Amazing Places

In some of my other posts, I have shown pictures of places that I love or would love to go too.  I love to travel and adventure so I like to save these places that I find when I am browsing on Pinterest. Today I found the most amazing place/idea for a lodge I have EVER seen.  Check it out....

What you are looking at right now is a lodge/hotel in Finland where you can sleep in a glass top igloo so that you can watch the northern lights!  Who in their life has not wondered what it would be like to sleep in an igloo??  That would be the coolest place to watch the northern lights too.  I would absolutely love to go to this place and stay for a night. It would be two dreams come true.  Sadly when I clicked on the link of this picture it did not have a name or an exact location of where it is.  But I am sure that if you did a little bit more digging you could find out.  Even if not.. now you have something new to dream about. Enjoy.

Cleaning a glass oven top-bogus!

Some of my favorite Pinterest pins are the ones about cleaning. I found this one on how to clean a glass stove top.  I have a glass stove top and  I awaiting the day that I get a new oven that is not gladd top but until then I am dealing with what I have. So when I found this tip on Pinterest I thought I should try it becaue our stove has a lot of stains and stuff I have tried to get off but never could, from the previous home owners ( who also cracked the top, I want a new oven!). 

It seemed simple enough.   Just take 2 dish towels soaked in warm water and soap and lay them over baking powder that you sprinkled over the glass top and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Then you use the wrags to wipe off the baking soda.  Here is how mine looked.

I know what you are thinking, that my oven does look cleaner.  And yes that is true.  BUT this was supposed to help get rid of burn marks, which is totally did not.  Further more this created a big mess. When I went to wipe it up and I lifted the rags, the baking soda was all balled up and it went all over my floor. It was so annoying! My husband literally looked at me and said asked why I was making such a mess.  This is a totally BOGUS cleaning tip.  It is time consuming, messy, and it does not do a better job than just spraying some good old 409 and wiping it down.  I would NOT recommend this for anyone that has a glass top.  It is lame. Just stick with what ever technique you have already.

Memes

Lets talk about all of those memes out there on Pinterest.  Some of them really make me laugh.  This post is dedicated to the ever popular meme.  Behold some my most favorite...

I mean really.. we are all guilty of thinking... and doing this! No Shame!

This one needs no explanation. 

I love it

The last one I will share in this post is by far one of my very most favorite.  First, because I love the old Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and second because I own a couple North Face jackets.  So naturally when I saw this meme I fell in love...

So there they are some of my favorite memes.  There are so many of them out there that I am sure I will do another post that is an ode to memes some time in the future.  Feel free to share with me some of the memes that you enjoy, I would love to see them! But keep 'em clean please!

Spices!

I was so excited when I saw this picture.  One of my biggest complaints about cooking is that I have no idea what spices work well together or with what foods they work with.  I try and "experiment" and sometimes it turns out okay but most of the time it's a total disaster.  I found this chart on Pinterest and I have followed some of the suggestions on it and I love it! So I am passing it on to all of you because seriously it is a big help in the kitchen!  Enjoy!

Baked Asparagus

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I did pretty well this year and did not feel like I wanted to burst after it was all said and done.  This year my husband and I went over to his moms house and for the first time in the 4 years we have been married she called and asked me to bring something.  It was a big deal for me and I wanted to make sure to bring something super YUMMY.  So I browsed through my Pinterest boards and was inspired by...baked asparagus  I thought that would be the perfect thing and that it would look vibrant next to all the orange and brown foods.. you know carrots, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes stuffing's.

Unfortunately I was in such a hurry Thanksgiving morning and so strapped for time that I TOTALLY spaced taking pictures and everything.  So I am SO sorry but you will just have to take my word for it. The pictures used are not my own here but still they are exactly what I did.

Before getting started I looked at a few different versions of this recipe.  The one I have posted on Pinterest says bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes.  I ended up doing 425 degrees for 6 minutes. Like I said I was on a time crunch and every minute counted!

I bought the thinnest bunch that I could find because I personally do not like thick asparagus.  I washed it then chopped off the bottoms and then placed them in a Ziploc bag.

Some of the recipes say to just drizzle but I wanted to coat mine in my seasonings.  I used a gallon size bag and I prefer the slider bag like this picture is of.  I just feel it is more secure.  I placed the asparagus inside then I poured in some olive oil, minced garlic then salt and pepper.  I sealed the bag and then placed it on my counter and rolled my hand over it, making the asparagus roll around in the seasonings.  

