If You Have to Cry, GO OUTSIDE

Wait, no, I’m not saying that to you, but fashion public relations mogul Kelly Cutrone is. Her book fully titled If You Have to Cry, Go Outside and Other Things Your Mother Never Told You has been out in hard cover and e-reader format (I have it on my NOOK) for almost a year, and now it’s finally in paperback so let’s celebrate with a book review!

Kelly Cutrone is the head of fashion PR company People’s Revolution which is based nationally in New York City and Los Angeles. She is tough as nails and unapologetic for any toes she steps on while she tells you what she thinks. And that’s why she’s successful. Her book If You Have to Cry, Go Outside chronicles her journey from upstate New York high school girl with no specific goals or asperations to fashion world icon after one sweet sixteen birthday trip to New York City lit her dreams on fire. (New York City will do that to a young woman.)

Cutrone goes into detail of how she clawed her way from not even knowing what the word “publicist” really meant in the business world to being world renowned for her ability to turn someone’s small fashion idea into huge success. In her book she speaks of how her spirituality helped lead her to her successes. She tells how she lives her life as a warrior and does not indulge in complaining or worry about winning or losing each individual struggle, she simply does her job as the warrior she is to experience the struggle. She describes her experiences with fear as she grew her company and worried that she wasn’t the reason why she was experiencing her success, but rather it was the individual big name clients she worked with who might eventually leave her for a variety of reasons and then OMG the company is going to FAIL because that one client was the REASON I EXIST! She felt that familiar feeling so many women in the business world, and even in everyday life, feel: I’m a faker, I’m going to lose everything when they find out I don’t know what I’m doing. She consulted her spiritual advisor who told her to to replace the O in Worrier with an A (which would spell Warrier, but… let’s give the spellcheck to it and we get Warrior) and then Cutrone‘s entire mental process shifted from being scared of her success to being a master of it. I’m sure it wasn’t quite as easy as all that, but I have no doubt that really was the catalyst to her success.

And since it’s the title of the book, I’ll spill the beans on the crying outside chapter. Cutrone explains that crying in front of your co-workers ruins their focused work energy. Work is for work. And if you make a mistake, just handle it. If you’re not emotionally ready to handle mistakes or perceived mistakes without crying, just take it outside and handle your mini breakdown there away from all the others who are trying their hardest to stay focused on the game. If we took a break from work to handle everyone’s emotional crises our productivity would be… nonexistent, and that’s Cutrone‘s overall point. Cry outside, focus on kicking warrior butt inside. It’s a harsh concept to some people, but once it settles in you’ll realize you’ve never seen the UPS worker crying on your shoes for having to carry that same 50 lb package you had to box and tape up, put a label on, and drag over to the package pick-up area. It’s a bit of a light bulb moment to step outside of yourself and enter the head space of the next person in your path, and Cutrone does a brilliant job of bringing you there with this chapter.

Empowering women is the name of this book’s game, and I heart being empowered. It doesn’t matter if you like Kelly Cutrone as a person or care about the fashion world. If you need to know that you are worth it, that you are an awesome woman and deserve to have goals and aspirations to achieve all of your successes then give this book a quick read. When you’re done with scanning through it for the parts that call to you then savor the parts that resonate most with you, let them sink in, figure out how they work into your life or how you want them to work into your life. Those parts will likely help you get through some very tough times. (I know they have for me.)

Purchase the hardcover, Kindle, or new paperback version of If You Have to Cry, Go Outside and Other Things Your Mother Never Told You from Amazon. If you want to own the same NOOK version I do visit Barnes & Noble and log into your NOOKbook library.

Feature photo: Mel Rowling

George Foreman Makes Grilling A Breeze

Brian’s mom has a George Foreman G-Broil Supreme that she uses.  All. The. Time. One weekend while the girls and I were there, she and I did hamburgers on it for the girls.  OMG, it was amazing.  So I not so subtly said “Maybe I should tell Santa to put one of them under the tree for me.”

It came as no surprise when Christmas Eve rolled around and the one gift under the tree for me was a George Foreman Grand Champ Grill.  It’s a bit bigger than Brian’s mom’s, but it’s the perfect size for me and the girls. With just the three of us at home, and me working outside the house, there are a lot of nights it’s just too much effort and electricity to turn the oven on to cook dinner.  With the George Foreman Grand Champ Grill, I can do hamburgers, chicken breasts, steaks, hot dogs, you name it, on the grill in a fraction of the time, using significantly less electricity. And when you’re a single mom on a budget? Every penny you can save, and still provide your kids with healthy, cooked at home meals, is a bonus.

