Category: Personal

When You Are Laid-off Before the Holidays…

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I am unemployed. Those are three words I did not even think I would be saying at the start of the new year. (If anything I thought it would have been more along the lines of , “I got promoted.” ) The unfortunate reality is that the business world lacks humane decisions and when it comes to creating budgets for the upcoming new year they have no problem with making the staff “leaner” by vastly reducing its numbers regardless of the festive holiday season. I, like many others in the world, was a casualty of this practice, which brought on feelings and thoughts I was not anticipating. True, nothing lasts forever but when you have been working for approximately 2 years just get your foot in the door only to have it slam in your face, like I have, it makes you feel like you failed and stand no chance in actually starting a career. You blame yourself even though there was nothing you could do to change the decision, but through it all, here are some things you should remember: Continue reading →

No Longer Sorry

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I have terrible eating habits. Most people will take one look at me and deduce that is the case. After all, I didn’t get to be this size eating salads, right? But that’s not what I mean. I have been a workaholic since childhood, which is bound to happen when your mother enlists a set of high standards, resulting in your becoming an overachiever and perfectionist, all of which inevitably leads to not eating right.

How? Continue reading →

Think Pink – Shopping For a Cause

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We’ve finally made it to October which means sweater weather, pumpkin spice EVERYTHING, New York Comic Con and, of course, Halloween. Yet there is one more significant thing  that occurs this month that is sometimes ignored during the rest of the year, that is breast cancer awareness.

The great thing is there are ways to help even if you can’t do so personally by volunteering  and do it in style. So if you believe that this is an important cause that needs to be spread, consider representing and supporting by purchasing and wearing something pink this month. I did some searching and found some great affordable “pink power” selections for the office, casual Sundays and even for those weekly workouts, all of which donates a  percentage of the retail prices towards the various nonprofit organizations and their work. Continue reading →

My Bare Arms Summer

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Ever since I was a tween,  my biggest insecurity were the appearance of my arms. They are big, covered with stretch marks, and scars– things that I believed absolutely had to be covered. This insecurity would effect me most once it started to get warmer. For me this usually meant that sleeves (not short sleeves, mind you) and sweaters made up most of my daily summer wardrobe, even in 100 degree NYC humidity. While other girls and young women would wear their tanks and spaghetti-strapped summer dresses, I wore thick hoodies (sometimes over long sleeves).

This continued on as I have  entered adulthood. Even with the scorching  sun outside, I would stay covered, replacing my adolescent hoodies for shrugs, cardigans and blazers.(It should come as no surprise that I usually spend the summer indoors.)  I truly believed that as big as I was, I had no right to show off my arms. Nevermind that the various types of cover-ups didn’t make my arms disappear from existence or give them a slimmer appearance.  This all changed mid- May in a Target fitting room. As I stood there looking at my reflection in the mirror, I just could not figure out how to wear the Lilly Pulitzer Sea-Urchin-for -You Satin Florence dress  with a shrug and  retain the overall silhouette of the dress. That’s when it hit me, why did I have to? It was then that I decided to stop hiding my arms and embrace them as they are. Continue reading →

Good For You?

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I remember the first time I was publicly fat shamed. I was a 16 years old and on a class trip to the Jewish Heritage Museum in Manhattan for leadership training.  We were having lunch in the museum’s cafeteria; honestly I don’t remember if I actually ate anything since this was during the time I would skip meals with the goal of getting thin. I do remember that at one point my friend got up to get a second helping of food at which time I asked him to get me a can of soda. He came back with a can of Diet Coke, I looked at the can and then up at him in confusion. He then said, very loudly I might add, “You could stand to lose a couple of pounds.” The entire table and those next to it laughed. I left the soda right in his hand and walked away. No one stood up for me and he never apologized. He claimed that it was a joke. I wasn’t laughing.

Such occurrences only got worse once I got older. In fact,one of my mother’s oldest friends no longer greets me with a, “Hi, how have you been?,” like the average person would, but with a, “You’re fatter.”

comic of double standards with food

“Healthy” does not equal a specific physical appearance.

Continue reading →