Homemade Pumpkin Mask Recipe

Gentri and I have another skincare recipe for you! This time we made a pumpkin
mask and it was so cool and refreshing…and it didn’t taste too bad either…awkward. To make this mask you’ll need.

 

½ cup plain greek yogurt

1 cup of pumpkin

2 tbsp of honey

This mask is so great for your skin, the pumpkin will smooth and soften your skin because it is a strong antioxidant, the greek yogurt is great for brightening  and the honey will give you tons of hydration….also Indie’s the world over will totally love to eat it off of your face….I mean, if you’re into that sort of thing….awkward again?

Nutella Smeared Bumpers and Crazy Faces

maxi skirt: Nordstrom   sweater: VJ Style    necklace: DIY

 

So remember that time, like you know, a few days ago when I hit a deer and my glorious new car that I bought last year was smashed to smithereeeeeens and I cried like a baby. Well you are going to need to sit down for this one. So the other day I’m at work, and I get a call from Matt and he sounds a little worried.

 

Sir Matt: “So ummm, while I was parked on campus today, my car totally got rear ended, and the driver just took off and didn’t leave a note or anything.” 

….. my head was about to pop off like one of those Barbies that’s had its hair tugged and pulled on by a snotty nosed two year old one too many times. Guys, I was fuming. 

Me: “ Ummm, okay. Well is it bad?”

Sir Matt: “Well there’s a crack in the bumper now, and there’s definitely some streaks of color on the back of the car….and a dent.”

“ Okay….I’ll call you back.” 

Guys. I was PEEEIIIIIISSSSSSED. That’s two cars, two cars hit, in the time span of one week. Two of the only two cars that we own. Both of them. Dos. And I was doubly PEEEIIIIIISSSSSSED because our car was hit on the campus of a religious university…. one full of tens of thousands of Christians…. you know one that should be filled with nice good doing people. Good doing people that just hit cars and run. Soooooo cute.

 

Ten minutes later I get a call from Matt. 

Sir Matt: “ Hey good news, someone saw the guy that hit our car and wrote down his license plate number so the cops are getting all of the information to us so that the guys insurance can take care of it.”

 

Me: “Oh… well that’s better!” 

Another ten minutes after that I got this text. 

Sir Matt - So you are not going to believe this, the guy that hit our car just sent me a text and said this “Hey man so sorry I hit your car, looks like I owe you a plate of your favorite treats.” 

I just. I just cannot make this crap up.  

I’m sorry, but 1. You hit a person’s car and run  2. You get caught and don’t even acknowledge that fact that you tried to flee the scene of an accident that you caused. 3. You offer as restitution a plate of my very favorite treats?????  

Well let’s hope that treat is a hundred jars of Nutella that I can sell on the black market for moolah, because smearing Nutella all over the bumper of my car just isn’t going to cut it….perhaps smearing Nutella on my face could solve the majority of the problem, but I digress.

DIY Moisturizing Toner

Gentri and I got together last week, and first of all can I just talk about how real and awesome this girl is. She is one of my favorite bloggers, she’s so authentic and really just the sweetest. Anyways, Gentri is a licensed esthetician and so we got together to come up with some homemade holiday skincare recipes for you guys (and by we I mean she came up with the recipes and I just slapped them on my face). This homemade toner is super easy to make (guys it took us like two minutes, and that was because we couldn’t get the lid off of the rose water) and the mint is so refreshing, I would even use this throughout the day whenever your face needs a little bit of moisture.

 

To make this toner you'll need:

- water

- witch hazel

- rose water

- fresh mint

 

You'da Best

skirt: thrifted    blouse: Target     necklace: DIY (tutorial here)    belt: thrifted    shoes: F21

Sorry I disappeared on you guys last week. Tuesday night on the way to Colorado we hit a deer. We're all okay but the accident did quite a number on our car. Needless to say I was busy doing things that I didn’t expect to be doing all week and dangit don’t you hate when that happens.  I mean I didn’t even get to post a cheesy Thanksgiving picture and tell you with gusto that you are numero uno on my gratitude list, I just hate missing out on blogger trends!!! On the upside though, Matt and I have a killer mini-van that we’re driving around. Can you say low riding hot mama in a swagga wagon?! Go ahead, try and say it three times fast, I dare you.

