And the Winner is …

Posted on January 10, 2013 by The Soulicious Life

The winner of my Happy New Year Givaway for an Upcycled Sari Bag from Uncommon Goods is #93 …

Nicole Lancaster!

Congrats to all who entered this giveaway. It was my largest yet with 200 entries, and I’m thrilled to have met so many new friends along the way. Welcome to The Soulicious Life!

Speaking of The Soulicious Life, if you look in your browser window, you’ll see a new address! Yup, I’ve finally made the jump from WordPress.org to a self-hosted site and picked up a new domain along the way. www.SouliciousLife.com provides me a consistent identity from my web URL to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Google+.

PS – If you don’t follow me there yet, I hope you will soon!

That exciting news said, it’s been a slow week for posts I know. Seems changes like the one above are never without technical difficulties. I’m headed to Vail for a long weekend to ski the slopes, relax in the hot tub and drink beer by the fire; tough life, I know! But I’ll be back next week with a regular schedule of posts, I promise!

xoxo

Kim

Toxic Couches Sit Not-so-Pretty

Posted on November 28, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Today, as I scramble to put the finishing touches on the Soulicious Gift Guide – featuring unique and affordable, eco-friendly, fair trade or handmade items (Hooray!) – I am happy to welcome my friend, Lindsay Dahl with this guest post. Lindsay is the Executive Director of Safer Chemical Healthy Families, and she’s here to explain the results of a new study that show toxic chemicals in 85% of couches. Yikes! Makes you think twice the next time you sit to watch that Parenthood marathon! Welcome, Lindsay.

For most people, the only dangerous thing about your couch is the risk of spending money on a nice piece of furniture, only to have your cat shred it to pieces. But today a startling new peer-reviewed study came out in Environmental Science and Technology, showing that couches across America contain high levels of toxic chemicals. Great coverage of the study can be read on the front page of the Chicago Tribune. Continue reading →

Dive Right In: The Benefits of Water

Posted on November 8, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Water. It takes up 71% of our earth’s surface. Of that, 96.5% is found in oceans, 1.7% in groundwater, and 1.7% in glaciers and the ice caps of Antarctica and Greenland. Water makes up 55% of an adult woman and 60% of an adult man. It is vital for all known forms of life.

If you’re like me, water is your primary beverage. But how much of it do each of us really need to drink? And more importantly, with so little percentage of fresh water available and the rise of pollution in the world, how safe is that municipal water from your tap? Continue reading →

What’s Your Carbon Footprint?

Posted on October 17, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

You hear the words “carbon footprint” tossed around often these days, but what exactly is it and why does it matter? To put it simply, using coal, natural gas or oil for electricity, heat or transportation releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These daily carbon dioxide emissions make up your carbon footprint.

Too much CO2 from our daily activities hurts the planet’s climate according to many sources, including the Sopris Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Aspen that focuses on preserving ranch land, keeping community intact in the face of changing land-use patterns, and working with Western leaders to develop a region-wide blueprint for livability.

This organization has taken the time to calculate the amount of CO2 used in three basic areas of daily living: (1) Home Energy; (2) Travel and Recreation; and (3) Food, Drink and Work. Comparing the numbers in each of the green, yellow and orange areas illustrates the power of the choices you make every day. Continue reading →

How to Avoid Arsenic in Rice

Posted on October 5, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Source.

Sadly, two new reports from Consumer Reports and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) show worrisome levels of arsenic in rice and rice product including breakfast cereals, rice flour, rice pasta, rice cakes and crackers.

Yes, this is the same arsenic people have used for centuries to commit murder. Continue reading →

The Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag

Posted on September 29, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Food for thought this beautiful fall weekend. Happy Saturday!

Life Cycle of a Plastic Bag via
Reusable Bags – Factory Direct Promos

Comparing Food Labels: Organic, Local and Sustainable

Posted on September 22, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Organic, local, sustainable. These are words that have often been used interchangeably or in unison with the slow food movement in this country. But as Elisa Sobo examines in Standing up to Big Food’s Organic End Run: Who Will, and Why?, “the environmentally-friendly, healthful, and socially just diet that early advocates promoted seems to have been somewhat forgotten.”

With big food answering Americans’ demand for more organic food, we are putting our faith in large corporations to fix our food supply. And the truth is that, unfortunately, we can’t trust them. Because they are big corporations after big money, not the best interests of our food supply or our health. Continue reading →

100-Year-Old Oak Trees and Others Worth Saving

Posted on September 18, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Source.

Last Friday, K-bear and I awoke to a rare sound in our neighborhood: chain saws. We looked outside only to find our neighbor a few houses down had commissioned a tree service to cut down a beautiful 33-year-old maple tree.

Instantly my heart sank. There were no signs of disease or structural risk. I wanted to shield K-bear from this sight which surely counted as an atrocity. Continue reading →

Yoga Retreat to Benefit Sanctuary for Research Animals

Posted on August 23, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Swirl the dog, one of many lives saved by Kindness Ranch.

Practicing yoga and helping animals in need are very near and dear to my heart, so I’m thrilled to have this guest post today from Elena Mikhaylova. A yoga instructor in the Denver area, she is planning a weekend yoga retreat at Kindness Ranch, an animal sanctuary for research animals, in Heartville – I know, cute right! - Wyoming.

The September 7-9 stress relief focused weekend will include workshops on meditation, reiki and nutrition led by Sophia S. Paul as well as Bhakti flow and Doga (yoga for visitors and a dog from the ranch) led by Stephanie Uvalle. Visitors will also have the chance to take a tour of the ranch, work with the volunteers and animals, and hike in nearby Guernsey State Park. Beautiful Wyoming vistas? Yoga? Animals? Fabulous yurt accommodations? I’m in!

Welcome, Elena! Continue reading →

Stray Dog Joins Cyclists on Race to Tibet

Posted on August 8, 2012 by The Soulicious Life

Source

By now you must know I am a lover of all animals. This story from Sierra Club really caught my heart and brought a smile to my day. Hope it does yours as well!

A shaggy little stray dog joined a team of cross-country cyclists and raced into the hearts of thousands of fans across China.

The group of cyclists was five days into a 1,700 kilometer race from Sichuan Province to Llasa, Tibet, when they spotted the ball of white fur lying in the sun on the side of National Highway 318.

One of the cyclists, 22-year-old Xiao Yong, tossed a chicken drumstick to the little canine and evidently struck up a bond, because she began to follow them. Continue reading →