Since we know you’re always ready to appreciate the new and unusual, we’re sure you will – or your teens will – enjoy this new sound of Christmas! Brought to you by Japanese beatboxer maestro, Hikakin.
Merry Christmas!

If you are a parent, this is probably the most important film you can watch with your family all year. Get together tonight (Oct 20), because there is a broadcast premiere of Miss Representation on Oprah’s OWN channel at 9:00pm EDT (local channel finder).
“Miss Representation” is a film AND a call-to-action campaign to empower girls and young women to fight the limiting labels and hypersexualized expectations that mainstream media has pushed onto us, having us believe that these disparaging images are the “normal” way to view women.
This is certain to be a very powerful film and young men and boys [...]

Would you choose to put lead in your lipstick? Not a single one of us would, I’m sure.
My favorite consumer advocate, Annie Leonard (we mentioned her Story of Stuff video here) has created yet another engaging video to alert us to the untold problems of chemicals in our personal care products. Sure, we are now more educated about the nastiness of Parabens and Phthalates but ingredients such as these are but a few of the potentially harmful chemicals present in our lotions and potions. And although we could actively search out “natural” products, we are still trusting blindly on what [...]

By Marjie Killeen, Contributor- Midlife Wisdom
In the fifth month of my midlife crisis, I went on a retreat to a health spa – alone – to get motivated to take better care of my middle-aged self. It was a wonderful luxury to focus on what I needed for a change, as opposed to worrying about everyone else in my family. In addition to working out and eating healthy spa cuisine, I learned a simple secret to feeling great that anyone can do – any time, any place. The benefits include reducing stress, preventing disease, relaxation, increased focus, better sleep – [...]

A tribute by comedian Louis C.K. Humorous, wise & inspiring. Thanks Louis!
Happy Father’s Day to our wonderful dads!

We don’t mean to be stepping on our soapbox every time we praise the merits of eating healthy (Morgan Spurlock’s Super Size Me, Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution or Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation and Food Inc among others), but we really can’t help but be very passionate about the issues relating to food quality and consumption in this nation where one third of our population is now overweight… and that’s not just the adults. As we well know, this has translated to explosive, record rates of diabetes, heart disease, cancer and strokes and other degenerative diseases.
The Forks over Knives film [...]

By Marjie Killeen, Contributor- Midlife Wisdom
I’m having a midlife crisis, and one frustration is that I know I want something different, something more – but I’m not entirely sure what that “something” is. So, during the third month of my crisis, I got quiet and tried to tune into my desires and intuition. One of the tools I used was a vision board. The simple process of choosing images and arranging them on a board can be fun, powerful, enlightening and – as I discovered – kind of magical.
Check out my short video about my experience with vision boards, then [...]

It seems that we have a thing for water… I know that we’re sounding like a broken record, with all our water talk  (Tapped the Movie, causes and editorial reviews), and reviews of reusable water bottles (The KOR water bottle, the Good Life Gear bottle, the Vapur Anti-Bottle), but really, you know that the use of reusable bottles (along with reusable bags) is the easiest, most effortless way for anyone to feel a little more green.
And we care, not just because there are over 30 billion plastic bottles filling our landfills EVERY YEAR in the U.S. alone, but it’s also [...]

By Marjie Killeen, Contributor- Midlife Wisdom
Now that I’m in my late 40s, I’m creating my own midlife crisis in hopes that I can experience meaningful growth without having a nervous breakdown. After coming to terms with my changing body in month one, I spent the second month getting organized. My goal: to get rid of all the stuff that was weighing me down and holding me back, while making room for new things to enter my life!
It wasn’t always easy – I had to confront my fears and bad decisions. But aided by some amazing experts, I made a lot [...]

By Audrey van Petegem, Senior Editor
I was in Whole Foods the other day and saw an Easy-to-Grow Mushroom Garden and I thought how cool is that! What is just as cool is the story behind the company that makes these kits, Back to the Roots  (the acronym, BTTR is pronounced Better). It was started by two strangers who were in the same class at Berkeley University where the professor talked about how one could grow mushrooms in used coffee grounds. They individually emailed the professor who actually had no idea how to actually grow mushrooms, but suggested they contact each [...]