This week’s column is all about the dogs: a super needy one, one who gets very excited, one who’s very fit and another that somehow fits inside a jacket.
There’s no better pick-me-up than the one you get when you see a clip of an animal acting silly, which is why we’ve compiled this weekly column. These short videos feature all sorts of animals, providing you with that much needed rush of endorphins.
This week’s column is all about the dogs, featuring four adorable videos. There’s also a really cute cat. Check them out!
We’ve all met needy dogs but rarely you spot one that’s so needy and so polite about it. This golden retriever can’t stand this cat taking over the attention. Luckily the cat has enough of his drama and leaves the scene, allowing the big dog to get the cuddles he needs.
Rocky
https://www.instagram.com/p/B11tarTH_Uw/
The only way to get me to watch a workout video is if there’s a dog involved, preferably if its doing the routines and if the Rocky music is playing in the background. Good job, internet.
A puppy inside a jacket
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_d11fFuzJ/
Tiny dogs are great. Tiny dogs tucked in snugly inside jackets are amazing.
Animals are weird, sometimes making these sounds for no apparent reason. This cat is speaking, maybe it’s annoyed at the dog or at something going on outside of the window. It’s very cute.
An excited baby
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1_-Ss6A1u9/
This video is a new and fresh take on the “soldier coming home” clips, featuring a super excitable pup who just wants to play and hang around its human.
Stretch marks are common and hard to get rid of, but there are a few things you can do to lessen their appearance.
Most people see no harm in weight loss, especially if it happens fast, but there are some negative side effects to it. Some of the most common — and harmless — are stretch marks.
These scars and skin blemishes occur when we lose or gain weight rapidly, with our skin breaking and being unable to adapt to these changes. Collagen and elastin, two proteins that maintain you skin healthy and looking good, break when the skin expands or contracts making the stretch mark appear. These scars are common in hips, breasts, butts and bellies, areas that change the most once your body experiences some change.
At first, stretch marks appear as red lines. The color is due to the increased blood flow the area receives in order to treat the damage, and it’s the moment when they’re easier to get rid off. Here are four ways that can help you battle and cope with your stretch marks.
Lose or gain weight gradually
If you’re planning on losing weight or gaining muscle mass but are concerned over the possibility of stretch marks, make a long term workout and nutrition plan. Gradual weight loss has been correlated with better and longer lasting results, making it more likely for people to stick to their new lifestyle and for your body to cope with the changes in a healthier way. Visit a doctor, change your diet gradually, learn about nutrition and add in some physical activity.
While these options are expensive, they’re the ones that deliver the most effective and noticeable results. Laser therapy damages the skin around the stretch mark, removing layers or stimulating collagen production, making the mark less noticeable. Even after submitting yourself to this treatment, pronounced stretch marks might still be noticeable.
Be realistic with your cream and lotion use
Once the stretch mark appears, you can target them with lotions and creams, but it’s important to keep your expectations realistic. While these product might relieve itching and improve their looks, some experts believe they don’t do much of an effect. Still, every body is different, and there are some lotions, like Retin-A, that reportedly work.
Although it’s not a given, stretch marks might disappear, especially if they’re still on the red stage. The ones caused by pregnancies or weight loss might fade and become much less noticeable over time.
Mrs. Nick Jonas got her husband’s age wrong on IG and fans were quick to let her know; Shawn Mendes admits he’s “truly in love”, but wouldn’t say with whom.
Shawn Mendes basically confirmed he and Camila Cabello are in a relationship, and Shawmila fans can finally breathe again.
Mendes officially put those ongoing romance rumors to rest at a Q&A event on Sunday (August 31), during which one fan asked the crooner: “You’ve said you’ve never been in love. Has that changed recently?”
Photo by Paras Griffin/Stringer/Getty Images
The question may sound familiar to fans, as the “Lost in Japan” star admitted to Clash in 2017 that he’d “never actually truly been in love,” but was optimistic about the day he’d write a song for “my girlfriend who I am truly in love with.”
In answering the question, Mendes seemed to validate that he had found his other half with the “Havana” songbird. “Honestly, I wanna say I wanna talk to you guys about this stuff, but it’s not just me in the relationship,” he replied. “There’s another person involved, and I can’t say things that I feel. It’s not just me deciding, you know?”
