CONFESSIONS OF A FAT GIRL

A Giveaway Game: What's in AJ's Desk?

Get amped, guys, because National Strawberry Day is on the horizon. Time to break out the StemGem Strawberry Huller (yes, that's a real thing -- you may recall I made these)! 

I'm celebrating by revealing something to y'all. My clutch snack. At any time you can open my top filing cabinet drawer in the office and you will find a mish mash of pens, post-its, tape, emergency deodorant (trust me, it's handy to have), and a wide array of snacks to get me through the days. 

My favorite snack, which I keep at home in bulk as well, is Welch's Fruit Snacks. And I have a ritual. With the multi-flavor packs, I dump them out on my desk and eat them a flavor at a time, saving the strawberry gummies for last because they're the best. We all do this, right? Who else grew up in the 90s and saved the green M&Ms for last, too? These are the strange habits we adopt, right? 

The good news is, I can power through a couple bags at a time of these but they are fat free, gluten free, contain no preservatives and provide 100% of the recommended daily value of Vitamin C and 25% of Vitamins A and E. The even BETTER news is that they come in 11 different varieties. Imagine my joy when I found out I could just buy strawberry?! No more saving the best for last. They are ALL THE BEST NOW.

A TRIUMPH IN SNACK CONSUMPTION! 

For more information, please visit their website. Please note I am about "this close" to buying them in bulk on Amazon and just having them sent straight to my office. I guess when reviewing free product on my blog and it costs me money I'm doing it wrong but I just love these. I mean, this isn't even something I'd normally post about, right? So let that be an indication that these are genuinely my favorite and I could not resist. 

AND ONE MORE THING! I want all of you to love them too! So Welch's told me they'd happily send a couple boxes to some of my readers. Enter below and come back daily to increase your odds. Have a happy National Strawberry Day! 

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Get in The LOOP! A Fun Tech Accessory Giveaway

I'm probably in the minority but if you know me, it probably doesn't shock you that I have a HEADPHONES DRAWER. It used to be nice and neatly organized but now I'n afraid it's just a mess of product and cables and chords. 

At work the situation's not much better -- especially because my desk isn't a huge space and when I'm swamped, without time to clean up after myself, it just becomes a mess in there. And frankly, it's not good for my V-Modas --  I use my absolute most prized pair of headphones at the office.

Thankfully, a very simple but brilliant piece of plastic is about the solve a lot of problems.

The LOOP is made of 100% recyclable polycarbonate (granted, that is not ordinary plastic) and for less than $20, you can own THREE of them. It's of no surprise to me that it was conceived and created by an architect, Scott Rodwin, who went through several designs to ensure his device was the best earbud holder on the market. He wanted it to be the easiest and quickest to use, most attractive to look at and easy to hold. As it turned out, it also manages to be both elegant and fun, inexpensive and durable.

The LOOP is simple to use. Wind on. Wind off. The perfect solution for any earbuds and the almost-perfect solution for detachable cables (I'll explain!) -- especially perfect for those earbuds that come with Apple products. Slides nicely into your jeans' pockets, your  purse, your laptop bag or fits perfectly into the bottom of a car cup-holder and protects your buds from damage.

I don't use earbuds 90% of the time but I still have a need for this. And most of the headphones I use have detachable cables so there's still plenty of usefulness here. Just be careful if you have a 3.5mm 45 or 90 degree earphone jack.

It won't fit into the LOOP hole. Make it the side of the cable you put into the ridges. When you're holding the product, that will make sense. And if you have no idea what this means, you probably use earbuds and should just declare me a total snob. ;) 

But COME ON! POOF! Problem solved. Look how tidy this is! 

Whether you spend a lot or a little on earphones, your money is your money, man. If you don't take care of your things, you have to spend MORE money to replace your things more often, right? And headphones get a lot of wear and tear. They get thrown into bags and backpacks, onto desks, into drawers...

Watch this 38 second video that sums it all up and then enter the give away below! I'm going to send TWO of you a LOOP of your own! 

 

 

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Disclosure: These craft devils sent me three loops to try. I tried one and decided to send two of them away to two of you. You're welcome.

Five on Friday -- Five Favorite Romantic Comedies

I can already feel the blogger anxiety setting in. FIVE? Did I really just limit myself to FIVE fantastic romantic comedies? Did I really just admit I like romantic comedies? 

But I guess I've gone a little soft this week so here are five romantic comedies I will probably binge watch on Sunday while I eat my emotions and nap on the couch. ;) 

1. PRETTY WOMAN

Please. Does this movie ever get old? NO. It still holds up! Every time we watch it, we fall in love with Vivian, the hooker with a heart of gold and blind ambition. 

 

2. KEEPING THE FAITH

The movie that made me pause and wonder if Ben Stiller was actually HOT and made me lust for a priest. I typically find most people missed this movie. It's a gem, though. I love it. 

 

3. CRAZY STUPID LOVE

Because Ryan Gosling. This movie is so smart and warm and well cast. It remains one of my all-time favorites. And because Ryan Gosling.

 

4. CLUELESS

I mean, we all STILL love Paul Rudd but have our hearts ever lept more for him than they did when he was Cher's adorkable stepbrother in this movie? (Warning: Spoilers. Warning: If you have never seen this movie, I weep for you.)

