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Polar vortex indoor essentials

January 8, 2015 Randi

Michigan is back to subzero temperatures! To say it’s freezing would be an understatement. The Michigan State Police actually issued a cold advisory to suggest that all mid-Michigan residents stay inside and avoid venturing outdoors unless absolutely necessary. So, it’s not only freezing, it’s dangerous.

Elise and I took heed of that advice. We had to go outside for 20 minutes last night, realized what a mistake it was (windchill was at negative 30, guys) and retreated back into our warm loft as soon as we finished picking her car up from the repair shop. Our living room is pretty great during the winter because it’s surrounded on all four sides, which keeps it pretty insulated. It doesn’t have windows, but eh, minor detail. It’s almost worth it for the Consumers savings in the winter.

We braved the cold with popcorn, chick flicks and a mini-spa night. Take that, Mother Nature.

Some major changes coming soon…

January 6, 2015 Randi

I’ve been MIA from my blog for quite some time – my apologies.

Turns out, working full time and obtaining my master’s degree full time, plus maintaining a somewhat long-distance relationship was a bit more time consuming than I anticipated.

But, I graduated and have a little bit more time to focus on the things I’m passionate about (like this blog) and all of the projects, trips, experiences and little things that go into making my blog what it is.

SO, stay tuned. Within the coming weeks, you’ll see some long-awaited new content and a complete facelift in addition to the new brand and URL I’ve got going, which you might have already noticed.

What I learned when I totaled my car

December 29, 2014 Randi

Oh deer.

In early November, I was driving south on a major rural highway in mid-Michigan when I noticed a deer come flying into my line of sight. The sonofabitch was running east and I had no chance of avoiding it. I hit the brakes about .30 seconds prior to hitting the deer at 70 miles per hour head on. Ouch.

The airbags deployed and my sirens immediately went bezerk. I pulled my car over immediately and shut it off. I waved the smoke out of my face (goodbye radiator!), called 911 to file an accident report, called a nearby family member for a ride and watched as a wrecker towed my beautiful 2010 Ford Focus to a collision repair center.

Now, two months later, I’m just about finished wrapping up loose ends from the total loss that my car collision resulted in. While I’ve had some minor car repairs and bodywork done before, this is the first time I’ve ever totaled a car, and I’ve learned quite a few things along the way.

Christmas made festive with a hot cocoa bar

November 28, 2014 Randi

I’m a really big advocate of not celebrating Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. One holiday at a time, people! But once Thanksgiving is over and my fridge is filled high with leftovers from dinner, I’m all about Christmas. I can’t get enough of the season’s festivities! But I don’t want to ruin them by drawing Christmas out for too long – I’m perfectly content embracing Christmas for the short time it’s around.

And this year, we got to embracing it right after Thanksgiving. Elise had her boyfriend, Paddy, visiting from England for most of the month of November, and his flight is scheduled to leave tomorrow. I know it has to be a bummer to spend Christmas away from your significant other, so I set up a mini-Christmas party at our loft. Seth came up to visit and the four of us spent tonight decorating, watching Christmas movies and sipping on hot cocoa from the hot cocoa bar I set up!

Fashion forecasting and trend boards

October 13, 2014 Randi

Because I love all things glittery and trendy and fashion-y, I enrolled in a fashion class at my university this semester.

I needed a three-credit class for financial aid reasons, and rather than take another 700-level polisci class, I decided to take something a little more fun: AMD 256: Introduction to the Fashion Industry.

It’s actually a lot more informative than I thought it would be. We’ve already learned so much about the ins and outs of the industry, from terminology to how merchandising works to the design process timeline and how fashion forecasting works.

For an assignment, we were asked to look through publications — including magazines, trend reports and other fashion media outlets — to judge what the coming spring trends would be.

We had to make boards for color, silhouette, mood, fabrication and detail.

This is what my group came up with.