The Grand Champ has the following features:

• At 133 square inches of cooking space, it has the largest cooking area of all the George Foreman grills.  It easily handles 7 servings.
• It has the patented slope design so the fat that cooks off the meat slides into the drip tray away from the meat.
• The Signature Foreman heating elements so that every square inch of cooking space is used and not wasted.
• Preheat indicator light for added convenience
• The dishwasher-safe drip tray offers easy clean up
• It comes with 2 drip trays and 2 dishwasher-safe spatulas for easy food removal.

The girls and I first used ours to cook hamburgers.  I wanted to start off with something easy and with the Grand Champ, they were super quick and easy.  It takes the grill approximately 5 minutes to warm up.  Once the indicator light went off, I put 4 hamburger patties on the grill and lowered the lid.  5 minutes later, I had 4 evenly cooked, right off the grill tasting hamburgers.  In fact, the french fries we put in the oven before we started the burgers took longer to cook.  It was awesome.  Clean up is a breeze.  Once the grilling surface has cooled, scrape the fat, grease and scraps off the grilling surface into the drip tray.  Use a warm soapy sponge to wipe the grilling plates clean, then rinse the sponge and wipe away any soapy residue.  Dry with a paper towel and you’re done.

I have been looking through the cooking guide included with the Grill, and am looking forward to trying out new things.  I also found a website with George Foreman Grill Recipes that I am looking forward to going though.  I am so excited about the possibilities.

You can buy the Grand Champ Family Value Grill, the G-Broil Supreme or any of the other George Foreman Healthy Cooking Products at GeorgeForemancooking.com, at Amazon.com, or at Target.com.

Feature Image: seentvcanada.com

In Love With Simplehuman’s Sensor Soap Pump

I have a confession to make.

I am in love with simplehuman’s 14oz sensor soap pump.

It’s true.

It is the Christmas present that I did not even know how much I wanted, or needed, until I received it.  And it is wonderful!  I want to go out and get one for every.single.sink. in my house.

Let me rewind to a few weeks before Christmas.  Scene, my bathroom.  Each and every time I got in there, no matter how many times I had already cleaned it, I would find gobs of soap on the counter.  In the sink.  And a mess all over the small soap pump thanks to my three pump happy boys.  We were also refilling the soap pump like it was … well, water.

The simplehuman sensor soap pump has changed ALL of that.

The day after Christmas I put the four AA batteries in the bottom, filled and primed the pump.  What amazed me first is the choice of settings for the volume control.  That’s right, I control how much soap comes out of that pump now.  The next feature that had me falling in love?  The touch free sensor!  No more messy hands all over the pump.  No fingerprints.  No germs. The boys turn the water on, put their hand under the soap pump and are even entertained as it comes out.  It’s like magic!

As a mom, I am thrilled I am no longer cleaning up a mess on the sink.  Multiple times a day mind you.  I also feel good about it cutting down the spread of germs.  I never really did like the thought of touching that soap pump after the kids had already had their little hands on it.

Don’t have kids?  That’s OK too.  Think of how pretty and sleek it will make your counter top look.  When I tell you it is the gift I didn’t know I wanted until I received it, I mean it.  Plus, you are really saving on soap by using just enough each time AND you are helping the environment by refilling the pump - which means less waste.  It’s been a week and a half and I have Still not had to refill the pump.  Progress people.

Check this out.  While this product retails on simplehuman’s website in silver for $39.99 you can also check out Amazon.com and get the black one for about $25.24.  Awesome deal!

4th Generation iTouch, The New Apple Of My Eye

Santa was very good to me this year.  Well, good being relative.  He didn’t deliver the house elves I asked for.  I didn’t get the laundry fairies I dreamed of.  If he planted a money tree in my back yard it will be months if not years before it bears any fruit. (Probably not the most efficient gift I could have asked for). But he did bring me Apple’s new 4th generation iTouch.

I am in love. *swoon*.

The 4th generation iTouch has not one, but two cameras.  A front and a rear facing camera.  Both can be used with the Facetime app,, and to record HD videos.  They both take still shots as well.  Taking pictures and posting to Facebook or Twitter with just a few taps of the screen was a huge selling point for me.  But not the only new amazing feature of the 4th Generation.

The new iTouch has what they call Retina Display.  That means the images are so pixel dense the human eye can not see individual pixels.  The images and words on the screen are sharper, clearer, easier to see and read.   The display is also includes LED backlighting and a sensor that automatically senses the surrounding light and adjusts the display for the best viewing.

