Time to get cozy! Sweater weather is sending chills down our spines
and right into our toes. This season, the best knit hits are bold and beautiful,
in colorful patterns and chic shapes. Here are five sweaters to collect now:

The Sweater Jacket. This all-purpose knit bridges the gap between heavy coats and light cardigans...perfect for transitioning into winter wardrobes. This fall, sweater jackets are statement pieces in multipatterned florals, plaids and stripes. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the new oversized trend. A little extra room allows for more warmth and layering.

Sophia Townes didn’t set out to become an advocate for families with autism. On the contrary, the native South Carolinian’s love of French culture and language led her to places and pursuits far removed from her hometown of Barnwell. Even after marrying her high school sweetheart and building a home and family together in Bluffton, autism was simply not part of her world.

But, life has a way of changing the rules without notice, as Sophia and her husband George learned four years ago when their 3-year-old son Jack was diagnosed with autism.

Thankful and Blessed: It’s easy to take blessings for granted each day. So the Pink team decided it’s time we “spread the love” to highlight the spirit of the season, our #Blessed theme and mission to empower women. Cut out the blessing cards below and surprise your friends, family, co-workers or even a stranger with kindness. If you’d like even more blessing cards (we hope you do), you can print more online at www.itsallpink.com. Gratitude is great and so are you!

Are you worried about how much you worry? Bravo.

Uncontrolled anxiety is a giant obstacle to personal happiness. No surprise. Worry causes stress, and stress saps our strength, disturbs our sleep, fries our brain and constantly undermines our best efforts to stay healthy, relaxed and optimistic.

And yet there’s so much to worry about these days. Is Alexa really recording everything I say? Why is our air more foul, our food and water more toxic? What do we do when all our online 24/7 connectivity only increases people’s loneliness and isolation?

It’s time for a Spooktacular Halloween! We’ve got enchanted Pillsbury recipes
for your guests to eat, drink and be scary; DIY projects for a bewitching and
Boo-tiful Halloween evening! Don’t forget to tell your guests to BYOB—Bring Your Own Broom.

Dear Carrie: My wife and I just had our second child. We already have a 529 plan for our 21/2-year-old son. Can we continue to make contributions to our current plan and distribute the savings to both of our children’s college funds? Or should we have separate 529 plans for each child and make contributions to each plan? —A Reader

Dear Reader: The tax advantages of a 529 plan make it one of the best ways to save for a child’s education, so congrats on getting a jump on saving for your son. Now that you have a second child, I can understand why it might seem easier to manage a single 529 and just divvy up the money as the kids need it. But while that’s technically possible, having one 529 rather than a separate account for each child actually complicates things. Here’s why:

Slip out of those slides and scoot into the hottest footwear trend of the season: boots. From cowboy classics to laced-up Victorians to tough-chic hikers, there’s a boot for every day of the week and then some. Here are the best ways to reboot your shoe wardrobe this fall

>>On the Western front. Because designers at Fendi and Celine start walking cowboy boots down runways, you know these shoes are going to be moving up on the trend lists. And while some hardy souls have worn them all their lives (“meanwhile, back at the ranch”), many of fashion’s elite have not experienced the old-school comfort of a broken-in pair of these leather wonders. Frye boots have been my constant companion since my high school days. They have lasted long after the bell-bottoms were stashed away. Expect to see them on the best-dressed list next spring, too.

A blessing in today’s terms can be perceived as a gift that arrives just at the right time. Others may see a blessing as a gift from God—a favor from heaven. Of course, the greatest blessing is life itself! Therefore, you are a walking, talking blessing upon this earth filled with light and energy.

Now, before I get super woo-woo, hear me out. You see, blessings are not one sided; it’s a two-way street in the world of blessings. I invite you to step into the blessing you are, the blessing you can become, and/or the blessing you will receive. 

It’s time for a Spooktacular Halloween! We’ve got enchanted Pillsbury recipes
for your guests to eat, drink and be scary; DIY projects for a bewitching and
Boo-tiful Halloween evening! Don’t forget to tell your guests to BYOB—Bring Your Own Broom.

Dear Readers: Often when I talk about the importance of a financial plan, I see people start to squirm. There’s something about the topic that makes them uncomfortable. When I dig a little deeper to find out why, two reasons regularly come up: Either people don’t think they have enough money to warrant a financial plan or they think a financial plan costs too much. And no matter how often I try to debunk these myths, it’s hard to change someone’s preconception.

