Reader Suggestion & Three Things Thursday

I did it!  I finally cut my hair.  I cut four inches off!  It's to my shoulders with long layers and I love it.  It's a lot easier to blow dry in the morning and still long enough to put in a ponytail when I workout.  I don't have a picture because I suck at taking self-portraits and um...I don't do that sort of thing.  I'll try to have a friend take a picture this weekend though so y'all can see.  Maybe one day I'll be able to rock the long hair, but it's too much maintenance for my OMG! so busy! lifestyle.

I want to thank reader Andrea for emailing me when I wrote this post about crappy Almay eyeshadow.  We began emailing back and forth about cheap products that we liked and when I told her I was in the market for a new eyelid primer, but couldn't shell out $50 for the one I wanted, she suggested the e.l.f Eyelid Primer.

This primer was only $1 at Target and works like a dream!  I have hooded lids and sometimes I'll end up with eyeliner on my top lid and eyeshadow all up in the crease, but I've been using the primer almost everyday for a week and my eye makeup has stayed in place all day.  Thanks for the recommendation Andrea!

 Today's Thursday and that means that it's Three Things Thursday!  If you're new to the blog, this is a post where I list three things that are annoying me this week. Basically, I whine about my first world problems. You get your chance in the comments.


1. Too Young To Die?  Davy Jones died from a heart attack yesterday at the age of 66.  I know that's a common age for heart attacks, but it still seems very young to me.  Or maybe it's that he looked younger than 66?  All I know is that if they find cocaine in his system, I'll be devastated.  I loved The Monkees when I was young and even saw them in concert!  RIP Davy.

2. Best Of.  If you're a blogger and you do a "best of" post for one month, you're ridiculous.  Unless you're jet-setting around the globe, meeting celebrities and eating at the most amazing restaurants, there's absolutely no need for this.  I can see doing a "best of" for the summer or winter, but even then, it's annoying.  If someone wants to look back at your old posts, they will.  If you're that short on cash that you have to post "best of" posts, get a part-time job.

3. Time Flies!  Every boring person you know today is going to walk up to you and say, "I can't believe it's March already!"  When this happens you need to tell them that they should believe it because time didn't speed up.  March comes at the same time, at the same rate every year.  If they say, "Time flies when you're having fun!", you know they aren't having any fun because fun people don't say shit like that.

To recap:

On Face Spackling

For some unknown reason, wearing makeup and not wearing makeup has been in the news a lot lately.  According to this study, nearly half of all U.S. women have negative feelings about their image when not wearing makeup and link "bare face" with being unattractive, Jezebel reported yesterday that people think women wearing makeup are more competent, and some people think going a month without wearing makeup is some sort of movement.

Did it ever occur to anyone that maybe people think women wearing makeup look more competent because they look pulled together and like they take care themselves well?  Impressions are everything, especially in the business world.  Like it or not, if you look a mess, it says a lot about your work ethic.  I'm not saying you have to have a full face of makeup to succeed at your job, you can wear zero makeup and still look put together, but if you walk into work or job interview with ragged hair and a jacked up face, you look lazy.  The same can be said for a man that shows up to work or an interview with an untrimmed beard and messy hair.

All this being said, the odds of someone actually caring about whether or not you're wearing makeup are slim to none.  I asked two of my coworkers, one male the other female, what they thought about this.  The woman said, "I like makeup!" and the man said, "Yeah, this isn't a thing."  Personally, the only time it ever crosses my mind is when I read idiotic articles like the ones above.  The fact that these articles are written and turned into "projects" is belittling.  We need to be focusing on real issues facing women like equality in the workplace, access to birth control, etc...Makeup is not a women's issue that needs fighting.  Are there women who wear a lot of makeup because they're insecure?  Yes, but I don't think their insecurity stems from someone telling them they need makeup.  It's a lot deeper than that and those are the feelings that should be focused on, not the amount of makeup on their faces.


To recap:
 

The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.

