In Sydney? Check out Brooke Daniels

Loving the on trend block colors, fresh summery whites, and figure hugging fabrics. Especially the Splice Lucy Dress in White/Navy with Orange Sash (pictured above) - I die!

http://www.brookedaniels.com.au/

Amazing apartment design - utilizing small spaces

Here is a simple but very unique design. This apartment is designed By Parisian architects Emmanuel Combarel and Dominique Marrec. The challenge of utilizing the space in the 50sqm apartment has been turned into an advantage by putting this intermediary room in a central position, straddling the two floor levels, disconected from the floor. The bedroom becomes an islet in the heart of the appartment around which you can turn, experimenting different moods : up / down, below / above, on / under.

A wise African proverb

'Not everyone who chased the zebra caught it. But he who caught it chased it.'

Incredible places to go before you die..

Bad habits that lead to obesity

Obese people trying to lose weight make often two fundamental mistakes:
First - Dieting for only a period of time during which only low-calorie foods are consumed. (In fact, the word "diet" means in Greek "lifestyle", not a period of time.)
Second - Trying to lose as many pounds as possible in a short time.
There is no quick way – if we have been gaining weight for some years, it has to take time (two to three months) to turn this process around and set our body on the weight-reduction course.

Victor Hugo said that people couldn’t achieve what they do not understand. To apply this rule to obesity, we cannot lose weight unless we understand what leads us to obesity.

Bad habits that lead people to obesity

Please pay close attention to the following list of bad habits that are largely responsible for leading people to obesity and try to eliminate these habits from your everyday life. You will be pleasantly surprised by the results. Only your name will remind you of the obese person you once were.

The habit of eating fast and not chewing the food well causes poor digestion and the formation of fat layers in our body. Chew each bite at least fifty times – chewing is not a very demanding activity.
Drinking fluids at meals causes irregularities in the functioning of your digestive and hormonal systems. When you drink at meals, even water makes you fat. Drink at least twenty minutes before a meal or one to one and a half hours after a meal.
Eating sweet baked goods causes the absorbing walls of your digestive tract to be plugged up by starch and promotes the production of excess amounts of mucus in our body. Moreover, sweets promote weight gain. It is better to treat yourself to dried fruits, seeds (sunflower, pumpkin), and moderate amounts of nuts.
The habit of frequent snacking or constant chewing puts to much stress on certain systems in our body and takes them away from other important activities. As soon as anything gets into our mouth, the tongue (acting as the taste organ) sends a signal to our brain and immediately many mechanisms are engaged. Among them, just in case, is our body’s defense mechanism (the tongue does not provide full information about what it is that entered the mouth). Leukocytes have to leave their task of cleaning up and curing the body and they quickly gather around the stomach, where the content from the mouth is soon expected. When it is determined that no danger exists and leukocytes are not needed, they go back to their abandoned tasks. If there is another portion of food soon after, the whole process is repeated. As a result of being constantly overworked, leukocytes cannot do a good job at defending our body. This is why people who are used to frequent snacking are the first to get ill when there is, for example, a flu epidemic. Another problem created by constant snacking is the weakening of digestive enzymes produced by our body. Weaker enzymes mean incomplete digestion and the production of fat instead of water and carbon dioxide (by the way, chewing gum produces the same negative results).
Incorrect combining of food products makes digestion difficult and weakens the digestive mechanisms, because different foods need different digestive enzymes. Incorrect combining causes some food to putrefy and some to be turned into fat.
Lying down after meals activates mechanisms that normally function in sleep and takes the focus away from digestion. Undigested food is turned into fat. If possible do some walking on your heels after a meal to increase blood supply to the stomach and to improve digestion.
Sitting lifestyle does not use much energy and our body does not have the opportunity to use up its fat deposits. We should perform at least 1000 different energetic movements a day to increase the energy use.
The habit of eating while watching TV takes away the intimacy of our meals. Ancient dieticians advised that we should be "deaf and mute" at our meals. If we eat while watching TV, our brain gets confused – it has to process the information coming from the screen and to direct the digestive process at the same time. This interferes with our digestion and causes overeating.
Eating while irritated is another bad habit that causes us to forget moderation. Never eat under stress! Our liver reacts to stress first and the bile tubes become narrow. Bile does not get to our small intestine and food is not digested.
Eating before bedtime or at night is harmful because in sleep, all processes in our body are directed towards the rebuilding of cells and the rejuvenation of our entire body. The digestive organs do not have the necessary energy to process food at night. Eating at night gives us nothing but fat, liver stones, and kidney stones.
The habit of eating mostly refined and cooked food products makes us deficient in natural vitamins and microelements. We only get empty calories from these products; they do not have much nutritional value. Even if we eat large amounts, we still feel hungry and want to eat more. This way we end up eating five to ten times more than we should.
When we lose the ability to properly process and absorb the food we eat, our body starts storing fat around our hips, thighs, belly, neck, etc. The psychological causes are more complicated. Most importantly, we have to understand that obesity is a disease and there is no excuse for tolerating it.

