Men's corner

Men can fight Pakistani winter with a colorful scarf!

Scarves are the most flattering accessory for men. In addition to ability to make you look luxurious, scarves are there; let’s not forget, for functions too. Scarves will save you the undesirable feeling of breeze crawling down your neck and cut away any chance of having snow sliding in your shirt in winters. Scarves are like dress shirts – every man can look good and in fashion in it.

The scarf is quickly becoming the fashion accessory for cosmopolitan men. The scarf is a slightly fanciful, unusual accessory, so if you haven’t tried one, now’s your chance. If you want to add some color to your look, a scarf is a fashionable way to do it. If you live in a cold climate region, it’s even better scarves are a necessity in cool weather, so you can enjoy them daily as a fashion accessory to your winter jacket or coat, as well.

Scarf is the new fashion for men and it makes them look twice as hot. If some men are afraid of wearing color then scarves might be a good way to add some color to your outfit without committing to too much. Scarves are like dress shirts and every man can look first-class in one

Choosing Best Flowers for Your Garden

A well kept garden, with well manicured lawns and trimmed hedges, looks pleasing to the eye, but it’s the flowers that really take one’s heart away. And why not, the myriad hues and tints scattered on a green canvas is truly a thing of beauty beyond compare. Any person with a green thumb or even a passing familiarity with gardening knows how difficult it is to plan a garden, so that it has flowers all round the year. So, it’s important to choose the best flowers for your garden.

Choosing the Best Flower for Your Garden
Choosing the right flowers is critical for a garden. It not only requires a thorough knowledge of the seasonal flowers, but also of the best color combinations for the garden to appear aesthetic. Although there are a variety of flowers to choose from, depending upon their shades and textures, you need to consider their lifespan and hardiness too, before planning your garden. The best way to get an idea is to visit a nursery, where you’ll find them growing. This is far better than browsing the books on gardening. Once you start your search, don’t limit it only to the flowers alone, and evaluate the leaves and other parts too.

Preparing the Garden for the Flower
There are some important steps in preparing your garden. Let’s see what they are:

Soil Analysis: For any plant to grow, more so, the ones you want, it’s a good idea to get the soil analyzed, before buying your first plants. A soil analysis tells whether it’s acidic or alkaline or whether it contains the nutrients your plants will need. If the soil doesn’t measure up, don’t worry, there are ways to fix the problem.

Choosing Seeds and Seedlings: When choosing seeds or seedlings for transplantation, it’s important to choose only the healthiest and best looking seedlings, and reject those that show any signs of disease or insect infestation. This’ll ensure your new garden gets off to a right start.

Nurturing the Seedlings: From the time you sow the seed or plant the seedling, you’ll have to nurture your ‘babies’ till they’ve grown into ‘adults’. And the job doesn’t end there. At every moment you’ve to be alert about their health. Although, it’s easy to see things like spots or holes on the leaves or wounds on the stems, some problems can be more subtle, and may be missed by a beginner. So, the advice for beginners is to take the help of experienced gardeners or the nursery staff in choosing the seeds and seedlings of the desired flowering plants.

Tending the Plants: Once the plants have grown, it’s important to keep an eye out their health. Things like wilted leaves and waterlogged roots can have an adverse effect. Plants with cut stems or other types of wounds should be weaned out. Once the plants have started flowering, ensure the flowers remain healthy. For this, look for white and black spots on the flowers, leaves and foliage, as these spots are often signs of a bacterial or fungal infection. Use recommended pesticide and in the desired quantity.

If you’re dedicated enough, you’re certain to gain enough knowledge to choose the best flowers for your garden, not only for the flowering season, but all the year round.

Kitchen Decorating Trends

When looking to redecorate your kitchen you first have to decide want kind of kitchen decorating style you should go for. Certainly the choices that are now available will leave you baffled and bewildered but by remembering a few things about the kitchen the choice you make will be the right one for you. After the bathroom the kitchen is the most important room in any house and it should also be remembered that after the entrance hall to your home the kitchen has the most foot traffic occurring in it.

Below are provided a number of the more popular styles of kitchen that can be considered if you happen to be planning a remodeling or revamping of your current kitchen. It is also an idea to carry out some research as well by looking in house and home magazines, visiting kitchen showrooms, DIY stores, Kitchen Websites or even looking at your family and friends homes to see if they have a style that you like.

