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Although my father had a receding hairline, I never considered hair loss would affect me. My hairline began receding shortly before my thirtieth birthday. I was scared and in denial that I was losing my hair. I even started balding on the back of my head.

Baldness has affected me, I felt old. I felt like the best years of my life were behind me. I even stopped dating. My love life was virtually non-existent. There was one girl I had been seeing casually and even though I liked her, I just stopped returning her calls. I figured that I hadn’t found the woman of my dreams with a full head of hair so there was no way I was going to find someone with my growing bald spot. I was too discouraged to even try having a romantic kinship.

Hair loss turned me into a depressed loner, I used to be a confident and extroverted person. I’veI have never been one to just sit back and let problems overtake me. I tried lots of hair loss treatments that are obtainable over the counter. Nothing I got from the chemist worked and trust me, I gave them all a go . After spend lots of money on products, I stopped trying for a while. It was a real low point in my life. I even stopped going out with my friends, I was so demoralized.

Fortuitously, one night a good friend of mine took me out for a few drinks. He had noticed that I seemed a little down and thought he knew why. He mentioned to me about the hair loss studio in the city. My friend had gone there for hair loss treatments and had been impressed with the results. I was even more impressed. My friend had a full head of hair and there was no sign of hair loss. He made me promise to give them a go and I agreed.

I could not have been happier with the hair loss studio recommended to me. After just a few treatments, I had a full head of hair again. The hair loss studio not only helped me regained my hair but also my self-assurance.

The mineral to which the term ” precious stone” is applied, must be adaptable for jewelry or ornamental purposes and must possess beauty, hardness, and rarity.

The beauty of a precious stone or gem consists of its color or colorlessness, brilliancy or softness of luster, and transparency. To take a high and lasting polish, a mineral must be hard, and many stones that would otherwise be highly valued are low in the estimate of worth because they do not possess of sufficient hardness to make them endure the wear and friction to which a precious stone is subjected when used in the form of jewelry. The rareness of precious stones has a decided effect in determining their values. For instance, the crocidolite, commercially known as tiger-eye, was sold by the carat some years ago, and was largely used in the making of fine jewelry. Today, this material is so plentiful that it is no longer classed among the higher gems, but serves for cameos and intaglios like chalcedony and onyx.

The changes of fashion have much to do with determining the market value of precious stones. Amethysts, topazes, cat’s-eyes, aquamarines, alexandrites, and even emeralds and opals have been eagerly sought for at times and then again neglected for other gems, causing a sensible difference in the value of these stones.

It has been a mooted question as to the proper dividing line between stones that deserve the title “precious,” and those, which should be placed in a so-called semi-precious or lower category. To draw such a line is hardly possible, as neither hardness, rareness, nor value would be a positive test–some of the hard stones, like zircon and almandines being less valuable than softer opal, while the diamond, one of the most plentiful of precious stones, is at the same time, one of the most valuable.

Neither can price be taken as a complete test, because fashion makes a turquoise, an opal, or an emerald much more valuable at one time than at another, All precious minerals used for ornamental purposes, from the diamond to quartz, or chalcedony, may properly be termed precious stones.

The Final Word On Precious Stones

The most precious stones are the diamonds, emeralds, rubies and sapphires. The pearl is oftentimes classed with precious stones. Although strictly speaking while it is not a stone it holds an esteemed place in jewelry.

In 1883 in Turin, Italy Maria Nielli was born. In 1895 when Maria was 12, her family moved to France. When she was 13, she apprenticed to a dressmaker. At the age of 18 Maria had become the head of the salon and at the age of 22 she was their chief designer. In 1904 she married a jeweler named Luigi Ricci. In 1905 she gave birth to their son Robert. In 1908 Nina joined the house of Raffin as a designer where she stayed for 20 years.

At age 50, in 1932, Madame Ricci opened her own house with her son Robert. It was the House of Ricci. Robert ran the business and Madame Ricci created the garments. During the 1930’s the business grew very quickly. Beginning as a one room operation it grew to consume 11 floors in 3 buildings.

Nina Ricci created elegant, sophisticated garments in a classic style. She was well known for her high quality garments becoming very popular with older society women. She was highly talented at getting the most out of every print. Both her evening and day dresses were designed to draw attention to the female figure.

In 1963 Crahay left Ricci and was replaced by Gerard Pipart, who had worked with Balmain, Fath and Jean Patou. In the traditional Ricci style, he designed beautiful lace dresses with appliquéd fabrics.

At the age of 87 Nina Ricci died in 1970. Pipart continued designing for the house of Ricc. Robert, Nina’s son was not only an excellent business person, he was an expert perfumer. He has transformed the house into a size Nina would never imagined possible.

At age 83 in 1988, Robert Ricci died. In 1998 Mariano Puig, of the Catalan family purchased the house of Nina Ricci in 1998. They also owns the house of Paco Rabanne.

Nathalie Gervais presented her last collection in the fall of 2001. In 2002 American designer James Aguiar became chief designer, designing for two seasons

During the Parish Fashion Week October 2003 Lars Nilsson a Swedish designer showed his first Nina Ricci collection for the following spring. He again presented the Ricci collection in Paris during Fashion Week in March 2004.

