These are a few of my Favorite Things!

When I get together with my college roomies, one of the very first questions we inevitably ask each other is, "so have you tried any good products lately?"  It is our duty as girlfriends to share our secrets and best finds with one another.  Lately I have been very pleased with different beauty products I have been trying, and while not every product provides the same success to every person, it also may be just what someone was looking for.  Oprah isn't doing her favorite things this year, so in case you are looking for some inspiration, here are some of my favorite things (lately), the 2009 Edition.  These are the things I would recommend to my girlfriends, and now to you: 

Beauty Products 

1. Bobby Brown Long-wear gel eyeliner - the $21 tub looks small, but it lasts a long time.  It goes on beautifully and never smudges. 

2. Trish McEvoy Lash Curling Mascara - similar to Kiss Me, this stuff comes off in "tubes" with a little water, but it is much more dramatic. $28 

3. Origins Skin Care Line - made with all natural ingredients and feels fantastic.  I use the Checks and Balances face wash, Modern Friction to remove dry, dead skin, and the ultra-rich Make a Difference face cream because my skin is crazy dry.   

4. Bare Minerals Moisturizing Mineral Veil Kit- This came with the softest brush I have ever felt and in the winter I need all the moisture I can get 

Electronics 

1. Flip Video Camera - The. easiest. to. use. device. ever.  Ultra-portable, simple to use, great picture quality, and overall great amateur video camera 

2. Blackberry - I am late to the game on this, but after two year with the worst phone on earth, my blackberry feels like it is too good to be true.   

3. DVR - I can no longer imagine life without it.  Because I can't imagine life without Glee, Lost, How I met your Mother, SNL, Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Community, 30 Rock, Modern Family, and The Soup.   

Cleveland 

Lilly's Chocolates - HUGE fan (literally fat fan) - I won the chocolate eating contest this year and I think I have tried every flavor they offer. 

Cleveland Yoga - everyone needs hot yoga in their life.  

Vine and Bean for Sunday brunch - cuz Lucky's is too crowded 

The North Union Farmer's Market - year round farmers market.  come over, we'll walk up

On the Rise Bakery the best sticky bun and coffee in town

C.L.E. Clothing - show some cleveland love

Anything from Room Service or Made in the 216 or Banyan Tree

Media / Websites: 

Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebowitz 

Cook's Illustrated - home cook's best friend.  get a subscription

Lady Gaga - instant dance party

someecards.com - super snark 
mint.com - good for budgeting, everyone needs that 
fatsecret.com - good for tracking calories in/ calories out, if you are into that sort of thing 
barefootfoodie.com - the funniest blog i know

Miscellaneous: 

Olive - adopt a pet in 2010 

Fage - the plain with fresh berries and honey, or the one that comes with cherry and tastes like cheese cake that is really good for you 

GT Kombucha - cuz it is crazy weird and good for you

This is not a thing, but a wonderful way to knot your scarf - Megan shared this with me and says it is European.  Whatever it is, I love it.  Megan helped me make a video to demonstrate the technique:

 

Washington DC Trip - Video

I finished it!  I have mentioned it several times, and I have finally finished editing my video of our trip to DC over Memorial Day Weekend.  This time I uploaded it to YouTube and I think the video quality comes through better, especially if you select "HQ" (although I noticed it looks about 100% better on the Mac vs. the PC, I'm just sayin'...)  Song credits: "Lovers in Japan" by Coldplay and "The Story I Heard" by Blind Pilot.

Back in November, I wrote about losing both of my maternal grandparents within 3 weeks of each other.  It was a tough time for our family, and this trip was one of the first times we have gathered to celebrate joyous occasions:  one cousin graduating from college, another with two beautiful children, and an uncle's 63rd birthday.  It was a wonderful trip and I think our happiness shines through.  Enjoy!

Winery Tour and Oglewood Fish Fry - Video

Last weekend, MarBear and D organized a trip for our friends to do some winery hopping in Geneva, Ohio. The weather couldn't have been better and if you squinted a little, you could almost pretend you were in Napa. Not bad for a short drive east. We hit up four wineries: Old Mill for lunch and sangria, South River for amazing vineyard views, St. Joseph for the Pinot Noir, and Grand River for a full tasting. Afterwards we headed to Gene-O's parents house for the First Annual Oglewood Fish Fry.


My favorite stop was South River. The tasting room is in a century-old church which was dismantled and moved 50 miles to sit atop the vineyard and offer full view of the sprawling vineyard. There is a pavilion where you can bring your own picnic and enjoy drinking wine among the vines. It was truly lovely and I am looking forward to going again.


I am still finishing up the editing on my first Flip video of our trip to DC. But here is my very first posted video of our trip to the wineries! Sorry that some is a little shaky, but I am pretty happy with the video quality (unfortunately, after posting, I realized this video quality does not come through. Also, not sure if you can view in a bigger window. I will work on improving this.) And iMovie is very simple to edit with. Credit for the music is "Ode to a Butterfly" by Nickel Creek. Enjoy!

Go go gadgets and the Gals go to Washington

Last week I started playing around with the Mac some more (see photo booth pics in previous post) and it is so much fun. I opened up iMovie and was inspired to buy a video camera. I did some quick googling and decided on the Flip. It is super cute, ultra-portable, and every review emphasized how easy it is to use. It was on sale at Micro Center, the salesman was nice, and pretty soon I was on my way home with a super fun new gadget. I took some short snippets of video connected it to the computer (it has a built in USB to charge and upload) and the videos were uploaded in about 1 min. I played around with iMovie and I had edited a video with music and titles in about 15 min. This thing is going to be so much fun!! It is hard to tell from this picture, but it is smaller than my cell phone.

I was a little overzealous with the taping this weekend, so stay tuned for a video on our trip to DC. The trip itself was a lot of fun. On Saturday, my cousin Jason graduated from Corcoran School of Art and Design. The graduation was downtown at the DAR Constitution Hall and to our pleasant surprise, Tim Gunn was the commencement speaker!! I love him. Afterwards, there was a reception and All Senior Exhibition at the Corcoran Art Gallery where we got to meet Tim and take pics! And of course check out all the art work by Corcoran's talented seniors.

Sisters with Tim

After dinner we went to the Old Ebbitt Grill for dinner. My aunt mentioned to the waiter that I wrote a food blog and I'm pretty sure he thought I was an actual food critic. I wish buddy.
On Sunday, we spent the afternoon at my cousin Joelle's to visit with her 3 1/2 year old son Kenny and her 2 month old daughter Audrey.

Kenny and Mom

Beautiful Family
(Audrey is crying cuz the crazy lady with the video camera is leaving)

My sisters and I did some sight seeing in the afternoon and then in the evening we had a birthday party for my Uncle Dave and saw some more of Jason's art. It was great to spend the weekend celebrating with family!