How to host a Clothing Swap Party

Hey ladies… Can’t afford to revitalize your wardrobe or just don’t want to spend the money to?  Do you like to party? Want to help people in need, reduce your support of child labor, and help the environment while you’re at it? 

Well then here’s what to do:

1) Pick a date about 3-4 weeks in the future (preferrably on a Saturday or Sunday) to host an Open House Clothing Swap Party!! (This will give people some time to clear out their closets). 

2) Invite a bunch of your girlfriends and let them know it’s a “drop in whenever you want/can” and to bring as much clothing as they would like to bring and it’s BYOB (or if you’d like, have a $5 cover charge and YOU supply the wine).  Put it out there that ”if you haven’t worn it in 6 months, it’s gotta go.”

3) Set up a table or two, where all the clothes are dumped, or neatly folded and if needed, set up a clothes line for hanging excess or fancier clothing. 

4) Post a visible sign clearly stating the “rules/guidelines”.  Here are some possible rules:

1. For every one item of clothing you contribute, you are welcome to take one item from the table.
2. If two or more people see an item they want at the same time, desperately want it and negotiations are at a standstill, they must draw straws for the item and the loser/s “take/s a shot”.
3. Whatever is left over on the table (people should only take what they really want) will be donated to __________ . 

Leftover clothing can be donated to an organization such as Goodwill or a neighborhood women’s shelter, or to one of those clothing bins often found in parking lots of some grocery stores that support other local charities.

5) You can supply the snacks or you can share the cost with a few co-hostesses who will help you set-up and clean-up who will be there for the duration of the party (which means they’ll get the best variety of pickings)!  You can have the open house start sometime in the afternoon and have it end at 10pm or so, just in time to head to the bar wearing your new fab gear!!

6) You can also order in pizza with whoever’s open to pitching in, or just make a quick and easy big pot of pasta.

7) Now kick back and enjoy! and don’t forget to pat yourself on the back for your contribution to your community.  

Additional notes:  The following excellent info is from this website……

“How to organize a successful clothes swap:

• Invite your friends & ask your friends to invite their friends
• About 10-15 people is the goal - aim for all shapes & sizes
• If you are hosting the swap at your house, make sure you have at least two full-length mirrors available
• For those of us who are modest, make sure there are other rooms available to dress and undress. If this isn’t possible, remind people they can wear a body suit or bathing suit underneath their clothing if they wish.
• Clothes swaps can be seasonal, but they don’t have to be: The best clothes swaps have all seasons clothing.
• If two people want the same item, you can have fun with this by either a coin toss, or having each person model the item of clothing and have a vote (do this only if you’re sure there won’t be hard feelings).
• If you have second thoughts about an item you have up for grabs - speak up quickly. A simple “Hmm, I’m not so sure I’m ready to give that up yet,” should suffice, before someone else gets too attached to the item.
• Be prepared - for a good time! You’ll be surprised how much fun you’ll have with a group of women trying on clothing! “

  Want to get involved but can’t throw a party? Join a local clothing swap group!!!

Need better sleep? Here’s how to get it…

We’ve all been there, some of us are still there… Night after night of restless sleep whether it’s due to stressors we are aware of such as school or work pressures, or stressors we are not aware of (or somewhat aware of) such as family expectations, diet change, or the accumulation of a lack of proper sleep.

There are many simple tools you can use to help you get a deeper more restful sleep, starting from the easy and free, to the somewhat affordable (but all worthwhile explorable options).

Here are some of the tools you have at hand:

• Use dim lighting around your house and room while you’re preparing for sleep.

• While lying in bed, working your way up from your feet to your neck (including your arms), flex a muscle group at a time (such as feet, then calves, then quads, etc.) for about 5 seconds each, taking a deep breath and relaxing for a moment after each one. When you’re done, you’ll have released a lot of built up tension.

• Try a different pillow if you have one accessible to you. You may not have noticed that your body is just not happy with the one you’re using right now so this is your chance to listen to that.

