3 Quick Ways to Feel Sexier This Valentine's Day

Feeling sexy on Valentine's Day isn't about lingerie or perfume. Although those things can be part of it, feeling sexy is about radiating the sensuality you naturally possess from the inside out.

Here are three tips to let your inner vixen shine on Valentine's Day. Try one or all!

Have a flirt fest for one!
Look in the mirror and tell yourself out loud how sexy you are. Notice what's beautiful and irresistible about you and verbally salute it. If you can't think of anything, fake it til you make it. Turn a negative belief into a positive one. Personally, I used to feel insecure about my small breasts until I started purposely paying them compliments. "Those are some sassy nipples!" I'd say to myself when I got out the shower. Now, I think my itty bitties are the cat's pajamas!

5 Holiday Party Survival Tips That Don't Involve Booze

Holiday parties are awesome. (If catching up with friends over a smorgasbord of cookies is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.) Still, big social situations can be awkward at times. Reaching for a drink as social lubricant can become almost a reflex. Unfortunately, it's not the healthiest choice and it's pretty sad to have to rely on alcohol to talk to people. Plus, I don't know about you, but alcohol has made me say some pretty strange things and made me make out with even stranger people. Not good party etiquette.

I'm actually kinda shy by nature so when I stopped drinking I totally had to teach myself to be outgoing without booze. Here are some tips and tricks I use to make new friends.

Smile.
If you only do one thing, do this. Who doesn't want to get to know a person who is smiling? Happy people are just more attractive/compelling. If you don't feel like smiling, smile anyway. Studies show that smiling can actually make you happier. Also, sharing a smile with someone is an easy way to help him or her feel happier.

Be curious.
Ask people high mileage questions about themselves. High mileage questions are questions that can't be answered with "Yes", "No," or any other single word. A good, and obvious, opening one is "How do you know [the host]?" But don't stop there. When you're a little deeper into conversation try asking: "What are you looking forward to in 2015?"

I've noticed that people really appreciate being listened to. (It's a rare treat!). Asking questions beyond the standard "What do you do?" (which sometimes sounds like "How good are you?" and "Are you worth talking to?") is a great way to make a meaningful connection with someone. It also creates the opportunity to learn something. There are lots of great HMQ in this book, which is technically for coaches, but I sprinkle these in conversation when I'm not coaching too.

Happy Earth Day! Join me at Whole Foods in PVD!

There is an awesome kid-friendly Earth Day celebration at Whole Foods Market University Heights in Providence, Rhode Island. 

I'll be there hosting a domestic detox information table from 11:30am to 2:30pm. I will then teach a hands-on, kid-friendly green cleaning workshop from 2:30pm to 3pm.

Green Penguin, EcoRI, and RIPTA are teaming up to stuff a bus with electronic waste to be recycled 11:30am to 3:30pm. Bring your junk! Click here to read what items are accepted. 

At 2pm, Acopia Harvest will teach kids (and me!) about hydroponic gardening.

I'm excited to spend Earth Day with some of the greenest people in Rhody!

How will you celebrate Earth Day?

Thanks so much for reading this blog entry! I hope it was helpful. Let's stay connected: Newsletter // Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest // Bloglovin' // YouTube

Consider supporting this blog by shopping via my Amazon shop or buying my green cleaning eBook. Thanks. 

3 Ways to Invite More Love into Your Life

 

Happy Valentine's Day! Wishing you a day full of love!

If you're feeling like you could use a little extra love, stop and smell the flowers. Wildflowers might be hard to come by in the winter, but there are lots of equally lovely things in your life.

Here are three ways to experience more love. They are all free and don't require any extra time or a partner. They just require more awareness.

Allow yourself to fully enjoy things with all of your senses.
Love is sensual. Sensuality is experiencing your senses. How cozy and soft is your favorite sweater or scarf? What does chocolate feel like as it melts on your tongue? Enjoy the smell of herbs and the sight of vibrant colors in your dinner. My favorite sensual food experience is the way the texture of kale changes as I massage olive oil and lemon into it.

Are You Really Living MLK's Dream?

Yesterday, I was thinking about Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, specifically this sentence: "I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

I couldn't resist wondering if I'm living MLK's dream. Do I judge others based on their character- on who they really are- instead of how they appear on the outside? Think so.

Do I judge myself on my character instead of my appearance? It's been a journey.