“Honestly, I wanna say I wanna talk to you guys about this stuff but it’s not just me in the relationship! There’s another peron involved. I can’t say things that I feel… It’s not just me deciding you know?”#ShawnMendesTheTourUncasvillepic.twitter.com/xyqP0I3r6h
Even without name dropping his beloved, Shawmila fans got the point and respected the Canadian artist for wanting to wait to address their relationship as a couple. “Matters of the heart, between two people, are sacred. Therefore, private. If Shawn and Camila wish to discuss their relationship they will do so on their own terms,” one user tweeted.
Oops! Priyanka Chopra made a gaffe on Instagram over the weekend and she’s been getting trolled by her followers ever since. So, what was the mistake? While celebrating the launch of Nick Jonas’ new VillaOne Tequila, Priyanka referred to her husband as a 27-year-old. The only problem, according to Nick’s fans, is that the pop star is technically 26 for another few weeks. He’ll celebrate his 27th birthday on September 16.
“So proud,” Priyanka captioned the photo of her and Nick. “When you own your own tequila at 27!” Shortly after she shared the cute post, though, her followers began to troll her for saying Nick is 27. It’s possible it was just a typo, though, as 6 and 7 are right next to each other on the keyboard. Or, maybe, she was rounding up because Nick’s birthday is right around the corner.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B163bZ0HSEV/
“He’s actually 26 not 27,” one follower commented, while another chimed in with “when you don’t know how old your own husband is… he’s a tequila owner at 26 actually… guess his age really doesn’t matter.” One follower even tried to flex by showing they know exactly how many days are left until Nick’s birthday, writing “26* for 14 more days.”
While his fans were offended on his behalf, Nick didn’t seem to mind the mixup. He was spotted leaving a comment, as well, writing “my beautiful forever date.” If Nick isn’t bothered by his wife calling him 27, maybe his fans shouldn’t be either?
I combined some homegrown weed with some home-brewing techniques to make a pomegranate-flavored ale that gives you a buzz in more ways than one.
The Fresh Toast – Want to combine two of your favorite things? A decarboylator can make amazing beer at home!
Most people may not realize this, but marijuana and hops (the active flavor ingredient in beer) are related. It’s true: Humulus lupulus and Cannabis sativa are in the same plant family —Cannabaceae. Maybe you’ve noticed the many similarities between the two plants, including, to a degree, their appearance, smell, and taste.
So what about combining the two? With more cannabis-friendly laws on the books, it’s becoming more popular to infuse weed into everything, including alcohol. My father-in-law loves to brew his own beer — he made a delicious blood orange IPA for my wedding, for example.
With his help, I combined some homegrown weed with some home-brewing techniques to make a pomegranate-flavored ale that gives you a buzz in more ways than one. I did this with the help of theNOVA Decarboxylator from Ardent, a blender-sized device that gently heats cannabis to extract cannabinoids.
NOVA sent me the device to try, which I was curious about because many medical marijuana patients don’t like smoking or vaping (most doctors agree smoking anything is not healthy) but edibles are often prohibitively expensive. I’ve gone to pot shops advertising $40 for a rice crispy treat. If you’re taking weed medicinally, i.e. every day, even ten bucks for a medible cookie racks up. So I wanted to know more about ways people can decarboxylate at home, make their own munchies, and save themselves some dough.
A quick primer ondecarboxylation: THC, the main extract in marijuana that gets you “high,” exists as an acid in the bud (THCA) until you apply heat to it. This is why if you just eat marijuana, it doesn’t do much of anything besides stick in your teeth. You either have to burn it or heat it to about 220 degrees Fahrenheit, which removes the carboxyl group, or decarboxylates it. Then, it can get you baked.
The NOVA has a simple interface—a push of the button is the first step to make anything from butter to tinctures to oils. But after some thought, I didn’t want to use it to make garden variety brownies or something. I decided to use it to make ten gallons of weed beer.
We loaded the NOVA up with about two ounces of uncured Afghany Goo buds and pushed the button. It only fits 14 grams at a time, so it took a few runs, but you don’t have to grind the weed up first. The only indication it was working was a red light and a faint, malty smell of ganja, so it’s very discreet and quiet. I was actually surprised—whenever I’ve cooked cannabis butter before, it stinks up the whole house. You could probably use this thing in an apartment complex or dorm and no one would notice.
When it was done, the buds went from a frosty green to a dullish brown-yellow. It looked gross, but that’s how we knew it had worked. A few days later, we started brewing.
First, we brought a huge tank of water, called a boil kettle, to a bubbling roar at 175º F, then siphoned it off into a five-gallon Gatorade cooler and stirred in a mixture of four different grains until it cooled down to 150º F. We left it like that for an hour, then did something called “sparging,” which is where you rinse the grains until a sweet, golden brown liquid called “wort” comes out.
A little more science: when you heat up the grains, it extracts the starches and turns them into sugars. Later, you add yeast, microscopic fungi that eat these sugars and poop out alcohol. Presto! You’ve got booze.
The grains are flavorful as it is, but to make it more complex, you want to add a few things. So the wort went back into the boil kettle, and this time we added hops pellets and, of course, our dank buds, wrapped in a muslin boiling bag. We let it simmer for another hour and then, with fifteen minutes left in the boil, we added a small amount of Irish moss, which filtered out any loose solid particles.
Once that was done, we cooled the mixture down to 75º F and transferred it to the fermenter, a big barrel type thing, which is when we added the yeast and a gallon of pomegranate juice. The fermenter was put in the bathroom in a place where it would be cool for the next few weeks as it fermented. By then, it was already bubbling, the CO2 escaping through a tube we dipped in a vodka glass so it wouldn’t become contaminated by bacteria.
Photo courtesy of Troy Farah
The goal was to get the beer very dry, meaning as little sugar as possible. Later, my father-in-law ran it through a dry hop andcold crash process, adding another ounce of cannabis, this time just for flavor and aroma. He’d done this before with beer that he made for Thanksgiving, but because it wasn’t decarboxylated, that brew wasn’t psychoactive. Well, not from weed anyway. Still tasted great, though!
The cold crash makes all the floating bits in the beer settle to the bottom and also makes the yeast become dormant. It was run through a 1-micron filter before it was put in a keg.
Finally, after three weeks of waiting, it was time to try it. It was heavenly—beyond delicious. The pomegranate added a fruity flavor to the backbone, but no tartness, so I couldn’t really taste it. A slight citrus tinge made it sweeter than most beers, but not in a gross, Smirnoff Ice way.
But it definitely tasted like pot. Tangy, dank, delicious pot. There was a distinct hops flavor as well, but both were specific enough that I could tell them apart. What a blend.
I hadn’t smoked or drank all day and was completely sober when I took my first swig. It was about 6 PM and I had around four glasses, which was clearly overdoing it a little. These are the only notes (other than the flavor, mentioned above) I was able to achieve:
I don’t remember much of the night after that. I woke up with a very weird hangover because I’m an idiot and didn’t drink enough water. I still felt faintly high, which made the hangover less painful than typical. I preferred it much more than a “normal” hangover.
The ABV of this beer was 9.6 percent, which is pretty high for your typical beer. (Because the weed used was homegrown, which is legal in my state, I don’t know the CBD/THC ratio, but I do know it was sativa, but that doesn’t mean much.) I should have taken it slower and probably only had about one glass, instead of four in the space of three hours. But I did enjoy it—the taste and the body-melting buzz—quite a lot.
The NOVA made the whole process much easier and more precise—in fact, it was the easiest part of the entire thing. A friend of mine used it to infuse vodka with weed. But next time, I might use it to make brownies instead.
Troy Farah is an independent journalist from California. His reporting has appeared in Undark, The Outline, VICE and others. His website is troyfarah.com
The Fresh Toast – Seth Rogen to host adults-only, marijuana-fueled carnival to battle Alzheimers…and who wouldn’t want to go?
“First I should answer the question I assume many of you are asking, yes I’m aware this has nothing to do with the legalization of marijuana,” Rogen said. “In fact, if you can believe it, this concerns something that I find even more important.”
