The First Male Interview for This Blog-- its great!

Today I am bringing you Nick Nanton, half of the agency called Dicks & Nanton Agency. An interesting business in Florida. How they started, what they do and what I like, they believe that almost anyone can be made into a celebrity for business growth. Great concept and this is a great interview.

1. Both you and your partner in your agency; Dicks & Nanton Agency, are lawyers but now it seems to be in the marketing business. Can you tell us how you meet and started the agency?

Well, Jack and I are both lawyers, but we also both happen to be serial entrepreneurs, which led us to marketing. Between the two of us we have directed the sales and marketing campaigns of products that have had over half a billion dollars in sales.

It’s a funny story of fate how we met. We actually met when I was in high school when my cousin dated his daughter. I wasn’t sure what he did, although I knew he was a lawyer, but we got to know each other casually. Then about 10 years later a good friend of mine in college married into the family and I reconnected with him. We started working on some projects together and over time found that we were a great team.

2. Now are you a talent agency or a marketing agency or are you carving out a new type agency niche?

Actually it’s a new kind of agency altogether. It’s a Celebrity Branding™ Agency. We coach people on how to become Celebrities and Gurus to their market segment and then we represent them and work with them to build their business and their income streams through various business structures like licensing and franchising.

3. For your unique type of business where does all the talent come from you, your partner or do you have that unique type of blend of talents? Tell us about what your talents are?
We both have similar talents of seeing how to build a Celebrity Driven business, but when you get down into the fine details we have a very complimentary skill set.

My talent is engaging people to learn what they can offer the general public and what the general public will accept from them. It’s very similar to my past as a talent manager and producer in the music business. You start with a piece of clay at some stage of the process and then you work with it to make it the best it can be. You can’t turn it into another material, or make it take on characteristics that don’t exist, but you can help it turn into the best end product it can be. I have an extensive background in television, graphics, event and audio production so I often create the “show” for our clients—how to present them to an audience in an entertaining and informative way.

Jack is truly a master at most everything. He can shape shift to meet any challenge. But I would say his greatest skill is monitoring the way money flows in any market and helping the client hop in the stream of cash flow in a way that makes sense for them personally, but still stays relevant to where the money is. He can help any client find multiple income streams that they never knew existed.

4. From what I have read, in doing what you do, it sounds like at times you do a complete make-over of the look of the business or do you just pick certain parts of the business that need real help?

It can be either. We can help at any stage. But we often do help people start from scratch. We work with clients from “Broke to $4 Billion” in annual revenue, so it really does span a very wide range.

5. The way that I discovered you was via a mailed out newsletter. Many entrepreneurs wonder if a mailed newsletter would bring them any business. How has your newsletter worked for the agency?

A hard-copy “snail mail” newsletter is the best business building strategy for any business and it has been for years. It has worked amazingly well for our business and our clients. People perceive something they get in the mail so much differently than they do an email newsletter. The email newsletter often falls prey to a mailbox full of personal tasks that must be responded to, so an informative piece of information that does not require a response usually gets deleted in order to make time for the messages that must be responded to. The email newsletter is essentially a pest that is exterminated, not that they don’t have their place because they do and we use them all the time, but I’m just saying that’s the real weakness of an email newsletter.
A hard copy newsletter on the other hand is usually one of the gems someone gets in their mailbox at home. Most people don’t get much real correspondence via us postal service, in contrast they get junk mail and bills. A newsletter that can actually help the person receiving it will move to the top of the pile over the other items, if nothing else, because of the contrast to the other items in the mailbox.

6. You say that if your website is not making you money it should be. Can you explain that statement…do you think every site should be a money machine?

By making you money we don’t always mean that it should literally have a credit card terminal that collects money 24 hours a day, although we never mind that! We mean that it should be generating warm prospects for you and your business and then you can use whatever the best process is for your business to convert those leads into dollars. Warm leads are worth dollars and ultimately lead to you making money. So we think your website should be put to work in the online world to bring visitors to you and help you with at least the first step of the process by turning visitors into warm leads who “raise their hand” for more information on you, your products and services. From that point on your correspondence turns from “unwelcome pest” to “welcome guest” because the prospect requested the information from you, rather than you just cold calling them or sending them unsolicited marketing materials.

7. Do I understand this right? You take someone and marketing them to become a celebrity then you teach them how to broaden their horizons with your legal knowledge?

I prefer to explain it this way: we take people and help them create celebrity status in their niche by generating a buzz and then we help them monetize their celebrity status into multiple income streams through capitalizing on their talents and expertise. We use legal structures and strategies to make these businesses operate at the highest level while protecting their assets.

8. Both you and your partner (JW) are also in something that is very new it is called Kennedys Barber Club. Tell us where the idea came from and how does a Barber Club Work?

Kennedy’s All-American Barber Club™ is a really unique concept that we founded with a couple of our other business partners. We believe that at the core of every business should be what we like to call “Continuity Income.” In other words, the business should generate automatic income on a continuous basis from the same customers. Memberships are a really great illustration of this. In most cases, when you join a gym or health club, you don’t pay a one-time fee to attend for the day, instead they get you to pay monthly for access. They get money from you every month, not only when you come in. We believe every business should have this philosophy and we have built it into every business we have, from our online marketing and PR agency http://www.celebritysites.com/ to our law firm and Celebrity Branding™ agency.

Continuity income can be created in any business with a little creativity. We even know a funeral home director who has added continuity to his business! And it really helps businesses to grow and thrive. Instead of having to go out and compete for the same number of dollars every month, all you have to do is go out and try to grow by getting a few more dollars. Some people will stop paying, move, change their minds or whatever, but for the most part if you can retain a % of your customers, you are already ahead of most businesses that have to re-convince their customers every month just to keep the doors open. Also, when you get someone to take on a monthly bill, they mentally add it to their “overhead” and move on. When you get into the “overhead” category of spending you move from discretionary spending to mandatory spending. At some time you could be removed from the mandatory spending, or “overhead,” category, but the point is it’s a mental switch that the customer doesn’t usually re-address every month unless they are having difficulties keeping up with their personal spending.

If you can get customers paying you monthly, and then bring in more customers every month, you now have a formula that will help you to grow quickly.

Kennedy’s™ is built around the concept of memberships and continuity income, but the reason it works is because we have taken a very mundane, necessary experience for most men and have turned it into a luxurious, even fun, experience. Men go to Kennedy’s for haircuts, straight-razor shaves, great conversation with other like-minded gentlemen and most of all they don’t have to deal with the discomfort of attending a women’s salon. Women’s salons just aren’t a great fit for most men, but that doesn’t mean that they want to go to “chop shops” either. We really saw a gap in the market between what the mass affluent (upper middle class) guy is looking for and what the market was offering, so we set out to create a concept that would fill the void. And so far it’s working out great! We are now franchising and expect to grow exponentially in 2009. You can learn more by visiting http://www.kennedysbarberclub.com/

Didn't I tell you this would be great!
Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

P.S. Let me know what you think of interviewing men on the blog.

