I just picked up your April 2004 issue; I’d never read your magazine before, but I have to say I thought it was great. Especially the article on Trisha Meili [”The Will and the Way”], the bravest and most beautiful woman I have ever read of, I was so intrigued by how she worked her way through all the trauma of what happened to her to get back into great physical shape. For many women–including myself–it’s so hard to start to get into good physical shape. But for someone who went through such an ordeal and still feels that she should keep her body in shape–well, I commend her. She is both brave and beautiful.

A mere 2 percent of women consider themselves beautiful, and only 9 percent feel comfortable describing themselves as attractive, according to a survey of 3,200 women ages 18-64 in 10 countries, conducted by Dove with psychologist Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D., and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University.

“The study shows that women are less satisfied with their beauty than with almost any other dimension of life,” Etcoff explains.

In conjunction with the study, Dove is working through the Unilever Foundation to sponsor programs that help build self-confidence for girls in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Click on campaignforrealbeauty.com for more information.

Increasingly, I think good skin is down to good genes. What? I can’t believe I said that. That’s so, like, defeatist. A beauty heresy. The whole cosmetics industry is predicated on a profound, almost Thatcherite, belief in self-improvement. And if changing your eating habits might help your skin, change them you do.

I recently interviewed a registered dietician from the Dr Perricone team, to keep up with the latest thinking on how to glow. Perricone, who started the fish craze of 2001 that saw the Atlantic sieved of salmon, believes that beauty lies within… your gut. He is the most sought-after cosmetic dietician in Manhattan (”I’d do anything to get an appointment,” raved a customer in a recent New York Times profile). Perricone’s representative in London has his own niche in Selfridges’ Living Beauty. He also has strong views on protein. It’s not a one-stop shop, protein. I always thought that, say, two days of leaf-eating followed by a mixed grill kept your levels even. But, apparently, skin gets more out of a small protein instalment several times a day: a handful of nuts with your cereal, a boiled egg in your salad etc. Mete out your meat, basically. That gives the body a chance to convert it into amino acids, which in turn help regulate cell production and hormone levels. As for supplements, the dietician preaches discernment. Knocking back Evening Primrose oil will stimulate sebum production, so while it helps dry skin it hinders acne. You can do no better, of course, than biting the golden bullets of Perricone’s Omega-3 capsules ([pound]59 for 270, tel: 0800 783 25 83 or www.drperricone.com). Fruit is important for smokers - not juices, in which vitamins are degraded and sugars released - but whole pieces, which have more fibre too. Or you could try Perricone’s Super Berry Powder ([pound]41.90 for 135g), which makes a sour, grainy, virulently purple cocktail that some would call a refreshing drink.

I’ve been following these rules for a few weeks now. My skin is not transformed, but it is better. And will continue to become so. Oh yes, it will. Because beauty is attained by effort, right?

Copyright 2006 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

The spotlights will be on Beauty and the Beast Saturday night, June 22. The Beauty, of course, will be Cinderella. And the Beast? The Creature from the Zoo Lagoon. They will make their appearances at two parties that evening.

Cinderella will be a special guest when Oklahoma Children’s Theatre presents Cinderella’s Ball in the ornate First National Center Lobby. The magical evening of cocktails, dinner and dancing will begin at 7 p.m. when Go for Baroque will provide music to welcome the black-tie guests. Costumed pages will announce each guest, and throughout the evening Cinderella, Prince Charming, the wicked stepsisters and other fabled characters will enact bits of the children’s story. Pearl will play for dancing later. Reservations are $3,000 for a table of eight — designated as Kings and Queens — in the Royal Court. Prince and Princess reservations are $1,500 for four Royal Court seats. Both categories of underwriters also will receive gala keepsakes. Lords and Ladies may reserve court seating for $150 per person, while individual reservations are $100 per person. Checks made out to Oklahoma Children’s Theatre may be mailed to Mrs. Kevin White, 12601 Oakdale Forest Court, Edmond, 73013.

