Thoughts

Being My Own Esthetician

/ jennced15 / 3 Comments

Hello Everyone!

I hope your week is going well. Mine is busy as ever with my sister’s upcoming wedding.

Since I still don’t currently have a job, I had to cancel my monthly facials. Got to spare the funds!! So I have been trying to figure out ways to keep my skin looking great. I turned to a slew of homemade remedies to see if any of them will do the trick. Here is what I found out.

 

  1. Basil Water: You are to boil fresh basil in water and then add a drop or two of lavender essential oils then steam your face for ten minutes to open up your pores. This was actually great but don’t breathe too deeply in the beginning or you might have a coughing fit.

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  1. Chamomile Tea Bags: Steep in cold water for 5 minutes then apply to your eyes for 10-20 minutes to reduce dark under eye circles. This was very relaxing and I thought it reduced the discoloration but not the puffiness.

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  1. Lemon Baking Soda: Mix lemon juice with baking soda into a paste and then apply to the areas with blackheads. They were removed but be particular about getting it everywhere you want them removed.

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  1. Burning Mask: A mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, lemon juice and I added baking soda to the original recipe. It does burn for a few minutes but it actually smelled great and my skin felt much smoother afterwards. I didn’t see any noticeable difference but I will follow the instructions for continued use to see if it will really clear up the imperfections on my face.

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5. Lavender Essential Oil: I have actually been using this for a while now and it has been great. Just a drop or two is great on blemishes. They don’t spread and the pore cleans itself out pretty quickly.

 

May the force be with you and your skin!! 🙂

August So Far

/ jennced15 / 2 Comments

Good Morning Everyone!

We have started this month off with a bang of activity and it isn’t going to slow down before the end of the month. I have all of my weekends tied up until after Labor Day and hopefully I am on the cusp of a job which will impact the month as well.

The whirlwind of activity has everything changing so rapidly. Yesterday while driving to Park City, I noticed the leaves changing on some of the trees . . . what? The girls also reminded me that they start school in 2 weeks . . . what? What I am figuring out is that maybe my diatribe on fall coming too soon to local stores isn’t too far away after all. What is a girl to do? 🙂

If you can’t beat them, join them right?!

Here is my list for the favorite things that I did this week. I hope each and everyone of you are enjoying the last of your summer.

 

1. Deer Valley Music Festival: I have been volunteering at the festival for the last three weeks as a way to get out of the house, enjoy friends, and forget about the fact that I don’t have a job. It has been wonderful!! I highly recommend everyone in the Utah area taking in one of these concerts next year.

  1. Wayne Bartholomew Park: I have now brought my nieces here twice and we love it. It is great family fun for an entrance fee of $0. Can’t beat that! It does get crowded on really hot days and it will be hard to find a spot on the beach but try and get here if you can.

  2. The Dodo Restaurant: This is one of our favorite restaurants in the Salt Lake Valley. It has great food, GREAT desserts, and a great atmosphere to hang out with friends and mingle. My girlfriends and I headed over here for dessert this week to celebrate the end of an era and the start of new things to come.

  3. New Desserts: So the girls stayed the night and we partied hard. We colored up a storm, went to the library and checked out 16 books that needed to be read before they left, went to the lake, camped-out in my room for bed, roasted s’mores and of course had to make a treat. The girls couldn’t decide between something chocolate or citrus so we made both. These lemon cookies were a HUGE hit. We doubled the batch and the cookies are officially gone as of today. The chocolate poke cake was good as well BUT there is a disclaimer of eating it sparingly. It is SUPER rich and is likely to make you sick if you eat too much.

  1. Fall Weather: We ended up with a very cool and rainy day twice this week. Both days I pulled out long-sleeve shirts, wanted a cup of tea and was starting to dream about a Halloween party. Luckily for my mother the party won’t be at her house this year and hopefully I will be able to still get a party in even if I am living in a different location. Fingers crossed!!

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Extra Favorites for July!

/ jennced15 / 1 Comment

We get an extra Friday in July . . . yahoo!!

Good thing since I already feel like this year is coming to a close rather quickly. Is anyone else getting nervous about seeing Halloween and Christmas decorations in some stores? I am and this is coming from a person that loves Halloween, fall and decorating for holidays in general.

As Susan Powter use to say, “STOP THE INSANITY!!”

I think we should all remember that summertime is still here and talk about all the things we love while also enjoying warm weather. I love, sleeping outside at night, I love swimming in cool water, I love grilling everything or having all things iced. I feel it perfectly acceptable to indulge in one of my favorite treats: ice cream. I love sandals, maxi dresses and being less encumbered with clothing. I pretty much love summer and I will be very sad to see it go especially since there is much that I still want to do before the nights get shorter. What makes summer special for you?

