I bought this drink at Grocery Outlet and decided to try it today since I wanted something different, something refreshing but something without caffeine.
At first I thought Positive Beverage sparkling zero calorie crisp cucumber healthy electrolyte beverage tasted like a syrup, similar to those syrups used to flavor Italian sodas. But the more I drank it, the more it tasted like a fancy cucumber cocktail.
I have so many potential posts running around in my head, I am opting to combine them all in a long post.
Coffeereview: Bread and Basket French Roast
So I made a new brand of coffee this morning, Bread and Basket French Roast from ShopRite. It was the same price as the Folger’s Black Silk I bought at Target. Wonderful aroma and while it looked like it brewed extra strong and my cream didn’t really lighten it, it tasted just right.
Weight and stress relief
I have started counting calories again, using Fooducate this time and not My Fitness Pal. My Fitness Pal has more information such nutritional tracking and macros and connects more seamlessly with iHealth. Fooducate focuses on the quality of calories you eat, and since my stress foods are processed and refined carbohydrates I find that the best step in my process right now.
I had lost a solid two pounds this week but last night’s binge of Doritos and horseradish dip, sour patch kids and two alcoholic beverages reacquainted me with half a pound AND gave me nightmares.
Kittens
I haven’t even had a change to truly introduce the Norse Pride Kittens I am pet sitting for Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab. They don’t have a permanent foster placement yet so we may keep them as they are friendly, jolly and fluffy two-pound kittens. See them on YouTube here: Norse Pride.
Hermes of the Greek Pride is doing well but scratched his nose. Stopping to see Zeus and Apollo today. They are at Chaar in Forks Township. Chaar’s web site
And finally my look of the day:
**Since I wrote this post, it has been brought to my attention I called the Shoprite brand Bread and Basket instead of Bowl and Basket. Oops! Can’t blame me for that— I managed to get my waist into the leg hole of my panties today.
Merri at Lucha Bella taught me what healthy skin feels like, took 10 or more years off my face and had more more relaxed than I’ve been since my last intimate adult encounter which was quite some time ago.
And my skin feels energized and as fresh as soft as a baby’s.
I felt so good I stopped at Wawa and treated myself to a Fiji water. Because I had no idea my facial would come with so much massage and I could feel my body asking for the water. So I gave it fancy water.
Shall I back up? I’m just so overwhelmed by the whole experience that I want to write everything before I forget. Because oh my goodness gravy— we all need this.
I expected her to clean my face, apply some product and maybe address some stray hairs.
I was very, very wrong in such a good way.
She asked me to take off my clothes, put on the fancy Velcro towel and crawl under the covers. Well, while that seemed a little strange, because I didn’t expect to be going to bed during my facial, but I never miss the chance to curl up in some clean sheets.
What happened over the next hour transpired like you always see at spas as they are represented in the movies.
I didn’t ask questions because I wanted to feel the experience rather than dissect it. As I will be working with Merri on her marketing, I’m sure I will learn more about the process.
And the sensations were lovely. I don’t accurately remember the correct order, but she gently wiped away the grime of the day and applied some lovely feeling product I suppose to clean my skin. She waxed my upper lips and my chin.
I normally wax my own upper lip. And I have had my eyebrows and my bikini waxed professionally. Nothing beats a professional wax. And the hot wax they use is just feels good against the skin. And the way they prep and follow up with the skin minimizes irritation.
Merri came over with a super bright light so she could tweeze whatever she couldn’t lift with the wax. And she cleaned up the shape of my eyebrows.
There were lots of hot towels wrapped around my face. And the back and forth between hot towels and cool lotions felt so good.
She even had these little loofa like brushes. And I imagine they helped take off the dead skin.
And as if that wasn’t enough — she gave me the Bella facial which included massage on my face, neck, shoulders and arms. I keep all my tension in my neck and shoulders. Her attentions felt heavenly.
The facial massage is also good for sinus pressure.
I’m literally glowing.
What makes all of this even more amazing is that I ended up running from event to event all day, and giving myself to Merri’s treatment really did relax and revive me. She tried to talk business after, but I struggled to think!
