08 Mar 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Beauty and Fashion, Best Books for Women, Bestselling Books, Glamour Portraits, Womon's Health and Wellness
Tags: Maye Musk, memoir, Mom of Elon Musk, NY Times Bestseller
It’s better to be interesting
than
to be beautiful.
Maye Musk
Reading A Woman Makes A Plan: Advice for a Lifetime of Adventure, Beauty and Success by Maye Musk kept me awake past my bedtime in admiration of this indomitable spirit. She’s the woman I want to be when I grow up! When we see women all dolled up, it’s easy to tell ourselves that she probably hasn’t been through the hardships we’ve had. Not so! Making a fresh start–often from scratch–and moving to nine cities in three countries over her adult life, Maye has had to pick herself up one extra time after circumstances had pushed her down yet again, holding her head high with positive attitude and the willingness to do whatever it takes to show up and make the best of whatever cards life dealt her.
She speaks of her parents who set the example of “Live dangerously–carefully.” Her mother was another incredible woman who packed up five young kids with all their food/water supply to survive three weeks of driving in the African desert–their family adventure for eight summers. She reinvented herself as a prolific artist in her 60s to 80s after her beloved husband’s tragic death; then learned to make art on the computer at 94. This reminds me to keep stepping forward in life with grace, to always embrace the new, and to be supportive of the decisions my young adults make for themselves.
At 71, Maye continues to make plans, sharing her accumulated wisdom from motherhood, modeling, and her other lifelong profession, nutrition. She explains her sensible guide to eating based on small healthy snacks/meals when you’re hungry so as not to stress your body with starvation. Plan ahead what to keep in your fridge and your day bag and be kind to ourselves on occasional indulgences, never punishing nor going to extremes with severe restrictions that are impossible to maintain. Best of all, pay attention to our feelings that goad us to eat mindlessly and understand what changes we need to make.
I want to be surrounded by people like her who don’t complain nor obsess about looks, who are unafraid of aging and wearing silver hair, people who keep themselves engaged doing interesting things and giving their best for the people they love and work with. I want to look to the future with enthusiasm, always eager to learn and have fun no matter what shows up and despite severe pain, setbacks and heartache. I’m not planning on Mars so I’m thankful for the inspiration of your beautiful light on this earth, Maye!
Click on “Leave a comment” (top left) to share what you love about the woman you want to be when you grow up. (All photos on this page from Google Images.)
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
26 Feb 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Best Books for Women, Glamour Headshots, Glamour Portraits, Womon's Health and Wellness
Tags: blonde glamour headshot, book lovers, I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Gobel, reading list recommendations, white silk V neck blouse, Women's History Month
Some of my best ideas
are born
of envy.
Anne Bogel
To welcome Women’s HERstory Month, a very small book “I’d Rather Be Reading” by Anne Bogel, speaks volumes of my feelings, dilemmas and longings as a devoted reader, nerd, and bookworm. It called attention to how my enthusiasm for a book might be a literary sin, perceived as book bossiness by others. It explained why I covet bookshelves of old grand libraries more than shoe closet space. Best of all, it underlined my desire for a circle of fellow book lovers, or at least a book twin, who can sift through the thousands published weekly and streamline my never ending queue of what to read next. All this while suggesting a good chunk of book titles I’m compelled to look up.
I can trace events and milestones in my life from the list of books I’ve bought or checked out of the library. My bookshelf has a collection that includes what I’ve received as gifts, what I’ve loved, as well as what patiently awaits attention. A recurring fantasy is to find the list of all the books I’ve read since I was introduced to this great pleasure in fourth grade by another change of schools that surrounded me with classmates who loved to read, immersed daily in the adventures of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. This reading list would reveal how I started off reading what friends and my favorite aunt enjoyed, what schools and colleges required, until I began to define my own reading path. This list would map the splayed trajectory of my learning, career explorations and personal growth aspirations; the countries I wanted to or eventually visited; the romance and lifestyle I longed for; the parenting advice I sought; the books I read to keep the conversation going with our young adults who live out of the house now.
As a photographer, I strongly recommend printing a dozen or so of your favorite pictures each year because your great grandchildren will not have the patience to sift through the thousands on your smartphone–assuming the unlikely scenario that their technology would be in sync with ours. Like a good photo collection, my fantasy reading list showing book titles and reading/checkout dates is an emotional diary of sorts, that celebrates what’s important in my life at that moment. They serve as a reminder of both what happened and what it meant then, bringing back memories that are hopefully perceived by the lens of appreciation for their gifts of growth and learning.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share the collection of books that shaped your own fabulous history. As our lives keep getting busier, consider audio books a secret weapon that allows you to keep reading while driving, working and doing chores.
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
18 Feb 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Best Books for Women, Black and White Photography, Glamour Portraits, Marriage & Relationships, Motherhood, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Brene Brown book, Maye Musk book, New York Times Bestsellers, Romi Neustadt book, self-help book for women, You Can Have It All book
Be in love
with your life,
every minute of it.
Jack Kerouac
A Woman Makes a Plan by Maye Musk
For this month of love, let us count the ways that we can step towards our dreams by creating space for possibility and asking the questions “How can I make this possible?” and “Who can help me get what I need?” Acknowledging our desires is a way of saying to our soul “I love you… I hear you.” In doing this, we add frisson to our days with expectancy, add a twinkle in our eyes even when we’re by ourselves. Joy is contagious, making us like leaven unto bread in inspiring the people around us when we laugh more, learn to take disappointment in stride and life less seriously.
As we create memories to remember with naughty smiles when we’re on our rocking chairs, let us celebrate all the (small) ways we are making a difference and taking destiny in our own hands. Nobody else will have as much reason to want to fulfill our dreams and it is up to us to grab opportunity, leaving little room for regrets on chances we don’t take.
If and when we do achieve our goal, may we take the time to relish the feeling of satisfaction before our restless minds turn its attention to some other dream. And even when we don’t get what we want, may we remember to be thankful for the new insights we’ve learned along the way, how we have expanded our growth and understanding, may we relish the distance we shall have covered in our world, geographically and emotionally.
Today is just as good as any day to start.
