For today!

Beads

The winter is coming and it's great time for warm beads ;)

Let's try to make it together!

We need:

• 7 beads in different size
• fabric glue
• scissors 
• threads in different colors
• leather lace 

This work takes about an hour and we have nice colorful beads in the end.

New handmade Cards for New Year and not only;)

Handmade gift is the best in my opinion, because it contain the piece of the giver. Thats why I always try to make something by myself too, when I prepare a presents. I want to think about the receiver and create something particularly for her\him.

 I would like to show you here how to create lovely cards.

We need:

• paper for greeting cards
• colorful paper
• paints
• brush
• stencil
• school glue

I use different things to make my figures, for example coins, glasses or wheel for pins...

And here you can see what I get in the end ;)

How to clean silver jewelry at home?

  I think that this happen to almost everyone. One day you discover that your silver jewelry, which you have not wear, or wear, for a some period of time, got this kind of dark layer on top of them. It is nothing much you can do to stop it, it's just nature of this metal. Silver react on a lot of things, like: latex gloves, wool, oils from hands, chlorinated water (don't be surprise when you are coming after the pool), perfumes, hair spray etc..

 As you can see the one on the right is very dark compare to light silver color.

 The solution to this problem is very simple, you need to clean it by using a special silver polish or soft polishing cloth (made for silver). You can also take them to jewelry store and have them polished for you. Any of this solution is good and trustworthy:) But sometimes you just got no special polishes and cloth, no time to go to jewelry store and you want to wear your jewelry piece in a few hours.. 

  I have a quick and simple solution for you! You can clean it at home by spending just 15 min of total time.. I did it today and was very sceptic in the beginning, but the result overwhelm me:) It's work!!!

 We need:

 Salt - 1 table spoon

 Baking Soda - 1 table spoon

 Liquid Soap (for washing dishes) - 1 table spoon

 Boiled water - 1 cup

 Foil - a piece to cover the bottom of a bowl

 Direction:

Boil the water. Take a bowl and place a piece of foil in the bottom. Put the rest of ingredients as well (on top of the foil) Add water.

 You should see this reaction.

Place your silver jewelry on top of the foil and leave them for 10 minutes. (make sure it's really a silver, because my necklace from left side turn gray-green, since it was not a silver)

 After 10 minutes take them out and wash with sponge in warm water. Dry with dry cloth. 

  You can see that it's really work. My silver color is back and necklaces look like new=)) 

Grapefruit - fat burner

  Grapefruit. It's not only a tasty fruit but also a great source of vitamins and minerals. One grapefruit contains a daily dose of vitamin C, which makes it simply irreplaceable during colds and chills. This fruit also contain vitamins B, D, F, A, valuable organic acids, pectin, minerals (sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron) and fiber.

 Proved that grapefruit normalize digestion and helps with function disorder of the liver, helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol level, as well as the stabilization of insulin. In addition it reduce risk of cancer, fight against chronic fatigue and depression, has a tonic effect on all systems of the body, helps to restore strength, sharpen memory and attention. 

 Finally it is contain inositol which recognized as one of the best natural fat burner.This is why grapefruit is a fundament of many diets and its extract is used for manufacture of dietary weight loss supplements. Slice of grapefruit  before the dinner will keep you away from extra pounds;)

Despite of all its good qualities, grapefruit could cause harm.. For example people with high acidity in the stomach and liver problems should not eat it. Women who take birth-control pills should avoid this fruit since its could negate their effect. 

Remember! Everything good in balance! Always ask your doctor if you have any doubt!

Why is cashmere so expensive?

    I love the cashmere’s clothes and accessories  because they are so soft, warm and good looking, it’s so nice to touch them all the time. I have only two cashmere’s things in my wardrobe and not the purest ones. Cashmere is too expensive for me and I finally decided to find out why.

    In the XVI century, mountain goats live in Tibet, Kashmir. Hence the name "cashmere." In the most common version, Europe learned about expensive wool after the return of Napoleon from an Eastern military campaign. He presented weightless shawl with a beautiful name “pashmina” as a gift to Josephine, which was so fine that it can be easily drawn through a gold ring.

