Charcoal and Silver Manicure

I had glitter on all of my nails for NYE. It takes quite some time and effort to remove from your nails. I was going to do a pale pink manicure after removing my festive nails. However, I couldn't help myself with the glitter. I decided to only polish two nails with glitter. I highlighted the rings fingers with a silver glitter and used charcoal under the glitter and on the rest of my nails.

I generally always use Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in clear for a bottom and top coat. I did that this time with two coats of Ulta Smoke Screen on each nail. I put two coats of Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty on each ring finger.

Business Casual for 2012

Many office jobs have business casual policies assigned to their dress codes. It is imperative to have a few key pieces to work with on a daily basis. These include:

-Well tailored pants
-Neutral blazers
-Crisp collared shirts
-Neutral pumps

These pieces can be used in a variety of combinations. It is important to have high quality classic items in your rotation. Then, you can spice them up with a pop of color or a bold jewelry piece. You can pick your favorite neutral or put several in the rotation. I prefer a black, white and gray palette. Navy, beige and cream colors also work well as a classic base. The picture has classic pieces that can work in a variety of ways.

Pinspiration

Pinterest is one of the most addicting websites that I have ever joined. There are so many recipes that I want to make, projects that I want to complete and looks that I want to try out. I recently tried a cheddar ale soup that I saw on pinterest. It was absolutely delicious.

You can find the original at Tracey's Culinary Adventure's. Check it out for her homemade crouton recipe. I didn't have enough cheddar cheese on hand so I mixed cheddar and mozzarella. I also did not have a pale ale on hand. I used Thirsty Dog's 12 Dogs of Christmas Ale. It added a subtle flavor to the soup. Also, I added a spoonful of sour cream before I served the soup.

Here is her recipe:


6 thick-cut bacon slices, cut into 1/2 to 1-inch pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pale ale 
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups milk (I used whole)
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/4 lb sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
croutons (optional, for garnish) 

Set a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crisp, stirring occasionally, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Drain all about 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat in the pot.

Add the butter and give it a minute to melt, then mix in the onion, carrots and celery. Cover the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened. Add the garlic, cooking just until fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the veggies and cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently (you're just trying to get the raw flour flavor cooked off). Add the beer and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the mixture forms a thick paste, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in the Worcestershire sauce, milk and chicken broth until smooth. Increase the heat to medium-high and let the soup come to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low and allow it to continue simmering for 10-12 minutes. Turn off the heat under the pot and puree the soup with an immersion blender (or, if you don't have one, in a traditional blender - you'll probably want to do it in 2 batches.)

Set the pan over medium-low heat and, stirring constantly, add the cheese a little at a time. Be careful not to allow the soup to boil. Continue until you've added all of the cheese and the soup is smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve garnished with the bacon and croutons. 

Serves 6

Chocolate Cookie Recipe

These are super easy and delicious chocolate cookies. You only need four ingredients. They take less than twenty minutes from start to finish. Also, you can add different candies to change the flavors. I used m&m's for this batch. I have used mint chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and chocolate chips in the past. They have all been fantastic.

Ingredients:
One box of chocolate fudge cake mix
Two large eggs
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
1 cup of m&m's (or candy of your choice)

Mix all ingredients in large bowl, place teaspoonfuls of batter on cookie sheet, bake for 10-12 minutes.

NYE Manicure

Sparkly everything is a must on New Year's Eve. It's the time of the year when you can put glitter on everything and not feel like you are six years old. I am wearing a simple and fun manicure this NYE. I couldn't decide between gold and silver so I went with both.

The dress I am wearing has gold sequins on it. Therefore, I am keeping my jewelry very minimal. I decided to bring a little more sparkle to my outfit with my manicure.

I used four colors (l to r):

Essie - Fiji

Sally Hansen - Shall We Dance?

Sinful Colors Professional - Paris

Sinful Colors Professional - Queen of Beauty

Two coats of fiji, a top coat of Shall We Dance? and then a coat each of the glitter.

