Living the Frugal Life

I've been doing my best to not buy clothes recently. For my standards I've been doing pretty well I think. However, I can not get over the MacAlister Wedge Boots from the crew. I want them so badly. And yes, I could get them for half off, but that's still $100! Definitely too much to justify. Seriously though, I need to start wearing cuter shoes, and ones that I can actually walk around in, and I think these wedges would be perfect. Now they just need to go on sale.

 p.s. One day I'll own all the clothes that I post and then I can take cute pictures of myself wearing them instead of a picture of them.

A Few Christmas Songs...

..I'm listening to while I "study"

"A Very She and Him Christmas" is probably the best Christmas album I've come across. It's perfect. And the first song I have posted is a weird, old, silly song that I can't get out of my head (thanks a lot j.crew).

Wish I was Doing...

School is almost over, and I have so many things that I wish I could be doing instead of studying. All my spare time is spent at school. I'll admit there have been a couple days where I decided I just couldn't focus and instead of actually doing something with that time I just slept.

My apartment is a total mess and I don't even have my little fake Christmas tree out. I'm starting to get a little depressed from spending so much time at school studying about Sufism (don't ask me anything about it, I'm still a little shady on the details myself).

Here are some things I wish I was doing instead:

I recently bought my first sewing machine!!! I couldn't be more excited about it, but guess what? It's still in it's box, not even opened and looked at yet. It's sad. I don't know when I'm going to get time to start on any projects, but I wish I could start making some stylish bowties for the men in my life; and I missed my opportunity to buy this sweater when I had the chance and now it's all gone. BUT, I found a diy tutorial on making my own on Pinterest (don't you love pinterest?) and I'm eager to give it a try. Also, this is the greatest sewing starter book and I want it for myself. I have it checked out from the Lib. but it's due soon (and yes I just copy and pasted the picture from amazon, I'm taking a break from Sufism and don't have time to be profesh).

In lieu of buying a sewing machine I went crazy and bought a crock pot too! (my apt. is littered in boxes) and I haven't used it yet. I keep 'liking' and 'pinning' recipes that I want to try.

If I had my little tree out (it's a little smaller than the one pictured) I'd make a paper bunting to go around it like this one here (also a pinterest find).

Last but not least, this is the coolest ABC book I've come across. The pictures are great and I love each letter and the words. Wish I owned it (and yes, amazon picture again).

I hope you are having fun getting into the spirit of Christmas and actually doing Christmasy things unlike me, who is studying Sufism. They don't even practice Christmas so I can't even learn about how they celebrate it. Lame, huh?

p.s. sorry I didn't post any links. Most things are on my pinterest and you can access that to the right, and the others (the books) are from amazon.

hiatus

As you can tell I haven't posted anything great lately, I've been trying to decide the direction I want my blog to go. And, yes, I have been working on this for a while (and it seems as though I can't stop posting about it) however, it's the end of the semester and sadly school has taken a priority over my blog. It's not right, really. School is the worst and I love blogging, so really I should just switch my priorities, right?

The worst part is I have so many things I want to blog about, but I just don't want to until I am satisfied with my over all blog and I should really focus on school. Although I do have a confession, it is 11:30 at night, I'm at school and came here with the notion that I would be studying, instead I have read blogs, almost bought about 3 pairs of shoes and then decided what I want for christmas from my Mom. I've really got this studying thing down to a science.

rearranging and trying new things

Dear friends,

You may have noticed that I haven't posted for a while and you may have also noticed that things look a little different. I decided about two weeks ago to get a wordpress site and then play around with both it and blogger to make my final decision. And let me tell you, I can't decide. Blogger is very very simple to use and Wordpress definitely takes some getting used to.

Now I need your opinion, please check out my new site here and let me know what you think. Leave comments there or on this one. The one thing I like about Wordpress is it's much cleaner feeling to me, more professional, more serious but, Blogger is pretty easy to use and it's really easy to add widgets to your blog, a bit easier (so far) for me than Wordpress. But, to be fair I have only been playing around with Wordpress for about a week and a half whereas I've had Blogger for, what? 3 years now? Let me know what you think.

I'm Over It

Dear Friends,

I am over the whole shoe fiasco. I was experiencing a moment of weakness but now I'm okay.

Just thought I would let you know that I'm not ridiculous all the time. I have plenty of cute shoes, and do not need (although they are very cute) these shoes.

That is all. Maybe I'll go check out the D.I. after work and see if they have any good finds. Second hand, that's right, I will even buy previously worn clothes.

Sad, Sad Day

My Dear Friends,

I am in a bit of a bind, and I have a feeling many of you have been there before. My favorite shoes of the season have gone on sale. The shoes that I once told myself if they went on sale nothing would stop me from buying them. But, now they are on sale and I can't afford them. I just can't. I will have $5 left in my account if I buy them. And they aren't even expensive. I'm so sad, I feel like crying. I hate being poor. I even have a discount on them, half off, and I still can't afford them. Here is a picture of them, just so you can see how cute they are.

