Tuesday, February 24, 2009

News!

I am now an Independent Distributor for Shaklee!

Why? Because I am a huge fan of their products (specifically their "Get Clean" line) and want to share them with my friends and family! Their philosophy - which I love and believe in is,
"It is always safe. It always works. And it is always green."
A link to my distributor website will be posted on this page as soon as I get it up and running! I am already taking orders, so please let me know if you're interested in any of their products, or have any questions.

Sunday, February 08, 2009

10 Chick Flick cliches...

...you will NOT see in He's Just Not That Into You. I thought this was hilarious!

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Back to Eating Clean & SLEEP

This year I'm back to eating clean, and after a few weeks I am feeling so much better. OK, so I am currently getting over some kind of crud... I think my entire office has been out sick at some point the last couple of weeks. I tried to avoid it, even denied it, but got sick anyway. But besides the sniffles, sneezing, coughing, headaches, and fever... I feel great! :)

I set off the new year by getting back to clean eating - which means I cut out processed foods, ditch the sugar (except for some treats here and there), balance my carbs and protein, and have been getting back in the habit of taking vitamins. The result? I FEEL better! It's hard to explain, I just feel like my body is back in balance. The best part? For the past 3 or 4 nights I've actually had really good full nights of glorious SLEEP - which is a rare celebratory event for me. Sad I know, but you have no idea how important sleep is, until you are not able to... I really think I got sick last week because I wasn't sleeping well while I was waiting for the clean eating/vitamins to take effect (it had only been a couple of weeks) and being stubborn about not taking a sleeping aid.

I credit my improvement in sleep mostly to taking a Calcium/Magnesium/D supplement. I had no idea how important magnesium is for you until I read YOU: The Owner's Manual, Updated and Expanded Edition: An Insider's Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger and You: Staying Young: The Owner's Manual for Extending Your Warranty by Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz which led me to look more into this mineral.

Here is a list of the vitamins I take:
  • Alive Multi-Vitamin by Nature's Way
  • Calcium, Mag, & D Complex by Nature's Way
  • Fisol Enteric-Coated Fish Oil by Nature's Way
  • Iron 28 mg
Most of them recommend taking them 3 times a day. I am lucky if I remember to take them twice! Better than not taking them at all! Plus, eating clean, I don't feel like I have to take them so often... I see them more as an insurance policy. Except for the Cal/Mag/D complex which I know I need everyday.

If you're curious about what eating clean is about and other stuff I mentioned above... check out the list of resources below (though a lot of these are listed on the right hand side of this page too). A simple explanation of clean eating, directly from the Clean Eating Magazine website is,
Clean Eating? It's simple, really. Consuming food in it's most natural state -- or as close as possible to it -- is the soul of clean eating. It's not a diet; it's a lifestyle approach to food and its preparation, leading to health, well-being and a lean look.
The Eat Clean Diet (I swear it's not a fad diet, not matter what this website makes it look like)
Tosca Reno's Eat Clean Diet Blog
Eating Clean Works Blog
Clean Eating Magazine
Health Benifits of Magnesium
What's your Real Age?

Friday, January 23, 2009

Go-Green Changes of 2008

While thinking up my 2009 resolutions, I couldn't help but think that 2008 is going to be hard to beat! I made a lot of changes last year - all in the effort to green my household. I decided I should make a list, so here we go!

My list of Go-Green changes of 2008:
  1. Buy in bulk instead of individually packaged items (saved $ too!)
  2. Began diligently using reusable grocery bags and produce bags
  3. Switched to eco-friendly house cleaners, laundry detergent, etc. (yay for Shaklee!)
  4. Became more conscientious of where our food comes from, and now buy more local produce
  5. Buy more organic fruits and vegetables, especially the ones on the worst list for pesticides
  6. Use my purchase power as a vote -- buy brands that use less packaging, and choose glass over plastic! Basically, live like I love the ocean!
  7. Became more knowledgeable about the power we consume, and made efforts to reduce our household energy consumption.
  8. Reduce the amount of waste I consume by packing a waste-free lunch for work, or buying lunch with the least amount of packaging possible.
  9. Ditched the petroleum based candles for soy based ones, though unfortunately I have not made my own DIY soy candles yet.
  10. Collected and disposed hazardous wastes from around the house - the right way!
  11. Signed up with ProQuo and drastically reduced my junk mail!
  12. Started a compost
  13. Reduced the amount of curb side waste by at least 50%, probably more.
  14. Greened my online shopping
What's on your list? What are your goals for greening your household in 2009?

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Twitter, my new addiction!

Curiosity got the best of me... The other day I signed up for Twitter and instantly became addicted! You can find me at http://twitter.com/newshadeofgreen.

What is Twitter? Well, it's hard to explain... at least it's hard for me to explain to people. But here's an excellent video explaining what the heck Twitter is all about, in plain English! After watching this you'll all want to sign up! When you do, let me know so we can follow each other on Twitter :). What is following? Just watch and learn my friend.

NASA Rover in Inaugural Parade

Here are some videos of NASA's Lunar Electric Rover (LER) that was in the Inaugural Parade yesterday! I know I'm delinquent on blog posts, but I'm off to a slow start this year. I have a few posts in the works that I hope to have posted in the next week - including one about my resolutions for 2009 with a recap of all the go-green changes I made in 2008.

For now, here's some cool NASA stuff!



Monday, December 08, 2008

Green Your Online Shopping!

I dread shopping this time of year. I avoid mall traffic at all costs, so much so that in recent years most of my Christmas gifts have been purchased online - and I know I'm not alone. Wouldn't it be great if every online purchase you made could make a difference to the planet? Well now they can! When Tal told me about his idea months ago, I was skeptical of how it could work. Then he revealed his website www.greenanysite.com, and how it works - and it couldn't be easier! He simply uses affiliate programs with shopping websites. So when you make a purchase and click on "Green this!" a small percentage of your purchase goes to green causes that are chosen by registered users. And no, you aren't paying more for your purchase, the retailer is paying what is called a referral fee. Check out his website GAS! for yourself and see how easy it is to GREEN your online purchases and make a difference. And if what I described above sounds like googly gook to you, all of your questions can be answered on the website. I've listed the benefits of registering at GAS below (copied straight from the website).

Reasons to Register:
  • Track how much CO2 your purchases have helped clear (we do not store any info on your purchase, just how much you've helped donate).
  • Display the amount of CO2 you've helped clear on your Facebook profile or in a widget on your site or blog.
  • Decide where your money goes. The money that gets donated each month to green causes, goes to organizations picked by our registered users. Every registered user has a say in where the money goes to… Planting new forests? Researching alternative energy sources? Carbon Offsets? It's up to you.
Check it out and start greening your online shopping for the holidays, and all year long. Happy traffic free, no standing in lines, mob free, shopping!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Kudos for Kroger

We went grocery shopping tonight at Kroger and decided we needed to restock our wine rack. When we went to check out we were just going to put the bottles in the cart with no bags and take them to the car - until the cashier offered a free reusable wine bag with dividers inside. Thanks Kroger!



You can see our table is all decked out for Christmas :).