1. Country Style - Often called Early American or Colonial as it is designed to create a lovely quaint farm style kitchen. Often such kitchens will feature open shelves, pot racks and have the feeling of it being well lived in. Such kitchens are usually accented by the various colour schemes relating to the actual cabinetry of the units.

2. Contemporary - More and more often this style is being used because of its clean and simple lines. Often the cabinets are quite futuristic looking have no carvings or ornate features on them. With this style of kitchen the emphasis is put more on style and practical sophistication rather than beauty and that warm lived in feel.

3. Shaker - A simple and utilitarian style of kitchen that has flat panel doors, wooden countertops and brass handles (hardware).

4. French Country - Such kitchen designs based on this style are warm and inviting with lots of wood and soft colours being used. Not only do natural materials feature heavily in this style of kitchen, but you will find that the furniture used is large and rather ornate.

5. Arts and Crafts - Yet again another style of kitchen decoration which is becoming more popular because of the use of feature glass doors and natural wood tones which are finished off in a matt sheen effect. Certainly with this style of kitchen decoration there is the chance for you to be a little bit more artistic and creative in the design.

However, it is important when choosing a theme for you kitchen that you look at the designs and styles of the other rooms in your home to ensure that it fits in with the overall scheme of your home.

Decorating Trends

Tips on Decorating your Home

Decoration can enhance the ambience of your home. The changes not only freshen the environment, but give your space an appealing look too. But, making such pleasant changes is not easy, as not everyone possesses an aesthetic eye.

The first step to brighten up any space in your home is to go for the walls. Of course, if a particular color has been adorning them for years, you’re bound to get tired of it. So, give a different look by either repainting the walls in suitable colors or, if your pocket doesn’t allow that, adding additional colors to the already existing ones. The latest trend is to add two or more colors instead of only one. This combination can be darker or lighter than the already existing one. This is certain to make the surroundings lively and the atmosphere vibrant. However, test the combination of colors beforehand, as a mismatched color, like brown with yellow, can spoil the whole show. A practical method of testing colors is to put patches on the wall and view the combination from afar. This generally helps in getting the actual ‘feel’ of the color.

Another item that can enhance your home interiors are the mirrors. Although, mirrors are viewed with apprehension in both Feng Shui and Vastu, they can help infuse life, especially in the dark corners of the rooms. Since, mirrors are perfect reflecting surfaces; they help bring the sun into your home! This enables your home get illuminated in the daytime by natural light. Well, if you can afford them, by all means go ahead and buy them, but if you can’t, don’t worry, even old ones would do. So, dust off all the spare mirrors available in your house and try putting them across your windows or doors for an even light color distribution. The larger the mirror, the better would be the effect. To make the mirrors more aesthetically appealing, buy some pretty frames that need not be expensive. Match their design and color with your décor.

Curtains are not only needed for privacy, they’re the life of a room. They’ve an important say in aesthetics of the room too. So, it’s important to choose curtain shades that complement the tint of your walls. However, it’s not only the color of the curtains that give a dramatic effect to the room, it’s the material too. A rich material will certainly add to elegance and style. You can opt for door and window curtains and can even add them to the walls.

Flowers are the quintessential decorative items. And they’re the most easy to procure too. They not only give a dash of color to the room, but bring Mother Nature indoors! However, you’ve a choice of natural or artificial flowers. So, experiment where your flowers would look the best. One suggestion is to put the vase with a variety of flowers in a stunning flower arrangement on the center table. However, this arrangement can be placed anywhere, like on the bedside table, dining table, desktop, and the like. If you’ve opted for fresh flowers choose ones that can stay for days. You can match the color with the décor of the room too.
There is never an end to home decoration, simply because the possibilities are limited only by your imagination. However, a great tip to learn home decoration is to keep your eyes open wherever you go and observe the décor. You can also browse books on home décor to get ideas. A beautiful home not only looks nice, but appears welcoming too!

Health for all!!!

A healthy plan for the whole family:
Each family needs to be aware of the factors contributing to this growing problem and address them as a team. Each day family members head out in many different directions but they inevitably return by bedtime, so home base is the best place to engender a healthier lifestyle for everyone in the household.

I have developed a simple, daily charting system called DEWS which has helped me lose weight and maintain better health and fitness habits. I am convinced that it can work for families as well. With just four blocks to fill in with markers, crayons or stickers, even the littlest ones can be involved and compete on a par with adults. The spirit of friendly competition can only add to the success of the plan. The charts are totaled every four weeks so monthly rewards can be added to keep the competition even livelier.

