The Friday 5, Vol. 26

A weekly roundup of EcoSalon’s top stories.

Optimistic cities are filled with better neighbors, community members and friends. We’re packing our virtual bags to go on a tour of the best and maybe we’ll even find you. In the 10 Best American Cities for Optimists, Shelter Editor K. Emily Bond goes beyond asking if the glass is half full to find positively perfect destinations that might be nice to visit or live.

Columnist and Green Beauty Team founder Kristen Arnett recently met up with Eco Sex author Stefanie Iris Weiss for the filming of a French documentary on American sex. In High Definition: Eco Sexy Makeup with Author Stefanie Iris Weiss, read about how Arnett channeled Brigitte Bardot for Weiss and still learned a thing or two about lubricants. Yes, I wrote lubricants.

Turns out, making your own cheese is easier than you can imagine as our food columnist Anna Brones found out in a recent class at Portland’s Culinary Workshop. Brones writes: “My visions of an intimidating chef hovering over my shoulder as I shakily held my thermometer in boiling milk soon disappeared, and by the time Susana had put a glass of wine in my hand and a Fresh Cheese 101 print out in front of me, I realized that I felt surprisingly at home. Cooking with fresh ingredients with glass of wine in hand? If I’m perfectly honest, it’s sort of my ideal Friday night.” Read the whole story, Foodie Underground: Fresh Cheese 101 here.

Have you taken a walk in the woods lately? Skipped a stone at the beach? Sat and listened to the wind blowing through a grassy field? In 6 Ways to Embrace Mother Nature, Senior Editor Andrea Newell gives you six reasons why you should connect with nature. Newell writes: “In the past, the idea of women and nature bonding has often been relegated to new age mysticism and pagan forest rituals, but there are several psychological and healthful reasons why it’s good for women to embrace the outdoors.”

When was the last time you and your partner engaged in some healthy sex? In The Un-Cosmo Guide to Setting the Mood, writer Starre Vartan shares some easy tips that you can really get down sans the silly tips you might see from a certain dull glossy…

 

Amy DuFault

Amy DuFault is a conscious lifestyle writer, consultant and fashion instigator. She resides in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.