From National Geographic. I want to go “hide amongst the feet” too!
Underwater Sculpture: Silent Evolution
05 Monday Dec 2011
Posted in Travel
Foodiacs
02 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Food
Tags
artisan coffee, coffee, fair trde, foodiacs, gift box, organically grown coffee, organics, roasters
I love food. I love trying new and interesting foods and I’m totally into growing my own food. I also know there’s a million more people, just like me, out there. Now, there’s a community just for us. None of the snobby foodie blah de blah, but instead, high quality items, interesting events and real, delicious foods.
Enter Foodiacs. The site is tailored to people who are passionate about food and connects them with product offerings that are exclusive to the site. Each Foodiacs offering will be available for only a limited time, and at a limited quantity, and will not match any offer at any other online retail outlet.
“We recognize the quality and passion that goes into creating these artisan foods and want to bring lesser known but high quality items to the forefront of the food community in a unique way,” said Katie Clegg, chief eating officer of Foodiacs.com.
The current offering is Joe Bean Coffee Roasters, an artisan micro-roaster of exquisite coffees. Whether you’re a coffee connoisseur or just appreciate a good cup of coffee, you’re going to fall in love with Joe Bean. And, if you’ve got a coffee lover or two on your shopping list this holiday season, this is your moment to shine. The Taste of Nations Box includes three 12-oz. bags of their featured coffees that will transport you around the world:
Colombia Ocamonte: Grown in high altitudes in the Ocamonte region, this coffee has natural notes of caramel, nutmeg, honey and orange zest.
Sumatra ACEH: From the Permata Gayo cooperative in the ACEH region, this is an earthy coffee with natural notes of malted barley and raw sugar.
Ethiopia Sidama: A naturally processed coffee from the Oromia Cooperative in the Sidama region, this coffee has natural notes of blueberry, apricot and lemon.
All of the coffees included in this gift box are fair trade certified and have been organically grown. The coffee is roasted within 2-3 days of ordering and arrives whole-bean to ensure freshness.
How much better can buying a gift for your favorite coffee lover (even if that’s yourself) get?
Frugal Christmas Shopping
29 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in Cheap Girl
Christmas shopping has already begun–I know I’ve been working on creating my gifts for the past month or so. If you’re one who does all their shopping in stores, Andrea Woroch has a few tips for stiking to a budget and finding ways to make the Christmas Wallet Creep not quite so bad.
1. Is Black Friday Always Best?
The really good lost-leader deals are often limited to a small number of customers. These offers are simply there to lure shoppers into the stores, where you’ll hopefully overspend in a Black Friday frenzy. If you’re going to shop the day after Christmas, consider ShopSmart’s 5 Tips to Bag the Best Black Friday Bargains, and abstain from purchasing an extra sweater just because the price looks good.
2. How Late Can I Shop Online?
Procrastinating consumers have figured out that Free Shipping Day is the best way to get great prices without having to pay for delivery. Scheduled in it’s fourth year for Friday, Dec. 16, this one-day event allows consumers to shop from more than an anticipated 2,000 e-retailers and receive free shipping with delivery by Christmas.
3. What’s the Thriftiest Form of Payment?
If you’re going to hit the brick-and-mortar stores, it’s easier to stick to a budget if you only pay with cash. Even debit cards make it easy to overspend, a fact that likely won’t hit you until the monthly statement arrives. Having to part with actual greenbacks makes it much more real.
4. What Do I Do About Hard-to-buy-for People?
Begin shopping early to find the right present so you don’t just grab any old thing at the last minute. Summer art festivals are one great place to shop for those who have everything. Christmas ornaments also make a good gift, and the selection and prices are much better early in the season.
5. How Can I Best Use Credit Cards?
If you’re going to go the credit card route, use the one with the most favorable terms. Keep an eye on how much you’ve charged so you don’t get socked with a fee and higher interest rate for exceeding your credit limit.
Also keep track of how much you’ve charged. It’s so simple to just swipe and go, without thinking about the final bill. If you know the balance, it’s a lot easier to plan how you’re going to pay off the final total come January.
6. Do I Really Have to Make a List?
Yeah, yeah, you’ve heard it before, but nothing will keep costs lower than planning exactly who should be on your list and what you’re going to buy them. Keep an eye and ear cocked throughout the year for gift ideas and add them to the list. Of course, it’s better if you can knock some gifts out early by shopping throughout the year, but that advice is rarely well received.
