When I was in my early thirties, newly divorced and dating, well-intentioned friends insisted on scheduling our girly get-togethers near Bloomingdales for a “bite of shopping.” When I was newly divorced (again!) in my mid-forties we’d meet for lunch in Barneys.

The obvious plan in both decades was to get me out of my beloved basic black, and into “something with a little more sex appeal — maybe red or pink, maybe a neckline lower than your collarbone” as my friend Julie put it.

Truth is, I loved the sophistication and attitude of wearing black — it has that whole French fashion thing going for it. Black turtlenecks, slim black trousers, and nearly black nail polish made me feel sophisticated and cool… the way colors never did.

Well here’s a news flash: Somewhere around 50 — right before I met my husband Robert — I began to prefer beige. Beige everything, from pencil skirts to tailored coats to shimmery beige pedicures. My girlfriends worried I was going through a peri-menopause stage of “the blahs.” After all, Lauren Hutton herself once told me in an interview that “wearing beige after 50 makes you invisible.”

I see it differently now and so do designers like Versace, Michael Kors, Valentino, Calvin Klein and Armani, who understand “nude” is the sexiest color alive. Beige, in all its variations from champagne to camel, is glamorous and classy, no matter what color your skintone. Worn head to toe, monochromatic, tone-on-tone, it says luxurious.

So if you’re bored with black, out there looking, or just want to stand out in the crowd — head straight for these beige-y beauties:

When 22-year-old Vanessa Van Petten saw a hole in the digital market, she decided to fill it. Where was the teen's voice? The teen's opinion? "I was reading lots of mommy and daddy blogs all over the Web; some had great advice and others were really missing some major points," says Van Petten, founder of OnTeensToday.com. A child of divorce herself, Van Petten (right) credits her nontraditional upbringing for the determination and versatility she possesses today.

"I grew up with two religions, four VERY different types of parents, as an only child, as one of four, in a big house, in a small house, in a liberal house and in a strict house," she explains. "I really got to live in the range and can relate to many different kinds of readers."

That determination and versatility are exactly the qualities to which her readers respond. Her web site, which is dedicated to offering a forum for teens to express themselves, reach out to other parental figures, and provide perspective on the elusive teenager, has become a smash hit with young and old alike since its launch in September 2007.

And when we say "smash hit," we mean it. OnTeensToday.com receives thousands of emails a day. "Parents mostly read my web site, but I work privately with teens and run a private social network for them as a forum and I hear from them a lot in those areas," says the Los Angeles resident.

How can Van Petten help you decode your kid? Here, four tried-and-true tips to smooth the familial transitions, from separation to divorce to second marriages:

You Can Never Say I Love You Too Much. We might roll our eyes or pretend not to hear, but in this time, we cannot hear it enough.

Here is something frightfully wonderful, places where doom and gloom can be fun. No, we’re not talking about the anxiety-provoking, fear-mongering financial news dominating the airwaves these days. But instead of worrying about Credit Default Swaps, you can enjoy fright at the hands of Casper, the Friendly Ghost. Throughout America, there are loving souls who take devilish delight in turning warehouses, storefronts and homes into true Haunted Houses.

Some of these places have become so elaborate that special effects technicians, makeup artists, set designers and professional actors are employed to guarantee a ghoulishly good time. Needless to say, these houses are not open just Halloween night. Most of them are welcoming scaredy cats (and their kids) right now. Be prepared. These places are booby-trapped so mad butchers, headless ghouls with rattling chains, and stalking stranglers appear out of nowhere. Fortunately they also disappear, just like we hope your economic challenges will.

Your FWW friends have assembled the best haunted houses in the country, where you can park your worries at the door and leave with a smile on your face.

These places offer a good time at a good price. Warning: if you are at the office, please turn off your speakers, or your workmates will hear blood curdling screams, moans, thunder, wolves howling, etc.

In all the kerfuffle over the big $700 billion bail out, you may not have noticed that the House of Representatives passed a bill that may be more important to you and your pocket book. We’re talking about HR 5244, a bill of rights for people who use credit cards.

The bill, which now moves to the Senate, would block a lot of those pesky, sneaky things that credit card companies do to jack up your interest rate, or charge you late fees, or slip credit cards into the hands of your college-age children.