Things Are Changing

Things are changing right here on my Blog. Let me tell you why. I have been receiving many emails from men asking me why I don't interview them on the radio. At first I said Duh…look at the name of the show guys that should be a big hint. Then one bright fellow said, you know we have good information too. Which made me stop and think what are we missing?

We (meaning us women) don't want to miss anything. That includes great information. That is the reason that I have decided to interview men in print on my blog. Now that doesn't mean that I won't put my two cents in on fashion and other things from time to time but I want to bring you my loyal readers well rounded information that we can all use.

The first one will be posted later this week, when I Interview Nick Naton from an interesting company that does what they call Celebrity Branding on almost anyone.

Information you can use!
Looking at a changing world

I will be looking for feedback on all the interviews from all of you. The more feedback the better. Now I am looking for men to interview. Men with information that will help us in what we want to do. So if you know any, email me at drmarlenebbs@gmail.com

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Funny and Oh so True!

I must admit this isn’t what I normally talk about. But many things are changing and since I was caught off guard with this great story I just couldn't help but share it. This was sent to me by a friend. (Thanks Cin) You will love this one.

A Michigan woman and her family were vacationing in a small New
Only women of a certain era will fully appreciate this.... True story.
(If you don't understand this, tell your mother, she'll get it!)England town where

Paul Newman and his family often visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk.
After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone.She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and went straight to the combination bakery/ice cream parlor.

There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee.

The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes.
The actor nodded graciously and the star struck woman smiled demurely.
Pull yourself together! She chides herself.

You're a happily married woman with three children; you're forty-five years old, not a teenager! The clerk filled her order and she took the double-dip chocolate ice cream cone in one hand and her change in the other.

Then she went out the door, avoiding even a glance in Paul Newman's direction.When she reached her car, she realized that she had a handful of change but her other hand was empty.
Where's my ice cream cone? Did I leave it in the store?

Back into the shop she went, expecting to see the cone still in the clerk's hand or in a holder on the counter or something! No ice cream cone was in sight... With that, she happened to look over at Paul Newman.His face broke into his familiar, warm, friendly grin and he said to the woman,
'You put it in your purse.'

I must admit that I laughed and laughed at this one. And oh how true it is something like this can happen. How do I know. Let me tell you a small story of mine.

Being a look-alike is fun. As I tell everyone in interviews…it gets you great seats in restaurants.

But sometimes it gets you more.

During one of those occasions I was driving back from a television show on look-alikes. Yes I was in my full make-up as Carol Burnet; which isn’t much. I was stopped at a light and I was the only car at that light. As I waited for a pedestrian to cross the street; I felt I was being watch. You know that feeling.

As I looked up at the pedestrian I found where that feeling was coming from. He was walking directly at me smiling and staring. Directly at me was actually directly at the car. I tried to warn him but he thought I was waving at him and he smiled bigger and waved back and promptly ran into and fell on the front of my car. I have to admit I had to snicker.

I rolled down my window and asked if he was okay, and he just smiled, put his head down and kept on walking. I wanted to tell him I wasn’t her…but thought better of it as it would have made his embarrassment worse.

I get just a tiny taste of what celebrities go through and you know I do feel sorry for them from time to time. Until I talked to a real paparazzi one time….but that story is for another day.

We are going to be talking about a movie franchise that has lasted for over 40 years. James Bond on the show Amazing Women brains, beauty and style this Wednesday. Don’t miss the show live http://www.marlenesiersema.com/ just click on the E-card. Read more about the show on http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com/ .

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Colors for Fall & Image Stylists

I am observing the new colors for fall and it seems many of the designers are getting stuck in a rut. Many of the colors have that gray undertone again. For many gray is not one of the best colors to bring out skin tones. Like black, gray seems to be a ‘safe’ color and many designers think that like black everyone can wear it. That simple is not true. Gray is one of those colors that needs just the right person and attitude to wear.

For many years it seems that workout clothes only came in black and heather gray. Because of that many women think that gray is a great color. Just remember that heather gray has lots of white mixed in.

Try this when you are shopping and pick up one of the new colors for fall. Wear or throw something into your purse that makes you skin look wonderful. Then, you have a reference point for the new colors. Then while you are looking stop in front of that all important mirror and take those new colors and hold them up to your face covering all of what you are wearing. Wait about 5 seconds and see what happens. Pick several places on your face that are problem areas. Circles under eyes, veins, we all those areas now see what happens. If they suddenly “pop” into view…be careful. Now take the new color down and see what happens…if you see a change…put it back…yes I know that it is hard to do but…you may not wear it more than once and that would be a waste of money. However, if there isn’t any change you may have a great new piece to add to your wardrobe.

Not to many months ago I was talking with a stylist to be on my show. We had set the date and were having a conversation on the color and industry and what was popular. I told her about my book Marketing’s Silent Language. How I looked at color from a scientific standpoint. That color likes and dislikes were buried in our DNA and visually actually depended upon a person’s skin undertones and the colors in a person’s eyes. I ended the conversation with: the show was going to be great as we have different views on color… two days later she cancelled being on the show.

That made me wonder…are some stylists there to make you look great or to push what is the latest fashion trend? When I see many of the celebrities in clothing that makes them look awful, and most of the celebs use stylists I wonder what is going on. Are the stylists and the celebs getting compensation for looking awful? Don’t you wonder? Who is doing who a favor?

My philosophy on clothing…regardless of what is in fashion…if it doesn’t look right on my body…it doesn’t get purchased. The times that I have not stuck to that philosophy…that piece didn’t get used and/or is given away. I have turtle neck cashmere sweaters that are very old and are still warn year after year. Know your style, and know your best colors and stick with them.

I was watching a show on haute couture clothing. Incredible clothing with truly incredible prices! I remember one women’s statement. She had been buying couture clothing for many years. Because of her style, taste and color choices, items that were 20 years old could still be worn today. Think about that. How many of us can wear anything from 20 years ago. (Yes I know we have to fit into it first!) But short of jeans, do any of us have clothing that could still be worn in 20 years?

Maybe there is something to be said about timeless style and correct color choices after all.

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

If you want to get your shape into better shape get my book:
The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com
How to change your thinking to keep, or get that shape you have always wanted and deserve. To learn more about color and how it affects you everyday life get one of the last copies of my book:
Marketing’s Silent Language at www.silentlanguage.com .

Feeling Good!

It’s that time of year again…no not fall…political season. And everyone has an opinion. One such opinion came to me in an email this morning about Sarah Palin. This one was different; because it really wasn’t about her so much as it was about you. About feeling good and being happy and isn't that what life is really ment to be and all about?

So I am sharing this with all of you with the writer’s permission of course.


Sarah Palin Just Feels Good

Reagan called it “Morning in America”….that special sensation the country felt when they listened to this very positive man talk about them. They felt good. And that’s what is happening with Sarah Palin….she makes us feel good. Or more accurate, we let ourselves feel good when we listen to her.

We feel good about our country, even when we know it has flaws. We feel good about the government, knowing it really can change for the better. And most important, we feel good about ourselves, and that alone goes a long way towards changing everything, since we are the country.