Maye Musk deserves a separate blog post all her own yet I could not resist including her book here. Her story as a single mother of three is exemplary, plodding through difficult times and still coming through with grace and charm in her golden years.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your favorite inspiration for making your dreams come true. Below are new books you may want to add to your reading queue. Enjoy your self love journey!
xoxox
You Can Have It All by Romi Neustadt
Risk by Kevin Allison
The Power of a Positive No by William Ury
Make Your Bed by William Mcraven
Daring Greatly by Brene Brown
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
06 Feb 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Unique and Personalized Gift Ideas
Tags: Best of Happy Spotify Playlist, Best songs for women, Best Valentine playlist, blue fur shawl, bluetooth speaker review, nude redhead, piano glamour, Spotify music playlist
It’s easy to play any musical instrument:
all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time
and the instrument will play itself.
Johan Sebastian Bach
My young adults, tired of hearing ads interrupt the music streaming on my free Spotify, finally gifted me a family subscription. I’m proud to report I’ve been enjoying it, keeping their bluetooth speakers busy while they’re away from home, playing loud music until the husband comes home and shuts down my party of one (unless you count the rabbit as fellow party animal.)
When they do come home, I’m always amazed at how quickly they can mouth the lyrics of new pop and rap songs that I barely understand, which is just as well because the few words I do pickup I’d rather not add to my vocabulary anyway. Life is hard as it is and I prefer earworms that remind me to be happy, strong and powerful. With Spotify’s algorithm identifying global top 200 streamed songs as gloomiest in February, why not create our own playlist of positivity and serenade ourselves with uplifting words and beats that make us want to dance and smile naughtily? I wish someone had told me in my youth that we are better off dedicating love songs to our own reflection on every kind of mirror.
To celebrate true love on Valentine’s, I dedicate my first Spotify playlist to my young adults and to you. May we never forget that the truest love we will ever find on this earth is the love we give ourselves, the truest power that which we exercise starting right where we are!
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to add your favorite song to my collection of happiness on Spotify. Feel free to share the playlist link at the bottom of this page.
xoxox
Enjoy my Best of Happy playlist on Spotify:
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
25 Jan 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Family Adventures, family vacation, Food and Wine, Glamour Portraits, Travel and Leisure
Tags: Best hotel bars Miami, Best luxury hotels South Beach Miami, Faena Hotel murals, Miami Travel Guide, Peruvian beef stir fry recipe
I’ve only been to three countries:
Canada, LA,
and Miami.
Larry The Cable Guy
One Hotel rooftop pool
The best remedy for the winter blues is to plan, or at least imagine, an escape to warmer climes. Miami is quick and easy for us, Northeastern birds, while also being a great destination for our young adults to explore on their own. These family fun recommendations tend to skirt Ocean Drive simply because I’m not a fan of that part of town:
Faena Hotel is a distance from the maddening crowd, but you have to see the fantastic murals in their lobby by Juan Gatti (above,) their glamorous Living Room lounge (below,) and the live show at their cozy theater inspired by Europe’s grand opera houses.
At the opposite end of Faena’s velvet and gold plush interiors (which are so very much my style) but within easy walking distance to the action on Collins Ave, One Hotel is all about sustainability and being environmentally friendly. It has a vibrant lobby scene with a live band trio playing most evenings and–most important for the young ones–free WIFI. If you stride past their rooftop restaurant and bar at night, you can have all the the pool’s lounge chairs to yourself, making a fabulous after dinner hang out for a quiet chat with family/friends or your kindle.
Time Out Market is a hopping food hall off Lincoln Road with a wide selection or food purveyors that allow everyone to take their time mixing and matching cuisines. My favorite, Lena, cooks dishes on a wood burning stove and serves a unique combination of fresh burrata sitting on a slightly charred slice of pineapple–the memory makes me salivate as I write. They also have a couple of bars for alcoholic beverages as well as an oyster bar.
Chalan On The Beach is a very casual family-run Peruvian restaurant with the best fish cerviche, Pargo Frito (fried whole red snapper,) Lomo Saltado (beef stir fry), and mango, passion fruit or soursop smoothies.
Around 4:00 pm, park yourself at the waterside bar of Smith & Wollensky South Pointe to watch cruise ships parade by as the sun sets.
For a change of scenery, take a 22 minute drive to Rusty Pelican in Key Biscayne for magnificent city views all around.
On Sundays, catch the fresh cut tropical fruit market on Lincoln Road at the corner of Washington Ave.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your Miami faves.
(All photos on this page are 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 most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
15 Jan 2020
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Black and White Photography, Glamour Portraits, Motherhood, Parenting, Relationships, Women's Empowerment
Tags: best book for college graduation, Defining Decade book, funny quote, new year resolutions 2020, red fan, red rose dress, Why Your 20s Matter
May the New Year bring you courage to break your resolutions early!
My own plan is to swear off every kind of virtue,
so that I triumph even when I fall.
Alaister Crowley
Exciting new decade and new worlds of possibility to you! Among my resolutions is to refer to my sons and daughter as “young adults” instead of “kids” or “children” which they no longer are or should act like. 2020 marks their Defining Decade and because our culture loves to associate turning 21 with drunken abandon–any monkey can do that!–while headline news and social media are rife with people steeped in money and power who have grown old without growing up, can someone please tell me what qualities truly define an adult?
I feel relief as I wave them back on the bus to their respective colleges. I feel the need for a conscious shifting of gears when they are home for extended holidays while hanging on to dear charm, keeping irritation on a low simmer over the household dynamic that tends to revert to how things were when they were adorable little cutiepies. The transition is difficult for both sides entailing diplomacy and patience on thin supply as we shift from automatic overplayed roles to a reversal that isn’t fun for those who have relished being given to and taken care of. Small wonder the pervasive marketing of the myth of martyrdom with motherhood!
On New Year’s eve, I told them 2020 is a wonderful decade to plant their feet firmly on the ground so “No babies please.” What I really mean to say is “No more acting like babies please” but even if they were to take me literally, any juggler knows better than to add another ball to one’s act before getting good at one ball first. Perfecting the growing act takes while, so I’ll hold on to my rose colored glasses with tiny resolutions meanwhile:
Stoke a passion Indulge a hobby or learn something new. Nothing is sexier than a woman with a glow in her eyes that comes from inner joy and purpose. There’s much that cosmetics and surgeries get credit for, but you can’t buy authentic beauty that shines from an inner light.