DIY 30 Minute Christmas Decor

I love adding little touches of Christmas around the house but the cost of buying new decor each year can add up so whenever I can, I refresh my decorations with a few DIY projects. I love how this one turned out, it has a classy timeless look that will last for years and it's something that can easily be added to a frame and hung on a picture wall. Love it!

For this project you'll need:

1. 8X10 canvas (I got mine at Michaels in a pack of 5 and, with my 40% of coupon it was $4.00)

2. Gold paint pen

3. Paintbrush

4. ModgePodge

5. Tullip Shimmer glitter (you can buy it here)

Total cost: I had most of these supplies already on hand so my total cost was only $5. And I can still make 4 more of these because the canvases came in a 5 pack, huzzah!

1. Draw your favorite saying in a holiday style caligraphy with a gold paint pen. There are lots of great holiday fonts to choose from here.

 2. Once you've drawn your design use modge podge to paint over the saying you've just drawn. Then immediately after sprinkle glitter over the top of the letters. It's best to do one letter at a time when you're doing this, the Modge Podge dries pretty fast.

 3. Once you've covered all of the letters with modge podge and glitter shake your canvas over paper plate (I like to reuse the glitter that I've shaken off onto the plate to get more bang for my buck)

4. You're done! Let it dry for about 30 minutes and then add it to a frame or leave it as is! This project really is so cute and easy to add anywhere in the house, and it only took 30 minutes. Hooray for easy peazy crafts!

 
Want some more ideas for some holiday glitter crafts? There are lots more ideas here!

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Let The Holidays Begin

 

Blouse: c/o OASAP  (buyit here)      jeans: Target     jacket: c/o OASAP (buy it here)     boots: thrifted        scarf: F21

And we are OUTTA here! We’re headed to Denver for the holidays, and I just cannot wait to sleep in, wander around in my PJ’s until someone miraculously cooks a meal for me and snack on unending banana bread. Oh the glory of the holidays! The only part I’m not particularly looking forward to is the seven hour drive to get there….with Indie. I mean the Indian is the best dog there is but she tends to get a bit ansty in the car so there’s always an abundance of dog panting in my face, paws to the jugular and the occassional lick to the eye if I start snoozing. Wish us luck!

Revival Files: Wedding Bells

A reader of mine here in Provo contacted me about making her a dress for her wedding reception and I told her that I had just the perfect dress to revive for her. So last week, a week before her wedding, she came in and we did a fitting and then that poor girl just set me free on the dress without knowing what would happen, how it would turn out, and holy wedding anxiety ya know! Last night she saw the dress and was completely shocked, it was so fun to see the look on her face and excitement to wear a dress made just for her on her wedding day. Congrats Caitlin, I can't wait to hear all about your special day!!

 

** A huge thank you goes out to Chelsy at Chelsy Ann Photography for these beautiful photos. If you're in Utah, she's doing mini Christmas sessions for SOOO cheap right now and they are adorable.

Sweet Potatoe Ravioli in a Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

I've been so so busy lately but I try at least once a week to make a nice meal for Matt and I that's completely from scratch and healthy. I know I know, once a week is pitiful but it's what I can handle for right now so I'm just running with it. This my friends is my favorite ravioli, it's meatless, really good for you, but it doesn't taste "good for you" if that makes sense, it just tastes so GOOD. Here's my recipe, because really there's just nothing like healthy comfort food! I promise you'll love it!

Filling:
1 lb sweet potato, peeled and cubed
2 tablespoons butter
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup dried bread crumbs

For the filling:
Cook the sweet potato in boiling water until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain, add butter and beat with a mixer until smooth and creamy. Stir in the Parmesan cheese, bread crumbs, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Roasted Red Pepper Sauce
3 red bell peppers
2-3 Tbsp onion
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/4 C fresh basil
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 C half and half
1 tsp cornstarch
1/3 C grated Romano or Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:
Preheat broiler. Cut peppers in half and remove seeds. Lightly coat the peppers with olive oil and place cut side down on cookie sheet. Place under broiler until skin is blackened and softened. Place in a paper bag an alllow to steam for about 5-10 minutes.
Remove the skin from the peppers and cut into small pieces.
In a frying pan saute the garlic, sliced basil, red peppers and onion in olive oil. Cook for 10 minutes.
Mix corn starch and half and half together well, no lumps.
Place mixture into blender (be careful it will be hot, leave the lid of blender slightly askew but not enough so that it will spray out) Mix to desired consistency. Put mixture back in frying pan and heat to a boil. Add in half and half to the desired consistency. Add in cheese and cook until cheese melts. Stir in butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes. If it thickens too much add some additional half and half.

