Archives for 2016

Friends Who Juice: Wicked Creative’s Lauren Cahlan

December 5, 2016 By Jen Chase

Look at her. Seriously: Just look at.those.photos. Now go back and look at ’em again and realize that Mrs. Lauren Cahlan is every bit golden on the inside as her flaxen hair reveals, with plenty of smarts to support her sexy, and humor to balance it all beeautifully.

As she describes in this first-person narrative that ran in the Las Vegas Review-Journal this summer, growing up in Oklahoma at the heels of her pageant-winning mother, Little Lauren aspired to follow in mum’s heels. It was a dream realized, earned and appreciated in 2016, when she was crowned Mrs. Nevada-America…but this bee’s so much more than what you see. A wholehearted marriage, passion for her job and a strong sense of giving back fill up Cahlan as she works as a senior account executive for one of Vegas’ busiest public relations firms.

Beauty, brawn and brains…and, a juicer? Checkeroo. Meet Lauren Cahlan.

Lauren Cahlan, Mrs. Nevada-America 2016

A LITTLE ABOUT LAUREN

I’ve lived in Las Vegas since… June of 1997

I can remember when I decided I wanted to start and keep my adult life here. It was the year…2012—I had just graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno.

…and what appealed to me about living in Vegas was…the abundance of job opportunities and low cost of living.

In my experience, the biggest misconception about living in Las Vegas is…that everything revolves around the Strip. There’s much more to living here than just hotels and gambling; however, we’re blessed to have some of the world’s best dining, entertainment and shopping—so I would consider it a perk!

The thing I secretly (or not-so-secretly) love most about living here is… so many restaurants! I’m a self-proclaimed foodie who LOVES to dine out!

If I had to pick a daily mantra or a quote I try to live by, it would be…

You can never be overdressed or overeducated.—Oscar Wilde

A favorite Vegas spot that never gets old is…Marche Bacchus: Love the brunch and ambiance!

If I had to pick a theme song(s) for my life it would be…Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield.

A person who inspires me every day is…my husband, Shaun.

…and the way he inspires me is…I have a bad habit of procrastinating at times. He is one to set his mind to something and will get going right away until a task is finished. His self-discipline and motivation are inspiring to me. Plus, he’s easy on the eyes. Lucky me!

Something people would be surprised to know about me is…I’m a direct descendent of the second signer of the Declaration of Independence, Josiah Bartlett.

ABOUT LAUREN’S WORK

Let me tell you a little about my background: I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a degree in journalism with an emphasis on public relations and advertising, and a minor in political science. Upon graduation, I started at Wicked Creative public relations as an account coordinator and worked my way through the ranks. I’m now a Senior Account Executive overseeing 20 or so clients and a team of six people. I work with an array of dining, entertainment, fitness, and nightlife clients. No two days are ever the same here at the office!

Because of the nature of public relations, my days can vary a ton. When people ask me what a typical day might look like, this is what I say: HA! That is an understatement! A day could range between two extremes…one being sedentary at my desk answering emails and leading conference calls, and the other could be getting a call that I’m needed on camera to film an episode of Wahlburgers with Mark Wahlberg himself. (Yup…that really happened.)

My first mentor was… Jennie Miller

…and this is what I learned from her: Jennie was my first supervisor at Wicked. The lessons I learned from her are countless—and I still think about ways to channel her guidance when handling a situation.

In my opinion, the most unusual thing about working in PR here in Las Vegas as opposed to other U.S. cities is…it’s definitely a 24-hour town. I could be staffing a 5 a.m. news segment with a client, or we could be handling a 1 a.m. celebrity red carpet. Hopefully not on the same day, of course.

…and the most awesome thing about doing this work, here, is… Because Las Vegas is a global epicenter of world-class dining, entertainment, shopping, and gaming, as PR people we are exposed to some of the coolest clients around. Doing PR in a place like my hometown of Oklahoma City, for example, would have been great…but it wouldn’t have been the same experience that I’ve had here.

The thing I love most about my job—what really gets me up in the morning—is…the thrill of a great placement. There’s nothing like the feeling of seeing hard work come to fruition!

Ever wonder why we’re called “Wicked Creative?” Here’s the scoop: When Wicked’s president and founder, Stephanie Wilson, set out to start her own business, her former business partner was from Boston—hence the “wicked” reference. And, we pride ourselves on creativity…so Wicked Creative is the perfect fit!

Best perk about my job and/or the coolest thing that’s happened to me because of it is…That’s “perks,” with an “s”: Stephanie is a true believer in a positive work/life balance, so we are gifted with ample time off to decompress and unwind. Plus, I’ve been given quite a few opportunities to travel for (super cool) work events to places like New Orleans, New York City, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

One of the coolest experiences I’ve had was working with Terry Bradshaw to promote his show My Life in Four Quarters, which premiered at The Mirage in 2013. To plug the show, I helped arrange an L.A. media tour, which included a stop at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, among other outlets. Hanging out with Terry and Jay (who donned his signature all-denim look) was unforgettable!

True or false: People in PR consider themselves part of “the industry” in Las Vegas: True…and false. We work closely with the industry crowd, but we aren’t there to experience the day-to-day.

In my opinion, the biggest misconception of non-industry people about people who work in the industry is…that industry people just party all the time. It’s tough work out there!

Today, my favorite way to give back to my community is…I’m actually the reigning Mrs. Nevada-America, so I’ve had the opportunity to work with a ton of amazing causes like Special Olympics, Best Buddies, The Shade Tree, and more. One of my favorite experiences was organizing a book drive for Spread the Word Nevada earlier this year to help promote childrens’ literacy. At Wicked, we often donate PR services pro-bono for local charities, so it is wonderful to give back in that way.

Watching her mum Jill Barnhart win the Mrs. Oklahoma-America title in 1993 was one of many moments where Cahlan knew she wanted to compete. In her interview with the Review-Journal, Cahlan remembers: “[My mother] toted me around to appearances, and I watched her give back to our community. She was, and is, my greatest role model.”

The advice I’d give my younger work-self is…Don’t sweat the small stuff, and ask for help! I started at Wicked at a very young age, just fresh out of college. Because of that, I often felt like I had something to prove, and asking for help was a sign of weakness. Through the years, and with the support of my supervisors, I’ve learned that asking for help is imperative, and encouraged!

A 5- or 10-year aspiration of mine is… In 5 years, I’d love to start a family with my husband, Shaun. He’s incredibly supportive of my career and would be an amazing support system when it comes to balancing a career with a family.

The thing I’m most proud of that I’ve accomplished at Wicked Creative is… We worked on a celebrity event/grand opening that was the most challenging—and in the end, most rewarding—experience of my career. There were a ton of moving parts and extra hours spent, but it was all worth it. We ultimately won a PRSA “Award of Excellence” for our work on the project.

LAUREN ON HEALTH + JUICE

No matter how busy I get at work, this is what I do to make sure I eat well during the week: Meal prep! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t always have a ton of time to spend all day cooking for the week ahead. When that is the situation, I make sure I’m armed with Trader Joe’s salads that I can easily grab and go when in a hurry. I also like to individually package my snacks and fruits/veggies so that I can avoid hanger at all costs.

The fruit(s) or vegetable(s) you’ll always find in my kitchen are…broccoli, berries, bananas, sweet potatoes, and apples!

The health habit that gets me made fun of the most is… my incessant FitBit obsession. I do walks around our office building at least three times per day so I can stay competitive in weekly challenges with friends. Every step counts. Even if it’s to the office candy bowl for leftover Halloween goodies (…whoops).

