Hair Shmair (John Frieda Product Review)

This post brought to you by John Frieda. All opinions are 100% mine.

Now, I'll just come out and say it right now: I'm not terribly fancy when it comes to beauty products. I have avoided department store makeup very much on purpose, because I'm worried the difference in comparison to my drugstore makeup will be too great to deny and I'll be forced against my will to spend 4 jillion dollars on makeup each year. And I have only been introduced to salon quality hair products in the past year or two, when I hoped that splurging on fancypants products would make growing out my short pixie haircut a little more interesting and enjoyable. I almost hate to admit that I can tell a difference when I use salon hair products vs. drugstore products, because I hate spending much money on something goofy like my hair, but it is what is it. I'm still avoiding fancy makeup at all costs, but I might maybe may be just a tad converted to at least some salon hair products.

So I was excited to have the chance to try out some John Freida goodies. John Frieda hair care products are salon quality, but can be purchased at Walmart, so best of both worlds I guess, right? You won't spend a fortune, but you'll get some good bang for your buck.

Here are the products I got to take for a test drive: (from left to right) Full Repair Shampoo and Conditioner, plus Full Repair Hydrate + Rescue Deep Conditioner, Brilliant Brunette Colour Protecting Shampoo and Conditioner, Luxurious Volume Shampoo and Conditioner, and Frizz-Ease Smooth Start Shampoo and Conditioner.

My thoughts on the products: The first thing I noticed was that they all smelled fantastically salon-ish, if that makes sense. You know how when you get your hair professionally done, and the products smell out-of-this-world good and, somehow, they actually do smell expensive, and you hate to go back home and wash it in a day or two with your own crappy products because you'll lose that fancy salon smell? These products (especially the Full Repair line) smelled to me like salon products, which I guess makes sense if they are salon quality, and I loved walking around all day catching whiffs of my own fancy-smelling hair.

(Would that the screen were scratch-n-sniff.)

My favorite product, hands down, was the Full Repair Hydrate + Rescue Deep Conditioner. I'm always a fan of a good deep conditioner, and this one did not disappoint. It left my hair feeling incredibly soft and smooth, and I even think it styled a bit easier after use, and held the style for longer than usual. In the picture above, I had just used the Full Repair Shampoo and Deep Conditioner, and I was able to get better-than-usual curls, which lasted well into a second day of wear, and never felt 'crispy' or dry the way curls sometimes do. This is one product I'll be happy to restock when my bottle runs out.

I also liked the Luxurious Volume Shampoo and Conditioner--although I honestly have my doubts that a shampoo or conditioner can do much to help with volume (other than by simply not being a very heavy formula), I think I got exactly the same results using it as I typically get with my Kenra Volumizing Shampoo and Conditioner, which cost like 4 times more, which I find really annoying, to tell you the truth. (Will Ulta accept a refund on the Kenra shampoo/conditioner I bought 6 months ago?) Here's a picture of the day I used the Luxurious Volume line.

Enjoy the photobomb of Forrest in the backseat, complete with a tractor in his mouth. Is he eating it? Kissing it? The world may never know.

As for the Frizz-Ease line, I'm not sure I have anything incredible to say in either direction. Apart from the nice smell, I didn't insanely love or insanely dislike it--I thought it was just dandy, I guess. No complaints, no rave review, but frizz is not my greatest hair issue, so I may have been the wrong person to test out an anti-frizz product. And once I realized the Brilliant Brunette line is meant to be used on color-treated hair, I only opened it to take a smell (mmmm), and will be passing it on to someone who dyes their hair (seems like a waste to use color-treated shampoo on my own non-color treated hair), so I can't remark on it, either. But two thumbs up to the Full Repair and Luxurious Volume products, especially the Full Repair Deep Conditioner.

You can find video tutorials and product videos on the John Frieda hair care products brand page if you're looking for more info.

Rip Slip (or, some Ripply Crochet Goodness)

SEO be damned, I’LL NEVER STOP GIVING MY BLOG POSTS STUPID TITLES!!!

If you’re a crocheter/crochet appreciator on Instagram, I’d highly recommend you follow OneCraftyLady. She crochets the loveliest things, and I’m always inspired by her creative color choices and gorgeous photography. Anywho, before I creep her out (is she reading?! I would die), I’ll get to the point: she’s been working on a ripple blanket recently, and it is just so pretty and perfect that I had to try it out myself.

