I love this Cartier Love Bracelet which sells for $475 ($100 goes to charity).  What a perfect way to tell Mom you love her!  The silk cord bracelet with18-karat white gold "love" link comes in 16 different colors so you can surely get your mom’s favorite hue.  Famous individuals chose a charity to benefit from the sale of these bracelets:

• Yellow: Elie Wiesel for The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity
• Navy: Eva Mendes for The Art of Elysium
• Lilac: Rachel Weisz for The Constant Gardener Trust
• Blue: Sarah Jessica Parker for UNICEF
• Red: Rosario Dawson for YouthAIDS
• Gold: Usher for New Look Foundation
• Purple: Spike Lee for The Maurice Kanbar Institute of Film and Television
• Seafoam: Rihanna for Believe
• White: Salma Hayek for The Salma Hayek Foundation
• Black: Michael Stipe for Mercy Corps/Gulf Coast Recovery Fund
• Deep Copper: Djimon Hounsou for SOS Children’s Villages
• Green: Edward Norton for Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust
• Baby Pink: Scarlett Johansson for USA Harvest
• Lavender: Julianne Moore for Tuberous Sclerosis Alliance
• Chocolate: Faith Hill and Tim McGraw for Neighbor’s Keeper Foundation
• Deep Pink: Liv Tyler for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation

You can purchase this philanthropic piece of jewelry at Cartier or in the Precious Jewels Salon in Neiman Marcus stores.

Cheers!

→ Read the article

Today I have another suggestion for a Mother’s Day gift.  If the Mom in your life likes things real neat and tidy, the Load-Ding organizing device pictured above might be just the thing for her this Mother’s Day.  This piece of plastic holds a power-hungry device in a very organized fashion.  Of course, it would be an even better gift if it came with the iPhone!

Cheers!

→ Read the article

Everyday this week I will be suggesting LuSHHus Mother’s Day gift ideas (Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 11!) here at living a LuSHHus life.  Here’s #1:

It is one of these totally stylish and useful Lucite trays from Iomoi.  They come in two sizes and dozens of designs.  There is surely a pattern and color scheme fitting for the Mom you know and love.  Oh and another thing, why not serve Mom breakfast in bed on the tray while you’re at it?!

Cheers!

→ Read the article

I think this week’s LuSHHus Lines is probably a good reminder for us all. 

How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. ~ Annie Dillard

Have a great week!

→ Read the article

I have to apologize because I don’t know the source of this photo.  I saved it a while back for my design inspiration book, and I failed to note the credits.  Anyway, I really wanted to share it with you because the design is so LuSHHus.  Here’s a list of what I love about this room:

• the chairs flanking the fireplace
• the fabric on the chairs
• the height of the ceilings
• the dramatic window treatments
• the zebra rug
• the beautiful wood furniture
• the windows
• the inviting sectional
• and the list could go on and on!

I hope you find some inspiration from this room. 

Cheers!

→ Read the article

For your reading pleasure, here are links to a few of my favorite postings from around the web this past week.

Notes on a Party posted a recipe for the Eco-Chic Martini this week.  This cocktail is made with Reyka vodka which is supposedly the most eco-friendly of all vodkas.  Get the delicious-sounding recipe here. 

I have been guilty of spending beaucoup bucks on fancy face creams, but this article may reverse that trend.  Food Bites blog from Real Age wrote about foods that make your skin glow.  It’s a very comprehensive list written by a dermatologist, and I think you’ll learn a thing or two from it.  I know I did.  (Hint: salmon, spinach, and sweet potatoes are among the recommended foods.) 

So Haute wrote about 15 Eco-Friendly Finds for Greener Living, and I thought the ideas were good.  Check them out so that you know how you can reduce your carbon footprint even when decorating your home.  FYI - the first suggestion is to buy and re-purpose vintage furniture such as the chair pictured above.

I really enjoyed reading Martha Stewart’s tips on Healthy Cleaning Habits.  In this article you will learn why most cleaners are so harmful as well as how to make virtually every kind of cleaner yourself using natural, non-toxic ingredients.

There aren’t many things I like more than a margarita, so I think the idea for margarita popsicles is fantastic.  If you think so too, check out the two versions Hostess with the Mostess suggests here. 

Have a LuSHHus weekend!

