Allirea’s Realm: coffee and conversation with Joe Vercillo

 

I was asked to beta Joe’s book without any idea what it was about.  I went into it blind and was quite surprised that it had a picture of a rat on the cover.  I began to read and immediately got sucked into a coming of age of a rat.  Talk about being shocked.  Great job, Joe, it was a fun read.

Joe Vercillo is a professional ice-hockey goalie, singer-songwriter, and actor from Toronto, Canada.  Stumbling upon the love of his life, he journeyed down to Princeton, New Jersey, and found a dead mouse in a garage.  The rest is history.

Out of this entire interview, this will be the most important question.  Are you a coffee drinker?

Not so much.

If yes, what is your favorite, if not, what is your beverage of choice?

I am more of chai latte, hot chocolate, green tea person, though I do enjoy the odd espresso when I’m hanging with Italian relatives and friends!

I have read your coming of age rat book (it was strangely fantastic), WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AND WHY A RAT????

Haha! Glad you enjoyed it. I came across a dead mouse in the garage last summer and made up a back story for why he was lying out in the open like that. My fiancé, who (as you know) is an indie author, encouraged me to turn the story into a book, so I did. I used to have a fear of rats, but I’ve always been strangely fascinated by them, especially seeing them in New York City.

Is this your first book?

Yes

What made you decide that you could write a book?

The encouragement of my indie author fiancé! I would never have done it without her help and support.

What do you do for leisure or entertainment?

Play lots of hockey, make music and perform once in a while, travel lots, and Netflix and HBO in my downtime.

How would your friends describe you, in one word?

Chill

Tell me the ONE character in your book that is the most like you.  You can only pick ONE, no cheating?  (This should be interesting since your book is about a rat)

Princeton is most like me. But maybe more so back in my late 20s. Rodents get a bad rep by the way! haha

What were you like as a child?

Pretty happy and adventurous, I loved playing outdoors with friends, biking around, building forts, the usual.

What were your childhood dreams?

To play in the NHL! Hockey is life

Who is your real-life hero?

My parents

Why?

All of the sacrifices they’ve made to give my brother and I a good life growing up

What would be your best achievement to date?

Living my life the way I want to live it.

Have you ever been banned from a public place? 

No, but I’ve been ejected from places many times due to the antics of my best friend Joey. (Second City, concerts, sporting events, bars, weddings etc)

I need to get an interview with Joey.  Can you set it up? 

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Handle with care: FRAGILE

Whats the craziest thing you’ve ever done for someone?

Drove almost 40 straight hours in a Uhaul, from southern Ontario to northern Alberta, to help a friend move.

Are you a good dresser?

I like to think so, but who knows. To each their own.

Do you hold grudges?

Never!

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

I was on a first date at the beach and got crapped on by a seagull. Brutal.

When can we expect your next book?

Fall 2017

Get your copy of Joe’s book, Age Six Racer, from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

from The IndieView http://ift.tt/2rYlpvM

Allirea’s Realm: coffee and conversation with Joe Vercillo

 

I was asked to beta Joe's book without any idea what it was about.  I went into it blind and was quite surprised that it had a picture of a rat on the cover.  I began to read and immediately got sucked into a coming of age of a rat.  Talk about being shocked.  Great job, Joe, it was a fun read.

Joe Vercillo is a professional ice-hockey goalie, singer-songwriter, and actor from Toronto, Canada.  Stumbling upon the love of his life, he journeyed down to Princeton, New Jersey, and found a dead mouse in a garage.  The rest is history.

Out of this entire interview, this will be the most important question.  Are you a coffee drinker?

Not so much.

If yes, what is your favorite, if not, what is your beverage of choice?

I am more of chai latte, hot chocolate, green tea person, though I do enjoy the odd espresso when I'm hanging with Italian relatives and friends!

I have read your coming of age rat book (it was strangely fantastic), WHAT WERE YOU THINKING AND WHY A RAT????

Haha! Glad you enjoyed it. I came across a dead mouse in the garage last summer and made up a back story for why he was lying out in the open like that. My fiancé, who (as you know) is an indie author, encouraged me to turn the story into a book, so I did. I used to have a fear of rats, but I've always been strangely fascinated by them, especially seeing them in New York City.

Is this your first book?

Yes

What made you decide that you could write a book?

