Celebrate being in the midst of living by taking control of your fitness and well being!
It is our very age and experience that is the added value we bring to new adventures.
March 31 Go From I Can't To I Can, A painting & writing workshop, Featuring Shelly the Artist.
April 9 Sex! An Evening Conversation with Dr. Sherry Ross on Sexual Health post menopause. Wine will be served!
Here’s to Shelley the Artist! Usually, art is a visual experience that happens outside of the process. The artist working alone, the journey from idea to canvas experienced in finality by the viewer who brings her own sensibilities to the finished work. Shelley Levy, known professionally as Shelley the Artist (www.shelleytheartist.com) made a decision to …
Continue reading “Watercolor me Powerful! Art Workshops with Shelley the Artist”
We don’t talk money in polite society. But we should. The third installment of my Brown Bag It & Learn series is on the topic of money and how best women can take control of their castles! It’s a conversation that needs to be part of our everyday discussions as we walk around the park …
Continue reading “Modern Women Take Control of Your Castle: Talk Money!”
One of the best parts of my job is meeting women over 50 being fearless! Meet Guest Blogger: Deborah Burns, publishing her first book #after50! Deborah’s first book, Saturday’s Child, will be on bookshelves in April 2019, available now for pre-order on Amazon. It is the story of her unconventional mother, and described as “a must-read …
Continue reading “The One About How a Daughter Changed Her Mother’s Life!”
We launched and lunched! Fiftiness hosted its first Brown Bag It & Learn, a series of lunchtime conversations, on January 25, 2019. William Bumiller, licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, MFT, started the conversation on the topic of Understanding Men Better. Why Understanding Men? I wanted to bring this topic to the forefront of fit living …
The best of intentions (alone) don’t get you into shape or get you that new job you so want! So, I asked how do you take an intention for the new year and turn it into an action plan for success. The answer was in creating enVision Boards. A three-dimensional embodiment of not just your …
Continue reading “Best of Intentions: An Artful Workshop for enVision Boards!”
2018 was a pivotal year for women. It’s no wonder that along with raising voices for sexuality, in politics and in the workplace, we have also raised the mantle for women’s friendships and community. One of the unique components in creating community for women is how quickly we click. Like LEGO pieces snapping together to …
This week is about Family Time and friends! This story is about disconnecting. This post is intentionally short because you shouldn’t be hidden behind a screen this week. Go light up the faces of your family and friends by giving them the gift of you. Turn off your technology! The next seven days, between Christmas …
Welcome the New Year by celebrating the old! New Year’s Eve is two weeks away. 2018 will be put to bed with the same fanfare that I used to put my children to bed. Celebrations and negotiations! Remember those days? The navigations in getting them in the bathroom washed and PJ’ed. The negotiations over what …
Finding balance in life, like being told to be more present, is a great destination if you can get there. Without a roadmap it’s like wandering lost with a dead iPhone and no GPS to guide you. As a Life Coach, Death Doula and educator I strive to help my clients create that roadmap. I …
Continue reading “Woman to Woman, No Pitch! Today’s Topic: Essential Oils”
Women over fifty are mobilizing! I find myself distracted lately at coffee shops where young women are working together, plucking at their phones, planning and scheming for new campaigns or other projects. It makes me want to shout. Watch Out, we are coming for your youth! Women over fifty may be getting older, but we …
Continue reading “Women Over Fifty Mobilize Your Experience!”
photo credit rawpixel Beware: old people having sex and they may be your parents! Empty nesting was supposed to mean running naked through the house. Sex with open doors. Kissing in the kitchen without the threat of a child’s scorn and loud, “Ew, that’s gross!” Instead, you find yourself with house-mates, your adult children! If …
Continue reading “Knock Before Entering, Old People Having Sex!”
