Nevertheless, every once in a while, we experience an event that truly shakes us to our core. I had one a while back and it was a doozey.

It happened while I was already somewhat stressed, sitting in the dentist’s chair getting my teeth cleaned. Upon first glance at my pearly whites, the hygienist (who was no spring chicken herself) mentioned how gratified she was to see an elderly woman who still had all of her teeth.  Now mind you, I was sitting in that blasted chair, I had my mouth wide open, and she was looking intently at MY full set of teeth. I realized, to my growing shock, that there might be an infinitesimal possibility she could be referring to ME as “elderly!”

My emotions ran the gamut from stunned disbelief to sheer horror. At any rate, had she not been holding the scraping tool at the time, I might have been tempted to bite one of her probing fingers and clamp down hard. That offending hygienist would have quickly learned to restrict her comments to wondering, “Where the yellow went” and abstain from any further references to my incisors as “elderly.” Regrettably, I only smiled and swallowed hard. But next time anyone who dares utter that terrible word in my direction will undoubtedly suffer the consequences.

So a word of caution to those of you who interact with us boomers: we don’t mind “middle-aged” and will even tolerate “seniors.” But if you try calling us “elderly,” watch out. They don’t call this the feisty side of fifty for nothing!

Nevertheless, we eagerly turned on the tube (back when TVs actually had tubes) and flipped the dial (back when TVs actually had dials) to watch our favorite shows in grainy, blurry, black and white.

Although some shows were focused on adults and grown-up interests, almost all were kid friendly and many were aimed just at us. We had our early favorites: Howdy Doody, Captain Kangaroo, and the blockbuster show no one would ever miss, The Mickey Mouse Club. Who can forget waiting with excited anticipation for “Anything Can Happen Day” or the latest adventures taking place at the Triple R Ranch with Spin and Marty?

The family sitcom shows were just as great. The kids would generally experience a problem at school, or with a friend, or endure some type of crisis of conscience. But, just when the dramatic tension reached its zenith, Mom or Dad would step in and impart a valuable life lesson—resolving the situation over a plate of cookies and a glass of milk.

No question that there were plenty of social inequities back then and TV reflected these in the lack of people of color on the screen. Families came only in one way: a wise (but sometimes goofy) dad, the ever-nurturing mom who happily dusted the house in her shirtwaist and pearls, and two or three well-adjusted kids.

However, as trite and role restrictive as these shows often were, they did try to provide us boomers kids with some positive messages about how to live productive and happy lives. I realize I’m sounding old, but looking at the reality fare out there today, what kinds of messages are children getting now? I wonder what Father Knows Best or Donna Reed might say about The Bad Girls Club or Jersey Shore?

Considering the “reality” being displayed in reality shows of today, I’ve just developed a hankering for a plate of cookies, a glass of milk, and some words of wisdom from Mom and Dad.

Employers are gearing up after the summer slowdown, putting new projects into place, and hiring. They need employees to fill positions and carry out their plans—so don’t let this important time pass you by!

I know the news is bad and especially discouraging for older applicants. However, you need to realize that the statistics the articles quote do not take into account how YOU are conducting your search: how many hours a day you devote to looking for work, how you’re going about your search, how qualified you are, and who is in your network.

Please take best advantage of this special time of year and arm yourself with the latest and most effective ways to make your mark. I’m happy to say that I’ve recently revised my book, Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50 and added even more helpful tips and tools to get you on the path to your next position.

This truly is your time to shine, so get prepared, learn the best ways to navigate today’s competitive market, and let them know all the wonderful skills and attributes a jobseeker with maturity can bring. You just need to learn the ways to present yourself as the WINNER you are. Please take the brief 15 minutes and listen to this interview where I share tips and techniques to put you on the fast track to success!

Summer is perhaps my favorite season. But, of late, I’ve experienced my fair share of trepidation about what to wear. When a certain level of camouflage is the obvious choice these days, it’s difficult to know how dress for the heat while cleverly covering the fleshier parts of my anatomy. Unfortunately, for me, “letting it all hang out” is no longer an option.

However I may be in the growing minority of older women who feel that way. I just came across an article with amazing photos of three 50+ bikini-clad women. According to the piece, more and more midlife women are ditching the staid and modestly demure one-piece for the saucy two-piece variety—so much so that fashionistas are dubbing this cheeky garb, “grankini!”

Two of the skimpily attired women pictured, Jerry Hall and Kim Catrall, both 54, looked great. But the third model was the hottest of all. At 65, the stunning Helen Mirren, clad in a jaw-dropping red grankini, left the others pounding sand.  The sight of her abs alone had me curtail my planned trip to the fridge and drop to the ground for several long overdue crunches.

Just as I was coming up for air, however, I remembered it’s late August and summer is almost over. Although I always hate to see the season of sun and fun pass by, that leaves me an entire nine months to crunch my muffin-top to smithereens.