They are, of course from J.Crew. Feel sorry for me, friends.

And yes, I AM ridiculous.

Pendleton Messenger Bag

I would enjoy either of these bags immensely (the middle one is my fav, obvi)

All three are from Pendleton and I can only imagine the possibilities associated with these bags. I feel like with one of these bags my personality would totally transform, and I'd be cool. At least, I'd feel cool. I can honestly say that I've never wanted a messenger bag so badly in my life.

While thinking about myself owning one of these bags I can also see myself carrying it around whilst wearing a chunky scarf, maybe some boots sipping a soy chai and thinking that I can't wait to get to school (which is something I never think).

During that contemplation I realize my reasoning for owning this bag. I'd be excited to go to school and use it. Any bag that makes you want to go to school (wearing a chunky scarf and sipping a soy chai of course) is worth purchasing, don't you think? My future, graduated self will thank me.

Help Training...me

I am so bored with my blog. I want an awesome blog. But, I don't know how. I'm blog illiterate. I've been thinking about switching to wordpress for some time and at this point I'm still not sure whether or not I want to. I wish that I could take advanced blogger lessons from someone, and also that I could take wordpress lessons from someone.

The one thing I DO know about my blog, is that once I have my own lappy I will be making huge changes. Right now I pretty much only blog during down time at work and I guess that's okay for what I've got going now, but I want an awesome blog (like I said before). I think about blogging all the time. Secretly I wish I could be a professional blogger. And, if it was possible, I'd even make it themed if necessary. Or, I'd just do more interesting things, like more cooking/baking, and more crafting (still haven't started my Dr. Who cross stitch yet) and other more interesting things. But, I feel that being able to pretty much only do it at work limits my blogging quality and quantity. So, therefore, when I have a lappy I'll, in turn, have a great blog.

Thank you for reading my essay about blogging. Also, if you are skilled at blogging, help me.

Weekend Update

This weekend was full of fall fabulousness. On Friday I had this whole big plan for Jason and I to ride the tram at Snowbird and then hike down. Jason ate while I drove (and was paying more attention to the burger than where I was going) and apparently Snowbird is NOT in Park City. I repeat Snowbird is NOT in Park City, so now you know. Instead we rode the chair lift at the Park City resort and then hiked down. It was really beautiful there and last year we didn't go up the canyon to see the fall leaves and I really regretted it.

Jason suddenly became very scowly, and as you can see in the next picture, slouchy.

 I am smiling here, but then Jason decided that he wanted to take billions of pictures of me and then this is eventually what they ended up looking like

There were a lot of squirrels, and at one point Jason and I sat watching one for a few minutes. But after Jason said that we had actually been watching it for an hour but that it only seemed like a few minutes for me.

The next day, Saturday, my family traveled up to Logan and Brigham city. In Logan Zollinger's farm has the BEST apple juice/cider ever. It's pretty much drinking a straight apple. In Brigham city we dined at the fabulous Idle Isle Cafe. If you ever go to Brigham city and need a meal definitely go here. It's pretty much just comfort food, chicken fried steak, BLT's and the like, but their rolls are so good. And don't forget their pie, it's worth it just for the pie. My family loves the Banana Cream and the Idle Berry (there is such a thing as an idle berry). Then we continue on down the road where all the berry stands are and stop at Pettingill's where you'll find the best raspberry shake and delicious fruit and veggies.

What a fun weekend. Next week is Fall Break and we have some fun plans, I'll definitely be posting more then.

Halibut with Tomato Nectarine Salsa

This last week was a serious doozy. I have this class you see, Arabian Days, and it is seriously kicking my butt, big time. There are about 6 students in the class and I'm probably one of 2 or 3 undergrads. I'm probably also the only one who isn't well versed in this subject as well. I've taken a class from the professor before and got an A in the class, which was also one I didn't know anything about so I thought I'd be okay. The grade is based on two in class essay tests and two papers. This past Wednesday was the first in class test and I studied like mad! First off, my books arrived very late so I had to read like a mad man to catch up and then had to scour the pages for information that might be useful for the essay prompts. Tuesday night I stayed up till 2 and woke up at 6:15 to go to school and study before my 9:40 class. I'm not sure how I did on the test but I'm very glad it's over. I'm savoring these few days before I have to start working on the first paper next week.