And playing it forward, Seth Rogen to host adults-only, marijuana-fueled carnival to battle Alzheimers
Instead Rogen was there to urge politicians to fund and promote Alzheimer’s research, which the comedian has been passion about since witnessing his mother-in-law develop early onset Alzheimer’s. In that spirit, Rogen launched a non-profit organization called Hilarity for Charity “dedicated to raising awareness, inspiring change, and accelerating progress in Alzheimer’s care, research, and support.” Rogen hosts Hilarity for Charity comedy variety shows in Los Angeles and New York, with all profits going to fund Alzheimer’s research and support.
Now Rogen is adding another of his passions into the Hilarity for Charity mix—marijuana. Next month, the comedian is putting on an adults-only carnival fair featuring various celebrities and comedians. The Hilarity for Charity County Fair will take place in Los Angeles and further the organization’s mission to fighting Alzheimer’s.
“We here at Hilarity for Charity love to fight Alzheimer’s disease, but we also love rides, food, alcohol, and weed!!” says Rogen in a promotional video posted online. There will also be “games with your favorite celebrities and comedians operating them. We also love trying to be good people so that in the event there is an afterlife, we don’t go to hell.”
Expected to appear at the festival, according to HFC’s website, includes: Adam Devine, Andrew Rannells, Ben Feldman, Casey Wilson, Ilana Glazer, Ike Barinholtz, Jeff Ross, Josh Gad, Kate Micucci, Nick Kroll, Regina Hall, Riki Lindhome, and more. Tony Hawk will also appear, there to deliver a half pipe routine while Grammy-winning artist Anderson .Paak will perform as musical act.
Plenty of devices require access to your phone’s microphone to work. While companies like Facebook claim to not listen to you, there’s no way of being 100% sure.
Instagram has been adamant about the fact that they don’t listen in on your conversations, but doubts remain. How many times can you be talking about something specific and have it appear in your feed before you stop believing that it’s all a big coincidence?
We live in an age when privacy is growing more and more complex, with companies struggling on where to draw the line. Laws make these matters even murkier, with lawmakers not completely grasping how the internet works or the hundreds of loopholes that allow companies (like Facebook) to do whatever they want to do and get away with it.
All sorts of businesses are guilty of this behavior, with Amazon’s Alexa being one of the most notorious AI helpers to record conversations in order to function properly. More recent news include Apple’s browser, Safari, which added an update that gives them access to your phone’s camera and mic.
While there’s no way of knowing if a company is listening in on you, it’s reasonable to be paranoid. While it’s practically impossible to use the internet and be completely off the grid, there are a few things that can help you protect your privacy. Here are four of them.
Incognito browsing can help you feel less monitored. These browsers ignore cookies, which are the ones who keep tabs on your search history. This is good if you enjoy your privacy but it’s clunky if you like it when the internet provides content that appears to be specifically tailored to your taste.
Limit site linking
Try to avoid linking Facebook or Google with your newly downloaded apps. While the linking process eliminates the pesky step of creating a new account and a new password, it makes it easier for the app to get the full picture of you.
Look into deactivating voice enabled AI
This depends on how many voice enabled devices you use and how paranoid you’re feeling. If you actively use Alexa and the Google home, you’d have to enter the device’s storage and delete these recordings by hand. Keep in mind that although it’s creepy to have a device that listens in on you, these recordings help the AI become smarter and thus better at its job.
Disabling the listening devices on your phone is easy. For an iPhone, go to your Settings then to General and to Siri. Toggle Hey Siri to off. For any Microsoft device, go to Cortana and toggle Hey Cortana off. This process are pretty much the same for Google and Android devices.
If you’re having a sensitive conversation, keep your phone in another room
While these tips help you keep your information more private, they don’t stop your phone from recording you. If you want to have a completely private conversation, you might just need to go old school and leave your phone in another room. This appears to be the only way of ensuring that no one is listening in on you.
These five events come complete with drama and intrigue that make the cannabis industry so interesting, if not entertaining.
Every industry has its fair share of scandals. Just look at the pharmaceutical industry and the opioid crisis or Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme or Enron’s accounting fraud. All are terrible and the size of those schemes may make the cannabis industry scandals look like small potatoes. Still, these top five events come complete with drama and intrigue that make the cannabis industry so interesting, if not entertaining, to be a part of.
