by Jessica Ashley, Shine staff
When the news spread early this week that a women in Texas gave birth to a 16-pound baby, there was a collective crossing of legs and "eeeee" faces on mothers across the country.
After I stopped having sympathy aches myself, I wondered if that child came emerged doing the crossword and shaving, he was so well developed. Baby JaMichael, born to Janet Johnson and Michael Brown, did win the prize for being the largest newborn at the hospital where he was delivered and may have even broken the record for his home state.
But there's more to the story than the obvious football-player-in-the-making jokes, wide-eyed nurse's reaction, and nicknaming the baby "Moose." It even goes beyond the noted scheduled C-section (no kidding). The most fascinating part of this baby's birth is his mother.
Janet Johnson was already a mother of three when she carried and welcomed JaMichael to her family (and size 2T clothes). I don't have any information about the ages or
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Holy 16-pound baby: How much did your big baby weigh?
By Shine video | Parenting – Wed, Jul 13, 2011 10:40 PM EDTKid reaction: What it means to be a gay couple
By Shine video | Parenting – Wed, Jul 13, 2011 10:02 PM EDTby Jessica Ashley, Shine staff
Read More »from Kid reaction: What it means to be a gay coupleMichelle Obama eats 1,700-calorie meal: Is she a hypocrite?
By Shine video | Shine Food – Tue, Jul 12, 2011 8:46 PM EDT
Read More »from Michelle Obama eats 1,700-calorie meal: Is she a hypocrite?
Michelle ObamaCan you preach healthy eating and order a 1,700-calorie lunch at a burger joint? A lot of people are saying 'no' because the person in question is the First Lady, a role model, and her primary focus while inhabiting the White House has been to urge the country to eat and live healthier. For the record, she was at the new D.C. location of the popular Shake Shack, and the calories were spent on a hamburger, fries, chocolate shake, and Diet Coke. If it was me, I'd probably ditch the Diet Coke, maybe share the fries, but if that's what's going to round out the meal for her, who are we to stop her? I believe that balance is a virtue. Eating salads and sustainable fish everyday leaves a person with a lot of greasy, repressed cravings that I don't want for myself or my leaders. Enough with all this 'our candidates and their wives have to be specimens of perfection.' Our country is overweight, so she's been sharing a message of healthy eating. But Michelle has admitted her own salty Jaycee Dugard: Healing without rage and why
By Shine video | Work + Money – Tue, Jul 12, 2011 3:09 AM EDT
Diane Sawyer interviews Jaycee Dugard; Photo: AP"I don't feel like I have this rage inside of me," Jaycee Lee Dugard told Diane Sawyer in this week's interview prior to the release of her memoir, "A Stolen Life." If she felt rage, it would mean to Jaycee that her rapist and captor of 18 years, Philip Garrido, and his wife, Nancy, had won. Her mother, Terry Probyn, feels differently. She said, "I have enough hate in my heart for the both of us. I hate that he took her life away... I hate that he stole her from me. He ripped out a piece of my heart. He stole my baby. He stole your childhood. He stole your adolescence. He stole high school proms, and pictures and memories." At that moment of the interview Jaycee interjected, "But he didn't get all of me."
Kidnapped at 11 in Lake Tahoe, California in 1991, Jaycee was the victim of abuse that beats rage into the hearts of those who have followed her story. She was taken just two hours away to Antioch, California outside San Francisco. Locked in sheds and tents in the Garridos'
Read More »from Jaycee Dugard: Healing without rage and whyOctomom Nadya Suleman brings her kids—and plenty of chaos—to the "Today" show (Video)
By Shine video | Parenting – Fri, Jul 8, 2011 7:14 PM EDT
Octomom Nadya Suleman chats with Ann Curry while wrangling nine of her 14 kids. (Screengrab from the By Lylah M. Alphonse, Shine Staff
Octomom Nadya Suleman appeared on the "Today" show today, along with all of her 2-year-old octuplets and her 9-year-old daughter, Amerah.
With Ann Curry and Amerah sitting in chairs and Suleman sitting cross-legged on the floor, toddlers playing and crawling on and around her, Curry asked the 36-year-old mother of 14 how she manages to earn enough money to support all of her kids and whether she feels "a mother's guilt about not being able to give them enough attention."
Suleman sounded increasingly distracted and frustrated as her octuplets, bored with the toys and the interview, start exploring the studio, but she tried to fully answer all of Curry's questions. "I have been having a real job, actually, since last summer, as a fitness trainer" Suleman told her. "I'm in the process of earning my personal training license, but again that's peanuts compared to the total amount of dollars I will need to support all the kids every month." Her expenses
Read More »from Octomom Nadya Suleman brings her kids—and plenty of chaos—to the "Today" show (Video)WATCH: 5 fabulous flash mobs (one's a wedding!)
By Shine video | Work + Money – Thu, Jul 7, 2011 9:33 PM EDTBy Lylah M. Alphonse, Shine Staff
Read More »from WATCH: 5 fabulous flash mobs (one's a wedding!)
It starts with a single guy wearing a vaguely Michael Jackson-like outfit, strutting along to "Beat It." Slowly, most of the onlookers join in-and the few that haven't suddenly notice that they're caught in the middle of a flash mob.
The people of Seattle remind you to always carry an umbrella. And maybe bring enough for a crowd. (Keep an eye out for the adorable little dancer in the pink jacket.)
Shoppers in Cape Cod got more than just groceries last week: an impromptu parade was on special. Forget cleanup-flash mob in aisle four?
Times Square in New York City seems like the perfect place for a massive street performance, doesn't it? Percussionists playing garbage cans and paint buckets rallied the crowd before some really talented dancers took center stage-or, rather, sidewalk.
This one, at the always-crowded Prudential Center shopping mall in downtown Boston, may be our favorite. One guy playing keyboard. A few people singing. People of all365 layers of makeup applied in one day (video)
By Shine video | Fashion – Fri, Jul 1, 2011 6:05 PM EDTBy Joanna Douglas, Shine Staff
Read More »from 365 layers of makeup applied in one day (video)
Directors Lernert & Sander teamed up with Nowness for a project called Natural Beauty where two makeup artists applied 365 layers (one year's worth) of foundation, blush, lip gloss, and eyeshadow to the face of Belgian model Hannelore Knuts in one sitting. The result took nine hours and is meant to comment on our obsession with cosmetics and looking beautiful. It gets a little gross by the end, and we think the directors accomplished their mission: we'll be going without foundation for a while. Yuck.
FYI: the makeup artists used over seven bottles of foundation, two bottles of creamy eye shadow, three containers of lip gloss, and two bottles of blush. Now that's a lot of makeup. For more info on the project click here.
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The most stylish music videos of all time (video)Breakdancing granny. And she's serious
By Shine video | Healthy Living – Fri, Jul 1, 2011 7:08 AM EDTBy Jessica Ashley, Shine staff
Read More »from Breakdancing granny. And she's serious
It's summertime in the city and you know what that means. Why, yes, time to break out the granny break dance video!
Check out one of our very favorite family moments as Grandma Tracy gets down (seriously, on the ground) and dirty (I mean it, that's some grimy business down there). She shrugs off stereotypical older lady moves like the Chicken Dance and hand jive for serious stuff that even Lil Mama would be proud of. Probably the best assessment of Grandma Tracy getting down: "I can't even do the Cabbage Patch without stopping for a water break, and this memaw is going off like she doesn't know what a sciatica is."
Now, watch her rock South Street Seaport...and that fanny pack. And maybe, just maybe a little granny boogaloo will inspire you.The best styling tool for beachy summer curls (video)
By Shine video | Summer Beauty – Thu, Jun 30, 2011 11:42 PM EDT
Leighton Meester's perfect curls are actually easy to acheive. Photo by Getty Images.By Joanna Douglas, Shine staff
I don't usually write reviews of beauty products, but I really had to share this one. My biggest beauty wish has been for soft curls like Leighton Meester (or more specifically her character Blair Waldorf on "Gossip Girl"). I may be a beauty editor, but the truth is I'm not great at styling my thick, straight hair. I pretty much wash and go, applying serums or shine sprays to keep the frizz at bay, putting it in a ponytail when I get hot. But I've always been envious of ladies who are masters at hair curling. My hair always manages to get tangled or weirdly crimped under the iron clamps, and it takes too long, and the curls never stay put to make sweating it out with hot tools really worth it.
Recently a friend with perfect bouncy curls introduced me to Sedu's Clipless Curling Iron. I was skeptical and confused as there was nothing to hold down the hair. What do you even do with this thing? But using it beyond easy. Here's a quick step by step:- Mist
