Gratitude
Month: November 2015
Hooded Eyes Makeup Do’s and Don’ts by Sona Gasparian
I have slightly hooded eyes, I think it would actually be called a heavy fold. My eye shape is actually very similar to hers. Due to this I can’t just do any type of makeup look that I want. Certain strategies help to make a “hooded eye” look more open and awake.
I love Sona Gasparian‘s videos. If you have never watched her before I definitely recommend you check her out! This video about Hooded Eyes Makeup Do’s and Don’ts is such a great tutorial! What a huge difference in the way her eyes look!
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Working Out for Beginners
If you are new to exercising and working out, here are some tips and tricks for you (some that I have learned the hard way so that you don’t have to.)
- You will be sore! Don’t be afraid of the soreness, use it as motivation to keep going! Even if you are sore, you will feel better after you exercise. You will learn to hate it and love it all at the same time. Don’t let soreness prevent you from working out.
- Don’t give up if you don’t see major results after the first workout 😉 You didn’t put the weight on in one day, you won’t take it all off in one day (or one week…or month) It takes consistent daily work
- Choosing a healthy lifestyle is just as much mental as it is physical. You have to make a choice every day to keep going.
- Form is everything! If you are new to exercising proper form may feel a bit awkward, get a mirror and watch your form. If you are doing a movement with improper form (especially if you are using weights) you are more likely to injure yourself. Injuries are not fun!
- Always warm up! It is not worth the time you save to skip warming up. Your muscles will thank you and you will be less likely to injure yourself if you are properly warmed up.
- Always stretch!!! Just like with warming up, it is not worth the time you save to skip stretching. Your muscles will thank you and you will be less likely to injure yourself if you are properly stretched! Do NOT skip stretching.
- Breath!!!! Don’t hold your breath! Sometimes when things are hard we tend to hold our breath. Don’t do that! Proper breathing helps with core stability, plus you need to breath to prevent yourself from passing out. I always remember proper breathing by inhale on the easy part, exhale when difficult or blow out against gravity. So when doing crunches, exhale on the crunch up inhale on the way down. Push ups: exhale when pushing up, inhale on the way down. Lifting weights (even 3 or 5 lbs) exhale when lifting the weight inhale when lowering
- Don’t overestimate your exercise’s impact while underestimating your caloric intake
- It is not about being better than someone else, it is about being better than you were yesterday!
- You CANNOT spot reduce fat! You can work specific areas and muscles, but the only way to get rid of fat in a “problem area” is to lose weight all over your entire body. You may carry more weight in your midsection, or have wider shoulders, or like me you might have chubby
knees and cankles (I seriously HATE my cankles!). - While you can get in better shape, you cannot change your overall body shape. If you are pear shaped you will just be a smaller pear. (see number 8) You can exercise all day every day and you will still have your original body shape.
- Be accountable to someone. Studies show that people who are accountable to someone, not only have more success with weight loss , but also are more successful at keeping the weight off long term.
I hope that you find these tips to be helpful! Enjoy your workouts, exercise is fun!
Disclaimer: While I am not a professional or a personal fitness trainer, I have been exercising for years.
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Sweet Potato Casserole
I look forward to Thanksgiving every year for one reason. It is not the turkey or the mashed potatoes. It isn’t even the pies and desserts, although those are great too. The reason I look forward to Thanksgiving is this awesome Sweet Potato Casserole! It is so delicious!!! We had a Thanksgiving feast this past Sunday with a group of our friends. I made this dish to share with everyone and it was a crowd pleaser!
Ingredients
- 4 cups sweet potato, cubed
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash. (or use canned yams and skip this step all together.)
- In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, white sugar, eggs, cinnamon, salt, butter, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9×13 inch baking dish.
- In medium bowl, mix the brown sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.
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Essential Oils
Unless you have been living under a rock :-), (or maybe you don’t have a Facebook or Pinterest account), I am sure you have heard one thing or another about essential oils. I have been using essential oils for about 2 years now. Don’t stop reading, I am NOT a Youngliving or Doterra sales rep, and I am not going to try to get anyone to buy something from me. I just love using essential oils. There are so many natural benefits to using these oils! As you may know, I am an RN, I give modern medicine on a daily basis. I believe in modern medication, but I also believe that essential oils are beneficial as well.
You may have heard the term essential oils, but might still be wondering what are essential oils?Well if you were to google “what are essential oils?” the first answer you would get would be “a natural oil typically obtained by distillation and having the characteristic fragrance of the plant or other source from which it is extracted.” Basically that means an oil that comes from a plant or other natural source.
I like to get a lot of my oils from Plant Therapy, but I have also used some YoungLiving and Now oils. Some of my most favorite oils to use are Lemon, Peppermint, and Lavender oil. I like to combine the three of them for an allergy fighting trio. Pinterest has many different ideas on how you can use essential oils. (Click HERE to follow my Essential Oils board)
Generally, essential oils are either inhaled through the use of a diffuser or applied topically. I have a GreenAir SpaVapor diffuser that I bought on sale from Amazon for $25. Every night, I diffuse essential oils for respiratory relief in my daughter’s room, and I really feel as if this helps with her asthma.
