Sure, I may still buy a few gifts in an actual store, but I love the convenience of shopping online. I can compare prices at several stores without getting in the car.

In the store, I’ve included some health-related books, and some other things I just thought you might like.

Please have fun no matter where you choose to shop. And don’t stress!

Image via stock.xchng.

Post from: Blisstree

Lively Women Christmas Store

Whatever it was that I did, I couldn’t lift my arm for two days. Typing hurt. Eating hurt. Feeding the dogs hurt. Washing my hair REALLY hurt. It baffles me that I could have done this to myself without noticing until the next day. I’m clueless, truly.

On a similar note, I keep finding large bruises on my legs and have no idea where they’re coming from. I’m starting to wonder if the dogs are walking on me in my sleep…

Have you ever woken up with or discovered a mysterious injury?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

(image: SXC.hu)

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, broken arm, hurt arm, pull a muscle, tear a muscle, strain a muscle, mysterious injury, hurt yourself and dont know how, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

Ever Injure Yourself and Have No Clue How You Did It?

I just about busted a gut when I visited the SpinLash website and watched the lovely promotional video about halfway down the page. Some excerpts from the voiceover:

Every woman wants longer, thicker, sexier eyelashes — but regular mascara can end up looking clumpy! False eyelashes look fake! [[Gee, ya think???]] And eyelash curlers hurt! [[Ouch! says the disgruntled woman demonstrating the evil that is the eyelash curler.]] But now, there’s SpinLash mascara! The world’s first mascara with a spinning brush.

Well, good for SpinLash. What blows my mind about this product is not the innovation (I’ve been spinning my own mascara wand just fine for years, if I do say so myself) but rather the price: two mascaras, two rotating brushes, and a “but wait, there’s more!” lighted magnification mirror are a $75 value, but they’re yours for $14.99 (plus shipping and handling). Um, $75 for two things of mascara and a compact? Dude, seriously?

If you’re into the whole As Seen on TV thing, go for it. But I think my stationary mascara wand and I are doing just fine.

Enter to win a Fertility Scope! Deadline: Friday, August 15, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

(image: SXC.hu)

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, spinlash, mascara, spinning mascara brush, rotating wand, as seen on tv, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

Spinning Things Near My Eyes Freak Me Out

One of the things that many students overlook as they head back to school is student health insurance. However, this is an important part of protecting yourself from financial catastrophe.

Who needs student health insurance?

If you are under 24, and if you are covered on your parent’s health insurance, then chances are that you will remained covered. However, 24 is the age that insurance companies usually stop allowing students to use their parents’ health insurance. Instead, it becomes necessary to get student health insurance. Read More >>>

The school year is getting ready to ramp up. Are you covered?

Enter to win a Fertility Scope! Deadline: Friday, August 15, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, insurance, health insurance, student health insurance, miranda marquit, yielding wealth, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

Student Health Insurance

A little girl and her song captivated millions of viewers during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. But what they saw was not what they heard.

Games organizers confirm that Lin Miaoke, who performed “Ode to the Motherland” as China’s flag was paraded Friday into Beijing’s National Stadium, was not singing at all.

Lin was lip-syncing to the sound of another girl, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, who was heard but not seen, apparently because she was deemed not cute enough.

“The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the ceremony’s musical director, in a state radio interview. “The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feeling and expression. … Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects.”

The decision was made at the highest levels, Chen said.

“We had to do it,” he said. “We’d been through several inspections. They’re all very strict. When we rehearsed at the spot, there were several spectators from various divisions, especially leaders from the Politburo, who gave the opinion it must change.” (source)

So let’s recap: In the so-called best interest of China, a 7-year-old with a beautiful voice and a love for her country who no doubt was thrilled to be selected to sing at the opening ceremonies was told that she could not perform her song because “several spectators form various divisions” thought she was too ugly to put on international television because she was not “flawless in image, internal feeling and expression.” Brilliant. Just brilliant. Way to ensure that this child will never, ever feel good about herself no matter what. Good job, China.

If this isn’t alarming, creepy, and incredibly offensive, I don’t know what is. Yet ANOTHER reason I’m not a fan of the Olympics — image is everything. Go team.

Oh, and did I mention that the fireworks were fake, too?

Additional reading:

• Olympic opening uses girl’s voice, not face
• Olympic Travesty! Chinese Politburo Kills Girl! “Too Ugly…Buck Teeth”
• That little girl in the opening ceremonies? That was a lie too!
• Chinese Lip Syncing Girl
• Chinese Government Cracks Down On 7 Year Old Olympic Singer, Tibet Appreciates The Break
• The Great Beijing Olympics Fakery

Enter to win a Fertility Scope! Deadline: Friday, August 15, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, yang peiyi, lin miaoke, opening ceremonies, 2008 olympic games, beijing, olympics, i dont like the olympics, i hate the olympics, self-esteem, self-image, fireworks, fake, prerecorded, lip sync, ode to the motherland, china, kristen king, lively women

Post from: Blisstree

The Olympics: Breaking Children’s Hearts Since 1896

There’s nothing like pitting countries against one another in a commercialized competition to see who’s the best and make everyone else feel resentful. Mmm, good times. Do I think Olympic athletes have worked really hard to get where they are? Absolutely, and good for them. Do I think our lives, and our prime time programming, should revolve around that fact for the next 2 weeks? No, no I don’t.

