*Road trippin’ with my two favorite allies
Fully loaded we got snacks and supplies It’s time to leave this town it’s time to steal away
Let’s go get lost anywhere exceptin the U.S.A.
Kelowna to Osoyoos
Whether it be the road less traveled, the road more traveled or the road not taken…just hit the road! It will always be a journey of discovery.
You never know how it’s gonna go…
“I SEE MY PATH, BUT I DON’T KNOW WHERE IT LEADS. NOT KNOWING WHERE I’M GOING IS WHAT INSPIRES ME TO TRAVEL IT.” – ROSALIA DE CASTRO
A few cinematic favorites:
National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) – a super funny disastrous family vacation amongst breathtaking scenery.
“SOMETIMES ALL YOU NEED IS A GREAT FRIEND AND A TANK OF GAS.” – UNKNOWN
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Yes please!*Road trippin’ – a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Aside from the products I make myself, I’ve been wanting to try these cult favourites…if only to find out what all the fuss is about.
It’s only the last several months that I’ve been using them and now I realize the reason why women find them exceptional.
Fresh soy face cleanser
This came as a sample and when I’m finished using it I’ll purchase a tube. The first thing I noticed was the lovely fresh scent…which lives up to its name. Cool as a cucumber. I love that it soothes sensitive skin.
This pH-balanced gel cleanser for all skin types has a cult following for the way it removes makeup—even mascara—without drying for soft, supple skin. It’s made with amino acid-rich soy proteins, calming cucumber extract, and balancing rosewater.
Amino acid-rich soy proteins help maintain skin elasticity.
Calming cucumber extract aids in soothing the skin.
Rosewater is notable for its calming and balancing properties.
Believe it or not, I first purchased this at a Costco in Palm Springs. I’m not sure if every Costco sells it, but it came packaged along with a cactus water gel moisturizer and elasticized hair band. The moisturizer works for hydration but I’m not a big fan of the watery consistency. However I absolutely think this smoothing, brightening and firming peel gel is TOPS. I bought it mainly because of the exfoliant. I use it on dry skin in the morning and it really works to gently but effectively slough away dull dead skin cells. It’s gentle enough to use daily which most other exfoliants are not. The formula is lightweight but it works like a heavyweight.
This is a keeper. Probably the best I’ve come across. Since it cleanses skin too you might consider using this in the AM and Fresh Soy Cleanser in the PM.
This came in my “Box of Style.” They always include an amazing beauty product and I’m always willing to try.
This is great following exfoliation because it helps to refresh and hydrate. It’s kind of a gel-water consistency. Having said that, I think the right facial spray can also do the trick. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll buy a bottle after I finish what I have. A little goes a long way. Women go ga-ga over it, so here’s some info from their site:
Product Details
Our silky, hydrating toner works for nearly all skin concerns to revive dull or dry complexions and begin the process of renewal. Made without alcohol, it gently clears away flakes and aging skin cells while it sweeps on calming, skin-restoring nutrients found in nature, including:
Provitamin B5 to give skin the antioxidant support in needs to bolster the healing process and build its defenses.
Comfrey root to soothe sensitive or irritated skin while it encourages cell repair and renewal.
Glycerin, a natural moisture magnet, to attract and hold hydration for a glowing complexion.
The luxurious rich cream that started it all. Known as the Miracle Broth.
A few years ago after sampling a small bit I bought a jar at Nordstrom. I decided it was too thick for my skin. However a few months ago they actually had some for sale at Costco in Palm Springs and I couldn’t resist trying it again. Skin changes. I don’t know whether my skin is more dehydrated now, but after using it only nightly for a few months I do notice a positive difference. it’s soothing and helps heal dryness. Yes; it’s expensive and there are a lot of other good moisturizers on the market…but this one really is a cult favourite for good reason and I know several women with amazing complexions that say it’s worth the splurge. So if you can afford it, it’s definitely worth a try, especially if you can find it a bit cheaper at Costco. It really softens so use sparingly and perhaps seasonally in drier months. Oh; the legend of it’s creation is something else…
According to tale, a German rocket scientist named Max Huber invented it while trying to heal burns that he’d sustained in the lab. Estée Lauder now owns the brand.
Just for fun the below was excerpted from an article taken from “The Cut”– Skin Deep.