Yes or No: I love juice so much I make it at home. NOPE: that’s why I need The Juice Standard in my life.

True or false: Making juice at home is a royal pain in the tail. So true!

The person who introduced me to cold-pressed juice was… Stephanie Wilson— she was a fan of The Juice Standard from the start. She got our whole office hooked!

The first time I drank green juice, I thought it was…interesting. It definitely grew on me, but not going to lie—it took a bit of time!

The reason I drink cold-pressed juice is because…the health benefits are undeniable, and for busy bees on the go, there’s no easier way to get the nutrition our bodies need.

The reason I like TJS’s cold-pressed juice is because…it’s so tasty, and ALL organic, all of the time! I go for a Bee WHealthy™ when I need a quick hit of nutrition. If I’m feeling indulgent, I order a Bee Magnificent. Still healthy, but…Oh. My. Gosh. Soooo. Good.

True or False: My liver is for cleansing so I don’t believe in no stinkin’ fasting: False—I’m personally a fan of doing a one- or two-day cleanse every so often. I like to hit the “reset” button—especially during the holiday season.

The longest juice fast or cleanse I’ve ever done is…3 days. I know, that’s beginner status. : )

This is how I incorporate cold-pressed juice into my lifestyle: I like to replace a meal very so often with an ice-cold, organic juice. It’s so easy to do and definitely more tasty than trying to quickly eat a stale granola bar in the morning. Plus, I like to think a green juice will help off-set a glass of chardonnay after work. Juice now—wine later.

The funniest thing that ever happened to me while drinking juice OR when I in fact was embarking on a juice fast, was… As you may know, the color of beets aise quite…vibrant. While enjoying a Bee On Point at home, my inquisitive kitten Remington started chewing on my straw when I wasn’t paying attention. He was so smitten with the flavor (rightfully so) that he decided to pull the straw right out of the juice, leaving a trail of beet-colored drops in his path on our very light-colored tile. Lesson? Don’t leave your juice unattended around curious furry friends.

My advice to a newbee juicer would be… start slow. I didn’t love green juice when I was a newbee, so I started with the fruity flavors and nut milks. After a while, I gave Bee WHealthy™ a try and I’ve never looked back!

TJS Feature: The ‘Bee Inspired’ Gift Guide

December 5, 2016 By Jen Chase

Well hi there, Bees, and welcome to The Juice Standard’s first-ever holiday guide! With a nod toward our favorite honey-making mascot, bee goods ain’t all we got…but from bee-inspired wares to #shoplocal hotspots we think you’ll heart, we’re sharing a few of our fave ways to mindfully (and playfully!) show you care this holiday season.

FOR A NESTING BEE:

What: Hand-painted octagonal side table with bee motif in chalk and milk paint

Where: The Painted Cupboard

Contact: Artist Lucia Corwin (Facebook message her at @thepaintedcupboardVT; email at luciacorwin@gmail.com; or call 802.843.5158)

The Painted Cupboard owner/artist Lucia Corwin.

Why Buy? Continuing a lifetime of creating beauty with her hands (after a long romance with latex), artisan Lucia Corwin broke up with the toxins in her former favorite medium and fell in art-love with a whole new technique: chalk and milk paints. Exploring the intricacies of layering paints and colors, she opened The Painted Cupboard and now fills custom orders and sells her wares in local shops to folks who have equally fallen hard for the technique as much as she has.

“Annie Sloan chalk paint: The colors…and the aging you can achieve are just wonderful,” sighs Corwin, who has lived across New England and is now based in Grafton, Vermont. “I also use Miss Mustard Seed’s milk paint because I like the crackled goodness you get from layering it. [Both] are very low in volatile organic compounds (VOC), they’re all natural, and when it comes to painting furniture, the paints provide endless opportunities for creating washes, glazes and distressing…the interesting detail that can enliven antiques,” she says.

Corwin’s work through The Painted Cupboard has crackled open more than just specked, distressed layers on the large- and small-scale pieces she’s building a business around. It’s opened a whole new chapter in her life. At a time when some busy bees start thinking about winding down, this former librarian—who later raised Alpacas after gracefully raising two now-grown children on her own—is now plugging into the heart of why she craves getting lost in painting that little bee as well as her other treasures.

“I love gift giving,” she gently admits in a phone interview with TJS. “I love buying gifts, and I love figuring out what someone would love. With my furniture, hopefully someone is so pleased they will hand it down [in their family] or gift it as a gift themselves.”

Adding she’s “had a blast trying to get into somebody’s mind to figure out what would give them pleasure,” it’s the pleasure Corwin gets from repurposing something from junky to pretty that fills her up, and gives her the leeway to explore her creativity…even if she needs the occasional do-over. “With chalk paint, there’s a sense of freedom,” she says. “You can just keep painting it over and over….”

(And who doesn’t love a do-over…especially when the result’s so damn nice?)

This octagonal side table is one example of furniture on which Corwin’s sweet little bee can be stenciled. Custom orders fit for a queen bee’s hive (or anyone else’s) can be shipped anywhere in the country.

Corwin On That Bee: “The Royal Bee is a French motif, but I like the simple bee, because I love bees! I like putting it on small tables because they’re just so useful and they can go anywhere.”

Insider Shopping Intel: Corwin accepts commissioned work, so if you like that bee and want it on a tray, a set of chairs, a side table, or any other piece, she’s an expert antique explorer who can hunt down exactly what you’re looking for, and then buy-paint-ship it where you wish.

FOR A HONEY-LOVIN’ BEE

What: Annsley Naturals Southwest raw local (to Las Vegas)honey

Find It: At local Whole Foods and Sprouts

Why: For years, Annsley Naturals Southwest has been TJS’s honey of choice, as well as the local purveyor we’ve proudly bought from (you can read about our relationship here).

Knowing our passion for turning to honey and bee pollen for fighting local allergies, it’s especially important to know where your honey’s from, Honey. And if you live in the Las Vegas Valley, buying from Annsley takes the guesswork out of wondering where all that gooey gold is made.

When it comes to honey, “local” means it comes from the same region where you live so that your body can reap the bennies of bees’ pollinating the local plants in your area. For locals in Las Vegas, Annsley’s honey comes from hives in and around the Mojave Desert and offers a flavorful bouquet, texture and color thanks to the Mojave’s wildflowers. That variety is also what makes it so good for Las Vegans with airborne allergies.

What: Burt’s Bees Honey Lip Balm

Find It: Where drugstore items are sold (i.e., Target, grocery stores, Walgreens, etc.)

Why: Unlike other lip lubes and balms, this iconic balm by the iconic honey-driven Burt’s Bees company, will give your lips a healing, sealing, waxed-in coating that’ll keep moisture in and dryness out. The stickiness is an acquired feel if you’re not used to it, but those who love swear by its long-lasting hydrating superpowers.

What: Handmade Ceramic Honey Pot

Made By: Beehive Handmade

Why: This husband-and-wife design duo located in Bristol, Rhode Island, creates ceramics (among other things) that are hardy enough to withstand the daily wear and tear of its wares. Especially darling to us is Beehive’s honey pot, of which we think even Pooh would greatly approve.

Beehive Handmade is on display and for sale in Westport, Mass., at Deedee Shattuck Gallery. Wares can be found in fine galleries across New England and can be purchased on the Internets.

Where: Planet Homestead

Buy What? Adorably playful bee jewelry, mugs and sundry wares for every fan in your hive.

Why? As the name suggests, Planet Homestead prides itself on purveying fine, homesteady wares from its home base in the great state of Utah. Items are curated by owner Caroline, who leans toward items that reflect many of the animals and things she holds dear on her family farm.