Make movement a part of your day Take the stairs (instead of elevators/escalators) to use the ladies room in the farthest floor of a building. Park farthest from the door of the office, gym, restaurant, grocery or mall. Let dance music move you while you’re doing chores or getting dressed. Stretch those quads while brushing teeth and use each door frame you walk through as a reminder to roll shoulders back, chest out, and chin up.
Check texts/email/social media only after meals The diet mindset is best applied to our relationship with tech devices. As for food, you’ll never have to worry about weight if you eat regularly, choose fresh over processed, pass on gluten/sugar/liquor and eat your vegetables like mom always said.
Act with kindness Do something random for someone you may not get credit for. Keep a running gratitude list of how you got lucky and feel blessed at least before bedtime to sleep happy.
Go someplace you’ve never been Learn and experience something new, welcome new influences through a new club/group, travel and even reading a book can take you somewhere magical.
Give 2 compliments each day One for someone you live or work with. Another for the person in the mirror.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to add what being an adult means to you. Happy and healthy 2020 and make this your best decade yet!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
24 Dec 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Family Celebration, family vacation, Glamour Portraits
Tags: family reunion, how to make a marriage last, relationship advice, white beach wedding, white wedding dress
I love being married.
It’s so great to find that one special person
you can annoy the rest of your life.
Rita Rudner
After waiting an entire lifetime for Mr. Right, my favorite sister brought together our nearest and dearest to celebrate her first ever (and I’m sure the groom hopes, her ONLY) wedding. I loved that this most memorable family reunion was on the beach and in a casual setting, attendees dressed in white and the groom was good humored about holding props as requested.
As the bride’s Best Woman, I shared with the cozy gathering a few things I’ve learned from having had a head start of 25 years in this marriage business. Many are easier in theory than practice, but, hey, it’s the thought that counts:
Pick you battles and don’t believe that nonsense about never going to bed angry. Things look different in the morning when you’re better rested. But, of course, if you can’t fall sleep, then stay up and fight!
Being right is overrated.
When your spouse’s behavior is open to interpretation, ascribe the higher motive.
Bite your tongue when tempted to nag or complain, look out for the good, count blessing and express gratitude often.
The louder your spouse yells, the quieter and calmer you need to be.
Your definition of sexy will change over time.
Generosity is the key to happiness.
The most important four words in a marriage: I’ll clean up, Honey.
Be the first to apologize. Life is too short to hold grudges.
Accept apologies graciously.
It takes a village to make a marriage work.
Sweep her off her feet and add fireworks, literally.
Never complain about the food when your spouse cooks.
Wisdom from a Chinese proverb: Big talk, big mistake. Small talk, small mistake. No talk, no mistake.
Because love conquers all and bind us no matter what, click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your relationship advice for living happily ever after. My young adults won’t likely have the patience to wait around as long for their own fairytale, so the one strategy I’d pass on to them is to be the kind of spouse their husband/wife will be foolish to leave.
Through the holidays, keep friends and family close, your enemies closer along with receipts of all major gift purchases. Ho Ho Ho!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
03 Dec 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in family vacation, Travel and Leisure, Womon's Health and Wellness
Tags: asia travel guide, Best Beaches of the World, Best white sand beach, Boracay beach Island, luxury beach hotel, Philippine Islands, Travel & Leisure best beach
Everyone must believe in something.
I believe
I should go to the beach.
inspired by Groucho Marx
Looks like an early white Christmas already where I am in the Northeast. As an island goddess, I prefer a white beach Christmas so it’s fortunate that I know exactly where to escape to. With its archipelago of almost 8,000 islands, the Philippines has three that rank among Travel & Leisure’s top beaches in the world. Among its 6.6m tourists last year, about a third visited Boracay, a relatively small island measuring 3.98 square miles with a local resident population of only 30,000. You can dive and snorkel through top notch reefs, enjoy a variety of waters sports, go island hopping, kayak or canoe, hike trails and waterfalls, chill on a lounge chair or beach bar, all the while enjoying the help of smiling locals everywhere you turn.
A couple of decades ago, Boracay certainly was idyllic with its throw back in time feel amidst thatched roof hut accommodations. As late as 2012, Travel+Leisure declared it the best island in the world for the powder soft sand on its White Beach. These days the main stretch of white beach feels more like Florida’s South Beach party town with hotels and restaurants of all stripes shoe horned one after another.
Getting to Boracay An hour’s flight from Manila gets you to Caticlan (the Kalibo International airport option is farther away), followed by a ferry ride from the Caticlan Jetty Port and a drive to your hotel. Caticlan is a small airport that allow small aircrafts so luggage weight restrictions are strictly enforced. Book transfers ahead with Island Star Express or My Boracay Guide with your preferred level of service.
If that sounds like too much work, consider a hotel that includes inter-island transfers like the luxury T+L favorite Shangri-La Boracay Resort & Spa, where guests can arrive via speedboat directly from Caticlan to the resort’s private jetty.
Which beach? Of the island’s 12 beaches, White Beach lives up to its name except it can get busy because most of the island’s shopping, nightclubs and hotels are found here. Spanning 2.5 miles of the island’s west coast, it is divided into three “stations.”
When to go The weather in Boracay, like most of the Philippines, is either hot or hotter. Prime travel season runs from Christmas until May. January gets extra busy with the Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival–the Philippine version of Mardi Gras–and the annual water-sports competition, the International Funboard Cup. Given a choice, I’d pick the shoulder season (October to November), when temperatures have cooled down after the monsoon rains of July/August. Low season is June to September if you don’t mind rain and wind.
Where to Stay To get away from the maddening crowd, The Shangri-la Resort and Spa makes you feel like you’re on a private island because it sits on a sheltered bay at Boracay’s pristine northern coast. Heaven must be not unlike staying at a quiet villa looking out to peaceful blue waters with a friendly butler at your beck and call. The resort’s layout offers rooms with spectacular vistas of lush green scenery and azure ocean views from every vantage point. TheIe hotel airport transfer takes you on a speedboat directly to the property so you need not suffer the usual drive-ferry-drive routine.
