Author: janiceadore

J'adore Healthy Living, Motherhood, Fashion & Beauty and more. Thanks for reading my page.

Carla Gugino on Moscow Mules, Travel Must-Haves, and Her Modern Home

.Reading time 6 minutes.

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Photo: Maarten de Boer/Getty Images

To the characters of Roadies, Showtime’s backstage-set series, a tricked-out tour bus is as good as it gets. Certainly, Carla Gugino’s cool, composed production manager Shelli is a creature of the road—domestic comforts be damned. She’s totally at home amid mic stands, mega speakers, and rock ’n’ roll–induced mayhem. Gugino, on the other hand, is no stranger to the finer things in life. When she wants to feel at home away from home (roles in everything from Spy Kids to Batman v Superman to Wayward Pines have taken her far and wide), she knows just what to bring along. “A little Bialetti espresso maker, a Nespresso milk frother, my favorite pillow, Young Living essential oils, and a Vitamix—if I’m on location for a long time,” she says, ticking off her carefully curated list. What else gets her thumbs up? Read on. Roadies airs Sundays on Showtime at 10 p.m. EDT.

Describe your home in five words or less. Open. Inviting. Modern.

How would you describe your taste in decor? I live in an apartment in New York City. The main attraction is high ceilings and a kitchen that is open to the living room. We have a wall that’s a bookshelf, and it’s decorated fairly simply. We also have a wall that has a growing collection of art and photography that we’ve collected over the years. Our previous home was a 1927 Spanish house in the Hollywood Hills, which used to be the French Consulate, and was decorated quite colorfully and in keeping with the period in which it was built. So when we moved to New York, we wanted the opposite. ABC Home being nearby has been both brilliant and dangerous!

What’s always in your refrigerator? Lots of fruits and veggies, green superfood powders that I put in shakes (at the moment I have one by Moon Juice called Beauty Dust), homemade almond milk, Manchego cheese, farm-raised eggs, an eye mask, and a bottle of Billecart-Salmon rosé—you never know when a celebratory toast is in order.

What was last playing on your TV? I just watched a wonderful Spanish movie calledTruman and before that watched the full season of The Girlfriend Experience in two days. We have a big screen in the living room. I don’t like TVs in the bedroom, unless I’m on vacation.

Most nights you eat dinner . . . In New York it’s easy to get in the habit of eating out often. We have great restaurants in our neighborhood, and I love nothing more than a stroll to and from dinner. We also have a roof deck on our building so, in the summers, we will eat dinner up there. I just perfected my Moscow Mule, so it’s been making some appearances in this sweltering East Coast weather.

What was the first thing you splurged on when you made it big? My splurges have remained pretty true to type from the start. I took myself to Positano the second I could afford it. They are my people, ya know? Travel, massages, and dark chocolate are still my favorite indulgences.

What was the best-designed set you’ve ever worked on? Watchmen was impeccably designed. Alex McDowell built several blocks of an alternate New York City in Vancouver.

Before you leave the house you always . . . “Try to find my keys and sunglasses. Why I can’t seem to put them in one spot, I’ll never know!”

What design details on Roadies make you feel like you’re inhabiting an authentic rock ’n’ roll world? The bunk beds with little curtains that draw shut are so specific to a tour bus. Also, the small kitchenette, like something you’d have on a boat. There’s a groovy lounge in the back, which creates a Pavlovian response—you want to start drinking beer and smoking cigarettes even if you don’t do either.

You make playlists for your characters. What was on Shelli’s? “It was a combination of songs that I felt Shelli would gravitate to and also just the overall vibe of that world. A few examples are “All Hands on the Bad One” by Sleater Kinney, “Do Ya” by Peaches, the Kills’ cover of “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac, “Feeling Good” courtesy of Nina Simone, ”I Need You” by the Eurythmics, and “Kiss Me on the Bus” by the Replacements.

What do you imagine Shelli’s dream home would look like? Would she even have a dream home, loving life on the road so much? I think Shelli has a fantasy version of a home that’s an antidote to being on the road. Probably something that involves a claw-foot bathtub, an open kitchen, vast glass doors that open onto turquoise water, and a very comfortable bed. But as you astutely pointed out, I’m not sure she’s ready for that yet. Via Architectural Digest.

xxxxx,

Janice

DIY Bubble Bath

.Reading time less than 1 minute.