 

I decided that this last week I was going to share with you a few of things that I have made for the family and I have to admit up front; I didn’t take pictures of everything and some of the pictures are horrible mostly because I had a family that was hungry and it was late at night.

 

  1. Sunday meal of Slow Cooker Hawaiian Meatballs: I was so tired and the thought of cooking anything more then throwing things into the slow cooker actually made me want to cry. However, the good news is–the kids loved it! They actually ate their dinner without the usual fuss. Blow my mind!! I followed the recipe exactly but I did make a stove-top version of the sauce for more sauce in addition to what was in the slow cooker mostly because I served it straight out of the slow cooker and had doubled the recipe because we had so many people eating with us that I didn’t want anyone digging down just to get sauce for their rice. Also, I am not a red meat eater myself so I made a quick turkey patty and it was equally as good even though it hadn’t marinated in the sauce all afternoon. (No picture) 😦

 

  1. Apple Pie Bites: One night after dinner I decided to make something sweet for everyone but it had to be quick because I did not want to keep working in the kitchen. I saw this recipe, tried it and everyone was pretty happy. We did not serve them with ice cream (because I didn’t want to go to the store) but I did add a dollop of whipped cream.  IMG_5585

 

  1. I had a friend staying with me for a couple of weeks while her living situation was being sorted out. When she got ready to leave I decided to make her a nice sit down dinner so we had Sundried Tomato, Spinach and Cheese Stuffed Chicken along with Lemon Herb Roasted Potato Nuggets. It actually didn’t take much to pull it together but I looked beautiful and was wonderful to taste as well.  I did make one change and that was that I added a number of basil leaves from my garden to each breast as well.

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  1. Smoothie Bar: Guess what. Our AC went out and actually it wasn’t horrific BUT no one wanted to be in the house cooking under any circumstance. I had everyone coming over for Sunday dinner again but I had just grilled burgers, pizza, ribs, dessert, etc. I really didn’t want to stand in front of anything hot no matter where it was so I decided it would be a make your own smoothie night and guess what . . . everyone went for it. We all had a cool drink that was filling and it allowed us to just sit outside in the breeze and talk for the evening.  (I allowed everyone to see my Pinterest board and find a smoothie that they wanted. The hands down favorites was the Chai Spiced Smoothie. Feel free to follow me on Pinterest so you can stay updated on all of my smoothies that I pin!)

 

  1. Last but not least; here are a few other things that I made throughout the month that are a worthy mention.

No-Bake Cream Cheese Pie with Summer Fruit

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Blueberry Coffee Cake

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Crumb Cake

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ENJOY THE LAST OF SUMMER!!

And the Award Goes To . . .

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Happy Independence Day to all my USA Friends!!

 

I just thought that I would get that out early so I don’t forget. 🙂

Now on to the post . . .

 

Do you know those weeks where you aren’t quite sure how you got to Friday but you are positive that time still traveled in the exact same manner as all subsequent weeks? I know we had a Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, etc. but for some reason all the exact days seem to be a slight blur.

 

I am sure it had to do with the fact that I have been sick all week, that my sister and her fiancé came into town unexpectedly, and that I had a lot more action in the job department this week.

 

So now that we are to Friday I can say that; my cold is getting better (thank heavens), my sister will now be getting married in Wisconsin (fabulous), and I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed with employment opportunities (Seattle anyone?).

 

So I now have to share a little bit about my family and also what happens when I am sick and cannot get any sleep. Does your family ever speak in movie lines? Mine does and they start to get more ridiculous as the conversation goes on especially late at night and when I am sick and lacking sleep, EVERYTHING gets really funny.

 

So in honor of my family’s craziness late at night, I have decided to share with you 5 of our favorite movie lines. They are not in order of favorites nor is this list ANYWHERE near complete. We will just have to visit this post again, and again, and again . . .

 

What are some of your favorite movie lines? Please share them with us! 🙂

 

  1. Movie: One Fine Day (1996)

Line: “Rosa, if you speak English say okay.”

“Okay. Gracias. Bye-bye.”

  1. Movie: Good Morning Vietnam (1987)

Line: “Excuse me sir. Seeing how the VP is such a VIP shouldn’t we keep the PC on the QT cause if it leaks to the VC we could all end up MIA and then we would all be put on KP.”

  1. Movie: The Three Amigos (1986)

Line: “Would you say I have a plethora of pinatas?”

“A what?”

“A plethora.”

“Oh yes, you have a plethora.”

“Jefe, what is a plethora?” (and it goes on) 🙂

  1. Movie: Tommy Boy (1995)

Line: “It’s called reading. Top to bottom, left to right. Groups words together to make sentences. Take Tylenol for any headaches, Midol for any cramps.”

  1. Movie: Oscar (1991)

Line: “I can’t I’m smokin’ a salmon!”