Julep Maven Exclusive Polishes
There are perks to being a Julep Maven. One is exclusive polishes that no one else can get! Back in February, I received a pretty one called Love. It was everything I wanted for a Valentine’s Day manicure: sweet, simple, romantic. I didn’t know what our plans were going to be or where we were going, so with not knowing what I’d be wearing, I decided to wear Love as a sweet polish that would pretty much go with anything. It is a creamy shimmer base with a subtle pink tone, and then darker pinkish red glitter in it. Like most of the Julep shimmers, it took a couple of coats to hit the opacity and coverage I wanted, but that was okay as I find myself using two coats of most other polishes.
Read MoreCrush, Crush Baby – China Glaze Crinkled Chrome
This Winter, there was a new textured polish on the block. I always loved the chrome looks that came out years ago, and I’m glad they seem to be making a comeback. I’m also a fan of textured polishes since they give new dimension to what could be a boring manicure. After looking high and low for the Crinkled Chrome collection from China Glaze in my local drugstores and beauty supply stores, I gave up and ordered from Sally Beauty Supply online. I decided to get two colors, China Glaze Crinkled Chrome Iron Out the Details and China Glaze Crinkled Chrome Crush, Crush Baby. I was in more of a purple/pink mood, so the first one I used was Crush, Crush Baby.
Read MoreJust My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts Review
Recently, the awesome folks at Hanes Brands sent me a pair of Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts in Black. As a plus size woman, I’m always looking for active wear for the gym or lounge wear for hanging around the house that’s comfortable but doesn’t look like I’ve completely given up on finding clothes that fit me, either. I was happy to give Just My Size a shot. Luckily, while some brands sizes run small, Just My Size makes their sizing chart very easy to decipher. I picked out the size that matched my measurements and decided on Ebony (black). While these cotton jersey women’s shorts come in lots of colors (Emerald, Blue, Ebony, Cabaret [hot pink], Bright Violet, Light Steel, Blue Blaze, and Pink Cactus), I tend to err on the side of black when it comes to shorts… I definitely don’t need anything drawing more attention to the size of my derriere, thank you!
I started by wearing this out just around the house. Since I work from home, there’s no dress code, and the weather has been getting increasingly warmer as summer approached, so shorts are my go-to. The cotton was nice and soft for sitting in my office chair or lounging on the couch, but not too thick or hot like sweat material can be. They are long enough to not feel like they’re constantly riding up, but not so long that I feel like I might as well be wearing capri pants (let’s put aside that, because of my short stature, I’ve literally tried on capri pants that were perfectly pant/ankle length on me).
Usually, if I’m going to leave the house, I’ll change into jeans, jean shorts, or a couple of pairs of cotton twill shorts I have in a pinch. I’d usually never wear cotton shorts like these out of the house and in public unless at the gym (at which time I’m lucky I’ve even been motivated enough to go, so I don’t care what I really look like so long as I’m clothed). However, one day when I was wearing these Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts, my brother (who lives with us) came home from work and wanted to go grocery shopping. Since his car is busted right now, I rushed to finish up what I was working on and we went to the grocery store. It wasn’t until I got to the store that I realized I hadn’t changed my shorts, as I’d intended to.
But it was okay! They weren’t inappropriately short, or slightly too small and clingy (as some of my “house shorts” are). They are not really designed in such a way, either, to look like sweat shorts, so they just looked like black shorts. Crisis averted! Here’s some other rough pros & cons about these shorts:
Pros
- Pockets! I can’t stress enough how nice it is to have cotton shorts with pockets.
- Comfortable fit.
- Wide yet comfortable waistband.
- Did I mention POCKETS?!
