a latte lipstick

Copious amounts of t-shirts can strangely tell a lot about a person. If you think about it, your hodge-podge assortment can quickly share your entire life story, or at least mine can. T-shirts can serve as a collection of things that were important to you, or are important to you. Serving as a timeline of your life and as an almost about you display.

A diverse collection of my shirts could tell you my life in a quick glance. It would start with my love to dance, presented by many shirts dedicated to Kim Massay Dance Productions. Next comes my Edmond North Pom shirts for cheering on those Huskies. Next comes college, plenty of OU Sooner shirts to go around. BOOOMER! Equally important is my array of Pi Beta Phi shirts. Embarrassed to say how many of those there are...Hey, it's easy to get sucked up into needing every single new shirt design. Then, the Beta Theta Pi shirts come into play when I met Colton. As college proceeds, career aspirations rise into focus with company t-shirts from where I interned and advertising club shirts. After graduation... more advertising club shirts and volunteering shirts. Now here we are to date, who knows where my next t-shirts will come from!

Other t-shirts may not serve as a timeline but as a sort of show and tell of interests. I have quite a few oversized Polo shirts for my Fratty days. A collection of Dave Matthews shirts from concerts attended. Colorado shirts for my love of the beautiful mountains, hiking, and gigantic cozy fireplaces. Thunder Pride shirts for OKC. Thunder Up! Perhaps even as praise to a yummy restaurant. Oh the Mont... what would I have ever done without Swirls in college?

Don't even get me started on the absurd amount of t-shirts I own that are not shown or spoken for in this post. I try to regularly donate my t-shirts for others in need. Also, so that I don't waste closet space for billions of old t-shirts that I don't wear. But I do think it is special to keep some key t-shirts that you can keep forever. For example, I still wear my grandpa's OU shirt to bed. It is the most amazing soft thing I own and has sweet sentimental value. His outpouring of love and dedication to the Sooners and OU, years and years after attendance, was extreme and amazing.

What would your t-shirts say about you?

Oh! How I love the simplicity of accessorizing with Summer scarves...

Some men guffaw at the idea of a "Summer" scarf. They just don't get it. It's the most perfect piece to add color to any basic outfit! A scarf can really tie an outfit together, or simply add some stylish fun. A simple white tee with jean cut offs is just that...but add a bright scarf to it and BAM! You're ready.

Not only is it stylish, but also very useful for the constantly freezing person, guilty! I get chills all the time walking indoors after being outdoors on glorious sunny days. Sunshine, please visit Oklahoma. Scarves are the perfect thing in the Summer that you can wrap around your shoulders without getting looks from others because you're wearing a jacket when it's 95 degrees outside.

I love the really bright scarves for Summer. Every gals' closet should have a turquoise, orange, and purple scarf, in my humble opinion. While I love fabric details, I prefer my scarves to be simple with a solid bold color. I also like them to be more heavy then what you would think when you hear "Summer scarf," solely for the fact that it's cozy and serves as a way to stay warm in the office, restaurant, theater, etc. If I'm cold, I'm unhappy.

How do you accessorize your simple white tee/cut off look?

Happy Sunday Friends!

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Matthew 11:28

Stress is so unhealthy to have in your life, yet we all do it! Stress comes at us from all directions of our lives: work, family, friends, health, other responsibilities. We stress about the most unnecessary things that we can't even control.

Stress affects our health drastically. It increases your risk for many sicknesses and even leads to depression. No one should be so stressed that they don't allow themselves to feel joy. You must fight the fight and not let stress overtake your life. You're the boss!

My Ways to De-Stress:

• Constant Communication w/God
• Exercise
• Creating a No Stress Zone
• Laughter

I have found that the more I let go the better I perform and feel. Talking to the Lord each day whenever hard things come my way helps me to maintain perspective and reminds me what is most important in life. Keeping perspective is crucial for a healthy life. Think in terms of one year. In one year, will this mistake matter or affect your whole life? Chances are it wont.

Creating a somewhat sanctuary can be a way to escape from a long day. This can be either a physical or mental space. For some people it's their church, others it's the arms of a loved one, or meditation, or cuddling with sweet furry friends. Find yours.

Beautiful Sunsets

Sweet Puppy Time

Exercise is also a great way to let go and let your mind go free. A good sweat session brings me a feeling of control and makes me feel powerful and strong. Ready for anything!

And, of course you need laughter! Make sure you laugh every single day, there are plenty of reasons to laugh in life. Don't be so serious.

Laughter is the Language of the Soul

I loved this Ted Talk discussing the way you should think of stress. Turns the concept on its head and turns stress into a positive experience.

Here are some other good tips on Reducing Stress.

Let's all stay stress free this week!

When brands add special elements to their product without it being a blatant logo, it really adds something special to the product's feel and consumer's enjoyment. My desire for that product heightens exponentially. The added detail and care is definitely noticed and noted. It makes shoppers who recognize the product feel something special, it's like a little club. I don't care if that makes me sound like a style snob, it's true!

