The month of February the world over is associated with one specific day: the 14th of February- Valentine’s Day. Valentine’s Day in its original form is meant to be celebration of love of all kinds but has universally taken on the general identity of being a day for romantic love. Lovers of all ages mark their relationship and celebrate their life together by spending the day as specially as possible with their beloved.

Recent years have seen the day move away from being a simple expression of happiness to becoming an extravagant and overdone occasion. While there is no harm at all in going overboard for the one you love it is important to remember your limits. One day cannot become the focus of all your attentions and if you have a tight budget to stick to there is no reason to stretch yourself thin in trying to go the conventional route on Valentine’s Day with expensive flowers, chocolates, cards and gifts, especially with the ongoing recession. In this article we share with you some ideas on how to celebrate Valentine’s Day on a small budget.

A beautiful idea is to prepare a picnic for your beloved. Plan it for the nighttime to add a romantic touch to the occasion. If the weather is nice plan it for a park or the beach where you can lay out a rug, light a few candles and enjoy the food and each other’s company. A portable disc player with a specially made CD will add to the mood while you and your partner spend some quality time under the stars. Incase of cold weather, plan it around a small fire and spend a cozy night together.

Plan the day in advance and do all the things your beloved likes. This doesn’t necessarily involve spending money as a scrumptious breakfast in bed, a luxurious bath and pampering massage, a day out at a local park, zoo or monument and a dinner to top it off can make for a memorable and enjoyable day where you can focus all your attention on your partner without anything to distract you.

If you’re good with an instrument you can make a recording of all her favorite songs and present to her. Music speaks louder than words across all races in the world and soothing classical music sets the mood beautifully. The fact that you played it yourself will add a sentimental value to the gift.

A great yet inexpensive gift idea would be to make a box of the things your partner likes best. Try your hand at arts and crafts by making them a pretty card, handmade jewelry, their favorite chocolates and a good novel. You can also add flowers, a CD, scented candles and a photograph of the two of you together to the box. Be sure to decorate the box well.

The majority of women who are trying to lose weight look for healthy, convenient, delicious and cheap diets. Unfortunately, most nutrition plans leave dieters feeling hungry, depressed and frustrated when they do not see immediate results. Thus, just like fashion and beauty, everyone wants to know what is the next “hot” thing in weight loss and health.

Sunset Health Products, Inc. is proud to introduce a variety of diet products that is not only effective in helping to shed pounds, but is healthy, safe and will leave women feeling satisfied throughout the day. Now, you can have that beautiful physique too!

The Hollywood Cookie Diet® offers dieters the chance to eat delicious cookies, while still maintaining a sensible diet and staying full longer. A woman on The Hollywood Cookie Diet®, simply eats a cookie (a variety of flavors are available) for breakfast, lunch and as two snacks throughout the day. The website offers sensible recipe choices for dinner. The beauty of this diet is it relieves hunger (each cookie contains approximately 150 calories and necessary nutrients for the day) while helping women lose weight. People can stay on the diet for as short or long as they choose—until they reach their weight loss goal. Cookie choices include chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, and lemon or the variety pack for just $19.95 a box. With 12 cookies in each box, The Hollywood Cookie Diet® offers 3 days of meal-replacement, which is less than $2.00 per serving. Also, in these busy times, it is perfect for meals on the go—with life moving so fast these days, eating well has taken a back seat to other things. Over 3 million cookies have been eaten .

BUY IT : The Hollywood Cookie Diet are available at Walmart, Rite Aid and Walgreens. The Hollywood Cookie Diet® has appeared in publications such as InTouch Magazine, OK Magazine and on programs such as “The Early Show” and the NBC television program, “Lipstick Jungle.” For more information, you can visit http://hollywooddietstore.com

WIN IT : Thanks to Hollywood Diet Store, I’m giving away two boxes of The Hollywood Cookie Diet® each to two lucky readers. All you need to do is:

• One mandatory entry – Visit www.hollywooddietstore.com and “name three ingredients in The Hollywood Cookie Diet. Please  leave your answer in our comment section in this post.
• Two additional entries – If you tweet this giveaway (please leave your twitter id)
• Five additional entries – If you blog about this giveaway with a link back to this post (please leave your post url)
• Giveaway is open to US shipping addresses only and closes on 3rd September 2009.
• A winner will be picked using Random.org. Remember to subscribe so that you will be updated with the contest result.