Cons
- Cat hair magnet (not really their fault, though)
- Not pre-shrunk
- Tumble Dry Low
The last two cons really just mean that I won’t be able to throw them in with the majority of my clothes. I have a some clothes that get washed separately since they go into the dryer at a lower setting or get hung to dry anyway, so I just need to remember to throw these into that basket! That’s okay, because I definitely don’t want my new comfy shorts to shrink before I do! One of the best features of these shorts is the price – right now they’re only $7.79! It’s an incredible deal and really, if you wanted to buy a few pairs, this price is very easy on the pocket book. In general I appreciate that Just My Size clothes are plus size clothes that aren’t plus size prices. I’ve never bought any Just My Size brand clothing that were uncomfortable or overly expensive. It’s a great brand for those of us who are plus size and don’t want to feel like sausage stuffed in a casing all of the time!
Verdict: Get Some!
Seriously, they’re not even $8. When was the last time you got any piece of clothing that was under $8 brand new? Heck the last t-shirt I bought was $15! That’s two pairs of shorts! Stock up on several colors to get you through the summer. I’ll be picking up another pair myself. You won’t regret this purchase.
Disclosure: I was provided a pair of Just My Size Cotton Jersey Women’s Shorts complimentary for review. This opinion is 100% my own.
Read MoreNew SF Attraction: The San Francisco Dungeon
I was honored to be invited to a press-only event this week to get a sneak preview of the new attraction opening up June 26, 2014 at the historic Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. The San Francisco Dungeon is the first dungeon attraction in the United States, continuing the scary fun reputation of the Dungeon attractions in Amsterdam, Berlin, and across the UK. This attraction is operated by Merlin Entertainment, the company who runs the Madame Tussauds Wax Museums around the world (also opening a new SF location next door). From their press release:
The San Francisco Dungeon is an entertaining, 60-minute theatrical trip through outrageous moments in the Bay Area’s rich 200 year-old history where the audience is part of the show. The Dungeon originated in London, expanded into Europe and will open its first-ever North American location in historic Fisherman’s Wharf. This attraction introduces immersive sets, along with a regaling cast that will captivate audiences with their edgy humor and scary, fun antics.
I didn’t quite know what to expect before venturing into The San Francisco Dungeon. It’s promoted with the tag line “Being scared has never been so much fun!”. Now, despite my fascination with all things haunted, true crime, forensics, and the like… I’m a wimp. I get startled very easily, don’t like haunted houses or thrill rides, and can’t watch scary movies. Yet I’ll sit for hours in front of nonfiction shows regarding true ghost stories and haunted locations (true “nonfiction” if you believe, I guess, but just go with me). So I when I was invited, I asked if I could bring a friend… I had a feeling I’d need some moral support!
The Experience
My BFF since 4th grade Rachel came with me, and I’m glad she did. I knew she’d be able to take the day off (she has a lot of PT time banked) and that she would enjoy it. We definitely did! Visitors to The San Francisco Dungeon will travel below through nine live actor shows, which are very scripted to keep the flow of the groups moving. Groups of victims (guests) will be sent through in 8 minute intervals throughout the day, very similar to a haunted house to allow for maximum traffic but more staggered so they have unique experiences that don’t run into groups behind or ahead of their group. Each live actor show lasts for approximately 5 minutes with the whole experience taking about an hour, which includes the dark boat ride. The press preview we attended was a shortened version that did not include the boat ride, but I can’t wait to go back and check that out!
I was impressed that there were very few animatronic elements. I could only pinpoint a couple, and one was so good I’m still not 100% sure if it was an actor or a projection onto a blank faced dummy (like the singing ghosts in The Haunted Mansion at Disneyland).
You’re probably wondering if I was scared, screaming, crying, or worse by the end of our 30 minute preview. Not at all! It was a ton of fun – especially having a friend there with me. It certainly was a dark vibe, not a friendly cheery experience, but a lot of fun in a way that I don’t find most “scary” attractions fun. This was definitely scary fun! Throughout the different scenes there is some audience participation, which is designed in such a way that the actors can roll with any punches that may come from unpredictable guests, but the show is still highly scripted to keep the group moving. The artistic director for The San Francisco Dungeon, Kieron Smith, told me that keeping the groups moving is one of the more unique challenges to an attraction like this that a traditional theatrical show or even a haunted house wouldn’t experience. A lot of the “scary” portions are more startling than scary. The actors use a lot of lighting effects to their advantage to get a good amount of misdirection to startle guests.
