Josie Girl Blog

Trader Joe’s Haul

January 24, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Last week, I went to Trader Joe’s and this is what I found!

The new Trader Joe’s opened on the Upper East Side a couple months ago and I love it. It is spacious, gorgeous, and of course, has the best things you never knew that you needed!

I literally went in to get a banana and some snacks and walked out with a whole lot more. But it is SO inexpensive so I basically earned money!

Here is my total haul (minus the bananas).

Jicama wraps — a little juicer than a normal tortilla but with fewer carbs!

I love tofu and love sriracha so am very excited to try this!

I love everything made with cauliflower….

Almond butter almonds — mind blown! Totally meta, and totally addicting!

By far the item that I buy the most of at TJs. They are super small and mini and just the right amount of dessert.

The most expensive item that I bought — but good quality meat jerky.

How could I resist this?

And this?

HEAVEN!!!!!!!!!

What have you bought recently at Trader Joe’s that you love? Do share!

Anika Yael Natori, aka, The Josie Girl
Follow @JosieGirlBlog

Day Designer Planner

January 20, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

The other night, out of the blue, I received a text from my college best friend:

Love getting texts like this — not only because it helps me with the blog, but I also LOVE planners, and love paper supplies, so this interested me right away!

January 2022 Reading List

January 18, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Since Omicron is keeping so many of us home more than we want to be, now is a great time to catch up on books! So, here are the books I am hoping to read this month (or honestly, season…).

1. Going There

Poppie Press

January 14, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

The moment I saw a good friend’s photo albums in her home, I knew that I wanted to copy her exact arrangement. Started by this friend’s good friend, Poppie Press is a service that puts together your photos by year into gorgeous albums. As someone who takes thousands of photos per year, I have never been able to put together a photo album to save my life. I despise the process and I never get around to it. It gives me the worst headaches and point is, I don’t like doing it. So when I found out that Poppie Press had some availability for new clients, I rushed at the chance. And I couldn’t be happier.

Not my stack of books, but I can’t wait to soon have a stack like this!

Sweet Potato, Peanut Butter and Banana

January 12, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

From “Vegan At Times,” I found this recipe that is easy, filling, and delicious. A sweet potato, peanut butter, and banana sandwich. It is definitely unique, but so good that I plan to have it in rotation as an easy breakfast, snack, or lunch!

Look at it — so colorful and delicious!

Ingredients:

NYTimes Spelling Bee

January 10, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Every morning for the past several years, the first thing I do is complete the mini NY Times crossword puzzle. I have a competition on who can do it fastest with my brother and father and send them my times when I am proud of them (anything under 40 seconds). I usually can tell how smart I am going to be that day based on my success on the mini crossword. I have it as an app on my phone, but you can also do it on the computer. It is fun, addictive, and not time consuming — which I love!

In the app, there is also the bigger crossword (thanks but no thanks) and Spelling Bee!

Currently Loving January 2022

January 7, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

I know that the month has just begun (Omicron — go away already! Winter — go away, too!), but here is what I am currently loving!

1. The Sex Lives of College Girls

Hands down the most LOL show I have seen in a long time. It is so right on about liberal art colleges and I love the characters so much. A must watch! I am just sad I have no more episodes to watch — it is binge worthy (25 minutes each episode) and so fun, funny, and smart.

Buffalo Cauliflower

January 5, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

One of my favorite Hanukkah / Christmas / Holiday presents was the new cookbook “Vegan, at Times” by Jessica Seinfeld. All of the recipes look delicious and the first one I made, Buffalo Cauliflower, is so delicious that I imagine all the other recipes are just as tasty and good. So flavorful, semi healthy, a great way to eat cauliflower, and something different! Here is the recipe for buffalo cauliflower!

A new cookbook that I love! Can’t wait to try all the different recipes!

Where Should We Begin?

January 3, 2022Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a great and restful holiday season! ….and here we are, 2022! so….Where Should We Begin?

but first….this! Isn’t this so funny and SO true! I think this is the reason I am not doing New Year’s Resolutions. This is just too funny and so true.

Pea Hummus

December 17, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

My favorite restaurant in NYC is ABCV. It is an all vegetarian restaurant with so much flavor and deliciousness. Everything they make is incredible and one of my favorite items is the pea hummus. So I decided to try to make my own! It definitely isn’t as good as ABCV, but I was very happy with the result!

Ingredients:

* bag of frozen peas

* can of drained garbanzo beans

* 1-4 tablespoons of Olive oil

* a spoonful of tahini

* lots of salt

* a huge handful of mint

* juice from one lemon

Currently Loving December 2021

December 15, 2021Josie Girl 1 Comment

Last month of 2021! I can’t believe it — this year has come and gone…..here is what I am currently loving this month!

1. We Can Do Hard Things: Glennon Doyle podcast, episode “Runners and Cheerers: Marathon Life with Shalane Flanagan

I love Glennon Doyle — she is honest and acknowledges when she makes mistakes. I really liked this episode as it talked about marathons and what happens during them — her wife ran it and spoke about it. I also love Shalane Flannagan, but found the first half of the episode better than the portion when Shalane was featured.

2. Crying in H Mart

Paper and Glue

December 13, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Over the weekend, I watched the documentary film “Paper and Glue,” and I loved every minute of it. Recommended to me by a documentary producer friend in LA, I knew it had to be good. Upon reading more about the film, I realized it was about the artist JR, who I have been following and admiring over the past year.

Paper and Glue — you can watch it on Youtube.

Natori Shoes

December 8, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Natori now sells a variety of shoes and slippers!!! And I am obsessed with these slippers — Bliss Genuine Shearling Slipper Slide!

Look at them! 100% shearling! 100% scrumptious.

My Life In Yellow

December 6, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Whenever I walk down the streets (of any city), I love to look at all the stickers on any type of sign on the street. It is fun to see the creativity and thoughts lying around. I always take pictures of the ones I love (yes, weird), simply to have food for thought. So a couple weeks ago, on my street corner, I found this sticker.

Same shit, different outfit. @mylifeinyellow. I was intrigued! Such a fun little quote.

And randomly, that night, I took a red eye to Paris. That same day, I saw this:

Banh Mi Zon

December 1, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Over Thanksgiving break, I decided it was time to start my food hunts again in NYC to find “the best ofs.” Last Winter, I found the best dumplings, the best pizza, and the best Italian Food. So, this time, I thought it would be fun to find the “best Vietnamese” in Manhattan. It was a throw back to when I was pregnant with my 12 year old, and only wanted gazpacho and Vietnamese Summer Rolls…..So after reading several articles and reviews, we headed down to 6th Street in the Lower East Side to Banh Mi Zon to pick up a selection of items.

Vietnamese sandwich — perfect crusty bread with vegetables and meat. Loved every bite.

Natori Mens

November 29, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Natori now has a mens collection and I am soooooooo excited! It has a mixture of pieces — solid colors to crazy and wild prints. I have three favorite pieces — (1) Hoodie (2) Crew Neck Tee and (3) Jogger Pants. Here they are, right in time for the holidays!

(1) The Hoodie!

This fleece chenille hoodie comes in three different colors, and in the comfiest luxurious chenille yarn. It is a modern take on a classic sweatshirt and is the perfect addition to the men’s lougewear.

Soft, warm, fuzzy, and looks good!

Edible Cookie Do

November 24, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

One of my downfalls is that if I go in to a gourmet grocery store searching for one specific item, I leave with a huge bag. Especially if I am hungry. So the other day when I was on the way to my daughter’s school pick up and I went in to a get a watermelon lime juice (yes very specific), I walked out with every new sweet item I could find. My favorite was edible cookie dough, Do! I had heard about this phenomenon, and actually seen the lines at their downtown location, but I had never tried it. And of course, once I tried it, I fell madly in love, and have since returned to buy various flavors. The most recent purchase was their seasonal flavors of Pumpkin and Apple Pie.

Seasonal Flavors

Tricount App

November 23, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Thanks to a girls trip, I discovered a new life changing app, Tricount. This app helps organize the expenses for all the different people involved. For example, this past weekend, instead of four people constantly splitting the bill, we just rotated who paid what and put it in the app. At the end of the trip, it calculated who owed what to whom. It was also very helpful as different people were present for different portions of the expenses, and this helped keep track of it all.

Girls trip — where I was introduced to Tricount!

Sleep Help

November 18, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Ever since September, my 9 year old daughter has had major sleep anxiety and issues falling asleep. It has been extremely challenging (and tiring for me) and I have experimented with almost everything. Nothing has worked…..until, recently, I tried a guided sleep meditation to listen to and it has been the ONLY thing that seems to be helping. So, even though this is a total overshare of my problems, I wanted to throw it out to anyone else experiencing sleep anxiety with a child.