And during much of the service, I felt my mind go blank. I envisioned sunflowers and daffodils and magenta petunias.
Why haven’t I done this before?
My day was hectic from the get go; I never even finished putting on my makeup!
No makeup
Cat in way
Get a little makeup on
Moisturizer/sunscreen, hydrating primer and concealer
Regardless of how my day went, when I left Lucha Bella, I felt soft, empowered and refreshed.
With the teenager and teenager #2 in my home more often than not, they are forcing me to explore new looks.
Zoom has influenced this as I also am trying to look alive and vibrant on camera.
I have started posting “before,” “after” and “product” shots on my Instagram, but let’s call this my “week in review.”
“Griffindor” look by teenager 2 using primarily my Rimmel “jewel” palette
The “Griffindor” look at the pub
Rimmel “jewel” eye palette with blue “snapscara” mascara and trepidation red lip gloss from Baby Bat Beauty
Snapscara in blue & lime and blue from Revlon Player palette with the fancy name
My Target favorite finds— Maybelline “snapscara” in blue; Rimmel Magnif’eyes Jewel, and Revlon player enjôleuse
I love sparkle, and my Oryza nude shimmer and contour palette serves as my everyday base eyeshadow. That was the best find so far via Ipsy, I even ordered a second so I don’t run out.
Now keep in mind, my makeup experience was non-existent five years ago.
Before, with Nala
After, hidden by sunglasses
After
Sunday October 4
Today
I start everyday with some Oil of Olay moisturizer with SPF 30, a promise I made to my primary care physician to protect my skin. My brand loyalty is based on sales & coupons. (CVS)
When I start to put on my makeup, I used some re:p (real elemental practice) phytocell moisture serum. I like the way it makes my dry cheeks feel and it smells like oregano or some other garden herb. (Ipsy)
My primer today was IT your skin but better color correcting full coverage cream SPF 50+ broad spectrum UVA & UVB. Thought it would hide my dark circles for my zoom. (Ipsy) This is teenager 2’s go to when she works my make-up.
I actually did my cheeks next — I did a whole lot of bronzer. My tarte bronzer in park avenue princess is another product from Ipsy.
Eyes today are the palest Oryza shimmer color, with a layer of the bronze shimmer color and a spread around some slightly purple glitter from the Starlit Dio kaleidoscope palette I ordered from Target.com.
Lips were my Seraphine botanics lip gloss in Berry & Juice. This lip gloss has the best berry smell.
Before
Yesterday’s Look
Yesterday
Yesterday I started with my normal Olay complete, and some of the rep serum, and did my hair with the Brazilian hair cream.
Did my eyes with my normal Oryza shimmer, blush was Will Powder from Ipsy, but lips were from Baby Bat Beauty, there celestial lip gloss I believe.
The heavy duty glitter on my eyes is Baby Bat Beauty Glass Slipper.
So today is going to be a hard day. Even though I put on my sparking eye shadow from Baby Bat Beauty and finished my look with some of my beauty products from Ipsy.
I’ll offer a review of those products in a future post.
Right now, I want to use this space to talk about our FURR foster kittens who will turn 6 months old in a couple weeks. (For more information on FURR, visit their web site Feline Urban Rescue and Rehab
We took two of them, Apollo and Zeus, to the adoption event at our local Petsmart.
Our godmother in the organization, I’m not sure how else to refer to the person we report to, introduced us as the new foster family that took a litter of five very difficult feral kittens to try and turn them around. And told the story of how I ended up in the hospital when Hades bit me. (This is the blog entry that starts to chronicle those events: The Unfortunate Cat Bite.)
I had asked Gayle to help me make a sign about Zeus’ personality as I knew she would be nervous and scared and not herself. And we included a QR code to load a playlist of YouTube videos of the whole litter playing.
The other members of the organization loved this.
And we even ran into my former work colleague Emery and her husband who adopted three cats from FURR.
Hermes has ringworm and we’d been medicating him— but now Hades has ringworm on her head so I’m not gonna lie I’m scared to catch her. Not for my own sake, but because Hermes has lost the ground he gained in trusting me because of his need for medication.
