Oscars ageless ladies

As the years pass by, these Oscar winners do new justice to the phrase, 'aging gracefully'. While we don't know the exact secrets to their youthful looks, we do know all these years later, they still rock the red carpet.

The towering Geena Davis won a gold man as Best Supporting Actress for her role in "The Accidental Tourist" in 1989. Years later when she took to the red carpet again, it was like time had stood still.

 

She took the golden man home for her role in Monster's Ball and when she did, Halle Berry didn't look a day older than her first Oscar appearance in 1998

 

A sight larger and perhaps wiser, Jamie Lee Curtis has made her mark with her trademark salt and pepper look. Well worn and definitely not worn out!

 

 

 

 

Now, look slim instantly! Without GYM

The extra kilos don’t have to be translated into boring, oversized outfits. Rather, you must get more careful about camouflaging the trouble areas to look thinner. Getting your hands on the correct colours and styles will not only ensure that you look thin but also feel more confident and sexy.

Let low-fat dressing not just be restricted to the salads and sandwiches, but also extend to what you wear and how. Find some secrets to shopping below.

1. Wardrobe Wonder
Trade your unassuming loose kurta salwars for shirts and business suits. A suit can make you look slender when that jacket is fitted along with straight-legged pants. Tunic tops build an illusion of a trimmer waistline, perfect for weekend breaks. If you have thinner bottom, get some A-line skirts made out of structured fabrics that would show off those curves. Empire waist dresses and tops can flatter every body type.


2. Colour Me Right
Wearing one colour from head to toe can add length to your body. Sporting many colours together has a chance of making one appear heavier and shorter. By same colour, we do not mean exactly the same. But, learn to match-much in the family like white, beige and peach go well together. Black is every girl’s best friend, isn’t it?


3. Eye to Details
It is imperative to wear clothes with some detailing so it distracts the other person from concentrating on your body shape and weight. An interesting ruffled neckline or Swarovski on the skirt can really shift the focus. Wear an interesting belt or bangles to add to the otherwise plain outfit.


4. Tailor Tricks
If you are not finding size 16, buy an 18 and go to your tailor and tell him to fix it. Do not end up buying a 14 and say that it looks okay. Wearing tight clothes on a big body is not the best thing to do. It is much better to tailor down a garment that is too big than too small. Remember, doing any alteration to the hip and shoulder area can really ruin the outfit.



5. Lingerie Luxury
Inner beauty is as important as the outer. This might not have been said in this context ever but it holds true. Yes, what you wear under your garments can also make or break the look. A good rule of thumb is wearing the right bra size and pantyhose under the garment.
Must haves
Make sure you have a black dress with a neckline that suits you. This can undoubtedly work for all your special occasions styling it with a different bag and piece of jewellery. For the cold weather, don’t end up wearing big jackets to warm you up, rather invest in some belted coats clinched at the waist. A cardigan that is part shawl and part sweater can be draped beautifully to cover the bulge.

What homemakers wish from the Budget

A letter from an Indian homemaker to the Finance Manager ahead of the budget!
Dear FM, I would like to introduce myself as the Finance Manager of my household. As I read the newspapers every day, I see so many expectations from so many segments. You must surely be overwhelmed.
As an FM I understand how it is to handle expectations and hence this letter is not my expectations but my advice to you on what you can do in the Budget.
By BankBazaar.com - an online marketplace for your personal loan and home loan needs.

Income tax
I see so many articles talking about income tax and the expectations to raise the income tax slabs. I’d say, you know better and this expectation to hike the slabs is a perennial thing that crops up every budget, raises hopes so high and mostly ends up in disappointment. Some years it was Mr. Mukerjee and sometimes it’s been you – PC. I advice, do not hike the slabs, I doubt if any housewife really cares about taxation issues as what we are bothered is the cash flow to the house.

 

My advice – Please make the tax collection systems stronger and efficient so there is a bigger mop up and you do not have to depend on the revenue from common people like us along. Also show us projects which will ensure that the money my husband pays as tax is used to make life better for us.

 

Help me reduce my expenses
A penny saved is a penny earned is what I have taught my children. I am sure you have known it all your life. Housewives are called so because of our inability to ‘earn’ income. But no one credits us for the savings we make on expenses. We don’t mind that as long as we can save more. Today, the biggest expense for our household is the school fees and children’s education. I can compromise on our lifestyle but cannot do so with children’s education.

 

My advice – Please announce schemes which can result in a reduction in the cost of QUALITY education thus reducing my monthly outflow on fees. Please strengthen the Public Distribution System, so we are able to get quality food products at affordable prices. Please announce strong schemes for agriculture so we can better vegetables and grains at lower prices.

 

Salary for Housewife
There has been a lot of debate over husbands paying a salary to a housewife. It is a highly sensitive issue and hence I would not like to explore that. But, at the same time, I am sure you understand that a housewife is an employee who is paid only in love and affection. Why don’t you break that taboo and fix a monetary value to our services and make it an expense which is tax deductible for my husband. You could have a fixed component common for all housewives and a variable component based on number of married years – this will also help reduce the huge cost of divorces our country is facing right now.

 

Housewives as part of SME sector
Every budget has so much talk about SMEs and supporting them. But what about the informal SME sector that runs is so many households? Tailoring, Crafts, Tuitions etc. We contribute so much to the GDP but it is never accounted. Actually, we like it to stay that way. But, can you announce some schemes so that housewives get better financial opportunities to render their services without actually walking out of the house.