The 4th generation has voice control.  The iTouch knows the music in  your library.  Want to listen to a specific song?  just ask iTouch.  Don’t recognize a song on your playlist?  Just ask iTouch, it will tell you.  The iTouch recognizes such commands as shuffle, pause, stop.    Now if only my kids would listen as well as my iTouch.

Are you like me, and always setting something down and forgetting where you left it?  No?  Show off.  OK, while I probably won’t leave my iTouch behind when I go anywhere, it’s nice to know that if I did, and I needed to find it?  There’s an app for that.  If you lose your iTouch, (and you’ve registered with me.com) you can log in on any computer, or other iPhone or iTouch, and find yours.   Can they do that with my car keys?  Maybe my sanity?

The iTouch comes in 8GB,  32GB, and 64GB and can be purchased from The Apple Store, or Amazon among other retailers.

Featured image courtesy of Apple Innovations.

Dear Santa, Now That’s Entertainment

I will be honest, money has been tight for me and the girls this year.  So tight, in fact, that included on the list of “things we’ll have to learn to live without” was cable television.  For about 6 months now, the girls and I have been without television, watching only DVD’s at our house.  (We get to Keep up with the Kardashians on weekends at Brian’s, so we’re not completely out of the loop). So, Santa, until I’ve lived in the new house for a few months and until I have a handle on how expensive my utilities are going to be so I can determine if I can afford cable television, please send me the following for my entertainment.  I don’t want to appear as though I live under a rock when joining in the water cooler conversations at work.

Entertaining Holiday Gifts

First, send me the Complete First Season of Glee. Glee has become a surprise hit with a Glee Club doing covers of Broadway Show Tunes, to Classic Rock. People everywhere became hooked on Glee, (proudly announcing they were in fact ‘GLEEKS’).  I will be honest, Santa, when I saw the first episode or two, I was not overly impressed.  But since hearing some of the songs on XM radio, I have to say, my interest is piqued.  If I’m going to jump on the Gleek Bandwagon, I might as well jump on from the very beginning.

The next on my list?  A little known television show that I have loved since the very beginning.  The Good Wife.  Julianna Margulies plays the wife of a State’s Attorney (Chris Noth) who has been disgraced with a sex scandal and is locked up for abusing the power of his position.  Both Julianna and Chris are amazing in this series and with the loss of my cable, I’m sort of out of the loop.

The final series on my wish list Santa, is my guilty pleasure.  I am almost ashamed to admit that I adore Carrie Bradshaw and her girlfriends.  I wish I could sit down and write like Carrie, had the unabashed c0nfidence of Samantha, the logic of Miranda and the romantic hopelessness of Charlotte.  I would love nothing more than to curl up on the sofa with mug of coffee, a warm blanket and Sex and the City in the DVD player.  Sex and the City the Complete Series, would make plenty of my Saturdays dreams come true.

One-Item Holiday Wish List: Kindle

A few years ago my Husband and I came up with an ingenious money-and-relationship-saving plan:  We stopped exchanging gifts.  This had the upside of not spending money on gifts and trying to guess what the other wanted under the tree, and the downside of all the joy of Christmas being sucked the hell out.  It was all about the spirit of the season and family and crap like that.  It’s a Christmas miracle that we’ve avoided a massacre thus far.

This year, I’m being more bold.

I WANT A KINDLE.

I’m worried that I’m the last person in America to get one, and that if I buy it for myself, all sorts of alarms will go off and a parade of mockers will come out and point their fingers at me, so it’s a good thing to put on my “to be gifted” list.

I’ve resisted a Kindle for a while because of some prehistoric attachment to paper, and the love of “flipping pages” but I have to face facts:  I do  most of my reading on the train, and often I hesitate to bring a big, heavy book.  Because if it’s between reading material and a herniated disc, I’m afraid I’m going to have to go with health and safety.

And it doesn’t help that everyone I know who has one keeps raving about it.  And a few of my friends have even let me touch theirs.  It’s light and fun and the text is readable and I’m tired of lugging around my papyrus scrolls.

So, yes.  This holiday season I want a Kindle.  And if you could throw in some world peace, that would great.
The Kindle is available from Amazon.com.  Let me know if you’d like shipping information.

Feature image by Kevin Dooley

Good Enough to Eat Indeed!

Allow me to introduce you to Stacey Ballis.  Besides blogging at The Polymath Chronicles, Stacey is a fabulous author.  She is the partner in crime to another of my beloved authors and bloggers, Jen Lancaster and I tell you no lie, I would gladly give up just about any vice to be a fly on the wall when those two get going. Stacey has a new book, Good Enough To Eat.

