Tanya Sam’s Leopard Metallic Trim Blouse

Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 12 Episode 14 Fashion

Tanya Sam may arguably be the sweetest Georgia peach on the Real Housewives of Atlanta, her wardrobe always carries the meanest price tags. While her leopard metallic trim blouse may have originally retailed for $1,195, it’s sold out so on the bright side you just saved yourself over a grand. And an entire meal filled with the maximum amount of anxiety about spilling on your gorgeous top.

The Realest Housewife,

Big Blonde Hair

Click Here to See her Dolce + Gabanna Blouse

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Originally posted at: Tanya Sam’s Leopard Metallic Trim Blouse

I can remember learning to knit as a small child and being delighted when I produced a hideous scarf, full of holes and dropped stitches and strangely wider at one end than the other.

Can You Recall Learning to Knit, or Your First Knitting Project?

My real passion for knitting began when I was about 14, and Twiggy was the style icon of the day. She was photographed in a short Shetland wool sweater and every teenager wanted one.

Luckily, a pattern was available, and along with a group of friends, we started our projects. We used bright colours of beautifully soft Shetland, double knitting, and we would smuggle our knitting bags into school so we could knit and natter during our lunch break.

Whilst most of my friends gave up after that flurry of activity, I have continued to enjoy knitting to this day.

After the Twiggy inspired sweater came a huge and colourful cardigan for my would-be husband, copied from one worn on the TV series Starsky & Hutch. It was, if I am honest, a terrible fashion mistake, but it did get a bit of wear before disappearing to the bottom of the cupboard.

Then came a useful cricket jumper for the same lucky man, knitted whilst flying to the USA, when knitting needles were still permitted in the cabin.

Knitting for the Family

Marriage and babies came next, and I was in my element making delicate lacy jackets and shawls, followed all too swiftly by hand knit school sweaters and chunky arans for weekend wear.

If I could persuade my husband to mind the children, I would slip off to the local wool shop and browse the pattern books for hours on end.

To be without a project was like being deprived a cigarette (I imagine!) as I hated to have a pair of idle hands and loved to knit whilst watching TV or listening to the radio.

But before long, my girls had minds of their own, and their tastes didn’t run to hand made anything. So, I turned back to myself.

Oddly, nearly everything I make for me never seems to turn out right and goes to the charity shop. I stuck to baby clothes for a while, using much loved patterns. A favourite pattern was for a blanket that would wrap around a new-born when in a car or carry seat. I must have knitted dozens.

Experimental Knitting

Do you find yourself going back to old favourites that you know will turn out well, or do you prefer to experiment with new projects?

When my mother died, I kept her knitting needles and patterns – some patterns going back in time to my childhood. When you start to look at old patterns, you realise nothing much has changed in style – just a wider range of yarns and colours are available now.

I have been fascinated by the craze for ‘colour bombing.’ This is an art form where a town is transformed by knitters decorating railings, gates and lampposts with pieces of knitting in order to cheer up everyone.

I joined a colour bomb challenge in my home town. We knitted strips to wrap around a model replica of our famous ‘Beachy Head Lighthouse’ and raised money for charity.

Colour Bombing

Have you come across ‘colour bombing’? Maybe your town would benefit from some knitted decorations!

Inevitably, over the years, all my projects resulted in a huge stash of left over wool – just bits and pieces and oddments. Nothing of much use, or so I thought.

Now that we have the Internet, the days of lingering in the local wool shop are long gone. I went online for ideas for unwanted wool and found two projects that caught my interest.

One used all my baby wool leftovers – knitting little hats for premature babies. Many of our hospital prem units are crying out for these in a variety of colours and styles as each baby keeps their own hat, and they are only used once.

The second project is knitting ‘twiddle muffs’ for people with dementia. I had never heard of them before, but after some online research I found a pattern and am looking forward to getting stuck in.

The idea is that the patient can put their hands in the muff and fiddle with all the embellishments that I will add. Dementia patients are soothed by touch so adding ribbons, beads, knitted flowers etc. all give interest.

