Glitter Spice

Over Memorial weekend Derika surprised me with a last-minute trip to Cape Cod. I could not have been more excited, because when we looked at our summer calendar earlier in the month, we realized that we only had a handful of weekends open this summer to explore the east coast. We lived on the west coast for 7 years, and we probably drove Highway 1 at least four or five times. I love a good road trip…

You get to stop at every random tourist attraction that tickles your fancy.
You get to make some killer road trip mixes that you can sing along too at the top of your lungs.
You get to load your car with the most amazing road trip snacks.

We left super early on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, and we were in our car and on the road, with a NYC bagel and cream cheese in hand by 7am. We got lucky and didn’t hit any traffic and made it to the Cape by lunchtime. Derika rented us a place through Airbnb and we totally scored. (If you have not had a chance to check out Airbnb, make sure you do, because it will be one of the best travel decisions you have made). The place that we stayed in was centrally located on the Cape, so you could drive one direction and be in downtown Provincetown within an hour or drive an hour in the other direction and be in Woods Hole to hop the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. The place was adorable and super clean, the location made it great for day trips, the hosts kept the small fridge stocked with amazing breakfast goodies and the icing on the cake was that they had chickens!

Seriously, look at these lovely ladies! We were out and about during the day, so unfortunately we did not get to spend as much time with these girls as I would have liked. However, we did get an opportunity to get out and see what Cape Cod has to offer. I feel like we only scratched the surface and I would go back in a heartbeat to continue the adventure.

Here is my list of the TOP 5 THINGS that we did manage to get into…

Fun Thing #1

Go to Providence Town aka P-Town and have a mojito or three!

So we ended up going to P-town on both Friday afternoon and all day on Saturday. I have to be honest; we basically did some shopping (aka unintentional sunglass shopping…see photo below) and enjoyed numerous beverages on random patios throughout town. How can you blame us really, the weather was so gorgeous and there were many many many mojitos to try! My favorite place by far was the Patio American Grill, where they had a great sunshiny patio and a huge list of mojitos that we needed to sample our way through. After about three of their mojitos, you will be making ALL OF THE FRIENDS (see photo below)!

In addition to sipping ALL of the mojitos on the patio, we got sucked into the many sunglass stores on the cape. I don’t know how it happened, but we ended up leaving Cape Cod with 6 new pair of sunglasses by the end of the weekend. If you are wondering, it is very important to make sure that you sunglasses match your outfit… (I love how you can see my reflection in the lenses of these glasses). 😉

One thing that I forgot to mention is that it was Women’s Weekend the weekend that we were in P-town. We did not plan this, but I can’t say that I was disappointed. There were definitely some great events to attend and some epic people watching.

Fun Thing #2

Take a Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard!

Boom…we’re on a boat!

We got up on Sunday morning and headed to the Wood Hole Ferry terminal where we caught a 30-minute Ferry to Martha’s Vineyard. We arrived to a town called Vineyard Haven, but the food choices were lacking and the town was dry, so we jumped on a bus and headed to Oak Bluffs. Do this…just trust me. I was starting to get fangry (aka F-ing Hungry) so Derika ushered me to the closest restaurant with a patio called Nancy’s Restaurant. I had an amazing Greek wrap and Derika got the crab cakes, we recommend both. In regards to tasty beverages, we started out with their Mai Tai…basically a vacation in a glass.

We then ended our meal with their Dirty Banana.

What is a Dirty Banana you ask? Nancy’s is apparently famous for it…this drink is basically a mudslide made with frozen bananas, and it is epic and tastes like dessert. If sweet frosty beverages are your thing, then run to Nancy’s and order this drink! Also the view at this place is stellar, so you might need to get 2 dirty bananas. 😉

Fun Thing #3

Go to OFFSHORE Ale Company in Oak Bluffs.

This place brews their own beer and has a couple of other great local brews on tap. Grab a couple of local brews and a basket of peanuts and enjoy their small patio.

Fun Thing #4

Head to the Black Dog Outlet store in Oak Bluffs and get matching sweatshirts!