The History
What makes this attraction different from an haunted house is that scaring you isn’t really their goal. They’re also whipping some education at you. The shows cover actual history – 200 years of San Francisco and California history is the through line of the shows. Some of the shows include history of the gold rush, gangs of San Francisco, the mines of Sutter’s Creek, shanghai’d visitors, the plague, and finally the ghost of Alcatraz. The general manager, Adrea Gibbs, is a California native, and like most of us natives, remembers going through the California history portions of 4th and 5th grade. She emphasized that this attraction is very true to history – lots of research was done to make the script both entertaining, startling, and accurate. Even the costumes and sets were heavily researched to ensure accuracy. Speaking of the sets, they were incredibly detailed and very impressive considering they only started building this elaborate underground history attraction back in February! At the end of the journey, like any good attraction, you exit through a gift shop – where there are lots of fun souvenirs and you can buy a map to visit the actual places referenced in the show. How’s THAT for living history?
Behind the Scenes
We were fortunate to have a Q&A session with the general manager Adrea Gibbs and the artistic director Kieron Smith where they answered some more detailed questions. I had a long list prepared, but some were asked before I had the chance and some were answered naturally while they answered other related questions. Having a degree in Theatre Arts myself, I was very interested in a lot of the technical aspects of this kind of 360° theatrical experience, and I was certainly not disappointed in the answers. What I would give for a full behind-the-scenes tour of the place! Some fun facts that came from the Q&A session:
- Why not New York or another US city for the first United States Dungeon attraction? The stories and rich history of the Bay Area and California just lend themselves beautifully to an attraction, with the kinds of stories they knew work in the European Dungeon attractions, like gangs, plague, and other seedy stories.
“I’m mean, it’s nice to know that things like plague and torture are actually universal!” – Adrea Gibbs, General Manager
- Fisherman’s Wharf was a natural fit for the location, being a hub of tourism AND right on the Barbary Coast, so the attraction is where the history happened.
- The individual shows within the attraction aren’t likely to change any time soon. There’s the possibility for seasonal shows (hello Halloween!) or changing some of the core shows in a couple of years. With the company of 36 actors, victims (guests) are very likely to have unique experiences every time they come to the attraction.
- This is an ideal attraction for teens and families looking for a fun and adventurous thing to do, while secretly learning about California history!
- All the wood used in the attraction was reclaimed from a former Japanese internment camp in Arizona. Nice to turn something that was not a great part of American history into something positive and fun.
- Very little is improvised; it’s mostly very set scripts to keep the crowd going and moving along so groups don’t run into each other.
The Price & Accessibility
As far as tourist attractions go, and theatrical productions go, The San Francisco Dungeon is a very reasonable $26. The opening day is June 26th, and you can actually save up to $7 off per person if you buy tickets online in advance. Madame Tussauds is right next door, and you can even upgrade to a combo ticket for both attractions and save up to $10 and get more bang for your buck. There’s plenty of places that are inexpensive to eat at in the area, namely my favorite clam chowder in the world, Boudin’s, right across the street!
The attraction is mostly ADA compliant, however any guests who wish to participate in the boat ride will need to be able to get themselves in and out of the boat without assistance. As a word of warning, there are some jarring movements and strobe lights used in the production, so there is a warning posted at the beginning of the attraction stating that strobe lights are used and advising anyone with back issues or are pregnant to proceed with caution/at their own risk. The tour is not guided by any cast member, instead the crowd is more ushered along by the script and cast, so there would not be an opportunity to know when the strobes are coming to skip just those parts.
Verdict: Visit The San Francisco Dungeon!
It was tremendous fun and a very unique attraction. I will definitely be checking this out with my friends at some point to experience the entire 60+ minute tour through 200 years of history! They also will be having Halloween events October 3 – November 2 and even Christmas events November 28 – December 28! The San Francisco Dungeon is located at 145 Jefferson St., in between the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum and the Rainforest Cafe.
