A Weekend of Lasts

In just four days my husband and I are loading up the moving van and headed to Nashville, TN, and this time, we aren't coming back.  This past weekend we have had great food, game night, and lots of laughs with a few of our friends and our family.  After my last Saturday at work we set out to spend time with all the people we wanted to see before we left....

 Last trip to Buffalo Wild Wings with our good friends Chris and Mary(Chris took the picture).

Sunday morning we went to see my Granny, made her breakfast and spent the morning with her.

Sunday night both of our families met at my parent's house and played our favorite game.  Cards Against Humanity: A Party Game For Horrible People.  If you haven't heard of it, look it up, it's a game all horrible people must play! All of us usually end up in tears from laughing and at least one person will wet their pants by the end of the night.  Good times.


Love you all!

Product Comparison For Acne Moisturizers

Eminence Clear Skin Probiotic Moisturizer

 vs. 

Proactive Green Tea Moisturizer

Time for another product bust. This time I am going to compare two products that claim to do the same thing; clear acne.  The first product is from the line I use at my spa and the second is a leading competitor that I see a lot of people using.  I will try not to make this post too obviously one sided by simply giving you the lists of ingredients and what they do.  When reading these lists just ask yourself which product has the most ingredients that have benefit to the skin.  To assist you in this I will give you a little vocabulary lesson and also remind you that the ingredients listed are in the order of highest percentage. For example, if water is listed first, the majority of the product is water.  If water is listed last, there is probably only a tiny bit present.  Here's a few words to know first...

Emollient: Softener of the skin

Antistatic: Agent used to prevent the build-up of static electricity

Emulsifier: Binds two unbendable ingredients(think oil and water)     

Chelating agent: a particular way that ions and molecules bind metal ions

Paraben: Preservative. Fact: Doctors have found parabens present in breast cancer lumps when dissected and studied.

So here are the lists. Let me know what you think and also if there are any products you would like me to research, bust, or compare.

Eminence, Clear Skin Probiotic Moisturizer

1        1. Cucumber: Moisturizer, anti-inflammatory

 2. Corn Germ Oil: Emollient, plant extract

 3. Willow Bark Extract(natural source of salicylic acid): Anti-inflammatory

 4. Yogurt(natural source of lactic acid): Exfoliating

 5. Shea Butter: Moisturizer, emollient

 6. Vegetable Glycerin: Emollient, emulsifier

 7. Calendula Oil: Anti-inflammatory, emollient, moisturizer

 8. Tea Tree Oil: Antiseptic, soothing(great substitute for benzoyl peroxide without over               drying or irritating)