PotNetworks
Just the term pot stocks sounds awful. It conjures up shady deals by pump and dump stock jocks. Sadly the stereotype exists in part because it happens in the wild west days of cannabis penny stocks. This past July, PotNetworks (OTC: POTN) President Charles Vaccaro made contact with an undercover FBI agent saying “He was looking for someone to help them liquidate around $100 million in stock in multiple companies and it had to be processed in a foreign brokerage account because the Securities and Exchange Commission was getting tougher on U.S. broker-dealers liquidating large blocks of penny stock.” He and two others, Eli Taieb and Dror Svorai, were all charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy. Svorai was the founder of Vapor Group (OTC: VPOR) and Taieb controls a company called One Investment Capital and owns over 27 million shares of POTN.
The scam was that the men would buy shell companies and according to a story on GoodeTrades, “Then take approximately 20% ownership through debt conversions. They would then transfer shares to an offshore brokerage, sell the shares, and transfer the money back into the United States. The three men are alleged to have previously sold shares offshore but had trouble repatriating the proceeds.” Taieb and Svorai were both released on a million dollar bail, while it isn’t clear if Vaccaro secured his million dollar bail money. He had filed for an extension to come up with the funds, but that was only approved to August 2.
CannTrust
You had one job to do and that was follow the rules. Don’t plant any cannabis in the room until it has a license. Sounds simple, right? However, top executives at CannTrust (NYSE: CTST) got ahead of themselves, perhaps to satisfy shareholders, and did just that. They began growing plants in rooms with pending licenses. The company actually received those licenses, but it was a month after getting busted. It even had the nerve to film a promotional video in front of the illegal grow rooms that used temporary walls.
Since then the company has been in a free-fall as the stock has tumbled, the accused executives were booted out of the company and product was returned to the company unsold. Health Canada seized some of the company’s inventory and is currently investigating all the issues and has yet to make a decision as to how it will punish the company. CannTrust says it will sell the company, but so far it doesn’t seem that anyone is interested. If the licenses get pulled, then it’s just the facilities that have any value. If that’s the case, buyers can wait until they have a carcass to pick over.
Namaste Technologies
Namaste Technologies has continued to try to convince the market that it has moved beyond its checkered past with former founder Sean Dollinger. Namaste’s problems began when the company hosted a promotional event featuring fake nurses in sexy costumes to promote its medical software application. The event was not received well by many in the cannabis community who have sought to distance themselves from a “bro” culture. Plus, it ran afoul of the promotional restrictions set by the Quebec in Canada. But that was just the beginning of Namaste’s woes. Namaste came under a short seller attack by Citron Research in October 2018 which caused the board to form a Special Committee to investigate the allegations. Citron accused Namaste in saying it was planning on listing on NASDAQ in order to bring in investors. “Fake claim of a Nasdaq Listing to get investors to buy the stock. Mr. Dollinger has promised investors a Nasdaq listing and the simple takeaway that comes with it, a higher share price on the back of an up-listing.”
Next, it claimed there was an issue with the sale of Dollinger Enterprises US, which turned out to be true. “With the hope of obtaining the NASDAQ listing on Nov 28, 2017, Namaste announced that it divested of its US assets, Dollinger Enterprises US Inc. Just to be clear, Dollinger said he sold this asset to an arm’s length party… but it was really sold to David Hughes who has been with Namaste since Feb 2015 (and Paul Burn who has been with Namaste since 2016). The Citron report set off a chain of events resulting in Dollinger being removed with cause. In September of 2018, the stock was at $2.65. It never made it to the Nasdaq and lately trades at 33 cents a share. Last month, Meni Morim was named the permanent CEO after taking over for Dollinger.
Doyen Elements
This private company had dreams of becoming a publicly traded company, but instead left a string of small investors lighter in the wallet. Doyen Elements now known as Covalent Collective or Reach Genetics raised money online suggesting that small investors would hit it big once the company went public. In 2017, Doyen Elements which was run by Geoff Thompson, was planning to publicly list its shares on the OTC Market, and was accepting investments prior to its IPO at $7.00 a share. Doyen Elements said it had big plans and was currently building one of the largest grow facilities in North America. However, Thompson was in big trouble at the time with the SEC, which alleged that Thompson, acting through a company called Accelera Innovations Inc. and Synergistic Holdings LLC, sold approximately $1.7 million worth of Accelera stock to investors and that the sale was not registered or subject to an exemption from registration.
