Election day turned out to be memorable in a multitude of ways.

Our family woke at the crack of dawn to vote, where we waited in line with hundreds of our neighbors for over an hour. In our polling place, six out of seven of the voting machines were broken during the first hour or so of voting, and yet people were calm, respectful, and patient.

As the sun rose on the day, our spirits brightened. My husband's job propitiously brought us to Washington, DC that very same morning. We strolled across the National Mall, got our "I voted" free Starbuck's coffee, and headed to the National Archives.

Gazing at the glass encased Magna Carta, where the story of basic liberties were first written and then seeing our nation's Declaration of Independence and our faded but still glorious Constitution made each of us in the dark basement of the National Archive building quiet and awestruck.

I marveled at the 19th Amendment, and how many of the women who led the charge and who worked so hard for the right to vote never lived to see the results of their efforts. I also had not remembered how interconnected were the suffragist and abolitionist movements.

Later that night I thought of Barack Obama's grandmother, who missed seeing her grandson's moment in history. What incredible changes our country has seen in its 232 year history.

We spent election night in our DC hotel restaurant's bar with strangers who became friends. The excitement and joy in the room was something I will never forget. And when my two little boys grow up and have kids of their own, they will be able to say, I remember that day! And what an amazing day it was.

Could there be anything crazier than starting a business amidst international financial chaos?

Economic catastrophe was not a part of my business plan, nor do I imagine too many start-up businesses anticipate these sorts of events. Start-ups are so focused on their own internal to-do lists that the outside world is placed a bit on hold. But it’s impossible to shut out these events of late.

It’s not what I had planned, but getting discouraged is not a part of this plan. In fact, I have the little “dream” file that I kept back in 1992 when I imagined starting this business, put the idea on hold as I worked in my very humdrum environmental jobs (think Erin Brockovich without the cleavage and slinky wardrobe), and had two children. As I travelled I also did a lot of reading over that period of time, and the ads for lingerie and sleepwear never seemed to match the women who were shopping for them.

My hope was (and still is) to offer a fun alternative for real women.

The journey getting to this point has been so enjoyable. The business classes, product evaluations, photography sessions, and people I have been meeting along the way are making this one of the most growing periods of my life, such that the final outcome is just one small part of a great story. To me it’s simple proof of a silver lining.

Perhaps it’s being over forty and the experience that comes with those years that helps push away apprehension and fear.
I guess it’s a matter of perspective now. Besides, I figure if you’re going to start out doing something new, then why not start from the bottom? If you can survive the worst case scenario, then everything else will seem like smooth sailing by comparison.

One more step in the journey: I was excited to receive the custom boxes and bags with our beautiful Better Than Chocolate Boutique logo on them. They’re manufactured of recycled material and made in the USA. Pretty sweet.

We’re getting closer and closer to launch. Now I’ve got to get back to work…

Last week we took a big leap forward in making this dream a reality: lingerie for wonderful women over forty. Amidst little fanfare, we launched at a vendor fair, myself and two supportive girlfriends, the dynamic Dana and effervescent Joanna.

We met some very interesting and engaging women and got a lot of positive feedback that night. They liked the soft breathable fabrics, “non-itchy” lace, and “swoon-worthy” silks. They also liked our logo and “chocolate gift boxes”, our emphasis on real women portrayed in a respectful way, and the fact that so many of the products were designed and manufactured in the USA.

We shared the message that this company is all about helping women feel beautiful and uplifted. ..and needless to say everyone enjoyed tasting the delicious chocolate truffles.

Two days later we embarked on producing the photographs of real women. The models are women that I believe personify the spirit of “over forty and fabulous.” Only one of the group has ever done modeling before. When the photos are unveiled, I think it will be challenging to guess which one, since all of these ladies seemed very comfortable in front of the camera. We owe a lot of that comfort level to the sweet personality of our professional photographer, Lori (see Lori Hand Photography).

Speaking of sweet things, last night we had the photo shoot for our “Sweet Athlete” section of the site as well as the “gift giving” shots. Next week we wrap up the elegant shots for our “Champagne Collection.” Our photos will be very different from lingerie photography that’s been done before, refreshingly different.

As these pieces of the puzzle come together, I am getting more excited. The coming weeks will mean extensive work on completing the web site. Please keep checking in, and in the meantime, I’d love to hear from you…you can contact me at sweetmail@btc-boutique.com . Who knows, perhaps you can be a part of a future Better Than Chocolate Boutique photo shoot!

My neighbor’s daughter Jessica was at my house the other day. She and her brother had ventured over to ride bicycles with my sons, and Jessie evidently preferred on that particular afternoon to be inside with Miss Molly (the dog) and me.