Anyway, Tuesday night Jason and I had a study break that involved some Halibut and Tomato Nectarine Salsa. We have some great friends, one of whom gave us a ton of fish from a trip their Dad went on to Alaska. So, we had a Halibut fillet that probably would have cost $25 from the store. It was huge, and very thick! So this is what we did:

The last pic is a little dark and blurry, but what can I say? It was about 11:00 pm when we ate this, so not too much light, and I didn't really think to turn on the other lights in the apt for the picture (I was a little dingy from too much studying). Anyhow, this was so delicious. At least, the salsa was. I have been able to successfully cook most other meats, but I struggle a little with fish. It was okay, just a little overcooked. But there was enough salsa to mask all that. And, let me tell you, homemade salsa is amazing, but home made tomato and nectarine salsa? Even better.

Halibut with Tomato and Nectarine Salsa

Makes 2 servings

2 firm nectarines, pitted and diced
Small handful grape tomatoes, halved
1 small shallot, diced
2 tablespoons parsley or cilantro
Juice from about 1/2 lemon, or to taste
2 4-ounce halibut filets
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

In a small bowl, mix together the nectarines, tomatoes, shallot, and parsley. Add the lemon juice and season with salt and pepper, adjusting the seasonings as necessary.  Let the salsa stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to come together.

In a skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat. Season both sides of the filets with salt and pepper. Cook for two minutes per side until nicely browned on the outside and just cooked through on the inside.

Serve the halibut warm topped with the salsa.

After the halibut Jason and I studied some more. When we were done we were both so tired and a little crazy one of our conversations went a little something like this:
Me: "I don't want you to lick my armpit, I don't want you to die"
Jason: "I won't die"
Me: "I don't want you to pass out"
Jason: "I won't pass out"
Me: "I don't want you to be violently ill"
Jason: "I don't want to be violently ill"

I don't know why, but we always tease each other about licking. Like, Jason will lick my face, or try to. Or, if I'm going to kiss him, he'll just stick his tongue out (it's very romantic and endearing (extreme sarcasm there) and I'll admit, it is funny, until your face is sopping wet). Anyway, the preceding conversation is a result of this weird licking thing we do and our frazzled minds.

The Land of Nod

The Land of Nod

The Land of Nod is CB2's Children's line. CB2 is a pretty cool furniture and home decor company and I wish we had a store here in SL. I can't really afford any of their furniture right now, but I know that in my future home I will most likely have one of their sofas at the very least.

Anyhow, The Land of Nod is adorable. It's Pottery Barn Kids times 1,000! I'm one of those people that finds extreme joy in children's things such as stuffed animals, kids furniture, play rooms and toys. After checking out the website I put myself on the catalog mailing list and boy and I glad and mad at myself for doing that. I LOVE everything in the catalog but I WANT to BUY everything in the catalog. Never have I wanted a lunch box more in my life than after flipping through the pages, nor a rocking chair. Here are all the things I really want right now (I didn't post any of the wall art because then this post would be a mile long).

As soon as I saw the rug (especially when they have it displayed in a room in the catalog) I immediately wanted to buy it. Too bad it's, like, $200. Unfortunately the rug will have to wait. And so will the armchair rocker, but the lunchbox and stegosaurus pillow may be mine in the coming future.

Seriously though, I am considering the rocker as one of my major purchases in the coming years. Who needs a baby to have a rocker? Not me. But for the record, when I do have a baby, this is where all of my things will come from. Let's hope and pray that I'm rich enough to afford all this by then, either that, or I'll be adopting a baby when I'm 70 and have saved up for a room from here.

I Lied

Oh, H&M, you are one deceptive little devil. Apparently, the website will let you and lead you to believe you can buy from them, but apparently "Online shopping is not currently offered in your market. Please visit your local H&M for availability."


I am so disappointed. Really, truly I am.

Did You Know?

Did you know that H&M has a much better website? I remember the first time I discovered H&M (a few years ago) and then desperately tried to shop their website with NO LUCK. It was the worst clothing website I had ever come across. But, apparently (and I don't know when, since I didn't want to disappoint myself with looking at it again) they have updated it since and it's now great.

Check it out here

Also, if you didn't already know, SLC will be getting an H&M. I don't know when, but sometime before I'm 80 I hope.

Weekend Update

(I like SNL's weekend update, that is what I'm calling my weekend pic posts)

The top picture is an entry in the creative arts section at the Utah State Fair. It would have won our special "worst craft" award except that would be a "special needs category" rule breaker. A very creepy "felted vessel" (felt vase?) with a face at the bottom probably won, no picture though. The second two pics are also from the Fair at Jungle George's booth where you can get a maggot melt (pictured) as well as a chocolate covered cricket (not pictured but shared with Dad) and python and yak and all sorts of crazy things I wish I was brave enough to try. The bottom pictures show my very first plant! Woo! It's a tiny fern that kind of looks like moss but it's very cute and I now have something living in my apartment besides myself and the times when Boyf is there. The last picture is of henna on my hand that I had painted on at the Eid Al-Fitr festival at the Library this past Saturday.

