Andy's Idea Factory

(Continued from Part 1) Henna Gods, I am truly impressed. Granted, my mantra has been, "the Indian women have such beautiful hair..." so the results had to be good.  But even so, my hair looks awesome. A more natural shade of red than the chem dye- slightly lighter than my natural brown tone (is that possible? is that from the chamomile?)- than I've ever had in the four years that my stylist and I have been tampering with tubes of colors like Michelangelo. Not wine red, not Redskins red, not Mahogany-Obsidian red.  I had been shooting for my mother's red. Scottish/Irish red, a dark Ginger. I think I'm finally there, or damn close. So how'd we get there? Here's the last 48 hours: 10pm Monday Large ceramic bowl Mixed 300g of fresh organic Rajasthani Indian Henna powder with 3.5c of warm chamomile tea from distilled water, steeped for 20 minutes and cooled with 6 cubes of ice Covered with plastic wrap, left on counter 9am Tuesday No "red...

One thing I love about summer is the after-sun lotion we make ourselves. It's very refreshing, super easy to make, and it works like a charm. If I do burn (but since I've been using Avalon Organics sunblock I haven't) and I use our after-sun lotion, the redness is gone by midnight. The key ingredient is Lavender . So splurge. Buy a big bottle from a distributor if you can afford it, because you'll use most of the standard 5-8 ml bottle on this recipe alone, and it's so good for so many other things! But first and foremost Lavender is a proven cure-all for burns; 1st through 3rd degree burns improve and clear up within hours, cutting overall healing time in fractions. Second on importance is a clean base. I use Desert Organics Lavender lotion because it's free of parabens, sulfates, and other fragrances, but you can use a plain lotion too so long as it's clean and all-natural. Third, aloe. My father always used aloe when we were in Florida during my chil...

Last week I started a series on Wedding Ideas but realized this weekend I needed to halt that for a week for the most important day of the year: MOTHER'S DAY! Mom is Number One, so how do we treat her so? Here are some ideas I've gathered over the years of DIY presents as well as those last-minute ideas you can do if it's Friday and you've forgotten to mail the mom's day gift! First, if you can get something out today, DO. One thing we forget is that you can't mail a card this week and expect it to get there in the usual amount of time. The USPS dubs this week as one of the busiest weeks of the year, second only to the entire month of December, so don't forget to allow for all those extra cards in the mail along with yours! Now down to the nitty gritty... DIY ideas first. 1. MOM'S RECIPES/COOK BOOK. The best idea I've heard this year was actually in honor of a mother who had passed away, but I think it's an even better idea for a gift. Take a...