Designing Your Home Ownership to Retire Earlier

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The following is a guest contribution from reader and blogging friend Chris Mamula, a pending early-retiree in his 40’s. Chris has been writing on personal finance topics for several years. His efforts first came to my attention with his insightful review of my second book. In this post, Chris explores how to craft home ownership to support an early retirement, requiring less retirement savings while improving the quality of your life….

For many years, my wife and I made two assumptions about owning our home to facilitate our early retirement:

1. We should live in a low cost of living area, pay our home off quickly, and own it outright. We could then essentially eliminate our housing expenses during retirement.
2. Our home would be a safe investment because it would increase in value while simultaneously providing our family shelter.

Over the past year, I began studying real estate investing as a way to diversify our current portfolio that consists primarily of paper assets. As I learned, I thought about ways to incorporate real estate investing principles to reframe how we would approach buying our next home.

First we challenged our original assumptions. Real numbers told a different story about the cost of home ownership. Then we made the conscious decision to approach our next home as an investment in the life we truly want. This allowed us to decrease retirement savings needs by six figures while simultaneously enabling the lifestyle we desire.

The True Cost of Home Ownership

One of the most important decisions we made when getting serious about planning our early retirement was tracking our expenses. We have been doing this for the past three years and the information we gleaned from this process has been eye opening.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that on average the three largest areas of spending for most households are housing, followed by transportation, and then food. We originally assumed that because our spending is drastically different than the average household, these statistics did not apply to us. Our actual numbers told a different story.

Last year our biggest expense again was food, followed by housing and then transportation. Our numbers show that we do spend far less than the average household on housing and cars, and our overall spending is also subsequently less than average. However, even with a paid off home and cars, our three biggest areas of spending are the same as most everyone else.

The other thing that we have realized by tracking and analyzing our spending is how intertwined our housing decision is with other spending and quality of life. You may have a lower initial purchase price on your home by living away from work or popular attractions. However, it is easy to then make up for that with increased time and money traveling to work and entertainment.

This was certainly our case. Our transportation costs were driven by my hour round trip daily work commute and the fact that we live at least an hour one-way from our favorite hobbies: skiing, hiking, and rock climbing. Getting to good skiing or climbing in bigger mountains has required a full day drive to New England or a cross-country flight west. We typically take 2-4 such trips each year.

Next we looked at our assumptions that our home was a safe investment.

Is Your Home An Investment?

We built our home in 2005 for approximately $250,000. Since then we have done several costly upgrades totalling over $20,000. This brings our cost to over $270,000 before accounting for routine maintenance, property taxes, mortgage interest, and other expenses associated with home ownership.

Twelve years later, comparable homes in our area are selling for $240,000-$260,000. Even without factoring in real estate commission and taxes on the sale of our house, we have virtually no chance of recouping our initial capital investment, let alone making money on the transaction.

At the same time, as compared to our diversified paper portfolio that can be sold off strategically to our benefit, our home represents a large undiversified percentage of our capital tied up in one place. Needing to sell it when we want to move adds stress when watching our local market stagnate while most of the nation’s real estate prices soar.

As we planned what we wanted our life to look like in early retirement, we realized that if we wanted our home to be a good investment, we would need to approach it as investors.

Looking At Home Ownership As An Investor

As I read about real estate investing, one principle that I found useful in my introduction was Robert Kiyosaki’s concept of assets vs. liabilities. Kiyosaki says that your home is a liability, not an asset. His definitions essentially boil down to cash-flow. He defines an asset as anything that creates a recurring cash inflow to you, while a liability is anything that creates a cash outflow.

This definition is certainly oversimplified and not comprehensive or accurate from an accounting perspective. However, it has been extremely useful to help me challenge my assumptions. This concept helped create a different framework going forward as we looked at our home as a potential investment that could change our retirement equation.

Considerations When Buying A New Home

As we began to look for a western mountain town to live in for our early retirement, we did not throw out all conventional wisdom.

On a macro level, we narrowed down our list of potential ski towns first by affordability of housing. We wanted to go somewhere that we could use the equity from our current home to purchase our new home with cash or a very small mortgage.

On a micro level, once we honed in on Ogden, UT we tried to get the best price possible on our home based on local market conditions.

However, we went a step further. Rather than making unnecessary assumptions, we paid close attention to knowing our own personal numbers regarding how our housing decision would affect our overall expenses and lifestyle.

Going back to Kiyosaki’s asset vs. liability principle, we looked at how we could limit the liability of our purchase and possibly create a cash flowing asset.

Limiting Liability

We recently purchased our new home for $240,000. It has nearly identical finished square footage and lot size to our current home in Pennsylvania. It is an older house, but has been extensively remodeled in the past ten years.

The major items (roof, windows, furnace, plumbing, electric, etc.) are the same age or newer than in our now 12-year-old “new construction.” We therefore are assured that we will not have to carry a mortgage once we sell our current home, and the carrying costs (utilities, maintenance, etc.) for the new house should be very comparable to our current home.

Property taxes in Utah are far lower than in Pennsylvania. This comparable house has annual property taxes of $1,600 compared to our current $3,300 property taxes. This means a direct $1,700 annual reduction in liability of home ownership.

Choosing to live in a mountain town will also drastically reduce our indirect expenses associated with our current residence while increasing access to our favorite activities. On a day to day basis, we will now have only a 20-30 minute drive to world-class skiing in the winter. In warmer months, local climbing, hiking and paddling days will now mean walking from our front door to the trailheads or a short 10 minute drive to water activities. This will give us increased access at decreased cost compared to our current hour plus one-way drive to resorts, trailheads, or lakes.

Our travel expenses will decrease greatly. We will also have six additional world class ski resorts in the canyons around Salt Lake City an hour south and Jackson Hole about three hours north. We can drive in our own car and total cost will be the price of a day lift ticket. Previously, we have spent $2,000-$3,000 for a long weekend to fly across country, rent a 4WD vehicle, and pay for hotel rooms before ever purchasing expensive day tickets.

Likewise in the warmer months we will be less than a day drive to many of the west’s great parks including 6 national parks in Utah and the Grand Canyon to the south, and Grand Teton and Yellowstone national parks to the north. This will eliminate the expense of long trips to get to outdoor destinations.

Lowering our property taxes and reducing our transportation and travel expenses should save us in total at least $5,000/year based on our prior years’ expenses. Using the inverse of the 4% rule, we would need to save 25 times our annual spending to support that spending with a traditional stock/bond portfolio. Therefore, reducing this liability means needing at least $125,000 less retirement savings while improving quality of life.

Creating an Asset

Originally, when thinking about moving west we were focused on controlling or even decreasing the liability of home ownership by simply buying a smaller, cheaper home than our current residence.

As we thought about what is really valuable to us, we wanted to have the space to host family and friends. In particular, we wanted to have a place for my parents, who are retired and have a close relationship with our daughter, to stay comfortably for extended periods.

Real estate investor/educator Chad Carson writes about a powerful strategy for new real estate investors that he labels “house hacking”. As he describes the strategy: “A house hack basically means that you buy a small multi-unit real estate property, live in one unit, and rent out the others.”

While we had no desire to live in a duplex or triplex and be landlords to our neighbors, we applied the lessons of house hacking to our personal situation to allow the lifestyle we desire.

We recently became regular customers and big fans of Airbnb for the comfort and value they provide when traveling with our family. We considered being Airbnb hosts.

We thought that if we could find the right property, it could provide us with a smaller, lower-cost main living space that we desired, a comfortable place for family and friends to stay with us as desired, and a potential cash flowing asset when not in use.

As stated above, our newly purchased home has roughly the same square footage as our current home. However, the layout is far different. The new home provides a much smaller primary living space. We also have a separate two-bedroom, one-bath space with a kitchen and living room with a private entry.

Using the extra space as an Airbnb, it should net a minimum of $100/night rented. If we extremely conservatively assume we could rent 50 nights/year (approximately 50% of weekends, no weeknights), we would make $5,000/year. Doubling to 100 nights/year is a reasonable estimate and would yield $10,000/year.

Returning to the inverse of the 4% rule, earning an extra $5,000-$10,000/year would be the equivalent of not having to save $125,000-$250,000 dollars for retirement.

From the standpoint of an investment, this is the equivalent of a 2-4% cash-on-cash return on our primary residence. Unlike our prior assumptions, we are not relying on any appreciation to make money. Any appreciation in home value will only enhance returns.