All in all it was a filling weekend and that wasn't even all I did. I had a great first attempt at an ipod dance party (you know the old ipod commercials with the silhouettes dancing awesomely? Well we attempted to have everyone synced up with a play-list and then dance with our ipods, head phones in, it was fun, need to iron out the kinks).

Also on Thursday (which is not a day in the weekend, I know) I had a nasty spill off my bike, RUINED my jeans and definitely ruined my knee. I have a lovely purple bruise all around it as well as a nasty scab and it still hurts to put weight on it. Definitely reminded me I might need a helmet when I bike around.

Scary Clip Art

My Friend works for the State Dept. of Real Estate and while cleaning her office found some actual clip art, like, from before it was on the computer. It is pretty much solid gold. Yeah, there are some lame pictures, but then you flip the page and you see this:

And you sort of want to cry because it's so good and SO SCARY at the same time.And you are sure that he is the devil in clip art form, and the heads around him are his evil cohorts. Then you take a picture of it and start sending it to your friends before they go to bed, and give them nightmares.

It's actually a good way to keep friends.

7-minute, Easy No Bake Cookies

One day, a day about a week and half ago, I was craving some chocolate. I needed a treat STAT! I only had about an hour and half before work and I still had to shower and get ready, so I needed something that would be quick and easy. I remembered pinning a recipe for some no bake cookies, and decided to try them out since I (miraculously) had all the ingredients in my tiny cupboards.

Find the pinned, original recipe here

No Bake Cookies:
Printer Friendly Version

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 stick oleo, margarine or butter (I used butter)
• 3 Tbsp. cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 cups oatmeal (old fashioned rolled oats, not instant)

Mix the sugar, butter, cocoa, and milk in a medium saucepan.* Boil for 1 minute.

Add the peanut butter and vanilla. Mix quickly until peanut butter melts, then add the oatmeal and mix til well blended.

Drop spoonfuls on tin foil, wax paper or parchment. Allow to set and cool completely.
Makes 2 dozen 3 inch cookies.

They literally took 5-7 minutes totally satiated my treat craving. 

New Followings

Lately (and I mostly blame pinterest) I've been finding more and more style blogs that I can't get enough of. It first started with Kendi's Everyday and then through her I found Keiko Lynn and just today I found What Would a Nerd Wear AND Get Dressed. If that wasn't overkill, there was another that I had linked but I decided to take it off. This will be the second time that I've had it linked and then removed it. The Chloe Conspiracy is adorable, but in the end, just not my cup o' tea (which is odd because she wears tons of j.crew). I think the reason I didn't end up liking hers was the layout, it just didn't speak to me.

I love these blogs, these women have amazing style and poise. I love that they site their clothes so that I can copy them (if I ever become rich enough to start buying clothes again). Looking at their sites is much better, for me, than looking right at a clothing website. When I'm at the website I either spend or start feeling really antsy, like I should be spending, and then I quickly plummet into a depressive state because I can't buy anything. Plus, these women are real people, they exist! They are not models (although some of them definitely should be) and they re-wear their clothes and most of them have admitted to not showering every day which makes me then feel even better about myself. Yay for not showering and being greasy.

Mostly I just wanted to let you all know how my list of "friendly sites" had gotten so long.

Re-locating

My blogging lifetime has spanned about 3-4 years? And part of me is feeling like it's time for an upgrade.

What had started out as a learning experience through work has now become something I look forward to and thoroughly enjoy doing. Blogger seems to me to be the amateur blogging site, and while my blog is nothing special, I'm not sponsored or even have a specific theme, I just like it and even though it doesn't really look like it, I am somewhat particular about how it looks. When I say that I know it doesn't look like I put much effort into it's design and aesthetic appeal, part of me just let's it be, thinking to myself that one day I'll have a great blog and everyone will want to read it and it'll be very pretty and clean and there won't be the awful orange buttons around that are associated with blogger.

The logical step for me is then to switch over to Wordpress. I was even at the site yesterday ready to create one, but then I thought, do I really want to do this? I really do, BUT I've been here so long, and what will happen to all of my posts? Maybe Wordpress isn't really the way to go, but in my vast research (which hasn't been vast at all, in fact I've only looked at Wordpress) it seems to be a much nicer site. From what I've seen it feels like the blogger has more control over their little space on the internet and ever blog I've seen through wordpress has had such a nicer, pretty layout and design.

I am not sure who even reads my little space here on the internet but if you have any words of encouragement or suggestion please leave them for me. I am about 80% committed to moving over to Wordpress, but I don't want to lose my past posts, does anyone have a solution for me?

