Pop-Up Magazine Returns to Los Angeles as Part of All-New National Tour

What happens here, only happens here

Heralded as “A sensation” by the New York Times, “Something special,” by PBS Newshour, and “A hit” by Forbes.

“Do not miss,” says the Los Angeles Times.

 The critically-acclaimed live magazine’s Spring Issue travels to San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and New York

Following a string of sold-out shows across the country earlier this year, Pop-Up Magazine, the critically-acclaimed evening of live journalism, returns to Los Angeles with an all-new show, at The Theatre at Ace Hotel June 13, at 8:00 PM. With performances by award-winning writers, documentary filmmakers, radio producers and artists, Pop-Up Magazine features true, multimedia stories created especially for the stage and a live audience. “Imagine your favorite magazine came to life,” lauds The Boston Globe.

Contributors for the Pop-Up Magazine Spring Issue performance in Los Angeles include: Yassir Lester (actor, Girls, Making History), Carlos Javier Ortiz (visual artist), Gillian Laub…

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Amazing DIY home makeovers in minutes

Bring out your inner interior decorator and give a room a new look, in a day, or minutes

Giving a living space a new look does not always require a major renovation, or a contractor.  Here are a few DIY ideas for refreshing and reviving a room with a fresh new style, no home improvement experience required.

Cut a rug

Do-it-yourself and rug are not usually terms that go together, but FLOR is changing that. This innovative flooring company allows anyone to design their own unique rug, one square at a time, using self-adhesive carpeted tiles that can be laid in custom sizes and shapes, using a huge variety of gorgeous patterns, styles and colors with many textures and piles.

The beauty of the system is that the options are limitless. FLOR tiles can be arranged to fit odd spaces, such as hallways or a room with a nook or…

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BOWLMOR AMF offers bowling all summer long for one price

Up to three games a day and show rentals included in season passes

It was the hottest April on record, and forecasters say we are in for a sweltering summer. When school lets out in a few weeks, kids will need engaging summer activities to keep them out of the heat (and out of trouble). Bowlmor AMF is thinking ahead, with affordable summer passes that let kids and families bowl up to three games every day if they want.  In air-conditioned comfort, with all the excitement of music, neon lights, walls of videos, arcade games, and tasty food, kids can spend hours entertaining themselves in a fun environment – an excellent alternative to spending summer in front of the television saying, “I’m bored!”

Bowlmor AMF, which includes the brands Bowlero, Brunswick Zone, AMF and Bowlmor Lanes, is offering a Summer Games Passport that allows guests to bowl up to three games every day, show rental included, all summer long, at any of the more than 300 participating locations across the nation. If you opt for bowling at just one location, a slightly less expensive standard Summer Games pass will do.

At Bowlmor AMF lanes, bowling is half the fun of a visit to the bowling alley. During a recent visit with my son and a friend, the music, food, and of course arcade games were an equal entertainment draw. I was pleased to find some healthy options on the menu, such as wraps and salads, alongside the delicious and decadent fare of burgers, seasoned fries, and nachos, and treats like fried pickle “frickles,” a gigantic salty pretzel to share, and a real party pleaser, the Monster Cookie Melt, a huge warm cookie in a skillet adorned with whipped cream, chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream.

Entertainment aside, note to parents, bowling may even help prevent “learning loss” over the summer break, as kids can use their math skills to add up their scores and compete against themselves and their friends, though common-core-challenged parents will be glad to know that today’s modern bowling alleys have electronic scorekeeping that requires little more than entering each player’s name on the leaderboard.

Speaking of sharpening addition and multiplication skills, for those who are math-minded, the savings of using a Summer Games pass would amount to about $2,800 for someone who bowled every day – or 300 games– over summer!

Summer games passes can be purchased for kids (under 15) and adults at a participating bowling alleys or at https://bowlsummergames.com/. Pricing varies by region, but start as low at $29.95 for kids.  At my local Bolero, the cost was $34.99 for kids and $39.95 for adults for the standard passes and $39.99 and $44.95 for the Passport level passes.  The Passport was the best value for our family, as we will be traveling over summer, and we look forward to visiting other bowling alleys over our vacation.

Passes are available for purchase now through Labor Day, and can be used from May 22 until September 4.

Mother’s Day gift ideas for the best mom ever

Show your appreciation for your mom this Mother’s Day with one of these fabulous gifts that will make her day.

Got that sunshine in my pocket-book

Give Mom a gift she will cherish and literally keep close to her heart every day — the M Hulot Gia cross body bag ($199), perfect for work, shopping, travel and everyday outings. With its luminous yellow color, luxurious Italian vegetable-tanned leather and bespoke craftsmanship, Mom will admire it each time she carries it.  Designer Anna Kreeger chose the materials for the M Hulot line based on an “emotional response,” which this purse is sure to elicit from Mom, for its beauty and hand-finished detail.  Like the bag itself, the collection’s intriguing M. Hulot name, taken from a character of a classic French comedy, is a conversation piece that adds to the fun Mom will have carrying it. Available at www.waremakers.com.

