Unhealthy Body Images

"Many women, even those who consider themselves healthy, classify what they have eaten or how much they have eaten or how much they have exercised as a marker of their worth in the world," from the book Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.
This quote is one of my recent Facebook postings. After a few people commented on it, I said I would be blogging about it today. It is such a broad subject, I don't know where to start!
Maybe a good place is to start from how I see my business now, compared to how I started. First of all, the name I picked seems wrong .... Take The Time: Image Matters! Yes, image matters, but the most important part of what matters is how you see the image in the mirror. How do you see yourself? Does the way you look cloud your vision of who you really are? Does the way you look reflect the way you feel? If you looked better, would you feel better?
In the beginning, my purpose was to teach people that the way they looked had a direct effect on what they would get in life (job, boyfriend, opportunities, etc.) My purpose was to show you how you could look better so you would be get the things you wanted and be happier.
That doesn't feel good anymore.
My passion is inspiring women to feel good about the way they look. That's different.
My purpose is to show a woman that she can look good and feel good about herself no matter what size her body is. Women, even teens and younger, are judging themselves on the way their body looks. Because of this, many of them are not getting the food they need and they are spending too much time in the gym. Many of them are disgusted with themselves because they find it hard to diet and or they don't make the time to go to the gym. Where is the happy medium?
All I know is that the most important thing for your body is for it to be healty, and that comes in all shapes and sizes.
Some of you reading this have heard my "famous" tagline: "If a woman doesn't take the time, time takes the woman." That doesn't feel good anymore, either.

More Finding Your Pretty!

I have been thinking how much the evolution of Take The Time: Image Matters! is as much about me as it is about the women I serve. In the last couple of months, I have developed and given the presentation, "Finding you Prettyness." The first time I gave it, a friend came up to me after and said, "I have heard you give a number of presentations but I have never heard you give one with such passion." I have found my passion!

I spent the first two years with this business trying to do what I thought (and what other people suggested) an image consultant should do. The last two years have been about finding what gives me the most pleasure, consequently, giving my very best to the women I serve.

My purpose is to get women to love themselves .... right where they are, with all the so-called "flaws." I teach women to love the way they look, with the body they have. My purpose is to change the way she sees herself. With the right clothes and accessories she will feel good about the way she looks and when that happens, a woman feels better and more accepting of who she is. When she feels good about the way she looks on the outside, she will feel better on the inside and everything changes, from her self-image, to her attitude, to the people she attracts into her world.

It has dawned on me that I have to be less rigid about the colors I wear and the colors I tell my clients they should wear. Even after having had a color analysis and knowing which colors are ones "best" colors, I have to say, if a color makes you FEEL good when you wear it, you should wear it, because I have learned that more important than looking good, is feeling good.

I wish I still had that lime green top I wore under jackets. I used to feel pretty in it but after learning about color and knowing it wasn't flattering to my skin tone, I got rid of it. I actually put it on after knowing it wasn't a good color and was surprised to see that I looked pale and kind of sickly in it even though only a little bit of it was peeking out from the blazer. Now, I would like to see if I still think it makes me LOOK sickly, or does it make me FEEL pretty!

The next time I go clothes shopping, I am going to be trying some different colors!

Road Trip!

My bags are packed and ready to go! No, I'm not leaving on a jet airliner (remember that song?)

My friend, Beth Collins, co-creator of Elizabeth's House, is picking me up at 8:15 this morning and we're taking a road trip to Virginia. Beth's mother, Margaret lives in Salem and we're going down to help her throw a girl party.

Margaret is one of my clients. In 2008 she was here over Mother's Day and for her present, Beth gave her time with me. We had fun doing color and makeup analysis, shopping at Coldwater Creek and lunch at the Elephant Bar. This year when she was here, I took her to my hairstylist for a sassy cut.

