Cathy Erway’s new book, The Art Of Eating, depicts her two year journey of swearing off restaurant fare. 

  Cathy’s blog, Not Eating Out In New York, was the inspiration for her book.  Not only did Cathy lose 10 pounds within a few months of eating in, but she cherished the act of making delicious dishes.  She says it slowed her down and lowered her stress. 

Turns out, eating in is ultra-frugal as well.  Cathy says she ended up saving about $75 a week by eating in.  Not only did she learn confidence in the kitchen, but she learned she had a great deal of discipline to say no to the restaurant scene for two years. 

This book is such a fun, informative read.  Highly recommended!  Think you could swear off restaurants for two years?

Way to impress the pants right off of us, Los Angeles!  

Los Angeles is going to start a new pilot program with RecycleBank that will compensate households for recycling!  The hope is that the city’s recycling rate will go up from 65% to over 70%.

15,000 homes will be eligible for the program and the contents of their tagged bins will be weighed and recorded each week. Depending on the weight, residents earn points that they can redeem at businesses like CVS, Bed Bath & Beyond, and El Pollo Loco.  The total tally can reach the equivalent of $400 a year per household!

Super-impressive initiative, LA!  Cincinnati…take notes!

Smart Talk does it again!  They always manage to bring the biggest and brightest personalities to their Connected Conversations series.  Next week Cincinnati welcomes Patricia Heaton to the Aronoff on March 15, 2010.  Patricia will be speaking on Motherhood and Hollywood …and I’m sure she’ll share a little background dirt on her wildly successful run as the wife/mother on Everyone Loves Raymond.

The Smart Talk Connected Conversations series is an incredible experience.  The energy is alive.  The conversation is brilliant.  The company is phenomenal!  Tickets are still available …click here for more information.

If 52 looks this good, I can’t wait to get there.  The eternally gorgeous Sharon Stone turns 52 today…and looks amazing, still!

…………………………………

What Gossip Girl’s Kelly Rutherford is buzzing about now:  Brantley Active Enzymes Plus ($30 from BrantleyCure.com).  “I take these every day to nix bloating.”

Enter for you chance to win a one of five Botanical Skincare Systems from Supernatural Botanicals!  Simply subscribe to this blog.  Names will be picked at random on Friday.  You will be notified if you won via email on Saturday.  Good Luck!

Supernatural Botanicals Linen Sprays

It’s finally here….our Linen Sprays!  A little background information…If you know me, you know I’m the queen of fabric softener.  When I do laundry, I use three capfuls of softener because I just can’t get enough of that fresh scent.  But even with three capfuls of softener, the scent does fade within a day or two.  I like my sheets and clothes smelling fresh until I wash them again.  Out of that desire to have my linens and clothes smelling good all  the time came the creation of our Linen Sprays. 

Great to use as an instant refreshner to linens and clothes.   Perfect as a room spray to eliminate odors.  Adds freshness to closets and drawers.  If you truly love the smell of fabric softener (like I do), you’ll adore the fresh spring scent of Fabric Softener Fresh Linen Spray.  Our Lavender Water Linen Spray  is a calm, relaxing scent, perfect for spraying on your sheets right before bedtime for a calm, aromatherapeutic restful sleep. 

Check out what’s new at Supernatural Botanicals….you’ll love these Linen Sprays!

I’m always so thankful to get your emails!  It puts a huge smile on my face everyday to know you are loving Supernatural Botanicals. 

I get emails on a daily basis asking me “what’s the best thing to try?”  When I say that I adore everything we make, it’s the truth.  Then again, I would…I formulated everything.  Still, some remain my favorite amongst all the great things we offer. 

I absolutely adore body sprays.  I’ve always felt perfumes were too strong and invasive.  I have always loved body sprays for their tendency to be lighter and kinder to your senses.  You can spray body sprays direclty onto your face for instant refreshing.  You can spray body spray in your hair to give you that “just washed” feeling.  I always use body sprays on my skin right out of the shower.  I have body sprays everywhere…in my car, in my purse, on my desk, in every bathroom in my house, etc. 

Take a break from perfumes and give body sprays a try.  My favorites (at the moment) are Grapefruit and Beach.  At this point, I believe they are my signature scents (always subject to change!)  Living life in a constant aroma-therapeutic bliss makes for a beautiful life!

Coffee Smoothie Caffeinated deliciousness!

This coffee smoothie is available at many coffee shops, now you can make it at home in just few minutes as instant coffee is used to make this delicious smoothie. You may adjust flavors according to your taste.

Ingredients:

1 tsp instant coffee
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp sugar
Ice cubes

1. Add all the ingredients to the blender including instant coffee, milk, vanilla extract, sugar, ice, and chocolate syrup in a blender. Try to use a good quality blender to make smooth drinks and in this recipe of smoothie particularly because coffee needs to blend properly.
2. Blend them all until become smooth and creamy.
3. Serve in beautiful serving glasses and add some whipped cream on top.
2 tsp chocolate syrup.

Supernatural Botanicals Botanical Skincare System

What a tremendous response we’ve had to the Botanical Skincare System that was introduced in February!  Wow!  It is truly an absolutely amazing skincare system.  It’s formulated with Grapefruit Essential Oils, Japanese Green Tea extract, Cucumber extract, Aloe….and the facial cream is formulated with Hyaluronic Acid.  Sure, sounds scary, but it’s the same thing people are paying hundreds of dollars for to have it injected with needles in dermatologist’s offices.  Skip the needle and office visit and use it topically every day.  You can literally see it ironing out fine lines and wrinkles after the first use.  The scent is phenomenal, fresh and clean. 

The system includes the Botanical Facial Cleanser which is a mild, creamy cleanser that lathers perfectly and leaves your face feeling moisturized, not dry and stripped.  Next is the Botanical Firming Facial Toner made with Cucumber and Japanese Green Tea Extracts.  It instantly firms your skin and reduces the size and appearance of pores on the spot.  The spray bottle makes it easy to apply.  The Hydrating Facial Cream is worth it’s weight in gold!  From the first day I used this, I knew it would be huge.  It’s transformative action has taken away the appearance of my (un-Botoxed) forehead lines.  Since I’ve been using this system, I’m constantly walking up to people saying, look at my face….look at my skin, can you believe this?  My skin looks 23 years old (and it’s safe to say, that was a couple decades birthdays ago.)   You can purchase the system or each product individually.  For more, see the website and get ready to get gorgeous!