Okay, so there’s this nasty thing that sucks up my days. It’s called time. I swear I wake up and then I go to bed. And I THINK there are a thousand things I’ve done in between those moments, but they go by so quickly I can’t be sure.
Today is Monday. It’s a new day. Today is Spring. It’s cold here in Pittsburgh, but it’s spring nonetheless. Spring reminds me of newness, of hope, of growth. I’m going to blog again. I like blogging. I like sharing. I hope you like reading.
I’ve had some coffee. I’m ready for the day. Let’s get this done!
I was reading a while ago about commercial antiperspirants and deodorants, and how they could be part of the reason for an increase in cancers of all forms. So, I tried several on the market “natural” deodorants, and decided that if I wanted to keep being social, I’d have to find a better way. Some left me just stinky, others worked for about an hour, then quit, and one gave me a horrible rash.
Using my friend Pinterest, I found a few recipes for homemade deodorants, and have found this one to be the best for me.
It is all natural, paraben-free, aluminum-free, and cheap. Well, that part is just a nice side benefit.
I made a batch the other morning, and documented my steps for you. Yes, you are totally welcome for the iPhone pics. I am sans camera for a while, so that’s what you’re getting.
- Heat some water in a pan, about 3 inches deep, depending on your sauce pan. Make a double boiler by adding a glass jar. I have found that a mason jar works best.
- Get ingredients ready:
Coconut oil, Essential Oils, Shea Butter, Corn Starch, Baking Soda
- Add 3 tablespoons of the Coconut Oil, and 3 tablespoons of the Shea Butter to the jar. Allow these to melt.
- Once they have melted, stir thoroughly and turn off heat.
- Add 3 tablespoons baking soda and 2 tablespoons corn starch and stir well. Carefully remove from water.
The glass jar may be hot.
. - Add between 5 and 10 drops of your favorite essential oils to the mix. I prefer Young Living brand, and I love just about anything with a lavender scent.
https://www.youngliving.com/en_US/products/essential-oils/singles/lavender-essential-oil- Allow mixture to cool entirely before using. I like to put it in the fridge for about an hour.
Transferred to a prettier jar for my dressing table, and poured some into a small container for when I travel.
You can store this in your bathroom, but it may be “melty” in the summer months, especially if you don’t have central air. We don’t, and so occasionally, I have to stick in back in the fridge to re-solidify.
Also, I have found that I used to get a rash under my pits when I used this for the first few days. I discovered that if I shave my pits at night, and apply the deodorant in the morning, I don’t have a rash.
Are you making your own products? Let me know your favorite in the comments.
Do you exercise? Regularly? I really feel better the days I get some form of exercise, but am not so good at doing it on the regular. I usually get started, go for a few weeks, and then something happens that gets me off course. I really like to find something that makes me feel good, both inside and out. Exercise is just as important to beauty as drinking water and wearing makeup. (well, I like the makeup part, anyway)
I found this on webmd:
“We tend to focus on the cardiovascular benefits of physical activity, and those are important. But anything that promotes healthy circulation also helps keep your skin healthy and vibrant,” says dermatologist Ellen Marmur, MD, author of Simple Skin Beauty: Every Woman’s Guide to a Lifetime of Healthy, Gorgeous Skin and associate professor of dermatology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.
For nearly a yoga, I was great at doing yoga. I have two from Bethenny Frankel – Body by Bethenny and SkinnyGirl Workout. I do them both on my iPad through Amazon Unbox. When I was working full-time, it was the perfect lunchtime workout. I didn’t get sweaty enough to require a shower, but I did get a good stretch and muscle burn.
Now that I have been home, I’ve done a few things. One was nothing. And I gained 20 pounds. Yea, that didn’t go so well. Then I tried taking the dog for long walks. I loved that. We got up to 4 miles a few times a week. Then it got cold. And it snowed. So, yea, again, that didn’t go so well. So, I started fresh for the new year. I downloaded an app for the iPad called DailyBurn. It’s free for the first 30 days, then $13 per month. You get unlimited daily workouts, and there’s a great variety. So far, I really like it. I’ve done CardioBurn, which was tough, but not too tough. Then, I tried TBT – I really like it. Their description says, “workouts in TBT are dynamic and movement-based, designed for metabolic conditioning.”