Proceeds from Cinderella’s Ball will benefit the Oklahoma Children’s Theater that is housed at City Arts Center in State Fair Park. Established a decade ago as the state’s only full-time professional company, the theater is dedicated to providing quality children’s theater and programming to more than 65,000 children, parents and educators each year. Becky Love is chairman of the gala, and Lyn Adams is executive director of City Arts Center and Oklahoma Children’s Theatre. The Oklahoma Zoological Society is inviting guests to participate in what could be a most unnerving, yet amazing, discovery. At 6 p.m., this group of brave explorers will set out down the “Mighty Amazon” in search of The Creature from the Zoo Lagoon. This party, called Zoobilation `96, presents the half-man, half-fish, half-baked premiere party animal — or so the committee promises!

Joy Heiman is chairing the party that was announced with a simply awesome poster of a creature holding a beautiful blonde (a la King Kong). Guests are invited to wear safari or South American Native attire or Argentine gaucho clothing. In small print, it says “wear a tie … you’ll take a swim” so beware.

The wit of Patrick Alexander, executive director of the sponsoring Oklahoma Zoological Society, is evident in these words: “More scary than your teen-age daughter’s first date; more terrifying than Newt Gingrich in biker shorts and more frightening than the time it takes to put in a new sewer line at the zoo!”

Patrons may attend this unique party for a fee of $125 American dollars per person, which guarantees a reserved, covered seat at the banquet and special recognition. Guests may attend for $50 per person, which guarantees a great time but no reserved seating. Proceeds benefit the Building for Our Children Campaign, to construct a new education and conservation center for the zoo. Checks made out to “the creature” may be mailed to the Oklahoma Zoological Society, P.O. Box 18424, Oklahoma City 73154.

Beauty and the Beast. What a choice to have to make that evening.

Both are sure to be delightful parties.

Waterford renovations

Extensive renovations to the Waterford Hotel are completed, and the hotel is proudly showing itself off. The exterior architecture, the Veranda Terrace, Veranda Restaurant, main lobby, ballrooms and the 197 guest rooms have undergone the elaborate revamping.

Hotel guests will be treated to rich fabrics, soothing colors and exciting art that gives the hotel at NW 63rd St. and Pennsylvania Ave. a new feeling to complement its world-class cuisine.

At an invitational party next week, two acclaimed chefs from Waterford’s sister hotels will join the Waterford executive chef, Randall Pentecost, to offer a sampling of the best of New American cuisine. The guest chefs are Peter Davis of the Charles Hotel at Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass., and Eric Neri of the Don CeSar Beach Resort and Spa, St. Petersburg, Fla.

Entertainment, fine wine, champagne and cigar tastings will be offered to the invited guests.

Golly, I remember when that corner was the Baptist Children’s Home. Then Charlie Givens broke ground for the hotel, and when he does a groundbreaking, it’s an occasion to remember. Among other things, I recall the parachuters who landed at pre-dug “fox holes” where French maids with silver trays and champagne greeted them. (Or was that at the opening? Oh, well, it was memorable, anyway.)

Golf tourneys ahead

Golfers will want to know about two tourneys coming up.

Junior Achievement will sponsor a Million Dollar Hole-in-One July 10-14 at the Remington Park Infield. Qualifying rounds will be held each day when participants will pay $1 per shot for a chance at the finals and the $1 million prize.

PUEBLO - For the past few years, the Sangre de Cristo Arts Center has been synonymous with beautiful, thought-provoking and surprising exhibits.

But “Southern Colorado’s Beautiful Mind,” three stories of eye- and-mind-boggling exhibits opening today, sets a new standard for Pueblo’s arts center.

It’s not just the quality of the work, but the sensation of discovery. John Suhay has been the center’s photographerresidence for decades, but this is his first major exhibition; the late outsider artist Tony “The Bricklayer” Perniciaro was better known as a personality than as an artist; visionary painter Orlin Helgoe has been all but forgotten; and cardboard artist Jessie Montes and computer artist Ivy Carter are virtual unknowns. Only painter Dean Fleming has a national reputation — but, says curator Jina Pierce, “he’s one of the most underrated artists in Colorado.”

All this would make “Southern Colorado’s Beautiful Mind” as strong a group of exhibits as has ever appeared at the center. Making it even stronger is a substantial exhibit of Rembrandt etchings.

