Baking: Tomato Basil Butter

Recognize this picture? Well I also used these roasted tomatoes to make home made ketchup. It's insanely simple. Roast tomatos, buy butter, and basil.

Then bend until smooth.

Can it and enjoy on everything :P I have used this to cook salmon in and also to make a sandwich with bacon and spinach. This butter made it seem more BLT like since I'm not a fan of eating tomatoes. It's so good I think you should

Halloween Must See List

With October starting tomorrow,  I couldn't help but list a few of my FAVORITE scary movies. I've linked the ones that are published (or will be published). Enjoy and expect to see some great scary movie reviews coming up. (If I think of some that aren't on the list I'll add them).

Trick R Treat
The Others
Jennifer's Body
The Birds
The Woman in Black
Attack the Block
Shawn of the Dead
Dale and Tucker vs Evil
Hide and Seek
White Noise
The Uninvited
Insidious
The Ward

Scary movies do things that most other movies don't. They show off that true black that you were focused on when you bought your TV set, they are quiet and then suddenly very loud (I always keep my remote near by), and they always drop massive hints in the story set up.

I find myself drawn to stories that include a psych ward. They have the best twists! Was it all a dream? Is she just crazy? Did we ever leave the ward? Aside from that it includes a disassociation factor. Having never spent time in a psych ward, the movie may be scary but it doesn't leave me scared for hours. I avoid movies set in apartments, houses, or with other familiar situations. The "it could happen to anyone" factor is great for character development, but terrible for a second shifter whoes most awake hours are in the middle of the night.

What are your favorites and why did they stick with you?

Beauty: Feeling Fall

Could it feel more like fall outside? Probably not. I pulled together this look. My eyeshadow is a little hard to see but is both yellow and orange. In my hair is a feather piece from Forever 21 that I picked up for under $3 recently. It's a little hard to see but I am also wearing a brown shirt and my brown toms with some blue jeans. 

How have you been getting into fall?

Photos: 1 Year Anniversary

Andrew and I finally got to celebrate our one year anniversary (which was closer to the beginning of the month. We headed up to Belleville. Andrew was driving so I played some pokemon (because I'm such an adult.) Andrew and I also went to the mall. I got a teavanna drink and Andrew bought his first teavanna tea! 

The next day we went to a crepe place as well as the melting pot. Andrew wasn't too sure about the melting pot, but once we got the meat cooking he was hooked. For desert we had Cookies and Cream Marshmallow dream. The waitress made some liquid fire and toasted the marshmallow. It was crazy and SO delicious! you can go just for cheese or desert which I would definitely recommend.  

For our last day we said good bye to Jen, Luke, Lydia, and Chewie. We found some cute little places to snack at in the city. I found a place that makes chai popcorn as well as cinnamon roll butter cake. Our GPS had a senior moment as it told us to turn onto "road." Yes, thank you gps. Andrew and I had to get our sushi and panda express fix. If you see all those dresses we also stopped by the disney store and I wished I could buy them all and they would fit, but I'm not a 10 year old so it just couldn't be. It was a great weekend and I got to see tons of great friends! (I was excited to see how Jessica's new house was shaping up!) Andrew and I had tons of fun! What kinds of things are MUST do things in Saint Louis for you?

Review: September Loot crate

I know I don't usually post on Tuesday, but we got this in the mail yesterday and had to share. 

Suscription boxes are becoming increasingly popular. After Andrew loved his August loot crate. I knew it would be a perfect gift for my brother for his birthday. Unlike buying something from an online store, you pay a subscription price and then you receive a mix of items (depending on what kind of subscription box you sign up for. Loot Crates are geared towards male gamers. If you'd like to see other types of subscription boxes check out this site.

Ben had asked several times when he would get his first box. 

We were both pretty excited as Ben pulled item after item from the box. 

These were so cool that we both had to try them on. 

Then there was candy

and energy drinks. 

Ben demolished them. The blue powder left it's mark. 

But it's not all junk food. 

Some of it was too awesome for words. 

A few hours later this popped up on Ben's Facebook. 

This was Ben's art print. 

And of course a sticker. YAY

Ben has two more loot crates coming. Be sure to keep an eye open for the next one in a month. 

Are you subscribed to any boxes? Which ones and what do you think of them?

Review: Movie: Shawn of the Dead

Shawn of the Dead is easily one of my favorite Simon Pegg/ Nick Frost movies. It's tag line is: "A Romantic Comedy, with Zombies." That pretty much sums up the movie. It's funny but not gory ... (ok there are a few "ew" moments I mean it is a zombie movie).  I even did a movie review on Shawn of the Dead with two of my bearded friends, but you tube took it down due to copy right infringement.


Back to the movie. It starts of with Simon Pegg going through his everyday boring life and he notices (barely) that things aren't quite right. You can see that everyone else is kind of just going through their everyday motions (like zombies).

Then people start getting sick. Weird stuff starts to happen (shocking right? :P ) The flick is definitely a comedy.

My brother also really enjoys Simon Pegg/ Nick Frost movies.  One year he got this as a gift. Shawn of the Dead is either one of those movies you've never heard of or that you have seen several times. It's perfect to get you in the Halloween mood. Hope you enjoy!

