Dentyne Nice

These are my favorite gum commercials ever. I haven't seen them in a while, so let's 'refresh'. Even though I don't like Dentyne Ice ( great dislike for hard mint gum) , I do love this advertising.

Being that unfriend is the word of the year, this makes me happy.

I just texted my boyfriend to come over so I could kiss him... and have Starbucks, but still true story.

Get close to people, listen to commercials.

Eco-product of the year-end.

One of my favorite birthday presents this year were these 100% recycled iPod/computer/anything that has an audio feed speakers. Each pair has an individual design, and there are several different companies that make the same product differently. My pair came from the local Planet Organic store, and looks a lot like the image above. There are others that are made from recycled metal, and some that are folded into triangular shapes. These speakers are the most inexpensive ( about $15 CDN a pair) and portable versions of the regular iPod stereo systems. PLUS, they're green and the sound quality is pretty decent! So if you need some artsy and earth loving belated christmas gifts, pop into your local organic shoppe and turn up the volume!

Listen to music, for the planet.

Ave Maria

I think Ave Maria is one of my favorite/most romantic holiday songs. A little belated perhaps, but here are Beyonce's Ave Maria lyrics and song, for the holidays.

She was lost in so many different ways
Out in the darkness with no guide
I know the cost of a losing hand
Never thought the grace of god go high

And then here this voice inside
Ave maria

I've been alone
When i'm surrounded by friends
How could the silence be so loud
But i still go home knowing that i've got you
There's us when the lights go down

You are my heaven on earth
You are my hunger, my thirst
I always hear this voice inside
Singing ave maria

Sometimes love can come and pass you by
While your busy making plans
Suddenly hit you and then you realize
It's out of your hands, baby you got to understand

You are my heaven on earth
You are my last, my first
And then i hear this voice inside
Ave maria
Ave maria
Ave maria

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

I <3 the holidays.

Eco Product of the Week!

So I have been thinking of instating a weekly blog entry about my favorite eco-friendly product finds for a while now. Today is early Christmas for you my lucky blog family. For here is my first weekly post.

JASON Hair Care Products:

All natural, organic, recycled & recyclable packages,  and best of all affordable!

I am currently using this scalp tingling shampoo. It's great for my seasonal psoriasis.

Although all JASON shampoos have matching conditioners I am in love with how yummy smelling this one is. For someone who considers herself a condition-aholic (I never comb, just condition), this stuff works moisture wonders and smells amazing!

They have other great products I am excited to try too including: creams, deodorants, and body washes. Check out all of the products on their website.  Or go to your local Super Store ( In the organics esle), or Safeway and scope the stuff out yourself.

Love your hair, and the earth.

Yesterday:

Greatest maxim ever: This Too Shall Pass. 

ABCs of Autism

Source: weheartit

Being a psych major and currently in the middle of the exam season, I have been studying abnormal psychology all morning. I just finished covering the material for Autism Spectrum Disorders and though I would share some of the fascinating facts:

• The onset for autism is in infancy or early childhood, usually around the age of 2. 
• 16/10000 births are likely to be Autistic, and 30-63/10000 births fall into the Autism Spectrum Disorders (have similar qualities to autism but different diagnoses) 
• Boys develop Autistic disorder 4.3 times more often than girls. 
• There are early warning signs that parents can look for, the sooner the intervention in treatment for autism the better the prognosis (future outcome). These red flags include: No reaction to sounds or name (not due to hearing loss), infant being described as either really good or very difficult, delayed or absent speech (or speech abnormalities such as echolalia), lack of imaginative play replaced with repetitive object play and preoccupations, odd responses to sensory input ( usually none or extreme sensitivity), loss of skills (this can mean toilet training skills and language skills), don't initiate play with others or respond to other's approaches, don't communicate with their eyes ( usually rarely make eye contact), and they usually don't point out things, show things, or engage in play with their parents. 
• A very dangerous misconception with Autism is that it is caused by vaccinations. This has lead many people to not vaccinate their children, which can lead to serious illness, re-spreading of previously controlled disease, and even death! The correlation is presumed to be casual because the age of onset is very near to, or after the time when children are to be vaccinated. There has been immense research disproving this casual claim, from the New England Journal of Medicine (2007), The California Department of Health, and Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (2003). 
• Autism spectrum disorders are considered to be the most heritable, even more so than schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder. 
• Lastly the prognosis is most promising for children with an IQ greater than 70, and for cases that have early intervention. 

Get more informed, study for finals. :D

Sea-foam Nostalgia

I want you to come to the beach!

I always forget how much I hate winter, until it comes. Although playing around in the snow and drifting every street corner is gleeful, nothing is fun when it's -25 outside. Since I have just finished my two hardest finals, amidst the liquid nitrogen conditions; I feel like I have no excuse not to be fully amped for sunshine and surf! I don't know if it's the lack of vitamin D, or the fact that my facial complexion is better when I am tanned, but I crave scolding sun rays. I would take being incredibly hot to even slightly chilly any day. Slightly ironic that I am so against global warming.  Forget Christmas, I am more excited for January 2nd and the start of  my trip to Mexico. I find that the higher the temperature the more elated my mood becomes. Here's to drinking mojitos and making snowmen in the sand!

