Monday, December 7, 2015

TCM Gift Guide: 12 Perfectly Stylish Ideas For the Home

This holiday, we're all about the home goods! Call it a hankering for extra coziness (okay, last year we were craving the cozy too!) - and the way all the white-one-white, plant-y, norm-core trends are converging in the best way possible this year, but there are more home goods than anything else on our wish lists this month. We've been ogling everything over at Parachute Home this year, from well-made Italian sheets and duvets to this Merino wool travel set for when one must leave home. Add to that these delightful metal and leather planters, candles and incense, and a new wall-hanging, perfect for the holidays and beyond. Could this woven wonder be the perfect gift for close friends and hostesses with the mostesses? Okay, maybe it's a little trendy, but we're in love! Every single one of these home gifts is under $200 - except for the well-crafted, sustainably-made, 100% Scottish cashmere throw blanket, which we're not sure we'd accept at any other price. Get cozy tonight and get to shopping this list for friends...or adding items to a list of your own! 234x60_Parachute_logoThis post is brought to you by Parachute. Modern style, exceptional quality, responsibly manufactured: Parachute is rethinking the basics of bedding. 

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Champagne On Ice: Holiday Parties 101 With Erin Heatherton

It’s not every holiday season that we have an angel looking out for us! Lay to rest the constant struggle of staying healthy during the year's biggest season of parties and feasts. Our December guest editor, model Erin Heatherton, has our backs this year, sharing her top tips for holiday parties from laying on the tunes from start to finish to that next-day green smoothies that will get you back in balance. Stay healthy while still enjoying the festivities this holiday season... [olists num=1] [olists num=2]

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A Week of Beauty: A 7 Day Guide To Party Perfect Skin

Ready. Set. Glow! We're following this week-long beauty regimen by blogger, Annie Atkinson of She’s in the Glow, as we get ready for a season's worth of glow-worthy events. The good news is that all the preparations are good for our health - water, green juice, etc. We're bookmarking this guide for all the glow-requiring events of 2016 too! Here's Annie...  With a roster of events lined up on the calendar, it’s imperative that you look and feel your best during the month of December. And if we’ve learned anything from Bridget Jones, we should know better than to leave everything to the last minute. No one wants to be a total mess come Christmas time. As a seasoned partygoer and total beauty addict, it’s safe to say you can trust me when it comes to party prep. To ensure you’re on top of your game this party season, follow my step-by-step guide approximately seven days before your next soirée. You’ll be glowing inside and out. [olists num=1][olists num=2][olists num=3][olists num=4][olists num=5]

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Sunday, December 6, 2015

The Best Butternut Squash Soup We’ve Ever Had

On our recent visit to Big Sur and Carmel Valley, we were delighted to sit down to our first course at Carmel Valley Ranch's cozy as can be Valley Kitchen and experience this cup of absolute perfection. We made no secret of our obsession with this savory-sweet winter soup to Chef Tim Wood and he kindly sent along the homey recipe for us and our readers! The secret to this simple, warming wonder? Apparently, two cups of grass-fed butter. We're big fans of the old-fashioned, good for you stuff (read here, here and here) and so our shock at the two cups of golden goodness quickly wore down into plans to make the soup with salad for the weekend. Here is the recipe --all yellow onions and maple syrup. Get to work and whip this up for the ones you love! When on the Central Coast, be sure to visit the Ranch for clean eats like this one and a gorgeous dining experience you won't soon forget.

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Friday, December 4, 2015

Spicy Cocoa Sweet Potato Chips

Sweet potato chips, the best reinvention of a classic since, well, ever! It’s hard to improve upon perfection, but when it means taking an indulgence and making it healthier and tastier, we’re all in!  What is it about potato chips that make them almost impossible to say no to? Is it the texture? The taste? We can’t really say, but whatever it is that keeps us going back for more, Liz Moody of Sprouted Routes, has made it even harder to resist the temptation, adding cayenne and cacao for an innovative and mouthwatering seasonal twist, that also just happens to be gluten free, paleo and vegan. Find her recipe below for perfectly baked sweet potato chips!  I've tried loads of baked sweet potato chip recipes, but none of them gave me that perfectly crispy texture I was looking for. This new method - which involves an initial ten-minute high-temperature bake before lowering the temperature and drying the chips out for an additional hour - does the trick perfectly, resulting in amazing, crispy chips every single time. These are a wonderful healthy snack, and can be flavored in a lot of different ways - just toss them with whatever spices you like when you're coating them with oil.

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Fitness Dates + Snack Stashes: 7 Keys To Staying Healthy in the Office

There are many perks to working in an office community, but the fully stocked pantry, daily co-worker lunches and weekly happy hours don’t always make the list. For most of us, our self-control at the office is not what it is at home, and our want to be part of a community can cloud our better judgement and interfere with our daily healthy routines. Brit Martin over on My Body Book provides us with some helpful tips for practicing self control and building better habits... Coming from a gal who worked in an office for several years, I know all too well about the many “ruin your healthy eating” traps strategically placed throughout the building. It is virtually impossible to go one day without running into at least two temptations bound to destroy that healthy eating streak of yours. And the bigger the company, the more traps there are. But I am here to tell you there is hope. If I was able to avoid eating unhealthy in the corporate-world, you can too! When I first started off in business, fresh out of college, I had always been a healthy eater, but that first month on the job even I fell victim to some of the office eating pitfalls. Coworkers (mostly whom were women) would tell me “I used to weigh 20 pounds lighter before I started working here” and I could totally see the reasons for their weight gain. Besides sitting behind a desk all day, the office was full of unhealthy food choices, and many of my coworkers would go out to lunch together every day. So back to my first month in the office…I had been there a good two weeks when I experienced my first holiday potluck to celebrate Halloween. As I am sure most of you know, potlucks are BIG in offices, they will have a potluck for any and all holidays. At this potluck, I ate some foods I normally would not eat, but being that I was new and am typically a little shy in new environments, I thought it was easier to eat what everyone else was, instead of standing out as the new girl who did not touch any of the food. Perhaps, this is something you can relate to. Once I realized that the donuts, cookies, bagels, and cakes weren’t only a potluck thing, but a regular (sometimes daily) thing, I did not care if I was the girl who would not eat any of the food. I avoided it all like the plague and maintained my healthy eating habits, while working there for several years. This may be something you are currently going through, and wondering, “But how can I do this with all of the constant temptations?!?” Know that you can do what it takes to eat healthy at the office with a little willpower and self-control. These may seem like a lot of changes to make at once, so start slow. Implement a new change each week and after seven weeks you will be fully equipped to keeping that healthy lifestyle, while working at the office! [olists num=1]

For more tips on staying healthy (like this one for healthy travel) visit The Body Book



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TCM Weekend: Our Guide To Living Well In Big Sur + Carmel

There is no where in the world quite like Big Sur. And truth be told you need no guide. Just put your keys in the ignition and drive. Once there, with the forest on one side and the ocean on the other, there's nothing better to do than just take a deep breath and take it all in. There are other areas of the world with woods that creep right up onto the coast, but there is something alchemic about the way it all comes together in Big Sur. Hike Pfeiffer State Park, drive the winding roads, cross the Bixby Creek Bridge, and enjoy one of the most breathtaking spots on the West Coast. Once you tire of all the awe-inspiring scenery - or at least get hungry - check out our short list of top spots in Big Sur and the nearby Carmel Valley... [olists num=1]

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