Lars said that he wanted to add some substance to a the younger woman’s wardrobe. His collection was mostly flimsy dresses, stylish sweaters and skits with in fresh in yellow, blue and orange colors. He was distinguished by his fresh Swedish outerware. Lars is very quickly transforming the old couture house into a young woman’s world, enticing a new younger clientele. Sleek jackets, cropped sleeves, tiered skirts, and dainty party dresses have all been added. In March 2005 Lars Nillson once again showed the collection for the house of Nina Ricci at the Paris Fashion Week.

Soft and feminine dresses as light as lingerie mixed with fur jackets for the cold. There was also an addition of renaissance sleeves, long tweed jackets, and sporty jackets . However the collection still mainly consisted of soft piece - fragile blouse with lace, feminine evening gowns, and strapless satin evening dresses. Beautiful flower prints symbolic of the Nina Ricci house were seen ranging from the tree of life to autumn leaves revealing of his Swedish background. The 2005 spring collection reads like a revamped modern fairy tale! Nina Ricci would be proud!

2005 © Marsha Maung marshamaung@yahoo.com http://www.marshamaung.com

I am a mother of two. I used to think my children ruled my world and my body. I used to think that the world revolves around my children and they deserve every single second of my time and every single cent in my bank account.

Not that I don’t think so now, but as a mom, I can tell you that if moms everywhere in the world continue to dedicate their entire beings to their kids, the future will have loads of happy and well-raised children. However, there will be a lot of moms who lack self-confidence, are unhappy with the way they lived their lives, and is discontented with the way they feel about themselves. Future Moms will feel regret. Future moms will lose their own identity. Future moms will feel dysfunctional in social surroundings.

No, motherhood does not signify the end of yourself, just because you had your kids. In fact, motherhood is something that enhances and celebrates your womanhood. You’ve done something that is STILL exclusive (naturally) to women. No man will ever be able to give birth and nurture children the way we do.

But because of the overwhelming emotions, feelings and concern that we have for our children, we might forget to tend to ourselves. And that’s unhealthy for mothers, regardless of race, religion and culture.

I strongly encourage all moms to be with ‘themselves’, without the kids for 30mins - 60mins every single day. Moms could do something impulsive, like go shopping without the kids. Moms could go for a facial. Moms could visit the gym. Moms could call a friend for a talk. Moms could pick up a good book and read it in the bath! ANYTHING you want to do!

As a mother, I encourage you to dedicate some of your time and financial resources on finding and connecting with yourself on a daily basis. The method could be different because one method may work for one mother and yet, it doesn’t work for the other. So, find the right method that helps you spend some time with yourself.

If you don’t, you’ll feel tired and resentful about being mom. And when you’re at that stage, it’s hard to snap out of it and you’ll end up mistreating, not only yourself, but your kids and your husband too!

How did I know? Simple. It happened to me. I snapped out of it and I hope that those who are in the same position can snap out of it too. Don’t stay in the trance for too long.

Pamper yourself, you deserve it….yes, even though you’re mom, you’re still a human being…you’re still a woman!

You only have to look around you at your friends, family and colleagues to see that there is an abundance of people who have talents, yet many are held back by a mortgage, a family, lack of confidence or some other reason.

Deep inside us we all have a dream of living a thriving, prosperous life, but often we’re unsure of how to navigate our way through the issues that come our way, and too many people, too often, give up and start making excuses to themselves about success being for others.

What I think is vitally important, and something that is often completely ignored these days is this: no-one else is quite like you. That’s right, you are unique - as unique as a sacred place, rare bird or a beautiful flower.

This uniqueness seeps out of you each and every day. It can’t help it. It’s because it is who you really are. When this uniqueness is suppress, negative feelings like frustration, anger or disillusionment rise.

You only have to look at the statistics that employers publish about lost days through stress or other related sicknesses to know something is not right in the employment market. This is nothing more than individuals forgetting about their unique gifts and trying force themselves into a role they have no energy for.

What I work with is Life Purpose. Life Purpose is all about starting with the unique gift you were born with and using that as the central driving force for your whole life. Working like this clears away the clutter of reasons and excuses. It re-ignites the fire of life.

You only need remember a time when you totally loved what you were doing. If you remember a time like this, you’ll know you were in timeless awareness - where the hours slipped by without you realising.

I’m one of the fortunate ones, I’m absorbed by work I love. It took some initial searching to find my purpose, but I’m now totally absorbed by what I do and earn my living from doing what I love.

If you’ve been signed off work recently with stress, feel lethargic, overweight, depressed, lost and often unsure then I strongly suggest reviewing your life purpose. If you don’t you’re going to drift through life like a boat drifts across the sea when it has no rudder.

Suggestion - Take time to consider all your talents and gifts. What have you been doing when you have been completely absorbed and lost all track of time? What areas do you feel you haven’t explored that you would have like to have done? Ask other people what they see as being your strengths, talents and gifts. What do they think is unique about you?