P.S. Cali

P.S. If you know where Kiehl's had this couch made in Italy, or if you know of one EXACTLY like it, please contact Boyf, or me. Boyf. completely fell in love with it when we found it at the Kiehl's store. He even made me ask them where they got it from. Sadly, they said it was custom made in Italy. That may have crushed Boyf's dreams.

California

On August 6th one of my very best friends got married in California and Boyf and I were lucky enough to be able to attend and it was so special and I'm so glad we were there.

Melanie has pretty much been my best friend since I was hmmmm 13, 14? I've at least known her for sure since middle school. She's been mentioned in a lot of my previous posts but just in case you don't know that much about Melanie you should know that after talking to her for 5 minutes you will realize that even though you thought you were fairly witty you're really not, and you'll know because you laughed for 4 of those 5 minutes. She's also the kind of person who is so effortlessly chic and sometimes I hate it because something that  looks like she just threw on will totally outshine your 45 minutes of getting ready. Remember how you were laughing for four minutes after talking to Mel? Well the other minute was spent on some serious conversation about politics or the environment or some subject in which you'll realize you are not as well versed as you should be. At least, that's what happens to me. Melanie is also a great baker/cook. She's always making delicious treats, that are for the most part vegan. I'm really going to miss her treats.

Basically Melanie is one of the best people I've ever known and as a friend she's even better. I've always been able to trust her and I'm pretty sure that she's known everything that's transpired in my life since I met her way back in middle school.

I'm so happy for Mel and I'm so happy that she chose to marry a guy that I like hanging out with. I feel like, once your friends get married you are pretty lucky if you can establish a pretty good rapport with their spouse (I realize it's not that rare to like your friends spouse but I really like Brad) and Brad couldn't be any cooler, just ask Boyf. I think Boyf. talks about Brad more than Mel (I guess that kind of makes sense cause he's a guy? But we both knew Mel first), and it's actually pretty cute, Boyf. kind of talks about Brad like they're both kids. For example, if Boyf. says, "I wonder if Brad would like such and such show" it kind of sounds like "I wonder if Brad would like to play with Star Wars toys". I know that sounds ridiculous, but it's just the tone of excitement from Boyf, like, that another boy that he thinks is cool might like the same thing he does. Anyway, we love Brad. (And if Brad ever wants to play with Star Wars toys with Boyf. I'm sure Boyf. would be pretty excited.)

As far as the rest of the time we spent in California we got to go to Newport Beach. The water was actually warm enough for me to play in, so that was actually the first time I've been in the ocean.

We spent a day at Disneyland and besides the wedding this was probably the highlight of the trip. Boyf. had never been to Disneyland before and I was more excited about that then anything else. Boyf wanted to go but I didn't feel true enthusiasm from him until we walked into the Star Tours building and he said "Whoa, this is awesome!". That was probably the best moment of Disneyland for me.
Here are two picks of us at Disnelyand:

AH! Boyf has a Wookie on his back!!!!

Splash Mountain! Boyf was brave and sat right in the front.

Obviously I was a terrible picture taker, and I am so SO mad at myself for it. SO MAD. I always do this, and then I vow to do better in the future. I really am going to try, but it's also hard when your main camera (on my iphone) doesn't have flash, this tells me that for my future posterity and when I have Alzheimer's I'll really have wished I had flash camera so I can look back and remember the fun times.

p.s. if you'd like to see a lovely picture of Mel and Brad on their wedding day go here

One on One

Well, really not quite one on one cause it was me, Charlie and Grandma but still kind of. Having nieces and nephews is quite possibly one of the best things that's happened in my adult life; and now that they are getting older spending one on one time with them (as well as collective) is so special.

Charlie is the oldest, he's going to be 6 in October and I can't believe how old that is! He's one of the handsomest and smartest guys I know, and I can't wait for school to start so I can start hearing about all of his girlfriends (he's definitely already had a few girls fawn over him).

Anyway, Charlie and Grandma and I went to the Clark Planetarium and saw the Sea Rex 3D movie. It was pretty cool and we almost got eaten a few times from a scary sea dinosaur. Then we went and had some ice cream and cookies.

Charlie is, I think, less messy at eating ice cream than I am.

After ice cream and cookies we went to the library and read just about every Spider-Man graphic novel on the shelf.

I adore this little guy and can't wait to see him grow up, although I will miss this time in his life.

Star Wars Japanese Tenugui

I WANT THESE!!!!!!!!!!

get them for me here

Crafty Lady

I just got back from California for a best friends wedding and I'll be posting on that later, but I had to share this quick little post with you now.

I bought the pattern for this:

I haven't cross-stitched for a while, like since I was 12 (and I never finished that one), but this looks fairly easy and I have a very well experienced sister if I need help. I'm pretty excited.

