Best Summer Top Ever: Mariella T From Boden

Sometimes it’s good to bust out of a rut. Yesterday, the guru crew did that by going on a mystery scavenger hunt.

We were locked in a room and given a bunch of clues to solve the mystery.

We were terrible detectives. It was the longest 60 minutes of a Saturday I’ve ever spent. Half the detectives – not naming names here– kept wearing the clues. The other half kept yelling,”Take those clues off. You could get lice.”

No one understood any of the clues. So forget about solving them. If guru guy and I want to stay married, we must never, ever open a detective agency together. It was that bad.

So I’m returning to the tried & true. In family activities. And in fashion.

My favorite tried & true look for summer is simple: white jeans and a basic t-shirt. But it’s got to be a t-shirt, of perfect material, cut so well it hangs just right.

Boden’s Mariella t-shirt is that shirt. It’s part linen so it hangs perfectly. It’s got a slight “v” cut in front and back which gives it more of a stylish edge. And it’s machine washable. (Plus, it’s only $38.88.)

I got mine in the pewter shade which is more versatile than the stripes.

I love this shirt as much as I hated the mystery scavenger hunt yesterday. Which says a lot. I may have failed at the mystery but this top will keep you far from failing summer fashion. (Click this link to go to www.bodenusa.com.)

Happy Sunday, guru girls & guys!

UnREAL: My New Favorite Show

All week my phone has been lighting up with texts regarding The News.

The break up of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner. 

Everyone knows how much I love Ben Affleck. Friends thought I might be taking it hard. Or planning to try to get him on the rebound. (Thanks for that text, Uncle Dan. Reminder: I am happily married to your bestie.)

And I am disappointed in Ben. Because Jen seemed really good for him. She’s always shopping at farmer’s markets for God’s sake. So I was rooting for their yin and yang to be the secret ingredient. They could be the celeb couple that makes it.

 I wanted to believe the fairy tale. Except there is no fairy tale. For a romantic like me that’s hard to take. Which is exactly why I stopped watching “The Bachelor” franchise last year. Because in its 15 year history, precisely two of the bachelors had true love on their minds. The rest were thinking about their upcoming gig on “Dancing With The Stars”.

The romantic in me is disappointed by Hollywood love stories. But the cynic in me is not. Which is why my favorite show this summer is “UnREAL”. It’s about the television crew that films a reality dating show suspiciously like “The Bachelor”. Only “UnREAL” shows the behind-the-scenes maneuvering responsible for all the meltdowns and fantasy suite action. 

There’s Rachel, the good-hearted producer coerced into making the unscrupulous show. There’s Adam, the prince allegedly looking for love but really looking for publicity and a paycheck. And then we have the cast of girls. All are competing for a fame that’ll let them write their own paychecks once the season’s done.

At one level the show’s a silly soap opera but at another it’s a morality tale. Which character’s choices are the most despicable? “UnREAL” actually asks some serious questions about the high price of getting ahead and our insta-fame culture.

Plus all the episodes are new this summer, which makes the series much more entertaining to watch than the re-runs everywhere else.

It seems true love can’t be manufactured. But a wicked satire about true love?

Absolutely. Check it out Monday nights on the Lifetime network.

Bored On A Weekend? Try This

I have a whole new appreciation for the Louvre, thanks to the 12 year old. Turns out it doesn’t just have the artistic masterpiece thing going for it. It’s also filled with funny photo opps.

Who knew?

That’s one of the secret perks kids offer: a whole new perspective that makes stuff better.

Our Louvre visit was the best museum trip I’ve ever had. Because – for once – I listened to the experts who say if you want your kids to like museums you have to visit them a whole different way. One that's opposite every instinct in your museum-loving brain.

 We didn’t try to see everything. We saw 12 things.

We didn’t spend the day. We spent 2 hours.

We didn’t rent those annoying audio guides. We rented Jacque, the cutest Frenchman who took us on a personalized kid scavenger hunt.