Insider Shopping Intel: For the farm- or bee-lover in your tribe, you can practically shop local even across the Internets at this comfy site with the homespun pics that make you feel like pouring a cuppa with Caroline.

FOR A #SHOPLOCAL BEE

What: Self-love your skin (or giving the gift of smooth) with gift certificates or product from this local-to-Las-Vegas waxing salon.

Where: The Birthday Suit

How To Shop: On the Internets, or in person at these locations here.

Why You Should Indulge: Beautifying for the holidays is hard work. Painful work, too, if you don’t know what you’re doing. While you’re give-a-give-giving to everyone around you, consider a little pampering for yourself (or get a gift card for someone ~~hairy~~ you love) at this salon that specializes in a luxe, azure-blue custom-blended wax designed to excel at lower temps that are easier on the skin…even in your most tender places.

Insider Shopping Intel: Few salons use all-natural products to fight little nasties like ingrown hairs, but The Birthday Suit’s self-professed “hero” product is a serum that fights hairs while being gentle to the most sensitive skin. Check out the line here.

FOR AN ARTSY BEE

Shop Here: My Modern Met

What Makes This Site Special? Founded in 2008, this site shines a bigg-ass light on amazing artwork and the artists creating it. Priding itself on not just telling other people’s stories but giving artists a platform to sell and share their work—and, to tell their own story—MyModernMet.com has become a reliable source for people seeking beauty in typical and non-typical places, and at the holidays and every day, TJS thinks that’s just rad.

Annnd What Exactly Should I Buy? These amazing lights look like everyday shapes when they’re off, but turn ’em on and they morph into whimsical wall animals. We think they’re delightful for a child’s room and playful enough for the living room of every adult kid in your life (including yourself).

Designer Chen Bikovski designed these “Popup Lighting” to mimic the pop-up books from our childhood. This design features a peacock’s body by day, and its plumes the moment the switch is flipped.

FOR A PHILANTHRO-BEE

Presents don’t have to be one-and-dones. Donating to an organization is a gift that keeps on giving and is especially perfect for when your Secret Santa draw is Uncle Silas who just bought another island last week, blows his nose with Benjamins and not-so-secretly wants for nada.

Kiva (Remember college, when Grandma would send you a $20 and expect it buy food for a week? Well these really are loans that save lives.)
Heifer International (Like the site—and Sade—says, this is no ordinary ~~love~~ gift.)
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (Will the pipeline go through? Won’t it? Here’s how to donate directly to the tribe juuuuust in case things turn around from recent reportage.)
KNPR (With all the fake-news reportage lately, people are talking more than ever about the need for unbiased, well-reported content. Do you listen? This is Las Vegas’ local station but consider donating wherever you live.)
Shade Tree (This longtime TJS fave org gives women and children a place of safe respite during crises of all kinds. Its vision? “Self-reliance for every woman and child.” And-how.)

TJS Menu: Bee (Plant-Based) Good This Holiday Season

December 5, 2016 By Jen Chase

The end of a calendar year gets us all reflective about where we are and where we’ve been, and for many of you Bees out there who have been enjoying our fare but might not know our whole story…sure, we started as only a cold-pressed juicery, but now we offer so much more.

Throughout our menu incarnations, one thing has remained the same: Taste is tantamount, and has to support our recipes and health goals. In a season of indulgence that sometimes sees a tossing of our will (or a lack of support for those of us with chosen and mandated eating styles and diets), we’re here to shine a light on all The Juice Standard offers that will esPECially support our beloved plant-based Bees who choose a vegan lifestyle.

Whether you’re eating for yourself or looking to take treats to the vegan-leaning diners in your world, here’s what we’ve got to offer you below.

TJS Mini-History

Once upon a time in the not-so-distant 2013—in a city built on the back of gambling, Liberace and the promise of a solid $2.99 chicken dinner— TJS co-founders Jamie Stephenson and Marcella Williams (CEO and COO, respectively) opened The Juice Standard as Las Vegas’s first cold-pressed juice bar serving juice, nut milk and superfood smoothies made from only organic produce.

In 3 teeny years, TJS grew in a great big way, expanding to locations in Henderson, Summerlin and at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (smack on the Strip, Yo), each serving the juicery’s signature raw and unpasteurized sippables to thirsty health seekers. Juices and nut milks were now being pressed fresh daily, as in every morn. Smoothies were whirring up on the spot with only organic produce, right down to the locally roasted espresso beans in TJS’s hot bevvies.

TJS turned into a sipping oasis for people who were already healthy, as well as those seeking it…for vegetarians, vegans and Anyone Formerly Known As An “Arian” Who Now Prefers Just Being Called An “Eater.”

From Sips To Solids

But after a few years of drinking euphoria, something lucky happened for the health-minded folks of the Las Vegas Valley who still valued chewing (“chewarians?”) as much as sipping. And they were rewarded when TJS started growing its menu of “chewables”—sweet and savory foods that are decidedly not liquids.

Bonus? For those who live in the true space of eating vegetarian or vegan, they soon learned that many of TJS’s menu options are in fact as plant-based as they come. Some are even raw.

Growing Plant-Based Fans, An Item At A Time….

Today, whilst a few dairy items pepper the menu—there’s Greek yogurt in Marcella’s addictive tzatziki spread, and grass-fed butter in some of the hot specialty espresso drinks (“buttered coffee,” anyone?)—they can be swapped for coconut yogurt or ghee. Plus, for TJS’s dedicated vegan diners, the raw and local honey in our made-to-order chewables, hot beverages and smoothies may also be replaced with agave.

What does that mean for the Las Vegas Valley’s plant-based-eating fiends…especially at this time of year, when sweet treats can cause cravings that can’t always be met while dining out (or looking for tasty fare to bring to holiday gatherings)? If they find an item that’s free of dairy and honey, they can bet their vegan heart they’re eating compassionately for their body and the environment.

So as this season of giving and receiving hustles along, we’re proud to shine a light on our menu, and to remind that in addition to any TJS’ cold-pressed juice and nut milk that doesn’t contain honey (and many don’t), for some sweet and savory treats so delicious you’d hardly miss the dairy, TJS recommends trying on these plant-based items on for taste….

ACAI CRUNCH
Like acai bowls? Ours comes vertical—served straight up in a smoothie cup—and is layered like a luscious parfait. A refreshing, fruit-forward acai base is made from blitzing only raw coconut water and frozen acai purée, which is then topped with sliced banana; raw, unsweetened coconut flakes and raw pepitas (pumpkin seeds). This is a meal, Bees, and so filling, it might count for two!

GREEN & GOOD SUPERFOOD SMOOTHIE
Filled with coconut water, kale, banana, agave, avocado, and spirulina, this is a plant-based potion that at 250 calories will also leave you plenty of room to enjoy holiday treats while staying true to your healthy mindset.

THE BFF
You’ll totally be chillin’ with this recipe 4-eva, with its tropical flavors and measly 320 calories. Containing cashews, pineapple, coconut flakes, banana, kale, avocado, agave, and alkaline water, start (or end) your day with this smoothie and you’ll have the energy to holiday party into your night with a clear, plant-based conscious.

PROTEIN POWER
As you’d imagine, this truly is a powerhouse filled with enough energy to replace a meal for even the heartiest eater. Contains cashews, hemp, flax, Powershake™ protein powder, Greek yogurt (sub out for coconut yogurt), dates, agave, pumpkin seeds, banana, and alkaline water. Calorie count: about 500 clean and healthy ones.