I recently finished the book, "The Unbearable Lightness Of Being" by Mulan Kundera.  I'd been wanting to read this well known book for a long time, but kept putting it off because I'd heard it was a tough read.  After reading nothing but mind candy for the last two weeks, I needed a change.

While I didn't find it that tough to read, I could see how some other people might.  From the description, "A young woman is in love with a successful surgeon, a man torn between his love for her and his incorrigible womanizing. His mistress, a free-spirited artist, lives her life as a series of betrayals—while her other lover, earnest, faithful, and good, stands to lose everything because of his noble qualities", it sounds like a romance novel, but it's anything but.  The book is more of a philosophical question of whether any weight can be attributed to life since it is only lived once.  Without the ability to compare our lives to anything else, Kundera argues, we cannot find meaning; where meaning should exist we find only an unbearable weightlessness.  Kundera uses lust and power as the vehicles to illustrate this problem.  Set in Prague Spring (Russian takeover of Cszekoslovakia) the reader also gets historical information.

While reading the book, I found myself stopping every other page reflecting on my life and the meaning of human existence.  I could not stop thinking about the implications of Kundera's observations, his theories, and his philosophies.  His commentary on relationships, life, men, and women is so accurate and telling. He is able to put into words these little nuances and idiosyncrasies that make us human.  Kundara is a writer who can truly tug at the reader's emotions and thoughts.

To recap: This book isn't for everyone, but if you're someone who enjoys thinking about life and the meaning of philosophy, this is for you.

Easy Healthy Chicken Pot Pie

Yesterday I had a friend over and we were both craving comfort food.  Neither of us had ever attempted to make a chicken pot pie so we decided to try making a healthy version we found online here.

Easy Healthy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients
1 cup cut-up cooked chicken
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1 can fat-free cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup Bisquick Heart Smart mix
1/2 cup fat-free (skim) milk
1 egg

 

Instructions

Heat oven to 400°F. In ungreased 2-quart casserole, mix chicken, vegetables, soup and 1/2 cup milk. Microwave on High 4 minutes; stir.

In small bowl, stir Bisquick® mix, 1/2 cup milk and the egg with fork until blended. Pour over vegetable mixture. 

Bake uncovered about 30 minutes or until golden brown.  

 

The pot pie turned out better than we expected.  The gravy wasn't as thick as regular pot pie, but that was obviously because we used skim milk.  It definitely killed our comfort food craving and the leftovers should last me the week.

 

To recap:  Pot Pie!

Tumblr Bans Thinspiration

It's Friday!  I'm pretty proud of myself this week because I got back into a regular morning workout routine.  Nothing to get excited over, just walking and some VERY light weight training.  It feels good to be back into a regular routine.  I just need to make sure I don't go overboard with it.

So what's the haps for the weekend? I might take myself to see "Wanderlust".  I say might because I love David Wain's movies and sketch writing, but Aniston being in it puts me off.  Then again, she was really good in "Horrible Bosses" so there's that. 

There's good news in the internet world today.  Popular blog hosting service Tumblr announced yesterday that blogs that promote self-harm, like eating disorders or suicide will be banned from it's platform.  In addition, the new policy will also affect searches for related tags. Searches for terms like "purging," "proana," and "thinspiration," will now prompt an automatic "PSA-style message" educating the searcher about the dangers of eating disorders.

I applaud Tumblr for taking a stand against users posting thinspo pictures and "tips".  "Thinspo" has been a fixture on the Internet since...forever?  Young girls — they're almost always girls — use the blogs to connect with fellow eating disorder sufferers, share mind-blowingly sparse diets, and post "thinspirational" photos of emaciated actresses and models that they want to look like.  I remember last year there was a big scandal because some healthy living bloggers pictures were being posted on these Tumblrs.  There's a small backlash from users saying that Tumblr is taking away their freedom of speech, but from the way I understand it, speech is constitutionally protected against laws passed by the government but a private entity can react however it wants.

