Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to the wonders of the blogosphere, you don’t even have to purchase a five dollar, three pound glossy mag to get such a beauty industry fix anymore. Here, I’m chronicling three of my favorite online beauty inspirations. Starting with the awe-inspiring Jane Feltes (featured in the video above).

1. Jane is a regular contributor to The Hairpin, where she gives makeup tutorials, answers readers’ beauty questions and occasionally gets personal. She’s a producer for This American Life, her hair, face and nails are flaw-less, and her beauty advice is a satisfying mix of sage meets sass. And that’s not all folks: amazingly, her total lack of pretension makes it rather impossible to hate her for any of the aforementioned things!

2. Now let’s move on to total pretension, which is (let’s be real here) one of the sparkling pillars of effective beauty writing. And for this, I always to turn the often-lauded makeup blog Into the Gloss. The clutter-free, editorial layout of this blog is just is as beautiful as the stoic models and “beauty insiders” featured within. Take, for example, this post about the lovely Lauren Santo Domingo (pictured above) and her beauty routine, in which she admits that she can’t even remember the last time she washed her own hair! Le sigh.

3. Lastly, I love to hit up the beauty section of Refinery 29, which is a treasure trove of all things beauty related, to the point where, at times, it can get a bit overwhelming. It is all here. Everything you wanted to know about nails, makeup and hair trends. (Apparently those long pointy nails are just so very right now!) Understandably, this blog can be a danger zone for your wallet. But tread lightly, and you’ll be fine.

Happy grooming, ladies. I’ll be back to my more cynical, bra-burning-self soon. I promise.

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IHAVE SOME VAGUE MEMORIES of watching Steel Magnolias with my childhood best friend and neighbor, Amanda. We were too young to understand what was happening between all the glamorous big hair and delicious southern accents but we were enamored just the same. We both cried at the end. I’m not sure that we even understood why. I just remember feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness, that (thankfully) was quite novel to me then. I was reminded of this memory, hazy though it may be, just a few days ago I went to see a theatrical production of Steel Magnolias in Greensboro.

The play was fantastic, and like so many childhood bits and pieces revisited in adulthood, I couldn’t believe everything I had missed as a kid. As I’m sure you’re aware, the story is the real bunny-bread-and-butter of sisterhood. The quotes (classic: “laughter through tears is my favorite emotion”), the touching moments, the hair–oh the hair. It was sisterhood in all its warm, fuzzy, girly greatness. And when the lights came up in the theater, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone (yes, mostly women but some dudes, too) in the sold out audience was wiping tears from their cheeks.

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I‘M DIGGING this photo post about girlfriends over at the blog size too small. It’s so sweet! This holiday season, I’m on the road, traveling in Japan with my boyfriend. We’re having a fantastic time, full of sticky rice balls and silly awkward bowing exchanges with strangers, but today, I’m feeling especially pangy for the Christmas-y comfort of my hometown girlfriends. Le sigh.

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Hello 25! (Photo by Shaina Machlus)

ONE OF THE REASONS why I’m always geeking out over the blogosphere is because there is such amazing potential for community within it—it’s like a great big amorphous blob of sisterhood just waiting to be claimed and shaped. And in large part, that’s why we started The Sister Project as a blog network. What better way to explore sisterhood than through a medium that inherently fosters community? Lately, I’ve been most excited about an internet project started by 22-year-old blogger Cassie Boorn in which she asks older female bloggers what they would say to their younger, 20-something-year-old selves. Here’s the scoop:

In an interview with NPR’s Cassie says “she decided to do this post because as a blogger she has traveled to a lot of conferences and met ‘a lot of really great women.’” She decided to pick these women’s brains for the kind of honest, useful (and retrospective) advice that a 22-year-old single mom like herself could use. And lots of fantastic female bloggers responded. They wrote their advice in the form of letters to their younger selves.

One of my favorite bits of advice / comfort is from Sarah Brown of the blog Que Sera Sera. She writes:

“First of all, let’s get this out of the way: no, you are not crazy. Yes, you should probably talk to someone. There’s no shame in that. You should also go outside more.”

You can read all the letters on Cassie’s blog. And even contribute your own. I feel like all this is especially pertinent to me right now as I’ve just skidded past my 25th birthday (eeps!). And I feel a bit like I’m at a pit stop between 20 and 30, trying to peer at every horizon. I keep asking myself, What have you learned in the past five years? (hopefully something) and What will you learn in the next five? (again, hopefully something).

So here goes: what would you write to your 20-something self?

Links:

Cassie Boorn’s blog

NPR interview with Cassie Boorn

Sarah Brown’s letter

Sarah Brown’s blog

Shaina Machlus’s blog

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Click here to view the embedded video.

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"Rather than come to blows with his sister over the missing Lego tree, he sat beneath his prayer flags and let the feelings wash over him." (Photo: Dave Lauridsen; Dwell)

THE HILARIOUS PHOTO BLOG Unhappy Hipsters posts photos from trendy design magazines along with little satirical captions. I always find the captions about kids especially entertaining (like these little dudes and this gal). But I laughed out loud when I saw this new post about a brother brooding over his sister and her inability to share Legos. Love it!

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OY, I’VE GOT IT bad. As I round the quarter-century bend in my life, some primordial alarm clock within me is screaming. (Anyone else?) I nearly burst into tears at the sight of this awesome eco-friendly onsie (as modeled by little guy J from Marvelous Kiddo with his big bro in the background). It’s from the Scandinavian children’s clothier Vyssan Lull. Why is it that Scandinavians are so endlessly cool?

(Photo by Leigh)

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WHAT IS IT ABOUT BRAIDS and sisterhood that makes them such divine companions? The fantastic how-to book Beautiful Braids was a longtime staple in my childhood, but somehow I never really mastered the tricky task of braiding my own hair in the mirror. (When I’m home sometimes my mom still does it!) Maybe the secret of sisters with fabulous braids is that they do it for each other? After getting a tip on the braid-heavy photo above from Pam at Retro Renovation, I started thinking about my favorite plaited ladies from The Sister Project. Here’s what I found:

TSP founder and veteran braid-rocker, Margaret Roach, looks adorable with ribbons in her hair in this vintage gem (that’s baby Marion with her).

Plaits were the standard style for Poppy and Daisy de Villeneuve while they were growing up in England. (For the full scoop on their style and sisterhood, have a look at their profile in the TSP galleries.)

These impressively long braids were the headliners for our We Match photo gallery. Aren’t they perfect for a first communion?

And our favorite painter Amanda Blake looks positively whimsical with her hair in classic braids.

She even paints them on her subjects! (Find more of Amanda’s beautiful work here.)

Did braids play a prominent role in your childhood? As always, we’d love to see your wacky and/or whimsical photos of braids and sisters! Send them to thesisterproject [at] gmail [dot] com.

(Thanks, Roz, for the great top photo.)

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I WAS SO TOUCHED WHEN Katie Schwartz of Dear Thyroid fame asked me to participate in blogging community effort to raise awareness for thyroid diseases and cancers. When it comes to blues and truths of the ol’ butterfly gland, I’ve got plenty. So here goes…

Thyroid diseases and thyroid cancers are fun, right? Unfortunately not; they deeply affect us as patients and our families, indelibly leaving an imprint on our minds, bodies and souls. None of it is easy. If we’re going to bring awareness to this disease, we have to come together as a family. Our collective voices have the power to invoke change. Because the holidays are a time of celebration with the people we love and a time to reflect, what better way to ignite change, and move our stories forward, oh and have a laugh along the way, than to connect with each other?

1) Have the holidays and your experience of them changed since you’ve been diagnosed?

Since I was diagnosed with Graves Disease six years ago this winter (yikes six years!), I’ve basically spend my whole adult life living with a cranky butterfly gland. During these years, everything about my life—holidays included—have drastically changed. Not just because of a hyperactive thyroid, but because this has been turbo-transitional time for me. That being said, my ability to knock out a killer holiday party with a steaming cup of good cheer has been significantly modified by my Graves Disease. And returning home for the holidays always means my disease is under a magnifying glass. My immediate family always wants to know how I’m feeling and whether I’m making the right decisions for my health. I’m pretty sure my mother is hiding a daily log during the holidays of how swollen my thyroid is / how dark the circles under my eyes are / how much sleep I’m getting, just so she can stay on the ball. Of course, she means well. But I’m convinced that this kind of motherly behavior is the only thing that will drive a girl more insane than an overactive thyroid.

2) What is your favorite holiday food/dish from childhood? What is your favorite dish now? (Did you have to change your diet at all since being diagnosed?)

I was quite lucky to have grown up in an oasis of health food. I was raised a vegetarian by my parents and still maintain that lifestyle today. As a child, I used to love dairy-heavy foods like macaroni and cheese. (I even used to sneak away to eat whipped butter from the tub with a spoon!) These days, I’m still a sucker for cream, but it’s always hormone free!

I guess since being diagnosed I’ve had an opposite experience with food than many people: I found myself returning to my roots. Throughout my childhood, my mom always pushed a diet of whole grains and veggies with moderate consumption of animal products. And while searching for wellness in the past several years, I’ve turned back to her staid advice.

3) How do you get through the stress of the holidays, paired with a disease? What are your coping strategies?

This time of year, I just try to remind myself to keep breathing. It’s surprisingly easy to forget about that when you’re in a store so crowded that it’s heated solely by the friction of customers’ wool coats and you find yourself in an impromptu shoving match over a shelf of whoopee cushions. Yes, just breathe.

4) Have you thought about submitting a letter to Dear Thyroid? If so, would your letter be a love letter or a hate letter? Would it be to your thyroid or from your thyroid?

I’ve written several letters to Dear Thyroid. Some hate mail, some desperate pleas, and some with love. It’s certainly been therapeutic to be a part of the Dear Thyroid support network.

5) What is the greatest misconception regarding thyroid disease and thyroid cancer?

I think many people who are coping with Graves Disease (I can’t speak to other thyroid diseases or thyroid cancer), are often viewed as weak or lazy by people from a distance because many of the symptoms resemble general malaise. It’s hard to convince members of a very work-oriented society that fatigue, sluggishness, or an inability to concentrate are a part of a serious illness and not just a sign that you’re slacking off.

6) What is the stupidest thing someone has said to you regarding your illness that, to this day, still makes you laugh or makes you angry?

I’ve found a lot of resistance in the medical community toward my decision to treat my illness with alternative care. Some doctors and nurses have given me compassionate advice while standing by me. But I once had a nurse practitioner threaten me by saying I would surely die if I didn’t go through with the radioactive iodine treatment.  She was so bossy and insensitive to my needs! I’m wincing even writing about it right now. But I feel a little more vindicated every day that I prove that quack nurse wrong!

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Dear Thyroid is a literary thyroid support community and blog. Thyroid patients are invited to submit Dear Thyroid letters; love letters and hate letters, among other thyroid literary things, such as Thyrants, Thygraphs, Thykus, Thyetry and Thysongs, etc. Our goals are for all of us as a community of patients to connect with each other and our diseases, and to bring awareness to thyroid diseases and thyroid cancers, we need and deserve a face and a voice. For our non-literary crew, we have monthly Flickr pools. Recently, we launched Dear Thyroid Local Meet Ups for offline support. Dear Thyroid Forums are forthcoming in December.

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AREN’T WEBSITES THAT END in “project” and are devoted to building community awesome? (You better say “yes!”) Well, I think so. Accordingly, I’ve been loving This is Home Project–a site filled with visual representations of the many ways we identify home. It’s quite simple, really. Complete the sentence “Home is _____.” and send it along to the project. A winning phrase will be selected by readers and made into post cards. I’m ruminating on my entry, but it’s hard to feel inspired when my current home looks like it had a violent run-in with an IKEA truck. How would you fill in the blank?

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