Girl power goddesses to Google right now!

The following 5 dynamic digital divas will leave you bursting with inspiration and ready to take on the world…

1) Kimberly Wilson

Kimberly helps modern women stylishly blend yoga and entrepreneurship into their everyday lives, and I consider her books, HipTranquil Chick and Tranquilista, to be my sparkly pink bibles. Kimberly’s podcast, Tranquility Du Jour, offers fantastic interviews of people at the forefront of the personal growth and creativity arenas, and her charming Tranquility Du Jour blog always puts a smile on my face.

2) Marie Forleo

 

Marie is a self-described “business strategist, marketing maven, and spiritual ass-kicker with a side of hip hop swagger” and one of the best (and most popular) she-Vloggers on the web.  Her vibrant videos covering everything from business growth to spirituality never fail to leave me energized and full of excitement.

3) Danielle LaPorte

Life coach Danielle LaPorte writes that “feminine power and progressive commerce are revolutionary forces” and I couldn’t agree more.  Her website and best-selling book, The Fire Starter Sessions, showcase her powerful writing which is wise, sassy and totally irreverent all at once. 

4) Gabrielle Bernstein

The cover of Gabrielle's 1st book, Add More Ing to Your Life, (pictured above) which shows her unicycling on a crowded NYC street sporting a huge grin and angel wings pretty much says it all.  I very much enjoy her weekly Vlogs centered around self-improvement and personal growth and the warmth and panache with which she delivers them.

5) Gala Darling 

Through her irresistible blog and eBook, appropriately titled, Love and Sequins, Gala Darling offers a message of “Radical self-love”.  She encourages her ever-growing tribe of self-described “International Plagirls” to join her on on a path of self-actualization and style.  

Who inspires you on the wonderful World Wide Web?  Please share in the comments below!

Book Adoration: "Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl"

I've recently become obsessed with Debra Ollivier's fabulous and oh so french literary creation, Entre Nous: A Woman's Guide to Finding Her Inner French Girl. Full of french fashion advice, recipes, film recommendations, and mini bios of great french women of history, I love the book's inspirational and empowering tone, demonstrated in her description of the quintessential french woman:

“She is an essence, a way of being, a mindset—and she exists in us all. She is that part of us that is free—and not bound up by the joyless strings of morality or guilt. She’s that part of us that has a sense of continuity in life, that doesn’t rush, that feels sexy for no apparent reason. She is, more fundamentally, that part of us that does not want to live according to what others think she should be. She is her own woman. Entirely.”

I highly recommend this book to any girl who loves being both fearless and feminine (and who secretly wishes she lived in Paris!).

Au revior and happy reading!

Self Improvement & Self Acceptance: Mutually Exclusive?

Photo: We Heart It.

“As I thought about happiness, I kept running up against paradoxes. I wanted to change myself but accept myself. I wanted to take myself less seriously—and also more seriously. I wanted to use my time well, but I also wanted to wander, to play, to read at whim. I wanted to think about myself so I could forget myself. I was always on the edge of agitation; I wanted to let go of envy and anxiety about the future, yet keep my energy and ambition. Was I searching for spiritual growth and a life more dedicated to transcendent principles—or was my happiness project just an attempt to extend my driven, perfectionist ways to every aspect of my life?’
-Gretchen Rubin, The Happiness Project

I found The Happiness Project, or rather; it found me, a few weeks ago during a routine visit to Barnes and Noble. In the vein of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat Pray Love, the memoir chronicles the adventures of New York writer, Gretchen Rubin, as she spends 12 months, “test driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.”

The paradox she describes in the quote above, between striving and self-acceptance, got me thinking. I mean, isn’t a certain lack of self-acceptance necessary to face the discomfort that self-improvement inherently entails?

After pondering this for a few minutes, I did what I normally do when I reach an impasse. I Googled. And found the following quote:

"It’s perfectly possible to accept yourself just how you are, to love the body, mind and soul that you have – and because of that love, to want to keep developing and improving, striving to be the very best person who you can be."
-Ali Luke

Yep, that pretty much sums it up. Here's to loving yourself enough to continue to work to be the best person you can be!

