If you’re not familiar with Lush, they specialize in handmade cosmetics and skincare made from fresh ingredients. They use minimal packaging and don’t test on animals.

Dream Cream Hand and Body Cream is intended for those with dry skin and is made from oat milk, rose water, olive oil, Fair Trade cocoa butter, a variety of natural oils and other fresh ingredients.

With a light herbal fragrance, the cream can be appealing to both men and women.

The cream feels nice going on, but through our review didn’t provide long term relief to extremely dry skin. Also, realize that because Lush uses fresh ingredients your products will come with a shorter shelf life than non-natural products – so buy them and use them. Dream Cream is a nice light cream for every day moisturizing of healthy skin.

Learn more: Dream Cream Hand and Body Cream (Find it under “Skincare”)

Many job applicants worry about what to include on their resume, especially if they did not obtain a college degree. It should not be a concern, however. Only about 30 percent of adult Americans have a college degree, meaning that about 70 percent of the work force got their jobs without listing a college degree on their resumes.

Accentuate the Positive Instead

A college education does not imply experience, or even skill. As long as you can focus your resume on your abilities, employers will judge you on your skills rather than your education.

While you should not leave the education section entirely off your resume — hiring managers want to see at least a high school diploma for most positions — you can put it at the end of your resume. If a section is unimportant to describing the reasons why you make an excellent candidate, leave it until the very last. List your skills, experiences, and etc. first.

If you can demonstrate that you are a reliable employee and have a solid work history, you can usually win out over a candidate with a degree but little else. Often, recent graduates have no work experience at all. In addition to the normal training a new employee might need, that college graduate may need further education in how to work in an office environment. However, an individual without a degree, but with plenty of experience, can often jump right into the work.

Don’t Draw Attention Where It’s Not Necessary

Many applicants feel like they need to explain the reasons that they didn’t attend college, devoting their cover letters to the process. However, this is unnecessary. Instead, a more valuable use of your cover letter is to demonstrate how you can be an asset to your potential employer. Describe what makes you such a great candidate. Leave it for the hiring manager to realize that you are a better option than other applicants.

Even worse, some applicants decide that, to be competitive, they need to embellish their resumes. However, it has become very easy to check on whether an individual graduated from a specific institute. It simply isn’t worth it to embellish a resume.

If you ever crave a pancake breakfast in the morning, it really doesn’t have to be complicate. Here’s an easy pancake recipe that you can whip up in a snap. These have a little hint of orange for a unique flavor.

Cookbooks: Breakfast Recipes

The Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons wheat germ
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup skim milk
• 3/4 cup fresh orange juice
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh orange peel
• Vegetable oil spray

The Process:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all dry ingredients and mix until well blended. In another medium bowl, combine all liquid ingredients and orange peel. Stir well. Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients and stir until moistened. Don’t over stir. Preheat griddle. Spray lightly with vegetable oil spray. Pour 1/4 cup of batter onto griddle , turning once edges of pancake are dry and there are bubbles on top.

More Breakfast Recipes: Breakfast Recipes

Editorial Comment: Here’s a great article and resource to help you become vegan. If you’ve been thinking about it for a while, read this article and for extra help get the Vegan Transitioning Your Family Ebook.

Tips for Transitioning Your Family to Veganism

In a society where meat is king, it can be difficult expressing your need to be a little different. For the family or individual looking to transition over and become healthier through a vegan diet the road ahead can be rough.

Sometimes you just may not know where to go or what to do.

Here are a few tips that will help you along on your journey towards transitioning success:

1. Make sure that you block out all the negativity that will come your way. The bottom line is that you will get flack and it just may hurt. Just know that someone else’s ignorance to a situation does not have to be your downfall.

2. Ease your family into the transition. It can be difficult, especially for the adults in the family to adjust to such a drastic dietary change. Don’t force it on them all at once because you just might lose the battle.

3. Start out with 3 days of vegan meals and the rest your normal diet. Over time as the family gets used to the meals add another day of vegan meals and then another. Eventually vegan eating will be the norm in your home.

4. Understand how to substitute or replace meat and dairy in your home. There are many options available to replace what you were used to as a meat eater.