If you want relative quiet without having to spend as much money while having the option to walk to the action on White Beach, you want to be at the farthest end of Station 1. There are Airbnb beach front homes like Mayumi Villa and Robinson Beach House next to The Lind. These are the better beach front hotels on Station 1:
The Lind Hotel is a high rise with modern facilities, a good sized swimming pool, and the only beach front space for weddings/parties. Their restaurant has pretty good food, too, if the tender grilled octopus and cucumber mint slushee are an indication.
Friday’s Boracay is among the older properties (since 1982) without a pool but their restaurant has an unobstructed beach view while their accommodations are the closest thing you get to going native.
Ambassador in Paradise is a narrow property with a lap pool. Their restaurant spreads out amidst coconut trees featuring a raw seafood bar set up on a quaint little boat in the evenings.
Boracay has gotten overbuilt so I find it a bit stressful to get to with the traffic and before with the throngs on the beach at sunset. The government’s clean-up initiative in the past year has banned sandcastle artists and other beach entrepreneurs but has not remedied the eyesore of dilapidated and abandoned properties amidst better hotels. But with more than 7,500 other islands to choose from, I’ll have to feature a couple other options on future posts
Click on “Leave a comment” (top left) to share your favorite winter escape. (Photos on this page are from Google Images.)
xoxox
Shangri-la Resort & Spa’s beach cove
Friday’s Boracay beach front
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
20 Nov 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Best Books for Women, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: empty nest, Funny quotes for women, Nora Ephron funny quotes, red lingerie, wisdom of hindsignt
Being absolutely certain that one is right is part of growing up
and so is realizing years later
that the truth may be more nuanced.
Rebecca Meade
As you gather with loved ones this Thanksgiving, what will you count among your favorite blessings? I am thankful for great health and the freedom to create happy memories, the constant love of friends and family, the joy of working with the inspiring and generous women featured on this blog. I am most thankful for the wisdom that comes from looking back on my life and seeing the big picture, how things eventually work out for a good reason, if we hang on to our sense of humor through the desperation and disappointment of not getting what we want. Then there are the the many little things we may take for granted, like the first one on this list of comforting quips from What I Wish I’d Known in the book compilation The Most of Nora Ephron:
The empty nest is underrated.
If the shoe doesn’t fit in the shoe store, it’s never going to fit.
When the children are teenagers, it’s important to have a dog so that someone in the house is happy to see you.
The plane is not going to crash.
There’s no point in making piecrust from scratch.
Anything you think is wrong with your body today you will be nostalgic for a decade later.
Write everything down.
Keep a journal.
Back up your files.
Overinsure everything.
Whenever someone says “Our friendship is more important than this,” watch out, because it almost never is.
Take more pictures.
You can order more than one dessert.
You can’t be friends with people who call after 11:00 pm.
The world’s greatest babysitter burns out after two and a half years.
The last four years of psychoanalysis are a waste of money.
Overtip.
Never let them know.
If friends ask you to be their child’s guardian in case they die, you can say no.
There are no secrets.
You never know.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share what hindsight makes you thankful at last. Happy Gobble Gobble!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
10 Nov 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Best Books for Women, Iconic Women, Women's Empowerment
Tags: 50th birthday quote, Nora Ephron books, Romantic Comedy Classics
Looking back, it seems to me
that I was clueless
until I was about fifty years old.
Nora Ephron
A handful of women I know are celebrating their 50th birthday with some trepidation. Having had a couple of years’ head start, I am here to assure everyone that the water is perfectly fine! The perks of this golden age include the 20/20 vision of hindsight–The more years you rack up, the clearer things get!
The quote (above) on turning fifty is by Nora Ephron, a prolific journalist, author, and filmmaker whose books, newspaper columns and magazine feature articles were irreverent as they were funny. Widely known for her trilogy of romantic comedies starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan: When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, You’ve Got Mail. I love this woman for her courage in frankly writing about the best and the worst of her life, including the screenplay for the witty movie about her husband’s infidelity in the middle of her pregnancy. I love her evolving collection of five adjectives that she chooses to describe herself with each passing decade. Admirably, “victim” was never among them even through the cancer that eventually claimed her life to the great grief and surprise of friends and colleagues whom she chose to keep in the dark until the end.
Her commencement address to the Welleslay graduates of 1996 is relevant to the rest of us today:
When I was your age, I would have described myself as ambitious, Wellesley graduate, daughter, Democrat, single. Ten years later, not one of those things turned up on my list. I was journalist, feminist, New Yorker, divorced, funny. Today, not one of those things turn up in my list: writer, director, mother, sister, happy. Whatever those five things are for you today, they won’t make the list in 10 years–not that you still won’t be some of those things, but they won’t be the five most important things about you. Whatever you choose, however many roads you travel, I hope that you choose not to be a lady. I hope you break the rules and make a little trouble out there… The first (half) of your life is over. Welcome to the best years of your lives!
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share the five most important things about you in this brave new decade.
All photos on this page from Google Images
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
30 Oct 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Beauty and Fashion, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Barbara Corcoran, best fake eyelashes, Harper's Bazaar, long dress coat, Power Posing, Wonder Woman
People often ask, “You have so much confidence.
Where did that come from?” It came from me.
One day I decided that I was beautiful then
carried out my life as if I were beautiful.
Gabourey Sidibe
Aside from Halloween, I don’t do therapy. I am completely capable of boring myself with my own whining, obsessive worries, and old stories that other people mistake to need resolution or absolution. I do all this with a journal because, unlike friends, pen and paper take it all in without compounding my complaints with worse versions of their own. Besides, if I had to dress and drive somewhere, I want to be the one charging for the hour. When it comes to overcoming fear and trepidation, this witch swears by these style tricks that thoroughly complements the essential broomstick:
Own one fabulous coat (or jacket.) When you have to run out of the house in pajamas, a long dress coat hides many sins while allowing effortless elegance. Barbara Corcoran launched her real estate empire wearing the same red coat to all her client meetings. This power coat was her biggest investment as a small town waitress starting a new and very foreign career in the big city. And when you’re done torturing yourself teetering on stilettos, find a comfy pair with an inch or two of sturdier heels with rubber soles that’s kind to your spine while still encouraging good posture.