I have a special place in my heart for books by bloggers but my literary tastes are vast, I’ll read anything as long as it isn’t a bodice-ripping Harlequin romance, a Western, a Sci-Fi book or anything that Stephen King has touched.  And aside from my love of Chick Lit, Memoirs, Forensic Thrillers and True Crime, Not to mention, I’m a book-a-holic.  I read about 3 books a week.  I devour them at an inhuman pace and my computer pretty much just points itself to Amazon without any prompting.  (Although much to my husband’s delight, I have recently procured a library card.)

Having read three of Stacey’s previous books, Inappropriate Men, Room for Improvement and The Spinster Sisters, I was so excited to hear about her newest release and pre-ordered it on Amazon months and months before it was released.  When it showed up, it was all I could do to keep myself from feigning a pathetic cough and rushing home to curl up on the back porch with my new treasure.

Stacey’s protagonists are always strong, powerful and unapologetic women and the latest, Melanie Hoffman, is no exception.  After working hard for nearly two years to lose half her body weight, Melanie has gone to culinary school and now runs a take-out business specializing in healthy gourmet food.  Then one day, with no warning,  her previously supportive husband up and leaves her for a woman twice her size.

I could not put this book down for the two days it took me to finish it.  Stacey Ballis has surrounded Melanie (who I adored secondly only to Sidney, the witty, sexy plus-sized star of “Inappropriate Men”) with intriguing friends and family and weaves a really wonderful story of a woman who thought she’s come to the end of a journey, when in fact, she’s only at the beginning.   I’d call it a beach read if it weren’t so freaking cold outside.  And yet… it has more to it than a normal beach book… more heart.

Stacey’s books are refreshing because they are about REAL women.  These aren’t supermodels skipping around Manhattan in 4-inch heels with mysterious unlimited funds (although I do profess a guilty pleasure for those books as well).  Her subjects are smart, witty, accomplished women who aren’t afraid of their faults and love themselves just the way they are.  Just between you and me?  That’s the kind of role model I would want for myself and my daughter… if I had one.

Find Good Enough to Eat, along with all Stacey Ballis’s books, on Amazon.

Featured photo by Horia Varlan

Mascara Help for Hazel-Eyed Girls

Today, I want to tell you about CoverGirl’s Exact Eyelights Mascara… or what I like to call only the most AMAZING mascara EVER!!!

I have hazel eyes.  Until discovering this product, the only option I thought I had was plain black mascara – and it’s been my staple since I was about 15.  I don’t put on a lot of makeup.  I’m not the girl that usually puts on foundation, blush, eyeshadow and all that jazz.  Sometimes I will, but my daily beauty routine usually consists of mascara and lip gloss (sometimes a lip plumper underneath).  Don’t look at me like that, I have 3 boys ages 4 and under.  I’m lucky if I do my hair in something other than a pony tail these days.

So, I can’t live without my mascara and lip gloss.  For years, depending on what I was wearing, I would get the questions “What color are your eyes?  Brown?  Green?”  It was not always easy to tell.  Of course, if I was wearing a green top my eyes looked a lot more green.

Fast forward to the first commercials for the Exact Eyelights Mascara.  It is not often that I run right out and buy a product the second I have seen it, but this time I did.  A mascara for hazel eyes?  I had to try this!  I ran right over to CVS and perused the choices. ’ Black Pearl ‘ for brown eyes, ‘Black Sapphire’ for blue eyes, ‘Black Ruby’ for green eyes… ‘Black Gold’  for HAZEL eyes!  That was me!

I drove home, put it right on and fell instantly in love.  CoverGirl advertises the product as a way to ”get 4x brighter eyes… Light-reflecting metallics and a hint of tint bring out your blues, browns, hazels and greens, while our patented no-clump brush helps define lashes”  While I can only speak for the hazel eyed girls out there, it is Totally True!  Goes on easy, no clumps.  And the best part?  People were no longer asking me if my eyes were brown or green, because the mascara brightened my already hazel eyes and really made them stand out.  I do not go anywhere without it, it’s definitely a must have.

And it’s affordable.  I bought mine at CVS, where it retails for about $8.99.  HOWEVER, you can also find it on Amazon for the totally amazing price of $2.70.    HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT?!  Try this mascara.  I guarantee it will make you look adorable!

Green Toothpaste from Tom’s of Maine

Question : What do you do when you buy toothpaste as a joke and it turns out to be the most awesome personal care product ever?

Answer : Relish in it, people.

Over the last few months, I’ve been really focusing on “going green” in as many areas as possible.

It started out simple….a water bobble here, a microfiber cloth there….before I knew it, I was reading labels and checking corporate policies before I bought something.