As I’m fighting a severe flu/cold, is there anything more rejuvenating than a bubble bath? The best part about this DIY is you can customize it with whatever essential oils fit your mood! Just mix all the ingredients together and add it to a running bath for some bubbly relaxing.

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For updates on essential oils send me an email or comment below.
xxxxxx,
Janice

Pursuing Your Passion While Raising a Family

.Reading time 6 minutes.

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“You don’t need to do great things everyday, but you need to do something towards your dream daily,”writes Notoya Green.

I’m a mother of three-year-old triplets. I’m also a blogger, columnist and parenting expert who appears on television regularly, so I know firsthand the challenges of pursuing your passion while raising kids. For many of us, our obligations at home make it difficult to find the time and energy to go after the things we want. I’m not going to lie—pursuing your passion while raising kids is hard. But the good news is that it is possible and also really important. For you and your children.

When I was a child, I saw my mother try to be successful in business. She tried various things, from bus tours to real estate ventures. Sometimes she succeeded in her efforts and other times she didn’t. Watching her efforts made me want to work hard too. So when I made the decision to pursue my passion as a writer and media personality, I did it for two reasons. I did it partly because of my own ambitions (after all we don’t stop being ambitious simply because we have children), but I also did it for my kids so they know I never stopped trying to be the very best me. Going after the things we want in life is scary. Many times, we don’t even know where to begin, but with every step and every battle we win, our confidence rises, as does our happiness.

So how do we make these things happen when we have so much on our plates already?

Create a plan
Figure out what your dream is and think about some realistic ways to get there. Do you need more education? More experience, or do you just need to start? What are the steps that you need to take today so that you can be where you want to be years from now?

Create a schedule
Life is going to happen and it’s often unpredictable so it’s important to schedule in time to work on your dream. That time won’t magically appear. For some moms, that means waking up early in the morning and working on their dream before the kids wake up. For others, it’s working late at night when the kids are asleep. In any case, find a block of quiet time so you put in a few hours a day to get work done.

Get help with the kids
In order to succeed, you need time to work. You also need time to think, to plan and to rest. So when needed, get help from either a qualified childcare professional or a trustworthy family member. If you have a supportive partner, ask him or her to help with the kids every other weekend so you can work on your dream. When you let people know how serious you are about succeeding in life, you’ll be surprised by how much they willing to help you.

Find an emotional support system
Pursuing your dream is hard. Pursuing it with kids is even harder. Maybe today you’ll feel like giving up because the kids are acting up in school and you’re feeling discouraged. Find a mentor or network of people who will encourage you and help you to keep going. When I’m feeling discouraged I meet with my mentor. Other times I talk to my husband and he’ll say to me, “Slow down? Give up? No, you need to go harder!” Whoever these people are in your life, find them because you are going to need them when the challenges of motherhood and life converge and nothing seems to be going your way.

Be diligent
Work on your dream daily. You don’t need to do great things everyday, but you need to do something towards your dream daily even if that something is resting so you can go harder the next day.

Be resilient
Rome wasn’t built in a day. Success takes time and sometimes it takes years. When we think of success we think of it as a sprint, but it’s really a marathon. So hang in there and be resilient when there are set backs and when things take longer than you want.

Always keep family first
Our dreams are important but so are our kids. Above all else, our children need to come first in our lives. That said, with a good schedule, diligence, planning and focus we can still be great moms to our kids while honoring our dreams and our selves.

Notoya Green is an on-air parenting expert and mother of three-year-old triplets. A former law attorney, Notoya put her law career on hold to become a stay-at-home mom to care full-time for her children. She now shares her experiences at Triplets in Tribeca. Via Essence.

xxxx,

Janice

Library Retreat for Book Lovers

.Reading time 1 minute.

Rejoice, book lovers: we found the place where everyone will finally leave you alone. This little black cabin, built by Studio Padron, is actually a library and guest house for a vacation home in upstate New York. Appropriately, it’s called Hemmelig Rom — “secret room” in Norwegian.

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The whole structure is made from oak trees that were cut down to make room for the main house, then dried over time in long, rectangular logs. Those logs now form the cabin’s walls — and the gaps between them form the bookshelves inside.

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Inside, there’s also a bed, an armchair, a desk and a wood-burning stove: all the cozy trappings of a book lover’s ideal retreat. It’s also in the woods, so cell service is probably pretty bad. More time for reading. Via Mashable Image: Studio Padron

xxxxx,

Janice