→ Read the article

RealAge is a website that offers personalized health assessments and management tools, and I highly recommend it to you.  One of the best features of this site is the RealAge Test which determines how well you are maintaining your body.  It can be an eye-opening experience to learn how your calendar age compares to your "real age."

RealAge offers much more such as daily tips, 65 health tools and tests, a blog, forums, and professional advice on all health and lifestyle matters.  Take advantage of this free website to improve your health!

Cheers!

→ Read the article

What if you could wirelessly download all the books you want to read onto a handheld device that can go anywhere and everywhere with you?  That would make you pretty happy, right?  Well, you can do all that and a lot more with the revolutionary device called the Kindle from Amazon.  Weighing only 10.3 ounces, a Kindle holds hundreds of titles at a time, and all the books and everything else you download are all saved to your Media Library so you can access them forever.  The Kindle uses cell phone technology meaning you can download books anywhere; you don’t have to find a wireless hotspot.  Amazon lets you read a few chapters of books before you buy them, and the price of all New York Times bestsellers and new releases is almost always $9.99.  If you decide to subscribe to a newspaper on your Kindle, your paper will be wirelessly and automatically delivered to you each morning, and any magazine subscriptions you order will be delivered before the magazine even hits the newsstand. 

But the Kindle does even more than all that.  It also lets you download personal documents and download books from Audible.com so you can listen to books with the built-in speaker or headphones!  To make your reading experience more enjoyable, you can adjust the text size.  And to make sure you understand everything you read, use the built-in dictionary.  As you can probably tell by now, the Kindle’s bells and whistles go on and on and on!

If you decide the Kindle is for you, I’d sure appreciate it if you order it by clicking on the image of the the Kindle at the top of this post or on the Kindle ad in the right sidebar here at living a LuSHHus life!

Happy Reading!

→ Read the article

I love the color blue so I’ve picked some very stylish blue fashion finds for today’s style segment.  I hope you like them as much as I do.

Cheers!

→ Read the article

You may or may not have seen this post last week in which I briefly mentioned Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style.  As promised in that post, here is a more in-depth review of the book and all it has to offer style-conscious consumers.

Author Christie Matheson gives readers a completely realistic and easy-to-follow guide to becoming more Earth-friendly in this book.  Whereas many "green guides" try to tell you how to compost and install solar panels, Matheson’s tome suggests using CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs), washing your clothes in cold water, cleaning the lint in your dryer, line-drying clothes, and using cloth napkins and hankies (how LuSHHUS is that last one, especially?!).  Not only does the author offer these and other totally do-able suggestions, she also goes through how to accomplish each green move step-by-step.

Additionally, I love the green gift guide that Matheson developed for seemingly everyone I know and the ideas for creating an eco-chic table. 

In this day and age, one in which we all really need to take steps to reduce our carbon footprints and to be more eco-friendly, many of us are turned off by people and guides that demand drastic and often costly changes in our lives.  This book, Green Chic: Saving the Earth in Style, is different.  You will find exciting and fun and easy and stylish ways to incorporate eco-friendly habits into your life.  In doing so, you will make a difference!

Happy Earth Day!

→ Read the article

It’s Earth Day and I have a special deal to announce for all living a LuSHHus life readers courtesy of Embroidery by Valerie.  Check out these reusable canvas bags, pictured above, from Embroidery by Valerie for your groceries and for other toting needs.  The bags come in two sizes: Small - 13"x14", $15 including monogram; Large - 18"x13", $17.50 including monogram. LuSHHus readers will get 20% off your order of these canvas bags when you mention LuSHHus!!!  That makes your prices $12 for the small bag and $14 for the large bag.  You can choose the font and color of the name or initials you want embroidered on these bags.  Send an email to vriener@austin.rr.com to place your order.

Happy Earth Day!

→ Read the article

Today’s installment of LuSSHus Luxury is actually a very affordable and useful luxury and it is Collectorz.com which is a site that automatically catalogs all the books you have.  If you have more books that you count, this site is for you.  All you have to do is type or scan the ISBN into the program which then returns search results from national libraries as well as Amazon.  You select the right book and add it to your database.  As I just mentioned, scanning your books is an option and you can get a scanner at Collectorz.com.  Additional features include keeping up with loaned books, sorting and searching tools, printing book lists and more.

Check out Collectorz.com where you can catalog your books as well as your music, movies, MP3s, games, and more.

Cheers!

→ Read the article