The moisturizer that is meant to give you baby-soft skin is treated like a precious baby during its formulation. La Mer’s formula resolves around a fermented juice called the Miracle Broth. While each batch is fermenting, which takes about three months, technicians play the broth a tape of carefully selected sounds. This is for real.
If you think this is crazy, you aren’t alone. Andrew Bevacqua, senior vice-president of research and development at the Max Huber Research Labs, who has worked at Lauder since 1986, was floored when he learned that he had to provide the Miracle Broth with a soundtrack. “I couldn’t understand why it could be necessary to do that. I thought creating the broth was enough.When Max’s daughter told me about it, I thought she didn’t understand because she wasn’t a scientist,” he said. “But we tried it without the sound waves, and the data showed that when it had sound waves, the broth was much more active.” He added that there are studies that show that sound waves can have an impact on chemical reactions, so there’s some science behind it, after all.
Since we’re in the heart of blueberry season I thought it timely to offer you this delightful tasting muffin recipe courtesy of my friend Lynn. She made a batch and we went through them in no time.
These are, in my opinion, the best tasting gluten-free muffins using healthy ingredients. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
Ingredients:
1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
1 large egg
¼ cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup honey
1 ½ cups spelt flour
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. cinnamon
1 ½ cups frozen or fresh blueberries
4 Tbsp. melted butter
Pre-heat oven to 375F.
Line or grease a 12 cup muffin tin.
In a medium bowl whisk together yogurt, egg, vanilla, milk + honey.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
Add blueberries. Toss to combine.
Add the yogurt mixture, the melted butter and stir until just combined. Do not over mix.
Portion the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until tops spring back lightly to touch.
Let muffins cool for a few minutes in the tin before removing them to a cooling rack.
The word “picnic” comes from the French language where it became a popular pastime in France after the Revolution (1789) when royal parks became open to the public for the first time.
The term derives frompique-nique, used to describe a group of people dining in a restaurant who brought their own wine. The concept of a picnic therefore had the connotation of a meal to which everyone contributed something.
Picnic may be based on the verb piquer which means ‘pick’ or ‘peck’ with the rhyming nique meaning “thing of little importance”, or on “pique un niche” meaning “pick a place”, an isolated spot where family or friends could enjoy a meal together.
During the Victorian Age picnics were ways for people to escape the restrictions of etiquette and formality and offered the rare opportunity for young men and women to spend time together in the open air. They could also be quite elaborate since a picnic for twenty people might feature sandwiches, fruit, a selection of cheeses, and a variety of baked food!
Don’t you love blueberries? There’s so many ways to celebrate them. They go with just about everything from cereal and smoothies to enhancing cocktails like sangria. One of my favorite cakes is a blueberry/lemon. The lemon compliments the blueberries really nicely. Blueberries are delicious, they’re loaded with vitamins and look so pretty. What’s not to love?
BC Blueberries are a big deal for British Columbia. Blueberry Day is a way to show appreciation for our province’s hardworking BC blueberry farmers while commemorating the start of the fresh season.
Annually, the BC Blueberry Council begins fresh blueberry season in July. With more than 600 high bush blueberry growers covering more than 30,000 hectares across the province, this is a busy time for the BC Blueberry Council and its members.
Pick your Own Berries
BC Blueberry farmers are offering U pick this summer under special COVID-19 protocols – find the farm closest to you on GoBlueBC.ca.
Restaurants, caterers, and chefs across the province are getting behind BC Blueberries with special menu items. The full list will be published online at GoBlueBC.ca.
For ways on how to incorporate the super berries into your daily routine, visit bcblueberry.com and visit their social media pages @bcblueberries.
BC Blueberry Day is a way to remind us that we should celebrate BC Blueberries all year long. Whether fresh or frozen, BC Blueberries are a versatile pantry-staple that should always be at the top of every shopping list.
Finding the perfect pair of shorts should be pretty simple, right?
*Two for the Road – (1967) with Albert Finney & Audrey Hepburn. Photo: Alamy
NO, it’s not! It’s only easy if you don’t care about fit and style. I think this might ring true for both men and women.
Something not too short, not too long, not too frumpy looking. Almost impossible.
And when you do come across a really cute pair, some are as expensive as a long pair of pants even though they’re missing all that extra material.
Good ones seem to be in short supply.
