FROM THE INSIDE

* Drink 7 to 9 8-ounce glasses of purified water daily
* Drink 4-6 cups daily LIFE FORCE TEA or take 4-8 droppers daily of LIFE FORCE TINCTURE to cleanse and nourish the blood and liver and aid digestion
* Use ELIMINATION BLEND DRINK POWDER 1-2 times daily for lower digestive cleansing

FROM THE OUTSIDE

* Dry brush skin daily, all over in a circular motion, using a natural bristle brush on dry skin, before bath or shower.
* After bath or shower, massage SLIMMING & TONING FRICTION over the body to detox, stimulate lymphatic drainage and help reduce edema and cellulite.

Vicki Bedell, owner of Essential Restoratives, is an aromatherapist and herbalist in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She is an instructor at the Massage Therapy Institute of Cape Cod, where she also teaches Herbal Medicine and Aromatherapy. To order Vicki's spring cleaning products, visit her Web site, call toll free at (800) 893-6008 or send her an email!

Essential Wholesale: pure essential oils, base carrier oils such as avocado, sweet almond, jojoba and shea butter and specialty packaging supplies!

Bramble Berry, Inc.: over 75 different fragrance oils (including their exclusive "Relaxing" and "Rosehip Jasmine"), all soap tested, soap molds and unscented soap bases!

SunRose Aromatics: pure essential oils (many organic), carrier oils and other aromatherapy products, each carefully selected for quality. Check out their new Perfumer's Emporium.

The Scent Shack: fragrance oils and soap supplies. Fragrance oils are tested in cold process, melt & pour soap, and candles, and test results are listed at their Web site. Scents tested by soapers for soapers!

Coming soon!! A Canadian partner for our users north of the border!!

Last Week's Question: I am a living museum where trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes. I'm the home of the National Herb Garden and photographers come from all over the world to take pictures at my world famous Columns. This month, I am alive with daffodils, flowering cherry trees and magnolias. What am I?

Last Week's Answer: The United States National Arboretum. O! What a lovely place! The National Herb Garden, a beautiful rose garden, a bonsai display, a beautiful lake to have lunch with the ducks and so much more! I took my little Vanessa Grace there this past Saturday to sit among the herbs for an hour. I ran my hand along the rosemary bushes and wafted it in front of her nose so she could have a whiff. What fun it was to see her little nostrils flare ... a little aromatherapist in the making!! if you ever have a chance to visit the Arboretum, you would love it! Visit their Web site for more details. Don't miss their spring and summer Full Moon Hikes where you can enjoy the moonlit gardens and collections by the light of the full moon! Extra-ordinary indeed!!

This Week's Question: A 19th century French physician coined the a term referring to the benefits of the sea. He advised his patients to get plenty of exposure to sea air and salt water to maintain good health. To win this week, be the first to provide the name of the physician as well as the term he coined and win a generous sample of shea butter courtesy of HBN member BioChemica!

Please read the contest rules here before submitting your entry. Put "TRIVIA CONTEST ANSWER" in the subject line or your answer will not be considered.

While time does not permit me to respond personally to all entrants, the winner will be notified by email and their name posted at HBN's home page.

16 oz. | $19.95
8 oz. | 10.95 (also available in 1.5 oz. trial size envelope)

There is something remarkably unmistakable about the aromatherapy blends used by Essential Restoratives in many of their products. I think it may be the addition of sage essential oil to a lot of their combinations. To me, sage is pungent and overpowering when not used sparingly and with complementary essential oils. But I didn't have to worry about either of those problems with Deeply Heaven Cape Cod Bath Salts by Essential Restoratives. I had the 16 ounce jar and I just dumped the whole thing in my tub for my Sunday night bath last week. (My tub is pretty large.) It was fantastic! It scented my whole bathing area and the bedroom and left my skin feeling smooth. The salts Essential Restoratives uses are from the Atlantic Ocean ... perfect since they are located in Cape Cod where those salts are all around!

But it's the aromatherapy blend that I think makes these salts extra special. A combination of  of ylang ylang, sage, rosemary and rose, along with a touch of vanilla ... it's just, well, like the name says ... deeply heaven! And the sage is what I think makes it uniquely Essential Restoratives. You know how you can walk past a particular beauty products store, and even though you don't see it with your eyes, you know it's there because you notice the aroma? Stores like this that come to mind include Victoria's Secret and Aveda. Well, when I smell an Essential Restoratives product, I get that feeling ... like you could blindfold me and put it under my nose and I'd immediately know it was theirs. That's a great way to brand your products with people's noses ... Coca Cola and Pepsi have taste tests while we in the beauty industry can have sniff tests!

