These AMAZING Women are an Inspiration to everyone who is over FIFTY AND FABULOUS!! What's keeping you from starting your own CLUB?

If real life was like a Dove commercial, every person would be considered physically beautiful, regardless of age, skin tone and size. But in reality, the media is sending the 50-and-older crowd plenty of messages about conventional beauty—and the answer isn’t frown lines and stretch marks, despite what marketing tools the Dove folks use.

What is beauty, according to those standards? It’s youth, says 56-year-old Raven Valdes, a Scottsdale-based marketing specialist and event planner. Valdes is a member of “50 and Fabulous,” a social club all about embracing hitting the big 5-0, and she’s not happy about the media’s emphasis on youth.

Pick up any magazine by the checkout and take a look at the young, beaming girl on the cover. Flip inside to the ads for wrinkle-reversing serums and night creams boasting massive results, all the while having a 30-something model as the face of the brand. You know that spread commending that aging actress on how great she looks? What they’re really saying is how young she looks. And for every successful, “distinguished” leading man, there are dozens of “washed up” actresses.

Outside forces be damned. As the average American lifespan continues to rise, the 50-and-older set can still feel great, even as they age. Modern medicine and exercise science allow us to maintain a lengthy life and often that means looking youthful well into your older years, as the ladies of 50 and Fabulous know well.

The dozen women who comprise the Scottsdale social group know aging is about much more than maintaining a certain level of beauty (although there is something to be said for the confidence in looking great, Valdes says). It’s also about learning to live your life for you, finally coming into your own, and doing the things you enjoy with people you love to be around.

Valdes and her fellow club members get together at least once a week for drinks and dinners, often celebrating birthdays and indulging in the occasional “staycation” as a way to meet with like-minded ladies who are living well in their 50s, maintaining career, family and most of all, having fun with each other. Together, they offer insight into accepting age—and sometimes outright ignoring it.

Name Your Own Age Thirty years ago, when the ladies of 50 and Fabulous were in their 20s, they readily admit the word that came to mind when they thought of a 50-year-old woman was “old.” But today, Salpie Tatka, a petite 52-year-old Scottsdale makeup artist and cosmetology teacher with sassy shoulder length brown layers, doesn’t stop to think about how “old” she might be. In fact, she rarely has time to slow down at all. Between being a mother and running her own business, she doesn’t exactly have down time to dwell on her age. Even if she did, she wouldn’t want to. 

“When you say it out loud, it makes it true,” Tatka says. “Then you start to feel that age.”

And feeling old just isn’t part of the 50 and Fabulous attitude. The ladies spend their time keeping active. They don’t have the space in their club for anyone who focuses on the negative side of aging. Instead, they’re open to anyone who has a positive attitude and is committed to enjoying life. For them, that doesn’t mean restricting themselves to “age-appropriate” activities.

Michelle Pfeiffer: A Healthy Attitude in Hollywood

Michelle Pfeiffer might not have always been immune to the pressures Hollywood puts on women, but these days she is no longer worried about aging in the limelight. 

The 55-year-old has been referred to as one of the world's most beautiful women over the course of her career. Now that she is getting older, Pfeiffer told Ladies Home Journal she has gotten past the pressures she used to feel.

"Having to watch yourself age on a giant movie screen is simply not natural," the "Family" star told the magazine for the October 2013 issue. "It can wreak havoc on your psyche. My dermatologist said to me once, 'You know that 10X magnifying mirror that you have in the bathroom? Throw it away.' It was the best advice anybody ever gave me. Of course, now my eyes are weaker and I can't see to put my makeup on without that mirror!"

"But once you get over a certain hump there actually is less pressure," Pfeiffer added. "You can begin to look great for your age. You don't have to look young anymore. I've moved over to that other side -- I'm 55, which is a little too close to 60, but looking great for my age is okay now."

Thirty years ago, Pfeiffer used to treat her body differently. When she was in her 20s, she lived on Coca Cola and Marlboro Lights cigarettes. Today, she leads a vegan lifestyle and works out five days a week, running and doing free weights.

Last year, Pfeiffer told SheKnows that her secrets to ageless beauty are eating well, managing her stress levels and good lighting.

