Meditation: Getting Started

"A few basic exercises on focusing your attention.

- Begin by sitting on a cushion with your legs crossed or, if that's uncomfortable, in a chair or even lying on your back, but always with your back straight and body relaxed. Your eyes may be closed, half-closed or open.
- Be at ease. Be still. Be vigilant.
- Take three slow, gentle, deep breaths, breathing in and out through the nostrils. Let your awareness permeate your entire body as you breathe, noting any sensations that arise. Now settle your respiration in its natural flow. Observe the entire course of each in- and out-breath, noting whether it is long or short, deep or shallow, slow or fast. Don't impose any rhythm on your breathing. Let the body breathe as if you were fast asleep, but with your mind vigilant.
- Thoughts are bound to arise involuntarily, and your attention may also be pulled away by noises and other stimuli from your environment. When you note that you have become distracted, instead of tightening up and forcing your attention back to the breath, simply let go of these thoughts and distractions. Don't get upset. Just be happy that you've noticed the distraction, and gently return to the breath.
- Continue the practice initially for 24 minutes a day. If necessary, beginners can use the mental training wheels of counting each inhale, up to 21. Each time the mind wanders, return to one again."

- Psychology Today

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Mental Reserves Keep Brains Agile

- Novelty is crucial to providing stimulation for the
aging brain. The brain requires continued stresses to maintain or enhance its
strength.
- Those who pursued the most
leisure activities of an intellectual or social nature had a lower risk of developing dementia. The more activities, the lower the
risk.
- Continued
social interactions helped protect against dementia. The more extensive
an older person’s social network, the better the brain is likely to
work. Especially helpful are productive or
mentally stimulating activities pursued with other people, like
community gardening, taking classes, volunteering or participating in a
play-reading group.
- Physical exercise improves ‘executive function,’ which is the set of
abilities that allows you to select behavior that’s appropriate to the
situation, inhibit inappropriate behavior and focus on the job at hand
in spite of distractions. Executive function includes basic functions
like processing speed, response speed and working memory, the type used
to remember a house number while walking from the car to a party. Just walking fast for 30 to 60 minutes several times a week can
help.

From The New York Times

Living it up

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Relax naturally

"Kava kava is a tropical plant that has been dubbed "Nature's Valium." South Pacific Islanders have used it for hundreds of years as a calming nectar and in religious ceremonies. In addition to soothing anxiety, kava kava is also used as an antispasmodic and pain reliever. Women suffering from menstrual cramps sometimes find relief by taking kava kava."

- Psychology Today

Staying a Step Ahead of Aging

While you will slow down as you age, you
may be able to stave off more of the deterioration than you thought. Researchers say that you should be
able to maintain your muscles as you age, including the muscle enzymes
needed for good athletic performance, and you should be able to
maintain your ability to exercise for long periods near your so-called
lactic threshold, meaning you are near maximum effort.

But you have to know how to train, doing the right sort of exercise, and you must keep it up. Train hard and train often. Do things like regular interval training,
repeatedly going all out, easing up, then going all out again. These
workouts train your body to increase its oxygen consumption by allowing
you to maintain an intense effort.

When you have to choose between hard and often, choose hard.

The reason people become slower, though, is that oxygen consumption declines with age.

In large part that is because, as has long been known, the maximum heart rate
steadily falls by about seven to eight beats per minute per decade. It
happens with or without training, in sedentary and in active people. As a result, the heart
cannot pump as much blood at maximum effort.

From The New York Times

Bread salad

1 pound stale country bread or baguette, cut in thick slices

1 small red onion, sliced very thin

Cold water

1 pound ripe tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar (more to taste)

1 large garlic clove, minced or crushed in a mortar and pestle

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. If your bread is very hard, douse the loaf with water and cut it into a few pieces that will fit into a medium bowl. Cover with the onions. Add enough cold water to cover the pieces and let sit for 20 minutes. Lift the onions off the bread, and rinse in a strainer. Drain the bread, squeeze out excess water and crumble the bread into a salad bowl.

2. Add the tomatoes, basil and parsley to the bowl. Mix together the vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil, then toss with the bread mixture. Cover and refrigerate for one hour or longer before serving.