Ravioli Pasta:
1 packet of egg roll wrappers
1 egg white

For the Ravioli:
Place wrappers along a baking sheet and place a small spoonfull of filling in the middle of the wrapper. Then brush the edges of the wrapper with egg white and fold the wrapper in half to seal the ravioli. Once sealed place the ravioli's in a gently boiling pot of water. Let boil for 2-3 minutes, and remove from water. Add the red pepper sauce to the ravioli's and enjoy!

Makes about 70 ravioli's (4 person meal)

Shop Till You Drop

cardigan: H&M       shirt: Target       jeans: Urban Outfitters       boots: thrifted       headband: F21

You guys Thanksgiving is upon us! Only one week until the festivities begin, and then the REAL festivities begin, oh you think I’m talking about Christmas? No no, guys I’m talking about the holidays of all holidays, the holiday that didn’t even exist 15 years ago, the corporate holiday, that’s right BLACK FRIDAY. And can we just ponder on this here holiday for one second. Let me see if I can get this straight.

1.       Sane people wake up at 5am and then sit in the cold until a store decides to let the poor freezing people in.

2.       These people generally look insane, because they are in sweats, their favorite pair of Ugg’s and have bed head that just won’t quit.

3.       It’s really just a parade of morning breath if you think about it.

4.       These people then rush into the store, find something they want to buy for themselves, forget about buying something for others for Christmas, black Friday is about that Kitchen Aid you’ve always wanted!!!

5.       Said people then stand in line for three hours to buy their own present.  

I’m as guilty as anyone when it comes to black Friday, I’ve been there with my baggy eyes and baggy clothes and baggy life (what??? Yeah that’s right baggy life) and spent way too much money on things for myself that I didn’t need, and I guess I just never really thought about it because I was getting “good deals”. But this year I read that stores are now opening at 8pm on Thanksgiving because of all of the demand for Black Friday deals and I just got super solemn and sad. All of the sudden this beautiful holiday that is about taking a look around and being grateful and satisfied with what you have been given, is completely overtaken by a day of I WANT I WANT I WANT!!! I want to hear what you guys think about it, am I being totally ridiculous that I want absolutely nothing to do with Black Friday this year, I just want to sit around and enjoy being with loved ones and basque in my gratitude and most importantly SHOULD I go buy that mint green kitchen aid I’ve always wanted???? And what sweats and uggs should I wear??? What’s the verdict friends?

Life Lately

Just a glimpse of what we've been up to this fall. I'd say we had a pretty good month.

DIY Thanksgiving Bunting Banner

 I'm slightly addicted to having some sort of banner hanging from my walls/tables/dog at all times and I didn't have a Thanksgiving banner yet so really it was just a matter of time (it's slightly depressing that I'm now also working on a Christmas one, okay REALLY depressing). I love how this banner turned out, it's clean and simple and understated and just my style. Here's what you'll need to make it.

• 1 yard of white cotton fabric
• 1 packet of black double fold binding
• 3/4 yard of black felt
• sewing machine
• scissors
• pencil 
• ruler
• 1 piece of card stock
• chalk

 1. On a piece of card stock draw a rectangle that is 8"X 6" and then at the bottom draw a triangle centered in the bottom middle of your rectangle.

 

2.Cut out the shape that you've just drawn on the card stock.

3. Using the card stock pattern that you have just made, draw and cut out twenty  flag shapes out of your white fabric.

 4. Using your chalk and the black felt draw the words "GIVE THANKS" in whatever kind of font you would like and then cut out the letters and place them on the white flags.

 5. Stitch the black felt letters to the flag (after doing this you should still have 10 white pieces WITHOUT any lettering on them.)

 6. Match one flag with lettering to one flag without lettering and place them right sides together and sew the two flags together leaving the top of the flag open. Then turn the flag inside out. (Do this with all remaining flags).

 7. Using the black double fold binding, place and pin the flags inside of the binding and then sew the flags in place.

You're done! Now hang it somewhere that everyone will see it and marvel at how dang crafty you are!

Snowed In

coat: Target     boots: thrifted       sweater: c/o Sheinside (buy it here)       jeans: Urban Outfitters

It's snowing like crazy over here, and I can't complain. I'm ready for a snowed in Friday night with soup, a fuzzy blanket, a classic 70's flick and of course some snuggles with my fluffy pup. I just can't get enough of this winter weather!

