This New Years Eve I'm posting my absolute favorite "hot chocolate recipe" by "Nigella Lawson." This gorgeous woman makes eating chocolate look fabulous, and this rich naughty adult version of a the traditional winter drink is a wonderful recipe to serve your guests (or yourself) during the holiday season.
This special drink would be a wonderful "couples drink" for a cozy New Years Eve at home. You can find more of Nigella Lawson's holiday tips on Oprah.com.
Oprah Winfrey's "Christmas At The White House" special aired last night. I found a segment of the special on You Tube.
I enjoyed finding out about how the White House is decorated and it's amazing the amount of volunteers it takes to decorate the official White House Christmas tree.
Animal lovers will enjoy seeing First Lady Michelle Obama with the family dog Beau.
Today on the Oprah Winfrey Show top designer Nate Berkus performed an amazing home makeover. The Hale-Jo family was chosen based on their touching story. Kari and Dave Hale had one son, toddler Ty, when they made the decision to take in their three neices.
Jade 11, Izzy 10, and Lily 8, were not going to school regularily, were not bathing or eating properly, and were often sick. Kari talked to her brother and he decided to let his three girls go to live with her and her husband.
When Kari and Dave Hale bought their 1960's tract home they planned to redo it from top to bottom. But after their neices moved in, the children became the couples top priority.
Nate Berkus interviewed the children to get a good idea of what their perfect bedrooms would look like, he did a fantastic job of capturing the family's spirit and even included a wonderful backyard playroom house for the four children.
As a special surprise Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens sent a video to the kids as well as some original "High School Musical" memorabilia from the movie including Vanessa Hudgens dress and Ashley Tisdale's robe. Needless to say the kids were excited!
You can view the before and after pictures and videos on Oprah.com.
Green Works supplied all of the home's kid friendly cleaning products to get it sparkling clean and the Pottery Barn added special touches throughout the home.
Here's Nate Berkus talking about his role as host of the reality show "Oprah's Big Give:"
Oprah Winfrey's Thursday June 12, 2009 show was on the subject of "What can you live without?" After watching several of these what can you live without shows I'm beginning to look at my own life differently. I've decluttered my house, I'm wasting less food, and I'm recycling more.
Oprah's "what can you live without challenges" are interesting to watch. It's almost unbelievable how addicted the average family's kids are to cell phones, TV, video games, and the Internet. It makes you stop and think about how much time you spend together as a family doing something other than watching TV.
As well doing shows on the topic of "living with less" and "frugal living" Oprah has also been focusing on topics that affect the environment. Oprah's "Earth Day" show was especially eye opening and taught viewers about the hazard of using plastic bags when she showed her audience the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch."
Oprah is not only trying to convince families that they can live well with less she is also making her own changes to help the environment as well. After realizing that Harpo Studios was spending a whopping 41,000 a year on disposable coffee cups for employees Oprah banned coffee cups for all full time employees, check out the video clip: