Archives for 2015

An afternoon in New York City (and Friday links)

March 20, 2015

This past Wednesday, Jordan and I played hooky from our parental duties to see a Broadway matinee. A couple of his friends were raving about Hand To God, a play that’s been described as “Avenue Q meets The Book of Mormon,” so we found a pair of cheap tickets and hopped on the train for an afternoon in New York City.

Either Jordan’s friends have terrible taste or we are simply not cultured enough to appreciate a show like Hand to God. We walked out of the theater disappointed (ok, we hated it) and completely baffled by what we just saw. Puppets. Blood. Religion. What?!

We decided that we couldn’t leave the city on such a sour note, so we bought discount tickets to the 7:30pm showing of Matilda. If you love musicals or Roald Dahl or pipsqueak little girls with British accents, you must go see it. Even though the actress who played Matilda got sick during the First Act (off-stage, thank goodness), and they had to put the show on hold for 10 minutes so her stand by could replace her, it was one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen.

Although our tickets were inexpensive by Broadway standards, it still felt indulgent to see two shows in one day. However, we justified it by calling it an early birthday present; my 35th birthday is on Sunday.

I haven’t brought up my birthday until now because I’m somewhat in denial that I’ll be–ack!–halfway through my 30s. When did I get so old? Also, this milestone birthday sort of snuck up on me. March has really flown by, hasn’t it?

I’m sure that next week I’ll have some deep thoughts to share about turning a year older. But until then, here are some lighthearted links to enjoy!

ICYMI:

What I learned about maple syrup at a local Maple Sugar Festival.
Add some green to your home with houseplants you can’t kill.
Skip solid polish and try a color block manicure this spring instead.

Plus, interesting links to explore this weekend:

The iconic blue plastic IKEA bag gets a designer makeover.
A geometric art print I’m considering for Levi’s bedroom at my parents’ house.
Hilarious (free!) stock photos featuring Vince Vaughn.
Manicure hacks from three of the top nail pros.
A free printable style guide for writers and bloggers.
Literally listening to your heart can help you get in touch with your emotional self.
Here are seven lovely planters to display your greenery (if prints of houseplants won’t suffice).
The prettiest Shibori pillows that are, sadly, out of my price range.
New kicks for spring…in gold?

(Photos from my Instagram. Click here to follow me!)

Nail Tutorial: DIY color block manicure

March 19, 2015

Two weeks ago, my friend Sheri and I were supposed to meet in New York City for a nosh in Soho and modern manicures at Paintbox. I was equally excited about getting in some quality girl time with Sheri and getting my nails color blocked and bedazzled.

Not exaggerating, I’d been poring over Paintbox’s selection of nail art designs online for weeks.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature decided to dump 10 inches of snow on us that day, canceling our kids’ schools and making travel into the city virtually impossible. Rather than spend the day staring at my naked nails, however, I decided to try a Paintbox-inspired color block manicure at home. After some trial and error, I figured out a relatively easy way to give myself a French manicure with color blocking.

Want to try your hand at a DIY color block manicure? Don’t be intimidated! Here’s what you’ll need:

Nail polish remover and cotton pads
Base coat
Pale or nude nail polish
Dark or bright nail polish
Top coat
Washi tape
Quick -dry drops (optional)

Before you do anything, swipe a cotton pad soaked in nail polish remover across each nail to remove any oils or dirt.

01. Apply base coat from cuticle to tip and wait until nails are completely dry. (I like Orly Bonder.) Then wait a few minutes longer.

02. Cover bottom half of nails with washi tape. I prefer washi tape to regular tape because it’s less sticky. Don’t bother breaking out the ruler; the division doesn’t have to be exactly even.

03. Using vertical strokes, paint nail tips with two coats of bright nail polish, waiting for polish to dry between coats. Here I’m using Essie Lacquered Up.

04. Remove washi tape while second coat is still wet. If any base coat from the bottom half of your nails comes off with the tape, gently tap on a little bit more, taking care to stay below the painted line.

05. Using horizontal strokes, apply two coats of pale nail polish to the unpainted half of your nails, using the line of bright polish as your guide (it will feel slightly raised as you brush against it). Essie Au Natural has a lovely subtle shimmer.

06. Wait (and then wait some more) for polish to dry before applying top coat. If you notice any of the bright color transferring to the pale color, try cleaning the brush or letting the polish dry a little bit longer. I’ve had success with Orly Won’t Chip Topcoat.

As the final step, I add a drop of Orly Flash Dry to each nail about minute after applying my top coat. It really does speed up the drying process!

Now you may be wondering why I don’t simply paint my entire nail with beige polish, cover the bottom half with tape, then paint the top half with the red. It would save a bunch of steps, right? Well, I have two reasons.

The thicker the nail polish, the quicker it chips. Two coats of dark over two coats of light equals four coats of nails polish on the top half of your nails. That’s just too thick, in my opinion.
I’ve never successfully removed strips of washi tape (or Scotch tape or painter’s tape) placed directly on nail polish without pulling up some of the color, too. Perhaps it’s because I don’t wait long enough for the color to dry, but I’m impatient and don’t want to spend hours on my nails.

So what do you think? Are you a fan of manicures with nail designs or are they too trendy for your taste? Would you give this DIY color block manicure a go?

(If you do, share your photo on Instagram and use the hashtag #AGirlNamedPJmani!)

PS – My first attempt at an ombre manicure!

(top photo by the amazingly talented Megan Tsang for an upcoming outfit post!)

Clever houseplants you can’t kill

March 18, 2015

Perhaps because spring is finally on the horizon, I’ve been actively pinning to my Flowers board on Pinterest. Interestingly, most of my recent pins have been of houseplants. (Maybe it’s time to change the name to Plants and Flowers?)

