Archives for February 2016

Tara, from Treble in the Kitchen, and I did a blog takeover today! I’m so excited to introduce Tara and know that you guys will love her recipe, and her blog! Go check out my guest post on Tara’s blog too!

Hello, A Latte Lipstick readers! I’m Tara, and I blog over at Treble in the Kitchen. On my little corner of the internet I enjoy sharing tasty and nutritious recipes, workouts that can be done at home or at the gym, details about my journey to becoming a Registered Dietitian, and bits and pieces of my life.

Today, I’m sharing a recipe with you for one of my all-time favorite ways to start the day. A smoothie bowl!

I love that by blending fruits, frozen spinach and a bit of nut milk I can create a nutritious meal (snack or dessert!) that is pretty much the consistency of melty ice cream.

If you haven’t ever tried slurping your smoothie with a spoon, now’s your chance! I hope you all enjoy the recipe ☺

Green Pineapple Smoothie Bowl

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups frozen pineapple
• 1 frozen banana
• about 1 cup frozen spinach
• ¾-1 cup macadamia nut milk (any milk should work here!)
• Toppings (optional): granola, chia seeds, unsweetened coconut flakes, fruit, nut butter, whatever sounds good!

Green Pineapple Smoothie Bowl Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, except the toppings, in a blender and blend until the desired consistency.
2. You may need to stop the blender and jostle things around with a spoon in order to “get things going.”
3. Pour the smoothie into your favorite bowl, top with your favorite toppings and enjoy!

Let us know what you think of the recipe below in the comments!

Follow Tara on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram!

Love is so easy to do. Everyone loves to love. But as time passes and additional hardships are placed upon you and your loved one, love can morph into something not as beautiful as it once was. Don’t let your love light dim, continue to strengthen it each day and reap the benefits of being loved unconditionally. Now I have heard from the best of them that marriage is not always easy, but love is what life is all about!

Even as a little girl I could recognize a happy, healthy marriage and felt the respect and admiration my parents had for one another. So, before I head into my very own marriage, I thought it would be helpful to hear their tips and advice!

Love this above photo! This was taken of my parent’s within their first 2 months of knowing each other. My dad was so bold to ask the big question 2 months in, and my mom reciprocated that boldness with a YES! They met, fell in love, got engaged in 2 months and were married in 2 more months. Talk about a whirlwind!

That’s just crazy and doesn’t happen much anymore. I do like to ponder the quickness of this proposal and compare it to the more typical 1-5 years couples wait today before getting married. My parents clearly didn’t know everything about each other at the time they were married, but they committed to one another and to making it work.

Now, with their 40th Anniversary under their belts, my parents have proven themselves to be a couple to watch and gain insight from to see what makes a happy marriage.

Happy marriage advice:

It goes without saying, so I’m just going to say it and move on, but always ALWAYS keep God in your marriage. Pray together and grow together through Christ.

One of the first notions my father and I discussed was respect for your soul mate. Too often couples begin to think of their mate as “theirs,” and don’t think of them as the individual that they once fell in love with. Too true, Dad. Too true.

On that note, remember what made you fall in love with the other. Was it the way they told a joke, their immediate understanding of you, the way they spoke passionately about something they loved to do? Or was it something as seemingly small as the way they looked at you? Remember these things when they are doing something especially annoying, like leaving the toilet seat up or sneezing way too often.

Stay true to the one you love. Once trust is lost, the relationship is greatly harmed. Maybe not irreparably, but greatly, and it will take time to build that kind of trust again. Just don’t. Period.

And as we all know, intimacy. Keep intimacy alive in your relationship. Doesn’t have to be crazy, but even that sweet kiss or embrace can work wonders. Other things too…but we aren’t going to get into that in this post. Overall, people like to be touched and feel loved!

Humor is also a must. You should be able to laugh through the more difficult times, to know how to get through the challenging times.

Things to be cautious about in your marriage:

One caution to include is money. Money can be a destroyer to many things, including marriage. Manage your money wisely and agree as a team the best way to handle your money. Misuse, abuse, loss, lack of, or non-agreement in the spending can bring down an otherwise sturdy marriage.

Power. Don’t let anyone have full power. Resentment can be built slowly but explode quickly. Decide what is most important to you in making decisions, and what is most important to the other and then move forward from there. For instance, do you care more about the expenses, the activities you do, the house you buy, the vacation you go on, etc.? If someone isn’t getting a say in any matters, someone is unhappy.

What words of advice would you add to the list to make a happy marriage?

I just purchased two new makeup products that inspired me to create my first glam makeup look on the blog, just in time for Valentine’s Day! Love is in the air causing me to do crazy things.