5. Make sure you have a plan. A workable meal plan is one of the best tools you can have for transitioning success. A good plan with healthy and fun recipes will win your family over.

Now maybe you look at these tips and wonder how you will get everything you need to succeed. How do you get your family to adjust well? How do you accomplish the task of menu planning. What are some vegan substitutions for meat?

We want to share a great resource with you that we have discovered. LaTara Ham-Ying, the Vegan Cooking Coach over has written a wonderful e-book about transitioning your family to veganism.

Transitioning Your Family with Ease: Simple Paths to Vegan Cooking is a very inexpensive resource that is loaded with valuable information, so definitely worth picking up. LaTara even provides menu planning tools, a sample menu with the shopping list and over 10 recipes to help you get started with simple yet healthy and fun meals your family will enjoy.

I invite you to learn more about this e-book filled with practical advice and tips for your transitioning success.

Editorial Commentary: Every little girl loves a tea party. Set the time, get the food ready and dress up to the nines, you’re girls are going to have a great time. Read this article by Annette Yen to learn how to plan a tea party for kids. Check out Annette’s guide to tea parties for even more help.

The Perfect Princess Tea Party – 7 Simple Steps

Can you think of anything more feminine, more lovely, more “girly” than a group of young girls… all dressed in their princess finery sitting down to a decked out tea table with royal dainties? Girls across the globe love dress up and love tea…so why not combine the two and make the perfect event for your girls!

Here are 7 easy steps toward making the perfect memory for your little princess:

1. Set a date: Keep in mind the ages of your little ones and set the time when they won’t be too tired, too hungry or too cranky! The “official” teatime is late afternoon, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a wonderful teatime in the morning as well.

2. Invite: The fun begins. Being a princess requires invitations of the most royal kind. Lovely linen paper is easy to find at your local craft or office supply store. Run it through your home printer with a fancy font and you’re done. Send the invitations out about 2-3 weeks before your tea so your guests can plan accordingly.

3. Decorate: Let your princess help with this part…after all, it is HER event. Royal colors include purple, gold, pink and silver and aren’t those the favorites of girls anyway? Balloons, streamers and more balloons! We’ll talk about the tea table in a minute.

4. Make the food: Traditional tea fare includes scones and clotted cream. Other royal tea treats are chocolate covered strawberries, thumbprint cookies, cucumber sandwiches (or substitute the ever popular PB&J sandwich for younger ones) and miniature teacakes. More details on tea party food can be found on our website at http://www.funevents4girls.com.

5. Set the table: Go all out here. Use a lovely tablecloth, cloth napkins and real teacups not plastic. Not only will this be fun for your little ones, but it’ll be a great lesson in etiquette as well as they learn to put on their finest manners for your tea.

6. Plan some games: Great princess games abound but keep it simple. Hide some gold-foiled covered coins around the house and have a hunt to return the royal treasure. Use a lovely glass bowl as the treasure chest. Spread your gold and silver balloons all over the “ballroom” floor and play classical music for a royal ball with much dancing.

7. Enjoy the day: Most of all make it fun. Take many pictures and record the memories. Your little princess will go to bed that night smiling from ear to ear with the joy of the day!

About the Author: Annette Yen invites you to her Tea Party Website to find everything you need for the perfect princess party!

Editorial Comment: Balancing your checkbook is often a task that we want to avoid, but this article by Darlene Arechederra of Afford to Stay Home shows you how to prevent checkbook mishaps.

30 Seconds to an Awesome Checkbook Balance

Have you ever watched a squirrel balancing up on the high-wires? He actually makes the balancing act look easy, doesn’t he?

I always wonder what will happen to the squirrel should he lose his balance. You see, the high-wires are not part of his natural habitat. They are man-made, and he has no safety cushion built in to protect him.

But, we as humans build our own cushions. We love our cushions, because they make our lives easier. We have cushioned shoes to absorb the impact on our bodies from walking, jumping, jogging. We build in cushions of time by leaving early for work.

And believe me, if you’re following a pickup on a dry-as-a-bone dirt road in 100 degree heat, you’ll leave lots of cushion in front of you. Otherwise, you’ll be eating dust, mile after mile (smile).