I say “interestingly” because our house in Omaha was conspicuously void of living plants. I love how fiddle leaf fig trees, snake plants, and potted houseplants of all sizes bring a natural vibe to a space, but I never trusted myself not to kill them.

We actually had two small potted plants on display — one in the living room and one in the basement — but they were both artificial plants from IKEA. Totally cheesy, I know. I just wanted the look of houseplants without any the maintenance or the risk.

When we move into our new place (whenever/wherever that may be), my goal is to transform my brown thumb into a green thumb, or some in-between shade of tan. Until that happens, though, I think I found the perfect compromise between live and artificial houseplants: clean, colorful prints of real plants from Flora.

The Barcelona-based online shop offers “a better way to love plants eternally” with poster-size photos of actual houseplants and flowers. They call their prints “the best thing since plastic flowers,” but I’d call them the next-best thing to live greenery.

Granted, they can’t improve the air quality in your home, but you never have to water them, they take up little space, and they can survive in the shadows.

I’d happily display the Kentia or Zanzibar prints in my kitchen, above my desk, or maybe even a bathroom. I also really like the Roses print, which is surprising because I don’t care much for roses in real life!

Let’s talk about houseplants in the comments below. Have you successfully kept any alive, or do you have a gardening aversion like me? What do you think about these Flora Indoor posters?

A quick guide to maple sugaring

March 16, 2015

My mom reads the paper from cover to cover every day, regularly scanning for health-related breakthroughs and kid-friendly activities. When she finds an article or calendar listing that seems interesting, she’ll tear it out of the newspaper and leave it on the kitchen table for us to browse.

That’s how we ended up at the Maple Sugar Festival in Chatham last Saturday. Originally, my mom stumbled upon a listing in February for maple sugaring demonstrations at the Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center, but a bit of online research revealed an entire afternoon’s worth of activities in March. Since Chatham is almost 45 minutes away, we decided to wait for the festival.

Attending an event all about collecting sap from trees and turning it into maple syrup falls under the category of “Things I’d Never Do If I Didn’t Have Kids.” However, since one of the Dr. Seuss stories we’ve been reading (over and over again) is about making maple syrup, we thought Levi would get a kick out of seeing the process in person.

And — hooray! — he did.

In fact, as we exited the festival, Levi turned to me and said, “Mommy, I had so much fun today!” Apparently (and thankfully), he had quickly forgotten his reluctance to make a maple leaf craft, his bashfulness during the tree tapping demo, and his near-breakdown when it was time to toss his mostly-eaten maple snow cone.

His favorite part, I think, besides sharing a maple sugar donut, was walking though the muddy trail (it rained the whole time we were there) and peeking inside the sap-collecting buckets hanging from maple trees. They were all empty, but that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm.

Plus, he was thrilled to have a reason to wear his red firefighter rain boots.

The Maple Sugar Festival was more interesting than I had anticipated, and I actually learned a few things about maple syrup. Curious?

Here are a few fun facts about maple sugaring:

First of all, did you have any idea that New Jersey produces maple syrup? I didn’t — and I grew up here!
Maple sugaring season takes place between February and March but only lasts about 4-6 weeks.
For sap to flow, temperatures need to be below freezing at night and in the 40-50s during the day.
Maple sap that comes out of the tree is clear and not very sweet. It’s actually mostly water and needs to be boiled at 219 degrees for the water to evaporate.
It takes 40 gallons of sap to produce one gallon of maple syrup.
The difference between Fancy, Grade A and Grade B maple syrup is not the quality but the color (and therefore the taste). Fancy, the lightest in color, has the most mild flavor, while Grade B, the darkest, has the strongest flavor.

PS: Another favorite kid-friendly activity that we do every year.

Make this weekend: Chocolate caramel s’mores bars

March 13, 2015

One of Jordan’s college friends came to visit last week, and we took him out to dinner at one of the best Indian restaurants in town. In between bites of the spiciest baingan bharta I’ve ever tasted, our conversation jumped between topics that included vaccinations, education in America, and, for some reason, Rice Krispie treats.

Random, right?

Talking about the kid-friendly marshmallowy cereal bars reminded me of some incredible Golden Grahams s’mores bars we devoured in Buffalo when we visited friends last fall. They quickly became all I could think about, and soon I realized I had no choice but to whip up a pan of them myself.

The s’mores bars from Buffalo were filled with chunks of dark chocolate, but I wanted to try the new DelightFulls filled baking morsels from Nestle Toll House. Specifically, the milk chocolate morsels with caramel filling.

You guys, I may have found my new go-to homemade snack.

They were so easy to make, but here’s one piece of advice: If you ask your husband to start melting the butter for you, it’s best to specify the amount of butter (5 tablespoons) instead of assuming he read the recipe over your shoulder. Otherwise, you’ll end up fishing out a partially melted full stick of butter from a hot pot.

Chocolate Caramel S’mores Bars

adapted from Nestle

Ingredients

5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 bag (10.5 oz) miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 bag (9 oz) Nestle Toll House DelightFulls Filled Baking Morsels (milk chocolate morsels with caramel filling)
1 box (12 oz) Golden Grahams cereal

Instructions

Grease 13 x 9-in pan with butter or cooking spray. Pour Golden Grahams into large bowl. Reserve 1 cup of marshmallows.
Melt butter, corn syrup, and the rest of the marshmallows in a large saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely melted. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla.
Pour marshmallow mixture over Golden Grahams and stir until coated. Stir in Caramel Filled DelightFulls and remaining 1 cup of marshmallows.
Press mixture into greased pan. Cool for one hour or until firm. Cut into bars.

Thanks to Nestle Toll House for sponsoring today’s post and inspiring me to try the new DelightFulls Filled Baking Morsels! And thank you for being supportive of the brands that allow me to create fun content for this blog.

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