Meet The Design Police

Whenever I want a good laugh, I checkout the Mogg Girls's blog moggit.com. They're "the guilty pleasure of the decorating world." 

In their words, Joy and Janet created moggit.com to tackle 'fugly' design and home decor on a daily basis. And the design world will never be the same again...

I like to think of them as a couple of snarky friends who stand with you in the corner of the oh-so-serious design world, keeping you in stitches with their observations. 

Moggit.com posts are in three categories:

• Oh, no you didn't
  
• If these walls could talk
  
• Seriously

The photo above is in the 'If these wall could talk' category. Here's the caption...

JOY: You know what strikes me as funny about this room?

JANET: Uh, everything?
JOY: People are actually raving about this whole 'look.'
JANET: Ugh. Really?
JOY: They love it. But here's the thing, say I decorated my living room to look like this...
JANET: Ohmygawd-- I would think you had lost your freakin' mind.
JOY: Yes! And I wouldn't be able to walk the streets without people pointing and yelling--
JANET: "Hey, there goes 'Crazy Lady' with her Big Ball of Yarn!"

Creating A Diet-Friendly Home

Years ago, I saw a sign outside a health club that was so powerful, I joined on the spot. It said:

Beach Season Is Here. What scares you most?

• Jellyfish sting
  
• Shark bite
  
• Wearing a bathing suit in public

That's a tough one for many of us! 

Creating a home environment that supports your dieting goals and healthy eating patterns can help to make the journey easier. Of course, banning the junk food and filling the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables instead is the first step. But there's more. 

Check out the video above to see if some of the ideas are right for you.

Green Cleaning

300,000,000 single use plastic bags go into US landfills every year. Three hundred million! 

I know you've heard me mention several times to bring your own reusable bag to the grocery store. It definitely helps to keep a stash of them in the car so you don't forget. 

But what about other single use bags like dry cleaning bags? Bring your own there too! When you drop your items off, either bring your own hanging bag or tell that you will be bringing one when you pick up your goods. 

Personally, I avoid clothing that requires dry cleaning at all costs. Turns out many items don't really need dry cleaning! Check this out...

Dry cleaning is not always necessary; clothing makers often place the “dry clean only” label on tags because they can list no more than one cleaning method and can be held liable if an item is damaged when the owner follows the listed procedure. Yet many of these items can be safely washed at home, either by hand or using a washing machine’s delicate cycle.

Most areas now have environmentally friendly dry cleaners. It's really important so scope one out for your dry cleaning needs. Here's why...

Contrary to what its name implies, dry cleaning involves washing clothes in a liquid solvent to remove stains. In about 85 percent of dry cleaning shops this solvent is perchloroethylene (or “perc”), a chemical that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers both a health and environmental hazard.

For clothes that must be professionally cleaned due to their size, fabric, decorations, or other factors, there is no perfect solution, but you could consider using a cleaner that offers one of the following perc-free methods.

Wet cleaning uses water, along with computer-controlled washers and dryers, specialized detergents that are milder than home laundry products, and professional pressing and finishing equipment. The EPA considers it one of the safest professional cleaning methods; its benefits include “no hazardous chemical use, no hazardous waste generation, no air pollution and reduced potential for water and soil contamination.”

Carbon dioxide (CO2) cleaning uses non-toxic, liquid CO2—the same form used to carbonate soda—as the cleaning solvent, along with detergent. The CO2 is captured as a by-product of existing industrial processes, thereby utilizing emissions that would otherwise be released into the atmosphere; since only about two percent of the CO2 is lost into the air with each load of clothing, its impact on global warming is minimal. CO2 cleaning also uses less energy than traditional dry cleaning, which involves heating the solvent.

Source: Treehugger.com

Dear Elizabeth

I'm amazed by the number of email questions I get from people who've seen my videos and visited my design site. Here is a typical question with an answer that applies to everyone!