If we decide we hate being Airbnb hosts and never make a penny from this plan, we have controlled our downside risk by limiting our liability. We also avoided using any leverage to further limit downside risks.

A Message Bigger Than A House

This post introduced some real estate investing ideas that may be new to you. It also demonstrated the application of the concept of using personal spending to calculate retirement saving needs. However, focusing only on specific technical points would miss two much more valuable lessons.

First, to enable the life we truly want we needed to master basic simple fundamentals of personal finance. Tracking our expenses is Personal Finance 101 that “everyone knows,” yet few people actually do.

Our faulty assumptions were the result of the fact that we did not track our expenses for the first decade of our careers. Knowing our personal numbers now allows us to see how much we spend, where our money goes, and what drives our spending. This in turn enables planning in creative ways.

Second, if we want to live a life different than the standard 40-hour work week until age 60 or 70 there are multiple ways to do it. Conventional wisdom is that early retirement requires taking large risks and requires complex technical planning. You must make and then save massive amounts of money or live a life of extreme frugality.

Planning our early retirement has taught my wife and me that simply taking the time to choose what is important to our family and thinking about creative ways to get it can change that entire equation.

As this example showed, we were able to conservatively decrease the retirement saving needs for our family by $125,000 just by decreasing the liabilities associated with owning our current home. By using our new home as an income producing asset, that number very conservatively becomes greater than a quarter million dollar difference in retirement saving needs.

At the same time, this decision will enable us to live the lifestyle we desire, adds no financial risk to our current situation, and requires no sophisticated financial products or techniques. If you design your home ownership as an investor, it can turn into an asset that will help you retire earlier!

* * *

Home Tour: Remodeled Anderson Township barn becomes gorgeous modern dream home

Read article : Home Tour: Remodeled Anderson Township barn becomes gorgeous modern dream home

ANDERSON TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Jerry Whitney wasn’t looking to move, but he was looking for a clear route from his Anderson Township home to the airport on a day when interstate traffic was heavy. So he cut down Five Mile Road toward Kellogg Avenue.

“I didn’t want to miss my flight,” he said. “And then I saw this place and said, ‘Oh, my god, look at that barn.’ And then I saw a ‘for sale’ sign and Five Mile Creek behind it.”

He fell in love. When his wife of 14 years, Karen, saw it, she fell in love, too.

On Dec. 31, 2012, seven days after that first sighting, the Whitneys bought the 30-year-old horse barn and its seven acres at a 30 percent discount from a motivated seller. It cost them $300,000.

Fast forward 18 months and the Whitneys – who had no previous home construction experience – moved out of a 300-square-foot trailer on the property into a home like no other, a dream house they played a big role in designing and decorating.

The shock of the unexpected experience has worn off, but not the excitement and contentment they feel for their fully modern, energy-efficient barn house. Also still strong is their appreciation for their project partners – among them architect Marc McConnell, builder Paul Kapitula, Keidel Supply, A&S Lighting, Tate Builders Supply, Cooknee Cabinets, KBR Countertop Specialists, Home Depot, IKEA, The Container Store and Peoples First Savings Bank.

All these forces came together to produce a four-bedroom, three-bathroom showcase of modern architecture and engineering that surprisingly fits inside a big, old, round-top home originally built for horses.

Not only does the place run on a geothermal energy system that held down last summer’s utility bills to $90 per month, it is designed to be the Whitneys’ "forever home." The couple asked for and got what architects call “living in place” features that will allow the Whitneys, who are in their 60s, to stay in their home permanently.

The house’s hallways and doors are extra-wide. There’s a 4-foot-wide shaft just behind a door off the entry hall where an elevator to the second floor and its master bedroom can be installed if and when it is needed. Next to the shaft is a laundry room with a chute from the second floor. The master bathroom’s shower door is wide and wheelchair-accessible. Even the landscaping is designed to require minimal maintenance and no chemicals.

There are picture windows in every main room through which the Whitneys, for the rest of their lives, can watch the water rush down Five Mile Creek, lots of wildlife – deer, cardinals, doves, woodpeckers, nut hatches, tufted titmice and blue jays – and the moon and stars.

Take the Tour

The Whitneys – she’s from Bridgetown and is a University of Cincinnati graduate, he is from Lima, Ohio, and is a Xavier University graduate – wanted to retain the bones of the barn. And there’s no mistaking what it used to be when you turn off Five Mile Road onto their curved driveway. The house’s Quonset hut shape is enhanced by two second-floor dormers, a glassy grand entrance and the original cupola poking out at the roof’s center.

The barn’s industrial-strength foundation passed inspection with flying colors and was retained, but most of the interior – the stables, tack room and hayloft – was gutted to the arched laminated beams that support the rounded roof. To keep it water-tight during a 100-year flood, the entire house had to be raised 14½ inches.

Architect McConnell was so inspired by the place, Jerry Whitney said, that he sketched the floor plan in eight hours and then started marking off the layout with blue tape.

What strikes visitors upon entering the Whitneys’ home is its whiteness, its angular walls and windows, and its uncluttered, modern décor. Yet hints of the barn are there in the entry in the form of a frosted two-paneled sliding door that leads into the living room and a long, floating ledge made of chocolate walnut Jerry Whitney picked up on a one-day drive to Kansas City, Missouri, and back.

The Whitneys had hoped to repurpose two sliding wood doors in the old stable, but their condition was too poor.

“So we were in IKEA one day, and we saw those panels on some cabinets and said, ‘There’s our barn doors,’” said Jerry Whitney, a sales executive with a logistics software company.

The doors might leak a little heat, but the gas fireplace and heated, polished concrete floors keep the living room warm.

“My parents came here for two weeks in October, and they were so warm. My mother learned how to work the thermostat and kept it at 70 degrees. We practically had to kick them out,” joked Karen Whitney, a longtime physician’s assistant.

To the left of the entry hall and beyond the elevator shaft, laundry room and mechanicals closet are two bedrooms that share what the Whitneys call their “spa room.” The bathroom features sparkly, speckled gray quartz countertops, a dual-sink vanity with matching mirrors, a standalone soaking tub and a glassed-in shower with grass-like textured tile. Chrome is the metal of choice for the hardware and fixtures.

To be added to the “spa” features later this year is a fenced-in outdoor shower.

While family photographs in the bedroom at the front of the house stir memories, the bedroom in the back is filled with a mix of family-made art and heirlooms and images from vacations the couple and their four adult daughters have taken.

A glass door from the back bedroom leads to a covered concrete deck that stretches almost the entire length of the house. The deck faces Five Mile Creek and the woods of Withrow Nature Preserve and is accessible from the living and great rooms as well as the 2½-car garage.

Walking back to the entry hall, visitors pass a colorful Campari liqueur poster and a large portrait of an 11-year-old Jerry painted by the late College of Mount St. Joseph art instructor John Nartker.

Across the hall is a stairwell that reaches to the roof. It features a light oak staircase with stainless steel chords and rail and leads up to two more bedrooms, the kitchen and a beamed great room. The vaulted room includes a sectional couch and two stuffed chairs, a glassed-in wine closet, recessed lighting and one floor lamp, a 9-by-6 picture window, a gas fireplace, a big-screen television and a separate dining area with chandelier that faces the front yard.

The great room is where they wind down on weekends with wine and the Wall Street Journal or watch birds – on sunny or gray days.

“Even if it’s raining, we don’t care. With all these windows, it doesn’t matter,” Karen Whitney said.

Three bird feeders hang off the fully plumbed, second-story deck where the couple grills out with friends and watches the ever-running creek and forest.

The 30-foot-long deck is party central when the weather is nice, but the kitchen fills the bill in the winter. Stainless steel appliances, a long, two-tiered white quartz cooking and eating island and glossy white and textured gray European-style cabinets give the kitchen the modern feel Karen Whitney prefers.

“It’s a fun, fun, fun kitchen to cook in,” she said. “We hosted Thanksgiving last year, and I couldn’t believe how easy it was to cook the meal. There’s so much space and convenience.”

To the side of the kitchen and overlooking the stairwell’s cathedral-shaped window is a quartz-topped desk that the couple uses as command central, to pay bills and handle other household business. 

