it’s baaaaaack

We have finally run another batch of our Vanilla Bean Lotion   [ insert *clicking heels* here]   …  just in time for Valentines Day

Buh Bye winter skin!

DIY at home Facial Mask

 

“Banana / Cucumber and Oatmeal facial mask – for dry winter skin”

 

Make a paste by mixing  ½ small cucumber ( shred or cut into very small pieces), one small banana   ( remove flesh and mash) and ½ cup of oatmeal.   Mix all ingredients into a past-like consistency and then add  one tsp of  plain yogurt and leave for 30 minutes.

 Skin will drink in this goodness and feel soft and supple for the remainder of the day

….. pssst, don’t forget to chug a sh*t load of water too:)

 

 

What does giving give to you?

I ask this question because I wonder what the holidays bring to your life.  You can argue that this time of year is all about what you give to your friends and fam (and a whole lot of rum-spiked eggnog filled parties).  This is true.  But, my question has me looking a bit more inward about what the simple act of giving to others can do for you (in a non money related, joy inspiring kind of way).

I read this book “29 Gifts in 29 Days” about a woman’s struggle with Multiple Sclerosis.  At the lowest point in her life she was struggling with horribly debilitating side effects (pain, cognitive impairment, loss of motor skills, depression) and was faced with the prospect of becoming a vegetable for the rest of her life. 

So a close friend (who happened to also be an African medicine woman) gave her a simple prescription – “give away 29 gifts in 29 days” (radical, huh?)  In the process of doing this, her mind would be able to break out of the negative thought patterns that had become her daily routine. 

And so she began.  What started out timidly ended up bringing her a well of positivity that helped her mind focus on the beauty of making others happy.  Today she has completely turned around her physical condition and championed the gift of giving as a way to help others just as much as herself.

This idea has somehow taken hold of me.  Christmas is approaching slowly (or way too fast depending on how you look at it) and that seems like a perfect opportunity to try it out.  It may not be the whole 29 days but it is worthwhile.  Big or small I want to give gifts that are homemade, well-intentioned or just from the heart (and awesome!).  I’d like to see what I get out of that, because somehow I’m sure that it’ll be more than just the kick I get from seeing that lit-up look on someone’s face.  (I’ll report back too!)

Let’s hear your story about a gift you gave that made you feel a certain way

(And let’s not forget that Lovefresh just so happens to be a great gift that is good for the body, made from whole, natural ingredients and makes you happy with one whiff

Also, if you want to check it out here’s the link to the “29 Gifts in 29 Days” website >> http://www.29gifts.org/

The line is always shorter in the next lane…

People watching is the undercover art of being highly observant, incognito.  Often, I’ll park myself on a mall bench somewhere just so I can see what people are up to, what they think is new and hot, and shamelessly eavesdrop on their lives.  Don’t act like you’ve never done it before! (If you haven’t tried it before, take 5 minutes the next time you’re out n’ about and check into the hubbub)

In such moments, I find it incredibly entertaining to watch two groups of people – men and women shoppers.  The differences between the sexes are at once hilarious and scary!

As a woman, I am faced with the daunting prospect of worrying about buying thoughtful, sentimental gifts for my entire family (there’s a lot of us).  In these anxious moments, I wish I could cash in my worries for the focus of a man.  Maybe that sounds sexist, but it’s true! 

I watched a gentleman the other day make his way around a store in 20 minutes.  He picked up 20 items (that’s 1 item a minute!) and made his purchase.  He left the store but not before he could exclaim “thank god that’s done! And to all a good night!”… (Ok that last part was my people watching ad lib for the day)

I saw another guy, walk into a store, go straight for what he wanted, without looking hither or thither (with selection abounding!) and walk right out with his bag in under 3 minutes – with a great promotion under his belt to boot!  Now that’s gotta be some kind of record!  Women on the other hand, spend half their time comparing prices, and the other half of their time asking everyone’s opinion. 

I can’t say one is truly better than the other, but this year I would bet my weight in gold that you’d be far more filled with holiday cheer if you simply did some people watching of your own, so you could see for yourself what the other side is bringing to the table.  Let’s all make the effort to be less worried and a little easier on our fellow shoppers, with a chilled out plan in tow.  And if all else fails, there’s always the internet.

www.lovefresh.com baby

(We’re offering free shipping on purchases $50+ until December 22^nd, 2011!!)

 

 

 

 

 

from us, to you …

So I wanted to let you in on a little secret…

Over at Lovefresh.com we’re offering FREE SHIPPING on online purchases of $50 or more until December 22^nd!!

Ok, let me tell you why it’s so freakin’ phenomenal.

