Remember when President George H.W. Bush mentioned a “kinder and gentler” nation?  BigSisLilSis just celebrated our 2nd blogiversary, and those words “kinder and gentler” just seem appropriate as we think about year 3.

The last two years have seen us publish 607 posts, and we hope to continue at that pace.  We absolutely plan to keep posting with a positive attitude and message, and to keep talking about food, health, fitness, fun and anything else that interests those of us girls who are 40-plus.

What has changed in our worlds since we started BigSisLilSis in 2008?

• We're both focusing on things we can do around our homes to “Go Green”

• We both made a commitment to purge our homes of all products that are animal-tested

• After 16 years as a vegetarian, I went the rest of the way to vegan in January

• LilSis is having to learn how to eat a non-dairy diet

• Recycling has finally become a priority in my household

The result of these changes is a kinder, gentler, greener BigSisLilSis.   We feel like we're finding our voice; figuring out who we are and what is most meaningful for us to talk about.

What does that mean to our readers?

• We'll continue to share reviews of our favorite products, but we won't be reviewing anything that we know to be animal-tested

• Since we both go berserk when we find new beauty products that actually show results, we'll keep sharing our new discoveries

• You'll see BigSis' recipes here from time to time without animal products (you may have already noticed a few)

• LilSis will continue to bring you healthy recipes suitable for a family of hungry guys, but also try to adapt some to non-dairy recipes

• We're both extremely committed to exercise in order to stay healthy and fight the “mid-life, menopausal, almost inevitable, battle of the bulge”.  If we discover anything works for us 40-plus women, you can bet we'll share it!

• We talk about it all the time, but it's true that LIFE IS SHORT.  Too short to be negative!  As we discover motivational tools or reading that helps us stay positive and encouraging, we'll tell you about it asap!

• Our overall goal is to bring you information that will enhance your lives in a brighter, healthier, greener, more compassionate way.

Living this way is a daily learning experience for us, and we hope you'll give us your input along the way.  Thanks for joining us!

Photo credit: Ecstaticist

~BigSis

Posted under This & That

Do you have paraskevidekatriaphobia? I don't! Sounds like some really scary disease doesn't it?  This is actually what people have who suffer from a fear of Friday the 13th!  Who'da thunk it?

I've always been curious about how this date came to be known as an unlucky day. Snopes has some interesting facts and some amusing superstitions about Fridays and the number 13. Here are a few that I thought were funny!

This quote is from 1846: “A child born on Friday is doomed to misfortune.” That's harsh! (I'm not superstitious, but I hope I wasn't born on a Friday!)

In 1883, this was said: “If you hear anything new on a Friday, it would add another wrinkle to your face and adds a year to your age.” Wow! Don't let anyone tell you anything on Friday!

Oh, you'll like this one, BigSis! I hope you didn't move into your new place on a Friday. In 1982, someone said “Don't move on a Friday, you won't stay there very long.” Note to self: Don't move on a Friday if you want to stay there a while.

I think if you tell yourself that it's an unlucky day, then inevitably, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.  So, tell yourself that it's a lucky day! Or, in my world, I'm just happy that it's Friday! TGIF!

~LilSis

Posted under This & That

For me, the party's over.  I mean the eat-pretty-much-whatever-is-in-front-of-me-food party of the last 3 weeks or so.  There was the Christmas party where I ate too much cheese and crackers, and the family Christmas where I ate too much of everything.  Then we have tons of leftover sweets and snacks that we just can't toss, right?  Before you knew it, we had New Year's Eve with it's snack-fest, and New Year's Day with cheesy buttery cornbread that was leftover to haunt me for days.

Now, the party's over.  Whatever is left in the fridge goes in the freezer or the trash-o-rama.  It's time to get back on track, and I'm actually looking forward to getting back to my usual disciplined plan of eating.  I think we all feel better when we're eating healthfully; I know I do.