 9. Vitamin B5: Antiseptic

10. Corn Starch: Plant extract

11. Xanthan Gum: Product thickener made by the fermentation of glucose, sucrose or               lactose.

12. Sodium Benzoate: Preservative

13. Potassium Sorbate: Preservative

14. BioCompex: Vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, coenzyme Q-10, alpha lipoic acid 

Proactive Green Tea Moisturizer

1. Water: Solvent, filler

2. Glycerin: Solvent, moisturizer

3. Butylene Glycol: Solvent, moisturizer

4. Dimethicone: synthetic silicone lubricant

5. Iris Florentina Root Extract: Soothing, fragrance

6. Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil:  Emollient

7. Epigallocatechin Galate(from green tea): Antioxidant

8. Sodium Polyacrylate: Thickener

9. Hydrogenated Polydecene: Fragrance, solvent, emollient

10. Trideceth-6: Surfactant, Emulsifier

11. Zink PCA: Regulates sebum(oil) production

12. Retinyl Palmitate: Antioxidant

13. Sodium Hyarluronate: Moisturizer

14. Squalane(found most in the livers of sharks): Emollient, moisturizer

15. Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride: Moisturizer

16. Ethylhexyl Palmitate: Solvent, synthetic ester, emollient

17. PPG-2 Myristyl Ether Propionate: Emollient

18. Alcohol: Solvent

19. Allantoin: Anti-inflammatory

20. C12-15 Alkyl Lactate: Emollient

21. Polyquaternium-11: Antistatic

22. Disodium EDTA: Chelating agent

23. Ethylparaben: Preservative

24. Methylparaben: Preservative

25. Propyparaben: Preservative

26. Phenoxyethenol: Preservative

27. Alpha-isomethyl ionone: Fragrance             

28. Butylphenyl Methylpropional: Fragrance  

29. Citronellol: Fragrance    

30. Hexyl Cinnamal: Fragrance                  

31. Hydroxycitronellal: Fragrance            

32. Linalool: Fragrance 

Dinner Challenge: Cooking With What You Have

So let's jump right in with a tasty recipe and some ideas about food.  If you're like me you find yourself making a run to the grocery store for a few last minute things every time you cook dinner, while the stuff you bought last week is going bad.  So here's a challenge:  Tonight I want you to make something great, that you've never made before, only using what you already have at home.  It's a great way to start thinking and it will help you save time and money by not wasting what you already have(maybe nearing it's expiration date) in your fridge.

Totally lost?  I'll give you an example of one I did this week

I had some amazing spinach feta chicken sausage from Whole Foods sitting in the freezer, but what to do with it?  I also had a wide variety of veggies in the fridge that I needed to hurry up and use.  In the veggie drawer I had yellow squash, kale, onions, and a tomato.  As always, I used all organic ingredients and with all the fresh veggies this recipe is packed with nutrition. Here's what I came up with.  Take the challenge yourself and please share with me how it turned out!

This will make 2-3 servings

Start by throwing 2 links of your sausage in the oven at 400 and let cook while you prepare the rest.

In a small sauce pan saute 1/4 cup chopped onion and 1 Tbsp minced garlic in olive oil.

Cube 1 yellow squash and saute in olive oil in a separate pan(I used my favorite iron skillet)

After a few minutes add chopped kale to your squash and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook on medium heat.

Once your garlic and and onions are translucent, add 1 chopped tomato, a few dashes of basil, and a little salt and let simmer.

Once your chicken sausage starts to bust open in the oven, you know it's ready to come out.  Take it out of the oven, cut into slices and add it to your squash and kale and brown it up a little more.

After about 10 minutes of your tomato sauce simmering it should be good.  I got a little naughty and added a little bit of cream and parmesan but you can leave it as it is. You can also leave it nice and chunky or, like me, use your immersion blender to make it a little smoother. 

As a base you can use a lot of different things: pasta, rice, quinoa, spaghetti squash, whatever, just make sure it's a small amount and doesn't take away from all the yummy toppings.  You can also do this by itself with nothing underneath.

 Top whatever you've selected from your pantry with the squash, kale, and sausage mixture, then pour your tomato sauce over the top.  Top with parmesan and voila! 

Take the challenge and share your experience, or try my recipe and tell me what you think!

Packing My Bags!

Welcome to my blog about EVERYTHING!  I'm starting this mostly because I want to share my knowledge of skincare, beauty, organic living, and FOOD!!!  I have learned so much over the past few years working with some amazing people in some amazing places but now it's time to move on to bigger and better things.  In just two short weeks I will be leaving Little Rock AR(the city where I've lived my entire life!) and moving with my husband to Nashville TN!  This will be our first great adventure and I plan on writing down and sharing every bit of the fun with you!  While I will miss my family, friends, and the amazing spa I've worked at for years, I am confident that there are great things waiting for me in this exciting new city!  There will be a few hurdles to jump over...

Step 1: Pack and move! Ick, my least favorite thing in the world!
Step 2: Find a job, ANY job, immediately! 
Step 3: Remember what it's like to hate your job, while I work on getting my esthetics license in TN.
Step 4: Find a job in an Eminence Organic spa and start doing what I love again.

I'm hoping to get through these steps very quickly!  In the mean time I will enjoy my husband and I FINALLY having our own place!!!!  Nothing in the world sounds better :)  

Keep reading for updates on the craziness and hopefully soon some helpful and informative posts on all the little things I love to do.