Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  Well, it’s Sunday again, how was everyone’s weekend?  Mine was pretty good, did a little shopping, celebrated Aaron and Becca’s birthdays, now just getting ready to head back to work on Monday.  I was on vacation this week so I’m sure I’ll be a bit behind on things tomorrow but I get to see my awesome coworkers so that makes up for it, lol.

So, since I was on vacation this whole week I really have no idea if I’ve lost, gained or maintained any weight.  I’m gonna guess gained since I have not worked out nor eaten well at all.  Starting tomorrow I’m gonna have to get back in the game.  I’ll be honest, I just really didn’t care.  My plan this week was to sit and not do anything I didn’t want to do, so that’s what I did, lol.  My schedule changes on the 7^th of May and I’ll be getting off work 30 minutes earlier so I’ll have a little more time in the evening to work out and cook healthier things.  It will also give me a chance to use the workout room at work which gives more exercise options.  Wish me luck, I’m gonna need it J.

I did manage to pick up a few beauty items at Ulta on Friday.  I got 3 new eyeliners.  One was a replacement for my Loreal Carbon Black Intense liquid liner.  This is my favorite liner of all time.  It’s just really easy to use and a great starter liner for anyone who’s never used liquid liners before. 

I also grabbed a Revlon Colorstay Liquid Eye Pen in “Blackest Black”.  This one is more like a fine tipped marker.  I’ve seen a lot of reviews that state this eyeliner is the best to use for winging so I decided I’d try it out.  It’s very similar to MAC’s Penultimate which I’ve tried before but for quite a bit less money.  I’m hoping it lasts longer than the MAC one did.  That one either dried out fast or had very little product in it to begin with.  I’ll be sure to let everyone know what I think.

The last eyeliner I got was one of NYX’s Jumbo Eye Pencils.  The one I got is called “Purple Velvet (623A)” which is a dark metallic purple.  I actually don’t use these as eyeliner but more as base for different shadows.  That’s really what these work the best as.  I have two others, “Dark Brown (602)” which is a matte dark brown obviously, and Rust (619) which is a dark metallic red.

The next thing I picked up was a new essie nail polish in “Sure Shot”.  It’s a bright magenta pearl.  It’s actually what this week’s manicure is so the picture will be below.

The final item I picked up at Ulta was the new NYX “Crimson Amulet” palette that was inspired by the new Dark Shadows movie.  It has 24 eye shadows in a wide variety of colors from darks to lights to neutrals, 5 blushes, 4 lip glosses, an illuminator, a small tube of eye shadow primer and a small liquid eyeliner.  I haven’t tried any of the colors out but from my experience NYX eye shadows are quite pigmented so I have high hopes for these.  I’ll be sure to get swatches up this week and start working on some new looks.

The last beauty item I purchased this week I don’t have yet.  I ordered a new Crown Brush palette from Hautelook.  This one is called “Blizzard” and has 28 “shimmer” (frosted) colors.  I’m really excited about this.  I love my Crown Brush “Smoke It Out” palette and I’m positive this one will be just as awesome.

Moving on to fashion purchases this week I stopped at Target and got some colored denim crops by Mossimo.  The color on the tag says “orange” but I think they’re more of an orange-coral mix.  To go with them I got a white three-quarter sleeve peasant style top and a pair of coral colored sandals, both by Mossimo.  I also have a light/foam green lightweight Mossimo scarf I ordered on the way as well.  I think this will turn into a really cute outfit and will probably end up as the “Outfit of the Week” the first time I wear it, lol.

My last purchase for the week isn’t really a beauty or fashion purchase but I do love it.  I got a new tattoo on Thursday.  My friend Jared helped design it and the tattoo artist, Bryce at Addictions in Ink Tattoo and Piercing, adjusted it some more.  It’s a crow with eyes in the wings, based off the graphic from the cover of The Crow movie/CD jacket.  I chose this as a tribute to my late friend Aaron who passed away 10 years ago last month.  I had it put on my right calf and the detailing in it is absolutely amazing.  I had originally planned on having it on my right wrist but it never would have fit and looked good.  I think it turned out just AWESOME and I LOVE it!

I’ll finish up tonight with my manicure, “Sure Shot” by essie.  Like I said above, it’s a bright magenta frost that looks really great for this time of year.  I’m also including a shot of the cute pedicure I did myself.  I just thought it was pretty!

Well, that’s it for this week, I hope everyone has a great week ahead.  I hope to have a new tutorial up sometime this week.  You would have thought that with a whole week off I’d have a slew of looks to show everyone but really, I did as little as possible this last week, lol.  If anyone has any suggestions for things they want to see or know, whether it be looks or just topics in general, let me know in the comments and I’ll put something together! 

Again, everyone have a great week and I’ll talk to y’all soon J.

Outfit of the Week

Happy Friday all!  I hope everyone had a good week.  Anyone have any exciting weekend plans?  Aaron and Becca’s birthdays are on Sunday so we’re having a small celebration with his mom and stepdad.  Other than that not much else going on here.  Anyway, here’s this week’s outfit!

