What’s IN store – a SHOP-EAU-HOLIC comes to her senses

Let’s get personal. Our fragrance says a lot more about us than we think!

What aspect of our characters do we want to project to the world? Feminine, sexy, bold, down-to-earth, tomboyish, loud, exciting, etc.

My Ana Sui “dreams” signature scent is running low and short of trying to locate the *discontinued fragrance with heavenly vanilla & lavender notes online, maybe I should consider something new. I’ve tried the Jasmine & Bergamot and Vanille & Narcisse Eau de Toilettes by L’Occitane which both smelled exquisite but ended up becoming too overpowering. On the hunt…

*(I hate when they discontinue things we love – but more on this in my beauty post.)

I’m looking for something feminine but a little exotic, not overpowering but sophisticated. Italian, Japanese & Indian cuisine are among my favorite foods but I also enjoy a good steak once in a while, the colors pink & blue and vacations anywhere tropical. What does have to do with anything? You’ll find out. What does this say about me? I’m a bit all over the map. How about you?

Finding a new fragrance should be a guided experience, like a wine tasting, according to the owner of a cozy little boutique in Soho where signature scents are discovered one confession at a time.

MiN was opened by proprietors Chad Murawczk and Mindy Yang in 2010 selling dozens of indie and limited-distribution scents from around the world. With so many scents to choose from, visitors need a little direction. That’s where MiN’s Bespoke Fragrance Flight comes in: the $250 hour-long, one-on-one consultation includes an interview and multiple rounds of recommendations, from which you can whittle your way to a signature spritz. Questions like where did you grow up, what are your favorite foods, colors, treasured vacations, current romantic status, and – possibly the most probing question of all – what do you want to convey to the world?

This is kind of like therapy except that you end up exploring multitudes of fruits, florals and spices. You can take about five favorites and a couple wild card sample vials to try out at home. A lot of times clients get stopped on the street and that determines their final choice – a random compliment. For one client the chosen fragrance is an escape from the stress of New York – the special blend of citrus, wood, moss and sea-salt conjuring up memories of childhood summers spent sailing on Washington’s Puget Sound. It was that blissful carefree memory that sold her in the end. That’s the power of using your common scents.

We don’t all live in New York, but we may want to try blending in once in a while.

Is there a local fragrance bar in your area?

FUN

quotes on breathing

“and I wonder if Beethoven held his breath
the first time his fingers touched the keys
the same way a soldier holds his breath
the first time his finger clicks the trigger.
We all have different reasons for forgetting to breathe.” – Andrea Gibson

“Sometimes it’s the same moments that take your breath away that breathe purpose and love back into your life.” – Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience.

“Remember to breathe. It is after all, the secret of life.” – Gregory Maguire, A Lion Among Men.

“Your breathing should flow gracefully, like a river, like a watersnake crossing the water, and not like a chain of rugged mountains or the gallop of a horse. To master our breath is to be in control of our bodies and minds. Each time we find ourselves dispersed and find it difficult to gain control of ourselves by different means, the method of watching the breath should always be used.” – Thich Nhat Hanh, The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation.

What’s the good of drawing in the next breath if all you do is let it out and draw in another? – Marilyn Monroe

FUN

B well – with water (sparkling vs regular)

Is sparkling water as healthy as regular water?

With the rise of home soda makers, many of us are drinking more of the bubbly and less of the still. Is that alright?

Sparkling water is often cited as one of those healthy drinks you’re supposed to switch to when you quit sugary soda. It’s sugar-free and calorie-free, and it hydrates. Still, murky rumors abound online about its potential health drawbacks, including that it erodes tooth enamel, saps calcium from the bones, and leads to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). And, I wondered, what if you drink a lot of it? Is ingesting all that carbonation really good for us? In a nutshell….

Forget everything you heard about leaching minerals and eroding tooth enamel—it’s just water with bubbles. Sigh of relief.

Still, here are takes from two nutrition experts:

The news was good: We’re used to thinking of bubbly drinks as being bad for us – hello, soda – but carbonated water is basically harmless.