In between, I also found a fantastic workout on Amazon Unbox called The Biggest Loser Power Walk. It’s 4 segments of walking, each roughly equal to a one-mile walk. It’s so good for those days I feel like sitting on the couch because it’s snowing or raining or whatever. It makes me get up and walk.
That’s what I have been doing since the beginning of January. Let’s hope it continues throughout the year!
I have two things that I am currently doing. Well, I have about a hundred, really, but one right now that I want to discuss with you.
It is Younique 3D Fiberlash mascara. OHWOWHAVEYOUTRIEDIT? It’s amazing. I love the way my eyes look when I’m wearing it. Which, let’s face it, is just about any day that I am out of the house.
. 
That’s me in the car the other day. I was loving the look. I had on just basic face makeup, with Prim eyeliner from Younique, the 3D Fiberlash mascara, then Pompous lip liner with Loveable lip gloss over it. Super cute. If you’d like to buy the look, click on my website – www.youniqueproducts.com/susanleebeauty
So, the opportunity that I have is that you can be a part of this! For a $99 investment, you’ll get this amazing presenter’s kit:
It includes mascara, so if you are going to buy that anyway, it’s really only a $70 investment! Please contact me for more details. I’ll help you sign up and we can rock this together!!!
Maybe it’s because I’ve been home a lot with the children lately, and in need of adult conversation, but I have been talking to strangers quite a bit. I’ve done this my whole life, but it seems to be more frequent lately. As an example, I was in line at Whole Foods the other day (OMIGOSH have you been there without children? Wonderful!) when some issue was preventing the woman two people in front of me from checking out. The cashier seemed flustered, the woman was for sure irritated, but her three children were actually waiting patiently.
I could have just taken my cart and moved to another line. I could have checked Facebook on my phone. I could have grabbed a nearby for-sale magazine and flipped through it. Instead, I decided to strike up a conversation with the woman in front of me. I was curious as to why she had four bags of carrots. (Did she have a bunny farm? Horses to feed?) So I asked. Turns out, she is juicing. Mostly organic. Carrots with berries, celery, and a lot of other vegetables. She was in her 60s, she told me, and she tried a rutabaga for the first time last week. We chatted about eating healthy, about the benefits of coconut oil, how wonderful her skin looked, and how great Whole Foods was.
In just a few minutes, the issue of checking out was resolved, and the cashier moved on to the juicing woman in front of me. I’m glad I had that conversation with her. I’m glad that I learned a little about juicing, and its benefits. I’m glad that I can do that. However, it got me to thinking – is it just me, or do other people find it easy to talk to strangers? Why do I often choose to chat up a person, rather than just staring down at the phone? In addition, how do we decide, internally, which strangers are “okay” to talk to? Does it take a sense of comfort before you begin a conversation, or is it after? In this age of being so easily connected via social media, why is it often so hard to connect to a person standing right in front of us?
I decided to bring this up to my husband. He said it was a combination of factors. One being that I will talk to just about anyone. He’s right. I do that a lot. Drives him crazy, but it’s a part of me. Two, he thinks shoppers at Whole Foods are just more open to casual conversation, and three, Pittsburghers are that way, too. I wonder, though, where else it’s like this.
A friend of mine moved from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and then to Milwaukee. She says the people can be described very easily using the check out line as an analogy. Let’s begin with Philadelphia. In her view, most people there move at a fast pace. The checkout line is all business. The items are scanned, and moved right down the belt. In Pittsburgh, the cashier might pick up a bottle of ketchup and ask your opinion, and tell you her opinion while scanning items. In Milwuakee, though, the cashier will stop the line, pick up the bottle of ketchup, and have a full conversation about her cousin and her favorite ketchup. This poses the question about how geography plays a part in social happenings. Are people down south really nicer, or just as a facade? Are northerners quick to judge and slow to get to know?
I don’t actually know the answers to theses questions, as I am not a social scientist. I will, though, talk to you in line. Maybe it’s just who I am. Maybe next time you find yourself stuck in line somewhere, and decide to strike up a conversation with the stranger near you, I will be that other person, and I’ll tell you what I love about the guacamole at Whole Foods.
There are days I have a lot to say. I keep these thoughts in my head, writing sentences and coming up with titles for blog posts. And that’s where they stay. In my head. Today I decided to start again on this blog. To actually put the thoughts in my head out there. So here I am.
Where do you begin? You begin at the beginning, as they say. Where is my beginning? Right now, my beginning is a new life since I was laid-off in mid-March. After 7 years at the same company, doing the same job, I was made redundant. They no longer needed a full-time trainer. So, I began anew. I have become a full-time mom.
