Hair combs and hairpins, pg 4

For this month's feature of Collecting in Martha Stewart Living May 2014, Hair combs and hairpins are featured, particularly vintage ones. The piece suggests wearing them like bobby pins to secure hair and that they can be purchased at a local store! One of the biggest challenges of this month long project is getting to this store. It's in my city, but tucked away in a part of town called Red Hook, where subways don't go, making it hard for the car-less, baby wearer to get there. Part of me thinks it might be easier to get to Craftsman and Wolves, which is also on this page of MSL, but in San Francisco. We'll consider it a field trip. This store, with vintage hairpins and combs, is called Erie Basin. I appreciate MSL for guiding me here, because I never would have come on my own.

It occurs to me now that I wore a hair comb instead of a veil for my wedding. It was given to me by my sister-in-law and now is tucked into the preservation box with my gown. This was the best photo I have of the back of my head that day.

Since I'm not going to start collecting hair combs and hairpins myself, I'll get one newer one, and knock out another project I've been meaning to try for months. The wrapped hair comb from P.S. I made this. I love love love this blog, and quit pinning things from it months ago, because I was basically pinning the whole website.
http://psimadethis.com/accessories/hair-comb

Back and Shoulder Pulls, pg. 2

Today on Martha's Calendar, she is going to water her plants, check irrigation systems as needed and do some cardio and core. I water my plants everyday because the only ones I have are outdoors, and in direct sunlight. For cardio, I will be walking my daughter back and forth from the babysitter's house. For core, I'll do a sit up. I'll also do these back and shoulder pulls that Martha features for strength training. I like the idea of them because I tend to feel really stiff in the mornings, but I want to build my back strength because I'm a baby wearer. They're also very easy. The exercise requires a stretchy band, which I don't have, and don't want to buy because I'm already dropping a bunch of cash on this project. Instead, I'm going to use a towel. The article mentions that you should repeat the stretch 15 times, working up to three sets, but doesn't mention how often you should do them and when. Everyday? When you wake up? Before bed? As part of a bigger workout? It must not matter.

I couldn't take a picture of myself doing this, unfortunately, but I can tell you that I feel nice and stretchy. I continued it with this 17-part series in getting FLOTUS arms: http://www.skinnymom.com/2014/03/25/17-free-weight-exercises-for-toned-arms/

Technology is Fun, pg. 19

In this piece, Martha discusses how she embraces technological advances in the office and in her personal life. She uses a MakerBot to create prototypes of products for the Martha Stewart line. Since I've never seen a MakerBot in action, we took a family field trip to SoHo to visit the MakerBot store. It was fascinating. The employees explained the different ways that the replicators can use data to create a blueprint.

She goes on to mention some other products she's using now. They include the iPad, which I also use for just about everything. A camera, which I feel like a don't need. My phone is my camera. A Galaxy Gear watch and a Fitbit. I've been meaning to get a Fitbit, so I felt like now's the time. When I looked into them today, I discovered that Tory Burch is going to be designing a Fitbit later this Spring, so I'll wait for that.

Also, a printer! We don't have one, so we stopped at the Apple Store in SoHo while we were out to pick one out. We got an Epson wireless printer/scanner/copier for $99. I can't help but imagine how much that would have been 10 years ago. The way we've come. Speaking of which, Martha speaks of how much she loves her drone camera. I'm not jonesing for one of these, but the other day, on the news, someone sent footage of a fire to the news from a personal drone. It was pretty cool, so I'll wait for these to come down a little in price, too.

Apple Store, SoHo

There was also a trip to the Chobani restaurant!

Roasted Quartered Chicken with Herb Sauce

First of all, you'll notice that I didn't use a quartered chicken. Whole foods was out, but luckily had already cut up parts on sale. I enjoyed the sauce, and pulsed it in a food processor to get it nice and choppy. There were lots of leftovers, so chicken salad sandwiches are on tomorrow night's menu.

Buying American Made?

How many things do you own that were actually made in America? I dare you to gather up 10 random things and check. Are you horrified? I would be if I played that game with myself. Manufacturing in foreign countries is so inexpensive for companies, that it's the best way to keep the final price of the item low enough that people will want to buy it.

I love love love buying things that are made in the United States, which is why I was thrilled to see a plug for American Made Market on page 4. This is an ebay collection of things handcrafted in America, and takes the guess work out of gift giving. 

I originally looked up ebay.com/americanmade to see if I could find some Mother's Day gifts, but didn't see anything I think either my Mother or Mother-in-law would like. I, however, would have liked one of each thing. I settled on a bracelet for myself, a throwback to the good old days of the preppy 80s, when hair was bad, music was...good-ish, and fashion was, um, let's not go there. It's a knot work, rope bracket that you slide on, and I think leave it through showering so that it shrinks a little and conforms to your wrist. It's this one from Mystic Knotworks (like Mystic Connecticut, setting of Mystic Pizza, another great nod to the 80s?)

Image from Mystic Knotworks, via American Made

I'll cut off the day after Labor Day, the official end of summer...or when it looks dingy and gross.

Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

I hate raw tomatoes, and even roasted tomatoes are pushing it, so I was reluctant to try this recipe. It turned out to be delicious, though. So delicious in fact, that I can't wait to make it again! We ate it on leftover Stove-Top Pasta and Cheese.

I only made 1/4 of the recipe because organic cherry tomatoes are really expensive.

Martha's Garden Tip, pg. 2

Today, Martha is going to Hike to Cross River Reservoir, Plant vegetables with Jude and Truman (her grandchildren) and Harvest green and purple asparagus. We're going to hike to Smorgasburg, where we will possibly eat some vegetables, and possible some of those will be asparagus. I'll let you know.

I am going to sort of plant a vegetable. Martha suggests lining antique garden urns with a plastic trash bag after poking holes in the bottom of the bag, so that soil doesn't leak out of the cracks. I have a lot of old pots in our court yard that have sitting, unused for 2 and a half years. I bought a thyme plant today so that I can use the fresh thyme in a recipe later on. A few sprigs of thyme are $3.99 at Whole Foods, or $2.50 for the entire plant at our local gardening store (which is actually a little flower store.) My pots weren't antique urns, but little pots with cracks. I'm a little nervous that they're going to be stolen out of our front yard, so I'm trying to hide them on the stoop steps.