I pulled a few colors from my stash and liked the way this dusty purple, cream, and greige looked together:

No big surprise there, but I’m not terribly adventurous when it comes to my color combos. Nice and safe makes me happy. The ripples are quick and satisfying to crochet—kind of monotonous and repetitive, which makes it sound boring, which I guess it kind of is . . . but sometimes I like boring. It’s nice to be able to crochet without hardly thinking about it.

I used this ripple tutorial from Attic 24 to model my blanket after. I’m doing 3 rows of each color to end up with thick, solid stripes, and her instructions are very clear and simple, so if you’re newer to crochet or have never tried a ripple before, I think you’ll be well-equipped if using her instructions.

And shortly after posting the above pictures, a pregnant friend emailed me a color list to use so I could make one for her soon-to-debut little boy, and it’s coming along swimmingly as well:

(In case my cell phone pictures have distorted the colors, the stripes are light gray, mint, charcoal gray, white, and blue.)

Since there are so many more colors involved in this one, I’m only doing two rows of each color, so each one gets plenty of showtime in the blanket. These are super fun to make, and hopefully I’ll have the little guy’s blanket done in just a few days.

(The pictures are from my Instagram—you can find me at maybematilda if you want more.)

March Goal Recap

So, in an effort to be more productive and not get bogged down by yearly goals that heaven knows I’ll never accomplish, I’m trying out a monthly goal system this year. It has worked decently so far, and I’ve found it really motivating to have a smaller list of specific tasks rather than a huge yearly system. You can see my March ambition HERE, and now that we have entered a new month, it’s time to review my wild success. Ready?

This is going to be embarrassing . . . .

. . . .

. . . .

NOPE.

That’s a big ol’ fail for the entire month. What happened, you ask? Idunno. Forrest spent the first week of the month puking, I had some last-minute travel, then I wasn’t feeling so hot myself, then Jeff ended up having to cover two offices for a week instead of just his own office, plus the weather was nice enough that Forrest and I spent about every spare moment riding his trike outside and visiting the park (where, of course, I interacted nonstop with him because I am an all-star mom hahaha #goodone) . . . phew. I’m tired.

In my defense . . . March wasn’t a total flop. At the very least, I did brainstorm some jewelry storage ideas, and did one or two of the multiple small touch-ups I had hoped to do in Forrest’s room, and although 1 dessert per week was a long shot to start with, I definitely did cut down on my typical treat consumption. And sure, I only made my bed once (that’s right! one time!) all month, and the ‘inviting someone for dinner’ was partially fulfilled when I threw a birthday party for my brother (counts, right?), and my sewing machine is gathering dust . . . but I read some books this month! One goal out of eight: check!

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore: 3/5 stars. It was quick and pretty enjoyable, but in the end, a little too much for me to take.

The Round House: 3/5 stars. Definitely impressive in terms of the writing and construction and delivery, but not one I necessarily loved reading. I respected it, but I didn’t love it.

The One and Only Ivan: 4/5 stars. Adorable and so sweet. I’ll admit: I cried a tad at the ending. So lovable.

Something Missing: 3/5 stars. Quirky and different and endearing and fun. It’s sure not going to change your life or anything, but I read it all in one day while feeling under the weather and it was quick and fun and had a few cute laugh-out-loud moments.

Clockwork Angel: 4/5 stars. I’m a little behind the times on this series, but it’s new to me and I actually really liked the first book! I tend to stay away from YA, and fantasy, and YA fantasy, but I thought this book was really engaging and exciting and unique. I’m working on the second in the series now.

So March wasn’t a total bust, but I can’t say I got many important things done. Oh well, we all need some time off every now and then, right? Right.

More Last Minute Easter Crochet

So, at about this time in 2011, I wrote a post sharing some cute crochet patterns that would make awesome last minute Easter gifts. And for some reason, it got and continues to get a good amount of attention (weird—I’m always kind of surprised when any of the garbage I write here gets attention), so I figured I’d do another one this year with newer pattern ideas!

Now, first things first: I get at least one email a week asking for the pattern to the chick in a bunny suit I made and linked to in the previous Easter post:

The good news: it’s a super cute, super fast little project that will work up in no time, perfect for tucking into an Easter basket.

