the benefit of the fashion conglomerates to spin trends as quickly as possible.

I’m not buying it. And, BTW, trend is not style. How can one find their own style when you have to shift gears and try on a new trend every 3 to 6 months.