Here at Lovefresh, we really love you guys and we understand how much stress goes into the end of the year.  We feel all of that same anxiety that you feel when you’re stuck trying to find the perfect gift for that really hard to shop for person on your list.  It goes without saying that everyone on your list is hard to buy for, but then you have those people… you know the ones.  The people who have everything, who are too practical to want anything, or who are just so damn picky it makes you want to pull out your hair and run away in terror!

Hair pulling terror aside, here’s what matters – we want to help!  Free shipping + no muss, no fuss online shopping = the perfect holiday gift for that picky-practical-has everything person that you love.

And trust me.  You will definitely be able to find something perfect because we offer classy, beautiful and natural gifts that smell fantastic.  Even for men too (no worries!)

So here’s to you feeling cool as a cucumber as the holiday good times start to roll!

A question of scents

An associated benefit to helping people meet their body care needs has always been learning about different smells.  What smells good, what smells bad and what turns your stomach in the ”I’m-gonna-throw-up-on-my-shoes” kinda way. (Those mixes definitely didn’t make it into the Lovefresh bunch…)

This has always led me to believe that there is way more to scents than just the yummy factor, so I delved into it a bit and here’s what I found. 

All of us go through life building a huge repertoire of memories.  These memories can calm, motivate, or energize us and in times of crisis serve as judgement calls – “does this smell like its gone bad??”

Now what can the trigger be for all of this?  Well as is scientifically accepted, it’s the nose (and more localized the nose hairs – so not cool to talk about nose hairs, but alas…).  Our noses (even if you have the worst sense of smell in the world), detect hundreds of smells a day using the olfactory bulb and are closely related to the amygdala which processes emotions.  (A large job I might add.)  In this way we associate everything to smell. 

For example, and this is also a handy tip, if you really need to memorize something – say for an exam or a meeting- do so while you smell something particularly appealing (think bright citrus scents which coincidentally also aid in mental stimulation) and later on when you smell that scent you will find it easier to recall the information.

So here’s the scenario.  If you and I sat down, and I brought out a tub of peanut butter, there could be a world of difference between our two responses.  You might be reminded of how you hated peanut butter your whole life because someone had played a cruel joke on you involving smearing some on your chair in the 5th grade, whereas I might just be happily sitting there remembering my mama’s warm peanut butter cookies.  Or if you (in revenge) brought out a tub of KFC chicken, I would be forced to leave the table because I would be salivating profusely while remembering the days of eating without recourse (those days are long gone.)

So I pose to you: scent memory – fun, friend, or foe?

Across the pond and smelling good too!

Today while hanging out at the One of a Kind Show (where you can find Lovefresh until Dec. 4^th!), I overheard an announcer, at the end of her show, say that the best feeling in the world is the one you get when you walk off of a stage.  It’s that rush of endorphins you get and boy if they could bottle them, they’d make a fortune!

This moment of eavesdropping started me thinking about the rainy, gray and gross weather we’ve been having.  It’s well known that when we don’t get enough sunny vitamin D, a startling number of people start to fall short of their happiness quotient.  Besides being really low on the fun meter, it can also lead to stress, anxiety and even depression.  Now the opposite of this state, say if we’re basking in the suns’ rays, going for a jog or giving a kickass presentation can lead us to that happy place.  We all know the feeling.  It puts a smile on your face when you’re alone and makes you feel like you could run a mile, heck even two.  You’re up on cloud nine and cloud 10 here we come!

So when I found out later on that UK MDs have been starting to take a more holistic approach to medicine, I was amazed.  Apparently, across the pond they’ve started to use essential oils to help patients release endorphins, de-stress and normalize body functions.  It’s an amazing turn of events that leads me to believe that there is more than meets the eye with the essential oil. 

We use them in our blends, over at our Lovefresh kitchen and as kind of an aficionado on the subject I knew there were amazing things they could do – calming you after a long day (Lavender), giving you that extra kick of energy in the afternoon (Lemon Verbena) or just plain smelling sweet (Vanilla bean), but it is nice to see the wider world acknowledge too.   

Bottled endorphins here we come!

Stories of Holidays Gone Wrong…

This weekend heralds in three amazing things.  Americans everywhere celebrated their Thanksgiving, It’s the last full weekend for all the Movember supporters out there, and Black Friday is in full swing.

Each one in its own way is a lovely taste of how big events can be fantastic.  Thanksgiving, whether it be the Canadian or American version, is a tradition that is welcoming, meant to bring us together and is filled with all of the great goodies from our childhoods – turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes every which way, cranberry sauce, and so much more!  Yummy yum yum!  Movember, with its iconic symbol – the mustache, is a fun time to see who out there is daring enough to really go the distance to support and raise awareness for prostate cancer.  And Black Friday as we all have come to know is a day (but really a full weekend event) that allows shoppers to take advantage of crazy sales while stores clear out their old merchandise and ready themselves for holiday madness.  You can get tons of brand spankin’ new gifts at up to 75% off and haul it all back home at only a marginal cost to your back.