I used to judge myself harshly on how I looked. A a child, I had "ugly" teeth. As a pre-teen, I was "flat" and I had "bad" skin. By 16, I was suddenly curvy and not thin enough, even when I got down from 135 to 101 pounds. There were many times I used the way I looked as a reason to not spend time with friends, to not eat nourishing foods, to not pursue interests. In short, I used my appearance as a reason to not fully love myself.

And by "reason," I mean, reason. It felt totally sane and logical to tell myself something was "wrong" with me and therefor I didn't deserve to live life with the same freedom and happiness that a more attractive person should have. How crazy is that?

New Year's Reflection & Resolutions

The last day of the year is a great day for reflecting on and making peace with the year that has passed. It's also a great time to set intentions for the following year.

My major accomplishments and milestones of 2013 are:

• I joined Soka Gakki International and started practicing Nichiren Buddhism.
• I enrolled in the health coach training program at Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
• I stopped taking birth control (after having some really awful side effects) and learned I can have (mostly) clear, acne-free skin and feel happy and balanced all month without it.
• I finally wrote an eBook on green cleaning.
• I co-hosted my first food swap ever with RI Food Swap and co-hosted a vegan book swap in Boston with Jamie Hagen (our first for New England, but the fourth of all). 
• I got love from an additional 330 Facebook page fans. I was hoping to reach a total of 1K in 2013. Doesn't look like it will happen, but I'm so happy and encouraged by the community that is happening there. At one point, I think 87 people were "talking about" my page. Wow!
• I recovered from my addiction to doughnuts, and sugar in general. Doesn't sound huge, but it's a big deal for me. It's nice to not be controlled by food cravings.

The biggest milestone of 2013 was an internal shift. I stopped wishing I was different than I am- to be faster, less sensitive, less detail obsessed, and more independent.

Merry Christmas! Check out my book for free!

I hope you have a lovely day today and tomorrow, whether or not Christmas is your thang.

I'd love to gift you a sample of a few pages of my eBook, Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning. The 10 page preview includes information about how conventional cleaning products affect your health and three awesome, easy recipes to get you started cleaning green.

10 Things to Do Besides Shop

I used to buy things I didn't need.

Sometimes I shopped because I felt great and wanted to celebrate. I found $100 tucked away somewhere. I lost weight. I aced an exam. I was dating a hot new guy. I found something brilliant or beautiful for supercheap.

Mostly I shopped because I didn't feel good. I was lonely, bored, or aimless. I wanted to skip a meal. I was anxious because I had spare time between appointments. I wanted to have some reason for working long hours at a job I hated.

Call me un-American but I'm just going to go ahead and say these are all terrible reasons to buy stuff. Shopping for any reason other than the need to use the item or service you're purchasing is like scratching your head because your foot itches. It's just plain silly and doesn't do any good. I'm grateful that I learned this before I acquired mountains of crippling credit card debt and crap I don't need.

If you use shopping as a way to manage your moods, like I used to, here are ten healing and empowering things you can do besides shop. They all work really well for me.

1. Get tea with a friend. Allow yourself to be healed by the lovefest that is hanging out with your best girlfriend or even someone amazing and new that you'd like to know better.
2. Write and snail mail a thank you or just because note to someone you really appreciate. Who has time for handwritten notes these days? You do! That is when you don't waste time shopping!

DIY Upcycled Christmas Tree Potpourri

At the start of the year, I made this easy natural potpourri using upcycled bits of my Christmas tree (collected before composting the rest of it) along with other seasonal kitchen scraps and spices. You can get a head start making Christmas tree potpourri by collecting scraps from a tree salesman or using the bits that will inevitably fall off your tree as you transport it into your home.

This recipe makes a small batch of potpourri (about a quart). Triple or quadruple the recipe and put into vintage-feeling mason jars to make fantastic holiday hostess gifts.

You'll need:

• two branches from a small Christmas tree
• dried clementine, orange, and/or tangerine peel (Hang peels to dry or just leave on the counter for a few days. I know from experience that both work equally well!)
• 4 cinnamon sticks
• a small palm full of whole cloves
• 2 cotton balls or pads
• lemon essential oil
• pine or cedar essential oil (I actually used Wondercide, a cedar oil natural insect repellant. It was great to get some off-season use for it!)
• medium brown paper bag 

Meatless Monday: Healthy Holiday Eating Tips & A Vegan Eggnog Recipe

Last week, I attended Shira Hirshberg's Surviving the Holidays workshop at Momentum Fitness in Providence, RI. Shira is a registered dietitian with lots of practical tips for mostly healthy holiday eating. Here's what I learned:

Don't let the liquids fool you.
Drinks contain calories but not many nutrients. When you arrive at a party, drink plenty of water to first satisfy your thirst. Later move on to non-alcoholic beverages (sparkling grape juice contains 160 calories for 8 oz) and booze (vodka cranberry is 183 calories per serving) more selectively.

