Womens Forum - The Place For Moms

Fashion Forward

Fashion, like history, is said to always repeat itself.  This spring season I’ve found that a majority of the magazine covers I’ve glanced at have one thing in common, pattern. Familiar beauties in Hollywood are featured in magazines sporting hot red lips, and bold hues for this spring's early awakening.

One of my all-time favorite magazines is Nylon , which is an eclectic magazine that displays trends ranging from rocker chic to pretty in pink casual wear. Nylon also offers a great mix of art, film and music in their magazine which are all important aspects in the world of fashion. With high end brands like Armani and Marc Jacobs, to more laidback brands like Quicksilver and Volcom, it’s no wonder this magazine has so many positive reviews on their “Par Avion” page. Every issue of Nylon magazine that I pick up has readers from across the globe expressing their gratitude to the people at Nylon for making their mag appeal to every fashionista on the spectrum.

One of my favorite commercials is for Staples and it features a guy named Dave who single-handedly serves as the CEO, the IT guy, the administrative assistant, the mailroom clerk, the billing department and more. Running a boutique business for the past 10 years, I can relate.  Entrepreneurs often feel like they are standing in front of a dozen or more buckets that are slowly losing water and their job is to keep all of them equally filled - (and did I mention the only tool they can use is a teaspoon?).

Stress

We are all humans. Thus, we are faced with stressful situations day to day. This kind of stress can ruin a whole day if not dealt with properly. Being a college student, I experience times of stress on a regular basis, the kind that makes me want to rip my hair out! But I do try and practice some strategies that help minimize its affects. 

My Stress Remedies

Prior to spring break, I was faced with midterms and papers that seemed I’d never be able to tackle. The amount of stress I was experiencing was normal for a college student balancing school and work, but I had enough. Usually when I experience an overwhelming amount of stress I try and sort through my daily activities and find that they are all small stuff. You know that saying, “don’t sweat the small stuff”? That is a mantra that everybody should live by. We are all faced with feeling like there aren’t enough hours in the day, or that what is demanded from us is unrealistic. But, the key is realizing that you are in control of your life is the foundation of managing stress.

The Big (Bad?) Social Media Craze

Yes, it is now the Year of the Dragon! Or should I say year of “the social media outbreak?” To parents out there, you might notice how often your child is glued to his/her phone. Being one of those tech savvy teenagers, I can assure you that it is somewhat “normal,” behavior. But, is there a place where you should draw the line?

As a publicist, I often work with authors and have covered a wide range of subjects over the past 10 years.  I recently engaged a business author Ben Benjamin whose new book, Conversation Transformation – Recognize and Overcome the 6 Most Destructive Communications Patterns (McGraw-Hill Professional, March 2012) discusses why our conversations become toxic.

Since I earn my living communicating, I figured that I would never engage in any of the six destructive conversation patterns he mentions – but apparently, I did so in one of our earliest conversations.

The “L” Word

Whether you’ve fallen in love before, dreamt about it or currently enjoying it as you are reading this, you can imagine love is a beautiful thing. Thanks to Disney Princess’, we’ve been accustomed to the belief and plan that we women are put on this earth to find our “prince charming.” Or better yet, have him find us.

Whether you’re an independent woman, have this one guy friend, or are a hopeless romantic there’s good news for all of us- we don’t need a guy but it is nice to have someone who shares the same interest as we do.

Timing is Everything

We’ve all done it- procrastinated hitting the gym, saying we will simply “get to it later. “ Or, the ever so popular excuse that we, “don’t have time.”  Going to the gym can be a hassle, yes, but its benefits are life-changing if maintained along with a proper diet. Now, I am no doctor or personal trainer, but I do know that with even moderate exercise (it doesn’t have to be at a gym!) and a few tweaks of an unhealthy diet, the results can make a huge difference. With mothers especially, I am aware that time is precious, and most of it is devoted to the family (kudos to you moms!), but that doesn’t mean you can’t squeeze in time for yourself and your health!

It’s a Pleasure to Meet You!

Hello, Womensforum.com! My name is Briana Roldan, I am a 19 year old college student out of North Andover, MA. With this being my first blog entry, I’d like to touch base with you all on where I am at in my life and what types of things interest me. I believe that health comes first. I consider myself a gym-rat. Going to the gym is not only beneficial physically, but it is such a great tool to de-stress yourself! I love yoga, (preferably bikram) and hiking. I’ve hiked Mount Washington with my family every summer ever since I was a toddler. I also am a vegetarian and have been for about 4 years now. I’ve always admired the arts, and singing since early on in my childhood, finding myself in many plays, musicals and high school\college choir. Writing is also one of my main enjoyments. Ever since taking a journalism class my junior year of high school, I’ve been interested in pursuing it as a career.

Recently, a longtime client decided to end a contract with our company one month before the agreement was scheduled to come to an end.  Part of his reason was that we are good at our jobs and so had achieved most of his PR objectives earlier than expected.  The other reason was that he wanted to use what he saved from ending our contract prematurely to hire a business consultant and financial planner to help drive company sales.

We’ve all done it.  Made assumptions about someone or something by what we see on the surface and not bothering to go deeper.  The other night, I was reading my son a Berenstain Bears Book which is a clever series that teaches children life lessons through the toils, travels and troubles of the Bear family.  The lesson Mama was teaching the cubs in this book was that “appearances can be deceiving.”

Sorry, what am I supposed to be doing right now?  Ah, yes, I’m blogging about distracted audiences.  Did I turn off the dryer, reply to that text message and send out a morning tweet?  Every day I feel like the plate spinner at the circus, focusing attention for a few precious seconds on the one plate that’s about to crash before shifting my focus to its neighbor.   And I’m not alone.  Suzanne Bates, CEO of Bates Communications, explains that each of us, to some extent, lives in a virtual world where we can be in two or three places at once.  “We’re watching the morning news, checking our messages on our iPad while responding to a text message on our phones,” she says.  “We’re ‘toggling’ rather than listening”.    

Why has this happened?  Bates says there are several reasons:

For the last ten years, I ran my public relations company out of my home. I took out a $50,000 loan, remodeled the basement and had my employees come to the house to work. I had fantasies of spending more time with my two sons, saving time on my commute, juggling the work-life balance with ease and being able to win more business based on my ability to underprice larger PR firms that had higher overhead costs.

Last month, I took the plunge and signed a lease for office space out of the house. Quite frankly, I had reached the end of my rope. The lines were blurred between home and work to the point where I didn’t enjoy being home anymore because even on weekends, there was a little voice nudging me to go downstairs and get something done to make the following work week just a little easier. When a contractor came to remodel our upstairs bathroom, the dust, chaos and number of people in and out of my home drove me to the office of the nearest realtor.