Then I unzipped my bag and spread the asparagus evenly on my cookie sheet with parchment paper ( this is a must , it made clean up so much easier).  Then of course I popped it in the oven.

at minute 5 I opened my over pulled out the tray and sprinkled parmesan cheese over the asparagus then popped it back in for another minute. 

And even though this is not my picture I can honestly say that they really did look this green and delicious! 

Actually mine looked yummier than this.. they were a very bright green.  And when I took it over to my mother in laws it was a hit with almost every spear eaten and people were wanting to know the recipe.

Usually making asparagus is hard for me, I always over cook it so it is droopy and soggy but this recipe was amazing because I finally cooked a perfect textured asparagus.  They still had a nice crunch but were not raw and they tasted great! I would recommend this to everybody!

Amazing Places

One of my favorite things to see people post on Pinterest are beautiful pictures of different places in the world.  One of my boards that I have titled " Our beautiful world" is dedicated to this.  Recently I found this amazing photo of Gimmelwald, Switzerland. It is absolutely stunning.  I have been to Gimmelwald and it is such a beautiful place.  It, like many other cities in Switzerland, is high up in the alps and you reach it  by train, gondolas, or hiking.  This city in particular you actually take a train, then a bus then a gondola.  We did that and then hiked back down.  It was SO beautiful.  Honestly one of the most stunning places I have been, and this photo really expresses how this little town truly is.  Enjoy it.

Baking Eggs

Eggs anyone?  I Saw on pinterest that you can bake eggs in muffin tins at 350 degrees for fifteen minutes. So I tried it out.  I was not really sure how they would turn out, but honestly I loved them! SO EASY! and so great for egg sandwhiches, or if you are making pancakes and want some eggs, forget about the griddle, the smoke and the smell of eggs in your hours.  JUST BAKE THEM!

I greased my pan with Pam.  Cracked my eggs into the muffin cups and seasoned them...

 (adding things like spinach, bacon bits and other things would really make these even better)

I popped them in my oven for 15 min.

and

TADA!

Seriously everyone needs to try this! For a big breakfast for the whole family this is a great way to cook eggs. It lets you multi task for making pancakes, waffles, bacon, mixing juice, or setting the table! They also save for up to a week. I made this last night and re-heated one this morning and put it on my toast. Super yummy. This is a perfect recipe for those special breakfast mornings and to keep on hand for later in the wee! It gets a full  A+ !

La Catrina

I know its after Halloween but still I am going to post this.  I saw on Pinterest the coolest way paint your face.  It is called La Catrina or Sugar Skull.  In Mexico they celebrate the Day of the Dead not Halloween and it is really popular to paint your face like this.

 When I saw it on Pinterest I had to try it.  I had seen the La Catrina figurines when I was in Mexico, but I had never seen some one paint there face like it.  I looked at a lot of pictures before deciding on a style and I watched a really helpful you tube video as well.

This really helped me out as far as having a basic idea of how to apply and design.

At first I went out and just bought your typical Halloween face make up that you would get from a Halloween store.  I got the white creme make up to make you look really pale and then I got the black creme make up.  I got a few different colors in the crayon style applicator of face paint make up.  I thought this would all be great. It was what I had used before to make myself look like a witch or a zombie for Halloween   However when I got started on this project using this make up, it turned out totally disastrous!

The creme make up was not going on smooth at all and it dried super quick! It would crack when I smiled and it looked really sheer in spots and heavy in others.  I tried my best to keep going and make it work with the other make up but I just ran into problem after problem.  I could not make the designs with any of the Halloween store make up.  My black eyeliner pencil did not go on well at all.

I was SO frustrated and really put out about it.  So I washed it all off, jumped in my car and ran to Walmart.  I bought a Cover Girl liquid foundation in the absolute palest color I could find.  I bought Wet N Wild creme make up pencils in different colors.  I bought some orange creme eye shadow and basically just got normal make up but in crazy colors.  Then I went and I bought some white powder.  Yes white.  If you go to Hot Topic you can by a compact of face make up just like you would get a compact of face make up at the grocery store, in your skin tone, but at Hot Topic you can get it in stark white.

