Visit our website at : Girls Gathering Guide to Chic Fun
Happy Easter from GirlsGathering.com!
As I was filling 35 brightly colored plastic eggs for our annual family Easter egg hunt yesterday, I started thinking about these sugary, corn starched filled sweet beans. Do you know just how many jellybeans are consumed in our nation on Easter alone?
Here are some facts I found:
• $1.9 billion of Easter candy are purchased each year ( behind Halloween which is $2 billion)
• 16 billion jellybeans are eaten at Easter time
• If you lined up 16 billion jellybeans side by side, it would circle the world 3 times
Hot buns in your Easter Basket
What constitutes Easter candy has changed over the centuries. Various candies have been added to the tradition of Easter giving over the years. It all started with a monk in 1361.
• During Good Friday, Monk Thomas Rockcliffe gave away Hot Cross Buns to needy people.
• In the 1800’s Europeans chocolates used the image of the egg to sell chocolates during Easter
• And in the 1930’s jellybeans were added to the Easter tradition
Jalapeno Jellybeans
It is fascinating to think how many jelly bean flavors are available. Have you ever sat and tried one flavor after another?
It is quite an strange and wonderful experience to go from chocolate, to popcorn, to blueberry with one small bean, a massive surge of flavor. Here’s how I feel about these flavors
• Licorice (yuck, in my humble opinion)
• Jalapeno (interesting but I’m not going to even bother)
• Juicy Pear (not really my cup of tea),
but…
Strawberry Daiquiri (oh my, yes!),
Strawberry Cheesecake (delicious).
What’s your favorite flavor?
So now that you know a little bit about Jelly Beans, you can have a better appreciation when you take the FREE: Jelly Bean Factory Tour.
**Resources
Easter Candy
History of Easter Candy
Sunday, April 12, 2009
A few notes on Deadly Makeup
Visit our website at : Girls Gathering Guide to Chic Fun
Where Makeup Originated
Thanks to the ancient Egyptians for the gift of makeup. Originally, the makeup Egyptians wore was for practical purposes: reduction of sun’s intensity, stave off infection, and flies. (Just like a quarterback at a football game puts the black lining under the eyes to prevent glare from the sun.) Eventually, cosmetics became a way of life for looking beautiful.
When beauty is deadly
Fast forward a couple thousand years: Scientists (with the help of L'Oreal) discovered that some makeup was made from deadly chemicals! They found certain ingredients used for the Egyptian cosmetics (kohl, malachite) which were used for beauty products such as face masks, hair dye, or eyeliner actually contained lead.
Your daily dose of lead
So what happens when you have daily exposure to lead? Well, short term: naseau, stomach pain, and irritability and long term: madness, infertility, and even permanent neurological disorders (** it does take a good deal of exposure).
What's really scary is that lead in makeup has been imported and sold in the US, even though of course it is banned by the FDA. Lead traces in Makeup: 2007
So, now that you have a little background on Egyptian life, head to the Egyptian Museum to learn more about this fascinating time.
**Resources:
Egypt : Beyond the Pyramids
Lead Poisoning
Cosmetics
Metal Lead in Egyptian's makeup
Where Makeup Originated
Thanks to the ancient Egyptians for the gift of makeup. Originally, the makeup Egyptians wore was for practical purposes: reduction of sun’s intensity, stave off infection, and flies. (Just like a quarterback at a football game puts the black lining under the eyes to prevent glare from the sun.) Eventually, cosmetics became a way of life for looking beautiful.
When beauty is deadly
Fast forward a couple thousand years: Scientists (with the help of L'Oreal) discovered that some makeup was made from deadly chemicals! They found certain ingredients used for the Egyptian cosmetics (kohl, malachite) which were used for beauty products such as face masks, hair dye, or eyeliner actually contained lead.
Your daily dose of lead
So what happens when you have daily exposure to lead? Well, short term: naseau, stomach pain, and irritability and long term: madness, infertility, and even permanent neurological disorders (** it does take a good deal of exposure).
What's really scary is that lead in makeup has been imported and sold in the US, even though of course it is banned by the FDA. Lead traces in Makeup: 2007
So, now that you have a little background on Egyptian life, head to the Egyptian Museum to learn more about this fascinating time.
**Resources:
Egypt : Beyond the Pyramids
Lead Poisoning
Cosmetics
Metal Lead in Egyptian's makeup
Introduction to GirlsGathering.com
Get off the couch. Turn off your TV (or stop watching hulu). Stop checking your email. Log out of Facebook. Close your laptop. Grab your friends/boyfriend/husband...
Live your life!
Head to Bakers Beach or to the top of Telegraph Hill. Paddle boat on Stow Lake or take a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unfortunately, you can't fly to an exotic island every weekend, so we are devoted to finding the next best thing: chic fun in your backyard.
GirlsGathering.com is passionate about travel, technology and fun.
Our motto: Live your life. Love your life. Travel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcuRXb5tBj0]
Live your life!
Head to Bakers Beach or to the top of Telegraph Hill. Paddle boat on Stow Lake or take a bike ride across the Golden Gate Bridge.
Unfortunately, you can't fly to an exotic island every weekend, so we are devoted to finding the next best thing: chic fun in your backyard.
GirlsGathering.com is passionate about travel, technology and fun.
Our motto: Live your life. Love your life. Travel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcuRXb5tBj0]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)