Work the room.
This is a two part strategy. First, survey everything in the buffet. This will help you make an informed decision about which things you'd like to eat and in what amounts before you start loading it up. The second part of the strategy is to stand at least an arm's distance from the snack table to prevent mindless snacking.

Get your plate right.
At least half of your plate should be high-nutrient, low-calorie veggies like leafy greens (kale, collards, salad greens) and green beans. The veggies part of the plate is unlimited refills section so go wild. The other two quarters are protein (beans or tofu) and starch (winter squash, sweet potatoes, peas, rice, millet, bread, pasta).

A healthy holiday plate

Meatless Monday: Gluten-Free, Vegan & Kosher Thanksgivukkah Recipes

Thankgivukkah, the first and only Thanksgiving and Hanukkah of our lifetime, is coming soon! Use this guide to prepare yourself to host guests with various health, ethical, and religious dietary restrictions. Learn the restrictions of gluten-free, vegan, and kosher diets. Enjoy a cornucopia of delicious seasonal holiday recipes that celebrate the abundance available to an intersection of all three groups. 

What is Gluten-Free?
A gluten-free diet (GF diet) is a diet that excludes foods containing gluten. Gluten is a protein complex found in wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, and rye. Oats may also sometimes contain gluten because of cross-contamination in processing.

Foods made from grains and grain-like plants that do not contain harmful gluten include: corn (corn flour, corn meal, grits); rice (white, brown, basmati); amaranth; buckwheat (kasha); Montina; millet; quinoa; teff; and sorghum. All meats, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits, legumes (including soy), nuts, and seeds are also gluten-free in their natural, unprocessed forms.

How to Recycle Your Christmas Tree

"What are we going to do about this tree?" is a question uttered around the world on January 2nd. I love my Christmas tree, but I guess keeping it up until Valentine's Day wouldn't be Kosher. (Not that Christmas trees are at all Kosher. LOL!) Here's how to dispose of a Christmas tree the clean and green way:

First, see if your city has a Christmas tree recycling program. To find out, just Google "Christmas tree recycling [Your City]". It's that easy! You can use this info to strategically plan the day you curb your tree.

Providence has free curbside pickup of Christmas trees (and holiday trees too) from Monday, January 7 until Friday, January 18, 2013. The trees will be collected by Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation and turned into compost. They ask that residents do not put trees in any type of bag.

The NYC Department of Sanitation will be conducting special curbside collections for mulching and recycling of Christmas trees Wednesday, January 2 through Saturday, January 12, 2013. Trees will be chipped into mulch that will be distributed to parks, playing fields, and community gardens throughout the city. Please, no bagged trees here either.

New Yorkers can also participate in NYC Parks & Recreation Mulchfest by bringing their holiday trees to designated sites throughout the five boroughs on Saturday or Sunday, January 12 & 13, 2013, from 10 am to 2 pm. Free mulch will be available at Mulchfest locations so BYOB!

Then, get it out of your house without making a mess...

My favorite ornament. I love squirrels!

1. Remove all lights, ornaments, and tinsel from your tree and save them for next year. I just throw my small collection of sturdy ornaments in a plastic storage bin, but Better Homes & Gardens has an impressive "Ultimate Guide to Storing Holiday Decorations." If you break any glass ornaments in the process Clean My Space has tips for cleaning them up.
2. Remove your tree from the base. Be careful not to spill any water.
3. Wrap an old sheet around your Christmas tree before hauling it through your apartment and out to the curb. Once the tree is outside, shake the sheet out so that you don't bring in any pine needles. You can wash the sheet as you normally would later.
4. Fallen needles can clog your vacuum, so be sure to use a hand broom and dustpan to collect the bulk of the mess. You can touch things up with the hose attachment after you've done this.
5. If tree sap gets on anything, it's easy to clean. Wash hard surfaces with warm water and a little dish detergent or Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. You can remove sap from fabric by spot cleaning it with rubbing alcohol. Blot the sappy spot with an alcohol-moistened cloth, then blot up the dried sap with a new cloth or a clean, dry section of the same cloth.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Happy Holidays! See you NYE!