But, there’s another type of cushion we need. It’s the cushion in our checkbooks. Without it, our own balancing act can become difficult at times.

Why You, Too, Need A Cushion to Protect You

1) A mistake in your checkbook is less likely to create a crisis.

2) If the bank deducts an amount larger than the correct amount, your cushion can save you from bounced check fees. Not to mention the hassle — and your reputation. It’s amazing how many checks can bounce as a result of one simple error on the bank’s part.

3) Creating your own cushion will reduce the stress in your life. (And don’t we all want our lives to be easier?)

How to Create Your Own Cushion

If you’re like many, you probably pay your bills as soon as you get paid. So, why not build in an extra five dollars each time you get paid? This means you’ll want to leave five dollars *more* in your checkbook, after paying your bills and adding in other spending you’ll be doing.

If you’re paid once a month, you’ll want to increase the amount you build in per paycheck.

Feed Your Cushion and It Will Grow Quickly

For example, if you normally keep a balance of $23 to fall back on, pay period number one would end with a cushion of $28 ($23+$5). The following pay period would now find you with a $33 cushion ($28+$5) remaining in your checkbook.

Pencil in your new cushion amounts to the right on your check register. It’ll remind you of your new strategy and keep you motivated. You’ll be amazed how quickly your cushion will grow for you.

There’s No Such Thing as Extra Money…

Now, think of this as your new safety net — not *extra* money. You could even call it your Mini Emergency Account. It’s there for you if something goes awry in your checkbook.

Over the years, many of us may have walked the tightrope by leaving only two dollars or so in there until the next payday. (We probably all know someone who does this, yes?)

Today, create a new, 30-second habit — and say goodbye to walking that tightrope ever again.

About the Author: Darlene Arechederra leads the delightful series, “Coming Home: A Woman’s Journey to One-Income Living.” Women of two-income households who want to find their way back home from the workplace will enjoy this gentle, energizing jumpstart.

With today’s diet of high-fat processed foods, cholesterol has become a real concern for many women. Consider these statistics:

• According to The American Heart Association, cardiovascular disease causes the death of more than 500,000 women every year.
• It is reported that high cholesterol levels pose a big risk to women’s health in the form of heart disease and stroke.
• The American Heart Association’s Heart Disease and Stroke statistics 2006 Update shows that more than 51 million American women have very high cholesterol levels.

Information for Pre-Menopausal & Post-Menopausal Women

Studies have shown that women have higher HDL cholesterol levels before menopause as a result of the presence of estrogen, the female sex hormone. Estrogen raises the HDL cholesterol levels, and HDL is considered the ‘good’ cholesterol.

On the other hand, women are at greater risk after menopause when their LDL cholesterol levels increase. LDL is considered the ‘bad’ cholesterol that can lead to cardiovascular disease and stroke.

High Risk for Diabetics & Smokers

Diabetes and smoking have been identified as two risk factors related to heart disease in women, so women need to take measures to have regular cholesterol testing to better evaluate their risk. The connection between smoking and heart disease would also indicate that giving up that habit will help your risk level drop.

What Happens if Your LDL Levels Are High

If your LDL [‘bad’ cholesterol] levels are found to be dangerously high, your physician may prescribe cholesterol lowering medication until your levels are safe. Even after the medication has balanced your cholesterol levels, your doctor may request that you continue taking the medication as a precautionary health measure. You should always be open to following your doctor’s advice concerning medication if you hope to improve your health.

Because high cholesterol is common among so many numbers of women both pre and post menopause, it is important at every stage to learn as much about controlling cholesterol as possible.

Prevention Tips

Eat a healthy and varied diet and get tested regularly, especially as you grow older. Cholesterol risks have been shown to increase with age.

Editorial Comment: Here’s an announcement from Natural Mom’s Talk Radio that everyone should be aware of – parent or future parent. Host, Carrie Lauth, interviews her guests who educate listeners about Bysphenol A in products and expose that it’s been an issue for a long time, but manufacturers and governments have done little to address the issue.

BPA: Bad Plastic Additive

Ok not really. BPA stands for Bisphenol A. But it is bad. Very bad.

