Merry Christmas!

A Week of Worthy Advent Activities

As we count down the days left to Christmas it's good to stop and reflect on what we have really done to get ready. (Besides the shopping, the wrapping, the baking,etc.) Here is a list of things we can do to make our final days to Christmas really count. (taken from an old issue of Woman's Day magazine)

Sunday--Give something away.

We all have some things we are using that someone else could. I have a winter coat hanging in a closet that I know could keep someone else warm.

Monday--Shop consciously.

I know Walmart has great prices but can we buy US not China-made? Buy fair-trade coffee and chocolate. Think green and help our planet.

Tuesday--Read for inspiration.

Find an e-newsletter for an organization whose mission you admire. (Have you got one you could share with us?)

Wednesday--Click for good.

Do your online shopping at charity malls such as igive.com and buyforcharity.com. I must admit I was not aware of these...

Thursday--Spread the word.

Your children can check out Kind News Online(kindnews.org) which teaches kids about animal welfare. Tell your hairstylist about Cut It Out (cutitout.org), a program that helps salon staff identify domestic abuse victims or check out some happy news we all could use (happynews.com)

Friday--Be a silent Samaritan

Shovel the snow for a neighbor while they are gone. Leave treats (anonymously) for a friend, do a kind act for someone without getting credit for it.

Saturday--Support local programs.

Put some money in the red kettles, donate to Toys for Tots, buy a little something at the grocery store for the food shelf.

It's easy this time of year to get a little stressed (if you ask my husband he would probably say a "little"? when he describes me...). I think doing something good each day will help me stay focused on what Christmas should really be about. Are you in?

Ways to Share the Joy

I have some of H. Jackson Brown Jr.'s books including Life's Little Instruction Book and The Little Book of Christmas Joys. I found an old article from Family Circle magazine that listed "25 ways to share the joy" written by this author. Here are a few of them...
*Mend a broken relationship with a friend or relative during the holidays
*Take a family photo in the same spot each year. You'll have a wonderful record of the
growth of your family.
*Tell your children about Christmas when you were their age.
* Tip someone that doesn't expect it.
* On a clear night, find the bright North Star and recall the story of the Three Wise Men.
* Open Christmas cards as a family each night at the dinner table. Read the messages aloud.
* Write letters to several people who have had a positive influence on you. Thank them for 
this gift.
* Don't try to do everything yourself. Remember even Santa has helpers!
* Remember that the greatest holiday gift is a home filled with the people you love.

Wordless Wednesday

When will I get my own phone?

Displaying Your Photos in Your Home

Trying to decide where you are going to put your photos and what will look best in your home? Here are some ideas to help…

• Canvas – You can order beautiful canvases stretched over varying thicknesses of wood to make it stand out more or less depending on your preference. These photos are free-floating and do not require a frame. 

• Framed on Wall – Dress your photos up with stylish frames to match your home décor. 
• When hanging photos on your wall (framed or canvas) you can choose to hang a single photo, or a group of photos in a collage to change it up.

• Framed on Shelves, Desks, Tables – If you are renting or don’t want to put holes in your walls from prints or canvases, you can also frame your prints and place them on shelves, desks, or tables around your home. (You can also do this in addition to the wall hangings if you’d like.) 

• Photo Boxes – Customized photo boxes are totally in! These are very popular. This is a great way to display your photos, and you can keep more prints inside or use them as a keepsake box to house your precious memories. 

• Wall Calendars – Enjoy your photos all year long with a beautiful wall calendar. 

• Albums/Coffee Table Books – If you just can’t pick out a few photos to display in your home and you need more space, you can always get an album printed up and place it on your coffee table or bookshelf. Pull it out and look through it to remember how fun your session was, and how much your family loves each other. 

• Computer Screensaver

Happy Thanksgiving!

Remembering

We have just finished celebrating Halloween. I was in Walmart and Target today and the Christmas decorations have already replaced the orange and black. As we look ahead to celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas here's another reason to celebrate.