A knitted pocket can be useful for small items such as a hanky. This is a project where you can let your imagination run away with you!

I shall carry on knitting for as long as I can, and I intend to use my stash of wool before I buy anymore!

How important is knitting in your life? Have you come across any knitting for charity projects that you have enjoyed? Please share any exciting knitting projects you have created!

Cynthia Bailey’s Sequin Snake Print Outfit

Real Housewives of Atlanta Season 12 Episode 14 Fashion

I caught my first glimpse of Cynthia Bailey’s sequin snake print outfit in the previews of tonight’s Real Housewives of Atlanta, and quite frankly I cannot wait to see the whole thing. It’s such a cute take on sequins and even looks perfect being able to see it in bits and pieces before we get the real deal during the show.

In contrast, I’m hoping not to see Eva Marcille’s bits and pieces because she’s having a baby delivered on a table at a restaurant. Like, I’ve had two kids and I was so terrified of not getting to the hospital in time to get the drugs that I legit went early and got sent home, both times. So while childbirth is terrifying, I most definitely cannot relate to Eva not wanting to get to the hospital, unless of course I’m missing something.

And while we’re definitely in time to shop Cynthia’s sequin snake print top and pants in stock, we just hope Eva made it to the hospital in time to give birth because we don’t need this python print pairing to end up being the chicest pair of scrubs ever worn.

The Realest Housewife,

Big Blonde Hair

Click Here to Shop her Ramy Brook Top on Sale

Click Here for Additional Stock

Click Here to Shop her Ramy Brook Pants

Originally posted at: Cynthia Bailey’s Sequin Snake Print Outfit

There’s a popular children’s song meant to inspire kids to exercise. It’s called Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes. If you’ve ever had children, grandchildren, step-children or just spent time with little kids, you’re undoubtedly familiar with it.

Lately, I’ve been thinking that they should create a grown-up version of that song, one that captures that time of life when you become acutely aware that your body is slowing down.

You know that phase, “After a lifetime of perfect vision, you’re suddenly wearing glasses.” Long after your own children have long graduated orthodontia, your dentist has informed you that you, too, need braces again!

Aches in New Places

In my case, I had already been battling piriformis syndrome for years. Piriformis syndrome, for those not in the know, is, quite literally, a “pain in the ass.” It comes about due to over-use of the piriformis muscle, which connects the base of your spine to your hip.

In many people, the piriformis also surrounds the sciatic nerve that runs up and down your leg. So, when strained, you might feel pain anywhere from your bum right down to your toes. Ouch.

I could handle that. I’d been doing stretches to help manage that pain for a while now. But then, around the turn of the new year, a few new pains emerged to complement my ongoing sore hip.

First, I had surgery on my vocal cords and lost my voice completely. Since January, I have been working with assorted speech and physio-therapists to retrain myself how to speak and breathe.

Next, my eyes started stinging. It also felt like there was something inside them all the time. A few weeks later, I was diagnosed with blepharitis.

My husband has had this condition for years. I wasn’t sympathetic and used to mock him for endlessly telling anyone who would listen about his “dry eyes.” Now that person doing the endless complaining is me. (“It’s all fun and games until somebody loses an eye.” Sorry, couldn’t resist…)

And then, finally, my jaw started to ache whenever I chewed anything (TMJ). The diagnosis for that condition was stress. I briefly consulted with a dental psychologist – yes, that’s a profession! – who basically told me that I needed to relax.

“Yup! Working on that,” I told her. Grrrr.

Do We All Turn into Our Mothers?

All these conditions are likely to remain with me, to some degree or another, for the rest of my time on earth. And I know that I’m not alone. 70% of those who experience chronic pain are women. It is also said that women perceive pain more intensely than men do.

To manage these assorted medical problems without ending up back in the hospital, I now spend a good 45 minutes a day stretching, putting a warm cloth on my eyes, doing vocal warm-ups and practicing my breathing.

I have this theory that by the time we hit middle age, we all end up turning into our mothers. When I was a kid, it seemed like my mother was forever lying on the bedroom floor ‘wogging’ her back. I used to think that was nuts. Now I do it all the time.

At first, I was really frustrated that I was losing so much of my day to a ‘non-essential’ activity. Over time, I’ve tried to change the framing of my ablutions. I try to view this ‘lost’ time as time gained: I’m listening to more podcasts. Stretching also makes me feel stronger.

A New Exercise Jingle

All of which is to say that if you soon hear a jingle aimed at us middle-aged folk that goes something like this: “Throat, jaw, hip and eyes. Hip and eyes! Throat, jaw, hip and eyes…,” you’ll know who penned it.

Come to think of it, I think I better trademark that now.

What are your middle-aged ailments? By all means, feel free to moan in the comments below.

A lot of people, including myself, have fallen hard for the “Konmari” craze. In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, the trend – which has spread like wildfire – is the result of the enormous success of Marie Kondo’s best-selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.

The book has also sparked a television series where Kondo is invited into people’s homes to help them sort through their “stuff.” Much of that stuff involves clothing.

Seeing What You Have

The first thing she recommends is to take all of your clothing – and I mean everything – out of your closet, drawers, shelves, anywhere it is taking up precious real estate, and put it all in one big pile.

It’s a revelation. Most of us have no idea how much we have, let alone what we have, until we see it all piled up. It can also be somewhat embarrassing.

For someone like Kondo, who comes from a tightly packed island like Japan, closet space and ownership of things comes at a steep price. Each thing demands careful consideration.

What impressed me about her is the deep and genuine respect she pays, both to the actual home itself, and to the sensitivities of the inhabitants. She never says, for example, “Puh-leeze, get rid of THAT!”

No, she is very soft spoken and gentle, because frankly, letting go of things brings up a lot of emotions: loss, grief, memories we’d rather not revisit, happy ones we’d rather not let go.

Some people find tremendous comfort in being “cocooned” by their stuff, especially their clothes, even if to others it looks a lot like hoarding. This can be especially true for someone who grew up impoverished. All those things tell the psyche, “We have made it.”

How to Decide What to Keep

So, to help them decide what to keep Kondo asks the simple question: “Does it spark joy?”

It’s an important question. I have learned how to apply this successfully when sorting through books, papers, household items, etc. But for clothes it’s more nuanced and personal. What does it mean for an article of clothing to spark joy? Do clothes have to spark joy?

A lot of the clothes that sparked joy in me in the past did so because they made me feel sexy and attractive. But many are things I would never again wear. I have no desire to show that much skin any more. These days I value comfort greatly. I also value longevity and usefulness.

For those reasons it’s been easier for me to say, “This no longer brings me joy, or actually never did,” and then let it go, than to say, “This brings me joy.”

A blouse, jacket, or dress might make me feel good about myself; it might serve an important purpose, or it might have sentimental value… but I can’t always say that joyfulness is part of why I keep it.

Some Other Questions to Ask

But still, the concept of “What sparks joy?” inspired some corollaries that I found very useful. They also offer good suggestions about why to keep pretty much anything, but are especially valuable when it comes to our clothes:

• Do I need this?
• Do I wear this currently?
• Does this reflect the life I want to live?
• Does this reflect the person I want to be seen as this year, next year, five years from now?

Along with the idea that something we wear makes us feel good about ourselves it should also be useful… and used. That’s why I always encourage clients to buy the best they can afford or similar pieces to those they love and then wear them to death.

It’s what people in many parts of the world who have small closets, or no closets for that matter, understand and value. And that brings us to another important consideration.

How Much Do We Really Need?

Maybe that is the crux of it. I just read an article by a woman I know who, after being treated for breast cancer, decided to leave it all behind and grab as much life as she possibly could. She and her husband sold their home and most of their belongings and bought a boat.

They now sail throughout the Caribbean and are planning to circle the globe. In reading her missives from tropical and sometimes challenging locations, it became obvious just how little we need to be happy… and to survive. Maybe as we age our joys are just more “quiet.”

I think Marie Kondo would approve.

What clothes do you have that spark joy? Why do you love them? Have you done any of Marie Kondo’s clearing of your closet? Please join the conversation below!