One of my go-to healthy recipes is hummus, and I'm really glad to know how good it is for us.  Chickpeas are full of protein and fiber, plus zinc, folate, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus.  For vegetarians, hummus is an excellent source of protein, especially if you aren't a fan of the meat analog products or soy in general.  The peas have a very negligible amount of fat, so the primary fats in this dish are the healthy fats from the small amounts of olive oil and tahini.

Bowl o' hummus loveliness!

LilSis assures me that hummus is a snack and not a meal; and I know in her household of guys it would never suffice as a meal.  But for me it is frequently a weeknight meal, when combined with grape tomatoes, raw mushrooms and blanched asparagus as dippers.  My favorite basic recipe is very simple and very lemony and garlicky.  You can whip it up in a food processor or blender in just a few minutes.  The blender will give you a creamier texture, but the food processor works just fine.  This recipe will make a good size batch of hummus, but I find that it lasts really well in the fridge.

Bring on the pita chips!

HUMMUS

(adapted from Veganomicon)

2 (15 ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + 1 tablespoon for sauteeing
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons sesame tahini
1/4 cup water, more or less
Seasonings to taste:  Penzey's Lemon Pepper (healthy amount), Shallot Pepper, Toasted Onion Powder, and salt.

Saute the crushed garlic on very low heat in the 1 tablespoon olive oil for a few minutes, but don't let it brown. Set aside when done.

Meanwhile, add half of the drained chickpeas to the blender or food processor, along with the olive oil, and pulse a few times until pureed.  Then add the rest of the chickpeas, the garlic/oil mixture, lemon juice, tahini, and seasonings.  Pulse again a few more times until the mixture is creamy, stopping to add a little water as needed to reach the texture you wish.  Store in the fridge.  The flavors improve after the hummus has chilled it's heels for a while.

For a variation in flavors, add fresh herbs (chives, parsley, dill, etc.), sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, hot sauce, other dried seasonings (cumin or paprika, for example), or olives to the hummus.  Your imagination is your only limitation!  I want to try adding a bunch of roasted garlic next time.

I like to serve the hummus at room temperature with a drizzle of olive oil on top.  Healthy, filling, and delicious!

~BigSis

Posted under Food

Once again, I think we're on the same page, BigSis!  Those are all favorite topics of mine.

• MAC is definitely one of my favorite topics to discuss. I can't get enough MAC! I'm not sure if anyone enjoys reading about our little obsession as much as we like talking about it, but I hope so, because we will keep talking about MAC Cosmetics in 2009!

• Maybe in 2009, we can share some great ideas on color combinations and more instructional videos. I loved the videos that you shared from MissChevious. And I definitely think most women our age are looking for good skin care and beauty products that actually work! We need to continue on our quest to discover the best anti-cellulite product!

• For 2009, I can't decide if I'm going to leave all the baking to you, or if I'm going to challenge myself to improve on my baking skills. I do get inspired when I read some of our favorite food blogs like  Cookie Madness, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, The Recipe Girl, Baking Blonde, Bakerella, and Martha but baking doesn't come natural to me. I need to decide if I'm up for the challenge! (Oh, by the way, is a bee in the bonnet kind of like ants in your pants?) tee hee

• But seriously, I am on a mission to find lots and lots of healthy, low fat, tasty recipes to start off this New Year. I'm much better at substituting and revising recipes in cooking versus baking!  I also need to make sure that I'm not trying to take the photos with HayHay standing over me with a plate and fork in hand! It doesn't make for good photography when you're in a rush!

• I definitely want to talk about fitness and getting healthy for 2009! I want to eat as healthy as possible, kick up the exercise a notch or two and take my vitamins and supplements every day. I really want to continue to look for new ways to work on improving brain health. Anything we can do as “forty somethings” to keep our ‘mind' alert and the ‘ole bod' from going south is a good thing.

Oh, and we can't forget that we'll be talking about BlogWorld 2009 since we WILL be attending this year!

