Sunday, September 11, 2011

Rebecca Minkoff gives a shout out to Latham Thomas in Lucky Magazine

NY Fashion Week veteran Rebecca Minkoff is expecting her first child and showing a fierce Spring 2012 collection this week. She is a mama glow icon with fabulous taste and personal style. She is also a huge advocate of women trusting their bodies wisdom for birth. I applaud Rebecca for that stance. Rebecca is keeping calm, cool, flexible and zen with the help of prenatal yoga in her life and here she tells Lucky Magazine that it's one of the essentials in getting prepped for the show. It's a pleasure to work with Rebecca. Check out the post here Lucky Magazine
To see what Rebecca's up to check her out on www.RebeccaMinkoff.com

Saturday, September 10, 2011

From Farm-to-Face: Why I'm Obsessed with Tata Harper!

Those who know me know how much I love skin care products. People always ask me what I use on my skin and how come it looks so youthful. I'm about to let you all in on a little secret, I've been using Tata Harper skin careproducts for my face for a little over a year now and I'm in LOVE. I first came across Tata Harper's products through my gorgeous friend Denise Mari- owner of Organic Avenue. Talk about beautiful skin, Denise has been practicing raw veganism for years, before it was even popular. She's always on the cutting edge of what's hip and natural, and the real thing.

Tata Harper was an easy sell. We've all heard of Farm-to-Fork, well Tata is leading the Farm-to-Face movement! Her products are chemical free, made from plant essences that grow right on her lush farm in Vermont and the rest of her ingredients are wild harvested in a few special places in the world where the land is well tended with organic and sustainable farming practices.With anywhere from 6-29 active ingredients in each product this line is no joke. Tata is a trained chemist from Colombia who is living the dream. Since before I ever met the beauty maven in the flesh, I had a friend crush on Tata Harper. When we finally met at an Organic Avenue hosted event for her brand where I was a speaker on supplements and beauty we connected big time.

Most recently Tata served as a panelist for the Mama Glow Film Festival and she's a part of my forth coming bookMama Glow: A Hip Guide to your Fabulous & Abundant Pregnancy, which will be released in the fall of 2012. Don't let her teenage appearance fool you, the Columbian beauty is the mother of two and has carved out a space for herself in the fashion and beauty scene making organic, plant based, and natural skin care chic, not granola.

I can sing Tata's praises all day, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to come home to a beautiful care package from her yesterday. I opened the box that was packed with corrugated cardboard strips that looked like eco confetti. There was a personal handwritten note from Tata that I've already put up on my "feel good board" in my office and deep inside there was her signature green velvet pouch with gold string containing her Deluxe Beauty Set. I'm like a kid in the candy store now because I LOOOVE pampering my skin and Tata taught me a self care practice that I can do every day. Her 6 step AM/PM routine for incredible looking skin will change the way you look.
Here are the products I use and go to Tata's site for more details and to purchase:
1. Regenerating Cleanser
2. Hydrating Floral Essence (like a toner)
3. Rejuvenating Serum
4. Rebuilding Moisturizer
5. Restorative Eye Creme
6. Replenishing Nutrient Complex

Once a week I use the Resurfacing Mask for my face, usually on Sundays when I can lounge and take a hot soak and relax. After the bath I use the Revitalizing Body Oil. Follow Tata's specific instructions on the site and you will sing her praises as I do. She's truly on the vanguard of making holistic beauty a widely embraced experience while maintaining total integrity in her product and practices. To learn more about my friend Tata Harper check out her webiste- www.tataharperskincare.com

Latham's Blog on Crazy Sexy Life: Slow Birth

Slow Birth is ecologically attuned midwifery/doula care with respect to the balance of nature.

Over the years, the Slow Food movement has benefitted from a lot of traction in the sustainable food community. Everyone speaks about slow food, the ecology of mother Earth, where our sacred food comes from, how it’s been cultivated, even the soil composition. The food justice and sustainable food movement prides itself on preserving just food for all.

Because I’m in the birth business, it got me thinking about how this concept applied to a new type of birthing model, one that is ages old but getting lost in the fast-paced world we live in. That concept is slow birth.

Slow Birth references labor and maternal care practices that are respectful and honor the inner ecology of the woman, her sacred anatomy, her innate wild wisdom and her attuned rhythms. It respects that birth can take time.

Like Slow Food, slow birth is about going back to the basics, celebrating what’s natural. That doesn’t mean without sophistication. It does, however, mean listening to the sophisticated rhythms of the body and acknowledging that you don’t always need technological support. The body is highly sophisticated and undergoes a host of processes to bring forth a baby.