Dear Elizabeth,

Can I please ask you a feng shui question about the bed direction?  I'm going to do my 11 year old child's room today, I am so confused.  Our house faces south, her room is at the back of the house, so she's on the north end of the house of the 'normal' outdoor direction.   I hope I'm making sense. 

I was told that going into the house turns it around then.  So going into the house standing looking in at the door I am North, and straight ahead is South.  Which in normal outside directions is the complete opposite!    Her bedroom door faces west going in.   But if I was to stand at her bedroom door looking in, does this consider it North?  If so, then across is South of which in the normal outside direction is facing West.

Her head of the bed should be at the South Wall.  Which is her South Wall?  West, or the real south?  Her room is also to the far left of the house when you walk in the door, it would be the Purple area if the compass reading is indoors, but on the outside compass of real life it's really at the far north west of the house?    

I'm so confused.  I want to have her room just right without any negative problems for her.

Thank you,

Judy

Judy! You're confused, I'm dizzy! Let's slow down and start over. Deep breath. 

Ahhh...

Okay. A little background first. The school of feng shui that I practice is officially called Black Sect Tantric Buddhism Feng Shui or Black Hat Feng Shui (BHFS). I’m a Certified Black Hat Feng Shui Consultant. 

In the Black Hat Sect, all energy enters through the front door so no compass directions or birth dates are necessary. The theory being that the front door is the “mouth of chi,” so it’s as if the chi (energy) breathes in through the front door rather than being attracted by a compass direction. The energy then moves throughout your home in a clockwise pattern.

That should make things a lot easier.

Usually the next question folks have is, “Well, then if you don’t use a compass, how do I know where all the places like the Wealth Area and Love Area are in my home? And how do I apply the Bagua/Energy Map?”

Here's the easiest way to do it. First, sketch a quick floorplan of your home. Then simply align (or superimpose) the bottom of the map along the line of your front door. An easy way to remember this is, by standing in your front door facing in, your Wealth Area is always in the far left-hand corner and your Love Area is always in the far right-hand corner of your home. 

Lots of people ask, “Which one is my front door?” Your front door is the door guests go

to the first time they visit your home. 

One of the videos from the webseries helps with the bed position, a very important aspect of feng shui since you spend about a third of you time in bed! Again, in this system, the compass direction is not used. 

Click here for the video about bed position.

If you have more questions, perhaps you'd enjoy a consultation. Here’s more info on my site.

Best of luck,

Elizabeth

Good Guide

Ever look at the back of a skin care product bottle and think, "What the heck are all these chemicals?" 

I'm always interested in the safety of the products I am using on my body and in my home.  I've recently come across goodguide.com, a website that lets me see ratings on environmental, health, and social performances on more than 70,000 products. 

It also gives recommendations from experts on healthy and green products that match my values.  The amount of information on the site is amazing.  It's really well laid out and user friendly, too.  

Goodguide also has a free app available for the iPhone. Love that, too!

www.goodguide.com

This Is Not Ikea

You know the saying, "Get rich in a niche"? Well, they may not be rich yet, but a couple of Los Angelenos are on their way in the reuse, repurpose, resale niche.

Meet Alexis Hadjopulos and Tom Whitman. Dumpster divers, yard sale aficionados. Entrepreneurs. 

Recently, The Los Angeles Times wrote an article about their resale business, TINI (aka This Is Not Ikea) located in the Miracle Mile area of LA. The article created so much traffic to their site, none of the photos would load so I've been waiting for all to be fixed before sharing the info with you. (You're welcome.)

Back to Alexis and Tom, who scour more than 100 estate sales, auctions, garage sales, flea markets and online outlets each week to find unique items. They "spend their weekends scavenging yard and estate sales for the likes of yellow vinyl chairs, retro Coca-Cola coolers, Danish credenzas and fire-orange lamps."

"We don't buy your grandmother's antiques," Whitman says, "unless your grandma was really cool."

