Fun Stuff for Summer

There’s nothing more that I love than a day at the beach, swimming, hanging out with friends until it gets dark.

So, after my refreshing day at the beach, when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, I like to snuggle into something warm and cozy–like cashmere pants. GOBI is my pick for those pants. The company started when the Mongolian government made a decision to build a goat cashmere and camel wool processing factory in Ulaanbaatar city with the grant provided by the Japanese government.

After years of work, GOBI opened its factory with goat cashmere and camel wool manufacturing facilities, technologies, and machinery that was the first of its kind in Mongolia. Humane treatment of animals is deeply intertwined with sustainability and the quality of the company’s cashmere. Their herders opt for humane hand-combing of the goats, which yields an even more comfortable cashmere and they only work with a trusted few herders who treat their flock like family.

GOBI keeps their cashmere affordable by only manufacturing our products at the Gobi Factory. While many manufacturers can only produce a specific kind of cashmere garment, our factory is designed to create a large variety of items.

They bring the highest-quality cashmere to the world by manufacturing at scale. Instead of using untraceable factories in other countries, GOBI manufactured responsibly-sourced cashmere in their own factory with their own employees.

Underwear can get unpleasantly sweaty during those long walks. Shinesty helps keep you cool in the summer heat with boxers, thongs and bralettes with micro-cooling technology!

They are made with groundbreaking brrr°® Pro micro-cooling fabric featuring concentrated cooling minerals and micro-cooling technology that intensifies the Triple Chill Effect®, these styles work to lower your skin’s temperature immediately and continuously while wearing the underwear.

The performance Trifecta of enhanced cooling fibers, performance drying, and hyper wicking, means the cooling sensation is guaranteed to last the entire day (and doesn’t deteriorate with wear or washes).

What you want for summer are shoes that allow your feet to breathe and also look great when you’re walking the boardwalk. So check out the styles at Naturalizer and Blowfish Malibu

There are lots of choices at budget-friendly prices.

When it’s 5 o’clock at the beach, it’s time for a refreshing cocktail made with the quirky McQueen and the Violet Fog that is distilled and bottled in the hills of Jundiaí, Brazil, thousands of miles away from the UK-centric traditional gin world.

While most gins are distilled in the UK, Sovereign Brands makes this unique and smooth gin,distilled with 21 botanicals hand-picked from all over the world such as calamansi, acai, star anise, fennel seed, rosemary and basil. The complexity of this unique gin makes it perfect for sipping over ice or mixing.

I love to cook on an outdoor grill during the summer months, especially when I have a good, juicy steak. To go with this treat, I want a special wine And that would be the Lupicaia Toscana IGT 2016 (SRP $150). It’s the flagship wine of Castello del Terriccio, the coastal estate which is  owned by the Rossi di Madelena family, and celebrated its 100th year in 2021.

The wine is a classic Super Tuscan, a blend of mainly Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot debuted in 1993, and has since then received numerous international awards. It is a full-bodied, complex wine, with fine aromas of tobacco, dark fruit, chocolate and spices. With its elegant tannins and a persistent finish, Lupicaia will age beautifully.

On a lighter note, I enjoy a pre-packaged snack that’s easy to eat anywhere, a flavor profile that hits all the right notes when I’m  craving something salty, sweet or both. My choice: a delicious and nutritious popcorn snack that’s packed with key vitamins and nutrients and is at my local GNC store.

A woman-owned brand under the umbrella Olbali, POPtritional™ Each 50-calorie bag of POPtritional™ popcorn provides a plentiful serving of protein, calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, folic acid, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin B12 and vitamin D.

POPtritional is available on at GNC,

Because I’m still being careful to choose healthy options for cleanliness, I like Zum, which has been known for pure and natural essential-oil based products for face and body, but now offers the same pristine approach to caring for my clothes. Zum Laundry Soap naturally cleanses with a plant-based formula that is highly concentrated and perfect for high efficiency machines. It is free of parabens, phosphates, petroleum byproducts, detergents, sulfates and any other “unkind” ingredient.  Instead, it uses just five ingredients – water, saponified 100% coconut oil, natural fragrance from essential oils, baking soda and vegetable glycerin to work its magic.

And finally, I have something beautiful to look at during the day: Mine comes from Artisanbags, which are crafted from 100% cotton, with genuine leather accents, and feature the original original artwork of a talented Puerto Rican artist who grew up in poverty and now works through Vida, who collaborates with designers and makers all over the world who make beautiful, artistic products in a responsible way. They’re ecosystem supports makers from impoverished communities, and gives designers and artists access to creating beautiful handcrafted pYou can watch their story here.

As a Puerto Rican artist who grew up in poverty, I’m so honored to be able to present these bags to the world AND make an impact on these communities.

The bags retail for $75 and are available at rokitaart.com.

The days of summer often seem too short, so enjoy while they last!

Feature Photo by Drew Dau on Unsplash