If you don't know anything about Dr. Who then you probably can't fully appreciate this, and if you don't know Dr. Who you MUST hurry over to netflix and watch as much of it as you can. Then you'll understand and you'll wonder if you should get some  Dr. Who things or cross-stitching patterns from Jennifer's shop on Etsy for yourself. Also, if you are interested in Dr. Who but not sure where to begin (cause there have been a lot of Dr. Who seasons) I would start with either David Tennant or the current Dr. Who Matt Smith.

Honey Pack Facial aka the ONE ingredient facial

I've been really wishing I could afford to get extractions, but they are pretty much $100 bones. What are extractions you ask? They are this amazing facial process that clears your pores, removing black heads and decreasing the size of your pores. Pretty much they sound amazing.

I was complaining to my friend at work about my lack of extraction funds and she informed me she used to be an esthetician. Well, she said she went to school for it in Idaho but that the requirements in Utah are different and she was too lazy to go back to school. Anyway....she was telling me that she used to give facials a lot and that they pretty much only used honey. HONEY!

She told me of a client she had who, when he first came to her was pretty much a pizza face, but after a few months he had nice clear skin. I almost didn't want to believe her, because I have heard of a lot of home made facials, and it just seems like they couldn't really be that effective but how could I not at least give it a try if it works so well according to her (and she's a profesh. I'm not).

I have only tried it a few times and I think I will continue to try to do it twice a week. After just a few times though my face at least feels better if there aren't any (yet) visible changes.

Honey Pack:

You will need 100 % pure honey. If you aren't sure if your honey is pure or raw or whatever, check to see if it has an ingredient list. If it does (have anything other than honey listed) that is NOT what you want. It can't have anything else in it and especially NOT sugar.

You will also need clean fingers and a clean face.

Using about a nickel sized dab of honey (use more if you need more) lightly rub it onto your face, focusing on your trouble spots. After your have it on your face you will use ONLY your middle and ring fingers to pat your face. You'll pat your face for probably about 10 mintues. Keep patting your face until the honey is either not sticky anymore or it starts to sting. For me I waited until it was stinging. It wasn't stingy because of the honey sitting on my face it was because of the patting. After the honey has been on your face for a while it'll kind of "pull" against your face when you are patting. I don't really know how to explain it, but I think that might be how it clears your pores because it really feels like it's pulling your face. Once you're ready take the honey off just rinse your face under water.

I hope this makes sense to you all. I'll keep you posted on if/when I start seeing real results. Also, let me know if you have any questions about it, I asked my friend a ton of questions about it so hopefully I know all there is to know about the honey pack.

More Adult Progression

I finally bought myself a little sewing kit. Since I visit my parents quite often I usually just save up my sewing repairs for my Mother to help with. They are never anything I can't do by myself (at least not yet) but I don't have anything to do it on my own, not even a needle, and the only thread I have is extras that have come with clothes.

As you can see it's not anything amazing. It came with three needles, and a pair of terrible scissors. But, the main point is, I'm progressing. This is a good start of something that will definitely grow, maybe even flourish if you will. You see, with this small kit I can now begin to acquire more thread as needed, and I know that I will. Also, my plan of becoming a seamstress has to start somewhere.

It's a real plan I have. My Mother, and my two sisters can actually sew. Mother used to sew all my Sunday dresses as a child, my next older sister is pretty amazing at quilting, cross stitching and pretty much everything crafty and my oldest sister does cross stitches too! I'm not really the kind of person that can dedicate myself to a specific project if it's not for school or work and usually during school or during work I'm given time to do the projects; it's making me do them on my own that I can't do. This is something that I really need to work on, and it's a goal of mine that I'll probably have to work on for the rest of my life.

Ultimately my goal is to be able to really, truly sew. I'd love to be able to make my own clothes; I've met some people with mad sewing skills and I envy them so much they could never know. Also, I'd love to be able to sew cute little dresses for my children, when that happens.

More Hiking

We are serious about this hiking business. Last Friday we hiked the Pipeline trail. Then, we practiced some frisbee, then we actually played ultimate frisbee (with a pretty big field) then we played Wasserkreig. It was a seriously intense day. I think I burned well over 1,000 calories.

Here is a pic of the hike to prove that we did it!

This is a terrible picture of me, it really is. I kind of want to take it down. but, it's a great picture of Mary and Amber, so I'll keep it up (at least for now). There was another picture, but it too was not so great of me.

Mad Skills

Just so you know, Boyf has some serious mad skills climbing stairs with his knees. And yes, this is serious. If you've never tried it before go do it now, you will then appreciate how awesome this is. Also, try jumping on your knees; not using your feet. Go ahead, try it. If you get more than one inch of air check and make sure you are not using your shins or feet, it has to be nothing but knee. If you are still getting more than one inch send me a picture of it.