DEWS is an acronym for the four positive things each person tries to accomplish each day. It stands for Drink water, Exercise, Watch your eating, and Steer clear of ______ing _________. This last one is defined by each participant as he determines his biggest challenge. A young child probably won't have an unhealthy habit to fit the 'S' definition so a daily activity for which he is responsible, like making his bed or feeding a pet, can be substituted. There are many books and articles available by learned authors addressing these subjects in detail. I am not one of those professionals, just a regular person who tries to stay educated by reading what they write. You too will need to refer to the experts to safely define these things for your family. What I will take credit for is creating a way to live healthier and happier by being accountable on a daily basis. Utilizing DEWS correctly and honestly can be very rewarding. Filling in all four blocks at bedtime feels like getting an 'A' on a test, and filling in four or more solid days in a row is extremely gratifying. Perfection every day is not expected and will not happen. Success is defined as 85% or higher. That gives you a little leeway, about four blocks a week. And using half blocks when you've been good but not quite good enough for a full block will provide a more accurate account of your progress. More information on the plan and its success is available at my website, which is listed in the attached resource box.

Healthy Lunch Ideas

1. Let your kid select a lunchbox that best expresses his or her personality.

2. Pack lunch together the night before. This way your child really has a role in preparing a healthful meal.

3. Put away the sandwich bread and shake things up with a low-fat, whole-wheat tortilla or pita pocket.

4. Feeling really daring? Go out on a limb with rolls, flat bread, bagels, foccacia, scones, or rice cakes.

5. Switch up the condiments. Instead of light mayonnaise, mustard or ketchup, add a healthy kick to any sandwich by using fresh salsa, pesto, or vinaigrette.

6. Make fruit fun. Skewer fresh fruit on Popsicle sticks. Let your kids help make the kebabs.

7. Send along your child's favorite condiment or dip for fruit, crackers, or veggies: low-fat dressing, applesauce, peanut butter, etc.

8. Take advantage of manufacturers' prepackaged healthful products that now come in cooler shapes and wrappers, including trail mixes (with dried fruit, nuts, and cereal), smoothies, and yogurts.

9. Don't forget the drink. Some low-fat milks, 100 percent fruit juices, and even bottled waters come in funky shapes.

10. Include a note on a napkin or a funny comic strip from the morning paper. "A simple 'Good luck on your test' or 'Thinking of you' goes a long way.

Food VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP (Low Fat Recipe)

Ingredients

Dried navy beans: 1 pound
Water: 8 cups
Dried basil: 2 teaspoons
Salt: 1 1/2 teaspoons
Dried marjoram: 1 teaspoon
Pepper: 1/4 teaspoon
Chopped onion: 2 cups
Sliced zucchini: 2 cups
Chopped celery: 1 cup
Chopped red bell pepper: 1 cup
Sliced carrot: 1 cup
Garlic cloves, minced: 6
Tomato paste: 1 (6-ounce) can
Grated fresh Romano cheese: 1/3 cup

Directions

Firstly, sort the beans, wash them and then place in a large Dutch oven. Now, cover the beans with water to 2 inches and bring to a boil. Then cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the oven; cover and let it cool down for 60 minutes. Now drain beans and put back into the pan.

Add 8 cups water and next 5 ingredients (water through pepper) and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Add onion and next 5 ingredients (onion through garlic); simmer, uncovered, 50 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Add tomato paste. stir it well; cook for more 10 minutes. Your delicious vegetable beans soup is ready.

Enjoy your life to the fullest

There are so many a time you might have come across people symbolize human body as a machine. If not treated with care, it breaks down. Well, it is true. Keeping yourself fit and healthy is indispensable and needs to be dealt with seriously. We often ignore the important of fitness, whereas undoubtedly fitness is essential for excellent performance of the body. Fit energetic people possess a lot of stamina and resistance in their bodies and can persistently carry out various tasks without getting tired sooner. Though there are certain rules for one to tag along in order to maintain fitness and good health.

Fitness Guidelines:

• Proper food

Remember, the food you eat determines what you are! This means that your health can be reasonably judged by the kind of food you eat. Make it a habit of eating the right food and in the correct amount. Mainly, human body stays fit if a person adds fresh fruits and vegetables (anytime at breakfast, lunch or dinner) to his diet chart. Wheat, Rice, meat –then again, considered healthiest foods – should be made an essential component of the diet. One should always bear in mind that the intake of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and minerals should all be in a proper proportion. Want to keep the doctor away, have an apple everyday!

