Happy Independence Day! I thought this guest blog would be perfect since I know we’re all going to BBQ’s today, plus I’m trying to stay healthy so I can lose twenty pounds in three months… I know, right? Wish me luck.

It’s summertime, and that means that you will be frequenting a few family or friend barbecues over the next few months. If you’re on a diet, attending these festivities on a regular basis can hinder your results by tempting you from every angle.

If you want to stay on your diet while you’re at a barbecue, use the following tips to help keep you on the right path.

1. Bring something healthy.

As a guest at a barbecue, you are usually asked to bring an appetizer, dessert or a side dish. Since you’re in charge of what you bring, make sure that it’s healthy. This way, you know there will be at least one thing that you can eat at the party that fits in with the requirements of your diet.

Good choices are anything that involves fruit or vegetables and a healthy dip, such as hummus or yogurt. Or you can even opt for a low calorie dessert to indulge in after the tasty food.

2. Choose the healthy foods first.

When it comes time to eating, whether appetizers or during dinner, always choose the healthy items first, such as fruits, vegetables and salads. Once you’re done eating these items, you can move on to meats and other food options. The nice thing about eating the healthy food first is that you will fill up on these items, which will make you indulge less on the items that aren’t as great for you.

3. Eat slowly.

It takes about 20 minutes for your stomach to tell your brain that you’re full, so try and make sure that you eat slowly. This way, you’ll have time to digest your food properly, and when you’re about to get up for seconds, you may realize that you’re no longer hungry.

4. Watch your portions.

Just because you’re at a barbecue, do not forget about your portion sizes. Always limit your servings to the appropriate amount. Remember that the size of your fist is about the size of 1 serving, so be sure that you keep your portions under control when scooping them onto the plate.

5. Don’t forget about the calories in liquor.

Even if you stick to eating healthy food and limit your portion sizes, you could still overindulge on calories if you continue to drink cocktails that are high in calories. Frozen drinks such as daiquiris and margaritas can contain a few hundred calories per cocktail, and if you’re sipping on these all night, you could easily exceed your calorie intake for the day. Make sure that after each drink you have a glass of water. Not only will the water fill you up, but it will keep you hydrated to eliminate any hangover the next day.

6. You don’t always have to say no.

If you really want to eat that brownie, eat the brownie. Allowing yourself to cheat in a small way is not going to throw off your entire diet. If you devour the whole plate of brownies, well, that’s a whole different story.

Susanna Watters is a writer and cook.  She enjoys writing about recipes, cooking tips, dieting and kitchen safety.  Susanna recently wrote about her favorite recipes using sunflower kernels.

Photo credit: Bongani

The kitchen is known for its standard appliances and gadgets, such as the toaster oven, spatula, can opener and corn holders. These are all great items to have on hand, but they’re pretty standard and not very exciting.

But innovation has stepped into the kitchen on more than one occasion, and people have created some bizarre creations that you cannot fathom anyone using. But along with those too-strange-to-use items comes those innovative gadgets that are actually useful. The following are five of the most interesting kitchen gadgets that you would actually use.

1. The TACA Cookie Mug

Cookies taste better when dipped in milk or even tea or coffee. But most cups are too small to fit any cookie larger than an Oreo. While you could always break the cookie in half, wouldn’t it be nice if large cookies could just simply fit? Now they can, with the TACACookieMug.

Rather than the original half circle handle found on most mugs, the handle of the TACA Mug is actually an extension of the cup itself, hollowed out so that liquids fill it up, but providing a handle-shape so that you can still pick it up.

2. Quintuple Bladed Herb Scissors

Most people have a pair of kitchen shears to snip herbs or cut other foods. While these shears have their benefits, it can be tedious to use them (or even a knife) to cut up small herbs. Enter the QuintupleBladedHerbScissors.

The design of these scissors is basically five scissors in one, allowing you to finely chop and dice herbs. And the best part is that they only cost $10.

3. Pizza Scissors

Chances are you have a pizza cutter at home. Though they’re a great tool to have on hand, they pose some problems. First, you have to let the pizza cool significantly, otherwise the cutter will pull off your cheese. Second, the blades are usually not that sharp, and you may have to travel over the pizza multiple times in order to cut through the crust. Third, if you don’t have a large enough pair, you may find it difficult to cut through pizza that has a large amount of toppings.

Pizzascissors are long bladed scissors that can easily cut through pizza. The handles are used just like regular scissors, so there is no need for additional force. Best of all, the blades separate from the device so that you can wash them. Some pizza scissors also come with an attached wedge to easily serve the slices when cut.