The bad news: it used to be free, and now it’s not. But it’s only $3, and you can find it right HERE in the Dawnie Dolls etsy shop. (The photo above is my version of the project, which I took some liberties with, so make sure to check out the listing pictures to see how making one exactly as written will turn out!)

Now that’s out of the way, here are my top 5 picks for quick, adorable Easter crochet patterns (all free!) that would be perfect to start and finish in one or two days and add to an Easter basket! (Note: while a few of these are on my to-do list, I haven’t made any of them yet, so I can’t comment on the patterns themselves or finished projects made using them!)

If there is a Peeps fan in your house, this Easter Peeps pattern would be so cute and funny to make for them! I have no fondness for Peeps, so the crocheted version looks much better to me than the real deal.

I love the idea of making a dozen colorful little Easter eggs to use for decorating or filling baskets. Sure beats dyeing eggs every year—not my favorite holiday activity. Get the free Easter egg crochet pattern HERE!

I love the unique look of these little Easter bunnies! So colorful and cheerful, and the lack of appendages would make them SO quick to work up. Get the pattern HERE.

Doesn’t this little Easter chick look so sweet? It’s hard to tell how big he turns out, but I’m guessing he’s little enough to tuck into an Easter egg. Awwww! Get the pattern HERE.

And last but not least:

I love the Boxy Skirt Bunny! They look cute in every color combo, and look like they’d be a lot of fun to customize and play around with. Get the pattern (a Ravelry download) right HERE.

Have you crocheted anything for Easter this year?

5 Awesome Dinners

So, I thought I had shared 5 of my favorite dinner recipes, oh, a few weeks ago. Maybe a month or two, max. I thought maybe I’d make it a monthly or every-other-month regular thing.

Turns out, it’s been six months since I wrote that post. Whoops!

So here I am again, 6 months later, with 5 more of our favorite dinner recipes. I mentioned in my previous 5 recipes post that while I enjoy cooking, I get bored repeating recipes and would much rather try something new than repeat something I’ve made before. So a recipe only makes the repeat list of it’s really tasty, quick and simple to make, and a crowd-pleaser. With that criteria in mind, here are 5 recent favorites that are delicious enough to make again and again. (And, in case you are the suspicious type, this post isn’t sponsored or anything, and the people who wrote the recipe don’t know me . . . just dishes I love and think you might like, too.)

1. Chicken Ranch Tacos

Recipe and photo from Do You Smell That?

These tacos are quick and easy to pull together, and really delicious. If you don’t like the taste of Ranch dressing, you might need to keep moving, but these are always a big hit at our house. Even a certain picky someone who refuses to eat meat of any kind unless it comes in a hot dog package gobbles this up. Find the recipe HERE.

2. Classic Chicken and Rice Soup

Photo and recipe from Picky Palate

I know, chicken and rice soup sounds about as boring as it gets. But this recipe is a real keeper, and I’ve probably made it a dozen times this winter alone. I can’t put my finger on what exactly sets it apart from other chicken soups, but something about it is just so perfect and so delicious. Plus, it’s quite healthy, and makes for absolutely divine leftovers the next day. Find the recipe HERE.

3. German Pancakes

Photo and recipe from Allrecipes

You probably don’t need one specific recipe for this favorite—almost every recipe I’ve seen for German Pancakes is nearly identical—but this is the perfect last minute “the fridge is completely empty!” meal. It’s quick, it hardly requires any ingredients, and it tastes great. We like it best topped with butter, lemon juice, and powdered sugar. Toss together a fruit salad for a side dish, and you’ve got dinner on the table in like 20 minutes, tops. Perfect.

4. BBQ Chicken Pizza

Photo and Recipe from Two Twenty One

Another no-brainer here: quick and simple, you probably have all the ingredients in your fridge right now, and everyone always loves it. We rarely ever have leftovers of BBQ Chicken Pizza. If you’re feeling ambitious and have a little more time on your hands, you can step it up by making homemade pizza crust, but even on store bought dough/crust, this one is a favorite. Find the recipe HERE.

