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Sunday, October 31, 2010
Sharing from Vogue.com
Decorating in Woodland Colors
Happy Holidays! Recipes, Decorations, Holiday Traditions, Party Ideas - BHG.com
Friday, October 29, 2010
What's That Smell? It's Glade's Cashmere Woods
There are so many air fresheners, candles and plug-ins to choose from. I decided to try Glade's Cashmere Woods. It also comes in a candle and plug-in. The scent is a mixture of amber and bergamot. The name Cashmere Woods describes it perfectly. It's a very luxurious scent. The word sophisticated comes to mind too. There's nothing flowery about this, but it's not an annoying overpowering smell. I sprayed the fragrance as soon as I got home at 11:00am and I noticed that I could still smell it 3 hours later.
The next time you're in the store and you see this product give it a try.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
What's in the oven? Sweet Potato Pie!
Ingredients
* 1 (1 pound) sweet potato
* 1/2 cup butter, softened
* 1 cup white sugar (Splenda Sugar Blend)
* 1/2 cup milk (evaporated milk)
* 2 eggs
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust
Directions
1. Boil sweet potato whole in skin for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done. Run cold water over the sweet potato, and remove the skin.
2. Break apart sweet potato in a bowl. Add butter, and mix well with mixer. Stir in sugar, milk, eggs, nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth. Pour filling into an unbaked pie crust.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 to 60 minutes, or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. Pie will puff up like a souffle, and then will sink down as it cools.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Review of the Day: Thomas Rosenthal Professional Cookware Review
Brought it home and the first thing I cooked was an Indian stew. I like the fact that the Thomas dutch oven is really light. I was expecting the pot to be heavy. The handles didn't get hot while it was on the stove. And it's very easy to clean. None of the stew stuck to the pot because of the Teflon coating. The lid fits on tight and I didn't notice that the handle on the lid got too hot, but I still used an oven mitt to pick it up.
The next thing I plan to cook is my favorite chili. Recipe is located below. I really like the Thomas Rosenthal dutch oven. I plan to get one of the frying pans next. I only need 25 more stickers. http://www.jewelosco.com/
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000000521785
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Review of the Day: Shred-It with Weights
So, when I get the DVD I find out if you don't have a kettlebell you should use 3-8 lbs. dumbbell. I tried the second level with the 15 lbs. dumbbell and quickly switched to 5 lbs. and that felt too light. I think I might try 10 lbs. next time. The second level is definitely more difficult. I found myself stopping to catch my breath and I had to modify some of the exercises like the plank row because I wasn't able to do the twist with it and the push-up because I didn't feel comfortable pushing up on the dumbbell.
Jillian as usual was encouraging and motivating. The music kept me energized. I've heard some people complain about her form. I'm not a kettlebell user so I don't know if her form is perfect or not. I know that this workout is a nice mix of cardio and strength. My heart rate was up for most of this workout. I had a pretty good sweat going on. Each section is only 30 minutes, but by the end you feel like you have had a good all over body workout.
I might go back to level one for another couple of weeks because level two is significantly more difficult.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Review of the Day: Jackie Warner Xtreme Timesaver Training
It starts off with a brief warm-up. During the warm-up she warns you that this is a shoulder heavy workout. She explains during the workout that she likes to get her celebrity clients "Red carpet ready" by building out the shoulders so they have a v-line and that will makes the midsection look smaller. Here are the sections:
*Shoulders & Glutes
*Quads & Arms
*Hips, Chest & Back
*Core & All over body
The workout consists of exercises that work the lower and upper body at the same time. Each exercise is done for 1 minute. Sometimes that minute seems to last forever. She's motivating and it really feels like you are getting a personal training session.
It ends with a cool down and stretch. And by the end of the workout you feel like you have really accomplished something and that stretch feels really good. I highly recommend this DVD especially if you are short on time. You will get an amazing workout in 30 minutes.
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Review of the Day: RED
The pacing of the movie was all wrong. It seemed like they were trying too hard to make a story out of nothing. I was bored for most of the film except when the John Malkovich character Marvin shows up. He had some funny moments and when there were explosives I was impressed with the special effects.
The trailer makes it seem like they are all together in the movie for most of it, but it took forever for us to see Helen Mirren. She played Victoria and she was a badass. I just kept saying to myself if I could look half as good as her when I'm sixty I will be happy. She looked very comfortable shooting a machine gun in an evening gown. Morgan Freeman was great as always. I just was disappointed that all of these extremely talented actors couldn't save this movie. If you like a lot of action and don't really care about the script then this is the movie for you.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Review of the Day: Dark House
A little girl, Claire enters the foster home and finds the children dead and a woman covered in blood with her hand in a garbage disposal. As a result of seeing this horrific scene Claire now a grownup and an actress suffers night terrors, panic attacks and depression for which she takes medication. She doesn't like taking the medication so her psychiatrist suggest she go back to the Darrode house and face her past and her fears.
