Eat Healthy During Your Vacation

Do you have any vacations left this year? Just because you are going away does not mean you have to give up your diet.  We have gathered some great ideas on how to stay healthy when you are away.  Try these tips and do not forget to splurge once or twice!  You can learn more at TravelTips.

Step 1

Take your own snacks for a road trip or plane ride. This will keep you from stopping at convenience stores or vending machines for packaged foods, or having only cookies or chips to select on the plane. Trail mix, homemade granola, popcorn, pretzels, chopped raw vegetables, hummus, apples, plums and pears make great travel snacks. Eat any fresh produce prior to reaching an international destination to adhere to customs regulations.

Step 2

Find a supermarket or farmer’s market as soon as you reach your destination. Pick up some fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, pretzels and popcorn that can serve as snacks or a breakfast alternative during your stay.

Step 3

Fill up on healthy foods at the breakfast or lunch buffet, especially if you are staying at a resort. Focus on getting plenty of fresh fruits, salads and greens, and whole grains such as oatmeal. Then, if you are forced to eat some lesser healthy meals throughout the day, you will have at least eaten plenty of produce and fiber at one or two meals.

Step 4

Choose sit-down restaurants instead of fast food establishments during your travels. This might take extra time, but you will have a better opportunity to ask your server how foods are prepared and add special requests for healthier meals, such as dressings on the side, grilled or broiled instead of fried, and substituting vegetables and salads for fried side dishes.

Step 5

Seek out local restaurants that use local products. The less distance your food has traveled, the more nutrients it typically retains. In addition, restaurants that pride themselves on local products often provide healthy options, such as meals focused on the use of local fruits and vegetables. These foods are usually prepared in a way that maintains their natural flavor, not covered in high-calorie, fatty sauces and toppings.

Step 6

Select fatty fish such as salmon, grilled meats, fresh salads, broth-based soups and wraps or sandwiches without sauces as your entrees, instead of deep-fried foods and entrees with heavy cream sauces. Enjoy the food the area is known for, such as grilled fishes from the sea or fruit desserts in a tropical destination.

Step 7

Share your meals around the table. Serving sizes at standard restaurants can easily feed two people. If you have a party of four, consider selecting only two to three entrees and sharing them. Even if the food can’t be classified as healthy, eating less is better than enjoying the whole thing yourself.

Step 8

Choose your splurges wisely, but do allow for some splurges--it is a vacation. Consider your favorite things and enjoy them, but pass on the things you can easily get at home that add extra calories. For example, you can have a roll at any meal at home, but that gourmet tiramisu or top-shelf martini can be harder to come by.

New Mattress Time

Have you had the same mattress for too many years?  A new mattress can improve sleep, posture, and in general make you feel better.  If you think it is time for a new mattress, Apartment Therapy has some great tips for you to look over. This blog will help you prepare and know what you want when buying that new mattress.

My current mattress is 10+ years old. The one before that was an air mattress, and the one before that was an ancient family hand-me-down. Clearly I need to read this post so my bedroom—and my dreams—will be fabulous.

Number of Coils, Number of Turns: The mattress expert consulted by Real Simple "recommends a minimum of 350 coils for a full-size mattress, 480 for a queen, and 580 for a king". And Martha Stewart insists that each coil "should be 'turned' at least five times in each coil."

How Tall Are You? According to Martha Stewart, "a mattress should measure at least six inches longer than the tallest person sleeping on it." This means that most of my family members should own California Kings.

Medium-Firm Is Probably Just Right: Consumer Reports, my go-to source for everything these days, consulted several experts who recommended medium-firm mattresses: "If a mattress is too firm, it won't support the body evenly and may cause discomfort at the heaviest points (hips and shoulders). If it's too soft, a sleeper could sink into the surface and have a hard time moving, which could cause tingling, numbness, or aches." Numbness?!

Hot Sleeper? If you're considering a foam mattress, Real Simple wants to remind you that "Foam retains heat well, so if you get hot while sleeping, look for open-cell construction for maximum breathability."

Make Yourself At Home: Consumer Reports wants you to really test out mattresses, odd looks from other customers be damned: "Spend at least five minutes on each side and on your back (your stomach, too, if that's a preferred sleeping position)." Danny Seo advised CasaSugar to go one step further: "Resting your head on whatever number of pillows you normally sleep on will give you a true feel for how a new mattress will feel when you sleep on it."