Yield: Serves six

Advance preparation: This can be assembled several hours before you wish to serve it. Add the herbs close to serving time, so they won’t fade.

From : The New York Times

Honey Cleansing Scrub

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon of honey
2 Tablespoons finely ground almonds
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice.


Method
- Mix honey with almonds and lemon juice.
- Rub gently onto face.
- Rinse off with warm water.

Get life confident

"Don't avoid whatever makes you nervous, instead build up to it. If you have a presentation coming up, make sure you practice, first on your own in front of a mirror, then in front of a friend, then perhaps in front of a small group. Feeling prepared is the first step to feeling confident"

- Psychologies

The secret is in the underwear

The secret to a nice smooth silhouette under clothing... the right underwear. Here are some fantastic body shapers that help hold in your tummy.


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The Amazing Power of Honey

Honey is a fantastic antibacterial agent. Here are a few natural remedies using honey.

Aging skin : Make a face mask by combining honey, cornflower and limejuice. (Source : ISBN 8122307485, 9788122307481)

Sore throats, coughs and colds : Mix honey with lemon juice and use as a cough syrup (1:1). (Source : ISBN 8122307485, 9788122307481)

Leg ulcers, pressure sores : Use honey dressings. Also good for wounds/ulcers resulting from radiation therapy. (BBC)

Eczema/psoriasis: A natural combination of honey, olive oil, and beeswax can provide significant benefit. Combine equal parts of raw (unprocessed) honey, beeswax, and cold pressed olive oil. Start with a small amount of each ingredient (e.g., one or two tablespoons). Begin by melting the beeswax in a small pan over low heat, stirring occasionally. Once melted, remove it from the heat and mix in the honey, then the olive oil, stirring the mixture until well blended. While the mixture is still warm, pour it into an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. The mixture should keep for up to three months. A few drops of vitamin E oil (from a gel cap) may be added to each batch for longer shelf life, and to enhance its healing properties. (Bastyr Centre for Natural Health)

Honey made from the flowers of the manuka bush, a native of New Zealand, has antibacterial properties over and above those of other honeys. Look for registered suppliers of UMF manuka honey in New Zealand
. (BBC)

Here’s another set of recipes I received by email. They use honey and cinnamon to cure a range of diseases. I am still researching these.

Heart disease : Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, spread on bread instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Also good for those who have had a heart attack as it relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat.

Arthritis : One cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder to be taken regularly.

Bladder infections : Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it.

Toothache : Make a paste of one teaspoon of cinnamon powder and five teaspoons of honey and apply on the aching tooth. This may be applied three times a day until the tooth stops aching.

Cholesterol : Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of cinnamon powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient were found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. Pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

Colds : 1 tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 spoon cinnamon powder daily for three days.

Upset stomach : Honey taken with cinnamon powder cures stomach ache and also clears stomach ulcers from the root.

Gas : Take some honey with cinnamon powder.

Immune system : Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacterial and viral attacks.

Indigestion : Cinnamon powder sprinkled on two tablespoons of honey taken before food relieves acidity and digests the heaviest of meals.

Flu : A scientist in Spain has proved that honey contains a natural ingredient which kills the influenza germs and saves the patient from flu.

Longevity : Tea made with honey and cinnamon powder, when taken regularly, arrests the ravages of old age. Take four spoons of honey, one spoon of cinnamon powder and three cups of water and boil to make like tea. Drink 1/4 cup, three to four times a day. It keeps the skin fresh and soft and arrests old age.

Pimples : Three tablespoons of honey and one teaspoon of cinnamon powder paste. Apply this paste on the pimples before sleeping and wash it next morning with warm water. If done daily for two weeks, it removes pimples from the root.

Skin infection : Applying honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts on the affected parts, cures eczema, ringworm and all types of skin infections.

Weight loss : Daily in the morning one half hour before breakfast on an empty stomach and at night before sleeping, drink honey and cinnamon powder boiled in one cup of water. Drinking this stops fat from accumulate in the body.

Cancer : Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

Fatigue : Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing and in the afternoon at about 3:00 p.m. when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within.

Bad breath : Gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water.

Hearing loss : Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restore hearing

Beyond Botox

"Competition is coming.