We have been so busy bonding and playing this Summer. We took a three week road trip down south, which included stops in Atlanta, Charleston, and Myrtle Beach. It was really wonderful. We’ve been to the zoo a few times, Sandcastle Water Park, Kennywood, and the Children’s Museum.
I find the hardest part of the days is deciding what to do first. Do I clean the kitchen? Should I be doing some cleaning each day, or pick one day and do everything? How do I keep my mind fresh and on the ball? How did my mom do this with FIVE children???
So, I hope to keep my blog a “thing” now; writing with some regularity. I would like to tell you what we are doing, what I am doing, how things are going in this, my new life. I have lots to say. Hope you’ll come visit.
Lately I feel as though there is no me time. I really enjoy being a mom, but I would also like to have some of the time back that I used to take for granted. Now, when there’s time, I do laundry, I clean the kitchen, things I don’t want to do when C is awake.
Today we had friends visiting with their 6 month old. It was so nice to hold a baby again. I can barely wait the three months until our new baby will be here. When they left, though, since C was still napping, I ran upstairs as quickly as I could to do yoga. It’s been nearly two weeks since I have taken the time to exercise and I feel so good once I’m done. They say you never regret the workout you’ve done, only the one you haven’t. I couldn’t agree more.
She’s still napping, so with any luck I can get downstairs and do some cleaning before she gets up. Maybe I’ll actually get to start (or even finish!) a project. I have a few on the fence. More details about the kitchen painting to follow.
Hope everyone is doing well. What are you doing with your free time today?
It’s cold and kinda gray in Pittsburgh right now, so I thought I would post a picture for Wordless Wednesday. This one is from our family vacation in June to North Myrtle Beach, NC.
Of course, I can’t be wordless, so really it’s picture Wednesday.
morning beach
I love to cook. It’s harder to do now that I have a toddler running through the kitchen than back in our just-me-and-hubby days, but I still love it.
Last night I was craving Mexican food. Normally, I’d go the easy route with a taco dinner, but we didn’t have any taco shells. So, I went to my favorite recipe friend, google, to see what I could find.
My search came up with this blog (thank you so much for your yummy recipe!) http://karistaskitchen.com/2011/04/01/mexican-stuffed-bell-peppers/
but then I tweaked it a little. Use what you have is a motto I’ve heard a lot, so I went with what I had. I don’t have pictures along the way, because I didn’t know I’d be blogging this. But, it was so good, I had to share. I have one pic that I tweeted just before eating the second one
Mexican Style Stuffed Peppers
4-6 bell peppers (red, yellow, orange or green)
1tblsp olive oil
1 cup diced white onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef (or chicken or turkey if you prefer)
1 pkg Old El Paso Taco Seasoning (I prefer the low sodium one)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 cup black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup taco cheese (I buy the Giant Eagle brand, but whatever you have)
1/2 cup your favorite salsa
Preheat oven to 350
Cut the tops off the peppers, then clean out the insides. Save the tops, and dice the good part of the peppers. I also cut the bottoms a little so that they stand evenly in the pan. Place in a pan in the oven. You want them to cook for about 20 mins, or until soft but still firm so that you can fill them.
Meanwhile, heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook about 5 mins, or until translucent. Add garlic and cook a few minutes more. Add the diced peppers from the tops. Cook just until slightly tender.
Add ground meat and cook thoroughly, stirring as you go. At this point, I drained some of the liquid, but I wasn’t as particular as if I were making tacos.
Combine the taco seasoning and water prior to adding to the meat mixture. Stir well. Allow this to cook a few minutes, then add the rice and beans, stirring well. Once everything is covered, add most of the cheese. Want more cheese? Add it. 1/2 cup is just an estimate.
Then add the salsa, and give it all a good stir again.
Now you’re ready to stuff the peppers. Take them out of the oven. They should be slightly firm. Fill each one with the meat, bean and rice mixture. Add a sprinkling of cheese on the top.
Bake for an additional 15 or 20 minutes.
I added Cholula on the top once they were done, but I add that to everything. They really didn’t need it.
These were so good, I had one that was leftover for Friday’s lunch, and then another for Sunday’s. Loved it.
I’m not a cook, and have never written a recipe, so if you see something that seems incorrect, please let me know. Also, please let me know if you make these!
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