Autumn is one of my favorite times of year, and it’s not just the oversized taffy apples. I’m talking crispy cool days that call for turtlenecks and yoga tights, a seasonal shift to fading colors and falling leaves, and great sales on outdoor furniture.

“Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree,” writes Emily Bronte.

“This is the season of the harvest,” writes Elson M. Haas, “the fruition of all the growth of spring and summer.”

Some say life is only as good as the people you surround yourself with. For Cassandra King Conroy and Bernie Schein, life has been great…interesting, intriguing, exciting and loving. One a wife, and the other the ornery best friend, these two became intermingled because of the love that surrounded them from one legendary man—Pat Conroy.

I arrived at Cassandra’s home in Beaufort, SC,  to talk to her about her new book, Tell Me a Story: My Life with Pat Conroy, which hits the news stands on October 29.

Cassandra, an award-winning, bestselling novelist, was married to Pat Conroy for the last 18 years of his life. They met at a literary festival in the mid ‘90s in Alabama, where Cassandra is from, and he never let her go. “We met in LA,” she laughed, “lower Alabama!” We both cracked up with laughter and settled in for what became a comfortable two hours of reminiscing, swapping stories and talking about Pat.

Kelley Luikey is a tall, athletic woman, with beautiful long hair. She opens the door to her private paradise in Port Royal with chickens clucking, a dog barking hello, a husband on the way out to do errands, all to the sound of a nearby powerboat in the Port Royal sound.

Kelley is an award winning nature photographer who will be honored next month as “Artist of the Year” for the Port Royal Sound Foundation. Her photos of birds, all shapes and sizes, and nature are in galleries in Bluffton, Beaufort and St. Helena Island. It all started back at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, where she graduated in 1994. There she discovered photography, back when negatives were developed in darkrooms.

After marriage and two babies, Kelley discovered digital photography in 2014 with a basic, entry-level Canon model. She was hooked by digital ease, and the ability to take hundreds of pictures easily. The editing capabilities came later.

Dear Readers: If you’re like most people, you’ve made a few hare-brained money decisions in your time. That’s just being human. However, if you’re striving to get yourself on track, I suggest that you review these ten smart money management tips. This Halloween, treat yourself to a more secure financial future!

Stick to your budget, no matter how large or small: Living beyond your means is dangerous no matter how much money you make. So even if you’re lucky enough to earn a big paycheck, it’s important to create—and stick to—a realistic budget. Use an online budget tool and make a list of your essential expenses and another list of your nice-to-haves. If your income won’t cover both, start crossing off the extras you can live without. And don’t be tempted to pull out the credit cards to cover any excess. Keeping on top of debt is an important part of smart budgeting. While you’re thinking about debt control, remember to stay on top of any student loans!

I’m Elizabeth Millen, the founder and working owner of Pink. The “Little Room That Could” is a 12’x8’ room in my house, nestled between the kitchen and the laundry room, and it is legendary. I think it was supposed to be a breakfast room, but never had the architectural flow to pull it off. For reference, I live in a typical Hilton Head style home built in 1976 in Hilton Head Plantation. I can’t remember what we used this room for the first nine months we lived here. The people before us kept their dog kennels in there. The house was in need of remodeling, but we had no money for that. However, a need arose, and the “Little Room that Could” became space for a home office—where Pink Magazine was born.

I purchased a desk, a large iMac computer, a printer and a few office supplies and reported to work each day to this room in my house that became the headquarters for the start up of Pink. About six months in, the magazine had grown to having several people working in this room and a few at the dining room table, too. I decided Pink needed an office outside of my house, as it looked favorable of becoming a full-fledged, viable business.

It is difficult to read Jane Carson-Sandler’s story, let alone live through it. But this tenacious, altruistic and immensely strong woman has a reason to keep putting her truth out there: the only way to transform nightmare into purpose is by sharing her experience.
 
Early on the morning of October 5, 1976, shortly after her husband left for work, a ski-masked man brandishing a butcher knife broke into  Jane’s home. Threatening her between clenched teeth, he bound, gagged and blindfolded both her and her 3-year-old son. After taking the boy away, he viciously raped  Jane, but all she could think the whole time was Where is my son? What are you going to do to my son?

If you’re ready to update your wardrobe, chances are you’re going to want to add something denim to your shopping list. And while you may need to replace some of your old favorites, the newest denim choices this fall are anything but basic. From relaxed carpenter jeans to fringed miniskirts to snakeskin prints, there is plenty of new jean therapy for everyone.

Here are a few tips for boosting your denim mood right now.