The Injectables : Reloxin—known as Dysport in 21 countries across Europe, Asia, and South America, where it's been used since 1991—is the front-runner due to the fact that it's got the best track record and it's furthest along in trials, eagerly anticipated to debut here early next year. The buzz so far is that it has a quicker "onset of action" (i.e., while Botox can take around seven days to take effect, Reloxin takes only about three); it may last longer by a month or so (the jury is still out); and, the element producing the most derm chatter: It may diffuse more, meaning it spreads out differently than Botox upon injection, potentially covering a larger area, explains New York/Miami-based dermatologist Fredric Brandt, M.D., who is leading Reloxin's clinical trials. "Assuming your injector is good," says Manhattan dermatologist Patricia Wexler, M.D., this can be a plus, since "you can use less of the toxin and get a smoother result." In terms of integrating Reloxin into her own practice, New York dermatologist Lisa Airan, M.D., believes its increased diffusibility may make it an "area specific" treatment, ideal for covering large surfaces like the armpit (for sweating) or the periorbital area—crow's-feet. "Right now you need three to four injections of Botox for crow's-feet. If you could just do one of Reloxin, that could be a benefit," says Airan. But when precision is called for, migration can be a serious downside: "When something diffuses in the wrong place, you end up with an eyelid droop," Marsha Gordon, M.D., clinical professor and vice chairman of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, flatly states. One thing is for sure: Since Reloxin behaves differently, it will require a refined injecting technique, and "it's going to be on the doctor to learn," she says.

The Gel-Cream : What if you could dab on Botox just like a moisturizer, and it worked—just like an injection? No needle required. That's what the brainiacs at Revance Therapeutics, a Mountain View, California, biopharmaceutical start-up founded by two Stanford cardiologists and a molecular biologist, dreamed up three years ago and have been working on ever since. (Medicis, the superpower that is developing Reloxin and is also behind the filler Restylane, has invested $20 million in Revance.)

Their brainchild, which is just going into clinical trials and has no name as yet, is a topical form of botulinum toxin type A—similar to the other injectable toxins but a much smaller molecule—that goes on as a gel-like cream and penetrates the layers of the skin, arriving at the muscle thanks to a cutting-edge, targeted delivery system.

But perhaps the most meaningful aftershocks of the topical-botulinum-toxin breakthrough are the new possibilities the transfer technology opens for other areas of aesthetics and, more important, medicine. "Once we put a molecule like Botox into a cream, it's not that big a leap to think we can do it with other things," says Beer, who cites everything from hyaluronic acid and collagen to steroids and "even chemo" as examples. "It could mean good things for drug delivery."

The Machine : GFX, which stands for "glabellar frown relaxation" (of the line between the brows), employs radiofrequency, the same heat technology used in the skin-tightening treatment Thermage, to selectively weaken nerve function. In other words, Botox-like effects without the Botox. An insulated probe is inserted beneath the skin (while the patient is either fully sedated or in a Valium/Vicodin/local-anesthesia haze), first isolating the nerve to be treated by causing a contraction and then delivering a controlled, 30-second dose of heat energy to effectively knock it out of commission.

Most nerves will regenerate their fibers "to a degree," says Newman, though they may have a permanent "relaxed effect," and the process of regeneration will take from twelve to eighteen months."

- Vogue

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The Smell of Relief

"Essential oils like lavender and chamomile can do more than just soothe the senses. Research shows aromatherapy treatment reduces pain too. 

Lavender has sedative effects comparable to drugs such as Valium. Ylang ylang, chamomile and rose have been shown to relieve pain, as have diluted oils of peppermint, eucalyptus and lemongrass. To get the full effect, be sure to use true essential oils, which are 100% pure."

- Psychology Today

Reinventing Date Night for Long-Married Couples

Simply spending quality time together is probably not enough to prevent a relationship from getting stale.

Rather than visiting the same familiar haunts and dining with the same old friends, couples need to tailor their date nights around new and different activities that they both enjoy. The goal is to find ways to keep injecting novelty into the relationship. The activity can be as simple as trying a new restaurant or something a little more unusual or thrilling — like taking an art class or going to an amusement park.