• Have a warm candle-light shower or bath before bed.

Things To Do On A Chilly Day… Part 1

As the weather changes, the days get shorter and nights get colder, comfort starts to climb on your list of priorities.  You can indulge in comfort foods which will only perpetuate feelings of lower self-worth and sluggishness, or you can be really nice to yourself in ways that will improve your physical, mental and emotional well-being.  Here is one option…

Take a hot yoga class!!  Two of the more popular forms of hot yoga are Bikram Yoga and Moksha Yoga, which are performed in a heated room with their own series of postures.  There are possibly/likely other styles of hot yoga also available in your area. The benefits are tremendous but even if they weren’t, it feels soooo good.

Think you can’t afford it?  This is what you do:

Check for a local “hot yoga” studio in your city and drop in to the “Community” class.  You can call to ask when the community classes are, or check their website class schedule.  Community classes are taught by teachers-in-training and usually cost about 1/3rd the price of a regular class (expect to pay approximately $5 for a 60-90 minute class).   Moksha Yoga studios have an introductory special of $20 for one week of unlimited yoga.  That’s a great deal, considering one class is usually $15-$20.  

After just one class, you’ll feel completely rejuvenated, refreshed, and cozy warm.  Mats can usually be rented for a reasonably low price if you don’t already own one.  Be sure to bring comfortable loose clothing, a towel, and a bottle of water.  Enjoy!

Buy Nothing Day! Nov. 23rd/24th…

On Friday November 23rd in North America, and Saturday November 24th for the rest of the world, millions of people will be participating in the 15th annual Buy Nothing Day, which is a fast-growing, successful event/campaign to promote awareness of consumerism and its effects on society, culture and the environment.

It is the perfect opportunity for you to bring to your awareness your own bad consumerism habits that you unconsciously indulge in, such as buying cup of coffee every morning, a lunch every day, or buying afternoon or evening snacks such as chocolate bars or chips, and don’t forget cigarettes.

Adbusters posted a great article this month titled ‘Nothing To Do But Shop’ which you can read here.

To prepare for Buy Nothing Day (in order to get the most out of it), this is what you do: 

1. Print this card and carry it with you in your wallet, in front of your credit card or debit card.
2. Visit this forum to find out about an event (to engage in numerous pranks and shenanigans) near you.
3. Try having a Buy Nothing Day TOMORROW! and document your story by adding a  comment, below.

How to find your Dream Guy! Part 2

For Part 1, click here… 

It’s not about how your hair looks or how much you weigh or what brand of clothing you wear.

Unless you want to end up in a shallow relationship where you think you feel content but deep down inside you’re not, what you need to do is this:

1. Visit your neighborhood library (or bookstore if you’ve got the cash to spend) browse the self-help section and pick out a book that calls for you. You’ll know which one is the right one for you by how you feel when it’s in your hand. Grab a bookmark and start reading it. You’ll find with books like these, that you may need to stop after a page or three to sit and absorb what you’ve read, to then continue later or the next day.
2. A baby step at a time, think about 1 thing that you don’t like about yourself and try to learn more about why that is. What triggers you to feel bad about yourself. Is it because of what other people have told you? Or is it something you keep telling yourself? Learn more about yourself, but be kind and gentle with yourself.
3. Learning about yourself will help you learn to fully love yourself which will allow you to more abundantly radiate love outwards. To bring you closer to being able to feel love for all living things. Can you imagine how awesome it would feel to feel strong love, right when you open your eyes in the morning? and to hold that feeling throughout your day? It IS possible! It’s a long, slow and often painful journey, but it’s TOTALLY worth the trip. FEEL how good it would be to feel this way, and allow yourself to feel it DAILY. This will allow you to manifest this way of being, into existence. All while reading your book and reflecting on who you really are.

If you’re stumped, try reading “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho, or “The Saint, The Surfer & the CEO” by Robin Sharma. These are great fiction novels, with a clear lessons.

The book that made ME realize that I wasn’t crazy and also thoroughly changed my life, is Living in the Light, by Shakti Gawain.