So they've created a new business reselling reused, repurposed items thus avoiding landfills and adding lots of character to new found homes. I love it!

Like I always say, style is not about the amount you spend, it's the way you put it all together.

Check out their site and read the LA Times article. Then ask yourself, what's in your cool grandma's attic?

Memorial Day Gratitude

Happy Memorial Day. While we all enjoy our barbeques and long weekend, let us also take time to be grateful to the men and women who've served our country.

I can't help but think this weekend of my great-great grandfather, Newton Lycortus Chamberlain, who fought in the Civil War. Newton Lycortus kept a fascinating journal. In one section, he tells of his trouble with sleepwalking, night terrors and missing bed-clothing.

On occasion, he would go to bed in his nightshirt yet wake up naked. The following mornings, he and my great-great grandmother Esther would search high and low, but could not find the nightshirts. After getting tired of sewing him new ones, she vowed to follow him the next time he headed off on a sleepwalking adventure. 

Soon after, in the still of the night, Newton Lycortus rose and bolted out the door into a field behind the house. Esther watched as he then tore off his nightshirt, wadded it into a ball and shoved it into a hollow log using a long stick all the while crying unintelligible moans. Eventually, he headed back to bed, naked.

The next morning, Esther told him the story and showed him the log. Together they pulled out 16 "cannon balls" of night shirts. He had always refused to talk about his service as a cannon loader for the Union Army. But the discovery opened the Pandora's Box and helped to free him of what we now know as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

So today I give heartfelt thanks to Newton Lycortus Chamberlain and all the brave Americans, past and present, who have protected and served this wonderful country of ours. Blessings to all of you. 

What are you listening to?

In my effort for tune out the bad news and tune into things that lift me up, I've been enjoying podcasts more and more. It's such a great way to have a sense of control over the information entering my personal world. I choose podcasts that are funny, inspirational or helpful for productivity. 

So today, I thought I'd share some of my favorites. (And I'd love to hear what your favorites are! Please leave a comment below.)

Getting Things Done. I'm a big fan of David Allen's book by the same name. Believe me, I'm a work in progress, but I do see improvements because of his advice.

Marianne Williamson's Miracle Thought. How does Marianne know exactly what I need to hear? Uncanny. I get so much out of this podcast series. Love it.

Quick and Dirty Tips- A variety of podcasters like Get It Done Guy and Make It Green Girl. Fun, easy, fast and helpful. 

The Masters of The Secret- All the teachers from the film "The Secret" share thoughts and insights. Great reminders of the Law of Attraction. 

NPR- National Public Radio is such a class act. They have several podcast topics. I particularly enjoy the Environmental News.

The Adam Carolla Podcast- I just love this guy's rants that cut through the BS of today's world. He has interesting layman's insight and a very quick wit. 

Ricky Gervais- I'd listen to Ricky read the phone book. Gen.I.Us. Just wish he put out more podcasts, but until "Extras" returns, this will do.

The Onion Radio News- Like an onion, it brings tears to your eyes.

Download podcasts for free at iTunes, then listen and enjoy on any MP3 player or on your computer. 

Serving

I just love Michael Beckwith. Reverend Michael, as he is known to those of us lucky enough to enjoy this teaching at Agape, has a way of making everything simplified yet inspiring. 

The video above seemed very timely for this holiday weekend and for the times we find ourselves in.

Enjoy your weekend. Find time to both recharge your personal batteries and serves others.

Red or white? Why not both?

Enjoying conversations with friends over a nice glass of wine is one of my favorite things to do. These days, finding a bottle for a great price seems even more important.  I usually stay under $10.00 a bottle for simple dinners at home.  But as I read in the New York Times, for a few dollars more there are excellent American wines available especially whites and roses.  

Considering that there are four glasses per bottle, even at $20 a bottle, it's still a bargain compared to dining out. Something to think about for special occasions or nights with friends.

