Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, with their flat stomachs and bootylicious bottoms, wear them. So do Carrie Underwood, Halle Berry and Heidi Klum. Yummie Tummies, a hybrid between lingerie and ready-to-wear, are the newest big things you didn’t hear of. That’s because Yummie Tummies are foundation garments, a product women only whisper about – or desperately try to hide.
Remember the scene in “Bridget Jones’s Diary,” when Renée Zellweger tries to wriggle out of her elasticized granny pants before her hot hookup with Hugh Grant? She gets caught in the act of disrobing and the secret is out. The horror!
But company co-founder Heather Thomson, who brought the garment to market in 2007, wants to change all that. As a stylist to the stars and a fashion designer with posts at Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and Deréon under her belt, she knows a thing or two about clothing that is both figure-flattering and comfortable enough for a diva to wear all night long.
The Yummie Tummie is a body shaper (a.k.a. girdle) and comes in a variety of forms, from camisole to racer-back T-shirt to strapless tube dress. Unlike the other thick, elastic and (uncomfortable) products on the market, Thomson’s is basically a T-shirt made of thin cotton with a band of tight, stretchy tricot in the torso. There are also slips, with straps and without, to be worn under dresses or gowns. They promise to smooth the muffin-top bulge at the waistline, and really do.
Get yours today at Fripperies, Ltd. located at 15 West Main Street, Mystic. Call Deb Jaccarino, owner, at 860.536.7858.
On July 24-26, Tonya Rivers, will step out in Boston and walk for “The Cure” as part of the 60-mile Breast Cancer 3-Day walk. Boston kicks-off the 15 walks that will take place all over the country this summer and fall. It’s not just a walk to raise money for breast cancer, it’s an experience. Tonya, and other walkers participating, will walk each day, relax and mingle in the 3-Day Café and spend the nights in two-person tents.
Although Tonya is blessed and not personally affected by breast cancer, she is excited to take part in this experience and be able to share the weekend with survivors, daughters, moms, wives and friends. Tonya became interested in the three-day walk when she saw a commercial for it on the TV. Tonya walks regularly, and, with the help of Weight Watchers, she lost 106 pounds over the past year. She thought that if she could walk to lose all that weight, she could walk to raise money for such an important cause.
The minimum amount of money that one has to raise in order to participate in the 3-Day Walk is $2,300. Tonya said that she doesn’t want to do just the minimum and made a personal goal to raise $2,500. The proceeds from the walk are given to two funds: 85-percent of net proceeds go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure (www.komen.org) and 15-percent of the net funds go to the National Philanthropic Trust Breast Cancer Fund (www.nptrust.org). These funds will help with cancer research, education and community health programs. In 2008 alone, the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk raised more than $110 million through contributions, donations and sponsorships.
Tonya lives and works in New London with her supportive husband William. She spends her time working with animals; the past seven years as a New London Animal Control Officer and previously at the CT Humane Society for 10 years.
If you would like more information about the Breast Cancer 3-Day or would like to help Tonya raise money, please visit www.the3day.org and click “Donate.”
“It’s not about going back to the way things were. It’s about letting life bring you to something new.”
Time only moves in one direction, forward. Life moves in the same direction. Yet, many people spend far too much time looking behind them. You can never go back to the way things were nor are there any do-overs.
The big challenge is to cut free from the past in order to maximize your future. When one hangs on to the past it becomes an anchor, either limiting or preventing forward movement. This causes a lot of frustration which further compromises the future.
Moving forward requires looking ahead. Age is often used as an excuse for not looking ahead. You will never be as young as your are today. So you can’t use age as a reason for not doing what you want. It’s imperative that you have a mental picture of where you want to go.
Looking back is only important for what you can learn. Living is accomplished by moving forward. Although it’s a simple concept, we are all conditioned to spend too much energy lamenting that which already happened.
Imagine trying to drive by only looking in the rear view mirror. You certainly wouldn’t get very far. But this is exactly what happens when you keep your mind in the past. And then you can’t understand why you have trouble moving forward.
To move forward, the most important question to answer is “where do I go from here?” Formulating a response acknowledges the past but forces you to focus on the future. Conditioning yourself to ask and answer this question regularly is a good first step to maintaining forward momentum.
What’s already happened is over. What is, is. All you have influence over is what to do next. You can do nothing and watch life pass you by. You can complain about what you should have done and watch life pass you by. You can act like a victim, refusing to take responsibility for your situation, and watch life pass you by.
Or you can move forward, working on improving yourself and your circumstances. Moving forward is proactive and effective. Anything else is passive and ineffectual. Don’t underestimate the power of taking control of your destiny by moving forward.
Once people decide they want to get the most from life, they have taken the first step. The next step is making a commitment to move forward. Continuing in this direction should last for your entire life. You are never too old or too young.
Those who age most rapidly are the ones who, for whatever reason, stop moving forward. Conversely, people who maintain a vibrant determination to accomplish as much as they possibly can, are happier, healthier, and project an energy that makes them seem younger than they are. I’m sure you have met people like this. There’s no reason you can not be one of them.
It’s really not hard to move forward. It just takes consistent practice to transform your behavior patterns. Never tell yourself you can’t do it. Don’t listen to anyone who tries to discourage you from making progress.