This past June, the SEC filed a subpoena enforcement action in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against Covalent Collective, Inc. f/k/a Doyen Elements International, Inc. f/k/a Advantameds Solutions, Inc. for failure to produce documents in an investigation. The SEC’s application alleges that Doyen, through its founder, Geoffrey Thompson, may have violated the registration provisions of the securities laws by engaging in an unregistered offering of securities, and may also have made misleading representations to investors and potential investors about the operations, acquisitions, and projected stock price of Doyen and related entities.
Tradiv
This scandal didn’t occur in 2019, but the story is definitely worth including. A cannabis online wholesale trading company, Tradiv billed itself as the “Amazon of the marijuana industry” by founder Aeron Sullivan. He raised several million dollars for the company as it emerged from the cannabis incubator CanopyBuilder. Sullivan was named an Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30 in 2016 and everything looked to be heading in the right direction. That is until Sullivan and his girlfriend took acid on a trip to Alaska and God spoke to him. Apparently, God had other plans for Sullivan and it didn’t include running Tradiv. He left to pursue a more religious life and is now the Director of Technology at The Bible Project.
The company’s new CEO took it in a different direction leading Tradiv to close up shop losing all the original investor money. Emily Paxhia, the co-founder of Poseidon Asset Management was quoted in Inc. saying, “Tradiv was the darling of the industry, with a leader–Sullivan–investors loved to love. Losing is part of investing, but this was bad. It was crazy.” Small startups come and go, but this story was truly one for the books.
At the time of publication, Borchardt had no positions in any securities mentioned.
Demi Lovato took to Instagram to make it clear to fans that Taylor Swift is not her nemesis; Ariana Grande shuts down a troll who accused her of using autotune.
Demi Lovato is moving right the f*ck on from her alleged “feud” with Taylor Swift, which, let’s be real: exists more in the fandoms’ minds than in reality.
After getting dragged by Swifties during the VMAs for “shading” Taylor Swift (fact: she was not shading Taylor and had a perfectly legit reason for not attending), Demi hopped on Instagram and shut down their feud completely. “Life’s too short for women not to support other women…especially when women release great music,” she wrote, adding “great job @taylorswift.”
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Stringer/Getty Images
Taylor has responded, telling Demi that her post “put the biggest smile on my face.”
Demi and Taylor’s “feud” has been preoccupying their fandoms in recent months thanks to Demi working with Scooter Braun, Taylor’s nemesis who she accused of “incessant, manipulative bullying” after he acquired her masters.
The pop star recently clapped back at a fan who claimed she autotuned one of her live performances after she shared a video of herself of one of her tour stops. In an interaction captured by Comments by Celebs, one fan commented that Grande did not sound like she was performing live.
“It sounds like autotune and probably not live,” the fan wrote. “I mean you are a great singer and I love your voice and songs but this doesn’t sound live.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B11thDOFdTP/
Soon, the “7 Rings” singer responded, writing that she’s able to sing 30 or more songs a night without autotune.
“Naw with all due respect, I could do this in your living room for you, fam,” she wrote back. “With no sound mixing or help at all. I could do it on broadway (and did). I can do it in the shower. in the car. it’s my gift / it’s why i’m here.”
“I sing 30+ songs a night. Every word. it’s my thing. let me shine like damn,” she added.
Hydrate your lips, strengthen your immune system, and smooth out rough skin this fall with these CBD and other beauty products.
As fall draws near and the leaves dry up and the air gets crisper, it’s time to make sure that our lips, complexions and attitudes don’t also dry up, and that our health is at its best. An upbeat outlook and the following six products should have you well on your way to autumnal happiness!
Plump and Hydrate Your Kisser
Vertly hemp infused lip butter is at the top of the list. Not only is it made with full spectrum CBD and Northern California sourced herbs, it has gotten rave reviews from the likes of Vogue. The savvy company also carries body lotion, available in an extra strength option. Keep your lips soft and buttery this fall with the power of CBD.