Favorite Examples:

• Louboutin
• BCBG
• Nicole Miller
• Chan Luu

Red. Sole.
Need I say more? Just a flash of the red sole on a shoe brings a wave of appreciation for Louboutin.

The Dip.
Work pants are about as fun as the term work pants. Therefore, that added something changes the whole pant. I adore how the BCBG pants have that little triangle cut out.

Scrunch It.
Ladies, you know what I'm talking about. The amazing scrunch dress, it looks so stylish but is also secretly quite comfortable! It's form fitting while it doesn't cling to every curve of your body. Thanks, Nicole.

Curved Clasp.
Chan Luu's clasp on their wrap bracelet is much more efficient with curved edges. My <3 belongs to Luu's bracelets.

Just adding that extra something that makes a product slightly different makes all the difference. If a style product example doesn't do it for you, think food. If your favorite smoothie bar always adds a hint of lemon to their strawberry smoothie, then every time you taste that you know where it came from, the brand registers with you. It's not just an ordinary strawberry smoothie anymore, it's a special smoothie.

Now, let's get deep a moment. Let's relate it to you as a person, what is that something special you have to offer? That added bonus that tells you apart from all the other humans. Find that and embrace it, preferably embrace it in some Louboutin heels ;)

Why fit in when you were born to stand out?

Last night I created the best "Mexican Quinoa Bowl", almost by a pure genius accident. An accident to be repeated many times. I had been in a cooking rut and having veggies, quinoa, with soy sauce multiple nights in a row because its quick, and healthy. I wanted a similar simple meal, yet slightly different. My pantry then answered my request and revealed some black beans and corn. I decided it should be mexican food-inspired instead of asian food-inspired. And the master piece was created!

Ingredients:
Red Pepper
Green Pepper
Garlic Clove
1/2 Yellow Onion
1 1/2 C Quinoa
Can of Black Beans
Can of Corn
Salsa
Sour Cream
Salt and Pepper

Saute some onions, garlic, green peppers and red peppers, then set aside.

Make some quinoa and heat up the corn and black beans.

Mix the quinoa, black beans, corn, peppers and onions together. Stir in the spices.

Add a dollop of sour cream and some salsa.

One item missing was the avocado. Duh! I would highly recommend slicing a quarter of it to put on top. Muy Delicioso!

The end product was everything I wanted it to be. Also vegetarian friendly! I will have this meal at least 3x this week and that's saying a lot since I'm never too enthused at the thought of leftovers. But the versatility of this meal is extremely appealing and useful to not give me that gross leftover feel. You know what I'm talking about.

Leftover Options:
#1::Bowl Style
#2::Wrap it all up in a Tortilla
#3::Add Tortilla Chips and Iceberg Lettuce for a Salad

And a new favorite quick recipe was born...

A woman and her makeup is a special thing. Makeup gives a woman the power to enhance her confidence, show her style, and have fun! A life without makeup would be a sad life to live.

It's incredible what good makeup can do. We obviously can see how powerful it is when we spot celebs out and about before a brush has sweeped across their face. The way that makeup can also change the shape of facial features is shocking. Complete transformation!

The power of a good eye can change your look drastically.I have almond shaped eyes and always like changing up my makeup to see the difference it makes. I have 3 different looks that I wear depending on the event, mood, or time of day.

My 3 different looks
• The Cat Eye (Glam)
• The Rimmed Outer Eye (Classic)
• The Smokey Inner Eye (Dramatic)

The Glam Look is the basic cat eye. I use a liquid liner to do the top. Happy to say I think I have almost mastered it so that I don't end up like a raccoon. It's all in the wrist.

The Classic Look is lining the bottom lid and the outer top corner. This is the eye that I typically wear every day for work. It plays up my eye shape and is more casual.

The Dramatic Look is when I line my entire inner eye lids with a brown-black eyeliner pencil. Then, I usually wear some dark shadows and lighten up my inner corner with a wintery white glitter shadow.

Hope no one is reading this in a dark room late at night, the eyes are a tad creepy. But I wanted to give you all visuals :)

There are so many different options when it comes to makeup and I feel overwhelmed most of the time. However, I have landed on a couple key products when it comes to my eye makeup, usually Lancome and Mac.

I really like the white Mac shadow to use in the inner eye corner and the upper brow line for all my looks. It adds some shimmer and is also subtle. For my Glam/Classic liner, I use the Black Coffee from Lancome. For my Glam liner, I play it cheap with Almay. Mascara is the tricky one. I have still not found one that I have settled on.

Now that I am a working woman I feel it is worth finding some products to always use and count on. I am on the search for the Perfect Mascara, and foundation (but that's a whole other topic).

Which Mascara do you swear by?

Posted by A Latte Lipstick at 9:00 PM No comments:

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