Check In From Away Episode 26
AUDIO	VIDEO	
STEFFI: Hi, everyone. I'm Steffi D. 	Lisa and Steffi appear in different chat windows on screen	
LISA: And I'm Lisa H. 		
STEFFI: And welcome to Check In From Away. 		
LISA: This week we are hosting a pandemic slumber party. 		
STEFFI: Thanks for joining us. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	CREDITS SEQUENCE
TEXT: Check In From Away with Steffi D. and Lisa H.
Steffi and Lisa’s windows slide together and they mime clinking their mugs together.	
STEFFI: Hey Lisa, guess what? 		
LISA: What? 		
STEFFI: We're having an old-fashioned slumber party today on Check In From Away, pandemic style. 		
LISA: I'm really excited, but I need to ask you this. Can you tell me what you are wearing right now, because you look like Sandra D Virgin Mary 1940s, like I'm about to go to your wedding night or something. Tell me about your slumber party outfit, Steffi. 	Image from Grease of Sandy and Frenchie in the slumber party scene.	
STEFFI: What? Isn't this what all girls wear to go to a slumber party? 		
LISA: I am so excited about today's episode, our pandemic slumber party. And we are kicking it off with a super fun game we like to call Surprise Snack. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Surprise snack
	
STEFFI: Surprise Snack, Lisa? How does it work? 		
LISA: Alright. I've sent you a whole bunch of ingredients. You've sent me a whole bunch of ingredients. And we're going to walk each other through a snack recipe. I don't know what I'm making. You don't know what you're making. Let's just jump in and figure it out. 		
STEFFI: Surprise secret snacks. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Lisa’s surprise snack.
Ingredients: Pitted dates, goat cheese, pecans, bacon strips.	
STEFFI: So Lisa, basically what we're making today is dates, stuffed with goat cheese and pecans, wrapped in bacon. OK, here we go. First things first. You need to preheat your oven at 350 Fahrenheit. 		
LISA: OK. 		
STEFFI: What we're going to have to do with the dates is that we're going to have to cut them in half, but not all the way through, so you can open and close them, kind of like a book. Very nice. Very nice. It's meticulous work, so good luck. 		
OK, Lisa. The next thing we're going to do is we're going to open the goat cheese. Then you're going to take a spoon. Then you're going to put some goat cheese in the dates. 		
Yeah, don't be shy. We're going to have to close them up again, but if you can get as much goat cheese as you want. Goat cheese, cheese, delicious. Perfect slumber party snack. 		
LISA: Did you cheat and look in your bag? 		
STEFFI: No, not at all. I didn't at all. It literally went in the fridge, I cried for three hours, and then I went to bed. 		
LISA: Wow, sounds like a real fun pandemic Wednesday night. 		
STEFFI: It really does. Listen I highly recommend crying. It's really good for the soul. You just let it all out. There's nothing wrong with it. 		
LISA: It's totally cathartic, that's for sure. 		
STEFFI: So cathartic. 		
LISA: I've stuffed all my dates with goat cheese. 		
STEFFI: You stuffed all your dates. For some reason, I think that's hilarious right now. Moving on. 		
The next thing you're going to do, Lisa, is that you are going to open your Pecan bag. Or pecans, whatever you want to call them. We're just going to halve them. You can cut them in half, or you can put a whole one in there, but we're going to have to close everything in on it. 		
LISA: I'm going to try a whole one in here, Steffi. 		
STEFFI: OK, let's do it. 		
LISA: Like this? 		
STEFFI: Yeah, and then, if you close it on itself, can you? Yeah! That seems fine to me. 		
The next thing you're going to do, Lisa, is that you're going to take the pre-halved bacon strips that I gave you. And then you're going to wrap each date with some bacon. 		
So Lisa once you're done wrapping all of the dates with the bacon, you're going to put all of those on a cookie sheet, and it's going to go in the oven. 		
LISA: Ooh, this is going to be so good. What a treat, what a treat. 		
STEFFI: What a treat. Are you talking about me or the dates? 		
LISA: You obviously. 		
STEFFI: Yes, of course. 		
LISA: You with the awesome nighty thing you're wearing. 		
STEFFI: Oh, yeah, you love it, right? So fun. I got it at a vintage store years ago. I think it's hilarious. Isn't it hilarious? 		
LISA: Yeah, it's super fun. Just like you. 		
STEFFI: Aww, Lisa Thanks, Lisa. 		
STEFFI: And we're going to put it in the oven. Again at 350, for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bacon becomes a little bit crispy. 		
LISA: OK, here we go. 		
STEFFI: OK, alright. Well, hi Oscar! Oscar, over here. Over here, Oscar! 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Is that my dinner?	
LISA: Alright, Steffi. Oven just beeped. How do they look? 		
STEFFI: They look amazing. If the bacon is crispy to your liking, then it's perfect. 		
LISA: It is. They look and smell so good. I'm going to let them cool off, and then I can't wait to taste it. 		
STEFFI: Yay! 		
LISA: OK, Steffi. I'm so excited to try this. Here we go. 		
STEFFI: OK, here we go. 		
LISA: Should I just put the whole thing in my mouth? 		
STEFFI: I think so, yeah. 		
LISA: Oh my God. 		
STEFFI: Is it so good? 		
LISA: Mmm. 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Steffi’s surprise snack.
Ingredients: raw shrimp, Boston lettuce, 1 pack taco seasoning, 1 red pepper, 1 zucchini, 1 tomato, 1 avocado, 2 limes, olive oil, salt and pepper.	
LISA: Today, I am walking you through, we are making, Mexican shrimp lettuce wraps. So it's essentially a taco, but instead of the taco, we are using the Boston lettuce as the shell. 		
OK, first things first. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. 		
STEFFI: OK. Oh, I went too far. OK, start. Done. 		
LISA: OK. The first thing that we're going to prep is the shrimp. So I want you to rinse the shrimp and then pat them dry with a paper towel. 		
STEFFI: OK. Like they're taking a bath. 		
LISA: Exactly. 		
STEFFI: OK. I'm going to take a bowl. 		
LISA: Yeah, take a bowl, pour your shrimp into the bowl. Then you want to get one tablespoon of olive oil. Now you want to take your lime, you want to slice it in half, 		
OK, and then once you slice it in half, you just want to squeeze all that lime juice over the shrimp. 		
STEFFI: So both sides? 		
LISA: Yeah, both sides. OK, take your taco seasoning, cover the shrimp with it. 		
STEFFI: All of it, Lisa? 		
LISA: Yeah, you can use all of it, half of it, as long as all the shrimp are nice and coated. So once you stir that all up, that's perfect. You're just going to take that bowl, you're going to put that in the fridge for now. 		
Take your red pepper, and you want to slice it. I recommend Julienne style, because remember it's going into a lettuce wrap. 		
Now you're going to take the zucchini. Same idea, you want to slice it Julienne style, so I would recommend cutting it in half. And then, making strips out of the halves, however long you want, or cutting it in three. You get what I'm saying? 		
STEFFI: Yeah. 		
LISA: Now you just want to put that in the bowl with the red peppers. And then you want to again take like a tablespoon of olive oil. 		
STEFFI: Put it on top here? 		
LISA: Yeah, put it on top there. Then you want to take a couple pinches of salt to throw on top of that. 		
There's a couple of things we can do here. We can either put a little bit more taco spice on the veggies, or if you want to have a different flavor, you can just put the veggies in raw as olive oil, it's up to you. You can do either or. Add more taco seasoning, or just leave them and roast them as is. 		
STEFFI: Lisa, do I mess around? 		
LISA: Alright, jump in with some more taco seasoning. So what you want to do now, Steffi, is you want to spread all of the veggies out on your cookie sheet. 		
Now here's the thing. We're going to throw these in the oven for five minutes, and then we're going to add the shrimp to the same pan, so you only have one pan to clean at the end. 		
You can take your bowl that you just had your veggies in, that bowl right there. What we're going to make is a little topping to put on top of the cooked stuff. You're going to diced the tomato. 		
STEFFI: Right, we're dicing tomatoes. We're going to throw them in the bowl. 		
LISA: Next thing you want to do, is dice up and add your avocado to that. So, Steffi, now we're going to add a little bit less olive oil. We're going to use one teaspoon of olive oil. 		
We're going to take our lime, and just like we did with the shrimp, we're going to cut it in half. We're going to squeeze all that juice over that. 		
Now we want to take your salt and put in a little bit more salt than you think you should. 		
STEFFI: Oh, a little bit more than I think I should? 		
LISA: Yeah. 		
STEFFI: Alright, I mean, can you tell me when? 		
LISA: Perfect, that's good. Now, you're just going to mix all that together. Now you want to move the veggies to the side and make a little space in the middle. 		
That looks good, yeah. 		
STEFFI: Okay, it's like a little nest. 		
LISA: And in that nest, you're going to pour the shrimp. 		
STEFFI: With all the seasoning and stuff, right? 		
LISA: Everything, just right in there. 		
The real ideal time that I would say is eight minutes, but I don't want to burn your thing, so we're going to start at five and check it in five minutes and then go from there. 		
STEFFI: Alright, I'm putting it in. 		
LISA: But essentially, what we're using those as, those are going to be our taco shells. So you want to go in there, and you want to pull off some of the lettuce leaves that are bigger, and try not to rip them. So try and keep it as a whole, intact leaf. 		
STEFFI: Lisa! Lisa! I think it's time to take it out of the oven. 		
LISA: Alright! 		
STEFFI: Oh, yeah. This is so ready. Smells so good. Look at this. 		
LISA: Nice. 		
STEFFI: Delicious. I'm going to set this down here. Be very careful if you're doing this at home. The pan is hot. 		
LISA: Steffi, you have assembled your Mexican shrimp lettuce wrap. Let's see what you think. 		
STEFFI: Here we go, Lisa. Taking a bite. 		
Oh my God, it's so good. Mmm. 		
MISTY FOX: Hi Lisa, Hi, Steffi. It's Misty Fox. I am a makeup artist, and I generally work on film and TV sets, but I also do a lot of personal makeup for celebs, prestees, things like that. So I'm just basically a make-up artist for people. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Misty Fox – Makeup artist @mistyfox
Instagram logo next to handle	
CAPRICE CONNORS: Hey! Hi, guys. My name is Caprice Connors. I am a fashion stylist. I'm based out of Toronto. I do commercial as well as film and TV. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Caprice Connors – Stylist @capricestylist	
LISA: I was giving Steffi the gears earlier at our intro because, what do you think about her sweet, 1940s wedding night, slumber party outfit? 		
CAPRICE CONNORS: Honestly, as soon as I turned on my Zoom and saw Steff, like you can't-- it was like, whoa! And I was like, OK, there's Steff. Like, that's Steff. I thought, oh this is just Steff's outfit. This is what she wore. She wore this to the grocery store today with her mask. That's just her. 		
Self care to me is taking care of your physical, emotional, and mental well-being. All of it. And it's not just going to the gym, taking a bubble bath, putting on a face mask, getting a massage. It's going to therapy if you need to. Finding out who the [BEEP] you really are, without anybody else's voice. Just listening to your own voice. It's eating the right foods. It's sleeping well. It's the company you keep around you. Creating healthy boundaries with friends, family, co-workers. Everybody around you. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: What is self care?	
Focusing and doing what makes you feel good. What makes you feel good. And not listening to what anyone says or dictates about how you should think, look, feel. Doing what feels right for you. 		
Really paying attention to, or finding out, what you need, and what is going to lift you up. And doing that. That's what self care is to me. And it's a practice. It's not just a one day thing. It's your whole life. It's constant. 		
MISTY FOX: Just because everything is too much, and everything is not enough at the same time. So self care to me has become green smoothies, baths with candles, asking for help explicitly, neutrally stating my needs. And taking a little bit of time-- five minutes a day-- do your makeup, put on some amazing perfume. Nobody wears perfume anymore. And I know there's this whole, perfume is bad, scent-free, but I put on my perfume so it feels like my mind starts to realize, I'm actually doing something today with my life. Even if it's just going to work on my camp or something. I just smell like I'm going somewhere. 		
Be really careful of the traffic you let through your soul. The highways of your soul. Don't ingest horrible news, horrible social media. All these things that you could get attracted to, it's like a car crash. Just try to be like a traffic cop, and be like, not today. I'm not going to look at that today. I'm not look at the COVID cases. I'm actually going to read an iBook. I'm going to listen to an iBook, and I'm going to go for a walk, and the iBook is going to be on something you really want to know about. 		
And lastly, we have this code word for when things just piss us off, because of the pandemic. You feel pandemic-centric. Like, our favorite place is closed. We drove all the way here, and it's shut down. And all these things that you can't do. Sorry, that's temporary unavailable, or whatever it is that's just constantly making you a little disappointed every day. We say whistle pig. I don't know why. Because we've got our whistle pig. 		
And it just makes us remember that this is just pandemic-centric. It's not going to be a problem in a year, let's hope. And it's going to all come back, and we just have to let that go. I think that's what we've all learned to do is just let a couple of things go that we're used to having in our day. 		
Underwriters, you know, you've got to drink a lot of water to get rid of sunken undereyes. If you have bags, it's sometimes usually more of a sinus problem I've found in the past, that an antihistamine could probably help that out. Usually it's a bit of congestion. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Misty’s skincare tips	
For mask needs. Let's talk about that. Annoying. It does, it causes pimples. But it covers it at the same time. So no one can see them except you. But obviously you want nice skin when you take off your mask. So I mix a little tea tree oil into my Weleda skin food. And then, it's an antiseptic and antibacterial, it's natural. Don't do too much, because it can be a bit harsh on your skin if you don't dilute it properly. 	Image of tea tree oil and Weleda skin food.	
And then I love to do clay masks. I'll do biomagic masks from Biologic Research. I can't say that in French because my Australian accent doesn't allow. Lotion P50. Has anyone ever heard of that? 	Image of biomagic mask bottle.
Image of Lotion P50 bottle.	
STEFFI: No! 		
MISTY FOX: It's like a toner. It's very polishing, exfoliating. It's also really good for acne or problem skin because it restores this amazing PH level where acne can't really thrive. So that's very cool science there. And it's organic. So if anyone's worried about all the nasties and stuff. 		
We discovered recently, it's called WEI beauty. It has these cute little pods. These clay mask pods. And you put them on, and it's like a car wash for your pores. So you've got to get it clean, and you've got to get it exfoliated, or else moisturizer is not going to get in there, if you've got a layer of dead skin to get through. If you can exfoliate first, with a clay mask. Don't rub your skin with rocks or anything like that. That's not a good idea. Then it will absorb the moisture better. 	Image of WEI beauty products.	
One thing I do love the most is Purity Clean by Cosmetics, because it's got a little mini peel in the shower. So if you are getting older, your skin doesn't plump up much. This will cause extra Collagen production, because you're somewhat traumatizing your skin a little bit each time. So it's a little bit plumper, I love it. I love it. 		
There's a few really easy going products that you can use. Skinsense by Glossier. They have a lot of sales regularly, like any holiday they usually set up a sale. And it comes pretty fast, you don't pay extra. It's actually based in America. And then make up forever had an awesome dual foundation powder. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Misty’s makeup tips
Image of Skinsense by Glossier products.
Image of Make Up Forever foundation powder.	
Actually, I used on you when I worked with you on the ads. It's a dual foundation powder, it's like a powder with pigment. It's really easy, so you would just put that on your T-zone. It evens out your face. It's like a blurring powder, and that's great for reflection too, because obviously it can be super shiny and reflective. So that's your base. So that's what I have on. It's very natural, you can't really see much. 		
And the Gen G lipstick from Glossier is really great, because it doesn't shine too much. It doesn't shine at all. It's moisturizing, and it's like one of those stains. It's a true stain. Nobody calls stains lip stains, those lip paints that don't come off. That's not really what I would refer to as a make-up artist as a stain. It's something that looks like it's been left there from a pigment. I love that look. Very Kay Beauty, and that's really in at the moment too. So Glossier has an amazing range of Gen G lip tints. I love those. 	Image of Gen G lipstick from Glossier.	
I'm getting inspired right now with BAD gal BANG. It has been for a couple of years, because you can really load it up, and it doesn't feel heavy. The material lashes as well. That's always an easy tip just to look awake and alive. And if you're wearing a mask all day, you want to go waterproof mascara, because the moisture from your mask obviously is going to start to wear down your makeup, and it will transfer. So that's a good one. Waterproof stuff around the eyes when you're wearing a mask is probably the way to go. 	Image of BAD gal BANG products.	
CAPRICE CONNORS: Honestly, everything about style is making it, honing it, to your personal style. To your personality, to your values. How you feel. What you portray to the outside world is what's going on in here. How you portray yourself visually to the world is your first form of communication. Psychologically, as soon as you meet someone, they're immediately registering how you visually look before you even speak. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Style according to Caprice	
When you walk into a room, and you are so genuinely who you really are, people, they sniff it out. They know right away. And they're like, oh, they gravitate to you. Whereas somebody who walks in, and yeah they may look great, but their body language is off. You can tell right away when somebody just isn't sure of themselves. When they're not confident. And you're like, yeah, OK, I'll say hi. But I'm not really interested in really conversing and getting to know you. Honestly, style and portraying yourself, it all comes down to who you are inside and what you want to communicate. 		
First, get yourself in front of a mirror, pick out your favorite items in your closet, and hold them up to yourself. And visually, whatever colors catch your eye first, go with those colors. You want to wear colors that are attractive, that are good, that speak to you visually. People notice it and they're like, wow, you look great. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: Caprice’s Zoom fashion tips	
Me for instance with my skin tone, I look really good in colors like dark green, navy, deep reds. But if I wear sky blue or pastels, or even white, it flushes me out. I don't look as good. Visually, when I put these deep rich colors next to me, it's like pop! Pop! So those are colors that I gravitate to because I know that's what works with me. 		
So it's finding out visually, grab your favorite shirt out of your closet. The ones that you feel most comfortable in. Because also comfort is a huge factor. If you're comfortable, then you're going to be at your best. If you're not comfortable, you're going to be thinking about it, and you're not going to be focused in the zone where you need to be. 		
STEFFI: Say you have a special evening planned on Zoom with a potential date. Is it the same, the same rules apply? Are you going to try to be a little bit more sexy,a little bit more lacy, what's going on there? 		
CAPRICE CONNORS: So, don't go overboard. Don't just wear like a lacy camisole, maybe save that for a date three. I think wear something a little bit seductive. Wear something that's fun. And again, portrays you. But that's fun that you feel good in. You can be a little sexy without having to show skin. You know you can wear a great top that looks sexy, but it's not leading people to think like, oh, is she just looking to hook up? Or is there a potential for a genuine connection here? 		
You can make any pair of sweatpants look good, first of all. There's so many different styles too of sweatpants now. Like casual leggings, which aren't the super tight leggings that we've been wearing for the past 10 years. They're like sweat pants, but they're a little more slim, really nice, really well put together. That you can get away with wearing a turtleneck, and you could put on a pair of flats, maybe with a little bit of a heel. A really nice earring. And you're casual chic. Or you could pair a really nice pair of track pants, whether they are more on the casual side or more on like the nicer side, you could pair them with a really nice sneaker. And like a well-fitted, casual t-shirt. But a t-shirt that's really nice, maybe like a little cardigan over top. Something that goes with it that's not too out of the blue. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: How to make sweatpants look good	
I actually just did a post about that on my Instagram, where I had a skirt that is like a track pants skirt. And I showed how you can dress it up, dress it down. And I would have worn the same outfit-- in one shot, I showed just an Adidas sweater. Loose, oversized, wore it with a pair of court sneakers. Super casual. And then in another frame, I wore a really nice knitted sweater with a really nice pair of flats, and a really cute pair of hoop earrings. And I dressed it up, but I was still casual. So, yeah, you can totally dress them up, dress them down. You can make sweatpants look great. It just depends on what you're willing to play with. But you have to play to see what you're comfortable in. 	Image of Caprice and her daughter. She is wearing a long grey skirt, white sweatshirt and sneakers.
Image of Caprice and her daughter. She is wearing a long grey skirt, knitted sweater and flats.	
STEFFI: Lisa, today's episode was a success. 		
LISA: It was, and what would a slumber party be without a little chocolate and a little alcohol? 		
STEFFI: Woo! Let's do it, Lisa! 		
Thanks for joining us on this week's episode of Check In From Away. 	TEXT ON SCREEN: @steffid5 @lisahumber
Small Instagram logos next to each handle.	
LISA: Self care, if you dare. 		
STEFFI: Cheers! 		
[MUSIC PLAYING] 	FINAL SLIDE
Check In From Away logo on the left side of the screen.
A pandemic slumber party playlist on the right side of the screen.
TEXT ON SCREEN: @checkaway @checkinfromaway