Purple dress:  Mossimo (Target)

Black tank top:  Mossimo (Target)

Black capri leggings:  Mossimo (Target)

Sandals in purple:  MAX rave (Wal-mart)

Signature strap watch:  Coach

Purple studded wrap bracelet:  No Boundaries (Wal-mart)

Silver shamrock and trinity knot necklace:  no brand (local renaissance faire)

Jet Set Medium Tote handbag in vanilla:  MICHAEL Michael Kors

Sunglasses:  Coach

Healthy Meal of the Week

Hi all!  It’s time for the “Healthy Meal of the Week”.  This week we had “Shrimp Vodka Pasta” from the April 2011 issue of Cooking Light.  I thought it was yummy and Scarlett liked it okay.  She’s not all that big on seafood/fish but she usually likes shrimp.  Check out the recipe below!

Ingredients:

9 ounces refrigerated fettuccine

1 tablespoon olive oil, divided

12 ounces large shrimp, peeled and deveined

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1/3 cup vodka

1 1/3 cups lower-sodium marinara sauce

1/3 chopped fresh basil, divided

¼ cup heavy whipping cream

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1.  Cook pasta per directions.  Drain.

2.  Heat 1 ½ teaspoons oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add shrimp; sauté for 4 minutes or until done.  Remove shrimp from pan.

3.  Add 1 ½ teaspoons oil and garlic to pan; sauté 1 minute.  Carefully add vodka; cook 1 minute.  Add marinara, ¼ cup basil, cream, salt and pepper; bring to a simmer.  Stir in pasta and shrimp.  Sprinkle with remaining basil.

Serves 4 (serving size 1 ¼ cups)

Nutritional information:  427 calories; 12.6g total fat (4.9g saturated fat; 4.8g mono.; 1.4g poly); 24.6g protein; 60.1g carbohydrates; 2.4g fiber; 184mg cholesterol; 2.2mg iron; 632mg sodium; 65mg calcium

Outfit of the Week

Better late than never I suppose, lol.   Here’s this week’s outfit! 

Khaki capris:  Jordache (Wal-Mart)

Top:  Rue21

Sandals in snakeskin embossed leather:  Coach

Signature strap watch:  Coach

Silver star bracelet:  Michael C. Fina

Black and white clover necklace:  Lucky in Love

Healthy Meal of the Week

Hey everyone!  Tonight’s healthy meal is “Garlicky Meatball Pasta” from the April 2012 Cooking Light.  It was really yummy and a big hit with Scarlett.  I added a small salad with raspberry vinaigrette to mine. Check it out below!

Ingredients:

9 ounces refrigerated fettuccine

12 ounces ground sirloin

½ cup panko

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/8 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 ¾ cups lower-sodium marinara sauce

1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1.  Cook the pasta per directions.  Drain over a bowl ad reserve 1/3 cup pasta water.

2.  While pasta cooks, combine beef and next 6 ingredients (through egg); shape mixture into 16 meatballs.  Heat olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add meatballs; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides.  Reduce heat to medium-low.

3.  Add marinara and 1/3 cup pasta water.  Cover and cook 11 minutes or until meatballs are done.  Divide the pasta evenly among 4 plates; top evenly with sauce, meatballs and cheese.

Serves 4

Nutritional information:  489 calories; 16.6g total fat (6.1g saturated fat; 6.9g mono.; 1g poly); 29.1g protein; 71.6g carbohydrates; 2.6g fiber; 147mg cholesterol; 2.4mg iron; 688mg sodium; 110mg calcium

Weekly Wrap-Up

Hey everyone!  How was everyone’s week?  It’s Sunday so it’s Weekly Wrap Up time!

I’m gonna start with something a little different this week.  Last night we had really severe weather here in Wichita.  Two areas, one about 3 miles and the other about 3 ½ miles southeast of me were hit real hard by what the preliminary reports say was an EF-3 tornado.  Luckily, no one killed and there were only about a dozen or so injuries.  We had plenty of advance notice and all week long we’d been warned the weather was going to be bad with large, strong tornadoes.  The week’s worth of warning is probably what saved lives.

I do have a few friends with at least superficial damage to their houses, if not worse, but they are all okay and safe.  My family’s and my houses are okay and none of us were injured.  Had the path been a few miles to the north I may not have been saying the same thing. 

On my way to the tanning salon earlier I was able to get a few pictures out the car window of the area about 3 miles from me.

Snapped power pole in front of Spirit Aerosystems

Downed power lines by Spirit Aerosystems

Damaged billboard near Spirit Aerosystems

Uprooted tree near Spirit Aerosystems

I just want to thank our local news services as well as all the local Meteorologists, it was their warnings yesterday and all week that saved lives.

Moving on to the weight loss journey, I maintained my weight from last week. Slightly disappointed but I guess that’s better than gaining again.  I really need to work on my snacking problem, lol.

As for fashion and beauty purchases this week there really aren’t any.  I ordered two new BeautyBlenders from Sephora during their VIB and IB sale.  That’s really all this week.  I’m expecting another small bonus at work which I have lots of plans for though, lol.

Finally this week is my manicure, “Koala Bear-y” from OPI.  It’s a nice cream fuchsia color, perfect for spring.

That’s all for this week I hope everyone has a great week ahead and that the weather here is much calmer.  I’ll talk to ya’ll later! J

Outfit of the Week

Well, it’s a little late but here’s this week’s outfit.   Honestly, I didn’t wear this exact outfit this week.  I had planned on it for Friday but we decided as a team at work to wear a new company shirt that day.  The top is the only part of the outfit I actually changed, everything else I really did wear on Friday, lol.

Denim capris:  Almost Famous (Sears)

Top:  Rue21

Sandals in black:  Mossimo (Target)

Signature strap watch:  Coach

Silver heart lock necklace:  Tiffany & Co.

Handbag:  Michael Kors