Wind Resistant Hair

I've become extremely fatigued by the unrelenting wind I'm experiencing.  I wake up each morning and happen upon my Weather app, only to find WINDY plastered across the 36-hour forecast.  Not exactly the best way to start my day, but at least there's some hope for my hair.

A few years ago, I was searching for pin-up hairstyles that I could use for Halloween, and found a tutorial on YouTube that inspired this look.  The girl who did the tutorial had much thicker hair than I do, so I had to just modify to make it work for me.

I like it because, with enough hairspray, it withstands the wind and protects it a little from the damage wind can do.  I hope you like!

View from top.

Front view.

From the side.

And the other side...

Now, I'm off to YouTube to see what other hairstyles I can try out!

Twists, twirls, curls & braids,
Me

Macaroni + Salad + Garlic Bread = Happiness

I may need to rename my blog to My Life in a Kitchen...as that is where I spend a good portion of my time.  I love to eat and therefore also love to cook.  I have learned a lot about cooking from my grandma, mom and aunt.  And almost everything I make, I try to make it taste like something one of them makes fabulously.  Tonight, I was channeling (or calling every five minutes) my grandma. 

The macaroni is made with hamburger, some regular elbow noodles and some whole wheat noodles, onions, celery, garlic, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce, salt, pepper, lemon pepper, beef bullion and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

The salad is just a mix of veggies that I like so you can dress that up however you like.

And the garlic bread is Pepperidge Farm frozen single slices.  They take 5 minutes to cook and are sooo good! 

Here's to lots of calories and happiness!

Homemade Tortillas and Tostadas!

I told you the next blog would be about food!

Below are some homemade tortillas and tostadas I made recently.  I also made a pork and potato red chile, but the picture didn't come out too well so it won't be posted. 

Tortillas that actually came out ROUND for me!! 

I don't really have a recipe, but I put about 2 cups of flour in a bowl, then add some salt, baking powder, oil and hot water.  You mix the ingredients together until you get a dough consistency (or I call it masa).  I usually just use the palm of my hand to add the other ingredients to the flour and a measuring cup with hot water to slowly pour over the flour mix.  Then, you create small balls out of the dough and roll them out.  Then use a flat pan on medium-high heat to cook them.  I'm not great at it, but with practice I'm getting better!

To make the tostadas pictured above, I fry the tortillas to make the tostada shell.  Then, I top with mashed pinto beans (seasoned with salt and garlic salt).  You can use the canned beans or you can make them using a crock pot or pressure cooker.  Then, I topped with cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato!  

Lastly, I also made Spanish rice (pictured below).  To do this, I used brown rice.  I slightly browned the rice in a tiny bit of oil.  Then I added some chopped up green onions (the only kind I use for cooking) and celery.  Once all of those were kind of browned with the oil, I added pureed tomatoes and some water.  Then, you just cook like normal rice until it gets soft.  Mine didn't come out as soft as I wanted, but still tasted good!  

Happy eating!!

From Mind to Cyber Paper

I haven't been very active on here lately, but I hope to be back soon.  And guess with what?!  Probably food.  I have made a couple of Mexican dishes that I hope to share in the near future.

Aside from that, I've paid off my car!! (YAY!).  Next month will be the first time in my 10 years of driving that I won't be making a car payment.  A-MA-ZING.  So, now I'm contemplating pampering myself with a day at the spa; that is if I can overcome my guilt of not doing something more responsible with the money.

Then, the following month, I'm scheduled to get Lasik!!  I can't wait to see clearly without having glasses constantly attached to my face.  I just hope that my eyes won't suffer any adverse effects so my trip to Philly later that month doesn't go from exciting to miserable in 4 seconds flat.  Well, maybe not TOO exciting considering how nervous I am to present at the conference I'm attending.  Wish me luck!

Goodbye for now, but I'll be back soon!

What's on the Home Menu Tonight?

• Pork Chop (fat trimmed off, seasoned with pepper, garlic salt & onion salt)
• Fried Potato (medium size, some skin left on, seasoned with salt & pepper)
• Spinach & Onions (about a cup, seasoned with salt)

Pan-fried everything with heart-healthy olive oil. 

What's on your home menu?

Sharpen Your Tweezers for Under $5

After spending $20-30 on a good pair of tweezers, have you ever become frustrated when 3 weeks later they suddenly seem dull?  It's not practical to buy a new pair of pricey tweezers every month (at least not for me), but it is practical to sharpen them.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

           Either
100/180 grit (coarse) emery board
and 400/600 grit (fine) emery board
             OR
same grit sand paper
and a hard flat object to wrap sand paper around
(pictured below)

WHERE YOU CAN GET IT
I purchased my emery boards at Sally's Beauty Supply, but you should be able to find these at any beauty supply store near you.  My total cost was $2.20!

You can buy sand paper at any home improvement or hobby store.  The small sheets of sand paper pictured above were given to me by my brother so I don't know their cost, but I can't imagine it would surpass $5.  He said he got them at Hobby Town USA. 

WHAT YOU DO
Take your tweezers and place the tip around each side of your 100/180 grit board/paper (if they are extremely dull).  Swipe in back and forth motions several times to sharpen the end.  Then remove the tweezers and grip them shut.  Taking the closed tweezers, repeat the back and forth motions on the angled tip.  Repeat on the 400/600 grit board/paper.  If the tweezers aren't extremely dull, you can skip the 100/180 and go right to the finer grit.

Then, just tweeze as usual!  You should now be able to grasp even those fine hairs again.