Be Firm: "Since mattresses soften with age and wear, it's a good idea to buy one that's somewhat firmer than what you are used to." This tip is from Martha Stewart, and I find it the most challenging— it seems difficult to tell if something is slightly too firm now but will age nicely eventually without being too firmforever.

Replace The Box Spring, Too...Or Don't: Good Housekeeping quotes the Better Sleep Council as saying, "When you replace the mattress replace the box spring as well. Over time the constant compression of the springs will compromise the structural integrity of the box spring." But Consumer Reports found that "80 percent of those who kept their old one reported that they were sleeping better after replacing just the mattress. So if your box spring isn't broken and is still structurally sound, consider keeping it and saving several hundred dollars." Controversy!

Look Forward to Turning 40: Among all the other great tips, Consumer Reports mentions, "You should think about buying a new mattress if you wake up tired or achy, you tend to sleep better at hotels than at home, your mattress looks saggy or lumpy, you're over 40..." I want a new mattress every year after my 40th birthday! And someone to move it for me.

6 Tips To Make Organization Easier

 Keeping your apartment clean can be a challenge for everyone.  Many times this chore gets tossed to the side because of work, plans, or activities.  However, you may be making this chore harder than it has to be.  Apartment Therapy has gathered some great tips on making this chore a lot easier.  This advice will help your home stay cleaner longer, and it will give you more time to do the things you would like to do.


You may have discovered (thanks to this post) that you've been making keeping your house clean harder than it has to be. Might you also be making it harder to keep your house organized, cleaning's important and annoying cousin? A stress-free house is not just a dust-free one, it's one where you can find stuff when you need it and don't have stacks of unnecessary stuff adding to your home's clutter. Check out this list of six ways you might be making it harder to stay organized and see what you can eliminate this weekend!


1. You don't immediately toss unimportant stuff
Put a recycling bin next to your mail box and a shredder next to your door. The moment you get your mail, toss what you don't need, shred personal info-marked things you don't need and then immediately file what you need to file. Don't put things in a basket to look at later. If you want to look at it later — just put it where it's supposed to be anyway, and go look at it later there.

2. You emotionally hold on to stuff you know you don't need
This is always a tough one, since objects can have memories attached to them. But we're not talking about that stuff. We're talking about the hiking boots you've never worn once that you keep hanging on to because you might climb Everest one day. We're talking about the "perfectly good" things you bought for a good reason but have never used once.When it comes to keeping organized, having more stuff than you need to organize is just silly. Less stuff, less things that will need organizing.

3. You've convinced yourself you don't have enough room, and so have given up hope
Hey we get it. Having a tiny home is tough on staying organized, especially when you lack obvious storage. But don't give up and give in. Kick that defeatist attitude to the curb! Pay attention to the first two tips in this post for sure. But then also make sure you're maximizing the storage you do have. Got three inches under your bed? Use them! Have only one hanging rod in your closet? Come on — fit more in there! Don't have any shelves above your doors or up high? You've got to be kidding me. If you don't have room for the things you legitimately need, make room. But don't make extra storage for future stuff, as you'll definitely find something to fill it up with.

4. You haven't given yourself the right tools
The trick here is really giving yourself the right organizing tools that work for you. Spend a week or more really looking at your home and where the clutter collects. Are you someone who tosses clothes around your room when trying on outfits and never re-hangs them up? Either switch to drawers or plan your outfits ahead of time and place an over-the-door hanger in the room just for that purpose. Are you a chronic junk drawer creator? Fill it with dividers so you're forced to stick to a system. You don't have to get fancy and drop a ton of money at the Container Store, but do invest in the tools you'll need if they'll help you.

5. Your filing system is too complicated and so you never stick with it for long
That's really awesome that you spent that weekend alphabetizing and labeling and whatever else-ing until your home was the absolute pinnacle of organization — for like a day. But if something is too complicated — or too hard to get to — you won't stick with it. And sometimes being too specific with labels can work against you — when you come across something that doesn't perfectly fit into a label you end up not putting it away and a pile gets started. And piles multiply faster than tribbles.

