Let’s be clear: We think you’re perfect just the way you are, girlfriends. But if a TV network wanted to give you and all your girlfriends a makeover, that might be of interest to you, right? So we thought we’d better let you know that a new show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Best Life Now, is looking for a group of girlfriends that deserves a makeover! Are you constantly putting your kids, husband, pet and house before yourself? Do you look 10 years older than you feel? Is your style stuck in a rut, or your makeup stuck in another era? Are you looking for a vibrant new you for the New Year? The production company for this show is searching for a group of women friends who are “in dire need” of  makeovers! If this description fits your group of girlfriends, or someone that you know, they want to hear your story and see some recent photos. Include information on how long you have been friends, why you need the makeover, your ages, marital status, kids, and anything else important to your story. Contact Michelle as soon as possible at michelleb.bestlifenow@gmail.com or call 310-943-4621. Psst… they are also looking for the “next domestic guru” – if you fit the bill or know someone who does, contact Michelle at the email or phone number above. Good luck, girlfriends!

Holistic health guru Dr. Andrew Weil gave friendship a big endorsement this week with his newsletter article entitled “Four Ways to Live Past 100.” We already knew girlfriends were good for you…but if you need convincing, here’s yet another respected source talking up the health benefits of social ties. And we quote:

“A network of family and close friends is vital to optimum health. You can enjoy the benefits of a well developed social life by spending time with people who make you happy, joining community groups or clubs, volunteering, and participating in support groups.”

If you’d like to see the other three ways to live past 100, visit Dr. Weil’s website here. And get on the phone to make plans with your girlfriends, stat! 

So, the results from our latest poll are in, and it looks like most of our girlfriends have a moderate amount of money to spend on their monthly Girls Night Out.

Only seven percent of you said you were flat broke. The vast majority were ok with spending about $25 on a monthly girls night out. And another lucky 23% could spend $50 and up for girls night fun. In this economy, that seems impressive! For those of you spending the cash, we’d love to hear where you go and what you do on your girls nights out. Dinner? Drinks? Theater? Let’s talk about it in the comments! And for those of you watching your wallets, remember that Girls Night In can be just as fun as Girls Night Out, while drastically cheaper! Find frugal girls night ideas here  and here. And, be sure to take our latest poll: “What do you think of Bunco?” at the top of the left-hand column. Have a great week!

Oh yes we did—we met fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi and it all started with an email from a girlfriend! Genevieve, who remembered our past posts and tweets about how we were nuts about Mizrahi, kindly let us know he was going to be in town for an event to launch the Liz Claiborne New York line. Mizrahi took over design for the line this year (ending his relationship with Target, where he helped create an affordable style revolution). Carson Pirie Scott (known as BonTon in other parts of the country) hosted a fashion show and shopping event with an opportunity to meet the designer. Being that it was right in our backyard, so to speak, we simply had to be there. 

We’re in!

After waiting in line to see if we were going to get into the event, we were seated near the runway. Yes! Our pink wristbands ensured we would get a goodie bag after the show. Better, we had a closeup view of the stage where Mizrahi would sit and talk about style with emcee Stacy Wallace-Albert.

Style tips

Does fashion matter to real girlfriends, with everything going on in the world today? Well, if you’re talking about high fashion, maybe not. But, no matter who you are, style does matter. You have to present yourself in some way, given that we live in a visually oriented society, so you might as well give it some thought and look put-together. It doesn’t mean you have to spend a lot. Mizrahi focused on versatile pieces in this line, which is reasonably priced. Perhaps playing to his Midwestern audience, he also gave a lot of practical fashion advice in his time on stage. Here are a few of his nuggets:

“Tailoring is your friend. Color is your friend. If you like a color, nobody is going to tell you that you look wrong in it.” You can’t go wrong, Mizrahi says, with one bright color and a neutral. Two colors with a neutral is even better, and three colors with a neutral can be a “home run.”

He’s had it with the “tyranny of the style gurus.” He thinks you should wear what you like. “There’s not a Mr. Blackwell lurking on every corner,” he says, waiting to put you on some worst-dressed list.

“Don’t shop with your mother!” Mizrahi warns. “You have to go shopping with a really fun friend that you trust.” 

The clothes

The clothes came out in three groups with commentary in between. We loved the one-button “boy jacket” and Jackie-fit straight-leg pants, in a soft denim. Tina wanted the stretch gingham pleated skirt, while Dawn wanted the white ruffle-front shirtdress. Everybody seemed to want the belted bateau neck gingham dress. Punching up the neutral shades were bright pops of color in yellow, pink, green and orange. Mizrahi surprised a grateful fan by giving her this colorful tote because she was wearing a bandana on her head, as he often does in his video blogs. And speaking of accessories, we want this petal perfect flower pendant, in pink, of course.

The goodies

After the show, as everyone hurried back into Carson’s to get their goodie bags, we were stopped by a Chicago Tribune style reporter who wanted our take on the new line. Seriously! We tried hard to put together a coherent thought, which was tough since we were still feeling faint from all the excitement of getting into the show audience. It will be fun to see if our comments make it into print! 

Then, we went to collect our goodie bags in the festive atmosphere back in the Liz Claiborne department. In the goodie bag: A copy of Chicago magazine, coupons for future purchase from Liz Claiborne, and a lovely hardcover blank journal, embossed with the new “four-leaf clover” Liz Claiborne logo. Lemongrass water was served, prizes were raffled off, and shoppers scoured the colorful new collection. The first 50 people to make a purchase received a copy of Mizrahi’s book, How to Have Style, AND the opportunity to have it personally signed by him. Well, you know we had to be in that group! The white ruffle dress was quickly snagged, along with a gold wristband, Mizrahi’s book, and place in line to meet the man himself. He was warm and friendly, and chatted us up about whether we were out having a fun girlfriend day, where we lived, and so on. We told him we bought the white ruffle dress and plan to wear it all summer long, and he concurred, saying it was the “best dress.” We told him we recommend his book all the time and pressed our pink business card into his hand, imploring him to stop by the website and say hi. We hope he will!