7. What About Layaway?
Walmart revived their layaway program after five years, and that’s a really good thing. You’ll pay a small initiation fee to start-up an account, but you’ll also be able to pay-as-you-go, avoiding nasty interest rates on credit card charges.
Nor are layaway programs limited to brick-and-mortar stores. Kmart has initiated an online program that allows you to lock in early low prices on thousands of items, including everything from clothes to televisions. [Just watch your shipping if you're buying from Canada]
Have you got any tips for saving money on gifts to share?
Quit Bitching You Crybaby
28 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Life
Do you know someone who complains all the time, blames everyone else for her problems and will tell even the clerk in the checkout line just how lousy her life is? Time to suck it up, princess.
“I didn’t realize it at the time, of course, and honestly, no one does,” she said. “But I was that whiner. I complained incessantly about how horrible things were for me, how none of it was my fault and that there was absolutely nothing I could do change it. And I was convinced I was right.”
Then one day, after she’d sung her same old song of ‘poor me’ to her best friend, the friend paused and said, “Isn’t it great that for the rest of your life, no matter who you tell that story to, they’ll say ‘you poor thing.’ And you, my friend, can be a victim forever.”
“It stopped me in my tracks,” Renaye said. “It was definitely a defining moment, and I couldn’t get mad about it because I knew it was true.”
And that was when life began to change for Renaye, author of The Hardline Self Help Handbook—What Are You Willing to Do to Get What You Really Want?
“Choosing the hard-line approach to self improvement takes courage,” Renaye said. “It’s hard to take that first look in the mirror and not blink. But it’s absolutely essential. It’s also critical to remember that while this is about facing hard truths, it’s not about beating ourselves up over where we are in this moment. We’ve all made plenty of mistakes, and if we had time machines we’d probably go back for some do-overs. But we can’t, and keeping our shame and guilt fresh just keeps us stuck, feeling guilty and ashamed, which serves no one.”
Renaye calls part of her method the “Stick and Carrot” formula.
The Stick:
Denial + Delusion = Long-Term Increasing Pain. If you keep ignoring reality and continue to create delusions so you can live in denial, your pain will get worse. Even though it may give you the illusion of relief in the short term, reality always pops up and things go bad. At some point, one of two things will happen: you’ll either reach your personal threshold tolerance for pain and snap like a twig; or you’ll give up and become sad and bitter, blaming others and perpetually complaining to anyone who’ll listen.
The Carrot:
Self Respect + Action = Joy. Freeing yourself from an unhappy situation will not only relieve you of that internal turmoil, but will also clear a space for joy that you can’t have now because your energy is focused on avoiding pain. Once you make friends with reality, reclaim your self-respect and do what you need to do, you’ll be amazed at how good you feel and wonder why you didn’t do it sooner. You’ll also be amazed at how much time there is for fun and happiness, since your world no longer revolves around how you can fix or spin your unhappy situation. In your new reality, you don’t need a spin doctor to make things “seem” okay, because you’ll be living in and enjoying every moment.
“Unfortunately, until we’re forced, most of us stay right where we are, tolerating what we know we need to change and making excuses for why we can’t,” she added. “The bottom line is whatever you find yourself continually complaining about, either make changes or admit you don’t want to and shut up about it. It’s the only way to get what you really want, which is to be happy.”
Gives you something to think about, doesn’t it?
Worldwide Healing Mantra
26 Saturday Nov 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
This is so beautiful, I sincerely hope it can reach everyone in the world and help to heal even some of us. We, as a people, need so much healing.
Vanilla Cinnamon Apples
25 Friday Nov 2011
One word: Drool.
’nuff said.
Vanilla Cinnamon Apples
Serves 4
4 baking apples
3 tbsp. butter
¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 tsp. Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. allspice
1 tbsp. brandy
¼ cup raisins
¼ cup walnuts
Pinch of salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat the bottom of a shallow baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each apple so it will stand upright. Scoop out the core of each apple from the top down with the small end of a melon ball cutter, making sure not to core all the way through the apple.
Combine the butter, brown sugar and vanilla paste in a medium saucepan and cook over low heat until the butter is melted, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and stir in the cinnamon, allspice, brandy, raisins, walnuts and salt. Fill the apples with equal amounts of the filling using a teaspoon. Place the apples in the prepared baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes or until caramelized and fork tender.
A Day in the Life…
24 Thursday Nov 2011
Posted in Travel, Uncategorized
of a yoga retreat. I can’t wait to go here… it looks so amazingly peaceful.
Three Jewels Yoga and Surf Retreats from Three Jewels Retreats on Vimeo.
Seriously??
23 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Taking a brief break from the Ed Cal – this needed to be shared. Are you fucking KIDDING me? One student should change while the bullies go on about their lives? FFS.
Look Fabulous for Less
22 Tuesday Nov 2011
Posted in Cheap Girl
Being a girl is spendy. There is no getting around it, especially when you have to be in public! I just went from working at home to actually needing to look presentable and man, it costs a lot just to wake up in the morning.
Andrea Woroch, a MissManifesto favourite consumer spending expert has some good tips on saving money on your daily routines.
1. Hair Products
Consider extending the life of your shampoo (and hair color) by using dry shampoo or baby powder in between washes. [Also check out Lush hair products. They may seem expensive off the top, but a 500 ml bottle will last you approximately 12 months.]
2. Hand Soap
Foam hand soap is all the rage these days, and one of the easier beauty products to DIY. Refer to EHow.com’s recipe for specific instructions, but ultimately all you need is a lot of water, a bit of soap and a few drops of essential oil.
3. Makeup Brushes
In addition to extending the life on pricey makeup applicators, regularly cleaning your brushes is just the sanitary thing to do. And if you really need replacements, consider a tip given to me by a MAC Cosmetics artist; buy art brushes at craft stores for a fraction of the price!
4. Foundation
Whether you’re a liquid, powder or mineral foundation girl, you can use less of this beauty staple by applying a base before application. The Magic Perfecting Base by L’Oreal is a favorite among top fashion magazines, and is available for less than $12 from Walmart and Target.
5. Fragrance
Let’s be honest — designer fragrances are among the most expensive beauty purchases, with $80 buying less than 6 ounces of product. If you can’t part with your signature Chanel scent, buy gift cards at a discounted rate for retailers selling your fragrance and enjoy immediate savings.
6. Body Lotion
Moisturizing is a must for anyone who wants to avoid the shar pei-look at 50, but lotion gets pricey when you see the words “illuminating,” “firming” or “age-defying” on the label. Unless you have a serious skin issue, consistent use of most drugstore moisturizers is sufficient.
7. Hair Color
Prolong your color-treated hair between salon visits using household ingredients. Brunettes can use a strong pot of cooled coffee and blonds can use a lemon juice-water mixture. Apply the treatment after shampooing, let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse, condition and style as usual.
8. Hair Accessories
Today’s trendy hair accessories can be homemade for a fraction of salon and department store prices. Channel your inner domestic goddess and create one-of-a-kind hair candy with beads, feathers and artificial flowers found in craft stores. [The Bust DIY Guide to Life has some good tips in there for this as well.]
9. Less is More
There’s no need to wear your entire cosmetics collection every day of the week. Consider giving your wallet a break by opting for the basics during mellow workdays or lazy weekends. For tips on how to pull off the “au natural” look, refer to Real Simple’s step-by-step instructions.
Curating Change
21 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Life
The International Museum of Women has one of the most inspiring exhibits I’ve ever experienced, and it’s changing and growing all the time.
Called Curating Change, this series of features by Guest Curators on the global issues that matter most to them. The curators are women I personally haven’t heard of but who everyone certainly should know about.
Women like Abigail Disney, the executive director of the PBS series, “Women, War and Peace”; Hafsat Abiola is a human rights and democracy advocate from Nigeria and the founder of the Kudirat Initiative for Democracy, an organization dedicated to promoting democracy in Nigeria. Jennifer Siebel Newsom an activist, filmmaker, and former first lady of San Francisco. Her documentary Miss Representation exposes how mainstream media contributes to the under-representation of women in positions of influence.
There are five collections at the moment, representing the curator’s selections on justice, representation, connectedness, equlaity and women, war and peace.
These are some strong, smart women. Their selections are staggering. This image is taken in Bosnia in 2005 and is part of the collections from Abigail Disney called Ordinary Lives. Heartbreaking and conciousness raising.
