Shop til You Drop

If you've been looking for a way to get all your holiday shopping done at once and from the comfort of your own home, look no further than TWM's 2009 Virtual Holiday Bazaar and Silent Auction! This online shopping event is creating such a buzz that we wanted to share it all with you.

The vendors TWM lined up offer a great variety of products. Browse through their sites and start shopping.

Eco Africa Social Ventures sells products produced by artisans and other artists and craftspeople of Zimbabwe.

Terry Ross Jewelry has handcrafted jewelry made with semiprecious stones and wire.

Ardyss International lets you drop 2 or 3 sizes in 10 minutes. Check them out!

Passion for Silver gives you the chance to shop the globe with jewelry from Italy, Mexico, Thailand, China, Bali and Indonesia.

Himane turns trash into treasures by using discarded clothing to make unique handbags, dresses and jackets.

Wendy Mink Jewelry is a great place to shop for handmade quality costume jewelry made in NYC.

Center for Skin Care and Wellness lets you take the spa home for a natural alternative anti-aging solution.

Rogue Confections has tasty treats - handmade Belgian chocolates inspired by vintage designs.

BONUS: New York Racquet & Health Club is offering TWM members at the $100-level or higher a 1-year membership for only $71 a month, with NO activation fee! This offer is only available for a limited time, so be sure you join TWM today and sign up for NYHRC.


In addition to these vendors, don't forget to stop by TWM's online auction. Here are the items currently up for grabs:

One hour of general office cleaning services

A $50 Gift Card to Eve's Addiction.

Your choice of a Swedish Massage OR Mineral Green Facial.

A set of three 'COLORME' black & white prints.

Two nutrition products from Ardyss International.

A nutritional counseling session.

A career counseling session & follow-up.

One hour of full body therapy.

A one-hour holistic health counseling session.

A one-hour deep tissue massage.

A comprehensive technology evaluation for your home or office.

A handmade designer necklace.

And the services of a children's party planner.

More auction items will be added on Tuesday, so be sure to check it out again then.

TWM's Panel on Health & Nutrition

As part of TWM's three-part Focus on Fitness & Health series for National Women's Health & Fitness Week, an eclectic group of health-conscious people met at Bonobo's Vegetarian Restaurant to discuss Health & Nutrition: Perspectives from Around the World.

The six panelists represented various disciplines of health and wellness from around the world. Tammy Lakatos Shames and Elysse Lakatos, or The Nutrition Twins as they're known, gave us practical advice for adopting healthier habits. They emphasized that we should look at our diets in terms of adding what's better for us rather than what we're taking out. Milvi Vehik, a holistic health counselor, offered insight based on her own diverse cultural experiences and how our culture affects our personal health. Dr. Priyatarssini Balamurugen, a practitioner of Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga & Acupuncture, spoke extensively about the ayurveda cleansing practice that rids the body of toxins. Jared Koch, a wellness counselor and author, reminded us of the importance of eating foods in the purest form you can find -- organic, unprocessed, local, etc. Dr. Mei Li, who is trained in both Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, informed us that where and when we're born affects our health and well-being for the rest of our lives. Jessica Grippo, a holistic health counselor specializing in women's health with Laughing Sage Wellness and combining Eastern and Western perspectives, shared her personal experience to stress why it's important to always stay connected to what's going on with our bodies and become friends with our liver.

Attendees were able to take home more than just a few wise words. A resource guide was distributed with an extensive list of where to go for more information and direct services including: for nutritional and wellness services,Isagenix Happy Wellness, Sustainable Stress Reduction, Team Northrup,Christine Possemato, BEIA Insurance and Juliana Neiman; for looking and feeling fit, New York Health & Racquet Club, and A Black Bike; for eating healthy, ZICO. Goodie bags were stocked with healthy snacks, passes to health and fitness classes, and vital information from the various sponsors. Even the program had a list of home remedies from around the world for all sorts of ailments.

Everyone left having learned at least one new thing, and with the night's theme echoing in their heads: everyone's personal health and wellness is just that, personal. We must all take the time to get to know and listen to our bodies, eat local and seasonal foods whenever possible, and be open to trying new things, whether it's new vegetables, organic food or acupuncture. Not every body is built the same, nor does it stay the same throughout our lives. What works for one person might not work for somebody else and what worked for you last year might not work three years from now. Staying in constant communication with our bodies is the best way to keep our health as a top priority.

We also want to be sure to thank those who attended the other two parts of the series: Fitness in the Park with RJ's Personal Fitness and ZUMBA! Class with Alicia Harris. These events gave everyone a chance to get the heart-rate up, have lots of fun and make some new friends in the process.

For those of you who attended any of these events, please let us know what you thought of the event and what you got out of it. If you weren't able to make it, is there anything in particular you want to know more about?

CHICKS ROCK! Launch Party Recap

Wow, what a party!

As you probably know, last night was the launch party for CHICKS ROCK! and it was awesome. There was good food, great music, yummy drinks, delectable cupcakes, and lots of laughs.

The Women's Mosaic hasn't had an event in a while, so it was great to see some familiar faces there, but it was also good to see some new faces. Some people from the Meetup group were there, and all of the bloggers invited their friends to celebrate the blog and the start of this project.

Everyone was very excited about the blog. They had a lot of questions about how it would work, and we were able to let them know that this is not just the space of the regular contributors, but also YOUR space. Here, you can read about what other real women have experienced, and make connections you might not otherwise make. We sincerely hope that you take advantage of it. We expect it to be quiet at first, but we hope everyone becomes more comfortable about commenting, becoming a guest blogger, or, perhaps somewhere down the line, a regular contributor.

Be on the lookout for pictures from the event, and until the next one, be sure to join TWM's communities on Change.org, Facebook, Meetup, MySpace, and Twitter. You can also read some pieces by various TWM members on Divine Caroline.