beauty – Yearning for Wonderland

Jamberry Spring Fling Giveaway

The giveaway is over – thank you to all who entered! Please see below for the winners 🙂

I will be contacting the winners by email. Please comment below if you haven’t received an email from me by the end of 4/19.

Denise Callaway – Mother’s Day Gift Set

Naomi Parrish – Love Connection Lacquer Gift Set

Kayla Black – Anna & Co. Storage Bin

Linda Trinklein – Anna & Co Storage Bin

Stephanie Fuller – Anna & Co Storage Bin

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For those who are unfamiliar with Jamberry nail wraps, they are non-toxic and waterproof, easy to apply, and have hundreds of designs. You can check them out here: ruanna3.jamberrynails.net.

They have been amazing for me, as I’ve never had pretty nails and, in fact, bit my nails and cuticles. I always say, if I can put them on, anyone can!

16489338099_9e44e23937_z (1) — Mermaid Tales Jamberry Nail Wraps

16674456112_6236d4542d_z (2) — Whisper (clear) + Grapefruit Jamberry Nail Wraps

Today through 4/17, we are hosting a super fun Rafflecopter giveaway. See the gorgeous prizes below the RC!

So you might wonder how you can enter?

1) You can post on your Facebook wall. Don’t mention the giveaway, as that’s against FB’s ToS, but talk about your Jamberry wraps experience and how you’ve enjoyed them. Basically, a short testimonial. Feel free to link to my Jamberry page or include photos. That nets you three entries, just be sure to tag me in!

2) Leaving a comment on this blog post gets you 2 entries

3) If you write a blog post about Jamberry, you get an amazing 5 entries! It doesn’t have to be long, again, just that you’re using them and enjoying them and include the code for the Rafflecopter. Be sure to let me know the link on social media!

4) Tweet about the giveaway. This gives you one entry and you can do it once a day till the giveaway is over!

5) Follow me on Twitter gives you one entry and also a freebie to those who already follow me 😀

Any questions? Feel free to ask them in the comments, gets you two entries!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

16921531042_d1a930fd26_z — Prize Giveaway #1: Mother’s Day Ruby & Rose Gift Set (value $45)

16752277378_d3d0bbd9e6_z (2) — Mother’s Day wraps from Ruby & Rose gift set on hands

16157642652_51968c7c04_z (1) — Prize Giveaway #2: Love Connection Lacquer Gift Set (value $54 – now discontinued!)

15972325959_19729fde78_z (1) — Lacquer from Love Connections gift set, including Design Dimensions sparkle appliques and top coat!

Everyone needs a place to keep their nail stuff! You can win your very own Anna & Co. storage cubby. (3 available, $17 value, wraps and nail paraphernalia not included)

Choose a Style for the Hapless Bride’s Hair

The Hapless Bride needs your help!

She is concocting the loveliest, most elegant 1930’s inspired wedding ever. She has yet to choose her hairstyle, however. Your opinion counts! Please scroll down to view all four choices and make your selection.

The fate of the Hapless Bride’s appearance hangs in the balance. She is meeting with her hairstylist on Saturday to choose her bridal hairstyle. Scroll down and VOTE NOW!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

Till the thin lady sings…

One of my favorite opera singers is the mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. I discovered her work in college and I used to take naps to her CD, A Portrait, on a daily basis.

I loved her voice, her look, her masses of dark curls, her effortless coloratura whether singing Handel or Mozart. I am a mezzo too and I would sing along, no doubt getting dirty looks from all the people I passed in my car.

Here is a video of her singing Caro Mio Ben to give you just a taste of her sublimity.

The top comment on this video:

before i heard her sing i thought she was a plain chunky Italian chick
now when i look at her i see the most perfect example of femininity on earth [sic]

And thus we reach the topic of this post. Opera, one of the few performance arts where you ought to be judged for your recitative and not your waist size, has succumbed to popular pressure.

I was listening to Cecilia’s new album, Sospiri (which means “sighs” in Italian), released in 2010. I squinted at the tiny album cover in the corner of my screen and then blew it up to full size.

Notice any difference between that picture and this, also taken in 2010?

The album cover is heavily Photoshopped, to make her appear thinner. Now this could have been a change Ms. Bartoli herself requested. Who doesn’t want to look as beautiful as possible in their promotional photos?

But it has become so common now it doesn’t even raise any eyebrows or notice. I was sure I was not the only one who saw this, but I searched Google in vain for any reference to the classical community being annoyed at one of their grande dames being visually liposuctioned for the masses.

Never mind that I loved Cecilia as she was (and truly is). Curvy and hippy and womanly and lush. Such photographs do a disservice to her as an artist. Yet, Cecilia Bartoli is currently #7 on Hottest Female Classical Musicians. Is that for who she really is and how she really looks or how she is portrayed in images for her recordings, which sell quite well? And what does “hot” have to do with opera anyhow?

Weight and opera have always had an uneasy partnership. Beauty does sell tickets. Modern opera requires their leads to be both svelte and vocally acrobatic. More than one diva has been fired due to weight issues. Opera stars must be sexy and apparently that also equals skinny.

When Maria Callas lost all her weight, many people believe she lost the vocal quality that made her so memorable. Renee Fleming, another famous soprano, said of Callas’ transformation: “It’s not the weight loss per se… But if one uses the weight for support, and then it’s suddenly gone and one doesn’t develop another musculature for support, it can be very hard on the voice. And you can’t estimate the toll that emotional turmoil will take as well.”

Conversely, many believe that Callas didn’t become the mega-star that she was -until- she lost all the weight, even though her voice changed.

I am more sensitive to this because opera is one of the few places you can still find curvy and buxom beauties. They open their mouth and the heavens open.

Let it be about the music, not the number on the scale.

Something to consider:

If you had a voice of fire, would you trade it for beauty?