Here are some simple steps to help support your breast health:

• Conduct self-exams.
• If you’re over 40, it is advisable to get an annual mammogram.
• Eat a healthy diet comprising of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk and milk products. Don’t forget to include lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts.
• Always remember to exercise. Most adults need at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity at least five days per week. Examples include walking briskly, mowing the lawn, dancing, swimming for recreation or bicycling. Stretching and weight training can also strengthen your body and improve your fitness level.

Now, here’s an opportunity for you to join the fight against breast cancer. Check out the TAKE A STAND widget below and join the virtual march, by creating a customizable character in honor of someone special. In addition, for each character created, One A Day will make a donation to a breast cancer cause selected by consumers. The organizations that will be included are: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, the American Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Network of Strength. OneADay will donate $0.10 per character created and coupon redeemed with a combined maximum donation of $75,000. Why wait? Do your part for a good cause today.

The most obvious fashion disaster is the appearance of undergarments peeking out from underneath your clothes. While g-strings and panty lines peeking out from above the too-low jeans may seem very stylish on TV, in real life they look messy and coarse. Instead, opt for low-rise underwear or boy-briefs that sit below the waistline of your pants.

Another terrible fashion disaster is the formation of sweat stains. Yellow colored patches under the armholes look absolutely gauche and turn even the cutest outfit into a disaster. Anti-perspiring deodorants are manufactured to prevent the very same from happening but if you suffer from the medical condition which makes you perspire excessively, botox injections can help you deal with the problem in the long run.

Our next tip is to always wear clothes that fit you well instead of wearing clothes in a size you wish you fitted into. Squeezing into a smaller sized garment may feel like an achievement but it is important to understand that it will only make you look bigger. Clothes that are tight will cause your skin to roll up in unattractive folds and will make you look fat. It is important to wear comfortably fitting clothes even if they are of a larger size.

Congratulations to this very deserving reader:

 Kirsten P

for winning the Perfect Reflection giveaway

Please email me your shipping address by using the Contact Form here. If the prize remains unclaimed by 10th July 2009, we will be doing another random draw.

Thank you to everyone who participated.

Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful phases of a woman’s life, heralding the onset of motherhood and the chance to fulfil her maternal ambitions. Nonetheless, the physical changes associated with pregnancy are a source of not just discomfort for many, but the perception is that pregnancy is a time of life wherein the woman temporarily loses her physical beauty. Harmful as this notion is to a woman’s self-esteem, not many realise that pregnancy can equally well mark a time wherein the woman gains that special glow associated with the fact of giving birth to a new life, and can look as good, or even better, than when she is not pregnant. All that this process entails is a few easy steps which can alleviate any form of insecurity within the pregnant woman, and make her look as well as feel like the beautiful being that she is.

Some of the steps that can be adopted while one is pregnant include:

• Wear clothes designed especially for pregnant women: Pregnant women ought to flatter the changing contours of their body and wearing clothes which which are too tight,or which are too big – the perennial two mistakes of pregnant women, ought to be avoided. There are clothes especially designed for a woman carrying a child, and comfortable yet fashionable clothes need to be worn. Experimenting with clothes and accessories that one can still use while pregnant can do wonders for the self-esteem of pregnant women.
• Groom yourself: In light of bloating bodies and morning sickness, a lot of pregnant women neglect their personal grooming and thus make themselves even more vulnerable to the fact of looking worse than their usual selves. Getting a new haircut, investing in pedicures, manicures and facials only add to the special feeling of contentment of the pregnant woman.
• Eating right : To help your baby grow and feed your body during pregnancy, ensure that you take the required nutritional food and supplements like folic acid and multi-vitamins prescribed by your doctor. Eating correctly will ensure a steady, healthy weight gain and keep you looking bright and energized.
• Wearing a smile: All outward appearances, however, count for nothing unless the feeling of satisfaction is viewed in the pregnant woman’s smile, radiating happiness and satisfaction with the joy of the expected little one.

