Author Archives: explorenewness

a NEW habit…dry brushing

Posted on by

dry-brushing-detox{source}

Hi all!  A few months ago, I visited our library and checked out five or six short non-fiction books on a variety of subjects.  I only remember a couple of them now…one book was about the benefits of water, and the other was a ‘How to get things done’ type of book.  I was practicing my speed-reading :o)  and so I went through the books rather fast, but I made sure I took ONE THING from each book that I could implement in my life.  In the ‘Benefits of Water’ book, they talked a lot about drinking water…(yeah, I know I need to drink more H2O!)….but they also talked about the benefits of dry brushing.  Now I’m happy to say that I’ve implemented this habit for the last few months and I’m confident that it’s an ingrained habit and I’ll continue from now on.

I can’t recall the title of the book I checked out from the library, but I’ve got a couple of good references for dry brushing for you, if you are interested!  I’ll let you know what I implemented from the ‘How to get things done’ book in a later post.

Benefits of Dry Skin Brushing Explained:

  1. Removes cellulite
  2. Cleanses the lymphatic system
  3. Removes dead skin layers
  4. Strengthens the immune system
  5. Stimulates the hormone and oil-producing glands 
  6. Tightens the skin preventing premature aging
  7. Tones the muscles
  8. Stimulates circulation
  9. Improves the function of the nervous system
  10. Helps digestion

Check out: Natural Health Techniques

There is also lots of good YouTube videos on how to do dry brushing!  Check those out as well.  Have a great day, and try something NEW!

NEW {repurposed} Halloween Decor

Posted on by

witches

Less than a week until Halloween! Eek!  I’ve gotta go buy bags of candy 😮  I don’t have a ton of Halloween decorations, but I thought I’d share this year’s Halloween mantle with you today.  Sorry the photo is at a weird angle…it was hard not to get some light reflecting off the picture frame glass.  (Yes, I was WAY TOO lazy to take the glass out!)

I saw this print of vintage witches last year, and ordered the print quite some time ago.  I recently got around to framing it, and then whipped out the candles we had from my son’s wedding earlier in the year:

weddingcenterpieces1

And wha-la!  Repurposed Halloween mantle.  So easy!  Just a bit of fake cobwebs to finish it off.  It looks especially spooky with all the candles “lit”.

Have you decorated for Halloween?  Do or Learn something NEW! Have a great day!

NEW photos of my week #30

Posted on by

yellowcollage

Hi all! As you can see, on this photo-walk, I shot anything and everything that was yellow.  I highly recommend taking a leisurely walk and focusing on one primary color to photograph.  When I do this, I seem to see things I wouldn’t notice otherwise, and I like the cool captures I get.  Try something NEW this week!

Linking to:

Little Red House Mosaic Monday

NEW photos of my week #29 and an act of kindness

Posted on by

mickeycollage

I think it is AWESOME when people do something for the sole purpose of making someone smile.  I’m choosing to believe that’s what happened here:  I went on a photo walk yesterday and wandered by an abandoned gas station.  There were two old cars parked in the stalls where the gas pumps used to be.  The windows of the cars were really quite dirty, but as I looked closer….I saw Mickey and Minnie in one of the cars…and I couldn’t help but SMILE!  I think the owner put M&M there just to make people smile (unless Mickey and Minnie were so big the owners didn’t have room in their house to put them).  But again, I’m choosing to believe they’re there for people’s pleasure.  I think it was a GREAT idea and an act of kindness to do that!

Have a great week!  Learn or DO something NEW!

NEW stuff I gotta share

Posted on by

usmap

How many of you have a bucket list?  If you have one, is “Visit all 50 states” on it?  I’ve noticed that goal on quite a number of published online bucket lists lately.  The map above is a map  I made at Big Huge Labs. Map Maker: Show off where you’ve been or where you’re going. (It has maps for the entire world, or just the US, just Europe etc.)  It looks like I need to get over to the East Coast more often, right? (I’d Love to!….send me a plane ticket!)

Another option is: You can keep a simple list like this one at Project Light to Life.  That works good too!

I love, loVE, LOVE keeping AND working on my bucket lists….however, it seems to be getting longer and longer!  More things I wanna learn, do,  read…experience!  All soooo much fun!  Let me know what you’ve crossed off your list lately!

Have a great day!  Do something NEW!

a NEW ‘Nailed It’ experience

Posted on by

nailedit2

You all know about the popular ‘Nailed It’ meme, right?

cupcakenailed{source: cheezburger.com}

Well, yes, I have my own Failed Nailed It experience to share with you 🙂  I saw this very cool exercise belt that I really wanted to make (at Pink Polka Dot Creations) because the arm-band that I bought for my iPhone to run/exercise with is ANNOYING!!!  Anyway…I guess I’ve never really sewn on spandex before, so it was a NEW experience.  That junk is SLIPPERY!  How do you do it?????   I even had a REALLY pretty blue fold-over elastic to add to the edges.  But I didn’t even get that far.  Do you see all the puckers around the zipper? (The zipper was suppose to be the easy part!  The tutorial mentioned sewing the elastic edge part was a “litte tricky”!)  I gave up 😦

I MAY try it again, but I’m going to research if there’s any tricks to sewing on that impossibly slippery stuff before I do!  Let me know if you have the secret!

Have a great day!  Do something NEW!…even if  you ‘nail it’!

a NEW app and NEW sites to enjoy

Posted on by

quail

There’s nothing like waking up to the aches and flu-like symptoms to start a weekend off!  I took a sick-day off work today and I’m hoping these symptoms get better instead of worse!  So while I’m resting and trying to feel better I visited a few websites that always seem to inspire me, but I haven’t gone to for quite a while.  I know they always have good stuff, but life is life and I don’t normally have hours to spend on the computer 🙂  I know you know what I’m sayin’!

So!…I’ve rediscovered a few:

I think I’ve mentioned this site before, but it’s such a motivating site for my photography efforts.  Check it out if you haven’t yet….it’s called Light Stalking.  Good stuff!

Now, you all know I LOVE doing or learning or reading NEW things.  I’m also interested in how I can accelerate learning.  That subject is a fascinating one for me.  So today I took the time to watch 5D Secrets of Accelerated Learning.  It was about an hour long, but I really liked it.  Loved, loVED, LOVED Tanya Moore’s accent!  Good stuff!

And lastly, I found a NEW app I want to use.  It’s call Stuck on Earth and I heard about it from the Digital Photography School’s newsletter that came in my email.  I was reading the article about 5 Creative Ways to Find New Locations to Photograph and they recommended this app.  Sounds very cool, so I’m going to download it soon.

Have a GREAT day!  Learn or DO something NEW!

ps. You may know that my goal is to post photos from my own stash whenever possible, but sorry, I don’t have a picture of me being sick (thank goodness….what an awful sight!)  So in honor of the snow that appeared on the ground this morning, I’m posting a my favorite winter scene from last year.