Barb Walsh

   I stumbled upon Gabrielle Bernstein's video log (vlog) articles on The Huffington Post and was immediately intrigued - a little hippie, a little Chanel, life-coach extraordinaire.  Coincidentally, she wrote a blog post on Kris Carr's crazy sexy life .com  recently and, if you missed my last post, I had just finished reading Kris Carr's Crazy Sexy Diet and was now ready to take in the teachings of Gabrielle Bernstein. You can check her out here . I would be remiss if I did not also mention Gabby's second book " Spirit Junkie " which I am cruising through for the second time. I will get to that review later, faithful book-lovers. (Gabby's third book is due at the end of 2012 - yay!). Add more Ing gives a little background on Gabby -  ultra-successful at age 21, her addictions to drugs, partying and relationships had left her empty, broke and lonely. After hitting rock bottom, she asked the universe for help. What she received was beyond...

Crazy Sexy Diet  by Kris Carr Have you ever heard anyone say "this book changed my life". Does it get no more from you than a sniffle or an eye roll? Well, get ready - this book changed my life, for real. But not in the way you are expecting. Or perhaps in exactly the way you are expecting. How am I to know what you are expecting, dear reader? For those of you unfamiliar with Kris Carr, here is a very brief synopsis: New Yorker, actress, 'Bud Girl', documentary filmmaker, wellness warrior, Cancer survivor. Her documentary Crazy Sexy Cancer will absolutely blow you away. You can find it at your local bookstore, library, groovy independent movie rental store, friend's really well-stock dvd collection, or on-line.  At 32, Kris was diagnosed with an incurable cancer of the liver and lungs. Crazy Sexy Cancer documents her experiences with different kinds of therapy and food on her journey to becoming a "healing junkie".  She also documen...

Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage By Elizabeth Gilbert Book Review Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of  Eat Pray Love , lets us take a peak into her personal sphere once again with Committed: A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage (also sometimes called Committed: A Love Story). If you haven't read Eat Pray Love, what are you waiting for, girl? Get off the couch and run, do not walk, to your local library or bookstore or friend's overstocked home library and check this book out! And, no, the movie will not do - I love Julia Roberts as much as the next person and Javier (need we say more...) - but books are always better than movies, sweet reader - without exception. Eat Pray Love is the  story of a woman (coincidentally - the author) who, newly divorced, decides to give up everything to get back to her true self through travel to Italy, India and Bali.  I don't want to spoil the ending for you, but she encounters food, spiritual enlightenment and love on he...

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone Alicia Silverstone is beautiful, talented, kind ~ and a New York Times Bestselling book author! At first skeptical (how many healthy lifestyle books are there to choose from?), I wanted to learn more about Alicia's book before making a decision so I watched her speak at Google: Kind Diet @ Google   . She is knowledgeable and passionate and real. I was immediately impressed. ( by the way, how cool would it be if all workplaces invited authors in to talk about their books! Now back to the book... ) diet (noun): a way of living, or thinking, a day's journey. Interestingly, from Greek, also means  'a mode of living' or 'to direct one's own life'. With a foreword by Neal D. Barnard, MD and preface by Sir Paul McCartney, I knew I was embarking on an amazing journey. This is not a diet book, it is about eating foods that are kind for you and the planet. The author details how food gets from the field (or pasture) to yo...

A Place of Yes: 10 Rules for Getting Everything You Want Out of Life by Bethenny Frankel (Author of Naturally Thin and Skinnygirl Dish) If you are unfamiliar with Bethenny Frankel (really? I'm not sure how that is even possible - this girl is in everything, but I digress), she is an author, Natural Foods Chef, Runner up on Martha Stewart's Apprentice , started the Skinnygirl cocktail line, has a Body by Bethenny workout DVD, was a "Housewife" on The Real Housewives of New York City , and starred on Skating with the Stars , Bethenny Getting Married? , and most recently, her new reality show, Bethenny Ever After . Ok, I have to admit I was not "impartial" in picking out this book, Bethenny Getting Married? was a Sunday morning guilty pleasure in my house for many weeks and I could barely contain my excitement for the Bethenny Getting Married? marathon (much to my husband's chagrin, I am sure). I love Bethenny. She is smart, independent, sassy an...

Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer I just completed Jonathan Safran Foer's most recent book 'Eating Animals'. (He is the author of 'Everything is Illuminated' and 'Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close' - both of which I highly recommend). First, I must give some context to this - I read the majority of it while waiting for my car to have it's Spring 'tune-up', sitting across from a man who may have been a farmer (I recognized seed company-emblazed "free merch.") and a woman who appeared to be mapping out her Easter dinner menu while talking to her Mom about details of her Guinea Hen recipe. Reading this book, I wondered if they thought I was a vegan, tree hugging, PETA-loving, Green Peace-supporting, hippie freak (none of those terms, by the way, I would be the least bit offended by). Part of me wanted to ask, the other part of me was too absorbed in the book and didn't want to broach the subject. On to the...