DIY Face Mask

With hundreds and hundreds of ingredients having names that end in “phate” or “ium” put in our daily products, it’s nice to know how to make your own. I borrowed this recipe from Sarah over at Sparkle & Mine.

1/2 ripe avocado
1 whole egg
1 Tbsp Greek yogurt
1 tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp coconut oil (optional)

Combine all ingredients in blender and process for 30 seconds. Apply immediately to clean skin. Leave on 5-10 minutes until you feel mask start to tighten and dry. Rinse with warm water. Gently dry face and apply daily face moisturizer to damp skin.

* If you want extra hydration add the 1 Tbsp coconut oil
* Never let mask fully dry on skin
* When removing use warm water and finger tips to gently loosen mask before removing with washcloth. (Although washcloth is not necessary)
* This mask should be used immediately and does not store

DIY Employee Appreciation

You know the feeling after you come home from a long day of work, finished making dinner,  plop your exhausted body on the couch and release a heavy sigh.

Every now and then it’s nice to feel appreciated for all you do. Since I am the Marketing Director for the company I work for, it was my job to create gifts for Employee Appreciation. Thanks to Pinterest, I was able to make several cute DIY goodies in a matter of hours before the Employee Appreciation party.

These Thanks A Latte gift card holders were a hit!

Our company colors are teal, so I stuck with a teal and green pattern and created this design in Pages (which is Microsoft for Mac). After choosing your font and colors, print the pages and line them up.Use a paper cutter, such as the one below to cut your paper into four individual squares.

Once your paper is cut, using double sided tape, tape Starbucks cup sleeves to the paper and stick the gift card inside the sleeve.
Our party was at the El Torito, across the street from our building. I also filled boxes from Michaels with the Starbucks gift cards, nail polish, body scrub and lotion. Each employee received individual cards and a mentionable honor at the party.Little things like this make all the hard work you put in, a little more worth it.

This Is Your Life. Coachella It.

Sometimes, all you need is a good vacation.

After having my mind blown at Coachella this past weekend, I feel the air easier to breathe at work, the couch a little less comfortable at home and the gas mileage in my truck not that bad. Confusing, right?

When life feels like it’s never going to stop, everything starts to suck, and you can’t process thoughts without anxiety…it’s time for a vacation. So I took two.

Last weekend I went to Coachella Valley Music Festival for the first time.
This would be the sentence where I describe how amazing it was and what it felt like to be at a music festival in the desert with hundreds of thousands of people, but I can’t do that. Words cannot describe what Coachella is like. Sorry writer gods, I’m going to sin.

It is an experience that everyone should experience, at least once. With that said, I cannot wait to sit by my computer, refreshing the page, to buy my tickets for 2014 Coachella next month in May. Yes, tickets go on sale a year in advance, and yes they sell out in about two hours. It’s that good.

Prior to my weekend in Coachella, I took a quick trip to Las Vegas. Always a good idea. As my boyfriend conventioned away, his sister and I took our sweet time drinking bacon bloody mary’s, eating Las Vegas’s underground eats and tossing dice. Usually a trip to Vegas is rushed with day party, gambling, pool party, gambling, eat and then clubbing all night. This trip was a little different and was the perfect prepper to Coachella. Most people can’t put relaxing and Vegas in the same sentence, but I think I am pretty close.

Three days after arriving back home from Coachella, my brain still hurts, my calves still ache, but I’m rejoiced with this fiery feeling inside me. [[No, I didn't catch anything in Vegas]] It’s the kind of feeling that makes you get up and just start sprinting as fast as you can inhaling whatever air is sticking and exhaling pure greatness. This is the feeling I usually get after I have had a really good vacation, a much needed one. Ready to conquer the world, again. With that said, all the new years resolutions re-pump blood in my veins and I’m back on the saddle, for now. In about a month or two, I’ll need another Coachella.

Christ Has Risen

If Christ is risen, nothing else matters.  And if Christ is not risen- nothing else matters.

Jaroslav Pelikan

What is Your Color?

We all have our own color that makes our eyes pop out, freshens the color of our skin and makes our hair puff just a little bit higher. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, being a redhead with pale skin, my colors are a tad different. As much as I try, it doesn’t always look best when I rock any hue. The colors that compliment me the best are drastically different- really bold, or really neutral. The lighter colors: coral, tan, emerald, white, etc.