I'm really happy with what we've accomplished with our blog during the short time we were “live” in 2008 and I'm very excited about 2009.  I know we would both love to hear comments from any of our readers about their favorite topics.

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

We both want to wish everyone a blessed Christmas!  When we stop to think over our last year, so much has happened.  It hasn't been one of those years when you just tread water and nothing really goes on.  In our households, lots has happened. There have been wonderful things like the birth of a new baby boy, the fun of launching this blog, and moving into a new home, but there have been challenges like illness, losing a sibling, losing a furkid, and betrayal.  Life's just like that.  No matter what happens in this life though, we have the hope and the promise of the life after this earthly existence, and we strive every day to keep our eyes focused on the Lord.

Our prayer for all of our friends and family and for all of you is that you would experience a renewed  gratitude this Christmas for the gift that we were given when the Baby Jesus was born over 2000 years ago.  We pray that all of our hearts would be filled with thankfulness, and not with stress over the gifts, the food, the family drama, the traffic, or the weather.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas.  God bless you.  And happy birthday, Jesus.  It's all about You.

~BigSis

Posted under Holidays

Hey, thanks for the great info on your eye creams, LilSis!  Too bad my skin is so different from yours because I'd ask you for good advice on my daytime moisturizer too! I just finished up a bottle of the serum recommended by my trusty dermatologist, and I'm not really feeling a repurchase of it coming on.  I liked it ok, but it seemed to make my skin a bit tacky and I'd be shiny about an hour after applying my makeup.  That effect was worsened when I applied the dab of sunscreen that I'm supposed to wear on top of the serum every day.  I really think it's best for skin a little bit drier than mine.  And most skin is drier than mine!  But that's ok, they say drier skin wrinkles easier, don't they?  What I used is the SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic.

SkinCeuticals CE Ferulic

I've heard there is a new breakthrough SkinCeuticals product out that is more suited to oilier skins, and I believe it's the Phloretin CF ($150).

SkinCeuticals Phloretin CF

The CE Ferulic was $135 (gulp) so I'm not keen on buying it again since I didn't love it, but I need some serious evidence before I plunk down $150 on this new product.  The challenge is that almost every reasonably-priced moisturizer breaks me out, so that's money down the drain.  It makes more sense to buy something that's going to work instead of trying this and that random drugstore brand, and then having to try to return it, or adding it to your pile of deserted products in the bathroom cabinet.

Thankfully, my nighttime product is a no-brainer.  Every night after cleansing, I let my skin get completely dry, and then apply a pea-size blob of Tazorac.  It's a prescription retinoid that was prescribed by my dermatologist.  My insurance won't cover it (snarl snarl) and the tube is about $125.  Thankfully it lasts a LONG time, and it's worth it!  It's marketed as an acne product, but in reality it does more than that for me.  My experience is that it causes turnover of the skin cells, so my skin is much smoother than it used to be pre-Tazorac, and I think it also tightens and smooths wrinkles somewhat. That's just my opinion though – consult your dermie!

That's my moisturizer story, LilSis.  Now tell me; what works for you?  Inquiring minds want to know!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

BigSis has already said that she isn't a “Halloween Celebrater”. I, on the other hand, love to decorate for Halloween and love to host Halloween parties. I have just found it a little hard this year to get into the “Halloween Spirit” because it has been so unseasonably warm here in Southern California. I had this weekend set aside to get the yard and front porch all decorated. “Best laid plans!”

We found out that HayHay had his first surf competition yesterday. So, instead of decorating the house, I drove down to Mission Bay for a day at the beach to watch surfers compete! “You do what you gotta do, right?” HayHay came in first place so now we have to be back down at the beach at 11:00 this morning. I really don't know when I'm going to get this house decorated!

I've been “surfing the net” trying to get some new, quick, and easy ideas.