Conditions don’t change for the better just because you sit around and complain about them…they actually get worse. Nor do they change when you rush to action while still focusing and complaining about the problem…again, they are forever perpetuated; merely observe any government program. Yet conditions change automatically when we all feel good. It really is the only condition that does bring about any lasting change.

There is a big difference between a government who wants to give you everything, and a government who knows you can handle things on your own. One says, “Here, let me do this thing for you because I see you cannot do it for yourself.” Not very empowering. The other says, “I have faith in you and I believe that you are capable of doing anything yourself.” Pretty good empowerment. And since everyone wants to feel empowered, which statement do you think resonates more with who we all truly wish to be?

Sarah Palin is a happy politician. Happy people are just more fun to be around. Think about the people you hang out with. Who’s more fun? The ones who sit around and complain about everything in their life; blaming everyone except themselves, or the happy ones who view even the worst of conditions with irreverent humor and smiles. One could be called a Gloomy Gus and the other a Pollyanna. Yet, Pollyannas are not only much more successful, they are way more fun to be around, because some of that happy optimism always rubs off on you….and it does feel good….as John McCain is discovering.


Many wish for this type of life. See how many movies and books are written about how to achieve feeling this way. A pure version of this is in the Disney movie Enchanted. Even New York couldn’t stop the happy heroine. Watch the movie with this in mind. Go to the library or book store section of self-help books. There are hundreds of thousands. Without reading a book maybe Sarah is just making us feel good about ourselves. Great concept!

Remember to listen to my show Amazing Women, brains, beauty & style the women I interview will also make you feel good that ordinary women can accomplish amazing things.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Radio show website is: www.amazingwomenbbs.com

Having Passion

Wow what a show I had Wednesday. Esther Gokhale was so informative. She was also so helpful off the air as well as on the air. We talked during the breaks and she wanted to know what she could do for me. What a wonderful lady. With small changes come big results. On the show she talked about stretch sitting and having the ‘behind’ end of the chair slightly higher than the front. I was fascinated with that way of sitting. It was just the opposite of what I had been doing. As soon as the show was over I changed my chair setting, it felt different at first….BUT before I went to bed I noticed the pain in my lower hip was gone. Yip gone! Up till then that was part of the back area that I could not fix. I also love the fact that she has fun stuff on her website. http://www.wellstackedback.com/ She has a passion to help people with back problems. Because she finally got it and she wants the world to know.

The same holds true for my guest, the week before, Annette Sym. She is a super lady who after a lifetime of being fat discovered that she could lose the weight with small changes that got big results. She did change the way she ate, because she liked food. What I can tell you is, off the air, Annette is, just the same bubbly personality with that passion to tell the world what she found out about losing weight. What Annette and I learned off the air is our backgrounds are very similar. The weight gain and loss and although I finally out weighted Annette (Isn’t that a thing to say) we both learned how to get it off and keep it off. She is such a beautiful woman. Her love for cooking shows in all her books, check it out at http://www.simplytoogood.com.au/ . Her recipes transformations are just like her personal transformation. She is bringing her cooking ideas to America and I can’t wait to see what she does here in the land of huge food and huge fat grams. She has found her passion and can’t wait to tell the world. And we all might just be a little slimmer because of her.

When you have a passion you usually do well in that passion. If you find your passion early in life you are so lucky to enjoy that passion longer and tell the world. Work toward your own passion not others. Listen to your inner self. It is proven that people don’t do well with others passion. But don’t worry if you haven’t found that passion yet. It took me many years to find mine. Then one day I finally listened to my inner self and my passion was born. Interesting now I have two.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Don't forget to listen to my Aug 20th radio show. The 90 year old Darling will be on. You can also listen later at http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com/ or http://www.marlenesiersema.com/ click on the radio button on top of the front page of my site. Learn how I changed my life and also became passionate about weight loss at http://www.thinkingsidetothin.com/.

An 8 Year Olds Fun Pays Off

After months of practice and practice there she was an 8 ½ year old, standing waiting to march onto the field. What field? Why a huge football field as; she was about to perform in a baton twirling drum majorette competition. All the excitement of the last months, all the sore feet, blisters on fingers and toes, all the practice. At almost 8 ½ years old she was so excited! She loved her music, helped design her performance (AT 8 ½) and had worked at performing it over and over and over again. She knew it perfectly! Her Mother gave her small hand a squeeze and whispered “I love you honey”.

Mom knew the performance almost as good as her daughter. Mom knew how much her daughter loved all the tap dance classes, the ballet classes, the baton twirling classes, the acting classes that her young girl took. Mom also knew that her daughter was good. So there they stood waiting for the 8 ½ year old to march to the center of the field. The music came on and… she was off.

As she got to the center of the field and she turned to face the judges something happened….she forgot her routine!!! Oh NO…what was she going to do. In that split second, that 8 ½ year old realized the show must go on (as her acting and ballet teacher always told them)! As her routine music came on she smartly saluted the judges and off she went making it up as she went along. She knew the music so well she knew what was next so she did twirls, front back and over the head. She put in some one handed cartwheels while twirling the baton. (She had never done one before) She decided she was going to have fun and she didn’t care what happened or about the competition. At the end of the routine she threw the baton into the air so high it even surprised her and also to her surprise she caught it!!! She stopped saluted the judges again and marched off the field to loud applause!

Her Mom was standing there with her mouth wide open. What was that? What happened? That wasn’t your regular routine. "Oh Mom, I am soooo sorry I forgot the whole thing and decided to just make it up as I went along and have fun!" Her Mom put her arm around her and said that’s okay honey you had a good time today and you will always remember it. Her daughter asked if they could go home as she thought without the regular routine she didn’t have a chance to win. And off they went hand in hand smiling and laughing and discussing the made up routine.

The next day she went into the dance studio to a huge surprise. Everyone asked what happened to her the day before at the competition? Her teacher said she knew her routine that was performed was not the one they worked on but she did a great job and she were having such fun. You should have stayed, she said. Because SURPRISE you won second place!!! We are having a party for the whole troupe and you’re the STAR. She had won second place…wow…she was the STAR that day WOW!!! Wait till her Mother heard about this.

When you do something that you love and have a great time doing it, two things happen. First your love for what you do comes through, and second you become very good at what you are doing. When you love what you do success will follow.

Yip …this story is true, as I still have that medal for winning second place that day with a made up routine! My Mom was right I have never forgotten that day. You know that girls just gotta have fun! So...Go have fun...

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene


Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com/ . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin http://www.thinkingsidetothin.com/ How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Scrambled Eggs of the Brain

Who would have ever thought that ‘The Devine Miss M’ (Bette Midler), Mallard Fillmore (cartoon strip), and Moi would have something in common. But we do. The dislike for the latest style sensations…plaids!

Mallard says that the ugly clothes from the 70’s are back and that is giving him a headache.

On a recent show, Bette showed a picture of her from the 70’s wearing a plaid jacket, with less than stunning commentary. Her husband was also wearing a plaid jacket, but with less color intensity. She thought he was showing harmony in the marriage.

And me…well you know how I feel about plaid. Plaids are scrambled eggs for the brain. And I don’t mean nourishment!