Pfeiffer is not the only actress to open up about aging in the limelight recently. Last month, Melanie Griffith took a swipe at Hollywood's youth obsession.

“It is what I never thought would happen when I was in my 20s and 30s, hearing actresses bitch about not getting any work when they turned 50. Now I understand it, it is just different. In a lot of ways, [Hollywood] a very superficial place,” she told Fox News. “It is all about youth and beauty, for women anyway. You just have to keep biting and pushing your way through, doing theater. I believe in just being really good and working on my craft which is how I started in the first place. I really like that as opposed to the fame part of it.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/16/michelle-pfeiffer-aging-hollywood_n_3934242.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

After FIFTY there are so many Second Chances to get it right.

Last Friday I was asked to go on the Today show to talk about second acts. Which got me thinking. The standard notion is that it starts with an itch for something better --  a better job, a better spouse, a better face, a better whatever-it-is-you’re-missing. But after talking to hundreds of people who’ve made big changes at midlife, I’m now convinced that the most successful second (and third) acts are motivated by an urge to fix something that’s broken – in your community or beyond.

So it’s as much about a better world as it is about a better version of you.

I encourage people to find their second acts by starting small and exploring the intersection of what they have and what the world needs.

The adage that with experience comes wisdom could not be more true: there’s a reason why many people would only see a therapist who’s over 40.  So if you’re searching for your second act, focus on the stuff that improves with age – empathy, wisdom, deep social networks, emotional stability, the ability to lead, mentor, and coach. You may not be a wiz on Twitter (though plenty of us in our second and third acts are!), but once you’ve amassed a few years, you’re at the height of your ability to guide others.

All kinds of research supports the idea that doing good feels good, that giving and helping others are the easiest way to infuse your life with purpose. Which is why volunteering and “giving yourself away” are the best gateways to a meaningful second act. They are also one of the best ways to find paying work that you’ll feel good about.

http://www.encore.org/learn/act-2-better-you-or

A New Vision for Retirement: Productive and Meaningful

As the great midlife migration of baby boomers gathers momentum and scale, long-predicted revolutions in longevity and demography are unfolding in front of us. By 2015 we’ll have more Americans over 60 than under 15 — and that’s just the beginning. Demographers are predicting that more than half the children born in the developed world since 2000 will live to 100.

For the most part this transformation is portrayed as a source of coming economic, fiscal, and generational strife. In this scenario, boomers are entering their 60′s, morphing overnight into retirees, and proceeding to weigh down a small group of workers in their middle years — producing an unbearable dependency ratio in the process.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. Today tens of millions of 50-, 60-, and 70-somethings say they are eager to apply their accumulated skills in areas like education, health, and the environment.According to research from 2011, some 31 million people ages 44 to 70 want encore careers that allow them to continue earning a living and give them meaning that has an impact beyond themselves. They want to create a better world for future generations.

Turning dependence into abundance begins with breaking free from the “golden years” narrative of retirement. This is a tale first pioneered by insurance companies in the 1950s to convince older Americans that they weren’t being ejected from the productive workforce, but rather had the freedomfrom work. This storyline is enjoying a resurgence today.

Consider Prudential’s recent marketing campaign, prominently featuring Day One stories — tales of the first day of retirement. The company’s ads and billboards warn of longer retirements. One tells us that we can expect to spend 6,000 days — nearly two decades — in retirement, while others state the first person to live to 150 is already alive. The tagline: “Let’s get ready for a longer retirement.” The billboards are paired with other ads that paint a picture of a perfect retirement. One individual featured suggests we should work to live, not the other way around. But can anyone afford an 85-year retirement? Is that sustainable for the nation?

In light of new data showing that extended working lives are far more likely than a massive expansion of the retirement years, it’s time for a more workable vision — and a more socially productive one.

Instead of a barrage of Day One tales, how about more One Day stories? One Day is the rallying cry of Teach For America. The nonprofit helps thousands of young people apply their talents to solving significant social problems, starting by working in schools that need more support. The organization’s motto: “One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.”

This One Day dream is not exclusively for young people. Take Paula Lopez Crespin a 50-something woman in Denver whose daughter had joined Teach for America. Crespin sat at the back of her daughter’s classroom in inner city Los Angeles, watching the young woman educate low income kids, when she had an epiphany: She wanted to do the same thing.

