Category: FUN

Anything to do with fun & enjoyment

FUN

Words – how HAPPY are you right now?

Perhaps if one really knew when one was happy one would know the things that were necessary for one’s life. – Joanna Fieldhappy1

I re-discovered this book titled “Simple Abundance” by Sarah Ban Breathnach – “A Daybook of Comfort and Joy” given to me by a dear friend 14 years ago.  She inscribed on the inside cover “I hope that each day begins and ends with as much enlightenment and divine guidance as found in these pages.  I had read excerpts from the book every day right until the end and  just started re-reading through it once more – so much wisdom to be found on every page that I just had to share something for the New Year.  Beginning with this paragraph by Margaret Young:

Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so that they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.

happy5Here is a sampling from one of the January pages:

So,  how happy you are right now?  Do you even know? Most people know what makes their parents, partners or children happy. When it comes to an awareness about the little, specific things in life that bring a smile to our faces and contentment to our own hearts, we often come up short.  What is missing from many of our days is a true sense that we are enjoying the lives we are living.  It’s difficult to experience moments of happiness if we’re not aware of what it is we genuinely love.

We must learn to savor small, authentic moments that bring us contentment.  Experiment with a new cookie recipe.  Take the time to slowly arrange a bouquet of flowers in order to appreciate their colors, fragrance, and beauty.  Sip a cup of tea, pause for a few minutes to pet a purring cat.  Simple pleasures waiting to be enjoyed.  Simple pleasures often overlooked.

An good example: In 1926 a young Englishwoman, Joanna Field, began to feel that she was not living a truly authentic life, that she did not know what made her truly happy.  To remedy this she kept a journal in order to discover what specifically triggered the feeling of delight in her daily life.  The journal, A Life of One’s Own, was published in 1934.  It was written, she confided, in the spirit of a detective who searches through the minutiae of the mundane in hopes of finding clues for what was missing in her life.

Joanna Field discovered that she delighted in red shoes, good food, sudden bursts of laughter, reading in French, answering letters, loitering in a crowd at a fair and “a new life when first it was grasped.”

Let us each grasp a new idea this year – the awareness of what it is that makes us truly happy.

even if it's just a happy finger.
even if it’s just a happy finger.

Let us consider our personal preferences and learn how to recognize, then embrace, moments of happiness that are uniquely our own.

FUN

health MATTERS – Winter Whites

Permission to fill your plate with a little less color.

whiteFor years we’ve been told to “eat the rainbow,” on the theory that the more colorful our fruits and vegetables, the more nutrient-rich they are.  While that advice still holds, research reveals that certain pale foods – like cauliflower and celery root – have a lot to offer too, from helping ward off heart disease to boosting bone health.  And because many of these veggies are in peak season during cooler months, now is a great time to lighten up.

Let’s take three for now:

Celery Root – whether you boil it or eat it raw, this root vegetable offers more than twice the iron of a boiled potato, and at least 35 percent more fiber per cup.  Also contains more than 70% of your daily recommended intake of vitamin K.

Cauliflower – one cup of this cruciferous veggie packs 68 percent of your daily recommended allowance of Vitamin C.  The white florets also contain the nutrient choline, which the brain converts into a chemical that researchers believe may help to slow age-related memory loss.

Parsnips – a cup of cooked parsnips satisfies nearly 30 percent of the daily vitamin C needs and delivers more than 20 percent of the suggested intake of the mineral Manganese.  They also contain nearly 6 grams of fiber per cup (more than 22 percent of the daily recommended intake), helping you stay full a little longer.

Other great whites – garlic and horseradish.

So for tonight – mix your greens with white!

Taken from an article by Ashley Gartland – Feeling Good

FUN

Fab Fashion Folios – To Me

THE BEST FASHION BOOKS

Designers 1In Chinese Astrology, 2014 is the Year of the Horse. In the style world, it seems to be the year of the fashion tome. Penned by It girls and icons, these titles will look lovely on the coffee table of any style junkie.

Designers 2Stylel - St-TropezRoger VivierIMG_20131229_112343Paris Haute CoutureHitchcock StyleDavid WebbA privileged lifeKnow any?

Find more books of interest on Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/intrigueimports/under-the-covers-attention-grabbing-books/

FUN

beauty biz – YSL TOUCHE ÉCLAT

ysl2

WHAT IS IT?I use #2

TOUCHE ÉCLAT – Radiant Touch – by Yves Saint Laurent

A luminizing pen that brings light and radiance to the skin, immediately erases any signs of fatigue, and brightens the complexion.

