Spring fashion is all about being feminine and sophisticated, yet also bold and fierce. It’s the time to be in full bloom, after all, with a refreshed style that breaks out of winter’s drabber colors. This season, the color palette is bursting with brights and pastels. It’s all about being youthful and fresh. The rejuvenating spirit of springtime reflects on the hottest hair accessories of the season.” Excerpt from Rachelle Salinger

Flower Power

Santa Barbara Design Studio is all about gift giving. In fact, we have wide-range of products that are always affordable… and mother approved. Choose from some of these highlighted Mother’s Day recommendations;

Mom-on-the-go Gifts

Get new holiday decorating ideas for Thanksgiving and Autumn. Start a new family tradition. Your home will look fabulous and your guests will love you.

Turkey and Cranberries! Yeah!

Before you dig into that turkey, take a moment for each person to say one sentence beginning with…

“Today, I am grateful for…”

You will be surprised at what children say, so keep a notebook handy to write down the gratitudes, or, better yet, record the event.

Thanksgiving Decorating Tips

Holiday decorating isn’t just for Christmas! Door wreaths welcome all to your home and set the stage for celebrating. Make a simple wreath to hang on your front door with Thanksgiving colors–brown, russet, olive green. Use tree branches from your garden; attach a few gourds, nuts, and ribbons.

Place a gorgeous mum by your front door. You can plant it later and get flowers next Thanksgiving to use inside. It just takes one bright spot near your front door to attract the eye of arriving guests.

Wrap your front door with gift wrap appropriate to Thanksgiving.

Make a “welcome to our home” banner. Add your ribbons and fall leaves.

Group vines, pumpkins, and mums for display impact near the front entrance. Adjust the vines to add height and movement.

Fall Leaves make great interior and exterior decorations. Be sure to hose off any bugs!

Interior Holiday Decorating Tips

Set fall-color leaves under your decorations. Safety Tip: Keep leaves separated from melting candle wax.

Extend your flower arrangements with fall tree branches. Just one flower package makes a huge impact when you divide and spread it around.

Use copper, bronze, and gold spray paint to dress up plain gourds. Fill a glass or crystal bowl with the gourds, oranges, and nuts.

Display vegetables and mini pumpkins on a tray. Fill in any gaps with fall leaves, moss, straw, or wheat.

If orange clashes with your home’s interior, use green apples and spray paint the mini-pumpkins.

Did I already say leaves? Here’s another way to add fall color: Place the leaves in your green potted-plants.

One beautiful way to kick off your holiday season: Wrap tiny gifts in gold foil; top off with brown and russet ribbons, and place the gifts on the dinner plate. Your table will look fabulous and your guests will love the thought.

Happy Thanksgiving!

While some people only drink coffee in order to wake up in the morning, others are very selective about the coffee that they drink. If you fall in the latter category, you should try gourmet coffee. This coffee comes from beans that have been grown around the world and then made into flavored coffee drinks, using special preparation techniques.

These types of flavored coffee are actually causing people to stand up and take notice of this beverage especially as people’s tastes evolve. While they start out drinking coffee that has a lot of cream and sugar in them, over time they will put less and less cream and sugar and may even start to drink it black. With all of the different choices of flavored coffee available, maybe it is time for you to try something new.

Brief History of Flavored Coffee

In the 1990s, flavored coffee became very popular. However, this type of coffee can actually be traced back several centuries to the Turks. Over time, a lot of people have developed strong feelings about this type of coffee; either they love it or they hate it and only want to drink naturally flavored coffee.

Flavored coffee is made by adding flavored oils to the beans after they have been roasted and before they have been ground. Another way in which this coffee can be made is by adding liquid flavors to the coffee while it is being prepared, in much the same was as cream and sugar are added.