BERRY ANTIOXIDIZING
This fruit-forward smoothie is one more way to drink your produce and get plenty of the insoluble fiber into your system that will keep you filled and flushed in all the right ways. At roughly 300 calories, it contains cashews, acai berry, blueberries, banana, flax, goji berries, agave, and alkaline water.

VEGAN CHEESECAKE
TJS pinky swears you won’t miss the cheese in this oh-so-traditional-tasting cheesecake. A decadent cashew-cream base comes in two flavors—blueberry and pineapple—and delivers authentic taste atop a sweet, walnut-cashew crumb crust.

BEE INVINCIBLE
If you got on the buttered coffee bandwagon years ago you know that this creamy treat affords amazing taste and mouthfeel without the dairy (that is, if you order it with ghee and not grass-fed butter…which, lucky for you, TJS does). This treat is served as an Americano brewed from our Mothership Coffee Roasters beans and blitzed with coconut oil, ghee and agave for a totally plant-based bevvie. (Want it all spiced up? Here are the yummy deets.)

TJS HOT CACAOS
These newly launched healthy hot chocolate are 100 percent sublime with 0 percent guilt. Each is organic and deliciously vegan.

Some Like It Hot
Like your chocolate with some sweet sassy heat? This one’s perfect for chilly Vegas days or nights and destined to be drunk by vegans and non-vegans alike.

Ingredients (all organic):

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
Cayenne pepper

L’Orange Cream Cacao
As with wine and certain liquors, chocolate can elicit tasting notes of citrus…making orange a perfect addition to our base hot chocolate recipe. All TJS hot cacao bevvies are made with the highest quality raw cacao.

Ingredients (all organic):

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
Orange extract* (not a raw item)

CBD(C)
With CBD oil now on the TJS menu at our neighborhood stores as a superfood upgrade, this flavorless oil can up the health ante of any TJS specialty espresso or cacao drink. It blends deliciously well in TJS’s straight-up house hot cacao recipe by adding just the right amount of creaminess while delivering other healthy goods. (Read here for more about CBD oil, TJS’s other new menu addition.)

Ingredients (all organic):

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
2Rise Naturals CBD oil

Juice For Health: Keep The Flu At Bay the TJS Way

November 3, 2016 By Jen Chase

It’s the time of year again when we here at The Juice Standard start thinking about how to fight the flu with as many preventative ways as possible.

The ever-forever goal is prevention-prevention-prevention…but even the healthiest of us still get sick, damnit. But when sickie strikes, we don’t have to hit up the over-the-counter meds that mass-marketing media deems the holy grail of health.

Around here, we beelieve in treating proactively by eating proactively! So the next time you’re sick, try fighting the flu our fave three ways first!

1) Totally Turmeric Singletons

If you’re not taking it year-round as a preventative, November is definitely when we advise boosting the ol’ intake of turmeric. We tout turmeric as one of the most healing roots in rootdom thanks to its natural curcumin…known for how it can bolster brain activity (it’s a recommended diet addition for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and brain tumor patients). It’s also a known as a solid inflam tamer: Doctors who prescribe it as a natural alternative to ibuprofen (as in this reference from the New York Times) recommend doses of 1000-2000 mg/day.

For the sake of cold-pressed juicy convenience, these are the TJS juices and nut milks that deliver turmeric’s famous yellow punch. They’re an easy way to easily, sneakily get it into your system.

BEE ON POINT: (a blend of cucumber, celery, carrot, apple, kale, beet, dandelion, radish, lemon, ginger, turmeric and black pepper)
BEE TRUE TO YOU: (a sweet-yet-spicy juice with cucumber, lemon, ginger, turmeric, honey, and cayenne)
BEE WHEALTHY™: (our signature recipe featuring cucumber, celery, romaine, kale, apple, dandelion, parsley, lemon, ginger, and turmeric)
BEE LEGENDARY: (our eggnog-inspired nut milk made with raw cashew, raw Brazil nut, raw walnut, turmeric, ginger, vanilla bean, cardamom, nutmeg, clove, pink Himalayan salt, cracked black pepper, and raw local honey).

2) TJS Juice Shots

Ever had one of shots? How about a shot flight? These super-strong doses of juices, herbs and spices are combined in just the right way to promote fast and full absorption of the good stuff in them. (And since much in nature works synergistically, you can bet Marcella and Jamie put hella effort into mixing and matching TJS’s organic ingredients just so.)

Want to read more about ‘em? Earlier this year Vegas Seven writer Al Mancini wrote a roundup of the good stuff Las Vegas serves to help fight the flu. For a quick glance of what we serve, see below. (Remember: They don’t call us a juice bar for nothing.)

WELLNESS SHOT: (a blend of ginger, lemon and cayenne pepper that boosts immunity with vitamin C; increases circulation with the pepper’s heat; and eases stomach discomfort thanks to the ginger’s digestive enzymes)
FLU SHOT: (raw apple cider vinegar, oregano oil, turmeric, and black pepper come together in a sip that’s pleasantly acidic and herbal…and thanks to that turmeric and pepper—and assuming you like Indian food—it’s faintly reminiscent of your fave yellow curry)
E3Live! SHOT: (with only E3Live® blue-green algae and coconut water, the algae contains some of the most concentrated amounts of protein known to the plant world and is known for increasing energy and balancing mood. The taste? Vegetal and grassy with a hint of the tropics. Think walking through a freshly cut yard while nursing a piña colada. Minus the pineapple. And the sugar. And, pushing a mower.

3) Lypo-Spheric Vitamin C Packs

To avoid illness, boost your immune system and even protect against germies during long flights or travel, our LiveOn Labs’ Lypo-Spheric vitamin C packs are a fantastic instant preventative. Each pack’s 1,000mg of vitamin C is quickly absorbed when dissolved in water, making it super simple to add to that crap water you get on the airplane instead of the bottle you had to dump during security.

Menu Update: Hot Cacaos To Fuel Your Fall

November 3, 2016 By Jen Chase

So last month, Marcella’s Harvest Spice Bee Invincible got all kinds of crazy media props (it’s bomb) for containing natural pumpkin (take that, Schmarbucks). This month? She’s got a handful of new hot cacao bevvies that are brewin’ like you’ve never tasted before.

Didn’t think hot chocolate could be good and good for you? Organic, raw and delish? C’mon, now. Remember who you’re talking to here.

SOME LIKE IT HOT

Like your chocolate with some sweet sassy heat? This one’s perfect for chilly Vegas days or nights and destined to be drunk by vegans and non-vegans alike.

Ingredients (all of which are organic):

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
Cayenne pepper

L’ORANGE CREAM CACAO

Wine, chocolate and certain liquors are often described as having notes of this and that…including citrus. In this holiday-inspired cacaoction, Marcella developed a healthful liquid throwback to the old Terry’s Chocolate Orange Balls found on many a holiday table this time of year.

All TJS hot cacao bevvies are made with the highest quality raw cacao.

Ingredients (again…as we say in our standards, we can’t source organic, we simply won’t serve it):

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
Orange extract* (this item isn’t raw, FYI)

CBD(C)

With the rollout of both these new cacao drinks and our CBD oil addition to menu, you had to see this coming….Now, these two great tastes will go great together since the flavorless oil can be added to up the ante of any espresso or cacao drink that TJS serves. (Though we think it blends particularly nice in this straight-up recipe.) Note: The CBD(C) is only available at our neighborhood stores and is not sold at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Ingredients (organic, organic, blah-blah-blah…)

Raw cacao powder
Raw agave
House-made cashew cream
2Rise Naturals CBD oil

So here’s to the onset of the holiday season. Speaking of delicious balls (we were, weren’t we?), here’s a throwback to when John Francis Donaghy was blazing his acting path, pre-President Elect Donald Trump.