Plus, a childhood dream of mine will be fulfilled on this trip: Swimming with dolphins!

Do things that make your happy, and charge it on your credit card!

Stephen Avenue

This is very similar to what our lovely Stephen Avenue looks like this fine Christmas decorating season. I finally felt a warm fuzzy feeling while standing outside in the snow. Looking up at these  'dripping icicle' lights, I felt a sense of romantic holiday spirit and appreciation (and sugarplum fairies danced on my head, after I just had my hair done, so I got pissed and asked what kind of fairies wanted to represent sweetened dried fruit anyway). It goes against my nervous system reaction to like the cold weather. But really, I figure the icicle lights are just depicting something that is freezing; they're probably nice and warm themselves, since they give off so much inefficient heat loss. :)

Incredibly Scientific and Meaningful Bar Graph

The Irish, even their statistics make you feel guilty. No wonder the Catholic's don't believe in condoms. They'd be in the red otherwise, and I don't mean eternal hell-fire.

:)

Boxers or leafs?

Really adorable and quirky leaf art. Reminds me of that super pointless, yet somehow incredibly time consuming leaf project in grade 6. Getting one of those evergreen needle samples was the biggest challenge I'd faced so far.

I like the idea of nature imitating mundane (probably not very eco-friendly) objects.

Sequencia!!

The opposite of nature, technology. Oh how I adored not knowing all of the useless facts Computer Science has implanted.

Proof, yet again, that Star Wars references transcend all mediums. :)

That leaf you stepped on last month, that was art.

Le Simpsons

An anonymous artist on www.limpfish.com has recreated famous paintings, including Simpsons characters. My favorite is The Girl With The Pearl Earring Marge Simpson. I love that picture originally and simpsonofied.

Enjoy:

Art has many muses.

inVinegarate

Vinegar, not just one of the ingredients of salad dressing. There are over a 100 different uses for vinegar! Some of the uses are really surprising, not to mention eco-friendly, all natural, and sometimes fairly smelly. Here is a list of the uses I think would be most useful:

1) Attack spaghetti, barbecue, or ketchup stains with a white distilled vinegar and water solution.

2) Remove perspiration odor and stains on clothing, as well as those left by deodorants, by spraying full-strength white distilled vinegar on underarm and collar areas before tossing them into the washing machine.

3) Get cleaner laundry! Add about 1/4 cup white distilled vinegar to the last rinse. The acid in white distilled vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics, yet strong enough to dissolve the alkalies in soaps and detergents. Besides removing soap, white distilled vinegar prevents yellowing, acts as a fabric softener and static cling reducer, and attacks mold and mildew. 

4) Clean the microwave by mixing 1/2 cup white distilled vinegar and 1/2 cup water in a microwave-safe bowl. Bring it to a rolling boil inside the microwave. Baked-on food will be loosened, and odors will disappear. Wipe clean.

5) Remove soap buildup and odors from the dishwasher by pouring a cup of white distilled vinegar inside the empty machine and running it through a whole cycle. Do monthly.

6) Get rid of fruit flies by setting out a small dish of undiluted white distilled vinegar.

7) To remove a label, decal, or price tag, cover with a cloth soaked in white distilled vinegar. Leave the cloth on overnight and the label should slide off.

8) Deodorize the toilet bowl by allowing 3 cups white distilled vinegar to sit in it for about a half hour before flushing. 

9) Kill germs all around the bathroom with a spray of full-strength white distilled vinegar. Wipe clean with a damp cloth.

10) Soothe sunburn with a spray of white distilled vinegar, repeating as often as you like. Ice-cold white distilled vinegar will feel even better, and may prevent blistering and peeling.

11) Make nail polish last longer. Wipe fingernails with cotton balls dipped in white distilled vinegar before putting on nail polish.

12) For cuts and scrapes, use white distilled vinegar as an antiseptic.

13) Keep car windows frost-free overnight in winter by coating them with a solution of 3 parts white distilled vinegar to 1 part water.

14) Give your dog a gleaming coat by spraying or rubbing with a solution of 1 cup white distilled vinegar to 1 quart water. As a bonus, you save the cost of an expensive shine product used on show animals. (Works even on a horse!)

15) Kill fleas by adding a little white distilled vinegar to your dog or cat’s drinking water.

16) Cats hate the smell of vinegar. If you have a cat that is marking its territory around your house, spray the area with white distilled vinegar then rinse with a hose. ( This one's for you Britt.)

17) When poaching eggs, add a little white distilled vinegar to the water. The whites stay better formed.

18) Make pasta less sticky and reduce some of its starch. Add just a dash of white distilled vinegar to the water as it cooks.

19) If you’ve added too much salt to a recipe, add a spoonful of white distilled vinegar and sugar to try correcting the taste.

20) To keep eggs from cracking when boiling add a tablespoon or two of white distilled vinegar to water.

Learn more Vinegar facts here!

My Little Popular Character

An artist named Mari Kasurinen, has made unique My Little Pony Sculptures. My personal favorite is My Little Lady Gaga:

See the rest on her website.