These kittens had some bad cat colds when we got them and to add ringworm to their other struggles seems so unfair.
So I’ve wanted all day to do a “Nonprofit Roundup” that talked about the remaining workshops I attended this week and the hygiene kit event that Aspire to Autonomy hosted at Terra Cafe today.
But I am exhausted, so instead you get a review of the Yuengling Hershey’s Chocolate Porter.
Short version: I love Yuengling & I love chocolate beers. Of local craft beers, Twin Rivers Brewing has a really good one. My all time favorite beer is Samuel Smith’s Organic Chocolate Stout.
I found this beer very smooth, enjoyable and easy to drink.
Me with my porter at Three Mugs Pub
My dad likes to come to town to visit Three Mugs Pub and we all love the Shruty’s Burger, a special burger designed by the former owners and my husband and I were the first paying customers to order and eat it.
Ah, the memories.
Today I also tried the mango habanero hot chicken dip, which when my stepmom liked until she got too much in one mouthful and experienced too much spicy heat.
Teenager #2 channeled her inner Griffindor, so she said, when she did my makeup today.
Last night I stayed up late and joined a Zoom call at 10 pm Eastern Time sponsored by the Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center in Seattle. The theme for this social justice “cafe” was “white privilege.”
I love to see what other nonprofits are doing to promote racial and social justice, and more importantly, how they foster discussion on important topics.
So, I picked this Zoom, in part, because the facilitator is the sister of the matriarch of The Velez Family, dear dear friends of mine. It’s so amazing to attend an event where you know the people running it have something impactful to say and come from a diverse background.
And I got to socialize with folks from the West Coast!
Sam opening the session
The really, really neat part of this discussion wasn’t the fact that it covered a very important topic—oh no! The wonderful part of this discussion is that the host organization has designed the materials as a “kit” to allow meaningful conversations that can be reproduced among various groups.
The reflections, questions and materials promote open dialogue of various perspectives and hopefully will challenge the participants to have a better understanding of how race-based privilege, unintentional/ socially ingrained bias and ancient laws/codes all still exist and prevent society from truly “moving on” or working together.
I encourage you if you need resources to launch discussions of social justice, explore this nonprofit’s web site: International Peace & Justice Center. They are a faith-based group, but they recognize that everyone has a different spirituality.
Their web site opens with calling racism a sin. And even though I am not a Christian, I will be the first to agree that racism is a sin. Especially now. It’s 2020. Humanity should be ashamed at how we treat one another.
I attended a Zoom Meeting today with Vu Le of Nonprofit AF hosted by The Gruvin Foundation. Now I know it seems odd for a writer and communicator from the Lehigh Valley to spend time with a foundation focused on Ocean County, N.J., but I had a hunch Vu Le would have a message that transcended geography.
But before I get how right I was, let me celebrate the fact that I attended the meeting in true 2020 remote work fashion—
My Zoom Face
While below the waist, I spotted pajamas.
Let me just say that Vu Le speaks the truth and boldly proclaims what those of us who rely on traditional nonprofit institutions to employ us cannot say.
It’s time for the nonprofit sector to be bolder and more assertive.
Vu Le, Nonprofit AF
He so eloquently described what could be improved about the nonprofit sector. From the basic concepts such as fundraisers should not be judged on how much money they bring in and we should reflect upon the greatest needs in the community versus pushing our own mission.
Le advocates for a change in the ecosystem so that nonprofits stop functioning in silos and foundations and philanthropists stop generating mistrust and wasting time and resources.
For instance, Le reminds us all that GRANT PROPOSALS are a WASTE OF TIME since most never get funded. He poses the question— what if nonprofits employed the same tactics as funders?
A hungry family comes to the food pantry. Before they receive food they have to prepare the following:
Compose an essay detailing how hungry they are.
Include a logic model of exactly how all food will be used.
Prepare outcomes of how this food will benefit your children.
We don’t do that, right?
So, Le asks, why do funders do it to us?
He compares the current nonprofit environment to The Hunger Games and like the book series, he challenges those in the sector to end the game and take down the system.