Unfortunately, this won't rid the internet of Thinspo blogs, they're already all over Pinterest (sometimes I feel like the "everything board" is only comprised of Jesus, thinspo, and weddings), but it's a step in the right direction.

To recap: Same old weekend nonsense for MNibbs and Tumblr doesn't want your Skeletor pictures anymore.

Three Things Thursday

Today's Thursday and that means that it's Three Things Thursday!  If you're new to the blog, this is a post where I list three things that are annoying me this week. Basically, I whine about my first world problems. You get your chance in the comments.

1.  I'm Eating!  I don't understand why people tweet or write on Facebook about what they're eating. Do they think anyone cares that they, "had leftover whole wheat pasta with spinach and feta. So delicious!" or that they, "started the day off right with some oatmeal"?  Congratulations, you ate one of your three meals for the day.  Do you want a gold star?  I can see tweeting or Facebooking about a meal you had a restaurant because you want to recommend it to others, but your basic breakfast or lunch I don't see the point.

2. New Girl.  I actually do like this tv show -- minus the main character Jess. I find her to be extremely annoying and she brings down any scene she's in.  The director needs to tell Zooey Deschanel  to stop over-acting.  It doesn't come off as cute or "adorkable" and it seems like the Jess character has some sort of mental disability.  The storylines that involve the guys are actually well written and not over-acted like Jess's storylines.  Can we have a new show called New Schmidt instead or have Lizzy Caplan's character (Nick's girlfriend, can't remember the character's name) move in and kick Jess out?

3.  Missing Something.  I'm not as upset as I thought I would be about not dating EXTREME! anymore.  It was kind of a relief because I knew deep down it would probably end in a few months due to either his temper or me not wanting to be in a relationship.  Honestly, I thought it would be the latter.  I don't know why I was even bothering with dating.  For the past year and a half, every time I've dated someone, I was over it in a matter of weeks.  With the exception of two people in the past ten years, I haven't been able to really feel anything towards another person.  I feel like I'm missing that emotion or part of your heart that's supposed to want to be with someone else.  I've been dating because I feel like it's something I'm supposed to do.  Like, you're supposed to want to be with someone else right?  I don't.  I don't want to do coupley things on the weekend and going on dates is a hassle for me.  I think of them as time wasted that I could be spending with my friends.  I don't want to be this way, but then again, I don't care.  I'm fine doing things by myself, living by myself and I like not having to plan my free time around someone else.  This isn't normal though!  Is it?  I've tried to figure out why I'm like this, but haven't found the answer.  I wish I could flip a switch and be like everyone else.  My friends say that I'll meet someone who will flip that switch, but I have in the past and I screwed up both of those relationships.  On purpose?  Maybe...I don't know.  Is anyone else like this? 

To recap:  No one cares about your food, New Girl is mental and so am I.

Lemon Zucchini Cookies

Last night I decided I was going to cut my hair off again.  When I make decisions like this they're usually done hastily and I feel like if I don't do it right then and there, I'll never do it.  With determination I walked to the hair place down the street, but halfway there I realized that I had only brought my ipod and keys.  I left my wallet on my kitchen counter.  Doh! At least I realized on the walk there and not after they cut my hair.  That would've been embarrassing.  I'm planning on going back Saturday.  Hopefully I'll still have the same determination.  Instead of getting my hairdid, I started reading this book:

You bet your ass I'm reading this! I'll let you guys know all the juicy details.

Money's tight this week so I'm on the veggie stir-fry diet until I get paid next week.  That means no fun, new recipes to share.  However, last week I made cookies for some a-hole so I'll share that instead!

Glazed Lemon Zucchini Cookies
from Mr. Food

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup grated zucchini, unpeeled

*For The Glaze (optional):  Combine 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar with 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice.

Instructions: 
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and lemon peel. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt just until dry ingredients are mixed in. Stir in zucchini.
Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes, until cookies are golden around the edges.
Drizzle with the glaze when cookies are cooled.

To recap:  If you want to get your hairdid, bring yo' money!