Stella, May I know how to upcycle candle jars?

4:30 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may. This is how I reuse candle jars. These specifically are the Bath and Body Works 14.5 ounce, 3-wick candles. At one point I was pretty obsessed with these candles since they offered some unique scents and the candles were able to perfume the entire room. I would then end up with a lot of empty candle jars. I tried to freeze them to clean out the wax and reuse them like so many pinterest posts suggested, but it just didn't come out as clean. There would be a thin layer of wax left behind. I discovered an even better and less messy way of cleaning them out and that's what I am here to show you today.
All you will need is your empty candle jar and a butter knife. (and hot water and paper towels, not pictured)
First, use the knife to cut out sections of the remaining wax. Try to cut around the wicks. As you cut the sections, the wax will slowly pop out.
To get the wicks off, just gently slide the knife under the metal base. It's a fairly thin piece that is just glued down. When you feel like you have enough leverage then slowly lift up and the wick base should come off.
I usually never end up with that thin of a layer of wax, since the wick stop above the base. So normally the wax would just easily lift up in chunks. But with this thinner layer of wax, it was just not coming off in nice chunks.  I just scrape off as much of the wax as I could and move onto the next step.
Peeling off the front label. The label in front is very easy to remove and doesn't leave any residue afterwards. (This was a Sandalwood Citrus candle).
Next fill the jar with hot tap water and let it sit for a minute.
Dump out the water and using a paper towel, wipe down the sides of the jar. Repeat filling it with water and wiping it down until you no longer have the wax residue. This is by far the best method of me to clean out the jars. All the wax removed stays on the towel and not on a sponge or the sink or your hands.
I usually only need one towel to clean out the jars, but because I had a thinner layer of wax remaining, there was more wax so I used about 3 towels.
Those three little circles of residue left is just glue from the wicks. This is best removed with Goo Gone or an oil. You might be thinking: why don't I just use Goo Gone for the entire process? Well Goo Gone is messy and I don't need it. It would have taken longer for me to use Goo Gone since I have to apply it to a cotton pad and wipe it down. The method I like to use just involves wiping down! I saved a step!
Side note: I don't normally get the wax on the outside of the jar, but because this candle was extra good and burned to the bottom, the thin wax that was left got to the outside. I just ran the outside of the jar under hot tap water and wiped it down. Good as new!
After all the wiping is done, I just leave it out to dry and we are ready to use it.
Pen storage. My choice of pens are Sharpie pens and Muji pens.
Lip balm storage. I have too many to store in this jar, but I picked out a few to show you. On top are the Alice in Wonderland Collection, the purple striped is the new blackberry nectar visibly soft and the mint green one is the classic sweet mint one. All EOS. Look out for a post soon about my entire EOS lip balm collection!
Bed side necessities. This includes all that I need to sleep. Clockwise from the blue cap: lavender pillow mist, hand cream, hair brush and ties, lips balms, cuticle butter, and the giant unicorn light remote. I think I will go into details about my right before bed routine in another post so also look out for that!
I also use these candle jars for makeup brushes, little trinkets and Oswald toy balls. These particular jars usually comes with lids, which would make it very useful to stack atop one another, or keep little cat paws out. If I had a bath tub, I would store the bath fizzlers individually in these candle jars. That way they could each be on display and the bath bombs wouldn't intermix scents. However the frosted colored glass kinds didn't come with lids. (If you are afraid that the knife will lift the color off, don't be. The color is applied on the outside of the jar. So just be careful when removing the labels,)
I hope you like today's Tutorial Tuesday and come back for a special surprise for April!

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Stella, May I know what is the best burger in ATL?

9:34 AM Unknown 0 Comments

Well I don't think I have an answer for that yet. But me and Mister went to re-try one of Atlanta's famous burgers, Holeman and Finch's burger. Before they made their infamous 10 o'clock Burger a permanent staple on the menu, only 24 burgers were served every night and you bet your bottom dollar that they were all reserved well before 10 o'clock. They make a whole show of it. First they announced "It's Burger Time!" and proceeded to parade the burgers around the dining room to the luck few who snagged an order. It might not have been a parade but everyone in the restaurant was watching those burgers come out. Oh at the time (a few years ago), Holeman and Finch also had the burger on their Sunday Brunch menu and those were not limited to 24. These days, you can find their burger at the original restaurant or "public house" on Peachtree, at Turner Field, and at Ponce City Market.
This is the Ponce City Market location one. Its food menu only consists of the Cheeseburger, a Veggie Burger, a Salad, a Hot Dog, and fries. That's it! You can also customize it with an added egg, bacon and avocado.
And here it is, the Cheeseburger. It has a double-patty, american cheese, bread and butter pickles, and red onions. That's it! They have really pared down everything to just the basics. H&F also makes their mustard, ketchup, pickles, and bread. We opted against fries, since our last experience (which had fries included in the order, this time it was separate) fell short of our exceptions. And while we were waiting, we peeked at other people's orders and they still looked a little sad, so we passed on fries.
First of all, each part of the burger is really unique and I can really taste the each layer. The bun is a sponge, but it is substantial enough to hold the burger. No soggy mess here. The pickles, ketchup and mustard, are a little different and almost tangier than what I would expect normally. The red onion was subtly in the background adding a little sweetness. They were sliced thin enough to not add a crunch factor. Lastly the meat. It is a half chuck and half brisket mix that brings a good balance of fat and meat. Each patty is 4 ounces, making it an 8 ounce burger. The cheese is standard American, I would guess Kraft Singles. (Did you know American Cheese isn't really cheese? It's a processed cheese product. Go on read your Kraft Singles box, I sure did when I found out.) Overall I like the burger. H&F pares it down the the basics and make each component delicious. Mister would interject and say it's a little dry, but he doesn't like this burger anyways.

links: Holeman and Finch Public House H&F Burger

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Stella, May I know about your planner bookmark?

