Pinterest Wednesday: Treat yo cuticles!

Please click through to the pin for recipe

Because this winter has been so harsh and because he often works outside, I made some cuticle cream for my boyfriend for Valentine's day. I used the recipe linked above because it looked pretty simple and ordered my supplies from Mountain Rose Herbs with the exception of the essential oils which I bought from my lovely and amazing friend Heather (if you're in the Mount Pleasant area and would like to buy from her, email me!).

In the days leading up to the time I planned to make this, I kept tracking my package from Mountain Rose Herbs and watching it get closer and closer until a major snow storm slowed it down, so it was late and I didn't get to make it in time for Valentines day. Hoist by winter's petard again! When my package finally arrived, I kept checking the pin all day to make sure I hadn't forgotten something. I tend to be the queen of getting ready to make a "simple" new recipe that I have read a thousand times only to discover that I missed the fact that it requires unicorn tears and some complicated piece of kitchen machinery that I do not own. But everything looked to be in order and you know what? It totally was. The beeswax takes FOREVER to melt but other than that, this was no problem whatsoever! I don't have a double boiler so I just melted everything over low heat (FOREVER) and did homework at the counter while I stirred.

Because the recipe makes so little, I doubled it and kept one tin for myself. I love it! I've been using it every night before bed and I've definitely noticed a difference in my cuticles but most importantly my fingers aren't cracking by the corners of my nails anymore, which was happening a lot and is very painful. As the website mentions, it's not so much a cream as a balm: the ingredients are very solid at room temp so you don't scoop this in your hands as much as you rub it with your finger tips until it warms and then spread it over your cuticles.

This is a complete pinterest win and I HIGHLY recommend it. Also, I HIGHLY recommend Mountain Rose Herbs for all your herbal product needs. Their prices are fair and I love their values and mission. I used one of their 4oz tins for each of the batches of cuticle cream and it was perfect.

Happy Friday!

Happy Friday, everyone! Who has big plans for the weekend? If you're in Michigan (and many other places) I'm sure you're one big goal is the same as mine: stay warm. Here's something I used to get my blood pumping this Friday morning:

If you're looking for more of a chill vibe this Friday, might I recommend this interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. This man is amazing.

Happy Friday!

Phoning in the weekend

I started off the weekend with some wine and good friends. We all had rough(ish) weeks and needed a good time! We took this picture to send to one of our other friends who was cheersing us from a distance on vacation.

On Saturday, I did some car knitting (dishcloths are the perfect travel project) on our way up to Houghton Lake to visit some friends. I snow shoed for the first time and it's my new favorite thing! It's so good to get out on a winter's day when the weather allows it.

On Sunday, we celebrated my nephew's first birthday. He won't officially be one until Thursday, but he got to smash his cupcake (verdict: smashing is fun, eating is alright, but less fun) and got TONS of presents. His favorite thing to do was grab a box and scootch across the floor with it.

I have had these cats for 10 years and they still manage to find ways to be cuter than I ever thought possible.

How was your weekend? I hope you got to spend it with animals, activities, and children you love!

Happy Final Catdown Thursday

Happy Thursday everyone! Look at what my sweet friend Liz found for me:

Isn't that THE BEST?!

Today is Liz's birthday! If you know her, tell her happy birthday, and if you don't find a random Liz of your acquaintance and wish her a happy birthday! Confusing, but sweet.

Here are a few fun facts about my friend Liz: ever since I put her contact information in my phone (several phones ago) at The Bird she has been listed as "Liz!" Every year, Liz and I go on a major thrifting shopping extravaganza around the same time every year and we call it Friendaversary.  I credit Liz with my love of Belle and Sebastian, my exposure to the only two (or so?) Tori Amos songs I like, and with introducing me to this song:

Liz has the best tattoos, the prettiest hair color (all of her hair colors), the coolest glasses, the fattest cat (I say it with love, Lola!) and the sweetest heart. I love you friend! Happy birthday!

Phoning in the weekend- Valentine's edition

Hello everyone, and happy start of your week! I hope you had a lovely, restful Valentine's weekend! Mine was very fun.

It started out with Valentine's cards and treats for my student assistants and trying to bribe my APA manual to be good to me while I write a paper for a conference (come to Denver, it's going to be fun!)

After work, I drove to Grand Rapids for a fun filled evening of dinner, drinks, and pin ball!

The next day, we went to the Grand Rapids Public Library (amazing!), a plant store, a record shop, and a local brewery for snacks and drinks. Also, the gorgeous antique store pictured above where I was almost overcome by all of my antique store addictions: sparkly jewelry, bags, Fiesta Ware, and hats. If there had been more Pyrex I would have been truly done in.

Sunday was lazy with sleeping in, pancakes, and dinner with my family. What did you do this weekend?

Happy Favorite Song Thursday

(Disclaimer, I don't know anything about these videos, I just picked them in kind of a hurry to share the songs. So enjoy the songs! And maybe the videos?)

Happy Thursday, one and all! While I can't pick a favorite song for all time, I always have one or two favorites at any given time. 

Recently I came across this on Pandora. I had forgotten how much I love it!

So naturally I ordered the CD from MelCat so I could hear more from this band. That's when I discovered they also sang this song:

That song was on a CD one of Erica's friends sent her when we were roommates on Locust Street. We listened to the CD, oh, a thousand times? A week? It was our fav! It was the soundtrack to the winter of 2007 along with (for me) Against Me

 

Fiona Apple

And the Hold Steady

So now my old favorite songs are new again! It's like being an angsty 23 year old again, except I'm not actually. Which is preferable. Now songs like this are my real favorites:

Pinterest Wednesday- Messy Microwave

Living alone means pockets of grossness can happen in a relatively normal looking house. I'm the only one who sees certain things so I'm not always super picky about how they are cleaned. Especially if, like a microwave, the pocket comes with it's own door that you can shut and forget that you said "YUCK" out loud when you opened it.

It was gross, ok? And I'm not going to post pictures of it here because I didn't take any because I was in a hurry to clean. But I tried this technique (click on the image to see the pin and subsequently the webpage for a full description) and it worked really nicely! You still (if you have let things get as bad as I did) have to scrub a little, but a wet dishcloth was all it took. I highly recommend this!