Did you know that researchers knew as early as 1938 that BPA caused miscarriages and other health problems in lab rats? Yet it became a part of our daily lives in the 50′s when it started to be a component of baby bottles, water bottles, milk bottles and even the lining on canned foods.

BPA is a hormone mimic. It’s an endocrine disruptor. In one lab, when the scientists washed the plastic food containers that the lab rats ate out of with detergent, and BPA started to leach into the rat’s water and food, these rat mommas started having all kinds of reproductive issues – multiple miscarriages, chromosomal anomalies.

Does this bother anyone else?

The BPA stuff is currently hitting the fan however. Parents are sitting up and taking notice and saying “I’ll pass on the bad plastic additive, thank you very much.” Manufacturers are starting to phase out the BPA and use alternatives.

This week on my podcast I talked with a husband-wife team who are adamant about getting the BPA message out to parents, and guide them towards safer products for their kids and themselves. You can listen and find out more about BPA about their cool free text message service here.

Editorial Comment: If have a little girl, you know that princesses are well – sometimes an obsession for the little gals. If you’ve ever been to a princess party, you’ve seen just how adorable all those princesses-in-training are in their fancy dresses and jewelry. If you’re thinking of planning your own party, here is a helpful article from Annette Yen with fun princess-like food ideas. Check out Annette’s ultimate guide to princess parties for even more help.

Birthday Party Recipes – 5 Tips for the Perfect Princess Party Menu

You’re ready… your princess has invited the belles of the ball to the finest Princess Birthday Party of the year. You’ve purchased decorations, planned a few games and have some lovely take home gifts for your guests. Now it’s time to plan the finest menu for your royal princess and her court. Let’s make it so fabulous that the girls will remember this day when they’re planning their future daughter’s parties and one that will make your princess throw her hands around your neck and say, “Oh mom! You’re the best ever!”

What follows are 5 tips for you in creating the menu of the decade for your princess birthday party.

1. Keep it simple. The last thing you need on a busy day is for you to be running around like crazy trying to make cherries flambé or tiramisu with crème fraise. However, with a little creative planning, you can make something spectacular and still be able to take photos of the lovely girls eating your birthday dainties. There are SO many recipes available at your fingertips that are not only delicious but easy to make with items you probably have in the house or can pick up in your local grocery store at minimal cost (another key!). One of my favorite recipe sites for quick recipes is http://www.freequickrecipes.com, or you can just punch a name of a recipe into your google search box and hundreds of recipes will pop up. Just keep it simple!

2. Presentation is everything. Think about it, mom. A peanut butter sandwich is nice, but, make that sandwich and cut it with petite cookie cutters into various princessly shapes and you have something spectacular. Even just cutting the sandwiches with a glass into a circle and then cutting the circles in half would work. Display them nicely on a glass plate with some red grapes or flowers and it’s no longer just a boring sandwich but a delicacy that’s a delight to look at AND eat.

3. Throw the “no sugar” rule out the window. Ok, I’ll get hate mail for this one but c’mon mom! Your princess only has the bash of the century once a year, so break the rules a little and provide something sweet to eat. Balance it out with a lower sugar drink and other dainties that aren’t sugar laden.

4. Make the drink pink! Pink lemonade, pink Kool-Aid, pink soda… anything pink in a clear plastic cup and you’ll be the coolest mom on the block. Float a half of a strawberry in the cup and you may as well get a revolving door to your house. You’ll be the hit of the neighborhood!

5. Work with a timeline and schedule for the day of the party. A checklist of what you’ll be serving and when you need to pull it out of the freezer or fridge, what goes where, etc., and how long each thing takes will insure that you won’t forget any of the details and insure that you won’t go to open the fridge for a late night snack after your princess is in dream land and see the strawberries that you meant to put in the royal goblets!

The perfect, stress free Princess party menu is within reach, Mom. Just keep it simple, fancy, tasty and pink! Write out a checklist and you’re all set for the finest party menu for your princess and her royal maidens!

About the Author: Annette Yen invites you to her Princess Party website to find everything you need for the perfect princess party!

Editorial Comment: Sugar often receives a bad rap (often well-deserved), but food manufacturers go out of their way to try to convince that artificial sweeteners are a better alternative. Instead of filling our bodies with chemical sweeteners, why not curb the cravings instead?