I was working on the computer in my office doing some work on my website when I noticed that she was looking through some of the product samples I had hanging on a rack on the other side of the room. Most of the garments on the rack were sleepwear and everything I carry is in good taste, so it is really no problem for little ones to come across my products. It’s all laces and colors and softness to a seven year old.

Speaking with her slight lisp and sweet southern accent she said, “Miss C. this is so nice, it looks like a pwincess.” I smiled and looked up from my computer. She stood there in her shorts and Dora the Explorer t-shirt with a shimmering black chemise held up to her chin. Still attached to the hanger, the garment fell all the way to the floor covering her sneakers.

She was beaming. Where was that dress transporting her imagination to, I wondered? A place of castles and dancing? Or did it simply make her feel like it made me feel when I look at it, pretty and feminine.

I explained to her that the item was for a grown woman and that she would have plenty of opportunities when she was grown up to wear pretty dresses. She smiled an enthusiastic smile with several front teeth missing.

I thought of Jessie tonight when I met with the photographer who will be taking some of the photos of real women models for our site. We discussed how the images we were going to create would hopefully capture the strength, beauty, and energy of women over forty. I’m hoping it will also capture some of that joyful feminine spirit that I saw in little Jessica’s eyes.

Jessie may have to wait a decade or so to wear Better Than Chocolate Boutique pajamas, but you won’t have to wait so long. We launch this month at a local vendor fair and regional trade show, and then next month (hopefully) our site will go live. It’s getting lively around here…stay tuned!

More than ever before, women over forty are beginning to realize their power. Someone smart made an interesting observation at a recent Network of Enterprising Women meeting here in Richmond…whether you identify with the “Sisterhood of the traveling pantsuits” as Hillary Clinton does or “Soccer/hockey moms with lipstick” as Sarah Palin does, it’s really the same incredible force: we’re all women who are realizing our strength and having the time of our lives.

As I get closer to launching this wonderful new business whose goal is to bring beautiful lingerie to women over forty in a way that makes us feel uplifted and celebrated, I realize that I’m not the only person noticing the over-forty mystique.

For example, today my computer’s home page conveniently popped up a compilation of newly forty beauties with the heading “Forty and Foxy”

Now granted that these women all probably have personal trainers, stylists, and makeup artists…they’re not exactly what I would call “real” in the sense that they have typical lives, but it is nevertheless an encouraging sight coming out of Hollywood.

There was a time when over forty meant a slide into a less visible place in society. The everyday equivalent of the supporting role instead of leading lady. But those days are over. It takes time to develop expertise in whatever your passion happens to be. So the women who are really “doing their thing” are hitting their stride in their forties and beyond.

Similarly, I was at my son’s middle school meet-the-teacher-night last night and the experienced teachers were captivating with their command of the material they would be teaching our kids and their joy for what they do. It made me want to go back to school to learn from these remarkable ladies. It’s interesting that when I asked my son which teachers he was enjoying the most so far, it was the more experienced teachers that he pointed to.

The "beauty of personal authenticity" is what Marianne Williamson calls it in her book The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife. And women are connecting over this surge in creativity, awareness, strength and beauty in all sorts of social networking venues, from local coffee houses and salons, to universities and blog sites (see Blogher.com and one of my favorites: midlifesatrip.com)

It’s no wonder that we’re seeing more images of strong, smart, beautiful women over forty. It’s a great time to be us.

Every business needs a mascot…well, maybe not. But it sure can be fun.

I was at my printers’ offices the other day (Zooom Printing) and their office greeter is Phil the Whippet.

I am not one of those people who goes bonkers over her pets; but I can’t imagine our home without ours…nor do I dress my dog, typically. But I was evaluating the work of an embroiderer over the summer and wanted to see how the Better Than Chocolate Boutique logo translated on cotton knit. The company had inexpensive dog shirts in a similar weight of cotton , so suddenly my dog was modeling her first and only item of clothing.

Allow me to introduce you to Miss Molly. She’s such a fuzzy poodle that she hardly has a need for another layer, not to mention the fact that we live in the south. But fashion becomes her.

Rest assured, I will not be running out to buy her a wardrobe. Nor will she be sporting this attractive top in public…she’s much too active . But from time to time she’ll make an appearance here.

She’s my personal trainer, official foot warmer, and “UPS-guy’s here” alarm system all rolled up into one “smiling” ball of fluff. On the “Better than Chocolate” short list of wonderful things? Absolutely.

When it comes to things deemed "better than chocolate", the list is a short one. One thing that sits high on this little list, in my humble opinion, is real maple syrup. And when it comes to purveyors of the real deal, Burr Morse is as real as they get. He owns a wonderful sugar farm and store nestled in the rolling green hills of Vermont called Morse Farm.

I used to love going there and smelling the sweet steam in the sugaring house. It was a great place for a free steam facial. There you could get syrup in every amber color of the spectrum from "fancy" (light gold) to Grade B (dark brown). In the Springtime there's a truly incredible culinary delight called "Sugar on Snow" where the syrup is boiled to the soft ball stage and when it is dripped onto a bowl of cold snow and scooped up with a spoon, it forms a glistening ball that vanishes on your tongue like a sweet whisper.

It is an annual ritual of spring for folks to have this delicious treat. School kids even get bussed in on field trips to learn about "sugaring." This "purely educational" trip culminates in everyone enjoying some Sugar on Snow...needless to say it isn't hard to get parents to sign up to chaperone this trip!

Maple syrup is the state drink up thataways. We even tried making it ourselves one spring....1 quart of pure heaven in a mason jar. It was a lot of work lugging plastic gallon jugs down our hill to the deck behind our house and boiling it up outside on our gas grill. Once was enough. Too much work at 40 gallons of sap to yield one gallon of syrup!

So now we keep coming back to Burr to stock our pantry.

Some folks still prefer the "fake stuff". For example, my father-in-law's a great guy, but he won't touch the real stuff; my kids think Grandpa's missing out. He's not the only one who is. Living in central Virginia, the syrup aisles in the grocery store are filled with the "fake stuff", complete with corn syrup and artificial caramel color.

It's no surprise, because the real stuff is so expensive. It's like drinkable gold. But if you grow up where it's made, in places like Vermont, Pennsylvania and Canada (I'm told there are even places in the far western mountains of Virginia that make it) there's nothing like it, and it's impossible to go without.

You can taste the purity of the "good stuff"; it has subtle layers of flavor. In fact, a favorite activity of my kids when we used to get visitors up north was to take them to Morse Farm to taste the different varieties and grades of syrup; we got so good at it, we could guess even when blindfolded.

It's nice to see that some really amazing things are still being produced right here in the USA, and it's a wonderful thing.

My guys and I went kayaking this past weekend. We went one day up-river to a small waterfall and ate chocolate graham crackers and peanut butter (which would have been the perfect kayaking snack in my opinion if it had been accompanied by a cold glass of milk) and one day down-river to a swimming hole complete with natural flume and underwater tunnel…Richmond’s James River is a pretty interesting place. Incidentally, it is purportedly the only urban Class IV whitewater in the United States. But with two little people in our entourage, we stick to the calmer waters.

From the photo above you can tell that there’s a mom with her kids having fun (the smiles are proof positive). What you can’t tell (because of the life vest) is that I am at that precise moment also in the final stages of testing another sports bra….namely the Moving Comfort Alexis bra. I have confirmed its high quality construction and its comfort, what impressed me was the shaping. By shaping, I mean the way the bra smoothes the lines of the body.

I’m not the only one who is impressed by this bra. They’ve written about it in a recent Runners World magazine. But I am often skeptical of trade and hobby magazine’s product reviews…simply because you can’t be too certain that the manufacturers themselves didn’t steer the article. You rarely, for instance, read any negative product reviews in these publications, mainly they just seem to selectively list positive features.

While I am fully supportive of looking at the bright side of things, when it comes to purchases for me and my company, I am like a nerdy pitbull. Turning things over, stretching, comparing and ripping them to shreds if need be (figuratively speaking of course).

Seriously though, the Olympics have brought the jog bra into our living rooms…one glimpse of beach volleyball, women’s gymnastics and marathon running has made it perfectly clear that proper support is a matter of international importance at the Games. Many of these young women are very tiny-framed and small-breasted so that it’s easy to think they don’t require much from their athletic bras—but this is a misconception. The beach volleyball women are at a distinct disadvantage for both public exposure and potential mammary impact (incidentally, how many of you noticed the discrepancy between what the men in this sport and the women in this sport wear? And did you also notice the cheerleaders in the background of the shots at the start of the men’s matches? What’s that all about?) Point is, irrespective of size, we women have parts that require technical assistance.

Athletic bras achieve their support in two ways: compression or encapsulation. Some of the best do a little of both. I’ve pored over dozens of manufacturer’s offerings and have narrowed them down to a worthy few. What I love about the two Moving Comfort bras I will initially be carrying at Better Than Chocolate Boutique is that they achieve the goal of support while feeling comfortable. Breathable fabrics, quality construction, smart engineering. Soon you’ll be able to check out the Sweet Athlete section of www.btc-boutique.com and find these great items.