The encouragement of my indie author fiancé! I would never have done it without her help and support.

What do you do for leisure or entertainment?

Play lots of hockey, make music and perform once in a while, travel lots, and Netflix and HBO in my downtime.

How would your friends describe you, in one word?

Chill

Tell me the ONE character in your book that is the most like you.  You can only pick ONE, no cheating?  (This should be interesting since your book is about a rat)

Princeton is most like me. But maybe more so back in my late 20s. Rodents get a bad rep by the way! haha

What were you like as a child?

Pretty happy and adventurous, I loved playing outdoors with friends, biking around, building forts, the usual.

What were your childhood dreams?

To play in the NHL! Hockey is life

Who is your real-life hero?

My parents

Why?

All of the sacrifices they've made to give my brother and I a good life growing up

What would be your best achievement to date?

Living my life the way I want to live it.

Have you ever been banned from a public place? 

No, but I've been ejected from places many times due to the antics of my best friend Joey. (Second City, concerts, sporting events, bars, weddings etc)

I need to get an interview with Joey.  Can you set it up? 

If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Handle with care: FRAGILE

Whats the craziest thing you've ever done for someone?

Drove almost 40 straight hours in a Uhaul, from southern Ontario to northern Alberta, to help a friend move.

Are you a good dresser?

I like to think so, but who knows. To each their own.

Do you hold grudges?

Never!

What has been your most embarrassing moment?

I was on a first date at the beach and got crapped on by a seagull. Brutal.

When can we expect your next book?

Fall 2017

Get your copy of Joe's book, Age Six Racer, from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

from The IndieView http://ift.tt/2rYlpvM

Hiking to Mt Israel and Guinea Pond

Maggie the Hiker and I admired the big peaks of the Sandwich Range from the Mt Israel summit ledges. Want a hiker of your own? Check out local hiker Arlette Laan's Fiber Arts.

Climbing Mt Israel is close to becoming a spring pilgrimage for me. Located in the White Mountains Sandwich Range, it's a 52-with-a-view summit with great views of Sandwich Dome, Mt Whiteface, and the rocky summit of Mt Chocorua. I climbed Israel via the Mead Trail, coming up the more remote north side of the mountain from the Guinea Pond Trail. I chose this hike because I wanted to visit a remote pond and do a little fly fishing to see if the resident trout had woken from their winter slumbers. Getting to this spot is a bit challenging however, requiring a white knuckle drive down a very rough backcountry road and a wet walk down a flooded trail, which is probably why relatively few people visit it. While most hikers in the White Mountains climb the 4000 footers, many of the best views in New Hampshire can be found on shorter mountains like Israel and a surprisingly large number of them can be more challenging to climb than their loftier peers.

Built in 1801, Sandwich Notch Road is not for the faint of heart. Saying it's poorly maintained is an understatement.

My hike started on Sandwich Notch Road, probably the worst road in the White Mountains, about 0.9 mile from the beginning of the Guinea Pond Trail trailhead. This is a far down the road as I dared drive with my low clearance two-wheel drive car. Built in 1801, Sandwich Notch Road is notorious, but a great shortcut if you have a high clearance vehicle.

That's not a stream. That's the Guinea Pond Trail!

I came to the Beede River bridge and started hiking down the Guinea Pond Trail in search of the spur trail to Guinea Pond. The trail was swamped by water from the beaver damns and marshes that border the trail and snowmelt. My feet were quickly soaked, but I'd half expected that on this hike. I forded a few streams that were running high and arrived at a beaver pond, which has swamped this section of trail. A detour trail has been cut that rejoins the main trail on the other side of the beaver pond, which is marked as a swamp on local maps, and continues on to Pond Brook and the Flat Mountain Trail. I followed it around the pond and admired the huge beaver lodge that's been constructed by the current residents.

Guinea Pond in Spring

The swamp was past the point where I'd expected to find the Guinea Pond Spur trail, so I backtracked to look for it. I found what looked like an unsigned, abandoned trail and followed it for about 0.2 mile through another swampy area and came to the pond. It was much larger than I expected, but looks like it'd be worth a return visit with some packrafts, fishing rods, and a grill. Very isolated with a pretty view too.

