Sunday, January 30, 2011

Baking - to keep warm, happy and full

On a cold, blustery winter Sunday I sometimes think there is nothing better than to spend an entire afternoon in the warmth of a kitchen, baking. Today was just the day for it too. With the temperature getting close to -35 degrees celcius, there was no way I was going to leave the house if I didn't have to. In comes one of my favorite recipes: Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins. They are simple, quick, and I somehow always seem to have most, if not all, of the ingredients on hand.

Ingredients -

1/2 cup margerine/shortening
1 egg
1 cup mashed bananas (2-3 small ones)
2 tbsp. milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
~
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips (more if desired)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Cream margerine and sugar together. Add in all other wet ingredients, including the sugar. When throughly mixed, add in the flour sifted with the baking soda and baking powder. Then mix in your desired amount of chocolate chips. Fill muffin cups 3/4 full and place in preheated oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes. Then simply let them cool 10 minutes before eating...this really is the hardest part of baking these delicious morsels!

~Makes 12-14 muffins~


I love mine slightly warm with butter smeared all over. :D



Saturday, January 29, 2011

First haul(s) of 2011!



So here's one of my first blog posts...yippee! I thought I would share some fun hauls I've had over the past few weeks. A girl always loves shopping, right? Anyways, I'm usually a *budget* shopper, but it has more to do with the fact that I love going to a drugstore, picking up some really cool new things, and going to the til only to find out it was all super cheap. Who doesn't love that! I do spend a little more on things from time to time, but there's just something about getting deals that I love. I'm not one of those people that buys things that are cheap and crappy though, I swear. If I can't use it, it's junkie looking, or just plain poor quality I refuse to spend any amount of money on it!

This was one of the main excitements of my latest haul. I love musky and baby powder like scents, and a few years ago I tried the Jovan Musk line and fell deeply in love. lol There was something about it's smell, and no matter what I did, the scents seem to last all day on me. Fast forward a few years, and I was searching in vain for a Jovan perfume called White Musk, which I soon found out isn't available in Canada (of course my luck!). I ordered some online ages ago and it become one of my favorite perfumes. When I saw this set in my local London Drugs, I knew I had to have it. Not just because of it being all different Jovan Musk's but because it was only $19.95 for 4 bottles with 30 ml's in each. But want to know the best part...when I got to the till, they only rang up for $9.99. That's like $2.50 a bottle! Compare that to like $20 for one typical Jovan Musk perfume, and you can understand my excitement, right?

The second part of the haul that I was happy about was a skin set I have been eyeing for a while. Now, it's important to believe me when I say I am ALWAYS on the lookout for products that will help me manage my out-of-control skin. I have combination skin ( it can be really dry, or really oily some days) and after suffering from some pretty serious breakouts a few years ago, I have alot of scarring and uneven skin texture that I am also trying to deal with. Sounds fun, right? lol Well to top it off, as part of one of my New Years resolutions, I am also trying to user 'greener' product - everything from cleaners, to beauty products, and even food. I have heard great stuff about this new acne line from Burt's Bees, and with it being natural, inexpensive, and targeted for my skin issues I figured, why not?!

Here's a few other things I bought the previous weekend while out on a shopping excursion with my BFF. We like to do them every few weekends and it's a great way to spend time with a buddy and get to buy some fun new things! Anyways, I was in desperate need of a new mascara so after seeing that one of my favorite actress' Zooey Deschanel is the new face of Rimmel Lash Accelerator Mascara, I was dying to try it out. I have to admit, I really like it so far. It's seperates my eyelashes very nicely, which is my biggest desire for a mascara.

Then I also had to pick up the nail polish and one of my forever holy grail products. The cute green polish (green is my favorite color by the way) from Sin Cosmetics was only $1.99! How awesome is that?! And because I use Vaseline every night as a moisturizing lip balm before bed, a girl can go through a lot of it. Now that the containers have changed for the better, and because it was only a couple of dollars, I had to pick up more of this cute little jar.

And last but not least, again while out with my BFF, I found these two cute palettes/compacts that instantly drew my eye. The pink one on the right is the adorable and simply amazing new Physicians Formula's Glow & Mood Boosting Blush in Natural. Now, I know that's a mouthful, but just look at it! It's the perfect cosmetic to come out with Valentine's day just around the corner and the fact that it suits my pale skin beautifully just makes it all the better! Then this other golden palette was a sheer luck find. We have a cosmetic line in Canada here called Gosh Cosmetics that is a branch of Boots cosmetics. Anyways, I guess they were getting rid of some stock, and they had cute eyeshadow compacts a-plenty. The best part was, that not only are the compacts and colors very functional, but the price was down right awesome. For 3 shadows and a blush I paid all of $4. Can you now tell just how exciting I find deals? :) 

Sunday, January 23, 2011

New year, new blog...

I can never stick with anything. Ask those that know me. It doesn't matter what it is, or how interested I am at first...within a few months/years I'm bored and need to move on to something else. I don't know why I'm like this; it's just been a part of me ever since I was young. lol So what does this mean for creating new years resolutions? Will I be able to stick with something long enough, or will it be just a matter of time before I want to try something else new? I used to be ashamed that I couldn't make anything last, but I guess it's just another part of myself I'm learning to accept, and even appreciate at some times. The real question is - will this blog be another reminent of my boredom, or an outlet for it?