Everyday Minerals Make Up Review by Cat Pylant

I have to start this review off by saying, I LOVE make-up. I love trying different colors, products and brands to see the different ways I can emphasis and highlight different features. With that being said, I am also a big make-up critic! Unfortunately I have spent a lot of money on products I have used a few times to only to resort back to my usual daily picks. I have bags full of products that did not make the cut. I am happy to say Everyday Minerals passed the test with flying colors. I have only tried their travel size mineral eye shadows, but that is enough to make me want to try the rest of their products. From the pretty colors with fun names such as Lovers Lane and First Love, to the environmental responsibility this company installs into each and every product they make, I can stand by these products 100 percent!

About the Shadow:
The travel size shadows are fantastic! Small enough to fit in your purse, but big enough to last for a long time! It has a roller application, so it makes it easy to put it on when you are on the go, as well as layer it for a deeper, bolder color. The shadow goes on with a silky feel and can be worn during the day or for a night on the town! There are so many colors, and they are so affordable that there is no reason not to try these natural products! Not only does this shadow look better on me than my old ones, but I also feel better using Everyday Minerals and supporting their cause.


About Everyday Minerals:
Everyday Minerals is an Austin-based mineral makeup company that specializes in healthy, natural, and sustainable makeup products that every woman can afford and use, every day. The company has a unique corporate culture that puts the customers first, even allowing them to participate in the development and naming of products. What sets Everyday Minerals apart is its loyal following and social community—its active blogs and forums are a testament to this. The company also practices what it preaches: Their unwavering dedication to environmental responsibility translates into everything Everyday Minerals does, including day-to-day office life. The eco-conscious collective offers free bicycles to its employees to cut down on carbon emissions; financial incentives are used to get employees to carpool and shop at local organic farms; employees composte at the office, and there is a company-wide “WeCycle” recycling program to reduce needless waste.

http://www.everydayminerals.com

Importance of Keeping Books in Your Home

Studies show that having books at home is as important as a parent’s education in determining a child’s future academic success. However, for families struggling to make ends meet in these difficult economic times, owning books may be their last priority.

Beginning in January, your readers can help Scholastic donate up to one million books to children through its online book community YouAreWhatYouRead.com. We would love you to include this campaign in the front of the book or online and let your readers know how they can make a difference.

It’s simple to do.

● Go to YouAreWhatYouRead.com and create a “Bookprint” – a list of the 5 books that have shaped your life.

● For every new Bookprint created, Scholastic will donate one book to the literacy nonprofit Reach Out and Read to help a child in need.

● Through YouAreWhatYouRead.com, your readers can connect with book lovers from around the world, discover new reads and compare their Bookprint to those of 200 featured famous reading role models on the site including Dr. Oz, President William J. Clinton, Taylor Swift, Daniel Radcliffe, Oprah Winfrey, and Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

With your readers help, Scholastic Book Clubs’ in-school philanthropic program, ClassroomsCare, will be able donate up to one million books to Reach Out and Read. Recent government funding cuts has made it a major challenge for organizations like Reach Out and Read to continue to get books into the hands of kids in need.

‘I Hate My Job, But What Can I Do About It?’ Expert Reveals How to Change Your Career By Adding A Little Soul

The late comedian George Carlin once said, “Do you hate your job? Sorry to hear that. There’s a support group for that. It’s called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar!”
As a consultant on employee engagement to major healthcare companies, Melissa Evans understands that feeling well. Her solution to it, however, is a little “uncorporate.”

“It’s a fact that most people don’t like their jobs,” said Evans, also author of Sole to Soul: How to Identify Your Soul Purpose and Monetize It (www.soletosoulbook.com).

“According to a recent survey published by Time Magazine, fewer than half of American workers – 45 percent – are satisfied with their jobs. This is the lowest percentage since 1987. Gallup reported that this phenomenon also hurt businesses in a significant way. Companies with large numbers of dissatisfied workers experience greater absenteeism and lower productivity. These workers create a turnover rate of 51 percent. Can you imagine working at a company, or trying to run one, that loses half its staff every year?”

That turnover isn’t just from firing or layoffs. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of people who quit their jobs from June 2010 through October 2010 was actually larger than the number of people who lost their jobs. Gallup says all these disengaged employees cost the U.S. economy upwards of $370 billion annually. Evans believes that one key way to turn this around is for employees to look inward before they look outward.

