Best Movies for Women | Powerful Goddess Portraits

Loving Thyself

10 Feb 2019 Leave a comment

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment Tags: Blonde in long coat, No Makeup Glamour Portraits, Valentine's funny quote

True love comes quietly

without banners or flashing lights.

If you hear bells, get your ears checked.

Erich Segal

Valentine’s is the famous feast day of two popular saints: Hershey’s (chocolate) and Hallmark (greeting cards). While it is not a big deal in France as it is in the United States, the seaside city of Deauville celebrated this day in 2010 with a reenactment of an old romance film: A Man and A Woman by director Claude Lelouch. The movie ends with the tormented family man and a young woman (cliche, I know) finally reuniting on the beach. They run towards each other with arms outstretched, they hug, he lifts and twirls her in the air. We don’t see them kiss but we assume they will. Director Lelouch recaptured the magic with a couple hundred people–from teens to grandparents–some of whom drove hours to be there. The men lined up facing the women and at this eclectic group’s third try, Director Lelouch asked them to run towards someone they didn’t know.

Wouldn’t this be such a fun international tradition?

Until it is, I dedicate this Valentine to all who long for love to find them, whether too young to date, simply single or even those in a stale relationship. I want to know how you want to be loved and adored. Write a detailed description of all the small acts of kindness, thoughtfulness and caring that you want a lover to do for you. Perhaps an erotic love letter or poem, an finely prepared gourmet meal, a small present that makes your heart flutter, a sunset stroll, a candlelit bath with bubbles of the bottled kind… Then make this Valentine’s Day extra unique by doing what’s on your list for yourself.

Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share how you remember that you are the source of the truest love in all the world. Other people may come and go in our lives, but you, Dear One, should never abandon yourself. Ever! And have the happiest of heart days always!

xoxox

Give the women you love the most unique gift

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Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman

The Nutcracker: Helen Mirren

28 Nov 2018 Leave a comment

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Beauty and Fashion, Best Movies for Women, Iconic Women, Women's Empowerment Tags: Catherine the Great HBO, Harper's Bazaar, Helen Mirren, Nutcracker Disney movie, Strong women

I like the plot of

The Nutcracker–

not at all.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Photo by Zoey Grossman for Harpers Bazaar

‘Tis that season for the Nutcracker! Helen Mirren, one of the actresses I adore for style, substance, and fearlessness, has had a career spanning longer than my time on this earth. She continues to be hot commodity at 73 with Oscar winning roles ranging from Shakespeare, Hitchcock, sexpot, detective, grand dame, royalty and tough as nails villain in Disney’s latest The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.

For a woman who has always drawn to a challenge, someone so seasoned and accomplished, you’d probably never imagine her saying “I consider myself a scaredy cat” but she admits, “I’m constantly nervous… always worried that I’m not going to do it right. But you have to just jump and then the adrenaline kicks in.” (Harper’s Bazaar October 2018) How necessary for the young to hear such honesty! The rest of us easily assume we are the only ones capable of feeling inadequate and afraid.

I love opulence, period costume and strong women so I’m very much looking forward to seeing her next year as Catherine the Great on HBO.

Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your favorite woman of great style, substance, and a tough nut to crack.

xoxox

Photos below from Google Images

xoxox

Give the women you love the most unique gift

of elegant and timeless portraits with a

Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate

for a two hour photo shoot of up to three people!

Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman

Best Books About Her Story

13 Mar 2017 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Books for Women, Best Movies for Women, Iconic Women, Womon's Health and Wellness Tags: best books for mom, funny quotes, New York Times Bestsellers, wives of famous men, women heroes, women memoirs

Behind every great man

is a woman

rolling her eyes.

Jim Carrey

In honor of Women’s History Month, these novels celebrate the women who didn’t quite make it to our history books as well as their husbands did. The stories are well researched, parallel real life events, and read like memoirs. Excellent gifts to pass on to your favorite women!

The Aviator’s Wife

How Anne Morrow Lindbergh, the dutiful wife and daughter who married aviation’s first hero, came to realize she had been the brave and fearless one all along

The Other Einstein

Not a great deal is known about Mileva Maric’s scientific contributions, since her husband, the genius Albert Einstein, was careful to relegate her to the shadows.

The Paris Wife

After reading Ernest Hemingway’s A Moveable Feast, author, Paula McLain, was moved to write about Hemingway’s little known first wife, Hadley Richardson.

Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald

Would you mind very much having your own work published under your husband’s name?

Loving Frank

Would you leave your children and devoted spouse for one great love?

Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to add your favorite memoir or novel about a woman whose story needs to be told.

xoxox

Give the women you love the most unique gift

of elegant and timeless portraits

with a Powerful Goddess portrait session Gift Certificate:

Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

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Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman

The Femme Fatale

25 Oct 2016 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Fantasy, Glamour Portraits Tags: butterfly mask, femme fatale, film noir, halloween costume, Powerful Women

To a smart girl

men are not the problem,

they’re the answer.

Zsa Zsa Gabor

A bit of noir for Halloween? This series is a tribute to the femme fatale, French for “deadly woman,” that mythical figure in film and literature of the irresistible woman who lures men to their downfall with seemingly supernatural powers. On my recent cruise down the Rhine river, she’s Loreley whom careless sailors blamed for their sunken ships. In Biblical history, she’s the one Adam pointed a finger at, whining, “She made me eat it!” She’s famously associated with noir films: glamorous, sexy, strong, duplicitous, sometimes lethal. She uses her charms on a male protagonist, usually a lonely man grateful for her attention and is willingly manipulated into unscrupulous acts.

Now that contemporary women are bent on professional success, women may bristle at the thought that they can only get what they want through entrapment, artifice, and seduction rather than through meritocratic achievement. We want to downplay, if not deny, the power of our sexuality as a tool to employ in navigating our place in the world.

Not the femme fatale.

She is at ease with her femininity and hold men in her thrall. She brings out their chivalry, the hero, the protector they want to be. She may want them to commit irrational acts yet they’ll be eager to please. The femme fatale may be a man’s nightmare, but she is also his fantasy: a woman in charge of her own sexuality who’d take charge of his as well.

Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your favorite femme fatale. Happy Trick or Treat!

xoxox

Give the women you love the most unique gift

of elegant and timeless portraits

with a Powerful Goddess portrait session Gift Certificate:

Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman

China at the Met

02 Sep 2015 1 Comment

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Beauty and Fashion, Best Movies for Women, Fantasy, New York City Travel, NYC Events Tags: China Through the Looking Glass, Dior dresses, East West Fashion, haute couture, Metropolitan Museum NYC

Be not afraid of growing slowly.

Be afraid only

of standing still.

Chinese proverb

Couture inspired by Anna May Wong’s costumes in her Hollywood classics. Among my favorite pieces is this very easy to wear hot number with seductive tassels as shoulder straps and as a dramatic train sweeping the floor.

If you’re near Manhattan this weekend, get to the Metropolitan Museum early (or very late to avoid the crowds) and catch the end of their hit exhibit China: Through The Looking Glass. Attracting more foot traffic that the Alexander McQueen exhibit a couple of years ago and even more than their King Tut exhibit in 1979, this latest feature of the Anna Wintour Costume Institute is a collection of haute couture influences flowing East to West and vice versa.

China as a collective fantasy began when it was still beyond the reach of most Western travelers. Chinoiserie by the best artisans, creatives and film makers have since perpetuated the myth of this land as one of wealth. elegance, mystery and romance. Sample the best of the best at the Met on its last weekend of display. Museum hours extend until midnight this Friday and Saturday (September 4 and 5, 2015) and this exhibit closes on Monday, September 7th.

Dragon dress inspired by an imperial robe, John Galliano for the House of Dior

Intricate embroidery and silk are among my favorite things!

In the China Pavilion, a collection of John Galliano pieces for the House of Dior

Haute couture in a forest reminiscent of the bamboo scene of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

A lotus flower ballgown by a Chinese designer

Mao and Chinese calligraphy as design elements

The Weight of the Millennium artwork made of porcelain shards by Li Xiaofeng 2015

Glamour couture inspired by designs on Manchu robes

Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share what country captivates you best.

xoxox

Give the women you love the most unique gift of elegant and timeless portraits

with a Powerful Goddess portrait session Gift Certificate:

Sharon Birke

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Love, Lies and Valentine’s

11 Feb 2015 5 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Books for Women, Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits Tags: 50 Shades of Grey movie, Love and Lies book by Clancy Martin, unique Valentine gifts, Valentine's Day

To make Valentine’s really special,

I’ll tie my man up

so I can watch whatever I want on TV.

Tracy Smith

If you’re not watching the 50 Shades of Grey movie this weekend, here are some New York Times articles and book recommendations especially compiled by a favorite blog fan for our reading pleasure. How lucky are we to be so loved!