 

5. SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE

I know. Super obvious, right? But I just had to have a Meg Ryan flick on the list and I decided on this one because it's also reminiscent of a treasured Cary Grant film, An Affair to Remember. (P.S. Come back to us, Meg Ryan. We miss you.)

 

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So what say YOU, dear readers? What RomCom will be playing on your TVs this weekend? 

Sangers And Joe in Pasadena

So what's a "Sanger?" Well in Australia,it appears to be slang for sandwich, so I'm going with that. 

I don't frequent Pasadena enough, which is a shame because it's not a bad drive from my home and it's a rather charming city that hosts a wide array of restaurants. I am particularly fond of Old Town Pasadena, and not just because my favorite frozen yogurt shop is there. 

At the end of last year, I discovered a lovely cafe in Old Town called Sangers & Joe. They opened their doors in October, serving up coffee, tea, pastries and delectable breakfast and lunch plates from award-winning Chef Claudio Dell’Anno. In November they added a weekend brunch menu from Chef Rouha Sadighi (The Rooster Breakfast Food Truck, Cutthroat Kitchen winner) with tasty scrambles, benedicts and crepes alongside some of Chef Sadighi’s signature specialties.

Rounding out this new menu are five classic brunch dishes, including a classic eggs benedict and, keeping the “sandwich” in Sanger, the "Breakfast Sanger" -- an open-faced ciabatta bread delight topped with scrambled eggs, gouda and bacon. You cannot go wrong with the eggs benedict. I loved that the ham was sliced thin and it made the dish easier to cut into. Their hollandaise sauce is perfection. I enjoyed the Breakfast Sanger but I did feel like the bread could have been heavier -- it was a little too flaky for my liking.

But surprisingly, my favorite thing we shared was the avocado toast. Made quite simply with a squeeze of lime over it, it was unbelievably good. You can add a poached egg to it if you like to make it more breakfasty, but it was really delicious as is and when I go back, that's what I'm having.

And I'll probably have it with a Chai Tea Latte because it was equally good. They have a massive coffee and tea selection but this is always my go-to to test the "waters." It was lovely.

The place is really lovely, adjoined to a terrific, independent shop filled with unique vintage furniture items and home trinkets, perfectly positioned for you to take a stroll after you've eaten, with convenient street and public parking all around. 

 

A fun touch? A community library! I was tempted to borrow something but I've got a stack of books to read already.... I will definitely bring some to donate next time I go, though.

More:

• Check out their website!
• Parking is all over the place in Old Town - just make sure you read the signs.
• Their socials - follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Disclosure: I was treated to this brunch by the restaurant's lovely PR team. Y'all were still treated to my honest opinion, tho. 

Monster Products Getting Me Through

So check this out -- who says we can't think a little outside the box when it comes to using out tech accessories?

This weekend, I had a marvelous time at the Los Angeles Cookie Convention and thank goodness I had my new Monster Mobile PowerCard with me. It's slim and light and didn't add any weight to my purse. Once I was carrying cookies an baking tools that I'd purchased, I was especially grateful for that. It is definitely a tool I'll be adding to my work bag and my work travel strategy! 

It's reasonably priced and also comes in an even slimmer version -- something that would be especially handy at the red carpet events I man as part of my job -- when I wish I could carry a smaller bag but often can't because of all the tech I carry. :)

But that's not all! Because I spent yesterday plugging away on my beloved laptop at home. At three years old it's kind of on its last leg these days and I'm starting to think I might need a new one. It has a massive dent in one of the corners that has made a USB port unusable. And I needed to have my cell phone beside me and it needed to be charged. I just couldn't go plug it into the wall -- I needed to be checking it. So I remembered happily what was in my purse. 

So there I was, in my own home, using the PowerCard on my sofa! Presto! 

CLICK HERE for more info.

Now, before you get all judgey on the selfie case, as I did when I first looked at it, let me tell you some ways it can come in handy! It is NOT just for selfies! Go hands-free for calls, video chat, time-lapse video, GPS navigation and more. That in of itself? Brilliant. For bloggers, actually, it could be GREAT for making quick "how to" videos or make-up demos. I'm probably going to end up keeping mine in the car because I don't have GPS in my car and this will solve the issue of how I currently use my phone for that... And I won't say more cause I don't wanna get a lecture... But anyway, the special gel material the case is made from functions like millions of tiny suction cups so that your smartphone will stick to glass, mirror, acrylic, marble and other smooth, flat and glossy vertical surfaces (for you moms out there, I feel like this is perfect to entertain the kids in the backseat, by the way, if you have something to stick it to). 

This morning, I was in an odd bind. You see, right now I don't have a mirror in my bedroom. And the lighting in my bathroom is horribly unforgiving. The joys of apartment living, right? And I was trying to get something out of my eye. So again, PRESTO! That selfie case went right onto my closet door. I got the gunk out of my eye and then did my eye makeup. 

Good, right? I was pretty pleased with myself. Despite the look of cynicism on my face. :) 

And I wanted too show you how it stuck to things so I used my hall closet and my iPad....

It's pretty cool, right? Like an amused child I spent a little too much time putting it onto surfaces all over my apartment to see where I could make it stick. CLICK HERE for more info.

I always enjoy testing out new products and take special pride in finding new ways to use them in routine parts of my life! A touchdown for these two new favorites. 

Disclosure: I'm a card-carrying member of Monster Nation but thankfully, they do not require me to lie about such things. Hence while they provided me these products gratis, the opinions are all my own.