New experiences activate the brain’s reward system, flooding it with dopamine and norepinephrine. These are the same brain circuits that are ignited in early romantic love, a time of exhilaration and obsessive thoughts about a new partner.

Novelty alone is probably not enough to save a marriage in crisis. But for couples who have a reasonably good but slightly dull relationship, novelty may help reignite old sparks.

From The New York Times

Mastering Your Own Mind

"It remains a radical notion in the West that benevolent states of mind such as concentration, kindness and happiness can be developed with practice. Apart from a growing "positive psychology" movement, many of whose leaders are in fact strongly influenced by Buddhism, Western scientists are still largely oriented toward healing the mentally ill, rather than improving the lives of the functionally OK.

One recent study at Massachusetts General Hospital found that 40 minutes of daily meditation appears to thicken parts of the cerebral cortex involved in attention and sensory processing. In a pilot study at the University of California at San Francisco, researchers found that schoolteachers briefly trained in Buddhist techniques who meditated less than 30 minutes a day improved their moods as much as if they had taken antidepressants.

There are many types of meditation, and they can be used to develop a number of mental skills. This attitude focuses on practices that address common emotional struggles. Through basic meditation techniques, it's possible to cultivate a longer attention span, develop emotional stability, understand the feelings of others and release yourself from the constraints you place on your own happiness.

"Meditation is about paying attention," says Kabat-Zinn. Cultivating concentration doesn't just stabilize and clarify the mind, it can also improve creativity and productivity while enhancing relationships. A common approach is to focus on an object or on the sensations of your own breathing, noting every inhale and exhale, and patiently returning your attention to your breathing each time it wanders.

The effort in the exercise is to balance awareness between dullness and distraction. To do so, you use the self-monitoring process that psychologists call metacognition: awareness of awareness. It's what lets you know when, on the one side, you're starting to drift off and need to muster fresh interest and, on the other, you're getting distracted and need to bring your attention back. As you gradually fine-tune your concentration, you notice the habitual chaos of your thoughts and, gradually, the calm that lies behind them. "Awareness trumps thoughts," says Kabat-Zinn, "because you can be aware of your thoughts."

Even among novices, studies show, a brief meditation session can be more effective than a nap in improving performance on tests that require concentration. But its benefits don't stop there. Meditation can radically transform emotion.

Cognitive psychologist Albert Ellis put forth the then-radical idea that painful emotions spring more from people's beliefs than from reality itself: Thoughts alone could lead to anguish. Today cognitive behavioral therapists, including an aging Ellis, counsel patients to relieve emotional distress by changing the content of their thoughts—challenging their beliefs and testing new possibilities.

Buddhist meditation addresses the same issue a bit differently. It changes your relationship to your emotions more than the emotions themselves. It allows you to see mood fluctuations moment to moment so that you can navigate around them."

Psychology Today

What female (plastic) surgeons swear by…..

With a title like that I’m hooked. Here's Dr Hillary Allan at the Woodford Medical Aesthetics recommendations :
- The Nefertiti Lift which is Botox on the lower face and neck
- Eyebag laser, 1540 Fractional Laser which reaches deeper lines that Botox can't touch
- Agera sunscreen which contains "prolifersyn which encourages collagen production and increases the thickness of the epidermis." Use it on the neck, hands and cleavage.
- and peptide facials which deliver active ingredients deep into the skin. The DDF RMX Platinum Facial is recommended. (Tel UK: 0800 037 1700)

She stays away too much filler and wants to try the Palomar Lux 2940 Laser which is "excellent for pigmentation and sun damage and the wrinkles that come with it." Palomar is supposed to be available only in America at the moment but I did find their Russian website where you can find out more information. Unfortunately the site's only in Russian!

- taken from Grazia UK

Mindful Martini

A 145-calorie super-antioxidant-infused cocktail.

Shake a quarter-ounce açaí puree (like Sambazon), a half-ounce lime juice, 11/2 ounces orange vodka, and 2 ounces pomegranate juice with ice in a martini shaker. Transfer into glass - and drink to your health.

Right Here, Write Now

Keeping a diary could keep you healthy.

