Peace on Earth with Peace of Mind

"For the side of you that likes ice water with lemon"

Going Green-

I don't know about your city but here in Los Angeles, everyone is about "going green."

Save the earth. Save your MONEY. I'm going GREEN.

I have complied 5 easy things you can do each day that can help save energy, money and resources.

1. Carry a canvas bag instead of plastic to do your shopping.

2. Carry a reusable bottle instead of drinking and/or buying bottled water.

3. Install compact fluorescent light bulbs throughout your home.

4. Recycle. Period.

5. Make your own effective, non-toxic cleaning products. All you need is some baking soda, vinegar, lemon, and soap. I've included some great tips I found online.

Stock up on a few safe, simple ingredients that can be used in most cleaning situations. Soap, water, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, borax, and a coarse scrubbing sponge can take care of most household cleaning needs.

Instead of using a standard drain cleaner, which likely contains lye, hydrochloric acid, and sulfuric acid, try pouring a quarter cup of baking soda down the clogged drain, followed by a half cup of vinegar. Close the drain tightly until fizzing stops, then flush with boiling water.

For an effective glass cleaner, use a mixture of half white vinegar and half water.

Baking soda and cornstarch are both good carpet deodorizers.

To clean up mildew and mold, use a mixture of lemon juice or white vinegar and salt.

A paste of baking soda, salt, and hot water makes a great oven cleaner.

In the rare instance you need to use a hazardous product, use as little as possible and dispose of it in a way that will cause minimum harm—for example, by bringing it to a hazardous waste recycling or treatment center.

A lot of times, when I read articles or talk to people about going green. They mention things that when I'm done with the conversation I know I'm not going to go home and do. These 5 things are great easy suggestions that can make a huge difference!

Relax. Breathe. Escape.

Sometimes our day to day lives can get so hectic. I wanted to share some great suggestions with you that I think can help you be more at peace and relaxed with your day to day routine. First and foremost, me time. Me time is time that you set aside with yourself each day - maybe 15-20 minutes or 2 hours to get your mind together, get to know yourself better, relax and think. Some activities that I enjoy doing during my me time are: a great pedicure, a great bath with candles and an amazing book, or a yoga class. Some other great suggestions are: a visit to a museum, meditation or a glass of wine with no television. I hope this helps you to relax, breathe and escape without leaving your bedroom. It's a state of mind. Cheers to a great week! - Lauren

Fall-ing into Cinema.. :) Part 1

WOW September is already upon us!!! GEEZ where did Summer go?!?!? Summer always seems like the shortest season ever....and while this could be a post mourning the end of summer I have decided to focus on the positive...as fall gears into full swing and winter rapidly approaches...it is time to look at the Fall Movie Season!!...now the summer movie season was pretty eventful...Dark Knight, anyone???

But now comes the major contenders for the upcoming award season....Usually the movies that pick up lots of statues in January and February tend to come come out in the fall and winter... and the major players come out the week of Christmas... (i.e. Chicago,Catch Me if You Can, Lord of the Rings, Titanic....I could go on) any who lets get down to the fun part...because I am especially excited this year because those who know me best know I spent a good part of the summer reading 4 amazing books in the epidemic series that is sweeping the country. Seriously, these books are so good that it took me about three days to read each book... and each book was about 750 pages or more...so calling them a page turner would a monumental understatement...but I'll have more on these books and the highly anticipated movie based on the first book...later on in this post.....

So I'm just going to go ahead and list the movies I'm most excited about seeing in no particular order...

Up first is "Righteous Kill"...this one features two of the greatest actors of our generation, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino teaming up on the screen for the second time (the first time was Heat...a movie, which is to men what Sex&The City is to Women)..this time they play two veteran NYC cops working "to identify the possible connection between a recent murder and a case they believe they solved years ago; is there a serial killer on the loose, and did they perhaps put the wrong person behind bars?" (IMDB..they said it better than me)
Also starring along side the two Academy Award winning actors is actor/rapper extraordinaire (LOL) Curtis Jackson, who I have to say is raking up a pretty impressive Filmography. Oh and Donnie Walhberg is also in it...I'm guessing this was filmed before the New Kids reunion??
The movie is set to open September 12th


Up next is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button...this one gives me the same vibe of that Lemmony Shnikets' movie (i know I butchered the spelling)but here check it out..


Its star's none other that Mr. William Bradley Pitt...and is sure to be an Oscar contender...or at least I'm hoping...just another excuse to see that man in a TUX!...any-who that's neither here nor there...
This film is about a man who ages in reverse....yeah i know...but a very interesting concept and I gotta say it looks pretty dang good...If for no other reason you must go see it because there will be a familiar face playing the role of Pitt's characters young child...none other than Shiloh Jolie Pitt...yep that's right a chance to see the chosen one on the big screen even before she's enrolled in Kindergarten...gotta love nepotism!...but it's okay I LOVE HER PARENTS!! And they can do no wrong as far as I'm concerned. Oh! and Cate Blanchett is in it ....so you know its getting some statues come Award Season...oh and the lesser known Fanning...Elle.. is in it as well...cause lets face it Dakota's getting up there in age...(kidding)..and Tilda Swinton...who I swear kind of looks like an Alien model but she's also a pretty stellar actress.