Pierce considered calling these exhibits “Creativity and Madness” before settling on something more neutral. But madness is not far below the surface here, especially in the paintings by Helgoe, an art teacher at the University of Southern Colorado before his suicide in 1982 at age 52.

“He’s the most significant artist who ever lived in Pueblo,” Pierce says. Helgoe’s work is large and powerful, especially the paintings inspired by a buck he shot on a 1970 hunting trip, which led to an epiphany about the nature of our connection with the world. In addition to conveying deep spirituality, Helgoe was a master painter. Each painting seems to occupy a different visual world, whether it’s the eerily transparent yellows of “Skyline Lady,” or the bold shapes against white space of “Death of a Two-Point Buck.”

In Perniciaro’s lifetime — he died in 2004 at the age of 87 — he was best known as a loudmouthed heckler at art openings who stuffed his coat pockets with whatever food was available.

But Perniciaro was also a poet who turned out thousands of pieces of art. His drawing style was aggressively childish, and he apparently had no desire to improve; but the visual crudity perfectly complements his direct but poetic captions.

Simplicity and poignancy unite in such works as “Was born during the age of steam… am dying in the age of hot air,” or “When the dream is over, don’t forget to put it in a box” — a drawing of a corpse.

“John Suhay came with the building,” Pierce says. He used to rummage around in the trash heap that the center replaced in 1972. His work — which fills the center’s largest gallery — is a monument to a life of carrying a camera around. Suhay has created a photographic record of Pueblo the likes of which few cities can boast.

Suhay describes himself as “documentarian” rather than fine artist, and technically he’s telling the truth.

Some of the shots are crude — even some of the best ones, such as “Not Quite Happy with the Photographer,” with its irritated- looking state fair employee.

But he always demonstrates an artist’s eye and patience, whether it’s an atmospheric picture of the CF&I steel mill or a quirky shot of southern Colorado high society.

Fleming’s work is as big and bold as Helgoe’s, but the tone is open and joyful rather than painfully introspective.

“When I talk to Dean, I feel like I’m talking to God,” says Pierce of the artist who founded Libre, the nation’s oldest active artist’s commune.

In this series of tree and branch landscapes, Fleming uses an enormous brush with a stunning combination of freedom, richness and economy.

Montes is a former high-school custodian who was so bothered by the amount of trash the school generated that he began to recycle some of it, using thin strips of corrugated cardboard to create applique works that range from kitsch to genius.

Thematically, the connection of Rembrandt to the rest of the exhibits isn’t the artist but the collector: Ronald Moreschini, whose other interests include Victrolas and mechanical banks.

Most of these prints were pulled after Rembrandt’s death, but they’re mostly high-quality versions and they are, after all, Rembrandt, doing something he did better than anyone else in history.

The opening is 5-8 p.m. today. The Rembrandt exhibit is open through April 23, Fleming through April 30, and Carter, Helgoe, Montes and Perniciaro through May 8. details

The Sangre de Cristo Arts Center presents “Southern Colorado’s Beautiful Mind”

When: Opening 5-8 p.m. today; regular hours 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday

Where: 210 N. Santa Fe Ave., Pueblo

Why do you always have to decide between having looks or brains? Some gadgets look just great, but don’t deliver when it comes to features, ease of use, or just doing their job. Others look custom- made for geeks but perform their functions efficiently.

Now there is a growing third sector of gadgets that have been designed to match form and function, so that one helps the other with efficient, beautiful results. Some of the latest examples are to be found in the competitive world of mobile phones, where it’s now possible to find a fully featured phone in a tiny, cute casing, or a neat handset with the music capabilities of an iPod Nano. The Nano, of course, is a perfect match of beauty and intelligence. Apple proved years ago that it was possible to make a powerful computer that was also irresistible to look at, though few others have managed to achieve the same thing since. And, in the world of portable music, everyone else is playing catch-up with the iPod, though some are beginning to challenge the designs of Jonathan Ive.

