Monthly Archives: January 2009

Hi all!  I just thought I’d let everyone know that I got a new online writing gig!!!  Super exciting.  I’ve been added as a writer at an environmental awareness site called greenUpgrader.  They have all things green posted there — articles on green design, recycling, upcycling, precycling, environmental awareness, etc. etc. etc.  For now, I’ll be contributing once a week with hopefully more to come.  As you all know, going green is one of my major concerns so I’m pretty stoked to be able to have a voice for the cause.  I even have a pic and bio there…check it out!  You have to scroll to the bottom as I’m the last one on the list.  I’ve got two articles there so far…One was posted quite a long time ago about upcycled bottle cap mosaics and the second article is about upcycled cigarette butts into art — not that I am condoning smoking in any way.  All of my family needs to quit!!!  Anyways, here’s the link Let me know what you think!

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What could be more fun than shopping for shoes?  There’s this new commerical of a woman driving an SUV when all of a sudden, there’s a rain storm.  The catch is that it’s not rain falling from the sky…it’s shoes!  Can you imagine how fantastic that would be?  Granted, the shoes would have to come in pairs for me to get ridiculously excited about it.  Oh, and they’d need to be all my size! lol

It seems that a great majority of women have a thing for shoes.  Call it an obsession.  I’ve got a little girl who’s almost three who already loves shoes.  I think that this is a strong case of conditioning though as I tend to gush on and on whenever she gets a new pair or we go shopping.

Sometimes men too have a love for shoes.  I love a man in uniform with shined up black boots!  Boots though are a whole different variety of shoes.  In my humble opinion, women need at least 2 or 3 pairs of boots along with a wardrobe of at least 15-20 pairs of shoes to complete their look.  There are so many different types of shoes to consider — heels, flats, running shoes, sandals, slip ons, etc. etc. etc.  Oh my, I think I need to go shopping now!

This is a sponsored post but obviously, all my own opinions.

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The world waits with bated breath for Barack Obama to take the stage as leader of the United States.  We’re watching history unfold as we watch his inauguration.  There is so much anticipation and hope that he, as the first African American President of the U.S.A., will bring the change that the country truely needs.  One of his slogans for the campaign was “Yes, We Can”.  Ben & Jerry’s has even gotten into the act by coming up with a new ice cream flavor called, “Yes, Pecan”.  Even heavy days such as this have their light hearted, laugh out loud moments.  When he’s finally sworn in, I know that I, along with many others will be watching through tears.  Tears of joy and tears of hope.  Hope that he can spur the change that will change the world that we live in.  No pressure Mr. Obama…  I keep thinking that if I, as a Canadian, have this much fear of his safety, anticipation of what is to come, anxiety over his impending decisions, etc., how does Mrs. Michelle Obama feel?  How do senior citizens of African descent who are American citizens feel?  Did they ever truly believe they would live to see this day?  I hope that Obama begins the path to change.  With a world more humane, more just, more environmentally friendly and aware.  Even just taking a few steps down this path will be a huge start.

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If your family is anything like our family, you are constantly trying to get them off of the electronics.  Whether it’s the computer, the t.v. or the gaming consoles, it seems likes kids are constantly plugged in.  We’re always looking for activities that can keep our kids busy, active and unplugged.  This is how we discovered tactical paintball.  It’s a great activity for the whole family that is a ton of fun and part of an active lifestyle.  There’s a wide variety of products available for rent or purchase and lots of places online to buy the gear you need.  One company that stands out is Ultimate Paintball, who sponsored this post.  One of the most important purchases is of course, the paintball gun.  Some of the most popular and best rated brands of paintball guns include: Tippmann A-5, Tippmann 98 Custom, Smart Parts Ion, and Spyder Pilot.  So grab your gun, dyes and of course, running shoes and get outside!

This is a sponsored post.

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I’ve been actively looking for ways to go green and save green lately.  Environmentally friendly products are becoming more and more readily available.  My latest find is an energy saving power cord.  You plug appliances into it that don’t need to be used all the time.  The one we bought has our t.v., Wii, DVD player, etc. plugged into it.  You can then remotely “unplug” these with a switch.  You can even wall mount the switch so you don’t have another remote control lying around.  Power is consumed by electronics as long as they are plugged in, even if they are turned off.  By remotely turning off the plug, you stop this unneccessary flow of energy and flow of money down the drain!  My husband mounted the remote on one of the light switches.  So far, so good.  It works great!  We bought ours at Best Buy but I’ve seen them many other places online.  Do some searches to save energy and money at the same time!  You’ll be glad you did.

