Category Archives: Lifestyle

Oct25

Urban Sweat

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Urban Sweat

 

As a busy mom I love finding spaces of solitude and relaxation in which to re-charge when my kids are out from underfoot.  In the summer sometimes it is as easy as just heading to the beach or taking the dog for a hike through the woods.  In the wintertime finding that space can be more of a challenge. When I was invited as part of Rhode Island Digital Media Women to check out the facilities of Urban Sweat at Raffa yoga in Cranston for the day, I discovered my winter oasis.  As soon as you walk in the door you feel like you have been transported from Rhode Island to an exotic getaway in a far off land.  Being first a yoga studio, of course the vibe is very Zen, but the addition of Urban Sweat to Raffa Yoga provides a space to prolong your pampering before, after, or in lieu of that yoga class.  Luxuriate in the Eucalyptus Steam room, or the Urban Hamman, lounge in the healing Himalayan Salt Grotto, or indulge in a relaxation massage.  When you are thoroughly relaxed and determined not to ruin it all by going home to do more laundry, just lounge on the waterbeds and beanbag chairs strewn throughout the relaxation room. Read a magazine, bring a book, enjoy refreshments from the organic juice bar and healthy snacks like spring rolls.  It is like going to the library for your soul. Cleansing, healing, meditative, I am already fantasizing about spending a lot of time lounging around in there this winter.

Urban Sweat has truly created a paradise in which to unwind where Old World Wisdom meets New World self care.  A place to just relax and breathe your worries away.  They have 21 therapeutic massage and treatment rooms and 6 heat therapy rooms to foster and encourage your health and well being.  I love the assertion that therapeutic massage is not just a luxury, but as a healthy necessity, and they have priced their monthly massage memberships to reflect that philosophy.

” Our Old World offerings provide an opportunity to unplug and disconnect from the stress-inducing pace of each day and provide a space to calm and center oneself, detoxify, and truly relax. After a session at Urban Sweat, you’ll be ready to meet the challenges of each day ahead.”-Urban Sweat

If you are looking for that magical place to find escape and to relax, Urban Sweat sets the stage (I’ll be the one asleep on the waterbed).

 

Oct7

Reading With Robin

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Reading With Robin

To celebrate my friend Julie’s birthday the other night, we went to the annual An Evening With Authors event hosted by Robin Kall of Reading With Robin.  An Evening With Authors is one of my favorite nights out, it is always a fantastic event featuring amazing writers, and this was the third year we have attended. Each year we emerge just blown away by being in proximity to such rock stars of the literary world.   We are thrilled to have heard their behind the scenes stories, tricks of the trade, and details of their writing processes.  As Avid readers my girlfriends and I are always fascinated and inspired hearing glamorous bestselling authors tell us their “dirty little secrets” of  the really not so glamorous writing life.  Spending all day writing in their pajamas, not always having a say in the jacket design of their books, renting hotel rooms to find the peace they need to write. This year we heard stories of the writing lives of featured authors Elizabeth Berg, Chris Bohjalian, and Amanda Eyre Ward.

Left to Right on the Authors Panel: Robin Kall, Amanda Eyre Ward, Elizabeth Berg and Chris Bohjalian

Discussions are based on questions that the authors themselves write to ask each other, and this year some of the  questions were about their relationships with editors, and how the stories unfold as they are writing. Following the discussion attendees have the opportunity to purchase the writer’s work and meet the Authors as they get their books signed.   The evening serves as a fundraiser to support Breast Cancer Research through the Love, Carol Foundation.  The Foundation was set up to honor Robin’s mother whom she lost to Breast Cancer in 1997, when her mother was only 53 years old.

With Robin Kall (center) at An Evening With Authors

Julie getting her book signed by Chris Bohjalian

I love that Robin Krall has created a successful career for herself based on her love of reading and books. In 2002 she launched Reading With Robin a RI radio talk show she hosts, that airs on WHJJ 920AM and is devoted to authors, readers, and the books they love.  She also writes the  “Well-Read” column for  www.golocalprov.com which appears every Tuesday.  I am so grateful that she creates events for readers and lovers of books in the community, bringing authors to our area, and enriching the depth of our reading lives.

The Author (of this blog post) with Amanda Eyer Ward and Elizabeth Berg

 

Oct4

Wine Not Whine; Love My Mommy Juice

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Wine Not Whine; Love My Mommy Juice

At the risk of sounding like Honey Boo Boo…… I love my Mommy Juice!  I have mentioned before one of the fun perks of blogging is being sent products to test out and to review on occasion.  I have to say, hands down, this was my favorite package that I have received yet!    These wines were so fun, that my plan was to save the bottles of Mommy Juice wine to  help celebrate my friend Julie’s upcoming birthday.  So here is my confession, after my final school Open House of the season (did I mention that I have four kids?!) I came home….tucked them all into bed….and I broke open the Mommy Juice. That’s it, there it is, (I am sorry Julie, there is still a bit left that I am willing to share with you!) but I have never tasted such a luxurious glass of wine! O.K., that may be the frazzled open house mom talking, but the truth is, it was really good wine!  I was pleasantly surprised that I liked it so much. Then I read about founder Cheryl Durzy, mother of 2,  who has worked in the wine industry since 1999 (hmmm, the year my oldest child was born).

