I used to think that you could only get french nails done at a fancy salon where you had to pay 30 bucks for a manicure that chipped in a couple days, but Katrina showed me a foolproof way to get flawless french nails… AT HOME!! You may be skeptical about this; you’re probably thinking, “excuse me, but I don’t have millions of dollars to spend on fancy nail products or the talent of a professional when it comes to painting nails… NO THANK YOU!!!” But what if I told you that this manicure uses items that you most likely already have in your medicine cabinet at home, and that even I — of all people– can do this (keep in mind that I am the girl who tries to paint her nails and ends up painting her hand instead). And if I can do this, then you can do this upside down on a unicycle riding backwards through a ring on fire. Here’s what you need: -Scotch tape (or painters tape) -Nail file -Strengthening top coat -Strengthening bottom coat, such as Sally Hansen Hard as Nails (this bottom coat is not necessary… if you wanted you could either leave it out, or use the strengthening top coat for this job as well) – UV top coat (once again, this coat is not necessary to the final result, though it does make the design last longer and your nails shinier) – Maximum growth nail color (you could substitute this specific color for a nude or use a really light coat of soft pink) – French Nail color (or just use white polish if you don’t own that specific color)

Here’s how you do it: First, use the nail file to shape your nails into either a rounded oval shape or a more square shape, depending on your preference. Be sure to file in the direction on the natural grain of your nail and stay in that direction (in other words, don’t do the “sawing” motion where you run the file back and forth on your nail… stay in one direction) Next, coat the nail with a thin layer of the strengthening bottom coat and allow to THOROUGHLY dry– by the time it is dry, you should be able to tap your nail with another nail without it leaving an indent (Remember, this step is not necessary to the final result, you may skip it if you like, or use the strengthening top coat in place of the strengthening bottom coat).   Then, paint the nail with a thin layer of the maximum growth nail color (or nude or soft pink) and allow, once again, to dry. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO ALLOW THE NAIL TO DRY, ESPECIALLY ON THIS STEP. If you do not let the nail dry all the way, the tape (used in the next step) will stick to the nail and take off the paint. Now, cut the scotch tape into little strips that can fit across the diameter of the nail. Place them below the tip of the nail, leaving a small strip of nail unexposed above it (think of it as your border between the soon to be “white” part of your nail and the rest of your nail). Here’s a closer look:   Paint the tip of the nail with the French Nail color (or white polish) and allow to thoroughly dry before peeling the scotch tape off the nail. Once the nail is dry, paint it with a thin coat of the strengthening top coat and allow to thoroughly dry, once again (remember, the drying step is really important!!!) Finally, paint the nail with the UV top coat if you want a little extra shine on your manicure. Allow nails to dry for at least an hour before doing any activities involving your hands. TA DA!!!!!! See, I told you it wasn’t going to be that hard!!!! Now you can quit wasting your hard earned money at nail salons and start getting quality french nails at home FOR FREE!!!! I think that deserves a round of applause!!!! What do you think? Have you ever done your own French nails? Did you use this method? Tell me in the comments!!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel (with photography by Katrina)

P.S., If you read this article on 5\22\13 before 6:50ish (Pacific Time) then you might have noticed that the spacing was kinda messed up. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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“Seriously, Rachel? CORNFLAKE ICE CREAM?!?!”

Yes. Corn Flake ice cream.

TRUST ME! It’s awesome. The Corn Flakes provide a little crunch and extra sweetness, all of which is balanced by the delicious cream cheese ice cream. I kinda blended two recipes from here (blueberry cream cheese and cereal milk).

Here’s what i did:

Whip 8 ounces  of softened cream cheese with two cups of milk. Then add enough cereal so that the cereal is fully covered in the milk/cream cheese mixture. Let this sit for 8-10 minutes. Next, strain the mixture to take out the cereal pieces, and whisk in 1 1\2 cups of heavy whipping cream. Add 3/4 to 1 cup of sugar (depending on your taste) and a pinch of salt to the mix. If you wish, you can stick the mixture into the refrigerator overnight to make it even creamier, although it tastes just fine without it. Finally, just stick the mixture into your ice cream machine until the mixture is the right consistency for you. In my machine, it took about 25 minutes. If you like, you can add a bit of cereal halfway through the process for a bit of crunch (I did!).

Here is the ice cream in the machine…

And here it is on a cone!!!

What do you think? What is the wackiest ice cream you have ever tried? Would you try this? Tell me in the comments!!!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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A MINI DOUGHNUT MAKER!!!!! I knew that we needed to use that thing right away. And we did; the results were nothing short of perfect!!! We just used the recipe on the package, although I’m sure that you can use any other pourable doughnut batter. After that, to ensure easy pouring into the molds, we put the batter in a Zip-Lock bag and snipped the end of the bag off so it would serve as a pastry bag.

For the frosting, we just made a simple glaze consisting of powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and food coloring. We topped them with sprinkles and voila…

Mini doughnuts!!!! They had all of the crispiness of fried doughnuts, but without the gross oil. Since then, I was given my own doughnut maker for my birthday and have used it to make numerous varieties of doughnuts, including chocolate:

Do you have a doughnut maker? What types of doughnuts have you made? What is your favorite flavor? Tell me in the comments!!!!!!!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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Thick marshmellowy meringue!!

Adding the egg yolks to the meringue…

Mixed and ready to scoop…

Ready to go in the oven…

Ready to eat!!!