This is what they have to say:

What it does:
Loved by models, makeup artists, celebrities, and women everywhere, the award-winning Yves Saint Laurent TOUCHE ÉCLAT Radiant Touch is like eight hours of sleep and an instant pick-me-up in a magic wand. With a few strategically placed strokes of TOUCHE ÉCLAT, the complexion immediately looks rested, rejuvenated, and radiant.

What else you need to know:
TOUCHE ÉCLAT banishes shadows and tired-looking eyes by adding light and creating an instant lift to the eye area. TOUCHE ÉCLAT widens eyes when used between the eyebrows and along the sides of the nose, and creates fuller looking lips when used in the hollow of the chin and around the contour of the lips. It’s formulated for all skin types and for anyone who wants instant radiance, luminosity, and lift.

And who doesn’t?

I use #2
I use #2

Watch the light battle at:

http://www.yslbeautyus.com/Touche-eclat/141YSL,default,pd.html

Have you tried it?  Let me know what you think.

FUN

Words…what works!

diet2

Here’s THE MOST SENSIBLE DIET TIP EVER (if you choose a SPECIFIC diet):

“The diet that works is the diet you stick with” –  end of story!  It doesn’t matter which one you follow.  Of course portion is key and exercise also important. – Gayle King interviewing Dawn Zier, CEO of Nutri System  on “CBS This Morning”   Jan/03/2014.

Diets, like clothes, should be tailored to you – Joan Rivers

More die in the United States of too much food than of too little.  ~John Kenneth Galbraith, The Affluent Society.  Sad but true.

SPOILER Alert: Albert Einstein, who discovered that a tiny amount of mass is equal to a huge amount of energy, which explains why, as Einstein himself so eloquently put it in a famous 1939 speech to the Physics Department at Princeton, “You have to exercise for a week to work off the thigh fat from a single Snickers.”  ~Dave Barry

My Favourite:

No diet will remove all the fat from your body because the brain is entirely fat.  Without a brain, you might look good, but all you could do is run for public office.  ~George Bernard Shaw

I’m not dieting, I’m just changing my eating habits” 

Choose what works for YOU!

FUN

Health MATTERS – Garcinia Cambogia

“The Holy Grail of weight loss” — this is how Doctor Oz describes Garcinia cambogia extract, a supplement that has taken the diet world by storm.

Ah, the infamous resolutions to eat healthy and exercise regularly, code words for “lose weight.” Generally, people use the holiday season as an excuse to binge one last time before the New Year.  Indulging in food & drink is one of life’s big pleasures but the after effects of over-indulging are not pleasureable.  So we scramble to find the quickest fix possible.

garcinia-cambogia-130828

But if you ask me, there’s really only one way to lose weight and keep it off, and that’s to adopt a healthy lifestyle. That includes eating nutritious meals and exercising daily.

However there are plenty of marketers out there who would vehemently disagree – because magic pills make money.  Acai berry, green tea extract and capsaicin all had their time in the spotlight.

Now, let’s explore a supplement that has exploded on the weight loss scene more recently: Garcinia cambogia – a natural appetite suppressant with amazing fat-blocking properties. The extract’s key ingredient promotes natural weight loss with no apparent side effects.

Where does it come from? Garcinia cambogia is a small, pumpkin-shaped fruit. You may know it as tamarind. The extract of the fruit is called hydroxycitric acid, and that is what the “magic pills” are made from. Do they work? Only time will tell.

The fruit Garcinia cambogia was once just the less popular cousin of a trendy fruit, the mangosteen. But now, nutritional supplements containing Garcinia cambogia extract have become the rage, touted for their purported ability to curb appetite and stop weight gain.

People have long used the dried rinds (gambooge) for chutneys or curries, and sometimes as an aid for stomach problems. But in the late 1960s, scientists identified a substance in the rind of the fruit called hydroxycitric acid, or HCA, which has some potentially attractive qualities.

If you do decide to hop on the latest bandwagon, whether it is garcinia cambogia or some other plant-based extract, proceed with caution. If you’re taking any prescription medications, talk to your doctor before adding any herbal supplement. There may be dangerous interactions or consequences to taking large doses.

Until we have more research to draw from, we can’t know what is truly safe.

Credit:  Deborah Herlax Enos is a certified nutritionist and a health coach and weight loss expert in the Seattle area with more than 20 years of experience. Some of this was taken from LiveScience. Read more tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry!

FUN

Personally speaking – nothing is impossible…

…and everything “Just Fabulous”The impossible collection of CARS - CopyThe Impossible collection of Fashion - CopyThe impossible collection of Motorcycles - CopyThe impossible Collection - Copy

Featuring MoMA Books & Gifts, the Jonathan Adler Collection & Assouline (the famous French publishing house based in Paris).

515 North Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, Calif.

bjustfabulous.com

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photos: debbie king