Take it away, Pete.

Friends Who Juice: Jen Chase

November 3, 2016 By Jen Chase

TJS’s Content Director Jen Chase had a come-to-juicing moment long before working for TJS was a twinkle in her eye. From childhood, she’d been a keen observer of food’s preparation, history and its way of connecting people during happy and sad times. But after being a food and lifestyle writer/editor for brands like MasterCard™ and Vegas Rated and working as a behind-the-scenes culinary director on America’s longest-running cooking show—occasionally developing recipes and appearing on camera with Ciao Italia™ ‘s Mary Ann Esposito—her first 12-day juice cleanse revealed an even deeper reverence for food via the raw foods movement, and beelieving that food truly heals from the inside out. Physically. And sometimes emotionally.

Jump to 2012, when a serendipitous Las Vegas meeting of the minds brought together Chase and TJS co-founders Jamie Stephenson and Marcella Williams, who were looking for someone to put words to the ideas of their burgeoning company. Today, from company ads and signage to its sacred Philosophee and brand standards, she’s a voice behind TJS Facebook posts, the e-newsie, the blog, and website.

ALL ABOUT JEN

My first visit to Vegas was…a vacation in 2002, just before I entered grad school in Boston.

Then, I lived in Vegas…from 2012-2015.

Now, my connection to the city is…that while catering to writing clients in Boston and Nevada, I live in Massachusetts but I return to Vegas quarterly to meet with clients I love. Like my wholehearted Team Bees at TJS.

In my experience, the biggest misconception about living in Las Vegas is…that there’s a lack of nature. From Red Rock to the stunning floral displays at Wynn and Encore, there’s beauty at every turn. Sometimes you just have to search it out.

Thing I liked most about living here was…I used to live at The Martin about 600 steps from Vdara and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas…which effectively made The Chandelier Bar my “local” bar (#Lucky). My greatest juicy sadness is that I moved not long before the TJS location opened at TCOLV. (#LuckyNotLucky)

My ideal Vegas night out is…either some of the city’s great pizza (there’s a ton of vareity); a walk to enjoy live entertainment and crafty cocktails; walking inside properties or Downtown to partake in the lights, sights, sounds, and cocktails; or staying in with my pup, Eli, …watching TV, reading or writing with him and a Manhattan. (When I’m here, I still love the Strip’s electricity. And cocktails, clearly.)

The daily mantra or quote I try to live by each day is… “Never regret your choices, because at one point they were exactly what you wanted.” Helps me not to second-guess my heart and head. So hard.

My favorite inspirational quote is… “There’s a difference between giving up and knowing when you’ve had enough.” A new and profound one for me. So comforting.

If I had to pick a song lyric as a theme in my life it would be… “And in the end/the love you take/is equal to the love you make.” (The Beatles)

Fruits and vegetables you’ll always find in my kitchen are…lemons, frozen blueberries and garlic. And then more lemons.

Advice I’d go back and give to my younger self is…It’s something I heard (TJS co-founder) Marcella Williams say years ago that I’ve gotten great comfort from: “It all works out in the end. If it hasn’t worked out yet, that means it hasn’t ended.” (Sorry if I hacked that, Marce.) Knowing that so many circumstances are beyond our control would’ve been an awesome thing to master a little sooner. I’m still trying to let go. Have even more faith.

Chase, age 4, rolling dough to “help.”

JEN ON WORK

When someone asks what I do every day, I tell them…it’s usually all words, all the time, for one client or another. In addition to my work at TJS I have a small consultancy (Button Soup Consulting) where I craft and edit content for food and lifestyle clients. I’ve edited a cookbook; I’m writing descriptions for the launch of new online eyeglasses reseller; I’m the managing editor for two Vegas-based quarterlies; and I’m helping a dear friend and Italian chef in Boston, Marisa Iocco, to promote the food memoir I edited for her as well as start a new chapter of her culinary career.

Favorite thing about writing/editing for others? Feeling deep pride when someone trusts me to give them the proverbial “perfect words” for a situation they need to navigate…and having them thank me for helping them give voice to their heart or head. This happens both personally and professionally, and I feel honored to be invited into people’s heart processes…from crafting a tagline to editing a resume or helping someone write a hard-to-word email.

Worse thing about writing/editing for others? I rarely write for myself any more. My blog is metaphorically unkempt. My photography is back-burnered. (…What’s lower than a simmer? Off?) I often feel like a producer, not a creative…a human doing, not a human beeing. That’s hard. But I also know I’m in control of that. So.

My first little-girl memory of loving food and seeing its capacity to make people happy was…watching my father close his eyes when he bit into bites he loved. Food completely overtook him, and he’d describe the flavors he tasted in such detail. Now, my greatest joy is giving joy through something I’ve cooked, baked, mixed in a shaker, or written. Food, drink and words are my artistic expressions and how I show love and respect.

What I love MOST about being a #GirlBoss is…working with writers who are eager to hone their craft. I thrive off enthusiasm, engagement and positivity. If I feel like I can help someone do something they love, it fills me up. That honestly goes for anything.

Chase and her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Eli. Typing. Apparently with some wine.

Best business advice I’ve received? My wise former husband used to tease me and say: “You know, no one’s gonna wake up one morning and say, ‘Hey: I haven’t heard from Jen Chase in a while. What’s she doing? I should hire her….’” Point: You have to self promote. No one’s going to advocate for you like you.

JEN ON JUICE

The person who introduced me to cold-pressed juice was…my best soul-sister friend, Nic, in 2008. She decided to do a juice cleanse and since we were living together, we juiced together. Like so many other things she’s gifted me, her suggestion changed my life and health in so many ways.

The reason I drink cold-pressed juice is because…it makes me feel like I’m being so very good to my digestive system (which sometimes needs a little TLC). Juicing is gentle and mindful. Two of my favorite words.

Yes or No: I love juice so much I make my own. Yes. It’s a pain in the ass but I live too far from my fave Boston-based cold-pressed juicery to buy regularly. (But when I’m in Vegas, my first Day 1 stop is always TJS for a Singleton Six-Pack.)

I incorporate cold-pressed juice into my lifestyle by…trying to green-juice juice two full days (or at least through dinner) twice a week.

My favorite TJS flavor is…Bee Alkaline. And, Bee True To You. Greener=better.

What resonates with me most about TJS is…the integrity with which Jamie and Marcella run the company, and the integrity of my partner-in-crime, Mallory (TJS’s creative director)…how seriously and artistically she executes her mission of making the brand look beautiful for Jamie and Marcella. And I feel like no matter who you talk to in the company, there’s a passion for educating customers about using juice and food to heal and soothe. We all take our roles so seriously. For me, I want to do my best because I believe in what Jamie and Marcella have built.

Here’s Team Bees being “serious.” Front row (l-r): Jamie Stephenson and Marcella William. Back row (l-r): Jen Chase and Mallory Dawn.

My advice to a newbee juicer is…embrace the green. My dad used to live by, “Variety is the spice of life,” and so do I. Try any juice once (especially all veggie, no-sugar added juice), and then figure out what you like (or tolerate!). When it comes to juice, your digestion will benefit from every sip. And I really beelieve your WHealth™ and well being will, too.

Ingredient Spotlight: CBD Oil

November 3, 2016 By Jen Chase

What exactly is CBD oil and why should you add it to your diet? Below, the oil of cannabis excellentis is explained.

