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How to Do Dip Powder Nails

 Staying at home means avoiding the nail salon, and as someone who always  smudges regular nail polish (seriously, how is it possible that they can still  be ready to smear by the time I go to bed?), I have a newfound appreciation for the variety of modern manicure solutions available. I previously reviewed Ohora's at-home gel strips , which are a great option for hassle-free designs. Another option that I really like, even though I am far  from a pro, is dip powder. Dip powder is essentially an acrylic powder that contains pigments or glitters. You purchase a set of liquids that can be used with the powders of your choice for a quick and clean manicure that requires very little dry time. Dip powder is easily accessible, and if you're new to dip nails in general, I'd suggest a reasonably priced option for practice. I started with the Lavender Violets brand on Amazon, which comes with a set of powders + all the liquids you need for a beginner. I did find that the l...
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Easy Meal Prep Continued: A Home Chef Review

A few weeks ago, I reviewed Freshly , which is a meal service that sends prepared microwavable meals on a weekly basis. I didn't really have any complaints, but I found that I was exclusively using these meals for lunches, which typically didn't require much prep time from me in the first place.  I am not affiliated with Home Chef in any way, beyond purchasing a meal kit, and I am not in any way being compensated for my review. I decided to pause my subscription, and check out Home Chef, which, again, came to my attention through the power of social media advertising. I've received my first shipment and cooked all of my meals, so I feel I'm in a good place to review my experience, in case you're considering simple meal-prep options as well. If you decide to try it for yourself, you can save $35 with my link . Home Chef has a variety of options to choose from, starting with the number of people that you'll be feeding, ...
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5 Ideas for a "Stay at Home" Date Night

Goodbye to 2020, and a cautious "hello" to 2021! If you're like me, you had a pretty uneventful New Year's Eve.  That's not to say that my NYE has been particularly  exciting every year until now, but the pandemic has certainly ensured that there is zero possibility of that changing for the foreseeable future. We settled in for a night of Schitt's Creek and oddly depressing NYE broadcasts, and yours truly is the only one who made it to midnight! With the monotony of stay-at-home life, I think it's important to try and plan different things to look forward to. Valentine's Day hasn't always been a "big deal" in our household, but what I've noticed over the years is that if you treat everything as "not a big deal", you start to look back and realize... you haven't made anything a "big deal" in a while. Paired with significant USPS delays, I'm planning for next months' activities now  so that our Valentine...
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Christmas Morning Casserole

 A tradition in my husband's house when growing up was " Christmas Morning Casserole ", which has morphed into "any special occasion casserole", simply because it is delicious. It's simple to make, and we recommend making it the night before you plan to serve, so you can simply preheat the oven and let it bake while you enjoy present unwrapping or Netflixing. Conscious of the fact that COVID-Christmas 2020 has passed, here's to hoping you have a few days off of work to spend at home with your loved ones. If not, this would be a great dish to make for New Year's Eve at home. Whatever the occasion, grab your mimosas and slice into this breakfast casserole. It's a winner for sure. Ingredients 6 slices of white bread 2 lbs sausage 1 tsp of mustard 12 oz sliced swiss cheese 6 eggs 1 3/4 cup of milk 1 cup half and half 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp pepper 1/8 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce Instructions Place the 6 slices of bread in the bottom of a gre...
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Be Gel-ous! A Review of Ohora Gel Nail Strips

Affiliate links may be included below. This review is purely my opinion, and I am in no way associated with the product or compensated for it. Again, falling prey to social media marketing, I purchased a set-- okay, several sets-- of Ohora gel nail kits.  We had enough strips leftover so that we could match! I am not a professional, but I'm certainly no stranger to different manicure trends. I remember about ten years ago when Sally Beauty came out with nail polish strips in fun designs. I've recently been reintroduced to press on nails, and I'm experienced with doing my own dip powder manicures, too. So I was intrigued by the idea of semi-cured nail strips, and after having worn several sets, I'm comfortable sharing my experience in case you have been eyeing these up, as well. What You Get Each nail kit comes with a set of nail strips on little plastic sheets, a file, a stick, and two prep pads to clean your nails beforehand. I also used a discount code for a free gel ...
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Sustainable Style: Are Rothy's All Hype or Plastic's Happily Ever After?