Complex American Wine at a Price Easy to Pay

Simply by scouring some favorite wine shops, I found treasures in the $10 to $20 range, the sweet spot nowadays for great values. Sure, you can find plenty of wines under $10, mostly of the palatable variety. But by spending a few more dollars, and picking very carefully, the pleasure increases exponentially. For $18.99 I got a bottle of superb 2007 pinot blanc, made by Lieb Family Cellars on the North Fork of Long Island. What a delicious wine! It was dry and creamy with a captivating texture and a mere 12.5 percent alcohol.

For $17.99 I found a 2007 pinot gris from Ponzi Vineyards in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, dry and refreshing with intriguing aromas and flavors of lime, flowers and minerals. And for $18.99 you can find one of the best champagne-style sparkling wines made outside of Champagne, from Roederer Estate in the Anderson Valley of California, for about half the price of an actual Champagne....

...Pinot noirs are hard to make cheaply, since inexpensive grapes are generally grown in the wrong places. But I loved the 2007 Oregon pinot noir from A to Z, a garnet-colored, earthy and restrained wine for $19.99. I find a lot of zinfandels to be too big or too sweet, but I really liked the 2005 Quivira zin from the Dry Creek Valley in California, with classic peppery berry flavors. And if you are a Napa cabernet fan, Oberon makes that very rare bird, an affordable Napa Valley cabernet that is in fact very tasty. The 2006 is ripe, fresh and dry, with classic cedary cabernet flavors gently underscored with a bit of oak.

Beyond those, I was sorely challenged to find reds I liked for less than $20. It’s not so hard to find good whites, though, like the 2007 Suisun Valley sauvignon blanc from Manifesto!, a new outfit declaring itself dedicated to making “simple wine for a complex world.” Yeah, I know it’s hokey, but the wine itself, made in a brashly fruity style, was dry and refreshing with flavors of mint and herbs for intrigue’s sake.

And, as summer’s coming up, let us not neglect rosé. The 2008 Bone-Jolly gamay noir rosé, made by Edmunds St. John from a rare stand of gamay in the Sierra foothills, is lively and dry, with spicy fruit and mineral flavors. It just makes you feel good to drink it.

The Bone-Jolly, like many of the inexpensive American wines I found, was closed with a screwcap. This is great news. If you’ve found a wine that you really like, at least it won’t be corked.

Lots of Adjectives, No More Than $20

To read the entire article, click here.

Great minds think alike

After I posted the piece below about paint, I saw this article in today's New York Times about Benjamin Moore's new iPhone app. Good timing! I can't wait for this app. And it's free! Sweet. Check it out...

On Your iPhone: Point and Paint

ColorCapture Ben, a new iPhone and iPod Touch application, allows users to match any color in a photograph to one of Benjamin Moore’s more than 3,300 paint colors.

The application, which was developed by Benjamin Moore, allows users to zoom in on a particular color in a picture they’ve taken or loaded onto their device, tap a “match” key and see a display of the paints closest to the color desired, plus a range of darker and lighter shades on either side. 

These color “chips” can be saved to a favorites folder for future reference. Should users want to take the next step, the application will use the device’s built-in GPS system to find the nearest store carrying Benjamin Moore paint.

Available free of charge, beginning June 1, at apple.com/iphone/appstore.

Paint Picking Tips

Painting is the perhaps the least expensive, yet biggest bang-for-the-buck ways to redecorate. However, selecting paint colors can be one of the most challenging parts of the design process. (Even for designers!)

Here's a few tips to make it easier...

Pick your paint to match your fabric not the other way around. There are a gazillion shades of paint, but only so many fabrics that will work. If you pick the paint first, you will be searching endlessly for the right fabric. If you pick the fabric first, it will narrow your paint choices drastically. 

Paint color samples on the walls or on a board that you can move around the room. To be accurate, use a primer and at least two coats. Be sure to check all areas of the room since the lighting will change the color. This may seem like a pain now, but it's much less painful than repainting an entire room later. 