Onto Israel. I backtracked to the Mead Trail and started to climb gradually at first and then more steeply as I approached the summit. The leaves are just starting to bud in the Sandwich Range, the southernmost part of the White Mountains. I've found that spring arrives here a few weeks before it does in the northern part of the National Forest, making it a good place for spring hiking when you're ready for winter to be over and need to get out.

Some history: Mt Israel is named after Israel Gilman, an early explorer of the Sandwich Region, who camped in the Sandwich Notch area and built a nearby home in 1768. It was subsequently given to the state by a landowner named Jack Mead and is now part ofthe White Mountain National Forest. (Source: Seventy Annual Excursion of the Sandwich Historical Society, 1992)

The summit ledges were free of snow when I broke above treeline near the junction between the Wentworth Trail and the Mead Trail. Being a weekday, I had the summit to myself and pondered the big peaks before me: Sandwich Dome, Mts Whiteface and Passaconaway, and Chocorua in the distance.

Later, I did catch a few nice brookies on the Beebe River. Spring has arrived in Sandwich.

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Hiking to Mt Israel and Guinea Pond

My secret to big bouncy waves that last all day

Hair Romance x Batiste collaboration

One of my most requested hairstyle tutorials is how I get my curly hair to fall into big, bouncy waves. Today I’ve got a video to show you exactly what I do and all my secrets to long-lasting curls.

I love to do this style in second or third day hair once my blowdry is starting to look a bit flat. You could also do it in freshly washed hair as well. These waves add in volume and are fun for day or night.

I can then get these waves to last another two or three days. As always, dry shampoo is key.

You don’t have to have been reading Hair Romance for a long time to know that I love dry shampoo, so I’m really excited to be partnering with Batiste to create these tutorials and to show you some of their new products as well.

Yes, they’re more than just dry shampoo now; Batiste has a range of dry styling products for all hair types and situations. This is great for me because – as you know – I hate to wash my hair. So anything I can do to keep styling my dry hair and keep it looking good for days is amazing.

It also makes styling super fast, as you don’t need to go from wash to style every time.

Check out my video tutorial below to see how I curl my hair. I’ll also run through all the steps underneath.

How to get big bouncy waves that last – Video tutorial

Click here if you can’t see the video above

What you’ll need:

• Hairbrush (I love my Mason Pearson, though any bristle brush is fine)
• A curling wand (I’m using a 19mm barrel)
• Dry shampoo (I’m loving the new Batiste Rose Gold scent, though the tropical is my usual favourite)
• Batiste Heat and Shine Spray (A dry heat protectant that adds incredible shine)
• Batiste Hairspray (My #1 secret to longer-lasting curls)

Bonus – I love the Batiste Texturizing Spray as a final step to achieve that perfect undone wave. It gives that beachy look and adds volume without making your hair look too ‘done’ and perfect.

Step-by-Step Tutorial:

1. Freshen up your roots with dry shampoo. Even if you’re starting with clean hair, I love this step. It adds in a little more grip and volume into your hair. Remember to always wait a minute and then brush the product through to distribute it through your hair.
2. Before curling, use a heat protectant. Normally I use a cream heat protectant in wet hair, but I love the ease of a dry spray that also gives amazing shine. Brush to distribute throughout your hair as well.
3. Curl from the bottom up. Clip up the top section of your hair and bring the loose bottom section forward over your shoulders.
4. Working in small sections, wrap your hair around the barrel away from your face. I start by laying my hair flat around the barrel, then I give it a slight twist towards the end.
5. How you cool your curl matters. Hold your curl in your hand for a few seconds before you let it drop. The way you let your hair cool will help set it in place and stop your curls dropping out.
6. Keep curling in small sections and work in layers around your head. I like to keep curling away from my face for these curls, and for a more natural look you can curl some forward and some backwards; it’s up to you.
7. Now here’s my curl secret – hairspray before you curl! I give a light mist of a flexible hair spray and then give my hair a little shake to let it dry before I curl. You could also brush it through again and then start wrapping your hair around the barrel.
   The hairspray’s extra hold is incredible for adding more shape and shine to your curls. The spray is workable and isn’t sticky so is easy to style and leaves my curls feeling touchable and soft. It makes waves last so much longer even in hair that’s really hard to curl.
8. There’s a trick to doing the top layer of your hair. I curl close to the root for all of the underneath layers, whereas on the top I curl from about eye level down. I find this gives a softer shape and leaves the layers around my face to frame nicely.
9. Now once you’ve curled all of your hair, the important step is to let it cool. Give it a final mist of hairspray and then just leave it alone.
10. Once your hair is completely cool then it’s time to break up those curls into waves. Trust me, this middle stage can look a bit Shirley Temple, but you need to get through it in order to get those soft waves.