If you look closely when you are touring the island, you will notice images of a mysterious black dog that appears all over. You can read about the Black Dog story here, but to dress like a local head to this shop before you leave the island and stock up on your Black Dog paraphanalia.

We were unfortunately too full from our late lunch to catch another meal on Martha’s Vineyard, but that didn’t stop us from grabbing a slice at Porto Pizza in Vineyard Haven for the ferry line. With pizza in hand we caught the last ferry out of Martha’s Vineyard and we were back to our rental in time to chill out with some Bananagrams, before bed. After breakfast the next morning we headed home, and made it back to the city in about 5 hours…not too bad for a holiday weekend!

We will definitely be back to the Cape to do some more exploring in the future, but for now I hope you enjoy some of my suggestions from above.

Happy traveling and enjoy my tips for drinking like a local!

Cheers,

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has no comments yet.

It has been heating up in NYC, which has been making our apartment feel like my own personal sauna. We do have air conditioners, but I am fighting it, because I feel like I really need to embrace the summer a bit since the winter was so brutal. I will admit though that we have been using the one in our bedroom at night to help us sleep…it has also been doing wonders on drowning out the city noise. As a result of this sweaty weather, it has been making me crave all things salad. I don’t know about you, but if I am going to eat only a salad for dinner, I want that salad to be jam-packed with a ton of magical goodies. It probably takes the healthy aspect out of eating a salad, but hey, I am eating a salad. 🙂

This recipe is inspired by all of the amazing chopped salads that you see in restaurants. I always want to order them, but being a vegetarian kind of takes the excitement out of restaurant style chopped salads. After I minus all the meat and the olives (yes, I am a crazy vegetarian that can’t seem to get herself to like olives), I am left with a sad-looking salad that has a couple sprinkles of cheese and hard boiled egg on it that I paid $12 for…FAIL!

So for this salad, I am making up for all of the chopped salads that I could never order and I loaded it with every veggie that I had hiding in my fridge. As an added bonus, I added some pepper jack cheese and some field roast deli slices to add a little extra sass. I also whipped up my own dressing, and to my surprise this salad actually ended up tasting like and amazing Italian sub!

I grew up in Michigan eating Tubby’s Italian Sub Sandwiches, gosh I miss them! The secret to the Tubby’s Subs is definitely in the dressing, which is basically vinegar, oil, salt, pepper and oregano. I have to say that this dressing comes close, but it also packs a lovely garlic punch. The recipe below will feed four people and you will have enough leftovers the next day (which you will be happy about after you try this recipe).

Yay, for Italian Sub Salad!

Ingredients

Italian Sub Dressing

1.5 TBS Dried Oregano
Juice of 1 Lemon
1/4 C Red Wine Vinegar
1/4 C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1.5 Tsp. Salt
6 cloves garlic
Freshly Ground Black Pepper, to taste

Salad Ingredients

1 Can Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 C Cucumber, chopped
1 Small Sweet Onion, peeled and sliced into paper-thin rings
1 C Broccoli, chopped
1 C Red Pepper, chopped
Pepper Jack Cheese or your cheese of choice, as much as your little heart desires.
1 Pkg. Field Roast Lentil Sage Deli Slices or Real Salami, sliced into strips
10 Small Pickled Pepperoncini, sliced into rings (save juice and seeds)
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1 C Curly Kale, ribs removed and cut into thin strips
3 C Romaine Lettuce, cut into thin strips
1 Head Radicchio, halved, cored and cut into thin strips
1/2 C Quinoa, cooked
Dried oregano, for garnish
1 Hard Boiled Egg, per person, sliced (optional)
1/4 Avocado, per person, sliced (optional)

Note – Feel free to add whatever veggies you want, I used what I had in my fridge, but this salad would be great with any combination of veggies. Also to make this recipe paleo, just drop the cheese.