Michael Kors

If you are considering getting yourself a designer bag, you should do it. There is a lot of positive reasons that you will want to get yourself a designer bag. You will feel great knowing that you are carrying around a designer bag that will make you the envy of your coworkers and friends, they are also designed according to

what’s in fro each season, and designer bags are generally crafted to be more durable which makes them last much longer than other bags.

There are a lot of well known bag designers out there that would be a perfect choice. They each bring different things to the table to provide you with a great designer bag. Labels such as Prada, Jimmy Choo, Marc Jacobs, and Gianni Versace, and many others offer you designer bags that are well respected in the fashion industry and designed to last you for many years to come. When you choose a designer bag you know that you will be able to count on it to last a long time and give your look that extra special touch.

When you want to make a statement to those around you that you are a woman to be taken seriously, you will want to have a designer bag on your arm. This will show people that you know how to treat yourself well and that you give yourself only the best. When you want to gain the respect of others that know about fashion, you will want to start with a designer bag.

When you want to be noticed as a confident and proud woman you will want to make sure that you take all the right steps when you are getting ready for your day. You will want to choose the right clothing that will set you apart from the rest and demand respect. You will also want to make sure that you present yourself in a pleasant manner that will be appealing to those around you. The way that you can accomplish this is to choose the right perfume to wear.

When you are trying to find that perfect perfume you want to make sure that you try it out on yourself first. Perfumes may smell different on each person depending on your body’s chemistry. When you are trying out a perfume you will want to make sure that you try it on clean skin. You should dab a little bit to the inside of your wrist near where your pulse is. You will want to wait five to ten minutes to see how the perfume will really smell on you.

You should choose a perfume that gives off a scent that you enjoy. Don’t get a perfume because your friend that you are shopping with likes the smell of it. You are the one that has to like it and if you buy a perfume that you do not truly like, you will never wear it again. When you wear a perfume, it should be more for you than others, so make sure that you enjoy the scent of the perfume that you choose.

When you are going out for the evening you want to look your best. It can be difficult to decide what to wear for your evening out. Here are some steps that you can take to be sure that you pick an evening wear that suits you:

The first thing that you will want to keep in mind when you are choosing evening wear is to make sure that you choose something that fits your figure and accentuates your best features. You also want your evening wear to down play any flaws you may have.

You will also want to choose evening wear that contains colors which work with your skin tone. You want to stay away from a shade that bleaches you out or makes you look pale.

Keep in mind that you will want to consider your surroundings while you are picking out an evening wear. If you are going to be at an outdoor event and it is chilly outside, then you will want to wear something that will look good and set you apart from the rest, but provide you with warmth at the same time. Therefore, you would want to stay away from something backless and possibly add a throw to your look.

If you are going out for the evening with a date then you will want to try to pick an evening wear that goes with what your date is wearing. Keep in mind that you don’t have to match them, but the two of you shouldn’t clash either.

Many women walk around each day looking fashionable and stylish, they turn heads and people admire their great sense of style. What these people don’t realize is that when these women get home at night they pull those gorgeous shoes off of their feet and pay the price for that great look. They reveal blistered feet which feel pinched and tired. Great fashion doesn’t have to cause you pain. If you are looking for stylish shoes that don’t have your feet aching at the end of the day, you will want to try the following tips.

When you are trying on a pair of shoes you want to try on both shoes, not just one. You will want to walk around in them for a few minutes to see how they really feel when you are wearing them. Make sure that you try them on how they will actually be worn. In other words, if you will be wearing them with nothing else on your feet, then don’t wear socks or anything else on your feet when you try them on.

While you are walking in the shoes, you want to pay close attention to how they feel. If they rub or pinch on a certain part of your feet while you are trying them out then they will do this the entire time you wear them after you purchase them. You are going to be wearing them for hours and any irritation that they cause to your feet will be constant and only get worse as time goes on. Make sure that you pnly purchase shoes that fit perfect and cause no discomfort when you try them on.