In her book Living Juicy, SARK says we should "learn to celebrate ourselves. Each of us is outrageously wonderful and delightfully imperfect." We are pretty much untrained to be "self-celebrators". We are often told not to get a big head or be selfish. We forget how we celebrated little things when we were children. (It was a big deal to find a little frog or celebrate rain by stomping in puddles!)

Have you ever stopped to celebrate yourself? Baked a cake in your own honor? I think sometimes as women we got so caught up in celebrating others we never think to "celebrate ourselves". We are so caught up in looking good, achieving more that we don't think about being imperfect as being delightful! So I think we need to stop and plan a celebration!!

I think I am going to write a little tribute to myself in my journal. No one else has to read it but just writing it for myself with validate that I am outrageously wonderful! What are you going to do to celebrate YOU?

Happy Halloween!

A Time for Change

We live in a time where the groaning need and dividedness of humankind is especially to be felt and recognized. Countless people are subjected to hatred, violence and oppression which go unchecked. The injustice and corruption which exist today are causing many voices to be raised to protest and cry out that something be done. Many men and women are being moved to sacrifice much in the struggle for justice, freedom, and peace. There is a movement afoot in our time, a movement which is growing, awakening.

Yet this terrific human need and burden of the times causes us to see how weak and powerless we are to change this. Then we must see that if we are to advocate change, we must start with ourselves. We must recognize that we as individuals are to blame for social injustice, oppression, and the downgrading of others, whether personal or on a broader plane. We must see that a revolution must take place against all that destroys life. This revolution must become a revolution different from any the world has ever seen. God must intervene and lead such a revolution with his Spirit and his justice and his truth.~Dwight Blough from the introduction to When the Time was Fulfilled (1965)

It's amazing to me that this is still so true today--maybe even more so. I wonder what God must think when He looks down at us and sees such utter disregard for life. God bless the victims of Pittsburg and the people that mourn them.

The Autumn Blues

This time of year it's hard not to get the autumn blues. Here in MN we've lost not only our warm temps but hours of daylight. If you're like me, you might need some help to chase away those blues.
*Try lighting a candle. It's warmth and encouragement will help to add some light to the dark evenings of autumn. I like to use a fall aroma such as pumpkin spice, cranberry or cinnamon. (An alternative to using a lit candle would be to try a reed diffuser. You'll get the wonderful fragrance but not the light and warmth.)
*Make a cup of herbal tea or hot chocolate. It's a pleasure just to hold the warm cup!
*Take a soothing bath. A warm soak after a chilly day is just what you need. Using oats in your bath is a terrific way to soothe the skin.
*Dig out the warm, fuzzy socks and slippers. Keeping your feet warm helps you feel warm all over.
*Keep exercising. This seems like a chore sometimes and I think I just don't have the energy. In reality, if you exercise, you'll have more energy to fight off those blues. Add some of your favorite music to get motivated.
*Spend more time with your favorite people. This is a great time to snuggle up with someone special!
These are just a few ways to make the days of autumn go by just a little faster. Soon it will be the holidays and that's a subject for another day!

Wordless Wednesday

Whatcha lookin' at?

A Beautiful Mind

Looking after the health of your mind is an important part of your road to balance and well-being. Maintaining mental health is extremely important. Here are some ways to make your mind beautiful to match your beautiful body.

Improve your diet: What you eat and drink can protect against feelings of anxiety and depression. Cut back on refined sugar, white flour and alcohol.
Maintain friendships: Just listening and talking to friends who are feeling down can make a huge difference-for you and for them. With email and cell phones you have no excuse not to!