Living with devastating loss is like dancing on a trap door. One moment I feel light hearted and weightless and the next, like I’m falling fast onto the shards below. Since my son’s death fifteen years ago, I’ve discovered that when I dance more I fall less. Dancing allows me to see myself in a …
Continue reading “On Becoming a Bonafide, Kick-Ass Hustle Dancer at 55”
I have been afraid of the water since I was six years old and my mother carried me out in the Atlantic Ocean to “teach me to swim.” She took me to where it was over my head and up to her neck. Dropped me there before she turned and walked back to the beach. …
Commuting to work on my bike has brought my competitive spirit back—a quality I thought I left behind on the softball field my senior year in high school. My heart pounds in excitement as I gear up to ride, just like it did when I stepped up to the plate. The ride into Harvard Square …
Fearless Flying brought a group of women together to celebrate the launch of Fiftiness! Behind the screen at Fiftiness, we always knew that we wanted to get off the page and gather women in a room together, doing something. There is magic that occurs when we are in action, talking, laughing, and most importantly, learning from …
Continue reading “Fearless Flying With Courage And Laughter (Watch)”
An Athlete (temporarily) interrupted by injuries and illness, I roared back at 50 with my first sprint triathlon Three strokes, inhale on the left, three strokes, inhale on the right. That’s my normal swimming pattern, but I’m not in the pool anymore. Each time I come up for air saltwater fills my nostrils, threatening to sink …
Continue reading “I Got My Groove Back Doing A Sprint Triathlon!”
How to Create a Walking Practice and Make it a Natural, Enjoyable Part of Your Day Find your natural rhythm Figure out the best times to walk for your schedule. Maybe it’s first thing in the morning. Or with your kids on the way to school. After lunch. Taking the dog out. After dinner. Before bedtime. …
Continue reading “Your Guide To An Everyday Walking Practice”
Motivation Flagging? It’s Time for You to Fall in Love with Fitness When you are motivated, you make a million fitness goals. You buy new workout clothes, you join a gym, you plan to go to a spinning class or learn how the free weights can work for you. You are ready! But, it usually …
Continue reading “Motivation Tips For Falling In Love With Fitness”
Sometimes the best gift you give yourself is accepting a bit of help. Dana Rahe reshaped her 50’s by hiring a personal trainer. . . Something clicked as I was approaching 50. In large part, it was the encouragement of my family, but also, it was just time – time for me to get …
Continue reading “Her 50s Involve a New Career and a New Body”
It’s Day 31 of our Just One Thing Challenge – How making one small, maintainable change can have huge effects… Every heard of the butterfly effect? The idea that small causes can have large effects. It’s been said that the flapping of the wings of a butterfly on one side of the planet can cause …
Continue reading “Just One Thing Challenge Day 31 – The Butterfly Effect”
Once upon a time, aging gracefully meant acceptance. A woman simply accepted a few more wrinkles, a few more pounds and little less hair through her 50’s and 60’s. She acquiesced to those changes and she wore them proudly as women had done for centuries, wearing their age as badges of wisdom and experience. Women …
Continue reading “Aging Gracefully Not An Option Fight Back with Knowledge”
Teaching yoga, it is not unusual to witness yoga students over age fifty struggling into poses that likely sent them searching for the icepack later. Most recently, it was a man and two women. I’m guessing about their ages; over fifty is erring on the side of youth. The man was straining in an easy-to-categorize …
Do one thing. That was my mantra. Make one small, truly manageable change. I began with coffee. Coffee had been the scrooge of my existence since I was child. It was something I associated with my father and not in a good way. I was shocked to find that my days had become dictated by …
Continue reading “How A Tall Cappuccino Sparked A New Weigh of Life”
Brazil Nuts are loaded with Selenium one of nature’s antioxidants It’s an age old pursuit. For generations we have sought a magic pill to keep us healthy and promote longevity. We often jump onto nutritional trends in an effort to find the ever-illusive magic potion. Sometimes even rushing in without all the facts. This can be tricky …
Continue reading “There’s Magic In Those Nuts! Brazil Nuts & Selenium”
Okay, so healthy bites will never be Oreos! But these delicious no bake, high energy bites make a great snack that might possibly convert (most of) your Oreo eating family and friends. I was so tired of scanning the shelves at the grocery store for healthy snacks without all the extra added sugar and preservatives that …
Continue reading “Healthy Bites Better Than Oreos (Almost!)”