“If somebody doesn’t like the taste of water, they shouldn’t be concerned if sparkling is all they’re drinking,” said Manhattan-based nutritionist Keri Gans, RDN, CND. “Sparkling water is just as hydrating. All it is is added carbonation.”

However, there are a few things to watch out for:

Sneaky sodium and sugar: Not all clear, sparkling drinks are automatically healthy. Tonic water contains added sodium and sugar, Gans notes. Bottled club soda may also contain added sodium, so be sure to check out the nutrition label.

Flavors: All those little flavor packets that come with your home carbonator may not be so healthy, if they contain added sugar and calories. “That’s what you need to watch out for,” Gans said. “If you’re drinking more water but each and every time you’re adding a soda mix, before you know it it could equal a soda.”

Americans are already pretty bad when it comes to drinking their calories, so don’t let your choice of water make it worse. Try flavoring your still or sparkling water with mint leaves, cucumber, lemon and lime slices, or fresh fruit. Pretend you are at a fancy spa. It’s fun!

Carbonated water has no calories, no dissolved sugar, no alcohol, and no caffeine. It hydrates, just like plain water does. Drinking seltzer, club soda, or sparkling mineral water will not leach calcium from your bones, strip the enamel off your teeth, or make your thighs look like cottage cheese. Unless you have a medical condition that specifically precludes drinking carbonated beverages, enjoy it if so inclined. And if the thought of buying yet more stuff in plastic bottles or metal cans makes you nuts, think about getting one of those home carbonation gizmos like the SodaStream. If I had the counter space, I’d buy one in a New York minute. (And no, I’m not on the company’s payroll.)

Taken from: NY daily news & takepart.com

Also, **Don’t miss listening to “Transforming Health” with host Brad King for the most evocative and informative up-to-the-minute interviews with leading health professionals – Live every Wednesday @ 12PM-PST/3PM-EST on VoiceAmerica.com – #1 internet radio station in North America.

Here’s the link: http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1686/transforming-health

FUN

Personally speaking – is there a special technique to breathing?

We all do it on average 20,000 times a day – but are we doing it right? Should we be concerned?Unless the afterlife has wifi I presume that you’re alive and reasonably well if you’re reading this post. I can also assume that you breathe well enough to live. What could you possibly be missing? With a growing list of other life concerns is there a good chance we aren’t even breathing correctly? Is there a specific zen-like technique?

Makes sense to slow it down & breathe deeply in a yoga class or while meditating but what about general day to day activities? What about when you have a doctor or dentist appointment and your heart races and your breathing increases. How do you handle the anxiety?

Why is breathing properly important?

While most of us never give breathing a second thought, the way you draw breath can affect your physical and mental well being.

Breathing properly can reduce your stress levels, improve your workouts and boost your immunity to infections and illnesses. Poor breathing can lead to panic attacks and even conditions like insomnia and depression.

Breathing correctly means that our bodies are being supplied with the right amount of oxygen, replenishing our brain and other vital organs with essential nutrients.

If you are not breathing correctly, your body can be robbed of oxygen, leading to a host of conditions.

Your skin can suffer as it is not receiving enough fresh oxygenated blood, your muscles can tire easily during a workout as they are not getting the right amount of oxygen and you can feel constantly tired and lethargic because there are not enough vital nutrients being carried in the blood.

Breathing incorrectly can also affect the levels of carbon dioxide – or CO2 – in the blood. While oxygen is important for our bodies to function properly, CO2 is just as vital.

Fiona Agombar, a yoga teacher and author, explains, ‘You need a balance of oxygen and carbon dioxide. If you breathe too fast, you breathe off too much carbon dioxide, which, in turn, will make your whole system too alkaline.

‘A certain level of CO2 is necessary for your cells to maintain the correct level of acidity and to function properly.’

How can I breathe correctly?

To breathe properly, you need to use your diaphragm, the large sheet-like muscle that lies at the bottom of the chest cavity.

Slow, rhythmic breathing will help regulate the flow of oxygen and CO2, slow the heart rate – easing anxiety – and ensure your circulation is carrying the optimum amount of nutrients around the body.

Regulating your breathing will also help boost your performance during aerobic exercise as your muscles will be fully replenished with the right amounts of energy-giving oxygen.

Taken in part from the daily mail – uk

Breathe

By Leo Babauta

Breathe.

If you feel overwhelmed, breathe. It will calm you and release the tensions.

If you are worried about something coming up, or caught up in something that already happened, breathe. It will bring you back to the present.

If you are moving too fast, breathe. It will remind you to slow down, and enjoy life more.

Breathe, and enjoy each moment of this life. They’re too fleeting and few to waste.

FUN

Beauty – in the BAG

I really love Japanese skin care products.

The Japanese are known for being steps ahead when it comes to technology and trends, and the same goes for their skin care. Japanese skin care products are some of the best in the world.

Many of the products are not easily found here in North America. Of course we already know about Shiseido, Shu Uemura (we swear by their eyelash curler) & Clé de Peau (the Concealer is a perennial makeup artist favorite).

A friend recently returned from a trip to Japan and brought me this little bag containing *rice bran extract which is used to hydrate and tone skin. It’s from a store called “Yojiya” in Kyoto (the area where I once followed Geishas). The Japanese name is Nukabukuro and it’s a face/body wash in a small cotton bag with an excellent cleansing & moisturizing effect when you massage your skin with it. The rice bran extract is filtered through the cotton bag which gradually moisturizes your skin while the gentle massaging effect of the cotton fiber helps to tone your skin texture. First you must run the bag under warm water until it fully absorbs and you keep using it until it’s all gone. *Rice Bran Extract is a natural botanical rich in vitamins and antioxidants.

Also, the best blotting papers ever – of course, the Japanese invented them. Centuries ago, in the early 1600’s, the women and men in Japan discovered the benefits of oil blotting paper for keeping their complexions smooth, flawless and oil free. An essential item to keep in my handbag.

Do you have a favorite Japanese skincare product?

FUN

Fashion trends – fringe festival

Falling for feather & fringe on the fall/winter runways.

Do you dare? A little bit of feathered clothing and fringe boots can be fun but it’s not for everyday or everyone.

A feathered skirt beneath a knit top can strike the right note, but these richly embellished garments have plenty of glam on their own so hold the bling. Adapting a little goes a long way.

Time to pull out my mohair/ostrich feather wrap bought from a trip to S. Africa. I’ll pair it with something simple and tall heeled boots.

How would you wear it?

FUN

Simply Satisfying – German Red Cabbage

You don’t have to wait for Oktoberfest to have this.

With berry season coming to an end this is a healthy fall veggie option to consider.

Better late than never

On Sunday I had the pleasure of going to an Oktoberfest celebration with a live Cuban band (but that’s another story) and re-discovered how good German food tastes. There must have been at least three different versions of sauerkraut but here’s a yummy sweet and sour German red cabbage that’s super easy to make.

Bonus: Red cabbage is an inexpensive veggie option packed with antioxidants and nutrients. did you know that red cabbage contains almost twice the vitamin C as green cabbage? It’s packed with fiber, vitamin K, vitamin B6, potassium and manganese and also contains thiamine, riboflavin, folate, calcium, iron, and magnesium. Not bad for one veggie!

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter

5 cups shredded red cabbage

1 cup sliced green apples

1/3 cup apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons water

1/4 cup sugar

2 1/4 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Directions:

Place butter, cabbage, apples, and sugar into a large pot. Pour in the vinegar and water, and season with salt, pepper, and cloves.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the cabbage is tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Doesn’t get much easier. The end result captures the mild sweetness of the cabbage perfectly while the ingredients all enhance one another without competing.

THINKAboutit

Culture/Fashion/Exhibitionists – From the Closet to the Catwalk

There must be a reason that ‘almost’ every single designer on earth is gay!Where does this connection between style and homosexuality come from?