1. The 10 Best Modern Love Columns Ever

I love #2 on this list: Laura Munson’s “Those Are Not Fighting Words, Dear”

2. The 36 Questions That Lead to Love

Even those who have been married too long may not know each other’s answers.

3. “Love and Lies” book by Clancy Martin

Adelle Waldman reviews this memoir/essay on truthfulness, deceit, and the growth and care of erotic love.

Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share how well you shall love (thyself) this Valentine’s. Many hugs and kisses to you and our favorite blog fans! xoxox

Don’t bore your Valentine with lingerie–

give him/her the gift of lasting memories with Powerful Goddess Portraits!

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or contact:

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

201 697 1947

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Wild Women

11 Dec 2014 3 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Books for Women, Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits Tags: holiday season, Reese Witherspoon Movie, top grossing movies, unique personalized gifts for him and her, Wild Memoir by Cheryl Strayed

Walking isn’t a lost art —

one must, by some means,

get to the garage.

Evan Esar

It’s a merry time for women from behind, as well as in front of, the camera this holiday season with top grossing movies featuring two female directors and a slew of powerful actresses. I am personally intrigued by Cheryl Strayed’s book turned movie, Wild, because it is not about a woman finding love in another. It is about a woman finding her Self after great domestic upheaval through a 1,100 mile solitary hike in the woods.

Reese Witherspoon produced and stars in Wild, braving unshaved legs and no makeup. I like that as a mother of teens, she aspires to teach them to be brave and live life fully, with curiosity and love. That all the things we spend time worrying about are not important. That we will meet amazing and helpful people in our journey who will love us regardless of the parents we have. That we will do better than ok if we choose to spend less time tearing ourselves apart and admit that we’re good enough.

As she approaches 40, she admits that in her 20s, she didn’t realize that no one else can make her whole–no relationship, no child, no nothing can make her a happy person. I admire a woman who mans up to the reality that her happiness is up to her. That’s wild!

Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share what’s wild to you.

xoxox

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Best of India Movies

23 Oct 2014 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Glamour Portraits, International Travel Tags: Best India Films, colors of India, Diwali Festival of Lights, Favorite movies, India, Russell Peters Happy Diwali, Slumdog Millionaire

There’s a big difference between race and culture.

Because racially, I’m an Indian man.

Culturally, not at all.

Russell Peters

Happy Diwali to you! I love festivities of all kinds and more so when it’s rich with the brave flavors and colors of India. To add your spice to your celebration of the Festival of Lights, click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) and list your favorite India inspired films here:

Water

A widow forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi tries to escape the social restrictions imposed on her station with a man who is from the highest caste. Directed by Deepa Mehta

Slumdog Millionaire

An uneducated orphan from the slums of Mumbai gives the correct answers to all the questions on the game show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” But How? Directed by Danny Boyle

The Namesake

American-born Gogol, the son of Indian immigrants, wants to fit in among his fellow New Yorkers, despite his family’s unwillingness to let go of their traditional ways. Directed by Mira Nair.

Sharon Birke

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Remembering Robin Williams

14 Aug 2014 5 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Family Celebration, Glamour Portraits Tags: best family comedy, best family drama, family movie night, Robin Williams best movies

Be kind,

for everyone you meet

is fighting a harder battle.

Plato

A quiet pause to honor a fireball of laughs, Robin Williams. His genius for improv was said to be honed by a solitary childhood. His standup comedy put our pain and miseries in hilarious perspective. If our darkness is the birth place of our light, why do we feel compelled to hide behind a constant cheerful mask?

While a performer lives for the audience’s laughter and applause, he must always muster the courage to bare his soul to relentless critics. I prefer to honor this man’s great legacy through movies that family generations can enjoy together than remembering him for how he chose to die.

Please add your favorite Robin Williams movie by clicking on “Leave a Comment” (above left). xoxox

Mrs. Doubtfire

My favorite Robin Williams movie! Daniel Hillard (Williams) is a kind man and a loving father, but he’s a shaky role model for the kids so he loses custody when the wife divorced him. Learning that his wife was advertising for a housekeeper, Daniel applies for the job as the perfect Scottish nanny so he can see his children more than once a week.

Patch Adams

A medical student strives to improve the quality of life of terminally ill patients and prove that laughter is the best medicine. “When you treat a disease, you win or you lose. But when you treat a person, you win no matter what the outcome.”

The Fisher King

An abrasive radio deejay (Jeff Bridges) strikes up an unlikely friendship with a homeless man (Williams) who has a poignant connection to his past.

Dead Poets Society

An embattled English teacher at a private academy inspires students with the power of language and all that make life worth living: poetry romance, love.