Exercise: The effects of exercise on mood are immediate. Whether it is a workout in the gym or a simple walk or bike ride, exercise is uplifting and a can be a great social activity.
Rest: Sleep is essential to our health. Sleeping is the time when the body can renew and rebuild its physical and mental energy. If you have problems relaxing and falling asleep, perhaps a drop of Lavender essential oil on your pillowcase can help you find your peace.
Laugh: A good laugh does amazing things for the mind and soul. Cry: It's good to let everything out of your system and to release pent up feelings. Most of the time, we feel much better after we have allowed ourselves to cry.
Take a bath: The mental health benefits of a comforting bath are well known. Allow yourself to escape in a soothing aroma infused bath. It will help you reset and re-energize. Try our Stress Relief Blend in your ritual and experience the power of the bath.
Make time for you: Make time for your hobbies and interests. Scheduling time for yourself is sometimes hard, but it will increase a positive attitude and self image.

Wordless Wednesday

Usually the heels come off first!

Skin Care 101

*Cleansing your face shouldn’t be complicated. Experts say you just need one gentle face soap. Products should be formulated for the face, not the body and shouldn’t contain deodorant, antiseptics or ideally, fragrance.

*Nighttime is the best time for skin to rejuvenate. While you’re sleeping, your skin repairs itself. When applying tap or pat softly to help ingredients penetrate your skin.

*Remove your eye make-up before washing your face. Avoid too much rubbing of your delicate eye area.

*Moisturizing your skin right after cleansing will help lock in hydration.

*Skin irritated? Try using a washcloth soaked in cold soy milk. Leave compress on for about 10 minutes. The soy milk will calm and soothe your skin.

Wordless Wednesday

Follow me into this Garden of Eden.

Remedies for Chapped Skin

Remedies for Chapped Skin

It’s hard to believe that winter is fast approaching when we’ve had such nice weather the past few weekends!  This weekend in MN it feels like winter is creeping in. Our autumn weather is going to change and so will the condition of our skin.  Here are some tips to deal with winter skin.           

 Remedies for Chapped Skin

• In winter, use a humidifier or place bowls of water near the heater to counteract the moisture loss created by central heating. 
• A healthy diet is essential for healthy skin. Here is where fruits and veggies come in. Vitamin C is required for collagen production; beta-carotene is converted into vitamin A, a substance essential for maintaining skin tissue; vitamin E is vital for skin condition; and vitamin B helps repair the skin. 
• Get sufficient sleep as the skin's cellular repair activity is at its optimum during this resting phase. 
• Exercise benefits skin as it boosts circulation and encourages blood flow. Regular exercise will nourish and cleanse your skin from within. 
• Dry brush skin in the mornings to stimulate circulation and the sebaceous glands. 
• At bedtime use a moisturizer on your face and a lotion/moisturizing cream on your hands and feet. 
• Limit the use of soap, because soap dissolves the fats from the skin and takes them away from the surface.
• 15 minutes of sun exposure in the early morning or late afternoon is healthy for the skin, and activates the production of vitamin D in the body which, in turn, will promote healthy skin. Here in MN because of the reduced sunlight this time of year a Vitamin D supplement is recommended.
• Half an hour before you take your bath, massage yourself with a bath oil or if taking a shower, apply a bath oil immediately after. Blot yourself dry; do not rub vigorously with a bath towel. 
• Wear gloves in cold weather to help prevent chapped hands.

Cheap Beauty Tips

In this troubled economy people everywhere are looking to save money. I’ve compiled a list of ways to be beautiful by spending little or no money.  Take a look…

1. When you get to the bottom of your perfume or cologne and it won't spray out anymore, pour it into your body wash or an unscented moisturizer to get more use out of it

2. Shave with conditioner instead of shaving cream. You can buy cheap conditioner for less than a dollar. Spread a little bit on your legs, shave, and in one motion, you have smooth and moisturized legs. It softens the hair, moisturizes the skin, and does not clog the razor. For a shaving cream alternative, always buy the cheapest shaving foam/cream, even men's! It doesn't matter what the bottle looks like or what it smells like because it gets washed off anyway. 