Two bedrooms are situated down a hall behind the kitchen, but before them is an inviting, steel-railed spiral staircase. Karen Whitney uses the slanted-wall and naturally lighted bonus room – which has two large cubbyholes behind doors for storage –for yoga, Pilates and TRX workouts. The third floor’s balcony hovers over the kitchen and great room and provides an up-close view of a special light fixture suspended inside the windowed cupola.

“My parents gave us that,” she said of the brass and crystal chandelier. “It came out of the old Shubert Theatre in Cincinnati.” It lights up the great room like a stationary disco ball, her husband said.

A guest room with full bath and the master with bath and massive walk-in closet are back down the spiral staircase and below the bonus room. The couple outfitted their closet with a system purchased at the Container Store that holds all their clothes and accessories. There is no dresser or wardrobe in their room, just open space and a clear view from the bed of the backyard and the rising moon.

“It’s the most wonderful bed to sleep in, until you have to get up,” Karen Whitney said.

'We Took a Gamble on it'

The Whitneys had just remodeled their contemporary house on Little Dry Run Road, which sat on a half-acre and was what they thought they always wanted. Leaving it was far from their minds – until they spotted the old horse barn on Five Mile.

“We took a gamble on it,” said Jerry Whitney, whose experience rebuilding vintage cars equipped him with mechanical skills and gave him confidence they could build their own home.

“Our financial adviser said, ‘You guys are crazy if you don’t do it,’” he said. So they did, but not without sacrifice. Living in a trailer during the treacherous winter of 2013-14 and storing their belongings in a nearby 20-by-30-foot shipping container for 18 months weren’t the only challenges they faced.

“We’d never built a house before or made all the decisions we had to make, sometimes instantaneous ones like when your builder asks, ‘What do I do now?’ and you’ve got to have a decision right then,” he said.

“We turned it into an adventure that we could write a book about,” Jerry Whitney said. “Karen’s quote is, ‘We never thought we would live in a dream house, and now we own one.’ To go from a normal house to this is just amazing. I swear we were meant to be here.”

Chance to See the Whitneys’ House

The 2016 green living tours by the Cincinnati chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council includes the Whitney house on Sept. 17 ($15 for non-members). To join the Green Living Member Circle, click here. The group will tour a modern house in Northside on Jan. 16.

Maho Bay Camps and Concordia Eco Resort

Read article : Maho Bay Camps and Concordia Eco Resort

We spent our Christmas holidays this year in St. John, and what a perfect vacation it was. We decided to stay in eco-tents, and split our 10 days between Maho Bay and Concordia, both owned by the same company/individual. The first 7 nights, we stayed on the southeast side of the island at the Concordia Resort. Our accommodations were "eco-tents" which were very sturdy stick built structures with canvas walls, built into a hillside overlooking the ocean. We had running water (albeit cold), solar showers (warm during the day), flush toilets, plentiful sleeping for the four of us, and kitchen supplies prepare meals when we chose to eat in. We had beautiful views from our deck of Salt Pond and Drunk Bay and enjoyed beautiful sunrises, cooling trade winds and warm sunshine each day. The units were clean, perfectly maintained,and situated so as to be private from one another and quiet. The staff, although few in number, were extremely friendly, helpful, enthusiastic and responsive to our every need. The last three nights we stayed at Maho Bay and were terribly disappointed. This compound is on the opposite side of the island, closer to Cruz Bay, and was built in the 1970s. The units are much, much smaller. Sleeping for the four of us meant a cot had to be put up each night that we found ourselves tripping over or having to move if one of us needed to use the community bathroom in the middle of the night. It was dirty, bug infested, rotting, and mildewy. There was no running water in the unit and refridgeration was an optional cooler. There was no private toilet or shower, and the community showers were not solar heated (cold but refreshing after a day at the beach). The units were poorly maintained with worn and tired bedding and kitchen supplies. The staff was less helpful than at Concordia. One staff even had the gall to say "That's not my job" rather than "let me call housekeeping for you."For the same price, which truly amazes me, I felt insulted by what Maho Bay provided our family for our stay. Concordia was well worth the $190/night but I don't think I'd pay more than $75 per night to stay at Maho. The land is leased and the lease is running out. The owner has truly stopped putting any money into this worn out investment, and it truly shows. I would have checked out the minute we stepped into our unit, but we had three nights remaining before our flight back home, and the rest of the island was booked for the holidays.I would never go back to Maho Bay, and I would never suggest that someone stay there.

House of the Week: A quiet retreat along Skaneateles Lake

Read article : House of the Week: A quiet retreat along Skaneateles Lake

SKANEATELES, N.Y.— "It's our paradise."

Peter and Marie Duenkelsbuehler have called this three-acre spot on the western shore of Skaneateles Lake home for the last 20 years.

They were drawn to the lake because they liked to swim, but also because the property—on a private road, separated from neighbors on either side by ravines—offered privacy and peace of mind.

The original house needed work, but the Duenkelsbuehlers were not deterred. They spent a considerable amount of time renovating and expanded the home by about 40 percent.

"It's our paradise," Marie Duenkelsbuehler said. "It's a paradise for us."

Surrounded by trees, green lawns and the lake, the property is crawling with wildlife, including birds, squirrels, and grouse. A flight of about 25 stairs off the backyard leads to 183 feet of lake frontage.

The lake and surrounding nature can be seen from the east-facing windows in the living room, Marie Duenkelsbuehler's favorite room in her home. The living room also leads to a deck with pergola and a wood stove, Peter Duenkelsbuehler's favorite feature of the room.

The couple is thinking of moving back to Germany, where some of their children live, but "we're not in a hurry," Peter Duenkelsbuehler said.

They plan to list the house for sale until the end of December. If they don't find a buyer, they plan to stay in Central New York.

"We'll stay here as long as we can and enjoy it," Marie Duenkelsbuehler.

THE DETAILS

Address: 1675 Tamarack Cove, Skaneateles, N.Y., 13152
Price: $1,075,000
Size: 2,296 square feet
Acreage: 3 acres
Monthly Mortgage: $3,823 (based on this week's national average rate of 3.42 percent, according to Freddie Mac, for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage with a 20 percent down payment. Fees and points not included.)
Taxes: $13,210 (Based on assessed value of $244,500)
HOA fee: $500 annually
Built: 1979
School District: Skaneateles

Living room: The updated living room has an open floor plan and views of Skaneateles Lake. The Duenkelsbuehlers said the living room is also their prime entertainment spot.

Kitchen: The kitchen opens up to both the dining room and living room as part of the first-floor's open floor plan.

Sun room: Usable three seasons out of the year, the sun room has the best views of the garden, Marie Duenkelsbuehler said.

Bedrooms: The home has three bedrooms, including the first-floor master suite.

Bathrooms: The master bathroom, one of three bathrooms in the home, has a jetted tub, steam shower and double vanity.

Outside: Among the property's unique features is a wooden pendulum bowling game in the woods that the Duenkelsbuehlers brought back from Germany.

Agent:Georgia Yokom
Williams Realty
13 East Genesee St
Skaneateles ,N.Y., 13152
Phone: (315) 283-3000
Email: gyokom@skanrealty.com

To nominate a listing for House of the Week, send an email to home@syracuse.com. Contact Jacob Pucci at jpucci@syracuse.com or on Twitter at @jacobpucci.

House of the Week: Adirondack-style lodge near Otisco Lake rich with natural beauty

The Trendy Boutique That Employs People With Special Needs - ZABS Place in North Carolina provides on-site job training and business skills

Read article : The Trendy Boutique That Employs People With Special Needs - ZABS Place in North Carolina provides on-site job training and business skills

“Hello, welcome to ZABS Place! My name is Aaron.”

Aaron Roochvarg sports an award-winning smile. He’s there at the door, enthusiastically greeting customers when they enter the store and asking if they need any assistance finding items.

“How did you hear about ZABS Place?” he asks.

“I’ve been here a few times,” reports the customer. “Thank you, Aaron, for all of your help!”

“You are very welcome!” comes the reply.

It’s just a few minutes after 10 a.m. (opening time) and a stream of people file into ZABS Place in the charming town of Matthews, a 20-minute drive from Charlotte, N.C. There is a buzz around town about the quality and selection of clothing, books, games, toys, home goods, handbags, greeting cards and more at this thrift boutique that opened nearly three years ago.