Her solution is for workers to get in tune with potential careers and job choices that plug into their passions as a person. She suggests people ask themselves the following questions:

What do you want? – In an economy that is dicey at best, it seems like it’s a luxury to only consider the jobs you really want, even if they are in a field in which you may have to start over from the bottom. However, consider the alternative: bouncing from bad job to bad job, hoping the next one will be better than the last, when the real problem may be that you just aren’t doing anything you’re passionate about.

How do you want to feel? – There is a vast difference between getting up in the morning excited about the day and waking up in the morning with a knot in the pit of your belly, anxious about having to go back to a workplace you can’t stand anymore.

Why should you change course? – If what you’ve been doing hasn’t worked so far, logic dictates you change what you’re doing. My best advice is to find something that drives your spirit and your intellect and pursue that, before it becomes too late for you to fulfill your dreams.

“The first thing most people do when they don’t like their job is to look for another one,” she said. “While that’s valid, I have to question the wisdom of running from a bad job as opposed to pursuing a good one. The problem is, most dissatisfied employees identify a good job as one that simply pays a little more and is not where they currently work. A good job, a good career, is far more than that.”

About Melissa Evans

Melissa Evans, MHA, PMP, Master Coach, self-made millionaire at age 31 and “The Guru of Implementation,” founded The Broshe Group in 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia. With her focus on the healthcare industry, Evans helped numerous companies improve patient care, safety and service while growing profits. Her privately-held company serves clients worldwide.

OMG! I’m In College And I Never Learned to Cook! Mom Offers Simple Tips to Help Students Prepare Their Own Meals and Eat Healthy

College is supposed to be a place of higher learning that prepares young people for the challenges of taking on a greater role as an adult in a civilized society. While there is no doubt the value of the degrees earned in those hallowed halls, one mom has a striking complaint about it all.

“How can you consider yourself educated and sophisticated if you don’t know how to cook a decent meal?” asked Hollis Ledbetter, author of OMG! I’m In College and I Never Learned to Cook (www.omgcookbooks.com). “Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for higher education for the purposes of being able to earn a living and contribute to the world around them, but I’ve never seen a college course titled ‘How to buy groceries, cook dinner and do your own laundry!’”



Ledbetter, a mother of four children (one still in college, the others all have families of their own), sensed the irony of colleges teaching students to become engineers, lawyers and doctors who – without mom’s help – are still likely to burn down the kitchen while trying to boil water.

“Parents and kids need to know a few key things before the adventure of higher education begins,” she added. “Kids need to learn how to cook and parents need to know how to teach them. Taking a semester of home economics in high school does not equate to knowing how to safely defrost a chicken, carve it, prepare it and cook it so that it actually tastes like something other than shoe leather. It’s one part art and one part science, and they aren’t going to learn either from any class at school.”

Her tips for parents include:

Just Teach the Basics – You don’t have to teach your children how to make eggs benedict and how to mix the hollandaise sauce from scratch. Boiling water, broiling meats, making pasta that doesn’t stick to the pot like bathroom caulk – these are the basics. Everything else, they should learn on their own.

Don’t Coddle Them – You’ll save money and they’ll eat better if you encourage them to buy groceries, instead of eating fast food or PopTarts all the time. Hold the line on the food budget you give them and they’ll hold the line on a good diet.

Her tips for kids include:

Definition of Cooking – Microwaving a Hot Pocket is not cooking. Cooking involves taking actual vegetables, fruits and meats, and preparing them – either by cooking or mixing – to form a snack or a meal. If all you can do is make pre-packaged macaroni and cheese, and nuke a burrito, that’s not cooking.

Safety – There is a reason why some foods are refrigerated and why some are not. Learn the difference between the two. I guarantee you don’t want to learn the hard way, when you try to put mayonnaise that was left out all night on a turkey sandwich and wind up in the ER.

Healthy Foods – Here's a good reason to eat homemade healthy foods. If you buy groceries instead of eating out all of the time, you'll not only eat better, but you will save tons of money – money that could be spent on that new smart phone, laptop or tablet you've been dreaming about. Overall, in a nine-month period, it is easy for a single person to save between $1,000 and $2,400 simply by NOT eating out.

“There is an old proverb that says, ‘If you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day; if you teach a man to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime,” Ledbetter said. “Of course, it stops before they mention if he knows how to cook the darn thing. If you can help encourage your kids to prepare their own meals, they’ll eat healthier and be happy in the kitchen for the rest of their lives. And, I think that’s a more valuable lesson than they’ll ever learn in school.”

