Fresh cranberries, pumpkin and heavy creams often star in our holiday menus. But beauty expert and Bonding over Beauty author Erika Katz says this delicious threesome can also work wonders for your skin. She recommends these easy, do-it-yourself facials for a youthful, glowing complextion:
A Look Good, Feel Better class is a must for any woman facing chemotherapy.
I'm grateful that my long-time friend and neighbor Shelley Tyler volunteered to go to one with me after my breast cancer surgery. It gave me some helpful tricks for perking up both my appearance and attitude during treatment, made it easier for Shelley to understand my plight and introduced us to a host of women in similar situations. I guess it's true that misery loves company because it was very comforting to know I wasn't alone.
Halloween is a great time of year. The weather is cooler (in Collywood it drops from 100+ degrees to a chilly 90 - sweater weather for Charlotte!) and it's a great time to break out the scary movies.
As Boomers we grew up on some of the best horror films ever made...Night of the Living Dead...Rosemary's Baby...The Birds...and just about everything in Vincent Price's filmography. We did a random survey of Baby Boomers and asked them which fright film kept them up at night and here's what they said...
Kelly Hill
Motel Hell. The best!
Bev Mann
Last House on the Left, Don't Look in the Basement & The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
I can't watch them anymore. In high school, which was just a few years back (haha), my friends and I loaded up the car and went to a triple feature at the local drive-in theater. They were...Last House on the Left, Don't Look in the Basement and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. That was enough for a lifetime!
Bob and I have had plenty of HIGHS and lows the past 10 years. There were mountain-top moments when our one-and-only son Cole graduated high school then college and we fun-sized to a larger house in Colleywood. And trips to the blackest pit when Bob developed prostate cancer, shattered his heel (probably the toughest bone to break but Bob found a way) and I got the Big "C." Talk about a BUMMER summer!
That's why you couldn't convince me to go back. There's no way I'd repeat the past 10 years, but who wouldn't jump at the chance to turn back the clock on the tricks time plays on our faces?
The folks at Avon want to offer five lucky Boomer Babes the chance to do just that. They've joined us to give away their fresh-from-the-lab ANEW Genics Treatment Cream (a $38 value). Introduced in September, this skincare innovation can help you look up to 10 years younger in as little as four weeks.*
Avon's innovative ANEW Genics treatment cream helps women look up to 10 years younger*.
To celebrate its launch, we're giving away five jars of this Boomerlicious skincare breakthrough ... FREE. Click "Read More" for details on how to enter. Contest ends Nov. 3!
*Based on a consumer-perception study of women 45-59 years old.
I'm NEVER without a sweater. I always carry one or two as insurance against the cold, whether I'm shopping our neighborhood Target (that's Tar-jay in Colleywood, Dahling) or touring Napa (guess who always wins the award for the biggest bag?).
Fall lasts for about a day in Texas.
We go from, this-metal-lawn-chair-is-searing-my-ass -- to watching icy pickup crashes on LBJ Freeway -- and then back to butt-blistering heat -- in the span of, I dunno, about two months. Give or take.
So when Charlotte decided we should do our fall landscaping on the day fall actually arrived, I jumped at the chance.
Which is saying something, because those of you who know me, know I DON'T JUMP.
Since Linda and Debbie had been over earlier to decorate the back deck, I knew I was in for some low-impact landscaping. Move a plant here. Put these mums there. Done in time to see TCU put another one in the win column. Easy deal.
UNTIL THE SNAKE TRIED TO KILL ME.
I was moving a couple of potted plants to the front porch. All I had to do was pull out the lantana - and plop in the plant that looked pretty in that Southern Living story about fall landscaping.
Pull one out. Put one in (insert mildly inappropriate joke HERE). Something even I couldn't screw up. I mean, c'mon, there were no ladders involved.
OK, anything else?
I'm sometimes taken over by I-Love-Lucy-like tendacies. One of my worst episodes happened back in 1977 when Bob and I were dating.
RED doesn't pretend to be something it's not. It's an in-your-face thrill ride of a movie with laughs, bullets and more explosions than the Farm Film Report (honk if you're an SCTV fan).
A couple of weeks ago Charlotte and I took off for the Wine Country with a bunch of friends. We found some amazing new vineyards (see our Top Picks after the jump) and even reconnected with MY PEOPLE at the Hill Family Estate Winery (for once and all, will you people PUH-LEESE adopt me?) in downtown Yountville, CA.
We've done the Wine Country trip a couple of times now. Like the saying goes, it just gets better with age. This trip was extra special because we had the added bonus of hooking up with my winemaker cousin, Christopher Tynan.
Chris has been in the winemaking business in Napa Valley for several years. I got the chance to interview him deep in the caves beneath the Chateau Boswell winery in St. Helena and ask him to share his "insider tips" to enjoying Napa. He gave us some great Boomer advice along with some amazing Chateau Boswell wine. The tips are in the video. The wine didn't make it out of the cave.