"In one of their studies, Pennebaker and Seagal asked groups of students to write about an assigned topic for 15 minutes on four consecutive days. Later in the year, the students were asked about their health: the students who had written about emotional topics had far fewer doctors' visits.

One way to increase these health benefits is to learn how to write more fluidly and with less angst and frustration. When you're engaged with what you're doing, the rest of the world recedes.

The Write Ritual

Constraints and fears may add up to what is called writer's block. It can happen to anyone, but successful writers have learned not to panic. Here are some suggestions that may help you reframe your nonwriting periods and figure out what you need to do before continue writing:

- Set reasonable goals. Giving yourself a daunting task, such as "I will write the story of my life and appear on Oprah," is antithetical to the writing process. It is better to trivialize the task and realize that no single writing session really matters.
- Increase your knowledge of your subject. Search the Internet or go to the library to look for more details you can add to your story.
- Take risks. When Suzanne Greenberg, an assistant professor at California State University at Long Beach, researched risk-taking in creative writing, she found that many people are afraid of the repercussions of saying something honest. "It's an emotional stretch to really look at life and see all its gray areas," she says. Remember: Even though writing can sometimes feel risky, you're not really risking anything in the writing. Take a chance.
- Visualize your ideal reader. Don't picture an old boyfriend saying, "Who'd want to read that stuff?" Instead, imagine a writing buddy or a good friend who appreciates the efforts you make and never puts you down.
- Find a ritual or routine to help you through the process. Sometimes the hardest part of writing is deciding if it's worth the effort this time. But if you simply follow a pattern, it becomes automatic. As mystery author Sue Grafton explains, "I think part of the issue is presenting yourself for the task. So I show up at my desk at 9 o'clock every morning. I think your internal process needs to be geared to the fact that you will show up for work at a certain time every day."
- Remain focused on what's important and filter out irrelevant things. "The feeling that people have of being overwhelmed is verifiable in the lab," says Ronald Kellogg, Ph.D., of the University of Missouri at Rolla and author of The Psychology of Writing and Cognitive Psychology. To eliminate the confusion, Kellogg recommends outlining and prioritizing your ideas.
- Organize your thoughts. If you find yourself struggling to get words down, you might try an informal organizing device such as clustering, where you splatter information about your topic on a large sheet of paper.
- Change something about what you're doing. If you're stuck, try to write something else, perhaps in a different genre. Or find an anecdote that makes you laugh. Putting this down on paper may revive your interest in the subject."

- Psychology Today

Smart Drugs or more precisely cognitive enhancers include a variety of controlled substances available only by prescription. They include stimulants s

Smart Drugs or more precisely cognitive enhancers include a variety of controlled substances available only by prescription. They include stimulants such as dextroamphetamine (sold as Dexedrine and Adderall) and methylphenidate (Ritalin, Concerta) for treating attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). By mimicking the brain neurotransmitters norepnephrine and dopamine, stimulants leave you utterly consumed with the task at hand until mission accomplished. Then you’re fired up to tackle something else, anything else.

Smart Drugs also include a class known as eugeroics, meanding ‘good arousal’. The eugeroics modafinil and armodafinil (sold as Provigil and Nuvigil) treat narcolepsy and ‘excessive sleepiness’ (ES) due to shift work and sleep apnea. But prescribed offlabel, they’ve also been found effective for ES due to overbearing superiors, perfectionist tendencies, and not enough hours in the day. They work by inhibiting the brain chemicals that cause fatigue, which, in turn energises the brain circuits. The outcome is alertness, focus and short-term memory enhancement. Some say they move you from one challenge to the next with more ease than caffeine – without the jitters.

According to a reader survey conducted by the scientific journal Nature, one in five respondents has used prescription cognitive enhancers for non-medical purposes – that 50% more than those who reported taking these drugs for their intended use!

Unlike ADHD drugs, eugeroics have thus far proved to be a nonaddictive.

Barbara Sahakian, a neuropsychologist says, “People are very attracted to these drugs particularly in today’s distracting techno-culture where we constantly flit from TV to text to IM to Web. (It turns out quite a few people to boost their performance.)