What do you think of these delicious desserts? Have you made them yet? No?!?! Then get baking!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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Anyways, last Wednesday, my friend Margaret and I presented a demo speech in our drama class. What about, you ask? On how to make RASPBERRY FILLED CUPCAKES!!!! Margaret and I knew we wished to make cupcakes for our demo, but when I saw this awesome recipe from one of my favorite blogs (besides my own) abeautifulmess.com.  On Sunday, I actually made the cupcakes for the first time. On Wednesday, I made the cupcakes again for the demo. And by Thursday, they were all gone! Ya. They were THAT good!! This recipe is definitely my favorite, and I will be making these much more often.

What do you think about this recipe? Have you tried them? How did they turn out? Tell me in the comments!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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1.  LOVE
2. 1 pint raspberries            
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 1- 1/4 cups sugar
5. 1/2 cup light or heavy cream
6. 1 tbsp lemon juice
7. 1 cup vanilla yogurt
8. 8 waxy paper cups
9. 8 popsicle sticks

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Puree raspberries, sugar and water in blender; Strain seeds
• Move 2/3 cup of the purée into a separate container and whisk in the cream
• Add the lemon juice into the rest of the raspberry purée
• Chill both of the raspberry purée mixtures
• In a separate bowl stir in the yogurt to the remaining raspberries
• Fill the cups about half-way full with the raspberries and yogurt
• Cover the cups with foil and stick popsicle sticks in each; freeze for 2 hours
• Uncover and pour a layer of the raspberry purée and lemon juice mixture on all 8
• Let freeze for 2 hours
• Pour raspberry purée and cream mixture on top of all 8
• Freeze for 2 hours

I know what you guys are thinking…………. This will take forever……and it will…. BUT IT’S WORTH IT!!!!!!

These are a perfect spring time desert and are good on a hot day!!!! I urge you to take some time and make these!!!!

-Katrina 

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I used this recipe with the addition of a bit of lemon zest, dried parsley and thyme, and ,one of my favorite spice blends, Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute. Also, I cooked the chicken inside of a skillet instead of a grill, and only marinated it for about a half hour. Despite all the alterations I made to the recipe, it was AMAZING!!!!!!! I cannot even imagine how good this recipe would taste if it were marinated overnight as the recipe says to do!!!! The chicken was moist, tart, tangy and flavorful. Also, it had a bit of a kick from the pepper which was  a pleasant surprise and cut through the tartness quite nicely. This chicken is definitely a new favorite recipe that I will be making often!

What do you think of this recipe? Have you ever made lemon chicken before? What’s your favorite warm weather recipe? Tell me in the comments!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

Anyways, when you have that many presents to wrap, you tend to have to get a little creative in the way that you wrap them! Well today as I was wrapping my friend Margaret’s present, I realized I was out of wrapping paper!!!!!! I ran frantically around my house trying to find a single roll, but failed in the task. Finally, I fell back to Pinterest, where I saw a photo of an adorably wrapped gift using the comics page of a newspaper. I thought that the idea was soooo cute, so I got to work.

How to do it:

1. Remove the comics page from your newspaper (or any page, if you want)

2. Use to wrap a present like you would with wrapping paper, but be gentle! Newspaper is more fragile than regular wrapping paper and can tear easily!

3. Tie off with a ribbon and a gift tag!

It is that easy!!!! In three simple steps you will have a perfectly wrapped gift ready to give to anyone!!!!!

Have you ever tried this before? Do you have any tips or tricks of your own for gift wrapping? Do you have any questions? Tell me all of those things in the COMMENTS!!!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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I took this pic backstage… So glamourous! JK

Here we are about to go onstage!!!! (this is taken from the Rainbow Competition Instagram page)

This competition was our second time preforming those two numbers. Though our duet scored a bit lower than last time (last time we got first place overall), we scored much higher than expected with our small group, winning first place overall for the category of small groups. This occurrence completely caught us by surprise; we thought we didn’t do as well as the time before, because though you can barely tell in the video, one of the girls in our small group was kicked in the hand while doing a second turn. It was pretty ugly once we got offstage. For me, this competition was short of a miracle; I was dancing with a sprained muscle in my left thigh, pointe shoes that were many sizes too small, and to add to that, I was sick and extremely tired!!! Nevertheless, we succeeded and had a great time while doing so!

Here is a video showing both of our numbers (the small group is first, and our duet is second)

What do you think of the results of our competition? Have you ever competed before? How did you do? Did you love it (or hate it)? Tell us in the comments!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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Katrina’s mom was actually the one who introduced me to this AMAZING explosion of orangeness in a cup (otherwise known as orange julius). Ever since then, I’ve been trying to figure out how to make it without much success. Well, as many of you readers may already know, I have been sick for TWO WEEKS now (ya, I know), and as I was thinking of things to make that used oranges (which are high in vitamin C), and I immediately thought, ORANGE JULIUS. Although the sugar in this drink most likely cancels out most of its nutritious value, It still tasted amazing and made me feel a little bit better. I made this drink by using a recipe similar to this one, and it turned out pretty good, although not perfect. It was a bit thinner than I aspired, but that didn’t affect the taste at all. It was sweet and orangey, all while being frothy and ice cold: the perfect drink to liven up a rather dreary day filled with nose-blowing and coughing non-stop.

Juicy blood oranges ready to be juiced…

Freshly squeezed orange juice using my new-found juicer I mentioned here…

Ready to blend with my new hand held stick blender… I AM IN LOVE WITH THAT THING!!!!!!!

That is all you need to do to have this perfectly creamy and orangey drink. One thing I might change next time is that I might swap out the milk in the recipe for heavy cream to make it a bit more frothier, or perhaps the addition of baking soda might help ( I’m thinking because of the orange juice, it might froth up like how it does with lemon juice). Do you have any ideas? Have you tried making this drink before? How did it turn out? Tell me in the comments!!!!

Dance Forever,

Rachel

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