If you have a Wine Country trip on your Bucket List, here are a few not-to-be-missed stops:
This tasting room in downtown Yountville has some amazing wines that are affordable, drinkable right now and out-of-this-world delicious. Tasting room manager, Robin Williams (no, not that Robin Williams) knows her wines and is a gracious hostess.
Translation
I came. I saw. I drank wine. Seriously Dude, a lot of wine.
When I asked Charlotte where she wanted to go for dinner she said, "I don't care. Anything sounds good to me." Big mistake...
It may be fall but Texas temperatures are still topping out in the 80s. That means, Bob's wearing shorts while I prepare for the sweater weather that's around the corner. I've been making Pumpkin Bars, scheduling flu shots, and rounding up cardigans and scarves (don't you just love layering!).
The annual cool-down certainly will be a welcome relief after one of our hottest summers on record. Too bad the cold, wind and constant hand-washing autumn brings can do a number on your skin. Wouldn't it be nice to face fall without uncomfortable dryness,
flaking and itching?
The folks at Curél are offering Baby Boomers the chance to do just that. They've joined us to giveaway three trios of some of their top skin softeners:
Formulated with ceramides, these dermatologist-tested hydrators deliver moisture where skin needs it most.
To celebrate the return of fall, we've teamed up with Curél to give away three trios of super hydrating skin softeners:
Click "Read More" for details on how to enter. Contest ends Oct. 20!
Ok, it's a well-documented fact that I like hunting. There, I said it. I enjoy the opportunity to get outdoors with my friends and do guy stuff with a loaded shotgun in my hands. I'm not anyone's idea of Ted Nugent (like his music; some of his politics and all of his 70's hair) but I do enjoy dove hunting, quail hunting and the occasional feral hog excursion.
That doesn't mean I'm any good at it. I suck most of the time. That doesn't stop me because I hunt 21st Century style, with all the modern conveniences of food, shelter, central air and heat and most of all CELLPHONE COVERAGE.
I know what you're thinking Boomers. You're saying to yourselves, "Bob, WTF? I thought going hunting was just an excuse to get away from modern conveniences like email, Facebook, ESPN.com and CELLPHONES." To this I would have to answer, "Internets, have we met?".
It's a picture right out of Field & Stream. A group of grown men in camo illuminated by the roaring pecan wood fire and the blue-gray GLOW OF CELLPHONES.
If you think that's bad, she's also a dog named "Rape" and parrot named "Fire"...
It's a treat to lather up with these all-natural cleansers. Made with good-for-you ingredients, these kind-and-gentle choices contain no harsh chemicals. Plus, they nourish as they cleanse.
Every year about this time Hollywood wakes up and says something like, "Hey Y'all, let's release some good movies!" or something like that. Then, a whole bunch of movies with "adult" themes (think Winter's Bone as opposed to say, Wet Hot American Summer) and sophisticated plots come out from hiding and slip into multiplex cinemas across the country.
We're trying to keep you from blowing all your money on sucky movies, so we've scoured the blogosphere to find the best of the best. Here are three you should put on your Fall Movie List.
Martha Marcy May Marlene
When this one premiered at Sundance, it generated some pretty good buzz and a more than a few, this-could-be-Oscar-bait, comments. Martha Marcy May Marlene (try saying that three times fast) is a story about Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) who escapes from a brainwashing cult in upstate New York. She has a hard time adapting to her "normal" family life and is overcome with paranoia that the cult's Charles Manson-like leader (John Hawkes) is coming after her. If you like suspense and more plot twists than a Synder's pretzel, this may be your movie.
Carnage
This movie answers the question, "What's John C. Reilly been doing since Cyrus?". Well, he's in this one from Roman Polanski and by all accounts - he's great. This film adaptation of Yasmina Reza's Broadway Play, God of Carnage, has an all-star cast featuring Reilly, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz (Inglorious Basterds) and Jodie Foster. The story hinges on two sets of parents who are forced to meet after their children get into a fight at school. Let's just say alcohol is consumed and the train jumps the track. If you're thinking Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, you're picking up what I'm laying down.
How long before we can make a really good film about 9/11?
Looks like 10 years is the answer.
Prepare your own Mexican quick fix with this Chipotle-inspired bowl. Carbs are moderated by filling the bowl with beans, extra veggies and chicken. No need for rice, since the beans count as carbs.
Tips:
If you love tomatoes, increase the quantity to 1/2 cup, but note that the carbohydrates will also increase.
If preparing this recipe for one person, cut all of the ingredients in half. Or simply prepare the full recipe up to the end of step 2 and store leftover chicken and vegetable-bean mixture in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in the microwave on High for 1 to 2 minutes, or until heated through, and continue with step 3.
Health Bite: The iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper and zinc in black beans help to keep bones strong and healthy.
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and @CharlotteBoomer
Know someone battling cancer? Baylor Health Care System's Sammons Says... cancer blog is a great place to go for help. Here, you'll find information, resources, physicians, support groups and just about everything you need to help you navigate your way through this illness.
Senior Forums is a great place to get the news and share views on everything from hobbies and healthcare, to food, family & travel.
Matt Drudge gets the goods and his site ain't bad either.
You don't have to live in Dallas to enjoy D Magazine.