Birdcage

A gay couple attempts to present a “normal” family when their son brings home his fiancee’s parents.

World’s Greatest Dad

A milquetoast high school teacher pens a phony suicide note for his son after discovering him dead of auto-erotic asphyxiation. I love the scene of how he masks frustration and tears with stifled laughter when a colleague comments “Raising a child is the toughest job you’ll ever know.”

Moscow On The Hudson

Released during the peak of the Cold War 1980s, a Soviet circus musician (played by Williams in an early dramatic role) defects to the United States while he’s in New York for a performance.

Good Morning, Vietnam

The wartime experience of real-life Armed Forces Radio Service DJ Adrian Cronauer, finding belly laughs as well as poignant drama in his attempts to survive the war while finding friendship and battling the hypocrisy of his superiors. Life, liberty, happiness is America!

Good Will Hunting

As the therapist who helps Will Hunting (Matt Damon) move beyond his troubled past, Williams provided an impetus for the film’s touching final act while delivering some of his most sensitive dramatic work.

Aladdin

His largely ad-libbed voice work as the genie in 1992’s Aladdin represents the best of Williams firing on all cylinders and delivering some of his funniest lines without having to carry the film.

xoxox

Sharon Birke

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Beauty and the Beastie

18 Jun 2014 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment Tags: Angelina Jolie movie, fine art nude, Maleficent Movie, Sleeping Beauty Fairytale, Villain and Heroine

Everything has beauty,

but not everyone sees it.

Confucius

“What did you love about Maleficent?,” I asked my daughter after our very happy Father’s Day at the movies without the men.

“She’s very pretty!” she smiled. May we all be as easy to please! Indeed, what’s not to love about a strong and beautiful heroine–albeit a villain, too?

Maleficent is the wronged and misunderstood woman in this revisionist-backstory fairytale. She suffers the deepest betrayal imaginable from the person she loves and trusts the most, the one with whom she shares her first “true love’s” kiss. While it is mainly about bloodlust after being violated and stripped of our power, it is also about the journey of moving forward and making the most of what is. I like how it reverses the pedestrian notion of true love, a necessary expansion of every child’s understanding of what real love can be.

Best of all, I love how it is a cautionary tale against quick judgments and our propensity to take every “victim’s” side. Like King Stefan, it is human nature to choose the version of the story that makes us look good and pitiful. It takes courage to notice that when we feel like “Woe is me!,” there is an angle of culpability we’re not admitting. For in every beauty, there is a beast. And in every villain, a heroine who can save herself.

Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share the beauty in your beast.

xoxox

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Grace for Grace of Monaco

22 May 2014 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Glamour Portraits, Iconic Women, Women's Empowerment Tags: birography, Grace Kelly look, Grace of Monaco movie, Hollywood icon, Nicole Kidman movie

If you want to sacrifice

the admiration of many men for the criticism of one,

go ahead, get married.

Katharine Hepburn

A film I’ve been looking forward to seeing has been thoroughly trashed by critics. When it was released at the Cannes Film Festival this month, the family whose story it’s supposed to tell declared it may not be labeled a biopic for failing to represent their version of reality “needlessly glamorized and historically inaccurate.” The director and the US film distributor want different finished versions of the film. The critics were extra harsh in their reviews of Grace of Monaco, starring Nicole Kidman as Grace Kelly. Geoffrey MacNab of The Independent was already gentle in saying, “Kidman excels in a role in which she is called on to project glamour and suffering in equal measure – and is never allowed to be seen in the same outfit twice.”

Why so much clamor over a movie? Why miss out on a good story by insisting on accuracy and perfection? Goddess knows more pedestrian productions based on the good old formula of sex and violence have made billions in box office revenues. Why not appreciate this film for the relevance of its story line: the human portrait of a woman as a prisoner of her (royal) circumstances, striving to find her own way in the world as she reconciles her needs with those of her family and her man like this Powerful Goddess?

Casting Nicole as Grace is perfect with her regal air and elegant restraint. As a woman, I admire her for shining as her own person, delighting in her own talents, and breaking free from the shadow of her famous ex-husband. I applaud the creators and artists who put their best foot forward with their best intentions in making this film. While critics may have their place in helping us do better, no movie, no art, no life would ever be created or lived if we were to constantly consider their opinion. We must do what we need to do just as critics must do what they do–if they didn’t, we would have to call them fans! Like Grace, we can choose to be kind to ourselves, be our own best friend and supporter especially when venturing to distant lands and new adventures far from the approval of family and friends. And please do so in great style! I personally relish the thought of never having to wear the same outfit twice.