It’s a challenge for sure, but I’m such a firm believer that everyone needs a financial plan that I’m going to give it another try by showing you how you can actually be your own financial planner. It doesn’t require that you have a lot of money—and it doesn’t have to cost you a penny. If you’re willing to spend a little time, you can actually do it yourself. Here’s how:

“Empowered Women, Empower Women”—YES. WE. DO. We support each other through thick and thin and through diagnoses, especially the one called breast cancer. We provide care and sustenance, we’ve “got your back”, we help each other maintain and often lift each other up. Women help each other with funding, upkeep, advocation and with words—encouraging, meaningful words and phrases we share to let each other know, ‘You are loved and very special to me.’

We asked women diagnosed with breast cancer what the best advice they received while fighting the fight. They've spoken. Turn the page to read on.

Coco Chanel may have famously said “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory,” but this fall, she might rethink that advice­­—and tell us to just pile more on! Big and bold clothes that are all the rage on the runways call for bigger and bolder accessories. So don’t be afraid to go the extra fashion mile this fall with these top accessories.

Oversize jewelry. The trendy buzzword for fall ready-to-wear is “oversize,” and the jewelry shows up larger than life, too. Go for the gold in chunky chain necklaces, dangling earrings and sculptural cuff bracelets. Mix with silver metals for even more of a modern touch.

How we navigate our world says a lot about who we are; our values, ambitions, the choices we make that affect our next steps. In terms of direction, navigating from place to place is but a simple GPS command to our device of choice. Bill Dengler of Hilton Head has been navigating his world without sight for 18 years. Yet, to define this first year university student by his lack of sight would be an enormous disservice to the person he is, and how he’s mapping his own pathway in the field of technology and beyond.

Aging is not a disease; it is a natural progression of life. With it come factors that sometimes make us wonder who we are looking at in the mirror. Both women and men claim all the time: “I feel great, but I look tired and worn down. I can’t believe that’s me. I still feel like I’m 25!” With so many leading active, healthy lifestyles, and the average lifespan being the highest it has ever been, many members of the aging population want their outer appearance to match their inner energy. While some hold the stamps of time, such as gray hair and wrinkles, sacred, as well-earned badges of wisdom, others don’t want anything to do with it. They are concerned about the effects of aging and how it affects their confidence, especially in the face.

Before I was a walker, I was a runner — a slow, lumbering, back-of-the-pack runner. When I discovered racewalking, I found my sport. And since then, I’ve become a ferocious fan of every style of walking: all ages, speeds, styles and sexes. (If only walking were, somehow, a sexier sport.)

I could fill the rest of this column and several more spelling out all the wonderful things walking will do for your body and your mind. It’s great for your brain, your strength, for every cell in your body, for calming yourself mentally and boosting your energy physically.

It’s also the perfect antidote to the crazed, stepped-up pace of life today, when too much technology walks all over our human need to slow down and ... how can I put this ... think.

I never meant to adopt a dog; at least not on the day I adopted Henry. My precious schnoodle, Mimi, had died, and I saw a picture of Henry on Hilton Head Humane’s (HHH) Facebook page. Grieving, I went to HHH to pet him. That’s all. When I arrived, he was the “office” dog, meaning he was inside frolicking around in a little open-air pen, and his name was Elmo. I asked if I could hold him. Even so, I was just there to pet and put back.

“Find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life.”  This quote, attributed to Mark Twain, is personified in this month’s #AnAppleADay Motivational Man, Bobby Alan.

A walking, talking, megawatt-smiling ambassador for the GNC brand, the 52-year-old retired Marine owns three GNC franchise stores; one South Carolina location in Bluffton, and two in North Carolina; one in booming Winston Salem, and one in Andy Griffith’s fictional hometown of Mount Airy.

According to a statement on the General Nutrition Centers corporate website, the company’s mission is to “connect customers to their best selves by offering a premium assortment of heath, wellness and performance products.” The company was founded in 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as a neighborhood “healthy food” store, introducing yogurt to Americans for the first time. Many people thought health food was just a passing fad, but it has only exploded since then.

Before I was a walker, I was a runner — a slow, lumbering, back-of-the-pack runner. When I discovered racewalking, I found my sport. And since then, I’ve become a ferocious fan of every style of walking: all ages, speeds, styles and sexes. (If only walking were, somehow, a sexier sport.)

I could fill the rest of this column and several more spelling out all the wonderful things walking will do for your body and your mind. It’s great for your brain, your strength, for every cell in your body, for calming yourself mentally and boosting your energy physically.

