Welcome to Goldivas.com, for women over 50 who are too young to be old.

 

The Invisible Woman I’m no different than other women. Every morning I look in the mirror to judge what’s there, and one recent morning I saw it. An obvious, very visible, lack of something.  Clearly, I needed a  new lipstick.   I headed straight for the upscale makeup counter in the upscale mall. There they were, a bazillion lipsticks, propped up and showcased like fresh tulips. Three sales clerks were in attendance. Great, I thought. I’ll just choose one of these and be on my way.   Hah! Not before I got a lesson in what it means to be a woman of a certain age.   There was only one other customer, but all three available clerks scurried around her like Disney mice. I hadn’t seen that staff-to-customer ratio since my last cruise.    ( more...)

Summertime, summertime! Summer dressing is fraught with perils for career women. We want to be fashionable, but we also need to avoid dressing in a provocative manner. We want to be comfortable without looking too casual or “frumpy”. Many women make the mistake of thinking that they will be judged on the quality of their work and wardrobe doesn’t matter, but that is just not the case. And it seems that fashion trends often work against women, especially in the summertime. I guess the designers think we spend our days at the beach and our evenings at fancy parties!    This year, we’re told not to wear nude pantyhose. Bare legs may be more comfortable when it’s 90° outside,   ( more...)

Santa Fe – The City Different Visiting Santa Fe is such fun! This city has something for everyone. There are loads of museums (including the Georgia O’Keefe Museum), art galleries, and incredible shops. The area is steeped in history, originally was inhabited by Pueblo Indians in the eleventh century and first visited by the Spaniards in 1598. The Spaniards founded the town of Santa Fe in 1608 and continously inhabited the city except for the time from 1680-1692, when they were driven out by the Indians. The U.S. declared war on Mexico in 1846, and gained possession of New Mexico in 1848. New Mexico became our 47th state in 1912, and Santa Fe was designated the capital. At 7,000 feet, Santa Fe is the highest state capital in the U.S. – be sure to drink a lot of water if you visit, that will help you adjust to the altitude.   The railroad by-passed Santa Fe in the 1800’s, and the city went into decline. Mindful of the area’s potential as a tourist destination, the city enacted building  ( more...)

Is There A Book In You? Many of us women over 50 dream of writing a book, and some of us actually do! It has become so much easier to publish a book these days, what with the growth of self-publishing and e-books.   Mary Kinney Branson wrote her first book at age 25, and has written 17 books since that time. But, Mary had always worked in the corporate world at the same time. After retiring from her position as Marketing Director for a national organization, Mary and her husband Jack are now immersed in writing full-time. They have recently co-authored “ Murder in Mayberry ”, a true crime story about the murder of Jack’s aunt in Madisonville, Kentucky. The story is especially compelling because of the authors’ close connection to the victim, and to the perpetrator who is also a family member.  ( more...)

Summer Legs Bare legs are a neccessity in summer, and women over 50 may have some issues with that. To start, you’ll probably want to use a self-tanner. I suspect that the color result may be affected by individual skin tone and chemistry, but here are some to try: More magazine recommends St. Tropez tanner - $37, and I’ve had good luck with Nivea - $10. The Nivea tanners come in fair-medium and medium-dark, it’s good for us lighter-skinned ladies to have that choice. Drugstore.com offers a number of other choices as well, so if you try one brand and don’t like the results, try another brand. If you have very dark or very light skin, you may want to skip this altogether. Self-tanners are drying, so be sure to use a good lotion in between tanner applications.  ( more...)

Tough Stuff! I admit it – I’m a tech groupie! I love to hear about interesting new businesses, and I belong to the Colorado Green Tech Group - http://alternativeenergy.meetup.com/ The group meets monthly, and each meeting consists of presentations by 3 or 4 companies that describe their business and products, all having to do with green energy. Last month, all of the presentations were fascinating, but one in particular stood out for me – ToughStuff, a social enterprise that provides inexpensive solar powered products to low income consumers in developing countries to create social, financial and environmental returns. ToughStuff exists to alleviate poverty in developing countries and to help protect the environment. Typically, consumers in developing countries use kerosene lamps for lighting.  ( more...)

Investing Made Easy With The Little Book That Beats The Market Joel Greenblatt is the founder and a managing partner of Gotham Capital, a private investment partnership that has achieved outstanding returns since its inception in 1985. He is a professor on the adjunct faculty of Columbia Business School, and holds a BS and an MBA from the Wharton School.  ( more...)

Overdosed America This book, Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine (P.S.) should be required reading for everyone who takes a prescription medication, especially if that medication is prescribed for high cholesterol or osteoporosis. The author, Dr. John Abramson, relates the history of the interaction of pharmaceutical companies (medical industry), the FDA, and respected medical journals to show how the medical industry has gradually taken over control of information that is supplied to doctors and consumers.  ( more...)