Family of Four

Time to Spruce up Your Image

“Let’s start at the very beginning; a very good place to start. When you speak you begin with A-B-C; when you sing, you begin with Do-Re-Mi,” so says Maria von Trapp.

We are in a brand new year-2007. Resolutions abound. Great feelings. The start of a perfect year. So what are you gonna do with this new slate of 365 days?

A good place to start. Your image. Look yourself in the mirror. Man in the mirror- woman in the mirror, what do you see? Your hairstyle. Is it time to change to a new one? What about short hair? Long hair? Go platinum blonde? Get a pair of bee-stung lips like Angelina? Hmmm…Evaluate.

Look at your face. Too much freckles, bad pimples and what you do not want to have. Consult a dermatologist. Take care of your mug - a passport to many good things in life. Too much make up; too little make-up? Time to change cosmetics? Look at your eye lids? Wanna go for “double eye-lid’? Also is it time to embroider your eyelashes like the beautiful Korean film-stars?

Dressing. For ladies - been extra boyish with avant-garde jeans and tee-shirts in 2006? Want to project the feminine you? Go back to basics. Skirts and blouse – these always win hands-down.

Body Mass Index - are you on the weighty side? Is obesity the next stop on your journey in life? “Cut down on carbohydrates and fats; have many small meals. Graze like a cow; and exercise one hour daily,” counsels my lawyer friend, a fit-looking Bok whom I met on New Year’s Eve at the One-Utama Shopping Complex.

Internal happiness is important and so is external happiness. Be happy with the changes you made. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take it one day at a time. You can be bohemian in your cranium but don’t be a large, sloppy gypsy on the outside.

One sure-fire way to change your image for the better--- fall in love. Works every time.

And always remember – have a vision for 2007 - have the gumption and willpower to achieve it. Do the needful. Read, write and have fun. Enjoy the moments. Remember God is always at your side, providing sustenance and joy through out the year.

So let me finish with The Perfect Year by Sarah Brightman. I have taken poetic justice to rearrange the lyrics. So it does not follow the melody.

Bring out the old; bring in the new,

A midnight-wish to share with you,

Your lips are warm; my head is light,

We are alive before tonight

No need to hear the music play,

The clock is struck; the die is cast,

Let’s us take a chance; forget the past.

I don’t need a crowded ballroom,

Every thing we want is here,

With you here with me,

Face to face,

We will embrace the perfect year.

Dance one year in, kiss one good bye,

Another chance, another start,

So many dreams to tease the heart,

It’s New Year’s Eve and hopes are high,

Next year will be the perfect year.

Quote of the Day:

“Love:a temporary insanity, curable by marriage.” Ambrose Bierce

Heartsong