I don't plug my skin care company, Earth Alkemie, or EA related news too much on here, as I have a business blog, forum, and facebook for that. ;P
But I am going to plug a contest for FREE products, since the contest is for my friend's website, and also plugs many other natural based skin care companies in addition to my own. :)
ANB mall is having a contest for $200 worth of FREE products from different anb mall vendors. These products are either all natural or natural based (mostly natural but non-toxic).
I haven't tried any of the other companies who contributed for the contest prize, but looking at their ingredients, the products look very nice, and many of the companies have gotten good reviews from customers on facebook or various forums. I contributed a yummy smelling aromatherapy soap as one of the prizes.
So definitely check it out and good luck to all that enter. This is an amazing contest, and a good way to try some awesome products if you win.
More all natural beauty website news, is a summer sampler that you can buy that also features products from different all natural and natural based companies. I am not involved in this sampler (but have been involved in previous anb mall samplers, and will probably be involved in the upcoming fall and winter one) but you can try some wonderful product at one low price. The products look amazing, I may get one if budget allows (I have a lot of ingredients to buy for the business, so personal treats have been put on hold for a bit).
I really want to try the perfumes in the sampler from Evan's Garden, because being an all natural perfumer, I am always interested in trying others perfumes! Their perfumes sound delectable and they are a company I've been meaning to try for a while but haven't had the chance to try yet (though I use mostly my own, I still try many other companies and crafters products, since I just like to see what others have created :) ). The other products in the sampler also look nice too.
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Sunday, May 08, 2011
Eco Living: Eating out the green way
A few weeks ago, I posted an Eco Living article on green tips on eating out. I wrote about a few of my favorite green tips (bringing your own utensils & containers, and also eating more vegetarian foods).
I try not to post links to companies in my Eco Living articles that aren't anb (all natural beauty) mall vendors out of respect for the other anb mall vendors (Earth Alkemie, my all natural skin care company, is an anb mall vendor too ;P) so I have decided to post some links here on my personal blog for green utensil companies and container companies that I like. :)
The bamboo utensil travel set I mentioned in my eco living article is from To-Go Ware. I bought one of their sets in a natural food store a year and a half or so ago when I was visiting my sister. I love my bamboo utensil set, I just stick in it my purse, and bring it everywhere with me! As mentioned in my article, the set I have comes with chopsticks, a fork, knife, and spoon. I have the set in the pumpkin colored case. I just checked out their site and it looks like they have stainless steel food containers too! According to their main page, they were recently featured on the Oprah Winfrey show!
For containers, I usually just reuse any container I get from the deli, food places, etc, or I use tupperware or rubbermaid type containers. But my sister recently gave me a container made from Preserve. Preserve is a company I really respect; I like their toothbrushes and also their razors (which are eco-friendly and cruelty free). I didn't know they made food containers though, I have the small apple shaped green container--I love its small size, since I can carry snacks with me and it is small enough to stick it in my purse or bag. Preserve also has a program that recycles plastic #5, which is a widely used plastic, that is often not recycled in most areas.
My next eco living article will be posted on the anb mall site by monday (I submitted it a few days ago). I will post more about it in another post :)
I try not to post links to companies in my Eco Living articles that aren't anb (all natural beauty) mall vendors out of respect for the other anb mall vendors (Earth Alkemie, my all natural skin care company, is an anb mall vendor too ;P) so I have decided to post some links here on my personal blog for green utensil companies and container companies that I like. :)
The bamboo utensil travel set I mentioned in my eco living article is from To-Go Ware. I bought one of their sets in a natural food store a year and a half or so ago when I was visiting my sister. I love my bamboo utensil set, I just stick in it my purse, and bring it everywhere with me! As mentioned in my article, the set I have comes with chopsticks, a fork, knife, and spoon. I have the set in the pumpkin colored case. I just checked out their site and it looks like they have stainless steel food containers too! According to their main page, they were recently featured on the Oprah Winfrey show!
For containers, I usually just reuse any container I get from the deli, food places, etc, or I use tupperware or rubbermaid type containers. But my sister recently gave me a container made from Preserve. Preserve is a company I really respect; I like their toothbrushes and also their razors (which are eco-friendly and cruelty free). I didn't know they made food containers though, I have the small apple shaped green container--I love its small size, since I can carry snacks with me and it is small enough to stick it in my purse or bag. Preserve also has a program that recycles plastic #5, which is a widely used plastic, that is often not recycled in most areas.
My next eco living article will be posted on the anb mall site by monday (I submitted it a few days ago). I will post more about it in another post :)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Local Eco Earth Day events for Northern VA, George Mason University
I graduated a couple years ago but my grad school, George Mason University, has been having a lot of local, green, environmental events (that are free and open to the public). Here is a link to their face book post that sums up all of their Earth Day/Month events. I am going to try to go to some of them since the events look awesome! I wish I could have gone to some of the ones late last month and earlier this month, but I wasn't able to :( (I have been dealing with a lot of family and personal issues, as well as revamping and reorganizing my green skin care business, doing business taxes, and getting Earth Alkemie's new products and Earth Day specials ready--so I feel like I have been in a whirl wind recently! I will be trying to post more often on this blog too, since I miss blogging; lots of things to write and post about :) ).
