Beauty Divine

What is it about fall that makes us all want soup? I wasted two full days trying to make homemade chicken noodle soup that failed. The second day, I even gave myself a pep-talk. “It’s just soup. You can do this.” But the pep-talk was not enough to make my soup more flavorful. It stunk both times. So I broke down and finally just bought packaged soup from the store and it was delicious.

So as much as I would love to give you a fabulous fall soup recipe, I won’t. I’m going to give you a recipe that is delicious, pretty to look at, and easy -except for the fact that it makes you shiver in the cold a little to use the grill. But I just give that job to my husband and it’s all good.

Chicken Fajitas
This is the recipe that they use at Roja Mexican Grill. They are amazing! (And they look really special and colorful in case you have people over that you want to impress! – what soup can do that, right?)

Ingredients (for 2-4 people)
*Bell Peppers – Don’t be scared. These are not spicy. They are sweet. You’ll need one green, one red, and one yellow pepper. Sometimes they come packaged together that way. Nice. Or if you’re really talented you can grow them yourself and save five bucks.
*One white onion
*Tortillas
*Mozzarella or Mont. Jack cheese, shredded
*Canola oil (healthier than vegetable oil)
*3-4 grilled chicken tenderloins/breasts (shiver in the cold part)

Part one – The chicken.
-Really season up your chicken before you grill it. Bare chicken is nasty. It just is. We use garlic powder and sometimes red/green pepper seasoning.
-Grill it (or have nearest man grill it) until the outside gets little black lines and the inside is no longer pink.
-Chop it into bite-size strips/pieces when done.

Part two – The junk.
-Chop your onion and pepper into strips. (Peel the outer skin off the onion first. Cut out the seedy middle of the peppers and throw it away.)
-Throw them into a skillet with a little bit of canola oil. Just enough to get the pieces wet, but not swimming. Turn stove to medium-low heat and saute (move around in the sizzling oil) until the onions are translucent and the peppers are not so crunchy. Try not to let them brown.
-Drain left over oil when done.
-Shred some cheese. Block cheese is at least a dollar cheaper than already shredded. And you get arm muscles. But make sure you rinse cheese grater right away or the cheese will be stuck there forever. Trust me.

Part three – The final product.
-Warm your tortillas in the microwave for twenty seconds to soften them.
-Pile on chicken, peppers, onions, and cheese. Roll it up and eat!

That’s it! Oh and we usually get chips and salsa/guacamole to go with them.
As Rachel Ray says…yum-o!!

"Beauty Divine" – Brandon Heath
Don't Get Comfortable

Does it ever catch your eye?
Beauty divine.
In an old man’s tears, a little girl’s smile.
It feels like a song
One that belongs to you

Stop making sense
Your weakest defense
Just quiet your mind
Let the world unwind

See we’re not alone
He makes himself known
In time, His own time

So breathe, life will surprise you
Just be, it’s what the world denies you
You see, the truth is all around you
Believe

This is the song that inspired the title to this blog. I love this song for the way it slows down the fast pace of my world. It makes me looks outside myself to see the little moments that are so precious on earth. I think we’ve all been stopped in our tracks by something beautiful.

For me, this morning it was the weather. My husband pulled open the curtains and said, “Have you looked outside yet?” What I saw made me gasp. It snowed this morning. It’s only the beginning of October and being the anti-newswatcher that I am, I was definitely not expecting to see it so early. We have these majestic pine trees across the street and seeing them topped with big white snowflakes was enough to make me stand there and drop my jaw. I glanced back at my husband’s big smile and let out a little giggle. Moments like that are timeless.

What if I was to react by taking a quick glance and shrug, “Big deal. It is almost winter after all. Makes sense,” and then carry on with my day? I would miss out on so much. Yet that’s what Brandon Heath is saying here. That’s so often what we do. We barely notice the sunsets, the wind through the trees, and shrug. Big deal. It makes sense.

Life is meant to bring us surprise and wonder. God reveals himself in so many ways. We are meant to just stop, breathe, and quiet our minds. Otherwise we miss Him. We miss out on life. We miss out on divine beauty.