Dressing Instructions:

Roughly chop the garlic on a cutting board and then add the oregano, salt and a 1/2-teaspoon ground pepper on top of the garlic on the cutting board.
Chop the mixture together until the garlic is super fine.
Transfer garlic mixture to a large salad bowl, and add the lemon juice and vinegar.
Mix with a fork or whisk allowing the salt to dissolve, then add the oil and whisk with a fork until well combined.
The dressing should be thick. You can leave it like this, but if you like a smoother dressing run it quickly through your food processor or magic bullet.
Adjust the oregano, and vinegar to taste if needed.
Transfer the dressing to a small jar and set in the fridge.

Salad Instructions:

In a large salad bowl add the chickpeas, onion, cucumber, broccoli, red pepper, cheese (either cubed or shredded), field roast or salami slices, pepperoncini (including seeds and juice).
Add half of the dressing to the bowl of ingredients above and gently toss.
Gently add the romaine, kale, radicchio and quinoa to the salad bowl, along with a couple of generous pinches of oregano, and toss to combine with the dressing.
Adjust seasonings to taste, adding any reserved dressing if needed. Serve immediately.
Top each individual salad with the tomatoes, the optional avocado and hard-boiled egg slices and eat the heck out of it.

Enjoy your Italian Sub Salad!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Broccoli, Chickpeas, Garlic, Kale, Onions, Quinoa, Tomatoes. This post has 4 comments.

A couple of weeks ago I headed to Chicago to attend The Blogcademy, a weekend long blogging workshop. A year ago, my friend Lilly (Blogger at Rake & Make) told me about a great blogging event that she was attending in Portland, and she suggested that I look into one in my hood. Of course life got in the way at the time, so one of the first things that I did when I moved to NYC, was check to see when The Blogcademy was coming to town. To my delight it was headed to my city in September, but as the months passed I realized that I was way too pumped to wait to attend the NYC event. So I jumped online and searched for the soonest workshop closest to me, which just so happened to be in Chicago! I haven’t been to Chicago in almost 10 years, so I decided that it was definitely time to pay Chicago another visit and booked my trip.

If you are not familiar with The Blogcademy, it is a weekend long blogging workshop that is hosted by Shauna, Kat and Gala…three inspiring ladies and rock star bloggers.

The Blogcademy takes place over the course of a weekend. Each day is roughly eight hours long and is full of useful information, resources, one-on-one blog review and feedback, tips and tricks, and is topped off with an open Q&A. If you have a blog related question, these ladies will have the answer. Other added bonuses from the event are as follows….

You get to meet a ton of really amazing and interesting bloggers and make a bucket of new friends!

You get an epic goodie bag filled with a ton of fabulous prizes. The Chicago goodie bag included:

A blogcademy workbook, a cute blank notebook (for all of your notes), a fun bullet necklace, kitty ears, a WordPress for Beginners book, a scarf, a cute hair pin, a great card, a key chain, a lot of confetti.

Did I mention how great the kitty ears were? I have worn them and the scarf a few times already since I have gotten home!

I left the weekend super inspired, with a notebook full of notes, and a little overwhelmed from all of the new stuff that I learned. I loved all of the info that I received, but it was so hard not to go home and totally scrap my whole blog and start over from scratch. While I was at the event I had a great conversation with Gala, and she talked down me off my ledge. These ladies helped me to realize that everyone has to start somewhere, and I am bound to make mistakes along the way, which I guess is part of the fun. Instead of changing everything on my blog at once, I plan on making smaller changes over time. So stay tuned for some sparkly new updates on my blog over the next few months, because I now have ALL OF THE IDEAS!

In addition to hanging out with amazing bloggers over the weekend. Julia the Mystical Traveling Unicorn and I got spend some time with my fellow Rat City Rollergirl pal, Sara Problem…aka Megan and her kitty Winston. I don’t have any photos of Megan and I (FAIL), because I was too busy taking photos of her adorable kitty Winston.

Megan was awesome and let me crash at her place over the weekend. It worked out perfectly, because we got to catch up and the location of her apartment could not have been anymore perfect for testing out Chicago’s public transportation system. I didn’t have a ton of time to check out the city, but while I was there I did manage to get out and zip around a bit. Here are some of my weekend highlights and Chicago travel suggestions.