When this newsletter hits the e-presses, Nevada’s fingers-crossed legalization of the recreational use marijuana on Nov. 8 could mean widespread regulation of a substance already enjoyed by throngs of Las Vegans. (It would also come with a healthy 15 percent tax to go toward enforcing the letters of the law, and be earmarked for school improvement.) But the legalization would mean more than just having the right to toke up without needing a prescription.

What Question 2 Means To You

As evidenced by the media coverage in the last few years about cannabis as a treatment for cancer and uncontrolled seizure activity, cannabinoids—aka, the name for some 85 components in cannabis that make weed, weed—have significant and proven health benefits…even for those of us without diagnoses as threatening as the ones just mentioned.

That last point is what’s most interesting to us here at The Juice Standard. Because it means Nevada’s answer to Question No. 2 could help change how many of us enhance our health with plants rather than meds made from them. And it could all start with the simple addition of a tasteless, odorless, colorless oil that when combined with foods you already love could add some pretty WHealthy™ bennies.

(Three guesses who’s gonna sell you this superfood upgrade, and the first two don’t count….)

WHealth™ Beyond Plain Weed

First…how do we know weed could even elicit such liquid gold? Research into our body’s endocannabinoid system started in earnest in the 1990s, when Raphael Mechoulam—a prof in the Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products department at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem—lasered in on chem relative to the bio-activity of natural products and medicinal agents. (Read more about him at the university’s website here.)

What did Mechoulam find? Not only do our miraculous bodies come pre-loaded with receptor sites designed specially to make good use of cannaboids, but we’re actually able to produce natural endocannabinoids similar to THC (tetrahydrocannabinol)…otherwise known as the The Most Well-Known Cannabinoid in Cannabinoidom, or the stuff in weed that can make us feel clear, calm, collected, soothed, and deeper into all of our perceptions.

That’s right, kids: Your bod just might’ve been made for marijuana.

So About Our New Oil

Now that you Bees are up-to-speed on weed, now’s the time to get gushy about our newest menu addition.

Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of more than a dozen chemical compounds that affect cannabinoid receptors in the body, brain and nervous system. As mentioned, those receptors are tied into our endocannabinoid system…which is involved in a bunch of body processes like appetite; mood; memory; perception; how we feel and regulate pain; and maybe most important for long-term health…how our bodies regulate inflammation and immunity.

Enter CBD oil (also known as hemp oil). The Juice Standard’s new whole-plant CBD oil from the company 2Rise Naturals contains a whole-plant, all-spectrum hemp extract rich in phyto cannabinoids, omega 3s, terpenes, and chlorophyll. The oil is then combined with medium chain triglyceride oil (MCT) derived from coconuts, wild-crafted turmeric oil, and some other wicked good stuff. When mixed into our smoothies, juices, nut milks, and hot espresso or cacao drinks, CBD oil may very well help unlock the benefits of our endocannabinoid system. (At least that’s why we’re bringing it to you. Hopefully, next week…and only at our neighborhood stores, not at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.)

Annnnnd…How Will You Feel?

What CBD oil won’t do? Get you high. High in CBD and low in THC, CBD oil is often dosed out to reverse people’s ick feelings from having THC hit them the wrong way.

What CBD oil could do? Help relieve pain. Or, help you sleep. Or, possibly alleviate side effects from fibromyalgia; pain from migraines. Anxiety. Arthritis. Insomnia. And other things a doc could tell you.

IN Closing….

At TJS, we’re hopeful you’ll put your curiosity and desire for total WHealth™ and glowing self to the test and give our CBD oil a try. We’re equally hopeful that folks won’t let arrogance and ignorance cast aspersions on the benefits of cannabis at large. Because honestly, Bees? Red-wine bennies excluded, when was the last time you heard a doc prescribe a Manhattan to cure cancer?

#MissionNutrition

#FactsBeforeFallacy

#WeedForWHealth™

#StokedUpToTokeUp

5 From The Hive: On The Inside

September 29, 2016 By Jen Chase

From time to time we’ll be running a feature with five questions and five answers about one topic we think is tip-top relevant to your health or your well being (or, something we think is solid funny info you just shouldn’t live without). Called “5 From The Hi5e,” the hope is to deliver the skinny on stuff you’ll find more than moderately rad. Like this featurette on one rad bee we’re happy has flown into our hive.

Weeks ago, Stacie Taylor started working at The Rose as a TJS assistant manager, and in short order she’s earned herself a handful of Yelp reviews of the positive variety for the wholehearted way she shows her passion for our products with a healthy dose of personal nutrition knowledge on the side. She’s a shining example of the kind of Bee we’re so proud to have beehind our counters…someone who takes her role seriously by making it more than a j-o-b; someone who cares about our products like we do; and, someone who’s willing to share her knowledge and personal journey toward WHealth™ and glowing self with the kind of friendliness we all want to see out there in retaildom.

Here are Stacie Taylor’s “5 From The Hi5e.” And next time you’re at The Rose, give her a high one. For the way she serves, we salute her beecause she juices…and for so much more.

1) What brought you to TJS, and what in your past—personal or professional—made you beelieve you’d be a good fit for our juicy lifestyle?

I’ve had a love affair with food all my life. When I was 11, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to be a chef or a hairdresser and my family encouraged me to go for the hair, keeping the food for fun, friends and family. But 4 and half years ago, I started teaching professional cooking classes and writing recipes for restaurants, specializing in “healthy gourmet.” I love to show people how to fall in love with fresh, healthy whole foods, or how to maintain their longstanding love affair with gourmet food without the guilt or bad side effects some rich recipes give you. I’m also a “foodie’s guide” for how to become gluten free, dairy free and/or sugar free.

Along with my work with food, I am still a small business owner of a beauty academy. For the last 30 years I’ve been a teacher and corporate trainer for master classes. I love transforming people and helping them enhance their beauty…but after 30 years in the hair industry, my gut knew it was time to start thinking about a lateral move toward my retirement. I wanted something easy on my body, and something I would do for free but that would still provide an income. Since food has been as equal a passion as beauty, I knew it could be a way to continue helping people transform…only the tools would be organic, plant-based foods. I decided to join The Juice Standard because as a trend forecaster in the hair industry (which means you’re always 2-4 years ahead of the next new thing), I knew right away that the company was on to something! As a result, through my job I provide solutions for customers as individuals…guiding their body toward healing and detoxing, and finally to optimum health.

2) You have a passion for nutrition and a natural inclination to share what you know. What led you down your own path toward, as we like to say, “WHealth™ and glowing self?”

I have had extreme health issues that kept me sick for approximately 8 years. All the years in the beauty industry and the chemicals I was exposed to led to heavy-metal toxicity in my body. I also currently have mercury poisoning from amalgam fillings. As a result, my body just broke down with food allergies, and I was stricken with rashes, hair loss, ear infections, blurred vision, gas, bloating, weight gain….

During the long journey of trying to put my finger on the problem, I learned that I taxed my adrenals to the limit. I polluted my liver with toxic chemicals (beauty products) and bad, bad food.

At the end of the journey, when I was fully awake and aware that if I didn’t do something drastic like effect extreme change in my diet, I knew my body would break. Because I was malnourished at almost 200 pounds, and my body was starving for oxygen and nutrients, nothing I took was being absorbed because of the heavy metal poisons in my body. I just woke up one day and decided to try to go gluten free, sugar free and dairy free. I got myself on excellent probiotics and incredible enzymes to help me digest and process food since mine weren’t working any longer…and I ate healthy food to create oxygen.

I am still struggling today, but it’s much better than it was. Now, I’m on the journey toward optimal health. And I enjoy helping others get there, too.

3) In your opinion, what’s the one thing you wish people thought of more/did more to help their own health? And what’s the thing in your own life that you rely on most to keep yourself balanced?