It’s obvious that the selection of merchandise is excellent. But it doesn’t take long for first-time shoppers to realize just how special ZABS Place is. Colorful signs around the store inform customers that “ZABS Place is a thrift boutique employing young adults with special talents.” (The word “talents” appears over the crossed-off word “needs.”) The store’s website advertises it as “Affordable. Upscale. Inclusive.” That it’s all about “providing opportunities, realizing potential and having fun.”

Aaron Roochvarg (Photo: Howard Blas)

‘10 Years From Now . . . ’

In one part of the store, three teenagers sip frozen drinks and banter about whether or not an outfit “looks cute.” In another, mothers with kids in tow throw a few outfits over their arms, heading for the dressing room. All the while, half-a-dozen young adults with special needs are doing their jobs in every area of running a business. Roochvarg, 27, continues to greet and assist customers. Erin Keeter, 28, is organizing children’s games. And Jonathan Gale, a 22-year-old employee who has been with the store from the start and now works 10 hours a week, is shelving books.

He picks up a holiday cookbook and perceptively asks his supervisor, “Should this book be here? It is not near holiday time!” She suggests he move it to another section.

In the back corner of ZABS Place, Cammie Wilson, 25, is straightening books and games on a high shelf as employment coordinator Alison Dugo, 30, looks on. “If you can’t reach this, what you should do?” asks Dugo. Wilson carefully considers the question and suggests bringing a ladder next time.

Dugo has been working at ZABS place for two years. In addition to teaching job skills, she spends a great deal of time on soft skills—the not-so-obvious, real-life know-how needed to be successful and professional at work. These include dressing appropriately, having a positive attitude, knowing how to act in the break room, and learning how to get along with fellow workers and bosses. Dugo thinks quite a bit about the employees’ futures. “I ask them: What do you imagine doing 10 years from now? What are you good at? What do you want to be good at; what is challenging for you?”

ZABS Place offers everything from clothing and toys to home goods and greeting cards. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

In many ways, ZABS Place is intentionally designed to be a training ground and stepping stone to future employment elsewhere in the community.

While Dugo is working with Wilson, Rochel Groner—co-director of ZABS Place and Friendship Circle of Charlotte, with her husband, Rabbi Bentzion Groner—is up front with Keeter, patiently going over how to use the store’s scheduling program on the iPad to request time off. The young woman and her family are planning a trip to Canada in a few weeks, and she is learning the various drag-down menu options, which include vacation days, sick leave and time needed for a personal or family emergency.

Keeter works in the store Mondays and Thursdays sorting children’s clothing and organizing the toy section. She is also one of the artists and craftspeople with special needs who have signed a consignment agreement with ZABS Place to sell their creative works. She photographs flowers near her home and makes them into greeting cards. “I sold three last week!” she reports.

(Photo: Len Weinstein)

Hannah Strunck, 18, is also a consignor, making bath crystals, balms and creams at home to be displayed and sold at ZABS Place alongside jewelry, journals and non-noise-producing fidget toys. Hannah’s older brother, Andy, 27, works at the store two days a week for 90 minutes each day, cleaning floors, hanging clothes, and dusting shelves. He comes with his longtime-care staff member, Aaron, who serves as a job coach.

“Andy feels proud, he feels welcomed, and he can sustain work without complaining,” according to his parents, Michael Strunck and Ruth Singer-Strunck. “For him, this is a huge accomplishment.”

‘A Really Important Place’

For the Strunck family, ZABS Place is more than a vocational training program for their children; it is a source of Jewish pride and identity. While the main indicators that the store has a Jewish affiliation are the mezuzahs on all doors and a sign indicating that it is closed on Shabbat (it’s open on Sundays from noon to 6 p.m.), ZABS Place has become a second “Jewish home” for the Struncks.

“It is a really important place. Much here in North Carolina is Christian-based,” observes Ruth Singer-Strunck, who grew up in New Jersey and moved to Charlotte from South Florida several years ago. “You often hear about a church doing this or a pastor doing that [for a good cause]. It made me feel especially good to have my kids involved in something Jewish. This is a connection to my community. I feel more plugged in and want my kids to have a connection to the Jewish faith.”

They’ve joined the Groners for Passover seder, and their children have participated in Friendship Circle.

A young customer checks out baseball caps. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

Cheryl Slane and her family, former members of the Charlotte Jewish community now living in New Orleans, agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by the Struncks.

“Chabad believes that every neshamah [soul] has a place,” she says. Long involved with Friendship Circle, she looks to ZABS Place as a model for training young adults with special needs, like their son, Ben, who’s almost 20. “Giving people with a disability a place to work is pretty amazing. That’s what we are trying to do here in New Orleans. There are so few job sites in the country for people with special needs.”

Numerous Charlotte families have gotten to know the Groners through their children’s participation in Friendship Circle, which in many ways was the birthplace for ZABS Place.

“When Jonathan was a junior in high school, we asked him what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to continue in high school; he wanted to work,” recall his parents, Caren and Charlie Gale. “We wanted a place that would understand him in his fullness—with all of his abilities and disabilities. We sat around the kitchen table and said, ‘What can we do to help Jonathan and all the families we have met in waiting rooms all these years?”

The former clarinetist and screenwriter couple, longtime transplants from Los Angeles, had an idea—open a business. The Gales approached the Groners, “concerned about people like Jonathan, who were getting older, and what to do when they age out of Friendship Circle.”

(Photo: Len Weinstein)

‘A High Bar for Our Children’

Rochel Groner adds some important details in the evolution and growth of ZABS Place.

“In 2012, some Friendship Circle families approached us and asked if we would start a Jewish group home,” she explains. The Groners were more focused on vocational training and the overall lives of young adults with special needs as they got older. “We wondered: ‘What are they doing meaningfully during the day?’ When I would ask parents what their child was good at, many didn’t know. We had to do something.”

Rochel went home and started brainstorming. She was generating ideas for businesses with low overhead and thought of a thrift store. She searched online for “thrift stores and disabilities,” and came across Our Thrift Store in Franklin, Tenn., which provides 25 ongoing jobs for young adults with special needs. “A few months later, when Friendship Circle was on break for the summer, we made the nine-hour drive to see the program.”

Dave Krikac, the store’s founder, was very helpful in providing guidance about the ins and outs of starting and running a thrift shop. When the Groners returned to Charlotte from Tennessee, they met with the Gales and discovered that they, too, had been thinking about starting a business for people with special needs.

Keeter organizes a section of books. (Photo: Howard Blas)

Rochel’s formal training is in Jewish education; she was a classroom teacher for 10 years. She also notes with a small smile, “I did help run a basement business with family members many years ago in Baltimore, selling Israeli skirts.” At the time, Groner learned many things, including web design, though she acknowledges that the business was “minimally successful.”

When she and Bentzion married in 2005, they moved to Charlotte. In 2007, she began working with Bentzion at Friendship Circle International, an organization that creates chapters in local communities to foster relationships and friendships between typically developing teens and children with special needs. Through her work with Friendship Circle, Rochel acquired a great deal of experience in working with people who had all kinds of abilities.

“We know from Friendship Circle that everyone is unique, and has hidden qualities and something to share,” states Bentzion. In imagining a workplace for people with special needs, the Groners strongly believed that employees with special needs would develop social skills through their jobs.

Truth be told, “there were a lot of ups and downs” on the road to starting a thrift store, attests Rochel. “We looked at 25 places in a year and a half,” adds Bentzion. “Even when it got tough, people like the Gales stood behind us,” helping with fundraising and much of the behind-the-scenes work.

Rabbi Bentzion and Rochel Groner

Throughout the sometimes challenging startup process, the Groners stood fast to their sense of mission and their dedication to the people they serve. “It was a community effort—totally a partnership,” says the rabbi. Many helped gather, transport and store merchandise, as well as remove room dividers, strip and repaint walls, and more.

They credit Rochel with an eye for business and an easy demeanor. “Rochel is sweet, dedicated, hardworking and intelligent. When we met, I thought she was too young to work,” jokes Ruth Singer-Strunck, commenting on the 30-something’s young appearance.

Work she does, 24/6, her only day off being on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, when the store is closed.

“Rochel had a vision—a place that was bright and airy, where people will want to shop,” adds Caren Gale. “It has attracted a cross-section of people, from young thrifters to people struggling financially, and they buy because they feel like mensches here.”

Singer-Strunck also has kind words for the Groners: “They are lovely, good people doing good work. Rochel delivered on a concept. She knew what she wanted it to look like.”

Caren Gale agrees. “I admire her attention to detail, and her desire to run a store that is both professional and beautiful.”

