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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.)

I’m feeling crafty and I’m thinking spring

February 14, 2014 Randi

Yesterday was a beautiful breezy 30 degree day in mid-Michigan. For the first time in a long time, the air didn’t hurt my face and my fingers didn’t go numb when I took my gloves off to get my mail key out. In fact, I didn’t even have to wear gloves today.

It seems as though today was a sunny spring day in Michigan.

With thoughts of spring in mind and the day off work, I headed around town to pick up some pretty pastel nail polish (OPI’s Lucky Lucky Lavendar, OPI’s Can’t Find my Czechbook and Essie’s Tart Deco) and some simple supplies to put together a quick cheerful craft.

(Florida)dventure, AKA the Wizarding World of Harry Potter

February 13, 2014 Randi

This week’s classes are done and I have today off of work (gasp!) so I figured I would use this precious, precious time to finally give a recap of my recent Florida vacation!

After graduation, my good ~~drinking buddy~~ friend Jordan moved down to Florida to live with her mom and work. Back in November, I decided Future Randi should pay Future Jordan a visit, so I booked a fairly inexpensive flight from Detroit to Tampa. Fast forward roughly almost three agonizing months of polar vortex later, and I’m giving Past Randi a nice hearty pat on the back for that decision. Good one. Because Jordan and I are both semi-recent college grads (read: broke), we knew we wouldn’t be able to have a crazy week of adventures planned, but we did get to go to THE MOST MAGICAL PLACE ON EARTH!

Butternut squash and parmesan risotto

February 11, 2014 Randi

Wait, it’s only Tuesday?

You can tell how my week’s been going so far just by that statement. It’s training week at work and we have section deadlines on Thursday, plus I have a paper due in class tomorrow. Catch-up time is kicking my butt! But at least I got to enjoy a good few days off from work, class and blogging in ~~sunny~~ rainy and 50-some degree Tampa, Fla. I’ll have a blog post soon detailing some of my adventures (Um, hello Wizarding World of Harry Potter!) but for now, since I’m so behind on blogging, I’ll play some catch-up with this recipe I made last week before I decided to jet set south.

Pepper and chive fettuccine noodles

February 1, 2014 Randi

It’s midnight on Friday and after a few episodes of How I Met Your Mother and some pasta, I’m getting prepared for a crazy busy weekend of studying and homework before my vacation starts next Wednesday. If I haven’t mentioned it, I’m heading down to Largo, Fla., to visit my college friend Jordan. She graduated and moved down to live with her mom, so I’ll be flying out mid-next week to visit her and go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for the first time! I’m beyond excited.

But, before vacation comes a lot of work. There’s been a lot of reading, paper writing and online exam taking. And, of course, the last thing you want to do before you fly cross-country in four days is go grocery shopping. So, Jake and I decided to see what we could come up with for dinner based on the sparse ingredients I’ve had around my kitchen. Here’s what we got:

Most worn this winter

January 27, 2014 Randi

If you live in the mitten state, or have ever even visited anytime between December and March, you know that Mom Nature is always a little moody. This winter, we were blessed with not one, but two polar vortexes. For those of you unfamiliar with the term (ahem west coast friends), it means temperatures dropped below zero, with windchill down to NEGATIVE THIRTY, for a few days at a time. Brrr. Sometimes it’s impossible to be warm AND stylish, but I’ve grit my teeth and dealt.

BUT! The crazy arctic vortex polar circle of hell has prompted a late-January post of my most-worn and/ or favorite pieces this winter season.