And to prove there’s no such thing as too much of a good thing, the Federal Reserve has also introduced a reform bill to deal with consumer rights. It may take a federal scholar to winkle out the differences between these bills, but it is reassuring that the banking industry is against the Federal Reserve bill, calling it, “an unprecedented regulatory intrusion into marketplace pricing and product offerings.” And the credit card industry is against the House and Senate bills.

Basically, if banks and credit card companies are against such moves, regular people should assume they are for them.

Meanwhile, you should protect yourself. As you read your credit card bills, beware of the following terms, listed by Credit Card Reform:

• Universal default The term means is that a credit card company may monitor your credit report and increase your interest rate if they think your credit score is declining, or you are making a big ticket purchase, like a car. This can happen even if you pay their credit card on time.

A legal separation and divorce are more similar than different. In fact, except for a few key points they are almost the same. The difference is in the legal standard one must meet to obtain a legal separation or divorce and the relief you get from either. Even then, the difference only has to do with whether or not the marriage continues.

All states have legal standards a couple has to meet in order to divorce. You have your no-fault states in which anyone can divorce, reason or no reason. Then you have New York State, which still requires grounds for divorce.

In the end, a divorce simply means that the state you live in recognizes that your marriage is broken and can’t be fixed.

A court can grant a legal separation if “irreconcilable differences between the parties have caused a temporary or unlimited breakdown of the marriage.” A legal separation suspends the marriage whereas a divorce ends the marriage.

The relief offered by a legal separation or a divorce is, again, quite similar and in some situations exactly the same. In cases of legal separation and divorce, most state courts can make provisions for:

1. Child Support

2. Child Custody

3. Visitation

4. Division of Marital Property

5. Spousal Support

6. The Marital Home

7. Health Insurance Benefits

Potato peels that look like Miley Cyrus, the world’s largest ball of twine, butter sculptures, or historic advertisements for Spam may not rate a room at the Louvre, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth seeing. Or laughing at.

For our weekly pursuit of fun, we asked Sandra Gurvis, author of "America’s Strangest Museums: A Traveler’s Guide to the Most Unusual and Eccentric Collections," to cite a few of her favorites for our FWW ladies.

Not only will these exhibits bring out the kid in you – you can take the kids too. Who knows? Your pint-sized Picasso may be inspired — and so will you.

The Museum of Bad Art , Massachusetts

“My kid could do that!” In this museum, it is true. The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) in Dedham, Massachusetts, south of Boston, boasts a collection of works by artists who go beyond the merely incompetent and soar into heights of banality, sloppiness, sentimentality, and pretentiousness.

MOBA presented its first show in March 1994, in someone’s basement. Since then, MOBA's collection and ambitions have grown exponentially. The collection is now housed in the basement of the Dedham Community Theater, next to the men’s room. Admission is free, and the art can be seen any time the movie theater is open. (Right now, “The Women” and “Nights in Rodanthe” are playing). Bonus: wine is sold at the refreshment stand. Best to consult the movie theater’s schedule for hours. The theater (and art museum) are at 580 High Street, Dedham, Massachusetts. New acquisitions can be seen at www.museumofbadart.org (or check out a charming example, right).

The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, Minnesota

Last week, I had my makeup done for the Skin Cancer Foundation Gala where I was a guest of honor and speaker.

Sitting robed and restless in a N.Y.C. salon two hours before the event, I worked on putting the final touches on my speech and my face in the hands of a staff makeup artist (difficult for a control freak like me but I needed rehearsal time ). She asked what look I wanted. “Bigger more dramatic eyes that would connect with the audience from the stage but not smudge if I got a little teary.”

When I finally looked up and into the mirror, my eyes were smoky and huge, highlighted with gold and fringed with individual fake lashes -- perfect for the over-the-top mood of a black tie party, but just not me. I did a quick fix in the ladies’ room, taking it down a notch with Q-tips and powder, pulled off the falsies, and had a great time.

Most women know that a well-done, clean eye makeup enhances their looks and their communication skills. Check out the current makeup of news anchors and women in the political arena -- eye makeup, not lips, are the focal point of the face.

Neutral shades work for everyone, are hard to overdo, and convey confidence whether you’re wrangling a settlement in divorce court, nailing that final bid for a new condo, or attending your college reunion. Experimenting beyond your comfort zone keeps you looking modern and contemporary but it does not have to be complicated.

