A New Toy….oooohhhh…..ahhhhh!!!!

Look what came in the mail this week!!!

Despite the the fact that I had indeed ordered this, I was super surprised to receive a text on Wednesday informing me that it had been delivered.  I hadn't expected it until Friday at the earliest, especially after the snow-megeddon on Tuesday.  Hurrah for Apple!  They continue to amaze me with their shipping speed.

I've been wanting one of these since my lil sister let me "borrow" hers…for about 4 months!  That'll do it.  For all of you that are thinking how unnecessary an iPad mini is…  DO NOT LET SOMEONE LET YOU BORROW ONE.  For ANY length of time.  That is all.  

My Skincare Secrets

1. Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Facial Cleanser/Neutrogena Naturals Purifying Pore Scrub  2. Michael Todd Blue Green Algae Toner  3. Yes to Cucumbers Soothing Eye Gel  4. Yes to Cucumbers Daily Calming Moisturizer  5. St. Ives Timeless Skin Moisturizer

My skin has been so unusually clear for the past month, that I've decided to share what I'd like to term "My Skincare Secrets."  Excitement!  Obviously, everyone's skin is unique, and what I'm presenting will not work for everyone, but at the moment, it's working for me!

To give a little background:

     I had fairly clear skin all the way through high school and college.  Yes, I was that girl that would admit that she only used make-up wipes to clean her skin...when she thought about it...  Yuck.

     Anyway...  

     However, as a college graduate, high school (or the stress of post-college reality) caught up with me, and I started breaking out on a regular basis.  Although not as severe as many people have, it seemed as if I was either in the middle of a breakout, or covering up what one left behind.  It wasn't until I started using a bit of benzoyl peroxide every night that things seemed to be in control.  I still had issues on a regular basis, but much smaller in scale.  That is, until about 2 months ago!  I went to an Arbonne make-over party, and haven't had an "issue" since!  I'm not sure exactly why, but about that time I started using the Say Yes to Cucumber line, so that's possibly the game changer.  That's the theory!  Huzzah! 

A Baking Victory!!!

     So I've been wanting to try out this bread baking method called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for quite some time, and finally bit the bullet.  Bread baking has always been something that sounds more appealing than it actually is once you get into it.  I mean, once you decide you want fresh baked bread, you have to wait literally hours before it's done!  This is a problem…

     Not only am I not so patient when it comes to food prep, but spending that much time on something that might not turn out right seems like a terrible plan.  And my bread never seems to turn out quite right…  Until now!

     Now, this particular loaf took longer than 5 minutes, but the idea is that you mix up enough dough (no kneading!) to last you for 2 weeks, and keep it in the fridge to pull it out as you need it.  You still have to wait a bit, 40 minutes of rising time before baking, and 30 minutes in the oven, but the idea is that you spend 5 minutes of hands-on time.  Considering the usual 2+ hours of invested time, I'm good with an hour and a half.  Did I mention the no kneading bit?!  

     Here's the recipe I used!  Courtesy of Food.com 

5 Minute Artisan Bread

Ingredients:

Yield:
4 1lb loaves

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt or 1 1/2 tablespoons othercoarse salt
• 6 1/2 cups flour , unsifted, unbleached, all-purpose (not strong)

Directions:

1. Preparing Dough for Storage:.
2. Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours. With cold water it will need 3-4 hours.
3. Add the yeast to the water in a 5 quart bowl or, preferably, in a resealable, lidded (not airtight) plastic food container or food-grade bucket. Don't worry about getting it all to dissolve.
4. Mix in the flour and salt - kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once, measuring it in with dry-ingredient measuring cups, by gently scooping up the flour, then sweeping the top level with a knife or spatula. Don't press down into the flour as you scoop or you'll throw off the measurement. Mix with a wooden spoon, a high-capacity food processor (14 cups or larger) fitted with the dough attachment, or a heavy duty stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until the mixture is uniform. If you're hand mixing and it becomes too difficult to incorporate all the flour with the spoon, you can reach into your mixing vessel with very wet hands and press the mixture together. Don't knead, it isn't necessary. You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. It takes a few minutes, and will yield a dough that is wet and loose enough to conform to the shape of its container.
5. Allow to rise. Cover with lid (not airtight or it could explode the lid off). Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on the top), approx 2 hours, depending on room temperature, and initial water temperature Longer rising times, up to 5 hours, won't harm the result.
6. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period.  Fully refrigerated dough is less sticky and easier to work with than dough at room temperature.
7. On Baking Day:.
8. prepare your loaf tin, tray, or whatever you're baking it in/on. Sprinkle the surface of your refrigerated dough with four. Pull up and cut of a grapefruit-size piece of dough (c 1 lb), using a serrated knife.
9. Hold the mass of dough in your hands and add a little more flour as needed so it won't stick to your hands. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all 4 sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. Most of the dusting flour will fall off - that's fine, it isn't meant to be incorporated. The bottom of the loaf may appear to be a collection of bunched ends, but it will sort itself out during resting and baking.
10. The correctly shaped final product will be smooth and cohesive. The entire process should take no more than 30 - 60 seconds.
11. Rest the loaf and let it rise in the form, on the tray/pizza peel, for about 40 minutes Depending on the age of the dough, you may not see much rise during this period. That's fine, more rising will occur during baking.
12. Twenty minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 450°F Place an empty broiler tray for holding water on any other shelf that won't interfere with the rising bread.
13. Dust and Slash. Dust the top of the loaf liberally with flour, which will allow the slashing knife to pass without sticking. Slash a quarter inch deep cross, diagonal lines, or tic-tac-toe pattern on top using a serrated knife.
14. After a 20 min preheat you're ready to bake, even though the oven thermometer won't be at full temperature yet. Put your loaf in the oven. Pour about 1 cup of hot water (from the tap) into the broiler tray and close the oven to trap the steam.
15. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and firm to the touch.
16. Store the rest of the dough in the fridge in your lidded (not airtight) container and use it over the next 14 days. The flavour and texture improves, becoming like sourdough. Even 24 hours of storage improves the flavour.
17. This is the standard bread. There are loads of variations - both savory and sweet - in the book.

  

Oh the trials...

I killed my plant this month...  I decided to take it to work on one of the "polar vortex" days, and it didn't take long for it to just give up.

I don't know if I can blame the polar vortex, but I'm not feeling so hot myself lately.  In fact, I've missed a day and a half of work, and my time spent at home hasn't been pretty.  I feel like there are so many things I can blame, but the unfortunate truth is that I've spent A LOT of time on our pink couch with Netflix and YouTube.  At the moment I'm watching Animal Planet's "Too Cute" Series...  Yes, it's that bad.

Any suggestions?

Goings on

So what's been going on these days?  Here's a few things...

I've made a total of two shopping trips to Aldi's!  We're taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, and are currently motivated to be thrifty.  In case you've never heard of it, Aldi's is a grocery store full of boxes of food.  You rent your shopping cart with a quarter, then get it back when you return your cart.  There are no plastic bags, so bring your own!  If you don't, you'll have to just throw a cartload of groceries in the bag of your car...and they'll roll around the entire way home.  Trust me.

We just got brand new windows!  So no more of this business...

Anyway...  I'm finally going to make some curtains!  But that means I need to find the fabric...the perfect fabric...

Maybe?

And this past Monday was Veteran's Day!  That means that Kyle got a free meal at Olive Garden!  It was awesome.

And more fabric... Maybe?

Ipsy Bag October 2013

I blame YouTube.  And you should too.

That's right, YouTube has sparked my interest in all things make-up and skincare.  This little pile made me oh so happy!  Living the dream, living the dream...

Right, well, YouTube beauty guru I am not, but I've really been addicted to enjoying the fashion, diy, and beauty videos over the past year.  Most of them subscribe to a beauty box or two, and so actually getting one of my own is way more thrilling than it probably ought to be.

So what exactly are these things?

1. Every bag comes with...well...a bag!  This one's adorable!
2. LA Fresh make-up wipes- Nice size right?
3. Zoya Nail Polish- I've already tried this out, and love it!  I stink at applying nail polish, but this stuff just melted onto my nails with a mind of it's own, and did the job with just one coat.
4. Starlooks Lip Pencil- I did try this one...and...well...I'm honestly not much of a lip pencil kinda girl.
5. Big Sexy Hair Blow Dry Gel- I've tried it, and really wanted to like it (obviously), but either I'm not applying it correctly or it's not that great.
6. Nourish Organic Deeply Nourishing Coconut & Argan Body Lotion- Cute little sample, and I thought it was ok, but Mr. Brown wasn't so sure.  He said it smelled better in the tube than on my hands...

That's it!  And that was my first review-ish post!  Excitement!

A First Anniversary Weekend...

So I've been married for a year now!  And all year I was looking forward to our one year anniversary for two reasons:

1) There's a well-loved tradition of eating a frozen bit of the wedding cake AND

2) The first anniversary trip!

#1 was a bit on the dry/freezer burned side, but the trip was great!  We went to the zoo & tried out a Japanese restaurant.  Both were pretty interesting... There were eels at both!  What an adventure :)