I'm taking a little holiday from blogging until Monday, December 31. Merry Christmas, if that's your cup of tea. Either way, I hope you have a beautiful week. 

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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10 Things to Do on Black Friday Besides Shop

Ah, shopping! A great American pastime. Got a day off of work? Why not wake up early and get all fist and elbows on thy neighbor to score door-busting deals?

As you've probably heard, we have a limited amount of resources left on this planet. If we use them all up we're in trouble. Why not choose to save these resources for stuff that really matters, instead of buying ourselves and our loved ones things we don't necessarily want, need, or have space for?

I'd understand all the hoopla if holiday shopping were actually fun, but my experience in retail sales has taught me that the customers with the longest lists are usually the most miserable, frenzied, and (sadly) worried about debt.

Instead of shopping, I invite you to participate in Buy Nothing Day 2012. Buy Nothing Day is an international day of protest against consumerism celebrated annually just after Thanksgiving.

"Buy Nothing Christmas: Rethink the Season" (image via AdBusters)

Here's my list of ten things to do on Black Friday besides shop:

1. Nothing much. Continue eating, sleeping, and enjoying the company of your friends and family. It's okay to chill out and refuel. You can call it "Do Nothing Day 2012."
2. Sort through your belongings. Fill a box of useful, but unused things, to donate to your local Goodwill or other charity thrift store.
3. Look at your family's belongings. Is there something you can repair yourself or have repaired as a holiday gift, instead of buying a new one?
4. Watch Reverend Billy & The Church of Stop Shopping documentary, What Would Jesus Buy? It's available on Netflix Watch Instantly. You can also watch the entire movie on YouTube.
5. I love Adbusters' idea of offering free a credit card cut up service outside the shopping center!
6. You can use credit cards and gift cards for art projects, instead of shopping. Check out Art Journaling 101 on Daisy Yellow Blog and get started exploring your creativity today!
7. You can also make jewelry from old credit and gift cards if you don't cut them straight away. Scavenging blog has a tut for making a credit card bracelet and I love, love, love Clossette blog's tutorial for making a credit card name necklace.
8. Start taking charge of your finances. Make a budget and plan to pay off debts. Read Suze Orman's book, The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, & Broke, or poke around the internet for other personal finance education resources.
9. Create a list of charities you'd like money donated to in your name. Be sure to share it with people who usually buy you crappy presents.
10. Write and mail holiday cards. Extra points if you make your own!

Check out BuyNothingChristmas.org for more alternative ways to celebrate the holidays and resist excessive consumerism.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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How to Remove Holiday Food Stains

I hope that you're having a superfantastic Thanksgiving celebration teeming with loved ones and delicious food.

"Gurl! You betta not let that stain set!"

In case all the delicious food doesn't make it into your face, I thought I'd share this:
Holiday Stain Removal Guide from Martha Stewart Living. There are tips for combatting hard-hitting offenders like cranberry sauce, chocolate, gravy, and wine. You can thank me later.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Last Minute Vegan Thanksgiving Ideas

On my way to the supermarket, I realized Thanksgiving is this Thursday. Somehow it went from being this abstract holiday in the semi-near future to being something I needed to actually buy groceries for. Yikes!

Holiday Kale Salad via BHG.com

Fortunately (?), I plan to spend the holiday alone for the first time ever, so there is no pressure to pander to the tastebuds of the masses. I just get to eat some of my favorite foods while re-watching every episode of Freaks and Geeks. Yay!

Here's what I hope to eat. If I make even half of this I'll be happy!

• Field Roast brand Celebration Roast: I don't wanna talk smack about Tofurky, but this is my favorite turkey alternative. It doesn't taste at all like turkey, but it doesn't even need to try to. I like to always have at least one in the freezer. It's that good! I like to serve it with golden gravy from Vegan Vittles cookbook.
• Holiday Kale Salad via Better Homes and Gardens or, more likely, a simple raw marinated greens salad. 
• Butternut Squash and Macaroni Casserole: I love this!!!!
• Whole Foods Market brand Organic Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce, in a can: Perched on the end of the aisle, it was a total impulse item that reminded me of my childhood. Ha ha! Let's ignore the BPA for now. It's not like I never eat canned food anyhow. #RealTalk
• Whole Foods Market brand Chocolate Candy Cane Cookies: Straight from the box and oh-so-yummy! My new favorite seasonal snack.

What will you eat for Thanksgiving? I hope compassion is on the menu!

At Farm Sanctuary's Celebration for the Turkeys. Image via their facebook page.