Also out September 12th is "The Women"...which is basically this decades First Wives Club...and I'm soooo going to see it! It's also an all-star cast with Annette Benning, Meg Ryan, Jada Pinkett Smith, Debra Messing (good to see her surviving that post-sitcom curse that plagues a lot of former NBC stars), Bette Midler, Candace Bergen, Eva Mendes, and a slew of other comedic greats!...this is going to do well with female audiences...at least that's my prediction. It's about a group of women (new yorkers ...i think) who discover that their friend's husband is cheating with a cosmetics counter girl (played by Eva Mendes) and then of course madness and female bond ensues... with the inevitable trip to a resort spa...I'm sure we'll cry a tiny bit, and laugh, and it'll be good times!! I for one am looking forward to a good solid Chick Flick!.....


Also hitting theaters is "4 Christmases"...this one stars Vince Vaughn(yay!) and Reese Witherspoon. The two play a couple, both of whose parents are divorced, so they are forced to visit all four parents for the holiday. This looks pretty cute and with Vince and Reese I'm betting on some good comedic timing. I think it'll be a cute holiday film!
Hitting theaters Nov. 26th

Also premiering this season is the one movie...many people just didn't want to see come out...and I don't blame them it was pretty controversial at Sundance last year...so I'm thinking you are going to hear a lot about it in the coming months. You may have already heard about "Hound dog" It's the movie starring Dakota fanning....as a young girl who is raped....and from what I hear the scene is pretty graphic especially for such a young actress. However there is much more to the film than just that one scene. It's actually about a young girl who gets through her troubled upbringing by finding solace in the music of Elvis Presley....Anytime a movie is controversial I'm usually in the theater...I'm curious...and part of me thinks aside from that one scene which I can very well just cover my eyes...it could turn out to be an interesting movie..We'll see.

Up next is a movie I've been excited about ever since I heard they were making it, "The Duchess". It stars Kiera Knightly who I think is a great actress I love all of her movies (even Domino)...now I have a few friends who will argue with me up and down on that point..but I do. I think she's great!

From the trailer the costumes in this movie look amazing...and definitely a contender for best costume. It's a period piece...cause no one does period movies quite like Kiera Knightly...especially for her age...which is pretty close to my age.The plot is basically Marie Antoinette but set in the 18th century..or at least that's how I'm going to explain it for the purposes of brevity...but yeah it could be another good one...but I don't see too many men liking this one...just putting that out there.

Also coming out is "Eagle Eye" starring Shia LeBoeff and Michelle Moynahan (pretty sure I spelled that wrong.) I'm also a huge Shia fan...have been ever since Even Stevens...(yep that's right once upon a time I watched The Disney Channel)...and he could very well be the Tom Cruise of our generation..yep I know that's a pretty loaded statement....and you know what? I stand by it! just go see it..it's an action movie about two people who are being framed and are running from a voice in a phone...or as our good friends at IMDB put it: "Two strangers become the pawns of a mysterious woman they have never met, but who seems to know their every move. Realizing they are being used to further her plot for a political assassination, they must work together to outwit the woman before she has them killed."... It will be good... I think?...it comes out September 26th.

Up next is one that definitely hopes to be an Oscar contender, is "Australia". It was written and directed by Baz Luhrman...the genius and eccentric mastermind behind Moulin Rouge, Romeo and Juliet (the one with Leo), and that random "Everybody's Free to wear Sunscreen" song and video (from the Big Kahuna soundtrack) that made the rounds on MTV and VH1 sometime back in the 90's..... you'd remember it if you saw it...trust me
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It may seem strange..but it was a big deal in the 90's..Any-who back to "Australia"the movie is set in the WWII era but from the Australian side of the story and is of course a love story in a great war setting...the synopsis seams a bit cliched..but should be refreshingly different since it has the Australian history behind it. It stars Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman ...both of who are two of the countries biggest native stars ...which is fitting. It comes out November 26th.

Saw V is also coming out...anyone care to guess when?!!...look I pretty much stopped with these movies after the 1st so I'm at a loss for why they keep making them. All I can say is obviously someone keeps seeing them. Otherwise, they would have stopped after the second...so there's that......

AND NOW!!!...the one movie I have been counting down for with all the other teenagers and middle aged women LOL... Now if you haven't heard of the Twilight series...then you simply aren't paying attention to pop-culture



...this about to be the next Harry Potter...only I think it could be bigger. The last book came out August 2nd and broke many records shattered J.K. Rowling's..selling 1.35 million copies on just the first day alone....for music this is not THAT big of a deal...but for a book...that's HUGE!!! and now comes the movie...It stars Robert Pattinson who, ironically, is also featured in the Harry Potter movies LOL!" but this time he stars as the handsome and impossibly irresistible Edward Cullen...now just about everyone I know who had read the books says that he is exactly what they pictured Edward Cullen to be ...and the same goes for Kristen Stewart who plays Bella Swan...now I'm go into the synopsis cause every time I tell people about the storyline they kind of cringe but only those who have read the first ten pages...truly get just how amazingly written this story is and just how addictive it is...so I'm letting you know now....THIS MOVIE IS GOING TO BE HUGE!...maybe not Dark Knight huge...but still a blockbuster..so big in fact that Entertainment Weekly even named it "mostly likely to be a blockbuster"..
and just about everyone knows that Nov 21st is the big day !!!!!

Well that's the first part of my movies post...I'll update with a few more worthy ones later on...
until then Ciao!!
Luvs
-M.Theresa M.