Wickman candle trimmer & the best candle ever!

Growing up, we had one pink pillar candle in our living room which was almost never lit. The one time that I remember my mom putting it in the bathroom and lighting it, I snuck over to stare at the flame. I started to wonder how close I could get to it, but I was afraid to burn myself. I somehow came up with the brilliant idea to get a piece of toilet paper and swirl it in a circle around the flame. With each revolution, I brought the toilet paper a little closer to the  flame until it finally caught on fire. I panicked and threw the flaming TP into the toilet and flushed. To this day, my mom still doesn’t know that I almost set the bathroom (and the house) on fire. That experience was enough to teach me not to mess with fire.

lemon press

When I was five or six years old, I had a Snoopy Sno-Cone machine. My mom only let me use it when she had time to supervise me, so it was always a treat. It’s actually funny to grwon-up me that as a child, I thought of working my tiny little biceps pushing down on the red roof to decimate ice cubes was a treat. Of course, now you can buy a refrigerator/freezer that will give you cubed, crushed, or shaved ice with just the push of a button. As an adult, I appreciate being able to have something like shaved ice without all the extra work, but I’ll always have a little place in my heart for the nostalgic workout that using a Snoopy Sno-Cone machine gives. On the rare occasion that I have Italian ice (or Hawaiian shave ice, which irks me for its incorrect grammar), I remember how much I loved my Snoopy Sno-Cones and wonder what I loved more: the sugary syrup or the fact that my own little hands helped create my cold treat.

Page Up

When I was in high school, I read a book about how birth order affects personality. According to this book, I’m highly organized. I laughed when I read that because I’m kind of messy. The book went on to explain that many first born children don’t seem organized but there is a method to their madness, meaning that even if their desks don’t look tidy, they know exactly where that particular file is. That’s me!

awesome stuff for long flights

I’m not a jetsetter who flies all over the world constantly, but I do fly domestically an average of four times per year. I don’t love flying, but I don’t really mind it either. I’d rather sit on a plane for ninety minutes than sit in a car for eight hours to reach the same destination. For short flights to see my parents, I don’t do much preparation aside from packing. I hate checking my luggage, so I always cram everything I will need (regardless of the weather or the length of my trip) into one rolling suitcase and one additional bag (ranging in size from a backpack to a medium sized duffel bag). Three days in the summer, two weeks at Christmas? Same baggage. Since it’s such a short flight, I usually bring one snack item (like a granola bar or some cookies) and a large bottle that I can fill with water once I get past security. Longer flights, however, require a bit more effort. Since I just got back from a loooooong international flight, I decided to share the awesomely essential things that made fifteen hours in coach slightly less painful.

FUMI update

I am now an impulse shopper. I used to try being patient, but I learned that if I didn’t buy something right away, I would obsess about it and even visit it online or in the store and then eventually give in and buy it. That means the time between when I initially wanted to buy it and when I finally bought it was just time wasted when I could have been enjoying what I wanted. Even worse, sometimes I tried to talk myself out of it for so long that by the time I decided to buy it, the size or color I wanted was no longer available. This is my explanation for why, only four short days after my previous post, I ordered a FUMI purse hook/bracelet from Je’Marie. I bought the Confident (black snakeskin pattern):

Je’Marie PurseHook & FUMI

I admit that I am a germophobe. I’m not to the point where I walk around wearing a hospital mask and gloves all day, but it grosses me out when I see people do things like touch the bottom of their shoes and then touch other stuff without washing their hands. It makes me imagine all the gross things they have walked on (dirt, dog crap, and lord knows what else) and are now spreading all over their staplers and keyboards. Blech!

In that vein, I really do not get how women can put their purses on the ground and then on their car seats, bedspreads, laps, or kitchen counters. I’ve seen women put their purses on the floor in the most disgusting places. Is the floor of a bar or the bathroom at Target something you want to lick or lie on?  If not, why would you put your purse on those surfaces and then put that same purse, which now has gross cooties, on your bed?  Ewwww!

Kleen Kanteen, part deux – ice ice baby or too hot to handle

A few months ago, I told you about my experience with both the classic and wide mouth versions of Klean Kanteen (read about it here).  Shortly afterward, the busy bees at Klean Kanteen also released an insulated wide mouth bottle, eliminating the need for me to complain about the stinky chemical-laden neoprene insulated sleeves that are supposed to keep my water cold.

SmartWool

I am officially a wool convert, which is something I never thought would happen in a million years.  Growing up in Chicago, I had no say in my winter apparel.  My mom picked out my winter jacket, my scarf, my mittens (and those awesome little clips that hold mittens to the cuffs of your sleeves!), everything.  As a little kid, I had no idea if I was wearing cashmere or polyester, although for the sake of full disclosure, I will say that the chances my mom put me in a cashmere ANYTHING at that age lie somewhere between “not a chance in hell” and “dream on.”

When I was in elementary school, we moved to warm sunny southern California and the need for warm winter clothes vanished.  I had a few jackets for the inevitable winter rain, but usually I wore sweatshirts when the weather turned cold.  The few jackets I had were chosen more because they were cute and had long sleeves than for actual insulation purposes.

Peanut Butter and Co.

My mom always kept our peanut butter in the pantry, not the refrigerator, and as a result, I prefer warm/room temperature peanut butter.  It just seems too cold if it’s been in the refrigerator, and it’s harder to spread. There’s nothing like ripping a hole in a piece of bread when you’re just trying to make a peanut butter sandwich.  Those are the main reasons that have been holding me back from switching over and holding onto my old school Jif and Skippy peanut butters.  A friend of mine loves natural peanut butter, but I get grossed out by having to stir it together. And that’s on top of having to keep it refrigerated!

Enter Peanut Butter & Co!  Their peanut butter is not full of hydrogenated oils or other icky stuff AND it doesn’t separate.  Like at all.  It stays creamy and smooth without any layer of oil floating on top, and it spreads easily.

Klean Kanteen

I jumped on the Nalgene bottle train a few years ago, mostly because I was excited to finally have a water bottle big enough to last me through a decently long workout. Those tiny little half liter Arrowhead bottles weren’t nearly big enough to quench my thirst, and I didn’t want to haul around more than one of them. Nalgene bottles were awesome because they came in a million different colors with lots of designs, they held plenty of water, the tops were attached with a little leash, and the bottles were pretty hard to break (the latter two were especially good for someone like me who constantly drops things). Then everyone started freaking out about BPA. To be honest, my first reaction was BP-what?