Can't Hang With the Hair Gang, Pt. 1

Do I think that title is corny? Yes. Did I stick with it because it rhymed and I came up with it at 2 am yesterday morning? Yes. Are we all ready to move forward? YES. In T-minus two days I'm jumping off the semi-natural hair train. I seriously can't hang. I am not made to personally deal with this kind of volume and upkeep. I think a big reason for jumping ship, for me, is because I currently live in the middle of nowhere, Oregon. It's a nice town, don't get me wrong. Cute coffee shops, friendly residents, quaint small business boutiques. All very ideal and vaguely hipster. But what isn't included in this quaintness are ethnic hairdressers. Add to this the bat shit crazy humidity and lack of sufficient hair taming products and you end up with me. An unhappy, semi-natural girl who's hair no longer curls, but instead becomes irrevocably and unforgivably frizzy. As rapper Chief Keef is so popularly quoted for saying, "That's that shit I don't like!" That is my depth of feeling about the situation, exclamation point included. And so, I am headed back to my OG ways of getting relaxers. Because, truth be told, I'm just a straight haired kind of gal. Especially if I'm going to have to do my hair myself in Oregon. Dealing with unkempt frizziness is added stress I don't need as a graduate student. I will miss, however, the versatility of curly hair during swimming season. Upside, I get to have a new hair cut! Below are some of the options I am considering, all variations on bobs. I'll make a video later this week to show you all the results. Salud!

Where I like to fancy my hair length to be at:
 

If my hair needs to be cut (Heaven forbid):

  

If my hair is surprisingly long (fingers crossed):
  

Sweaters? SWEATERS!

I don't know if I have ever mentioned this before, but I love me a good sweater. The right fit, length, color and thickness. Ugh, love love love. I die. Now, for more coherent English. Currently, I am DYING over men's sweaters, size small. The current women's trend in "boyfriend" jeans/sweaters/etc pushed me into the realm of wearing actual men's sweaters. If you're going to wear an approximation, why not wear the real thing? Especially because a lot of time women's "boyfriend" sweaters taper in weird ways or are tight in ways that a true boyfriend's sweater wouldn't be. So I wear a men's small. My favorites so far come from Gap and Target, they have these really soft cotton pullovers that go great with scarves and boots. Recently, I was at Urban Outfitters and came across these gems. I don't trust their sizing, so I hesitate to order them, but I die nevertheless. Check it!

American Redux Sweater


It's so American! I love flag paraphernalia. There is no way this could have been passed over on my to die for list.
http://urbout.co/T6pUhC

Sweaters for All My Friends Intarsia Pullover

That gnome is SO cute. How fun would this sweater be to wear!?
http://urbout.co/R6KmBs

 O'Hanlon Mills Intarsia Ski Sweater

This sweater I am intrigued by because it is very, very manly. This is true man sweater territory. The others have an arguably feminine appeal (at least in my book), a means to fall into the territory of a woman simply wearing a sweater. But this last one...whole new level.
http://urbout.co/T6pEiE

Check out the whole sweater page. It's worth your time if you're truly inclined to forge into man sweater territory.
http://urbout.co/SL91bj

Lovin' It Monday

The title doesn't rhyme at all, but that doesn't change the fact that I wanted to share some things I am currently loving with you all. I was perusing Urban Outfitters website, in hopes of their winter dress collection being available for preview--it was not. Nevertheless, I did come across some totes cute items that I would LOVE to add to my wardrobe. In no particular order:

1. Pins and Needles Tulle Overlay Halter Dress

       

How CUTE is this dress!? I love the peachy-rose-nude coloring of the tulle. Plus the overall conceptual design of having it layered over the white strapless bodice gives the sweet and girly essence of the pale tulle some edge. Just a little bit of edge though, which provides an overall  nice, though subtle, contrast. It's so girly, I think it would be super refreshing to wear this to a Christmas party and then all through spring to dates and picnics and cutesy things of that nature. Super adore this.
bitly.com/WUq2os

2. Wooden Ships Vancouver Ear Warmer

     

I can tell you now, the only reason I am even aware of these ear warmers is because I recently bought a bike and use it as my main form of transportation. It is VERY nippy at 8am and my ears would very much appreciate a cover like this. What I like about these isn't the $42 dollar price tag (I'm going to go ahead and say it: outlandish), but the rich colors they come in and the fact that they are knit. What can I say? I think accessories like this become WAY cuter when knit. How boring would this be if it was just a strip of fabric!?

http://bitly.com/S6yTND

3. MINKPINK Queens Sweater Dress

          

Animal Print. I don't think I need to go further in my explanation of why I love this. Snooks would agree. But, for the sake of those of you who aren't die hard animal print lovers, I will continue on. Not only is the animal print factor amazing, but I love that it is a sweater dress. Sweater dresses are fall staples because they go so deliciously well with, you already know, leggings and boots. Throw some boot socks in to-boot and you just became an instant fashionista. AND you'll be way more put together than the girl in sweats and Uggs, yet just as comfortable. I die. I will admit that I don't actually like the u-back detail. I much prefer cleavage in the front than the back, but your back being cold is a small price to pay for all this cuteness, no?

http://urbout.co/U97EC7

4. Silence & Noise Faux Fur Bomber Jacket

     

There is a vague something I like about this jacket, but I love how they outfitted this model it in. The hair that may not have been washed in a couple of days, the short shorts, the see-through leggings. It's all very...risque and a wee bit, dare I say, sleazy. But it's pulled together sharply and that's what I appreciate.

http://urbout.co/S5b7lZ

Go check all these goods and more out at http://www.urbanoutfitters.com. Overpriced, but definitely worth it; especially if you catch a sale! Salud!

