24/Savvy Food and Travel

It’s that time of year for house-swaps, sublets and temporary living. Add some savvy to your pseudo-home with a swanky room divider. German designers Anne Lorenz and Hanna Emile Ernsting have developed the magnetized Parawall, a partition allowing you to decide where you want to place a panel for privacy, a window, or a storage box. I love the Japanese influence with a sleek modern look and customizable options. A unique and smart solution either for studio living or a sizeable home.
Just a sneak peak. Available in stores soon, so keep your eye on the designers' sites below.

http://www.annelorenz.com/
http://www.hannaernsting.com/

A good friend Kate recently went to a baby shower for her friend Sarah. What to buy the mother-to-be? Well, there’s so much really, isn’t there?? Clothing, bedding, toys, you name it! But don’t they always say receiving a gift that someone has actually made for you is SO much better than a store bought item? Isn't there something touching about knowing that a friend or family member took the time, energy and personal creativity to craft something just for you! Enter the baby shower collaboration, a great way to ‘make’ a gift for the new mother that will become a family heirloom.

Here’s what they did for Sarah!

Friends of the soon-to-be mother gathered together to fete the coming babe and share a little love and refreshments. But the best part of the day was making a baby blanket—together! With 2 experts on hand, each person was taught how to crochet a little square. When the task was complete the experts whisked them away, connecting the squares and creating, on the spot, a gorgeous, multi-colored baby blanket. Super simple and an instant heirloom! Helping hands, super savvy!

Easter can mean so many things to so many people, but for children Easter only means one thing: Candy! We remember the thorough excitement of receiving that BIG (hopefully) Easter basket filled with things such as the requisite chocolate eggs and slightly weird marshmallow chicks—we always felt a little guilty biting the little fellow heads off, but we did it anyway. As we’ve grown and gotten to know our bodies better, we recognize that sugar, in it’s many unadulterated forms, can cause our younger friends to lose their heads, so we’ve started considering treats that taste good and won’t have as many nasty after shocks.

This Savvy Girl was recently in Palm Springs on business and what a time we had! Such a great spot to get some sun and do great thrift shopping. The capital of modernism, and as we heard FUN (all the LA stars used to hang out in PS back in the day because it was within the allowed 100-mile radius from Hollywood), Palm Springs is a bright, splashy town that begs leisurely exploration. On our way back to LAX, we stopped for lunch and had one of the best salads we’ve EVER eaten. And that’s saying a lot! It wasn’t complicated, but was SO filling and good for you that we thought we would share the recipe…

Now, this is the recipe that we ‘believe’ made up the ingredients of this delectable green goodness. We may have left something out of the original, but we promise it is good. When we got home we made it for our husband and he approved!

Having friends over for a budget-friendly nibble doesn’t have to mean off-brand cheese puffs you scored at the local bodega, nor does it imply a full sit-down dinner for ten.  For light entertaining, easier gets the job done faster, happier, stress-free and for this, we have our dear friends in España to thank for the invention of...the tapa.

You don't need to sacrifice style or flavor with any of these savory, 5-minute tapas* you can whip up in...well...5 minutes.  All you have to do is sit back, relax and enjoy your company, which is what you invited them over for in the first place, n'est-ce pas?

*Purists will note these are Americanized tapas, not true Spanish tapas, which you'll just have to hop on a flight to Spain to experience first-hand.

Baking soda is one of those incredibly versatile household products it's almost faster to list the things you can't do with it than the things you can.  We've already discussed using it as a nifty all-natural, twice-weekly tooth whitener, but here are a couple more savvy uses from a product we love so much we could just cuddle up next to it at night.

Product: Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda
Price: $.99 - $2.99 (Have you been to your 99 Cent Store yet? Get thee hence!)
Get It: Grocery and drugstores - Anytown, USA

Savvy Use #1: Scum o' bathtub cleanser.  There's nothing that gives me the creeps more than thinking of scouring my bathtub with bleachy chemicals and then snuggling down in a nice warm bath right in them.  Baking soda gets rid of that scuzzy ring in a way that makes my heart smile.

Savvy Use #2: Smell o' trash can neutralizer. We keep a fresh box in the bottom of our kitchen trash can at all times to combat throwaway foodstuff odors.

Savvy Use #3: Scuzz o' face smoother.  You won't believe it, but you can make a nifty exfoliator for your skin.  Mix 3 parts baking soda with 1 part water and massage gently on face.  Rinse with warm water.

It's always a bummer heading into a grey, rainy week, but with a pair of sweet rain kicks Punky Brewster would be proud of, we can hit the streets in style, stomping in puddles when the spirit strikes. These bright babies are all from Target, around $30 each--a bargain when you think about how much it will cost to replace water-damaged shoes. The savviest part about bold rain wellies, as Brits call them, is that they can effortlessly and inexpensively add a colorful punch to a plain, neutral trench.

After losing my favorite black trench coat this week (hey, even Savvy Girls misplace things from time to time!) I was briefly tempted to replace it with one of the brightly hued trenches that are piping hot this season, but decided to skip a trend with dubious staying power, bought neutral and added a pair of punchy boots to brighten it up. Voila! Instant sass, long-term value.

Savvy Rain Boot Care:

Don't leave your wellies outside where the rubber will suffer from exposure to temperature extremes. Park them indoors and wipe them down with a wet cloth from time to time, whenever they pick up dirt and salt stains.

Colorful Rain Boots, around $30 at Target

These fun DIY Bath Jellies inspired by Lush will get you smelling your best in no time. Use them to make the kids bath time more colorful, or give them as gifts at showers or even for Easter (just make sure you give them to EVERYONE in your family - gotta keep the peace people!) Enjoy!

If you're looking for savvy ways to sneak exercises into your day without stepping foot in a gym, swapping out your regular home office chair for an inexpensive exercise ball is a worthy investment.

Not only does sitting on a ball help strengthen your spine, improve your posture, engage your abs, and aid blood circulation, it's a pretty fun way to blow off steam.  Whenever you find yourself heating up over a slow computer and that dreaded spinning color wheel of death, give a few bounces on your ball chair.  You'll feel better instantly, guaranteed.

We're willing to bet that many of you have never used toothpaste for anything other than it's given purpose, but toothpaste is actually a poor man's solution for many a Savvy Girl's beauty dilemma.  We opt for brands with natural ingredients, such as baking soda, fluorine (a natural fluoride) and calcium carbonate (a gentle abrasive) and we have no problem pulling the old switcheroo when our beauty aids have run out or simply come up short.  There are literally zillions of ways you can put toothpaste to good use, but here are three of our favorites.