By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
Our nation’s childhood obesity rate continues to increase at an alarming rate. First Lady Michelle Obama is doing her part on a national level, but we all need to take responsibility of our children’s health. Besides maintaining a healthy diet as we reported with the Jamie Oliver article, we need to encourage our children to be active.
I will be the first to admit that the members in my family (including myself) are TV watchers and yes, all of my children play video games. We are, however, also an active family. But what do you do [...]

BloggersUnite, in conjunction with WaterAidAmerica and megree.com, has invited bloggers to spread the word about the condition of water in developing countries: 4000 children die each day due to illnesses from lack of clean drinking water.

Clean water is essential for life but 1 in 8 of the world’s population doesn’t have access to it. WaterAid is looking to raise awareness about the need for clean water in developing countries, to convey the message that sanitation is a critical sector in human development outcomes.
Diarrheal diseases caused by poor sanitation and unsafe water kill more children than AIDS, malaria and [...]

Whenever I can, I choose to shop independent businesses. They are just more inspiring, creative, fun and local. I wrote about the benefits of shopping locally in an article this past July. And now, even though farmers’ market season comes to a close in the next month or so (at least for us in the North), there is still time to advocate for the Eat Local cause. That goes for restaurants, of course, but here I’m mainly speaking about food shopping. Locally grown stuff.
I’m sure you’ve noticed. There is a whole Locavore (or Localvore) movement going on.  A locavore is [...]

For all my fashion cravings, as I get older, I’m getting more and more conflicted about shopping. I’m realizing that each purchase has to have a purpose and meaning. It’s quite inconvenient (but a great cost-saving measure) that, when shopping, I’m now overcome with a palpable sense of guilt when confronted with the excess of available merchandise. This degenerates into aversion when I walk past, for instance, the over-flowing displays of petroleum-infused and chemical-smelling fashion accessories (happened again this past weekend as I walked into DSW), i.e. the mounds of made-in-China knock-off designs created in horrid colors of pleather. If [...]

Ok, so I thought I had given my 18 year old son all the basic instructions so that he could get along, on his own, without mommy being around. Cooking, laundry, managing a checking account and writing a check, writing thank you notes, sewing a button, ironing a shirt… But it seems that there was a huge gap in my teachings: personal safety on the streets.
This realization became a pressing item to address when Pam, a good friend called to let me know that her son had been mugged – just a couple of days after having dropped him off [...]

I recently saw the Alexander Calder exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (running through October 17, 2010) and it was enchanting. The exhibit is aptly called “Form, Balance, Joy”. Indeed, Calder’s is the kind of work that mesmerizes your intellectual and your juvenile, playful side all at once.
Since owning a Calder is not something so easily contemplated (well, dahhhhlin, it’s just that I don’t have the room), you will like to know about the Hotchkiss Mobiles. These are, in fact, the very mobiles that are sold in the MCA Museum store.
These interior mobiles, aka kinetic art, definitely recall [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
You’ve seen people of all ages wear these “rubber” bracelets, anklets and necklaces with holograms on them, and you knew it wasn’t just another Livestrong copycat. But what are these things? Well, let me tell you…
My son has been wearing a holographic necklace for years. Designed for surfers, he swears by Power Balance to help him with his balance in such sports as surfing, skimming, skateboarding, wakeboarding and snowboarding. The website explains how it works and it’s pretty straightforward: the body’s cells naturally generates electro-magnetic energy, which is essential for the body’s performance [...]