6. You're not asking for help when you need it or setting boundaries
There's no shame in asking for organizing help from a friend if you need it. But you also need to learn to ask for help with the people you live with — work with them on showing them the organizational methods you've put into place and tell them it's important they follow them, too.

The Best Iced Tea

Are you a fan of iced tea?  It can be a favorite drink to cool off with in the summer.  However, store bought brands or the same iced tea over and over again can get old. We have gathered some great tips on how to make the best iced tea.  Keep reading and you can learn more at The Kitchn.



1. Use loose-leaf tea and brew it twice as strong.

Because iced tea gets diluted, you really want to extract the maximum amount of flavor from your tea. I recommend using loose-leaf tea. Tea bags are fine if you're in a hurry, but you'll get a lesser quality of tea and can't measure it precisely.

The easiest way to make iced tea is to make a hot brew. Make it twice as strong, strain it out, and then pour it over ice. For example, if you would normally use 1 teaspoon of tea for 6 ounces of water, use 2 teaspoons of tea. I tend to use a large pot and let the tea swirl around and then pour it through a strainer. A tea ball or small infuser is a big no-no because the leaves aren't able to rotate and expand to provide a lot of the flavor.

The hot brew method is especially important for green tea, which can get bitter if you cold steep it. However, black tea can work as a cold brewed tea, where you can infuse the tea in cold water overnight and then strain it the next day.
2. Go beyond standard green or black tea.

Fruity teas tend to make really great iced tea, like our Tangier tea that's black tea with apricots in it, or our Immortal Green Tea that's Japanese green tea with peaches and passion fruit. Rooibos teas also tend to make great iced tea and they're caffeine free. Some people might like a flowery iced tea with rose or jasmine, while others might prefer a spiced chai iced tea. I encourage people to experiment. Try different flavors; you never know what you will like.
3. Sweeten with juice or lemonade.

A great alternative to sugar is adding something like juice or lemonade. Trader Joe's makes a dynamite organic pink lemonade and a pomegranate limeade. If you add 1 cup of that to 8 to 10 cups of iced tea, it's not a traditional half-and-half Arnold Palmer ratio, but you just get a little kick of flavor and sweetness. Pomegranate juice can also provide a boost of sugar and vibrant color.

4. Go wild with fruit.

There are so many other things you can add besides sugar, if you get creative. For example, try any fruit that's local, fresh, and sweet —whatever you get at the farmers' market. After the tea has brewed, let it cool 4 to 5 hours at room temperature, and then add fruit. You can then drink it immediately or let the fruit steep overnight, kind of like a sangria.

My favorite fruit to add is watermelon, which adds a natural sweetness and looks pretty. Apricots are also great; they seem to suck in all the bitterness of the tea and release tons of sweetness. Figs are amazing. We freeze figs and then throw them in a Vitamix with tea; you're getting sweetness, fiber, and your daily serving of fruit.

Oranges are obviously a natural accompaniment to tea, as are lemons. Limes are tricky; they get bitter after awhile, especially if they have the rinds.

Blueberries don't do much flavor-wise because of the skin, but they're pretty, especially on top or frozen into ice cubes made from iced tea (which are great because they don't dilute the tea).

Raspberries and strawberries taste great but fall apart after a bit. For fruits that disintegrate, you might want to strain them out after they have steeped, and then add fresh fruit at the last minute for visual appeal.
5. Play with herbs.

When things are intensely flavorful, then I think people don't miss the sugar. In addition to fruit, herbs can add a lot of flavor. I like lavender in everything; it's pretty and it really adds a different flavor. There are so many incredible kinds of mint to experiment with — chocolate mint, lemon mint, mint basil, spearmint. Rosemary is interesting, also chamomile. Think of iced tea like cocktails. It doesn't have to be boring and out of the bottle.
6. Just experiment!

I consider everything. If I like the way it tastes, I'll put it in tea. I've even put Sriracha in tea, although I found that a smoked pepper worked better. We've used lots of different things: stone ground Mexican chile chocolate; chai with almond butter, cinnamon, and cream. Just experiment! Unlike coffee, with iced tea if there's a flavor you like, you can replicate it. You can have fruity, floral, savory, sweet, umami. Whatever you like, there's no right or wrong. If it makes you happy, go for it.