I have only two pairs right now that I’m comfortable wearing in rotation. I’m on the hunt so I don’t only have two for the road. I want at least three.
MIA – amazon.com
I’m considering all styles. Cargo, Retro, Pleated, Printed, Denim, Tailored…belted, drawstring, buttons or zipper…
What is your favorite go-to pair of shorts?
NordstromImage: Vogue
*Two For The Road: Travel is a constant theme in this romantic dramedy about a married couple, played by Albert Finney and Aubrey Hepburn (who by the way, looks good in her shorts). The movie starts off with a road trip to Saint-Tropez, and as they drive through France, the audience is treated to flashbacks of previous trips that have affected their relationship. -Jenni Miller
I once went on a road trip through France with a stop in St. Tropez – minus the pink shorts, cool convertible & picnic basket.
Giving Gifts is all about giving – giving to friends and family, giving to yourself and giving to others around…
Just yesterday I came across an inspiring gift boutique made up of 5 rooms and more than 100 local Vancouver artists, each showcasing all kinds of good quality, fair trade gifts. I love this concept.
“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered. And the the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute. History has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.” — George Orwell 1984 (a political novel written with the purpose of warning readers in the West of the dangers of totalitarian government.)
Is it true that Illusion is sometimes all that keeps us sane?
American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson once said “sanity is very rare; almost every man and woman has a dash of madness every so often.”
Every so often is….how frequently exactly? I think things are shifting to more repeatedly because it’s every single day we’re bombarded with actions from those that make no sense and instead of moving forward we seem to be moving backwards. Right here…right now in our lives at present we’re witnessing a lot of history making madness.
People are just starting to wake up but in the process are we becoming more careful than need be? Or are we just afraid not to offend anyone. Because everything is coming to a head.
The Dixie Chicks have changed their name to Chicks because of the connotation of “Dixie” with slavery. Upon hearing this a friend of mine jokingly suggested the new name could be considered sexist. That maybe they should consider changing it to “theChickens?”
I fully understand the “black lives matter” movement because to me it’s absurd that slavery ever happened in the first place. That stands for other history making events such as the holocaust. The insanity of control and intention of cruelty over innocent lives.
The people at the very top, the people in power, are the very same people who could have put an end to these occurrences. So who are we to trust? Are we responsible for blindly following the orders given by lunatics in power if we consciously know they’re in the wrong for giving them, and we for following them? Shouldn’t we take some responsibility?
Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States held the nation together during its greatest trial, the Civil War. Lincoln believed his most sacred duty was the preservation of the union. It was his firm conviction that slavery must be abolished.
“I leave you hoping that the lamp of liberty will burn in your bosoms until there shall no longer be a doubt that all men are created free and equal.” Abraham Lincoln
Will we ever get it right?
Has rage replaced reason?As in…
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore” – from the movie *Network.
This speech feels more relevant today than its release in 1976 and seems to predict the world we live in today. A world filled with reality TV, tabloid journalism and the overwhelming direction that media in general is taking with its anything for ratings philosophy.
The Character Howard Beale played by the late great Peter Finch, gave the following speech in the film that still resonates today.
“I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth. Banks are going bust. Shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is: ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’
Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get MAD! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your congressman, because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad. (shouting) You’ve got to say: ‘I’m a human being, god-dammit!My life has value!’
“To think that we can finally get it all together is unrealistic. To seek for some lasting security is futile. To undo our very ancient and very stuck habitual patterns of mind requires that we begin to turn around some of our most basic assumptions. Believing in a solid, separate self, continuing to seek pleasure and avoid pain, thinking that someone “out there” is to blame for our pain—one has to get totally fed up with these ways of thinking. One has to give up hope that this way of thinking will bring us satisfaction. Suffering begins to dissolve when we can question the belief or the hope that there’s anywhere to hide.” – Pema Chodraon “Nowhere to Hide”
I’ll leave you with this more uplifting quote:
“Keep your Eyes on All that’s Good and Beautiful and Possible in the World. Because the Stories We Tell Create the People We Become.”– Jacqueline Lewis, Life Begins at the End of Your Comfort Zone: a Journal to Reignite, Renew, and Refuel Your Life.
