Bamboo Craze

Bamboo plants are great indoor plants that make any room a little brighter. I bought these bamboo plants from Jewel for a dollar each. They are inexpensive and easy to take care of. You just have to add water each week and keep them in a shady place in your house. I keep mine with the rest of my garden on my freezer in my dining room. They are a great showcase and I love looking at them in the morning as I eat my breakfast. Bamboo plants are also great for your office or desk at work.  So try bringing some bamboo plants this weekend into your home or work space and you will fall in love with them too. 

Cucumber Salad

Ingredients:

2 large Cucumbers 

Sour Cream

Salt and Pepper

Chopped Dill

Preparations:

Dice Cucumbers into small pieces in a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and ground black pepper.  Add at least 2 tbsp of sour cream (add more if you like it creamy) so that all the cucumbers are covered well. Add 1 tbsp of chopped dill for aroma. Mix and refrigerate for 15 min. This cucumber salad with only 4 ingrediants is easy to make and tastes delicious. Enjoy!

Nutrients That Help You Glow

1. Omega-3-Fatty acids: Found in salmon, tuna, walnuts, olive oil, flaxseed oil, coldwater fish, and nuts. Benefit- helps you fight skin inflammation.
2. Zinc: Found in garbanzo and kidney beans, oysters, sardines, beef, liver, lamp and pork. Benefit- supports cell repair and renewal and it is also good for acne.
3. Selenium: Found in Brazil nuts, cashews, walnuts, tuna, sole, rice and wheat. Benefits- helps protect skin from sun damage. 
4. Biotin: Found in egg yolks, peanuts, peanut butter, hazelnuts and sesame seeds. Benefits- promotes strong hair and nails.
5. Coenzyme Q10: Found in fish oils, nuts, fish and meat. Benefits- antioxidant
6. Vitamin A: Found in leafy green vegetables, orange, yellow vegetables such as sweet potato, carrot, cantaloupe and squash. Benefits- promotes skin cell renewal and it also good for acne and preventing plugged hair follicles.
7. Vitamin B Complex: Found in whole grains, nuts, meat, potatoes, bananas and prunes. Benefit- it's important for overall skin health
8. Vitamin C: Found in green vegetables, citrus fruits, strawberries, black currants, blackberries, cherries and grapes. Benefits- powerful antioxidant and also helps protects skin from sun damage.
9. Vitamin E: Found in wheat germ and sunflower oils, sunflowers seeds, sweet potato, avocado, pear and spinach. Benefits- also an antioxidant to protect skin from sun damage and smooth skin texture.

I found these tips from Better Homes and Garden magazine and thought I would share them with you all. Eat right and exercise to help your skin glow this summer from within.

Mr. Vertigo

Mr. Vertigo by Paul Auster

Take a flight across America with Walter Claireborne Rawley in Paul Auster’s adventurous novel, MR. VERTIGO. Walter, a nine-year-old St. Louisian orphan, is taken under the wings of Master Yehudi, a mysterious Hungarian Jew. Master Yehudi teaches Walter to fly, and together, Walt and his master tour the entire nation in the late 1920s. As Americans throughout the country witness “Walt the Wonder Boy’s” miraculous gift of levitation, Walter and his master experience the highlight of their lives: fulfilling their dreams. However, like every circus show, dream, or career, all things must come to an end, and Walter’s vocation as a levitator ends abruptly. Walter lives the rest of his life in search of an occupation, vision, or identity that could be as meaningful as when he was Master Yehudi’s “Walt the Wonder Boy.” 

Paul Auster’s novel chronicles how Walter and also the American nation itself grew to become full of dynamic energy and spirit to succeed despite facing countless challenges.

Happy reading!
Seika K.

Benefits of Sunlight Therapy

Have you ever wondered why you feel sad, sleepy, tired or gloomy when the sun is not out? 

Well, I found out from my research and personal experiences that sunlight not only enhances your mood, but it also gives you essential VITAMIN D that helps your body function normally. And yes, you can get Vitamin D from supplements and foods but sunlight is the most natural way of getting Vitamin D. Although too much exposure to the sun is not recommended as the UV rays may give you skin cancer, but some sunlight is good for you. So how much is too much? Well, I would say ask your doctor as the amount of sunlight you need varies with age and skin color.  

So what are the benefits of sunlight therapy? Many studies say that sunlight aids in healing depression symptoms as it enhances  your mood and increases the happy hormones in your body. Sunlight also, as mentioned before, gives you Vitamin D. And this Vitamin D works with calcium in your body to make your bones stronger. It is suggested that sunlight may even help you heal and cleanse the body. It does this by boosting your immune system and getting rid of fungal and other types of infections. For all the women out there, it has also been suggested that sunlight may alleviate some PMS problems. 

So go out there  and soak up the sun with caution. Put some SPF lotion on if you have to but at least get 10-15 minutes of good sunlight exposure in a day. You will see how perked up you feel. Have a sunny day ! 

The Lady And The Unicorn

The Lady and The Unicorn

by Tracy Chevalier

Tracy Chevalier weaves a fictional story in The Lady and the Unicorn of how the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were designed and made. Jean Le Viste, a French nobleman, appoints Nicolas des Innocents, an attractive and libidinous painter, to design tapestries of scenes from the Battle of Nancy to cover all the walls of his private chamber. Soon later, Nicolas is urged by Geneviéve de Nanterre, the wife of Jean Le Viste, to paint a lady and a unicorn instead of a battle because the tapestries will eventually be inherited by Claude Le Viste, the eldest daughter of Jean Le Viste. Nicolas succeeds in convincing Jean Le Viste to approve the tapestries with the lady and the unicorn, and he ultimately creates a masterpiece that “are about the whole of a woman’s life, its beginning and its end. All of her choices, all in one, wound together” (22). The story of Nicolas’ admiration of women and his often promiscuous relationships with them are also part of the makings of the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.
In reality, the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were made for the Le Viste family of France possibly near the end of the 15th century. The artist and weavers of the tapestries are not known. These six beautiful tapestries hang today in the Musée de Cluny (Musée National du Moyen Âge) in Paris (go to www.tchevalier.com/unicorn/tapestries/index.html and http://arthistory.heindorffhus.dk/frame-TapestryUnicornLady.htm for images of the tapestries).

Happy reading!
Seika K.