Style icons

Malin Akerman
Sienna Miller
Blake Lively
Kate Moss

Forever New, now in Newmarket, St Lukes & Sylvia Park Westfield malls

Love, love love this store! Classic styles, beautiful cuts, exquisite colors, and the price tags don't send you into shock.

http://www.forevernew.com.au/

My favorite track from Adele - Set fire to the rain

Book review - Committed by Elizabeth Gilbert

There was so much in this book that I related to strongly, having been through all kinds of relation*shit* in recent times. I found it heartbreaking, comforting and intriguing, all at the same time. Its not for everyone - in fact it has had some quite negative reviews particulartly from Eat Pray Love fans. But I couldn't put it down. I highly recommend it, particularly if you have been through a horrible divorce and you're coming out the other side a stronger calmer and happier person, not despite but because of the experience. What doesn't kill us :)

As in the New Yorker -
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/01/11/100111crbo_books_levy

Keeping things in perspective is not Gilbert’s strong suit. This is why she goes on so many trips and does so much information gathering: she wants to understand how her fellow-humans have resolved the issues that torment her.

So we should not be surprised that when Gilbert found herself on the verge of a second wedding, in a state of dread, she decided “to put a little effort into unraveling the mystery of what in the name of God and human history this befuddling, vexing, contradictory, and yet stubbornly enduring institution of marriage actually is.” She consulted books and scholars. She interviewed Hmong grandmothers in the mountains of Vietnam about their level of marital satisfaction. She went to see her grandmother. The result is Gilbert’s new book, a journey through domestic history and her own neuroses, “Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage”.
Gilbert had not intended to remarry. Both she and her gentleman friend Felipe — a Brazilian gem trader she met in Bali, who provided her with passion and adoration and a tidy romantic ending for “Eat, Pray, Love” — had been “so badly gutted” by their divorces that they “had sworn with all our hearts to never, ever, under any circumstances, marry.” But Felipe is not an American citizen. After one too many trips to the United States to visit Gilbert and to sell his rocks, Felipe was taken away in handcuffs from immigration control at the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and told that he could not return to the U.S. unless he had an American wife. Gilbert, then, is “sentenced to marry,” and she’s none too pleased about it. “I felt mournful and sucker punched and heavy and banished from some fundamental aspect of my being,” she writes. “But most of all I felt caught.”

The divine Ecoya candles, one of my new favorite things

Ecoya candles are simply beautiful. I'm currently addicted to the Vanilla Bean travel tin, I love that I can take it anywhere I go and fill the room I'm in with its incredible scent. Makes me feel right at home, even on the other side of the world!

What makes Ecoya candles special is their soy wax (unlike the majority of candles which use traditional petroleum based paraffin) and 100% natural, lead-free cotton wicks. They are all natural, burning cleaner, longer and cooler.

The range includes Lotus Flower, Wild Frangipani, Vanilla Bean, Lemongrass & Ginger, Sweet Pea & Jasmine, French Pear, and Pink Champagne. But who can choose? I want all of them!

www.ecoya.co.nz

The Green Living Show & NZ Organic Expo next weekend

Sat 28th May 2011 – 11.00am – 6pm | Sun 29th May 2011 – 10.00am – 6pm
Alexandra Park Function Centre, Greenlane, Auckland, New Zealand

Clean, green New Zealand is where the organic and environment industry meet.

With the rise of the ethical consumer, more people are growing socially responsible, the consumer wants to know more about green living products and all things organic. Now is the time to use market power for good.

Green living and organic is good for business and green living and organic is good for the consumer.


Tickets are free, just register on their website (www.organicexpo.co.nz)

Gluten Free Food and Allergy Show - this weekend

The Gluten Free Food & Allergy Show is New Zealand's only exhibition dedicated to bringing you ideas and solutions for a wide range of allergy and intolerance issues.

At the show you will find products that cater to:

•Food allergies and intolerances such as - Coeliac, wheat, egg, lactose
•Airborne allergies and respiratory conditions - eg asthma, hayfever
•Skin conditions - such as eczema, psoriasis, chemical sensitivities
•Vegetarian, vegan, organic and other dietary requirements
Come along and meet the manufacturers of your favourite brands and find out which products best suit your needs. The teams from Coeliac NZ, Allergy NZ, Endometriosis NZ, and Asthma NZ will be there to answer your questions and provide practical advice.

There are free product samples to taste, great show specials to buy and an excellent seminar series to attend. Hear experts talk about the latest research! See the seminar page for a speaker timetable http://www.glutenallergy.co.nz/

Its being held at ASB Showgrounds this Saturday and Sunday 10am - 5pm, only $10 entry.