So she followed in her daughter’s footsteps and applied to TFA. To her amazement, she was accepted. Soon she was working from dawn until midnight at the TFA training, sharing a Houston dorm room (and a bathroom down the hall) with three 22-year olds. But she made it through, and became a Denver elementary school teacher.

Crespin isn’t alone. There was another woman at the TFA boot camp — a former phone company employee — who was 62 at the time. In fact, TFA reports that there is a gradual but steady increase in post-midlife individuals entering the program — something that the organization hopes will expand as it attempts to attract a diverse corps of talented and committed people of all ages.

Realizing the promise represented by people like Crespin requires leading organizations like TFA to open their doors widely. It will likewise demand new opportunities and innovations, if we are to help those many millions seeking encore careers.

Another such route — and rite — of passage to these second acts is the Encore Fellowships program. These year-long, half-time fellowships, help individuals (mostly) from the corporate sector transition to new chapters in nonprofit and social impact organizations. For example, the California Health Care Foundation is matching Encore Fellows with community health clinics across that state. The program has spread rapidly over the past couple of years.

On the corporate side, companies like Cisco and Intel are offering Encore Fellowships to their seasoned employees. In late 2011 Intel announced that all retirement eligible employees in the U.S. who want to do an Encore Fellowship, and are matched, will be supported with a $25,000 stipend and health coverage. They are pioneering a whole new human resources approach to longer working lives — recognizing the reality that 21st century careers will entail multiple chapters, even into what was once the retirement years.

Creating these new paths to continued, meaningful work will help realize a sustainable and appealing vision for this period in life, but even these efforts won’t be enough. We’ll need new ways to help individuals finance the frequently costly transition to what’s next. Currently this is a do-it-yourself process most manageable for those with extensive assets or the willingness to drastically cut back. There are reports of boomers tapping into their kids 529 accounts to finance their own shift.

Here’s where financial services companies can help in ways that go beyond reframing their marketing messages. Why not create new financial products to enable people to save for the inevitable retooling that more transitions and longer working lives require? We’ve got Individual Retirement Accounts — IRAs — to save for retirement. We need Individual Purpose Accounts — IPAs — to help defray the costs of transitioning to new chapters in the middle years and beyond. What’s more, we need financial advisors able to assist people in planning for alternatives to the “golden years.” Since a balloon payment of leisure at the end of midlife is less and less likely, why not help individuals envision what comes next and finance it along the way?

With 10,000 boomers turning 60 each day, these changes are overdue. This population represents a human capital bonanza for the social impact sector and for the nation more broadly. It’s time to fulfill the true promise of longer lives — which is a better society.

http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/02/a-new-vision-for-retirement-pr/

30 Awe-Inspiring Hairstyles For Women Over 60

A perfect hairstyle is one that suits your face shape and flatters your age. As you advance in years, hair tresses also follow suit and wear out in terms of shine and volume but that does not mean you should chop them off. It is true that women go for short hairstyles as they age to protect them from more wear and tear but every woman need not do that. The point is you must listen to your hair, if they are fine don’t mess up with them. Leave them as long as they are and take a little extra care. This would be sufficient to retain the charm of your crowning glory.

Hairstyles for women over 60 can be as glamorous and sexy as the girls who are in their sweet sixteen. You can wear them in any length and add highlights and colors which are also a great way of adding volume. The styling does not stop here. You can bring much more to your looks with these 30 hairstyles for women over 60, which feature fantastic hairdo including that of celebrities. Take a look and rock on with their inspiration and ideas.

Size Doesn't Matter. Confidence Does.

Why did these gorgeous, brave readers agree to pose in their undies? To inspire you to feel good about your body.

Joann Abranowicz, 52

"I'm a runner so I love that my body makes me feel strong. I started when I had my children, because it was easy to just grab the sneakers and go. Now I've done four marathons and 21 half-marathons. So even after two kids I feel pretty good about my body. I think I'm in better shape now than I was in high school!"

Barbara Chen, 60

"I've always felt like I had a pretty good body. But would I have posed in my underwear when I was 25? Probably not. Now I think about the younger girls I know who really aren't confident in their bodies. I decided to go for it to inspire them. If you smile, you're beautiful no matter what. Even at 60 with no clothes on."