After I started dealing with my health issues, I realized that you really are what you eat. Food can heal you or it can kill you. So I’d say that viewing food as medicine is an important place to start.

For me to stay balanced? I need food to be gourmet, to look good and to taste delicious enough that I want to eat it. That’s why I started creating recipes for myself where I switched this ingredient for that one, making mealtime healthy and delicious!

After sharing a few recipes with friends, people started asking me to prepare dishes for them…which a year later led to someone asking me about writing a cookbook. That journey led me to local restaurants providing tastings of my food. Soon, I started getting paid me for my recipes…which led to doing a webisode series launching in early 2017. It will be a nonprofit venture where I will continue to share recipes, and inspire and teach kids and families how to “switch this for that,” making healthy recipes that are “to live for,” not the other way around.

Thanks to local sponsors that are helping me pay for the food, I’ll teach cooking skills by preparing my recipes and will then donate the food to families in need. That strategy makes me proud. I’m happy knowing that as I move forward, I can leave a legacy beyond my years.

4) About all these kickass Yelp reviews. What do you “bring to the counter,” so to speak, that seems to make customers so comfy? What’s your secret to connecting with our Bees?

Working with me you can learn to reset the body, first; then, slowly eat your way back to optimal health. And because I work with each customer’s specific health and wellness needs, I think what makes me stand out is that I don’t treat health maintenance like a retail store.

Same goes for The Juice Standard on the whole. To me, it’s not a place where people just come to purchase product, but they come in for guidance and coaching. They want to feel good on the inside and look good on the outside. People are waking up and realizing that nutrition is the fountain of youth.

Now, I am sincere, and what I share with people comes directly from my heart! Because of that, there’s an instant connection. And that turns into loyalty and trust because customers know I’m not just selling a bottle, I’m guiding them to optimum health and wellness. Because wherever they’ve been, I’ve been there and done that, too.

You are what you eat! My take is let’s learn to love the food we give your body as we give our body what it truly needs. Healthy, whole foods are anti-aging, preventative, and will make people notice a difference in you.

5) When you’re talking about TJS, what do you tout the most? What does the company do that makes you most proud to be a part of it?

The Juice Standard offers top-notch organic ingredients…both through the cold-pressed juice and the chewing menu. I think people don’t really consider that our juice is food, but it is…it’s just liquid, so it’s easier to digest. Plus, if you are mindful to swish before you swallow—if you activate your enzymes by mixing your saliva with your sips and bites—the juice and chewables rush into the digestive tract and shoot immediately into the bloodstream for a rush of energy as oxygen generates in your cells.

And for the record…I don’t just work at TJS: I’m a customer, as well! I love the products and fill my body with its delicious, organic, nutritious food every day! I use many of the superfood upgrades, and my favorite treat to myself is hitting the wellness bar, where I do my shot flights several times a week.

Swing by sometime and sit with me at the bar, and I’ll share some of my recipes that I use for our “secret menu!”

(And we know this is technically question No. 6, but inquiring minds wanna know: What are your faves?)

Lots of people ask about my favorites. Because I believe in body balance, one juice alone won’t give me everything my body needs. So I have three.

Favorite green? WHealthy™. I need that extra turmeric for inflammation from the mercury poisoning…plus, it has approximately two pounds of produce in the bottle. I couldn’t eat that much at one time.

Favorite red? Bee Energized. Beets are just amazing for oxygen and I desperately need that. And, it makes me happy knowing that antioxidants are fighting the free radicals in my bloodstream. (Bee Energized is also anti-aging…which is perfect for a woman with 30 years’ experience in the beauty industry who knows the real tricks of the trade!)

Favorite nut milk? Bee Happy. It’s loaded with copper and magnesium and my body needs the extra minerals…and, I know how balanced the amino acids; the omega-3s, 6s and 9s; and the natural fat will keep my body. (And, I love chocolate! I use it to make my refrigerator overnight oatmeal as a treat for breakfast!)

BEE HAPPY is rich with raw-cacao goodness and at least once a week is called “adult chocolate milk” by someone who thinks they invented the compliment. (Nut milk made with filtered water, coconut water, raw cashew, raw brazil nut, raw walnut, raw local honey, raw cacao, vanilla bean, and pink Himalayan salt.)

TJS News: Bottle Returns…RIP

September 29, 2016 By Jen Chase

So if you haven’t heard yet or seen the video we posted on social media at the end of last month, we rolled out some important news: We discontinued our bottle return policy.

Wha?

It’s true. After 3 and a half years, the task of accepting back your bottles to sanitize and re-use them for the sake of the environment and MomsNature was in fact noble…but it also became indescribably water intensive. And since we do live in the desert where water preservation will probs always be an issue (just look what’s still happening to poor farmers in very non-deserty New England), we wanna do our part and help, not hinder the effort.

What does this switcheroo mean for you? For starters, Clark County’s local public services are making it easier than ever to recycle right from your curb each week. And since you’re a part of our hive and you know how TJS hearts environmentalism, we hope you’ll do the right thing: go on a big ol’ scavenger hunt in your house, find all the nooks and crannies where those Singletons are hiding, wash ‘em up and get ‘em back here for the refund you deserve! BUT…don’t wait too long. Bring back every blessed empty you can get your hands on before Oct. 31 and we’ll give you a dollar for every bottle you return. We’ll even wash them and re-use them. But come Nov. 1, the return policy is no longer.

Don’t feel bad. Since we won’t be spending so much time scrubbin’ and a-sanitizin’, we’ll have crazy time to dream up new deliciousness. Our new chewing menu is keeping our Bees full from morning to night, and everything on it is such a complement to everything we sell to sip.

Now we should note that if you still want to bring your bottles back, by all means bring ’em back. We can’t give you the $1 for them any more. But we will sanitize them and re-use them.

So, yeah. Our bottle recycling program has a-changed. But before it’s gone for good, we’re giving you until the end of the month to get back a buck for every bottle you bring back. (RINSEDthankyouverymuch. No science experiments….) Hope to see you soon.

Ingredient Spotlight: Collagen

September 29, 2016 By Jen Chase

Collagen. A lot of space on the Internets has been given to collagen and why (and if) we should be using it to sip our way pretty. Our say? Yes.

In one of our features last month about all the cool new menu items we’ve been introducing to your bellies, something worth an extra holla this month is this new superfood upgrade to any smoothie or juice.

So what exactly is it? Usually derived from cattle (though according to this Well+Good article, sometimes it’s sourced from chickens and fish, and some companies are even trying to tout a vegetarian version that’s collagen “like”), in its truest form, collagen is a short-chain amino acid that’s high in protein, and is found in mammals’ connective tissue. For its healing properties, we humans now use it to help with the healing of our own tissue. And since it’s good for both brain activity and beauty…and who doesn’t want to be smart and good lookin?

The brand we use is called Vital Proteins, and it’s from grass-fed bovine. Plus, it’s non-GMO…so as always, you can feel good about what you’re getting once you walk through our doors. And that’s something we hope you’ll do again and again. Come in to try this odorless, tasteless addition to the already good stuff you’ll put in your bod. And be on the lookout for creative ways Marcella will inject our menu with this truly super food.

Friends Who Juice: Inga Popkova

September 29, 2016 By Jen Chase

Inga Popkova is a woman’s woman: smart, sweet, sexy, and with enough childlike whimsy mixed with big-girl charm to make pretty much anyone want to be her friend. Like TJS. That’s why we’re happy to shine a light on what this FOTJS (that’s “Friend Of TJS”) does to make the world a little prettier, one dress at a time. More on that below….