Have a great time ringing in the new year!

Relationship Ridiculousness

I started a blog a few years ago to share some funny and crazy relationship stories from experiences throughout the years. I have so many more that I can share. I will be posting some stories that will hopefully be helpful to see warning signs of things that are NOT ideal in a relationship; giving advice on who not to date and what not to do. I'm not an expert, but I think you can gain some insight through the stories of the ridiculous situations in which my friends have been involved. So, are you attracting the lunatics? Are they everywhere you go? You're not the only one. Here is the first story:

Seemingly Incestual Relations to any Normal Human

So the first topic I am going to tackle is "men who are more in love with female family members." I have my own personal story of mommy titty sucking at the age of 21, but we'll get to that. First, a good friend of mine, we'll call her unlucky in love Lucy (UILL), has more stories of horror with men than any other human you will ever meet. These are her words:

"It’s safe to say that I am completely self-destructive. While the notion stands true in pretty much every aspect of my life, the way I deal with men is at the top of the list."

Therefore, her advice would not be appropriate, practical or helpful to anyone because she frequently makes horrific decisions with men. Her experiences, however, do provide us with a huge vat of knowledge on what the hell not to do. Here, she compiles a list of what are appropiate/inappropriate relations between a brother and sister. If UILL sounds extra disturbed or perturbed, it's because these situations actually happened to her.

Read on:

Men who are more in love with female family members

This at first, may seem to cross the line. It is important for a guy to appreciate and respect his mother/sister/cousin/niece/grandmother, etc. This story is not being insensitive to family and it is not a jealous rage. The appropriate limits should not be breached. This does not include actual incestuous behavior – one would hope. Only the weird co-dependence that seems to grow on some obsessive compulsive individuals.

(Note: this is designed as a what not to do; if your man is doing this, he is a lunatic)

Boys:
- It is ok to grab dinner with your sister occasionally.
It is not ok to go with your sister to restaurants on every normal person date night that you have free. Especially when you have a girlfriend.
- It is ok to be angry if your girlfriend may have offended your sister (I don't agree...continue on, UILL)
It is not ok to give your girlfriend the silent treatment because your sister whined that she was not told “happy birthday”
p.s. your sister is fucking crazy… she is 28 years old… not 6.
and it's really not ok to spring on your girlfriend the day of the family reunion, that this event is actually a joint celebration of your sister's birthday...a fact you failed to mention (she didn't even know it was the birthday, yikes)
To add to that, it is really, really inappropriate to continue to bring up this disasterous event that turned into a four day fight involving his parents, months later
- It is ok to grab ice cream with your girlfriend and your sister on a hot boring summer day
It is not ok for your sister to put her head on your shoulder while your girlfriend stands behind staring at the menu thinking she is in West Virginia.
-It is never, I repeat never, okay for you to divulge your girlfriends sexual history to your sister. Ever. If you must, talk to your buddies. Nothing good can come from this inter-familial information diarhhea. Especially when your sister is a virgin social retard that has not had a boyfriend for the last 4 years and you have been her only date for the last 2 years.

Men should follow these relatively simple guidelines to experience smooth sailing in the event of a serious relationship. Girls – as can be assumed from some of these examples – this relationship lasted far too long.

What I think my faithful friend is trying to say is: unless they're Angelina and James, this behavior just doesn't fly.

Christmas Cocktail

I usually make pomegranate martinis for an annual holiday party. I decided to change it up a bit this year and make spiked apple cider. It is so delicious that I had to share the recipe.

Spiked apple cider

1.5 ounces Laird's Apple Jack
6 ounces apple cider
pinch of cinnamon
splash of Pinnacle whipped cream vodka

Place cinnamon, apple jack and vodka in the bottom of a mug. Pour hot cider on top of this mixture. Enjoy!

Optional: put cinnamon sticks in pot when heating cider rather than ground cinnamon in mug, top with a dollop of whipped cream