Color is my coffee Wake yourself up with a bright, light or white top. Color has healing properties, perks up your face and makes you smile when you see yourself in the mirror. There is one other reason why I don’t wear black: No one has died yet.
Perfect eyelashes The purpose of having a daughter and girlfriends is to have people you can count on to glue on your lashes when you’re no longer capable of doing this yourself. Whether it’s lipstick, a blowout, or a facial, indulge in whatever makes you feel better about what you’ve got. My life may not be perfect, but my fake eyelashes can be.
Wonder Woman I love this film starring Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman. She was no helpless Barbie Doll in real life as an Israeli citizen with the requisite military training. As Wonder Woman, she ventured out of her tiny cloistered island, overcoming great fear of leaving all that she loved behind to venture into the unknown for the sake of saving the planet. When I need a push to get out of my comfy world, to travel somewhere or to attend an event where I know no one, I dress well and coax myself with the thought that I can show up for just a wee little bit. I promise myself that I can leave anytime I feel like and dangle a treat as reward after. More often that not, I end up staying at the event for much longer and have a great time meeting or simply observing a different world and its people. Amy Cuddy shares a life hack to quickly boost your confidence through Power Posing.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share how you say BOO! to fear.
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
22 Oct 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Art and Architecture, Europe Travel, Travel and Leisure
Tags: Best Italy Travel Guide, Rome attractions, Rome photo locations
Sometimes the road less traveled
is less traveled
for a reason.
Jerry Seinfeld
What is your favorite corner in the Eternal City?
Piazza Navona
This is my favorite piazza for its open space, sculptures in fountains and its nightlife of hawkers, locals and street artists. This is the neighborhood I consider central for booking a hotel to stay in because I can walk in every which direction to different neighborhoods.
The Tiber River
There are lots of points along this river that you could use. Here are three of the most popular choices.
- The view to St Peter’s Basilica – The view down to St Peter’s from Ponte Sant’Angelo is one of the best in Rome. Certainly the best along the river Tiber. Aim for sunset and blue hour to make the best of this location.
- Castel Sant’Angelo – Looking along the same bridge, Ponte Sant’Angelo, is Castel Sant’Angelo. The lines of the bridge leading up to the Castel offer another great photo from this location.
Altare de la Patria (aka Vittorio Emmanuel monument or The Typewriter Building)
The Altare della Patria (Altar of the Fatherland) is an imposing structure with striking architecture. Get up close to get interesting details of the sculptures. You can take the elevator to the top for the views.
Spanish Steps
Always crowded with tourists because it’s iconic and has been featured in popular movies set in Rome. New regulation does not allow people to sit on the steps anymore which takes away from its personality.
The Colosseum
Among the “new” 7 Wonders of the World is the Colosseum. Can you imagine its glory days when the entire structure was wrapped in white marble? There are plenty of good options for photographing this masterpiece, so let’s look at some of the potential photographs you could take.
Arriving at dawn means you can photograph the Colosseum with no people with the bonus of catching the sun peak through its arches.
Trevi Fountain
Completed in 1762, this still counts among Rome’s most popular tourist attractions. Its statues are dramatic backdrops for portraits if you can avoid the crowds by waking early or elbowing your way to the front row. Crowds can provide an important narrative element to a photo, giving the image context and life. To get the best of crowds in a photo you’ll want to get above them.
The Pantheon
This building has a lovely dome with genius construction in allowing rain to fall from the hole in its center and flow down the gently sloped marble floors with built in drains. If you get lucky at night to catch its front foyer lit, you can create a fun picture with someone in the spotlight juxtaposed with the gigantic pillars.
For a wide shot of the entire building, come at twilight when it is lit up and you’ll have the blue skies to complement the yellow glow of lamp lights.
St. Peter’s Basilica
Get lucky with the Pope’s appearance or enjoy the details in the architecture and the mosaics that look like very fine paintings.
Best time to photograph Arrive early to avoid queues at tourist locations. Sunrise and sunset are fun for playing with shadows. The twilight hour after sunset is magical when the sky is that shade of blue that complements the brightness of streetlamps.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your favorite corner in the Eternal City. All photos on this page 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 most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
09 Oct 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Iconic Portraits, Professional Headshots, women entrepreneurs, Women's Empowerment
Tags: interview skills, Jane Paterson speech coach, master of ceremonies, public speaking, public speaking coach, public speaking training
It’s all right
to have butterflies in your stomach.
Just get them to fly in formation.
Rob Gilbert
Among the brightest lights of inspiration in my world is Jane Paterson of OnePerfectSpeech.com. Fortunately for the rest of the world, this veteran of speech writing and interview coaching now offers her services to a wider audience through her very user friendly website. You’ll find tutorials on it that have easy to follow instructions and practical advice on speech development, practice and presentation.
Whether you have been invited to toast the bride and groom, to acknowledge valued mentors and employees at a corporate gathering, or simply need help polishing that elevator pitch for your business, Jane will walk you through the process of speaking from the heart seamlessly. In her capable hands, you will always feel like you’re sharing a comfortable couch even when your conversation is through video and those butterflies in your stomach will have no choice but to fly in formation!
Jane fully embodies the Powerful Goddess ideal of delivering excellence and doing whatever it takes to nurture personal fulfillment no matter what. She lifts others up with her eternal sunshine while striking an admirable balance of equal parts responsibility and fun play at work and at home. Definitely a woman I aspire to be when I grow up and am very blessed to know.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share who lights up your world!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
29 Sep 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Creative Women Photography, Europe Travel, Family Adventures, Fantasy, Glamour Portraits, Motherhood, Unique and Personalized Gift Ideas
Tags: 3D necklace, Dragon eggs, Dubrovnik Croatia travel, etsy jewelry, Game of Thrones, Mother of Dragons Fantasy, Unusual selfies
The best advice I’ve received is
”No one else knows
what they’re doing either.”