It’s also the perfect antidote to the crazed, stepped-up pace of life today, when too much technology walks all over our human need to slow down and ... how can I put this ... think.

Golden, thick, and sweet, honey is a staple in many of my favorite dishes. I’ve recently learned about the variety of flavors and healthy benefits that make raw, hand-poured honey a nutritional superstar. Little did I know, honey has a mysterious counterpart that many healers have been using for centuries—bee pollen—and it’s becoming all the rage. So, I headed over to my favorite honey shop, Capital Bee Company (CBCo) in Savannah, to find out why it’s all the buzz.

What Is Bee Pollen?
It’s one of the richest natural foods ever discovered. Bee pollen is a granule created from pollen dust of flower blossoms. The incredible nutritional and medicinal value of pollen has been known for thousands of years and is known as nature’s most complete food.

You may still be flip-flopping around in pool slides, but it’s the perfect time to step out in a new pair of shoes and be the first to kick off the fashion season ahead...yes, even with a killer pair of boots. Start checking out the latest shoe scene now.

Check out the new architectural heels.
This is definitely the year of the “heel,” and they’re the good kind. Look for sculptural angled heels to geometric cylindrical spikes to woodsy blocks to sparkling crystals. And don’t forget the ‘80s disco platforms...for all those “Mamma Mia” fans out there. Here we go again!

Our journey to a whole food, plant based lifestyle has truly been life changing for me and my family. We are healthier, stronger, and happier people than we were before making the transition to veganism and WFPB eating. We still enjoy eating out and especially traveling to cities with a large selection of vegan menu items. Regional VegFests have become weekend destinations. As a long time environmentalist and lover of all animals (wild, companion, and farm) this lifestyle helps me to match my ethics and beliefs with my actions. I want to be healthy, kind to all people and animals, and reduce my carbon footprint and rate of pollution. The whole-food, plant-based vegan lifestyle helps me to better achieve that on a daily basis, and being the facilitator of the Palmetto Plant Eaters Club plays a major role in that achievement.

It all started in October 2015 when the groundbreaking food documentary “PlantPure Nation” was screened on Hilton Head Island. The following month, in response to the film, the Palmetto Plant Eaters Club (PPEC) was formed, and the group has been meeting monthly ever since. PPEC membership is free, open to the public, and meets in Bluffton on the first Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry on Malphrus Road. At each meeting, expert guest speakers lecture on topics such as building vegan muscle, enhancing nutrition with herbs, growing organic produce, best practices for sustainable weight loss, making healthful choices when eating out and traveling, and non-toxic wellness modalities.

We are fortunate to have Jane Fraser, President and Spokeswoman for the Stuttering Foundation of America so close to the Lowcountry. She recently opened a St. Simons Island, GA branch of the 71-year-old foremost nonprofit organization, dedicated to helping those who stutter.

Focused on basic research, causes, treatment, and prevention for nearly three million people world-wide who struggle daily with this complex disorder, Jane shared the foundation’s simple goal, “To provide effective and accurate materials, up-to-date training, and hope to those who stutter, their families, and the dedicated therapists who help them.”

Incorporating even one healthy habit on a daily basis can put you on a path to a healthier lifestyle. Really all it takes to get started is becoming aware of your body and its needs. Once you develop one healthy habit, it is sure to lead to others. Plus, chances are, that new healthy habit will more than likely replace an old, bad one.

We asked local business owners in Coligny Plaza on HIlton Head Island what their favorite healthy habit is. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Dear Carrie: 

I am a 65-year-old widow and am considering getting married again. What financial steps should I take before I tie the knot? –A Reader

Dear Reader: This is a great question—and one worth considering at any age. Marriage is about love, but it also impacts your money. And the financial implications can be even more significant when both partners have had time to acquire and manage assets for many years. This can be especially true for a second marriage.

And it’s not just about numbers. There’s an emotional side to marrying your finances. You need to examine your own feelings about such things as financial independence and also take into account the feelings of your loved ones, particularly adult children.

There’s a lot to consider—both practical and personal. To me, it’s not just about understanding the financial issues on your own but about coming to an understanding with your partner. Although it may feel uncomfortable, it’s important to talk openly and honestly about your finances with your partner.

Here are some things to consider together.

For a good deal of my life, I lived under a dark cloud of fear that I would end up financially destitute—a bag lady. Studies reveal that I’m not the only one. Most of us have felt that way, not because we’re broke but because we lack confidence. That makes us timid, worried and financially insecure.