Click on “Leave a Comment” to share how you silence your inner critic.

xoxox

201 697 1947

Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Best Movies Set in Venice

19 Feb 2014 4 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Glamour Portraits, International Travel Tags: Angelina Jolie movie, Ashley Judd movie, Best Movies in Venice, Venice Carnivale 2014, Venice Courtesans

Is it worthwhile to observe that

there are no Venetian blinds in Venice?

William Dean Howels

Bongiorno! Today I transport myself to what may be the closest thing to time travel. I’m headed for the Carnivale in Venice where they celebrate the centuries old festivity of wearing masks and elaborate costumes from the 18th century. I promise I’ll take you along with me so my next few blog posts will feature everything Venetian. We begin with a few movies I’ve enjoyed featuring eye candy from her iconic sights.

Dangerous Beauty

The glamour of 16th century Renaissance featuring the life of legendary courtesan, Veronica Franco, with Jacqueline Bisset playing the role of aging mother.

De-Lovely

Flashbacks on the glamourous Hollywood life of Cole Porter with his wife, Linda Lee, whom he met in Paris in the 1920’s where Americans were inventing new lives of freedom. Kevin Kline plays the elegant Cole, always witty on stage, charming in front of society, writing the pain into the soundtrack of his life. My favorite Ashley Judd plays the nuanced role of Linda who nurtures his talent and indulges his preference for men. Why, oh, why is the woman always the one who has to re-arrange her life to suit the man (even when he’s gay)?

Wings of the Dove

Two lovers plot to gain the inheritance of a sickly, rich American (“the richest orphan in the world”) by stealing her affections. A film based on Henry James’ famous novel.

Casino Royale

James Bond’s world tour of casinos ends with the fantastic sinking of an abandoned palazzo on a Venetian canal.

The Tourist

Johnny Depp plays the unlikely mystery lover of Angelina Jolie. Watch out for my dream necklace in the final scenes.

xoxox

Sharon Birke

201 697 1947

Email me

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

The Flirt and The Fan

03 Oct 2013 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Books for Women, Best Movies for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits Tags: Best Movies for Women, Oscar Wilde books, Secret Language of the Fan

There are times not to flirt.

When you’re sick. When you’re with children.

When you’re on the witness stand.
Joyce Jillson

Is the art of flirting only for the young and single? What if you’ve been married too long and it’s too late to consult the Victorian guidelines for finding the perfect mate, e.g., “avoid a person with the same eye color as yourself, marry someone who is your opposite in physical and mental characteristics, choose a man with straight or thicker hair if your hair was curly or thin”?

A worldly older woman explains to a young husband the secret language of the fan in the 2004 movie “A Good Woman” (based on the 1892 play Lady Windermere’s Fan by Oscar Wilde.) How fun is it to communicate with your darling even when you’re at opposite corners of a party room? Handy, too, when you don’t want the kids to understand what’s being said across the dinner table.

A closed fan touched to the right eye: “When may I see you?”
Letting the fan rest on the right cheek: “Yes.”
Letting the fan rest on the left cheek:  “No.”
Fan held over left ear: “I wish to get rid of you.”
Covering the left ear with an open fan: “Do not betray our secret.”
Fan opened wide: “Wait for me.”
Touching the finger to the tip of the fan:  “I wish to speak with you.”
Half-opened fan pressed to the lips: “You may kiss me.”
Putting the fan handle to the lips: “Kiss me.”
Resting the fan on her lips: “I don’t trust you.”
Opening and closing the fan rapidly: “You are cruel”
Quickly and impetuously closing the fan: “I’m jealous.”
Drawing the fan through the hand: “I hate you!”
Hands clasped together holding an open fan: “Forgive me.”
Hiding the eyes behind an open fan:  “I love you.”
Hitting the palm of your hand: “Love me.”
Hitting any object: “I’m impatient.”
Dropping the fan: “I belong to you.”
Twirling the fan in the left hand: “We are being watched.”
Passing the fan from hand to hand: “I see that you are looking at another woman.”

Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to share a language you speak only with your man.

xoxox

your man.

xoxox

201 697 1947

Email me

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

xoxox

What Would Grace Do?

05 Jun 2013 4 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Glamour Portraits, Iconic Portraits Tags: Grace Kelly book, Grace Kelly look, Grace Kelly Movie Classics

I have to be seen to be believed.

