13 Nov The holiday beauty cheat sheet
Starting with Halloween, moving onto Thanksgiving, keeping up with Christmas, and grand finale with New Year – holiday season is upon us. There will be plenty of pumpkin spice, cinnamon, hot chocolate, turkey, cranberries, cookies and milk, but also plenty of fog, snow, and wind. With...
02 Nov THE LIZ EFFECT
Like the FATHER, SON AND HOLY GHOST, we do not refer to them as the THREE WISE MEN because they talk about male only issues like jock itch and Deflategate, I have been reading WISE WOMEN CANADA for almost two years, as it is a...
30 Oct Fed to the Wolves
I thought I had a wonderful childhood. It was filled with smells of warm soup, big family gatherings at every occasion and Star Trek adventures with neighborhood kids. My family was pretty “Leave it to Beaver”. I felt privileged to have been adopted into a family and not just born into it like most kids. I was chosen. I remember that my home was peaceful. My parents seemed supportive of each other, cooperative and I never did hear them raise their voices or quarrel in any way. But it is that silence that would eat us all up in the end.
30 Oct Hanging onto to someone for dear life
One of the privileges of being a high-profile athlete is that I have the opportunity to meet a lot of people, and more often than not, they want to talk about what it’s like training for, and competing in extreme endurance events. For many years, I was more than happy to have this conversation, but all that changed three years ago, when my world quite literally came crashing down around me.
29 Oct Aging gracefully (or trying to)
The other day I was out for lunch with a friend who was wearing a great shade of lipstick. When she handed me the tube so I could check out the name, I couldn’t see it. I held it at arm’s length and squinted, the letters barely coming into focus. “Look at you”, she giggled. “You can’t see!”
26 Oct Baby babble
This baby's mom asks her a question. She certainly has a lot to say. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySlibLnATqw&feature=youtu.be[/embed]...
26 Oct A Happy Student Makes for a Happy School (and Vice Versa)
With fall fully upon us, as parents, we are (hopefully) well past our child’s first-day jitters, and have eased into a smooth transition back to school after the summer holidays. Even with all the effort we put into making our child’s first few weeks back as comfortable and memorable as possible, we may have overlooked asking them a simple – yet essential – question: Are you feeling happy at school?
13 Oct YOU ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE
“Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.” - Lou Holtz When I think about my life, I think of it as chapters of a book. Some chapters I want to read over and over again, such as getting engaged, getting married, and completing my Master’s degree, but some I want to skip over and never open again.
18 Sep Turning my mastectomy into art
I have always loved tattoos. Shortly after my 18th birthday, I walked into a tattoo shop filled with courage and a bit of cockiness. After studying the wall of images, I confidently pointed to a small cartoon devil named “Hot Stuff” and said, “Perfect!”
16 Sep The Disappointment of Movie Accessibility
Will you do me a favour? Would you walk through a mental exercise with me? Imagine that you made plans with friends to go to a general admission concert, and you happily anticipated the night spent socializing and seeing a great band. You drove across town...
11 Sep So Happy
I am so happy. So, so, so, so stupidly happy with my life right now, and changes that I’ve made. I think, as humans, we generally have pretty strong feelings about change: hate, love, fear, excitement, to name a few. When we’re unhappy, we crave change and...
29 Aug Aftermath – A Play You Should See…
[caption id="attachment_22720" align="alignleft" width="243"] Helena Levitt[/caption]
Helena Levitt is a Montreal actress who is currently rehearsing a play called Aftermath; a production that is produced and directed by The Waterworks Company founders Rob Langford and Tracy Houston. It is a one-woman show about the true story of feminist activist Andrea Dworkin.
In her own words, Andrea shares her story about being drugged and raped in her Paris hotel room. Given what is currently in the news with Bill Cosby, it is a very timely piece of theatre.
28 Aug You don’t like it? I don’t care!
Do you care what people think of you? Of course you do? Most of us, from the moment we step out of bed, start caring about what other’s think of us. What should I wear? Will these jeans make me look fat? Will my Boss listen...
27 Aug A Tale of Two Rookies
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I bid farewell to our night nurse (I’ll call her “Mrs. Doubtfire”) and I have been intermittently teary-eyed since. She had been with us since April and helped us tremendously with our now 5-month old daughter. Not only did she allow my husband and I to get 8 hours of sleep every couple of nights, but she also gave us something that new parents so desperately need: reassurance.