About Hollis Ledbetter

Hollis Ledbetter is married with four children (one still in college) and six grandchildren. She has worked as a fitness instructor for the YMCA teaching aerobics, pre-natal exercises and woman’s strength training. For the last 17 years, she has worked in real estate and for the last four, she has been writing cookbooks.

How to Survive Holiday Gatherings and Avoid an Aneurysm Tough Love Author Shares Tips for Disarming the Debbie Downers

For those of us from families built on Debbie Downer DNA, there’s only one direction a mood can go during holiday get-togethers and that’s down.

Sure, the running negative commentary, bubble-bursting barbs and rampant self-pity were funny coming from comedian Rachel Dratch on “Saturday Night Live’s” Debbie Downer sketches. But few of us can foresee our own Negative Nancys giving us a good belly laugh.


Whether you’re the smiley face among frowners, or a bit of a Depressing Dan yourself, there are tricks you can use to keep the table talk from getting lethal, says Paula Renaye, a professional life coach and author of The Hardline Self Help Handbook, (www.hardlineselfhelp.com). 

“You can take control simply by thinking about what you choose to say – or not say,” Renaye says. “If you hear yourself criticizing, judging or complaining, you’re part of the problem. Happy, self-respecting people don’t find it necessary to dump on others to make themselves feel good.

“If someone else is the problem, simply don’t give them the ammunition they need,” she says. Instead try these tactics:

Do not say anything negative. Period. And no one-downing! One-downing is the opposite of one-upping. It’s the art of coming up with something worse when someone else talks about their problem. No matter what negative thing anyone says, or how much you agree with it or don't, resist the urge to respond with a negative. Instead ….

Dodge, distract and detour. Turn things around with a question -- a positive one. If you need to, make a “happy list” of questions before you go, so you’ll have some at the ready. And remember, there's no law that says you have to answer a question just because someone asked it. With negative people, it’s best if you …

Do not talk about yourself. The only reason negative people care about what you’re up to is because they want something to ridicule, brag or gossip about to make themselves look or feel good. Don’t go there. Whether you just filed bankruptcy or won a Nobel Prize, keep it to yourself. No good can come of it. None. And why do you need to chatter like a chipmunk about yourself anyway? Might want to think on that one, too. Better to find some praise for someone else than to expect someone to praise you.

Do not share your woes. Even if you’re in a tough place and could really use a shoulder to cry on, don’t start laying your woes on a Negative Nell. Even in a weak moment, when you’ve had a terrible day, talking about it with a negative person is a bad idea. You might get a microsecond of sympathy, but that’s only so they can launch into telling you how much worse they have it. So, no talking about yourself unless you want to be the talk of the party, the family and the town.

Do your homework and become like Teflon. Think of the times people said things that made you feel bad or made you feel the need to defend or explain yourself. If you want to avoid going down that trail again, start hacking away at the jungle of your own emotions. Get over needing anyone's approval or blessing. If you are still waiting for negative relatives to validate you, you’re in for a long wait. Don't set yourself up to be miserable. Get over it and go prepared.

About Paula Renaye

Former eggshell-walker, emotionally-bankrupt wreck and utter failure at keeping her world from falling apart, Paula Renaye uses her journey out of despair into joy as a breadcrumb trail for others. She has been a consultant for 18 years, holds a degree in financial planning with a background in journalism and psychology, and is a member of the International Association of Coaches. Paula is the multi-award-winning author of The Hardline Self Help Handbook.

Stocking Stuffers and Great Gifts This Holiday

This holiday season we had so many products to review that we could not fit them all in our gift guides! But I wanted to make sure that some of these products still got their moment in the spotlight, because they are fantastic options for stocking stuffers and gifts!