*Network: The man behind the words of this powerful speech was the American playwright, screenwriter and novelist Sidney Aaron “Paddy” Chayefsky. He is the only person to have won three solo Academy Awards for Best Screenplay (the other three-time winners, Woody Allen, Francis Ford Coppola, Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder, have all shared their awards with co-writers). The trio of Academy Awards were for Marty (1955), The Hospital (1971) and Network (1976).
It could be fact loosely fabricated in fiction. We may never fully grasp where reality starts and the falsehoods end. And that is the intent. For obvious reasons.
It might make more sense when you realize the semi-autobiographical book was co-written by one of Hollywood’s funniest, most interesting, diverse and complicated characters. A person smarter and much more spiritual than you’d care to imagine, and one proficient painter to boot – JimCarrey who never fails to surprise and astonish with his accomplishments. Now a book: Memoirs and Misinformation.
Jim co-wrote the book with “Mergers and Acquisitions” author Dana Vachon. The actor previewed the book in a new interview with The New York Times ahead of its July publication, revealing that the writers spent the last eight years working on the project
The book is presented as a mad fever dream starring Jim Carrey, incorporating morsels of autobiography with adventures involving Nicolas Cage, Kelsey Grammer, Taylor Swift, Anthony Hopkins, Goldie Hawn, Sean Penn, and many more. The names are changed and he has apparently forewarned all actors as to whom they may be referred to as in his book… fully aware that a few of them may not be so pleased.
Hollywood through dusty rose colored lenses.
I was fortunate to be in Jim’s company on at least four occasions. An intimate dinner for five, a small Malibu wedding where he was best man & master of ceremony, and two parties. I found him to be quite affable, naturally funny, intelligent and surprisingly down to earth in a slightly guarded way. I felt comfortable in his presence; after all, he is a fellow Canadian. Even though I admire everything he does, I made sure not to invade his privacy as I was there as a guest. Friend of a mutual friend. I also got the distinct impression he was looking for a higher purpose. And a sense of I belonghere… how did I get here?
Through sheer talent and dedication he realized all of his dreams and then some. Very few of us ever achieve that in our lifetime. Now the search for meaning in Hollywood years after acting success must have been the aspiration for this book.
Press Release:
If you really like Jim Carrey, stick out the insanity for the pearls of comic fantasy and the nuggets of memoir gold.
“They say his empire was ruined by the same psychosis that found him, at the end, driving around Tucson with a loaded Uzi on his lap, ranting in word salad, high on methamphetamine.” This remark is made about a fictional celebrity guru named Natchez Gushue, but when you encounter it in Chapter 2 you may wonder if it also applies to the creators of this book.
Carrey and collaborator Vachon pull out all the stops as their protagonist Jim Carrey careens from midlife blues through love and career complications toward the apocalypse. (The actual apocalypse, in which the world ends.) “He was nearing fifty, his fans aging, too. His talent was such that Hollywood could not replace him in its usual way, the kind of body snatching that saw Emma Stone swapped in for Lindsay Lohan, Leonardo DiCaprio taking over for River Phoenix.” The question is, should he stage his comeback with “Disney’s Untitled Play-Doh Fun Factory Project” or with a star turn as Mao Zedong in a biopic by Charlie Kaufman?
Mixing the memoir with the misinformation, as the title suggests, is not the clearest or most powerful way Carrey might have presented the story of his life. Did his parents really tell everyone to feel free to beat him, “joking but not really”? Was an affair with Linda Ronstadt in 1982 “the only truly selfless love he’d ever known”? Is the scene where Carrey remembers telling Rodney Dangerfield a joke on the older comic’s deathbed (“Don’t worry Rodney, I’m gonna let everyone know you’re really gay. That kind of thing isn’t frowned on anymore”) real?
Moments of candor and alarming or moving revelations are a bit lost in the mad rush from Hungry Hungry Hippos in Digital 3D to the end of the world, when “Cher and Dolly Parton whizzed by overhead, both singing Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah.’ “
Makes one wonder if we ever really fully get anyone’s story?
“Memoirs and Misinformation” will be available for purchase on July 7. Knopf publishing. Price: ( Hardcover )$27.95
An audiobook version of the novel will feature the voice of Carrey’s “Dumb and Dumber” co-star Jeff Daniels. Online Publish Date: June 17, 2020
20 NEW BOOKS to read in July to keep your spirits up:
*Road trippin’ – a song by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
Summer isn’t complete without one.
Girl Who Would be KING on Life, Style and INSPIRATION. 
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