Here’s an article by Diana Walker, author of Cravings Secrets, that can help you cut out the sweet tooth.

Why Do I Crave Sugar?

Every year thousands of sugar-addicted women resolve to reduce their sugar intake and that of their families. They make a New Year’s Resolution, or they start a new diet. Cupboards are emptied as women across the globe vow to eliminate sugar forever. With great intentions, they promise to eat fresh fruit instead of sugary sweet desserts.

Connie Eastwood is a Mom who tried to eliminate sugar from her diet year after year after year. She would experience success for a few weeks, but “a small piece” of her favorite dessert would send her right back to craving sugary desserts and treats again.

As she researched and experimented with various ways of eliminating sugar, she did find some methods that sounded promising and, over time, she incorporated the solutions that worked for her.

Nutritional Deficiencies Cause Sugar Cravings

Connie’s first breakthrough was her discovery of the following little-known secret:

If you crave sweets you may be lacking the following nutrition:

1. Dopamine, which releases chemicals including endorphins that give us a feeling of pleasure

2. Serotonin, which produces a feeling of well being.

We also tend to eat sugary treats for a quick rush of energy to get us through the day. Of course we also enjoy the sweet taste of sugar. Eating sweet treats like a candy bar or a cookie unconsciously brings back simpler more enjoyable days of our childhood.

Grabbing a sugary treat is a common stress response for many adults. It’s a behavior we have been practicing since we were children. When we had a rough day at school, mom would fix it with a plate of homemade cookies and a glass of milk. Now when we are stressed, we run to the vending machine or grab a cheesecake on the way home.

Is Sugar Really Dangerous Or Addictive?

Yes and No. Our body needs limited amounts of sugar as a quick source of energy, but not in the amounts our society as a whole has been consuming sugar. It is also a good idea to stay away from white table sugar as much as possible. This refined sugar has almost no nutritional value other than the “empty” calories it provides. Some people refer to white sugar as “white death”.

Eating fresh fruits is a much better way to give in to our sweet tooth, get the sugars our bodies need while also absorbing an array of other nutrients, vitamins, minerals and micronutrients.

The high consumption of sugar in the western world is leading to an increase in health conditions from diabetes to obesity.

Is sugar addictive?

Yes – not only do we get addicted to the neurotransmitters that are released by the consumption of sugar, which is a reaction very similar to the “high” of a drug addict, consuming sugar also causes our blood sugar levels to rise quickly and then plummet back down just as fast, resulting in a craving for more sugar. This is a desperate (and futile) attempt of our body to keep the blood sugar in balance.

What Can I Do To Stop Craving Sugar?

The best way to stop craving sugar is to aim for a stable blood sugar. You can do this by avoiding sugary treats and drinks like candy, soda and even fruit drinks. Instead try sweetening your foods and drinks with stevia. Please avoid any artificial sweeteners.

Craving sweets is also often an indication of a lack of certain nutrients such as chromium, carbon, phosphorus, sulphur and tryptophan. Let’s take a look at what foods you should be eating to make sure you get enough of these nutrients.

Chromium – eat broccoli, grapes, cheese, dried beans and chicken

Carbon – eat fresh fruit

Phosphorus – eat chicken, beef, liver, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, nuts, legumes and grains

Sulphur – eat cranberries, horseradish, cruciferous vegetables, kale and cabbage

Tryptophan – eat cheese, liver, lamb, raisins, sweet potato and spinach.

If you find yourself drawn to sweets as a response to stress, your first step of action should be to try to eliminate the stress. If you have an argument with your spouse, talk things out. If you are stressed in your job, schedule a meeting with your boss to see if you can get more time, more resources or an assistant.

Sometimes eliminating the cause of stress isn’t an option. In that case, try to exercise. Go for a brisk walk, join your local gym or work out with your favorite exercise video at home. Not only will the exercise help you blow off some stream, it also releases some of the same neurotransmitters that the consumption of sugar does – without the empty calories.

About the Author: Are cravings running your life? Diana Walker provides natural solutions to cravings, mood swings, and PMS. Get your guide to curb your cravings by clicking here.