I’m still searching for the Worlds’ Most Beautiful Athletic Bra. Frankly, I don’t think a truly beautiful one exists yet. If you have come across one, I’d love to hear from you. In this arena, function will nearly always trump form. But someday I assure you there will be a Better Than Chocolate signature athletic bra that achieves function, fit, comfort and beauty…I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

My goal is to find or produce the very best for Better Than Chocolate Boutique. So that when you go on your next river adventure, spike your next beach volleyball, stretch at your favorite pilates class, or do whatever active thing you love to do in your busy day, you can do so in a bra that deserves a gold medal.

I spent some time with my young nieces this week. They are such energetic and smart little girls…I’d love to be able to fast forward time for just a peek at what they will accomplish in their adult lives…Hanging with these little buddies made me feel great.

Recently I read the book The Female Brain by Dr. Louann Brizendine and she shares (among a host of other interesting findings) that hanging with your girlfriends, talking on the phone, or even texting them can release a flood of feel good hormones for women…I suppose I didn’t need to read this fact in a book, but it surely confirmed something I hadn’t fully put my finger on in the past.

Girlfriends are good for you!

Here’s another example. As I was beginning my journey in launching Better Than Chocolate Boutique, and feeling the kind of nervous excitement that new entrepreneurs are prone to, my friend Anna tracked me down at an evening function at our kids’ school and insisted that I stop by her house before I headed to a big lingerie show. I was greeted at her door with a box of the most amazing hand made cookies…shaped like one of my favorite things, lingerie…they are pictured above. I was tickled pink by her show of enthusiasm and support…they were delicious, unique, thoughtful and fun.

This girlfriend connection crossed my mind again this week. I met a woman at a hotel outside Baltimore and we got to chatting about how our bodies change over forty…simply strangers one minute and a complete connection the next…. Jackie, if you’re reading this, I wish I had had time to talk with you some more. I will include you in the Circle of Wonderful Women and keep you apprised of developments, and I hope you will do the same!

E-mail is just one more wonderful way for us women to experience an oxytocin rush.

There are plenty of negative messages that women are sent these days. We see the media proffering perfection and we think we need to direct our attention to reaching this moving target. But what is this perfect end point we seek? Flat stomach? Flawless skin? Financial independence? Fantasy? Or could a better goal be something like savoring the sweet moments of each day?

There’s a woman who’s writing a book called The Happiness Project. She lives in Switzerland, which is already one step in the right direction, but she has some really good insights on some of the things that really matter in life, like taking time to be with people you really care about and another of my favorites “enjoy the process”. It’s worth a look.

Our girlfriends embrace us wherever we are in the journey, whether just starting out (like my little nieces), or well on our way. The Sisterhood is strong. It’s something sweet that’s good for us!….Better than chocolate? Absolutely.

We picked up our kids in Baltimore the other day. The city was teeming with people.

A music festival brought in thousands who were unidentifiable, whereas a manga convention (Otakon 2008) brought in thousands (mainly twenty-something year olds) that were impossible to ignore…girls in thigh high platform boots and ruffle mini dresses with animal tails attached, boys in polyester leisure suits and military boots, each with a convention hall pass around their necks and the look of complete camaraderie and acceptance as they made their way along Baltimore’s waterfront with their bands of buddies.

Some of them were sitting in small groups drawing manga art. It was like a giant themed Halloween party that the whole city was in on. My kids were loving every minute of it.

Baltimore’s inner harbor is usually quite vibrant with its beautiful angled skyline and dragon paddleboats, but this was the most colorful I’d ever seen it.

Perhaps persuaded by the eccentricity of the day, we made our way to the far end of the harbor, past the trapeze school (possibly the subject of a future blog?) and the volleyball sandpits, to the American Visionary Art Museum .

I had read about a particular exhibit at the Museum that I just had to see…the world’s largest bra ball.

Yes, folks, it actually exists. It weighs over 1800 pounds and is made up of over 18,000 bras.

It was assembled in 2003 and was a collaborative project in which the artist engaged hundreds of real women in the assembly of the ball.

Looking closely there are bras of every color and texture, demis and balconettes, lined bras and plus sized bras, bras with a row of boa fluff, beads, flowers, and lace. It is substantial.

Truth be told, I had imagined it to be a lot bigger. But the size apparently represents the size of the average American woman (5’4”). The artist talks about the creation of the ball in “HerStory”.

The “bra ball” is actually dwarfed by the size and complexity of several other sculptures in the hall including a giant pink poodle floating vehicle, a hanging hot air balloon, and a life-sized naked man made entirely of electrical wire. It's simply impossible to adequately describe. The museum was full of suprises and we all enjoyed it. My kids were mesmerized by the complex wood and metal mechanical art exhibit.

On my life’s journey, I can now check off “bra ball viewing” on my list of experiences. If you’re curious, you can see photos of its shipment to AVAM , or go see it in person in Baltimore. It's quite a sight.