Grab a beer at Revolution Brewery, located near Logan Square (where I was staying). This brewery has a great atmosphere and a great beer selection. Ask for a Malort shot in addition to your beer…a wormwood-based liqueur shot that tastes a bit like death with a hint of grapefruit. I have no idea why, but the locals love it…so be adventurous and drink like a local!

Go see Cloud Gate aka The Bean…A huge reflective sculpture in downtown Chicago, that is in the shape of a giant bean and is a great place to take photos. I got to the bean just before the sunset, but I was still able to grab this fuzzy selfie.

Go check out the Windy City Rollers. My friend Sara Problem currently coaches for them, so I was lucky enough to see a game while I was in town. It was nice to relive my rollergirl days with her lovely team and I scored a great t-shirt!

Have an amazing vegetarian meal at the Chicago Diner…even meat eaters will love this place! I so wish I could eat here everyday! Everything on the menu is either vegan or vegetarian, which is my dream come true. They also have a great bar, friendly bartenders (which is key when you are eating by yourself) and a killer beer and liquor selection.

On your way to the airport check out the Reno Cafe in Logan Square, and grab a wood-fired bagel before you get on your flight. Their bagels are a lot thinner than the ones you get in NYC, but it was perfect for my breakfast sandwich.

Needless to say I packed a bunch into a very short weekend and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If you have the opportunity to attend The Blogcademy in a city near you, go for it and if you are ever in the Chicago area I hope you have a chance to check out some of my suggestions! Thank you Chicago, The Blogcademy, Megan, and Winston for an epic weekend, I hope to be back sooner than later.

Cheers,

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has no comments yet.

Travel snacks are the most important thing you need to think about when you are planning a successful road trip. Oh sure, I guess you should plan your route ahead of time. That way you would know where you are going, but even the best road warriors get lost from time to time.

“What saves those skillful road warriors when they are lost??”… Epic travel snacks!

“What saves you from having to buy the sketchy boiled peanuts at the gas station when you are starving??”… Epic travel snacks!

“What helps you make friends with the gaggle of goats that are hanging out along the side of the road??”… Epic travel snacks!

“What keeps you from chewing your hand off when you are stuck in holiday traffic and there are no rest stops in sight??”…Epic travel snacks!

You get the point. Everything is much more manageable on the road when you have all of the snacks you need, and you aren’t dealing with hangry (aka…Hungry Angry) passengers.

Derika and I are heading out on our second east coast road trip since we have moved to NYC. We are heading to Cape Cod for Memorial Day weekend, and I know for a fact that we are going to have ALL OF THE FUN, but the traffic is going to suck butt. I find that the key to not letting the traffic get to you is by winning your road snacking.

Tip Numero Uno: This is not the time to get on your healthy high horse, because you will get bucked off before your horse even begins to prance. Everybody needs some cheat snacks to add balance, so the key is to diversify. My formula for ultimate snacking happiness is for every two healthy snacks, I throw in one cheat snack.

For Example:

Veggie Sticks with Sassy Sauce + Trail Mix = One Block of Cheddar with Crackers

Dried Mangos + Grapes = Veggie Chips

Kind Bars+ Trail Mix = Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds

Tip Numero Dos: I find that if you have the right balance of healthy snacks and cheat snacks, then you won’t be as tempted to buy every Limited Edition Doritos flavor that you see while you are on the road. I am not saying that you shouldn’t buy these rare Doritos (that are calling out to you, while you are in the gas station looking for a restroom), who knows when you will find them again. I am saying that by planning your snacks ahead, hopefully you will have enough magical snacks in the car, that you might only buy one bag of Limited Edition Doritos…rather than every new flavor you see. It is all about finding a balance that helps you feel good and not guilty while you are on the road.

Tip Numero Tres: Pack your own tasty beverages. Nothing makes a road trip more rewarding than to be able to celebrate your safe arrival with a tasty beverage. You can make them ahead and keep them in a thermos so that you can have a cocktail with your picnic. Or you can just bring the supplies with you so that you don’t have to go hunting for a store as soon as you arrive. Who knows…. you might arrive to your destination late, and then what are you going to do!? Trust me you will thank me for this tip. PS. Don’t forget the bottle opener! 😉

As a side note, feel free to use these snacking tips for your next flight. Nothing is worse than being stuck in an airport that only has week old pizza slices as your only snacking choice.

