breathing space

need some breathing space
off to napa I go...
but aren't these pictures from the friday snow fall amazing?

Great Product

 

perfect color

perfect texture

Martha I found you

More things I bought

Things I bought

When my lungs are particularly crappy I tend to buy things online (to make me feel better....) Last week I had one of those weeks and had lots of packages came which included these:

You know I love the sparkles

These are a new shoe from J.Crew and I am pretty certain they made them just for me. 

 

I showed this picture to my friend

Laurie: They should just call those Natashas

Me: I KNOW! OMG! Can you tell them this?

Bling Nails

I can't find them online for you yet but these are new bling nail stickers from Sephora that I've been wanting for two weeks! Well Laura being the awesome friend she is, sent me these in the mail since she has access to a Sephora every day (lucky lucky girl.) and I applied them last night.  They went on so easily and are sticking so well! Check them out.  I am obsessed!

Lip Scuff

My bottom lip is always dry and peeling (gross! I know!) even though I use a sugar scrub once a week (a really expensive one too, that shall remain nameless) Well, the other day I had to buy something to get my parking validated (after I had already bought things but forgot, haha) so we wandered in The Body Shop -- who even knew this place still existed? and I thought this is a great place to find something for my flaky lip problem.  Laura found a lipstick that exfoliates and I was sold.  It's called Lip Scuff and I've used it for only 3 days and my lips literally are not peeling and flaking anymore, like in all seriousness they are back to normal! This is a miracle product!

Olive Oil

I cook literally everything in extra virgin olive oil.  I came across this sale on Rue La La a few months ago from the company O -- which makes all sorts of oils and ordered 9 bottles of different variations of olive oil, vinegars and balsamic.  I've now had the opportunity to try most of the flavors and want to spread to you guys how great they are (you can get them at places like Whole Foods -- probably not all the kinds they offer -- but you can also get them on their website ooliveoil.  I use the extra virgin practically every day for anything I saute and have found great recipes for the vinegars, and I use the balsamic on tomatoes and fresh mozzarella. They are all so yummy!

Just Tomatoes

I know a lot of people that love and eat dried fruit, but I also know it's not really good for you because most dried fruit is LOADED with sugar -- like you might as well just eat candy, that's how much sugar most of it has.  I really love peaches and you know it's hard to find a good peach in the winter, so I came across this dried fruit at Whole Foods awhile ago and ate a 5 oz container of dried peaches in like 60 seconds they were so good.  They tasted just like a real peach with nothing else to it, and they were chewy in a different way.  I have been buying them ever since.  They are called justtomatoes and to make it even easier you can buy their products online. My favorite are the peach, banana, and mango and none of them have ANYTHING added to them!

Healing Cooler

Since I'm on my high calorie, high fat diet it's hard to get a lot of fruits and veggies in.  I mean it takes like 14 cherries to get 80 calories! So...my body has been feeling sluggish, so I thought the best way to go about this was to get some fresh juice.  I went through a juicing phase last summer, where I made my own with a juicer but that takes a lot of effort, and I saw a new juice line in O Magazine last month and I wanted to give it a try. 

The website is called healingcooler and I love that you can send someone a cooler full of juice instead of say flowers.  How creative.  I ordered two coolers, and got lots of different kinds!

they came so nicely packed!

So I am pretty partial to fruit juices but really wanted to give the veggie ones a try! And everything was so great, and tasted so fresh! They totally made me feel healthier.  The downside of ordering fresh juice of course is the overnight shipping cost and the fact that since they are not pasteurized they only last a few days...that is a big bummer -- it would have been nice for these to last like 2 weeks instead of like 4 days...

I do highly recommend this company -- they were by far cheaper than say BPC which I know is all the rage, and what a great idea to send this to someone trying to heal! Do any of you juice??

Summer Drink

You know how much I love all kinds of tea, well I found my new drink of the summer folks!

Brown Sugar

Today I am making baked beans, which I have never done before, like not all homemade...and of course the recipe includes brown sugar.  Here is my thing with brown sugar, I'll get a new bag, use it once, Ziploc it nicely and the next time I go to use it it is hard as a rock.  ALWAYS.  This ruined something I wanted to make the other week, and I was complaining to my friend Sarah about this, and she told me about these brown sugar bears that supposedly keep the brown sugar nice and soft.  Like what!? Could this be real? Sure enough I googled and came across http://www.sugarbearsinc.com/ and was so intrigued I ordered a few!

