January 31, 2013

Instagram Magnets

How cool are these Instagram magnets?


StickyGram turns your Instagram photos into magnets - 9 for $14.99.  (If this was around when I was a freshman in high school, I would have been obsessed with putting these in my locker, and I would be really embarrassed to look at those photo magnets now.)

But for now, wouldn't they make a cute Valentine's gift? I mean especially if I was buying a Valentine's gift for myself. Because basically I'd like this as a gift, but I don't know that my husband would actually like this as a gift. I mean, he might. If they were good photos that were normal things you wouldn't mind everyone who comes into your house seeing. You know, he'd probably like it. Maybe I'll do it. Who knows.

Prinstagram also has a lot of cute options of things to do with your Instagram photos. Aren't you completely obsessed with this Tiny Book (3 for $10)??? I mean!!! It's a regular book's tiny premature book baby!


These would be good to give your sister who's a really proud aunt and obsessed with your baby. That's seriously the only use I can think of for them, because, like, it's just so tiny that it's starting to be weird.

Have you ever done anything with your Instagrams? Would you?

January 23, 2013

2013 to-do: Go camping

Guys. I've never been camping.

This didn't deter some of our wedding guests from giving us a bunch of REI gift cards, though. (Maybe it's the Oregonian husband?) And we were gifted with a very nice tent and one sleeping bag.

My point is, we have some gear now, and we can get the rest for "free", and that means I have no excuse to have never been camping. (Also, Travis recently got a Subaru so this is, like, destiny. We'll drive somewhere and wear plaid and be a Subaru commercial. We just need a golden retriever.)

:: pretty! ::

We talked about going last Easter weekend, but a few things came up last minute and it didn't happen then, or any other time in 2012. But, mark my words: 2013 will not escape me! (Although truthfully, I'm very scared.)

Any tips for a novice camper?

Any ideas of easy first camping trips outside of Los Angeles? Where can we go where we won't be surrounded by people? That doesn't seem like the point of camping...

P.S. I saw the premier of "The Following" on Monday, and it was so so so so so scary. I don't know if I can see a scary movie!

January 17, 2013

2013 to-do: See a scary movie

I am totally scared of scary movies. I know lots of people love the horror/paranormal genre, but it just freaks me the f out, and in a traumatic way, not a fun way.

Honestly, I don't even know that I've seen any scary movies. (Does Scream count? Or was that more just a cultural phenomenon? Because I saw that one. PS - It was scary! Even with Courteney Cox.)

It seems that a lot of people like scary movies because you get all riled up, but then know that the premises are so absurd that there's nothing to worry about. I have a hard time with the second part. After seeing Rosemary's Baby in college, I remember crying from fear and genuinely asking my boyfriend: "Do you promise not to sell your soul to the devil and in exchange let the devil rape me to impregnate me with devil spawn and then let everyone trick me into letting me think that I'm nuts? Do you???"

Anyway, I want to enjoy this genre! It seems fun! But I'm... a-sceeeerrrrrrrrred! So I decided to make one of my 2013 "to-do"s be to see a scary movie (maybe, just maybe, more than one).

This new movie Mama looks pretty spook-tacular! And it stars Jessica Chastain (who I like) and Jamie Lannister (!!!! who I LOVE!), so maybe that means it's also pretty good? What do you think?


Do you like scary movies? Any ideas on how I should tackle this undertaking? Start in movie theaters or at home? Will I have nightmares?

January 15, 2013

Some noteable articles this week, plus a tip for reading content for free

Guys.

I have some stuff you should read, for various reasons.

:: this whole issue is really, really good ::

1. The Carefully Cultivated Soul of SoulCycle from this week's New York. This is my favorite article I've read in a while. I love the specific kind of nuts it is. I hope this quote piques your interest, but maybe it only really is entertaining in the context of the whole article:
"Favored riders may be pulled to the coveted front row or even asked to ride the instructor bike, which was “the scariest, most thrilling experience of my life,” according to one SoulCycler."

But whatever - it's a fast fun read. Please do it.

2. While you're over at New York, you might as well check out Elizabeth Wurtzel's essay, which has the internets all worked up. (Here is one notable response. You can also read the comments after the article if you want to hear people get riled up.)

3. If you like reading about naughty Hollywood (which is basically everyone), then you simply have to check out Here Is What Happens When You Cast Lindsay Lohan in Your Movie from The New York Times Magazine. I mean, pretty self explanatory from the title. (Thanks for the nudge to read this, Halie!)

4. And just because everyone's talking about it, there's this The End of Courtship article from the NYT Style section. I mean, these trend pieces are always fun to read, but really: is it a "trend" if it's just an obvious thing that everyone has already talked to death?

And, as promised, here's my tip for reading online content for free:
If you go to a source and the url looks like this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/magazine/here-is-what-happens-when-you-cast-lindsay-lohan-in-your-movie.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

...and you find yourself locked out because you've already read too much free content...

Simply delete everything after the "?". You're welcome.

January 10, 2013

Non-Toxic Adventures!: Tarte

Did you think I forgot about non-toxic beauty supplies? Well I didn't! I've been trying fewer things, because my initial phase of "OMG must replace everything and try tons of new things!!!" was getting really expensive and wasteful.

But I have good news... I have some new things to report on!