Stocking Stuffer Ideas:

Mini-Mergency Kits: These kits may be little, but they are HUGE lifesavers! I was able to review one, and needless to say it has gotten me out of a few pickles! Small enough to keep in any bag, it makes it easy to have all emergency necessities easily accessible. These packs are available for males, females, moms, dads, brides, bridesmaids…you get the point! There is one for each individual and occasion. Perfect for a stocking stuffer, secret holiday gifter or just because! http://www.msandmrs.com/

Nonni’s Biscotti: From the classic biscotti, to biscotti bites, anyone would be happy to receive these delectable snacks in their stocking. With so many flavors to choose from such as Turtle Pecan (my favorite) to Triple Milk Chocolate, the family will be fighting over the crumbs! http://www.nonnis.com/index.html

DVD’s To Make Any Kid Happy:

Some of our favorite DVD’s available this holiday season are:
Winnie The Pooh: http://disney.go.com/pooh/
AfricanCats: http://disney.go.com/disneynature/africancats/
The Lion King: http://disney.go.com/lionking/?cmp=dmov_dvd_lio_url_dcomgolionking_Extl
Nickelodeon’s Merry Christmas!: http://www.amazon.com/Nickelodeon-Favorites-Artist-Not-Provided/dp/B005DKS1SU
Nickelodeon’s Celebrate with Dora 3 Disc Set: http://www.amazon.com/Dora-Explorer-Celebrates-Three-Pack-Christmas/dp/B005JZBP82

Preventative Gifts:

There is no greater gift than health, and some of the products we received this year could be perfect stocking stuffers as we fight our way through the cold and flu season:

Boogie Wipes: http://www.boogiewipes.com/
Xlear Nasal Spray: http://www.xlear.com/nasal-spray.aspx
Topricin Junior Children’s Pain Relief and Healing Cream: http://www.topricin.com/prod_detail_list/topricin-junior

Jobless Execs: It’s Time to Dump the Old School To Find Work, You Must Go Digital, Recruiting Expert Says

The nation’s unemployment rate may be inching downward, but the out-of-work figures have remained in the 9.0 to 9.2 percent range since April 2011, according to Bureau of Labor statistics.

An estimated 32,000 job seekers found work in October, but that still leaves 13.9 million reported unemployed, which means a lot of people are competing for the same job.

So how do you stand out in that crowd?



“It used to be that executives could network their way onto the CEO’s schedule, maybe on the golf course or a chance meeting at lunch or a ball game,”

says Colleen Aylward, a recruitment strategy expert and author of, From Bedlam to Boardroom: How to Get a Derailed Executive Career Back on Track! (www.devonjames.net/the-book). ”It’s now up to you to gather your data, polish it up and position it where people will find you -- and that’s one of the biggest shocks in the executive job seeker’s world right now.”


It’s a message that unemployed execs in their later years may not want to hear, but it’s one they need to get their collective arms around as the economy tries to rebound. The old-school train has left the station -- permanently -- and if 40- and 50-something prospects want to compete for top-flight executive positions it’ll mean breaking old habits and exiting their comfort zones.

Two words: digital brand. 

Aylward says it’s time to become an authority on-line and to create a virtual network of business connections so that you can easily be found.



“Just when they thought their golden years entitled them to being ‘served’ by recruiters, members of that older generation now have to do homework and market themselves,” says Aylward, who interviewed thousands of jobless executives over 20 years.“They don’t want to hear it, or believe it, but it’s reality.”

According to surveys, 89 percent of employers use a form of social media to identify job candidates, with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter the most popular. LinkedIn, with its more than 135 million members, dominates the competition, with 86 percent usage compared to just 50 percent for Facebook and 45 percent for Twitter.

Sounds like a good place to start.

After embracing social media (even building a personal website), Aylward has these tips:

Streamline your strengths with specific examples. It’s not the interviewer’s job to figure out what your strengths might be; it’s the candidate’s job. The days of clever cover letters opening doors are gone. Those resumes and on-line profiles better be stronger than ever and packed with data and specific accomplishments.

Don’t waste time with external executive recruiters. They don’t find jobs for people. You need to get in front of the internal corporate recruiters who are searching for you online. So help them do their job by researching companies online yourself, as well as locating jobs yourself, introducing yourself to a prospective employer and conversing directly with hiring managers – online.

It’s all about them, not you. Get out of the mindset that matching yourself for a job or interviewing for a job is about you. It’s all about what you can do for them. That means defining your strengths and determining specific areas where you can solve their business problems. And be prepared to demonstrate that you have kept up with technology, industry changes and how the economy has affected them.

“Embrace change,” Aylward says. “You are still very valuable and worth money for a long time, but you need to make yourself visible -- and viable -- to those who need your expertise.”

About Colleen Aylward

Colleen Aylward has led the executive search firm Devon James Associates, Inc. for 19 years and is founder of Recruitment, Inc., a spinoff software product company in the Human Resources & Recruitment market. She currently resides in Bellevue, Wash.