Anyway, I digress. These salts are fantastic and if you'd like what I consider to be a fine way to incorporate the Native American sage herb and essential oil into your day, Deeply Heaven Cape Cod Bath Salts by Essential Restoratives is a great place to start.

My series of articles on "Saving Your Business Before It Starts" continues! (Thanks for your patience over the past few weeks.) If you missed the prior articles in the series, you'll want to go back and make sure you get them:

Question No. 1: Do I Have Enough Money?
Question No. 2: Do I Have Enough Stamina?
Question No. 3: Do I Have Enough Emotional Support?
Question No. 4: Do I Have A Business Plan?

This weeks' question is Do I Think Big Enough??!! ... and the answer will make a big difference not only in your business, but also in your life! In business as in life, we start with nothing. As we grow from children into adults, and as we grow our businesses from conception to reality, one thing remains constant: all achievement in business, no matter how big or how small, starts with a single idea. But after you have the idea, you cannot stop there. You have to water it as you would a plant so it can mature into something worthwhile.

When you start a plant from seed, you don't want it to remain a seed do you? Of course not! You want it to grow into a lovely plant. You have a vision for your seed when you plant it. Perhaps you want it to have blooms if it is a bloomer, or if it is not a plant that blooms, you will want the leaves to be full, colorful and vibrant, right? Either way, it all starts with the idea you have in your head of what you want your plant to look like. The more beautiful you want your plant to be the more you will take care of it. And so it is with business. If you think your business will blossom and flourish beyond anything you could ask or think, and you maintain a positive attitude, it will happen for you. If, on the other hand, you treat your business with a sort of "if it works, great, but if it doesn't work, I can always go back to my full time job" attitude, guess what? You'll probably end up back at your full time job. So think BIG and don't even be limited by your thoughts! Imagine your business growing to exactly where you want it to be and begin acting and thinking like you are already there. Once you act the part, it's only a matter of time before it's reality.

1. Don't Let The Turkeys Deter You. Ignore people who spend their days telling other people (and you) why they can't do such and such. It's true that misery does love company. There are some people in my life who seem to only want to be around me when I have a problem. It always seems that they relish the chance to hear about someone else's problem so theirs doesn't seem so bad. Those people are nowhere to be found once my problem is solved though! I make it a point to avoid those types of people now because they weigh me down. Both personally and professionally, they are like a noose around my neck constantly seeking to drag me down with them. Don't share your business challenges with such people because they will only help you dwell on the problem when you should be focusing on getting around the problem. Is your business facing an obstacle right now? If so, ask yourself: am I focusing on the obstacle or am I focusing on how I can put the obstacle behind me? If you are focusing on the former, change your mindset to the latter ... and get rid of all the people in your life who would prefer to see you stuck with your problem rather than helping you figure out a way around it.

2. Picture Yourself Where You Want To Be. When I was young(er!), my mother always told me to emulate the person in the office whose job I wanted. Obviously, this is not appropriate for everyone since I noticed quickly after entering corporate America that, even though I wanted to attain a certain position in the company, I did not want to act like the people who held those positions at that time! But anyway, you get the point. Whatever it is you want to be, wherever it is you want to be and whomever you want to be ... start looking and acting the part now and there's no reason why you can't attain your goals. What if Oprah Winfrey had pictured herself where she was in 1980 instead of where she wanted to be? Well, she would probably still be where she was in 1980. But look!! She's not only where she wanted to be, but she has surpassed that!! Within all of us is the potential to do the same thing. Picture yourself where you want to be and you'll find yourself taking the steps to get yourself there. Not only that, you'll find that the people you need to believe in your will also fall in line. And before you know it, there you'll be ... where you want to be!

3. Employ The Art Of Positive Self-Talk. You may have all kinds of reasons why you think you can't make it to where you want to be in business. Perhaps you think the market you are in is already flooded. Or maybe you think you don't look a certain way or have a certain amount of education. Well, maybe you do and maybe you don't. But one thing is certain: if you think you can't achieve your goal, you won't achieve your goal. Is that motivation enough for you to begin to think positively about your chances? Sometimes I put motivational notes on my bathroom mirror and around my office where I can see them throughout the day. When I see them, I repeat them to myself and they become a part of who I am. When you think positive thoughts, you feel more positive. And when you feel positive, there's nothing you can't accomplish. A few of my favorite motivational notes:

Visit our suite of Web sites serving the handmade toiletries industry:

HandmadeBeauty.com: the leading industry trade organization
MangoButter.com: over 400 suppliers of raw materials and packaging, updated weekly!
MakeYourCosmetics.com: ingredient encyclopedia & original cosmetics recipes
DonnaMaria.com: sound advice for your small business, Create The Life You Love™ Lectures & Workshops
Handmade Skin Care.com: secure online shopping for HBN member products!