Who hasn’t found themselves in front of the fridge, pantry or the pastry cabinet of their favorite coffee shop feeling overwhelmed and defeated by insanely strong sugar cravings? Here’s three tips to help when sugar seems to be calling your name… #1: Check your Beverages! Sounds crazy, but sometimes sweet cravings are a sign of dehydration. …
Invest in Yourself with time for exercise & for healthy eating because you are worth it! Everything involves an investment. For lunch today I had a herb crusted halibut taco (mixed grain tortilla) topped with feta cheese and Mexican spiced cabbage slaw. It was an assembly lunch made from leftovers. It took about ten minutes to …
We don’t talk money in polite society. But we should. The third installment of my Brown Bag It & Learn series is on the topic of money and how best women can take control of their castles! It’s a conversation that needs to be part of our everyday discussions as we walk around the park …
Continue reading “Modern Women Take Control of Your Castle: Talk Money!”
The best of intentions (alone) don’t get you into shape or get you that new job you so want! So, I asked how do you take an intention for the new year and turn it into an action plan for success. The answer was in creating enVision Boards. A three-dimensional embodiment of not just your …
Continue reading “Best of Intentions: An Artful Workshop for enVision Boards!”
2018 was a pivotal year for women. It’s no wonder that along with raising voices for sexuality, in politics and in the workplace, we have also raised the mantle for women’s friendships and community. One of the unique components in creating community for women is how quickly we click. Like LEGO pieces snapping together to …
Welcome the New Year by celebrating the old! New Year’s Eve is two weeks away. 2018 will be put to bed with the same fanfare that I used to put my children to bed. Celebrations and negotiations! Remember those days? The navigations in getting them in the bathroom washed and PJ’ed. The negotiations over what …
Finding balance in life, like being told to be more present, is a great destination if you can get there. Without a roadmap it’s like wandering lost with a dead iPhone and no GPS to guide you. As a Life Coach, Death Doula and educator I strive to help my clients create that roadmap. I …
Continue reading “Woman to Woman, No Pitch! Today’s Topic: Essential Oils”
Is My Smile Aging, Too? My godmother was thrilled when she chipped her front teeth. After the initial shock of having tripped on cracked pavement in a restaurant parking lot, she said, “Now I can have my smile back!” I didn’t understand what she meant until she explained while sitting in my dental chair. “My …
Continue reading “Woman to Woman, No Pitch! Today’s Topic: Teeth”
My vision board started out as an empty canvas as they always do. I was at a visioning event hosted by the Temple Isaiah Women’s Group. Amy Phillips, an artist, a communications specialist and the founder of Girl Empowerment LA., was our facilitator. In preparation, we were asked to write our response to seven prompts …
I grew up in a culture that did not encourage women to travel, especially not without a man by her side. Though I constantly staggered under the weight of these archaic, conservative norms, there was a part of me that longed to fly. Lulled by the tropical sun in my small hometown, I dared to …
Continue reading “Here’s How I realized I Was Never Too Old To Travel”
I was with a group of people recently when I heard someone say, about someone else, “She can cook, but she sure can’t bake.” This struck me as utterly absurd. Both involve ingredients and measuring and mixing, I wanted to (inexplicably) yell. Both depend upon stoves or ovens to bring their magic to completion! In …
Continue reading “Recipe for a Self: Ingredients to Overpower Fear”
More Extraordinary Birthday Reflections, this time from a 54 yr old! You should buy yourself a random gift on your birthday. I did that today. My fifty-fourth birthday. I packed up the husband and the college freshman (home on spring break) and drove to the desert. We live in one of those pleasant states where …
Turning 50 in 50 days, I remembered the art of gratitude & forgiveness I found my “Fiftiness” this morning folded into child’s pose on a dog-hair covered area rug on my family room floor. It was in the dark quiet stillness of those moments before the sun peaks into the front windows and the shower …
Continue reading “Letting Go Of All Those “Shoulds” Before Turning 50″
We launched and lunched! Fiftiness hosted its first Brown Bag It & Learn, a series of lunchtime conversations, on January 25, 2019. William Bumiller, licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, MFT, started the conversation on the topic of Understanding Men Better. Why Understanding Men? I wanted to bring this topic to the forefront of fit living …
