Tag: Lady Gaga

Happy Pride Month

Happy Pride Month to all of my LGBTQAI+ readers!! You are loved and you have come a long way, baby. My kids are shocked when we tell them what it was like in the 80s/90s, where many of our gay friends, family, and colleagues felt the need to stay closeted for a myriad of reasons. (They also laugh at me when I say that my friends and I completely believed that George Michael was straight. We never even questioned it. My friend’s mom crushed on him hard.)

We all know the pain it feels when we are in a situation where we feel we can’t be our true, authentic selves. We all know that horrible, hollow feeling of betraying our own selves, at times. Our LGBTQAI+ friends have felt that situation in almost every single aspect of their lives. How painful! How wrong! And on top of that, the price of being true to themselves has included acts and threats of violence, family estrangement, being ostracized from their faith, and having to fight for every single right that we straights just take for granted. . . . . If you really believe that “gay is a choice”, why would anyone choose this road????

I support you all, my dear gay friends, family and readers and all who love you. I hope that you have a wonderful month of celebrating! Lately, I have been listening to the PRIDE radio station when I drive in my car and it’s made my errands a pure blast. It’s like having a dance club in my car. I don’t want to leave the car. The music played is so upbeat and fun. That’s something that I think the Pride movement has in spades – optimism, excitement, buoyancy, love, acceptance – despite all odds. Dancing through torrential storms will get you far, and it will take you closer to your destination, which is really the only destination any of us want to reach – pure and total Love.

“It’s always wrong to hate, but it’s never wrong to love.” — Lady Gaga

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

2095. What is your go-to comfort food?

What’s In Style

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I remember watching an interesting TV show several years ago. It was a follow-up show to free extreme makeovers people had gotten from the TV show, over a year prior. It was a talk show, maybe Oprah or something very similar to her show. They revisited the people they had given expensive makeovers to, in order to see if the changes had “stuck” and if the changes had made a difference in the people’s lives and self-confidence levels. Interestingly, very few people kept the new style given to them (in the ways of clothes, hairstyles, make-up etc.) Most reverted back to what felt more like “themselves.”

One woman stood out to me. She agreed to get a makeover because her children were embarrassed by her outlandish, sexy style. They were an affluent family. The woman’s original style could best be described as Dolly Parton/Pamela Anderson, on steroids. She had bleached blond hair done up very big, with lots of extensions. She had very long fingernails, all bejeweled. She wore very colorful make-up and plenty of it. She wore so much jewelry that she sounded like a one-person marching band when she walked. This woman seemed to be a very fun, friendly personality and she was “game” to trying a new look. Her kids wanted her to be “toned down.”

The makeover was amazing. The woman was a naturally attractive woman and with the modern, svelte clothes, her straightened, sleek hair, and her overall gorgeous sophistication, the audience couldn’t help but jump up and give her a standing ovation, when she sauntered out on the runway to show off her new look. She glowed in the adoration and seemed genuinely excited to give her look a run for it, in her normal everyday life. But a year later, when the show visited the woman, she was back to her sexy, bosom blonde bombshell self, maybe even more so. She told the host of the show that while it was fine to try on a new persona for a little while, it didn’t feel like it was herself. She missed what she felt was the “authentic her” when she looked in the mirror.

After A Star is Born, everyone raved about how lovely Lady Gaga looked in the movie, au naturel. Her toned-down hippie chick beauty was stunning, yet I read that being in that “form”, was her least favorite part of making the blockbuster movie. She couldn’t wait to get back to her over-the-top shock style that she is known for and what she feels is the essence of her.

Diana Vreeland, long time editor-in-chief of Vogue magazine had a very distinct style. Modeled after Japanese Kabuki theater, she liked to keep her skin very pale, and yet she wore her blush on her cheeks, like two very distinct pink circles. Apparently, while on a flight one time, a well-meaning flight attendant came over and started rubbing Ms. Vreeland’s cheeks, “Here dear, I’ll help you blend your make-up.” It was a story the bemused, authority on fashion, loved to share at dinner parties.