Here is a pic of Boyf. beating a record for knee-stair climbing. And as far as distance goes, the stair case was a pretty good size and fairly steep. I'd say he climbed about 20ish(give or take one or two) stairs.

I don't know if you people can see but we recorded him making the stair run in 4.97 seconds. A-MAZ-ING!

The Best Home Made Ice Cream

I do not have an ice cream maker, but after borrowing a friends for this recipe I think I may have to get one.

My friends and I threw a shower/party for our dear friend Melanie who is getting married in about a month exactly! I made some salsa (just my classic recipe) and this delicious sorbet which I could eat every night.

The ice cream, Strawberry and Mint Sorbet, was probably the easiest ice cream recipe I've come across. It consists of: Strawberries, sugar, mint leaves and a dash of lemon juice and salt. Here is a picture of the beginning process, strawberries soaking in some sugar (yum):

Strawberry and Mint Sorbet:

1 lb. of Strawberries hulled and sliced
1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves
3/4 cup of Sugar
1 tsp of lemon juice
a pinch of salt

(I doubled the recipe, and if you are making it for more than two I would suggest doing the same, at least, if you want a heaping bowl of it like I did. One side note, I did NOT double the mint because I wasn't sure how it would turn out and I think it was the right choice. I love what the mint added but I wouldn't want much more).
After slicing and hulling the strawberries mix them with the sugar in a bowl until the sugar begins to dissolve, cover and let stand for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
After letting the strawberries marinade puree the strawberries, sugary-strawberry juice, lemon and mint leaves. I used my food processor but you could easily use a blender too. Then let chill thoroughly in the fridge. (I let mine sit for about 2 1/2 hours, but that's just because I didn't need it earlier).
Finally, mix in your ice cream maker.

This is obviously not a picture of my ice cream, but I ate it before realizing that I should take a picture of the finished product. You can find the recipe I used here (but when I was looking at her recipe I couldn't find her sugar measurement, but at the end of her post she credits where she got it and you can look it up online for the sugar amount).

Update No. 7

Boyf's birthday is right after mine, ten days to be exact. I really like having his birthday right after mine because then it feels like we are constantly celebrating each other really close together (anniversay in may, my bday in the beginning of June and then his right after).

This year I had some really killer gift ideas and then he discovered them and they didn't work out. But, I did still try my best as far as gifts and activities go (although his first bday we celebrated was probably the best cause we went to Park City and I totally splurged on him, which I wish I could always do). We started out going to breakfast at Blue Plate Diner and it was actually more of an early lunch-brunch type of breakfast. Then we went to Gateway and walked around checking out the chalk art and getting ice cream after which we saw Super 8 at the Imax (way better than 3D, which I almost hate) and it was so good. I didn't really know what to expect but it was great. And I can really tell that J.J. Abrams loves monster movies. For dinner I took Boyf to Kobe Sushi to try their "hell fire" challenge, where you actually have to sign a release form to participate in the challenge. Jason made it part way through, but got fairly full because we'd had a few rolls before.  Then, after walking off some of the fire in his throat we hung out with some friends.

As far as gifts go, I got Boyf some clothes (natch, since I work at the J.Crew) including an adorable bow tie, space munchkins (such a fun game), and a portal t-shirt (video game).

I'm so lucky to have Boyf. and I love spoiling him because he really deserves it, I've never met such a selfless, kind, hardworking man in my life. He can always cheer me up so easily and I love and cherish every moment spent with him.

Update No. 6: Moving

Back to chronological order, and no more animals or make up (for a bit, or at least this post). The day after my birthday, June 10, 2011, I moved. I've had my name on a few lists of low income housing and finally one opened up and it's half a block away from the library (job).

I'm pretty happy with it. The whole building is studio apartments, so natch mine is too. It has air conditioning, that I can control myself (hallelujah), and a nice dishwasher, garbage disposal (I've never had one of those). The building has underground, assigned parking, an exercise room, laundry on every floor and a "club room" where I can go and watch cable tv on a big screen if no one has it reserved (not that I've really had time for that).

My place isn't super cute yet, so I'm not going to post any pictures, once I get something on the walls, or the big pile of boxes gone, or a pretty rug, then I will probably post some.

Of course I have to thank those that helped me move; I couldn't have done with without Boyf, Griff, or Marilee's boxes. Thank you!

I'm Only Slightly Ridiculous

Dear Friends and Family,

You can obviously tell that I am ridiculously obsessed with all things animals, and especially bunnies and puppies. It seems that over the past few weeks I've discovered many websites dedicated to posting pictures of these things. I've also taken to posting said sites onto the left hand side of my blog. I've found another (you can thank Boyf. for this one, oh and also for cuteoverload). Boyf. just sent me a link to the dog of my dreams (one of the four or five) and from there I discovered the site and can't get enough. Here is a pic of said dog:

He is a Goldendoodle, a mix between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle (which I'm not a huge fan of, but look how cute they can turn out?).