For NINE years, Tusia was the most incredible sleeper. She would fall asleep at 7 pm and wake up anytime after 7 am. But now, since our return home to NYC after the summer away, it has been terrible. She is nervous, anxious, worried, and does not want to fall asleep.

Bras for Bigger Breasts: Bliss Perfection

November 16, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Many people comment to me that Natori bras are only made for smaller chested women. But truth is, Natori makes bras for EVERYONE! Big small petite large, everyone! A dear friend of mine has a much bigger chest size than I do — and here is her testament. Thank you!!!

_____

I am such a loyal Josie Girl follower that I regularly purchase many of the fun products she recommends. My latest purchase based on Josie Girl’s reco? Ruth & Dottie pencils for holiday gifts for my team at work – so cute! Alas, there is one category of recommendations by our beloved Josie Girl that falls on flat on my ears every time: bras.

Why, you ask? Well, I was naturally endowed with a 34DDD chest, so the Josie Girl’s favorite bras like the Flora and the Feathers would not exactly “hold up” for me. So, for any loyal Josie Girl followers who love the Natori brand but have bodacious boobies that need better support than some of the “daintier” bras offer, I highly recommend my all-time favorite Natori bra: the Bliss Perfection.

Bliss perfection!

It is so blissfully perfect…

Currently Loving November 2021

November 12, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Happy November! Here is what I am loving this month! And please share with me what you love!

1. “A Typical Friday in Oregon as Imagined by my East Coast Friends”

(This is a picture of Oregon, but the link is a funny article on Oregon) A must read, hilarious, and for my Oregon friends — you will love.

Happy Pencils

November 10, 2021Josie Girl 1 Comment

My mother is the best at sending care packages as everything she puts in them are unique and cool. The most recent care package included the new Amanda Gorman book, vintage stickers, notebooks, and whimsical, fun pencils. I love these pencils — not only because they are functional and have a purpose — but because they are happy, joyful, and make you smile!

Sprinkle fairy dust on a gold pencil! SCREAMS JOY! I love this!

OC Skate Ramps

November 3, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

My 12 year old, Cruz, loves skateboarding. All summer long in Oregon, we went to various skate parks and it definitely became a passion of his. Now that we are in NYC, he goes with his besties to Brooklyn to an indoor skate park on a weekly basis. He loves it, and we love that it is a form of exercise, socialization, and an opportunity for him to do something he loves. So we decided to get him a half pipe for our home in Pound Ridge. This half pipe installation was quite a process — we had to dedicate 2 full days of putting it together (well not me personally, but I was involved with carrying the pieces from the truck to the deck).

The truck was supposed to arrive any time between 9 and 5, and showed up at 4:30 pm. It then said that it couldn’t go up the driveway, but we convinced the very kind driver to try. And it worked. There is NO way I could have carried everything up the driveway. Even with 3 of us.

Hack for Old Clothes

November 1, 2021Josie Girl 1 Comment

I have been on a mission to cleanse my closet of clothes that no longer suit me by sorting through every article of clothing and deciding whether to keep, donate, sell, or alter. In this process, I found so many shirts that I LOVED but the silhouette was too long (because I used to wear a lot of long shirts with skinny jeans). So I took a handful of shirts to the tailor (if in NYC, I love Alteration Specialists — across the street from our apartment!) with high waisted pants and asked them to crop them. Yep, a 40 something year old wearing cropped shirts. I am so happy to recycle (upcycle!) clothes and I feel like I have a whole new wardrobe. Take a look at my awkward selfies in cropped shirts — and I highly recommend the process of making new from something old! Here they are!

I love this shirt and finally have so many different pants that it will work with.

Natori Elite Lace Trim V-Neck Cami

October 27, 2021Josie Girl Leave a Comment

Last week when I gave myself a self closet cleanse, I realized that all my camisoles were worn out, stained, and too long. Since I wear camisoles under my clothes all winter long to keep me warm, I went on to Natori.com to search for the perfect new camisole to replace all the tired old ones. And sure enough, I found the elite lace trim v-neck cami, so I bought one in black and one in white. This camisole is the perfect layer or pretty enough to wear alone.

The perfect fit as it is cropped and sits just below the waist line. The straps are adjustable.