Ricky Gervais
All our friends, family and Facebook’s facial recognition software already know what we look like so how about we give them something more interesting to see than just another selfie?
Here’s how I made these Unusual Selfies without needing a selfie stick:
Get a Folio Case for your smartphone. Coach.com has a fun selection in leather to hold your cash/cards as well as protect your phone’s glass surface. More importantly, it serves as a stand to angle and prop up your phone so you can use its timer (and AF lock) to compose the shot before you jump into the frame.
Google knows everything. In researching my travel itinerary, I stumbled upon another mom’s blog which mentioned that Dubrovnik is a film site of HBO’s epic series Game of Thrones (GoT). My sons are great fans of this show so I thought it would be funny to impress them and sign myself up for a GoT themed city tour there.
Prep the prop. As inspiration for this GoT tour, I decided go as one of the show’s main characters, Daenerys, aka “The Mother of Dragons” who wears the best costumes among its lead cast. I packed a fantastic 3D print replica of her Mother of Dragons necklace as well as three custom painted dragon eggs from Etsy.com.
Dubrovnik is King’s Landing in GoT, the capital of the story’s 7 Kingdoms. It has imposing medieval fort walls flooded with tourists. You’ll have a better chance of enjoying the place all to yourself if you visit in winter. Finding a quiet spot can be impossible so keep an eye out for locations with relatively few passersby. Be patient and wait for a lull in the crowd to get a clear background. From the pier, for example, I walked along the base of the fort until I found an outcropping of rocks facing the sea that also happened to have an angle of the castle known as the Red Keep in the show. I took time positioning the dragon eggs and iPhone until I got the shots I wanted to tell my story—an especially poignant one for a mother of three (dragons) who have all flown the nest. Rain clouds were perfect for the mood and a scarf billowing in the wind added the effect of dragon wings.
If someone offers to take your picture, all the better! At the Iron Throne (GoT souvenir shop at Boshkoviceva 7 in the old town), my GoT tour guide impressed me with the filters on his Samsung even as he envied how my iPhone takes creamier pictures in daylight.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share your best selfie trick without a stick.
Xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
18 Sep 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Europe Travel, Family Adventures, Food and Wine, Travel and Leisure
Tags: Athens luxury hotels, Athens shopping, gold jewelry, Greece travel guide
It’s nice to know that there are Greek gods out there,
because you have somebody to blame
when things go wrong.
Rick Riordan
To begin celebrating empty nest, let me take you along on a European adventure that I will feature over the next few months with glimpses of Croatia and Italy. First stop, Athens!
After seeing some ruins one moonlit night 1867, Mark Twain concluded “We have seen all there is to see,” and set sail for the islands. I have met a few travelers who share this attitude thus I have not hurried to visit. If there is truth to Athens’s reputation as ugly, dirty, even dangerous, that you should get in and get out as quickly as you can, then we can, at least, spend a day there. If you need to check off the Parthenon, the Acropolis, the Agora, etc. off your list, arrive early in the day so you might spare yourself a long queue before the heat gets miserable. I feel sort of “been there, done that” after a well-traveled tour guide in Sicily assured me that the Greek ruins in Sicily are far better preserved than those in Greece so my brief stop in Athens will be about mingling among people, not stones.
Stay at the Hotel Grand Britagne (photo at top of page) if you’re a fancy old world Europhile. I like that its location straddles the Kolonaki and Plaka districts so you can walk either way. They have the best views from their rooftop restaurant and bar. The rooftop of the Electra Metropolis Hotel gives you an even better close up view of the Acropolis.
For the quiet romantics who prefer a boutique hotel experience, check out the quaint Palladian Home in the Plaka.
Check out the upscale Greek version of Eataly at Yoleni’s in the higher-end Kolonaki district where you will find a bit more foliage amidst the hilly streets of shops and restaurants. The Travel Porter blog lists where to dine and shop in this neighborhood.
In the shadow of the Acropolis, the Plaka is like a village within the city for those who don’t have time to island hop. It’s arguably the nicest commercial neighborhood in Athens without car traffic. Even regular tourist shops have amazing postcards to make your friends wish they had traveled with you. I’m happy to breach my “no jewelry shopping as a tourist” rule to find a truly golden souvenir from Byzantino Jewelry store (120 Adrianou Street), an artist-owned shop that makes quality modern jewelry, as well as copies of ancient museum pieces.
To keep kids of all ages occupied while you browse, send them to the nearby Children’s Museum, the Music Museum or for art lovers, the Frissiras Museum of Contemporary Greek and European Painting at 7 Monis Asteriou Street. The only museum of its kind in Greece, it houses a private collection of contemporary paintings and drawings as well as temporary exhibitions by Greek and European artists in two fully renovated neoclassical buildings of the 19th century.
Cafes may be pricier on the main roads (Kydatheneon and Adrianou) and around the squares, but they are worth the fun of people watching. Everyone who comes to Greece walks down these two streets, true crossroads of civilization.
Cine Paris is the best outdoor movie theater in Athens with a bar, featuring movies in English with Greek subtitles. The theater is on the roof with a view of the Acropolis so you can get lucky and witness the colors change during its sound and light show. This is also one of the best places to browse and find unique gifts for movie fans because their shop sells the Greek versions of movie posters from the 60’s to today.
For those who need their ouzo, stop by Brettos Liquor store. This was the oldest distillery in Athens. Admire the old barrels and the colored bottles that line the walls all the way up to the ceiling. It has a tiny bar where you can get drinks by the glass.
George Dolkas T-Shirt and Swatch Shop may be your best bet at finding those last Olympic Pins people fanatically collect and trade. He offers the more tasteful shirt collection in the Plaka. If you walk up Kekropis Street next to the T-shirt Shop, you will find the small workshop of Dimitris Koutelieris (14 Kekropis Street) on your left. Dimistris makes furniture and art out of recycled objects and materials. His creations include smaller pieces that you can carry home with you.