But perhaps most importantly, she says, “Rochel sets a high bar for our children—everything parents of a child with special needs could hope for.” Her husband, Charlie, adds that “she has such an affinity to this population and believes strongly in what they can do.”

Caren and Charlie Gale, parents of employee Jonathan Gale (Photo: Howard Blas)

‘A Wonderfully Nurturing Place’

Another fan of the Chabad emissaries is Lisa Shporer, a community member with more than 10 years of retail experience. Shporer volunteers 20 to 30 hours a week, and sees herself as the “snow-globe shaker” since she is known for “shaking things up” at ZABS Place.

Her connection to the Groners and ZABS Place is uniquely personal. Her son, Zachary, died of leukemia in 2012, at the age of 19. He was a student at the American Hebrew Academy in Greensboro, N.C., and an active volunteer with such organizations as the Special Olympics, student council and Friendship Circle.

Community member and volunteer Lisa Shporer, whose 19-year-old son Zachary died of leukemia in 2011. The store is named in his memory. (Photo: Howard Blas)

The Groners, who had a special relationship with Zachary, approached the family at shiva about “doing something in his merit.” They decided to name the soon-to-be opened ZABS Place in his memory, using the initials of his Hebrew name: Zechariah Avraham Baruch. A sign and picture near the checkout station explains the origin of the store’s name.

Elias Roochvarg, the longtime cantor at Temple Israel of Charlotte and the father of Aaron is pleased with ZABS Place and his son’s work there. “It is a wonderfully nurturing place for adults with special talents,” he says, adding that his son looks forward to two afternoons a week there. “As parents of an employee and as members of the community, we shepped parental and communal nachas knowing how much our son is thriving as a result of the staff, and how great a service to the community Chabad is performing in this endeavor.”

Caren Gale is proud that Jonathan feels “confident and really productive,” creating the book section at ZABS Place. “Our hope is to be a model for other communities and to expand; it is always a process where we refine and add. We all need to find our own path. Why shouldn’t these kids?”

Employment coordinator Alison Dugo (Photo: Howard Blas)" />

Employment coordinator Alison Dugo (Photo: Howard Blas)

Merchandise With a Mission

Customers say they appreciate the variety and quality of merchandise at ZABS Place as well as the mission behind it. They learn an important lesson about people, in particular, the abilities of people with special needs.

“It’s nice to see their impressions evolve,” says Rochel. “For many, it is their first opportunity to come this close to people with special needs. ZABS Place helps them build educated opinions—that all people are important and can do things. We even see their patience when one of our employees is at the cash register.”

Caren Gale acknowledges that she hadn’t “anticipated at the start the role ZABS Place would have in educating the community. A byproduct of the program is that people came in, and their minds were changed. People were moved.”

Rochel says she never imagined directing a thrift shop. “But of all the jobs I’ve had, I am most excited to come here. I just love the people!”

She adds: “People ask me if I still teach. And I do. I teach here, every day.”

Photographs of Rochel Groner helping a child with autism on a transatlantic flight went viral on Facebook.

In fact, the general population got an opportunity to witness Rochel’s abilities firsthand. Several weeks ago, Rochel and Bentzion were on a flight back to the United States, via Belgium, after chaperoning a Birthright Israel trip. About an hour into the flight, a young boy with autism began screaming and crying. Passengers began getting upset, and the mother seemed unsure of what to do. Rochel approached the boy with her hand out, which he grasped; the two then spent a few hours playing near a bulkhead on the plane. A photo posted by Bentzion on Facebook went viral, generating more than 6,500 Likes.

That didn’t surprise members of the Charlotte community and those affiliated with ZABS Place. Singer-Strunck made it a point to say “that is who she is. She saw that a kid was in trouble; it didn’t matter who. This is their world. They are immersed in the work they do.”

Alison Dugo knows that all the attention on Rochel must have been tough. “She is humble and shy. For her, it is a calling—what she thinks she should be doing.”

“I didn’t like it,” admits Groner. “But I will survive the attention,” she says, as long as it’s been an opportunity for others to learn. “I hope what comes out of this is the ability for people to realize that they can reach out and offer support to one another, instead of staring or being apathetic. We’re all different, and the onus is on the community to make it work for everyone.”

It’s what her mother always taught, says the Chabad emissary: “Leave the world a better place than how you found it.”

Helping a customer with her selections. (Photo: Len Weinstein)

Len Weinstein browses through the wide variety of items at ZABS Place.

Meditation 101 - Paula Faris on Mindfulness & Meditation

Read article : Meditation 101 - Paula Faris on Mindfulness & Meditation

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By Paula Faris

Aug 11, 2017

Ten years ago, I would never have considered meditating. But I wasn't a mom then.

The other day, my 3-year-old licked a popcorn kernel off the floor at Starbucks. And incredibly, that wasn't the moment that drove me to look for some inner peace. No, that came while I was alone in my car one afternoon. I'd pulled off to the side of the road, crying, because in the midst of shuttling my two oldest kids (ages 7 and 9) to this practice and that party, I'd snapped and said some things in anger that I wished I could take back. I wasn't who I wanted to be for my children.

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Like so many of my friends, I feel like I'm drowning. I'm a weekend anchor on Good Morning Americaand a cohost on The View, and while I love what I do, it only adds to the chaos of navigating life as a wife and mom. My schedule changes constantly. More than once, I've had to postpone vacations and parent-teacher meetings to hop on a plane to cover breaking news.

At home, I try to be fully present for my children, and as a Christian, I get peace from my faith. But none of that means I'm patient. While of course I'd heard of meditation, it used to make me picture people chanting, cross-legged, in a candlelit room. Then I met Dan Harris, my GMA coanchor and an ambassador for the practice. (He wrote the New York Times best seller 10% Happier.) The more I learned from him — about the scientific evidence behind meditation and how it can rewire your brain, making you calmer and more focused—the more I wanted to try it. Dan calls it "a bicep for your brain."

So, when Redbook challenged me to meditate for an entire month, I jumped at it. I'm the type of person who needs structure and deadlines — someone to hold me accountable. "I used to be you," said Suze Yalof Schwartz, founder of Unplug Meditation in Los Angeles and my designated coach for the challenge. "I wish I'd had meditation when my own three kids were littler," she told me, noting that I could see a difference in as little as two weeks. So off I went to find some calm.

Week 1

This week was about mindfulness, and yay, I already knew what that meant — to really reflect on the moment you're in, to soak in the experience. I had never done it, but I was sure it would be wonderful.

As Suze explained, you can practice mindfulness anywhere and at any time, even while brushing your teeth. To make it easier, she gave me two short daily meditations and access to her studio's Unplug Meditation app so I'd have teachers to guide me.

On the first morning, I cued up a video on the STOP practice. You simply stop what you're doing, take a few breaths, and observe (with your eyes open) for a few seconds before proceeding with your day. When the sound faded out, I couldn't believe the meditation was over already. It was so simple — for days after, I repeated it on my own whenever I needed a reset, like at a stoplight or on set at GMA. One evening, in the kitchen, I found it worked rather well with a glass of wine; I noticed the way it swirled, its color and consistency. (Yes, I drank it.)

With that kind of success, I moved on to a meditation the military calls "tactical breathing." You take a deep breath in through your nose, hold it, and breathe out again. It takes roughly 16 seconds, and the idea is that when you're focused on your breath, the stuff causing you stress can fall away.

The testing ground was dinnertime: The kids were fussy, first about what I was cooking and then about one another. At the table, I took a deep breath, held that tension, and breathed out. "Mommy, are you mad?" my daughter asked, all three of them quiet, eyes fixed on me. Not anymore, sweetheart. Not anymore.Later that night, I did it again to fend off a meltdown (mine) during the hostage negotiations known as bedtime.

It wasn't until the next morning, however, that I found my favorite meditation yet: the three-minute cure. While my toddler watched TV, I slipped into the next room and watched my own video. For the first minute, you focus on your breath. For the second, you imagine being in your happy place — for me, that's Lake Michigan, surrounded by family, wind in my hair. The final minute is for positive affirmations. (I repeated Scripture in my mind: I am fearfully and wonderfully made.) When I emerged, I was quite emotional — there's something cathartic about extending the same grace to yourself that you give to others.

