WEAR: Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics Lip Tar

Just a quick beauty shout out post. 

I wore my new Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics lip tar yesterday. One coat of this lip gloss managed to last me through seven hours of shopping, drinking, and bipolar New England downpours. I have never experienced such a great product in my life. It is long lasting, not drying (considering the coverage and wear), and absolutely divine in color. And, oh yeah, it's vegan and cruelty free. Well worth the purchase!

I took the following steps:
1. Primed my lips with Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment (or EOS balm ball or any of your favorite clear chap stick)
2. Brushed on my Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics (don't you just love the name?!) matte Lip Tar in Hush (antique bridal pink)
3. Delicately rehydrated at random with chap stick while running my errands when my lips felt dry. (Only happened twice in 7 hours and drinking a glass bottle of deep red Harley tea did not even phase the lip tar).

*Just a note - you may want to lip-line in step 2 if you use a dark color to prevent feathering outside your lips. 

Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics lip tar

also wearing
eyeshadow: Urban Decay's Naked 2 palette Suspect
eyeliner: Sephora retractable waterproof in Brown
mascara: Covergirl Eyelights in Black Ruby
brows: Ardell brow defining powder in Taupe

EXPLORE: February Recap and RunKeeper Review

So it's a couple weeks overdue, but here's the report for February's "daily exercise" goal.

Did I exercise every day? No, but almost :).

Did I increase activity over January? Yes.

How do I know? Runkeeper. It's an app on my iPhone.

Now, truth be told, I thoroughly miss the Noom CardioTrainer that I had on my droid. Unfortunately it does not exist on the iPhone and I'm not sure if anything will ever be able to replace the hole it left. After trying a few other iPhone apps and being dissatisfied, RunKeeper has come close to filling Cardio Tracker's void.

RunKeeper is accurate. I recently discovered that I can set the tracker to start and stop by movement. This helps to track walking with my dog (not that it's hardcore exercise.. but everything counts!) I can track a multitude of activities and the calories/distance/speed seem right so far for walking, jogging, hiking, and cycling.

From my dashboard Reports I can easily see that my exercise has increased over January

I can also easily see that I need to STEP IT UP for March, if I ever want to lose any lbs! To burn a pound of fat takes 3500 calories. Burning only 3800 in a month is piddly, but it's a start <so I won't discount too, too much>.

I have synced it up to MyFitnessPal (an app where I track my calorie intake) so my exercise calorie deficit is sure to be incorporated into the weight control equation. 

Tracking exercise and food intake has been immensely helpful in controlling my weight over the last few years. I highly recommend it. Even if a paper and pen is your tool!

EAT: What (ELSE) to do with Corned Beef Leftovers

Corned Beef and Cabbage. My Irish side <nearly 50%> LOVES this stuff. LOVE LOVE LOVES!
With a vacation coming up soon that's taking me away from home for St. Patty's, I had to make ours a little early. Monday, due to kitchen supply limitations, I used both the crock pot and stove top to cook up some corned beef and cabbage for the boyfriend and my parents. A mixture of stout, onion, carrot, potatoes, cabbage, and the more lean flat cut of corned beef rendered quite a good meal.

And here we are, Wednesday night, with no corned beef left <tears>, but a lot of potatoes and carrots. That combined with some boredom, I decided to <take a break from online shopping and TV>, to cook late at night. Obviously, the go-to leftover dish from this meal is some hearty, corned beef hash. My problem with that is, we're veggie heavy and meat deprived here. I decided to start with that as an idea, and it clicked - I have three pieces of bacon in the fridge, I don't need to eat right now, but I do need breakfast tomorrow.

Necessity truly is the mother of invention! I give you...

Hash Breakfast Casserole:
Time: 45 min
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
4 slices bacon (preferably, I only had three and it worked) or 4 oz of corned beef if you still manage to have some
2-3 boiled potatoes
1 boiled carrot
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I had cheddar and mozzarella)
1/2 cup milk
6 eggs
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions:
1. Chop 
Chop the bacon, potatoes, carrots, and onion into a 1/2 inch dice.
2. Cook
In a nonstick frying pan over medium heat, cook the bacon for 2 minutes until some fat is rendered. Add the onion to sweat and render more fat. In this recipe, instead of draining, we are using the fat to cook the vegetables. Add the potatoes, carrots, and ground pepper once the bacon looks crisp and the onion looks translucent. Since the potatoes and carrots are already boiled, we are really just trying to caramelize a bit - so cook for a minute or two more. Turn the heat off and leave the pan on the burner.
3. Mix
In a glass measuring cup, measure the milk and crack 6 eggs. Beat lightly with a fork until combined.
Coat a 9 x 13 glass pan with cooking spray. Spread the potato mixture on the bottom. Top with sprinkled cheese. Lastly, pour the egg mixture over. 
4. Bake
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 28 minutes or until set.
5. Enjoy
Cut into eight pieces. 
6. Reheat
This works really well for preparing ahead of time. Reheating in the microwave for one minute and 30 seconds on high is just right <lucky for the boyfriend who has to wake up early the rest of the week>. 

Variation: This would have been awesome with some spinach, but I unfortunately did not have any on hand. If you do, mix 6 oz fresh baby spinach in with the carrots and potatoes in step 2.

Chop the vegetables

Cook the bacon and onion

Mix the eggs and milk

Spread the mixture evenly in a 9 x 13 glass dish

Sprinkle with cheese

Bake at 350 for 28 minutes

Cut the cooked casserole into 8 and enjoy!

Blogging Newbie Apology

Blogging is difficult. Apologies for not keeping up with it the best I should. I have a newfound respect for people who blog. Planning out ideas, taking pictures, making things look pretty (and sound pretty) has been taking me upwards of a week per post. That is definitely not what I bargained for, but I do find the release of thoughts to internet rewarding.

Truth be told I’m not trying to spout my ideas as ultimate end all be all, and I’m definitely not a subject matter expert on lifestyle. This blog is akin to an online diary, with just thoughts to internet paper, hoping that putting it all out there will remind me to stick with my goals as well as maybe help another with theirs, whatever that may be.

So enough of that…time to enjoy what’s left of this beautiful weather today. I'm thinking a nice dog walk with Chet and maybe a jog for me after. Stay tuned for the wrap-up on February’s goal.