July Ispy Haul

Simple and sweet was the Ispy July bag. Here's what's in the bag!

If you're not signed up to get your monthly Ispy bag, here is the link to do so. For only about ten bucks you get a cute makeup bag filled with lots of different product that are just for you as you begin to review each product, letting the company know more of what you like.

Shray - 2 mask: one for dry skin and the other is an acne-treating

(Not an Ispy product)
Bought this lovely little pot from Walmart this weekend for $3. For some reason I always seem to detour to the makeup department. Ugh.

Vasanti eyeshadow brush :)

Smells yummy! Eva-Nye hair serum

This was answered prayer. I had recently seen a Sephora Haul from the beautiful Jaclyn Hill where she talked about this GORGEOUS cranberry shadow that I so wanted to get my hands on! As it would slip my mind, this comes in the Ispy bag! I tried it yesterday and it is beautiful! Very build able and matte which I love!

Freelance Makeup

Do you get the drift me of loving makeup yet? Seriously, like I love makeup and fully educated from YouTube. Ha! With my husband living in Washington, I've been allotted lots of time to myself to watch video after video after video, obsessing over the art of makeup. I've always loved all things fashion - clothes, makeup, hair - I have an appreciation for all of it! I recently invested (but bought it at a bargain) a professional synthetic brush set to learn a thing or two at getting the technique down right at shadows and such. I once heard that it's not the product, but the tool in getting the right results. When I joined the Mary Kay family a couple years ago I learned about proper skincare and yes, a bit about the colorful side of things with their makeup. Now I will be completely honest, MK does not have a huge selection of makeup, which is what kind of turned me off to that, but I do LOVE their cleansing products. Earlier this year I mentioned to my husband that I would like to expand my boutique with a beauty bar having under an hour services like; waxes, pedi, mani, massage, etc. I would hope one day to start cosmo school to get professionally educated in makeup, hair, esthetics and all that other jazz so that I can properly run my business. Well, thanks to a great friend of mine, I started my freelance makeup services this summer! She asked me to do her makeup for her sister's wedding and despite the immense amount of pressure, it actually came out pretty nice :) I went on to do makeup for a bride-to-be at her bridal shower and then did 3 in her bridal party on the big day!
I'm definitely looking forward to more opportunities and of course to keep learning. That's the key to any success. Never miss a chance to learn more.

Here is the work! Yes, I know. I amateur in me didn't take before and after pics. Boohoo.

Let's go shopping! Food & Beauty Haul

I'm sure you've watched a makeup haul or something like that, but tonight we shall FOOD haul! Ha ha! What's better than makeup and food? Nothing. Well, maybe shopping...yeah, shopping.

So I got this new little thing I'll be on for the remainder of the month of July and it goes a little something like this...P R O T E I N. With the help of a co-worker, who used to body build, we together created a meal plan that consists of a whole lot of protein and not so much food. The first week was pretty tough, so I decided to tweak it a bit.

Breakfast - Smoothie with protein

Snack - 100 calorie or less

Lunch - Protein shake

Snack - 100 calorie or less

Dinner - Chicken or fish with greens or veggies

Snack - 100 calorie or less

Trying to cut out all processed food, processed sugars, intake LOTS of water and I also put together a journal of workouts broken down by what I want to focus on during each workout. I'm obsessed with fitness model, Jen Heward She is just so great! She has tons of videos that give thorough step-by-step workouts that make it so helpful in understanding what to work on and WHY! So often I would go to the gym and have no clue what to do with all the machines, but since following her I've educated myself so much more. Anyway, so in addition to the new workout plan (which should be 6 days a week) I picked up some yummy foods for the plan. 

Gala Apples, Granny Smith Apple (adding to chicken salad), Avocado (source of good fats), Lemons & Limes (detox for water and zest for fish), Cucumber (greens)

Going to try raw broccoli instead of so much frozen.

The grocery store worker totally sold me on this and I'm so glad she did. I've been wanting to try salmon, but was always so intimidated by how to cook it and it affecting the taste. She had it pan cooked and oh my goodness was it delicious!! So here it is all ready and seasoned. Can't wait to eat it with some white rice. 

Breakfast smoothies options here. Plain raw oats, bananas, muesli (haven't tried before), blueberries and of course the staple of every protein source, peanut butter. 

Good carbs here, white rice and quinoa :)

More breakfast/lunch options. I normally get Almondmilk with vanilla, but this time I tried unsweetened to knock out some of the sugars. Egg whites for weekend breakfast. Greek yogurt vanilla blend to add to the smoothies and last but not least, Special K protein bars for in between snacks. 

Dinner choices. Chicken breasts, staple. Ground turkey, staple. Frozen veggies, staple. I mentioned in a previous post about how I learned the greatest trick to adding flavor to ground turkey and it's taco seasoning! I grabbed a gluten free to help with a healthier choice. 

Now for the beauty haul. Went to Ulta the other day and grabbed a few items...