    The thinnest (5 times thinner than a human hair) and longest fibers of cashmere have a name “pashmina”. Them combed out from goat’s chest and belly. From one goat possible to get only 50 gr., therefore the shawl made from pashmina a truly precious gift.    

   Today in the collections of designers are increasingly flashing beautiful cashmere things, made not out of pure fiber, but mixed with other materials (linen, silk, etc.). In trend are natural colors - white (the most expensive), brown, black and gray, a yellowish-brown is also popular. The cashmere sweaters are favorites of any season, especially turtlenecks’ type, cardigans, jackets and sweaters polo.

    Cashmere is an easy warm wild goats’ down, combed out by hands. One animal gives 200 gr. of down in a year. By the way, for a knitted sweater we need down of 4.6 goats. That's why the cashmere’s things are so expensive.

Coffee time ;)

It's six in the morning, don't give me compliments, give me a coffee".
(c)"The facts of life".

Slow it down

    In America we eat very quickly. The American habit of eating fast is not unique. I use to eat standing up, or while walking or driving, just cramming the food down on my way to do something else, back in my country too. 

    In many Asian and European countries this is considered a shocking way to eat, bordering on barbaric. In Japan, eating while walking is considered extremely bad manners. The meal is a ceremony, a time to enjoy not just a food, but anticipation of the food, and the good company. To give the food and drink proper attention is to repay the effort of the people who are serving you.

    There are many disadvantages to eating quickly. Some of our satisfaction in eating comes from chewing. Our mouth enjoys different textures and when we chew well, flavors of food continue to be released. A disadvantage of eating quickly is that we barely taste the food, have only a vague experience of what we’ve eaten, and are very likely to want more.

    In addition to knowing when our stomach is hungry, we need to know when our stomach is satisfied. It takes about twenty minutes for this important biological feedback loop to be completed. If we eat slowly we allow food time to reach the small intestine and trigger the “ OK, I’m full” signal before we’ve eaten too much. If we eat too quickly, we’ve already packed in too much food in before the signal can arrive. Then we don’t stop eating until we are physically uncomfortable, which is after we’ve consumed more calories than body needs.

    The hungrier we are, the more important it is to eat slowly and with attention. When we feel that we are “Starving”, we tend to cram food in quickly, taking in too much before the twenty minute satiety signal alerts us to stop. The more we like food the faster we chew and swallow it.

   In the next posts about food we will discover together what mindful eating is.  

 (based on “Mindful eating” by Jan Chozen Bays, MD)

What you don't need to store in refrigerator?

 1. Canned food and jams. These products only take space which we never have enough, unfortunately..

2. Vegetables (potato, carrots, onion). They need to be stored in a bag or plastic container, but not in the refrigerator, where they quickly spoil. But in the summer time I do thou keep onion and carrot in fridge, because they spoil faster outside (because of the hot weather) than in the refrigerator:)

3. Tropical fruits, under low temperature they start to rot and emit harmful substances. It's better to keep them on the shelves of the closet.

4. Pomegranates and persimmons. Those fruits is better to wrap in several layers of paper and store in a dry place at room temperature. 

5. Chocolate and candy. When you store the in a fridge the condensation appears on the surface and then it dries up by leaving your chocolate with tiny sugar crystal which look white... We still can eat the chocolate, and honestly... I like when my chocolate is cold and crispy..can't do nothing with it))) I agree to pay the price of gray cover:))

6. Olive oil. It's going to have a white flakes and become tasteless. The same happen when I store my sesame oil in the fridge..

7. Honey. Cold temperature destroy it's useful goods.. 

It is a great thing - to start your day with kisses ;) 

Motivators for today ^-^

Have a nice day!!!

How to spot clothes that you don't wear?

  Closet space problem....tell me about it! We all have this situation "sometimes" when you have no place to put clothes...and you already pack all your summer t-shirts in storage boxes...still..closet look full. I found one solution how to determine those pieces that you don't really wear, I hope it will be helpful for you too.
  Turn all the hangers in your closet backwards. When you wear something, turn the hanger the right way. After a while you will see things that are still hanging on the rack in opposite direction. They will be unnecessary... 
 "But this is my favorite shirt!!" - will tell you! Agree, totally, I also have those "favorite shirts" which I love so much but actually wear them last time a year ago... Maybe it's time to make a space to a new things to come?;)

Healthy relationship with food

    
    In my childhood my grandmother never allowed me to leave food on my plate. She told me scary stories about what could happen if I will. One of the stories, for example, was about unfinished bread. She told me if I leave it I will get some serious disease or I will simply stop to grow up and will stay the same size for life, because I won’t get enough power for growing. Biggest concentration of energy was in the last piece of bread, she believed. She taught my mom in the same way.