Not just that, try to maintain a proper timing of taking the meal every day. Skipping meals - which now has become a common habit in many - may lead to devastating effects. If possible a dietician may be consulted for marinating a balanced diet, with all the essential nutrients.

• Right exercises

Adopt exercising in your daily routine. It should be made an integral part of your every day life. There are plenty of exercises. But right exercises at the right time will only result in eventual body fitness. Fitness experts recommend doing exercises early in the morning since your body is fresh and relaxed after a good night’s sleep.
Commonly recommended exercises include Forward bend, Side stretch, Push ups, Front press and others. Apart from these, early morning walk, swimming, cycling, skiing, jogging even dancing are considered some good methods of exercising.

• Sports- As the proverb goes ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.’ It specifies that games and sports in a person’s life are as indispensable as eating food and breathing air. You don’t have to know many sports for this purpose. Even if you outshine at any one particular type of sport which can be anything like Cricket, Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Rugby etc. you can get a way with it!
There is not better exercise than playing sports.

• Mental Fitness

When we talk about fitness, it just doesn’t refer to your physical being, keeping the mind fit is equally important for a healthy being. The suggested method to keep your mental health perfect is by reducing your work load and pressure, since it can be very distressful and disturbing. So to keep the mental condition calm, quiet and energetic, meditation is required. Just try it and you will never be at a loss! Consider doing Yoga for a change. Yoga just not helps you remain physically fit. It provides you a greater degree of mental relaxation.Your body is God’s gift to you. So cherish it and take care of your well-being. Stay hale and hearty and enjoy your, life to the fullest.

Cheers.

Fitness tips

Fitness for teens:

The typical statement every teenage has to hear once several times in a day’s life from their parents is, “You are growing weaker day by day, and it’s because of the bahir key khaney you have!” True, it is of no surprise that teenagers today, being in the chaotic and high-speed life style, are growing in worse shape. The blame goes to the Junk foods, wacky routines and work periods they are indulged in. All these factors result in a rather outlandish development of their body, thus affecting adversely their fitness.
To start working on it right away, here are a few tips how to and where to start from in taking care of the health problem. Attention all Teens, this is specially meant for you! So gear up you all out there and just follow the guidelines mentioned below.
Haven’t you heard the famous proverb “All work no play, makes little Jack a lazy boy”. All teenagers should keep a balance between health and fitness and adopt an appropriate eating and sleeping routine. Time management is very essential in this matter. Keep balance between work and fitness. “An apple a day, and keeps the doctor away”, so why not enjoy the best of your health by taking care of your health? If you’re fit, all is good. That means, start taking a healthy diet, which definitely DOES NOT include junk items such as burgers, sandwiches, patties etc. BELIEVE me, it is not at all healthy as is perceived! It’s nothing but some extra fat for you to store up in your body. Choose to become a fat lazy person or someone who’s in a good shape and active? Choice is yours.
Avoid adopting bizarre eating routine – eat sufficient, neither too less, nor too much. Anxiety, pressure and tension get in the way of your healthy well-being and thus, distress you physically and mentally which ultimately, affect the fitness. Take a lesson from this; eat a healthy, proper and balanced meal and no skipping breakfasts, at any cost. In case you’re getting late for a class or might miss your bus, simply gulp down a glass of milk and off you go. Milk has the essential nutrients one needs for a daily supplement of vitamins and proteins.
Mind you, no big time gaps between two consecutive meals. It’s wise to take light snacks and your tummy busy time after time. Instead of a heavy lunch and dinner, go for evening breakfasts or brunch in between.
Exercise is a must! There are plenty of exercises for youngsters, with the aim of keeping them fit. Interestingly, teenagers require more exercise compared to other people, since their bodies undergo various transformations and are in a constant process of attaining maturity. Try out aerobics. It is the excellent and safest way towards acquiring a perfect body and a healthy mind.
Try running and walking. It’s a very good exercise. Later, you may move on to weightlifting, pushups, and other apt exercises in order that they grow body stamina, confidence and acquire a good shape.
Playing different kinds of sports such as basketball, football, volleyball, cricket etc too are a great help in keeping one fit and healthy.