5. Chicken Tortilla Soup

Photo and recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

I can’t say enough good things about this soup. It is absolute perfection. Smooth and creamy and savory and just a tad spicy—delicious. The soup itself is delicious, but top it with some sour cream, avocado, lime juice, and cilantro, and you’ll be in heaven. It makes a lot, which I didn’t mind at all—I was perfectly happy to eat it for lunch every day all week before it finally ran out. This one will be getting repeated very often. Find the recipe HERE.

How to Get Rid of Extra Chains from Foundation Chain (Crochet)

That’s a wordy title, isn’t it? Can’t think of a more succinct way to put it, though, so it’s staying. I thought I’d cover a nifty crochet trick I learned recently. Maybe it’s common knowledge and not worth doing a full-blown tutorial on, but I figured that if I didn’t realize this was an  easy option for hiding foundation chain screwups, surely someone else doesn’t know and could benefit from learning it as well.

If you’re anything like me, you probably lose track of how many chains you’re making when starting in on bigger projects . . . if you’re making a blanket, for instance, and you’re starting with a whopping foundation chain of 100 chains or 200 or even more, you’re bound to lose count at some point and either have to go back and tally them up, or just hope for the best and move on. And if you’re really like me, you’ll get the number of starting chains wrong anyway, even if you’ve counted and recounted, and you won’t realize the count is off until you’ve finished your first row and have extra chains dangling at the end.

I never knew there was a quick and simple fix for this. All along, I’ve been either ripping my work apart and starting over when I ended up with too many chains, or forging onward and trying to find a way to hide those extra chains by sewing them into the project (which makes for a bulky, awkward finish that probably no one but you will notice, but still—it’ll bug you). There is a better way. A MUCH better way. And if this is news to you, like it was to me, you’ll be kicking yourself for never realizing how easy it could be to get rid of those extra chains.

So you’ve reached the end of your first row. You have the correct stitch count, you’ve followed your pattern carefully, but curses! Extra chains! You don’t want to mess with the pattern to include them, but you don’t want to just leave them hanging there as a reminder that you miscounted your foundation chain. Here’s what you need to do.

1. Find your extra chains. You’ll have a knot on the far left, then however many chains you overshot your foundation row by. I have two extra chains here. Dangnabbit!

2. Grab a blunt needle and use it to loosen up the knot. Maybe you’ll be able to do this with your fingers . . . I can’t. Just pull that  knot loose with the needle or your fingers, and undo it.

3. Now just carefully unravel those extra chains. They won’t just rip loose, like you’re used to when you have to pull your work out. Since you’re kind of working backwards here—from the bottom end instead of the top--you’ll have to manually unravel each individual chain.

4. Once your extra chains are pulled loose and you’ve reached the first real stitch of the row, just pull the yarn tail tight, and you’re all done! When you get a few more rows out of the way, you can go ahead and weave that tail in, and no one will ever know you messed up your foundation chain.

Simple, right? I can’t believe I’ve ripped out so much work in the past because I didn’t realize I could just undo the knot and unravel the chains. Totally kicking myself for all that wasted time, but hey, at least I’ve figured out a better way. And now that I know how easy it is to fix, I purposely add extra chains when making blankets just to make sure I don’t make the even more annoying mistake of having too few chains in the starting row. I’d rather go back and undo too many chains than try to make up for too few.

Is this concept news to you like it was to me, or is this Crochet 101 that you can’t believe I haven’t heard of before?

Intel Science Talent Search in Washington DC!

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Intel for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

Well, I just got home from quite a weekend . . . I took a whirlwind trip to Washington, D.C. to attend the Intel Science Talent Search! In case you're not familiar with this, it's the nation's most prestigious and elite pre-college science competition. Out of nearly 2,000 appliants, 40 finalists are chosen to travel to DC to show off their hard work and research projects, meet with hot shot scientists, and compete for over $600,000 in scholarship prizes. The cool thing about this event is that the contestants are selected and awarded for not just one specific science project, but for their overall creativity, personality, work, and potential in the scientific fields. It is truly a talent search, not just a science fair.

First things first, I've got to ask it: do you ever look at teenagers today and just feel kind of concerned? I mean, between constant texting and ridiculous outfits and awful language and atrocious facebook misspellings, do you worry that these are the leaders of tomorrow? I did  . . . and hopefully won't ever have reason to worry about that again after this weekend. The kids competing at the Intel Science Talent Search were all top-tier, impressive, amazing youth--driven, ambitious, talented, articulate, creative . . . I will gladly submit to their rule when they have conquered the world someday. Our future is in good hands.