The plaids of the 70’s were missed matched color spectrums, that were large ugly combinations of depressing colors that only young inexperienced buyers would think were “wonderful and cool”. No different today.

Young buyers are the majority of the people that I see wearing these problems to match. Oh yes…what do you put with a plaid? The main color? The minor color? The background color? Or do you just do what most of the young designers do today when showing these scrambled eggs. Pick a color that isn’t in the plaid and wear that? If you want to get noticed…that is the way to wear plaid! But why would anyone wear plaid.

Of all the colors and designs plaid (as well as the mod patterns) MAKES THE WEARER LOOK FATTER! If you don’t think that is true try on a plaid skirt. Okay, now how much weight did you instantly gain? I don’t care if you are a size Zero; you look like you have gained weight.

This is due to what happens to the eye and relationship with storing the information in the brain. To make this simple…when too much is going on, the brain keeps looking and looking and looking at the colors and patterns to store all that information; so it (the brain) can get to the shape of the object. Because the patterns and colors are so big; the shape also looks bigger to the brain.

When I weighted so much, I steered clear of plaids. My brain knew that I looked fatter. It just didn’t know why till I did the studies later in life. Those studies also revealed the colors used in the plaids in the 70’s and today are mentally depressing colors.

If you don’t think this is true…just take a look at some of the plaids that men wear.

Talk about scrambled eggs in the brain…

I rest my case!

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for one hour of high energy and intrigueing guests on Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style the #1 show on Voice America Women’s Radio network. http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com/ . If you want to get your shape into better shape buy my book The Thinking Side to Thin http://www.thinkingsidetothin.com/ How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Balloons, Jokes and Exercise Not Your Usual Combination!

I don’t know about all of you but after my show on June 4th with Dr. Gayle Carson, I am rolling out of bed and getting my butt into my workout room. For a woman of 70 she has more energy than some 20 year olds. I stopped exercising months ago after having an accident that caused a back problem. Well I know enough to take it easy and slow but wow what a difference. Now I know what one of the stars of Dancing with the Stars meant when she said the dancing loosened up her back. So I must say thanks Gayle you are a real role model for all us boomers. You can read more about Gayle in Show Notes at www.amazingwomenbbs.com . Are you exercising?

I am an eclectic person by nature. When I find something that I think is wonderful, grand, or others should know about it, I like to spread the word. Today is one of those days to spread the word.

I found a young man who is writing a book about internet jokes and funny interoffice memos. Yes at last a place to really send these to someone who wants them! Mark is a wonderful young man who works for a boys and girls club in a large mid-west metropolitan city. As Mark says: “I spend my days raising money in one of the most challenged areas in our nation to offer kids hope and opportunity to do something positive with themselves”. For someone in their 20’s I commend him. Here is where you can help. How many times have you received a really good joke that made you laugh out loud in your office or alone at home? Those are the ones that Mark wants!! So email them to him when you get one. He said his research should be ongoing for about another 6-10 months. His email address is: ecomedian@gmail.com let’s all help him get that book done. I know that it would be fun to have a book available with the best of the best in it for future reading. Way to go Mark.

I don’t normally get into anything about politics but today is a must. I do believe that the new national pastime is Whining! Good grief it is becoming so bad. No wonder Dr. Laura wrote a book about it. I still can remember my mother saying to me “Stop your whining it will do you no good!” I guess now people think that it will do them good to whine to the world… in fact some are what I would call professional whiners. We live in the greatest country in the world…if you don’t believe this; then I ask you one small question… Why do we have so many people trying to get into this county??? And so few of us are not leaving!! Even the ones that whine they are going to leave this county if they don’t get their way…never leave! Now one big whiner is trying to take kids balloons away from them. Here in the state of California we have a state senator named Jack Scott that is being termed out. So as a big whiner he put in a bill to ban Mylar balloons. Then the senate as a gift to Mr. Scott, because he was getting termed out, passed the bill and sent it on to the assembly. HUH? The problem is all the reasons that Mr. Scott gave to get this bill passed never happened. Here is what I see. Mr. Scott has become the biggest Whiner in the state. He is an angry old man that wants to get even for being termed out and he is taking his anger out on the kids. The ultimate whiner! Well I guess he is trying to get even like the childhood bully for being termed out with his ultimate whine. As a kid don’t you remember the big whining bully saying: I’ll get even with you, just wait and see!!! Maybe term limits are good after all …… Tell me what you think.

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Economy…Fashions…Fault?

Many pundits have tried to put the blame for our slowing economy on many things. Well I think that I know why this is happening and I am here to say that I think it is the fashion designers fault. YES… fashion designers and the MOD fashion fabrics.

Many of you that are out there don’t remember what happen the last time the MOD fashion fabrics were ‘in fashion’…well I do. Only back in those days it was called the Psychedelic era or psychedelic fashion. Meaning: weirdly distorted, wildly colorful, or otherwise resembling images or sounds experienced by somebody under the influence of a psychedelic drug… the drug of choice back then.

This psychedelic period lasted several years including a down turn in the economy, astronomically high home interest rates of 12-15% and higher. We had huge riots on campuses, riots in prisons; we had the flower children in San Francisco trying to stop traffic, “tuning in turning on and dying on the sidewalks; higher and higher food prices and the topping of this societal stew were the gas lines of the 70’s. That was when gas stations were only allowed to pump so much gas each day and you could only buy gas according to the last number on your license plate odd/even on odd/even days. Oh yes it was a mess. I do believe that it all started because some stoner thought it was be great to ‘draw’ while they were on their latest trip through their psychedelic land.

Who knows, maybe that person who drew was in the fashion industry but the next thing was the craziest designed fabric was everywhere. So I am telling you younger people right now…this is nothing new. But I digress.

Now I know you think that I am stretching on this crazy thought. But let me explain. During the research of my first book Marketing’s Silent Language www.silentlanguage.com I discovered interesting studies on many different types of fabric and the effects the fabrics have on the brain. One of those studies was the MOD fabric pattern. I only used a small portion for the book, but the research said that most of the patterns from the MOD fabric were disconcerting and disturbing to the brain. The brain is trying to work the pattern out but can’t. That would be like a Rubik’s cube without any way to win. The outcome of this usually showed up as putting people in a bad mood or mild depression and sometime just mean. It was interesting.

What was more interesting, as the MOD look ran its course and the newer look came out things started changing. The country started coming out of its slump, the economy picked up and people’s moods changed. Then something else happened. Many of the styles with the MOD fabric started showing up on “Sale Tables” and at the local Goodwill. What was more interesting was the MOD fabric clothes didn’t sell in either of those places.

After that the country started riding the longest growth period in our history. Till the end of last year when the MOD fabric pattern came back into style and the country started down the path of problems again. Now I don’t know what you think…but is this just a coincidence??
So I blame the fashion designers who have pushed this MOD fabric look for this bad economy and the bad mood of many people.

Speaking of clothes…my guest on the show next week Alexis Neely’s new book called… Wear Clean Underwear: A Fast, Fun, Friendly - and Essential - Guide to Legal Planning for Busy Parents www.wearcleanunderwearbook.com is a must for parents. Turn in to hear Alexis, who is a mother and lawyer, keep us informed. (Or download it later) If you are a parent you need this book!

