Each week we send a newsletter chock full of great information (from how to avoid spam to wonderful organizations to where to lend a hand); we also include savvy must-have products. Here’s a round up of a few of our past recommendations that deserve a second look:
Keeping a Memory or Two
We all have our childhood memories … mostly things that make our family unique in and of itself — long car rides to the cottage in Wisconsin, riding horses at grandma’s farm or playing kick the can in the street.
These days, how is it possible to keep memories and build a better family life when we’re all so busy running around? Once Upon a Family is a company to help you identify important family traditions and celebrations by providing helpful information and offering products to safeguard keepsakes. While promoting tradition and family identities, they help us organize our overscheduled lives.
Sure they have really cute photo books, little love notes, journals, letter boxes, memory boxes specific to holidays, (they even have a pet journal, too), but they also have solid, helpful information about creating the family you want, about why tradition is important and how to cultivate family ties. www.onceuponafamily.net
Women & Wine: A Toast to You
A glass of red? A pour of white? There’s something about a good glass of wine — if we know what we want and where to go.
During the past decade, there’s been a shift in the world of vino. For the first time, women now make approximately 60 percent of wine purchases; we are finding our own paths as winemakers, winery owners, sommeliers, wine educators and wine lovers.
Women & Wine is a free club for women providing a free membership and lots of information about wine. Their mission is to empower women to make knowledgeable and personalized choices when it comes to good vino. They offer: complete itineraries for “wine-country vacations” with discounts, a “radio” show (Women & Wine radio) on itunes.com or at www.womenandwineradio.com, recipes, wine gifts, book clubs and daily wine pick selections. So whether an experienced aficionado or novice, you’ll be a savvy oenophile before you know it. www.womenwine.com
Pure Inventions: Delicious Green Tea
Rasberry and mango and peach … oh my! Green tea has gone delicious.
With a variety of flavors, the company Pure Inventions, the brainchild of Lori Mulligan, CNC and Lynne Gerhards, CNC, both certified clinical nutritionists, has found a way to merge healthy and tasty.
Green Tea has been widely touted for its benefits. Studies have shown that it is a powerful antioxidant and promotes healthy cholesterol and blood pressure, good blood sugar, healthy metabolism, cardiovascular health, younger looking skin, dental and digestive health, and provides a boost of energy.
A dropper full of Pure Inventions Green Tea in a glass of water or your favorite beverage is equivalent to the amount of Polyphenols (antioxidant properties) found in 14 cups of the strongest brewed green tea — without the caffeine. It is also free of sugar, carbs and calories.
Choose from peach, pineapple coconut, raspberry, tropical, vanilla and original flavor with lemon. (Raspberry and peach personally tried and highly recommended!)
The company also offers an antioxidant fruit extract line — in pomegranate, blueberry and cranberry flavors. Visit www.pureinventions.comto find a flavor that suits your health.
Demand Your Fitness at Home
Have you used the excuse, “no time?” Have you said to yourself, “it’s too cold to leave the house?” Well, now there are no more reasons not to exercise for a healthy body — thanks to the online company demandFitness, which provides workout videos in the comfort of your own home, hotel room or office!
With innovative Web-based fitness classes, more than 135 from which to choose, it is easy to have a healthy body. There are no initiation fees, classes start at 99 cents a day, or there are several monthly plans providing unlimited access.
From cycling to yoga to step aerobics to Pilates to ballet (the list goes on), streaming videos allow you to work out with any type of class, at any fitness level, at any time. Are you a golfer? There is even a golf conditioning class!
The well-designed Web site is easy to navigate and provides assistance with technical problems or fitness questions. If you’re looking for a customized program, the health history questionnaire assists in determining the best combination of classes personalized just for you. And the instructors are experienced, certified and likeable!
It is important to have a healthy body, but it is so easy for all of us to make those excuses … this is perfect for those of us who want to sleep to the last minute and still make sure we are taking care of our fitness wellbeing! www.demandfitness.com
Calling for an S.O.S. on the Mattress?
A wet bed is never fun. Whether it’s a little one or perhaps even an elderly parent, the S.O.S. Mattress Protector is a waterproof mattress protector that keeps the bed dry.
Created by Betsy Finn, it’s a unique product that fits on the bed like a fitted sheet, and protects a mattress for up to two wettings.
The patented mattress protector has two absorbent, waterproof mattress pads, two sheets and a zipper on two sides for easy removal and attachment. It can be used by itself or with your own fitted sheet.
Finn, founder of the company Save Our Sleep, Inc., went through countless designs and research, and her perseverance to manufacture the product became a reality.
Invented for potty training children, the product is also used for incontinence, people who are bedridden, hospice care, night sweats or the countless ways a bed can get wet.
An uncomfortable topic can become comfortable: For more information or to order, visit the Web at www.sosmattressprotector.com
For the Love of Chocolate
Women have long been typecast as chocolate-obsessed. True or not, pure cocoa has been found to have antioxidant features and elevate emotions.
If you fall into the “chocolate connoisseur” classification, you will want to try the variety that Recchiuti Confections offers. Luxurious and indulgent, this line of chocolate is not only delicious, but it’s almost too pretty to eat (even the packaging is stylish).
Developed by Michael and Jacky Recchiuti in 1997, Recchiuti Confections was borne from the couple’s belief that once people are introduced to truly exquisite chocolate they will be won over forever. Few disagree.
Michael Recchiuti regularly visits the San Francisco Farmers’ Market for fresh lavender, tarragon and lemon verbena for his signature sweets. Only the finest ingredients are contained in his confections, and they are produced utilizing traditional European techniques and equipment. He then handpicks local artists and creates flavors reflecting each artist’s unique personality. Each artist designs four images for their chocolate flavors, and the images are screened onto the confections to be an edible piece of art. Each artist’s work is available for one year.
But for the chocolate lover, the design is secondary because the flavor is so exquisite. www.recchiuti.com