Look at  your samples during different times of the day. Morning, afternoon and night light will affect the color. I once had a bedroom paint that looked blue during the day and purple at night.

If you're having trouble deciding because the color varies with the time of the day, choose the one that looks best with time of day you use the room. If you are painting a living room that you only use at night, then select the paint at night.

Most paint companies have color selectors online that let you see the different colors of wall and trim paint in use. I really like Benjamin Moore's Personal Color Viewer. It let's you experiment with their entire palette. You can even upload a photo of your own room for a nominal fee but their stock photos work just fine. The photos above are from their site showing the comparison of Walnut and Guacamole. 

It's Sticky Around Here

I'm a sponge from any information having to do with creating a happy, healthy, beautiful home. So when I came across an article titled, "Ten products you should ban from your home forever," it got my attention.

The #1 item is Non-Stick Pans. Now, I've read previously that non-stick pans can contribute to Alzheimer's disease when the pan becomes scratched, revealing the unprotected toxic layers below the surface. When I saw a war-torn pan at my parent's home, I panicked, telling my mom that's she's killing her memory one omelette at a time. 

But the information from the article is even more disturbing.

When non-stick pans were first introduced into American households in the 1960s, they were thought to be a Godsend. Gone were the days of soaking pans for hours and scouring pots with steel wool. In the forty years since then, however, we’ve learned that the ease of cleaning comes at a steep price: the coating that makes Teflon pans non-stick is polytetrafluoroethylene, or PTFE for short. When PTFE heats up, it releases toxic gasses that have been linked to cancer, organ failure, reproductive damage, and other harmful health effects.

The problems with PTFE-coated pans seem to occur at high temperatures, so if you must use Teflon, cook foods on medium heat or less. Avoiding non-stick pans altogether is the safest option. If you’re able to do so, try anodized aluminum, stainless steel, or cast iron pans with a little cooking oil. Using a lower setting on the stove will reduce the chances that your food will burn, which is how it usually gets stuck to pans the first place. If you’re worried about the extra calories cooking oil adds, try baking or steaming your food.

Sounds like some elbow grease is in order, doesn't it!

To learn about the other 9 items to ban from your home, read the entire article here.

Dried Flowers and Potpourri Are Just Plain Dead Flowers

There is an essential energy that animates all living things.  Indians call it "Prana." The Chinese call it "Chi." Westerners call it "Life Force," " Bio-Energy" or just plain "Energy." 

Flowers are a great example of healthy life force energy. However, after they are cut, there is a relatively short time before they turn from a symbol of  life and beauty to a symbol of death because the energy is gone. Solution: toss ‘em.

Sadly, one of the biggest tragedies of the dead flower variety is the sweet bride saving her wedding bouquet. She hangs it upside down ‘til there is no life left and then displays the carcass on the shelf, wistfully remembering the day when the youthful dew was on the rose.

For the bride, her dead flowers might be in the bedroom, bringing death energy into a room that should be used only for sleep, rest and making love.

But what if the dead flowers (or plants or potpourri) are in the Career Area? Maybe clients and career opportunities are drying up. Or the Family & Health Area? Yikes! I said toss ’em!

Fresh flowers bring wonderful life force to any area of your home. Just remember, it’s up to you to notice the expiration date.

It doesn't hurt to ask

Last year, I was in the market for a new washer and dryer, as well a new dishwasher. I knew it was going to be expensive, so I thought, hey, why not try to negotiate! I did my research by checking out prices online and then hit a few stores armed with knowledge.

I was a little apprehensive at the first store, roaming around until a salesman finally came my way. "Can I help you?" he said smiling. I explained that I was in the market for several appliances and was hoping to get a deal. He budged a little, but not much.

In the second store I tried again, but this time I was a bit more brave. The salesman budged a little more, but I knew I could do better.

