Embrace

Embrace A love for life

Life, that thing we are all meant to go through. Life, a joyful journey, it should be. Life, that is what it is all about...

Begin the day being the beauty that you can be

Editor's thoughts July, feeling warmness inside...

Summer breeze, warmer days, longer nights...​ Warmness, the key of everything. Warmness in our hearts, in our homes, in the way we interact with others, the way we say thank you to a stranger ​when opening the door for us. Doesn't it make you feel beautiful? Can you feel the beauty?

Do you feel beautiful now?​ You should, because beauty is in every single one of us, no matter if tall or short, big or small, old or young, rich or poor. If you can find warmness in your heart, you are beautiful.​ And, since you are beautiful, we love you.​

Be warm, be kind, find beauty inside.

Embrace.

Contents

21

Our passions this month...

Ikigai Find the reason to wake up every morning and follow your passion!

5

24 Soap Making Concha Buika Soul, wisdom, passion

10

Have fun being creative

29

33

Over 40 & Feeling Great!

Embrace Your Beauty

The Blue Zone Diet

Things We Love

19

Chie Mihara The shoemaker that you'll fall in love with this summer

And you'll love too!

How to live longer and healthier

34

Watermelon What is there not to love!​

Buika A soul of a singer

From humble beginnings to gaining international recognition. Those who have been to her concerts, claim it is a magical experience.

Born in Majorca and the daughter of a 'prince', she has now gained international recognition.

Abandoned by her father, at an early age, she learnt flamenco by hanging around with the gipsy kids living in the her deprived neighborhood. Concha Buika, the daughter of an Equatoguinean exiled, is a singer, poet, composer and music producer.

'I feel the warmer side of life when I sing.'

Buika, who has captivated audiences and critics alike around the world with her love songs, is rapidly being recognized as one of the most dynamic, individualistic performers in contemporary vocal jazz.

Blending jazz, funk, flamenco, gypsy rumba, Afro-Cuban rhythms, copla and new soul in a refined and deep way thanks to her origins extending to Africa, enriched with Spanish culture, Buika won her first Latin Grammy award for best traditional award for her 2009 collaboration with Chucho Valdés on “El Ultimo Trago.”

The winner of the Premio de la Música, Spain’s answer to the Grammies, for best produced album with her second album “Mi Niña Lola,” Buika’s latest release is “En Mi Piel,” an exhaustive two-disc compilation that showcased her breathtaking diversity and range, as well as her development as a total artist.

Those who have been to one of her concerts, claim it is a magical experience.

Buika; wise, passionate, different.

When Spanish singer Concha Buika sings, songs uncoil from her like smoke. Whether she sings jazz classics, Jacquel Brel, Chavella Vargas songs or her own songs, there is a warm intimacy in her husky and seductive voice that easily envelops listeners.

15 years after her debut, Mestizuo, a record with jazz classics she continues her musical journey of exploring beyond the ordinary with records that are imbued with diversity from flamenco, soul, jazz and pop music to Afro-beat, Cuban music, and tango.

At heart, she is a flamenco singer, temperamental and tender at the same time. At an early age she started as a flamenco singer but very soon she branched out to welcome all the music that excited her. As a result, the music she has made since on her records honor all of these musics.

Her albums such as Mi NiĂąa Lola, (DROAtlantic 2006) NiĂąa de Fuego (Casa Limon, 2008), La Noche Las Varga (Warner Music Spain, 2013), are a wonderful and diverse mixtures of covers and originals She is a libertine and her free-spirited attitude only adds to her appeal.

Last year she released Vivir Sin Miedo or "Living Without Fear," a response to the fear imbued world and which sends a powerful message with these songs. Buika is a one of a kind artist that never fits into any categorizations as she constantly searches ways to expand and enrich her music.

Embrace: What inspired you to be a singer? Were you a performer from an early age?

Buika: My first time on stage was when I was around 16, 17 years old. Definitely, it was something that highlighted my life. I was something of a terrible person. I was enfant terrible. I was a disaster of a person before music came to my life. Actually, the first instrument that I wanted to play was drums. I wanted to be a drummer, but circumstances in my life have brought me to sing.