Types of Flavors

Generally speaking, there are four categories of this type of coffee. The first category includes flavors based upon spices such as clove, cinnamon, anise, and cardamom. Next, there are also some coffee flavors that are based upon fruits such as coconut or raspberry. Chocolate based flavors are the next type with the most common being chocolate mint. Lastly, some flavors are based upon nuts like vanilla, hazelnut or macadamia nuts. Crème coffees also have their share of followers; these include flavors such as Irish Creme or French Vanilla coffee.

As you can see, there are a lot of different ways in which coffee can be prepared. There are also dark roast, light roast, espresso and regular coffee. After deciding on the blend, flavor and the roast, you have the option of drinking it black or with cream and sugar added.

Our bodies are made up of over 75% water. We all know that without water, there is no life. In fact we can only live 3 days without it. However, water has been replaced in most diets by soft drinks and other sugar sweetened refreshments. However, water is a healthier and more necessary drink that leads to better health and longetivity.

Your personal need for water can vary due to exercise, temperature and weight. Studies have shown that over 2/3’s of adults do not get enough water on a daily basis. By simply drinking water regularly you can replenish your body and keep it well-hydrated and functioning at maximum efficiency.

Most of us wait until we are thirsty to drink water. However, this is not a reliable gauge of the water needs that our body has. By the time we are thirsty we have already lost two or more cups of our body’s composition of water. Therefore drinking water regularly is a much better answer than waiting until one is thirsty.

It is also very important to not substitute beverages with alcohol and caffeine for water. The reason for this is that these beverages act as a diuretic and cause you to lose more water through increased urination. You think you are getting water through these beverages but the fact is they are causing you to let it go almost as quickly as it accumulates.

When you work out you need more water. This makes elementary sense. Our bodies lose a great deal of water due to perspiration. In fact we need to drink 2 cups of water for each pound lost through working out. Even when we sleep our bodies lose water. Drinking a glass of water before we go to sleep and when we wake up helps to offset this loss and keep our bodies functioning optimally.

It should be obvious that when we are sick our bodies need more water than at other times. When we have a cold or flu our bodies can become dehydrated. You can prevent this by drinking more water at times you are sick.

There are numerous opinions on whether purified water actually provides a tangible benefit. It is a subject you should explore yourself in determining the type of water that is appropriate for you. The same applies to exactly how much is enough? Below you will find some articles dealing with this subject. The best way to find out what you need is to simply set a goal to drink a certain number of glasses and then after a week or two see how it has effected you.

Make it a habit to drink water daily. Keep a bottle with you at all times and drink it throughout the day. Learn to drink water rather than other beverages that do not replenish your body’s nutrients. Drink water daily and watch yourself become healthier and happier.

Start Your Party Plan List Early!

No matter what type of party you are planning, from the simplest Saturday night get-together, to an all-day or all-night theme party, you are going to need a basic list of things that will need to be done prior to the day of the party—and right up until just minutes before the party!

As soon as you’ve set the date for your party, start making your list. It can be a real piece of paper that you write on, or it can be a computer Word document. You can use the free printable Party Plan List that accompanies this article (change the column headings to suit your party needs), or you can make one of your own.

Jot down the first few things that come to mind as they apply to your party: invite guests, plan the menu, decide on party games, and make a shopping list. If your party is going to be more involved, like a theme party or a surprise party, then your initial Party Plan List might include a few more things like decorations to buy or make, music, outdoor seating or lighting, and invitations that need to be emailed, snail-mailed, or hand-delivered.

Your Party Plan List can be as short or as long as it needs to be, and can include lots of details or just cover the basics. The whole idea is to have one central place where you can make notes for yourself and create reminders about what will need to be done, and when. For very detailed parties or elaborate celebrations, you might want to seriously consider buying a small notepad that you can keep with you wherever you are so that you can make notes for yourself as soon as you think of them.

Arrange for a Party Helper!

If your party is going to be a little more involved than just having a few friends over for drinks and conversation or a simple family-only birthday party, you should consider asking a close friend or relative to be your Party Helper. No matter how prepared you think you are going to be, as the party day gets closer, you are likely to feel as though that things are “out of control” and that you’re running around in circles and not accomplishing anything. A Party Helper can keep you “sane” during those last few wild days before the party, even if only to remind you that everything really is going according to plan!