Beauty products are expensive. And why are we so swayed by the ones with a pretty container and a brand name? I’ve spent way too much in the last couple years trying out expensive products that just didn’t quite live up to my expectations. When I worked at Von Maur, I had a discount and many coworkers who assured me that I HAD to try Estee Lauder, Clinique, Laura Mercier, etc. After using drugstore products my whole life, I decided to try it out. Some things I felt were wasted. It’s frustrating when magazines tell you “This is the BEST product” and you spend the money only to find it was not so great. Others I think were very much worth the money and paying more. So because I’m nice and want to save you the trouble and money, here are my findings. Please don’t send me hate mail if you don’t agree. These are just my opinion and hopefully you’ll benefit from them.


Hair products
Money well saved:
*Pantene Pro-V Ultimate Texture Hairspray – great for separating boring flat hair.
*Garnier Fructis Color Shield Conditioner – My hair color fades insanely fast. This really locks it in and smells good too.
*Got2be crazy sleek flat iron & blow dry lotion – saves split ends and settles frizz. Bottle is really cute and makes me smile.


Money well spent:
*Aquage finishing spray – great for curls and making hair look shiny
*Matrix smooth & sleek shampoo – I’ve never found anything that compares. It rocks.
*American Crew fiber balm – who cares that it’s supposed to be for men? I steal it from my husband to quick paste down fly-aways and it works!


Money well wasted:
*Redken Fresh Curls Curl Boost scrunching spray – It may just be my hair, but I don’t feel like this does anything at all
*John Frieda Frizz-ease hair serum – okay this is one that I see in every magazine so I talked myself into buying it. They don’t tell you in magazines that if you hair isn’t insanely curly or dry, this will just make it extra greasy - even with just a drop of product.


Fragrance/Skin-care products
Money well saved:
*Clean & Clear oil free shine control moisturizer – Light and creamy, doesn’t make your face oily and greasy.
*Clean & Clear foaming facial cleanser – the foam is really nice on your skin, not harsh like most cleansers – I end up with soft, clean skin


Money well spent:
*Jergens natural glow face tinted moisturizer – especially for albinos like me that do not keep a tan, a little tint is nice. The bottle is small and is only in the expensive category because it goes fast and you have to buy more often
*Escada Moon Sparkle perfume –sooooo good! Sheer and pretty and doesn’t overwhelm the senses


Money well wasted:
Clinique skin care cleansers/moisturizers – Okay I did not try them all, but these are expensive and I honestly didn’t find them to do anything that Clean & Clear couldn’t for my skin. People with different skin types may disagree.
*Estee Lauder beautiful sheer perfume – loved it the first few weeks and then smell got really old and faded really fast.


Makeup (This is my favorite part, so there are many)
Money well saved:
*Maybelline mascara –Maybelline makes great mascaras. I like simply pink/green mascara. Doesn’t clump or smell.
*Physicians formula multicolored blush, bronzers, & powders – these multicolored pallettes make skin tone very even and don’t get cakey. They add a really pretty glow.
*Almay liquid eyeliner – very even consistency and color. Doesn’t smudge or fade. Easy to wash off.
*Maybelline & Covergirl shadows – great color. Especially if you get your brush wet before applying, they are even and bright.
*Sonia Kashuk cream blush – you can get it at target. Great for when you need a lot of color to stay on, but want to look natural and not powdery.
*Victoria secret lip gloss – Smells, tastes, and looks amazing.


Money well spent:
*Mary Kay eye primer – Primers are amazing. They act like glue for your eyeshadow, brightens the shade, and keeps it from getting stuck in the creases
*Smashbox soft lights shimmer powder – Ever wanted that shimmery glow that celebrities like Megan Fox have on the red carpet? This powder is the secret. It looks really natural if you apply a sheer layer. It’s bomb.
*MAC eyeshadows – are very higly pigmented so the color is bright and stays on well.


Money well wasted:
*Clinique eyeshadows and blush – Wears off really fast! I was pretty disappointed.
*Mary Kay eyeliner – did not smudge, but color was not strong enough. Faded quickly.
*Covergirl mascara – It smells. The color is okay and tended to clump a little. But the smell is really gross. Possibly just the type I was getting (curling mascara), but still…ew!


Have you found that some products work better than others? Leave some comments. I would love to do more saving and less wasting!

During the month of July, two artists passed this artwork back and forth to come up with one artistic collaboration of the minds. Barton Damer began the artwork and posted the first phase on July 6th. Within a couple days, Promise Wurzell updated the artwork with her touches and posted the results on her blog. The cycle continued back and forth until each artist developed the artwork 3 times each with a final meeting of the minds to complete it. Tees and poster prints of the final artwork were printed in august to raise money for The Huruma Children’s Home. What a cool way to help share God's love and protection for these children!

If you're interested in the history of the Huruma Children's Home you can read more here: http://www.alreadybeenchewed.net/?page_id=1317

Unfortunately the tshirts could only be ordered in August, but I still think the artwork is worth sharing. They did an amazing job!

I think I have ADD. Or is it ADHD? Whichever disorder that makes you able to pay attention to something for five minutes tops before you're off dreaming about Caramel Latte's and reading a book by the beach. Yep that's definitely me.

Especially today. I've been working on designing a business card for our office staff for about five months now. Seriously. I keep starting the design process only to delete what I've done fifteen minutes later because it needs to be perfect. And then I get these random comments from co-workers like, "So how's the business card going?" In which case, I immediately have make an urgent phone call, or go somewhere, anywhere, out of the room. They probably all know I'm stalling. I just have to get it right!

Anyway, so this morning I decided, "Today's the day." I'm going to focus. I'm going to block Starbucks out of my mind and make the best flippin business card there ever was....but first I need some inspiration. That's where I fell. I should've known better than to go to the one place I get most distracted. Flickr.

I ran across this amazing designer (bemky) for Longview Christian Church who had his own organized photostream, with categorized sets and labeled tags. Go ahead. Marvel at it: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bemky/ I'm pretty sure he never gets distracted. And right then and there of course I decided I HAVE to have a photostream. So instead of spending two hours on the business cards, I put together a flickr account. With organized sets and labeled tags. And I even put a widget on the side of my blog (take that, bemky) just for you.

And now I'm going to lunch. I'm totally going to focus this afternoon. I really am.

On Tuesdays I'm usually involved in a women's bible study on the Attributes of God. This is usually where the older ones share their wisdom and I just sit there and wish I was as smart as them!

Today though, I chose to stay home because of one very sick doggy. I've been dogsitting this week for Molly and she is not doing so good. After a very traumatic experience at the vet yesterday and a surgery on her foot, Molly is now wearing one of those cones around her neck so she can't rip open her stitches. This leaves her constantly bumping into things and getting stuck because she is unable to see and hear all around her. This morning she was very depressed and defeated. So I opted to stay home with her and make sure she gets adjusted to the cone.

But as I've been sitting with Molly I started to see a few things clearly from my Bible Study. This week we are studying God's goodness. I was tempted to do the usual quick study: "God is good, okay I'm done!" But I knew that deep inside I question His goodness. There is so much hardship in this world that it's sometimes hard to accept that He is good even though he doesn't always intervene. As I was reading through it, I kept hearing poor Molly crash into things and thought "Life just isn't fair. Why does she have to go through this? Why do we have to go through tough times?"

I always have this nagging fear that God is waiting until everything is good in my life so He can take it all away and teach me something. Or it's hard for me to say, "You are all I need, Lord" because I'm scared He'll test me in it and take things away. I question God's goodness. Does He really have my best interests in mind?

But today in our study, I read Psalm 84:11: "For the Lord God is a sun and a shield; the Lord gives grace and glory; no good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly." I started to think about that verse and look at Molly's situation with a bigger perspective. The cone may make her miserable right now. It's uncomfortable and isolating. But it's for her good. She can't tear at her stitches. She won't get an infection. She will get to keep her foot if it stays clean. Right now there is no better way for Molly's wound to be kept safe.

It works the same way with us. God is good. We can know that He wants what is best for us because He didn't even hold back from giving us His most valuable gift: His Son. We may hurt and not understand why we have to go through things, but it is not because God wants to punish us or test how much we can take. He gives us grace when the hardship is a consequence from what we've done, and makes all things work for His glory. He is a sun - a resource, strength, power - and a protective shield around us. God is good.