It was so because music is the only world where we are not separated by ideas. Here we are completely equal. When I was a little girl there was a lot of segregation in my little village. Music was something that united everybody. That is why I feel the warmer side of life when I sing.

E: As someone who was born in Palma de Majorca to parents from Equatorial Guinea, what music influences did your family have on you at an early age?

B: My mama didn't make any difference between styles because she didn't understand and she didn't know the music from the world because she was from a very, very little town in Equatorial Guinea. She did not make a difference between heavy metal music from world music or classical music.

She was dancing to everything and she loved all music of the world. When she discovered Iron. So, in my house, my mama had a lot of albums from all kinds of genres -classical, flamenco, rock, funk, Jimi Hendrix, Michael Jackson. Everybody was there. We didn't have TV. We didn't even have windows sometimes because the glasses were broken.

We were seven kids, we had no money, but in my house music was playing 24/7, and that was something that I love. I appreciate that from my mama.

E: Was she the one who instilled that love for a diversity in music?

B: Yes, definitely. My mama taught me that music is the food for the soul. All the music in the world talks about the same feelings -our feelings. One can find the same information in a song in China that is about love and will discover that it's the same in a song in the US that speaks about love. That's the same information. People that need love and people that love someone.

E: How did you fall in love with flamenco music?

This music is so much part of your DNA. B: That was the music that I was listening when I was growing up. I was growing up very close to a flamenco neighborhood and I would spend all my afternoons there. All my neighbors were Gypsy people and that was the music I was listening to when I was a little girl. So, to me, flamenco music is the music that I growing up with. To me, it is something that sounds very familiar.

E: Do you think music, in general, can make a change in a society?

B: Definitely! That is the reason why music is going through hard times now. It is one of the weapons against the mental slavery and they know that. They need us to keep on thinking that guilt is good. That is no good. You don't need to feel guilty for anything. I don't believe in guilt. I believe in responsibility. I know how to make myself responsible for what I didn't do right. I make myself responsible for what I have fucked up. And I offered myself to rebuild the thing.But I'm not gonna recognize guilt because it is not good. Because guilt is a poison in your mind. It is a useless emotion. If you did something against me I want you to know that you have done me something wrong,

but I don't want you to be hurt. I don't want you to suffer. I love you and I don't want you to suffer. I just want to let you know that what you did hurts me.

E: How do you approach classic songs like "Ne Ne Quitte Pas" or flamenco classics or jazz classics? How do you interpret the songs you cover and give them your stamp?

B: Every time you get connected with a story, with a secret that is behind the lyrics of a song or behind the melody, you are connecting with your own story. Because there is a secret message in each song that is just for you. So, I really think that the songs choose you. And I do think that we share feelings. We are all connected and united by tears. We share feelings. When I'm here writing a song about an experience that I had, I'm writing something that you've been through to sometimes. So when you listen to that song you connect with your own story.

And if you have to talk about that song you are gonna talk about your feelings about your own story so all those songs are our history. When I have to sing I connect with my own history and what I sing is my own history. Maybe I'm singing the lyrics of "Ne Me Quitte Pas" but I'm singing my feelings and my memories.

Over 40 & Feeling Great.

Embrace Your Beauty.

Is fashion telling us we have to look young and beautiful? Does being beautiful mean looking younger? In an era where it seems you have to look younger and younger instead of your real age, we are going to focus on women who are 'real'. By 'real' meaning that you don't have to struggle to look the same as when you were in your twenties. Be confident and embrace your age and the beauty that comes with it.

Although, mentally, I do feel much younger than the age that is written in my birth certificate, I would not like to be 20 again. Even though I do 'feel' like twenty in my head- I personally think there is an imbalance between the aging of body & mind - I am also perfectly conscious that I don't look like when I was twenty anymore.

