31 Things To Do In July
Happy July! ‘Tis the season for BBQs, sunsets, trips to the beach, and random road trips. Like most of the states, Michigan has fully opened back up and now it’s more important than ever to support your favorite small businesses. Now let’s get on to 31 things you can do this July:
1. Give yourself a fresh pedicure so you’re confident to step out in flip flops or go barefoot at the beach. I just gave myself an at-home pedicure with Zoya’s Janie—a stunning hot pink.
2. Make homemade chocolate for s’mores.
3. Have a bonfire and make a s’mores charcuterie board. Think outside the box, get a variety of different cookies and chocolates to create the ultimate s’mores.
4. Happy Fourth of July! Wear your favorite red, white and blue attire, grill out and enjoy some fireworks.
5. Plan a day trip to your local state park. Pack an array of snacks and picnic food too.
6. Find a new hiking trail to explore.
7. Play disc golf.
8. Go kayaking or standup paddle boarding.
9. Head to the beach and enjoy a day at the water.
10. Happy Blueberry Day! I am going to make some Michigan blueberry lemon muffins today.
11. Have friends over and make a build-your-own ice cream sundae. Get some vanilla ice cream, a variety of toppings like peanuts, m&ms, crumbled cookies, cookie dough balls, sprinkles, etc. Don’t forget melted sauces like caramel, strawberry, and of course hot fudge.
12. Go to a drive-in and enjoy a movie outside. Bonus points if it is from the bed of a truck.
13. Grab tickets and plan a trip to a baseball game.
14. Celebrate National Mac & Cheese Day today! I love making homemade macaroni and cheese and adding broccoli, tomatoes, and peppers.
15. Plan a tubing trip down a lazy river.
16. Wake up early and catch a sunrise.
17. Go camping. If you don’t like tent camping you can check out the website Outdoorsy and rent campers or Airbnb for retro camper stays. I love this one.
18. Rent a pedal boat. Pedal boats move at a leisurely pace, pack some sunscreen and snacks, and spend a couple of hours out on the water in the summer sunshine. Bonus points if the pedal boat is a swan, duck or other fun creature!
19. Make your own ice cream. Last year I made homemade strawberry and peach and they were out of this world!
20. Whip up some homemade lemonade. I am currently loving lemonade with a hint of lavender.
21. Well hot dog, it’s National Hot Dog Day today! Forget the traditional ballpark frank and go for a carrot dog! Check out my recipe for the most delicious carrot dogs ever.
22. Rent a canoe and spend the day out on the water.
23. Make pizza on the barbeque.
24. Spend a day totally tech-free. Read a book, enjoy the beach, go for a hike…etc. Just take some time away from technology.
25. Go for a bike ride.
26. Head to your local farmers market and get some goodies.
27. Visit a local ice cream shop.
28. Take your fitness routine outside. I love outdoor workout classes.
29. Check out a botanical garden.
30. Happy International Day of Friendship. Send a few friends some fun snail mail. Even the smallest thing like a scrunchie or bracelet means the world to someone.
31. Make a list of five things you want to do before summer ends.
Movie Review: The Boss Baby Family Business
The Boss Baby: Family Business comes to theaters and Peacock just in time for the holiday weekend with its release this Friday, July 2 2021.
In the sequel to DreamWorks Animation’s blockbuster comedy, the Templeton brothers Tim (James Marsden) and Ted (Alec Baldwin), are now adults and have drifted apart. Time is now a married stay-at-home dad, while Ted is a hedge fund CEO (with his own plane). And, there’s a new boss baby in town with anything is possible attitude that is about to bring the brothers together once again, and inspire a new family business.
Tim and his wife Carol (Eva Longoria), live in the suburbs with their smart 7-year-old daughter Tabitha (Ariana Greenblatt) and spunky new infant Tina (Amy Sedaris). Tabitha idolizes her Uncle Ted, and wants to be just like him—working extra hard in school.