Cheryl Durzy, founder of Mommy Juice Wines

Cheryl works at her family’s Central Coast Winery, Clos LaChance,  she sits on all sorts of fancy wine boards, and she passed with Merit the Advanced Certificate level of the Wine and Spirits Education Trust. In other words the wine tastes good because she knows what she is doing!   She decided she had to produce a wine called Mommy Juice because her kids would point to a wine glass whenever they saw one and exclaim “That’s Mommy Juice!”. How funny that we all call it that!

 

So now I had to break open the  bottle of  White to see if it lived up to the deep, rich, full bodied red.  The White Wine Mommy Juice is a Chardonnay, which is my favorite type of white to begin with, and the Chardonnay Mommy Juice tasted as good as the red! Crisp, not too sweet. Lovely. Is it wrong to be excited that I’ve found  a wine brand where I love the label as much as the taste!?

These are great bottles of wine to bring along as gifts for all sorts of occasions.  Your mommy friends, or friends who know what a busy mommy you are, will love them. Mommy Juice Wines can be purchased online , or ask for it at your local wine shop.  I guess I can’t show up with two opened bottles of wine to celebrate with, that would be as  uncouth as showing up with a half eaten birthday cake! I do plan on ordering more, so girlfriends don’t worry, I promise I will share next time!

 

* I received a complimentary bottle of red, and bottle of white Mommy Juice to review.

Sep17

This Is My Kind Of Farmers Market

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This Is My Kind Of Farmers Market

 Late spring through summer and into fall, my kids and I make our weekly visit to our local farmers’ market.  It is my kind of Farmers Market, where amongst the vegetables and fruit,  meat, poultry, and fishmonger stands, there are no less than four stalls selling baked goods, and a coffee guy. Sometimes there are flowers, live music, and one of my daughters’ friends who sets up her own little stand making balloon animals for tips.  I feed my kids an early dinner of hot out of the oven-grilled pizza, and bring one home for my husband.    I wander over to the fresh taco stand to indulge in freshly made tacos that are out of this world.  I love supporting the local farmers, fishermen and bakers in our community, and having them bring the market to us every week.  There is something about being outdoors, shopping locally, and interacting with the community that makes this a ritual the kids and I hate to miss.  I confess to heading to the coffee guy for my iced coffee first, and buying more baked goods than vegetables on our weekly visit.  That’s just the kind of girl I am, don’t get me wrong, I love fruits and vegetables, I just love baked goods more.   I wouldn’t want our farmers’ market any other way!  Knowing the cold will soon settle in, and our ritual will come to an end, we savor each trip, and appreciate  the simple pleasures of the season.

 

Sep12

Party With A Purpose; Alex & Ani for Water.org

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Party With A Purpose; Alex & Ani for Water.org

 

Bloggers from The Mission LIst; Carla Molina of Petit Rhody, Laura Rossi of Mysocalledsensorylife & Elizabeth Atalay of Documama host the Alex & Ani Party with a Purpose for Water.org

A few of my own favorite charms

While working on the Water.org campaign for The Mission List  fellow bloggers Laura Rossi, Carla Molina and I realized we all lived in the same area.  We decided to get together and try to augment our social media fundraising efforts with an Alex & Ani Party With A Purpose.  Alex & Ani is a fabulous local company that we love to support not only for their amazing jewelry line, but their positive energy philosophy as well.  An entire division of the company is devoted to Charity By Design which supports various charities through the sales of specifically designed charm bangles for each group.

Their Parties With A Purpose are another way the company gives back.  Parties are hosted in the stores and provide a unique shopping experience that enables the Charity By Design department of Alex and Ani to raise funds and awareness for various charities.  Events are generally two hours long (6-8 p.m. or 7-9 p.m.), and the company donates 15% of event sales to the designated charity.  Co-branded evites are created by Alex and Ani for event promotion, and lite bites and positive energy punch are provided by the store.

 

 

We are thrilled with the results of our Party With A Purpose held at the Alex & Ani Chapel View Store at the company’s headquarters.  In just two hours of shopping and fun we were able raise over $500.00 to be donated directly to Water.org.

Every $25.00 donated provides clean water for life to someone.  That means we just provided 22 people clean water for life!

We are so grateful to all of those who turned out to support Water.org at our Party With A Purpose, and to those of you who have donated  on-line or helped to spread the word by re-tweeting and re-posting our social media efforts.  We have three days left to reach our goal of bringing 100 people clean water for life, and we are so close to being able to do just that.  If you missed our Party With A Purpose but would still like to help us reach that goal, you can still do so on The Mission List fundraising page.