Styling Tips

• Two looks in one – This curl routine is so versatile because you can wear it in loose curls or brushed out into beautiful waves. I like to style them big on the first day and then smooth them down on the second.

• Dial up the gloss – You can add a little bit more of that shine spray in to really finish the look.
• Tame flyaways – Use the barrel of your curling wand to smooth the top of your hair. Batiste Frizz Tamer Spray will also hold flyaways and protect against humidity.
• Hairspray is my secret weapon for longer-lasting curls – It’s important to use a flexible hairspray like Batiste Hairspray. A strong lacquer won’t brush out and can flake on your hair.

• Size matters – If you use a curling wand that’s too large, your curls can fall out quickly. That’s why I use a slightly smaller barrel as it leaves space for my curls to drop into. As they stretch out, they still look good and they last longer too.

I hope you like this tutorial and that you give it a try in your hair. Please tag me #hairromance on IG so I can see it. And while you’re there, don’t forget to follow @BatisteAU for more hair inspo.

Have you ever tried dry shampoo in clean hair? And what’s your favourite Batiste fragrance?

The post My secret to big bouncy waves that last all day appeared first on Hair Romance.

from Hair Romance http://ift.tt/2rWVJzP

My secret to big bouncy waves that last all day

Hair Romance x Batiste collaboration

One of my most requested hairstyle tutorials is how I get my curly hair to fall into big, bouncy waves. Today I've got a video to show you exactly what I do and all my secrets to long-lasting curls.

I love to do this style in second or third day hair once my blowdry is starting to look a bit flat. You could also do it in freshly washed hair as well. These waves add in volume and are fun for day or night.

I can then get these waves to last another two or three days. As always, dry shampoo is key.

You don't have to have been reading Hair Romance for a long time to know that I love dry shampoo, so I'm really excited to be partnering with Batiste to create these tutorials and to show you some of their new products as well.

Yes, they're more than just dry shampoo now; Batiste has a range of dry styling products for all hair types and situations. This is great for me because – as you know – I hate to wash my hair. So anything I can do to keep styling my dry hair and keep it looking good for days is amazing.

It also makes styling super fast, as you don't need to go from wash to style every time.

Check out my video tutorial below to see how I curl my hair. I'll also run through all the steps underneath.

How to get big bouncy waves that last – Video tutorial

Click here if you can't see the video above

What you'll need:

• Hairbrush (I love my Mason Pearson, though any bristle brush is fine)
• A curling wand (I'm using a 19mm barrel)
• Dry shampoo (I'm loving the new Batiste Rose Gold scent, though the tropical is my usual favourite)
• Batiste Heat and Shine Spray (A dry heat protectant that adds incredible shine)
• Batiste Hairspray (My #1 secret to longer-lasting curls)

Bonus – I love the Batiste Texturizing Spray as a final step to achieve that perfect undone wave. It gives that beachy look and adds volume without making your hair look too 'done' and perfect.

Step-by-Step Tutorial:

1. Freshen up your roots with dry shampoo. Even if you're starting with clean hair, I love this step. It adds in a little more grip and volume into your hair. Remember to always wait a minute and then brush the product through to distribute it through your hair.
2. Before curling, use a heat protectant. Normally I use a cream heat protectant in wet hair, but I love the ease of a dry spray that also gives amazing shine. Brush to distribute throughout your hair as well.
3. Curl from the bottom up. Clip up the top section of your hair and bring the loose bottom section forward over your shoulders.
4. Working in small sections, wrap your hair around the barrel away from your face. I start by laying my hair flat around the barrel, then I give it a slight twist towards the end.
5. How you cool your curl matters. Hold your curl in your hand for a few seconds before you let it drop. The way you let your hair cool will help set it in place and stop your curls dropping out.
6. Keep curling in small sections and work in layers around your head. I like to keep curling away from my face for these curls, and for a more natural look you can curl some forward and some backwards; it's up to you.
7. Now here's my curl secret – hairspray before you curl! I give a light mist of a flexible hair spray and then give my hair a little shake to let it dry before I curl. You could also brush it through again and then start wrapping your hair around the barrel.
   The hairspray's extra hold is incredible for adding more shape and shine to your curls. The spray is workable and isn't sticky so is easy to style and leaves my curls feeling touchable and soft. It makes waves last so much longer even in hair that's really hard to curl.
8. There's a trick to doing the top layer of your hair. I curl close to the root for all of the underneath layers, whereas on the top I curl from about eye level down. I find this gives a softer shape and leaves the layers around my face to frame nicely.
9. Now once you've curled all of your hair, the important step is to let it cool. Give it a final mist of hairspray and then just leave it alone.
10. Once your hair is completely cool then it's time to break up those curls into waves. Trust me, this middle stage can look a bit Shirley Temple, but you need to get through it in order to get those soft waves.