• When shopping for a new pair of jeans, it is best to head to the store. Unless you have a brand you’ve recently worn and know your exact size, it will be difficult to order denim online. As there are so many different designs available now, a morning session of actually trying on jeans may be the best way to find a new favorite.

At the foundation of your children’s financial intelligence should be this undeniable truth: It is not the amount of money you have but what you do with it that matters.

This is true for a child managing a $5-a-week allowance or a corporate executive with a $5,000-a-week salary.

For the better part of my life, I didn’t know this truth. On the contrary, I believed that more money was the answer. I was convinced that if we would just make more money, win the lottery or receive some unexpected inheritance, all of our money problems would vanish. But the more we made, the worse our problems became. Because I didn’t know how to manage what we had, more would have never been enough. We didn’t save. We didn’t give. We didn’t plan. And we had no idea where all the money went.

OK, here’s a bit of silliness to start your dendrites dancing: What do Chubby Checker and every yoga class in the world have in common?

Think now. (If you’re wondering who Chubby Checker is ... YouTube.) Yes! It’s “The Twist.”

Chubby Checker made twisting a wildly popular dance in the ‘50s, but for thousands of years before him, yogis were doing twists as part of their daily bliss-making practice: deep, penetrating twists around the spinal column that are done standing up or sitting down, upside-down or right-side-up, by slowly, gently twisting to the left and then slowly, gently twisting the opposite way, moving as far as you can, coming to your edge ... but not powering through.

When one is faced with divorce—thinking about it, going through it, starting a new life after it—she is faced with a series of challenging decisions. The key is to move past divorce with as little pain and as much clarity and confidence as possible. But how?

The Mrs2Me summit promises to help answer that question and put a smile on the faces of all who attend.

Divorce is so hard and overwhelming because it touches on every aspect of your life. Divorce is second in grief to the death of a spouse or child. Feeling isolated can have a paralyzing effect on a person. Along with the dissolution of a marriage comes the ending of some friendships, family traditions, family connections and a lifestyle you once knew.

“It hurts.”

“I don’t want my implants to rupture.”

“The radiation is too harmful.”

“I don’t really need to get a mammogram until I’m older.”

“If men had to get mammograms, they would have figured out a better way to do those years ago.”

These are some of the many reasons I’ve heard for women not getting mammograms. We all agree getting a mammogram isn’t fun, or what we would choose to do with a free afternoon, BUT, it could literally save your life. Of all the things we do in a day, how many can we say that about?

Delane Marynowski had no idea what she was getting into when she volunteered to facilitate the Advanced Artist of Allendale Program. How could she? Prison was a place in which she was completely unfamiliar. In fact, she had dedicated many charitable hours helping and supporting victims of crime with a full view of the pain and suffering inflicted upon them. At first, she wasn’t sure she had the heart—or the stomach—to work on the side of the fence where those who committed such crimes were now incarcerated. After one visit, she was all in and became the weekly class program director and facilitator.

“Sunglasses and a great pair of heels can turn most outfits around.”

Yes, sunglasses are one of the best accessories to add a touch of glamour to anything you wear, but they are also one of the most important ways to protect your eyes from harmful UV rays—oh, and to give you a break when you don’t want to put makeup on!

This year, oversized sunglasses are one of the biggest trends, giving you even more sun protection. The ‘70s influence is also seen in the renewed interest in wraps and shields that are almost goggle-like in shape. Other trends include colorful lenses (especially warm tones such as amber), square and triangular lenses and white frames. The classic cat-eye and aviator shapes are still popular.

Would you be surprised to learn that one of the most popular college courses in America teaches students how to be happy? Probably not.

Most adults discover that you can be crazy rich, drive the biggest Tesla, take a luxury vacation that costs $4,500 a night—breakfast not included—but if inside you’re feeling miserable and depressed and unhappy, what good is it?

Welcome to Professor Laurie Santos’ wildly popular course at Yale University called “Psychology and the Good Life.” I haven’t taken it yet, but as a dedicated student of Positive Psychology, I’ve studied the research for years, including a recent overview of Santos’ work by Adam Sternbergh called “How To Be Happy.” The article was published last summer in New York Magazine, now available online at The Cut, and is well worth reading.

A look at drinking and driving/boating through a millennial lens:
What we have to say, and more importantly, what some of us are doing about it.