Here, there…

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Get on a (foam) roll

How to use a foam roller to relieve muscle stress and soreness

Dr. Michelle Beamer, PT, DPT, Cert MDT, ASTYM, Rapid Rehabilitation guides me through my roller routine.

When we hear the term DIY, we usually think of home improvement, but in an age when insurance coverage is uncertain and responsibility for one’s own health care is more important than ever, it is empowering to know there are many things we can do at home to take care of ourselves.  Recently I discovered a physical therapy tool that I now use daily to maintain the progress I made in therapy sessions.

Everyone likes a massage, and now you can do it for yourself with a number of tools designed for self-massage. The most common of these are foam rollers, which can be used for a variety of applications that can release muscle tension, stretch tense areas and rub out sore spots.

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Ski and shred in style, look cool, stay warm

Moms NoVa

This year’s epic snow sports season is likely to go strong into late spring and even early summer months on the West Coast.

Some North American resorts have reported on high-snowfall years that their slopes stay open as late as the Fourth of July. So gear up in style for spring skiing and riding with these slick head-turning fashions and take advantage of some great near-the-end-of-season sales prices.

Pull on your big-boy/girl bibs

Bibs are back in a big way. The sister of the full-on zip-up onesie snowsuit of the 70s, ski bibs are rising up as the nouveau chic on the slopes. Not only do they look stylish and sassy, they are the far better choice for snow wear than traditional ski or snowboard pants. Bibs are perfect when you want a bit of extra warmth over a fleece pullover or under layer, but you don’t want to wear…

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Serious smart-looking smart heated gloves

Serius thermal gloves are the first gloves for which I’ve had to read a instruction manual. That said, the instructions were pretty simple. Charge the batteries for about three hours, insert the batteries into the wrist cuff and press the button to the desired heat level. Oh yeah, and don’t forget, you can swipe away on your smart phone screen while wearing these gloves.

Within 30 seconds, the gloves were toasty inside, and on cold mountain tops these are a hand saver. After all, cold hands is a major reason that I have to head back to the lodge earlier than I wanted to.

The gloves are attractive, and of course they will work with or without the batteries to stay warm, but the battery-powered system is what makes these gloves truly unique.

The gloves come with an interior liner, which could work alone and may be an option for…

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Two new spring cleaning products safe for homes and the environment

As someone who endeavors to eliminate toxic chemicals from my home environment, I am always eager to try out new green and chemical-free products. I recently had the opportunity to sample two up-and-coming brands, Green Grab and PHur, and here is what I found.

Getting on my green

Grab Green brand, or GG as it is abbreviated, makes a full line of cleaning products, including dishwashing detergent pods, degreasers, liquid hand soap, air fresheners, laundry detergent — and something interesting I had never tried — cookware and bakeware cleaner pods.

Starting with the most interesting and unique product, the cleaner pods are made to get the cooked-on nasty mess off the bottom of stainless steel and enameled cookware and glass and aluminum bakeware. It is not recommended for copper or Teflon.

It just so happened as I was trying out these products I had made hot chocolate for my…

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It’s what’s eating at me on Pi Day

Moms NoVa

What’s Pi Day all About?

When my son was a kindergartner I first heard about Pi Day.  The kids at his school competed to recite the most numerals of the Pi formula from memory, spelling bee style, with students as young as six showing some amazing recall abilities of up to 30 digits without flubbing.Just like any good holiday or observance, the marketers have gotten a hold of it to make it into a commercial event. As a blogger, this week I was bombarded with dozens of pitches from bakeries, pizza parlors, frozen pie and pizza companies, Pi day merchandisers for T-shirts, mugs and the like, and even LACTAID got into it, promoting dairy-free pie recipes (and LACTAID tablets for the lactose intolerant who can’t avoid dairy) for Pi Day.Before we lose the meaning of Pi Day, and it becomes a national day of eating pies and buying stuff, here’s…

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Xess Alexa-enabled smart home hub giveaway

Moms NoVa

The next generation of smart devices is here, to make your life easier, and more fun!

The joke among tech geeks at the 2017 Consumer Electronics Show, the annual massive showcase of new gadgets, was “Does it work with Alexa?”

Indeed, Alexa will soon be commanding the market – or rather we will be commanding Alexa – and the innovators at the helm are the ones finding new and exciting ways to incorporate the voice controlled app into our homes and lives.

One of the most anticipated incarnations of this technology is TCL’s Xess, pronounced “excess,” the next generation of Amazon Alexa enabled devices, in the form of a tablet. Similar to Amazon’s Echo and its offshoots Dot and Tap, and Google Home, the device uses the Alexa wake word, or it can be programmed with the user’s chosen word, to turn respond to voice commands. In addition to…

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