4. Sharky Tea Infuser

If you drink tea, you will love the SharkyTeaInfuser. Simply fill the basket with your favorite tea bag or fresh tea leaves and pop it directly into your tea cup (or bowl or pot to flavor a larger amount). The strainer like bottom allows the flavor of the tea to immerse your water, and the floating fin allows you to easily remove the infuser without putting your fingers in your cup or fussing with a spoon.

5. Twister Fork

Ah spaghetti, the most challenging food to ever eat. Both children and adults struggle with the concept of wrapping the noodles around the fork. That was until the invention of the TwisterFork.

This little invested has beveled edges that keep spaghetti noodles in place and makes twisting them easier to accomplish. This utensil is a necessity for any child or adult who eats spaghetti.

Bailey Powers is a writer and home designer.  She enjoys giving tips on remodeling, design, and home improvement.  Bailey recently got her cabinets replaced by the Drury cabinet company.

Enjoy this guest post about living your life to the fullest! It’s where we authors get ideas for books. 🙂

Many people dream of being rich and famous and living the high life of glitz and glamour. While for many of us it will remain a mere dream, there are still plenty of ways to enjoy a taste of the high life without the millionaire’s salary. If you want to get away from the daily grind, here are five experiences to make you feel like a VIP:

Champagne tasting

Champagne is the drink of choice for many a celebration and is quaffed in huge quantities by the rich and famous. If you want to find out more about the famous drink and impress your friends with your knowledge of the finer points of this fine tipple, then Champagne Tasting sessions will arm you with plenty of knowledge to impart on others next time you’re at a swanky party. Plus, you’ll get to spend an afternoon sipping the good stuff and trying different varieties, which certainly beats the bargain bottle of bubbly from your local supermarket.

Spa days

Guilt-free indulgence, a day or weekend trip to a luxurious spa will leave you feeling healthy and refreshed even if you’ve been quaffing champagne and dining out on fine foods as well. Being pampered by a professional is the perfect way to make you feel special and spending the day enjoying massages and facials before relaxing in a hot tub is a surefire way to make you feel like a very important person indeed.

Helicopter ride

From horse racing tracks to music festivals, the helicopter seems to be the transport of choice for celebrities looking to beat the traffic and make an entrance in style. You can see what all the fuss is about and simply enjoy the thrill of the ride with a helicopter tour, taking in some incredible sights along the way, whether you want to enjoy a serene swoop across the countryside or a sightseeing tour over London’s famous skyline.

Supercar driving experience

Nothing says ‘money and power’ like a fast car. Playthings and status symbols for the wealthy, supercars are a luxurious way to travel. But the finest automobiles on the planet were built for more than just posing and you can really put their power to the test at a range of driving experience days which give you the chance to put your pedal to the metal in a high range Aston Martin, Ferrari, Lamborghini or classic car of your choice.

Enjoy a glamourous photoshoot

Getting snapped by the paparazzi may seem like a grind for the modern day celebrity, but there are plenty of them who love to lay on the style in front of the camera. Cover star photoshoots may be reserved for the beautiful people but you can still get a taste of the glamour of being photographed by professionals with a deluxe makeover and shoot at a pro studio, for star treatment and pictures you can treasure.

These experiences can also be found as great Gift Ideas at Activity Superstore , the leaders in gift Experience Days in the UK. With a massive range of gift experiences from supercar experiences to pamper days, your sure to find the perfect gift.

When Daniel Shak recently separated with his wife and divorce proceedings began he was astounded to find that his wife had a secret collection of over 1’200 pairs of designer heels including over 700 pairs of Christian Louboutins. The sheer amount of shoes staggered many but, more than likely, would have made a large number of women jealous, not least reality TV star Kim Kardashian who, in a recent interview, stated that her personal collection of Christian Louboutins only extends to 224 pairs. To men owning triple figures of shoes in and of itself is astounding but considering all these items were designer brands makes this situation as hard to comprehend as something as existentially challenging as the big bang.

Whereas Shak’s incredible, $1million shoe collection is something of an anomaly it does draw attention to the stereotype that women are obsessed with shoes and have so many more than their male counterparts. Whilst Shak’s trove is undoubtedly far more exaggerated than any average woman’s collection will ever be, it is also worth noting that an average woman, according to a number of studies, will own seventeen pairs of shoes in comparison to most men owning four or less. So, why are shoes so important to women? And why are men happy with so few pairs? A large degree of women will have to try on multiple pairs of shoes with each outfit they put together whereas men are just as likely to throw on whichever pair of trainers are nearest to them regardless of the occasion and regardless of whether they suit what they are wearing – it is not uncommon to see men wear the same pair of trainers with tracksuit pants to run in, a pair of jeans in a mistaken belief they are cool and even with smart trousers in an insane calculation that this makes them look both smart and trendy.

