Mission Statement Now, more than ever, the time is right to make positive changes for the future of our lives. Our social environment today makes it both easy and cheap to do the wrong thing. Our mission is to make it easy for you to do the right thing. Doing the right thing in our daily lives can seem overwhelming; that Styrofoam cup your morning coffee comes in will outlive your great-grandchildren by 2,000 years; we are slowly poisoning ourselves with chemically produced pesticides and factory waste that seeps into our water and food; obesity is becoming the norm because of the loss of nutrients and actual nutritional substance in our pre-packaged and refined foods. What can we, as individuals do to protect and enhance our lives and our health? What can we do to satisfy our hunger for what's truly real? We, as individuals, can do something. It may feel like baby steps. It may feel like you are paying more for the same thing, but it is not the same. We are here to provide you with something better. Deep inside, everyone wants to do the right thing. But, life today moves at a faster pace. The age of information is here for our advantage, but who has the time or the energy to do the research, to find the right products and information? We do. We are your invaluable resource for the positive, life affirming changes that people truly want to make. We are here to help you become aligned with the concerns that are important to us all. Lighten up is here to help you lighten up your life and spirit.

In 1977 Grace Clearsen started Remember Basil Caterers. Remember Basil was considered one of the top 5 caterers in New York City. Catering was a young industry at the time and filled with creativity and imagination. Grace's background in the theatre and as a professional dancer, as well as her experience in traveling and living all over the world, gave her an edge in the extremely competitive world of catering.

We have been privileged to have had the opportunity to do events such as:

• Winter Antique Show for 2000 guests (3 years): Grace secured original antiques as centerpieces and created original décor for each buffet table using them.

• A & S Plaza Opening for 1000 guests: For the cocktail reception on 8 floors, Grace secured the top restaurants in N.Y. and their celebrity chegs to serve their signature dishes. This event culminated with a seated dinner for 1000.

• Malcolm Forbes 70th Birthday Bash! Grace and Daniel Boulud (then of Le Cirque) made 600 individual picnic hampers (designed by Grace) plus a full Moroccan Breakfast at the airport for 700 guests, using her authentic Middle Eastern Antiques (brought back from her 3 years of living in Saudi Arabia).

• Gala Reception for Princess Magrite of the Nederlands at the Cooper Hewitt Museum. All the food was displayed as if in the courts of William and Mary in the 1500's when all the food was presented in pyramids.

• Tollman Wedding for 400 on her miniature horse farm: Grace created an 'Earthen Tranquility Table', Covered with Moss, wildflowers, herbs, driftwood, grasses, edible fruit and cheeses were arranged as if discovered in an enchanted forest. Main Course Buffet was served on unique, one of a kind platters made by local artisans with buffet décor and food presentations to match.

•Bergdorf Goodman's opening of their furnishings floor was an Indian Buffet with authentic Indian food, platters and décor. Guests sat on gold cushions on the floor surrounded by piles of aromatic spices on gold and silver trays.

Launch of the Fendi Fragrance was a gala event for 200 guests recreating the Venetian Mardi Gras with costumed and masked waiters, ornate Italian buffet and a reproduction of Archimboldo's vegetable 'face paintings' done in real vegetables.

• Brooklyn Museums opening of their Cleopatra Wing for 300: She created a cake in the shape of a pyramid with real gold leaf on a bed of brown sugar sand, carried in on a litter to the strands of Thus Sprach Zarathustra.

Grace was also personal chef to Paul and Bunny Mellon for 3 years, serving Mrs. Onassis on a weekly basis, along with Givency, Billy Baldwin and other notably demanding guests.

In the early 1990's the recession hit and Grace started Lighten Up Catering and Lunch Service. It was her answer to having the required daily cash flow. The corporate lunch service was a huge success, bringing her into the world of the Wall Street financial world. The emphasis was on providing healthy food and educating people as to it's benefits. She also opened, and for 6 years managed, a café in the 'DUMBO' district of Brooklyn. Presently she produces 200 to 300 hot and cold lunches daily, Monday through Friday, and continues to delight in creative, visual presentation.

Grace continues servicing her loyal catering clients in the N.Y.C. area but has refocused on New Jersey since the tragedy of September 11th, 2001. She had two lunch carts in the trade center and lost many wonderful friends whom she had served lunch to for more than 5 years. It is her commitment to use their deaths as a momentum to spread "light" in many new ways through her company, named as such. To that end, she has begun consulting with corporations on how they can support the 'aliveness' of their people through nutrition and physical exercise. She has also begun to introduce some of the disciplines she has studied these last 15 years, such as Ki energy, kinesiology, Toltec workshops, and more.