So move over, Helen, there’ll be a brand new grankini on the beach next year. Or maybe not—maybe I’ll start a new fashion trend in 2011 that’s much more doable. Anyone out there up for “Big Mama Muumuus?”

When the ball in Times Square drops this year signaling the start of 2011, the first of our generation officially become senior citizens. Sixty-five! YIKES!

No doubt about it, this particular birthday can blow your mind and challenge the very essence of your flower power. In truth, I’ve already had to face up to wrinkles, blotches, puckers and the like—not to mention that doggone muffin-top—staring back at me each time I have the courage to peer into a mirror. Yet I do realize that age is just a number… but sixty-five—that’s a doozey!

Nevertheless, I’m always proud of stating that we boomers are revolutionizing the spirit and style of aging and it suddenly occurred to me we have real life examples of this. So let’s take a look at just a few of the amazing boomer women who’ll be celebrating their sixty-fifth in 2011. Check out what sixty-five looks like now:

Candice Bergen (May 9, 1946)

Cher (May 26, 1946)

Patti Duke (Dec. 14, 1946)

Sally Field (November 6, 1946)

Diane Keaton (January 5, 1946)

Dolly Parton (January 19, 1946)

Susan Sarandon (October 4, 1946)

These women were all drawn from Hollywood and the stage and, yes, they’ve undoubtedly enjoyed their share of rejuvenating treatments, wrinkle minimizing facials, and air-brushed photos. But still and all, they do represent our fabulous and feisty forever-young spirit. So, just like we’ve revolutionized every aspect of the culture that doesn’t suit our liking, here we go again: Watch out world! Sixty-five is gettin’ groovy. Far out!

In fact, if you’re an older applicant and are looking for a job, the best time to be doing so is right  NOW! Early fall is one of the two strongest hiring periods of the year. Companies large and small gear up after the summer slowdown and start putting new ventures and projects into place. This  means bringing on new managers, supervisors, individual contributors, and general employees to see these projects through.

So, if you want and need a job, don’t make the critical mistake older applicants often do and try to sell yourself on a resume and in an interview the way it worked 20 years ago. Believe me, it won’t work in today’s competitive market!

You’ve got to be current, confident, and well prepared and I’ve got a few ways that I know will help. My newly revised book, Land the Job You Love: 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50, has even more insider tips and techniques to make you shine as the candidate of choice. Please take a moment to check it out.

Also, if you want or need immediate help, take a look at my E-book, The Baby Boomers’ Survival Guide to Finding Work Fast. For the price of a cup of coffee and a doughnut, you’ll have the winning tools that will set you up with what you need.

For those who want some personal help and coaching, I’ve joined forces with Life Coach and owner of Soul Purpose to Prosperity, Christine Laureano, to present a 3-day mini-teleclass series starting Tuesday, August 24th. Transition to Success: Midlife Tools for Career and Life Empowerment is certain to help you overcome blocks and fears, reignite your passion for work, and turbocharge your job search. Take a look here.

Don’t let this critical time pass you by. Most jobseekers don’t start really looking until after Labor Day. Right now your competition levels are low and, if you learn the ways to present yourself as the valuable candidate you are, you’ll find yourself first in line for that new position. So get ready, get set, and go!

But, after patting ourselves on the back, we need to recognize there were some pretty amazing women who led the charge decades before we were born. The last weeks of August mark the anniversary of their greatest and most triumphant accomplishment—Women’s Suffrage.

Every grammar school student knows our country was founded on the assurance of freedom and the pursuit of happiness for every citizen. Well—to be more specific—every white, male citizen! As foundational and inalienable as these rights were, such triumphs of democracy were reserved for men and men alone. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, as a number of countries in the newly industrialized world were moving toward a more democratic means of government, women were consistently, deliberately, and without remorse or doubt, denied their human rights. Male leaders, themselves freely elected by their peers, barred women from governing bodies and legally denied them their right to vote. In fact, the United States had celebrated its 144^th birthday before its female citizens could cast a single ballot of their own.

The brave, spirited, and tenacious suffragettes fought valiantly to achieve this long overdue right. They bore verbal abuse, physical attack, starvation, and imprisonment in service to their cause. And, thanks to their amazing efforts, the Nineteenth Amendment granting voting rights to women was finally passed in June of 1918. However, for the amendment to become law, a minimum of thirty-six states was required to ratify it. Tennessee became the final state to do so on August 26, 1920.

Legislator Henry Burn, then twenty-four, cast the deciding vote.  He had not intended to vote for the amendment but had received a note the previous evening from his mother. She told him in no uncertain terms to “vote for suffrage.” As a respectful son, he complied and explained: “I changed my vote in favor of ratification because a mother’s advice is always safest for her boy to follow.”