Anafiotika is the cluster of small houses built on the slopes of the Acropolis above the Plaka. The name Anafiotika is from its original inhabitants who were stone masons from the island of Anafi who built Athens in the mid-19th century. Anafiotika is as close as you can get to imagine wandering around the back streets of a Greek island like Mykonos without leaving the city.
I found the best picture of Anafiotika on this blog post with a cheeky title on Athens Insider: If Athens Were a Dating App, Which Way Would You Swipe?
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to add your Athens favorites. (All images on this page from Google.)
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
07 Sep 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Black and White Photography, Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Women's Empowerment
Tags: empty nest, Motherhood, new beginnings, Parenting, redhead, white lingerie
Your child’s life will
be filled with fresh experiences.
It’s good if yours is as well.
Dr. Margaret Rutherford
Happy new school year and Hurray for Empty Nest! While our young wannabe adults are happily settled in their respective college dorms, I am skipping around the house, thrilled to have it all to myself at last. No more waking to other people’s alarms, slamming doors or heavy footfall. No mess in the kitchen sink that isn’t mine. No one else’s junk spilling out of one less cupboard. The only thing I miss is a compelling answer to that question well-meaning friends and family never tire of asking: What next? Why–Do they imagine being stripped off the mantel of mothering depressing? That I’d mourn its relentless martyrdom? Rush to fill the void of being needed? Au contraire! I am quite content admiring the empty spaces in my internal and physical landscape, reveling in the freedom of a blank slate, stillness and quiet. I feel so much excitement bubbling over no specific reason. It is an exhilaration not unlike jailbreak!
Aaah, that blank canvas–it is intimidating even as it promises much possibility. In this culture of relentless achievement, how can I possibly look people in the eye and admit I do not have a grand plan? Yet, yet my heart feels full and so very excited over what appears to be absolutely nothing. I take pleasure in this time to embrace and circle back to the self I have ignored for too long in the service of family. I am seduced by the attention I can give to the woman whose voice has been drowned out by everyone else’s wants and schedules at work and at home. This could be a scary chapter indeed. What if that blank canvas remains just that? At least, I am cushioned by the confidence that I have been in this familiar place of new beginnings many times before. Since then, I have acquired riches over the years in wealth and clarity about what makes me happy or not. I can choose to narrow options or expand creatively, seeing the old with new eyes.
As unread books on the shelf wink at me complicity and travel adventures beckon, I dream of new crafts awaiting to be learned, beautiful objects to be found in cultures and traditions that I’ve taken for granted. I may yet learn Mandarin, find the patience to paint like a renaissance master, write that darn book that stubbornly refuses to write itself. Who knows what doors I’ll open or what doors I’ll build if opportunity doesn’t knock? Great expectations include plotting my escape from cooking for two (without resorting to divorce,) going back to college for the sheer joy of learning, and why not a gap year from all adult responsibility?!
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share what a blank canvas means to you.
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable photo shoot for up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
13 Jul 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Beauty and Fashion, Best Books for Women, Glamour Portraits, Marriage & Relationships, Women's Empowerment
Tags: best self help books, birthday wisdom, blue dress glamour, Louboutin red sole heels, new beginnings, peacock feather, women wisdom
Birthdays are good for you.
Statistics show that the people who have the most
live the longest.
Larry Lorenzoni
A very Happy Birthday to this Powerful Goddess of many talents and to all of us, summer beauties, as we welcome another year of opening doors for possibility, adventure, or simply enjoy the pleasure of seeing what’s always been in front of us with new eyes!
Excerpt from That Which You Are Seeking is Causing You to Seek by Cheri Huber:
Letting go allows us to see that we are never in control in the first place. “Do you really mean that I have no control over my life?” Not in the sense that we usually mean it. You can write the script, but you’ll need a lot of cooperation for the play to go the way you’ve written it. That’s a lot to expect, especially when you consider that everyone else has a script that doesn’t read anything like yours.
You can make plans, you can make decisions, you can make choices, but there’s no guarantee that things will go the way you expect or want them to. When you can see that, when you can act without attachment to the outcome, you are acting from the center that knows it does not control life, even as it knows it is life itself.
Letting go is releasing our grip on delusion, allowing us to see what is. When we stop resisting what is, when we stop clinging to our beliefs and assumptions about how things should be, we open ourselves to the present moment. Letting go goes hand in hand with acceptance. One does not happen without the other. Letting go is opening the hand. Acceptance is what the open hand receives.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share how you welcome a new day and an exciting new year!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable two hour photo shoot of up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
26 Jun 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Glamour Portraits, Iconic Women, Marriage & Relationships, Women's Empowerment
Tags: A Jealous Husband's Lament, empty nest, Jennifer Aniston on grief, Meghan Markle on self love, Oprah Winfrey on finding herself, Rihanna on heartbreak, Taylor Swift on strength
Make the most of yourself,
for that is all there is
of you.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
This graduation season has been a sentimental milestone for me. It closes a chapter in life that leaves my husband and me standing exposed as individuals who have been immersed as committed parents for the last couple of decades. It kind of feels like a breakup with the house all quiet, one less plate to set at meal time, no more mountains of laundry or mess in the kitchen. Thankfully, these wise beauties share their recipes for getting over it–sometimes slowly but surely:
You need to cook that beautiful dinner even when it’s just you, wear your favorite outfit, buy yourself some flowers, and celebrate the self love that often gets muddled when we focus on what we don’t have. -Meghan Markle
Time passes, and the more you live your life and create new habits, you get used to not having a text message every morning saying, ‘Hello, beautiful. Good morning.’ You get used to not calling someone at night to tell them how your day was. You replace these old habits with new habits, like texting your friends in a group chat all day and planning fun dinner parties and going out on adventures with your girlfriends, and then all of a sudden one day you’re in London and you realize you’ve been in the same place as your ex for two weeks and you’re fine. And you hope he’s fine. -Taylor Swift
There are two ways you can go: You can either nurture yourself or go destructive. I have gone down the destructive path before, and that didn’t work for me. You dig deep beyond those scars and find that soft tissue again, and you massage and nurture it and bring it to life, little by little, through serving yourself well. I did it through hikes and vitamins and therapy and prayer and good friends. -Katy Perry
I actually shed tears for the woman I used to be. How sad was I in my ‘please’ and ‘you don’t understand, just give me another chance’ and all that stuff. What I now know is that was my biggest teacher. He was here to show me to myself so I could learn to love myself more. This was the guy who said to me, ‘The problem with you is you think you special.’ And I said, ‘No I’m not. No, I’m not really special.’ Look at me now. -Oprah Winfrey
Heartbreak is a gift in itself. Cry if you have to, but it won’t be forever! You will find love again, and it will be even more beautiful! In the meantime enjoy all that YOU are! -Rihanna
There are many stages of grief. It’s sad, something coming to an end. It cracks you open. When you try to avoid the pain, it creates greater pain. I’m a human being, having a human experience in front of the world. I try really hard to rise above it. -Jennifer Aniston
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) on how you’d fill an empty nest.