3. Take a bit of honey and spread on your face in an upward motion, rinse after a couple of minutes. It will give your skin a glow and moisturize your face as well. 

4. Exercise is free. Thirty minutes of exercise five days a week will enhance all aspects of beauty. Endorphins are released and your skin glows, muscle tone improves and attitude is enhanced. Exercise helps you relax overall, which in turn eases tension in your face (think fewer crow’s feet and expression lines). 

5. An apple-cider vinegar rinse works like a clarifying shampoo and leaves your hair with great shine.

6. Use regular olive oil to get skin super soft. Put a few drops on a cotton ball, and dab on flaky spots, avoiding any breakout zones.

7. If you saw a video of yourself sitting at your computer or watching television, you'd probably be surprised by how you hold your face. Make an effort to soften your expression, since over the years your face will carve itself along those lines. As Coco Chanel once said, "Nature gives you the face you have at twenty. Life shapes the face you have at thirty. But at fifty you get the face you deserve." 

8. Give a new life to an old pink, rose, or peach lipstick (depending on your preference and skin tone) and dab with fingers like a cream blush on the apples of your cheeks (blending well, of course).

9. A drop of olive oil rubbed nightly into your nails will help them grow long and strong and is cheaper than shop-bought manicure oils.

10. Dry brushing the skin (whole body) before showering or taking a bath exfoliates, detoxifies, stimulates circulation, tones, tightens, invigorates and helps with cellulite. All you need is a soft natural fiber body brush with a long handle. ( You can get one at Walmart for just a few dollars.)

11. In ancient civilizations, they used milk in their bath water to soften their skin. You can try this trick, too. Use powdered milk in your bath and you’ll find that your skin feels softer.

Do you have any tricks to save money and still be beautiful? 

Wordless Wednesday

Voted one of the world's best beaches. (Oregon)

Wordless Wednesday

Thank you to all the Little Free Libraries for encouraging us to share our favorite books!

Sun Safety

One way to be safe is to avoid tanning and use a self-tanner. After seeing a co-worker with streaks down her legs, I thought I’d offer some tips for getting the perfect “tan”.

**Take a quick shower or bath (don't soak) and exfoliate your skin, either with a washcloth or body scrub. Don't over scrub, but do pay extra attention to your knees, ankles, feet, elbows, and neck. This will help achieve a uniform appearance since self-tanners grab on to dry surface skin cells. Your tan will look more even and will last longer. Now is the time to shave your legs if you have to, because you shouldn’t shave or wax your legs for a few days after the application of a self-tanner. 

** Your skin must be completely dry to get the best results. Do not apply self-tanner in a steamy, hot bathroom or on a humid, hot day. The heat and moisture in the bathroom can cause you to start to sweat and the self tanner can melt and drip which will cause streaks. Also,wait until your body has cooled down after your shower. Hot skin will have the same affect.

**Apply a thin layer of lightweight moisturizer over the areas where you will be applying self-tanner. This will help the self-tanner glide on without clinging to dry patches.

**To avoid streaks on your legs when using a self-tanner , rub on tanner in a horizontal motion, rather than a vertical one.

**Wait AT LEAST 15 minutes before getting dressed. Remember that self-tanner can stain clothes. Color will show up after approximately 2 hours, not immediately

**For a realistic-looking tan, skip body parts that wouldn’t tan in the sun, like your inner arms.

**Dilute by half on the areas prone to dark spots. Your knees, ankles and elbows are usually first to show if you don’t apply correctly. Mix half self tanner and half moisturizer for a more natural look.

**Never apply body self-tanner, tanning lotion or body bronzer to your face. Buy a special facial self-tanner.  After tanning your face, take a wet cotton swab to eyebrows and rub out any tanner residue. Also, rub a moistened cotton ball across your hairline where tanners tend to build up during application. This will ensure a no-tell perfectly tanned face. Never wear foundation, face powder, eyeshadows or lipstick when applying self-tanner.

