January 30, 2015

Actress Frances McDormand




It's been a doozy of a week but I wanted to at least hop on here and post this video. High five to you Frances McDormand. Let me know if you ever want to join forces :-)


In her conversation with Katie Couric, Frances McDormand says that "everybody is concerned about a smooth face". The 57-year-old actress eloquently explains that she feels nostalgic for a time she didn't even have. "The time before we regarded ourselves with such criticism but also with the currency that looking a certain age has."

Thanks for stepping up to the plate Frances.

January 24, 2015

The Tape Within

We awoke to a beautiful morning of snow lined trees today. I keep wishing storms away, so that I don't have to shovel, but sometimes forget how unbelievably beautiful a snow fall is.

And how rejuvenating it actually can be to go out and shovel, as long as I can keep from throwing my back out.

After a storm I also love watching clumps of snow cascade off tree branches way up high from our bedroom window.

Especially in the sunlight.


Anyway, I love this quote of Coco Chanel's.

It goes along quite nicely with another one I've heard, "We all have a totally different tape running through our heads."

Realizing that we all have a different tape running through our heads is one of the things that has encouraged me to be true to myself.

Not that I always am.

But one of the beauties of aging is being better able to recognize when we aren't being who we really are.

Thank goodness for wisdom I say. It certainly makes the road to aging a smoother one.

Nuggets of wisdom are kind of like little yummy presents for ourselves.

The things we know now,

that we didn't know when.

January 18, 2015

For Every Girl

Crimeth Inc- Click to increase size
Lines of Beauty will be 5-years-old in April. I can't believe it actually. As some of you know, I started this blog because I went in search of support on aging naturally and couldn't find one.

For so long when I googled "blog on aging gracefully", Lines of Beauty was showing up at the bottom of page one, if not on page two, in search results.

I've thought to myself, "How can I encourage women to age naturally and enjoy the process when I'm not even showing up in the first few results in a google search?"

Well the good news is...

Lines of Beauty has recently reached the very tippy-top :-)

Amen, halleluiah!

Honestly, this is more rewarding to me than doing well in a swim meet.

I saw the poster here on my niece's dorm wall when I visited her at Sterling College in Vermont. If you know someone, young or old, who is looking for a small, alternative, very earthy college experience, I highly recommend Sterling. Their tagline is "Working hands, Working minds."

"For every man struggling not to let advertising dictate his desires, there is a woman facing the ad industry's attacks on her self-esteem."

My hunch is that women face the larger struggle.

Gosh did I ever love my Suzy Homemaker easy bake oven but I can still remember what the inside smelled like when the light bulb got cake mix on it...

Maybe you can too.

Anyway, thank you dear readers for visiting Lines of Beauty and helping it to grow.

I clearly couldn't have done it without you.

XO


January 11, 2015

Unbroken

If you can believe it, the computer that I normally blog on in my office is a Windows 2000.

Yep.

I like this computer partly because it has a huge screen and it's especially great for viewing things such as Pinterest.

I've also liked that, until now, I haven't succumb to moving on to better, hipper technology. For so long an antique computer was working for me, abet, a bit more slowly. When my 23 year-old nephew saw it this past summer he said "Wow, I guess we don't always have to be updating our computers."

Yes and throwing all the outdated ones, along with our cell phones, into a landfill.

Where I am writing to you from now, however, is on a much newer computer in part of the house that I don't heat in the winter, unless everyone is home. So it's freaking freezing in here!

Bet ya didn't know how frugal I am until now.

Clearly it's time to move this computer down to my office.

I'm just fearful that I won't get it all hooked up successfully...


Last night I went to see the movie Unbroken. I loved the story of Louis Zamperini's life, who traveled all over the map in terms of personal successes and incredible hardship and adversity. He died in July, at the age of ninety-seven, but luckily was able to see rough footage of the movie, with director Angelina Jolie, before he passed away.

One of my favorite quotes of his at age 93 was, "I have a cheerful countenance at all times. When you have a good attitude your immune system is fortified."

I think this is so true. Struggles in our hearts, and in our heads, can create upheaval in our bodies.

Last week there was an interesting article on CNN on aging. Researchers, not surprisingly, have found that the way we perceive aging influences how we age. Especially interesting to me were the findings that expecting memory decline can actually contribute to memory loss. It makes sense actually.

I am fearful of losing my memory, as it runs in my family, and I'm already experiencing it some. Especially in terms of word recall and forgetting if I've already told someone something. It's so annoying.

Something tells me that you can relate.

It's reassuring to hear from a neuro-psychologist, however, of the research on how unrefined, non-GMO, coconut oil is benefiting people with memory issues.

I haven't started taking it yet but I will keep you posted.

If I can remember. :-)

Have a good week everyone,
XO