Even though moving forward may feel difficult, the alternative offers no benefits and certainly no future. If you are not yet moving forward, you know you are not as happy as you could be. If you are already moving forward, you may wonder why everyone doesn’t do so.
Wherever you are now, you can begin to move forward today. Don’t waste any more time waiting, get started and get going. You will be glad you did.
NOW AVAILABLE: “Dare to Live Without Limits,” the book. Visit www.BryanGolden.com or your bookstore. Bryan is a management consultant, motivational speaker, author, and adjunct professor. E-mail Bryan at bryan@columnist.com or write him c/o this paper. 2006 Bryan Golden
Dear Neil: My relationship with my boyfriend of almost two years has been wonderful. We moved to Colorado from the East Coast, and he started a new job and went back to school, both about three weeks ago. Since then, everything has changed. He went from being a sweet loving and compassionate person, to someone who barely talks to me when he gets home. He no longer calls me during the day, is no longer intimate and doesn’t even respond when I tell him that I love him. He no longer does anything around the house, has been cold and short with me, and has acknowledged that he has put our relationship on the back burner. What can be done to salvage our relationship? Will time fix it? – Put On The Back Burner in Boulder, CO
Dear Boulder: Your boyfriend may be under a lot of stress with all the recent changes you described, but it’s unclear to me that stress alone is responsible for him turning cold to you and my instinct is to advise you, that time alone is unlikely to fix this.
Here’s what you can do. Tell your boyfriend that you need for him to come back to you – and you need him back now. Tell him the consequences (if you have any)if the relationship were to stay where it is right now. Then, see if you can create and schedule some fun experiences the two of you can do together: a trip to the mountains, a game of frisbee, dancing, a snowball fight, bowling. Something active that the two of you don’t normally do. Try several of your fun ideas in a row. Fun often loosens us up, jump starts us, and makes us appreciate our lives again. If none of these ideas works, then consider the possibility that he just plain emotionally left you.
Dear Neil: My husband has enmeshment and co-dependency issues with his father. My father-in-law manipulates and guilts my husband into doing things that negatively effect both him and our marriage. My husband cannot say no to his father, and in turn sacrifices a lot of our time together to cater to his father. I have finally had to say that I will no longer be around his family/father unless it’s a special occasion, and that I must start to enforce healthier boundaries. He feels as if I’m not compromising. Any advice? – Compromised Out in Montana
Dear Montana: If your husband is co-dependent he no doubt feels used, endlessly compelled to do for his father. To the degree that this is true, your husband is in a very unhealthy family dynamic, and you don’t have to compromise with it. What you may have to do is to help your husband back to health, which is likely to be a long and arduous road.
You are correct in attempting to set boundaries with your father-in-law, but your husband has to learn, set and honor boundaries as well. In fact, he has to be able to redefine his self-worth and sense of personal value based on what he wants, feels, thinks, wishes and does, rather than on what others want.
Neil Rosenthal is a licensed marriage and family therapist in Denver and Boulder, CO, specializing in how people strengthen their intimate relationships. He can be reached at 303.758.8777, or e-mail him from his website, www.heartrelationships.com.
Finally after a long wait, the 2009 fluke season is upon us and doing well. Lots of recent confusion regarding new regulations, and chatter of a marine fishing license, has all anglers fearful of doing the wrong thing in the wrong place. The most important thing a fisherman operating a boat can learn, is where the state boundaries overlying the waters are. Some of the more recent model GPS navigators run charting software, which include these boundary lines. A lesser expensive approach would be to obtain a Captain Seagull’s Chart of Fishers Island Sound. This chart is one of the few charts that clearly define the CT, New York, and Rhode Island demarcations. Presently fluke fishing is open in CT and Rhode Island. New York closed its fluke fishing the day after CT opened theirs, and will reopen July 3rd.
Opening day in CT showed good numbers in fluke caught while the size was slightly lacking. “Not too many keepers out there,” reported Dana Pollard, Mystic, who worked hard to get his three fish limit.
Misquamicut Beach was very good over the weekend. Most drifted at depths of forty-five to sixty feet. Bare in mind that, although Rhode Island has a six fish limit, you may only possess three per person in CT. Also don’t enter New York waters with any fluke, until it reopens in July.
Striper catches are still doing well from Lord’s Passage over to Watch Hill Reef. Cheryl at Shaffer’s Bait and Tackle is selling lots of parachute jigs and trolling wire. Shaffer’s also stocks the charts mentioned earlier.
Scup or porgy catches in the Mystic River Park are still doing well using sandworms or squid. Some blues were also caught up at the bend in River Road, near the I-95 overpass. Bob Lamphere and the two Rays compete regularly for “High Hook” of the Mystic River.
For a complete listing of the marine regulations or a local tide table, visit www.shaffersmystic.com or stop by the store.
Shaffer’s Bait and Tackle
106 Mason’s Island Road
Mystic, CT
860.536.8713
Beyoncé and Jennifer Lopez, with their flat stomachs and bootylicious bottoms, wear them. So do Carrie Underwood, Halle Berry and Heidi Klum. Yummie Tummies, a hybrid between lingerie and ready-to-wear, are the newest big things you didn’t hear of. That’s because Yummie Tummies are foundation garments, a product women only whisper about – or desperately try to hide.
