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 Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
I find that as I got older, Valentine’s Day has taken on a whole new purpose. In fact, I don’t know one of my friends who actually celebrates this occasion. For my husband and me, it is more of a reminder of the amorous side of our relationship than it is of us trying to shoehorn all sorts of overblown expectations of romance into one day.
Intimacy is known to take the back burner when reality has you dealing with stress from work, the daily responsibilities of parenting and just plainly being too tired. Déjàmor understands this. [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor

I have been married for 26 years now and, unbeknownst to our children, my husband and I still have sex. Yes, it is true. It may not be as often as we once used to, but my feeling is that quality beats quantity. And I love married sex. No one knows me and what I like more than my husband. There is a complete level of trust that allows us opportunities to explore, experiment and let our fantasies come to life. So, when I saw Jeremy Brown’s Love is Art Kits, I thought that this [...]

In this year’s sponsored Valentine’s Day gift guide – brought to you by the Gift Giving Advisory Board – we propose an array of items that are sure to delight everyone. From the very young and on up, our quality advertisers are here to serve you and help you in your gift giving – you don’t even need to leave home – your gifts will be delivered right to your door.

By Audrey van Petegem, Chief Editor
Here is a great way to say “Will you be mine?” or “You are mine!” this Valentine’s Day.
Baking For Good can transform all those instagram pics you have of each other into sweet treats. Find the best shots of the two of you at your favorite spot or take some up close up and personal pictures of yourselves. Better yet, take some (ahem) photos of just you. Using the instagram filters you can create mini works of art. Send anywhere from one to six photos to Baking For Good and they will turn them into [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
One of our favorite passions is discovering unique, fun, clever or simply cool products that we get excited about, bring a smile to our faces or give us that “aha!” moment. But is this not what The Succulent Wife is all about? We love creating curated lists, including our (ahem) infamous gift guides. We work on them all year long as we window shop, scour art fairs and trade shows of all kinds. Our goal is to do all the leg work so that you can enjoy the holidays, because, quite frankly, this is what we love [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I love this time of year when I can sit down with my family and watch all the old holiday movies together. The Christmas Story is one of the ones we never miss; along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Many of the classic movies bring back fond memories of my own childhood and I am thrilled that I can continue the tradition with my own children. This is exactly why Tyler Schwartz started a small company in Ontario, Canada called RetroFestive. Initially he only had one product – the infamous leg lamp from The [...]

By Anne-Marie Kovacs, Chief Wife
The upcoming party season (which begins for me tomorrow!) has most of us gals thinking about what we will wear. Personally, I always start with the shoes and get inspired from there. This year, I am NOT about to get another pair of black shoes. I already own a pair in every heel height and comfort level. But I am thinking of dressing up my heeled pumps with some sparkly shoe clips. We’ve seen the high end designer shoes get embellished with all manners of adornment. But I’m not into paying $895 for a pair-of-party-shoes-that-I’ll-only-wear-a-couple-times (for example).
It’s gonna [...]

For many, the holidays are one of the most exciting time of the year – and one of
the most stressful! Who wants to spend time in a crowded and hot mall buying the same old boring gifts year after year?
That’s exactly why you need the Gift Giving Advisory Board’s 3rd Annual Sponsored Holiday Gift Guide – presented to you below.

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
When a women says “Is it hot in here?”, we all know what she is talking about. Yes, peri-menopause and the dreaded hot flashes.
I recently went to the doctor for my annual check up. The lovely “I-just-got-my-degree” Nurse Practitioner asked me how I was doing. I gave her the run down of all my peri-menopausal symptoms: weight gain, irritability, forgetfulness, insomnia and night sweats. She pulls out two sheets of paper. One was on tips for healthy eating (really?) and the other one was on how to get a good night’s sleep. I know she [...]