Posts Tagged ‘How-To…’

TWO WEEKS  till Christmas! YIKES!

To my fellow procrastinators out there, you can do this! I’m used to winging it at the last minute… bet you are too!

The RETRO CUSTOM VIEWFINDER available on Amazon is a great gift for lucky DIY recipients who love to relive memories. They simply upload their choices of personal pics and soon after VOILA! A disc to pop into their new viewfinder arrives in the mail.

I want/need this POLAROID INSTANT CAMERA with auto focus, a set-timer, in a really cute color. Plus there’s a great deal on Target.com right now.

Honor your favorite dog lover with a gift to the AMERICAN HUMANE SOCIETY, or even better, volunteer!

From CREATIVE COCKTAIL GIRL, IG’s Liv.yah. Her garnishes are to die for! She has gorgeous cocktails including the Christmas Mohito and Virgin Christmas Colada. Check her out. She has lots of cool ideas!

Brie Christmas Trees look delish from IG’s Vickyskitchan. Make them if you’re having friends over or going to someone’s home for the holidays. You’ll earn lots of “yum”s and “ooh-and-ahhh”s.  Looks easy. I’m definitely trying it!

Realsimple.com has sooooo many good ideas you can create last minute for Christmas. I might buy myself the Polaroid camera and make Christmas ornaments for friends and family. Yeah, that would be a win/win for everyone, right?

Happy, Merry, HO HO HO

xo/Evie

Yes it’s last-minute — Christmas is almost here…  but no, it’s not too late. Here are some great gift subscriptions guaranteed to bring smiles, month after month … just a click away.

Something Special for Someone Special…

FLOWERS-BY-THE-MONTH from Bloomsybox  ($45-55 per as many months as you decide)

Unexpected flowers brighten a gloomy day, spiff up any room, and add a little fancy to everyday life.

SOCKS-WITH-A-CAUSE BY-THE-MONTH from Society Socks($20.00 per month)

Haven’t tried this one, but it looks wonderful and they donate to different charities so it’s a gift for many.

MASTERCLASS-BY-THE-MONTH from Masterclass ($15 per month)

Business, Home & Lifestyle, Music, Design, Science & Tech, Wellness and Style Inspiration from the experts in every field. An awesome gift to give or receive.

CHOCOLATE BY-THE-MONTH from Compartes  @$50 per month

Each month is different: January delivers exotic tastes of gourmet chocolate bars with flavors from all over the world. February brings Valentine sweetness, March bring Easter goodies. Compartes is yummy and addictive for all chocoholics. Don’t say you weren’t warned, ahaha.

FACIAL MASKS BY-BY-THE-MONTH from Facetory in Japan @$19.90 a month

Always different, always fabulous, and it’s so much fun to try all of the different beauty masks. This is an awesome gift for women of all ages — an easy, quick beauty routine that never gets boring. (My friend Rachel is really into skincare — she’ll love this.)

BOOZE-BY-THE-MONTH from Mash & Grape ($69.00 – $79.00) 

I gave a 3-month Bourbon subscription to Niles last year and he totally luvvved it — and it’s not-so-secretly on his Wishlist for this year;) The quality of Bourbon, Whisky and Scotch are the highest and the bottles are beautiful. You must be 21 to order. Hint… be sure you navigate the website carefully because it takes awhile to get customer service on the case.

There are so many more I’d love to to write about, but we are running out of time, so I’d better get this posted.

Happy, Safe, Merry EVERYTHING xx/evie

KINDNESS is our secret weapon

Last week I heard very sad news. I’m still in shock. It doesn’t feel real. A friend, a fellow actor I know, I mean knew, ended his life.

It hurts too much to discuss details. And I want to protect his wife and child’s privacy… they’re devastated…

What I, what we, need to figure out is how to help all of the hurting humans in our country who are “on the verge” or already “acting-out” after nearly 15 months in isolation.

Covid did a number on all of us —

It’s no surprise that after all we’ve been through, we’re freaking-out and blaming one another other in crowds, on planes, at games and at home. So many of us are still stuck without a job, without security, without a way out. It’s a mental health nightmare that isn’t getting enough attention. Depression is rampant.

We’ve got to start connecting with each other, hearing each other, putting ourselves in each other’s shoes.

This was then…

I don’t know how humans handled the pandemic the last time. In 1918 they didn’t have TVs or cellphones, or computers. They couldn’t distract themselves with Zoom.

