Generally Speaking – Columns

Slices of Life

I’ve never been one to follow the fashion trends. This is due to a lack of abilities. It’s a time, money and effort thing. I don’t have enough of any of the above to be a trendy fashionista (or a fashionable trendinista). At least I didn’t think I did.

Until now.

I am happy to report good news from the fashion front for non-trendsetters like me. The latest fashion keyword for makeup (you might want to sit down if you’re prone to fainting) is imperfection. You read that right. According to the New York Times, the hottest beauty trend for 2012 is being less than perfect. Flawed is fabulous.

Goodbye lip liners, stiff coiffures, brow pencils, smoky eyes and contoured cheekbones.

Hello mussed hair, barely there foundation, muted eyeliner and neutral lip colors. We’re even advised to embrace the moment and skip mascara. Skip? Mascara? There’s a technique worth mastering.

In our new, messy, flawed state, we are instructed to practice restraint so our makeup appears smudged and relaxed – as though our faces were nude. I was practically born smudged and relaxed.

The experts tell us the reason for their innovative outlook is simple: perfection in makeup got boring.

It’s about time they noticed.

It’s 2012, imperfection is in, perfection is out and I am dancing in my chair. Why? Because there’s one thing I know for...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.

Slices of Life

We’ve all had them: high school dreams. Not the kind that involve graduating as class valedictorian or being named to the homecoming court. I’m talking dreams as in those adventures we experience while our bodies are asleep and our mind is doing its nightly aerobic rapid eye movement workout.

I’ve always been intrigued by how the mind operates. Much of my interest has to do with the fact that the brain is responsible for dream activity. The whys and hows of dreams can certainly keep one wondering.

I picture the brain like a big filing cabinet, with different drawers labeled with dream topics. There’s one section dedicated to childhood memories, and another set aside for events during our adult years. Finally, there is a drawer twice as big as the first two combined. This third drawer holds all things high school.

The high school years are a brief blip in the scheme of a (hopefully) long life, but they hold a significant place within our gray matter. High school occurs within a critical window of time: when our hormones are waking, the paths to the future seem infinite and we stand at the precipice dividing youth and adulthood.

This combination leads to a large accumulation of information, which is stored in the filing cabinet of our brain. I am convinced the drawer containing our high school information is labeled, “Permanent. Do not destroy,” because I am...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.

Slices of Life

Every twelve months we receive a gift in the form of a new year (and a dozen calendar pages to fill). For me, this gift brings a shift in perspective and perception. I see the world (and my waistline) with new eyes.

And I am tempted.

I am tempted to want to change things in big and graphic ways. This often involves great expense, effort and exercise machines, because grandiose change does not come easily. If you’re like me, you vow to eat, work, charge, smoke and drink less while you work out, organize, volunteer, recycle and save more.

January comes. We start fast and quit just as fast. When the going gets tough, the resolutions are sent packing. By February, we are left resolutionless, with a life that remains as messy, overweight, disorganized and overspent as it was on December 31.

We’re a couple of weeks into the new year and countless resolutions have already been thrown by the wayside, and that’s just at my house.

The main reason for resolution failure is resolution overload. We try to do too much – and those TV commercials don’t help. People who lose 50 pounds and three pant sizes in two weeks do not live on my planet. There is no magic closet...

For the rest of this story and more, pick up this week's Voyageur Press.