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In the days that followed, I had some mishaps: I fell asleep meditating once, and had to skip it another night when I came down with food poisoning on a flight to Utah. As the meditations got longer, I had to fight my share of distractions, which can be frustrating. ("You'll never completely turn off your thoughts," Suze assured me.) All that said, after just one week, I felt calmer. I was starting to understand the hype.

Week 2

I was really eager to tackle this week's meditations — all designed to engage the senses — as soon as I learned that the first couple involved essential oils, which I'd been using for years.

On the first morning, I grabbed two of my favorites (peppermint and orange, which are supposed to help you feel energized), rubbed a few drops in my hands, and breathed them in before starting the three-minute cure. The oils were strong, but immediately I felt more alert, and my nasal passages seemed more open, allowing me to breathe deeper. At night, I did the same thing, but with lavender, to help prepare for sleep.

On Wednesday, I was supposed to try tapping, where you lightly drum different areas of your body with your fingertips while repeating positive affirmations out loud. It took about 30 seconds for me to realize it just wasn't for me. (It's a hard pass for my coanchor Dan too, apparently.) It's not exactly practical for someone who tends to meditate on public transit — and I found I preferred my meditations still and silent anywhere. I also did my own version of a sound bath, where you listen to music and feel the vibrations. Focusing on the rhythms and background instruments of some of my favorite Coldplay and Hillsong music was almost like being at a concert. Seriously— I felt transported.

These were interesting techniques, but I was struck by how I was able to keep using mindfulness in my everyday life. After a celebrity shoot in Miami, a cameraman came to me and said, "We have a problem — we don't have anything." Seemingly the camera had failed to roll on the interview. I noticed his face turning red as he checked the camera; he had to lean against something to steady himself. "You don't look well," I said. "I want you to do something with me for 16 seconds: Take a deep breath in and hold it, then blow it out." A few minutes later, he was calmer, and thankfully — because there's only so much that meditation can fix — we found the video for my segment too.

Illustration by Shout

Week 3

Guided imagery was on my schedule this week, and I was glad it came later in the month. It would have been a hard sell earlier, but now I understood that being able to take yourself to another place when you're under stress can be an incredibly valuable resource.

I started the week out by writing down the things that make me happy. I struggled at first — a painful reminder that, as moms, we often lose sight of ourselves. (What with the floor licking and all.) But after a while, it started to come back to me, and I realized that it's some of the simplest things that bring me the most joy: drinking coffee, watching my kids play sports, picking flowers, hearing my husband laugh. I realized that I just needed to be more present in those moments, to be more mindful.

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That insight proved invaluable as I moved into the new meditations, sitting for up to 20 minutes at a time as a teacher asked me to envision things like a movie theater where the best possible version of my life played out on the screen ("What would it look like?"). One day, I imagined being in a tropical paradise — hilariously, even as my train's conductor announced, "Next stop: New Rochelle." The longer the meditations became, the more my mind wandered. Did I turn off the sprinkler? Oh, man — I forgot to call my mom back! When am I going to shower today? Now, however, I just smiled through them and brought my focus back to the meditation. It was like I had been doing this forever.

Week 4

I was due to try transcendental, or mantra-based, meditation for my final week, and honestly, it seemed like the most out-there one yet. That said, I was willing to give it a go.

Suze put me at ease when she explained the practice this way: Man means think, and tra means instrument — so, a mantra is a mind instrument, a word or phrase you repeat silently that helps you stay focused. The videos I was following along with suggested mantras like "Ahh-hum," but since Suze's studio encourages people to BYOM (bring your own mantra), I modified them to things like "Amen" and "Be still." I sat, for fewer than 10 minutes at first, repeating the mantra in my mind with each breath, softer and softer until I could just sit in the silence. And while I finally reached my limit on the last day — the video was 45 minutes long, but I could only do 15 — I finished the week feeling empowered, knowing that I had made this practice my own.

I'm no longer setting reminders in my phone to meditate, because I don't have to. I meditate throughout the day, by pausing to reflect on a leaf outside my window, taking 16 seconds to quiet my thoughts while my kids swirl around me, or focusing on a mantra I desperately need before I lose my mind.

Meditation is one of the few things I do just for me, and it's emotional: I've explored places within myself that were neglected or repressed, like warm memories of my family, feelings of anxiety, the harsh way I judge myself. It's made me more present in every aspect of my life. One of Dan's teachers says life is like a game of whack-a-mole — you tackle one thing and another pops up — and while meditation won't change your circumstances, it can change how you react. Now I see that instead of frantically smashing moles, I can slow them down and focus on one thing at a time.

My kids have noticed: "You're not as cranky," my daughter offered one day, and my older son said I had been giving more kisses than usual. My being more present with them has been a gift for all of us. They like this me better — and so do I.

---

How do you meditate, anyway?

"There are more ways to meditate than there are to make an egg," says Suze Yalof Schwartz, founder of Unplug Meditation in Los Angeles. But they all boil down (ha!) to three things: You focus on a single point, like your breath or an aroma. Then you let it slip away so you can just be present — feel the air on your skin, listen to the noises around you. And then when your mind starts to wander, you bring it back to that single point and begin again. Seems simple enough, right?

What meditation can do for you

A lot, actually. Research suggests that meditation can help ease pain, anxiety, and depression. In one study, people who practiced it for a short time had fewer inflammatory markers in their blood — lowering their risk for stress-fueled illnesses like heart disease. Scans showed that meditation had improved communication within parts of the brain that maintain calm and focus. Still, the science is evolving, and it isn't clear yet how often or for how long you need to meditate to see the rewards. For now, "it's best to think of meditation as a skill — the more you develop it, the more likely you are to benefit from it," says Madhav Goyal, M.D., of Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Catch Paula on ABC's Good Morning America Weekend every Saturday and Sunday morning on ABC (check local listings).

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In my beauty bag: Natalie Back

Read article : In my beauty bag: Natalie Back

Last updated 07:40, December 11 2014

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TOP TIPS FOR GREAT SKIN: Don't smoke, get plenty of sleep and cleanse your skin every night, says Natalie Back.

In her job as national beauty sales manager for Farmers, Natalie Back has access to all the cosmetics a girl could ever dream of. Unsurprisingly, her cabinet is bursting with all the latest products – let's take a peek.

SKIN

I'm a bit of a soft touch for anything claiming to help address the signs of ageing, so I tend to use a mix of products and brands.

Good cleansing is key, so I like to use Lancome Bi-Facil Eye Makeup Remover and Galatee Confort Cleanser in the evening and my Clarisonic Cleansing Brush with Clarins One-Step Gentle Exfoliating Cleanser in the morning. This might sound like overkill but these products work well together, and my skin feels amazing afterwards. I've used a Clarisonic brush for a couple of years now, and am thrilled we finally have these available in New Zealand at Farmers!

I can be a bit hit-and-miss with toners, but alternate between Clinique Clarifying Lotion and Estee Lauder Micro Essence. I love the way Micro Essence applies like a toner but acts like a serum.

I always follow with at least one, sometimes two, serums. At the moment I'm using Clinique's Smart Serum. I'm also a huge fan of Elizabeth Arden's Prevage Intensive Repair Serum, and tend to use this in the evening to target key areas of concern. 

I'm a huge advocate of using as a good eye cream, and can't go past Clarins Super Restorative Total Eye Concentrate as this addresses all of my key concerns – puffiness, lines and firmness. 

As I've become more concerned with the signs of ageing, I prefer a moisturiser that helps increase hydration, and improve radiance and firmness, without being too heavy. Currently I use Clarins Super Restorative Day and Super Restorative Night Creams which are great for this.

When I want to give my skin an extra boost, I use Clinique Instant Turnaround Facial.  It's a quick and easy-to-use exfoliating treatment, and my skin always feels incredibly smooth afterwards

I like to wear an SPF every day, and use Clinique CC Cream with SPF30 all year round - either on its own or as a primer. It's great for evening out your skin tone while providing protection. If I plan to be in the sun for extended periods I use Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream Sun Defense for Face SPF50.  For my body, I generally use one of the Clarins Sun Protection products, as they provide a range of SPFs to choose from and I like the spray application.

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I love facials but don't have them often – they tend to be more a treat when I'm travelling.  My most memorable one was at the Mandara Spa at the Sofitel in Fiji. I had the works – a Balinese body polish and massage, followed by an Elemis Brilliance facial and scalp massage.  It was pure luxury and I felt like I was floating six inches above the ground when I left.