There’s nothing like a bit of competition to make you sit up and take notice: last year the Nintendo DS portable games console did well, but nobody thought the design could match that of the Sony PlayStation Portable. So Nintendo has redesigned its handheld to give it a cutting-edge look, by taking a leaf out of Apple’s book…

Sennheiser OMX 90 VC pounds 49.99 These in-ear headphones helpfully clip around the ears, so even if you have large lugholes they shouldn’t pop out when you run, for example. They’re adjustable to fit your ear shape and position, with variable-sized rubber buds - handy if your ears are slightly different sizes (there’s no shame in that). The styling owes a lot to Bang & Olufsen’s headphones but these fit the ear just as well, if not better, at a lower price. The volume control is on an in- line device which is useful. Sound quality is good, both because the fit means external noise is minimised, and a damping system means the sound you hear is the music.

Up Great sound quality.

Down Not quite as classy as the B&O headphones they’re aping.

Contact 0800 652 5002′

www.sennheiser.co.uk

Nintendo DS Lite pounds 99.99

It’s smaller than the original DS handheld gaming device, and has an even brighter screen, which makes colourful games such as the excel lent New Super Mario Bros really shine. Its new, iPod- inspired styling means that its appeal will reach further than the kids who liked the first one, and it has new games designed to match - such as the popular Nintendogs, in which you bring up a virtual canine, or the massively popular Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training, which measures your brain’s age. The DS has two screens, one of which is touch-sensitive, so you can play using a stylus. It also has a microphone, so you can interact with games such as Brain Training by shouting. Wireless capabilities mean you can play against other gamers sitting across the room or anywhere in the world.

Up Impressive screen and games.

Down It’s still just a games machine.

Contact www.nintendods.com

Creative Zen V Plus pounds 100-pounds 170

Creative is always keen to stress why its MP3 players are better than those of its rivals, so no surprise it has emphasised that the Zen V Plus is scratch-resistant, after the damaged-screen scandal that greeted the launch of the iPod Nano. Like the Nano, it is a flash-memory player, and comes in 1GB, 2GB and 4GB sizes, to store up to 1,000 tracks (Creative gives higher figures than this, but it means losing audio quality). Beyond that, it’s very different from its Apple equivalent - you can plug it into a hi-fi and record to it directly without the need for a PC, it has both an FM radio and a microphone built in.

Up Excellent, colourful screen.

Down Not Mac-compatible.

Contact 0800 376 7954′

www.europe.creative.com

LG White Chocolate pounds 249.95

The Chocolate phone, launched earlier this year, has already sold more than 2 million units worldwide. It is slim, shiny and different - not least because of its light-up, touch-sensitive keys. True, there are some issues with these (the lightest touch means you can end up calling someone by accident) but it’s a minor quibble with style like this. Now it’s time for this white version, with a hot pink edition also due next month.

Up Cool styling and tiny size.

Down The operating system takes a little time to master.

Contact Carphone Warehouse (0800 925 925′

www.carphonewarehouse.com)

Sony T30 pounds 253

Since the arrival of the T1, Sony’s digital cameras have had a thing going on with style. The super-slim T7 was perhaps the best- looking, but this latest incarnation is the best mixture of looks and brains. The brushed-aluminium exterior will turn heads, while features such as Double Anti-Blur (which counteracts distortion caused by either camera shake or fast-moving objects) ensure you get great pictures. It’s a 7.2-megapixel camera, so images are rich and detailed even on large prints, and there’s a generous 3in screen on the back. As always with Sony, it has a high-quality Carl Zeiss lens, which also helps.

I have the villain of a headache, my eyes are two piss holes in the sand, my tongue is fish-and-chip paper.” Dylan Thomas sounds like he’s in need of some emergency help from the Beauty Bag. Here’s some hangover crisis management advice for him, and anyone else who has but is now tearfully wishing they hadn’t.

There are two types of hangover. The Workday Hangover, which must be disguised as quickly and efficiently as possible, and the Saturday Hangover, which can be nursed with a long hot soak. For the first, I recommend a speedy squirt/ shimmer/puff facial routine. This consists of a squirt of rehydrating spritz to combat the dehydration - try Caudalie’s divinely refreshing Beauty Elixir (pounds 9, 020-7304 7038). Next, a dollop of Prescriptives glowing Vitamin Infuser will lift your absinthe pallor (pounds 35, 01730 232566). A puff of Benefit’s Dandelion blusher (pounds 22, 0901-113 30001) and you will soon look not just better, but almost human too. For a speedy treatment, try Capsule’s cooling Pick Me Up mask (pounds 14, 020- 7408 4444) which only takes three minutes. Lie back and think of dolphins while it minimises that telltale redness.