This is where Walston Ray (Jefferey Combs) comes in. He is the creator of the haunted house. He offers Claire and her fellow acting students 300.00 a day to perform in the haunted house that was the Darrode Foster Home. It's not your normal everyday haunted house. It has an amazing holographic system. Claire does some research on the new haunted house and finds pictures of the Darrode Foster Home murder spree on the internet.
Now there were a couple of things I had some problems with. First of all this woman, Claire is so terrified to go back to this house, but when money is mentioned she accepts the job and talks the other actors into it with no hesitation. Also finding all of those pictures so easily on the internet wasn't believable.
I did find the movie to be enjoyable, the acting in some cases was a little bit over the top. The special effects were great, but I thought it took a little to long to get to the horror. When everything started happening it was non-stop and gory. If it was a real haunted house I would definitely want to go. By the end of the film you're left with a feeling that you're not sure what really happened.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Favorite Fall Scent Love's Rainforest Body Mist
It's not very expensive. I paid $6 for the 2.5 oz bottle. Another good thing is that the bottle and the cap are manufactured using recycled materials and a portion of the proceeds from the sales are donated to rainforest preservation. In my teenage years I wore Love's Babysoft. I think this smells a lot better and a purchase helps the environment.
http://www.danaclassics.com/women/loves/loves-rainforest-all-over-body-spray-2.5-ounces
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Yummy Tomasello Wines!
Tomasello Winery
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Paul Chek on Cardio from Gabby Reece's website
chidiva68.review4u@blogger.com has shared the following link with you via AddToAny:
http://www.gabbydaily.com/2010/10/paul-chek-on-cardio/
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Sent via AddToAny: http://www.addtoany.com
Sunday-Amy Bento All Pump Extreme
Monday-Yoga Meltdown w/Jillian Michaels
Tuesday-Shred It With Weights w/Jillian Michaels
Wednesday-Yoga Meltdown w/Jillian Michaels
Friday-Lean Machine w/Jari Love
Saturday-Shred It With Weights w/Jillian Michaels
Friday, October 15, 2010
2nd Favorite Fall Fashion Accessory is....The Poncho
Thursday, October 14, 2010
My Favorite Fashion Accessory For Fall-Newsboy Hat
I have never been a hat person except in the 80s when Duran Duran was popular. I wore a fedora only because John Taylor wore one. And in the winter I will wear a hat to keep my head warm. I don't look right in a baseball cap and I've tried over the years to wear hats, but they just don't suit me. Until now! The newsboy hat is my favorite accessory for this fall. Why? Because I think it's very versatile. Comes in many colors and styles. You can wear it to work or when your going out. It's comfortable and I think it's a style that suits many people. It looks cute with a sweater, t-shirt or coat. However you want to wear it. And it's suitable for men and women. They're really inexpensive too. I bought 2 this year I like them so much.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Review of the Day: St. Ives Soothing Oatmeal & Shea Butter Body Moisturizer
It's St. Ives Soothing Oatmeal & Shea Butter Advanced Moisturizer. It was about half the price of the Aveeno. I tried it on my daughter's skin. It's really creamy, very soothing when you put it on. It blends well into the skin and non-irritating. . I used it on myself as well as my daughter. I noticed that hours later my skin isn't dry and I don't have to reapply. The scent is light and pleasant. St. Ives states on the bottle that it has 100% natural moisturizers and dermatologist tested. It's not tested on animals and has no animal ingredients. So, it's good for vegetarians.
I'm very pleased with the results and will probably buy it again instead of the Aveeno.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Review of the Day: Dunkin Donuts-Maple Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Review of the Day: Billy Blanks Jr. Burn it Up
It starts off with a warm-up and then stretch. Then there is a Hip-Hop section. I had some difficulty following it. He put me at ease by saying "Don't judge yourself" and I could see even some of the people behind him were having some problems keeping up. And they are students in his class.
Billy has a lot of energy and is very motivating much like his dad. He reminds you to keep breathing during the entire workout. Even though I was having trouble keeping up this is a fun workout to do with your kids. We were making mistakes together and even with the mistakes you are still burning calories. My heart rate was up and I was sweating a lot. The next section was Bollywood. It was fun I always enjoy doing some Bhangra and since I was familiar with it I was able to keep up.
My favorite section was the Cardio Fit. I wish the whole DVD was just this. It was simply aerobics. Easy to follow, but challenging. The Cardio Fit Jive & Latin were fun to do. They were a lot simpler than the Hip-Hop.
The Dance Sculpt section used ballet moves which is something I don't normally see in the DVDs I usually do. The arms sculpting portion used no weights, but I really felt like I was getting a good workout. By the end of that section my arms were on fire.
The Cool Down was basically a section where we could get our heart rate down, relax and stretch. The song playing in the background was written and performed by his wife Sharon.