Echinacea supplements should also be high on your list of fall must-haves. Though the science behind it is not yet proven, anecdotal evidence suggests that echinacea’s active components promote immune system wellness and also work as an antimicrobial. With the weather changes sure to happen, this boost could be the difference between a seasonal cold and wellness.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnqXNhbDcbL
Smooth Out Rough, Patchy Skin
We covered lip butter, but how about body butter? Hemplucid has got you covered with a mega CBD infused body budder that will keep rough elbows hydrated and other tough spots like heels, knees and any other problem skin areas smooth, with no oily residue.
Need a boost in mood? Vape pens to the rescue. Even if you’re not living in a legalized or medicalized state and don’t have access to THC cartridges, there’s a mighty good chance that your local head shop carries CBD carts that are said to still reduce anxiety and even out messy moods. Seasonal depression is real and keeping it at bay may take a toke here and there. Do the right thing for everyone and have a puff.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bnq89a6lJLm/
Keep That Summer Glow
Honest Beauty Organic Beauty Facial Oil is a dry face miracle serum that’s incredibly light for an oil treatment. Patchy, dull skin will be brightened up and your face and day will be well improved with botanical oils that nourish skin and help restore moisture.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BnkOncsBjQT
Give Your Body Boosts of Wellness
Emergen-C has established itself as the ticket to staving off colds and flus with its megadose of vitamin C. They’ve had 40 years to get the formula right and have enriched the powder with a host of B vitamins as well. It’s a safe bet that having a daily dose of this power powder during the changing of the seasons will do a body good.
A wine cooler requires three things: wine, carbonation and some kind of fruit flavor (either via fruit juice or more exotic means). Here’s how you can make your own.
I’m just old enough to remember when wine coolers were the stuff you drank while attending your first house parties in high school. Since their heyday in the 80s, they’ve largely left the market or been replaced with horrific mixtures of malt liquor and artificial flavoring.
Just because they don’t inspire much confidence doesn’t mean the entire concept is worthless; you can still make some damn tasty versions at home. First though, to clarify, a wine cooler requires three things: wine, carbonation and some kind of fruit flavor (either via fruit juice or more exotic means). As for proportions, I’d just make sure that your drink is more than 50% wine; you can tweak the other ingredients to your own personal tastes.
Here are some versions to get you started.
The Wine Reviver
Wine coolers are an excellent way to make use of that bottle of wine that might have been open just a bit too long or sitting on your wine rack for a few too many years. You don’t want the wine to taste like nothing, but since you’re adding flavors on top of it, a fairly neutral wine works just fine.
A Broad Palate
The most interesting discovery for me was that a really wide range of flavors could be used, especially with the proper base wine: not just obvious winners like orange, watermelon, and cherry, but also Earl Grey tea, cucumber, and even Coca-Cola played nicely with wine.
In cases like the Earl Grey, a fairly neutral base wine like Pinot Grigio seemed to be best, while the cucumber was an interesting counterpoint to a more expressive wine, like Riesling.
I’ve long been skeptical of the classic Basque drink kalimotxo, a blend of red wine and cola, because it seems like a waste of red wine…but I gotta say, I’m now convinced. Mixing the two was like drinking a deliciously adult version of Cherry Coke, a favorite of mine as a child. Red wine and ginger beer also worked surprisingly well. I’d definitely lean towards a fuller-bodied red in this situation; an inexpensive red blend is probably your best bet.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BW4HaqGFlCZ
Simplicity Is Supreme
The other takeaway for me was that most of the best versions relied on just two or three ingredients; wine, some sort of fruit-flavored soda, and maybe a third note.
That makes putting together a delicious wine cooler much easier than almost any other beverage, and reinforces that making them at home is just as easy as buying them pre-packaged, especially when most “wine coolers” these days are made with a ton of sugar and malt liquor, not wine.
Skip The Ice
Yes, you certainly can put ice in your wine cooler, but I find them more enjoyable to drink when they’re chilled and served without ice. Something about the texture and experience was just better that way.
While summer might be slipping away for some, there are still more than enough sunny afternoons that could be enlivened with the modern incarnation of this old favorite.