Ask your Party Helper to be available the day before the party or the day of the party to help you with all the last minute things that are going to come up. Don’t be bashful about asking for help—but do remember that you might be asked to repay the favor someday!

Share the Party Plan List with your Party Helper, and make a special point to go over everything with him or her.

Work the List!

Now that you have a Party Plan List, you might want to review it on a regular basis. As things begin to get done, check off things that no longer need your attention, or mark done what you’ve done so far for any one thing on the list.

Once you have the basic list done, review each item on the list. Make your time line of what things need to be done and when. You can either color-code things (that is, everything that needs to be done on Monday before the party you can mark in blue), or you can number the list (that is, the thing that can be done now gets marked 1 and the thing that can only be done right before the party gets marked 999, or whatever numbering sequence you want to use). No matter what scheme you use, make sure that your list will help you do what can be done sooner and remind you of what will need to be done later.

Coordinate With Your Party Helper!

As the party day gets closer, stay in touch with your Party Helper and other friends and family who have offered to help with the party (by providing party items or taking care of errands) to make sure that everything is on track. Review your Party Plan List one last time with your Party Helper and discuss any final arrangements that need to be made. By this time both you and your Party Helper need to have a very clear idea of who is taking care of what.

Help Yourself To Be Prepared!

Remember the Golden Rule about parties: Everything you need to do will take longer than you think!

So, using your Party Plan List, do everything you possibly can ahead of time:

Any food item that can be prepared and stored or frozen can be made prior to the party. If you’ve frozen an item, note on your Party Plan List what time it needs to be taken out of the freezer.

For any food item that needs to be made the day of the party, think ahead. Can you pre-measure the ingredients and store in containers in the ‘frig or seal in resealable plastic bags? This will save you plenty of time on Party Day!

Remember that parties create TRASH and GARBAGE. Most people don’t plan ahead for this. Using the free printable signs that are available with this article, plan for trash, garbage, and recyclables (if that applies). If you don’t have regular large trashcans (or garbage cans that you can hose out and have clean for the party), then big cardboard boxes will do. Buy large trash bags. Put several in the bottom of the trashcan before you put in the trash bag that will be open. This way, as the trashcan fills up, you can bag up the trash and there will be another trash bag ready to go!

Accept the fact that it is likely that drinks are going to be spilled. Depending on what your arrangement is for drinks, whether cans of soda, bottles of various sport drinks, juices, and water, cans and bottles of alcoholic beverages, or party punchbowls, please think ahead about spillage and melting ice. Borrow plenty of coolers from friends and have certain types of beverages in their own coolers (all the soda in one cooler, all the bottled drinks in one, beer in another, etc.). Be sure that one cooler is kept for “clean ice” that people can use for drinks that are poured into cups. If the coolers are going to be inside on the floor, spread out beach towels underneath them to absorb the ice melt. Buy several rolls of paper towels, and have them handy to dry hands and mop up spills.

Don’t Panic on Party Day!

You’ve been using your Party Plan List and you’ve been coordinating with your Party Helper. On Party Day, all you need to do now is go by the list, and work at getting things done in the order that they need to be finished.

Hopefully your Party Helper will be available to assist you during the day. It might also be helpful to appoint other helpers to help during the party: replenish food trays, put uneaten food away before it spoils, take care of trash, help set up party games. Ask someone to restart the music if you are playing CDs on the stereo.

Don’t be afraid to ask several people to each do one small task during the party. They won’t mind, and you won’t have to spend all your time hurrying around, trying to do everything!

Enjoy the Party!

Now that you’ve done all the planning, finished the shopping, prepared all the food, and greeted your guests as they arrive, you can relax and enjoy the party!

Post-Party Reminders

After the mess is gone and the place is back to normal, please do remember to personally thank your Party Helper and all those who lent a hand in making it a successful event! And then offer your services as Party Helper for their next party…