After mailing out the Tips & Teasers, I got some great tips sent to me and I want to share them with you here!

From Kathy: “Brenda, I have a tip for you! I found these incredible tights with a sock built in, they’re called Bootights and I bought them at Nordstrom on Market Street. OMG, from top to bottom the best fitting and most comfortable tights ever. The sock part is pure genius. Just thought I’d share.”

From Christine on creating a wish list for family members: “As for lists – brilliant idea! I started having a birthday/Christmas list a few years ago when my children asked me what I wanted. I know they wanted to give me something I’d particularly enjoy and so I made a list – it started with a chocolate bar and ended with an overseas trip. It had everything else in between. I knew something would fit their budget, I knew I would enjoy receiving anything from the list, and the list was long enough that whatever I received, it would still be a surprise. Its been so successful that nearly everyone in my family has a similar wish list and its turned out to be a real fun thing!”

And Sally adds three fabulous tips for the holidays and beyond: 1. If you don’t have time or extra cash to shop for a whole new outfit for the holidays, at least find a new top or jacket that will work with your older skirts/pants. A lacy jacket, a vibrant silk blouse, a sinfully rich sweater…I’m inspired already!

2. Learn about and start replacing the lightbulbs and flourescent tubes in your house with “full spectrum” (not “sunlight”) bulbs and tubes. This full-spectrum light can have very beneficial effects on your seratonin levels in the dark winter months, and they help you to see true colors better all year round. If you put them near your reading chair and in your kitchen, you’ll get subtle yet powerful benefits from extended exposure; in your closet, you’ll be able to see the difference between navy and black socks!

3. Buy a flattering full-length mirror for yourself. Even among very inexpensive mirrors, there are great differences in the proportions of the reflection. My current favorite cost only $16.99, but it makes me feel like a million dollars every day because it lengthens and slims the image I see right before I leave the house. Granted, I am shocked when I see a more accurate reflection in another mirror elsewhere, but by then, I am already holding myself well and smiling at the world anyway.

Thank you for sharing!!! Are there more out there? Please feel free to leave comments here for everyone to enjoy!!

Happy Mid-December.

In December’s Tips & Teasers, I gave you 7 Ways to Treat Yourself Well During the Holidays.

I think we need more than 7 ideas, don’t you? So try these additional ones.

8. Go to your calendar right now and schedule 5 invigorating workouts between now and the end of the year. It’s good for the soul to sweat away the guilt of holiday indulgences.

9a. On the other hand, pull out that favorite sugar cookie recipe, get some food dye, and make those red and green snowflake cookies. Nothing like the smell of fresh cookies to get you in the holiday spirit.

9b. Share the spirit: share those cookies with your co-workers, neighbors, postman or postwoman, alterations person, your manicurist and hairstylist. You get the idea.

10. Have an important party to go to? Splurge and go to your hairstylist and let him or her give you that updo or blowout that will make you feel so confident when you make your grand entrance.

11. Pull out nostalgic jewelry, handbags or maybe even fur pieces that have been handed down to you by loving relatives. It’s wonderful to keep their memories in the holiday mix and you’ll look and feel great too.

12. Pick a one-word mantra and start using it when you feel stressed out while spending 10 minutes in an idling car waiting for an available parking place. How about this fine list of possible words:

• peace
• prosperity
• grace
• simplicity
• resilience
• beauty
• delight

I recently heard a brain expert/author explain how focusing on a word actually makes us take on that quality. So maybe mother was right: choose your words wisely!

Let’s keep the list going! What are your “chill” ideas for December … or any-old-time? I welcome your comments!