Here is where you can find the site with more pics of Mango the GoldenDoodle.

Also, just so you know, I don't currently own any Lisa Frank notebooks or anything of the sort. I just like animals. I'm not a weirdo.

Update No. 5: Make up

This update is out of order, but I really felt the need to post it today. About three weeks ago (and last week) I acquired some new beauty products and I've rediscovered some old favs. Mostly just straight up make up but one new hair product. I took a picture of them and a few close ups (I figure that my make up posts are probably really boring and pictures might actually entice you to read them. Or not).

Old Favs: Mac Paint Pot in Painterly. It's a great matte base for my eyelids. I use a small Mac brush to apply (not sure which brush, I should have included it). I really like it because it doesn't add a lot of color but has a perfect tone for my eyelids. I probably wouldn't use it if I was going to add a lot of color to my lid but for lighter lid tones it's a great base. Another fav is my Mac eyeshadow in Naked Lunch (I forgot to include the picture, but it's almost gone, and with the light in my bathroom you probably wouldn't be able to see it's wonderful color). It's a great, very light champagne-y shimmer. I love using it to brighten up my inner lid and around the tear-area. I also use it a lot to blend dark colors around my brow bone, basically I use it for pretty much everything. Another rediscovery is two great colors in my Mac eyeshadow kit shown. I love the two middle colors: Hush a Plum and Trax. The first is a great matte color and the second is a very beautiful dark shimmery purple. It's not too purpley though, you know? I'm not swiping on some grape Popsicle color on. It's a great color for me because I've got hazel eyes and they really bring out the green.

The hair product is Bumble and Bumble Surf Spray. It's supposed to help enhance beach waves. I've only used it a few times and want to give it a few more shots. However, every time I've used it, by the time I get home and look in the mirror I'm not thrilled with what I see. My hair looks messy, and separated, but not in the way that most people wish their curls were separated, and it also looks a tad frizzy. I'd really like to love it because I love the other B&B products I've tried.

New make up finds: I finally got the Nars Orgasm stick, and if you don't remember I've been really interested in trying it. My Mom bought the powder version of this and it's really great on her. She and I (although I think I may have a bit more pink undertones) have similar coloring and so I thought it'd be great on me. It's...okay. I haven't decided yet. I rub it on the apple of my cheek (that's where blush goes if you didn't know) and then sort of rub it in a bit with my finger. I just can't tell if it's a good color for me. It's got a lot of shimmer to it and it's a bit more orangey-golden. It's not straight up orange, but I just don't know how to explain it. It would look fabulous on someone with more freckles, pinker skin and definitely someone who is a lot tanner. I don't know, I'm going to give it some more goes. My new bathroom lighting is throwing me off completely but I'm getting the hang of it.

I also got some Nars eyeshadow. The duo shown is called: Habanera.The color on the left is a really stunning, shimmery brown with some purple to it. The other color, while very pretty is a bit of a pickle for me. It's very icey blue when it goes on and this type of color is very foreign to me. I need to experiment more with it, cause it's so pretty but it really stands out when it goes on.

In my past make up posts I had purchased the Mac Studio Tech and was pretty happy with it. But, I had heard that Shiseido made a great concealer that really lasted. Since I'm outside a lot (no car) and the temps are really starting to creep up I want something that isn't going to melt off my face. I ordered their Natural Finish Cream Concealer and I really like it. You only need a tad but I love it for my under eye area. I don't like to put a heavy concealer there since the skin is so tender and I like this one a lot.

I have also begun trying what's offered at the grocery store. There are, like, 3 aisles of make up at my Smiths and then at the Target near me I think there are 5+ so there's gotta be something worthwhile there, right? Well, I picked up L'Oreal's Studio Secrets Magic Perfecting Base and it comes in a little pot, you can see it to the left in my pic. Today was the first day trying it on under make up (yesterday I had the day off and didn't wear make up but put this on to see how I liked the feel). So far, I love it! I previously wasn't using a face/make up primer (other than the Nars for my eyes, see previous post) and I love the way this has made my face feel. It has made my face feel so silky and soft. So far, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Next from the grocery store is the Almay One Coat, Get Up and Grow Mascara. I read that it was a great mascara for definition and to help keep your eyelashes healthy. I've had it for about a month now and it's not bad. It reminds me of this Clinique mascara that I used to swear by. It's great for separation but as far as volume it's not great.

I have a list of a few to try but I'll just let you know as I pick them up.

Make up from my last post I'm still using: MAC eye shadow in Mulch, MAC Pain Pot in Reubenesque and I'm using Reubenesque with my new Nars eyeshadow. MAC blush in Well Dressed.