Queen Elizabeth ll

Vogue’s April issue featured a tribute to the movie The Rear Window. Nicole Kidman angles for an Oscar with the movie Grace of Monaco this December. That Hermes bag is still highly coveted over half a century after Grace Kelly was first seen with it. Starting out as a model before charming Hollywood and capturing the heart of a Prince, Grace Kelly’s signature style of neatly pinned hair and pale tailored outfits endures.

Her Royal Highness inspired the timeless portraits of this Powerful Goddess here. Even Grace would kiss the ground this woman walks on for being a down to earth inspiration of generosity and joy. If you were lucky to be blessed by her friendship, you’d be even more impressed to know that this lovely queen of her domain does not delegate the care of her own hearth and home.

For those who want to behave, flirt and live like Her Highness, What Would Grace Do? is in bookstores now (Gotham Books, $26). Click on “Leave a Comment” (above left) to add to this list of Her Grace’s movie classics:

High Society. Her musical comedy starring Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.
High Noon. Kelly does a Western with the conflicted Gary Cooper.
To Catch a Thief. As Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite muse in her Hollywood days, Grace stars in these 3 classics.
Dial M For Murder. Another Hitchcock film.
Rear Window. Arguably one of Hitchcock’s best, Grace stars with Jimmy Stewart.

_S5A7927Grace-Kelly-Look-Powerful-G0ddess-Sharon Birke

_S5A7964Grace-Kelly-Look-Powerful-G0ddess-Sharon Birke

201 697 1947

Email me

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xoxox

Great Gatsby

22 May 2013 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment Tags: Great Gatsby movie, Paris Belle Epoque, Real Housewives of New Jersey

I thank God everyday for my life

and you would, too.

Alexis Bellino, Real Housewife of Orange County

Can’t wait to see The Great Gatsby movie as I love the high style and ebullience of the flapper era. If I had a dedicated suitor who woos me with lavish parties and treats, my husband beware! 😉

As an observer of human nature like Nick Carraway, I am impressed to hear about a plain and plump mother of four (obviously not this Powerful Goddess here) who lives in a creaky old house with one bathroom. I asked, “Is she happy?”– thinking that for all my optimism, I need certain comforts. I was assured she glows from being adored by her affectionate children and husband, holding hands even when they watch TV and still spooning as they sleep after 30 years together. I think of how some women with greater material wealth live with far less contentment and I’m reminded of what I call “The Great Leveler”–our tendency to compare and make ourselves miserable dwelling on what isn’t, what we don’t have, what can’t be. And we’re not just comparing ourselves with next door neighbors these days. Reality TV raises the bar each week, fueling our discontent with indulgent husbands and the fairytale lifestyles of “Real Housewives.”

Great Leveler or not, there is some comfort in knowing that we actually hold the key to our bliss. In every moment, we have the power to choose gratitude and seek the gifts of what is, what we have, and what can be regardless of what life brings.

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201 697 1947

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Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

Romance and Fools

14 Mar 2013 2 Comments

by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC in Best Movies for Women, Lifestyle Portraits, Paris Travel Tags: If I Were You movie for women, movies for wives and mothers, Paris Cafe near Notre Dame and the Seine

Life Is Too Short–So Kiss Slowly,
Laugh Insanely, Love Truly,
And Live With Passion.

Andy Vogt

If there is truth in Oscar Wilde’s line that men want to be a woman’s first love while women want to be a man’s last romance, where does this leave a woman who discovers she isn’t? I laughed and cried through If I Were You, a film starring Marcia Gay Harding as a long married woman who serendipitously saves the life and career of her husband’s mistress. They agree to do what the other says (including pretending that she, too, is having an affair) and they end up starring in a Shakespearean production with Marcia as King Lear and the mistress as the King’s Fool.

Lear’s Fool is a blend of wit, shrewd innocence, wicked glee, truthful humor and devotion. It represents our freedom to challenge assumptions we hold dear about justice, the nature of humanity, and the rules of society. Lear blames everyone and everything for his sorrow (except himself, of course) until he is caught in the middle of a storm stripped and alone. “Is man no more than this?,” he asks over and over, “Who am I?” then for the first time, places his Fool’s comfort before his own. Losing everything we hold dear and losing our wits clear the fog of petty pretenses, false virtue, ambition and indifference to what truly matters.

Click on “Leave a Comment” above left to share how you romance your own Fool.

000447

xoxox

201 697 1947

PowerfulGoddess@me.com

www.PowerfulGoddess.com

Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Wife & Mother

xoxox

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