I used some brown sugar on Easter (a new bag) and put it back in the Ziploc, this time with a brown sugar bear (which is like a clay bear that you first soak in water before you put it in the brown sugar) and sealed it up.  Well today when I went to get my brown sugar for my baked beans guess what...the brown sugar was soft! YES! IT! WAS!

So I suggest if you hate the brown sugar problem as much as I do you get yourself a little brown bear

Sparkly

When sparkly things come in the mail they make me smile.  Like this skirt:

imagine courtesy of jcrew

Easter Candy

I'm a candy freak.  I love hard candy, like Ring Pops and lollipops and especially like tart candy like sour patch kids.  I am really thrilled with the new easter candy this year.  My bestie Laura gave me sweet tart jellybeans a few weeks ago and they were delicious! I ate them all.  They had this kind of amazing texture to them, I could not stop eating them! Well yesterday I found sour patch kid jellybeans! AMAZING!

What is your favorite Easter candy?

Kitchen Finds Friday

I came across this really awesome company called mastrad that makes all these kitchen products out of silicone.  Go check them out!

Here are a few of their products

makes crispy chips in the microwave

personal micrwave steamer

a silicone apple cooker baked this in the microwave

the always perfect mayo maker

 

Taste of South End

Last night Laura and I went to my favorite foodie event: The Taste of the South End.  It's expensive but it has the best food ever! We started off with a mini disaster when I forgot my license in my car (that was valeted) because you need your ID.  But it ended up not being necessary when I told the check in person I accidentally left it in my car that was parked who knows where!

There were a lot of people there this year.  Last year I don't remember there being that many people, I didn't really have to get through a crowd to get samples.  This year we did.  But it was well worth it.  We had a definite favorite: the pork belly from Union (in the south end) I went back for more, it was so yummy! I also really loved the steak tartare from both The Butcher Shop and Gaslight.  And B&G Oysters had a really great fried oyster! I have never been to POPS but they had a yummy mini little chicken pot pie which had a really great flavor! Mistral had a really great foi gras (but they had the same exact thing last year, which seemed like lack of creativity to me) and someone also had ceviche on a little chip that was really good, but I can't remember who and someone had a really great mini little crab cake too.....And for dessert The South End Buttery had cupcakes with literally the most amazing butter cream frosting I've ever had.  We ate A LOT of food and it hit us both by the end, we were feeling a little queezy! But it was well worth it.  We'll be back next year for sure, maybe in a suit or a dress (people here were seriously dressed up!)    

me seriously waiting for steak tartare from The Butcher Shop (see the piggie drawing)

oysters

 

cupcakes

a very blurry Joanne Chang from Flour and Myers + Chang

us with very full tummys

Laughing Baby

Have you guys seen this video yet? It gets my funny bone every time!

Martini Monday

I've always been a really big fan of stirrings.  I remember way back when they were sold pretty much only at williams sonoma and whole foods, but now you can get their products at most package stores and some grocery stores and targets.  They make great mixers for drinks.  But yesterday I was introduced to their line of liquor by a restaurateur friend of mine.  I had a taste of their peach flavor, like a peach schnapps, but just really delicious and fresh and clean tasting.  I mean it tasted like a real peach!  And would be really amazing drizzled over some vanilla bean ice cream. 

stirring mixers

peach liquor

Gloss Balm

I have a real obsession with lip gloss.  I own probably 100 different types of lip gloss from squeezable things, to crayon like things, to hard glosses.  I don't know why but it's hard for me to pass things that are shimmery and pink and pretty up! It's always really good when I can find a cheaper brand that I really love because I tend to buy lip glosses that are way overpriced! I saw a commercial for a new gloss balm (I love new hybrids!) from COVERGIRL that I had to try.  As far as pharmacy brands go COVERGIRL is my favorite brand - I love their lashblast mascara (it's awesome), and their outlast lipstain (perfect stain.)  So last week I picked up their new natureluxe gloss balm (in tulip - a light almost sheer pink color) and I can't stop using it.  It's so soft and creamy, but not overwhelming, and something I can put on everyday to just run an errand somewhere and it makes me look a little more "made up" but not over done - it's more a sheer natural color.  It was only around 7 dollars too - a great steal versus the Tarte crayon lip gloss sticks I am recently obsessed with....

I suggest you go give it a try!

natureluxe gloss balm in tulip
*image courtesy of covergirl