To say that I had both feet firmly planted on the bandwagon is something of an understatement.

About a month ago I was at the store, buying toothpaste.  To the left of my normal brand, I saw a box that I had never noticed before.  It wasn’t anything special to look at – no fancy logos and the box was almost totally white.  I suppose that is why it caught my eye – it’s simplicity is definitely not the norm.

So I picked up a box of Tom’s Of Maine toothpaste and started reading.  My husband was only slightly embarrassed when I burst out laughing.

Environmentally friendly toothpaste?  Seriously?  What gimmick will they come up with next?

I had to buy it and show it to my brother, who was “green” (btw, I really hate that term) long before it was cool.  He, of course, was all “oh yeah – that stuff has been around for forever.”

Way to be a buzz kill, bro.

Anyway, it was time to put this stuff to the test.

I bought the Whole Care Fluoride Toothpaste, if you really care to know.

It made my teeth squeaky clean, left a slightly minty taste in my mouth that is not overpowering the way most toothpastes are and several hours, two meals and countless Dr. Peppers later, my teeth did not feel gritty and my mouth still felt clean.

As an added bonus, this stuff is a buck cheaper than my regular brand.

Considering I went to a second store to buy this stuff when the grocery store I was at didn’t have it in stock, I think it’s safe to say that I now have a new regular brand.

While you can find it at some of your local stores, you can get a better deal if you order it online, which is the only place I’ve been able to find their children’s toothpaste, as well as their other products.

From Girlfriend to Goddess, Oprah: A Biography

I am a reader of books.  I love books.  I have since I was just a wee one (and really, we don’t need to discuss how many years ago that has been).  My mother tells stories of me reading books or magazines at the tender age of 2 without tearing a single page.  To say that I love books would be like saying Britt loves shoes.  I probably have as many books as she has shoes, and that’s saying something.

When I saw Oprah A Biography on the shelf at my local library, (I checked it out from my local library. You can buy your own copy here.) I jumped at the chance to read about the most powerful woman in media.  And by media I mean television, radio, print, and internet.  If it’s out there so is she.  I wanted to know what’s Oprah really like? I wanted to know the history and what she did to get to where she is today.  After all, aren’t well all using social media to get out name, our brand out there to make impact, make a difference or even make a living, (or maybe just enough to pay for webhosting).  Oprah does the same thing, only on a much grandeur scale.  She has cornered the market on branding, by trade-marking her name, her signature, her image, her catch phrases. If she’s come up with it, come in contact with it, or makes you think of her, she probably owns it.  But most of all, I wanted to know what’s the true relationship between her and Stedman and Gayle?  Who’s really sleeping with who in that trio.

The book follows her life from ‘a po’ ole’ nappy-headed colored chile’ in Mississippi, to Baltimore where she was first put on air as a news anchor, to Chicago where she got her own show, to The White House where Obama works and she sings his praises.  It follows her from a net worth (according to Forbes) of $675 million in 1998 to $1500 million in 2007.

Oprah is a control freak, and the more powerful she gets the more control over her life, her image, her secrets, she has to have.  She makes everyone sign life long all inclusive confidentiality agreements (that DO stand up in court, they’ve been challenged).  And by everyone she means all her employees, all her guests, their entire family, her maids, hair dressers, dog walkers, gardeners, her entire staff, hotel staff, everyone she comes in contact with.

She is a contradiction in terms, meaning her private life is a contradiction to her public life.  On air, in public, she appears to be caring and giving and open and sharing and warm and your BFF for life.  Behind closed doors she’s shrewd, insensitive, cold, calculating and manipulative and single minded.  What she wants, she’s going to get no matter the cost to anyone.  The Pontiac G6′s she gave to her audience?  While she could have paid for them herself, she didn’t.  “Yes, I could have paid for them, but Pontiac offered to donate them so why should I pay for them?”  She of course did not help with sales taxes licensing or fees either.  They were presented as a gift and not a prize and therefore audience members had to pay approximately $7000 in sales tax on the vehicles.  Nice gift.

Oprah is the queen of branding and the Madame of Media, using each and every possible outlet to it’s fullest potential to further her brand and reach more and more people.  She is the epitome of what we’re all doing on a much much smaller scale.  The phrase if you build it they will come certainly applies here.  She has built an empire around herself and fans and followers flock to worship at her feet, or at their television set every weekday at 4:00 (9:00 AM Chicago).

I enjoyed the book.  I was sucked in from the first page and would read it every night when I got home. It’s a hard book to put down.  If for no other reason than to find the answer to “What the hell really *is* going on with her, Stedman and Gayle?”  The world may never know.

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