Clean up that dirty resume!

Are you applying for a job soon, I mean a CAREER job?  Are you taking the time to put together an excellent resume, perfect for that specific position you are applying for?  And if you are going to be sending your resume electronically, read on…

When working on a resume, the easiest, quickest and most important investment of 8 seconds of your time is this…

Make sure that when you are finished with your final version of your resume for a particular job, you highlight all of the text and copy/paste it into a new file/page.  Don’t forget to save that new file.

The justification for the copy/paste is to get rid of any nasty or complicated coding that may have resulted from your major editing session/s.

A one shot copy/pasted version of your resume will NOT have the codes embedded within the page to allow for this illicit behind the scenes look at your resume or to jam up any sensitive resume reading software.  DO THE SAME for your cover letter.

Are YOU ready for Halloween?

Are you ready for Halloween?  If you’re going to be handing out candy… you can take the traditional route OR you can make a difference by providing more ethical and ecologically sound treats.  You’ll feel better about yourself for passively educating the kids and their parents by supplying these treats, and when gorging on the leftovers.  Even more, you can even take part in reverse trick-or-treating!

Want some last minute costume ideas? Try this alphabetized list here, and this list here but be SURE to check out these details here.  

My fave?  YOU can be David Suzuki too! 

Having a Halloween Party?  For a killer environment (no pun intended) string up some spider webbing from your walls to your ceiling (as seen in picture below) and plug in a couple of blacklights.  Spider webbing can be attached to walls and ceiling easily, using poster tack.

Enjoy!

Catching a cold? Here’s a good remedy…

Do feel a cough or a cold coming on? Don’t want to buy a cough/cold medicine which aren’t really all that effective anyway? Never mind the $5-7 you don’t need to spend! Here’s a simple recipe for a nutrient charged “cold busting” hot tea that tastes great! Well, it works and it’ll wake you up… That’s for sure.

Here’s what you need:

• Organic Lemon
• Ginger
• Cayenne pepper
• Honey
• Small pot
• Strainer

It’s all about YOU.

It was during my four day hiatus from writing, that I reveled in the value of ‘taking time for myself’.  I needed to reconnect with ME, re-evaluate my personal obligations and recalibrate some boundaries to regain my balance and flow…  I did this by spending time in nature and in the company of healthy, positive, loving and wonderful friends.  As much as I love writing, spending time in front of a computer to keep up with my posts, was not near the top of my list (hence the delay since the last post).

Here are some of my reflections…

It is easy to start to lose yourself in the cloudy chaos of life’s obligations. Obligations that can be healthy for your journey such as schoolwork, personal fitness, making time for loved ones and yourself OR obligations that can be UNHEALTHY such as the ones you create for yourself based on your own insecurities, your built up perception of societal expectations, or peer pressures from loved ones, friends or so-called friends.

Being able to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy ‘obligations’ is the first step to establishing healthy boundaries. Establishing healthy boundaries for yourself is something that isn’t taught at school, unless you take a program like this.  A clear and important example of one of the benefits of establishing boundaries, is that you will be able to feel more like yourself without losing energy to others (<go to ‘Featured Article’, half-way down the page).  Having healthy boundaries will allow you to NOT submit and set aside YOUR needs, for the needs of the louder/alpha person and you will spend more time honoring yourself and your needs. If you want to learn more about setting boundaries, there are many good books out there such as this one.

If you are one of those alpha people, or have been called self-absorbed, selfish or narcisistic, start paying attention to how you affect people and learn to be more gentle. You CAN learn to be more gentle without feeling like you’re changing who you feel you are right now. This observation of self will bring you to a new level of understanding of compassion and appreciation, two valuable tools that will serve you well towards a more engaged and fulfilling life filled with more of the type of people you want in your life, you just might not know who these people are yet. But in time, you’ll know and they’ll come.

Backstreet Boys Snowballed!!!

This is one hardcore mofo bird…. Although his musical taste is questionable.

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