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashionista or fashion icon.

Is This Guy Kidding?????

The headline on the online news caught my eye. It was about weight loss so I took a look at the story. After reading the story once I couldn’t believe what I just read and I had to read it again…Is this guy kidding????

An inmate in jail is suing Benton County, Arkansas because he weighs 300 pounds. NOT and I mean NOT because he gained weight, but…because he lost 100 lbs in 8 months in jail. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080427/ap_on_fe_st/odd_jail_diet . I still can't believe what I had read.

Does he have any idea how lucky he is? At 400 lbs he was on the threshold of heart problems, joint problems, mobility problems and breathing problems just to name a few. All I kept saying was Stop Complaining!

The jail said that the American diet consisted of between 2000 and 3000 calories a day. (That alone has to tell us something) And the jail menu was at 3000 calories a day. AND THIS GUY LOST WEIGHT?!?!! How much was he eating before jail???

Does this guy know how many people work hard at losing weight all the time? They go to the gym and work out till sweat drips off them. They eat lettuce for lunch each day to get the weight off and keep it off. They take pills, tea, mix special concoctions to get rid of the body fat. They eat special cookies, bars that taste like cardboard and buy the latest gadget off the infomercial to get the body they want. That some diets people are on consists of 600 calories a day?? And this guy is complaining that he doesn’t get over 3000 calories a day??

He should be saying Thank You…giving the Sherriff’s department a big kiss. Without paying a single cent that the public pays to lose the weight; he managed to lose 100 pounds effortlessly in 8 months. That’s over 3 pounds a week that is almost as good as gastric bypass or lap band surgery.

Yes there are some drawbacks. One is he will probably look very different when he goes to court. Plus if he gets convicted he will be facing a long time incarcerated as a healthier person. Who knows where he mind is on this one.

All I can say is Stop Complaining about losing weight. Get out your pencil and paper and start writing your Weight Loss for Inmates book; who knows it could be a hit. But I can tell this guy this…There isn’t a woman alive that has ever had to lose weight that will shed one tear for him.

I also wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t some very enterprising entrepreneur somewhere in the world that would read that story and come up with a new way to help people lose weight…

Amazingly yours
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Coming to Terms with Pink

Over the years I have avoided the color pink. I guess it all started with a great silk pink blouse in my first corporate job. I thought the blouse was soft and feminine looking. But, whenever I wore it people always asked me if I was feeling alright? Not wearing the blouse was out of the question because in those days my closet wasn’t bulging with clothes.
I became very creative and decided to dye the blouse, after all it was silk, and the box of dye did say it worked on all natural fabrics. So into the orange dye it went. Yes…orange. I know that color everyone loved on me. When the blouse was dry, I was stunned at the gorgeous color the blouse had become. The orange dye on the pink material came out as tangerine. Go figure? Even the buttons took on some color.

Wearing the same blouse to work, I kept getting complements on how great I looked. Not one person knew it was the same blouse. But in my head pink was a color to avoid. Until later when I was doing research for my first book Marketing’s Silent Language www.silentlanguage.com. The scientific system that I was talking about in the book made it easier to pick colors that were correct for your coloring and personality. I just thought my personality didn’t like pink!
Over the years you wouldn’t find anything in my closet that was pink till about a year ago, when the manufacturers finally got the differences in pinks. On the market were pink from the softest of “powder puff” (as they called them) colors to the deepest of magenta. Because of the spectrum and how pink is pulled together, I just had to find the right mixture of red and blue in the color to work on me.

Oh…one problem. I just loved the brighter neon like hot pinks, knowing I look like “walking death” in that color. Figuring out how to get that color into my life has been creative and fun.
It all started with a flower arrangement in the dining room. I got brave and put together an arrangement of three colors of pink and purple flowers, voila’ it was great and caught my eye every time I went by the room. Well that started something and I changed several arrangements on that side of the house to include my new love and use of the pink and hot pink colors.

I finally figured out how I could wear the hot pink color and not look like walking death. SHOES!! Accessories! I looked for the hot pink color pared with orange (Remember how good the feedback on that color was?) and kept the hot pink color away from my face and it worked. I even found shoes with pink pared with black, these are a wow!
I even became very brave in nail polish. Put on my favorite orange/red color then topped it with a color called Strawberry Electric. I look like spring walking.

Coming to terms with pink took me years. In the world of color today, our choices are huge and finding the right color or color mix is much easier.
So what is your Strawberry Electric??

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Add Color to Change Status

One of the easiest ways to get notice is to wear color or to add color to your environment. If you what that new position at work, and know that you are qualified, wear color to get noticed. But not just any color such as a soft blue or green. What I am talking about is powerful color. Let me give you some examples where color is a status symbol.

The Oscars are a great place to see where color makes a difference. As I have said before black is so overrated for evening. The Oscars is a place where if you don’t wear the right color… you don’t exist. First let me give you a little background on the Oscars. Working in the background of the Oscars are the handlers of the stars and the people who keep the lines moving to the media and into the theatre. (Did you see any of them?) All people on the red carpet are dressed in evening wear. The handlers are usually wearing black, dark gray with very little color allowed in their outfits. They are the backdrop to the splashes of color that appears all over the newspapers the next day.

What did you see this year? That red Grecian style with roses across the shoulder made most of the newspapers. The color wasn’t just red….IT WAS R-E-D! It simply popped off the star. And I don’t have to tell you who wore that dress you remember. Last year, it was that GOLD dress worn by a star’s wife who is also an actress. A couple of years before was the best actress winner wore a purple and green dress. I saw knock off’s of that dress within 1 month of the show. I even tried one on. (A lot of dress to handle) Hence we have the handlers. But how often do you remember seeing any handler?

If you go to seminars see which speaker captures your attention. I remember one gentleman who wears a bright blue coat on stage. He captures your attention and you always know where he is standing. Even in the arena of politics, the ladies always have the advantage of capturing your attention and holding on with that remembrance factor. Now let us go back to wanting a new position at work or going for a new job.

Color is the way to be remembered. Not those weak washed out colors; as a friend and colorist use to call them “Lower Social-economic colors” K-Mart colors. She said upper social-economic colors are like Prada color. Now that doesn’t mean you have to buy Prada to get noticed. But walk into a store and just stop and scan the racks and see what stands out. Where your eye stops is where you should be looking at color to add to any black, gray or brown corporate uniform. If you want to get noticed and you can do the job, show the management that you know how to dress.

This same idea works in your home. Go to a bookstore and look at the magazines for “starter” homes. Then pick up a magazine for your higher end homes. Color is what will catch your eye. Now I know that, that doesn’t always hold true, some people like the cottage all white look; or the soft blue ocean cottage look. But even in the blue ocean cottage look, I have seen bright blue walls. Change things; add color in your life.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, or get that shape you have always wanted. To learn more about color get Marketing’s Silent Language at www.silentlanguage.com .

Men’s Styles are Changing…

Along with different women’s style for spring and summer, the designers are changing what is in store for the man in your life. Most of the styling is for the younger man. I would guess the ages up to the early thirties or entering the corporate world.