Popkova’s juice-loving self made her way to California in 2004 from her hometown and birthplace in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. After earning a degree in international business from University of Nevada, Las Vegas, her passion for travel and new cultures led her to call London, Alicante (in Spain) and New York City, home. And it was in each of those cities that her life experience (combined with time spent growing up in her mother’s clothing factory) nudged her to choose a career in fashion.

In April 2016, Popkova collaborated with her idol—her mother Larisa—to bring the clothing line that had existed in their family for 25 years here to the United States. Aptly named, Larisa, it allows the younger Popkova to honor the elder one while bringing feminine fashion to the masses.

For all Popkova does, this month we honor the wholehearted way she shares her fashion vision, and we’re grateful for the patronage and juicy love she’s shown TJS every sip of the way.

ALL ABOUT INGA

I’ve lived in Vegas since…2007.

What brought me to Las Vegas was…UNLV. What kept me here has been…school and friends.

In my experience, the biggest misconception about living in Las Vegas is…thinking that the Strip is all we have. There is so much more here. (…Yet the thing I love most about living here is…) that Vegas has been changing! Life is Beautiful, new cool local spots, Downtown Project, etc….Vegas has a cool-culture feel now. It’s not all about gambling and nightclubs anymore.

A favorite Vegas spot that never gets old is… TJS (wink).

My ideal night out is…a lounge with good music and “fermented grape juice.”

With so many crazy nights, my favorite night-in plan is…homemade dinner and a movie.

The mantra or quote I try to live by each day is…“Everything happens for a reason, so just do it.”

My favorite inspirational quote is…“You can never be overdressed or overeducated.” (Oscar Wilde)

If I had to pick a song lyric as the theme for my life it would be… “Live your life/be free/you know you can have it all.” (Erick Morillo)

Advice I’d go back and give to my younger self is…Spend as much time as possible with your loved ones. Travel, take risks, and push yourself to learn something new every day!

INGA ON WORK

A little background about Larisa, my brand…In my mind, “Larisa” is in fact inside every female…from the littlest to eldest. As most women know, we’re called to wear so many hats throughout a day—mother, friend, worker, lover—that from moment to moment we can can be girls-next-door, socialites and then powerhouses. But let’s face it: With our daily hard work, contributions and commitments…we don’t always wake feeling goddessy! Sometimes, beauty and grace need a little push.

Enter Larisa…a luxury girls’ and women’s brand dedicated to inspiring every female to feel powerful (and beautiful!) from childhood to womanhood, and every day in between.

My fashion icon is…my Mom.

My very first little-girl memory of being intrigued by fashion, makeup, modeling, and looking pretty, was…making “clothes” by picking up pieces of waste fabric off the floor at my mom’s factory and “selling” them all to my dad. (Hey: I was born a business woman! )

So far, the most surprising thing about running my own company is…there are too many surprises every single day to count!

The thing I love most about being a #GirlBoss is…that I am my own boss, which comes with discipline, self motivation, and hard work.

The best piece of business advice I’ve ever received is… “You can’t do it all by yourself.”

The thing I’d tell other designers considering starting their own line is…It won’t be easy, but to share with the world what you are passionate about is priceless!

INGA ON HEALTH+JUICE  

The fruits and vegetables you’ll always find in my kitchen are…cucumbers and bananas.

In my opinion, the biggest change in Vegas’ healthy-living scene since the time I moved here is…that there is finally a “healthy scene” now. I used to love going to LA and NYC and have so many healthy options. Vegas is finally getting there.

The person who introduced me to cold-pressed juice was…Jamie Stephenson [TJS co-founder and CEO].

Yes or No: I love juice so much I make my own. No. I like the convenience of someone else (TJS) making it for me.

True or false: Making juice at home is a royal pain in the tail. TRUE! Juicing=5 minutes. Cleaning=2 hours.

The first time I drank green juice, I thought it was…Missing sugar.

The reason I drink TJS’s cold-pressed juice is because…it makes me feel good, and I am all about the balance. Juice now, Champagne later.

This is how I incorporate cold-pressed juice into my lifestyle: Have to have my TJS shot flight at least once a week. That’s my obsession.

My favorite TJS flavor is…Bee WHealthy™.

The thing I like best about TJS juice is…EVERYTHING! Organic. Delicious. Local. Friendly. The company knows its stuff! The ambience in there is so amazing, I go to work there sometimes. A Bee Invincible, a shot flight and a juice (Bee WHealthy™, usually) and all of a sudden the work day becomes tastier and healthier.

In my opinion, the thing that resonates with me most about how TJS runs its company is…People there truly care. The company is there to help, to educate and to make the change!

My advice to a newbee juicer is…Go to TJS, try a few samples, pick your favorite (my first one had a lot of fruits) and then build yourself up to a green one. Remember…it’s all about the balance. And I am not going lie: I would rather drink my daily dose of greens than eat it.

Five From The Hive: Your Questions Answered

August 31, 2016 By Jen Chase

From time to time we’ll be running a recurring feature pulled straight from the wholehearted comments and questions you Bees submit to info@juicestandard.com (and if you didn’t know you can reach out and touch us there, now you know).

Called “Five From The Hive,” we’ll take your thoughts and pose them to Those In The Juice Standard Know—founders, managers, directors and the like—so we can give you the skinny on the issues that are important to you.

To kick us off, we’re starting with the No. 1 thing you juice-drinking Bees ask about besides #BeggarsGonnaBeg for recipes:

Shipping.

Whether you live in nearby Cali or a faraway Carolina, the most consistent Q we field is how to get our goods to your ‘hood. Beelieve us: We’re thankful for the juicy love! But most of the time we end up having to bee big fat disappointers as we get truthy about our policies. And to set the record straight, The Juice Standard’s Co-Founder and CEO Jamie Stephenson answered some hard and fast ones about TJS’ plans for quiet world juice domination…even if only in Las Vegas.

1) What’s the hardest thing about shipping cold-pressed juice?

There is nothing “hard” about shipping juice. It’s just that juice as fresh and unadulterated as The Juice Standard presses means our juice is incredibly bioavailable and is a powerful source of phytonutrients…but it’s not very shelf stable. Why? Its raw; we make it fresh every single day; there’s no pasteurization; no exposure to ultraviolet lights (UV); no use of high-pressure pasteurization (HPP).

Since we cannot monitor the temperature of the juice during the shipping process, we feel very concerned about what a customer on the receiving end would get: In the shipping process, juice could be subjected to dramatic temperature swings which could lead to someone getting sick. And that flies in the face of our mission, which is to serve juice that enables one to get or stay well.

2) Why does it seem like some companies ship and some don’t?

Some companies pasteurize, UV, or HPP their juice. We don’t. [Ed. note: Want to really get you geek on? Read this white paper that summarizes 92 studies about the effects of UV and HPP on cold-pressed juice.)

3) Is it possible to ship non-HPP juice across the country? What does it take and would it be totes cost-prohibitive for folks in, say, North Carolina, to buy TJS from Las Vegas?

Last we checked it cost over $90 just to ship the juice overnight. We recommend Bees in other states that don’t have access to organic, fresh-pressed juice to learn to make their own. We suggest Norman Walker’s juice press, the Norwalk. It’s the best.

4) If the No. 1 question to the TJS website, blog or Facebook page is whether we ship, the second most-asked question is whether Bees can bring a TJS franchise to their part of the country. What say you, Boss?

There are currently no franchising opportunities at this time.

5) We know you can’t totally spill the beans, but inquiring minds wanna know: Does TJS have any plans for shipping?

No.