**To maintain your new tan and to make it last longer reapply the tanning product every week or every three to four days.

** To keep self-tanning color from staining nails, cuticles and palms, coat your hands with petroleum jelly.

WHEW, that’s a lot of information. Hopefully, you’ll be able to get a tan that looks like you just stepped off the plane from Hawaii!  It’s guaranteed to be better for you skin than sun-bathing or using a tanning booth.

Happy Mother's Day

Sandal Weather is Here!

     Are your tootsies looking their best?  Here are some tips to give yourself a pedicure at home.  It feels so good and your feet will look great!

*Take a bowl or dishpan and fill it with warm to hot water. Give yourself the hottest water your feet can take for optimum softening of the tough heel skin, and to promote relaxation. 

*While feet are wet, use a foot scrub to soften the calluses built up during everyday exercise and ordinary tasks. Be gentle. If the tough skin on your feet has been building up over a few years, realize that it may take a few weekly pampering pedicures to bring your feet back to softness. If feet are really rough, a pumice stone will also help. 

*Rinse foot scrub off feet. Feet can soften in the footbath for a total of about five minutes, or until water is too cool for enjoyment. Gently dry off feet with a towel. 

*While skin and nails are soft, take a few minutes to gently push back toe nail cuticles with an angled cuticle stick. Use big toe nail clippers to cut toe nails straight across. Don’t clip them too short for this can cause problems with ingrown toe nails as the cut nails grow back. 

*Now for the foot massage. If you are giving yourself a pedicure, don't skip this step. Massaging feet increases blood circulation, relaxes muscles and relieves aches and pains. Any lotion or cream will do but using a peppermint oil foot cream brings added benefits: the peppermint also promotes blood circulation in the foot, and overpowers lingering foot odor.  

*When polishing toe nails start with a clear base coat. This will help to prevent  yellowing on the toenails resulting from dark polish painted directly on the nail. Two coats of color will help the nails stay attractive for up to two weeks. Finish with a protective top coat to keep your pedicure looking great.  If you are really creative, you could add some nail art before your last top coat!

Words to Live By

ANYWAY  

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.  
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.  
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.

 If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest anyway.  
What you spend years building, someone may try to destroy overnight. Build anyway.  
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.  
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.  
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough. Do it anyway.  
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God.  
It was never between you and them, anyway. - Anonymous

This seems like a great list of easy things to do to make life better for all!

Wordless Wednesday

What we wouldn't give for a little bit of Spring!

Younger Looking Skin Ideas

Touching my newborn great nephew's baby-soft skin made me wish that my skin would still be so soft.   Well, I can’t guarantee these tips will give you skin like a baby but they might help you have much younger looking and softer skin. 

Use sunscreen!!  This past weekend I was at a gathering of family.   I noticed some people that had been traveling came back with sunburns!  Using a sunscreen of 30 not only protects you from UVB, the rays that cause sunburn but also UVA, the rays that cause fine wrinkles.  Sunscreens that contain vitamins C and E are great.  Apply at least one ounce to all exposed areas.

Not Just Your Face!  We pay a lot of attention to our face but often neglect our hands, neck and chest.  These can give away your age.  Whatever you put on your face put on your hands, neck and chest too.  This also means sunscreen.

Get your zzzzz’s!  Your skin renews it cells while you sleep. For deeper sleep relax your mind and body before going to bed.  Soaking in a hot tub can help you fall asleep faster.  Listening to soft music before turning in improves sleep quality too. Putting away electronics an hour before bedtime will also help.

Clean your face and moisturize!  It’s important to wash off make-up and grime each evening.  Use a gentle facial soap, follow up with a good toner and moisturizer.  Your face, hands, neck and chest can use a little extra pampering while you sleep.

These are pretty easy tips to follow, don't you think?

Wordless Wednesday

What we here in MN wouldn't give for a day like this right now!!