We’ve made it to another weekend!! We hope you are settling into some semblance of a WFH routine, and have some time this weekend to relax a bit! Here are a few things to make you laugh, help you de-stress, and get you and your families through another stay-at-home weekend. We’ve even included Molly’s full guide to quarantine haircuts!
First check out this Quarantine Remix with Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake!
Art:
An artist in Toronto, Canada started a website to celebrate and showcase the work of the many artists around the world who have been affected by the need for social distancing. “The Social Distancing Festival” features music, paintings, photography, dance, and other incredible art forms that up-and-coming artists have been unable to share with the world. Check it out here! (They even have a discussion board where you can connect with artists, and they call it “The Beer Tent” - just like a real festival! 😂)
Recipes from our favorite DC spots!
This website compiled recipes (food, desserts, AND drinks) from some of our favorite restaurants in DC! Think popovers from BLT Steak or a margarita from Oyamel. They’ve even linked the DC Virtual Tip Jar to remind you to support bartenders and servers from your most frequented local spots.
Molly’s Quarantine Haircuts 101:
It’s time for a haircut! By now, you are probably long overdue. Scruffy neck, hair in your eyes. My boys were starting to look like Where The Wild Things Are.
See before picture:
Social Distancing at Catoctin Mountain Park
My husband bought a haircut kit several years ago and has regularly given our boys cuts. Turns out that skill set he’s been building has really come in handy now that barbershops and salons are closed! And I can now add cutting my husband’s hair to my list of accomplishments and… drum roll… I let him cut mine! And we are still married!! Read on for our tips.
Supplies:
Clippers - Our kit is not amazing quality (purchased at Costco, pictured below) but it has a ton of guards (more on that later) and two trimmers. You can find something just like this on Amazon and I’m sure they will be higher quality than what we use.
Scissors - After cutting my husband’s hair, I just added some new scissors to our Amazon cart for our next round of cuts. Time for an upgrade on equipment to something with sharper blades.
Texture/thinning Shears - We bought something like these a year or so ago because my older son has crazy thick hair and needs us to cut out the bulk and my stylist encouraged us to buy them because they are so easy to use. She was right! After my husband cut my hair, I actually did some additional touch ups off the top of my own cut - easy!
Gown - If you can get one with your kit, perfect. If not, add it. Easier with any mess and clean up.
Spray bottle - Basic.
Set up:
My husband used to set up the boys in the garage but since I was the newest customer (and barber), I decided we needed more light. We brought our kitchen stool up to our master bathroom for better light, mirror, water, etc. Just add a propped up iPad for the kids’ turn and you’re set!
I went first. I found this video and it really helped with some good tips that were familiar to me after years of short cuts so many of these tips are really good for men or women. Plus, honestly, I’m not going anywhere these days, am I? Who is going to analyze my hair on my Zoom call if he made any mistakes? NBD!
Cutting my husband’s hair was much harder for me because his hair is curly and we didn’t just go straight buzz cut. Please please please make sure you have real scissors for hair. Not only will you butcher your customer if you use kitchen scissors, but you may cut yourself (this is not a comment from our most recent cut, just a past experience and no, I don’t want to talk about it). Anyway, my husband coached me through the steps and I have a new-found respect for barbers. Back to the guards on the clippers - his coaching was specifically on which guard to use when, how, where, etc. We started with a 3 on the sides and I used the angled ear guards for each side, which definitely made things easier. This was literally my first time using clippers so for my first time, I’d recommend a YouTube video if you don’t have a very clear communicator like my husband. This is a short clip that sums things up nicely but there are ample examples on YouTube.
The boys were old hat for Tony; however, this is now your chance to let your kids do something fun! I mean, I don’t have to worry about getting them dressed up this Sunday for our virtual Easter service, do I? And I think Clark looks pretty rad. We call this his Corona cut, in true middle child style.
Now my daughter is asking for stripes in her hair…
And now for Madison’s Gardening Corner!
Here’s the dirt: like many Millennials, I’ve been collecting houseplants since college. Have I always been successful? No. But learning how to troubleshoot and revive your plant baby is half the fun! One of my new obsessions is the House Plant Journal blog and instagram account created by Darryl Cheng. He has one of the most impressive collections of houseplants on the internet, and he offers insight into how to care for every type of plant. Definitely worth a follow! I also highly recommend his book “The New Plant Parent.” It is a comprehensive and holistic look at how plants grow in homes versus nurseries or the wild. Here are my 3 takeaways:
Light is the most important factor for plant survival! As we all learned in middle school biology, light is food for plants, without which they will die. Although some plants, like snake plants, will tolerate life in a dark corner, they will not thrive. You want to provide your plant with as much of a view of the sky as possible. If you need to brighten up a dark corner with greenery, opt for a fake plant instead.
Your watering schedule should depend on your light levels. The more light a plant gets, the faster it will use up water. This means that your watering schedule should change from summer to winter as light levels decrease. A good rule of thumb is to check the soil and water only when the top inch is completely dry.
Aerating the soil is as important as watering! It loosens the soil and brings oxygen to the roots. Worms and other critters do this for plants in the wild, but it’s our job as plant parents to do it for our babies. Cheng suggests that before every other watering you should take a chopstick or pencil and gently poke holes in the soil around the plant.
New to plant parenting? The best plants for beginners, in my opinion, are those that tell you when they need watered. The leaves of pothos, spider plants, and prayer plants start to droop and lose color as their soil dries out, letting you know it’s bath time! Do not buy a fern...trust me. Whichever plant you choose, I beleaf in you! You grow, girl!
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