After labor day I always sense the beginning of Fall. There is a sweet smell in the air, a slight breeze and the sign of RAIN! AHHHHHHHHH. Stores have their fall merchandise on the floor and summer time merchandise is discounted majorly (YAY for me! BOO for my bank account!) I am not done with summer. My hair, nails, skin and mind feel so healthy with a good D dose. That’s vitamin D people. I’m starting to fight off the “Blues”, and continue to soak in any possible day of sun. At the same time I’m sadly mourning the loss of my sweet tan. The lack of vitamin D makes me go nutty. Even more nutty if you can believe that! So that’s why I think every gal and gal should treat themselves to a little beauty regime for the mind, body and soul. For me, I admit to being a yoga-holic practicing daily, treating my body to a good steam in the Infrared sauna, using all natural products on my hair, skin, and body, eat healthy, drink plenty of water and red wine (yummmmmy), surround myself with positive people and laugh a lot….out loud until my cackle fades to a tiny chuckle. Oh! and throw dance parties regularly even if it’s for one. You have to treat yourself to how you want to feel. And I want to feel GREAT!! For some reason, Sophia Loren popped in my head as I was thinking about health, beauty and longevity. Sophia Loren is one of the most beautiful women in the world. Her celebrity career as an actress has followed her almost effortless aging process over the years. I found this article in People Magazine on Sophia Loren. Here is some advice from this beautiful Italian woman,
Loren’s beauty secrets? “A lot of rest. Good thoughts. Exercise,” says the star. She rises most days at 5 a.m. and usually goes to bed by 8 p.m. In between, her daily beauty rituals are decidedly low-maintenance. She washes her hair with baby shampoo and colors it herself when necessary. (Lately, she has been road-testing blonde streaks, “because every teenager does that,” she says.) She does her own manicures and her own makeup, using products blended to her skin tones by a movie-makeup-artist friend from Italy. Her only indulgences, she says, are the potions—such as an eye cream containing vitamin A and a rosewater face lotion. These are specially formulated for her caramel-smooth skin at a lab she won’t name tucked away somewhere in France. At the five-bedroom Geneva apartment she shares with her husband, producer Carlo Ponti, 85, or relaxing on their 40-acre Southern California ranch, Loren forswears glamor gowns for sweatpants and T-shirts, but never, ever, jeans. “They’re too heavy,” she declares. Having no patience for shopping, she attends Armani’s ready-to-wear shows in Milan, where she selects her dressier wardrobe from his comparatively low-key collections. “A woman wants to be sexy,” says Loren, who disdains the garish, leave-nothing-to-the-imagination fashions seen on today’s runways. “But she has to be comfortable in what she wears.”
As for plastic surgery, she hasn’t ruled it out but says she isn’t ready yet. “Some people like to keep their lines,” she says. “But maybe one day I’ll say I don’t like that anymore. Then I’ll pick up the phone and go.” In the meantime, Loren opts for daily exercise: 45 minutes of stretching and abdominal crunches and a one-hour walk. She also keeps a lid on la dolce vita. She eats European style: a light breakfast of decaf and an English muffin, mid-morning sandwiches, a large lunch (usually pasta, chicken, salad and fruit) and little, if any, dinner. “She weighs now what she did years ago,” says Hollywood fashion designer and friend Nolan Miller. “I don’t think it would ever enter her mind to be a size 6.”
This is by far the best uplifting song sung by Sophia Loren….Enjoy life! Take Risks! Love! Flirt! And do it all with a Bing Bang Bong! – Christina XO
rARe little BirD 