All images on this page are from Google.
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable two hour photo shoot of up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
Sharon@PowerfulGoddess.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
16 Jun 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Boudoir Photography, Glamour Portraits, Marriage & Relationships, Women's Empowerment
Tags: Father's Day wisdom, fine art nude, love and relationships
Learn from other people’s mistakes.
We will never live long enough
to make them all on our own.
from “Human Engineering” by Harry Myers and Mason M. Roberts
Happy Father’s Day! Llittle Daddy’s girls grow up too quickly into gorgeous women! What life experience would you pass on to our daughters as wisdom on men and relationships?
Prince Charming is not coming. Do you really want to get involved with a dashing self-absorbed Mama’s boy who’s obsessed with slaying dragons and chasing damsels in distress? This can only mean he’s unemployed and is on serious medication to believe dragons exist. You won’t be the first nor last damsel in distress he’ll want to rescue and his thirst for constant adventure won’t make him a happy helper with the kids at home. There is a price to pay for everything so clarify the manly qualities that are most important to you, as well as your deal breakers.
Handle your own money. Set up your bank accounts so an automatic percentage for every dollar you earn goes to a savings account that grows. No matter how attractive credit card companies make the terms of their little plastics, do not spend more than what you have. Most importantly, avoid marrying other people’s debts and drama.
Be happy alone. Whether in a relationship or not, keep time alone sacred and romance yourself each week to enjoy your own company. Even when demanding children start popping into the scene, your primary relationship should always be with yourself.
Great sex ain’t good enough. A relationship needs conversation, laughter and shared values to make it through tough times. Before those sex hormones cloud your thinking–making you obsessive and attached–establish ties that bind common interests outside the bedroom.
Actions speak louder. Falling in love is delusional. When we’re interested in someone, we will interpret other people’s words to skew for intent. If his actions don’t back up what he says, learn from Ariana Grande: Next!
Something is not always better than nothing. How does he make your life better? If you know he’s not good enough, but he’s the only one who has asked you out in awhile, don’t waste your time nor his. Both of you are better off asking other people out whom you may be better matched. Don’t be lazy.
Keep your relationships rich and varied. Many women brush off girlfriends in the thrill of being a couple. Rookie mistake! Maintain breathing room to acknowledge your individuality and he will appreciate your confidence in giving him time to himself and to hang with his boys. Value each other’s disparate experiences and influences that you bring to the table. At the very least, make sure you like his friends and family because you’ll be spending time a lot of time with them, too.
Your sad story is boring. Whatever and whoever shows up in our lives are meant to draw out qualities like wisdom, strength and courage. Find the gift of a breakup, never abandon yourself, and move forward in life with greater self-compassion and understanding. There is never a wasted experience and there is no dignity in being identified as victim forever.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share wisdom from your dad or your own, if you’re a dad yourself. You’re too lucky to be loved by many divine Goddesses!
xoxox
xoxox
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable two hour photo shoot of up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
12 Jun 2019
by Powerful Goddess Portraits by Sharon Birke of DoubleSmart LLC
in Beauty and Fashion, Black and White Photography, Fashion and Style, Glamour Portraits, Iconic Portraits, Iconic Women
Tags: iconic fashion photographer, Irving Penn, Lisa Fonssagrives supermodel, Vogue fashion
Clothes make the man.
Naked people have little or
no influence on society.
Mark Twain
Irving Penn and Lisa Fonssagrives
The month’s iconic birthday boy is Irving Penn, born June 16, 1917. He spent 66 of his 92 years at Vogue, creating an unprecedented 165 covers—more than any other photographer in its history. He is remembered for luminous couture compositions shot in natural light as much as his portraits that seemed to reveal hidden selves of sitters from famous celebrities, indigenous folks and people next door, to local tradesmen. For his iconic backdrops, he worked with a discarded theatrical curtain in the studio and random scenes around the streets of Paris.
It was at Vogue’s historic shoot of the Twelve Beauties, the first group portrait of the popular models of the era, that he met the fabulous woman considered to be the original supermodel who eventually became his wife and muse for 42 years, Lisa Fonssagrives. How can a woman resist a man who chooses her over several other lovelies?
What is most remarkable about this artist famous for his fashion portraits is that he didn’t even like fashion. He wanted to be a painter but when that didn’t pan out, his friend hired him to work at Vogue’s art department. When the reigning Vogue photographers of the time could not deliver the modern look that he sought to give the magazine a fresh look for the next generation of women, he picked up the camera himself, diligently applying his technical and artistic skills to successfully deliver his aesthetic. Aside from paid assignments, he constantly pursued his own personal projects shooting flowers, still life, etc. This is an essential practice to consider when we feel stuck and uninspired. Very useful, too, for those who are confused and made lame by the pandering philosophy of “follow your passion” when there’s no obvious passion in plain sight.
Click on “Leave a Comment” (top left) to share how you keep your heart’s fire burning.
xoxox
All photos on this page are from Google Images.
Twelve Beauties, Vogue 1947
Give the women you love the most unique gift
of elegant and timeless portraits with a
Powerful Goddess Gift Certificate
for a most memorable two hour photo shoot of up to three people!
© Sharon Birke
Managing Member, DoubleSmart LLC
201 697 1947
PowerfulGoddess@me.com
www.PowerfulGoddess.com
Glamour Portraits of the Goddess in Every Woman
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