New Hope Soap Blog

Recently while watching the Hallmark Movie Christmas in the Bayou (big thumbs up!), a particular scene caught my attention. One of the main characters, Lilly played by Markie Post was working in her backyard garden when her daughter Katherine played by Hilarie Burton approached her, reached down and ran her fingers through some plants and asked Lilly – “What are these? They smell amazing.” Her answer was, Lemon Verbena. She went on to explain that she dried the leaves and put them in small pouches and sold them at the town’s country store.

That got me thinking, besides smelling amazing when mixed with jasmine and soft musk in our 6.5oz signature scented soap bars, or in a potpourri, what else is it used for? As it turns out, quite a bit!

By Linda Hilliard - Author of the Book
E-mail Your Weight Away - Diet Dialoges for Women

Two years ago I went to an Italian Christmas Eve dinner (but not the traditional seven course fish dinner; rather 12 courses!). The event started at 4:00 and went to 11:00 PM. It was an amazing array of food; the hostesses had cooked for weeks ahead. The 14 guests ate and ate and ate. The 15th guest (me!) did not eat one thing.

By Linda Hilliard - Author of the Book
E-mail Your Weight Away - Diet Dialoges for Women

It’s tough to be on a diet, see others enjoying (even relishing) their high calorie food, and not get a sense of “poor me.” Get over it! Look at it this way – “poor you” has been overeating for years; that’s why you’re on a diet.

With the holiday season fast upon us, millions of Americans will be going home to spend the holidays with friends and family. And many of us will stay with those very friends and families rather than staying at a hotel or motel. Invitations to stay with family and friends can be a great thing! It can make it easier on the guest, no hotel check-ins and departures, no hotel fees, less traveling back and forth to the parties and hotels.

But while flopping down in the room you grew up in can be a fun and nostalgic experience, it and also be a double edged sword. Your loved ones are extending their hearts and homes to have you as a guest, so be a good and loving guest! Here are a few tips:

By Linda Hilliard - Author of the Book
E-mail Your Weight Away - Diet Dialoges for Women

You have a family that respects your diet effort, but is not willing to join you. Here are a few more survival tips on how to feed them, but not feel you’re cheating yourself.

• Buy those teenagers their snacks and buy your spouse any favorite foods. Then stock your kitchen with your own diet foods. Then go out and buy more diet foods. You’ve got to have food in the kitchen that you can eat. It’s inconceivable to cook a non-diet meal for your family and then have nothing that you can eat yourself. You’re not a martyr, you’re a dieter! Eat, but eat right. Do not allow yourself to feel cheated; that’s a slippery slope that leads to diet failure.

By Linda Hilliard - Author of the Book
E-mail Your Weight Away - Diet Dialoges for Women

It’s not easy to diet when you have a family that expects you to provide snacks on the shelf, a full refrigerator and three meals a day.

No matter what your family circumstances (live alone or feeding hoards), dieting is tough. Unless you’re ultra committed to super healthy eating for all members of your household (and more power to you!), it’s a struggle to please every eater that sits at your table while honoring your own diet commitment.

We can all voice the platitude about how everyone should eat as healthy as a dieter. Yeah - tell that to teenage boys coming home hungry from school looking for pizza rolls or bags of chips (they definitely do not want your celery sticks). And presumably your spouse will not be thrilled with a plain chicken breast and lettuce leaf every night. So - yes - everyone in the family should probably be on your diet, but good luck with that one.

Lavender is one of the most popular flowers in gardens around the world. I’m sure most of you had the pleasure at one time or another, of sitting in a garden reveling in the variety of colors, from subtle pink to vibrant purple of Lavender plants. Who hasn’t been caught off guard by their wonderful scent wafted about on a warm summer breeze? They are to me quite frankly – relaxation and joy!

Besides being great to look at in the garden, Lavender has quite a few uses I’m sure many of us are aware of. Their flower spikes are often used in flower arrangements. The Lavender’s fragrant flowers are used in potpourris. Lavender oil is used quite often in soaps and other bath products like our 6.5 oz signature bars that come in 8 wonderful fragrance combinations, including of course, Lavender Mist.