Many younger and older women have decided the skinny jean and in some cases the skinny pant are great. Yes they are…if you have good looking legs and you don’t let the pants bag around the ankles. (I know that you have seen that with younger girls and skinny pants.) However if you have legs that are less than average these pants should not be your thing. I know I have two of those legs! After major weight loss my legs are just not a shining example of legs that look good in skinny pants. Bless the designers that brought out wider leg pants.

The skinny pant and jean is coming to men’s clothing. But what looks sexy and cute on a woman’s curves looks slightly different on men. Not that I am saying I don’t like looking at men, but…personally I don’t think that style has the same affect for men that it does for women. What was even more interesting was the body language of the models. Runway models are taught to only look a certain way. However, I noticed the men in these pants didn’t look like they were enjoying themselves. You can take it from there as to what I mean.

They other changed that I noticed was the new men’s carrying bags. Ladies if you don’t have enough room in your handbag you can borrow room in your guy’s new men’s carrying bag. They look like a cross between our totes and a store bag. It is different from the bags men were carrying a few years ago. These will rival our bags in size. In fact when these bags come out and women need a more tailored bag shopping for one in the men’s department might get you what you want.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, or get that shape you have always wanted.

Fresh Air in a Sea of Black

I waited till today for this entry so I could post of the 29th of February. For all of you born on this day Happy Birthday and remember as the rest of us age you are still young.

I enjoy attending most events as I can always find something wonderful that makes it memorable. Many times it is something wonderful as an unexpected conversation or as simple as a great desert. This time it was fashion; and in the sea of black it was stunning and enjoyable.

The fresh air was taken right off the runways and into this event. Two smart amazing women took the bubble evening dress complete look and made it their own; one in black and the other in white. What made this even more fun was one had dark hair and other was…what else blond. The best was, unlike many women, who just wear the dress, they were able to take the entire runway look and make it their own. They looked stunning!

Heads turned when they walked by. Of course many loved the short skirts, but it wasn’t just the skirts that made head turners. It was the sassy approach these lovely ladies pulled off that made the look theirs. I had one glimpse when one of the women looked like she was posed for the latest fashion magazine. Well done ladies.

Each year I notice more and more color. It is wonderful. Who ever the people were that pushed for black to be the color for evening wear must have been color blind. This year one lovely lady in a flowing celery green evening pants outfit was wonderful, tall and blond; she was a breath of spring on a warm evening with a spectacular sunset.

Another white evening dress caught my eye. Although I only got a glimpse, the dress was wrapped like the look of a Greek goddess. The shoulder throw I didn’t understand and I think it took away from the great goddess look. White and flowing she walked through the room like mist.

Not to be outdone by the women, the men were bringing out the color for their evening look. I spotted many ties in a wide range of colors and patterns. I am beginning the think the usual black and white look for evening dress for men is a thing of the past. My comment is…it’s about time.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape you have always wanted and to, ahyes, become a fashion icon.

Ah…spring is in the Air…first a word about Jay

Before I get started on the word about spring, let me say a word about Jay Leno. Yes Jay Leno! Jay has been a staple in our home as a funny before bed. The news is always so depressing that we didn’t want that in our heads while we slept. So we enjoyed the craziness Jay would give us. I was very happy when the writers’ strike hit and Jay decided to keep doing his show. Then I discovered something. While the writers were out…Jay was much funnier! The comments about the audience didn’t happen and the jokes were GREAT! The audience thought the jokes were funny and the entire show had a lift to it. Oh my; now the writers are back the jokes are back to being flat! Jay has to keep wondering about the audience and the show is back to really dumb jokes. Jay it’s not the audience…it is the stupid jokes the writers are giving you. You were funnier on your own. After all didn’t you keep audiences’ laughing for years before the show? It is only my opinion, but could it be the audience thinks so also?

Now for spring…I know that I am ready for spring, including clothes. I received one of my favorite catalogues the other day and flipped it open to a mouth dropping visual. I know I had a problem with the PJ’s but I think those designers are now into regular women’s wear with the same laze-a-fare attitude. Again I must say they are forgetting that grown women are not 9 years old.

Cutesy little clothes that have zero sex appeal. Little bows around the waist….peter pan collars (ugh). And those wonderful mixed spectrum mod prints. What are these designers thinking? I stopped into stores where I know the managers and asked about business. Most answers were business was off. A couple of managers said it was probably the economy. Oh Pleeeeze…we all know if a woman likes the clothes they will find a way. Shoppers were sparse.

Most people can’t afford Haute Couture or even high end designers clothes. $3500 for a simple handkerchief hem summer dress isn’t quite in most of our budgets. But taking the designs from kids clothes and sizing them up for adult women doesn’t work. Yes I know many times during Easter Mommies and daughters do have similar dresses. That is because the designs went from Mom down to daughter with many changes but, like fabrics. Now it is going the other way???

However once you weed through all the less than appropriate clothes out there, you can find a few gems…more on the gems later.

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Spa Treatment – Skin Deep

Different procedures in plastic surgery are becoming big business. The surgery techniques of today are nothing like the procedures used 10 years ago. One of the newest techniques you are even seeing in advertising is a fill product that can take away the deep lines around the mouth and into the laugh lines.

This is a great product and procedure that many people are thinking of using. Why…because it is not permanent. With these temporary procedures if you don’t like the look you get, you only have to wait a few weeks or months and it is gone. And if you like what you see, then you just make another appointment to get the touch-up.

This, to me, sounds like a wonderful idea. We all have different problems that we would not like to see when we look in the mirror. As any of you that have read my books know, I had the plastic surgery to remove the extra skin after losing all the weight. But I had the procedures done by a plastic surgeon. The latest trend that I am seeing is spas offering the fill procedures.

Having a skin specialist at a spa that has taken a seminar on how to inject the fill product is a little scary. Yes the product is very safe, but getting that product into a vain or worst yet getting air into a vain what is called a vain embolism is really scary.

I think the idea of the product is great. Boomers can keep that youthful appearance longer. Might as well look good, as boomers, because of better medicine, food and our own desire to stay healthy, are going to live a lot longer than our parents did. Many of us will probably see 100. Procedures to keep gravity out of our looks are fine with me. But, it scares me that women might go to a spa and have someone without a doctor’s degree doing the producer. Ouch!

Plastic surgery today is great with better procedures and products, but only when done by a professional that has been trained in the “art” of plastic surgery. And it is an art.

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Learning Tricks from Even the Semi Pros

During lunch the other day I realized just how much I learned being a manufacturer for the hair and beauty industry many years ago. One thing was little tips on how the pros make the celebs (and you) look when make-up is done by a pro. Believe me without the pros, celebs would not look as good as they do when they are out in public. There are so very few celebs that actually do their own make-up. However; learning what pros or even semi-pros do is one step closer to the right make-up look each and every time.

What better place to learn then at your local department store that has a “We will do your make-up for you” department. Now I don’t mean you sit there and get your make-up done. I mean you stand off to the side and watch what they do. For Semi-pros these people are very good. They have been taught how the make-up from their line works and what they can do with all age groups. They don’t do what a pro does, like mixing up to 8 colors for the eye shade, because a client simple won’t buy that many colors at a time. But their techniques are very close to the pros.