We didn’t actually rent Jacques. That sound seedy and kinda illegal. We hired him through his company – Tour Musee – which offers museum tours people actually enjoy.

The tour was perfect for kiddo attention spans. And mine too! As we scavenger hunted, Jacques gave us the Reader’s Digest version of the museum’s biggies and why they’re important.

Like the Mona Lisa. She’s famous because she looks so real, like a living lady on the canvas, following you with her eyes. So she’s basically a hologram. From the 16^th century. That's a BFD. Now I get all the fuss.

Don’t rule out museums for a good outing. Even if you’ve been burned by them before. It’s not just the Louvre that’s catching on to the fun-museum trend. Most art museums now offer interactive ways to engage kid visitors. The bonus is it’s really fun for adults too.

The Denver Art Museum lets you check out backpacks filled with games and small art projects. These projects correspond with the paintings on display to make them more meaningful and fun.

When the soaring summer temperatures get you down, head to your local art museum. For more than just the air conditioning!   

Happy summer, guru girls & guys!

4 Top Father's Day Gifts

Guru Guy wins. He emerged with the “most improved” title after our recent trip to Europe. All those months of training runs at grocery stores and Ikea with the Dynamic Duo paid off.

Guru Guy rocked it. Despite the crowds and the heat and the fraud protection from our bank (so on-point that it prevented even us from withdrawing any of our money from ATMs).

Every year we have a “most improved” contest. The spouse who has improved the most wins. The only voters are me and my fella. Even the year my friend Paul lobbied hard to cast a vote. (Because Paul knows how much I love winning, and he believed my fella was not getting full props for his spousal improvement efforts.)

This is no longer the case. Guru Guy swept “most improved”. In every category. Attitude, parenting engagement, having-a-clue and even on-ground finesse (which requires graceful navigation of congested urban environments with offspring in tow).

Even his one meltdown – when he directed the Dynamic Duo to “step away from the elevator buttons, step away now”– was awesome. Because it made me laugh so hard I cried.

Messing up elevator operation in a giant hotel is no joke. And neither is winning “most improved”. So I’m getting Guru Guy his engraved winner’s trophy (dog-tags from the kiosk at PetSmart), but I feel like I should go above-and-beyond for Father’s Day too.

The catalog Uncommon Goods has some excellent options. Like the Aroma Fork which, according to the catalog, lets you “explore the sense of smell’s role in taste and enjoy an enhanced dining experience”.

The set includes 21 oil essences of herbs and fruits that you spear with your fork. The scent of this pod, coupled with the actual taste of the food you’re eating off your fork, is supposed to blow your culinary mind. For $59 it had better. (Click this link to go to uncommongoods.com to check out this bounty for yourself!)

Or I could get him this Colorful Face Mug. Check out its expression. If I filled the bottom part with croissants and the top with espresso it would totally replicate Guru Guy’s European Elevator moment.

Or there’s a Mini Beer Pong set designed to be filled with craft beer. If I did my hair up big and presented this to him it would be like giving him the gift of time travel. Back to the 90s. Richard Branson’s got nothing on me.

I am still jet-lagged and staggering though. So I may go with the tried-and-true Father’s Day gift: surprise him with a family hike and show him we’re all capable of winning “most improved/sports category”. As most improved hikers we will not stop for snacks, bathroom breaks, selfies or complaining.

Instead, unlike past years, we shall spend our time actually hiking and stop only to appreciate nature. Guru Guy will also enjoy this. Perhaps as much as he will enjoy the fact there are no elevators or malfunctioning ATMs in nature.

Happy travels and Happy Father’s Day, all! 

Light It Up, Up, Up

The guru crew is going to the City Of Light in a few days. Otherwise known as Paris, which we’ll visit after beginning the big trip in London.

So you’ll get a 2 week break from guru girl’s misadventures and product recommends. Instead I’ll be focusing my considerable energies on bobbies and baguettes. Re-read that last sentence. It said “bobbies”. Not what you think it said.