Anything that promotes rabid nationalism and holds individuals to virtually impossible standards freaks me out.

I would much rather see athletes and, really, all individuals, take pride in achieving their personal best and focus on THAT. I would rather see injured athletes take a break instead of “pushing through the pain” and causing lasting damage to their bodies. I would rather see people excited about the human experience and what our bodies are capable of instead of trying to beat someone else or feeling like they’ve failed their country in some way because their score wasn’t high enough, they didn’t medal, or they didn’t come in first.

I don’t like the Olympics. How do you feel?

(image: SXC.hu)

Enter to win a Fertility Scope! Deadline: Friday, August 15, 11:59 p.m. ET.

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, 2008 olympics, olympic games, beijing olympics, do not like the olympics, nationalism, competition, commercialism, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

I Don’t Like the Olympics

BTW, I know you can’t really tell from the photo, but those are my Tummy Tuck Jeans I’m wearing there. They are so comfy. They have been a lifesaver all this week.

Current weight: 126.2
Goal weight: 121.0

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, bruise, fall, injury, trip, skinned knee, scrape, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

KK’s Live Healthy Journal: Is That a Pomegranate on Your Leg or Are You Just Happy to See Me?

But it still hurts like the dickens!

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, bruise, fall, injury, trip, skinned knee, scrape, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

KK’s Live Healthy Journal: All the Colors of the Rainbow…On my Leg!

Haven’t heard about this yet? Jezebel has a video from last week’s episode of The View where we meet 15-year-old Amanda and her wildly misguided mother. Go watch it. I’ll wait here.

“Intern Margaret” remarked in the Jezebel post,

Amanda’s doctor had no problem doing the surgery, since “not everyone is blessed with the right looks,” and he likes to “give children who are disadvantaged a chance to look better.” Check out the clip above, and try to figure out what about Amanda’s normal physique made her so “disadvantaged.”

And I wholeheartedly agree! Yes, I can understand the breast reduction for a girl who weighs like 120 lbs and has a DD+ chest, if she’s having back pain or something. And if she’s finished growing, which a 15-year-old clearly is not. But she specifically said that she was NOT having back pain. The problem was that she was being teased at school and teachers were giving her hard time because of her cleavage. Hmm, I can think of two nonsurgical solutions to those problems:

1. Teach the kids some manners and punish them for bullying another student.
2. Buy the kid clothes that cover her chest appropriately and give the teachers some sensitivity training.

And LIPO? To prevent an eating disorder? Give me a BREAK! How about therapy, Mom? Did you think of that? Did it occur to you that the fact that your 15-year-old CHILD is obsessed over “pockets of fat” on her stomach, which look like a normal stomach to me and everyone else on the planet, is an indication of a deeper issue than will be solved by an outpatient cosmetic procedure?

Am I overreacting here? Or are these people really as nutso as I think they are?

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, liposuction, lipo, breast reduction, amanda, the view, 15 year old with liposuction, lipo to prevent eating disorder, eating disorder, anorexia, unnecessary surgery, cosmetic surgery on children, plastic surgery on children, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

And the Award for Worst Parenting Decision of the Year Goes to…

Those pics were taken 24 hours after it happened. Initially it was black, and then it turned to purple. And do you see those weird dots of unbruised skin amid the bruise? Well, best I can figure, those are the spots where the pavement was pocked and I didn’t actually make contact with it. Kind of artistic. Still totally painful.

All I could think in the split second I was falling was, “No matter what happens, don’t let go of the leashes. For the love of God, don’t let go of the leashes.” And then I hit the ground and my friend screamed and I tried to figure out how I ended up on the ground and the dogs started licking me and L. ran over and took the dogs from me so I could pick myself up. Amusingly, I had fallen downhill, so getting up was a lot harder than it might sound. At first I thought I had broken my left kneecap because it hurt so much, but then the pain from the bruise kicked in and I figured that if my kneecap were actually broken, it would hurt more than my fat-protected areas. So that was a relief. Kind of.

Now, everything hurts. Walking hurts. Sitting hurts. Climbing stairs REALLY hurts. Just wearing pants hurts. It’s kind of putting a damper on my efforts to get more active. Insert pathetic whimper here.

Current weight: 126.7 lbs
Goal weight: 121 lbs

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

Tags: womens health blog, womens health, women, woman, health, bruise, fall, injury, trip, skinned knee, scrape, lively women, kristen king

Post from: Blisstree

KK’s Live Healthy Journal: The Worst Bruise the World Has Ever Seen