Jessica Santina

3 weeks ago | renonr.com | Jessica Santina

I once heard it said, “Summer is the time when one sheds one’s tensions with one’s clothes.” This has become a mantra for me, a reminder that it’s time to let go—of fussy dinners, overscheduled weekdays and getting all your chores done. Summer’s the time for having fun.  Local theater companies evidently got that memo.

1 month ago | renonr.com | Jessica Santina

I consider myself a sensible, pragmatic person. I’ve even been called cynical—certainly not someone you’d ever call “full of childlike wonder.” But I confess that when it comes to magic, I turn into a little kid, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, absolutely convinced magic must be real.

2 months ago | renonr.com | Jessica Santina

Dearest reader, if you’re like me, you often fantasize—especially these days—about escaping to another land, another time, where problems seemed smaller and less complicated. For some of us, it’s 1950s America; for others, it’s England in the early 19th century, which is so richly described in Jane Austen novels and the COVID-era escapist series Bridgerton.

2 months ago | yahoo.com | Jessica Santina

As the weather heats up, home cooks start looking for ways to limit the amount of time they spend in the kitchen prepping meals and standing over a hot stove. When it comes to french fries, you know you can skip the arduous task of peeling and slicing potatoes and buy some great frozen versions. You need more than a baking tray to make sure your frozen fries are evenly cooked in the oven, but what if you could skip the oven altogether?

2 months ago | renonr.com | Jessica Santina

Like a lot of artists, Beck Baumann didn’t really think the art she turned to as a hobby could be the makings of a business.  The sketches she made in her lap while taking calls for her remote tech-support job at a software firm and the occasional beaded or sequined craft made in her free time were the extent of her artistic endeavors. But after she lost that job in the economic crisis of 2008, Baumann, a stay-at-home mom, decided to take advantage of a chance at a true artistic second act.