Baking: Protein Fries

Ok so I can't have real fries on keto, because potato = carb. I can have these protein fries. Now I've never been interested in tofu. It's kind of weird and I didn't know what to think of it. If you've never worked with tofu it has NO flavor, but with absorb whatever flavors it is cooked with. So lets turn this block of tofu into fries.

First off you have to drain it and pat it dry then cut it into fry shape. I should mention this is extra firm tofu. It keeps it's shape really well.

This is soy sauce garlic and what ever else the recipe calls for.

Next time I will use a much larger container. You soak the fries in the mixture. I flipped the container a few time and even shook it to make sure all the fries were well covered. You can bake or fry them. I baked my first batch and I think I'll fry my next batch. They were delicious and I think you should  !

Beauty: Set up

I'm very good at misplacing things. Since when I'm putting on eye shadow I want a specific brush, I actually have my makeup organized. 

Top Row:

The first photo is a drawer where I keep eyeshadow pallets, lip stuff, make up remover, and some larger containers,.

The second photo is of a shelf where I keep all my perfume and body spray sorted.

The third photo is a tack board where I keep my earrings, necklaces, and some hair ties. 

The second row:

Two photos of the same drawer, I have a small plastic case for my eyeshadow, that I've mentioned before, The first photo is with it in the drawer and the second photo reveals even more eyeshadow underneath!

The Third row: 

The first photo is of the top of my dresser. The shelf has stuff for my hair, primer for my face, brush cleaner and other odd and ends type bottles. The blue baskets house lotion, and a few other random things. 

The second photo is full of brushes, and mineral powders. 

How do you keep your makeup sorted?

Photos: Coffee Nook

I thought turning one shelf sideways was a great way to have little shelves for my coffee stuff (as seen in the bottom right photo. If you like it, then  

Review: Movie: Jennifer's Body

It's almost October which means I'm going to start cramming in as many scary movies as I can. One of my favorite scary movies is just as quirky as it is scary. That movie is Jennifer's Body.

It stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, and Johnny Simmons (who is also in The Spirt as the young Spirt and is in Scott Pilgrim vs The World as young Neal)

It's a bit gory but it's not your average teen horror movie.

It's always a good way to get into the Halloween spirt for me. It's not terrifying, but you'll get your money's worth.


Have you seen this one? What did you think? Have any good Halloween movie recommendations?

DIY: Rocket Toy from Washcloths

I saw this rocket in a sewing book and decided to make it as a gift for a dog in a gift exchange I was doing. I used a bunch of colorful wash cloths I had. Here you can see all the pieces I cut out. Then I folded them inside and sewed it together. Flipped it right side out and stuffed it. The end result was a little lop sided. I think it's still worth a  !

Not Feeling It

I'm not feeling particularly beautiful or healthy this week. I was sick on Tuesday and it's kind of thrown me off since. Sorry for this mega lame blog post. 

Photos: Washington D.C.

Back at the end of May and the beginning of June my parent's took my brother and I to Washington D.C. for the first time ever. Here are some of my photos. 

Review: Movie: The Others

Fall is all in the air today. I could feel the crispness. To mean that brings all sorts of fun. One upcoming fun thing is Halloween. To get you all ready I'll be doing several Halloween movie review. Up first is the others. Nicole Kidman does an amazing job. The film is both beautifully shot and very well acted. 

Kidman's character has two children who are allergic to light. She is a very aggressive mother. Her husband is off fighting a war and she has just hired new help. 

Her kids are always near by. The daughter keeps saying she talks to people who aren't there or that they are in the room. (It really ads to the creep factor.) The ending is phenomenal and you will want to watch it more than once. 

As far as scary movies go it's not gross or gory. It may make you jump but it's mostly just an eerie feeling type movie. Good for those of us who aren't fans of chainsaw movies. 

Baking: Bacon Egg "Muffins"

If this post makes you hungry remember to  so you can make it later! 

Friday Switch Up

Friday's had been just for beauty, but I often felt stumped instead of inspired. Since I feel like my health is closely related to how beautiful I feel I am making this an either/ or day.

For those of you who didn't catch my BRIEFLY mentioned weightloss blog on face book feel free to check it out.

What am I doing? Well to explain it quickly it's like a hardcore Atkins diet that goes by the name of ketogenic diet. No sugar and less than 20g of carbs per day. If you think that doesn't sound hard go look at any prepackaged food and check the number for carbs.

My body is now burning fat instead of carbs/ sugar for energy. Which is kind of amazing. I can feel a difference when I have cheats. I'm exhausted and even need to sleep longer. Now instead of munching on candy bars I grab a handful of almonds. I end up cooking almost all my food, which usually makes it more healthy than opening a wrapper and tossing something in a microwave.

Packing lunches for work has gotten a lot harder.

I'm already down 12lbs! You may see some Baking Sundays that are missing the normal amounts of sugar I would eat.

In truth giving up sugar is SO much harder than giving up carbs. I fight cravings with low sugar, organic peanut butter and dark chocolate.