Ps~ Sorry for the blurry pictures. UO's fault, not mine.

Clean Split Pea Soup Review

Since moving to Oregon and enduring their early onset of fall, I have decided that I like to meal replace once a day with soup. It has also been WAY too long since I used one of the recipes from The Gracious Pantry. To remedy the latter and adhere with the former, I decided to make Clean Split Pea Soup today. This is what the recipe looks like:


Ingredients
8 cups veggie broth
3 cups dry split peas
4 large carrots, sliced
4 stalks celery, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
2 tsp. celery seed
1 tbsp. garlic powder
1 tbsp. onion powder
1 tbsp olive oil


The recipe is given to make approximately 5 quarts, but I have no storage space so I cut everything down to, give or take, 1/3 of what it called for. I also don't like celery seed. I think this is a common ingredient in split pea soups and may be the reason I haven't eaten any in years. If you like the traditional taste then by all means keep it in there. I also added some cubed ham to this dish mainly for the protein and because I have never eaten split pea soup without ham. I wasn't ready to go THAT rogue. One day! All in all, this recipe was DELICIOUS. The flavors were very low-key, but blended together nicely. In addition, it was super simple to make and can be cooked on the stove-top or in a crock pot. Tiffany describes this recipe as "a quick, go-to soup recipe for a busy, cold and blustery weeknight" and I think she is spot on.

Salud!

Santa Fe Turkey Stuffed Peppers Review

I was looking up recipes the other day because I FINALLY got tired of eating spaghetti and top ramen. I landed on this new website called Gina's Skinny Recipes. The recipes, as the name notes, are all about making delicious dishes everyone loves using healthier alternatives. I decided to test run the Santa Fe Turkey Stuffed Peppers. This is what the recipe looked like:

For the filling:

1/2 lb 99% lean ground turkey chicken

3/4 cups canned black beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cups frozen corn

1 hot pickled fresh serrano pepper, chopped (or jalepeño) more to taste

1 large diced tomato

1 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp chopped onion

2 tbsp chopped cilantro, plus more for garnish

1 tsp cumin

kosher salt to taste

For the peppers:

3 red [orange & yellow] bell peppers, cut in half lengthwise

1/3 cup reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth water

9 tbsp shredded reduced-fat Sargento Monterey Jack cheese

1 tbsp chopped scallions, for garnish

I feel like I didn't make too many changes to this recipe. I'm not the biggest fan of ground turkey. Of course, I only made this decision after made my family to switch from ground beef; now they love ground turkey and I'm just sol. But, because I was cooking for myself, I swapped the turkey for chicken. I love ground chicken. Overall, the peppers were quite tasty. They were a really nice alternative to normal stuffed green peppers. I also liked the use of the colored bell peppers as opposed to green bell peppers because the colored ones are sweeter and lend themselves more to recipes that don't have overpowering other flavors. Overall I think the recipe is definitely worth trying. Especially if you're a person who usually doesn't normally like stuffed bell peppers.

Salud!

Fitness Update

There are two months during the year that I struggle the most with staying motivated, staying fit and eating like I haven't lost my mind. August and December. And let me just say, August 2012 was no different. I didn't adhere to any kind of solid fitness regime over the summer, but August, especially these past two weeks, have been ridiculous. I think it has a lot to do with finally having access to the junk food I love and thereby hoarding it all into my system while simultaneously not exercising because I "don't" have a gym membership anymore. Regardless, there always comes a day when it all catches up to you. First there are little signs such as being extra lethargic, having no energy, being able to eat giant burritos in their entirety. But one day it culminates with your body, or at least my body, saying "Hey! I feel like shit over here! Get it together!" Today was that day for me. So, naturally, I tied up my hair, laced up my running shoes and headed over to my temporary gym. I got on the treadmill, ran for 15 minutes and then honestly felt like I was going to hurl. That is the major downside of falling off the fitness wagon; getting back on the wagon. It is never easy and every time I seriously question WHY do I let myself go on eating crap and not exercising for so long. It is a question that may never be answered. Regardless, here I go headlong into my (mostly) healthy ways again. Salud!

Back in Action/ Kale & Banana Smoothie Review

So I am a bold faced liar seeing as zero posts about my life occurred during my summer position. Never fear, however, because I am here to get back to my roots with a food review!!! I am super excited about this review because I have been thinking about trying a kale smoothie for over a year now and, alas, it has come to fruition! I picked up the original recipe from here, but of course I made changes as I went along.


1 banana (I froze it)
2 cups chopped kale (I didn't measure; next time I will)
1/2 cup light unsweetened soy milk 1/4 cup low fat milk (what I had on hand)
1 tablespoon flax seeds
1 teaspoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon honey (I misread the teaspoon part)
Then I added:
2 tablespoon Greek yogurt
1/2 cup strawberries

In retrospect, I am unsure why I went so rogue with this recipe. I think there was another recipe I viewed and then just combined the ingredients. I do not think the strawberries were necessary, per se, and the next time I make it I will definitely use a teaspoon (vs tablespoon *forehead slap*) of honey. That being said, this smoothie turned out to be particularly enjoyable. My mother said she could still taste the kale, but I personally did not find the kale taste to be prominent or overwhelming. This is coming from a girl who does not usually like kale because of its bitterness. I think this is an excellent recipe to play around with according to what you want to taste in your smoothie. The next time I make this I might add kiwi instead of strawberries, for example. Overall, I really enjoyed the outcome. Definitely a 5 star recipe. I hope you all take the time to try it. Salud!