My secrets to good skin? Don't smoke! Get plenty of sleep. Cleanse your skin every night - no matter how tired you are - and always wear good eye cream and sunscreen.

MAKEUP

I have two older sisters so was introduced to the wonders of makeup about age 10. This was in the era of brands like Helena Rubenstein and Mary Quant when it was all about colour and glitter! I think I was about 13 when I bought my first Maybelline Eye Shadow Quad, and can still remember my delight at being given my own mascara and lip gloss on my 14th birthday. It was all downhill from there!

Most of my colour products tend to be from Bobbi Brown. My favourites are the Skin Foundation Stick, as it's quick and easy to apply and great to keep in my bag for touch-ups; Tinted Eye Brightener to help conceal under-eye shadows; Longwear Gel Eyeliner, as it stays in place all day (I love both Graphite and Chocolate Shimmer); and my can't-live-without-product – the Brow Kit! 

My must-have mascara at the moment is Lancome Grandiose. This is amazing for volume, definition and curl, and the angled brush makes it easy to apply without the dreaded clumps.

M.A.C. is my go-to brand for pencils. I like the Powerpoint Pencil for my eyes and Pro Longwear Pencil for my lips. I've just discovered Morning Coffee, and love how it goes with so many lipstick shades. I must confess to also having more than a few M.A.C. lipsticks in my possession, as I'm always on the lookout for that one perfect shade. 

I make sure I always have my Bobbi Brown Foundation Stick, Clarins Instant Light Natural Lip Perfector, at least one lip pencil and lipstick, and a bottle of Optrex Eye Drops in my handbag.

I try to keep makeup to a minimum over the weekends, but will usually wear CC cream, mascara, lipgloss, brow makeup and a touch of blusher.

HAIR

I wash my hair every second day with John Frieda Brilliant Brunette Shampoo and Conditioner. It helps to maintain my colour and keep it in good condition. 

Prior to styling, I give my hair a light spritz with L'Oreal Elvive Extraordinary Oil to help protect it from the heat, and then apply Davines This Is A Volume Boosting Mousse. To create texture I finish with Davines This Is A Medium Hold Finishing Gum.

My favourite salon is Killer Hair in St Benedicts St, Auckland. I've been going to Steven and Mimi for about nine years now, and they're amazing! I always keep my hair short but can get bored with it easily, and they're always happy to help me look at ways to change it up a bit. 

My hair tends to grow quickly, so I get it cut every five weeks or so, and coloured every second visit.  In between colours I re-touch the roots at home with L'Oreal Casting. Being short my hair usually stays in OK condition, but every couple of weeks I use Hask Argan Oil Deep Repairing Conditioner. It comes in a sachet so it is easy to travel with as well.

I have strong hair that needs to be styled every day, unfortunately, with a hairdryer and straighteners and I use GHD for both. I also have mini Cloud Nine Straighteners that are brilliant for travelling and short hair.

FRAGRANCE & BODY

I tend to choose my fragrance based on my mood, the occasion or the season. I do have a few favourites though, with Narciso Rodriguez For Her being a mainstay. I'm also really enjoying wearing Balenciaga Paris at the moment.  

After progressing on from Charlie, some of my earliest fragrances were Miss Worth, White Linen, Rive Gauche and Arpege. In more recent times I've enjoyed wearing Juicy Couture, Flowerbomb, Ellie Saab, Modern Muse, and Miss Dior.

For body, I love the Clarins Tonic Bath and Shower Concentrate, and use it in the shower every morning. When I want to wind down I love to soak in the bath with Clarins Relaxing Bath and Shower Concentrate. I also like to give these as gifts, as I think they're a little bit of luxury few women afford themselves.

I like non-scented body lotions and alternate between Nivea Firming Body Lotion Q10 Plus and Clarins Moisture-Rich Body Lotion. 

LIFESTYLE

My beauty philosophy? From birth to 20 you have the skin you were born with. From 20 onwards you have the skin you deserve. So take good care of it while you can!

My beauty tip for travelling is as soon as the lights are out on a long-haul flight, remove your makeup and apply a moisturising mask and lip balm. I usually apply Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and Hydra Quench Lip Balm.

When it comes to shopping for beauty products, I'm the ultimate consumer. Through my job I get to see products six to nine months before they launch. As a result I usually have a list of products I'm planning to buy and their launch dates in my diary!  Luckily for me, Farmers now stocks all the brands I love to use.

Audrey Hepburn is my beauty icon. She had such a classic style and timeless beauty, and I love her philosophy that true beauty can only come from within. Her favourite poem, Time Tested Beauty Tips by Sam Levenson, is a must-read.

The one product I can't live without is Bobbi Brown Brow Makeup.

My best quick fix is to always keep a cream concealer on hand to instantly brighten the under-eye area, illuminate cheekbones, create a smooth lipline and help correct any little application errors.

A beauty mistake from my past was anything I did in the '80s! I can still see the lovely strips of bright eye colour from lash to brow.

My beauty pet hate is women wearing the wrong shade of foundation (usually too dark), and overly exaggerated eyebrows.

If I could wave a magic wand, the beauty bugbear I'd like to fix is cellulite! I would love a product that really did instantly smooth it.

The beauty product I think needs be invented is a customised foundation system where your perfect shade could be expertly blended to match your skin tone.

- As told to Melissa Williams-King

 - Stuff

Viking's Myanmar Explorer - Day 7

Read article : Viking's Myanmar Explorer - Day 7

Embarking Viking Mandalay

Hello, Viking Mandalay! Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

ooday is an exciting day. For the first time since our Myanmar Explorerriver cruise tour with Viking River Cruises began in Bangkok, Thailand almost one week ago, we’re embarking our river cruise ship. In fact, we’ll join Viking Mandalayin its namesake port of Mandalay, Myanmar.

But first, we have to get there.

Our first stop after arrival in Mandalay: the gorgeous Mahamuni Paya. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

The one thing I’ve realized after spending nearly a week in Myanmar is that traffic here works on its own set of rules. I’m sure they have traffic laws, but enforcement must be sparse at best. Cars and trucks drive remarkably slowly due to the uneven pavement and the proliferation of cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians that clog major thoroughfares. This means that getting from Point A to Point Be can be a time-consuming activity.

Such was the case today. We checked out of the Areum Inle Lake Resortand boarded our coach at 9:45 a.m. in order to be back at Heho Airport for our flight to Mandalay at 12:55 p.m. Impressively, we’d need every bit of that time in order to make our flight.

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The pagoda is decorated in elaborate gold leaf patterns. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

The drive back to Heho took about two hours, with a 15 minute stop to collect our boxed lunches that we’d enjoy at the airport. At 30 minutes in duration, our flight isn’t long enough to have meal service, and there’s no time to stop along the way.

Heho Airport is a real experience. I wouldn’t call the airport filthy, but I wouldn’t call it clean, either. The toilet facilities are pretty grim by Western standards, and men can expect “the hole in the ground,” while women are treated to proper toilets.

Men are allowed to directly pay respects to Buddha … Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

… while women must do so outside. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Once again, we boarded an ATR-72 600 operated by Mann Yadanarpon Airlines. This time, seating wasn’t assigned, so you just took an empty seat as you boarded. Fortunately, this isn’t North America, so it’s not the free-for-all you might expect. Instead, boarding – which took place from the tarmac – was an orderly experience.

If Rudyard Kiplingromanticised Mandalay with his famous poem, the reality today is somewhat different. In fact, Mandalay is not at all what I expected; I expected a Yangon-style metropolis. My Rough Guide to Myanmarstates that Mandalay is “a faceless grid of congested streets,” and I’d say that’s accurate. It’s a city, to be sure, but a city that’s not quite ancient and not quite modern. Most buildings are a single story tall, or perhaps two, and have a ramshackle quality to them.

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At the Paya, celebrations for the Full Moon Festival were well underway. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Still, the appeal of Mandalay can be found in the numerous historic sites that are interspersed within the city. There are dozens of Pagodas and ceremonial stupas, plenty of Buddhist temples, and other relevant historic sites.

On our drive out to Amarapura, near where Viking Mandalayis berthed, we stopped at the fascinating Mahamuni Paya.

As if to illustrate how many pagodas and places of worship there are in Myanmar, Mahamuni doesn’t even appear in my guidebook. According to local legend, only five likenesses of Buddha were ever made during his lifetime. Two were in India, two were in “paradise,” and the fifth and final image is in Mahamuni here in Mandalay.

