Natural Mint leaf plant used for mint iced tea

I love mint. It’s so refreshing. I first discovered mint at a seminar in Dallas, Texas. It was this huge group of business people that I hang out with and of course they keep the room next to arctic temperature. Those of you that know me, know that I prefer the Sahara desert temperature and that I can wear a sweatshirt when its 90 degrees out! I know weird but it’s me.

Anyhoo, I casually was perusing the tea selection and discovered this fun mint flavor that I’m hooked on. I generally do not drink coffee unless its loaded with whip cream and fun additives but since I have to watch my calories these days, that was not on the wanted list.

think about this fun Iced tea with mint next time you do your backyard summer fest.

Iced Tea start: Makes about 6 servings in 10 minutes

4 cups of water, divided

10 tea bags ( or 3 family -size) mix in some mint tea bags

boil the 4 cups of water in medium saucepan. Add tea bags to pan; steep 10 minutes. Remove and discard tea bags. If one opens, you can pore it through a collander and it will take out the larger ingredients. If you want to do this the old fashioned way like my grandmother used to do, she would go to her mega gardens of magic and pull the mint leaves out of the ground, pull off the roots and cut them up and put them in a big pot to boil for 10 minutes, then strain.

Add 1/4 cup of sugar or more to your suit

juice of 2 lemons

6 lemon slices

6 mint springs for decoration on the glass/cup or mason jar

add some ice and boom you’ve got yourself some yummy backyard fun in a glass

Let me know what you think…at the comments below. Or let me know what your favorite beverages are so we can share with our customers.

We see generations of women come into Indulge, A Colour Salon 180 from Ordinary at all of our locations www.indulgesalon.com/locations  and as always we hear everything from the daughter graduating from high school, to which daughter is pregnant and the next is heart disease or ailments and which doctors they are seeing. We hear it all and we also can head off some difficult news by lending an ear or recommending certain doctors that have well known reputations for certain types of ailments that can be confronted.

http://www.clevelandclinic.org

The cool thing about women and networking is that women like to help women. They will give suggestions on whom to see as far as professional due to their own experiences. Heart disease is more common among women and more genetically passed through the family. The reason it runs through the families is because family members make the same mistakes in eating fatty foods, not enough exercise, and fall into the same patterns. Isn’t that great news? We can change our future by better choices. Some better choices may be:

a. Eat more nutrient rich foods. Eat seven to nince servings of fruit and veggies per day. Save all of your baked and friedc foods for the occasional treat. This basically keeps your cholesterol and blood pressure down.

b. GET SOME EXERCISE every day. Get out of the mind set that if your not going to the gym or doing the entire workout with DVD, you may as well not bother. I used to have this mindset myself. Since I started working out since last October, 2011 I used to do 5-6 days a week for about 1 hour. Now I realized and educated myself that I do not need to do that many days or that long of a period. Our bodies were designed to be rigorous to catch our meal by running after it in short spurts. I know, now we just pull up to the window or throw it in the microwave. How many calories do you burn doing that? Good cardio in shorter times will be so much more effective and better for your heart. After reading the “Paleo Diet” I learned that really if we did these exercises in shorter spurts we sweat and burn calories quicker and the body responds. Even if you feel like you can’t get through 30 minutes, just tell yourself I will get better, with more practice, I will master this work out. You should have seen me in the beginning. I could hardly get my legs up in a V and hold them there. Today, I can do it with no problem. JUST START. You can do this in 30 minutes three days per week. You will still maintain even if you feel the need for a Hershey Golden Almond Nugget. (my fave)

c. If you smoke, QUIT IT! smoking damages the protective lining around the arties. That totally sucks and you are causing. Change your mindset by choosing to replace it with some other activitiy that keeps your hands busy and your mind busy instead of the habit. Otherwise, you will go back to your bad stinky habit.

d. Sing opera out loud. You can do this in the shower or the car or sing wherever. Crazy but it lowers your blood pressure by as much as 25 percent. This is according the Harvard scientists. With higher blood pressure, the heart has to work harder which leads to heart attack.

e. Get to the dentist regularly. I’ve learned that a party of bacteria can lead to heart disease. My son used to take an antibiotic 1/2 hour before his dental appointment to prevent any bacteria that may have accumulated which can affect the heart. That nasty bacteria of the mouth can lead to a stroke or heart attack. Taking care of your mouth every three months even for a cleaning can prevent heart disease by 24 percent.

f. Laugh more. Life is to serious. Try 30 minutes of laughing at sitcoms or a favorite video opens up those arteries. Who knew? Being happy and telling yourself to be happy is by far a better healer than getting sucked into the negativity. Choose to be happy. When you are happy and doing small things for yourself such as having a facial treatment or a nail service or something that gives you happy endorphins puts good stuff in your veins naturally which will reduce any long term negative affects that would require medication. Allows your blood to flow freely and reduces your blood pressure, according to the study published in the American Journal of Cardiology. This technique lasts up to 24 hours.

I believe that with these simple techniques that were recommended by Randall Wright, M.D. director of teh Neurovascular Institute at the Conroe Regional Medical Center in Texas and auther of The WRight Choice: Your Family’s Prescription for Heathy Eating, Modern Fitness and Saving Money has given us super women weapons against “hereditary genes” for heart disease and stroke.

the happiest day of her life! her wedding day

Being a mother is the most special job that I’ve been assigned. I have the pleasure of inserting my thoughts and values to my children Alex and Carson for 25 years. One day I said to my daughter, “I’m surprised you have survived my parenting.” We laugh and giggled about that statement because I have done a lot of out of the box parenting.

I have had to work many hours at the salon, make dinner, do homework (chemistry was really out of my scope of knowledge) and teach her other day to day activities so that she could be a self sufficient person that could contribute to society. I knew exactly how I wanted to raise her since she has been three years old. I happen to acknowledge this when she went with me to a Dale Carnegie Class in Mechanicsburg. The topic was How to Win Friends and Influence People. I have to let you know while I was teaching my topic, (because this was a very interactive class), my three year old blonde haired beauty was creatively drawing on the back wall with her colorful crayons. Who knew she would be so creative? This talent has served her well planning for her wedding. She created some signs for the pie bar she had and a beautifully decorated pane of glass that indicated which beverages would be available. She also created her own invitations and designed a website for her big day. I’m so very proud of her and the decisions she has made for herself.

I’m grateful that I stuck to my guns on our values and beliefs. She is the most amazing person that I know. She is kind, grateful and generous to others. She has turned out to be such a dynamic business person in marketing Mexican Resturants in Texas. She is a character. Her humor is more of a Jim Carey funny. You never know what she is going to do.

My son, whom has survived my parenting for eighteen years, is a blessing to me and others around him. He has been able to impact people without saying a word. You see, he was shaken at eleven weeks of age to stop crying. Unfortunately, he suffered brain damage to the point that he is now 100% dependent on me and the nurses to care for his needs daily.  He lives at home. We flew Carson to Alex’s wedding so he could attend her big day.

My gift was given to me on Wednesday May 9th, 2012. I had been granted guardianship of my son which gives me the opportunity to protect him and make decisions on his behalf since he is considered and adult. So that day was a monumental day as a mother. I cried in happiness.

So what does mother’s day mean to you? I don’t know about you, but I’m glad I’ve had the privilege of being a mother to my two children. I hope you have a super mothers day!