Manon True, 55

"It's more than feeling good about your body -- it's feeling good about yourself, inside and out. It does take a lot of work to really like yourself and be able to look past the imperfections. It can take years. But I'm so happy with my body at this age, I wouldn't want to go back. It's so much smoother sailing, even with a little tummy."

http://www.lhj.com/health/conditions/mental-health/beautifull-real-women-body-confidence/?page=1

Lying about your age in Los Angeles is more common than you may think

Actors aren't the only ones. In this youth-oriented city, people get creative about their age for many reasons, including work and dating. Is it ethical? Well...

Everyone in L.A. lies about his or her age, says the author of the book "Career Comeback — Repackage Yourself to Get the Job You Want."

"This is the most youth-oriented city on the planet, where you're only as old as your cosmetic dermatologist makes you look," says Lisa Johnson Mandell (no relation to the writer of this story). "This might be the only city where people use professionally Photo Shopped head shots not just for acting, but on their LinkedIn profiles, Facebook pages, and of course on their online dating profiles."

Is it worth it?

"Yes, yes, oh yes," Mandell says. "Being open and honest about your age can cost you a job. When a 20-something assistant looks at your resume and sees that you graduated over 20 years ago, they automatically think of their parents, or worse, their grandparents. Visions of bad gray perms, polyester pants and sensible shoes pop into their heads, regardless of how current and stylish you may be."

She cites a couple of reasons — sun and screen — why Angelenos might lie about their age more than people in other places.

"Hollywood has a heavy influence here," Mandell says. "Waiters, real estate agents, teachers, receptionists, grocery store checkers — there is youth and beauty everywhere you look, and we've started to believe our own hype."

And while the weather draws people to L.A., "it also works against us when it comes to revealing our true ages," Mandell says. "Unlike cities such as New York and Chicago, we can't hide under boots, hats, gloves and puffy coats six months out of the year."

Frank Anthony Polito began lying about his age when he was pursuing an acting career. At 30, he read for the role of 24-year-old Jackie Jr. on "The Sopranos" — "so I told the casting director, when she asked, that I was 24," Polito says. "She smiled and said 'Perfect!' The next time I went in — for the same woman — I told her I was 27 because the role I was auditioning for was 27. Soon I started telling everyone that I was born in 1976, and that I graduated high school in 1994. I even went so far as to educate myself on what songs, movies, TV shows were popular when I would have supposedly been in high school, just in case anyone wanted to discuss."

No surprise that actors get a pass to some extent.

"We can — and do — forgive actors who lie about their age to get work in a system that discriminates against older actors; if they convincingly play the role, who cares if they're off by a few years?" says Craig Malkin, a clinical psychologist and instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School. "Nevertheless, actors who lie about their age are cheating a system that tries to cheat them — robbing them of opportunities based on a number on a page. When people are unfairly cut off from opportunities because of age, they're bound to lie."

How old does a person have to be to make lying even on the table?

"That all depends on which way you're going," says Mandell. "If you're 20 or 21 and just graduated college, you want people to assume you're older and more experienced in a professional setting. If you're over 45, you want people to know you're still young, hip, energetic and relevant."

Carolyn Brundage has been telling people for several years that she is 40. She's actually 39.

"Forty just seems a lot more exciting than 36 or 37," Brundage says. "I guess the only question now is, when I really turn 40, what will I say my new age is?"

Is lying about your age ethical?

"It's too common an occurrence for us to be shocked or morally outraged when it happens," Malkin says. "Research suggests that our tolerance for lies depends entirely on their nature and frequency."

BJ Gallagher not only lies about her age, but she also lies about her son's age.

When she met a younger man she found attractive and he asked her son's age, "I put my hand to my cheek, looked up to the ceiling as if I was trying to remember, and stammered, 'Let's see. ... He's ... he's 20-something. Oh, isn't that terrible when you forget your kid's age?' I've been lying about my son's age ever since."

If a person is thriving and accomplished, age may matter less. Take Betty Kreisel Shubert. She published her first book at 88, "Out-of-Style: A Modern Perspective of How, Why and When Vintage Fashions Evolved," with more than 700 of her own illustrations.