If you are going to be applying your oil topically, you need to cut it with a carrier oil. A carrier oil is a vegetable oil such as coconut oil, olive oil, my favorite grapeseed oil. These oils can be used to dilute essential oils. A 2% essential oil dilution is generally considered safe for topical application of essential oils on adults. To make a 2% dilution add 12 drops of essential oil to each fl. ounce (30 ml) of carrier oil. (Usually 600 drops of essential oil equals 30ml or 1 fl. ounce, so 2% is 12 drops) Some oils are more potent than others, but a 2% dilution is the usual recommendation. I’ll be honest, sometimes when diluting my oils, if I am familiar with my body’s reaction to the oil, I put a lot more than 12 drops when I am diluting them. But if you are new or still getting used to essential oils, less is more until you know what works for you. Also, if I am mixing more than one oil together, I personally do 12 drops of each oil to one fl oz total. I don’t add an extra fl oz of carrier for each oil, some may, but I personally usually don’t.
If you choose to ingest essential oils, before doing so, be absolutely sure that they are food grade oils. Personally, I would never ingest any essential oils, but that is my choice due to research that I have done.
Check out Using Essential Oils Safely. Essential oils are awesome when used properly, but like a lot of things, can be toxic when overused or used improperly. Also, if you have a lot of questions, Youngliving’s website has a great Q&A section!
**There are no affiliate links in this post. This is all my own opinion. I am not getting paid for sharing any of this information!**
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Makeup Starter Kit
If you are new to make up and are looking for some great products to get to a great start. Here is a list of some products that I think work well and are affordable for a beginner!
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Ipsy Glam Bag November 2015
I can’t believe that another month has flown by and it is already time to receive another ipsy glam bag! If you don’t know what ipsy is you can check out my previous post all about it by clicking HERE
If you are thinking about trying out ipsy, here is my referral link https://www.ipsy.com/new?refer=uqdkx
This month’s glam bag is a “universe of brilliant beauties.” This month in my glam bag I received…
Crown Brush Deluxe Pointed Crease Brush
Luxie Beauty Matte Eyeshadow Pan No. 290 Aubergine It is a beautiful eggplant color perfect for in the crease. Maybe I will use the Crown Brush to apply it.
Figs & Rouge Mattifying Emulsion & Pore Refiner
Smashbox Cosmetics Full Exposure Mascara I have already used this a few times. I was pretty excited about getting it in my glam bag, but after using it, I am only meh about it. You know how some mascaras can get better after a little while, so I will keep using it and see if I like it more after a week or so.
ModelCo HIGHLIGHTING TRIO This highlighting trio is very smooth and creamy. I think that I will probably use it on my eyes instead.
Overall I am really pleased with this month’s glam bag. I prefer to get makeup instead of nail polish or skincare.
How about you? Did you get an ipsy’s glam bag? What did you get in yours? Were you happy with your samples? Do you get any other monthly subscription bags/boxes that are worth trying out? Let me know in the comments below.
If you don’t already subscribe and would like to try out ipsy you can use my referral link by clicking HERE! Also, if you are interested in seeing my other recent posts about ipsy click HERE
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Target Mini Makeup Haul
Went to Target to pick up one thing and $150 later…I discovered that both Wet n Wild Beauty and NYC Cosmetics were on sale. Of course, I picked up a few things to try out.
I have used this NYC BB cream before, and I think I remember liking it. For only $4 and 10% off, I figured it’s worth trying out again either way.
I love my Wet and Wild Petal Pusher palette, so I am going to give the Comfortzone palette a try. Plus I have heard so many people on YouTube recommend it.
I am a cream lipsticks kind if gal, I am not into matte lips at all. For less than $2, I am hoping that this NYC lipstick in Sugar Plum will be a winner.
Have any of you ever tired these NYC eye-shadows sticks? I have one from Milani and I really like it. Lately I have been using that one as an eye-shadows base, but since it is such a beautiful color, I don’t want to use it all up just as a base. I am hoping these neutral ones from NYC will work as well.
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Be Social With Me!
Good Morning! Just like most people, I love Fridays! I hope that you are having a wonderful day so far. I really appreciate you following my blog, and would love for you to follow me in other places as well. Click below to open the social media of your choice…
Please, leave me a comment if you do follow me so that I can also follow you as well!
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Shrimp Scampi
Shrimp Scampi is one of those dishes that is really easy to make, yet taste so delicious that it seems as if it might be tricky. Here is a quick and easy recipe…
- 1 pound large (16-20 count) raw shrimp, shelled and de-veined**
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 2-3 Tbsp butter
- Salt
- 1 Tbsp minced garlic (or 3-4 garlic cloves)
- 1/3 teaspoon red pepper flakes (to taste)
- 1/2 cup white wine
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
**You can use frozen raw shrimp, just defrost them quickly (and safely) by putting the shrimp in a large bowl of salted ice water about 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt for every quart of water.
Directions
1 Heat a sauté pan on high heat then decrease to medium high heat. Swirl the butter and olive oil in the pan until the butter is melted. Stir in the garlic and red pepper flakes.
2 Sauté the garlic for just until it begins to brown at the edges.
3 Add the shrimp, and then the wine. Stir coating the shrimp with the butter, oil, and wine. Keep the shrimp in an even layer in the pan. Increase the heat to high and boil the wine for two to three minutes.
4 Turn the shrimp over to be sure to cook evenly on both sides. Continue to cook on high heat for another minute.
5 Remove the pan from the heat.
6 Sprinkle the shrimp with parsley, lemon juice, and black pepper.
7 Serve over your choice or pasta (my favorite is angel hair!)
8 Enjoy!
Looking Joli Good 