Ginger Garrett

Just a reminder: I’ll be speaking Tuesday night, August 26, at the kick-off event for Church 4 Chicks at Cumberland Community Church.

Visit here for details:

www.church4chicks.com

See you there!

I was in the television studio today (love that EveryDay with Marcus & Lisa! FamilyNet has some of the best programming around) so I’m of course running late getting my guide to mineral makeups up here on the blog. I compared the bestselling brands, whether sold on infomercials or in mass retailers, and we’ve found that price doesn’t have alot to do with quality. Two of the best performing minerals are priced at about $10.

I’ll be working tonight and tomorrow morning to get the listings posted. Meanwhile, enjoy your (hopefully) peaceful summer night….we’re expecting some thunderstorms here from Hurricane Fay. Since I’ll be on the football field and tennis courts with my kids tonight, it could be exciting.

Having multiple kids in multiple sports sure gets hectic this time of year. Last night I was exhausted and threw my purse on the floor when I came through the front door. “Good grief, y’all!” I said. “Why can’t you just watch TV?”

Sigh. In writing, you always get a chance to go back and edit your comments. No such luck for us moms!

Tomorrow I’ll be live with Marcus and Lisa Ryan on their daily talk show, Every Day With Marcus and Lisa. If you haven’t caught the show before, now is a good time to TiVo it. They host a fabulous program. Check your local listings for air time.

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing two cool secrets: a guide to mineral makeups and the tricks professionals use. (Including a post later today with a mineral makeup comparison guide. I’ve compared all the leading national brands, and the best ones will surprise you. Hint: high quality doesn’t mean high price.)

We’ll also go over the little-known tips on choosing the perfect perfume. Perfumes have a lot in common with fine wines, but you don’t have to be intimidated by prices, brands, or ad campaigns. You can’t choose the right perfume by spraying it on a paper test strip, so we’ll show you how to do it and find the scent you love.

If you live in the Atlanta area, next Friday night channel 57 will be broadcasting a live event for In The Shadow Of Lions. We’ll be hosting a live on-air bookclub to discuss the issues around Anne Boleyn, whether angels exist, and why history is a tricky business.

Also, I’ve been asked to do an article for a women’s magazine on Anne Boleyn’s life as the wife of a powerful man. Although gossips painted Anne as a harlot, she was in fact a woman of remarkable strength and integrity, remaining a woman of grace even at the point of her death. I think she has some lessons to teach us all, on living in peace when enemies are all around, on loving difficult men, and finding the truth in an age of lies.

If you have any thoughts on Anne, send them to me! One great comment can open a discussion that changes lives.

And that’s it for today–I have to get the October issue of CALLED magazine out the door. As their health & beauty editor (which stems from my expertise in ancient beauty practices and how modern medicine regards them today) I have a lot of interviews to conduct and some thoroughly modern secrets to unveil!

I don’t have my Fall clothes put away yet, so you know I am way behind in my organizing! Now that it’s time to think about storing our summer clothes and getting ready for a cozy Fall, here are a few tips to keep in mind:

1. Mothballs have a terrible fragrance and have unhealthy chemicals. As an alternative, you can use cedar blocks sold in home goods stores, or put a few drops of cedar or lavendar essential oil on a cotton ball and place inside the storage container.

2. Don’t put away those sunglasses! Sunglasses with 100 percent UV protection can help prevent wrinkles, cataracts and other eye ailments.

3. Keep up that sunscreen as well. Fall rays can damage the skin even on days when the weather is wonderful. Also, I posted an interview from a dermatologist a few weeks ago which got a lot of interest. I’ve always thought that the higher the SPF, the better the protection. Not so, says the doc. The higher SPFs have more of the active ingredient. For the best protection–and no irritation from strong ingredients–choose a lower SPF, such as 15-30, and reapply every two hours. I keep a mini bottle in my purse and reapply after hand washing.

4. Don’t forget to bring the outdoors in with you this Fall. In the summer, we’re surrounded by beautiful foilage, flowers, and produce. We feel alive and energetic.

You’ll want to make a habit of keeping a few fresh flowers around your house this Fall. Studies show that fresh flowers can reduce your anxiety levels, boost creativity, and help maintain a sense of well-being.  To keep your flowers fresh, change the water every other day to get rid of bacteria that weaken blooms. You can use store-bought flower food, or some swear by adding a tablespoon or so of Listerine to the water.

Enjoy!

I grew up watching war documentaries with my Dad. Every Sunday we’d sit on the couch and watch old black and white footage of Americans and Brits storming beaches, fighting Nazis, carrying the wounded to safety. (I watched so many hours of these films that when I landed in Germany as a teenager years later, I walked off the plane and exclaimed, “Oh my gosh! It’s in color now!”)

I was unwittingly taught that men were heroes. I saw men as capable of great deeds, and great suffering. That profoundly impacted my life–I certainly wasn’t the cutest girl in my dating years, but I had a lot of beaus, probably only because I held men in such respect. I saw the hero inside. I believed he was there. I felt safe.

But I’ve broken down in recent years, so weary and wounded by those among you who are aggressive with your stares and attentions. Do you know how vunerable, how violated, a woman feels when you stare at her and refuse to look away?

When I’m not on display, making a public appearance as a public figure, I wear baggy, oversized clothes. I don’t advertise my body because it’s not for sale. I feel safe, because I know you can’t see my curves. I think it makes me more invisible.

But there’s always some man willing to work a little harder than the others, willing to stare until he’s deciphered every angle, every wiggle, every last hidden inch of flesh. I want you to know that you spoil me, in the worst sense. After you’ve stared at me, followed me down the aisle of a store, or grunted as I walked by, I detest being a woman. I wish I was anything but. I want to hide, to vomit, to shroud my face in shame.

I’ve worked for years to love myself as I am, to celebrate beauty in all its glorious diversity, to help my sisters hold their heads up high, and be at peace with how God created them. We fight a daily battle to believe that we are so much more than our bodies, so much more than a product to be judged. And then we step out of our homes and you consume us, your eyes taking our measure and your stares letting us know our score.

I want to be free. I want to thank God that I am a woman, and offer the men in my life the very best I have to offer. I want to bring to them all the best of what God has given me, and all women: beautiful hearts, discerning spirits, gentle words of respect. Please don’t push me back into my prison, reminding me that it’s not safe to be vunerable, that to be soft is to be unsafe.

I need you to be the hero. I want to believe in you. Please be the man that every woman wants to find, wants  to know is always ready to protect, to keep safe, and to honor. I need you to be that man, because without you, I don’t want to be a woman worth saving.

I just returned from Indianapolis, where I spoke at the prayer breakfast for the Women of Destiny, a very special group of women who attend the Women of Faith events. (If you’re reading this, girls, you know I miss you!)

In August, I’ll be visiting book clubs who were chosen to receive advance copies of the new novel, In The Shadow of Lions. All book clubs will be eligible for a free book club pack starting next month, so stay tuned!

I’ll be in Kentucky in early September hosting a wonderful Spa Day. (More info is online at the Fulton paper: www.fultonkynews.org 

I’m booking dates for 2009, so if you want to host an event where women are encouraged, body image issues are put to rest, and diversity is celebrated, send me an email. It’s been such a joy this year to share laughter, embarrassing stories from the dressing room, and the truth about beauty.