Vu Le speaking, hosted by Gruvin Foundation
Some more of his simple but mind blowing, completely logical ideas to improve inequality in this country:
The “easiest” way to fix society is to elect more women of color. It’s the only way to balance the voice is old white men.
The wealthy need to pay their fair share of taxes.
Remove corporate influence from politics.
Change the two-sided narrative so it’s harder to argue.
Then he reminded us all of this fact: If most social injustice and issues that nonprofits seek to correct effect primarily people of color, why is it that typically…
Non profit boards are white
Non profit staff is white
Donors are white
So white people should allow more people of color decision-making capacity in programs to benefit them. To continue to paraphrase Le, white folks need to stop taking jobs as executive directors for programs that don’t have any impact on white people.
And if funders are only participating in philanthropy to receive the tax breaks, they need to accept that the money is no longer theirs. They need to allow those communities facing the issues at hand to make decisions on how it is spent.
And one of the best ways to promote change in the sector is to encourage funders to give general operating expense funds and let the people doing the work decide where it is needed.
Again, these ideas are not mine but belong to Vu Le of the blog “Nonprofit AF.”
A few weeks ago, when Nan and I went to Shoprite, I bought B&M Brown Bread (with raisins) in a can.
I love trying new food items and this appeared to be a rye bread made with molasses.
I heated it up today and served with cranberry almond chicken salad from Aldi. The molasses makes it more sweet than rye and gives in the texture of cake. I am quite fond of it.
My dear friend Bill Prystauk of CrashPalace Productions gave me a $100 gift card from GrubHub to thank me for editing the latest installment in his Kink Noir novel series, Debauchery, which came out earlier this week.
I love Bill. We both love food. It’s a pandemic. The gift card was a thoughtful gift.
Last week I ordered sushi from Tokyo Sushi in downtown Easton. I have never had their sushi and wanted to compare it to Sogo Fusion Cuisine. More importantly— much more importantly— I wanted bubble tea.
Now, I didn’t realize you could order food for pick up and I would have easily done that as the restaurant is less than two miles away. But why use GrubHub for such an order when you can call the restaurant directly?
When my meal came, the sushi was amazing but there was no bubble tea. So I called the restaurant and asked if I could come get it. They said they didn’t have the flavor I requested so they didn’t charge me. But… I already paid GrubHub. I contacted GrubHub and they put the $4.24 cents into my account.
Tonight I’m in some pain and discomfort from my back. I thought a nice meal might help. GrubHub had sent me a promo code for $10 off a $30 order.
I wanted to try Braai Hut in Bethlehem as I am a fan of most African cuisines and I can make a pretty badass peri-peri sauce. I noticed they have lamb strips in peri-peri and an African form of vegetarian baked beans.
I started ordering. Now, here comes the next thing about GrubHub that completely annoys me. I had $29 in my cart instead of $30. Instead of letting me add more food, it just deletes the promo code.
So I go back to my email and click the “redeem now” button again.
The meal arrives promptly. I am very exciting to be supporting a new, small, local and ethnic restaurant.
I ordered:
Lamb strips with the beans and sweet potato fries
A chicken slaw burger with coleslaw
I received:
One order of chicken kebabs with sweet potato fries and roasted corn
A chicken bacon burger with coleslaw
Now, they probably ran out of beans and lamb and the screw up on the burger wasn’t the end of the earth.
But if restaurants don’t have what they have listed on GrubHub they need to have some way for the restaurant to connect with me the end user.
Because I so did not want chicken kebabs.
The corn was the best part of the meal but also the cheapest side on the menu.
I was disheartened, once again, that the whole reason I placed the order was not honored.
But now my next dilemma— to whom do I complain? I guess GrubHub.
But in their help menu they don’t have an option for “they gave me the wrong food.” I decided to click on “an item was missing.” Because my lamb was missing. And my beans.
They don’t offer a place to explain the problem, just let you click off the menu. So I clicked lamb. GrubHub refunded my meal.
Now I’m worried they are going to take that money away from the small business.
And I don’t want that.
For my final GrubHub order, I’m going to select a major chain. Then I won’t feel bad complaining if they screw it up.
But I think that will be my last GrubHub order. I’m more a #curbsidefirst girl.
Angel Ackerman 