Throwback Thursday

There are so many things I could tell you about this picture.

I could tell you that this is only one of the hundreds of letters that my Grandpa sent my Grandma while he was away at war. And reading through each of them put a smile in my heart that lasted for days.

I could tell you that my Grandma and Grandpa knew how to love each other like no one I've ever known. Nobody's perfect of course, but there's wasn't a time that I didn't see them kiss when they parted, hold hands when they walked, or miss an opportunity to call each other sweetie pie. He protected my grandma and loved her until the day he died, and I love him so much for that.

I could tell you that Matt and I tried to recreate this picture when we were in Oregon a few months ago, but the beach got rained out, so we just sat in the car, watching the chaos of the wind and waves crashing against each other. We sat there in silence, as the windshield wipers went back and forth back and forth, and neither of us spoke, because it was just one of those moments where words just weren't needed to describe how we felt.

I could tell you that my Grandpa spelled the word "tight" like a gangsta. TITE!

But mostly I just want to tell you that at the end of my life, if I have nothing else but a love like my grandparents, I would be completely satisfied. Because love like that just doesn't come around too often.

Long Live Auto Tune

blouse: c/o Sheinside (buy it here)      jeans: Urban Outfitters ($10!!)   shoes: F21     bag: ASOS   necklace: really old

Welp. The elections are over, and I don’t know about you guys but I am just so sad that it is all over. Devastated really.  I’m really going to miss the never ending idiotic Facebook political posts and auto-tuned speeches of Romney and Obama. I mean, that stuff was the shiz, Obama auto-tuned to "Sexy and I Know It" could rock a baby to sleep. You know what is my ABSOLUTE favorite though, all of the political bumper stickers that are going to be haunted by mini vans for years to come. I mean it’s 2012 and I’m still seeing “Be The Change” stickers everywhere. Hey people, you be the change and change your dang bumper stickers!!! Anyways, I plan on spending at least half of my day relishing in all the ,”I’m moving to Canada” FB posts, I mean I’m popping a bag of popcorn and putting on my stretchy pants as we speak. Let the cray cray parade begin.

** This just in, if Obama and Romney were an item their couple name would be Romama....you guys, RO-MAMA, can we all just relish in the awesomeness of that for one second.

On Telling Bank Teller's

jacket: thrifted          scarf: f21          dress: Anthropologie        shoes: boots         tights: target

The other day I went to the bank, and how nice is it that there are drive-throughs for us lazy people? So considerate!! So on this particular day I opted for the drive through because I was talking to Matt. But here’s the thing, talking to Matt’s and bank tellers at the same time can be confusing….and really awkward. It went something like this.

Sarah to Matt:  Yeah that was fun last night

Bank Teller to Sarah: Hi how can I help you.

Sarah to Matt: Oh hold on honey

Bank Teller to Sarah: Okay no problem I’m here when you’re ready

Sarah to Bank Teller: Oh sorry not you, yeah I just want to deposit a check.

Bank Teller to Sarah: Oh are you talking to me now?

Sarah to Bank Teller: Yeah, I’m sending the check now.

Sarah to Matt: Okay sorry about that, anyways what was I saying?

Bank Teller to Sarah: What’s that?

Sarah to Bank Teller: Oh sorry I’m just talking to my husband.

Bank Teller to Sarah: Oh, okay here’s your deposit receipt.

Sarah to Matt: Hey honey I better go

Matt to Sarah: OK love you bye

Sarah to Matt: Love you too honey, bye!

Bank Teller to Sarah: Oh no thank you honey, bye!

…..um what just happened, because I’m pretty sure I professed my love to a bank teller???

DIY: Adding Sleeves to a Sleeveless Dress

 

 Cut out two rectangles out of fabric that matches your dress (you can measure the right size by making the reckangle length the length of the measuring tape wrapped around your bicep and then add 1 inch)

Cut both rectangles into a half circle and then turn and stitch the straight edge of the half circle (the straight edge will be the outer sleeve edge)

 Sew a stitch along the round edge of the sleeve and pull the thread to bunch the sleeve together

 Once this is done you can attach the sleeve to the dress. Place the right side of the sleeve into the wrong side of the dress and then stitch the sleeve onto the dress. You're done!