One simple trick that I learned from a pro that I saw a semi pro use was the use of face powder to soften and make corrections on eye shadow. I don’t know about you but there have been times when the eye shadow just goes on too dark or to high on the eye. Nothing is worst then trying to get it off. I can remember washing my face and starting over because of a blunder on the shadow.

After watching a pro fix a blunder they made, I almost had to hit my head like the V8 commercial. Duh! Now why didn’t I think of that? Now I simply keep a pressed powder the same color as my base to go over to dark shadow or to soften the shadow line or to use as a blender when I use more than one color. NO, it does not take a long time. Just get a good chisel brush and blend, blend, blend and ‘voila’ correction made.

What is nice is you can use at the side and under the eye also, as it is the same as your base color. It is like an eraser only it doesn’t eraser it simple hides! What magic it can do.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

Awash in Red

Red is an exciting color and lately all advertisements have been awash in red…however I still can’t figure out what red has to do with cleaning a sink or toilet. How do you mix that with candy I am not sure. But all stores and even the grocery markets are busting out in red.
Walking through the market, even for green vegetables is a place of red these days. The marketing department of the stores have simple out done themselves. Balloons are everywhere; probably in the balloon count of 300-500. Candy everywhere and those ohsogood chocolate dipped strawberries were out in full display. They even had hearts strung over the meat department and Valentines on the hams!

Flowers were all lined up for the grab and go person. The only thing necessary was to sign the card that was attached. YES sign it!!

Ladies if your guy is always forgetting this day, send him to the market for a quart of milk, he would have to be blind to come back without something.
On my round of errands, I noticed it wasn’t only the market…the UPS store…the bank…the tailor all had the Valentine heart everywhere. If you love red this is a great time of the year.

This is the day for love…isn’t it a wonderful holiday to celebrate and enjoy? The color of excitement combined with a day of love. What a powerful combination.

For all of you who were lucky enough to be born on this day

Happy Birthday! This includes my sister. Everyone is celebrating! WOW how lucky can you be! Have a wonderful birthday and enjoy all the hearts and flowers. This day is special to all lovers and to all who love.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network.

www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a Valentine fashion icon.

Doesn’t Graphite Belong in Pencils?

Before we get to graphite…

I send BIG cu-do’s to the Spanish Fashion industry. They are stopping the use of extremely thin models. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article3351177.ece women were not intended to be shaped like boys. Designers…almost anything looks good on a post! Women have shapes!

Now to Graphite…

Good grief… here we go again…those wonderful designers, in their ultimate wisdom, have decided to try and change black yet AGAIN! They did this several years ago and they called grey the “new” black. Then pink was the new black. You know I have yet to figure that one out. Black IS black and women love the color no matter what time of year it is; a staple in the winter and an accent with summer whites for an extra classy look and brights for a sexy look.

What keeps coming to my mind is the colors are out shadowing the designs of clothes and fabric, which have much to be desired. I don’t know about the rest of the boomer population but I remember the last time mod was in fashion. And it wasn’t just a fashion statement. It was completely cultural. The mod phenomenon spread through most of the modern world, and was fueled by the music of that age. The designers wanted something new and fresh. Mod fashion was just that…fresh and different. There was always something within the mod look that could be incorporated into any age group look. I can still remember my Mother putting on a mod cap one day with her look. I must admit I had to do a double take…that wasn’t something I was expecting. But it worked!

Today, the designers seem lazy. We have a mixture of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s all mixed together. So they make a color statement that Graphite is the new black.

What I have seen so far is graphite is one of those colors that drains the life out of colors it is used with. I think that is why they are pairing it with bright yellow, and sometimes black(?). So I can only say this if it takes the life out of other colors used in the fabric, imagine what it does to the color of your skin?

Boomers are the biggest group of buyer’s of fashion, and as I am observing we still are the best dressed. Other age groups don’t have the numbers of the boomers. If that is the case then why are designers pushing us aside? I can only think it is because we have evolved from the mod age when we would have worn almost anything (and did) to being fashion icons. We have style and an eye on beauty. We don’t like lazy designers. We like style and beautiful colors and wonderful fabrics. Hay designers…take notice we are still here and are hungry for great clothes in great colors.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Join me Wednesday’s for Amazing Women: brains, beauty & style on Voice America Women’s Radio network. www.amazingwomenbbs.com . If you want to get your shape into better shape get The Thinking Side to Thin www.thinkingsidetothin.com How to change your thinking to keep, (or get) that shape to become a fashion icon.

The Peacock Lady

I have a wonderful place to shop here in Southern California. This store is set up as a typical department store, where you can see over the top of the clothes and other items; except in the handbag area. There, they have walls for the bags to hang.

I was shopping there and as usual I couldn’t resist the handbag area. As I went up one aisle and turned the corner there she was, and I was face to face with a lady who certainly had an interesting slant on fashion. I must admit I had to stop and take it all in.

She couldn’t have been more than 5 feet tall. On her feet were checkered high-top sneakers. Her pants were multi striped blue and green. The throw back style and fabric to the 1950’s and they were slightly short. Not cropped, not capris, just short of being long pants. Her blouse was lace, long sleeved. (After all we are in the middle of winter) Over the blouse was the wildest fringed wrap or shall or whatever they call them. There were multi-colored threads going in one direction and metallic silver, gold and black going in the other. Tied in a knot and draped over her shoulders with the knot hanging just below her shoulders.

This might sound completely in fashion for a teen, but as I got to her face she was somewhere in her late 50’s of early 60’s. And to top all this off, her hair was short platinum blond with the center spiked straight up multi colored red, green, purple and blue. The first thing that went through my mind was a joke that I had read that morning that is going around the net…where this woman’s father encountered a young man with a multi colored Mohawk. The older man couldn’t help staring. Finely the young man said to him…”Haven’t you ever done anything wild?” To which the older man replied…”Yes I have, I once got very drunk and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were the off spring.” I had to laugh at that joke and smile at the women as we passed in the aisle.

I couldn’t help myself; I had to turn around and look again, and noticed she had several bags on her arm, silver, purple and plaid. She was having a great time shopping and talking on the phone as the same time. (Isn’t everyone?)

What a woman! She had her own slant on style and on the time factor also. She was thinking young and acting young. She embraced the idea: you feel, as you think. Boomers remember that idea. You feel as you think. What a wonderful idea as we enter the next phase of our lives. We have been the leaders in many things, now let’s be the leaders on how to feel and think younger than our years.

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

Do forget to listen to my radio show this Wednesday February 6th, or listen later at http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com or www.marlenesiersema.com click on the radio button on my site. The feisty redhead Liz Goodgold http://www.duhmarketing.com will be on talking about digital marketing. See you on the radio.

Crazy Mixed-Up Monday

A Seminar with Fuzzy Bunny Slippers:

What a great weekend. It only rained at night…yeah…and I attended a great seminar in fussy bunny slippers. OK before you think I am complete nuts let me explain.