And when you have a hangover, have overslept and have dirty hair (for trouble always comes in threes) try a new product from KMS - the Turnstylr cleansing spray (pounds 7.50, 01323-413 2000). Not the most savoury idea, but it does help bring a ray of hope to your dark, dark morning.
Now, those at liberty to wallow in their hangover have a whole host of treatments to enjoy. L’Occitane’s Honey Comfort Mask (pounds 15, 020-7907 0301) the cosmetic equivalent of a hug. For bleary eyes, try Du Wop’s I-gels, which look just like silicone boobs but are far more cooling when applied to the eye socket (pounds 16, 020-7379 0379). One tip, however, learnt from bitter experience - don’t over- do the body oil, since this only makes it harder for your pores to expel Famous Grouse.

And next time, stick to champagne. For it’s apparently “the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful” said Madame de Pompadour, and she should know.

One day last week, lying in a darkened room as a warm, peeled, hardboiled egg was rolled around on my face by a Malaysian beauty therapist, I got to thinking: we have developed an extremely sweet tooth in the West.”Edible”-scented beauty products are almost exclusively of the sugary variety’ even if you balk at slathering yourself in body lotions laden with the scent of synthetic vanilla, you’ve probably got a product in your bathroom that’s a little bit lemon-y. Fruit and sweets, then, we associate with health and happiness, making them ideal for daily ablutions. But what about grooming oneself with something a little more … savoury? Last Christmas, I was given a foot-soak that was flavoured with mustard.Now, I love mustard, but I don’t want to smell of it (not deliberately, anyway). I stuck with the “Chinese Pearl, Rice and Egg Undulation Facial” (pounds 75, 1hr) though - I know, only a smoked haddock short of kedgeree - and afterwards my skin looked clearer and eventoned. Savoury-scented beauty treatments are anathema to Westerners, but it’s a different story in Chinese and Malaysian culture, where many ingredients double up for both medicinal and culinary purposes.We like to try out such treatments because they’re exotic - but we risk experiencing a kind of sensory culture shock. The facial I tried is part of the Malaysian Spa Festival at Urban Retreat at Harrods (to 28 May)’ they’re also offering a deep-tissue Malay massage (pounds 75, 1hr) that uses an oil blended from turmeric, citronella, cinnamon, onion and garlic. Only for the adventurous - and never before a date, obviously.

Carter and Holmes offers visitors something that’s hard to resist- some of the most beautiful orchids you’ve ever seen.

It was love at first sight. At Carter and Holmes Orchids in Newberry, South Carolina, rows of Phalaenopsis orchids bloomed with graceful sprays of pink flowers. But how to get one of the fragile-looking beauties home on the plane?

“No problem,” said Mac Holmes, head of one of the largest orchid growers in the country. “Select one with buds, and we’ll pack it for travel just like we do the orchids that we ship to customers all over the world.” Mac is living proof that family roots run deep. Carter and Holmes was started by Mac’s father and uncle more than 50 years ago. “My uncle, Bill Carter, was a high school principal and history teacher who came home to care for a family member and opened a florist shop,” explains Mac. “My father, fresh out of the marines, came home for a visit and stayed to open a gift shop. They combined the two businesses and moved to the family homeplace where they’d grown up together. In the beginning they specialized in cut flowers, but for the last 30 or so years we’ve concentrated on orchid plants for hobby growers.

“This was my summer job when I was growing up. So when my father was going to retire, I moved back to help out.” Mac, who gave up a law practice in Atlanta to return home and run the family business, is guiding the company into the next 50 years. “Orchids make up one of the largest plant families on earth, and they’re also the most varied,” he explains. Carter and Holmes is an internationally recognized orchid hybridizer, known especially for its “art shade” cattleyas. Orchids are produced here from seed and from tissue culture. “We’ve been ‘cloning’ orchids for well over 20 years,” says Mac.

