Stepping Stones - 8 Ways To Start Living The Sweet Life

I turned 60 last April, and technically that was the unofficial start of my retirement years. But what exactly does retirement mean to me?  For the last 4 years, I have been semi-retired from my job, if you can call it that, having been detailed to a desk job at the main office. However, it's not a real retirement because I still had a job, and go to work everyday, even if my duties and responsibilities have been curtailed.  Honestly, I really don't like the word "retirement" because it gives a negative connotation, like you're giving up on something in life, or withdrawing from a productive lifestyle, or simply stop working just because you've reached that certain age where you're considered "old" and thus, becomes less significant.  But, growing older is inevitable and I accept the fact that I am now in the "retirement phase". I am looking at it positively, with a different perspective, as I see retirement as a stepping stone to a new beginning...the start of endless possibilities, facing life with a relaxed attitude, without any expectations or demands.  That for me is living the sweet life...La Dulce Vida!

7 Easy Steps For A Smooth Skin Look

There is a method to the madness a woman does every morning as she fixes her face for make-up.  I call it my 7 Easy Steps for a smooth skin look. I have oily skin specifically in my T-zone area, and a bit ruddy in skin tone with a few age spots. I am thankful that having avoided the sun since my 30's have given me relatively few wrinkles which can easily be concealed. I have long experimented with a lot of ways on how to make my face look smoother (but not too made-up), and I find that these 7 steps does work for me, especially now that I have older skin. I hope it does for any woman at any age too.

7 Makeup Tools Every Woman Should Have

I was always fascinated with makeup ever since I was little. My mother was a powder and lipstick kind of girl, but my father had cousins who would take hours doing their hair and makeup before they go out.  I used to watch them when I go to my grandparents' house every weekend and would practice at home using whatever left-over make-up they gave me.  You can just imagine the hilarious results and how annoyed my mother was.  I became quite adept doing eye makeup for elementary and high school presentations (the only time I was allowed to do so), but I noticed that the colors did not blend well.  I did not know then that there were different makeup tools needed for application and blending.  All I had were small sponge applicators that came with the eyeshadows. It was much later in my adult life that I learned that there were different brushes and sponges for every kind of makeup product.  Today, there are so many in the market that one has to know the differences between each one.  Unfortunately, not all makeup tools (and products for that matter) are made equal.

How To Take Care of Your Skin

In the old days (I can't believe I wrote that), most women were not aware about the importance of taking care of their skin. Maybe because there were not much information or skin care products available then. I was raised to wash my face with soap and water and not much else. Before I reached my 50's I really did not pay much attention to my skin. My skin care regimen basically consisted of the following 3 steps, twice a day: washing my face with water, apply toner or astringent, then moisturizer for my oily skin, but sometimes, step 2 and 3 were optional depending on how late for work or how sleepy I was.  And of course, there's sunbathing and sunburn. I was a beach baby up till my late teens and sunscreen/sunblocks were not available in my time.  But even if they were, I don't think I would have used them anyway since tanning was the fad and suntan lotions were the norm.  I remember slathering on baby oil mixed with several drops of tincture of iodine to get even darker. OUCH, those were "innocent" days!

Age Is But A Number

In the lunar new year, 1956 and 2016 are Fire Monkey years.  I am not an astrology fan but, I was born in 1956 and it was nice to know that the fire monkey appears only every 60 years, making this my year. In 2 months, I will leave my 50's behind and as I begin my senior years, what better time to begin a new blog about life after 59.  Last year, a day before my 59th birthday, I wrote a post in one of my blogs about dealing with life changes.  Everything I wrote in that post are lessons I learned through the years, and I realized that there are still so many things to learn, as well as to share experiences with others. Yes, life as a senior citizen begins at 60 but, contrary to common perception, becoming senior does not make one old. Age is but a number! 

This blog will give another meaning to the life as a senior citizen and... it's not old age!