8:27 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may! This is my daily planner and lately I have been neglecting it. I thought I would dust it off and start it up again. The planner is the BlueSky and Day Designer Target collaboration I got in the summer last year. Target doesn't stock this particular design anymore, but they do have similar BlueSky ones available now. I would suggesting waiting until the summer though when they bring out new designs to correlate with the start of the school calendar year.
As you can see I have use a ribbon bookmark. It is currently placed just as decoration. I thought I would switch things and spruce things up a little and maybe that will prompt me to use it daily. This is actually a really good planner. The left column is a schedule with time stamps at every hour and the right column is a to do list with little squares just ready to be checked off. Here the ribbons are tied around the outer side of the rings. It also serves to cover up the gap between the pages.
When you retie it to the rings inside the planner, it becomes a bookmark. If you tie it a little lower so there is gap, then you can carefully slide each page through so you don't have to retie it each time you want to change pages.
To spruce it up a little, I cut a triangle shape at the end of the ribbons.
This just makes it a little more purposeful. Initially I used two different colored ribbons to make it a more colorful and overall more fancy. Now I tied the ribbons on two different pages. One for the daily page I am at and the other at the monthly view. In the picture above you can also see that how I didn't tie it right up against the coils, so I can turn the pages without untying it.
The planner with ribbon bookmarks. See how the end of the bookmark correlates to the flag shape at the front of the cover.

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Stella, May I know what you did on your last day of Nashville

8:00 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Last day in Nashville. This will be the last Nashville post! We started our last day with a tour inside the Colosseum. It was closed when we can the first day.
 My favorite piece? These bronze doors. There are two sets one in the front and one at the back. The first picture has them opened. The ones above are locked.
 This is also one of the few things you can touch. You enter the Parthenon from the ground floor. When you first entered you see different displays about the history of the Parthenon in Nashville. Then in the next exhibit you see different paintings. There was no photography allowed on this floor.
As you ascend the steps you are greeted with a massive statue of Athena. It is really gold and really tall. It is a wonder to see. They painted it based on how it would have looked bath in ancient Greece.
These are the bronze doors from the outside.
We then lunched at Arnold's. It's a cafeteria style place and one of the original, if not the original, place of "meat and 3". As it sounds, meat and 3 is picking one meat and 3 sides. 
Yes they have a James Beard Award! The American Classics Award in 2009. 
 Lots of pie choices.
I choose chicken livers, collard greens, and macaroni and cheese. You don't need to choose 3 sides, they just charge you per item. 
 Right across the street is the Downtown Antique Mall. More antiquing!
It's right next to the railway tracks.
Antique photo taker.
 Here we are the Hermitage. Home of Andrew Jackson and this wife Rachel. In case you didn't know he is also the president on our current $20 bill.
You can explore the grounds of the Hermitage.
 And their mansion! You can't really tell from this picture but this is a brick house.
 Adjacent to the house is their English-style garden.
 This is the smoker in the back. Can you imagine what they were smoking in this room? No photography was allowed inside the mansion but imagine beautiful wallpapers and original furniture. I definitely recommend going. It's like a step back in time, if you lived like the third richest president! (after Washington and Kennedy)
 There are also trails around the house to explore. Most of the slave houses are no longer there anymore, but you can still see where they stood.
 The Hermitage was a working farm growing cotton. Each year they grow a small patch of cotton for the visitors to see. We missed that season, but there were some remnants on the ground.
 My favorite feature is definitely the belted cows in the back. I've never seen anything like them.
As you can see the gloomy clouds. It was like the weather had determined it is the end of our Nashville adventure. We were just minutes from the storm coming down. The storm started as we were on the road. It's a good thing we left too, The storm went on through the night. We ended up at home about 4 hours later. All in all it was a nice three day getaway.

links: Parthenon Arnold's Downtown Antique Mall Hermitage 

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Stella, May I know about the latest and greatest at Starbucks?

4:43 PM Unknown 0 Comments

Of course you may. This is the Cherry Blossom Frappucino from Starbucks. It is also only available until this Sunday. The last time I was this excited about a Frappucino was the S'mores one they brought out last summer, I think. The Cherry Blossom Frappucino is strawberries and cream flavored base with white chocolate sauce and a matcha drizzle. Yes, there is no cherry blossom flavorness to it. It is actually just strawberries and cream. Even though it's just a souped up strawberries and cream it is still delicious and I prefer it to the strawberry and cream, normal one.
I was so excited about this drink I went searching for it. It's only available at participating locations, so check before you drive out. I went to three different locations, that's how much I wanted it. They have had a similar cherry blossom one in Japan since 2010. 
As you can see mine doesn't look particularly pretty. It looks quite separated. My cup is also double cupped, which I didn't ask for. That is what the clear layer is on the bottom of the cup. 
I wonder if I can just ask for this year round? "Strawberries and cream frappucino with white chocolate syrup and matcha drizzle"?

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