A great girlfriend day

It was fabulous fun seeing the new Liz Claiborne fashions and meeting one of our favorite style icons. Hope you enjoyed our little report! This awesome day started and ended with GIRLFRIENDS: Girlfriend-in-Chief Tina was behind the camera, shlepping the bags and being the best friend a girl could have. Thank you dear, for patiently indulging my obsession!

If you want more Mizrahi, check out his website here. He video blogs all the time! He’s also hosting a new reality series on Bravo, The Fashion Show, beginning May 7. And if YOU want to celebrate style with your girlfriends, check out our Girlfriend Parties with Style for several fashionista-friendly girls night ideas.

Girlfriends, check out the latest post on Fractured Friendships, the blog of our girlfriend and Huffington Post columnist Irene Levine. Girls Nights On the Cheap: Staying Connected Without Spending A Fortune features us, the Girlfriends-in-Chief, dishing about budget-friendly fun for girls night out and girls night in. While you’re there, check out the rest of Irene’s blog, where she explores the nature, meaning, and depth of female friendships. We think you will appreciate her thoughtful, expert advice to women struggling with friendship dilemmas or hurts. And, look for more from Irene coming soon right here on GirlfriendCelebrations!

The results from our latest poll are in, and we think you need more girlfriend time, ladies! A full EIGHTY-FIVE PERCENT of you have a girls night once a month or less. As one commenter stated, “That is just sad!” It’s hard to enjoy the benefits of female friendship if you don’t actually spend time with your girlfriends. So, everybody get out those calendars right now and schedule a girls night in the next two weeks!

We are happy for the 44% of you who have a girls night once a month—that’s the largest group, and from our experience, a monthly girls night seems just about right. Once-a-month gatherings are easy to schedule in advance and not so frequent that they cause protest from husbands, kids, boyfriends, and other interested parties. About 15% of you get together with the girls more than once a month—kudos! We’d love to hear what you do when you get together. Here are the poll results: 

Thanks to all who participated. Please vote in our new poll, “How much are you willing to spend on a Girls Night?” It’s in the left-hand column. We’ll report those results in a week or two. Meanwhile, we always love to hear your comments!

Just more evidence that Girlfriends Are Good for You…today’s Parade magazine lists “Make Friends” as one of its “7 Habits for Longer Life.” (Whole article here.) The article cites an Australian study that found people with “large social networks” were 22% less likely to die in the next 10 years than those who said they didn’t have many friends. Parade’s Dr. Mark Liponis puts friendship right up there with eating right, getting enough sleep and clean air as a factor for increasing life expectancy. Wow! If that doesn’t inspire you to make some new friends, we don’t know what will. If you’d like some advice on making and keeping friends, check out the following articles: 

Growing New Girlfriends: Some Friendly Advice

Frustrated? How to Keep Friendships Alive

And to read more evidence about the health benefits of friendship, try:

Girlfriends are Good for You

Remember: To enjoy the health benefits of friendship, you have to maintain the friendship! Make it a priority to spend time with your girlfriends. Our Celebration Index makes it easy for you to find fun, creative and meaningful things to do together. 

Have a wonderful week, girlfriends! 

Hey girlfriends, we’ve temporarily added a valentine e-card widget, at the top of the left column, so you can send ALL the important women in your life a valentine hello! So, no excuses. Valentines Day is Saturday. Who do you know that could use a little encouragement around this “celebration of love”? We have made it quick and easy for you to send them a cute greeting. Just look to the left! <============= The old-fashioned cupid graphics are sweet, and you have your choice of music. Type in a heartfelt message and send it off to all your best girlfriends! Don’t forget mom, daughter, grandma, sister, special aunt, neighbor, teacher, colleague, or cousin. Please note, the screen that you use to create the e-card contains advertising. The actual card your friend will receive does not. This e-card widget is provided by a third party, so be aware that you will be leaving our site once you click on the widget. Tell your girlfriends you sent the e-card from http://www.GirlfriendCelebrations.com, and we’d be most appreciative! Have fun with this! What to write? Let’s see if anyone comes up with any great girlfriend Valentine rhymes. Put them in the comments. We’ll start!

Girlfriends, February is National Heart Month, and as we gear up to celebrate all things red, including Wear Red Day on February 6, we came across this awesome “Love You” promotion from PrettyCity.com. It’s a perfect Girls Day Out opportunity! In partnership with The Heart Truth™, PrettyCity’s partner salons and spas nationwide are offering $59 beauty treatments during the month of February. These are great deals from top-rated spas: Get indulgent treatments such as hot stone massage, revitalizing facials, as well as basic beauty necessities like brazilian waxing, Botox®, laser hair removal and microdermabrasion—for only $59. For a full list of more than 100 participating salons and spas across the nation and their offers, click HERE. You’ll want to book now before they fill up. Plan a girls day out at the spa! Simply grab your girlfriends, a calendar, and a phone, and book that spa day now. It’s a great way to beat the winter blahs together without spending too much cash. Enjoy!

Girlfriends, COMMENTS are closed due to spam. But we’d still love to hear from you! Just talk to us instead. xoxo

Ladies, we’ve added another way for you to keep in touch with GirlfriendCelebrations. Join our Facebook group by clicking here. We update our group with website news regularly and you can also post topics for discussion. We’re looking forward to seeing your smiling faces!