I NEVER eat sweets, but for some crazy reason, I LOVE CANDY CORN! So, of course I love this entire “Candy Corn inspired” theme from Hostess with the Mostess!

I JUST LOVE THE CANDY CORN DECOR!

(Maybe I won't be tempted to eat the candy corn if it's in a vase with a candle or flowers!)

I don't like scary stuff so I don't like any of the “skull & crossbones” party themes. I was really happy when I found this “Playful Mod” theme. It's perfect for adults and children. I have a bunch of fun Halloween candle holders from PartyLites that will match this theme perfectly, so I'll do something like this for Friday night at our house. I've even seen some neon Halloween-themed lights, so that could be good too. Those lights from www.neonfilter.com can be personalized to say whatever you want, so you could make it as spooky as you like. That could be a great addition to Halloween decorations.

I LOVE THE ORANGE, PURPLE, & GREEN COLOR COMBINATION!

I think these spider toothpicks will go well with this party theme!

Cute little Spider Toothpicks!

There are recipes galore for very cute, “bat shaped” cookies and candy corn cookies and intricately decorated cupcakes, but those recipes are for those of you who are more prepared than I am this year. At this late date, I'm looking for fun, quick, and easy. I found this recipe for Scary Spiderweb Cupcakes on Betty Crocker. I love that the web is just made with the black decorating gel and the spiders are made from gumdrops. Looks easy enough; even for me.

Scary Spider Cupcakes

I love this Chocolate Marshmallow Ghost Cake! One of Martha's readers said that she simplified it by using two white cake mixes, instead of starting from scratch. I might have to do that…

Ghostly Marshmallow Cake!

Check out this great idea for a Witch's Curtain! You just use trash bags!

Easy Witch Curtain

Every year, we sit aside one night for a Family Pumpkin Carving Competition. “Yikes!” It just snuck up on me this year. We'll do that either Tuesday or Wednesday night and if they turn out “worthy of being photographed”, I'll post some photos on Friday. I like this Pumpkin Totem idea from Martha.

I really like this pumpkin totem!

I hope this helps those of you who need some new, quick and easy ideas for this Halloween! Happy Halloween Decorating!

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Now that Thanksgiving has officially come and gone, BigSis is on her way back home today after spending five days with us here in California to celebrate the holiday and her birthday.

Here are just a couple of pics from the visit. We had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving planned this year and BigSis arrived just in time to join us for our first Thanksgiving Feast with all our friends on our dock at the Harbor. It was a GREAT time!

For BigSis' birthday on Friday, we enjoyed lunch at a wonderful Mexican restaurant, El Callejon in Encinitas.

BigSis with the boys, Bry and HayHay

We both agreed that they served the best guacamole either of us has had since we were in Cancun years ago!

BigSis & LilSis

We managed to squeeze in two more lunches to our favorite local Mexican food restaurants, a visit to a new Mediterranean restaurant, a little bit of shopping, a night of playing Wii games with the guys, and a day trip to the Casino. We made sure we had time to go to the casino. Casinos are such fun places. We decided to go in the day to ensure we didn't run into the crowds of people that would be in there in the evening. My friend had been practicing her casino skills the whole trip. She uses an online slot malaysia bossku club website to play when she's at home, so she really wanted to visit the slots at the casino. We had a great time.

(And we did force ourselves to do a six mile walk every morning so we didn't feel too guilty about all the overindulgence of Mexican food.)

We had a great visit, as usual, but time just flew by too quickly. 🙁

Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on thankfulness and we have so much for which to be thankful. Now, as we count down the days towards Christmas and New Years, instead of letting the busyness of the holiday season cause more stress and anxiety, I am going to try to take the time each day to reflect on our blessings and enjoy the true spirit of Christmas.

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! I know it's Tuesday but it feels like Monday to me since we just flew back home last night. Have ya missed us? Maybe just a little?

We don't normally run off and leave for five or six days without something new here on BigSisLilSis, but this past week was a crazy week for us.