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Like many people, my New Year’s Resolution this year is to lose weight.  I’ve been exercising at least an hour a day in an weight-loss attempt.  I’ve found that some of the Wii Fit exercises are actually great fat burners and have lost about 8 pounds in the last two weeks!  I’ve found that you don’t really need to “diet” per se, you just need to pay attention to what it is that you’re eatting and exercise can come in many forms.  Whether you are running around the house playing tag with your toddler, going up and down the stairs putting the laundry away or shovelling the snow out of the driveway doesn’t really matter.  What matters is to get up and do something.  Be active!  Try to make your new year’s resolutions a lifestyle instead of a short term change.

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Life can become routine and boring after day after day of exactly the same thing.  Get up.  Go to work.  Come home.  Do the dishes, etc. etc. etc.  Intimacy and spontaneity are two incredibly important parts of a healthy marriage.  What better way to change things up than to buy some new sexy lingerie?

I came across a website lately flirtylingerie.com (not a recommended click for non-adult viewers!) that seems to have a bit of everything.  Any thing that you can imagine and a whole lot more is all available here with a click.  They’ve got a ton of styles in many different fabrics in a range of sizes, including plus sizes.  They’ve even got a bunch of really sexy shoes!

Sexy lingerie can be an easy, quick and affordable way to give your partner a huge surprise that I’m sure they’ll like.  Who doesn’t like sexy lingerie?  You’ll have him thinking about you all day long and it might just add some new spice to your life and your marriage.

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There seems to be more and more celebrities going to rehab these days and one that is quite popular is Promises Treatment Center, who sponsored this post.  There are two locations for this center, both in California.  One is in Malibu and one is in West L.A.  They specialize in treatment of alcohol, drug addictions of various kinds as well as detox.  Addiction levels seems to be ever increasing while access to rehabilitation centers can be quite limited.

Promises is a center that takes sobriety very seriously.  They consider themselves to be the gateway to sobriety and to a better, happier and more fulfilling life.  They have worked tirelessly in their efforts to help people break addictions.  Their staff work with the clients to help them achieve sobriety instead of forcing it onto them.  Many of the staff themselves truly understand the nature of addictions because they have been there themselves.  I think that these sorts of experiences are critical for rehabilitation staff to have.

Promises is set among beautiful scenery and has everything you can imagine to offer but it’s not just for celebrities or for those who are being helped out by a talk show.  There are people there from every walk of life, just like at any rehabilitation center.  They talk people’s privacy matters very seriously and even have private residences for those with the highest privacy concerns.  The beautiful setting gives clients hope and the restorative power of nature and beauty in which to begin their recovery process.

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I’m a big believer in going green in little steps.  I don’t think that you should change absolutely everything in your lifestyle in one dramatic leap or it will seem like too much work.  Little steps by many people can lead to dramatic results!  Chemical free cleaning products are increasingly becoming easy to find and affordable options to traditional chemical cleaners.  These environmentally friendly products are one of the “little steps” that you can take towards going green.

Our toddler has recently been diagnosed with asthma and has been hospitalized twice in the last three months.  Chemical free cleaning is the latest thing I’ve decided to do between her asthma difficulties and my quest for environmentally friendliness.  I’ve found that many of my friends are big into Norwex, which is a big company selling chemical free products through home parties.  Their following has become like a cult…you must come to my Norwex party….everyone’s doing it!!  Kidding, sort of.  I looked into their products and found them to be more expensive than average cleaners plus you have to keep going to these parties to restock.  It just didn’t seem very practical to me so I started looking elsewhere.

This is not an ad for any of the products, just what I’ve found in my personal experiences.  Looking at my local grocery store, I noticed that Clorox has come out with a “green” line of products and have found them to be great generally speaking.  My husband loves to do wood working and I’ve constantly got him doing chores around the house so we spend a fair chunk of time at home improvement stores.  Here in Canada, Rona is one of the big ones.  They’ve come out with a line of chemical free products appropriately called “Eco”.  I’ve bought and tried the all purpose cleaner, the glass cleaner, the bathroom cleaner and the kitchen cleaner.  They’ve all worked great and smelled good too!

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Congrats to Paula for being named in “Counting Down the Top 10 Most Inspirational Triond Authors of 2008“.

Paula has been writing a number of articles on Triond, Helium and Bukisa recently and it is nice to see her recognized.

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