And then there's Mel Brake, the executive director of a mentoring nonprofit near Philadelphia called MPW Foundation, who says his age is like the temperature — it goes up and it goes down.

"We are all old from the first day we are born and we are young when we die. How many times has someone said after a death, he or she was young even if that someone was 100 years old? And please do not ask my age."

http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-lie-age-20130907,0,707941.story

American Diana Nyad, 64, sets record with Cuba-to-Florida swim

KEY WEST, Florida (Reuters) - American 64-year-old long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim across the Florida Straits from Cuba without a shark cage on Monday, succeeding on her fifth attempt at the feat.

Her face sunburned and lips swollen, with barely enough energy to speak, Nyad waded ashore at Key West, Florida, after a 53-hour swim and told onlookers: "We should never, ever give up ... You never are too old to chase your dreams."

In an inspiration to baby boomers everywhere, Nyad completed the estimated 110-mile (177-km) journey after departing from Havana on Saturday morning. She set a record for the longest ocean swim without a shark cage or flippers, according to her crew.

She was met by crowds in Key West who surrounded her, snapping photos, as they enjoyed sunny beach weather on the Labor Day holiday.

Helpers immediately placed Nyad on a stretcher and hydrated her with an IV before she was taken to a hospital.

Nyad had been trying to achieve the crossing for 35 years, describing it on her website as her "Xtreme Dream," and seemed determined to prove The Beatles were right that there is plenty to live for "when I'm 64."

"With all the experience I have in this ocean, I never knew I would suffer the way I did," Nyad told CNN in an interview.

The first day was especially difficult because of winds and "even people with iron will quit when it's really tough," said Nyad, her lips swollen from exposure and from the mouthpiece of a prosthetic mask used to protect her from deadly box jellyfish.

She said she told herself, "Forget about surface up ... With your left hand push Cuba back and push Florida toward you."

Dave Magmone, whose boat was used to prepare Nyad's meals, said: "She has a mental and physical strength like no one I have ever known. She is an example for all people, regardless of their age."

Older women and men have been inspired in recent years by a wave of older athletes breaking records and snagging headlines.

Last year, then Colorado Rockies player Jamie Moyer, now 50, became the oldest pitcher in Major League Baseball history to win a game. Canadian Ed Whitlock, now 82, shattered records when he ran the 2012 Toronto Marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes. Dana Torres in 2008 at age 41 became the oldest American female swimmer to win an Olympic medal.



JELLYFISH, SHARKS

Nyad's team said her attempt benefited from several key factors, including calm seas, the surprising lack of jellyfish and favorable currents in the powerful Gulf Stream that flows eastwards through the Florida Straits.

Ron Bartlett, her navigator, said the crew encountered only one minor squall and one box jellyfish sighting.

The marathon swimmer had said this would be her final attempt, this time equipped with the mask as well as a body suit to better protect her from box jellyfish that forced her to end one of two attempted crossings last year.

A team of ocean kayakers and divers accompanied Nyad on her journey, dragging an electronic device in the water that emitted a current to repel sharks.

Nyad has spent much of her life in the water. She described in a 2011 YouTube documentary how her father told her when she was a young girl that she was destined to swim, noting her last name is derived from the Greek word for water nymphs or female swimmers.

Born in New York, the multilingual Nyad was raised in south Florida by a French mother and Greek-Egyptian stepfather. She swam six hours a day as a 12-year-old.

She retired after successfully completing a swim from Bimini in the Bahamas to Florida in 1979, ending a long-distance career that set several records including one in 1975 for circling Manhattan in less than eight hours.

She went on to a career in sports journalism and fitness, and has expressed a lifelong fascination with Cuba.

The Florida Straits had been conquered twice previously, both times with the aid of a protective cage. The last time, in 1997, the cage glided on ocean currents and enabled Australian Susie Maroney, 22, to make the journey in just 25 hours.

Nyad made her first attempt at the crossing aged 28 in 1978, when she gave up after covering 76 miles in 42 hours with the aid of a shark cage.

With Key West in her sights on Monday, Nyad halted briefly about 2 miles offshore to thank her support team.

"This is a lifelong dream of mine and I'm very, very glad to be with you," she said, according to her website. "So let's get going so we can have a whopping party."