Shore

When I was young summer meant two things, week at the Jersey shore and two weeks in Beaver Meadow. As an adult I have had to make vacation decisions and my recent trips have taken me to far off places like China and New Zealand, leaving little time for the shore and upstate NY. This year I am kicking it old school. M&I are at the Jersey shore for a week with some family. Morning runs, days relaxing on the beach, evenings biking to get ice cream. While I love getting the chance to explore far off wonders, there is something to be said for being somewhere familiar. I have a chance to unwind, take a break and not feel like I might miss something if we aren’t constantly on the go. Breathe in. Breathe out. I could get used to this.

Safe Soap

I heart these soap knuckles. via

Great Outdoors

I live in NYC and I am not one of the lucky few to have a yard, balcony, patio or roof deck. On the opposite end of the spectrum, my weekend place is all outdoors with very little inside space (for now) so I am looking for inspiration on how to make it a fabulous place to spend my time relaxing. It just so happens that Apartment Therapy has the call out to  readers to send their little slices of outdoor heaven. I am not quite ready to submit mine, but I certainly appreciate all the creative ideas. I especially like this deck with LED lights. Apparetly LEDs don’t attract mosquitoes like other lights, and I need all the help I can get in mosquito avoidance. If I am out for more than 30 seconds without Deet, I will be lucky to get away with only a handful of bites. String lights are one of my favorite ways to light a space at night. They are just the right glow without being overpowering.

DIY Shampoo

I recently made a change in my hair product choices. I stopped using anything with sodium lauryl sulfate or sodium laureth sulfate or an ingredient ending in “one”. I did my best to choose products with ingredients whose names I could pronounce easily. I ended up with a very small bottle of clarifying shampoo, a larger bottle of conditioner and lotion. Yup, All I use in my hair after my shower is lotion. Want to hear something else you may not believe? I only shampoo about once a week. I have curly hair which is prone to dryness and frizz. I used to shampoo every other day, load on conditioners that promised to smooth the frizz and then goop on more conditioner, waxes, pomades, goodness knows what else. My hair is softer and less frizzy than ever and we haven’t quite hit the dog days of summer here, but I am feeling good about this new routine. Next time I need shampoo I am going to try one of these recipes. via image from corbis. my noni used to do this to my hair in the claw foot tub upstate NY.

Uniformity

From first through eighth grade I wore a uniform. Green plaid every day of the week. It made getting dressed in the morning easy, but it sure did get boring. I can remember how excited I was in seventh grade when I could wear a skirt instead of a jumper. That is how bad it was. Sheena Matheiken has taken wearing a uniform in a whole new direction. Starting with seven identical dresses, one for each day of the week, Sheena will be creating an outfit with “accessories and all kinds of accouterments, the majority of which will be vintage, hand-made, or hand-me-down goodies” as a year long fundraiser for The Akanksha Foundation. You can see each of her outfits on her daily blog. If you are a fashion designer you may be able to collaborate with Sheena to create an outfit or donate your accessories. I only with I could have personalized my uniform like this!

There is Free Lunch

Today I got a call from someone at Chipotle. I knew before I picked up the phone thanks to caller ID and figured it was a sales call. Ugh. Well boy was I wrong! They were calling to let me know that my business card had been picked and I won a free lunch for 3 people! Yeah! I placed the order online (which was so easy and that is totally how I plan to do it from now on) grabbed my coworker and met M. When we got there the manager had all the people working there cheer for me. It was very cute. I heart free lunch.

Street Clothes

I started a couch to 5k program this past weekend. With help from an iPhone app I am alternating between walking and jogging for 20 minutes. It is torture all the way, but getting into shape always is in the beginning. I have even figured out how to work the run into my commute home so that I don’t have the temptation to stay in once I get home. This has me taking a slightly different path to my apartment and on Saturday this meant I passed a few boxes of free baby clothes. Isn’t it lucky that I just happen to know someone who is going to be needing baby clothes in the near future! These are obviously used items and even after giving them a good wash in hot water there are still stains on them. No problem! I have been reading about freezer paper stencils and this is perfect time to try them out. I downloaded some free dingbat fonts printed and cut them out and covered up some of the stains with puppies and giraffes. Emily at paperseed has generously provided templates for a dragonfly, flowers and a butterfly as well. I used the tutorial she suggested as a reference and it worked well. It is a bummer they are single use, but until I get a Yudu, this will do nicely.

Cardstar

I don’t want to sound too much like an infomercial here, but I have to say I am pretty jazzed about a new app from my iPhone called Cardstar. I am constantly losing and forgetting my rewards cards because I flat out refuse to have them on my keychain. It is a designer thing. I do carry a few that I use all the time in the change compartment of my wallet but there are still plenty to fall in the seat cushions, clutter my desk, and collect dust behind the dresser. I loaded up the cards from my wallet (I will have to search out and dust off the others) and I am ready to test it out. The reviews suggest that an anti-glare screen protector (check!) will help and that I may have to adjust my brightness. Hopefully brightness control within the app will be on the way soon. Now when I am fishing around for change I won’t have to dump out my cards as well. via

Freedom

I love this print entitled Freedom by Alberto Cerriteño. So sad and so beautiful. You can check out other illustrations on his website, or even buy one at his shop.