So happy 90^th birthday Nineteenth Amendment! And many happy returns of the day! As Hillary Clinton said while running for President, “My mother was born before women had the right to vote, but my daughter was able to vote for her own mother for President.” Quite an accomplishment for ninety years, I gotta say! And one huge, albeit belated: “Thank you, Mrs. Burn—you deed indeed raise one fine son!”

Yet, now that we’re past fifty, friendship and a sense of community with likeminded women holds even greater meaning. Aging can bring with it a shrinking world: we may no longer be working and feel the loss of day-to-day communication; we might live on the opposite side of the country from our dearest family members and mourn the physical closeness we yearn for; and we may lack the social resources that once gave our lives richness and depth.

Viola! Enter The Transition Network. This nationwide organization was founded to fill the void that many of us feel as we move beyond our initial careers and seek to find fulfillment elsewhere. Their Mission is to provide “a community for women over 50, who join forces as they navigate the transition from one career to another—or whatever is next.”

And, true to the boomer trailblazing spirit, The Transition Network defines itself as a “movement”—a national movement of engaged and energetic women of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds who together will:

• DISCOVER new perspectives and opportunities
• IMPACT their lives and their communities
• ADVOCATE with a collective and powerful voice

Talk about a feisty spirit! I’ve recently become a member of TTN and look forward to interacting with women my own age who understand the issues and concerns I’m facing at this time in my life. And, making things even more exciting, I just had the pleasure of interviewing the inspiring speaker and “encore career role model,” Betsy Werley, who also happens to be the Executive Director of The Transition Network.

I invite you to spend the brief fifteen minutes to listen to what Betsy has to say. You’ll come away from the experience with a renewed sense of purpose and confidence in all you can accomplish during this rich and fertile time in your life.

Also, be certain to check out the website for The Transition Network. With a few new friends on your side, a bit of information and support, and the inherent power found within a group of menopausal women on a mission, you’ll be feeling feisty for sure!

Special Event: I’m joining forces with the National Association of Baby Boomer Women to present a special Teleseminar, How to Land the Job You Love on Thursday, Aug. 12th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern. If you or a boomer friend are looking for work, please sign up and attend. There is absolutely no charge and we’ll be covering the critical tools and techniques that will jumpstart your search and help you maximize your opportunities in today’s competitive market. The last 10 minutes will be open for Q & A–so think of the special answers you need to know and plan on attending. Sign up here!

Now, she’s taking her work one step further and has gathered together several of the nation’s top experts in the health and wellness field to present a one-of-a-kind teleseries. The programs, although varied, are each packed with information that will have you feeling and looking great in no time. And, the series is FREE!

The topics Greg’s experts will cover run the gamut from bone and heart health, to finding and sustaining inner peace, to that all-too-common bugaboo at midlife: taming the muffin top and halting the hips from unrestrained expansion.

At 3:00 p.m. ET on nearly every weekday in September, you’ll be treated to the best, most cutting-edge information the industry has to offer—and it’s all focused on the needs of us gals on the far side of fifty. In fact, Greg’s named her broadcasts the “Midlife Women’s Mind and Body Experts Teleseries.”

Moreover, these folks truly know whereof they speak. Greg has gathered together an amazing group of well-known specialists including nutrition experts, master teachers, life coaches, authors and more.

Take a look at the website. There’s a WIIFY (what’s in it for me?) page, a “Meet the Experts” page, a Series Schedule, and a FAQs page. Greg’s laid it all out so you can make the most of the information her panel will share. Also, if you have a conflict and need to miss a call, you can listen to the session for up to 48 hours after airing. Better yet, you can upgrade to VIP status, get recordings of all the calls, and an added super plus: additional phone time with Greg. This will ensure you can implement all the wonderful tools and tips you’ll learn and truly transform your health and wellbeing.

So give yourself a very special gift that will keep on giving and sign up. As Greg puts it, this series will “fire you up and give you the goods to rock the second half of your life!”

But there’s a fresh (um, actually mature) role model on the scene and she’s showing us an even greater lesson: 80 is now the new eighty. Maybe it’s her dimples or perhaps it’s the ever-present twinkle in her eye, but Betty White has become the pin-up girl for the Wrinkled Revolution. And, speaking of fresh, this gal has got some mouth on her! Did you catch her Saturday Night Live appearance?

Although her life has not always been easy (she lost her beloved husband, Alan Ludden, back in 1981 and never remarried), Betty White is showing us the art of aging without losing the spark and sparkle of youth. Her mind remains cuttingly clever and she’s not afraid of delivering a bawdy retort when interviewers give her any opening to inject that famous sense of humor. This lady is still taking risks, still making waves, and still enjoying life to the fullest. In fact, in just a couple of years, Betty will be showing us how to be a cheeky old broad at ninety!

So here’s to the woman who’s provided us countless laughs and many great moments for more than half a century: may her star continue to shine as she shows us the way to the Feisty Side of 100. If anyone can make her centenarian years sexy and fun, it’s gotta be Betty!