If I'm being truly honest with myself and you, reader, now that no one else is listening to it, I have to admit that I have a certain struggle between wanting to look younger and embracing my age as a natural process of life. I do like when people tell me: 'Oh, you look much younger than your age...' And, I have to admit, I get a bit upset when I don't get this reply. But, honestly, what is the point of looking much younger than your age? Does it mean that I'm 'buying' into what the fashion industry is telling us? 'Young' is beautiful.

Being young and beautiful is certainly a great thing; but we, FABsters, as Alyson Walsh calls us, can be over 40 and beautiful too. Focus on the experience you have acquired over the years, either professionally and also personally, the confidence you have that you did not have 20 years ago. Your body must be in a worse shape and your face more wrinkled, but there is a certain beauty about 'knowing' it and not really caring about it.

We need to remember that beauty comes in all 'sizes and ages'. Beauty does not come from the way you look in the outside, but from how you feel in the inside. Be confident, believe in yourself, your experience, your knowledge and your wisdom and it will be reflected in the glow of your skin and how others perceive you; a mature, engaging woman that know what she wants and what being beautiful means. Being beautiful means liking yourself and feeling comfortable with who you are, regardless of the age you have.

I'm addressing to all women, either young and not so young, to know that they are all beautiful. Always remember, as Christina Aguilera beautifully said in a song: 'you are beautiful, no matter what they say... you are beautiful, in every single way...' Remember, embrace your beauty and believe in yourself.

And beauty she will find...

The Alicante based foot wear designer creates covetable shoes that prove you do not have to sacrifice comfort for style.

CHIE MIHARA has the same obsession as most women: shoes - but for the Alicantebased designer the preoccupation doesn't end with the purchase of one pretty pair; it's a year-round dedication to the comfort, shape and colour of covetable foot furniture.

"Firstly I start with at least one month's research," Mihara says in her Alicante studio.

"Photographing, looking at books, museums, art galleries - then I sketch for maybe another month. When I have the designs we work on the last - the mould on which we make the shoe - then fit again and again making small changes to make sure the prototype is completely comfortable. Shoes don't have to hurt to look good it is possible to have both comfort and beauty. Then the design process really begins."​

Mihara was born in Brazil to Japanese parents but now speaks Spanish daily to her children and husband - and could engage you in Italian, French or English if required. She brings this international flavour to her range utilising traditional fabrics in vibrant colours for a unique look.​ Currently Mihara is working on the upcoming collection but spared the time to impart a little shoe-shopping wisdom: "Try them on in the store for at least five minutes, ideally ten. They should be comfortable for that short time, if not forget it."

"Only 40 per cent of your weight should be at the toe of your shoe, the rest should be at the heel. More than 40 per cent at the toe means that it is inevitable the shoe will hurt."

"In some shoes, even very expensive ones, you can see that the fit is so bad that the arch of the foot is not even touching the shoe - only the heel and the ​toe. A shoe like that is going to hurt - but women will still buy them if they love them!!"​ "Shoemaking is a heavy machine industry and as such is still run by men. They don't have to wear them which means that the shoes only have to look sexy no matter how they feel to wear."

The best heel factories in Elda near Alicante make shapes for several labels so they have to ensure exclusivity of their styles to prevent copying."

"For one style of shoe at least 10 heel moulds will have to be created; one for each size and a left and right of each. It means that this is one of the most expensive parts of the shoemaking process."

"In some shoes, even very expensive ones, you can see that the fit is so bad that the arch of the foot is not even touching the shoe - only the heel and the ​toe. A shoe like that is going to hurt - but women will still buy them if they love them!!"​

"Shoemaking is a heavy machine industry and as such is still run by men. They don't have to wear them which means that the shoes only have to look sexy no matter how they feel to wear."

"Because of the complexity and expense of the heel making process, large designer labels are very secretive and protective of new heel shapes.

"Many companies reuse popular heel shapes to save money as the mould-making is the real expense."

Books we are reading...

The people of Japan believe that everyone has an ikigai , a reason to jump out of bed each morning.