    When I asked my Georgian and Japanese friends about their experience, they told me similar stories. I guess the previous generations had a really harsh time with food, when it wasn’t enough and they have to eat in store and never leave a piece on their plates.

    So, I use to do it too. I don’t have a problem with availability of food but I have bad relationship with it. I didn’t really notice that something wrong going on between us till I found some article about it. It is important to understand that problem exists for starting to change this situation.

    When our relationship to food falls out of harmony, we lose our innate enjoyment of eating. When the relationship has been disordered for many years, it is easy to forget what “normal” eating is like.

    Here are some elements of healthy relationship to food.

1.    You feel happy and fully engaged in life when you are not eating. (Food is not your only reliable source of pleasure and satisfaction).

2.     If you are not feeling hungry, you don’t eat.

3.     You stop eating when you feel full and are able to leave food on the plate.

4.     You have intervals of at least several hours when you are not hungry of thinking about food, punctuated by (meal) times when you do feel hungry and take enjoyment in eating.

5.     You enjoy eating many different kinds of food.

6.     You maintain a healthy weight that is steady of fluctuates within a range of five to seven pounds. You don’t need to weight yourself more than once every few month or years.

7.     You don’t obsess about food or count calories in order to decide if you can “ afford” to eat something or not.

    If someone or all of the items on this list don’t apply to you, you’re not alone. Many of us have developed unhealthy habits due to a variety of influences in our lives. We need something to help us restore our natural sense of balance, satisfaction, and delight with food. If I will find it by myself I will share this information with you J, if you already found it, please tell me what it is J.

Body Scrub from Coffee & Honey

   Coffee - it's not only the beginning of the day for many people but also could be very useful for our skin. 
  Scrub made out of coffee perfectly:
- toned body 
- good for metabolism 
- cleanse our skin from dead cells
- opens pores and increase blood circulation
- help to reduce cellulite ;)
 The most useful is RAW coffee, which contains proteins, fats, carbohydrates, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, manganese, iron and more than 2000 deferent substances and minerals so necessary to our skin. But if you don't have raw, roasted one is also good!
 Body scrub from coffee have been used from ancient times. It perfectly clean our skin and make it soft and silky.

You can make this amazing scrub in no time by using just 2 ingredients: Coffee & Honey in proportion of 1:1 (each spoon of coffee require the same amount of honey). 
**If you have dry skin you can add 2 tea spoon of olive or grape seeds oil.
 We will use 3 table spoon of honey and 3 table spoon of ground coffee. 

  Mix them together (if it's too thick ->add more honey) and apply to the body with lightly massaging moves for about 5-10 minutes, then leave for some time. Let the body absorb all the goodies from the coffee and honey:)). Wash it off with warm water.
 It will leave your body with very smooth, clean skin. Feels like stay-home spa salon effect, you would't regret;))

Little Cupcakes Bakeshop.

   This Bakeshop fits perfect for persons who don’t want to be alone in silent, because it’s a crowdy place with loud music and endless movement of people. I saw a guy who read some book in the middle of the shop and seemed enjoyable. There also were two girls who talked and wrote something on the notebook, it looked like interview and nothing bothered them. The rest of visitors were similar to tourists. 

    At Little Cupcakes Bakeshop you always can get different kind of tea or coffee and some bake of course. They have a big amount of cupcakes and cakes, which is not easy to choose.

   This place is good for stop by for a while, when you spend time in SOHO, to take rest and make life sweeter. For more information you can go to their site and discover that they have even own philosophy ;)

They like to repaint the wall outside in various stiles, that's why we can have different background for our pictures ;) Thanks them for this too! 

Big cities like New York...

    Big cities like New York offer people the chance to become who they want to be, free to realize their potential, free to sign a new song. Big cities don’t lock you in.