It sounds even worse than what we’ve experienced, but that’s hard to imagine…

…this is now.

If you or someone you know seems depressed or suicidal, or just has a few worrisome warning signs, do whatever you can to offer help.

We tried in the case of my friend. We got him into a facility, but his good acting may have fooled the professionals into thinking he was doing better than he was.

Suicide is one of those decisions you can’t take back, unfortunately. Questions go unanswered… the people you love most hurt the most, creating an open wound that lasts forever after…

Watch for Warning Signs —

Crisis Help —

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline

Teen Line Online

Thanks for reading. Take care of yourselves out there <3

xo/evie

2021 will be better… it must!

Since this year is different from all other years (except maybe 1918) here are 5 superstitious ways to welcome in 2021.

1. OPEN YOUR PANTI DRAWER —

Normally there are many considerations as you select your 12/31 panties. Even though red is for passion and pink is for love, tonight BLUE is the clear choice.

BLUE panties bring GOOD HEALTH, and that’s the #1 need for ourselves, our loved ones, our country and our world. So get out your blue panties to parrr-ty — alone, or with someone in your bubble. (I know, I know, it feels depressing, but guys — next year will be better.)

2. GRAB A SUITCASE —

After we get through the contagiousness of Covid, we’ll all need to get away. Tonight at midnight, lug a piece of luggage around the block. Make sure it’s packed with your needs for a dream vacay. (Let’s plan it! Woo-hoo!) Read the rest of this entry »

Niles, my hairdresser-bestie, and I live in the same building. He’s in my “bubble” so we have dinner together a lot. Monday before last dinner on his balcony was like any other since March. His housekeeper, Hortensia, was there cooking, cleaning…

On Tuesday Hortensia’s sister was sick, so she got tested. On Wednesday sis learned she’d tested POSITIVE. So Hortensia tested, and yes, unfortunately: POSITIVE.

Niles got tested and said it was “easy-peasy” at the drive-through set-up at the Veteran’s building, plus he got his NEGATIVE results within 24 hours.

I went to the website,  filled out the forms, watched the video twice (“don’t drop anything”) printed the receipt with my number… so far so good.

On Saturday I was psyched to go. The line was long, but kept moving. It took about an hour to go through. One of the masked guides told me to go to Tent #1. When I got there, I asked the next masked guide if there would be another Tent #1 and she told me there would be. She asked if I’d been there before.

No it’s my first time.

She explained that up ahead they’d tell me what to do… piece of cake, right? Uhhhhh… not exactly for me.

Passing a sign PUT ON YOUR MASK, I eventually I got to a window where a guy asked for my number and then attached a sealed plastic bag with the test kit on one of those extended grabber things and pointed it to me in my car.  After I grabbed the plastic bag, he told me to roll up my window, which I did.

After that something went wrong, because I followed the car in front of me for awhile without stopping and noticed that the driver dropped something in a receptacle and continued to drive on. I had no idea what he was doing since no one had told me to take the test yet and there’d been no place to stop and do what was shown in the video. I continued in the moving car line, a little nervously…

The next masked guide told me to get into Row 3, which I was aware wasn’t Row 1, but I figured maybe I didn’t have to get to Tent #1 after all.

Then, after I’d been there an hour my car line exited out! I FREAKED and pulled over to the side as quickly as I could.  Frantically I opened my plastic bag, but in my nervousness, the white gauzy circle-thing fell to my car floor. Noooooo! (“don’t drop anything.”) I speed-dialed Niles.

Am I supposed to take my test in the car and send it somewhere?!

No– didn’t someone watch you take the test?

No, and Niles —  I accidentally dropped my white gauzy-circle thing!

Read the rest of this entry »

dance whenever! wherever!

Loved, loved, loved seeing ELECTION DEFENDERS make lemonade out of long-line-lemons,  spreading cool moves and positivity to VOTING in Philly.  Rachel Maddow interviewed the enthusiastic Nelini Stamp and showed what creative get-the-vote-out-thinking can accomplish. Nelini’s contagious smile and kick-ass movement: JOY TO VOTERS made me want to boogie back to the polls again.

Imagine a place where no one’s asking what party you’re part of because everyone’s partying together. Yeah,  you might need to go to a SWING STATE to see it —  or you can bring a social-distancing-dance-vote-movement to your own State. Remember, the State of the Union is up to each one of us.

Cha Cha Slide to the POLLS —

It’ll make you believe in democracy again