If you're a woman who has spent any time on social media, you've likely seen the ads for Rothy's. These sustainable flats have been seen on the feet of Silicon Valley tech professionals, celebrities, and politicians. There are Rothy's fan clubs that trade and sell "unicorn" shoes, or those discontinued but highly coveted colors and patterns, who share pictures of colorful shoe collections. But do these plastic shoes live up to the hype? It took me a while to take the plunge, and I think it's worth sharing the good, the bad, and the confusing so that you can make a decision about whether or not this shoe brand is right for you. I am just a consumer and am not being compensated in any way for this review. All opinions are just that-- opinions, and should be treated as such. Now, on to the fun part! About a year ago I tried out Rothy's new-at-the-time Chelsea boot, which is honestly less of a boot, and more of a high top slip-on sneak...
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Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pan Pancakes

 My most popular post on this blog is my Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pan Pancake recipe . I thought it was time for a revamp of that post, one, because I initially wrote it as a gluten-free recipe, and two, because the world looks a little different this year, so you may not be cooking for a crowd. It turns out that I don't need to avoid gluten, but if you do, the recipe is mostly unchanged, except you'll obviously be using gluten-free Bisquick! I initially wrote this recipe with the intention of cooking for a crowd. We are big fans of breakfast, and I totally miss our weekend routine of family breakfasts at our local diner. As breakfast fans, we were making breakfast sandwiches for a birthday brunch, using pancakes as the "bread". These sheet pan pancakes (sheet pancakes?) work well as part of a sandwich, but they also shine on their own.  I love to cook. I love food. I love cooking for friends and family.  But this year, I've also consciously decided to slow down a bit...
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Popular posts from this blog

How to Do Dip Powder Nails

 Staying at home means avoiding the nail salon, and as someone who always  smudges regular nail polish (seriously, how is it possible that they can still  be ready to smear by the time I go to bed?), I have a newfound appreciation for the variety of modern manicure solutions available. I previously reviewed Ohora's at-home gel strips , which are a great option for hassle-free designs. Another option that I really like, even though I am far  from a pro, is dip powder. Dip powder is essentially an acrylic powder that contains pigments or glitters. You purchase a set of liquids that can be used with the powders of your choice for a quick and clean manicure that requires very little dry time. Dip powder is easily accessible, and if you're new to dip nails in general, I'd suggest a reasonably priced option for practice. I started with the Lavender Violets brand on Amazon, which comes with a set of powders + all the liquids you need for a beginner. I did find that the l...
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Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pancakes and Bacon

If you've seen my post about  Peachy Cinnamon Sheet Pancakes , you already know how I feel about sheet pan recipes. These sheet pancakes pull together all the goodness of regular pancakes, plus the ease of a casserole-- no more standing at the stove flipping batter! UPDATE: These make a great breakfast sandwich -- perfect for a crowd! If you have not checked out that recipe, I recommend you check it out , as this is a significant improvement over an adaptation of the first. Since it's fall, and we have been doing all the fall things-- like a family pumpkin painting day, and trying to brave the fall festivals even though it's unexpectedly hot-- these pancakes bring a taste of fall with apples, cinnamon, maple syrup and bacon. Yum! Read on for the recipe. Apple Cinnamon Sheet Pancakes Ingredients: 1 cup gluten free bisquick 2 tbsp cooking oil of choice, plus a little for greasing the pan 1 egg 1 cup milk 1/2 tsp cinnamon, plus extra for...
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Curly Girl Routine for Wavies: My Secretly Wavy Hair

My hair has been straight for my entire life. Puffy-straight. "Needs time to calm down" after blow drying it, straight. Works great with extra heavy conditioner, straight.  Sure, occasionally I'd wake up with a few curls here and there, but after brushing my hair-- because brushing is a must!-- they would disappear into a puff of frizz, so I'd add some serum and calm it down. It literally never dawned on me that my straight hair struggles were happening because my hair wasn't straight. Sure, it had some  wave, sometimes, but I just assumed straight hair was the default. Mine was puffy and needed help all the time, but it was straight. It turns out, I'm not alone. In fact, this blogger  had the same realization, and the descriptions of her hair rang true for me as well. I've always had "damaged ends" or "a texture issue", even right after a major haircut. So what gives? About two years ago I decided it was time to do a big chop, and cut ...
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