And what about the Phalaenopsis I’d selected? “This is one of the easiest for the beginner to grow,” Mac assures me. “Just remember the four mistakes many people make when growing not only orchids but other plants as well: not giving them enough light; overwatering; overfertilizing (less is more) or not fertilizing at all; and putting them in pots that are too large (orchids like to be tight in the pot).

So how’s my orchid doing? It’s blooming beautifully. Karen Lingo

Carter and Holmes Orchids: 629 Mendenhall Road, Newberry, SC 29108; (803) 2760579. Web site: www.carterandholmes.com. Hours: 9 a.m-4p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Copyright Southern Progress Corporation Feb 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved

IRELAND’S most beautiful sisters swapped their stilettos and designer threads for wetsuits and flippers when they made a splash off the coast.

Supermodel Jane Bradbury and marine biologist Kate proved they were model sisters when they took starring roles in a documentary about the wonders of Ireland’s Atlantic coast.

The pair, who took the New York fashion world by storm with their beauty and charm, frolicked with fun-loving seals in Kerry.

Statuesque Jane has rubbed shoulders with fellow supermodels Kate Moss, Helena Christensen and Claudia Schiffer on catwalk shows and has fronted campaigns for Burberry, Louis Vuitton and Gucci.  The sisters, from Athy in Kildare, went deep sea diving off the coast this week with fellow models to seek out the marine life teeming under the surface for a new TV3 series.

Supermodel Jane, who has recently starred in two movies, said she was thrilled to get back in Irish waters.

She said yesterday: “I’m obsessed with the water since we were really young.

“We used to go to Omey Island which is tidal island off Clifden. Katie wanted to do this dive to create marine awareness and I was delighted to come over to do it with her.

“I love it here. Idealistically I would spent half my time here. The great thing now is financially I don’t have to work all the time.”

The stunning five foot ten inch Kildare girl wowed America when she arrived in New York at the age of 19 as the new Ford supermodel in mid nineties.  Her sister Kate followed her over five years ago but she left the fashion world after just a year and a half.

The 24-year-old, who has just qualified as a marine zoologist, said she was too busy on marine missions around the world to hold down a career as a model.

The beautiful marine expert said: “My sister was in the business and people were always saying ‘Oh Kate, you should be a model’.

“Finally I said I’ll go and do it. I went to New York and travelled around the world. I went to Paris, Milan, London, New York.

“The model agency was always looking for me. I would be going on volunteer ships to Central America or I would be somewhere in a rain forest. Then I just left modelling to come into the marine biology world.

“I decided I wanted to concentrate on volunteer ships and getting a greater awareness of the marine world.”

And she is determined to show Irish people the wonders of the ocean around the island.

Kate said she came up with the idea to hold a National Marine Awareness Day after discovering how little Irish people knew about their ocean.

She said: “I wanted to use models and celebrities to build awareness of the Irish Sea. I want to make the environment hip.

“We did the dive off the coast of Castlegregory in Kerry.

“Back in November I did some education work for schools. I was amazed at the huge ignorance about what’s in our Irish sea.

“So I decided to do the Brown Thomas Show at Christmas and start to work on the project from there.”

Four models - the Bradbury sisters, male Irish model Julian Pearson and model Johanna Maher - frolicked around in the water for the documentary which will be shown on TV3.

Kate said she is fascinated by the amount of life swimming around off the coast.

“I was watching Minke whales last weekend rising up between a hundred dolphins swimming around Dingle Bay,” she said.

She said her passion for the marine world was sparked in her aunt and uncle’s home on Omey Island off the coast of Mayo.

She said: “We spent every summer there and used to just hang out in the sea all the time.”

Meanwhile her sister is flying back to fast and furious worlds of New York film and fashion after her dip in the Irish Sea.

She is signed up with the exclusive Women Agency who also represent Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell.

She said she was bowled over when she appeared on her first big international show a few years ago.

“The first time I did this huge show in Italy, there with Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss, Helena Christensen and it was overwhelming,” she said.

“I knew the girls quite well. I know Helena very well and Giselle but I’m not so much in the modelling world too much anymore.

“I didn’t meet anyone else Irish over there. It’s a different world. It is a kind of a fast and furious life.

“There are a lot of beautiful girls but it depends on your personality as well. When you go away on a shoot you have to spend a few days with people. They want to know they can get on with you.”