The Real Route to Looking Ten Years Younger

There's a new book making the rounds called How Not to Look Old. The author has been on the Today show and numerous other places (including being reviewed on Romance and the Mommy) and it occurred to me that as the author is extolling pink nail polish, pink lips and tottering heels, she never gets around to talking about the authentic fountains of youth that can't be found on a boutique shelf.

And yes, you did read plural: fountains with an "S". I'm pushing forty. . . okay, forty-four, and I often get people assuming that I'm still thirty-something. I have a friend who just turned fifty-one and has the energy, attitude and bod of a - I'm not kidding - twenty-two year old (granted, in her case, genetics and long distance running might just have something to do with it).

But for those who have no interest in looking like our mothers (sorry, Mom) and want to look good without running ten miles every other day (as if), keep reading and within just a few months, you too will look dewy and youthful.

To start, make young friends. No, I didn't say talk to a younger person and explain in a condescending tone (a dead give away that you're older, btw) why she should definitely be taking her calcium horse pills now or just-you-wait.

No, I mean actually create tight friendships with women who are younger and just plain great to hang out with for one reason or another. I have one friend who loves to talk Brad Pitt, why boy shorts have replaced thongs and the latest on American Idol. I have another friend who just authored her first book (with a real publishing house) and is contracted to write a second. Another young friend and I work on writing projects together.

I didn't set out to make younger friends (like I'm suggesting you do), it was just a happy byproduct of being an older mom. Naturally, the moms clubs and play dates are full of moms in their thirties. Just a happy discovery for me to realize that hanging out with younger people keeps me acting, thinking, feeling and looking younger.