1 - What topic(s) did you must enjoy reading about this year?

2 - What do you hope to read about in coming posts?

3 - We’ve had some great prizes of late! What would you like to see coming up? (Within reason! I won’t be giving away cars or summer homes any time soon…)

Preparing for your New Years celebration? Creative cocktails are a must. Festive in color and taste, this Pomegranate Ginger Champagne from iVillage gets a little extra kick from candied ginger.

Cash-strapped after the holidays? Collect some free samples!

Free Sample of Biz Double Action Laundry Detergent (US)
http://www.startsampling.com/sm/100018/captureAddress.iphtml?item=100018&source=KROGER

Free Design a Tea Sample
http://www.designatea.com/samples/samples.php

Free Cucumber Scrub Sample (US)
http://www.livewellbotanicals.com/cuavsa.html

Free Subscription to Corporate Rockstar Magazine (US & Canada)
http://www.crsmag.com/subscribe.html

Free Old El Paso® Hot & Spicy Taco Seasoning and Recipe Booklet sample
http://www.startsampling.com/sm/oldelpaso/captureAddress.iphtml?item=24888

Free Sample of Fiber One Cereal
http://www.startsampling.com/sm/FiberOneCereal/captureAddress.iphtml?item=25046&source=408&raf

Wildlife address labels
http://www.enature.com/nationalwildlife/label_request1.asp

Free one-year subscription to Cookie magazine
(EDIT: You have to have an amazon account and have purchase from toy and baby.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/html-forms-controller/cookie1/ref=pe_13320_7385590_fe_exp_1/

Free Sample of Clean and Clear Morning Burst Facial Scrub (From Teenfreeway)
http://www.teenfreeway.com/cnc/cncr1a_nov07.htm

Free Sample of AquaFresh and Printable Coupon
(Go to special savings and offers)
http://www.aquafresh.com/

Tampax Sample
http://www.startsampling.com/sm/24286/captureAddress.iphtml?item=24286

My hair has undergone a constant journey toward health and happiness.

(As has my soul, but that’s another story.)

So, when the good people at The Vitamin Shoppe sent me some products to try out, I was excited to see new hair goodies among the flock.

Desert Essence Organics Italian Red Grape Shampoo and Conditioner is made for people who molest their hair (as I *perhaps* have). The formula contains a blend of ingredients extracted from red grapes native to Italy, including organic grape extract, resveratrol, and red wine extract. This stuff is full of antioxidants, which act as UV filters, and are also 100% vegan, and void of sodium sulfates, phthalates, silicones, glycols, or petroleum. (If you recall from earlier posts, the absence of sodium sulfates is especially valuable in maintaining the keratin protein within your hair.)

Aside from impressively shiny and bouncy results, this product smells really nice - making it a welcome addition to my (overstuffed) collection.

All our hair can use a little more nature - and giving it a cocktail a well is just in perfect spirit with the season!

Vitamin Shoppe has been kind enough to offer several awesome products to give away, and this is the first in the lot. So, I have 5 shampoo/conditioner sets, to the winners who best answer the following questions:

1 - What do you sing in the shower?

2 - What is the weirdest concoction you ever put in your hair?

Deadline December 31!

Last night, I had my very first Indian food experience, and it was yum!

I shudder to think of how fattening it is, but it was so delicious I had to seek out recipes of some of my favorite dishes to share with you all.
Samosas are potato-filled pastries!

For Cover:
1 cup all purpose flour (Maida)
Water to Knead dough
2tbsp oil
Little salt
1/4th tsp. Ajwain (optional)
For Stuffing:
3-4 Potatoes (boiled, peeled & mashed)
1/2 cup Green Peas (boiled)
1-2 Green Chilies (finely chopped)
1/2tsp Ginger (crushed)
1tbsp coriander finely chopped
Few chopped Cashews (optional)
Few Raisins (optional)
1/2tsp Garam masala
Salt to taste
Red chili powder to taste
1/2 tsp. Dry Mango powder( Amchur) (optional)

How to make samosa:

For Cover:

• Mix all the ingredients (salt, oil, ajwain) except water.
• Add a little water at a time.
• Pat and knead well for several times into a soft pliable dough.
• Cover it with moist Muslin cloth and keep aside for 15 minutes.

For Stuffing :

• In a bowl add mashed potatoes and all dry masalas (salt, chili powder, mango powder, garam masala) and green chilles, ginger and Mix well.
• Add green peas, cashews and raisins and mix well.
• Add coriander and keep aside.

To Proceed :

• Make small rolls of dough and roll it into a 4″-5″ diameter circle.
• Cut it into two parts like semi-circle.
• Now take one semi circle and fold it like a cone. Use water while doing so.
• Place a spoon of filling in the cone and seal the third side using a drop of water.
• Heat oil in a kadhai and deep fry till golden brown (fry on a medium flame).
• Serve samosa hot with hari chutney, tamarind chutney.

Points & Prizes Keyword: INDIAN worth 25 points good through 12/31/07

If you haven’t yet, you may want to hit up your local book store and pick up the December issue of Relate Magazine - I wrote the gift guide, and it features a whole bunch of my favorite things, including Nintendo DS, Flip Video, Sushi Pillows, Warmbat Boots, and Fidelity Jeans!

Christms is over, you say?

Not quite. This, my friends, is officially buyer’s season as After-Christmas sales begin!

Points & Prizes Keyword: BOOKSTORE worth 25 points good through 12/31/07

Fellow Sagittariuses (is that a word?), we have a great day in store!!!

This is an oddly great day, if the stars have their say — and if you do things a little differently, you’ll open yourself up to all sorts of cosmic serendipity. Go out of your way and see what you see.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/23/drunk.santas.ap/index.html

A gang of about 50 apparently drunken Santas invaded a New Zealand cinema complex at the weekend — frightening customers, damaging property and swearing, the cinema’s manager said Monday.

Merry Christmas!

So glad today wasn’t a day I decided to stake out the Tea Lounge.

We always love to joke about how this awesome beverage/work/hang spot is baby carriage central by day - of course it would be where the casting call for Baby Gap would end up!

There’s nothing like shoveling in candy and egg nog to make you feel anything but sexy no matter how festive the season.

Then again, a little help can go a long way.

Founded by legendary adult film actress, Tera Patrick, Mistress Couture is a high fashion lingerie collection combining fine fabrics and creative detail. The designer combined her love of burlesque influenced lingerie as well as rockabilly dresses to create her first collection that transcends into the fashion world.

The lingerie line was pretty much invented for gals like me: itconsists of a lot of pink (Tera’s favorite color), black and perfectly complimented by silk bows. Tera’s love for fashion and understanding of sexy is conspicuously revealed throughout the line.

Check out the piece above, which I’ve recently added to my own wardrobe. Dubbed “Sexxx Machine”, it’s comfy-meets-come-hither and I love it.

I love it so much that one of you will win one too! To win, tell me your secrets to feeling sexy. Deadline December 26.