When I started looking for non-toxic cosmetics, I was trying to be really "good" and looking for the purest of the pure. And you know what? It was kind of boring to get things at random specialty stores or websites without engaging interfaces (I mean, snooze fest!) or at Whole Foods (kale and mascara shouldn't be purchased together).

Sometimes a girl just wants to go to Sephora and be girly and play with makeup! (AAAAH! MAKEUP PARTY! PRET-TY COLORS!) And I can do just that now, because I'm officially obsessed with the Tarte line.

:: it looks like fun makeup! ::

Look, it's not perfectly "clean" stuff. Like it's not just made from things you could grow in a garden. But it's pretty natural, and it's fun, cool makeup to play with that comes in nice packaging that just makes you feel like a woman and not like a crazy hippy. Also all the stuff has normal textures, unlike a lot of the other natural stuff I've tried, and consistently works really well and looks loverly on.

My two favorite Tarte items that I use every single day are these guys:






:: tarte natural cheek stain $30 (lasts forever) ::

:: tarte lipsurgence lip tint $24 (so pretty!) ::

Go get them. You will love them. (I also like their primer, and will probably like whatever else I try.)

January 8, 2013

Book Review!: Happier at Home

This book came out in September, and I can't believe it's taken me until now to read, because I loooove it. (Santa put it in my stocking - yay!)

:: Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin ::

You know I love me some self-help books, and this one is just so sweet and fun! It's a really nice book to read right around the beginning of the year because it fills you with a sense of possibility and the desire to intention-set.

Gretchen Rubin takes a month-by-month approach to tackle different areas meant to improve her happiness as it relates to home and family. Each chapter chronicles her ideation period and records where she succeeded, stumbled and, sometimes, gave up. The format is basically the same as The Happiness Project, which I also loved.

Gretchen's (I'll call her by her first name since I feel like we're friends after reading her for so long) writing style is so, so readable. She is chatty and relateable, not in an omigod-be-my-best-friend way, but in a wow-it-would-be-cool-if-you-were-in-my-extended-family-and-we-hung-out-at-Thanksgiving way. Like, I'm not always on the same page as her, but she expresses herself so well in a way that is honest and self-aware that it feels impossible not to feel a kinship with her after reading the book.

(Critics say that she's annoying because focusing on happiness and the changes she suggests are definitely for those who are already meeting basic needs without a ton of stress (not everyone can think about visiting an art museum)... but hey, that's me. So I like it.)

If you want to test-drive the material (or are looking for more), Gretchen keeps up a Happiness Project blog, which she updates regularly. This is also where she chronicled her research in real-time as she prepped for the first book, so dig through the archives.

And I'll give you a little teaser: one of my favorite things from her first book is her realization that what makes other people happy, isn't what necessarily makes her happy, and vice versa. So... it's okay that I hate pot lucks and don't think Betty White is funny.

Did you read any good books over the holidays?

P.S. I'm going to try to stick with a regular posting schedule -- I'm giving Tuesdays and Thursdays a spin. Tuesdays may or may not be a Tip Tuesday (that'll keep you on your toes!)... depends on if I hear of any good tips.

January 2, 2013

The Seven Weirdest Plot Points in Downton Abbey Thus Far

Downton Abbey is coming back! 
Downton Abbey is coming back! 
Downton Abbey is coming back! 

Can you believe it? Everyone's favorite feel-good drama is back again. As I reflected back on the first two seasons, I remembered that, while we've enjoyed seeing some plot lines progress over the seasons (What's to become of Bates? Will Edith ever get a man? Will someone ever give Mary some blush?), there have also been some super-weird plot points throughout.


Join me as I count down the seven weirdest (or at least really random) plot points from Downton Abbey thus far.

7. Thomas steals Lord Grantham's yellow lab.
Thomas falls out of favor with Lord Grantham, so he hides/steals his dearest yellow lab, so he can "find" him and get back in his good graces.

6. Violet gets taken down a notch at the flower show.
At the annual flower show, Isobel calls Violet out on winning every year, and instead backs Molesley's father's arrangements. Oh, snap!

5. Daisy makes the replacement cook's food taste gross.
Mrs. Patmore is temporarily replaced by Mrs. Crawley’s cook while she's dealing with her eye stuff. She's afraid the family will like her food better, so she has Daisy make the food taste nasty so they won't like it.

4. Matthew and Thomas hang out in the trenches.
Remember how some of Downton Abbey took place, like, in the middle of WWI? I just remembered that. Matthew and Thomas (ew, barf, Thomas) ran into each other in the trench and had a cup of tea. After sharing some conversation, Thomas got his hand shot so he could go home.

3. Bates gets a weird medical device.
Bates secretly buys a device to correct his limp but it hurts really bad. Mrs. Hughes discovers his secret and makes him throw it out.

2. A burned Canadian pretends to be Patrick Crawley.
A severely burned Canadian officer asks to be brought to Downton. He claims he is Patrick Crawley, the heir who died on the Titanic. Only, he says, he didn't die on the Titanic - he was taken to Canada and suffered from amnesia. Now he remembers that he is the Downton heir! No one buys it except Edith who gets super into him. He disappears, leaving her an appropriately ambiguous note.

and the weirdest, most random, moment in Downton history....

1. Carson's secret history, revealed!
Carson is getting followed by a mysterious man and gets the heebie-jeebies... because he is threatening to out Carson's dirty, nasty, scandalous past to Lord Grantham... he used to be a vaudeville performer!!

And just because I can't resist, here's a picture of some cast members out of costume: