When I read the shocking news (on Facebook) that the Queen of Disco Donna Summer had died, my thoughts first went to the best scene in The Full Monty which featured “Hot Stuff” as the soundtrack. If you haven’t seen the movie, do yourself the favour!

I also assumed, like so many celebrities who die too young, that she may have suffered from an overdose. Donna’s death, however, came at the hand of lung cancer, likely developed after she inhaled toxic dust particles in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York’s World Trade Center.

Donna Summer’s parents were devout Christians and she became a born-again Christian herself after releasing one of my favourite songs, She Works Hard for the Money. Donna wrote the anthem after an encounter with an elderly bathroom attendant at a Grammy Awards party.

Donna’s first public performace was at Church at the age of 8 after the pastor invited her to sing in front of the congregation. Summer surprised everyone, including herself, with the strength of her voice and she said she heard God say to her, “You’re going to be famous and this is power and you are never to misuse this power.”

When she died, Summer was living with her long-time husband whom she married back in the 80s and they had two daughters together.

In honour of Mother’s Day, Fast Company published an article: The Mother of All Branding Opportunities. In it, the author talks about the boom in mommy blogs and entrepreneurs who have made motherhood part of their brand strategy. He also referenced the public outcry that ensued when a Democrat said Mitt Romney’s wife “hadn’t worked a day in her life” because she was a stay-home mom. Ouch. Anyone who has taken care of a child for even a day can see the inaccuracy of that comment.

It used to be that you had to choose between being a stay-home mom and earning an income. Now internet and social media allows mothers to do both. While mothers who work outside the home are often forced to compartmentalize their lives, leaving motherhood behind when they go to the office, moms who brand themselves as such can be moms 24/7! With authenticity being the most important aspect of blogging, moms who share their lives with their readers offer an invaluable sense of identification and camaraderie.

I read at Copyblogger that the most successful email subject line is “You are not alone.” Those four words have a nearly 100% click through rate when used in email marketing. That helps explain the success of mommy bloggers. The sense of isolation that stay-home moms sometimes feel is alleviated by the knowledge that someone else is sharing their experience…and writing about it. That feeling, like the work stay-home moms do day after day, is priceless.

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I interviewed Ben Barry back when I started this blog because I was intrigued by his model agency which represented a truly diverse range of talent. His mission was to change “the face and body of fashion”. Ben recently completed his PhD at Cambridge University and his research is being lauded by outlets from Elle to Jezebel. What he found is that the use of an idealized image of beauty in fashion advertising not only ruins self-esteem… it is also bad for business. Check out the video to hear him speak on the topic.

For fashion eye candy, nothing beats the annual Met Ball. Fashionista: See What Everyone Wore to the 2012 Met Gala

Not everyone is thrilled with Vogue‘s Health Iniative. Shop Talk: So Vogue is Going to Promote “Healthier” Body Image. Hm.

Oprah’s still got it! Oprah.com: 16 Lessons We Learned from Oprah’s Lifeclass

Shameless self-promotion: my post in Yummy Mummy. Yummy Mummy Club: It takes a Village to Raise a Child

Calorie counting starts way too young. In The Powder Room: Skeletons in Our Closets

Age has become a disease, to be cured and eradicated. Stylist.co.uk: Why Are We Scared of Growing Old?

Let go and it will come to you. Daily Good: 15 Things You Should Give Up To Be Happy

Not surprise here: self-esteem comes more easily to those surrounded by supportive loved ones. Daily Mail Online: Women with supportive families are not pressurised by ‘thin and beautiful’ ideal

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Whether you are a mom or you have a mom, hope you had a good one!

Blogger Stylish Thought posted her Thought of the Day on Facebook:

“It’s not your job to like me – it’s mine.” -Byron Katie

Wow.

Did you ever have one of those teaching opportunities with your kids (or students, or someone who looks up to you) where they say something off the cuff and you know you have to jump in there with a life lesson, that rare moment when you realize you really do know more than someone else and have the chance to impart some wisdom?

Like when your kid who is now in Grade 3 tells you about a girl she hates from her Grade 1 class and says the reason she hates her is because this girl accused her of being more than just friends with a boy they both know. The only thing more disturbing than her use of the word ‘hate’ is that she’s been carrying this feeling around for two years!

Your first impulse might be to scold her for using strong language or to say ‘stop being so sensitive’. But the real answer, as the quote above maintains, is promoting self-love. It does hurt when someone doesn’t believe you or lies to you, but you have to know that having the truth inside yourself is enough. That is self-love. Understanding and accepting that life is sometimes unfair but you won’t let how you feel be dictated by external circumstances. That is self-love.

You can’t control what other people say or do. You can control whether or not you let it affect the way you feel about yourself.

And you can forgive them for not being perfect.

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Discovery Girls antidote to harmful magazine images

14-year-old Julia Bluhm has reached 65,000 signatures and counting on her petition to get Seventeen magazine to stop its misleading use of Photoshop. A meeting with the mag’s editor-in-chief resulted in little more than a pat on the head and no change in policy. Many argue that since Seventeen is marketed to a teenage audience it has an added responsibility to provide realistic images, rather than ones that have been proven to drive girls to depression and eating disorders.

Parents must also take responsibility for the kind of media their children consume. I am grateful for a magazine called Discovery Girls which uses cover models that look much like my daughter and her friends, complete with braces, glasses and less than perfect hair. Rather than photoshop images, the magazine is more likely to publish an article revealing the truth about photoshopping, like the one my daughter ate up and talked about endlessly – clearly information she was yearning to receive.

My daughter’s only 12 so it’s easy for me to regulate her reading. And when I first imposed the ban on every magazine except Discovery Girls and American Girl (the messages are universal), I found a stack of Tiger Beat under her bed, hidden the way a teen boy might hide porn. Now she devours the contents of Discovery Girls with its exceptional advice on friends, boys, school, and style. The magazine cares about girls and carries a message beyond celebrity-spotting and unrealistic ideals. I’m not sure what will happen when she’s 17 but I hope she’s beginning to understand the images around her are not real and be armed with the knowledge that digitally altered photos are not an instruction manual on how we’re supposed to look.

Sign Julia’s petition!

Surprisingly sage advice from…Jon Hamm? The Mad Men star hosts a Youtube version of an advice column, and does a stand-up job.

Just wanted to let you know that Yoga Jeans is giving away 2 pairs of jeans (one for you; one for your mum). Simply ‘Like’ their Facebook page and leave a comment telling why your mom deserves a pair of stylish yet comfortable Yoga Jeans (featured in LouLou as one of the best trends of Summer 2012). Best of luck!

I’ve received a couple of misguided emails from PR girls pitching story ideas about eyebrow transplants. The latest email asks Are you aware that, last month, models in Paris strutted Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2012 runway debuting the new bushy eyebrow trend and as a result there has been a ginormous increase in eyebrow transplant requests??? Included was the above image of model Miranda Kerr at Chanel FW12 sporting jewel-encrusted eyebrows.

I confess to having no idea what it’s like to suffer with sparse eyebrows and have always had to pluck/wax/thread mine into submission. However, I do remember when bushy eyebrows were considered unfashionable and before that when they were fashionable again. It’s just kind of shocking that we’ll alter our bodies this way to follow a trend. Changing what we wear is one thing, but undergoing surgery because of a Chanel showcase is quite another! What about an eyebrow pencil?

What do you think?

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