I always say “I love you” to my parents before getting in the car. It’s silly at my age, but there’s a reason for my caution. Driving is dangerous, and my young-adult life has been plagued by people I know becoming victims of driving/boating accidents. More specifically, drinking and driving/boating accidents. Whether you knew the victims, or only recognized their names from headlines, the accidents were shocking. They alarmed residents of the area and appalled me, a person who’s always assumed people my age (20-somethings) are indestructible. They show the dark side of a presumably safe state, the underbelly of a Lowcountry paradise. And they add to the statistic putting South Carolina towards the top of the list as the most dangerous driving state—the reason I make sure to say “I love you” before pulling out of my driveway.

Want to be healthy? Move more and sit less. It’s as simple as that.

Sitting more has been linked by new evidence to higher risk of heart disease, high blood pressure and all-cause mortality, according to the second edition of the “Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans,” published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for 2018. All physical activity, especially moderate-to-vigorous activity, can help offset these risks.

Janice Magnin and her three-year-old daughter Emma had just come home hungry and tired from a high school football game. Dinner would be late, so Janice offered Emma a cashew from the bag of nuts in her hand. In less than the time it took to walk across the room, Emma became violently ill.  

Tests revealed Emma had allergies to both tree nuts and peanuts. Doctors cautioned Janice that, as bad as this reaction had been, the next one could be much worse, since Emma’s body was now in full defense mode. For this reason, it was imperative that Emma’s diet—and environment—remain strictly nut-free. Over the next few years, Emma would be diagnosed with additional allergies to latex, carrots and celery, each time requiring a new layer of daily restrictions.

Monday, August 7, 2017, started out as just another ordinary day for Cooka Garrett Sells. She worked from home for a few hours and then took a break to run to the dollar store. Her cell phone began to ring in her purse. The news was every mother’s worst nightmare. Her son had been found unresponsive in his home. Twenty-three-year-old Frank Richardson Sells III was pronounced dead at the scene. How could this be? Cooka had just spoken on the phone with him the night before, and everything seemed fine.

Have you ever woken up and felt like your limbs aren’t responding to what your brain is asking them to do? How about taken a long road trip, and when you go to get out of the car, you’re not sure if you can actually make contact with the pavement without toppling over?

Short, tight and stiff. These are all conditions your muscles want to avoid, but they need your help. Muscles, like many other systems in the body, retain memory. That memory is what propels the body into motion, recalls specific movements, and retains the muscles normal physiological shape. So, when you’re lying down, sitting, or standing for a period of time, your muscles want to stay in that position, which causes them to shorten and become tight. By stretching, you are activating the muscle memory and returning them to their normal designed state. Stretching will enable the joints to lubricate themselves, increase blood flow into muscle tissue, reduce muscle tension and improve range of motion. These are all necessary to improve balance, strength and physical stamina.

I was 13 years old when I was cast in my grammar school play as Eliza Doolittle of My Fair Lady fame. My Mother was always fond of telling the story of how I would sit up in the middle of the night, dead asleep, and recite my lines and sing my songs. It was particularly amusing since I didn’t practice—out loud—during my waking hours. The director of the play was often unhappy with me because my rehearsals had me stumbling through the dialogue, though sailing through the songs. I think the latter is what helped me hold onto the role and not be replaced by the understudy. At showtime, however, I nailed my lines and belted out those songs to standing ovations. I may have practiced in near silence but when it was time to perform, I “broke a leg.” 

Stash the heavy leather tote and lighten up your load with a brand-new bag. This summer, you don’t have to worry about cramming all your worldly possessions into a tiny purse. Bigger is better this season with airy bags that look like they’re bound for the beach. Here are the latest trends to look for now:

> The breezy straw bag. From round rattan bags to bamboo totes to raffia crossbody bags, the straw handbags are making their way from picnics and parks to bistros and bars. Designers are making hay with innovative designs of all sizes, dressed up with leather handles and metal hardware.

Summer’s here. Time to kick back, take a deep breath... and focus. Slowly inhale through your nose; hold it for a couple of seconds; then exhale, also through your nose. Then do it again.

Why? Because whatever your favorite summertime sport—running, swimming, biking or daydreaming on a sun-dappled porch—you’ll do it better and spark more joy if you develop this skill, which you already have but may not have the habit of using.

We asked Joanna Cherry (left), mom of three, wife and school teacher, to read and tell us her thoughts about Mothering with Courage:The Mindful Approach to Becoming a Mom Who Listens More, Worries Less, and Loves Deeply—parenting expert Bonnie Compton’s long-awaited new book release.