Baby Tina flips the script on everything when she reveals that she is a top secret agent for Baby Corp. on a mission to uncover the dark secrets behind Tabitha’s school and its mysterious founder, Dr. Erwin Armstrong (Jeff Goldblum). The mission reunites the Templeton brothers, and I think I might like this Boss Baby more than the original!
If you’re looking for a fun and light hearted movie this weekend, I can’t recommend The Boss Baby: Family Business enough.
Genre: Animated Comedy
Cast: Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum, Ariana Greenblatt, Jimmy Kimmel, Lisa Kudrow, Eva Longoria, James Marsden, Amy Sedaris
Director: Tom McGrath
Producer: Jeff Hermann
The Best Carrot Dogs
Let me be frank, your friends might think you’re nuts for eating a carrot dog instead of a traditional ballpark frank—but once they try these carrot dogs they may never go back.
The Best Carrot Dogs
Ingredients
4 large carrots, clean
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp roasted sesame seed oil (not raw)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp ginger powder
1/4 tsp cayenee pepper
Directions
1. Fill a pot the width of your carrots halfway with water and bring to a boil.
2. In a large bowl whisk together: water, soy sauce, rice vinegar, apple cider vinegar, sesame oil, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder, cayenne and black pepper. Set aside.
3. Add carrots to the boiling water for 6 minutes or until they’re fork tender.
Note: DO NOT OVERCOOK. If they get mushy they are ruined.
4. Make an ice bath: fill a large bowl with ice cubes and cold water.
5. Remove carrots from boiling water and transfer to the ice bath immediately. This stops them from cooking. Allow to cool in the water for 3-5 minutes.
6. Using a fork slide it down the side of the carrot to make some holes.
7. Add cooled carrots to the marinade which you have placed in a plastic bag or container. Shake for move around to coat.
8. Place in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours. The longer you marinate the better they will be. I usually marinate them for 48 hours.
9. When you’re ready you can grill the carrots on a barbecue or cook them on the stove in a pan.
10. Serve like a traditional hot dog with your favorite condiments.
*I like mine with ketchup, mustard, onions and sweet relish.
Note: You can also freeze the carrots once they’re done marinating.
Coming to Detroit: Beyond Van Gogh
Michiganders, get ready to immerse yourself in the artwork on Vincent Van Gogh when Beyond Van Gogh is comes to TCF Center (Cobo Hall) in downtown Detroit June 25 – August 15, 2021.
Get your tickets to see Beyond Van Gogh today!
Beyond Exhibitions proudly presents “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience” coming to TCF Center in beautiful downtown Detroit, produced in partnership with 313 Presents. Opening for a limited engagement Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience was created by French-Canadian Creative Director Mathieu St-Arnaud and his team at Montreal’s world-renowned Normal Studio. This immersive experience features more than 300 of Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic artworks and takes the art lover into a three-dimensional world that exhilarates the senses.
After tremendous successes in Europe, cinematic Van Gogh exhibitions have crossed the ocean to great North American acclaim in recent years. In a rich and unique multimedia experience using cutting-edge project technology developed by some of the world’s greatest AV designers, Beyond Van Gogh takes on the challenge of breathing new life into Van Gogh’s vast body of work. Using the artist’s own dreams, thoughts, and words to drive the experience as a narrative, guests move along projection-swathed walls wrapped in light and color that swirls, dances, and refocuses into flowers, cafes, and landscapes.
While journeying through Beyond Van Gogh guests witness over 300 masterpieces, including instantly-recognizable classics such as “The Starry Night”, “Sunflowers”, and ‘Café Terrace at Night”, now freed from their frames. Van Gogh’s art comes to life by appearing and disappearing, flowing across multiple surfaces, and heightening the senses with their immense detail. Through his own words set to a symphonic score, guests come to a new appreciation of this tortured artist’s stunning work. It’s no surprise that millions of people all over the world credit Van Gogh with enhancing their relationship with art. Beyond Van Gogh will only deepen it further.
