is looking for a LOCAL sewing expert (read: LA or Ventura County) to make some outfits for me – anyone…referrals?

Your Raspberry Green Tea flavor is gross.

Sincerely,
sylvia

I love tea. I’m not a tea-officianado, but I do love tea. Growing up in SoCal, my introduction to tea was organic, home grown and fair trade, since we made it in our back yard. We would gather yerba buena (mint) and boil it until the water turns green-ish, then strain and pour, add some honey and viola – tea!

We would also have hot teas or as we called them ‘Calientes‘ on cold evenings, boiling various herbs to get different flavors – Canela (Cinammon) bark, Jamaica – pronounced “Ha-Mai-ka” (Hibiscus flower), Manzanilla (Chamomile) to name a few. My first experience with commercially packaged tea was your basic everyday Earl Grey tea by Lipton. It definitely wasn’t as good, and I would opt for the saucepan and some dried herbs over the store-bought bags. I definitely like the more fruit and herb variety teas over the black teas. My son prefers the green and white teas originating from Asian countries, and he’s loved tea since he was old enough to make it, so it’s truly an individual experience.

I recently discovered a great line of tea that actually DOES come from the store shelf – and I’m really surprised and pleasantly pleased with the varieties that I have tried thusfar, not only for it’s robust and authentic flavors, but also for it’s sheer effectiveness. Traditional Medicinals people! Write it down on your next go-to grocery list. The good people at Traditional Medicinals practice Fair Trade, are certified organic, and have recently switched operations to solar powered facilities. RITE ON!

I’ve tried and can attest to the efficacy of Throat Coat, Echinacea Plus, Gypsy Cold Care and Smooth Move. A word of warning though, if you drink Smooth Move, be sure you DO NOT have anything important scheduled the next day because you will be smoothly moving your butt to the toilet and don’t want to be out in public on that day, trust me!

I got  my community newsletter from Northridge Medical Center yesterday, and I read a quick article that was super interesting – especially since the Girls aren’t getting any younger!

20 – the age to begin monthly self exams and start scheduling annual clinical breast exams. I found that a usual screening is performed during your annual woman-wellness appointment (if you don’t have access to a gyno or don’t have insurance, you can visit your local Planned Parenthood location for a scaled fee :read: affordable). Also, I’ve posted some info that my doctor has given me on how to do a more effective self-exam

40 – the age to begin scheduling annual mammograms.

10 years prior – is the age to begin scheduling annual mammograms from the age your mother or sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. For example, if she was diagnosed at age 44, begin scheduling your mammograms at age 34.

Self Exams – the most common sign of breast cancer is a new lump or mass. Women may also notice:

- Swelling in part of the breast
- Skin irritation or dimpling
- Nipple pain or the nipple turned inward
- Red or scaly nipple or breast skin
- Nipple discharge (other than breast milk)
- A lump in the under arm area

For more information about educational classes, support groups and workshops focusing on women’s health, call the Carol Pump Women’s Center at 818.700.5678 or visit the Northridge Medical Center Women’s Wellness Center by clicking here.

What a fabulous event this is going to be – and get this: It’s TOTALLY FREE! Plus, some of the ladies from my bellydance class are going to be performing around 12:30 and 1.

Saturday October 18, 2008 from 10 am to 2 pm the 2nd Annual Family Resource Fair is taking place in Pacoima. Seriously, if you are one of our citizens who does not have health insurance, this is THE place for you. Here’s a list of the free services that you can get:

Immunizations (bring your yellow card to get updated)
Blood Pressure Screening
Asthma Screening
Mammography exams ( call to pre-register 818.504.3911 & get a time slot)
Dental Screenings
Child Fingerprinting
Cholesterol Testing
Diabetes Screening & Testing
Asthma Screening
Child Car Seat Inspections (Free seats to those who need them)
Emergency Preparedness Kits
Bicycle Helmets & Training
Energy Rebate and Incentive Info (this means $$ back or off your bills sometimes!)

Be sure to bring your family and get your preventative care on this season – you’ve got to be pro-active in getting and staying well!
Click here for more info & maps/directions to the event. Please spread the word.

Saturday, October 18, 2008
10 a.m. | 2 p.m.
Branford Park
13306 Branford St.
Pacoima, CA 91331

Tonight in the shower, I finally made up my mind if I would actually buy any more Ojon product…and…drumroll please…the answer is No. And here’s why:

There are 2 positives to the Ojon product:
1. It smells divine.
2. It detangles my hair.

Contrarily, there are lots of negatives:
1. Limp and lifeless hair. And I mean limp. And lifeless.

2. Color dulling. I’m not sure if it’s the natural oils in the product, but my color looks a bit fatigue’d earlier than usual. I’ve had to make an earlier appointment than usual with the fabulous Georgie B. to get a fresh rinse.

3. Oil residue. I don’t mean from the product itself, but my hair gets that slick oily feeling the very next day after shampooing.

4. It’s expensive. For a shampoo/conditioner combo the average price is approximately $46.00 plus tax, so nearly $50 for limp and lifeless hair.

