Blog Posts by real women, real advice

When giving a hostess gift, the number one rule is to make it thoughtful. Try your best to tailor the gift to the personality of the person to whom you're giving it.

Is your host a writer? Get her a pretty journal. Does she love photography? Get her a small picture frame, so she can show off her work. Has she been dying to add a certain space puppy in a cactus suit to her collection? Then by all means, buy her one! The point is to show that, just as your host has devoted time and thought into feeding and entertaining a house full of guests, you also made a careful effort to show your gratitude for her kindness.

Don't know your host very well? No problem, just stick with some tried-and-true gifties that virtually any host will love.

1. Don't bring flowers.

Ok, this isn't a gift idea; it's more of a warning. While flowers seem like the perfect gift to bring a hostess, they're one of the worst. Rather than using her time to greet her guests and take care of any last

Let's face it. Now is the time of year that you want to kick that calorie burn into high gear. We are neck deep in the holiday festivities, so we are all looking to get our metabolisms roaring, right? So how do you know what exercises and activities are going to give you the biggest bang for your calorie-burn buck?

I have put together a list of various activities to give you an idea of how each affects your burn. Sitting still (aka at rest), most people expend roughly 1-2 calories per minute, depending on your body weight, sex, etc. I have included both activities that burn a lot of calories, and also a separate chart that shows activities that don't burn very many.

Use these charts as references so that you can get moving this season and burn off those extra goodies here and there that you want to enjoy along the way.

Note: This chart is based on a 150-pound woman. Men and women weighing over 150 pounds will burn more calories during the same activities, and those that

In enviro circles, we talk a lot about holding events that are Zero Waste, especially during the holidays. Of course, the first thing that crosses my mind is, "What the heck to they mean by Zero Waste?" Because honestly when I look at places or events that say they are or try to be Zero Waste, there are items in their recycling and compost bins. Often there's even a little itty bitty bit of trash that goes off to the landfill. That looks like generating waste to me in a very literal, sorry-but-I-parse-things-down-due-to-occupational-hazard type of way. It's not that I'm knocking or not down with the eco program. Sometimes I'm just too literal for my own good. Oops.

After some research, I found that Zero Waste comes down to this: reduce the amount of trash hauled off to the landfill that you or your event makes to zero. You do this by buying/producing items that use less packaging, by recycling and composting everything that can be recycled and composted, and by finding ways to

Do you suffer from indigestion, bloating, upset stomach, acid stomach, diarrhea, or some other digestive malady, especially after eating? Have you been spending a lot of money on doctors, prescription medicine, or over the counter remedies for your "discomforts"? Would you believe that you may be able to solve your digestive problems by simply changing what foods you eat at the same meal?

I've seen the commercials on the TV and looked at the isles worth of products at the drug store, so I think I'm safe in saying that what we eat and how we eat it is not agreeing with the average person. I'm not alone in saying this either, check out this story that appeared on CNN in June of this year.

Your stomach is a very specialized device which unfortunately did not come with operating instructions. We've been eating whatever we felt like with whatever else was handy, which is OK for a few people, but the rest of us are having a few problems.

Here's some things to keep in mind at meal time:

I admit it. Other than my training business being a bit slow, I thought that this so-called recession wouldn't really affect me or the people I love. Then, two of my good friends got laid off in one week and I was forced to remove my head from the sand.

In troubled economic times, the logical first step for many companies is to "trim the fat"-or eliminate jobs. Regardless of your reputation or skill set, your company might decide that your position is expendable, and they will send you packing. Usually you will have a lot of people in the same boat as you are because companies typically lay off many employees at the same time. On the one hand, being laid off is easier to stomach than being fired-it's less personal and you often can't do anything to change the decision one way or the other. However, layoffs are more disconcerting because it's harder to see the writing on the wall. Concerned?

Keep on the lookout for the following danger signs:

• Top management changes result in a new

Thanksgiving is a time for family gatherings, being thankful for what we have, eating delicious food, and having family fun. However, for most of us it also comes with a sacrifice of time, energy, money, and attention. Many couples run into various stressors around the holidays; juggling the families, battling the in-laws, butting-heads about traditional differences, blending the conflicting family members, or even struggling with decision making.

You don't have to wait until the tension rears its ugly head at the dinner table. Take active steps now on how to handle the family frictions. Here's how to squash the tension around the Thanksgiving table:

1. Be Prepared with a Game Plan: Talk with your partner and create a plan of attack on how you two can handle the stress; creating and using code words, setting realistic expectations with one another, and handling stress in a positive way. Focus on creating a team and finding ways in which you two can support one another. The more you

I eat like crap. I really do.

Every day is yet another opportunity for carbs, sugars, fats, and chemicals to throw garden parties in my system. Breakfast is coffee steeped in sugar and cream and a butter-soaked bread item; lunch is leftover pizza, coffee shop croissants or any number of chocolate baked goods; dinner an inevitable scrounge for bready and fatty morsels to stifle the sugar crash, followed by mandatory dessert. Baguettes, cheese, jam, pasta, cookies, scones, and caffeine are my staples, fueling me through the days with their high-fructose hydrogenated oily goodness.

"How can you eat like that??" Boyfriend demands as I inhale another choco-cinnamon danish. "It's not healthy. Your veins must be coated with flour by now."

"Fnufck mofft," I fire back through a mouthful of berry preserves.

I admire people who "eat healthy," forgoing the mozzarella sticks and triple-decker baco-burger for tempeh sticks, hummus wraps, leafy greens, and brown rice. You can

Have you ever noticed that most people who have reached the top of a profession only stay there for a little while? I call it "pinnacle-itis." Box office bombshells usually have a few years of massive celebrity, and then they fade into the background of other working actors. High-profile CEOs spend a bit of time leading the charge in Corporate America, until they are replaced and left to retire with their millions. And yes, authors. I still don't know if it's better to start with a bestseller or work your way up to one. Either way, most literary darlings only rule the publishing world for a short time. The phrase "fifteen minutes of fame" is a cliché for a reason.

Here's the problem with a brief period of major success. What do you do afterward? Most people who make it to the top are naturally ambitious. They want to see their careers go up, up, up - not up, up, down. So I've gotten to thinking - are there things we can do to stay in the public consciousness once we get there? Here