29 Jul How I Learned to Hug my Kids
Recently I was asked by an old friend who I haven't seen since my wedding, seven years ago, if I hug my children. Most would find this to be a strange question, but to me it was extremely on point as it was a true concern...
20 Jul When 3 becomes 5
I found out I was pregnant with twins at 7 weeks. I went for an ultrasound with a close friend of mine and the technician smiled and said she saw 2 heart beats. I looked over at my friend who had already started crying and said,...
15 Jul Never Too Early to Say “Thank You”
I’m not a wise woman. I’m not a father, nor a husband. I’m a 28-year-old guy with a supportive family, an amazing girlfriend and a career that I love. I recently went through an unbelievable experience in my life, and I would love to share it...
26 Jun Do you know Liz?
Do You Know Liz? I really don't know Liz that well. Although, I feel like I've known her since she was 7 years old. How is this so? Liz's father was my doctor. From the age of 17 until his passing, he was my gynaecologist. More so,...
24 Jun Closed Doors and Open Windows: Moving on After Miscarriage
I watched a bird busy in the gutter of my home. After a while I realized that it was building a nest. My father was with me and said, in typical fashion, "Just wait until the rain comes." I asked, naively, "What happens when the rain...
15 Jun Montreal Diary: Wise women share their stories and resources
Adam Kovac Adam Kovac, Special to Montreal Gazette Lisa Brookman is used to answering difficult questions. Brookman is a psychotherapist and co-director of the West Island Therapy Centre in Pierrefonds, where she often deals with issues of anxiety, depression and marital strife. However, it was her clients’...
11 Jun When Two Spouses Want to Follow Their Dreams
For my 12th birthday, my grandfather held cheque in his hand. He asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. When I answered, “A writer,” he put the cheque back into his pocket. “Pick something that makes money,” he said. “What do you really...
11 May Get Moving for MINDSTRONG. Let’s stop the stigma!
[caption id="attachment_21847" align="alignleft" width="225"] Elana and her boys[/caption] Bouncing baby boy, husband, career, fabulous friends, devoted volunteer, and postpartum depression. You read that correctly, postpartum depression. I was scared, ashamed, and alone. I didn’t want my friends to judge or label me as weak. I was in denial...
08 May NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND
We are a jewelry company based in Montreal, Quebec that is seeking your help to send emergency relief to Nepal! In light of the devastating earthquakes that have led to the deaths of over 3,000 people in Nepal and neighbouring countries, our aim is to fundraise...
10 Apr Giving Back: Kerry’s Kitchen
Six years ago at exactly this time, I was diagnosed with Breast Cancer.
It was a few days before Passover and I will never forget that time. Waiting for the biopsy results was the worst week of my life. Not knowing how bad my cancer was and whether I was going to live to see my 4 children’s futures. It was awful but luckily my diagnosis came and it was early stage Breast Cancer. I had a double mastectomy with reconstruction (hello Angelina Jolie! I was before your time!) and then six weeks of radiation. Today, I am happy to say I am a survivor!
07 Apr How to Follow Your Passion
Have you ever wanted to quit your day job to follow your passion but were too scared to do so? I started my real estate career 10 years ago, with no network, no experience, no mentor, 2 children under 3 years old and a husband who travelled for work. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.
27 Mar Let’s help Jared!
A child in our community needs our help- A 7 year old boy named Jared, was diagnosed with DIPG (Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma) in November 2014. He has a tumor located in the area of the brain that controls breathing, talking, walking, swallowing, heartbeat and all...
24 Mar A WORK IN PROGRESS
We all have things we neglect in life and most of the time I think we neglect ourselves. Over the years I have experienced enough ailments and hospital visits for a lifetime. Where shall I begin…
22 Feb Celebrity Nail Trends & The Christian Louboutin Mani
[caption id="attachment_21449" align="alignleft" width="239"] Louboutin polish[/caption] Here's what trending so far this year in the nail world. The 2015 Golden Globes showed a wide array of nailcolours/ shapes and styles. From J.Lo's metallic pink pointy nails to Kerry Washington's navy sparkle with squoval shape to Katie...