Rethink and refresh your basics with one or all of these eye makeup changes. They’re easy and get the balance of news and flattery just right.

1. Get a Neutral Shimmer Eyeshadow

Divorced women are already financially strapped and, with all the doomsday reporting lately, they may be financially scared too. However, it is not as bad as you think. In fact, in all recessions and depressions, there were many girls who managed to ride it out to their benefit.

And let’s face it, divorced women are resourceful. With that in mind, FWW asked Tyler Mathieson, CNBC’s managing editor for business news and all-around financial brainiac, to offer six reasons you can navigate this financial hiccup.

• Smart girls know that you should have money in the bank below the FDIC insurance limit of $100,000. or have money in several banks. The good news is that the limit will rise from $100,000 to $250,000 if the Senate bail out bill is passed. If you have just gotten a cash settlement on your divorce that exceeds $250,000, it would still be wise to split it between banks.

• If you have followed the basic tenet of smart investing, you have diversified among different asset classes – stocks, bonds, precious metals, T Bills, real estate. If so, you would have lost less in the stock market right now, since that is just one class of investments. And remember, it is never too late to get smart. You can diversify now too.

• If you have good credit, and depending on how much you are asking for, you should still be able to get a mortgage or a bank loan. Banks want to do business right now but will cater to clients with a good credit history. They may also add incentives for opening an account and making deposits.

• Your credit score is a composite of a lot of things – but the most important factor is whether you are late in paying bills. That will impact 35 percent of your score. So make sure you pay your bills on time.

As of 2002, only seven states had extended child support to age 21 or beyond. In most others, court-ordered support ends when a child is 18 or finishes high school. Not surprisingly, analysis at Cornell University of a study of 27,000 high school students in the 80s and 90s showed that children of divorce were 40 percent less likely to apply to a selective college, and half as likely to attend.

It’s not just the lack of financial support, it is also the physical and emotional disruption that stalls some kids in their academic careers. Some see their grades fall, and never get back on the academic track. Others drift away from school, sports, and authority figures.

So, especially if you are a single mom, in this season when prep classes begins for SAT and ACT tests, when you are planning to haul your high school junior around the country to visit four-year colleges, when the college applications are filing your child’s inbox, and application fees are waiting to be paid, stop.

Although most parents would have a hard time admitting it – I did – not every child belongs in college. And a lot of kids should not go to college straight out of high school.

Putting yourself in the poor house trying to earn or borrow enough to send him or her to college is not a sound investment in your own future.

The average cost of a four-year college education at a public university or college right now is $75,000, including tuition, books, fees, room and board, and travel to school, but not including spring break, the new laptop, and a cute winter jacket. At a private institution, it’s $152,000.

Think you have a few years ahead of you to save that up? If your child starts college in the fall of 2016, the average cost of a public college four-year education will be $116,000, and a private college education, $237,000.

That’s a whole lot of spaghetti dinners for the next eight years. And no nights out.

Two hundred years ago, John Chapman's calling became clear — to spread apple trees across the American frontier. The entire country has benefited from the man known as Johnny Appleseed, because those apple trees spread with the country all the way to the Washington State. What is more American than apple pie? What is a cuter celebrity name than Apple, Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter. And what is sweeter than hearing you are the apple of someone’s eye. The Big Apple, anyone?

Fall is apple-picking time, and September is National Apple Month. Whether it's a weekend trip or a first date, apple picking is as American as it gets. FWW asked Nancy E. Foster, president of the U.S. Apple Association, a national trade association, for her five favorite areas in the US for picking apples. Here they are, along with our picks for the best orchards in each.

Hudson Valley, New York

Only an hour or two north of Manhattan, Empire and Red Delicious varieties beg to be picked. There are dozens and dozens of orchards, most open for pick-your-own on weekends through October. Favorite spots include the Wilkins Fruit Farm in Yorktown Heights, Westchester County; Fraleigh's Rose Hill Farm, which has been on these same rolling hills, and in the same family for 200 years, in Red Hook, Dutchess County (845) 758 4215; and the Mead Orchards, also in Dutchess County, in Tivoli. Late in the season, try the firm, juicy, sweet Macouns, an apple developed right in New York State.

Apple Hill, California