Low-calorie Cocktails

I've been trying to cut back on my calories so I can slim down a bit before my upcoming trip to Jamaica, but working in adult beverage sure does present extra challenges to weight loss! 

I stumbled across this Shape article offering up some low-cal cocktails. I might have to give some of these a try!

Pomosa 

Ingredients:

4 oz. sparkling wine
1 oz. pomegranate vodka
Directions:
Pour chilled pomegranate vodka into a flute.
Top with sparkling wine and garnish with a strawberry.

Fiji Apple

Ingredients:
2 oz. sake
1 oz. spiced rum
1.5 oz. apple juice
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
Shake and strain over fresh ice in a rocks glass.

Cranapple Cobbler

Ingredients:
1 1/2 oz. TY KU Liqueur
1 oz. apple juice
Splash of sugar-free cranberry juice
Directions:
Stir ingredients together in glass.

The Dollar Shave Club

This is maybe the funniest commercial I've ever seen paired with one of the most genius marketing strategies of my time. I can personally attest to the frustration of buying overpriced razor blade refill packs. I usually wind up buying those massive refill packs at Costco to save a few bucks. 

The razors are generic brand overstock the company probably purchases at a steep discount, but it appears that customers can count on getting the same blade each month, since what they send is a blade refill to go with the free handle delivered upon enrollment. They are not one-piece disposable razors.

Words to Live By

http://linxspiration.com/

Life's a Beach

Last week it rained and it poured and it stormed, although we Californians can't really complain considering the Midwest got ripped apart by tornadoes for two days straight. Nevertheless, we sure were ready for some sunshine come Saturday, and that's exactly what we got!

There is a beach right down the road from my house in San Francisco, but on the rare occasion that the weather is nice enough to enjoy it, every square inch of sand is covered with blankets and bodies from sun up to sun down. I prefer to cruise down the coast an hour to Santa Cruz where there is more beach to go around.

If you haven't been to Santa Cruz before, know that it can be sketchy, so make sure you stay on the right side of it. The Boardwalk is expensive, crowded, and highly overrated. If you have never been, give it the obligatory touristy walk-through, but once that's out of the way cruise over to one of my favorite beaches, between Woods Lagoon and Schwan Lagoon, off of E Cliff Drive. During tourist season, which begins the first weekend of April, only residents with a neighborhood permit can park on the street, but if you arrive early it's not impossible to find a free curb space or a reasonably priced lot.

I lie-ca this!

What photographer doesn't want a Leica of their very own? Probably not all those wanna-be portrait photographers who bought their SLR starter kits at Costco and make side cash snapping their friends' graduation photos for $50 a pop... But don't get me started on that. Back to Leica... or, well, in this case, Lie-ca!

Matt Nicholson is basically my hero as of five minutes ago when I discovered his website, where you and I can purchase the ten page .pdf download for assembling a Lie-ca M3 Pinhole Camera! 

*Pause to jump around in your cubicle and shoot 

"you amateurs wouldn't understand" eye darts at your coworkers*

You're welcome, darlings. You're welcome.

February Photo-a-day

I've always liked the idea of doing one of those photo-a-day for a year things, but never could manage to follow through. When I saw fatmumslim's photo-a-day challenge go up on Instagram, I couldn't help but join in the fun. Not only was it only one month, it was the shortest month in the year, and that I was sure I could manage. I posted my daily updates on Facebook and Instagram, but decided to wait until the end to post it on my blog. Here are some of my favorites.

 

 

Chocolate Bowls

I haven't been doing much by way of creative baking, something I used to post frequently, but the other day I saw a chef on TV making chocolate bowls and got inspired! 

Melt chocolate and, while no hotter than 90 degrees, dip balloons into chocolate and set on wax paper. Place in freezer for ten minutes to harden. Remove from freezer, pop balloons, and fill with whatever you like! I filled mine with french vanilla custard and fresh fruit.

Tips: Use white water balloons so the dye won't transfer. I swirled in some white chocolate before dipping for a marbled look. Make sure the chocolate isn't too hot - seriously - we learned this the hard way by exploding a balloon, spraying scalding hot chocolate everywhere. Pop the balloons quickly rather than letting the air slowly ooze or the chocolate will crack.

Style crush! Nail Art

When it comes to nail art, there is a very fine line between fabulously fresh and disastrously tacky. The recent trend of paining your nails where one is a different color than the rest... Who decided that should happen? Certainly not me. And 3-D add-on's like little plastic bows and hearts? Yikes, ladies... yikes. What I do like are the more classic patterns and designs; the chevron, for example. When ladies jazz up just the thumbs it's like whispering "hey, I'm fun" without screaming "holler, I'm tacky." 

The other night I was having some me time and decided to give the leopard thumbs a go. I applied a base of gold on all of my nails, let it dry, then used light brown and black for the leopard print. I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! 

I also have to recommend this polish to you - Sinful Colors. It lasts longer and is much cheaper than my former favorite, OPI. A bottle of OPI usually runs around $8, while Sinful is only $2 and is easier to track down since it is carried in Target and most drug stores. 

Campo di Bocce

Over the weekend I soaked up some sunshine at Campo di Bocce in Livermore with friends! We reserved an outdoor court, ordered a few appetizers to share, and pretended we weren't the worst bocce players to ever set foot in the place. Joking, we weren't so awful, but we certainly weren't graceful or gifted on the court.

PS- I wore the new scarf you've all been so excited about! Love it!

Style crush! The Short Braid Scarf

How excited am I about this online store I just stumbled into?! Definitely ordering the short braid in heather gray for myself! The awesome thing about shopping small designers' websites is they're usually really willing and able to customize their products for you, and this lovely lady openly offers. The only downside is you have to pay with PayPal, and I'm not a PayPal fan, but for anyone who regularly shops Etsy or eBay I'm sure that's not an issue.

Delhi

My apologies for the lack of blogging these past few weeks! I promise, I had a very good excuse. I spent two lovely weeks on holiday in Delhi, and while I had wifi access, I couldn't bring myself to spare a moment of the trip typing away when I could be exploring the city or visiting with friends.

On my way to India, I had an 11-hour layover in London, which turned out to be one of my favorite days of the trip! I landed at Heathrow mid-morning, took the Tube to Picadilly, and walked a couple blocks to Berry Brother's and Rudd. It was incredible getting a tour of their shop, one of the oldest in London. The building and the company have such rich history and are in an ideal location, just a short walk across Green Park to Buckingham Palace. That evening, I made my way back to the airport for an overnight flight to Delhi.

From the time I arrived in Delhi my days were a whirlwind. I walked all over the city exploring ruins, temples, markets, and parks. I stayed with a college friend, Poh Si, who is a foreign correspondent based in Delhi with her Indian lawyer husband. It was exciting to see the city from the locals' perspective, getting to experience the places where they shop and dine, and hanging out with their friends, many of whom are journalists or work for NGO's. A huge highlight of the trip was spending two days with my dear friend Esther and her mother, who passed through Delhi at the tail end of their three-week India adventure.