Or the bolder, darker colors: black, forest green, purple, etc.

Playing with different colors and analyzing what it does to your bodies tones helps you find your true colors. I suggest bringing a friend, or two, with you the next time you go shopping. Try on colors you would normally never wear, and see how they react. Are your friends expressions different? Is your expression different? Do they notice your haircut now (even though you got it cut three weeks ago..)?

Never be afraid to wear colors, especially when that coral dress looks much better on you than that little black one.

 

Stick Out That Green Thumb in Five Easy Steps!

It’s spring! Even though the last few days have been filled with ashy clouds and cold breezes, it’s time to start planting my garden. The clouds will be gone shortly and the sun will soon shine down on my white planter box. It’s time to start prepping.

Step One

Before you start buying every plant you see, decide where you will grow them. Figure out a section in either your front or backyard that you can designate for your garden. Measure out how much space you have and what kind of depth and shape you would like your planter box to be.

Step Two

You can either build your own planter box or purchase one from your local home goods store: Home Depot, Lowes, etc. If you have a local gardening store, I recommend going there first. They are more likely to give you the advice you need, plus you’ll be supporting the local economy!

Step Three

Choose which kind of plants you would like to grow. Do you want to see flowers out your kitchen window or be able to grab fresh rosemary and basil for tonight’s dinner? There are many, many options to choose from when deciding on which plants to grow. It is truly up to what you want out of your garden.

Step Four
Depending on which kind of plants you are growing: flowers, herbs, vegetables, etc. you will want to go back to your local gardening store and purchase the recommended soil. I always suggest organic soil and nutrients to help your plants thrive.

Step Five

Once your planter box is assembled, you have chosen your plants, bought your soil and nutrients, you are ready to begin planting! Carefully pour the soil into the planter box, leveling it out evenly. Depending on how deep your plant is, dig a hole wide enough for it to fit comfortably. Make sure to lightly pat the plant into the soil and cover it’s surrounding roots with nutrients. A few green thumbs will recommend speaking to your plants, giving encouragement. From experience, my plants usually thrive more with a nice hello as I water them.

Don’t forget to hydrate your plants regularly with just the right amount of water (different for each plant) and spray it’s leaves with a water bottle to cool it off.

Get Fit Quick

Now is the time to get into shape! I am sure all of your new years resolutions have fizzled out by now..mine sure have. SO change that lazy focus and get ready to get in shape. You don’t want to be crash dieting a week before summer begins, do you? Not only will you gain your weight back right away, but you won’t be tight, healthy or  fit. Start working out now so you can show off your six-pack in your hot new bikini!

Writing Prompt: Day One

In order to explore my writing abilities and to continue blogging daily, I am going to respond to writing prompts. This is today’s prompt:

Whether you’re an open-book, or still wrapped in packaging tape, you’re a person who has real feelings, passions and ideas. How you express those to the people around you, says a lot about your personality.

Depending on who it is, and what the subject is, I find myself still wrapped in packaging tape. Though, to most of my family, my boyfriend and my closest friends, I am an open book. If you want to keep most of your life to yourself, it is important to establish those guidelines between what you share and to whom you share it to.

For example, you don’t necessarily share your experience at your first rave with your boss Monday morning, but you will with your edm friends.

Some of the best advice I was ever given, or actually read, was,
“Don’t ever tell anybody anything, if you do you start missing everyone,”
from the book, Go Ask Alice. This quote meant so much to me as I went through my teenage years and realized how life changes, how you loose people, gain people and forget people. That’s life.

No matter how much you share your life with someone, and open up to them, you can still loose them at any moment. It is truly up to you how much of your life you feel comfortable sharing and with whom you want to represent. Do you want to be yourself in everything you do? Or would you rather put a front, and be yourself to only yourself? It is your own life, but I suggest being yourself in everything you do. The people who accept it, accept you, and the people who don’t, you don’t need anyway.

Proverbs 19:20

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom for the future.

Proverbs 19:20

Live at Peace

Here is your part: Tell the truth.  Be fair.  Live at peace with everyone.

Zechariah 8:16