I have to say that I enjoyed all of Burn It Up except for the Hip-Hop section. I would do it again. It's a fun workout. And anything that can keep my kids engaged and having fun for an hour is a bonus. It's called Burn It Up on the On Demand menu, but I think it's taken from his Cardio Fit DVD.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Review of the Day: Amy Bento All Pump Extreme Workout (2008)
This workout works every muscle in your body with a variety of combinations that you repeat at least 3 times. I noticed that my heart rate was up and I was sweating quite a lot. Her cuing is a lot better on this one and she does keep you motivated. You start off with a warm-up, then go to upper body, legs, core and then stretching. The core work didn't have your typical exercises and they were very challenging.
I found myself skipping some parts because I don't have a body bar, tube or step. I do have some complaints about this workout. Most of the exercises did include the step. She didn't modify really any of them for people who want to work out on the floor. I would modify by doing the same exercise on the floor and in the case of the body bar I would just use a hand weight. Sometimes she told us what weight she was using, but most of the time she didn't. I did like that she would change the step height and weights on camera. So, it was like she was doing it along with you and you didn't have to pause the DVD.
If you are short on time and can't do the whole 120 minutes there NRG pre-mixes that range from 40-80 minutes. I would recommend this workout to someone who likes a challenging strength training workout. Particularly if you have all of the equipment. If you don't like me and still want to do it and modify it in your own way I would say take a chance and try it.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Review of the Day Come Dine With Me
The show is now on BBC America on Tuesdays at 10pm Eastern 9pm Central. It is very different than the show I watched in England. When I watched it back then it was on for 30 minutes 5 days a week. Now, it's on for an hour and there are only 4 contestants instead of 5. I still like the show,but when it was on 5 nights you got to get to know the contestants better, see more of the meal prep and check out their houses. Now, you see very little meal prep, they usually just let you see the other contestants wander around one person's home and you really don't get to know them as well as you would if you had an half hour with each contestant. The only thing that has really remained the same is the voice-over man Dave Lamb. He is funny, sarcastic and can be mean sometimes, but the show would not be the same without him.
Still one of the best shows on TV.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Review of the Day:Billy Blanks Cardio Inferno
Well, it starts off with a stretching warm-up which is something I've never liked and always tend to skip. I like to move in warm-up. So, I just jogged in place for the 5 minutes. We then get down to business. It's time for the workout. I was hoping that there would be some new moves in this DVD. He did add a couple of new moves. A lot of it were the same moves, but he put them in a combination that he never did before. He was motivating and energetic as usual. I like that he doesn't take a lot of time between moves. Tae Bo DVDs always go by fast for me. I'm never really watching the clock. The workout including the warm-up is about 45 minutes. There is a tutorial, but since I've been doing Tae Bo for 11 years I didn't do it.
I have to say that if you are a beginner this workout will knock you off your feet. It is challenging, but I wish it was a bit more complicated in the moves. My heart rate was between 60-70%. I like it to be above that. It says you can burn up to 800 calories. I got to 250. So, not bad for 40 minutes. I will get this DVD out when I need to have a good workout, but if you want a really challenging Tae Bo workout I suggest getting the Get Ripped DVDs.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Baked Spaghetti
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/baked-spaghetti/Detail.aspx
Review of the Day: Febreze Noticeables Apple & Spice Delight
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Chigirl recommends this recipe: Sugar-Free Apple Pie
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Friday, October 1, 2010
Review of the day: Carriers
Frank and his daughter's plight is something that stayed with me even after the movie was over. Because Brian decided he didn't want to take the Frank and Jodie any further they left them at the hospital. I wondered did he keep trying to save his daughter or did he give up. Some of the decisions made in this movie I thought were callous, wrong and selfish. I wondered if I would have made some of the same decisions. I guess we will never know until we are faced with this situation.
I enjoyed the movie, but was disappointed that it wasn't an Horror movie. I thought the acting was very good and it had some very suspenseful moments.
Gabby’s Shoyu Chicken
Sent to you by Kelly via Google Reader:
Gabby Reece Nutrition
Bring out the primal instinct of your man by breaking out the fire and animal protein!
I have the easiest recipe for BBQ chicken (that you can throw in the oven by the way if you don't want to have your man stand over the flame) that I learned from my Hawaiian brothers and sisters. Soy sauce or as they say in the islands "shoyu chicken" is a staple for the plate lunch, or beach gathering.
Ingredients
10-15 chicken thighs
2 cups of soy sauce (low sodium or Braggs)
1/2 cup Oyster sauce (you can find it in the Asian section of the grocery store)
3 to 4 cloves of minced garlic
2 to 3 inches of ginger (depending on how strong you want the flavor)
1/2 cup of brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
All you do is take skinless and boneless thigh meat and marinate it in soy sauce (you can use Braggs Amino Sauce for a little bit healthier), oyster sauce, brown sugar (instead of white), minced garlic, chopped up ginger, salt and pepper to taste.
Marinate overnight, and then I like to boil it on a very low flame for about 45 minutes and then broil it on high for that crispy flavor (flip over at least once). The best way is still to just marinate and throw on your BBQ. This is simple, goes with everything, and everyone loves the flavor.
*I like to present it with brown rice or quinoa, a hearty side of broccoli, and a balsamic dressed spinach salad that I throw peas, feta, and raisins on.
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