The Swell Dressed Party (Atria Books; Hardcover; 214 pages; $24.95) by Cynthia Rowley and Ilene Rosenzweig is a day-to-night guide for hosting parties, including cocktail, dinner and holiday parties. The stylists provide complete plans, including what to serve, what to wear, and what to provide for pulling off twenty-one unique parties. For example, there is the “Tasty Tag … [Read more...]

When you are hungry between meals, what is a healthy snack alternative? My Family Farm produces a tasty line of certified organic and/or all natural cookies and crackers. These snacks contain no trans fats or artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. They are available in six varieties: * Wild Animal Vanilla Cookies * Brown Bear Chocolate Dipped Vanilla Cookies * Arctic … [Read more...]

The External Diet: Is Your House Making You Overweight, Sick or Tired? (Basic Truths Publishing; Tradeback; 198 pages; $29.95) by Margaret Rouse Shontz examines the correlation between health problems and home environment. For example, Shontz and her family started having excess sodium symptoms two years after she had her bathroom remodeled. She eventually figured out that her … [Read more...]

Don't start off this season with clutter in your life. Gaylah Balter's Spring Clean Your Life (Learning Tree Books; Tradeback; 144 pages; $14.95) offers tips on how to transform your spaces and your spirit. Balter, a Feng Shui consultant, identifies the four main groups of clutterers: pack rats, procrastinators, grasshoppers (those who hop from project to project before … [Read more...]

The next time you have a social gathering at your place and you want to sweeten up the ambience, then whip out ChocolateSmarts. ChocolateSmarts is the first game that tests your knowledge of the history, culture and science of chocolate. Each game contains 60 ChocolateSmarts question and answer cards, which come in the form of true-false and multiple choice. The question … [Read more...]