Styling Tips

• Two looks in one – This curl routine is so versatile because you can wear it in loose curls or brushed out into beautiful waves. I like to style them big on the first day and then smooth them down on the second.

• Dial up the gloss – You can add a little bit more of that shine spray in to really finish the look.
• Tame flyaways – Use the barrel of your curling wand to smooth the top of your hair. Batiste Frizz Tamer Spray will also hold flyaways and protect against humidity.
• Hairspray is my secret weapon for longer-lasting curls – It's important to use a flexible hairspray like Batiste Hairspray. A strong lacquer won't brush out and can flake on your hair.

• Size matters – If you use a curling wand that's too large, your curls can fall out quickly. That's why I use a slightly smaller barrel as it leaves space for my curls to drop into. As they stretch out, they still look good and they last longer too.

I hope you like this tutorial and that you give it a try in your hair. Please tag me #hairromance on IG so I can see it. And while you're there, don't forget to follow @BatisteAU for more hair inspo.

Have you ever tried dry shampoo in clean hair? And what's your favourite Batiste fragrance?

The post My secret to big bouncy waves that last all day appeared first on Hair Romance.

from Hair Romance http://ift.tt/2rWVJzP

Princeton Tec Helix Backcountry Rechargeable Lantern Review

There's nothing like a battery-powered lantern when camping to lighten up the mood and make your tent cozy.

The Princeton Tex Helix Backcountry Rechargeable Lantern is an excellent luxury item for camping that's lightweight enough for family or couples backpacking. It's also a remarkably well-designed product that can be use in many ways: as a hanging lantern, a spotlight with its glow-in-the dark lampshade removed, propped up on two legs as a directional lamp, or compressed flat for easy packing.

Weighing just 6.4 ounces, it's easy to rationalize the a comfort item like this when sharing a tent because it frees you from having to wear a headlamp and its built-in lithium battery is easily rechargeable using the USB-battery that you're probably already carrying to keep your smartphone or Kindle charged up. Being a rah-rah ultralighter is fine when I'm backpacking alone, but when I camp with my wife, adding a few lightweight luxury items helps puts her at ease.

Princeton Tec Helix Backcountry Rechargeable Lantern

I also like using really well designed product and this little green Helix, also available in a wide variety of sizes, is packed with cool innovations. Just 4″ tall, the Helix fits in the palm of your hand, but can compress down to 2″, if you push down the translucent, honeycombed lite diffuser for packing. It has four legs, each with a hook, so hang it in multiple ways from a cord or tent gear loop, or from the hinged hang loop at the top. If you remove the light diffuser, the Helix turns into a spotlight, which you can point directionally by flipping the lantern on its side on two legs or at an angle.

The switch on the Helix is swipe operated and provides a white light, red light, with a dimmer, and flashing mode. There's no explicit switch lock on this model however, although the larger Helix models have one.

Burn time is 6 hour on high in white mode and 18 hours on low, or 7 hours on high in red mode and 22 hours on low. To recharge, there is a USB port on the base of the lamp and lighted battery indicators which tell you the battery's current charge status.

My favorite aspect of this LED lantern is that the translucent globe glows in the dark, a light green color, which make it very easy to find at night but doesn't keep me awake. When the white light is fully lit, it fills our tent with a warm light, that at a max of 150 lumens, is bright enough to read by so we don't have to wear headlamps in our tent.

Disclosure: Princeton Tec provided the author with a lantern for this review. My wife has packed it as part of our standard car camping gear. 

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