Fabulous self-help reads

Photo: Ffffound

“The best moments in reading are when you come across something—a thought, a feeling, a way of looking at things—that you’d thought special, particular to you. And here it is, set down by someone else, a person you’ve never met, maybe even someone long dead. And it’s as if a hand has come out, and taken yours.”
-The History Boys

For me, few life pleasures exceed that of getting lost in a good book. And while I've always enjoyed fiction, over the past few years I've become somewhat of a self-improvement junkie! Here are a few of my favs...

For the yoga-loving party girl who wants to make a difference in the world (basically me, the author is a bit of a personal hero)...
Hip Tranquil Chick and Tranquilista by Kimberly Wilson

For anyone looking tap into their innate creativity...
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

For the aspiring frugal fashionista (what can I say, financial advice is always better served up in pink!)...
Shoo Jimmy Choo! The Modern Girl's Guide to Spending Less and Saving More! by Catey Hill

For the gal who loves to feather the nest...
The Domino Book of Decorating by Deborah Needleman, Sara Ruffin Costello, and Dara Caponigro

For the soul searcher in need of a little pick me up (this book is like eating a bowl of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies...but good for you!)...
Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach

For visual folk who adore looking at pretty pictures and reading inspiring quotes (obviously you or you wouldn't be reading my blog!)...
Girlosophy by Anthea Paul

For anyone who needs a reminder that extreme self-care is a vital necessity...
Take Time for Your Life: A Seven Step Program for Creating the Life You Want by Cheryl Richardson

Hope you enjoy these books as much as I did! And please share any recommendations of your own :)
xoxo

Electronic Books: Kindling an Interest In The Written Word or Ruining The Romance of Reading?

Adore sipping cocoa by a fireplace on chilly nights, immersed in the latest Oprah Book Club must-read? Love lounging poolside in July, Piña Colada in one hand, People Magazine in the other? Heart skip a beat when you last stumbled upon a used bookstore with a cute Nietzsche-reading hipster behind the register? (OK maybe just me…). You fellow bibliophiles out there know there’s an undeniable romance to the act of reading. But if you’re anything like me, you’ve entertained a thought or two about jumping on the new E-reading bandwagon. Well before you drop $150 on the latest Kindle or iPad, or declare yourself permanently anti-Nook, read on as I weigh the main pros and cons of this new literary phenomenon!

The benefits of electronic reading devices appear limitless: Portable access to thousands of books, articles, magazines, and blogs (How fast can you say lighter luggage?); Popular titles at a 10-30% discount; The ability to conduct quick full-text searches in a single book or whole library; Text-to-speech capabilities that not only aid the visually impaired, but also enable listening and studying behind the wheel (potentially further hindering your ability to text and drive…Officer Fred if you’re reading this, I’m totally kidding!); Inexpensive distribution of corrected and updated versions of textbooks (increasing college students’ monthly booze budgets…wait did I just write that?); And finally, file backup capability, which assists the disorganized and accident-prone (Spilled that Piña Colada? House burned down from careless fireplace reading? Misplaced your Nook in, well, a nook? Never fear. Your books are safe—no burnt or soggy pages!)

But before you book it (hah!) to the nearest Barns and Noble, there are several drawbacks to E-reading worth considering. Not all content is currently available in electronic form; Imperfect screen resolution and battery requirements can be irritating (Forgot to pack those Double A’s for you’re red eye to London? Wouldn’t want to be you!); You can’t smell and touch an iPad like you can a real book (That sounded far less creepy in my head…). Nooks make for sub-par living room décor and won’t impress like rows of weathered 1st editions—just ask Blue Water designer, Jen, who calls her book shelf a “trophy case”; And then there’s the oft-repeated “ugly” factor. As Michael Tamblyn, CEO of BookNet, puts it, “No one holding a Kindle at Starbucks has ever been asked for his or her phone number,”(Next time I want a very overpriced *ahem* VANILLA latte, I’ll test and report back!).

So will electronic devices rip the romance right out of reading, or will book-lovers take to Nooks like Hollywood to teen Vampires? For now, the jury’s still out. But whether you end up Team Book or Team Nook, I hope I’ve kindled your interest (couldn’t resist) in another fascinating way technology has merged with one of life’s greatest pleasures: Reading! See you at the bookshop around the corner—and hipster boy, you know who you are…