By Scott Roeben, Contributing Editor – Photography
Note: The Succulent Wife is honored to welcome an “old” friend & colleague as our first male contributor! Scott is a talented writer and photographer and I am quite excited to be bringing you his articles on photography. He will be providing tips & tools to make the amateur photographer look like a real pro. Thanks Scott!
Capturing great photos of children can be a challenge. But there are simple steps you can take to dramatically improve your photography, virtually overnight. Try these tips, and you’ll be taking great photos of your kids in [...]

I love it. The Whole Foods Market Recipe iPhone app is not exactly new (it’s been out since June of this year), but if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s a great one. Not just because it’s free. But mostly because now, I’ll probably never again find myself wondering what’s for dinner. I love that a highly visible brand such as Whole Foods expands its brand’s goodwill by providing useful “toys” such as this one.

This application provides recipes through some pretty smart filters: I can search for recipes by course (I’m always stuck for good ideas for appetizers), category (“Quick [...]

My mad crush on cardigans has nothing to do with energy conservation. I’ve had this weak spot for over two decades now. Starting with wearing twin sets in the late 80′s, my favorite work uniform then which, against all likelihood, I actually wore quite stylishly. Now, some twenty odd some years later, I wouldn’t dare pairing anything so matchy-matchy unless I was into purposefully aging myself into the “wearing sensible shoes only” age group. Which I am not.
But, let’s be clear, I still love cardigans. A lot. They are a staple in my wardrobe and now that the weather is [...]

I know, it doesn’t take much to get me excited, but I do love kitchen gadgets. And take a look at these … For anyone who has spilled the beans, literally, when trying to pour out of plastic bags, you know how useful these bag caps will be. I’m really thinking of bulk or raw foodist shoppers who know that trying to pour anything from the flimsy bulk-foods-department plastic bags is an accident waiting to happen. These are also fun for the kids who might now have incentive to actually close the darned chip or cookie bags.
Here is a list [...]

Etsy, being in need of promotional videos, cleverly turned to its very own community of creatives to create 15 and 30 second spots around the theme of “handmade moments”. The contest accepted entries through August 31 and Etsy has since selected 10 finalists. The rest of us get to vote for a winner. We have until October 4.
I have delighted in watching every single one of the 25 semi-finalists‘ videos. True to the assigned theme “handmade moments” many of the clips feature handmade props of all sorts and a sort of naïve art execution that is absolutely endearing. Lots of [...]

Very cool free photo apps that empower Photoshop-disabled people, like moi, to render basic photos into something you might just want to place on your wall. In this article I am going to show you even more websites where you simply upload your photo and start playing. You can add one element or more, depending on what you like. If you don’t like what you see, you simply undo it.

I’ve shown you this before, and hate repeated myself, but seemingly Eastern European performance artform seems to be worth another mention. This time, a new artist, Kseniya Simonova tells the Ukrainian WWII story on sand, bringing her audience to tears. She’s a beautiful performer in every way.

You can see an equally moving previous performance here.
Happy Friday.

WE HAVE OUR WINNER!
CONGRATULATIONS Cheryl H.!
You have won two fabulous One Thread Fair Trade Pillow Covers, gracieuseté of Cambria Cove.
The winner was selected at random using the Random Integer Generator. This giveaway CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED but do subscribe via RSS or email to get updates on new giveaways as they get posted. Thank you all for playing!
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Thank you Cambria Cove for offering this fabulous giveaway of TWO beautiful One Thread Fair Trade™ pillow covers. I am particularly proud to be bringing you this giveaway as it features two of my favorite businesses. First, Cambria Cove, the delightful gift [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Contributing Editor
I went to Italy with a girlfriend of mine last spring.  Lori was there to do research for her book and I gladly tagged along as her, ahem, “research assistant”. Lori has traveled to Italy on many occasions and is quite familiar with the Italian fare. She introduced me to the Italians’ answer to sparkling wine: Prosecco is dry, lemony and frizzante! I was hooked on my first sip. It was a perfect drink after a full day of walking around Rome. Italians consider it the ideal apperitivo. It is also, of course, used to [...]

By Natalie Greggain, Contributing Raw Food Editor
If you read my last article on Raw Foodism (here), you are well aware that I am a firm believer of balance in your life. In my opinion, you will only ever be able to truly enjoy the succulent things in life once you have your health figured out. You need to get to a place where you can feel good about yourself every single day and develop a lifestyle that does that for you; that would be one where you’re not constantly counting calories or constantly feeling hungry.
Getting there can take a lot [...]