Joanna’s Review: 5 Stars

Mothering with Courage:The Mindful Approach to Becoming a Mom Who Listens More, Worries Less, and Loves Deeply by Bonnie Compton is not an easy beach read. You may enjoy reading it on the beach, but more than likely you will give this book a permanent parking space on your bedside table. This is a book you will refer to repeatedly, yet it isn’t a reference book. It’s much more thought provoking. This may not be a book you sit at once and read from cover to cover. Rather, you might choose to read one of the many valuable chapters such as, “Hopes, Wishes, and Dreams,” or “Children Are Our Teachers” and then take time for reflection.

Few things in life seem to conjure memories of our youth more than the infamous family road trip. Road trips have almost no socioeconomic boundaries, and for that brief period of time riding in the family truckster, crisscrossing America’s highways to visit Grandma or the Grand Canyon, all are equal: same rest stop bathroom breaks; same fast food and same universal “are we there yet” from the back seat.

Nobody wants their vacation memories to be the time the car broke down in the middle of nowhere and had to ride in a smelly tow truck and sleep in a one-star motel bed for half of the vacation waiting on repairs. For the most part, problems can be avoided with a bit of pre-road trip preventative maintenance.

1,200 miles + 2 Besties + a cabin nestled on top of Brush Mountain + the Horse Capital of the World + Keeneland 2019 Spring Meet + hundreds of thoroughbred horses running hell for leather + a few bets = 1 Amazing Road Trip

When you look back at some of the most iconic movies it is not surprising that many of them have a common theme... a road trip! Whether it’s skipping school on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, summering with National Lampoon’s Vacation, hitting Myrtle Beach with the girls from Shag, or adventuring with the guys in Road Trip, each one leads to unexpected adventures, memories and a ton of laughs. So why not decide to create your own memories and live out loud with your very own road trip?

Monday, August 7, 2017, started out as just another ordinary day for Cooka Garrett Sells. She worked from home for a few hours and then took a break to run to the dollar store. Her cell phone began to ring in her purse. The news was every mother’s worst nightmare. Her son had been found unresponsive in his home. Twenty-three-year-old Frank Richardson Sells III was pronounced dead at the scene. How could this be? Cooka had just spoken on the phone with him the night before, and everything seemed fine.

Summer is upon us, the time when visitors from around the world see for themselves the beauty and vibrance of the Lowcountry, Hilton Head and the surrounding sea islands.

For the next few months, roads will become more crowded and lines a bit longer, but visitors, we are glad to have you here. After all, it wasn’t so long ago that most of us were visitors ourselves. Still, having lived here for a while, we locals would like to offer some advice on how to make your visit a safe and happy one. Not only will it ensure that you keep coming back for many years to come, but that it is just as beautiful as the last time you came.

The new captain jumped from the deck, fully dressed, and sprinted through the water. A former lifeguard, he kept his eyes on his victim and headed straight for a couple who were swimming between their anchored sportfish and the beach. “I think he thinks you’re drowning,” the husband said to his wife. They had been splashing each other, and she had screamed, but now they were just standing neck-deep on a sandbar. “We’re fine, what is he doing?” she asked, a little annoyed. “We’re fine!” the husband yelled, waving him off, but his captain kept swimming hard toward him. “Move!” he barked as he sprinted between the stunned owners. Directly behind them, not 10 feet away, their nine-year-old daughter was drowning. Safely above the surface in the arms of the captain, she burst into tears and screamed, “Daddy!”

There’s something special about the bond a man has with his chair. There is no set time for a man to acquire his chair, and his chair may vary throughout his life. Nonetheless, a man’s chair is a place where many important decisions are pondered and made, both personally and professionally. In history, we can look back to powerful moments put into action from a chair. From his bunker chair, Winston Churchill successfully pondered how to save the free world, and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats eased an entire nation, all from a chair. More iconically is the power kings convey from their thrones and the barking of orders from the director’s’ chair to create great movies. Sometimes the chair itself takes on a best supporting role and becomes a character of its own like Archie Bunker’s famous chair in “All in the Family,” or Martin Crane’s chair in “Frasier.”

Curiously, we wanted to see some of the chairs our local Beaufort County men are attached to, so we went looking for a few good men. We did a good job finding them, and not only did they have a favorite chair, but a lot of heart, as well!

Dear Carrie, My 17-year-old daughter has her first summer job with a reasonable salary.
To me, this is a great opportunity for her to start saving and realizing the power of
compound interest. What’s your advice on how to explain that to her? —A Reader

Dear Reader, I agree this is a great opportunity for your daughter to start saving—and the power of compound interest is one of the primary reasons as you suggest. A key factor in compounding is time, and at 17 your daughter has plenty of time to watch her savings grow. Plus, while interest rates have been very low for the past 10 years, they’re starting to rise and that can help even a beginning saver see some results.