Last Thursday, we all met in Chicago to attend Bry's graduation from his Naval Basic Training at Recruit Training Command in Great Lakes, IL. The graduation was held at RTC on Friday, April 16th and was unlike anything I've ever attended and an event that none of us will ever forget.

Division 159 (Bry is 4th from the back in far left row)

It was a much anticipated, emotional, and fun-filled weekend for all of us. Bry wasn't able to have overnight liberty but we spent as much time as we could with him during the day. He made my birthday on Sunday even more special by being able to celebrate it with me and spend time with the family. Here are just a couple of shots from Sunday.

Bry with his proud Mom, Grandmother, and Aunt!

It took motivation, determination, and discipline for Bry to accomplish this goal and I can't even try to put into words how proud we all are of our new Sailor!

Our proud Sailor

It was pretty hard to leave Bry on Sunday without turning into an emotional mess but somehow I managed to keep a stiff upper lip. He'll be in Great Lakes for seven more months for his A Training and I'm not sure when I'll see him next, but hopefully I'll manage to get back up there this summer. He's happy, excited about his training, and looking forward to his future with the Navy so I can't ask for more than that.

While in Chicago, we managed to do a little sight seeing downtown so we're planning on sharing a couple of those photos with you within the next day or two. It might take us a couple of days to get back into the swing of things! 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Family

We've been talking about beauty and skin care products a lot recently, so I have to ask a question that's been on my mind. I want to be transparent, so I'm not going to hide this vulnerability. Tell me I'm not the only one who suffers from this anxiety and insecurity. Please tell me. Here's how it goes. I have to go into a department store to pick up one of my can't-live-without-products, like the foundation I finally found that covers just the right amount AND doesn't cause any breakouts AND matches my skintone AND isn't too dewy or too matte.

Prescriptives Flawless

This should be a quick little errand, right? Bing bang boom. Wrong.

For me, it causes dread and a serious amount of anxiety that sees me looking on the Area 52 website to find something that can help me relax. Because I know that when I – a normal, confident, professional woman – march up to the counter with my request, I'm going to feel like the Hunchback of Notre Dame with a bad case of leprosy within minutes. I can't just pay for my purchase and leave. No, no, no, that would be too easy. The salesperson has to try to up-sell me or cross-sell me, or whatever the heck they call it. I'm bombarded by:

“Have you tried our new eye cream? It really works on those wrinkles and puffiness and crow's feet”.

“Would you like to make an appointment for me to give you a makeover, dear?”

“Do you use our new wrinkle-erasing-lifting-super-duper-youth-restoring-magical-miracle-night-cream? I think it would really help you. Let me give you a sample!”

“Would you like for me to recommend a product to help with that redness/those wrinkles/that dryness/your oiliness?”

By the time I slink away to my car, I feel like the most flawed woman ever to approach the counter. Now, in my mind, I'm droopy, dehydrated, shiny, dry, red, pale, wrinkly, baggy, saggy, and puffy. All at once! In reality, I do have my own little challenges like every woman does, but usually I'm content with what I have to work with. Not overjoyed, (I AM forty-something, for cryin' out loud) but content.

So I'm wondering. Is it just me who feels like a frappin' troll after they've just handed over their hard-earned money for a product? Should we pay for someone to insult us? Maybe it's worse for me since I had skin problems as a teenager, and so I'm over-sensitive to salespersons' “suggestions”? Maybe the dermatological afflictions scarred my self-esteem more than my skin, and I'm still reeling from it years (and years) later, even though I spent a bajillion dollars last year for six Fraxel laser treatments, and my skin is in better shape than it has been since I was 12 years old? I have the feeling that my anxiety, insecurity and paranoia in this area are more common than I know. Does anyone share this with me, or do I need to get in touch with someone like www.PsychCompany.com and arrange some psychotherapy? Give me some support, sisters, before I bow to the pressure to make all my purchases online!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care