VIV Extras

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Giveaways

Win Oscar Blandi Hair Products!
Five lucky winners will each receive dry shampoo spray and glossing cream (a $42 total value!).

Playlists

The Exercise Files With Annabeth Gish and Trainer Ashley Borden
As featured in the September/October 2010 issue of VIVmag, actor Annabeth Gish (FlashForward) and trainer Ashley Borden

Recipes

Chili-Lime Roasted Corn on the Cob
After a vigorous hike, nothing tastes better than sweet corn cooked to perfection over a campfire.

VIV Moments

Carole Crittenden Reed

carole-crittenden-reed

Hometown

Southampton, NY, via New York City

Joie de VIVre

LUSH Design, my spiritual-space/interior-design company; being the former curator and design director for House of Blues Entertainment; being the mother of two toddlers under 3 years of age; doing charity work for Cancer 101, which helps cancer patients and was started by good friend and survivor Monica Knoll; traveling to New Orleans; taking nature walks with kids; being on the beach late in the evening; making big dinners for friends; and playing with our golden retriever, who is our children’s furry brother.

VIV Moment

Initially, I wanted to say the birth of my children because as an adoptee, seeing my flesh and blood was such a life-altering moment, as there’s such beauty and magic in the creation of a life.

With that said, I looked deeper into what moments really changed me as an individual. Places and people played in my head: There was Bora Bora, a place I never imagined I would ever see, together with my husband on a weather-beaten rowboat on an aquamarine sea; meeting people like Aretha Franklin, Fats Domino and artist Howard Finster; and being there when my husband’s mother took her last breath with her family by her side at Mass General Hospital in Boston.

On a lighter note, my memory of being perfectly content involved sitting on a balcony in Zermatt, Switzerland, with my two closest friends, just weeks after I was engaged. We celebrated by skiing and drinking like it was a decade ago and we had no responsibilities and lived our perfectly imperfect, “Sex and the City” lifestyles.

But the thing that changed me the most was a car accident I had when I was 20 that bound me to crutches and a hospital bed for four years, scarring my body but not my spirit. I recently realized that I am a better person and a better friend now that I know what being lonely is really about and what perseverance is, and when you learn to walk again after an accident like mine, you count every healthy step from there on out as a blessing. I used to take a lot of things for granted; now I am grateful for the smallest things in life.

One Reader Comment:

07.15.2010 at 6:58 pm
Posted by Linda Berezin Lerner

What a beautiful picture of a beautiful women and her her family. My husband asked me where and who gave me the sculpture that was in our bedroom and I was telling him about how lucky I was to have a babysitter that was so good with my son and how talented she was in art. He asked where she lived and I said we lost touch and he said google her!!I was so happy to read your profile and see how happy you look and what beautiful kids you have. I knew it was u when I read about your accident.It was your ankle.I hope your family is well. Do they still live in Bedford?
Michael is going to be 31 this Oct.He lives in boston and doing IT work and is single. I’ve remarried and got it right this time to a great man. He has 3 kids and they are all married and we have 4 grandkids. I would love to hear from you if you have a minute.My best to you and your family. Love, Linda

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