But, as with all holidays, there is a certain…frenzy that comes along with the preparation and execution.  And it is these stories that I think are so much funnier.

Let’s take Thanksgiving for example.  This year I read an account of a male employee of a big grocery store.  He was doing his normal rounds when he spotted a slightly begrudging older lady walking towards him.  He politely inquired about her shopping, and did she need any help? What could have been a harmless exchange ended with a turkey thrown violently, all because there weren’t any more big ones left…

Moving on to Movember.  Here is another such holiday that is sometimes awesome, sometimes deserving of a little ridicule.  I am all for what the event pertains to, and by all means fella’s, you do need to make a visit to the doctor to have your man parts checked to see if they’re still under warranty, but really, is a three inch long, handle bar, chin strapped get up the most evocative poster boy we can come up with?  I tend to think it’s just a rather large lapse in fashionable facial hair judgment!

And finally, Black Friday.  How many bad stories have we all heard?  People cutting in line, taking others carts, coming to blows and the one that takes the cake this year, pepper spray into the crowd over a shiny new video game console…it’s too much!

Now before you swear off all good deeds whatsoever, let me remind you that these events are isolated, and its really only a small minority of people who misbehave.  The fact remains that Thanksgiving, Movember and Black Friday are all still good fun and should be a cause for celebration.  And even if you happen to bear witness to a spot of wrong-doing, please don’t let it tarnish your memories of what is otherwise a lovely time, and great month to be alive.

So before I sign off here, let’s pay homage to one such lovely time – the One of A Kind Show!  Unlike the other three with the bothersome bad shopping etiquette, the One of a Kind show remains a gem and is just here to show you how awesome an event can be.  Small businesses, artisans, and craftsman all come together to showcase their wares and remind us that there is so much more out there.  They have amazingly fine craftsmanship and produce beautiful items that are unique, well made and the real deal as far as hot and new are concerned.  So at any rate, give November a proper send off and join your favourite body care line at the One of a Kind Show.*

*(I promise there will be no flyin’ turkeys overhead!! )

It’s the One of a Kind Show!

Yay! It’s that time of year again!  (What falls between thanksgiving and Christmas?)  It’s the One of A Kind Show!

Come check out our lovely Lovefresh booth (conveniently located at H-29) and see all of our most special body goodies   You’ll get the chance to try them and smell them and be impressed by them!

It starts tomorrow, but runs until December 4th (which is 11 full days of unique-ness).  So be there or be square.

see you soon

A farewell letter to the rough patches

Once the weather cools off and we realize that summer isn’t going to be around for another 9 months, we all go into hibernation mode.  It’s true.  The reason you find yourself staying in more and consuming far too many carbs is because we’ve all contributed to what one could call the evolutionary bingo, energy-saving, way of life.  It means that, kind of like a bear, we all gear down a notch, help ourselves to some extra padding for warmth, and think more about bedtime thanks to daylight savings time all in preparation for the long haul over the winter. 

This time of year heralds in a huge change, and that change just as it does to the earth, takes your skin on a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.  Many women (undercover) deal with legs that look like alligator scales and hands that feel sore and cracked, kind of like they`ve been wrestling with sandpaper for the afternoon.   Why is no one speaking up about this?  I’m guessing probably because it’s kind of embarrassing and oh so un-sexy.  (What would your husband, boyfriend or crush think if you didn’t secretly wage war on the drying effects of Mother Nature? – I can tell ya right now he’d be more likely to fondle the remote than your parched legs).  This is why, as November slowly moves us along into the colder, drearier parts of the year, we need to take a united stand against being left out to dry.  (Ok fine, it’s not about what he thinks, but more about how you feel, and if you feel like you’re a day away from being the female version of a crouton, than something is clearly not working for you. )

The crux of the problem lies in what too many woman are putting on their bodies.  It’s become more openly discussed these days that conventional brands use all sorts of icky ingredients that are meant to give you magic results.  Unfortunately if the only magic that happens is the ta-daaa factor when you look down at your hands a half hour after applying your lotion and they look the exact same, then we have a problem…

Therefore, I feel like it is my duty to let every woman out there know that what you put on your body, is what you`re putting in your body.  Is it a good idea to eat petro-chemicals? No…  Mineral oil? No… Alcohol? (ok maybe sometimes, but not when it’s giving your skin a hangover!)  SO please ladies, let’s think rationally for a moment and realize that its gonna be a while before it warms up and ipso facto we need to be careful about what we use here on out.  Do yourselves a favour and come out of hibernation long enough to slather on the best lotion or body butter you can find (my favourite Lovefresh scents have to be Pear, Key Lime Coconut, Vanilla and Lemon Verbena! ) and say sayonara to the alligator legs forever!