Read MoreRailroad Inspired Manicure
Since I knew I’d be devoting my weekend to working at the Open House & Train Show for the San Leandro Historical Railway Society (see A Fun Weekend Doing Photography), I wanted to make my nails as festive and eye-catching as possible. Dealing with small children, colorful items to catch their attention when looking at a camera always helps. Most kids have the tendency to look at the person taking their picture, and since I was not going to be actually standing behind the camera, but instead beside it with a remote trigger, I felt like having super bright yellow nails would help when pointing to the camera and telling them to look at it!
Read MoreA Fun Weekend Doing Photography
By no means am I a professional photographer! But I have had a couple of opportunities to pretend I am one. The first was my sister-in-law’s wedding a few years ago. My husband’s aunt and I were able to get some very good shots of their wedding that everyone was very happy with. Usually I only take photographs for me, but this weekend I donated my equipment and services to the San Leandro Historical Railway Society, an organization my husband and I work with.
Periodically throughout the year, the Society holds Open House & Train Shows where they stay open for extended hours all weekend to allow the public to come check out the interior HO scale model railroad, the history museum, and our back yard G & O gauge Garden Railway display. It’s a chance, not only for the public to come enjoy, but also for the Society, which is a non-profit, to raise funds to pay our bills, maintain the model layouts, and continue to improve them. In addition, this year we’re also raising funds to repaint the 115-year-old Southern Pacific Depot that we call home. It has not been painting in a number of years, and the eves have not been painted in decades. One of the highest expenses is that it’s lead-based paint, so we actually have to hire professionals to come do lead abatement instead of just repainting ourselves. So, as a new fundraiser this weekend, I set up my laptop, camera, tripod, photo printer, and a big cardboard train for little ones to get their very own Engineer photo for just $5. We had a ton of fun (well, except for this sunburn I have on my neck and ear) and got some fun shots of some adorable little tykes. And some adults, for testing purposes (right… testing…)
I got the idea from taking my dog, Winston the Wonder Pug, to get his picture taken with Santa at Petsmart a couple years ago. For $10, I received an OKAY photo of him with a dude in a lackluster Santa suit in front of a crumpled up cardboard backdrop with Santa’s head cut off because the lady taking the picture was using a point-and-shoot camera without a tripod. $5 of the fee went to a pet adoption charity and I also received a fairly nice rubberized Christmas light frame for the picture, which I felt was at least worth the other $5, so I couldn’t feel to bad about the price. But it did get me to thinking about how much better I could do something similarly with my equipment for the Society (or any other cause).
It was an idea bouncing around in my head until this Christmas, when I found this cardboard train for a very reasonable price at Oriental Trading Company while looking at other train items they had for our Winter Open House. That’s when the gears went into overdrive. I researched the costs of the photo printer ink, photo paper, and nice photo folders to put the photo into. I’d been looking for an excuse to get a photo printer anyway, so I was willing to eat the cost on that to own the photo printer and just donate it’s service. We determined that there was a lot of potential “profit” (donation) to be made on this for not that much of an investment, so the project was approved.
Just within the last week I finally realized I could plug my Nikon D5000 DSLR directly into my laptop via USB (only took 4 years to figure it out) and purchased an inexpensive but invaluable Pixel Wired Remote Shutter Release Control so I could set up the perfect positioning for the tripod and camera and just hit the buttons while looking at the screen. I’m very adept with creating Actions in Photoshop, so I was able to color correct the images and then use my previously created image and action to add the fun little train and date image to each picture. Provided there were no technical complications (like the printer turning itself off), it only took about 5 minutes between taking the picture to having a printed photo in a nice folder to hand to the visitor.
The pictures will be visible sometime this week at SLHRS.org, but here’s one I can share of my niece Joy, who came down to explore! We were able to work out the kinks of the placement, the printing, and the general semantics, which means our photo opportunity will go much more smoothly at our next Open House in September. If you’re local to San Leandro, CA and interested in receiving updates, you can sign up for the San Leandro Historical Railway Society Newsletter. We’d love to have you come on down to the Depot!
Read More
