Untours

Do you want to live like a local when you travel? Do you like to become, albeit temporarily, part of the neighborhood; meeting the locals, shopping in the local shops, getting the off-the-beaten path? Of course you do. Nowadays you can do this lots ways: house-swap, couch-surf, self-cater, or hostel like they did in the old days. Travel Company, Untours offers a hybrid of many of these. A bit of independence combined with a bit of support. I've been getting their catalog for years now without ever trying them. They have great looking properties across Europe and a couple in the Americas. Bit pricey, but worth a look. If any of you have tried one, let us know.

Thrive - The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life

People adopt vegetarian or vegan diets for a wide number of reasons. For athlete Brendan Brazier, a plant based diet provided him with the competitive edge he was looking for as a professional Ironman athlete. After developing and applying what he termed the Thrive diet Brazier found that his post workout recovery time decreased and his energy level, strength-to-weight ratio and endurance shot up.

Thrive steps you through the components of Brazier's diet and the benefits of exercise and eating a clean, vegan diet. Though I expect few of us will find the time to exercise 30 - 40 hours per week, nor compete at his level, there's plenty of great information for anyone wanting to improve their day to day fitness and well being whether they are an athlete or not.

Included is a 12 week meal plan and a huge selection of recipes. I'm looking forward to trying the energy bars and smoothies. Should I somehow become an Ironman as a result of reading the book, I'll be sure to pass that along.

Snap Shot Postcard

Here's a cool app I tried out over the holidays called 'Snapshot Postcard.' The app lets you use the photos in your iPhone photo library to create a postcard for friends and family. Very quick, very handy. You take your picture, type in your message and address, and they do the stamping and sending. I shot a pic of the boys sledding out in the wilds of Illinois and sent it without even going in the house. Can't beat that. It's a free app, and your first postcard is free of charge.

Below is quick YouTube video someone recorded showing how to do it.