Initially the desire to create beautiful things may have been born in reaction to dealing with a homophobic society (which has changed to become much more accepting). Thank goodness because what kind of clothing would we be wearing otherwise? And let’s face it, who can teach us all about accessorizing more than a gay man? Who gets noticed more, likes to celebrate more and really knows how to strut their stuff? All in fun it’s hard to keep a straight face!““A Queer History of Fashion – From the Closet to the Catwalk” is a new exhibition at the FIT Museum in New York. The fascinating show curated by Fred Dennis and the museum’s director, Valerie Steele, spans more than three centuries of gayness. It includes 100 looks that chronicle the community’s experiments in hiding and flaunting and outdoing itself in all sorts of aesthetic ways. The show also explores the flip-side of gay fashion: masculine women.Teaser – a little bit of history:

Drag queens, often the leaders of the gay pride parade, will, fittingly, also kick off the show. Similar to the 18^th-century mollies, who dressed up to go out to private parties and taverns (called molly houses), running the risk of arrest.

In the oppressive 50’s, most gay men tried to blend in and be invisible, unless at a club at night. But what a difference a decade makes. The 60’s seemed to make everyone bold and flamboyant. The gays embraced the mod, hippie, disco and punk movements. And then of course, there was Liberace. The exhibition includes one of the performer’s pink sequined capes trimmed with marabou feathers – you know, just a little something to dazzle the crowds with. And nobody knew he was gay??

There is a section of the exhibition devoted to the work of designers who died of AIDS, like Halston and Perry Ellis, plus a sampling of AIDS-activism T-shirts bedecked with clever slogans and graphics.

For the really daring, the curators have included a Jean-Paul-Gaultier skirt-pant look from his 1984 menswear collection. The lender said he always felt very masculine wearing it. It would not be complete without the cone-bra corset dress like the one famously worn by Madonna.

The show ends on an elegant note, with his-and-his and hers-and-hers wedding ensembles.

The book “A queer history of fashion” accompanies the show.Worth seeing!

FUN

Happy Words

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson.

“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.” – Robert H. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land.

“People are just as happy as they make up their minds to be.” – Abraham Lincoln

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.” – Dalai Lama XIV

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” – George Burns

“Happiness is a warm puppy.”- Charles M. Schulz

“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love

FUN

B well – happy habits make happy people

This article on THE HABITS OF SUPREMELY HAPPY PEOPLE was taken from the Huffington Post. Among the list are the obvious:

surround yourself with other happy people, appreciate simple pleasures, look on the bright side, etc.

Here are some other important tips:

They value a good mixtape

Music is powerful. So powerful, in fact, that it could match up to the anxiety-reducing effects of massage therapy. Over a three month period, researchers from the Group Health Institute found that patients who simply listened to music had the same decreased anxiety symptoms as those who got 10 hour-long massages. Choosing the right tunes could be an important factor, however, as a happy or sad song can also affect the way we perceive the world. In one experiment where researchers asked subjects to identify happy or sad faces while listening to music, the participants were more likely to see the faces that matched the “mood” of the music.

They unplug

Whether by meditating, taking a few deep breaths away from the screen or deliberately disconnecting from electronics, unplugging from our hyper-connected world has proven advantages when it comes to happiness. Talking on your cell could increase your blood pressure and raise your stress levels, while uninterrupted screen time has been linked to depression and fatigue. Technology isn’t going away, but partaking in some kind of a digital detox gives your brain the opportunity to recharge and recover, which — bonus — could increase your resilience.

They Embrace Spirituality

A 2009 study found that children who felt their lives had a purpose (which was promoted by a spiritual connection) were happier.

The experience of sacred time provides a time apart from the “profane time” that we live most of our lives in. A daily period of meditation, a weekly practice of lighting Sabbath candles, or attending worship services, or an annual retreat in an isolated, quiet place of solitude all of these are examples of setting time apart from the rush of our everyday lives. Periods of rest and respite from work and the demands of daily life serve to reduce stress, a fundamental cause of chronic diseases that is still the primary causes of death in Western society. Transcendent spiritual experiences have a positive, healing, restorative effect, especially if they are “built in,” so to speak, to one’s daily, weekly, seasonal, and annual cycles of living.

| By Kate Bratskeir for The Huffington Post