Inspiring and comforting, this book will give you the life-changing tools to uncover your personal ikigai. It will show you how to leave urgency behind, find your purpose, nurture friendships and throw yourself into your passions.

Bring meaning and joy to your every day with ikigai.

This breathtaking, inspiring little book teaches us how to find precious moments of silence, whether we are crossing the Antarctic, climbing Everest, or on the train at rush hour.

In this charming, quietly life-changing book, the author he takes us on a journey to unlock the power of silence. And he shows us how to find perfect silence in our daily lives, however busy we are.

'A bestseller on why finding inner silence is the key to happiness . . . bound to hit our sweet spot for wanting to unplug and disconnect from the world' Evening Standard

What if there were questions that could unlock your true potential? How would you feel if you were able to remove pain points from your past?

Imagine revealing the answers to what you can create.

Harvard Research states that in call centers demonstrated that employees who spent 15 minutes at the end of the day reflecting about lessons learned performed 23% better after 10 days than those who did not reflect.

Kindness - the little thing that matters most aims to motivate and inspire by showing readers what a difference even a small act of kindness can make.

It uses the voices of those who have been helped by the author’s charity – 52 Lives – to ground the ideas in real life action. This book is a call to action for people to live a more connected, fulfilling life. With inspirational quotes and personal stories this book will give you all the motivation you need to start spreading a little kindness – it’s free after all! Learn to live a life of kindness by following Jaime’s infectious positivity in this charming gift book.

Combining cutting-edge neuroscience with the latest discoveries on the human microbiome, a practical guide in the tradition of The Second Brain, and The Good Gut that conclusively demonstrates the inextricable, biological link between mind and the digestive system.

Dr. Emeran Mayer, professor of medicine and executive director of the UCLA Center for Neurobiology of Stress, offers a revolutionary and provocative look at this developing science, teaching us how to harness the power of the mind-gut connection to take charge of our health and listen to the innate wisdom of our bodies.

'Shona changed my perspective on yoga.

Working with her made my aches and pains after playing disappear. She is the best.' David Beckham Shona Vertue's 28-day reset plan will revolutionise the way you approach fitness. Her groundbreaking three-in-one method features a blend of resistance training with weights to build strength, yoga to aid flexibility and lengthen muscles, and a positive, mindful approach to exercise, combined with delicious, nourishing recipes. Get in the best shape of your life, both physically and mentally, and feel stronger, healthier and more flexible - in just 28 days.

Packed with easy-to-follow advice, the latest science and nourishing recipes and meal plans, Jeannette Hyde's radical new approach will help you: * Lose weight with a tried and tested 4week plan * Transform the look of your hair and skin * Address any longstanding digestive problems including IBS and bloating * Strengthen your immune system * Get a good night's sleep * Eat for a healthy mind and body with over fifty delicious recipes The Gut Makeover is based on revolutionary new science that reveals that the state of our gut is central to our weight and health. This is more than another fad diet. This is a lifestyle you'll want to adopt for life. The Gut Makeover is the only book you'll need to control your weight, improve your skin, lift your spirits and strengthen your immune system for good.

The Art of Soap Making

When I decided to learn how to make cold process soap it was a little overwhelming.

This is the perfect list of supplies for the beginner to get started making soap!

Ingredients: 40 oz. Clear Melt and Pour Soap Base 15 oz. White Melt and Pour Base Diluted Tropical Pink LabColour Diluted Tropical Orange LabColour Super Pearly White Mica 1.1 oz. Plumeria Fragrance Oil STEP ONE: Cut the melt and pour soap base into, approximately, 1 inch chunks. Keep the white soap base and clear soap base separate.

STEP TWO: Melt the clear soap base in the microwave on 30 second bursts, stirring between bursts, until the base has fully melted.

STEP THREE: Add 2 heaping mini scoops of Super Pearly White Mica to the melted soap and mix well. It helps to the soap base a nice shimmer, which adds dimension to the colors we’ll add later. Use Isopropyl Alcohol to disperse any mica clumps, they usually float to the top.