What is astounding about women’s relationship with shoes is that they will purchase them even during times of austerity – a luxury product that is not essential, particularly if they already have 16 other pairs. On average, a lady will own 17 pairs of shoes, as mentioned, but also, 1 in 10 women will own more than 30. In the 1980s Imelda Marcos admitted to owning 3’000 pairs of shoes – this amount is so impractical as it would take her nearly ten years to wear each pair just once each. This is a great example of the fact that the actual reason for the popularity of footwear is less to do with utility, practical use or even fashion but rather is more likely to be psychological.

Many women relate shoes not to just how they look but also how they will feel – a pair of high heeled shoes can make their wearer seem taller and will help extend their legs and straighten their back. This, in turn, can help improve self-confidence and even self-esteem. Psychologists have also pointed out that many women will have more memories, and even emotional feelings, attached to their shoes than any other item of clothing and it is this powerful attachment that provides the link between shoes and women’s attachment to them.

One thing that many men also do not understand with women is the amount of pain they are willing to put their feet through. It is a not little known fact that wearing towering shoes such as stilettos can be seriously painful on the feet and can misshape them and even, ultimately, cause bunions. Yet, as noted by the trainer example detailed above, men are much more likely to favour comfort over nearly any other criteria when purchasing shoes – a completely polemic view to many women. Women will often state that they wear high heels not to impress other men but for their own sake or even to impress other women; this suggests furthermore that women’s attachments to shoes is more a psychological one rather than an attempt to appear more attractive in the eyes of men, although this can often be a side effect or minor consideration too.

Women will now often travel to work in one pair of trainers, before changing in to their stilettos or heeled work shoe on arrival – an admission that oftentimes their favourite shoes are actually impractical to travel in or even walk in. Whereas even the most expensive and formal styles of men’s shoes are practical, high fashion for women often is designed with seemingly the exact opposite purpose in mind. Yet for many shoe shopping represents to them feelings of liberation and joy and wearing the shoes gives off feelings of self-empowerment and liberation. Whether these feelings have been, as Germaine Greer has suggested, manufactured by advertisers (who have a history of peddling harmful goods on the public such as cigarettes who will purchase them regardless of the known health problems associated with them) , exploited by marketers or are a real, organic source of euphoria for women can, and no doubt will, be debated for some time to come.

Kieron Casey is a fashion writer and a shoes online blogger who, whilst loving footwear, is often astounded when hearing of tales about Kim Kardashian’s shoe collection. He is often astounded by Kim Kardashian in general.

I just finished reading The Housekeeper’s Son, by Christopher Loke. This novel just came out in May. Sad to say, I bought it when it first launched, but have been too occupied with work and kids to have any time to sit and read it. My anticipation in reading this book stems from more than the interesting synopsis on the cover; it’s the first book that my publisher, Jolly Fish Press launched. So there was a lot of excitement around this novel for more than one reason.

So after owning it for a month, I was finally able to make the time to read it last week. If you’re not familiar with this book, it’s the story of a woman, Eleanor, who’s in her seventies. She killed her son forty years ago and is now on trial for the murder of her employer’s daughter. I don’t want to give you much more than that, because you should read it for yourself to find out what happens.

It has some very soft paranormal elements to it. If I had to pick a genre for this book, I think I’d just simply call it a drama. But I would like to point out that there is a lot of intrigue throughout the story. The dynamics of the characters will have you speculating all through it.

As I picked up the book and began reading it, the first thing that struck me was the literary style that Loke exuded. He was almost poetic with the descriptions of the places and people in his book. If I had to compare it to another novel, the only thing I can think of is To Kill a Mockingbird. I don’t mean to say that both books cover the same political issues, nor are they from the same character perspectives (Mockingbird is from the perspective of a little girl, and Housekeeper is from the perspective of an old woman). The reason why I think they are comparable is because they are both so eloquent in their writing while covering some foreboding issues.

The Housekeeper’s Son is somewhat dark in the content it covers, while still maintaining a clean read. I wouldn’t be surprised if this book becomes a literary classic. I appreciate that the author doesn’t try to gloss over the pernicious happenings that the characters do and experience. This makes the book feel more alive to me.

Loke’s portrayal of the small Utah town is ironically true. It could be any Christian small town in America, and any reader could imagine the characters of the town behaving in just such a manner.

The only downside to this book is that I wanted just little bit more. The ending was well done, but my mind wasn’t ready to leave the story yet. I think I would have liked just a few more pages to see what had happened to the other characters that were involved. Maybe I needed to have an epilogue or something to make me feel more satisfied.

Anyway, despite this small complaint, I did enjoy the book. I give it four out of five stars. Check it out – I’ll bet you’ll get sucked into it like I did.