Lollapalooza recap

August 2, 2014 Randi

Another Lollapalooza has come and gone – and while the energy and fun level was still the same (ie: through the roof), this year’s festival was a little more successful than 2013.

I didn’t get dehydrated and pass out. No ambulances were called.

It was also more convenient.

I booked a room at the Congress (!!!) right across the street with several of my good friends for the weekend. Last year, we stayed half an hour outside the city and had to walk/ drive/ take the CTA into the city. This year, the festival was literally right outside our front door. I’m not even joking. The Lollapalloza sign was right across the street from our hotel.

Coffee cupping

April 24, 2014 Randi

Pausing on my world of cooking and DIY-related posts to give a brief update on something really cool I got to do on the clock today!

As a journalist, I often get to experience my community in a whole new way. Today, I got to visit the home of two local parents and entrepreneurs to see the inner workings of their start-up business, Narrativality Artisan Coffee Roasters.

Aaron and Christie Cromar bought an industrial roaster and placed it in their basement, which was quickly transformed into an entire fully-licensed business.

The two explained how they source their product and how the entire process works, and then walked me through a coffee cupping.

Stylebook app: A review

April 12, 2014 Randi

Hello all! Lazy Saturdays have kind of become a diehard habit around my apartment lately, with winter lingering way beyond its welcomed stay. After months and months of weekends spent cowering under a pile of blankets and binge watching How I Met Your Mother reruns on Netflix (Let’s not talk about that ending, by the way), I was beyond ready to welcome what was supposed to be a breezy and beautiful Saturday into my open arms to get some productivity in.

Unfortunately, I’ve spent the past two hours forlornly staring out my corner windows with a sad look of dejection on my face. It’s down pouring, we’re expecting hail, we’re in the middle of a severe thunderstorm warning and all thoughts I’d had about finally refinishing my old Ikea desk this weekend have dissipated much like the 60-degree temperatures.

I think this is Mother Nature’s way of telling me I need to finish up my indoor projects before embarking on my outdoor ones. And a great way of saving me $1.50 from the car wash that was on today’s “to do” list.

So, what are my indoor projects? I have a few. I’ve given up on any project that has to do with decorating my ~~hellhole~~ unique apartment, since I will begin a new lease across the alley next month, but I do still have quite a bit to finish up.

As your classic Type A personality, I’ve always been a bit of an organized control freak, so that’s where my new project comes in.

Cubicle makeover, part one

March 8, 2014 Randi2 comments

Happy spring break!

Spring break means spring cleaning, right? The nice breezy weather isn’t quite here yet, but spring break does mean that I’ve finished one eight week class and get a week off from my two 16-week classes, which means it’s time for a cubicle clean-out!

This is just a teaser post. I know, I’m the worst. But late last week, I embarked on a complete overhaul of my office work station. I’m excited about it. You’ll get a complete breakdown of my project at the end of the series, but here’s the first project for you, just so you have a sneak peek.

Superfood green smoothie

March 4, 2014 Randi

I’m a little bit of a health nut and a lot of a heavy sleeper. And even though I’m great at planning ahead, I’m not so great at waking up, ever. More often than not, I’m still perfecting my winged liner while already running 10 minutes late to work. So needless to say, I’m not the type of gal that will wake up three hours before work and cook up a hot breakfast while sipping coffee and reading the paper as the sun rises every morning. Nope. That’s not me. Wish it was, and I’m working on it, but it’s totally not.

So after years of grabbing a sugar and preservative-filled doughnut or coffee cake at Biggby on my way to work, I realized I needed to make a change. Enter the green smoothie. It’s super easy to make in the morning as long as you have everything on hand, and there’s no need to sit and eat it. Just pour it into a portable cup and head out the door. Five minutes tops. Plus, it’s jam-packed with tons of healthy goodies that will kickstart your morning a lot better than a cream-stuffed long john. If you’re incredibly lazy, you can even make it the night before and freeze it. (Bonus points if you can manage to put in in your car ahead of time during winter.)