We humans love a celebration, a cause we can get behind and rally for, an excuse to get together in a meaningful way. It's been going on for thousands of years. The calendar is peppered with "Days" - Valentines, Christmas, Mother's, Father's. Do we know what we're celebrating? Does it matter? March 8th 2011 is the centenary of International Women's Day (IWD). It began in 1911after a Copenhagen conference of working women from over 100 countries, decided unanimously to support a motion to establish an international day for women. This day would celebrate the achievements of women and press for their demands - equality of rights, pay and freedom. It's a national holiday in China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria. Interestingly, there is al...

Divorce, or the end of an emotional and legally recognised relationship between a man and a woman is perhaps one of the most painful events in a person’s adult life. We can prevent it from happening by handling sticky situations with some calm and wit. But as we all know there are times when things become unavoidable. Then the intelligent move will be to prepare yourself for the unpleasant situation rather brood over it. STOP LIVING IN DENIAL Once you finally recognise the marriage is not working out after you have genuinely tried to save it, start preparing for its demise, before your partner and the situation overwhelm you. And quicker you are in preparing yourself for the agony ahead, better you can handle yourself mentally, psycho...

Got a date? Is it making you sweat? Well, a bit of sweat is just fine. It indicates you are taking it seriously. But you need to wipe it off. Calm down. It’s not so difficult after all. Well ofcourse there are a lot of things you are worried about ranging from what to wear, how to behave etc. But now that you are a MoneyQuin follower, we’ll sort everything. Let’s begin with dressing up: What to Wear: Be simple. Don’t deck up. Don’t wear too much jewellery. Let it be earrings, a light necklace and few bangles if you can’t do without jewellery at all. Otherwise gorgeous and some lipstick with rags will still grab his attention. Smell: Put mild perfume in moderate dose. Don’t smell too strong. Don’t wear clothes that make you look o...

Though the pat on my shoulder was not a particularly heavy one, it startled me. I guess the delicious tuna tetrazzini was to blame for this. It involved me quite a bit. However, before I could get into the blame-game, I found Rakshanda beside me. That afternoon I had unexpectedly landed up in this restaurant and as I ate, I had secretly wished for company. So I was absolutely delighted to see Rakshanda. But she was not so happy, it seemed. I asked her the reason. Hesitant in the beginning, she opened up gradually. Last evening she had bought an evening gown. Her husband, without even taking a good look at the dress, said, “It’s the tenth and the house rent is not yet paid. The landlord has called me thrice today. It’s so embarrassing...

At midnight today I donned a dress, make-up and a wig and joined about a thousand others for a 10 mile walk around St Albans for the local hospice, Grove House. My sister enthusiastically took up the opportunity to transform my looks! The full moon and warm evening added to an already great event. Men were allowed to join as long as they got into the spirit. After all, it was a women's walk. Grove House provides a fantastic service to the community and has particular poignance to me as they looked after my grandad during his final weeks with cancer a few years ago. What worked really well was the fun and spirit that was apparent from the very start to the end. One other chap even dared to walk in high heels, getting over half way before ...

To be trapped by anything can make one feel as if they are imprisoned in a small space with no air to breathe. Unlike the Jeanie trapped in a bottle for centuries until someone happened to find this bottle and magically rub it to life. You are not that lucky! Unfortunately there is no Prince Charming out there that will find you and magically rub you until you are free. You are the only one that can escape the prison of low self-esteem! Your self-esteem is up to you and only you. You can waste days upon days…years upon years waiting and hoping for that someone to come and make your self-esteem higher. It will never happen. You will have lived life lonely, angry, hidden and trapped. My advice to you is to begin with who you see ev...

So my last journal told you a little bit about why I wrote my book, here is a little sample from the Intro to give you more of an idea. Excepts and look inside available on Amazon if you find you would like to learn more. Alice x The High Heeled and Glamorous Guide to Enlightenment is a modern Woman’s introduction to a world of spirituality and alternative thought. This is no doubt a subject that calls to you, but between work, partners, kids and a hectic social calendar you rarely find the time to dig that little bit deeper. Unlike some of your contemporaries you know that Enlightenment is not the new blonde shade by L’Oreal. You would love to seek it out, but any attempt at meditation has ended in a mental mediation between ...

It’s eight o’clock in the night. Pie is packing her school bag. She is about to switch off the lights of her room when the door bell rings. Her mama opens the door. It’s Jia. She is crying!“O! Why are you crying? What happened?” Pie’s mama asks. Pie hears this and comes running out of her room. Jia says, “I have lost my money.” She had 200 rupees which she had kept in her little wooden box. She had got this money from her Papa for getting good marks in class test.Pie’s mama asks, “Did you look for it on your table and in other rooms?” Jia said yes. Then Pie asks if she asked her mama and papa about the money. Jia says they have gone for a party. Pie tells her not to cry. They will search for the money. Then she says that Jia should...

Yes, it is I once again; here to titillate your brain cells with my very UNIQUE ways of thinking!So how’s that for an opening line? If you don’t like it, my first thoughts to you are this…”SO WHAT”! Actually I only said that to introduce an, “attitude phrase”. It is a very good positive reaction in defense of your self-esteem and self-worth. So many of us fall into the traps of pity and “woe is me”, which only ignites the fires of negative thoughts. They will do nothing but add fuel to those negativity fires in your mind.I hear more and more, every day, from women who dig themselves deeper and deeper into personal pits of loneliness and self-abuse with negative thoughts. For some reason they would rather allow the negative elements ...