Attending any seminar across town or across the country is difficult with the busy schedules that most of us keep. Taking the time and money to sit for three days in a hotel may not be time well spent. That is one of the reasons that I was excited about this seminar.

I attended the virtual Wealthy Girl Summit put on by Alicia Dunams www.wealthygirlsummit.com . Alicia will be on the Amazing Women’s brains, beauty & style Show www.amazingwomenbbs.com on February 20th. I discovered first day this summit was going to be well attended as I logged on just a little late and the summit was totally full. Alicia fixed that immediately. The following day was a blow out event. The speakers were exceptional and the information they gave was useful and timely. Adryenn Ashley is a ball of fire. About the same as when I meet her during a Summit in New York. Marci Shimoff and Loral Langemeier are tops in their fields; and the list went on. My suggestion is to buy the MP3’s of the Summit if they are available. Alicia great job!

My Complaint with a Local Media Writer:

Maybe you have one in your town also. There is one in a magazine I receive, I would like to meet to see if he has ever had to lose weight or go through the psychological process of losing weight. Usually he isn’t too far off on most of his information, the problem I have with this ‘guy’…is he is coming from a man’s perceptive on eating plans. In a two week period he managed to put out two lists and part of one list was contradictory to the other. He said tell everyone that you are going to lose weight and what your goals are. Two weeks later he says “You let family and friends tempt you with bad choices” GOOD GRIEF…let’s get real! If you don’t tell anyone that you are on a diet, they won’t tempt you! They may not even know you are on a new way of eating. And if they do notice, that is all you tell them. You have decided to eat healthy. (Period!) Don’t give them one little inch to get into your head to change your mind.

Every year the majority of the people that go on diets are women. Why? First… men don’t have the stigma of gaining weight that women do. Second…when was the last time that anyone heard that any male actor needs to be a size 2!! If a male actor gains a pot belly, they just put loose shirts on him. If you look closely you will catch the bulges not matter what camera angles they use.

With women being the majority of people on diets at any one time…why do we listen to men on how to diet??? Our bodies are different!! If you want to learn what one women has done try my book The Thinking Side to Thin at www.thinkingsidetothin.com or on Amazon. Not that I know it all. Each person is different, but some weight loss problems are all the same. One is telling others you are dieting.

Old habits are hard to break. Once you start using new rules to break old habits why let anyone change your path to success!

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

If you want another book on sales, marketing and a new segmentation on both check out my other book Marketing’s Silent Language at www.silentlanguage.com . There is a limited supply of books left so hurry.

P.S. Congratulations to Tony Orlando on losing 103 pounds. I saw him in a diet ad and he looks like the mature version of the heart throb he use to be. Keep up the good work Tony.

OKAY Now What Do I Do to Clean Up This Stuff!!

When I have Regina Leeds http://www.reginaleeds.com/ on my Amazing Women, brains, beauty & style show http://www.amazingwomenbbs.com/ it is always a pleasure for me; because I am somewhat of a neat nick. That doesn’t mean that I go around after people and clean up at a party. What it does mean is that I like to have things in place so when I need to find something, I can find it quickly. As a business owner when I had many, many employees, having that kind of order in my office to me was necessary. It just seemed to overflow into my home life.

However, when you are the only person in the home who wants neat order it can be a challenge. Instead of getting order, you store everything because no one wants to part with ANYTHING. So for years, I have been a hide it and forget it person. No one wanted to make a decision of what is needed and not needed, so I stored it. Now that we are organizing just for us I have another problem. What am I going to do with all this stuff?

We are a society that is drowning in stuff…stuff that in most cases is not important. I see more and more storage locker companies being built in this area, where stuff can be stored. What good is it to just pay money to just keep it hidden? The more I think of that crazy logic, the less it seems logical. Some people say they don’t want to get rid of things because they don’t want to fill the landfills. Okay, so at least they have a reason. But is it logical? We all keep buying but many of us don’t throw away.

Today I read a story about a large company that was getting rid of all the‘ad gifts’ stuff http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080119/D8U8U5C80.html that was being delivered to all the employees by potential products manufacturers. These manufacturers wanted the company to buy these products so they give little gifts of every shape, size and color with company and product names on them. This stuff was being taken out of the office and instead of just trashing it, they were shipping to Africa where the products were not sold, but the gifts could be used effectively. What a great concept!

Now if the rest of us just could have that same concept when it comes to our personal stuff! Part with it happily and know that whoever gets it after you will be very happy with what we have parted. I am starting spring cleaning early in fact if we all started now, we would be free to have a spring to remember. Spring is an amazing time of the year to be out in nature’s wonderful tapestry of foliage and flowers.

Amazingly Yours
Dr Marlene

P.S.
You can learn the secrets about my weight loss of 170 lbs. with the mental methods that I used in my book: The Thinking Side to Thin: available on Amazon or http://www.thinkingsidetothin.com/ . Or if you want to learn more about color, my book Marketing’s Silent Language includes how to use it to your business and sales advantage see more at www.silentlanguage.com

Blood at the Rude Guerrilla

The other evening we attended a networking event and play put on by the British American Business Council www.babcoc.org at a small theatre called the Rude Guerrilla www.rudeguerrilla.org . An interesting thought, have a great time networking with business minded people then ‘rest your feet’ during a provocative and thoughtful play called: The Cut. What a great concept, networking before the play and after with the actors included.

The British American Business Council is one of the top networking groups in the area. The group has a variety of people that are actually interested in doing business. In fact I met Anne Berryhill at a BABC event and we are now collaborating on my radio show Amazing Women, brains, beauty and style to do the next two weeks shows on how to get the weight off and get healthy. See the information on the shows at these sites. www.amazingwomenbbs.com or www.marlenesiersema.com or try this link for my book on how I lost 170 lbs after 50 with simple changes to years of bad habits. www.ThinkingSideToThin.com

The Rude Guerrilla is a typical small theatre in a store front with a loyal following and some really good actors. As we came into the theater there were only a couple of seats left in the front row at the far left of the theatre. We took our seats and the play started…as you can tell from the title someone or something is about to get cut.

At the end of the first act, I found out what and who that person was that was getting cut. But more important I discovered WHERE! Right in front of me! The cut was made and the stage blood came squirting out right on me, my pants and shoes. Red sticky stage blood…actually no problem if the pants and shoes had not been suede! I couldn’t help myself; the words came out before I could even stop…“Oh Sh_t!” As I watched the actors, only their body language told the story. Oh No…we got someone! Plus they got several feet of stage blood on the stage, which was fun watching because they had to avoid that part without seeming to avoid that part of the stage the rest of the show.

As the actors came out for coffee after the show the “cut” actor and director of the show came over to me. My first words were…I will never sit in the front row at a play again. My foot still looked like I needed stitches, my hands were sticky (stage blood is mainly sugar water) and to my luck the pants were black. It will come out. But the actor won’t forget the two words uttered at his big moment. We all had a good laugh and I think I made some new friends. I also discovered that champagne works great at getting the sticky off.

But more important I learned never sit in the front row is you even think blood will flow!!

Amazingly Yours,
Dr Marlene

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