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Thursday, August 11, 2016

Things I Love This Summer

This post admittedly has little to do with writing, but I figure things that make me happy can lead to being in a good frame of mind to get some writing done. Also, all of these came to me as recommendations from other people, so I might as well pass them along!

"Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" - I'd seen plenty of articles and posts on my Facebook feed about how everyone should be watching this show and how good it is...they do not lie. It's great. I'm about two-thirds of the way through the first season on Netflix (plenty of time before Season 2 starts in October!) and it is so much fun. The characters are flawed, yet likeable, and anything that randomly segues into a musical number a couple times per episode gets all the stars from me.

Instant Pot - This popular electric pressure cooker (with additional functions) has been in my possession for about a year now, but as more and more people buy one, more recipes come out for it. (Fun fact: this year on Prime Day, Amazon sold around 120K Instant Pots. That's a lot of pressure cookers.) Thanks to the IP, I've made a ton of great stuff without having to turn my oven on, like Greek-style pork, Asian-style orange beef, and pulled pork that was ready in less than two hours. I find the end results have a better texture than what I got with my slow cooker, and I love how you can do everything in the pot, from browning the meat with the Saute feature, to thickening the sauce after cooking. Also, it's a foolproof way to steam shellfish and make risotto without constant stirring!

Lilla Rose Flexi Clips - I have thick wavy/curly hair that doesn't always behave itself. I also have very little patience for hairstyles with a steep learning curve. These are easy to use AND they actually contain my hair with less than a minute's worth of effort. With the large size, I can quickly put my hair in a French twist or bun, clip it, and it does. not. move. for the rest of the day. No extra bobby pins or anything. It is some kind of sorcery. I started with three and eventually wound up buying six more (in various sizes for various purposes). I'm finding it difficult to go back to the plastic claws or the usual spring-loaded barrettes because these are so much better (and come in a ton of different styles, which is bad for my wallet).

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Out of Orbit Interview (and Giveaway!)

It's August, and I promised exciting Out of Orbit-related things! For the entire month, my featured interview will be up at The Romance Reviews. In addition to some excerpts and fun behind-the-scenes details, there's also a giveaway for a $10 Amazon gift card! So pop on over and leave a comment to enter!