This week is about Family Time and friends! This story is about disconnecting. This post is intentionally short because you shouldn’t be hidden behind a screen this week. Go light up the faces of your family and friends by giving them the gift of you. Turn off your technology! The next seven days, between Christmas …
Picture my kitchen: green granite, white wood cabinets, a center island. Used to be that two children came downstairs each morning to this kitchen. One before the next, forty minutes apart. They both sat on the same side of the island, on the brown wooden stool from Pottery Barn that had been empty at six …
Imagine dinner with the daughters of your mom’s BFFs! Oh yeah!! We have seen each other randomly over the years, but never all together and never with the wine flowing. Is there such a thing as a wine-klatch? We met in our old neighborhood, where one of the daughters bought the home she grew up …
Continue reading “A Daughter’s Wine-Klatch & Memories of Moms”
My husband and I arrived in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. It was our first trip to Africa. Our travel from Minneapolis to Amsterdam to Addis, with a one hour layover in Sudan had gone smoothly. But after twenty hours of travel, we were tired. It was almost like giving birth, except this time …
Continue reading “The Moment I Fell In Love With My Beautiful Son”
A backwards love story of baby, divorce, love & marriage. First time I saw her was when I walked into my wife’s workplace to bring lunch. I knew everyone there but she was a new face. “Who’s the new girl?” I asked. “Oh she’s a temp, part-timer, nobody important.” It turned out that the New …
The older I get, the more I recognize not only the value of keeping in touch with “old” friends, but the absolute necessity of it. I’ve been doing slightly better in this area the past few years, but there is always room for improvement. I recently enjoyed a movie and dinner with a lifelong friend from …
To infuse Valentine’s Day with good loving we spend a lot of energy on planning. There are the cards hidden in sock drawers, boxes of chocolates bought and bouquets of roses ordered. Then there are the reservations needed for dinner dates followed by hours of research into best speakeasies for late night dancing. But here’s a thought – how …
Continue reading “10 Best Practices For Good Loving All Year!”
Laura Lyster Mensh dreams of her empty nest life in an Airstream. Freeing herself from stuff, she’s cleaned out most everything & is proud of her newly streamlined shelves. As she notes, the trash bags going out of her house are heavier than the shopping bags coming in! But what to do about her overstuffed pajama …
Continue reading “Will Nightwear Fit In An Airstream Dream?”
What would my path have looked like with children in it? Sitting by the gate at Logan, held captive by the airline’s whim, watching a steady stream of half-dressed, or overdressed passengers walk, run, and toddle by, the place remains, somehow, stale and lifeless. Until a little princess, right out of a storybook, walks into …
My youngest child – nine years younger than her closest sibling — is that kid with whom I would have NEVER let my oldest children play. By age 2, she was singing inappropriate song lyrics. Her older brother thought it was really funny to teach her the words to Kesha’s Tik Tok. By 5, she …
Continue reading “Tips for Parenting Kids with Large Age Gaps”
One of the best parts of my job is meeting women over 50 being fearless! Meet Guest Blogger: Deborah Burns, publishing her first book #after50! Deborah’s first book, Saturday’s Child, will be on bookshelves in April 2019, available now for pre-order on Amazon. It is the story of her unconventional mother, and described as “a must-read …
Continue reading “The One About How a Daughter Changed Her Mother’s Life!”
Women over fifty are mobilizing! I find myself distracted lately at coffee shops where young women are working together, plucking at their phones, planning and scheming for new campaigns or other projects. It makes me want to shout. Watch Out, we are coming for your youth! Women over fifty may be getting older, but we …
Continue reading “Women Over Fifty Mobilize Your Experience!”
photo credit rawpixel Beware: old people having sex and they may be your parents! Empty nesting was supposed to mean running naked through the house. Sex with open doors. Kissing in the kitchen without the threat of a child’s scorn and loud, “Ew, that’s gross!” Instead, you find yourself with house-mates, your adult children! If …
Continue reading “Knock Before Entering, Old People Having Sex!”
Turning 50 I was not pleased with turning fifty. In fact, leading up to my fiftieth birthday I changed personal trainers because I thought, well, now that I’m 50 I need to train with someone who understands the aging body. I actually googled the phrases geriatric trainers, old people’s work out, and personal trainers for senior citizens. …
Continue reading “Expert Wanted: 50 Years Experience Necessary!”