If you have $30 to spare please Adopt a Turkey from Farm Sanctuary. You aren't expected to take a critter home with you (although turkeys are so loveable you might want to). You just make a one-time donation to the non-profit org and support their advocacy work for farmed animals.

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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22 Ways to Create Abundance at Home

Last November, in celebration of Thanksgiving, I shared 24 suggested activities for creating domestic abundance. Abundance being New-Age lingo for "more awesomeness." In case you missed them, here are links to the less time-and-location-sensitive ones:

• Appreciate what you have
• Create a picture of your ideal home
• Junk Drawer Detox
• Co-own
• Make Your Own Mold Killer
• Have fun
• Rock out
• Breathe
• Carve a quiet space
• Create a keepsake
• Ask for help
• Give yourself high-five
• Use something you've been saving for a special occasion
• Follow-through on promises
• Make herbal vinegar
• Clean cabinets & fridge
• Exercise at home
• Share something from your home
• Adopt a turkey
• Spend one hour less online
• "Business Time"
• Celebrate a low-key Thanksgiving

Lately, nothing makes me feel more abundant than making art with a community! This year, I signed up for November is Art Every Day Month challenge. One of my personal goals is to make holiday gifts and decorations, but who knows what else I will create. (Add "itsolivialane" as a contact on Flickr to see what I'm up to.) I'm super excited to share my creativity and enjoy the creativity of others.

How do you create domestic abundance?

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Happy Halloween!

I hope you had, or are having, a super halloween. Our plans to go to Salem, MA fell through so we stayed here in Providence.

I'm giving myself a high five because I enjoyed pumpkin three ways today.
 

 

I carved my first Jack O' Lantern. Okay, Richard did most of the carving.

Even the cat is excited about the Jack O' Lantern.

I saved the seeds from inside the pumpkin and oven roasted them at 250 for about an hour with cinnamon, clove, ginger, maple syrup, sugar, salt, and canola oil. They are a little chewy. Maybe too much maple syrup or not enough heat? IDK. Either way, that's not stopping me from snacking on them!

I got almost a cup of seeds from one little pumpkin!

I also mixed pumpkin flesh with leftover tomato sauce and spaghetti for lunch. It's surprisingly delicious and filling! (So delicious, I ate it all before I thought to snap a pic!)

Richard's gorilla paws!

Tonight, we handed out candy to the kids. The best costume award goes to little Abraham Lincoln. The cutest trick-or-treater award goes the 4 foot tall boy in a brown furry teddy bear costume. A-dor-a-ble!

I feel like I should actually mention something that has to do with cleaning. Hmmm...Oh yes! I used rubbing alcohol to remove the black adhesive that held my craft fur mustache to my face. So easy!

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Tree-cycle!: Chip in. Mulch your tree. Help NYC grow!

We loved our tiny "tree"! (It was our first.) I'll miss it, but am glad it can go back into the circle of life.

 If you're not too attached, bring your holiday tree to a designated city park to be recycled into mulch that will nourish plantings across the city!

This year, MulchFest will take place this weekend: Saturday January 7 and Sunday January 8. It’s easier than ever to chip in! There are two ways you can help. You can bring your tree to a chipping location on January 7 and 8 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. The Parks Dept will chip your tree, and give you your very own bag of mulch!

If you can't make it, you can bring your tree to a drop-off site from January 2 through January 8. Leave your tree  and they'll recycle it for you later! The NYC Department of Sanitation will also be conducting special curbside collections for mulching and recycling of Christmas trees from January 3 through January 14.

(Read the full NYC Dept of Parks & Recreation announcement for more info and a list of drop off locations.)

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

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Create Abundance at Home #24: Celebrate Thanksgiving!

This morning, celebrate Thanksgiving at home. If you're eating supper at a friend's place, with extended family, or at a restaurant, start the day with a peaceful breakfast feast. Prepare a delicious meal in modest portions, so you can save room for later. Set the table with your favorite dinnerware. Bust out the cloth napkins. Light a candle. Say a few words of gratitude to the Universe for your meal, your home, and for your many other blessings. Enjoy every bite!

Today, and every day, I'm most happy to be alive and free to choose abundance over misery!

Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for reading my blog and all my random ideas on how to have more awesomeness at home. Have a lovely day!

Olivia Lane is a Blogger, Green Living Educator, and Health Coach trained at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition. She's also author of Baking Soda & Bliss: The Healthy & Happy Guide to Green Cleaning.   

 

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