Provigil’s effects last from 6 to 12 hours. There are clear caveats. “Stimulants particularly Adderal carry a risk for addiction,” says National Institute on Drug Abuse director Nora D. Volkow. “Modafinil is too new for us to know the long-term effects. But there’s always a risk without proper surveillance.” The worst side effects (though rare) for these durgs include cardiac complications, sever skin rashes, even suicidal tendencies.

- From Marie Claire

Salon Alessandro

What : Yon-Ka 'Le Grand Classique'
Where : Salon Alessandro on Balshaya Zhytomirskaya
How much : a hefty UAH 450
How long : 1.5 hours

I've been on the lookout for a new facialist ever since my favourite girl disappeared on me. Since then just about every facialist I've been to here in Kiev has me with bleeding, irritated skin.

Last Friday I went to see Tatiana the facialist at Alessandro and so far so good. My skin looks good and even though there are a few bumps (to be expected after a facial) my skin looks fantastic. The only unpleasant bit of the facial was when Tatiana slipped on what felt like a rubber mask on my face. I'm a little claustrophic and that was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

For the price, I thought the salon itself was nothing special. Where I come from facials aren't a luxury, it's a part of good grooming so a facial with this kind of price of tag has to be something out of the ordinary!Tatiana however was very knowledgeable and gave me a couple of tips to look after my skin. Apparently I have sensitive skin.... something I was very surprised to find out. I blame it on the water and the weather here in Kiev.

Verdict : Recommended

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Skull Candy

I love big headphones. Ones that encase your ears and make you feel like there’s party in your head. I find those in-ear phones and buds incredibly irritating and maybe I have weird ears or something but I just can’t manage to keep them in my ear.

My Panasonic Technics ones were starting to fall apart so had a quick look online to see what new ones would cost me and I came across the Skull Candy. Oh boy did I fall in love. Sad but true.

Anyway I finally got a pair of the SK Pros last week and they’re fantastic. I got a few odd looks on my way to university, but I wasn’t sure if that was me (I’m the rare brown person in a sea of white faces here in Kiev, Ukraine) or the headphones.

The Skull Candy folks sure have a sense of humour. The warranty reads, “If this product is damaged by aggressive music listeners sliding a rail, sliding down the emergency ramp of your aircraft, slammed into your locker, slammed in your car door, run over by a car, running into a wall, getting run out of town, mountain biking, road biking, sky diving, beating your boyfriend unmercifully, getting beat down by the man, blown up in an accidental experimentation with flammable substances, or damaged in any other every day experience, it mean you are living your life the way we want our product used! In these, or any other damaging events, we will replace the product for a 50% discount from retail.” I love it. No namby pamby warranty that rules out everything and gives you a tiny little window where you can claim. The warranty covers failure and damage. Fantastic!

Outdoorgear

A great site that does, well, outdoor gear. They've also got gear for dogs. Love the little backpack and coat!

Michelangelo of the scalpel

I'd never heard of Dr Ivo Pitanguy until I read a recent copy of Grazia. He's apparently THE plastic surgeon to go to if you're a jet-setting celebrity type. AND he's the creator of the Brazilian butt-lift!

He's been dubbed “the Michelangelo of the scalpel." and his Clínica Ivo Pitanguy in Rio de Janeiro has a client list that includes the Duchess of Windsor, François Mitterand and the kings of Morocco and Jordan to Joan Crawford, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Brigitte Bardot.

In an interview with W magazine, "Pitanguy refuses even to confirm a well-known story about late socialite Sao Schlumberger. It is said that she disobeyed his orders to remain in Rio for several days after her procedure and that, as a result, her stitches began to pop open on the plane back to Paris." Oops! There's another fantastic story about a woman whose face started to fall apart during sex!

I do like his view on aging and plastic surgery. He says, “I believe that you should correct the [aging] process with elegance and distinction. You should not overdo, because if you overdo, you are only creating a mask without expression, a mask of death. That should be avoided. I try to bring naturalness.” So he definitely seems to be the one to go for a natural-looking face lift. All I need is to take out a mortgage to pay for it! Ofcourse by the time I consider it, he may already be dead (hes in his 80s!). In the meantime, I might check out his skincare line.

Oh and if you are considering a facelift, check out his book - Welcome to Your Facelift: What to Expect Before, During and After Cosmetic Surgery