Well, Margaret's husband died a couple of years ago and she has a lot of friends that get together regularly. Most of them are couples and when Margaret entertains at her house she always invites the men and women. When she was here a few months ago, Beth asked her why didn't she just invite the women over sometime. That was something she had never considered and she didn't feel comfortable asking the men to stay home. Beth said, "how about if Louise and I come down and help you?" She liked that idea, so in a couple of hours we'll be on our way!

Margaret is expecting about 10 women (I even designed cute invitations for her to give them) and it should be a lot of fun!

I'll tell you all about it next week!

Wrinkled? So What?

To me, "looking old" has nothing to do with the number of wrinkles you have on your face.

I gave a presentation the other day to a roomfull of women who were anywhere between 50 and 85. There were women in their 50's who looked old and there were women in their 80's who looked much younger. The difference was the way they dressed, their hairstyle and the expression on their faces. It was their attitude.

I chatted with one woman who told me that she "looked so old." She was referring to her face which was deeply lined with wrinkles. I assured her that she certainly didn't look old. She had a short, stylish haircut and was dressed in black pants and a black sweater. She had on a lot of jewelry that she said she'd had for a very long time and never took it off. She wore several necklaces, bracelets and rings. It may sound like a lot but the pieces were small and worked for her. She looked very stylish and you can't wear your clothes with flare and look old!

I understand that life can get you down sometimes and it can show in the way you look. I also know that when you take the time to make yourself look a little better, life can look a little better, too.

Are you taking the time?

Finding your Prettyness

This week I gave a presentation titled "Finding your Prettyness" at Powerful You! Women's Network, http://www.powerfulyou.com/. I define "prettyness" as a woman's true essence, her spirit. We came into the world knowing we were pretty and smart and powerful but often that spirit was taken away. Many of us were groomed to be perfect little girls. We were told how to behave, what to wear and who we were. We learned that girls/women took care of people. Now, there's nothing wrong with that, but there has to be a balance. We have to learn to nurture and love ourselves. We have to put our well-being first or we're not going to be our best for anyone else.


One of the ways we can start to love ourselves is to stop the negative self-talk - "I'm too fat, I'm not smart enough, I'm not pretty enough - you know the talk. Think about the negative things you say to yourself and work on stopping it.


One way you can start to feel better about your body is to dress it more lovingly. Wear the things that make you feel pretty!

What is the one thing in your closet that makes you feel pretty?

Name Change!

No, not my name or my business name, but the name for this blog. While I may post about image matters, I want to post about whatever is on my mind. So here goes:

The more I uncomplicate my life and my business, the more joy I find I have. I have learned to be more discerning about where I spend my time and energy, as well as the women I want to serve. I have learned that more important than making a woman look good, is making her feel good.

I bought a pair of red high-heeled shoes last week. They are not practical and the $50 might have been better spent somewhere else, but they make me feel good. They make me feel self-confident and sexy. I'm going to wear them a lot.

Fireside Chats

At first I was disappointed that only 5 women showed up for my two-hour presentation at the Victory Center, Toledo's cancer wellness center www.thevictorycenter.org. But as often happens, it turned out to be for the best.
It was cozy and intimate and like sitting in someones living room as we sat on couches and chairs in the corner of a big room. I talked about over-stuffed closets, dressing for your proportions (ie. should you wear that shirt on the outside or tucked in?) and showed how wearing the right color next to your face could make you look healthier, younger and happier. Some of the women brought clothes they had questions about ..was it still in style, etc. One of them brought a beautiful long brown skirt with an off-white top with big, brown buttons off to the side, wanting to know if they went together. I said yes, then showed what a difference putting the right necklace with it could make. It went from being a top and a bottom to a stylish outfit.
It was a lot of fun and with just a handful of women, it was personal. Thinking about it later, I called it a Fireside Chat and decided that I wanted to do more of them. Bring your clothes that you have questions about while we sit around a cozy living room and I will show you how to take an ordinary outfit to extraordinary by adding a scarf, necklace, belt, jacket or vest. Maybe we could even do a clothes swap. Doesn't that sound like fun? Should I start at my house? I have a fireplace.