So I went home and I used wedges to put on the Cover Girl liquid concealer.  I put it all over my face and my neck.  Then I took my Hot Topic white powder and I applied that all over my face and neck.  In the exact way you would apply your daily foundation.  Since I was using normal make up this time I did not worry about avoiding my eye area. I went right over it.  I followed the same steps as in the video I shared  I just used everyday make up instead.  I used creme eye liner to line my lids and around my orbital area then filled it in with a creme black eye shadow. It worked so much better. Then for fun I put gold shimmer powder on top for dimension.  After I got all of that on I just stared at picture after picture and referred to that youtube video and just got creative with application.  All I used where different colored creme eye shadows and eye liners.  It worked out GREAT.  I would have to constantly wipe off my eye liner pencils because the white powder would come off on it but that was fine.  I should have sharpened the pencils  more, it would have helped keep everything more defined and smooth looking.

This whole process took me an hour and a half because I was not sure how I wanted to do the designs and I kept staring at pictures.  In the end this is what it ended up looking like.

I put on fake eyelashes too, they really topped this look off.  Again all I used was normal make up aside and from the Hot Topic white face powder compact, I got everything at Walmart.  Once I got going I just played around and went over lines with different colors to add dimension.  I loved this project.  I wore it to school for Halloween and it got a lot of attention and compliments.  HOWEVER in my opinion do not use the typical Halloween make up and  brushes.  They did not work AT ALL!! Do what I did and just use all the fun crazy colors of make up at your local grocery store.

Quick Dry Nails

How many of us have painted our finger nails thought they were dry and then used our hand and totally ruined the polish?? I like to paint my nails but I have having to find that moment where I am going to be doing nothing for half hour so that I can wait for them to dry.  Even after they are "dry" I am still nervous that I am going to ruin them.  Well I have seen this all over Pinterest and now I am going to try it.  Dunking your hands in ice cold water right after you paint your nails. If you leave them in for 3 minutes the nails are supposed to be dry.  I am pretty skeptical but lets check it out...

OKAY so there is NO WAY I could have kept my hand in that water for 3 minutes. My fingers were burning from pain! Way to cold. I made it about 1 minute.  I pulled my hand out and low and behold my nails were not dry.  They were not totally wet but for sure smudge-able.  Here is a picture.

I think that it could work if you left your hand in for the full 3 minutes.  But seriously I do not know how or why you would endure that pain just to dry your nails. I am giving this a C grade.

halloween ghosts!

With halloween being in a couple of weeks I decided to do a  DIY ghost off of pinterest.  These were SO EASY and get a definate A.  It is funny because I have yet to give something a bad review off of pinterest! So far so good! So I forgot to take pictures of each step, so this will just be a final product picture but I will tell you what I did.

1. bought stiragoam manican heads from the local thrift store.  You could also use just a roud stirafoam ball from the craft store .They are like $2.00.

2. Bought a wooden dowl also from the craft store.  You could use a stirdy stick to and that would be free.

3. Got some white Sheets.

4. Stuck the dowl in the stirafoam head, so you  have a ball on a stick basically.

5. Stick that into the ground.

6. drape the white sheet over top and I just used a string to tie around the neck so you had a little outline of a body not just a straight sheet.

7. repeated this 3 times.

8. tied the sheets together so it looks like they are holding hands.

pinterest music

check it out:

 music loved by fellow pinners....  I know it is funny but pinterest is a GREAT place to expose your self to different styles of music and fall inlove with them.


Meet Esperanza Spaulding

Cleaning with Vinegar, essential oils AND the best broom/mop by rubbermaid

 I have seen it all over pinterest.  The many uses of vinegar.   For a lot of us, cleaning with vinegar may be a no brainer.  My mom always used apple cider vinegar to clean our wood floors growing up.  Still some of you may be shy because we all know that vinegar has a very pungent smell and you may not like it.  So I am going to share with you a secret that I use.  I put essential oils in my vinegar water to combat that vinegar smell.   Now vinegar itself is an amazing all natural cleaning product, with an almost infinate shelf life.  It is a great deoderizer for smells because the natural enzymes break down the bacterias or enzymes in bad odors.  Seriously click here to read about why vinegar is an all purpose cleaner that can save you a bundle because you do not need to go buy all of the name brands.    Also with our puppy kya, who you got to see in last post, using vinegar on our floors helped potty train her because it destroys the stuff in their urine that makes them want to keep peeing in the same spot. 

But why the essential oils? Well for one thing it leaves my house smelling like the oils and not the vinegar, even after it has dried.  It is fresh and clean!  And secondly essential oils themselves have amazing anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties.  I have used a lot of brands and my choice brand is doTERRA essential oils.  While one bottle alone can be somewhat pricey all you need is on drop.  I know it is crazy but seriously.  Just one drop. And they also have an infinate shelf life.  To save money I signed up for wholesale which of course is great.  They are all natural and totally safe even for your young kids.  Check out more about doterra  here.

On to the post then! 

So I use Kroger brand white vinegar and the essential oils I  used today were cassia and wild orange for a citris spice smell for fall.  Also cassia is a strong antibacterial.  I filled up my sink just dumped in one glug of vinegar and a couple drops ( one will do the trick I just get product happy ) of each oil.

I use a rubbermaid micro fiber mop and broom that are itnerchangable. In my other pics you will see how it works.  I prefer this and the broom head because they pick up dust, crumbs and animal hair better then a normal mop or broom because you are not sweeping sending a lot of the stuff into the air, you just push it  along and it creates friction that makes it all stic to the micro fiber.  And I can take these and throw them in the washer for re-use.  I love it and my house feels much cleaner since I  have used this and ditched the traditional broom and mop.

drop it in, and let is soak

wring it out.  I re-soak an wring out about 3 times when I mop my floor.

attatch and mop.  Do not mind the little microfiber slippers I wear when I mop.  Silly looking but they help clean and do not leave footprints on my floor.  Its like towels for eat foot to gently dry. I picked them up at walmart for 5 bucks, and they ar also machine washable.   So once attatched I just mopped away. 

When I am finished my floor shines and there is literally no dust thanks to this awesome mop and the broom and they are VERY clean.  My house smells great long afterward.  When I get home from work 6 hours afterI have done this it still smells like I  just mopped.  And not like the vinegar, it smells like my essential oils.  Using the vinegar saves me money on your normal brand cleaning products, its safe and it is not just masking odors but breaking them down and getting rid of them. 

For cleaning floors I give vinegar a big A.  Again this was not new to me, using vinegar is a great home cleaner but I like my method better than just straight vinegar because you get a better odor with essential oils. 

And for those of you who are wondering what the broom attatchment looks like on my mop here is a picture of is and how it velcros on.  The blue mop head attatches the same way.  This products alone gets a big A as well.  Esepecially if you have indoor pets that shed, this mop/broom is a MUST have.  I picked mine up at home depoit for around 25.00 bucks.

 

DIY Microdermabrasion

Okay so I am sitting here thinking I need to wash my face and get ready for bed and I thought, " hmm I should try one of those DIY skin care posts I have up."  Now when it comes to the DIY skin cares I might be a little picky seeing as skin is my thing, being licensed master aesthetician who works at a medspa and all =).  SO here is the post that is circulating around the pinterest site.

First, if you do not know what a microdermabrasion is click here.You can see at the top is has the instructions.  If we are  being honest I do not exactly know how much 3 parts and 1 parts is.  Does that mean 3 cups to 1 cup??  So I  just guessed, and mixed it up until it was a good paste.

  Now in a spa when you get a micro you cleanse your face first so I just used my favorite cleanser that I have ( side note: Sanitas is one of the best skin care brands and have used and get great results on myself and clients from it).

After I made it I pasted it all over my face like so.. by the way my husband was laughing when he walked in the kitchen and saw me doing all of this, I think he thinks me crazy =)

So I really was not expecting much from this..however my skin actually feels really soft right now and has this very gentle tingle that feels nice.  It was a little hard to get off but thats okay.  My skin has a nice glow to it...

SO I think I am going to give this popular pin an A, but re-title it "Great at home facial scrub".  This is something you could do once or twice a week for the soul purpose of just buffing off any dead skin.  I do not think the baking soda will really do a lot in helping with serious acne or anti aging but for a basic skin scrub it gives your skin a nice smooth finish and glow, its a great DIY.  .  Just make sure to moisturize when you are done!  OH and one more thing.. maybe do not make as much as me unless you have a big group of girls... I definitely made to much.  I wonder if I can save it though. Hmm...

The Purpose..

Welcome fellow Pinners!!  I have created this blog in an attempt to really sort through all the amazing things I find on Pinterest and actually try them to see which ones really work.  If you are like me you see something that is potentially a great idea and pin it right away... but that's as far as it goes. =)  SO each week I will be picking something off of one of my boards from Pinterest and actually doing it! Can you believe it?  Depending on how easy each project is I may do a couple a week.  I will be showing pictures and videos of everything and then giving each one a grade.  I hope you will all follow me and will find this blog helpful to not only finding great ideas, but great ideas that work!  Stay posted for my first project this week!