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.