Excerpt of the Day: "Seal It with a Kiss" by Violet Blue

Get your kiss on with Violet Blue's Seal It with a Kiss, a guide to all the different ways to kiss and the varieties of techniques to perfect your very own style. No matter if you're a novice kisser or a kissing bandit, discover all the dos and don'ts in this adorable little volume devoted to making out.

Have a look:

Chapter 1

The Secret Society of Kissing Artist

The average woman spends two weeks of her life kissing—but what girl wants to be average? Two weeks of smooches just won’t do—especially when you want to be the kind of kisser who has them coming back for seconds. And thirds. Maybe an all-you-can-kiss make-out buffet. With the secrets, tips, techniques, and detailed steps to becoming a master kisser in this book, you’ll be more than the average player: you’ll be at the top of the kissing game.

Kissing is one of the most sensual of all the acts of flirting, foreplay, seduction, and sex we can enjoy. In a kiss, you use all of your senses—and his too. You feel a kiss with your body, your heart, and your mind. You can communicate desire, urgency, caring—anything you want, because what you’re feeling when you kiss someone can be channeled right through you like an electric charge. The greatest kissers know a variety of techniques that can be applied to a range of situations, tricks to make their kisses unforgettable, strategies to seduce even the shyest pair of lips, and how to jump-start that erotic spark with a first (or second, or third) kiss.

The sensual kisser has a lot more going on than a pair of kissable lips—though I’ll tell you all about making your lips silky smooth and utterly irresistible in a bit. A truly sensual kisser is a girl who feels confident and sexy from within, no matter whether she happens to think she looks “perfect” at the moment, and a great kisser stays in touch with all of her senses—before kissing even begins. It’s like flipping a light switch: when you know a kiss is about to happen, all of your senses sharpen. And once the kiss starts, everything goes into overdrive as you drink in the taste, the smell, the touch, the sound, the feelings. And the person on the receiving end is hooked.

What’s in a Kiss?

Kissing is a single act that can convey a wide variety of intentions. For instance, one type of kiss, a light, affectionate peck, is a message of tenderness—it can be nonsexual, or a loving reminder. On the other hand, a first romantic kiss, built up to with nervousness and desire, might begin with the softest touch and pull you together like a red-hot magnet. A kiss between lovers is the spark that ignites passions into a blazing fire that may consume you both in a delicious makeout session. This kind of kiss can be more powerful than the need to eat when you’re famished. Sometimes the prelude to a kiss is the best part; other times it’s only a teasing, playful beginning.

One kiss can change everything. It can make friends into so much more. A kiss is the moment when sex and science meet, when we know whether our chemistry matches our desire. A casual encounter might turn into a pivotal, life-changing moment, after which ordinary everyday situations with your friend become lustful encounters. Often, when we kiss someone for the first time, we know instantly whether or not we click with them sexually.

Kissing is also really good for you and good for everyone around you. The act of kissing makes you feel emotionally ecstatic—it stimulates the release of endorphins, natural opiates similar to the delirious rush we feel while running and when we fall in love. Prolonged sensual kissing releases the arousal hormone oxytocin, essential for orgasm. And it’s good for our teeth, because the increased flow of saliva washes our teeth in a plaque-dispersing bath. Now, doesn’t that sound sexy?

Most of all, kissing is fun. Welcome to the world of kissing bandits and superkissers, where you’ll learn how to cast an unforgettable, seductive spell with your lips. You’ll join the legions of women who can melt a man like butter with a kiss, are always the first ones picked for the kissing booth, and can easily become rulers of small countries with their ability to deliver the perfect kiss anywhere, anytime. The tips in this guide will make your past experiences with kissing seem like amateur night, and already-great kissers will find more secret kissing weapons, tips, and tricks to fortify their arsenal of techniques. Here you’ll discover can’t-fail techniques for ramping up your sensuality, the keys to perfect first kisses, the fine points of timing a kiss, oodles of techniques and surprises, and how to make an innocent kiss turn into a lustful session of tonsil hockey.

You don’t need to be a man-eater or a villainous vixen to deliver the most wicked smooches—though all skill levels are encouraged to apply. Perhaps you’re tired of being a one-date wonder or feel that you’ve missed far too many kissing opportunities. Or maybe you’re a would-be kissing virtuoso, coiled up and ready to spring. Maybe you’d just like to know when and where different types of kisses are appropriate, how to be a better kisser, how to become a more magnetic kisser, or you want to learn new kissing techniques to make your sweetie give you—and your kissable lips—a double-take. This guide gives you concrete tools to nurture your kissing prowess, useful for a lifetime of being a first-rate, unforgettable kisser.

Excerpt of the Day: "Help! My Baby Came Without Instructions" by Blythe Lipman

Make no mistake, babies are precious.  With their cute little noses, teeny tiny toes, eyes full of wonder, and infectious giggles, these little bundles can bring you hours of joy and entertainment.  But for a new parent, bringing home a baby can be the scariest day of his or her life.

It doesn’t have to be. 

Help! My Baby Came Without Instructions is a truly useful how-to that will have nervous new moms and sleep-deprived dads feeling confident about their parenting skills.  Blythe Lipman has devoted her life to the gentle art of infant care and offers wise and witty practical advice in this parent-tested, expert-approved book.  Rest easy, new parents, help is here.

Take a look:

Slip and Slide

The safe, fun way to bathe your baby

Bathing can be very scary for your new baby. Once the water hits her little body, it is a whole new experience of slipping, sliding, and squirming. Here are a few tips to make Bath Time 101 a bit easier.

