At mindbodygreen, we get to meet the female entrepreneurs who are passionate about making the world a healthier place. In this new series, we're profiling #WellnessWonderWomen who inspire us with vision and dedication — and hopefully inspire you, too. I first met Adina Grigore, founder of S.W.
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We meet the 18-year-old American beauty…
A Midsummers Night's Dream Wedding Inspiration & Ideas
My town has the most charming ice cream shop. It’s painted in sherbet colors and has a rick-rack of gingerbread trim. I don’t indulge every day but enough to know the owners who winter in Florida each year. But our conversations are all too brief during the height of summer when a line snakes out past their picnic tables into a grove of trees. Still, the ice cream is rich and wonderful and worth the wait. Have you noticed how some things are most beautiful just before they disappear? Falling stars, brides who depart for exciting new lives, flowers, and of course, tender seasons that cannot last. Right now I am enjoying summer’s swan song – the air is warm and balmy and the sun is throwing stirring shadows and light; total eclipses notwithstanding. Knowing that summer must soon end, I find myself holding on to it for dear life. I love the plump native tomatoes in overflowing bins at the market. As my mother taught me, I eat them like apples as I sit on the front stoop watching juices flow down my arm. It’s ok because the garden hose is still unraveled in the side yard just as it always is until September – I’m a lazy hose-mistress to be sure. Every Friday, I buy a farm-style bouquet filled with sunflowers and violet asters along with spikes of golden rod and dried beach fronds. My rustic bouquets don’t last as long as the prim blush roses I bought in early summer, but the colors are as warm and bright as October sunshine. As well, I am getting the most from my liberating wardrobe. Making sure each morning I select knee-skimming skirts with sleeveless tops or pretty dresses with billowing potential should I still find myself still wearing it when I fetch the recycling bin at the bottom of the driveway every Wednesday night. As for perfume, I can’t stop spritzing my eau fraiche blend that I keep cool in the refrigerator. It’s light and airy and not yet too weak for summer’s final bow. My coral lipsticks, a watercolor silk scarf, and other accouterments still call out to me. I won’t rush the goodbye because the hello takes so long. I’m sure I will surrender when summer turns back just long enough to take a final bow. By then, I’ll be longing to light some candles against a dark sky and chilly wind. And it will seem odd to see the dried leaves flitting and falling on my garden hose. I’ll put that to bed along with the rattan furniture and the clay pots that are holding my spectacular geraniums and begonias which have never looked more gorgeous as they do right now in their vivid hues of reds and pink. They seem to bloom over and over and over, like the last dazzling firework on July 4th. I’ll miss the crickets and frogs which lull me to sleep and the dove that coos from a distance late in the morning. I’ll miss the cold gazpacho I finally mastered and the watermelon and corn. But summer will really be over when the little pastel ice cream shop finally shutters its windows and closes its doors. They’ll put out the scratchy homemade sign that reminds us they will be back next summer. And each year…I try to believe them. (Top image by Trent Gudmundsen)
This mwila tribewoman was in Hale and came to me, showing a blue cap coming out from her clothes. i first did not understood there was a baby under this cap. Then she opened her clothes to let appear this albino baby girl. She had some little dreadlocks and was incredibly white. The mother was proud to pause for the picture and discovered the magic of polaroid! I have seen many albinos people in Angola, in the tribes. They are mainly in very bad health, as the sun is very hot there... Perhaps the most moving picture i ever took as the future of this albino baby is not the happiest you can get in this remote area of Africa. Mwila (or Mwela, Mumuhuila, or Muhuila) women are famous for their very special hairstyles. Hairstyles are very important and meaningful in Mwila culture. Women coat their hair with a red paste called, oncula, which is made of crushed red stone. They also put a mix of oil, crushed tree bark, dried cow dung and herbs on their hair. Besides they decorate their hairstyle with beads, cauri shells (real or plastic ones) and even dried food. Shaving the forehead is considered as a sign of beauty. The plaits, which look like dreadlocks, are called nontombi and have a precise meaning. Women or girls usually have 4 or 6 nontombi, but when they only have 3 it means that someone died in their family. Mwila Women are also famous for their necklaces, which are central and meaningful as for each period of their life corresponds a specific type of necklace. Young girls wear necklaces, heavy red made with beads covered with a mix of soil land latex. Later girls wear yellow necklaces called, Vikeka, made with wicker covered with earth. They keep until their wedding which can last 4 years. When married they start to wear a set of stacked up bead necklaces, called Vilanda. Women never take their necklace off and have to sleep with it. They also use headrests to protect their hairstyles. However, more and more men and women dress in a western way, because people make fun of them when they go to markets. Women sometimes walk 50 kilometers to sell goods in Huila market. Mwila rarely eat meat, they rather eat porridge, corn, chicken, honey and milk. They kill their cattle only on special occasions. Mwila are not allowed to mention people’s name in public. © Eric Lafforgue www.ericlafforgue.com
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Picture ThisThe Strange • The Old • The Terrifying. Creepy vintage photos to enjoy before bedtime.
In the early morning hours of Monday, February 11, 1963, Sylvia Plath brought food and drink into the bedroom of her two sleeping young children. She opened a window in their room and attached a note with her doctor's name and phone number to a baby carriage in the hallway.