STEP FOUR: Add 0.8 oz Plumeria Fragrance Oil and stir until incorporated. Split the soap base into two equal parts, each weighing 20 ounces.

STEP FIVE: To one 20 ounce portion, add 3 mL Diluted Tropical Pink LabColor and mix well. To the second 20 ounce portion, add 5 mL Diluted Tropical Orange LabColor and mix well.

STEP SIX: For a super even look, I measured out the soap amounts for each layer. If you’d like a more uniform look, split the Orange and Pink colored soap bases into two portions, each weighing 10 ounces. For a more organic look, no need to split the batches, just eyeball the layers.

STEP SEVEN: Pour the first layer of Pink soap base into the mold, spray with alcohol to pop any bubbles on the surface, and allow to harden.

STEP EIGHT: Check the temperature of the orange soap.

Pour the first layer of orange soap.

Spray again with alcohol to pop those bubbles and allow to harden.

Allow yourself to be creative...

We love to create. We believe that being creative helps you to be fulfilled and lead a more content, rewarding life. Get creative, experiment and makes soaps as beautiful as these ones!

RECIPE FOR ROSE OIL USING DRIED ROSE: Things you need

â?– Handful dried rose petals â?– 1 cup olive oil

BENEFITS OF ROSE OIL Rose oil has anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-inflammatory properties which helps to prevent acne and fade scars. It helps to even out skin tone. Use rose oil as a facial oil before bedtime and let it work its magic all night, to wake up to smoother, glowing skin. Add a drop to your moisturizer to fight acne and prevent ageing.

Rose oil helps to prevent frizz, makes hair soft and shiny. It also promotes healthy hair growth. Use rose oil as a hair serum, take a few drops on the palm and apply it on towel dried hair. Add a few drops in your shampoo or conditioner. This oil can also be used as a night-time facial oil to keep skin clear and glowing. You can also add in a few drops of rose essential oil for added fragrance and benefits.

Healing Stones A quick and easy way to find the meaning of each stone.

The Blue Zone Diet

A distinct version of the Mediterranean diet is followed on the Blue Zone island of Ikaria, Greece. It emphasizes olive oil, vegetables, beans, fruit, moderate amounts of alcohol and low quantities of meat and dairy products.

Longevity Diet Tips From The Blue Zones The people who live in the Blue Zones — five regions in Europe, Latin America, Asia and the U.S. researchers have identified as having the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world — move their bodies a lot. They have social circles that reinforce healthy behaviors. They take time to de-stress. They're part of communities, often religious ones. And they're committed to their families.

Which ones are the Blue Zone regions?

Ikaria, Greece; Okinawa, Japan; Ogliastra Region, Sardinia; Loma Linda,

Calif.: and Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica.

Why should we pay attention to what the people in the relatively isolated Blue Zone communities eat?

Because their more traditional diets harken back to an era before we were inundated with greasy fast food and sugar. And to qualify as a Blue Zone, these communities also have to be largely free of afflictions like heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes. So clearly they're doing something right.

The Blue Zones share when it comes to

their diet, here is a taste: •Stop eating when your stomach is 80 percent full to avoid weight gain.

•Eat the smallest meal of the day in the late afternoon or evening.

•Eat mostly plants, especially beans.

And eat meat rarely, in small portions of 3 to 4 ounces. Blue Zones eat portions this size just five times a month, on average.

•Drink alcohol moderately and regularly, i.e. 1-2 glasses a day.

Ikaria, Greece "The Island Where People Forget To Die." As we have previously mentioned, health researchers have long praised the Mediterranean diet for promoting brain and physical health and keeping chronic diseases at bay.

So what makes the diet of the people on Ikaria, a small island in the Aegean Sea, so special?

Their tradition of preparing the right foods, in the right way, has a lot to do with the island's longevity. And what sets it apart from other places in the region is its emphasis on potatoes, goat's milk, honey, legumes (especially garbanzo beans, blackeyed peas, and lentils), wild greens, some fruit and relatively small amounts of fish.

