No. 23 New Top Drill Sergeant

Dear Followers,

Thanks for the feedback. I am happy you enjoy the "women's stories" as much as I do. Something very special happened yesterday, and I would like to share this latest "first ever" achievement with all of you.

Yesterday, at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Command Sergeant Major Teresa L. King, was named Commandant of its drill sergeant school. She is the first female to ever run one of the Army's schools to train drill sergeants. The 48-year old groundbreaker is the eighth of twelve children; her father was a sharecropper who grew tobacco and cucumbers in North Carolina, near Fort Bragg.

King has served in the Army for 29 years, and has a staff of 78 instructors who are in charge of drill sergeant training for the US Army. Her appointment is a major step toward "gender integration" because although more than thirteen percent of today's Army is female, only eight percent of high ranking soldiers (including Command Sergeant Major and Sergeants Major) are female.

King enlisted in the Army while still in high school, worked as a drill sergeant in her twenties, and then served as aide to then-Secretary of Defense, Dick Cheney. She served at NATO headquarters in Europe, the DMZ in Korea, and with the Airborne Corps at Ft Bragg. Interestingly, King believes that most women simply cannot accomplish what she has done. For example, at her recent semi-annual physical training test she scored a perfect 300 (during which she completed 34 push-ups and 66 sit-ups in under two minutes and then ran two miles in 16 minutes and ten seconds).

King told writer James Dao of the New York Times that she could think of very few occasions when a man had challenged her authority because she was a woman. And then she added, "...when they did, I could handle it"

King admits that since her divorce (she has no children) she has poured her heart into the soldiers at Fort Jackson. As she told Dao, "when I look in the mirror, I don't see a female; I see a soldier."

Looking forward to your comments...

TODAY'S OUTFIT AND MAKEUP

Hello there!

Today my Gran and my great Aunt are coming over and this is my look:

MAKEUP

Base: MAC Rubenesque paintpot
Lid: MAC "Swish"
Hilight: MAC "Yoghurt"
Inner Corner: MAC "Vanilla"
Mascara: CoverGirl "Lash Blast"

(My head is cut off in pictures because i had just had a shower and looked like a drowned rat)

OUTFIT

Necklace: Swarovski
Bracelet: Diva
Tank Top: Supre'
Pencil Skirt: Supre'

JORDY,
xx

Haul 12: NEW ITEMS

Hello everyone,

My gran came over the other day because she was cleaning her house and found a few items that she thought i might like :) She brought me the cutest things and here they are...

OH MY GOSH! How cute and vintage is this little floral clutch?!?

Another clutch...so detailed and sparkly!

A Revlon makeup bag

A never-used, still-in-box purfume!
"White Diamonds" by Elizabeth Taylor!
Retails for $66 AUD

So that is my little post about my new items :) My gran is just the cutest!!

JORDY,
xx

MAC SUMMER WISHLIST

Hey all,

This morning i decided that since it is Summer i need to have a Summer wishlist. Once I finished writing that wishlist i realized that everthing all but one was a MAC product-so i guess it kinda turned into my "MAC Summer Wishlist". Hope you enjoy :)

EYESHADOWS

Stars N' Rockets: $32

Chrome Yellow: $32

Bitter: $32

Fresh Water: $32

Gold Mine: $32

LIP PRODUCTS

Snob (Satin) lipstick: $35

Baby Sparks Dazzleglass: $42

Extra Amps Dazzleglass: $32

FACE

MSF Natural: $46Dollymix blush: $40

THE RANDOM THING

The one other random thing is the Sciphone i9 which is an iphone clone. I need a new phone and it's unbelievably cheap (especially when its a fourth of the cost of your old phone)!

I'm interested to know whats on your wishlist?

22. Women For Women International

Dear Followers,

S.B. Bingo posted a welcome comment that asked what it meant that Coco Chanel had so many of the 17 traits, while other Self-Empowered Women often had fewer. In fact, part of the reason was simply that I know (indeed we all do) more about Chanel's life because so very much about her is now public knowledge.

If you look at high achievers, it often turns out that the more you know about them, the more traits pop up. From Kathy Griffin (whose new book OFFICIAL BOOK CLUB SELECTION is on this week's NYT's non-fiction bestseller list) to Barbra Streisand (whose 64th album in being released this week), there are many women whose traits number in the teens. But I still maintain that Chanel - legend that she is - remaians prototypical.

Today I'd like to write about an amazing woman, Zainab Salbi, who is an Iraqi-American writer and activist. Salbi grew up in Baghdid and when she was eleven years old her father was named Saddam Hussein's personal pilot. Iraq was becoming more dangerous, her family was constantly being "monitored," and their phones were tapped. Politically motivated assinations were becoming commonplace.

In 1990, Salbi's mother arranged for her 19 year old daughter to marry a Palestinian-American because it was the only way Zainab could safely leave Iraq and travel to the United States. The newlyweds were worried about the plight of women in the "rape and concentration camps" in he former Yugoslavia, and they established an organization that helped women survivors of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Since 1993, Women For Women International has helped 120,000 women war survivors around the world and distributed more than $33 million in aid and microcredit loans. According to Salbi, the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman today is the Congo, and her organization is working to protect women from the sexual violence that is so prevalent both there and in the Sudan.

Salbi's two books ("Between Two Worlds: Escaping Tyranny, Growing Up in the Shadow of Saddam" and " The Other Side of War: Women's Stories of Survival and Hope") are truly inspiring, as is she.

Looking forward to your comments...

MAC RUBENESQUE PAINT POT REVIEW

Hey everyone,
It's time for another review and this time it is going to be on MAC's "Rubenesque" Paint Pot.
I purchased this on Friday and have used it three times since then. Due to my over-excitment in regards to this product i have decided to do a review already!

Firstly, i can tell that this is going to last me FOREVER, you need the tiniest bit and a little goes a very long way.

QUALITY:
It goes on smooth and the pigmentation is even-exceptionally stops shadows from creasing and allows colour to "pop".

USE:
I was watching juicystar07 and she said in her "MAC Starter Kit" video that in Summer she wears it all over the eye without anything else and it's perfect. I can definitely see myself doing this as Australia gets very hot in Summer and i won't have heavy shadows melting all over the place.

COLOUR:
"Rubenesque" is a gold with peachy undertones and pinkish glitter reflects. A GORGEOUS Summer colour that i am so excited to use!

PACKAGING:
Paint Pots come in little 5g glass jars with M.A.C printed on the side. The lids are an opaque black that unscrews no-fuss. Underneath the lid is a plastic dome with foam inside for extra protection when sealed. Made in Canada but created in Toronto.

PURCHASING:
For Australians, Paint Pots can be purchased at your nearest MAC counter in department stores (Myer and David Jones) for $35 (a little more than an eyeshadow which i think is reasonable).

PURCHASE AGAIN?
Yes, i would purchase this product again. Maybe not anytime soon because i think that Rubenesque is a very versatile colour that can be base to any colour shadow so you probz only need one paint pot in your collection.

My question to you is what is your favourite MAC Paint Pot and if you don't own one, would you purchase one?

I hope this was helpful

JORDY,

xx

Haul 11

Hey everyone,
Just a quick update, today i started a new job at a hairdressing salon. I washed, combed and blow dried peoples hair. I also took them coffee and tea and took foils out of their hair.
Afterwards i stopped by the local chemist and got some Cetaphil. I can't wait to try it out, it has been raved about for some time now and i finally found it!
Hope you are all well
JORDY,
xx