What I take from all of this, is that we all look best when we look in the mirror and we see “ourselves.” No one knows us, better than us and the way to feel totally alive is to be ourselves, completely, from the inside out. Now certainly, if you are representing a company or entity that you work for, you must wear the uniform, but when you are just representing yourself, wear YOUR uniform and wear it proudly with no apologies or explanations needed.

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A Friday is Born!

“Why is Monday so far away from Friday but Friday is so close to Monday?”- Unknown

But let’s not focus on the negative . . . . It’s Favorite Things Friday!!!!  I just reserved movie tickets for my husband and I tonight, for the movie A Star is Born.  We might get little cricks in our necks but at least we can sit beside each other.  I am very excited (not sure about my husband, but he is a good sport)!

New readers, I share three “favorites” of mine every Friday.  These favorites can be anything: products, tips, songs, movies, whatever!  I encourage my readers to post their favorites in the Comments section.  Please check out former Favorite Things Friday postings, as good things never go out of style! 

Thinking about A Star is Born got me to thinking about all of the songs I love to sing out loud to when I’m driving.  James Corden knew what he was doing when he created “Carpool Karaoke.”  Last night, after I picked up my daughter from her tennis lesson, we belted out out Florida Georgia Line’s Cruise.  Earlier this week we were in unison with Billy Joel’s Piano Man.   Yesterday, I made a fool of myself rocking to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama.  Tom Petty’s Won’t Back Down and anything by Everclear tend to make my Carpool Karaoke list frequently as well.  Creep by Radiohead is a good one, too.  Readers, do you have any Carpool Karaoke suggestions to make this Friday even more complete???

Hey, did you just skip down to the Favorite Things Part?!?

Here goes:

Huichol bracelets –  I love bracelets!  I love stacking bracelets!  I love beaded yoga bracelets and gold bangle bracelets.  I have small wrists so bracelets that are adjustable or that secure with knot are good for me.  Do you remember the 80s when Madonna turned us all on to rubber bracelets?!?  My sister wore so many of them it’s a wonder that she could bend her arms.  Anyway, I think Huichol bracelets are going to make a BIG COMEBACK.  I noticed that an online store that I like to peruse was offering Huichol bracelets featuring horses and they were sold out.  And they were asking almost $70 a piece for them!  Ladies, forget that!  Go to Etsy.  For half the price, the selection is amazing!  What is a Huichol bracelet?  You’ll know it when you see it.  You’ve had them before.  These are the beautiful beaded bracelets made in Mexico.  Get yourself one!  It’s Friday and believe me, they are going to be the new “it” thing and you’re going to be “in the know” because of what is on your wrist.

Morning Glamour Satin Pillowcases –  I think when our moms all had Beehive hairdos, everyone slept with Satin pillowcases to keep their hair in check until the next weekly salon appointment.  Well, I don’t have a Beehive, but I don’t wake up with snarls and mattes in my hair anymore. Supposedly these pillowcases help stave off wrinkles, too.  I do love the cool, crisp feel when I lay my head on my pillow.  At the very least, these pillowcases make me feel very retro-glamorous.

Palm Beach blooms Room Fragrance – I’ve mentioned before that I love anything that smells good.  Smelling might even be my favorite sense.  This spray smells so amazing!  I keep a bottle by my desk, in my car, in my bathroom (of course), and up my nose (kidding).  Seriously, as a “scented candle/ perfume/ plug-in-aholic”, for this to make my top five favorite scents of all time is saying something.  It is kind of hard to find. It is made by apfrangrance.  It comes in an adorable little royal blue bottle.

In honor of A Star is Born, I’m going to end FTF with a Lady Gaga quote:

I am a walking piece of art every day, with my dreams and my ambitions forward at all times in an effort to inspire my fans to lead their life in that way.