My GREEN Life & Real Estate

I want to introduce you to my friend & fellow blogger, Lisa, of ElevatedEats.com .  Lisa is certified as a Nutrition Educator and is based in San Francisco, where she also offers cooking classes.  I consider her to be a great resource on healthy living - she has this ability to put things into very clear & simple terms.   With her permission today, I wanted to share one of her posts on processed foods/additives.  To read more of her, and to see what she's  cooking in HER kitchen these days, please visit her website,  ElevatedEats.com . Simple Truths About Processed Food MARCH 14, 2013  BY  LISATONUCCI   People generally know that whole foods are good for you and processed foods aren’t but I don’t think most know exactly  why  processed food is such garbage.  Here are a few of the many undesirable items you’re ingesting when you eat those convenient, attractively packaged items lining the grocery store shelves: Preservatives  such as  sodium benzoate ,  sodi

It's official.  I've just become the newest member of the Green  RE source Council and was awarded the National Association of Realtor's GREEN Designation!  There are only 35 other Realtors in the entire state of Connecticut who currently hold this special designation. It only took 18 hours of classes and a bunch of exams, but it's done.  Now I get to use this groovy logo: Please help me decide how to celebrate by voting in the comments section. A.  Plant a tree. B.  Try a new bottle of organic wine C.  Dinner at Six Main Vegetarian Restaurant in Chester, CT D.  All of the above! 

I get A LOT of questions about our Solar PV system, and even more since we added a Solar Hot Water System.  The question I keep hearing lately is, "Does it make financial sense or is it just to feel good about clean energy?"  My answer is both.  We're in it for the long term, looking at the big picture. We have no plans to move and we're looking to reduce our costs of living as we get older. Our house will be paid off in 9 years, our electricity bill is at a set price for the next 12 years then drops significantly after that, and in 7 years we break even with our solar hot water system.  All of that just at the right time because we'll have two children in college.  The cost of our 40 photovolatic panel system back in 2010 was high.  Thank goodness for all the grants and the CT Clean Energy Fund - we wouldn't have been able to afford the system without them - in fact, we did it with almost zero upfront out of pocket expenses!  The monthly electric cost for o

This past week I've had International real estate on my mind.  I think the trigger was the dental hygienist who cleaned my teeth while we chatted about how she lives in Switzerland 6 months of the year, and the differences between Swiss German and High German.  Seriously, I could have talked to her ALL day.  I almost invited her to lunch afterwards... that wouldn't be weird, would it? Instead, I worked on a page for my main real estate website, www.lynnminnick.com  on what I think might be... A few helpful resources for those considering an International Move... Prudential Relocation  is our company site with links to information like the Department of Motor Vehicles, Education & Tourism.  It offers a menu of all of our relocation services. Shanghai - photo credit Scott Minnick Brookfield Global Relocation Services  owns our Prudential Relocation Services and has a website devoted to Global Relocation Services with areas such as "knowledge cente