Okay don’t laugh at how much time I have on my hands but last week I did something really fun! I had been watching TV (being a slacker) and kept coveting all the super cute outfits I was seeing. And obviously working part time, I don’t have the funds to be buying a new fall wardrobe so here’s what I did: I took inventory.

I went through my closet and attempted to put together outfits. To my surprise after pulling everything out and layering a bunch of things I was able to come up with almost 40 outfits!

When I worked at a department store we had to put together outfits for the mannequins (forms) and had certain rule to make them look “fashion worthy.” At times it was really difficult to take boring and sometimes ugly clothes and try to make them into a cute outfit, but anyway this is what I did with my closet. My theory is that we have a lot more than we think but get bored after wearing a shirt the same way every time. I tested the theory on my sister’s closet and she was freaking out. Now before you give up and decide there’s no way you’ll find much in your closet, you have to try it!

Here’s the rules…
1. Get out a piece of paper and write as you go. Trust me, you’ll forget what goes with what after going through twenty things. Then you can write down when you notice something missing from what otherwise could be a really cute outfit. You’ll quickly find out what you need to pick up when you go shopping.

2. Start with laying out all of your pants on bed or floor side by side. It’s easy to put on whichever jeans that are clean with the shirt you want to wear, but don’t do it! You have to pair the shirts with the best pair of jeans for that shirt. As you put shirts together, hold them up to all of your jeans and see which looks best. Write it down and whenever that pair of jeans is clean, you can look at all the shirts that go well with them and choose from those. (By the way, ‘mom jeans’ don’t go with anything. Neither do pants that are too short. This is a perfect time to throw them away!)

3. Next make a goal to never wear any one shirt by itself. At the mall, we had to layer at least three tops on a form. Usually I just grab a couple longer tank tops that complement the top/main shirt and let them peek out the bottom of my shirt. For fall especially you can make your wardrobe stretch by pulling out jackets, cardigans, or any other cover ups for your arms. Then you can keep wearing the majority of your summer clothes.

4. Add accessories. Sometimes a long necklace really helps a flowy shirt from looking like a balloon. Add some fun tights under a dress to keep warm. For shoes, look at the style of your pants. Jeans with more of a leg opening/flare are better for flat shoes. Bootcut jeans are best with heels. (Skinny jeans are the exception)

5. Now that you have an idea of the great outfits in your closet, but hopefully along the way you’ve been writing down what is missing. For example: “This outfit would be great with a silver ballet flats or a black cardigan.” Now tally up how many times you needed that item for your outfits. The item you needed most will be at the front of your mind the next time you go shopping and you won’t waste money on another thing you won’t wear.

Time consuming - but so worth it!

Ever wonder how photos in magazines always look sharp with amazingly bright colors? I recently learned a few simple tricks in Photoshop to get photos looking vivid and bright. Here's what to do...

1. Open your photo of choice in Photoshop. I chose this photo of Britt Nicole which I did not take myself, obviously but had fun editing. Go ahead and copy the layer so that you can see the difference in your photo you go. I did this by going to Layer>Duplicate layer.

2. First tip: Brighten the image with exposure. Image>Adjustments>Exposure… When the box pops up, very little goes a long way. Slide the top exposure bar to +.10. Click OK.

3. Second tip: Bring out the colors in your image. I did this by going to Image>Adjustments>Vibrance… When the box pops up, slide your vibrance up until your colors pop, but don’t look harsh or fake. I went up to about +55. Click OK.


4. Third tip: Bring out the contrast in the image. I did this by going to Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Take the radius all the way up to 250pixels. I usually adjust the amount anywhere from 7-15. For this image I set the amount at 10. Click OK.

5. Check your Layers palette to see how much better your image looks! You can do this by going to Window>Layers and making sure there is a checkmark by it. Once the palette is opened, click the eyeball next to the top layer. This will hide your changes. Click it again to show the changes. Then save it!

Here is my finished product with some text and a lens flare added. Hope you like it!