5. Will not hold a curl…at all. I’ve tried and I’ve tried, I think there is just too heavy of a product to allow for curling to hold.

So…while it was exciting, I must say adios amigo to Ojon. It simply isn’t working for me. I swear…it’s not you. It’s me. Lol.

Last night I was stuck at the house and jonezing for my yoga class that I had to miss on monday night, so I checked out Exercise TV On Demand (Time Warner) and did the Long and Lean yoga session. I guess it was better than nothing, and since my body and mind was flipping out from being home-stuck all day, it did offer some relief, but I didn’t really love it. The instructor had that weird McCain campaign botox forced smile and unnatural bubbliness that was sort of creepy. And there was really no instructional anything, they just sort of assumed that you knew the posture and didn’t really transition too well. But, like I said, it was better than nothing. If you have a DVR, I’m sure if you browse around, you can find a fitness on demand channel, and if you find a good series, please DO share!

I’m starting to think that maybe OPI nail polish is responsible for my bubbling nail polish. I’ve changed color 3 times this week, twice with 2 different MAC colors (no air bubbles) and 1 with OPI again (major air bubbles). And it’s a shame because it’s the deep indigo blue from the India Collection and SOOOoooo pretty, but the bubbles aren’t cute at all. I really hate to have to cough up over 20 bucks for the Chanel blue nail polish, but if it doesn’t bubble…

Ok so how exciting is it that I finally have a ‘list’ of favorite yoga poses? Well, I do, and here it is!

1. Pigeon Pose
2. Tiger Pose
3. Triangle
4. Boat

Ok, there’s only 4 for now, but hopefully it will continue to grow. I’m sad that I had to miss my monday night yoga due to the fires this week, but I tried a yoga video on excerciseTV on Demand (through Time Warner) which I kind of liked, but the instructor sort of annoyed me. Anyway, the 21 minute routine was a nice break in the day.

In my opinion, dry and ashy cuticles are super nasty and can be avoided with less than 1 minute addressing at night. I use Burt’s Bees cuticle cream as part of my nightly routine. Please take this as a public service announcement that your cuticles need nourishment too. No ashy cuticles!!!

Ok so I’ve been using Ojon now for almost a week, and while I did have ONE good hair day, I am finding that most of my days, I am dealing with limp, oily hair. No volume, no bounce…however, my hair DOES feel like silk, just limp, volume-less, bounce free silk. I still have to try the treatment gunk. Fortunately, it has been quite warm and windy out here, so hair in a ponytail and bun have been welcome ‘dos.

I’m thinking that perhaps Ojon is just a bit too oil based for my hair type.

Have you heard of Manish Arora? No you say? Me neither. BUT I do love the whole eastern influence and vibe as an outsider/observer.

I looked up Manish Arora on Wikipedia and found a few club-kid inspired pieces which perhaps is more in the vein for the Fafi and Heatherette fans (read: young) but I do think that this line warrants a personal visit to the MAC store to check out at least a couple of pieces, and for the record, one of the lipsticks in the collection “Girl About Town” is a MAC signature line color repackaged for this collection AND most of the items on the website MacCosmetics.com are sold out. But I suppose most collections have a few signature line repeats thrown in for a more stable and classic ‘filler’, kind of like how Russian Red was thrown into the Cult of Cherry collection (which by the way, I totally TOTALLY loved.)

Anyway, if you do some shopping on the MAC site, you can use code “MANISH” on any order to get free shipping.

Apples, carrots, tomatoes, garlic, ginger. Common denominator, ask you? Aphrodisiacs. Sexy Food. Let’s run down the list and check out some historical and symbolic elements of some of these.

Apples: In Medieval England, an autumnal celebration centered around the fermented fruit of the apple tree and the almost Bacchanalian merriment that would ensue. (The supposed purpose was to ensure a bountiful harvest, or so the story goes.) And although apples deliver a jolt of sweetness, their high pectin content keeps a sugar rush at bay, preventing the hyper high and depressing crash experienced from eating less healthy sweets. Instead, their even energy distribution is a divine source of sustenance for a few hours of horizontal apple picking. from EatSomethingSexy.com

Garlic - The ‘heat’ in garlic is said to stir sexual desires.

Carrots – The phallus shaped carrot has been associated with stimulation since ancient times and was used by early Middle Eastern royalty to aid seduction. High vitamins and beta-carotene. Perhaps a justification for a piece of carrot cake?  GourmetSleuth.com has an entire list of sexy foods & their origins.

Keep that in mind the next time you’d like to fuel some friskiness into your day or night. Can you dig it?

So we are all watching how we spend our money these days, but you don’t have to lie to yourself or me – you still want fabulous zen all around you…who doesn’t?

I was stumbling around and found this site for decorating ideas for the fall (or year round, really) that is simply fabulous. And you probably have all the required “stuff” somewhere around your house namely: mason jars, candles and sand. Check it out here – it’s so beautiful & cheap!

Photo