Look, we don’t have to accept financial insecurity as some kind of life sentence. And that constant and gnawing fear of becoming destitute? Forget it! We can do something about this.

Become a saver. Saving money is like magic because it changes your attitude and calms your fears. I saved my way out of a six-figure pile of debt. Knowing I had cash tucked away in a safe place quieted my insatiable desires. That is where I found my determination to stick with repaying the debt. You must start now, today—no matter your situation, even if you are in debt and struggling to catch up, and even if you are already contributing to a 401(k) plan at work. This is different. You need money in the bank to boost your financial confidence.

Story and Photography by Jacie Elizabeth Millen 

Roger Pinckney, XI was raised to be an ideal Southerner. He has the wit, the manners, and the stature of a true gentleman, but there is more to Mr. Pinckney than meets the eye. Roger is the author of multiple books, including Reefer Moon, Blue Roots, and Crying in the Wilderness. He is also a full-time resident on Daufuskie Island, SC, and gives tours of the island, but he is more than that, too: He is an icon

With a personally rolled cigarette on his lip, Roger and I got to talking. 

Roger was born and raised in Beaufort, where he found his love of writing in high school. He got a full ride to the University of Iowa, considered at the time THE writing school. He continued his education and ultimately earned his PhD in Alaska. He moved to Minnesota, where he started a family. Calling himself a “serial husband,” Roger laughed and said, “I love being a father. I am a better father to my seven children than a husband.”

These days, thanks to the smartphones most of us carry in our purses or pockets,
the smart solution to just about any situation is just a swipe away! In keeping with our
August #smartypants theme, Pink staffers share their favorite smart apps.

Last September, the inaugural Thrive Lowcountry Women’s conference was experienced by 140 attendees and a palpable excitement could be felt by everyone present at the Sonesta Resort on Hilton Head.   A high energy and truly special event with more than 20 dynamic speakers, led to participant reactions such as “THRIVE was the most inspiring conference I have ever attended.”

Here’s the great news... the Thrive conference is returning to the Sonesta on September 5th and 6th, presented by SCORE Lowcountry and the Hilton Head Island—Bluffton Chamber of Commerce.

Laurie Brown, Tamra Avrit, Shar Weinrauch, Elaine Lust and Ellen Maloney are all members of the team working together on this year’s Thrive event.  They also are volunteer certified Business Mentors with SCORE, a ​resource partner of the Small Business Administration and America’s premier source of free confidential business mentoring and education.

Laurie, owner of Aunt Laurie’s, says, “Our goal is to make this year’s event impactful and meaningful so attendees will leave feeling energized and ready to apply what they learned. We’re also working hard to make the conference inspirational and engaging.

Tamra, former CEO of Zeiders Enterprises, says, “THRIVE is a great opportunity for professional women to commit a day to focus on their learning, network, and future.”     

We were never supposed to leave our beach vacation early to plan a funeral for our 3-year-old son. And, yet, within the course of one week, we had driven to the beach, returned without him, and held his funeral. 

Do you know drowning is the leading cause of death in children ages 1-4 and the second leading cause of death in ages 1-14? Do you know that 69 percent of children who drown are not expected to be swimming, yet they are found in water? Do you know that a child can drown in less than one minute? 

Unfortunately, I know these facts all too well; on June 10, 2018, my 3-year-old son, Levi, drowned while on vacation in Fort Morgan, Alabama. 

There is a misconception that drowning only happens when you are swimming. But, drowning also happens when you are 200 feet away from a pool, upstairs, eating Cheetos, wearing your neon yellow crab-hunting shirt, when you leave your mom’s side, even though you are usually Velcro-ed to her. Drowning isn’t splashing and yelling. 

Like millions of people around the world, I was riveted to the recent rescue of the 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach who had been trapped in the deepest, darkest, most terrifying recesses of Tham Luang cave.

I marveled at the bravery, pored over the escape route and tried many times over to pronounce the name of the Thai king, Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, without losing consciousness.

In the end, a miracle! A magnificent multinational effort to do the impossible. The Wild Boars came out alive! OK, they needed a little anti-anxiety medication: being hauled underwater, for hours, in the dark, over treacherous terrain, in a plastic cocoon, breathing through a face mask, wouldn’t you?

One Thai volunteer diver, Saman Gunan, died, which was tragic. But this was such an astonishing story of courage, determination and success against all odds that it shouted out “healthy lifestyle column,” with lessons to be learned about attaining and sustaining our own personal well-being.