Ikaria has a few more top longevity foods: feta cheese, lemons and herbs like sage and marjoram that Ikarians use in their daily tea. What's missing that we usually associate with Greece? Lamb. The Ikarians do eat some goat meat, but not often.

Okinawa, Japan The islands of Okinawa are a kind of "Japanese Hawaii" for their laid-back vibe, beaches and fabulous weather.

Okinawa also happens to have one of the highest centenarian ratios in the world: About 6.5 in 10,000 people live to 100.

Centenarians on Okinawa have lived through a lot of upheaval, so their dietary stories are more complicated than some of the other Blue Zones. After 1949, Okinawans began eating fewer healthful staples like seaweed, turmeric and sweet potato and more rice, milk and meat.

So what are those ancient Sardinian shepherds eating?

You guessed it: goat's milk and sheep's cheese — some 15 pounds of cheese per year, on average. Also, a moderate amount of carbs to go with it, like flat bread, sourdough bread and barley.

And to balance those two food groups out, Sardinian centenarians also eat plenty of fennel, fava beans, chickpeas, tomatoes, almonds, milk thistle tea and wine from Grenache grapes.

Still, Okinawans have nurtured the practice of eating something from the land and the sea every day. Among their "top longevity foods" are bitter melons, tofu, garlic, brown rice, green tea and shitake mushrooms.

Sardinia, Italy On this beautiful island in the middle of the Mediterranean, the ratio of centenarian men to women is one to one. That's quite unusual, because in the rest of the world, it's five women to every one man who live that long.

Loma Linda, Calif.

There is a Blue Zone community in the U.S. Its members are Seventh-day Adventists who shun smoking, drinking and dancing and avoid television, movies and other media distractions.

The Sardinians explain their exceptional longevity with their assets such as clean air, locally produced wine, or because they make love every Sunday. But researchers found that pastoralism, or shepherding livestock from the mountains to the plains, was most highly correlated with reaching 100.

They also follow a "biblical" diet focused on grains, fruits, nuts and vegetables, and drink only water. (Some of them eat small amounts of meat and fish.) Sugar is taboo, too. As one Loma Linda centenarian tells: "I'm very much against sugar except natural sources like fruit, dates or figs."

Nicoya Peninsula, a paradisiacal island in Costa Rica.

I never eat refined sugar or drink sodas."​ Gary Fraser, a cardiologist and epidemiologist at Loma Linda University and an Adventist himself, has found in studies that Adventists who follow the religion's teachings lived about 10 years longer than people who didn't. Another key insight? Pesco-vegetarians in the community, who ate a plant-based diet with up to one serving of fish a day, lived longer than vegan Adventists.

Their top foods include avocados, salmon, nuts, beans, oatmeal, whole wheat bread and soy milk.

Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica We'd love to be invited for dinner by a centenarian here. One typical delicioussounding meal can consist of rice and beans, garnished with cheese and cilantro, on corn tortillas, with an egg on top.

The big secret of the Nicoyan diet is the 'three sisters' of Meso-American agriculture: beans, corn and squash.

Those three staples, plus papayas, yams, bananas and peach palms (a small Central American oval fruit high in vitamins A and C), are what fuel the region's elders over the century.

It is maybe not easy to emulate the eating habits of the Blue Zone when you are being tempted by greasy take away or ready meal food on your way back home from a tiring working day.

Although, there is one clear thing we can learn from the Blue Zone diet, pay attention to what you eat, lead a healthy, balance diet and, maybe, one a year, try to head to one of the destinations comprised in the Blue Zone.

It may not help to keep you healthy, but it is sure it will help you to relax for a while. Enjoy!

Things We Love

We love this hand painted customised Earth Globes Perfect as a Wedding Guestbook or to give as an original, enchanting present.

ND there is a slice for everyone!

Watermelon, a classic on one of those long, lazy summer days... When time seems to stops and you grab life with one hand and a slice of watermelon with the other. Breath, laugh, love with contentment, look around you and be grateful for the joyfulness that, by chance, you may find in life. Remember, life is here to live it!

Dare to be yourself...

Embrace the power of the Universe