The event was held at the National Geographic Society in downtown DC--such a cool place to visit and wander through. I wish I'd had a little more time to spend sightseeing in the city . . . there's so much to check out!

The place was absolutely packed with reporters, contestants, and just the general public visiting to, you know, meet our future world leaders, nobel prize-winning scientists of the future, etc. No biggie.

Once we were in, we had the chance to talk with and get to know the contestants, and have them explain their projects to us. Each one had conducted a high-level, in-depth research project, and it was incredible to hear about the work that had gone into them, the originality and creativity in their thinking and research methods, and even just learn about them as individuals. I don't think there was a single student there who didn't impress me with how well-rounded and mature they seemed. They aren't just science kids or math kids--they were all so talented and bright across the board, from science to music to athletics to community service. Really awesome kids.

So, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite projects from the Intel Science Talent Search:
This is Naomi . . . she did years of study on indoor air quality and lung funtion measurements, and even came up with a mathematical model and software application to quantify the impact of harmful pollutants found in indoor air.

She told me she was inspired to research this topic after watching family members suffer from year-round allergy symptoms that just didn't line up with traditional allergy seasons; she knew there must be something else going on, causing their symptoms and discomfort, apparent from the constant diagnosis of, 'it's just allergies.' Maybe someday, if we're breathing cleaner, better indoor air, we'll have her to thank!

I was also really intrigued by Raja Selvakumar's work . . . you're probably familiar with surgical robots that are used for stomach/intestinal surgeries, correct? Well, they run on lithium batteries, which can be a huge problem if they get loose in the body.

Never fear, Raja's got us covered. He's developing a fuel cell that can be used in these surgical nanorobots that is powered by your very own stomach bacteria. No battery required--just your own natural stomach acids and bacterias, powering a flipping robot. Amazing, right? (And talking with Raja was such a delight--he is so charming and funny. When he's not innovating fuel sources for nanorobots (!) he told me he is a black belt in martial arts and a major Jackie Chan fan. Amen, kid!)

And I can't leave out Sara Volz . . . she kind of laughed at me for wanting to take this picture, but can you see her earrings?

They're elements from the periodic table! I loved that the kids' creative sides shone through, even in picking their outfits. So many kids picked an accessory to represent their work, from a crayfish tie (worn by a young man who researched--and disproved--long-held ideas on crayfish habits) to star jewelry (worn by a young lady I'll get to in a minute here). Sara found ways to improve biofuel production made from . . . ready? . . . algae. I didn't even know that was a thing! Although algae can be used to create fuel, it hasn't been cost-effective in the past, and she figured out ways to increase the harvesting of algaes with high oil content and increase overall growth. So if a few years from now, you're filling up your car with fuel made from algae . . . think of Sara here!

Undoubtedly, a huge highlight of the event was running into a contestant from my own high school! Samantha Scibelli is a senior at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School, where I graduated from however many years ago.

And let me tell you, we are not talking about a big high school in a high-population city here. Small-town, rural New York with a relatively small high school. So it was really exciting to see someone there from BH-BL! Go Samantha! (She's the one who wore star earrings . . . to match her study and classification of thousands of previously miscategorized stars!)

And even more exciting was running into this lady here . . .

My own high school chemistry teacher from Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake high school! I'm glad she finally got a stellar student in Samantha who could show off her teaching skills in a large scale like the talent search . . . because she certainly didn't get that with me. It was so fun to run into her there with Samantha and catch up. I tell ya, I think the only reason I loved (and passed!) chemistry that year was because Mrs. Reals was such a fun teacher, not because I have any deep love for chemistry.

All in all, it was such a fun event to attend. I loved seeing all the kids' ingenuity and creativity--from biological studies to researching and improving cancer diagnosis/treatment to more everyday concerns like air quality and chemicals used in dry cleaning, they tackled a huge variety of topics and, I have no doubt, will make a huge impact on the scientific world someday. The winners of the Intel Science Talent Search will be announced on Tuesday, and I can't wait to see who will be winning those huge awards! I think our future is in great hands . . . no more worrying about Bieber fanatics and, ahem, creative spelling choices from today's teens--I'm just trusting these very talented Intel Science Talent Search kids to be the frontrunners of the future.