By the third store, I knew what I was doing and felt like a pro. I didn't ask this time, but with a confident smile, I told the salesman what I was willing to pay. Sure enough, I ended up getting a great price on all the appliances and saved hundreds of dollars off the ticketed prices. Yipee! 

This article in the Los Angeles Times reminded me of all of the great deals we can get if we just ask:

Dickering. Haggling. Negotiating. It's all the same thing. Consumers are talking down prices to get a better deal. 

"Everybody's looking for innovative ways to save a few dollars. If that means going to a garage sale and haggling a $10 item down to $5, it's something people are doing right now," said Pam Goodfellow, senior analyst at BIGresearch, a consumer intelligence firm that, in a 2008 survey, found that 50% of Americans were haggling for better prices on all kinds of products in light of the economy. 

Price negotiations are now happening across the product spectrum -- not only for the big-ticket items that have long been the norm, but for beauty care, apparel and other categories once seen as non-negotiable. 

"In the past, people just didn't want to negotiate because they didn't want to appear cheap. Now, more people are aware and desirous of negotiating," said Michael Soon Lee, author of the book "Black Belt Negotiating." 

"Everything in this country is negotiable under the right circumstance," added Lee, who says he's been able to negotiate better prices for such items as gasoline, healthcare and groceries. All it takes is a lot of practice, a little patience and understanding the rules of the game, he contends.

Read the full story in the LATimes, click here.

Don't Try This At Home

Yes, my blog is all about great ways to live well while saving money. Unfortunately, sometimes we can take it too far and end up spending more than if we had hired a professional in the first place. This article in the New York Times says it all:

Saving Money Never Cost Quite So Much.

When the toilet in Carol Taddei’s master bathroom began to break down a few months ago, she decided it would be cheaper to buy a new one than pay for repairs. Ever frugal in this dismal economy, Ms. Taddei, a retired paralegal, then took her economizing a step further, figuring she could save even more by installing the new toilet herself.

Initially, things looked good with the flushing and the swishing. That is, until the ceiling collapsed in the room below the new (leaky) toilet. Rushing to get supplies for a repair, Ms. Taddei clipped a pole in her garage. It ripped the bumper off her car, and later, several shelves that had been holding flower pots and garden tools collapsed over her head.

“It just kept getting worse,” Ms. Taddei said, ruefully describing what came out to be a $3,000, three-day renovation at her suburban Minneapolis home, finished by a professional from Mr. Handyman, a home repair service that takes emergency calls.

With the sour economy has come a class of ambitious do-it-yourselfers who are tackling things that, before the days of rampant penny-pinching, might have been left to paid professionals. An unlucky few like Ms. Taddei have learned that being thrifty sometimes comes at a high price and can bring along with it a new scourge of the times: saver’s remorse.

“Oh, tell me about it,” Ms. Taddei said. “Sometimes it’s better just to bite the bullet.”

Remember, there's a difference between being frugal and, well, stupid. Just because you can find the DIY instructions online, doesn't always mean it's wise to use them. Unless you are experienced in Handy Andy skills like plumbing and electric, call a professional. 

To read the entire article, click here.

De-stress Your Mess

The video above, from my webseries Space Lift,  offers feng shui tips to help control the chaos in your home. After all, your home is the launch pad for all your goals and dreams. It's the place where you recharge your personal batteries and share time with your loved ones. 

A stressful home creates a stressful life. But sometimes it's hard to tell just what it is that's contributing to the stress. (Psst...the video can help.) 

Some tips and take aways from the video...

• What are you surrounding yourself with in your home or workspace? Is the art peaceful and inspiring? Or does it add stress? If it doesn't support you, change it.

• Clutter is just plain stressful. As we all know, searching for needed items hidden in the clutter makes you late, annoyed and cranky. Stacks of useless clutter drag you down and block the flow. Hey, the root word for clutter is 'to clot.' Clutter clots up the energy in your home. Declutter to unclot to destress.

• Arrange your desk in the Power Position so that you are in control of the situation. Just check out the video to see how. 
  