As immersive art installations deeply resonate around the globe, “Beyond Van Gogh: An Immersive Experience” will stay in Detroit for a limited engagement before moving across North America. Art lovers near and far will have the opportunity to live this unique, unforgettable experience.
Movie Review: Spirit Untamed
Spirit Untamed heads to a theater near you Friday, June 4 and I can’t recommend it enough.
DreamWorks takes you on an epic adventure in their new animated film Spirit Untamed. After the tragic loss of her mother Lucky Prescott finds herself growing up with her wealthy grandfather and aunt. A few “mishaps” and little miss Lucky finds herself and her aunt Cora on a train to stay with Lucky’s dad (Cora’s brother) for the summer.
Lucky becomes friends with local girls Abigail Stone and Pru Granger. Both girls ride horses like a boss, and that is what first catches Lucky’s attention. At Pru’s families barn Lucky is not impressed with a heartless horse wrangler, and decided to try and get Spirit (named for all the “spirit” he has) to get used to her. Pru and Abigail give Lucky all the tips that they know to get the horse comfortable.
Little did Pru and Abigail know that this would result in an unforgettable adventure where Lucky needs to learn how to trust Spirit if she wants to survive the adventure. The girls fearlessly ride over the sides of mountains, battle bad guys, and teach every female out there that you can do anything you set your mind to.
DreamWorks Spirit Untamed is packed with adventure, strength, confidence, trust and so much more. When it ended I started the movie again—yes it’s that good!
Check out Spirit Untamed when it hits theaters Friday, June 4th.
Spirit Untamed Synopsis
An epic adventure about a headstrong girl longing for a place to belong who discovers a kindred spirit when her life intersects with a wild horse, Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in the beloved story from DreamWorks Animation.
Lucky Prescott (Isabela Merced, Dora and the Lost City of Gold) never really knew her late mother, Milagro Navarro (Eiza González, Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw), a fearless horse-riding stunt performer from Miradero, a small town on the edge of the wide-open frontier.
Like her mother, Lucky isn’t exactly a fan of rules and restrictions, which has caused her Aunt Cora (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore) no small amount of worry. Lucky has grown up in an East Coast city under Cora’s watchful eye, but when Lucky presses her own luck with one too many risky escapades, Cora picks up stakes and moves them both back with Lucky’s father, Jim (Oscar® nominee Jake Gyllenhaal), in Miradero.
Lucky is decidedly unimpressed with the sleepy little town. She has a change of heart when she meets Spirit, a wild Mustang who shares her independent streak, and befriends two local horseback riders, Abigail Stone (Mckenna Grace, Captain Marvel) and Pru Granger (Marsai Martin, Little). Pru’s father, stable owner Al Granger (Emmy winner Andre Braugher, Fox’s Brooklyn Nine-Nine), is the best friend of Lucky’s father.
When a heartless horse wrangler (Emmy nominee Walton Goggins, FX’s Justified) and his team plan to capture Spirit and his herd and auction them off to a life of captivity and hard labor, Lucky enlists her new friends and bravely embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to rescue the horse who has given her freedom and a sense of purpose, and has helped Lucky discover a connection to her mother’s legacy and to her Mexican heritage that she never expected.
Spirit Untamed is the next chapter in DreamWorks Animation’s beloved franchise that began with the 2002 Oscar-nominated film Spirit: Stallion of Cimarron and includes an Emmy-winning TV series. The film is directed by Elaine Bogan (Netflix and DreamWorks Animation Television’s Trollhunters: Tales of Arcadia) and is produced by Karen Foster (co-producer, How to Train Your Dragon). The film’s co-director is Ennio Torresan (head of story, The Boss Baby), and the film’s score is by composer Amie Doherty (Amazon’s Undone, DreamWorks Animation’s Marooned).
Cast: Isabela Merced, Julianne Moore, Jake Gyllenhaal, Marsai Martin, Mckenna Grace, Walton Goggins, Andre Braugher and Eiza González
Director: Elaine Bogan
Producer: Karen Foster
Fashion meets Food 