-Before you fill up any kind of tub, have the baby’s towel (and all other supplies you might need) next to the tub.

-Fill the tub or sink with enough water to cover the baby’s tummy. Before you put your baby in the water, test the water temperature with your elbow. It should be warm to the touch.

-Make sure all the windows are closed and fans are turned off. The room should be free of drafts.

-Take the baby’s diaper off last. Naked babies (as you will learn probably sooner than later) go to the bathroom anyplace. Don’t be alarmed if she goes in the bath. This is very natural but sometimes frustrating when you have to start all over.

-Wash from the bottom of the toes up to the head. Some babies don’t like having their hair washed. Starting with tears is not fun.

-Buy Summer Comfy Baby’s Safety Foam Bath Sponge, by Summer Infant, a rectangular sponge with indentations that look like the baby’s body. This sponge will fit in the bathtub or a large sink. Fill the tub or sink with enough water to cover three-fourths of the sponge. Put the baby on her back so you have both hands free to soap, wash, and play. You can find this sponge at Babies “R” Us, Target, and Walmart, as well as online.

-Use a small plastic baby tub that will fit into your large tub. They make these tubs with fabric attached to the top (like a hammock), extending from top to bottom on a slant. The baby’s bottom is submerged in the water and the rest of her body is partially covered. You still need to support the baby with one hand, but you don’t have to worry that her head will go under the water.

-Or put a large towel in the bottom of the sink and fill it with a few inches of water. While you support the baby’s head and body with your hand, the towel will prevent her from sliding.

-When the baby can sit up, purchase a plastic bath chair. This seat attaches to the bottom of the tub with suction cups.

-When washing the baby’s hair, hold a washcloth in front of her eyes while you rinse, to keep them dry and shampoo-free. Gently tilt the baby’s head back and rinse using a plastic cup filled with warm water.

-There’s even a product that looks like a circle of soft plastic, almost like a sun visor, that attaches around the back of the baby’s head with Velcro. This hat fits on top of the baby’s head so you can pour water to rinse the shampoo away without it getting into her eyes.

-Picking baby shampoos or bath products is personal. Some contain aloe, lavender, roses, and conditioner together with shampoo, baby wash to relax the baby, and so on. Try them all until you find one that you and she like.

-Bubble bath sometimes irritates the baby’s skin. As an alternative, if you want to make bubbles, pour a small capful of shampoo under the running water.

-The bathtub is a great place to blow bubbles with a wand, for the baby to play with.

-Take the baby out and put her onto a big towel, wrap her up, and give her a kiss.

-If you use powder, pour it into your hand first, then rub it on the baby. Never shake it directly on her body, as it could get into her eyes, nose, mouth, and lungs.

-Don’t forget to have fun washing, singing, and playing. There is nothing cuter than a squeaky-clean baby to make you smile.

Excerpt of the Day: "Lemons and Lavender" by Billee Sharp

Looking to save money and remain eco-friendly?  Meet Billee Sharp and her fabulous book Lemons and Lavender!  Packed with tips, recipes, and advice, this handy how-to will help you save the planet and your pocketbook.

Interested?  Here’s a peek of what’s inside:

Most of us are searching for the good life. What constitutes a “good life” is obviously subjective, but our quest to find happiness directs each of our lives in unexpected ways. When I think of personal happiness, security and fulfillment immediately come to mind. We all want the means to realize our hearts’ desires, but it is perhaps these desires that need to be reexamined. As a society, we’ve recently learned the hard way that we often want more than we can afford: our overextended credit system and failed subprime mortgage market have led our economy to a near collapse.

Twenty-first-century life affords us a unique perspective on the world we live in. We are hyperconnected to the rest of the globe, and we are all too aware of the ecological and economic crises that beset contemporary life. We can see that our daily actions have very real repercussions, and what we do as individuals shapes our world both literally and figuratively. We now have an opportunity to take our vision for humanity more seriously.

Slowly, we are acknowledging that the earth does not have the capacity to meet our unrepressed appetites, and that to end the destruction of our environment and the suffering of millions, we have to want less individually. 

Our emotional well-being is connected to how much money we have; while it is wretched and distracting not to have enough money to pay the bills, there are also pressures and worries that come with having plenty.

As Duane Elgin notes in his book Promise Ahead,

For many, the American Dream has become the soul’s nightmare.

Often, the price of affluence is inner alienation and emptiness. Not

surprisingly, polls show that a growing number of Americans are

seeking lives of greater simplicity as a way to rediscover the life of

the soul.

How do we adapt our life expectations accordingly? For me, the desirability of a $7,000 designer handbag evaporates when compared to the number of people that sum could feed. The carbon offsetting system—where individuals calculate their carbon expenditure and try to lower their carbon footprint—is an initiative that shows how seriously we take our situation.  Likewise, the growing support for fair-traded goods in commercial markets is evidence that mainstream society is beginning to show more compassion for the people who make and grow our food.

Quite literally, how we see the world has changed. In 1966, with the question “Why haven’t we seen a photograph of the whole earth yet?” Stewart Brand initiated a public campaign for NASA to release the satellite image of our planet from outer space. His argument was that the image would be a powerful symbol for humanity, and he was right. Our visualization of the world was changed with our access to this image, and this parallels the dramatic reconfigurations that have transformed Western society. We now have legislation that prohibits discrimination based on color, gender, and religion. Popular opinion and our evolving global consciousness give us hope that humankind can peacefully coexist with one another and with the earth.