Now go forth my road warriors, and win your road trip this holiday weekend!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has no comments yet.

In a little over a week I will be headed to Blogcademy in Chicago and I cannot wait!! Blogcademy is a two-day workshop that is designed to give you the tools that you need to help kick your blog up a notch or 15. It is hosted by 3 amazing ladies that are currently rocking it out on their own blogs, and I am really excited to work with them. The Blogcademy is coming to NYC in September, but I just couldn’t wait until then so I registered for the May event in Chicago. I haven’t been to Chicago in almost 10 years, and I love traveling in the spring, so I thought that The Blogcademy was a good excuse to go. As an added bonus, I am staying with my old roller derby friend Sara Problem while I am in Chicago. She just so happens to be coaching a team on the Windy City Rollers Roller Derby League…if I play my cards right, I hope to check out a roller derby game while I am there. I am going to have all of the fun!

Today I realized that Blogcademy was a little over a week away and that I should start planning my outfits accordingly, because this girl is running out of time! One of the great things about Blogcademy is that all of the participants are encouraged to wear cute ears on their head of some sort. I am totally all about anything in headband form with something cute attached to it, that I can put on my head.

On my way to the post office the other day, I was taking inventory of all of the fun headbands that I own…bunny ears, a rainbow bright headband, a unicorn horn, a tiny Mexican hat, a tiny Mardi Gras hat, but I didn’t have anything that was glittery. As I was debating if I should go home and order something glittery off of Etsy, I passed a Michael’s Craft store…you all know that I can’t help but go into this store. Now I had a legit reason and I also had a 20% off coupon burning a whole in my pocket. Surprisingly, I was only in there for 15 minutes and I managed to walk out with 2 sticky pieces of glittery foam paper, some yarn for a future scarf, and a bunch of glow sticks (I am planning a little glow stick fun in my next yoga classes that I teach). I walked out of there with all of these goodies for under $15 dollars…Winning! On my way home I passed a dollar store, where I was able to score 3 headbands for a dollar…the glittery headband planets were definitely aligning. I raced home with my crafty treasures and this is what I came up with.

Supplies

2 Pieces of Glittered Foam Paper with a Sticky Back
2 Headbands of your Choice
Scissors
White Paper

Directions

1. Draw out and cut an oval ear shape out of your white paper.

2. Trace two ear shapes on the back of your sticky foam with your ear template.

3. Cut out the ears.

4. Fold the ears in half to make sure that you cut the ears out evenly.

5. Before you remove the back from the ears, play around with the ear placement on your headband until you get it to your liking.

6. Peel the back off one of your ears and place the headband into the crease that you created when you previously folded your ear.

7. Fold the ear over the headband and stick the sticky sides together. Do the same with the second ear.

Continue to make as many glittery kitty ear headbands, as your little heart desires. I made a total of 2 to go with my outfits for the grand total of $4.25. Amazing!

The possibilities are really endless; so don’t think that you just have to limit yourself to sparkly kitty ears. I can’t wait to see what you create!

Happy Crafting!

Posted by Danielle Heckman & filed under Uncategorized. This post has 2 comments.

Derika managed to catch the plague at work last week and with all the travel and long hours, this cold has been holding on for dear life. I have been keeping my distance the best I can in our 582 square foot apartment. I have also been downing a ton of fire cider and drinking tons of water in hopes that I don’t get the plague as well. So far it has been working like a dream! Yay, for Fire Cider and homemade magical soup packed with a ton of vitamins!

To help Derika get well, I decided to whip up some of my trusty Veggie packed “Chicken” Soup, because it has magical healing powers and it is so good for you! I figured that if my veggie packed ‘chicken’ soup, doesn’t do the trick then it is time for her to give in and finally go see the doctor. The veggie to broth ratio is crazy, and this time I added a little jalapeno and ginger for an added health boost. Here is what you will need.