Enjoy!

Launch Your Line

There are lots of Upsides to this current economy. To me, the biggest one is the opportunity to go for your dreams and launch that project that's been percolating in the back of your brain, just waiting for Someday. Well, good morning and welcome to Someday!

If you have an idea for a product (fashion, sports, beauty, health, housewares, crafts), but it just seems too overwhelming to get started, then this is for you. 

Enter www.launchyourline.com, a new website that pulls together all the necessary resources. 

Their motto is: You don't have to have any experience, just a dream...We'll help you get there.

The site continues...Launch Your Line is a marketplace of designers, entrepreneurs, manufacturers and service providers. Our mission is to provide, resources, tools and information to people who are in the process, or about to embark on the process of launching their own product lines.

Our vision is to build a site that provides a launch pad for thousands of entrepreneurs to successfully launch their product lines and profit. 

Hey, if Jessica Simpson and Kathy Ireland can have multi-millions dollar lines, I say go for it!

Just go to www.launchyourline.com, create a free account, fill out the questionnaire, and watch manufacturers come to you! 

Their "Resources" section is a treasure trove of information, yes FREE! Articles include:

• The Manufacturing Process and Market for Crafts and Paper Goods
• Launching Your Fashion Line - The Very Basics
• Developing Your Business Plan
• How to Get UPC Codes for Your Products
• and many more...

launchyourline.com

Bon Voyage

This year, as belts get tightened, the idea of summer vacation may seem just out of reach. Unless you're internet saavy, that is. 

My friend had her heart set on going to London for a special occasion in June. It's a swanky event in a posh part of town, so a 5-Star hotel is de rigueur for her group. 

The challenge? High-end travel on a coupon clipping budget. 

First off, time to cash in her frequent flyer miles for massive savings. Next up? The hotel.  

Initial searches showed that 5-Star hotels in her chosen area were around $500 a night with the least expensive being a place know for it's small rooms for just over $300. She was going for five nights, so the hotel alone was going to run her between $1,500 and $2,500.  Yikes.  

My friend said that when she saw those search results, she looked up from her screen to picture herself with her 6'2'' boyfriend in the tiny room and thought, "time to dip deeper." After reading travel forums online, she saw that all roads pointed to Priceline.com. (I know! I wouldn't have thought of that either.)

Having never used the service, she read up on some bidding strategies.

With patience and the help of her travel forum friends, she received her wish...a 5-Star room in beautiful Grosvenor House in the Mayfair region of London for the impressive price of $149 a night!!!  That's 50% off the lowest price!  

She loved the fact that they charged her credit card immediately, in US dollars so she doesn't need to worry about the exchange rate or paying additional international fees.  

She is one happy camper, whose idea of camping is a 5-Star hotel.

Can't wait to hear about the trip! Bon Voyage!

priceline.com

The Story of Stuff

Have you ever thought about where your stuff comes from? And how is it possible to buy an item like a small radio for only $4.99 when it came from across the ocean? Just where does all the stuff go? 

Well, Annie Leonard had lots of questions, too. So she looked into the answers and made a video to share the info. It's really fascinating!

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. 

The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. 

The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

To learn more, check out storyofstuff.com

Periodically Speaking...

I have a confession to make. I'm a magazineaholic. 

Apparently, I'm from a long line of magazineaholics. I remember the excitement I felt as a girl whenever I found my Grandma Chamberlain's latest stash of Vogue, Harpers Bazaar and Town & Country. I'd imagine myself wearing a dazzling designer gown while making a sweeping entrance down the stairs of the mansion featured in the photos. Those magazines took me far away from my reality: riding my Schwinn to school with a mouth full of braces and thick glasses that resembled a windshield. It's a miracle I didn't also need a neck brace just to hold my head up. 

These days, I mostly look at magazines online, as its the eco-friendly was to go. But nothing beats the feeling of holding a new issue in my hands, folding the corners of pertinent pages for future reference and curling up to read the latest and greatest. 