Since Paris is the city of light I have light on the brain these days. And the front porch too, thanks to this fab new lantern I got at Cost Co. (It's available for around $60.) Love it because it’s big, solar powered and gives the porch such a nice “We’re home so don’t rob us” glow. Even when we’re secretly away, causing trouble across the pond!

Get one for your front porch too and go on vacation worry-free! The other recommend for today is this fantastic website called Ciao Bambino.(Click this link to go to ciaobambino.com.) It has great ideas about where to travel with a family and creative things to do when you get there.

Thanks to this site, I’ve hired a special guide to do a scavenger hunt with us at the Louvre. What could go wrong? Don’t answer that. I’m taking a vacation… from worry, from blogging, from advice-giving. In other words I'm taking a vacation from my basic personality ;)

Happy summer vacation, guru girls & guys! Check back in a few weeks for more guru girl.

Miracle In A Bottle: For Real

I’ve detected a bitter note in my guru girl postings from the last month. Possibly this is because it has been raining here for at least a month and there’s a reason guru girl doesn’t live in Seattle.

But my sunny disposition is back, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to a quick girlfriend getaway trip to Utah this past weekend. I was adventurous. On both land.

And spa. (Though I wouldn’t recommend the cranial-sacral massage to anyone. Unless you know what the “sacral” part refers to going into it, which I didn’t. So surprising! And not in the least bit relaxing. Thank goodness my masseuse was female or I might be filing charges.)

I had a great time reliving high school memories. And an even better time teasing my friend about the enormous hat she wore everywhere. 

But my hat-headed friend is onto something I have never been. Sun protection.

So while I’m not Derby-worthy like Dianne, I am sunscreen worthy thanks to my latest purchase: Murad Invisiblur Perfecting Shield.

This stuff is magic in a bottle. It’s a lotion that has SPF 30 and “combats the signs of aging while instantly blurring away imperfections”, according to the ad.

This stuff is spendy but worth it. It's $65 at Sephora or Ulta.(Click this link to go to sephora.com to learn more about Murad Invisiblur Perfecting Shield.) 

So when the sun finally comes back to Colorado, I’m gonna slather up and blur away. Now if only the stuff blurred away embarrassing high school memories too ;)

Why DIY Should RIP At My House

There are a few things you do once in your life.

Refinish a table. Master cleanse. Garage sale.

And then you learn.

The good news is I never have to do a furniture project or garage sale ever again. It’s too bad in a way. Because my sales team was top notch this weekend.

The 9 year old was almost too good a sign spinner. Hopefully her skills in this area won’t encourage her to forego college.

Stanley also fulfilled his duty to lure people in by looking cute (and not biting them).

My DIY furniture team was less talented. Mostly because it consisted only of me and my dad, who offered cryptic advice via text.

I have learned my lesson, and I am trying to remember the mantra, “There is no such thing as failure. It’s either a success or a learning experience.”

Here’s what I learned from the DIY Debacle:

1.      Google expert advice.

2.    Do it before you’re in the middle of the project and have already screwed it up.

3.    Google multiple sources.

4.    Read all of them.

My refinishing project was a bit of a bust, but my next DIYer will not be. Because, for once, I am taking my own advice.

My next project is going to be a giant magnetized wall so the 9 year old can display artwork in her room.

I have, of course, already bought the magnetized chalkboard paint. Last year.

But I’ve now searched multiple sites that say magnetized chalkboard paint looks cool but is not, in fact, strong enough to hold up anything by magnet.

So if this is your goal, stay away from magnetized chalkboard paint. Instead get a giant galvanized steel sheet from the hardware store. Make sure to test that it’s magnetized. And then you can paint it any color you like (this won’t interfere with its magnetic surface). 

Finish by putting picture hangers on the back so you can pop it on the wall. (You can get a sheet that’s 12 x 24” from Home Depot for $12. Jo Ann Fabric has them too.)

This is the route I’ll be taking. In about 8 months. When I finally tackle this project, having forgotten the frustration of the last two weeks.

Because I don’t know about you, but DIY is in my DNA. 

Or not.