Different events are being held at the different GMU campuses. Tomorrow (the 21st) there is an environmental expo at the Fairfax/main campus (from 11 am to 4 pm).
Different events are being held at the different GMU campuses. Tomorrow (the 21st) there is an environmental expo at the Fairfax/main campus (from 11 am to 4 pm).
Thursday, February 03, 2011
Happy Chinese New Year! :)
Gong xi fa cai! :)
Today is the art of the Year of the Metal Rabbit. It's a very special day today, for many reasons. It is also my skin care company's 1 year online anniversary, among other things).
I remember last year I wrote a post during Chinese New Year on my favorite chinese astrologers. White and Wu have updated their websites (Liao's website isn't working right now, hopefully it will be back up soon). White is also on face book and she regularly posts.
I am just spending today with my family, and also for the past couple months I have been reflecting a lot spiritually, and working to make a lot of positive changes in my life :)
Happy New Year! Hope everyone has much joy and prosperity in this coming year!
Today is the art of the Year of the Metal Rabbit. It's a very special day today, for many reasons. It is also my skin care company's 1 year online anniversary, among other things).
I remember last year I wrote a post during Chinese New Year on my favorite chinese astrologers. White and Wu have updated their websites (Liao's website isn't working right now, hopefully it will be back up soon). White is also on face book and she regularly posts.
I am just spending today with my family, and also for the past couple months I have been reflecting a lot spiritually, and working to make a lot of positive changes in my life :)
Happy New Year! Hope everyone has much joy and prosperity in this coming year!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Snow, the environment, and crop failures (Environmental Issues)
We ended up getting somewhere between 5-10 inches of snow in the D.C. metro area/Northern VA (the snow depth at my house is about 7-8 inches), and according to the weather forecasters we may get some more snow on Friday and also next week too.
I like snow but it is very unusual for this area to get this much, the natural pattern is one huge snow–maybe 8-12 inches–every 8 or 9 years. We had a lot of snow last year in two super huge storms one right after another (which was also not part of the natural pattern, since we usually don’t get over a couple feet of snow, and don’t have two major storms within days of each other). We also had a major snow storm, I think in March 2009. Most of the time, in regular years, we usually get maybe 1-3 inches every once in a while during the winter time. As an environmentalist/biologist, changes like this really worries me. Other changes have been really worrying me too, like one day it is freezing cold and the next day hot. Or seeing mosquitoes out of season, or trees blooming at the wrong time, or leaves changing colors too early or too late. I’ve lived in the D.C. area my whole life–except for my undergrad years–(I am 32 now) and none of these are part of the natural patterns in this area.
Another concern that I have is crop failures all over. I’ve noticed this a lot more as a business owner (many ingredient prices are going drastically because of A LOT of crop failures or poor crop yields world wide, which I will post about shortly. There is a long list of ingredients whose prices have been changing over the last couple years. Noticed it as a hobby crafter, pre-business, but as a business owner been noticing it even more especially when many prices have doubled or more). But I’ve also noticed this as a consumer too, like cranberries not being available (a couple years ago) or pumpkin last year (there was a shortage of canned pumpkin during the holidays for a few weeks), etc.
Note: parts of this post (the above information) are also posted on Earth Alkemie's (my all natural, green skin care business) blog.
I hope one day (soon) I can get back to doing environmental field work/education/community work. I really miss it (I had to give it up because of my health issues in recent years). I try to live my life as eco-friendly as possible, but am always trying to find ways to be even more green :) One thing that I will start doing again, is posting on this blog more regularly again (another thing I miss doing!).
I like snow but it is very unusual for this area to get this much, the natural pattern is one huge snow–maybe 8-12 inches–every 8 or 9 years. We had a lot of snow last year in two super huge storms one right after another (which was also not part of the natural pattern, since we usually don’t get over a couple feet of snow, and don’t have two major storms within days of each other). We also had a major snow storm, I think in March 2009. Most of the time, in regular years, we usually get maybe 1-3 inches every once in a while during the winter time. As an environmentalist/biologist, changes like this really worries me. Other changes have been really worrying me too, like one day it is freezing cold and the next day hot. Or seeing mosquitoes out of season, or trees blooming at the wrong time, or leaves changing colors too early or too late. I’ve lived in the D.C. area my whole life–except for my undergrad years–(I am 32 now) and none of these are part of the natural patterns in this area.
Another concern that I have is crop failures all over. I’ve noticed this a lot more as a business owner (many ingredient prices are going drastically because of A LOT of crop failures or poor crop yields world wide, which I will post about shortly. There is a long list of ingredients whose prices have been changing over the last couple years. Noticed it as a hobby crafter, pre-business, but as a business owner been noticing it even more especially when many prices have doubled or more). But I’ve also noticed this as a consumer too, like cranberries not being available (a couple years ago) or pumpkin last year (there was a shortage of canned pumpkin during the holidays for a few weeks), etc.
Note: parts of this post (the above information) are also posted on Earth Alkemie's (my all natural, green skin care business) blog.