 

Gold and its irony
It’s funny that when I want to buy gold I want the prices to come crashing down, but the moment I have bought it, I want the prices to sky rocket. Today a lot of housewives invest in Gold as that is one of the few investments we easily understand.

 

Advice – can you announce simple yet effective financially effective investment schemes run by the government so we can have more liquidity? From an economics perspective too this will give cash flow for the government rather than all that money lying idle in the form of bangles and necklaces which I rarely wear –what with the law and order situation outside. Lower demand for gold will also help rationalize the prices in the gold market and help me buy better stuff at affordable prices. 

 

I wrote this with the best intentions in mind and also as I understand that you do not have a housewife (your wife is an earning member isn’t it) and hence do not have first hand experience of our wishes from the budget.

 

The bottom-line – Give us ways in which cost of Food, Education and Shelter come down. We don’t care if CTBT is imposed or some new form of taxation is scrapped. At the end of the day, can you help me put more money in the saving jar at home? If you can do that, you have my vote!

Regards
The aam aadmi ki gharelu biwi

Do you have an ex-box?

Are you secretly holding on to a photo of your ex after a bitter breakup? Fret not! Remembering the past can improve your mood. Study

If you're secretly holding on to a photo of an ex after a breakup, you're not alone. A recent survey by Friends Reunited in the UK found that over 43 percent of women keep hard copies of their ex's pictures. In fact, a majority of us have similar memories packed away in an 'ex box' at the bottom of the cupboard. And it isn't just photographs, it could be all sorts of memorabilia like cinema tickets, dead flowers, and teenage journals! Good thing, because studies have found that remembering the past helps improve moods and increases self-esteem, and as psychologist Clay Routledge suggests, nostalgia is a 'good psychological medicine'.

Shruti Bhardwaj, 21
"It doesn't mean I still have feelings for my ex...""I've got a plastic piggy bank that an ex gave me because I was bad at saving money, and he knew I wanted to, for a college trip. Then there are little knick knacks from all over the world, like bracelets and key chains-most of my exes travelled a lot. I've also have a journal I used to write in high school, chronicling my 'crushes'. These things are a big part of who I am today, and keeping them doesn't mean I'm still in love with the people who gave them to me."

Akriti Narula, 26
"I don't see why I should throw away some of my best memories."
"My friends have often asked me why I still keep that box filled with cards, bracelets, dried flowers, and an old-school camera, under lock and key at the back of my cupboard. I've asked myself the same thing and my logic is this: these were great memories created with someone I once cared for deeply. It's a part of who I am. We're still friends, and that hasn't stopped me for continuing my search for Prince Charming."

Swati Talwar, 23
"It helps me remember how far I've come, and how strong I am."
"I've got this box of stuff that's kept hidden and out-of-sight, under my bed. It's full of cards, love letters, and even some make-up, that I've held on to over the years. I was in a serious relationship for three years, and it was a painful break-up. I guess, holding on to these memories reminds me of what I've been through-and survived. I don't go through the contents often, but when I do, I just feel confident about the future...and finding my perfect match!"

Chromebook Pixel—Google’s groundbreaker laptop

Google has once again stunned the tech world. The new laptop they unveiled yesterday in San Francisco—the ‘Chromebook Pixel’— stands out for many things radically new.

Its specs compete with any of the existing Ultrabooks or Macbooks; its resolution outdoes the best existing ones by almost 100 percent. That’s as good as, if not better than, what Apple calls ‘retina display’. 

It has touchscreen, along with a keyboard and mousepad; the high-res touchscreen allows all the fancies and utilities like ‘tap’, ‘pinch to zoom’ and ‘swipe’.

Chromebook Pixel runs on Intel Core i5 processor and comes out in two models: 32 GB model with WiFi only, 64 GB model with WiFi and LTE.

Apart from the 32 GB or 64 GB built-in storage, Google offers 1TB free space on Google Drive for three years.

In addition to all regular Google apps and docs, Chrome Pixel buyers can enjoy seamless integration with Microsoft Office—to satisfy the MS Office fanatics Google is offering Quick Office for free.

Where to buy: The Chromebook Pixel is already available in Google Play, and shall soon be available on bestbuy.com.

The Price: The google blog says it has aimed the Chromebook Pixel for ‘especially for power users who have fully embraced the cloud’.  Hence, unlike the earlier Chromebooks from Google and its partner manufacturers like Samsung, Acer and HP, which are sold for as low as $199, the Chromebook Pixel targets an elite class of buyers who don’t bother about the price, but minds the performance; users who are happy working on the cloud across superfast connectivity. Hence the price is in the upper band: $ 1299 for 32 GB WiFi model; $ 1449 for the 64 GB LTE model.

More details (as touted by Google and gleaned from sneak previews)

Screen: 12.85-inch touch-sensitive Gorilla Glass screen. 2560 x 1700 pixels on 12.85 inch screen translate to 4.3 million pixels, i.e. 239 pixels per inch whereas the best current laptops give a resolution of 118 ppi according to Google.

OS: Chrome

Webcam: 720p

Audio: Powerful, full-range speakers tucked under the backlit keyboard. Three microphones designed and deployed in a manner that cancels all surrounding noise—two mics on either side of the cam, one laser mic under the keyboard. These ensure, Google claims, that the system cancels out even some keyboard tapping noises that you may make during videoconferences.

Look and feel: Anodized aluminium alloy body that is smooth and durable; vents and screws are hidden, ports are not marked.

Speed: Driven by Intel Core i5 processor and solid state flash memory architecture, it is quick and agile.

Security: built-in antivirus protection, regular updates every few weeks