The time of birth cannot be predicted, and this phenomenon of uncertainty leaves medical practitioners uneasy. So many women have the experience of being encouraged to take medications to “move things along.” With their haste to speed up their labor via drugs, they alter the woman’s internal hormonal ecology, and she can become disconnected to what is happening in her body and start to mistrust. No one can govern the female body but the woman who lives in that body. When practitioners take a position to modulate the normal course of a woman’s labor (without good reason to do so) they perform an act against nature. The connection to the Slow Food movement is strong here: The widespread use of agro-chemicals in farming are also an act against mother nature.

There is also the issue of unnecessary medical waste that is accumulated as a result of the technocratic birth model (which mirrors the inorganic waste, chemical compounds and natural resources wasted from industrial farming methods). Midwifery care is less expensive and less invasive, and midwives respect the mother/baby dyad. Organic farming is less expensive, uses less energy and the produce tastes better. We have a lot to say about this when it comes to our food, but what about when it comes to our wombs? We have to work with women and their bodies, not against them. We have to work with mother nature’s rhythms, not against them.

In my labor support work as a doula (Greek for “one who serves”), I strive to work with the mother and keep her in the hormonal flow and in a rhythm with her baby. We use breathing techniques, visualization, sound, movement, essential oils and therapeutic touch to help her labor comfortably. When a woman trusts her body and has proper support, she can have an empowering birth – no matter what the outcome. If Slow Food is a movement that takes us back to the land with respect and honor for sustainable food, then Slow Birth takes us back to the womb with respect and honor for the sacred process of birth.

For more information on how to optimize your health, visit TenderShootsWellness.com

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Daily Front Row: CHIC REPORT- Rebecca Minkoff

My adorable pregnant client and fashion stylist extraordinaire Rebecca Minkoff is getting close to her NY fashion week show, but she took some time to catch up with the DAILY Front Row and share about the Mama Glow Film Festival. See her article below! Go Rebecca!!




The Hamptons! We know we haven't given you enough coverage (Ha!) about our beloved getaway this summer,
so Rebecca Minkoff writes in with her recent adventure on the East End to make you feel like you were there. And who are we kidding? Summer's not over yet! Our Daily Dan this weekend is a must read. But first let's see what Rebecca's been up to... For the record: This was pre-Irene.

"The Hamptons in the summer time is a unique paradox. While my blood pressure always drops a little bit when I arrive there due to the fact that it’s the chicest, most relaxing beach-y locale to go and get away from it all. The Hamptons are also teeming with social events, step & repeats, and fancy-pants lunch engagements. After much practice, I think I’ve found a perfect balance of relaxation and socializing while I’m up there. Recently, amidst my sunbathing, I was lucky enough to attend and be on the host committee at the 1st annual Mama Glow Film Festival in the sleepy, stunning Hamptons hamlet of Sag Harbor. My good friend, and healthy pregnancy extraordinaire (and personal pre-natal yoga instructor), Latham Thomas is the founder of this festival and her first endeavor to showcase two films that bring awareness to maternal health and birth options was a runaway hit. It was a very happy, smiling crowd that I am glad to have been a part of. The guest list was right up my alley with supermodel extraordinaire Christy Turlington-Burns premiering her directorial debut documentary film No Woman, No Cry. Christy is probably one of the most stunning women I’ve seen in a long time. Her film is beautifully told, well produced and emotionally gripping. It tells the powerful stories of four women experiencing at-risk pregnancies in various locations around the world, such as Bosnia and Tanzania. I know I’m uber-pregnant at the moment, so I might be a little biased on the matter, but I absolutely loved it. The second film on tap for the day, Madame Tizo by David Belle, was introduced by the talented and lovely Selita Ebanks. His film tells the inspiring story of a 100-year-old Haitian midwife/leaf doctor known as “Ms. Little Bones” and how her traditional practices positively influence her community. It was educational, and super fun to watch. After the films, I was honored to be a part of a discussion panel that included Latham Thomas, Drena DeNiro, Denise Albert & Tata Harper, founder of a remarkable skin care line that I swear by. We wanted to talk about some of the issues that face women around the world and what we can all do to help. Being in a room with so many ambitious, socially aware women was an experience I won’t soon forget. At the end of the day, I had really worked up quite an appetite, and I wanted to try somewhere new. My husband and I made our way over to the delicious SEN Japanese restaurant in Sag Harbor. All of the Hamptons are raving about this place, with a great many calling it the best sushi in the area. Well, after indulging in what seemed like everything on the menu an expecting mother can eat, I can concur. The Sesame Tofu was a knock out, and I plan to make a pit stop in here every time I’m within driving distance of Sag Harbor."

To hear more about my adventures and get up-to-the-minute updates on what I’m up to, follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and on my blog.