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This includes weaving silk, which must be given as an offering to Buddha before the next sunrise. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

The entire complex was built in 1785, but a fire in 1884 nearly destroyed the entire complex, save for the image of Buddha. In 1996, the military government of Myanmar undertook extensive repairs and renovations to the complex, and today it is a major site of worship for locals and a source of curiosity for tourists.

Once again, it’s shoes-off-socks-off for our visit. I’m surprised at how much I am railing against this. I hate having dirty feet, and a few minutes of walking around barefoot here in Myanmar is enough to turn the soles of your feet jet black. We’re given moistened towelettes to clean our feet, but I suppose it’s something that, as a Westerner, I’m just not used to. I think some people embrace it, but I haven’t enjoyed it yet. Still – it is important to respect the local customs, and I always walk barefoot through the temple complexes, even if I despise it.

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At long last: embarking Viking Mandalay. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

What’s also interesting is the segregation between men and women. Men are allowed to go right up to Buddha to pay respects, but women must sit outside the room Buddha is contained within and pray there. They can watch the men via closed-circuit televisions that are placed above their heads, but cannot directly see Buddha.

There’s also a bizarrely tacky quality to some of this, as bright LED lights and coloured Christmas lights adorn aspects of the temples. I saw this in Indonesia as well, and it baffles me – the fascination with blinking red, blue and green lights that strobe madly, as if to proclaim Buddha as the God of Shabby Lighting.

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Viking Mandalay is actually the Indochina Pandaw, owned by Pandaw River Explorations and operated on long-term charter to Viking. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Of course, part of this is due to the upcoming Full Moon Festival tomorrow. Tazaungdaingis held on the Full Moon in November to celebrate the end of the rainy season, and offerings are made to Buddha in many forms. At this pagoda, women are working furiously to weave silk robes for Buddha; these must be finished by sunrise this morning, and the women will work through the night to ensure it gets done.

By the sides of the road to Amarapura, women and children gather in long lines, waiting to stop vehicles to extract payment from drivers as offerings to Buddha. Drivers stop and hand over money. Incredibly, this money will actually make it to the Paya complex!. In Burma, great emphasis is placed on doing good deeds in this life, and offerings to Buddha are pretty high up there. In our “me-me-me” societies in the West, I think we could learn from that.

The Key To Room 307. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Tonight, we arrived at the beautiful Viking Mandalay just before sunset. It’s a gorgeous ship, fashioned after the classic steamers that used to ply the Irrawaddy River at the turn of the last century.

Unlike its European-based Viking Longships, Viking does not own Viking Mandalay. In fact, it’s real name isn’t Viking Mandalay at all; it’s Indochina Pandaw, a vessel built in 2009 in Vietnam and owned and operated by Pandaw River Explorations, a longtime player in the Southeast Asian river cruise market.

Welcome Home! Stateroom 307, in its standard configuration. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Legally, Viking can’t own and operate a vessel here without establishing a permanent presence in Myanmar – something that is complicated, if not impossible, under the current government regime. So like every other river cruise operator, Viking relies on long-term lease agreements from established river cruise lines to offer river journeys in Myanmar.

So if you’re expecting the Viking Longships here, don’t – you won’t see a single Longship. What you will get, however, is the same wonderful Viking standard of service you’ve come to expect, along with all the normal Viking amenities.

It may not be a Viking-owned ship, but Viking Mandalay has all the expected Viking swag … Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

… like the Viking Daily … Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

… and L’Occitane toiletries! Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Viking Mandalay – or Indochina Pandaw– is 170 feet long, with a beam (width) of 33 feet across the deck. The draft – the amount of the hull underneath the waterline – is just three feet; something that is needed to clear the often shallow sand banks that shift and change along the Irrawaddy.

She has a total of 38 staterooms, all of which are the same basic size and shape – with a few notable exceptions. 10 staterooms are located all the way forward on Main Deck, while 18 staterooms run from bow to stern on Upper Deck.

Staterooms are all essentially the same size, and are constructed from beautifully-polished wood. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

My stateroom – 307 – is a cozy affair on the forward, port-side portion of Upper Deck. Done completely in wood (real wood, no less!), it measures approximately 168 square feet. But don’t let its compact size distract you from how inviting it is. The entire ship oozes Gemütlichkeit – my favorite German word for which there is no direct English translation other than to say, “a feeling of coziness.”

Beds are typically positioned in the twin configuration, with one on either side of the room. These can be pushed together to make a queen-sized bed, though you will lose a little room space in the process. Travelling solo, I don’t feel any compulsion to push them together; in fact, I rather like the old berth-style aspect of the stateroom; a classic throwback to travel on the Irrawaddy in the days of Kipling and George Orwell.

A small desk is big enough for a laptop computer and several books, and the foot of the bed has some storage space for luggage. Note that there is no under-bed storage on Viking Mandalay. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Inside the stateroom, more wonderful surprises: two North American-style electrical outlets positioned near the beds, and one multi-voltage electrical outlet positioned above the desk that can accept North American, European and UK-type connections without the need for an adapter (though you’ll need a converter if you don’t have one on your device). This outlet has a switch that can be turned on or off.

Light switches and two of three power outlets in the room. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

There are three sets of lighting in each stateroom, all of which can be turned on with a series of brass, toggle-style switches that make a pleasant thunk!-sound when clicked into position. These lights turn on brass, nautical-style lamps mounted on the ceiling and wall, while brighter halogen-style lamps are situated over each bed. Two brass reading lights are also mounted on the bulkhead walls of the room, and are perfect for reading in bed.

The bathroom is compact but functional. An exhaust fan is available in the bathroom, but keep it turned off: It’s so powerful that it will suck the cold air out of your bedroom that is produced by the air conditioning unit.

The bathroom: compact but functional. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Tap water in the bathroom isn’t potable, so Viking has provided bottled water for drinking and brushing your teeth. Should you run out, there’s an entire cabinet full of replacement bottled water under your sink.

The toilet is an older-style flush toilet and not a modern, shipboard vacu-flow toilet you might be used to. It works, and it is functional.

Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

The shower is a floodlit-affair that has clearly been refitted to Viking specifications, as the gleaming white tilework and American Standard showerhead look brand-new. But the colour temperature of the lights above the shower is significantly different from the off-orange lighting in the rest of the bathroom, which gives the shower an oddly illuminated look.

The only thing I’m not a fan of in my stateroom is the oddly-illuminated shower. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Still, you’ll be pleased to find the same French-milled L’Occitanetoiletries that are found on the Viking Longships, along with the same stationery and pen, the same design and paper stock for the Viking Dailyprogram, and the same thoughtful Viking touches throughout. Have a paperback with you? Leave it on the desk and a Viking River Cruises bookmark will magically appear inside.

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Out on deck, Viking Mandalay’s gorgeous, colonial appearance takes on a new hue. Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Hotel Manager Dominik … Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

… and our Captain and crew welcome us onboard! Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Also, as a point of reference, the air conditioning unit is more than powerful enough to keep your stateroom at a soothing temperature, even during the heat of the day. This wasn’t the case for me when I sailed the Mekong on a competitor of Viking’s a few years ago; I continually found that room to be far hotter and more humid than I had wanted.

Of course, we’ll write more about the ship in the coming days. After all – we’ve got a week onboard to continue to enjoy everything that Viking and Myanmar have to offer!

Photo © 2015 Aaron Saunders

Viking Mandalay - Myanmar Explorer

DAY	PORT
Day 1	Bangkok, Thailand
Day 2	Bangkok, Thailand
Day 3	Yangon, Myanmar
Day 4	Yangon, Myanmar and Shwedagon Pagoda
Day 5	Inle Lake, Myanmar
Day 6	Inle Lake, Myanmar
Day 7	Mandalay, Myanmar; Embark Viking Mandalay
Day 8	Mandalay, Myanmar & the U Bein Bridge
Day 9	Ohn Ne Choung, Myanmar
Day 10	Bagan, Myanmar
Day 11	Salay, Myanmar
Day 12	Yandabo, Myanmar
Day 13	Myint Mu, Myanmar

Our Live Voyage Reportfrom Viking River Cruises’ Myanmar Explorer continues tomorrow as we travel to Mandalay, Myanmarto board the Viking Mandalay!Be sure to follow along with our adventures on Twitter@deckchairblog.

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