A must have for anybody who shaves are scrubs! I have found that exfoliating after shaving your legs or anything reduces and or eliminates razor burn and irritation. A plus is having super smooth skin all over. I love putting the scrub under my arms and my feet for a quick little pedi. 

Apologies for it being out of focus, but I grabbed this Urban Decay concealer in light-medium. I used it this morning and gotta say that I'd give it two thumbs up. Very smooth application and great coverage.

If you haven't tried the Biore pore strips to get rid of those pesky black heads then be sure to add this to your list. I grabbed these at our grocery store, but of course Ulta has them as well. The Aveeno lotion had a $1.50 off coupon which made this lotion hard to pass up. Plans are to use it right before bed. Mmmm. I can smell the peaceful night already. 

Last night was the one night of the week that I focus on pampering and reviving my face from all the makeup and harsh outside environment. After the shower I used this mud mask I got in an Ipsy bag a couple months ago, followed that up with pore minimizer on my t-zone, then replenishing serum with vitamin C and finally firming eye cream to tighten up that area. 

On a happier note...

I'm gonna wait till I can gather my thoughts for the blog I really wanted to write. So, until then I'll stick to something much easier to talk about. This past weekend our family celebrated my nephew's high school graduation with a dinner and dance. He is the first grandchild of 10 so it was definitely a big deal! Tejano dancing, the electric slide and good ol' country songs played all night, which made the event so much fun! I loved to see my stepdad dance with my mom because I know that brought her so much happiness. She has always loved dancing tejano! It was emotional night for my sister which is understandable to any parent seeing the success of their child. A possible big reason for the emotion is that my nephew has chosen to serve our country thru the Marine Corps. He's set to ship out in September which is a bittersweet reminder that time never stops. From the moment he signed it seemed like the day would never have come as quick as it has for us. As happy as I am for him taking such a courageous step in life, I'm so worried for his emotions. My father served in the Marine Corps, so I know it's not such a pretty beginning I in bootcamp. Yikes. The best thing I can do is pray, right? Anyway, the vibe of the night was just awesome. Everyone dancing, laughing and having a great time is something that is always memorable and nice to see. No drama, no fighting, just love.
Here are some pics from the weekend. We celebrated my nephew's 18th birthday with bowling and again, the graduation dance.

Bowlero in Corpus Christi, TX

My nephews ;)

Happy Birthday nephew!!

The graduate!!

Following the footsteps of his great grandfather, grandfather and uncle into the Marine Corps

Long night, but had a great time!

Girly Girl

Hey!! I know the last post was a bit depressing, so I thought I'd brighten the room by talking about a hobby I have that's is totally fun, expensive and girly! Makeup! Playing around with all kinds of makeup is definitely fun bringing out the girly girl side of me, but it can get expensive. Like most girls I've been into makeup since I was a teenager, experimenting with all shades of lipstick and colors of the rainbow in shadows. This reminds me of a funny story. Every other year or so we'd travel home to Texas to visit family and for me, I'd always hang out with my friend, Amanda. I remember we'd gush over signed poster she had of Macaulay Culkin, ha ha. Crazy. One visit in particular we shaved our legs for the very first time with her older sister. On our way back home my brother swiped my leg for the first time and shouted out to the whole family in the car, "Jessie shaved her legs!!!". I almost died! I was super embarrassed and scared at what my mom would say. Fortunately I can't really remember what her reaction was, so I guess that's a good thing. Back to the makeup. Growing up my dad instilled his own sort of value in us...'paint your face!', he would say. To this day as grown married women my dad still calls my sister and I out if he sees us without no makeup, especially in public or around our husbands. I joined the Mary Kay pink family about a year and a half ago and I will say that it's helped me to realize what makeup does for a woman. Some women can wear gym shorts and shirt, but throw on makeup just to feel girly. Or basic standards of blush and gloss or blush and mascara. It's makeup! It makes you feel  and look beautiful! YouTube is filled with tons of makeup tutorials done by young girls to women to legit makeup artists and I will say that I am one of those who watches like crazy, especially in my downtime. Before these tutorials and MK I was a basic girl. Basic as in mascara and blush. Now I'm into (very minimal) contouring, lipsticks, layering shadows and brushes! Don't worry, I'm not about to tell you that I'm starting a YoutTube channel, but I do want to start tutorials on my blog cause after all, it's my space, right?!?! It's kinda like photography. There's the professionals and the 'do it for fun not caring about the ISO, aperture and all those other rules' kinda people (that's me!). I wanted to mention, I own a boutique that has an everyday flow of women coming in, trying on clothes and constantly hearing, "ugh, I look ugly...look at my legs, they're horrible...I'm so fat...my face is chubby". Hearing all this just makes me want to shake them and say YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL!! I understand that makeup doesn't hide imperfections, but I believe it's so much deeper than the makeup or perfect body, but we'll get into that later. So look forward to makeup posts coming soon!!