I hope one day (soon) I can get back to doing environmental field work/education/community work. I really miss it (I had to give it up because of my health issues in recent years). I try to live my life as eco-friendly as possible, but am always trying to find ways to be even more green :) One thing that I will start doing again, is posting on this blog more regularly again (another thing I miss doing!).
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Miniature Earth (Environmental/Social Information)
Someone on a forum I frequent posted this powerful video called 'Miniature Earth'. Basically it shows the world's population in terms a community of 100 people. Very eye opening, and very well done, intense.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, hypoglycemic friendly (Vegetarian Foods and Hypoglycemia information)
Here is a list of some of my favorite vegetarian and vegan cookbooks that are also hypoglycemic friendly (or that are easily converted to hypoglycemic friendly foods). I will post others at another time.
I am only vegetarian (I eat eggs and dairy) but my favorite veggie cookbook is actually a vegan one called 'Vegan With A Vengeance' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz". I love this cook book because the recipes are very simple to make, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious (she really knows how to use herbs and other ingredients to enhance taste; she's absolutely brilliant). Moskowitz also has a cookie and also a cupcake book that is really good too.
I've mentioned on my blog a few years ago, that it is sometimes hard to convert vegetarian recipes into something I can eat (since I can't eat white/refined flour, white sugar/refined sugars, or too much carbs, since I feel really sick and my symptoms flare up). But I've found that vegan cook books, especially ones that use a lot of whole grains and alternative sweeteners like agave, are easy to convert or don't even need any conversion. (I can have a little agave, but I still feel sick if I have a lot at one time). The author uses a lot of different grains and also things like agave, and when she doesn't, I've found the recipes are still easier to convert into something I can eat (like using whole wheat pastry flour for white flour. And instead of white sugar, try agave or coconut sugar).
She has a few other books that I hope to get soon (I have her cupcake book too but want her others). Parts of her books are viewable on google books. For 'vengeance' most of the recipes are breakfast things like scones.
I also like Madhur Jaffrey's 'World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking'. This book is not vegan (some recipes contain dairy and eggs) but many recipes are vegan, and many that aren't vegan you can substitute vegan ingredients for. I love this cookbook, the spice combos used are authentic and the dishes are tasty, very yummy. The recipes are from many different cultures around the world. Some recipes are a little complex or time consuming to make, but they are worth it. I like making several of the lentil dishes. I remember once E.G. and I made paneer (which is an Indian cheese, it took a lot of milk but it was damn good!).
Peta (People for the ethnical treatment of animals) has a vegan cookbook called 'Compassionate Cook: Please don't eat the animals'. It is one of the classic vegan cookbooks, and one of the first I ever got (I've been veggie for over 16 years). The recipes are very basic (some of them are a little bland, and need to have additional spices added to them. But other recipes are delicious) but there is a lot good info in it. There are several recipes from vegan and vegetarian celebrities, as well as quotes from famous veggies throughout time.
I am only vegetarian (I eat eggs and dairy) but my favorite veggie cookbook is actually a vegan one called 'Vegan With A Vengeance' by Isa Chandra Moskowitz". I love this cook book because the recipes are very simple to make, full of flavor, and absolutely delicious (she really knows how to use herbs and other ingredients to enhance taste; she's absolutely brilliant). Moskowitz also has a cookie and also a cupcake book that is really good too.
I've mentioned on my blog a few years ago, that it is sometimes hard to convert vegetarian recipes into something I can eat (since I can't eat white/refined flour, white sugar/refined sugars, or too much carbs, since I feel really sick and my symptoms flare up). But I've found that vegan cook books, especially ones that use a lot of whole grains and alternative sweeteners like agave, are easy to convert or don't even need any conversion. (I can have a little agave, but I still feel sick if I have a lot at one time). The author uses a lot of different grains and also things like agave, and when she doesn't, I've found the recipes are still easier to convert into something I can eat (like using whole wheat pastry flour for white flour. And instead of white sugar, try agave or coconut sugar).
She has a few other books that I hope to get soon (I have her cupcake book too but want her others). Parts of her books are viewable on google books. For 'vengeance' most of the recipes are breakfast things like scones.
I also like Madhur Jaffrey's 'World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking'. This book is not vegan (some recipes contain dairy and eggs) but many recipes are vegan, and many that aren't vegan you can substitute vegan ingredients for. I love this cookbook, the spice combos used are authentic and the dishes are tasty, very yummy. The recipes are from many different cultures around the world. Some recipes are a little complex or time consuming to make, but they are worth it. I like making several of the lentil dishes. I remember once E.G. and I made paneer (which is an Indian cheese, it took a lot of milk but it was damn good!).
Peta (People for the ethnical treatment of animals) has a vegan cookbook called 'Compassionate Cook: Please don't eat the animals'. It is one of the classic vegan cookbooks, and one of the first I ever got (I've been veggie for over 16 years). The recipes are very basic (some of them are a little bland, and need to have additional spices added to them. But other recipes are delicious) but there is a lot good info in it. There are several recipes from vegan and vegetarian celebrities, as well as quotes from famous veggies throughout time.
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