Introducing the Glam Makeup look tutorial, perfect for a romantic February 14, no matter if you stay in for a romantic night, or go out and party! What are your plans for Valentine’s Day? Colton and I will probably do our usual of going out the night before for fondue chocolate dessert (yum!), and then staying in the night of and cooking something special and different.

To start the glam makeup tutorial, you need a clean, moisturized face. No remaining old makeup on you! On that note, wash your makeup off EVERY SINGLE night. No excuses! Okay, I’m off my pedestal now.

I start with La Base primer gel from Lancome to add some moisture and most importantly, prep my face for plenty of kisses. Then I move on to my favorite foundation that I have been using for over a year! Drum roll please… Double Wear from Estee Lauder. I remember continually reading about this foundation from many beauty bloggers and wanting to see what all the fuss was about, they were right. This is the best foundation ever! The foundation covers your skin enough to hide imperfections, but doesn’t make you feel like you are just caking it on. If someone were to wipe their finger over my face, I wouldn’t want to feel like an orange-y mess would be transferred over onto them, ick!

Next I put just some loose foundation over it. Sometimes I skip this step but I was feeling it today for this tutorial. Its by Clinique and has SPF in it to keep my skin healthy and safe!

Moving on to some color, I like this simple rosy natural looking blush from Lancome. It’s not to bright, or glittery to look unnatural and just gives you the perfect flushed look. I apply on my cheekbones.

After the blush comes the highlighter. I adore High Beam from Benefit. I apply three dots on my high cheekbone and then under the brows. I’m not very fancy and just blend with my clean fingertips.

I know that I need to stop being a cheap-o when it comes to buying good brushes but I really feel like my fingertips can get the job done. I know the first time that I buy a good brush I’m going to want to yell at myself for all those wasted fingertip years. Ha.

Brows are uber important to get that sexy arch! I love Gimme Brow by Benefit to fill out the sparser parts of my brows, without having to spend hours on them. Many people like shadows, but I just really love to use this one product and think they turn out pretty dang good.

Eyeliner wise I have been using Covergirl’s deep black liquid liner. I slightly wing it out for this look and only apply to the top. Then I go to town with my mascara on the top and bottom eyelashes.

Then begins the horrendous process of checking your eyes to make sure that they are evenly winged. *15 minutes later… Just right.

Next, I brush on the white glittery shadow to add some sparkle! I put the glitter inside the corner of my eyes too. (I typically do this before the liner but somehow forgot this important touch prior to, I guess the stress before the winged liner clouded my brain.)

Lipliner time with my new bestie, Hourglass Panorama. This has really good wear and doesn’t smudge hardly at all. I was pleasantly pleased that one of my favorite drugstore makeup purchases lip color from Maybelline matched perfectly to the lip liner. It’s a match!

I feel that plumped, deep lips are just so glam and gorgeous, one of my most favorite colors to wear.

Here is the finished product. What do you think? How do you get your glam makeup look?

Have a great Valentine’s Day week babes!

Who is participating in the 3 month challenge?

If you did, no alcohol in January I am SO SO proud of you. It was alarmingly difficult. I technically have until the 4th and will finish strong and not cheat by ending a couple days earlier. I think I should have done this particular one in February, less days. 😉

I do think it was a great exercise and good for me to challenge myself. I honestly don’t think I haven’t had alcohol for an entire month since I started enjoying alcoholic beverages. I wish that I could be one of those people that just can pass up mimosas, but how can you properly brunch without them?

I did miss my wine on the weekends, okay I’ll be honest on the occasional weekday too, but that wasn’t the hardest part. The most challenging part of not having alcohol is the social aspect. I knew that I had to hide away for January or it would have been too hard and tempting. So I missed my friends and being social. Luckily my fiance joined me in this endeavor so we just were “homebuddies” for the month. See what I did there?

I wouldn’t report feeling like a new human, but I do think I have a sense of being “cleansed” don’t know how much of that is just in my head or not, but it’s nice. I do think that my skin looks a little more glowy – which I’ll take any day!

So, with the new month starting, I am going to start the No Dairy Allowed February! Jump in on this 3 month challenge with me (ADD, no Alcohol, no Dairy, no Dessert) and see how eliminating certain harmful foods/drinks can ADD up to making you feel better!

Beware of some products that you had no idea contained dairy. I did some looking into this before this challenge started and was surprised by some items mentioned. Be sure and look into the food products you are about to enjoy to see if milk is in there. Some items include over processed grains, salad dressings, deli meat. Basically, as always, try to have food that you actual make, see what goes inside of it and is fresh!

I use the above delicious, creamy almond milk for my coffee and cereal in lieu of dairy milk.

Who wants to join me for No Dairy Allowed month? AKA February.