To save on the cost of my habit, I subscribe to my best-loved picks that I know I'll read at again and again as subscribing cuts the price up to 80%. 

Amazon currently has a great promotion for magazines. Not only are the subscriptions on deep discount, but additional savings are added at check out...up to $10 off. Sounds good to me!

Here's your link...Amazon Magazine Promotion

And if you like the cool ring magazine holder in the photo above, here it is...ring wall magazine holder .

Let's make it personal

Growing up, my mother owned a personalized stationery store.  As she says, everyone loves something with their name or initials on it. 

I've found that personalized items also add a lot of wow factor to decorating. An ordinary item instantly looks elegant (and much more expense) when it's monogramed. 

It's also a great way to bring a design together when you're having trouble finding just the right colors to achieve the look you're going for. For example, let's say you want to add chocolate brown to your bedroom design, but the designer brand of chocolate bedding looks too heavy and dark. Find an inexpensive, light-colored bed linens and add a monogram using chocolate thread. Voila, a low-cost solution that looks lux! 

Monograms are pretty inexpensive. And it's possible that if you ask around, a friend just might have a monogramming machine. Bartering services can make it free!

My Mom, My Inspiration

"If the whole world were put into one scale, and my mother in the other, the whole world would kick the beam."  ~Lord Langdale

The adorable woman in the photo above is my amazing mother, Gretchen Chamberlain. Isn't she the cutest?

I am so incredibly lucky and grateful to have her as my mom. 

In the Mid-West, where I'm from, calling someone a 'Good Egg' is a high compliment, indeed. Well, my mom is more than a Good Egg...she's Eggs Benedict, Huevos Supremo, the highest Souffle Extraordinaire!

She's rock steady, fun-loving and always in my corner.  The most solid, logical person I've ever met, she's also a gamer, a good sport, and the hostess with the mostess. She's my number one fan and I am her's. 

Her intelligence and curiosity have taught me to continue learning everyday. Her superb peacemaking skills have taught me diplomacy and the importance of seeing issues from all sides. All the family agrees, down to the second cousins once removed, Gret's the lynchpin of the Chamberlain family. 

I learned about creating and keeping a beautiful home from my mother, and I was fortunate to have inherited her keen eye for quality, proportion and spacial arrangement.  She instilled in me that being a good hostess means your guests feel comfortable and well-cared for while in your home.  Thinking of their needs ahead of time allows you to relax and enjoy their company. 

In our home, decorating was a hands-on activity. My mom taught me to paint, wallpaper, and sew my own curtains and pillows. It never fails that whenever we shop together, one of us picks up an item, we look at each other for a couple seconds and at the same time we say, "You know, you could make this." 

I've always known that designing and decorating would be an omnipresent part of my life, I just didn't know it would become a career. Because of my mom, it's never felt like work. 

My mom and I are a couple thousand miles apart today, but just like everyday, she's in my heart. 

Happy Mother's Day, Mom! I love you from the bottom of my toes to the top of the sky.

Elizabeth xoxo

I took this photo of my mom last March in front of a Chihuly exhibit at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. But I like to think of it as a gigantic thought bubble of creativity.

"I miss thee, my Mother! Thy image is still the deepest impressed on my heart."

-- Eliza Cook

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Whether you're a mother, grandmother, step-mother, aunt or fairy Godmother, today is the day we celebrate you!

I'd like to send a heartfelt message of love and gratitude to a few extra special moms in my world...

Gracie, Jenny, Laurie and Sharisse, thank you for bringing such joy into my life by giving the gift of life to such wonderful people.

Blessings to you!

"God could not be everywhere, so he created mothers."

-- Jewish Proverb

"Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing."

-- Toni Morrison

"I know how to do anything - I'm a mom."

-- Rosanne Barr

"Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom with the dishes."

-- P.J. O'Rourke