ThinkAboutIt 12/12/2007 ThinkAboutIt: A compendium of interesting items
Presence vs. Presents
At the Minnesota Women's Press "First Friday" salon held on Dec. 7, facilitator Theresa Thomas-Carroll of the Purple Crayon Factory led a thought-provoking conversation about giving and receiving. Participants discussed "How do I give my presence and values?" One idea was using money to give experiences (preferably ones the giver and receiver would share) rather than things. One woman talked about the importance of giving gifts that are important to the receiver; she bought her daughter a tattoo, and had herself tattooed with a rose-her daughter's name.
Join us for next month's "First Friday salon on Jan. 4, 2008, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Women's Press offices, 771 Raymond Ave., St. Paul. We'll be discussing women running for office, pondering questions such as, why are women held to a higher standard? And why are some people still not ready to elect women?
Compiled by Natalie Parragué and Berit Swanberg
"It didn't work when I tried it because it didn't work emotionally-it felt fraudulent. It felt like the act of doing it made me feel ashamed of myself that I would even try." - Actor Jamie Lee Curtis
about undergoing liposuction and Botox injections
Happy holidays - you need a tummy tuck!
Looking for a unique gift? Customers of Rodeo Drive Plastic Surgery (RDPS) have the opportunity to drop a bundle on a gift while insulting a loved one's looks in one fell swoop with the Plastic Surgery Gift Card. According to the Beverly Hills, Calif., cosmetic surgeons, creators of the Plastic Surgery Gift Card, "We noticed that people enjoy giving friends and relatives a gift of our services. The gift card works for everything from cosmetic surgery consultations to nonsurgical rejuvenation with Botox and skin fillers to our signature plastic surgery procedures such as tummy tuck, liposuction, breast augmentation, and rhinoplasty."
Interestingly enough, RDPS has little to say about the risks of cosmetic surgery. According to the FDA, you have a greater chance of dying from liposuction (the third most common procedure) than you do in a car accident.
In spite of the risks, nearly 11 million cosmetic surgery procedures were performed in 2006; 90 percent of the patients were women. The most popular surgery was breast augmentation.
Too late for holiday gift-giving? Plan ahead for birthdays and even Mother's Day. The company also offers the "Rodeo Drive Mommy Makeover," which it calls "a special Mother's Day present."
You snooze, you lose New mothers may need one special ingredient to get rid of the baby weight ...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz's. That's right, sleep. Instead of participating in extreme workouts and diets to get into pre-baby shape, research points to new moms' need to get adequate sleep. Recent studies show that new moms who were sleeping five hours or less when their babies were 6 months old were much more likely to retain baby weight when compared with women sleeping at least seven hours a night.
Sleep-deprived moms are three times as likely to keep on 11 pounds or more of the extra weight. It's usually concentrated around their middles, which can increase their risk for obesity and heart disease. The weight-sleep correlation for mothers proved positive for both first-time mothers and for women who have had more than one child.
"I might say to my patients, more emphatically, to seek out ways to get more sleep," said Dr. Tracy Flanagan, director of women's health at Northern California Kaiser Permanente.
Source: npr.org
'Just Breasts'
Swedish feminists have formed an ad-hoc group, "Bara Bradioist" (Just Breasts) to advocate for the right of women to go topless at beaches and swimming pools. The group was formed after two women swimming topless at a public pool near Stockholm were asked to cover up. "We want our breasts to be as normal and desexualized as men's, so that we too can pull off our shirts at football matches," said a spokesperson for the group, which is pushing for legal changes in Swedish law. In the meantime, members continue their topless swimming crusade.
Source: Women e news, Marquarie National News