Something has happened. I have stopped looking into mirrors. Or perhaps, mirrors have stopped being kind to me. I turned 50 in 2016 but without the fanfare I envisioned when I had celebrated my fortieth birthday. In my blessed 40’s (the new 28’s?), I felt relatively secure in my profession, in my relationship with my …
Continue reading “Mirror Mirror on The Wall…What the Hell Happened?”
When did I stop writing about the angst of torrid love, motherhood, wandering husbands, and terrible bosses? About the time, probably, that I got bored with the angst and became a hen. The transition was subtle in me and in my writing. It’s not that I didn’t still pay attention to love, children, and work. …
Continue reading “HEN LIT: Millions of Boomers Are Waiting For It”
Not long ago I sent a birthday card to my high school best friend on her 46th birthday. It had a picture of 4 firemen jumping out of a cake. On the inside it said, “They’re here to put out your hot flashes.” This was so hilarious to me I couldn’t wait for her to …
Continue reading “Calling All Firemen: Rescue Me From These Hot Flashes!”
Fiftiness in Conversation: Waking An Optimist Thank you to the women of Fiftiness – my early R&D group for letting me facilitate and record them in a conversation about being over 50! In this video I asked whether you wake an optimist or a pessimist. I had been walking in the mornings to Rihanna’s song …
Still Celebrating National Poetry Month Oh, how we love our pets! What better way to express their unconditional love of us than through poetry! I give you . . . I Don’t Floss I don’t floss, I pee in the shower and last night I ate an entire gallon of slow churned, chocolate fudge …
I Am Pink Hot Tamale Red! If it’s April, it’s National Poetry Month! We are so excited at Fiftiness to celebrate National Poetry Month by introducing poetry to our site. What a perfect form of the written, or spoken word, to give us perspective on the universal truths of being a woman over fifty. Introducing Julie Grass . …
Continue reading “Peri-Menopause Dissected By Poet Julie Grass”
The Dos & Don’ts of What to Wear in Your 50’s turns the notion of style guides on its head. As Michelle Combs points out, it’s not about what you put on, it’s how best to wear your own self esteem. Making the list of no-no’s for Michelle are shame and regret and the weight of …
Continue reading “The Best Dos & Don’ts of What to Wear in your 50’s!”
Here’s to Shelley the Artist! Usually, art is a visual experience that happens outside of the process. The artist working alone, the journey from idea to canvas experienced in finality by the viewer who brings her own sensibilities to the finished work. Shelley Levy, known professionally as Shelley the Artist (www.shelleytheartist.com) made a decision to …
Continue reading “Watercolor me Powerful! Art Workshops with Shelley the Artist”
Founder of San Francisco’s Litquake It is hard to imagine Jane Ganahl being described as frightening. She stands little over five feet with the kind of red hair photographs can never capture. Her lipstick is perfection; she floats through the oak double doors of the Town and Country Starbucks. But her intellectual breadth intimidates me; …
Nina Sadowsky is a best-selling fiction author who didn’t pen her first novel – Just Fall — until she was in her 50s. Now, a television show based on that book is in the works, and her second novel – the Burial Society – is due out in 2017. Nina’s journey to author-hood was partly …
Continue reading “Nina Sadowsky’s Midlife FALL into Being a Best Selling Author”
If you ever thought that the celebration of Earth Day doesn’t accomplish anything, meet Lisa Kaas-Boyle, environmental attorney, mother, and activist on behalf of a just and sustainable future. Lisa started her mission to save the planet on the very first Earth Day when she was just 6 years old and she has been relentless …
Continue reading “How To Be An Activist: Meet Lisa Kaas-Boyle”
I met Rima Simon in 1982 when I was working as the head of West Coast PR for Showtime/The Movie Channel. At that time, she was married to a prominent comedy writer and was executive assistant to the then head of programming, Peter Chernin (who became Chairman of FOX and a prolific producer). Rima and …
Continue reading “3rd Acts: The One Where Rima Simon Becomes A Therapist”
