Dallas and stuff

This last week or so has been packed pretty full, but it's been fun. Steve and I celebrated our two year anniversary of meeting/Cinco de Mayo/his sister's birthday in Dallas this past weekend. I also kept busy with a 12 hour film shoot immediately prior to our drive up there on Friday. There are way too many pics of food but I'd been eating super good for a couple weeks to prepare for my shoot (in which I wore very little, heh), so splurging a little was nice. But I'm still mostly trying to stay on the healthy-eating wagon. We also spent some quality time with Steve's niece and nephew and played tourist in Dallas with my friend Kady before heading back to Austin. Here is the random collection of photos I managed to get recently:

2 years ago, I met this cute guy.

Yummy Tex-Mex/Salvadorian cuisine at Gloria's. I'd always wanted to try plantains.

I love having my hair and make up done on set (with independent films, it's not always provided). I was definitely digging the look they gave me.

Dallas sight seeing...somberly. Outside the building where Oswald shot JFK.

 Iced cappuccinos and baked goods at a cute museum cafe. We needed something cheery after seeing the JFK assassination site and some fuel before hitting the road back to Austin. We were pretty beat after the busy weekend.

Paparazzi shot, courtesy of Steve. With my future niece (ok, that still freaks me out a bit!) at her twin brother's baseball game.

I seemed to be a bit popular with the little girls there.

My homemade smoothie obsession is continuing. Yesterday morning I had a strawberry + ice + almond milk + greek yogurt (honey-sweetened) smoothie and some peanut butter toast. So healthy, yet delicious!

 We had an amazing breakfast prepared for us by Steve's brother-in-law our first morning in town.

Did I mention this was my anniversary gift from Steve? Lovely! But I'm not sure I need any for a while after Cinco de Mayo festivities at Gloria's. I definitely paid for it the next day. Luckily, Steve also bought me a pair of earrings and a cute little onesie, which I may have to post photos of soon to do it justice.

April to May

Updating the dry erase calendar is a fun little ritual I have each month. It's nice to look back over the highlights of the past few weeks before wiping the board clean (ah, bittersweet, sometimes), and writing in the new, upcoming events just adds to the anticipation! And anything that helps me feel a little more "together" and organized is a definite plus.

Can you believe it's May already?!

Sunday rocker

I love the leisurely feel of Sundays. But that doesn't mean I like to forget fashion. The fun lies in combining the two. Even when you're feeling a bit edgy. And with a smudge of black mineral liner, red lipstick, and a pair of shades, I'm ready to go sip mimosas out on my (thankfully) private-ish patio...and channel my inner rock star, of course.

Boy shorts, Spencer's. Tank top, Old Navy.

Saturday hello

Enjoying a rather luxurious breakfast this morning of strawberries, Greek yogurt, half an "everything" muffin that Steve brought me yesterday from the adorable cafe' in the lobby of his office building, and of course, a cup of coffee (with a splash of almond milk), before heading to a film audition.
Things have been quite busy around here lately, but good things seem to be happening. I have quite a few acting projects on the horizon and the auditions definitely seem to be picking up. There may even be some new music endeavors in the works soon, which is very exciting. It's been too long since I've been in any sort of band, and I miss it like crazy.

More updates soon, I hope. Have a great weekend! I'm off to finish breakfast and practice my monologue...

Hot drama

The change over to warm weather always means new perspectives. Of course, with me, this floods over into fashion in a big way. Here's some stuff I'm digging lately:

So sophisticated. Courtesy of Blushing and Sweet

Love the hair

 Off-the-shoulder Sexy

This might have to be my hair after my wedding in November.

* All photos found in random Yahoo.com images searches, unless otherwise noted.*

I'm sensing some real glamour in the mix this season. In fact, I was just watching Funny Girl and envying all of Barbara Streisand's dramatic 1920s attire. I would wear any of that stuff today, honestly. I'm having a little bit of a Lindsay Lohan fetish lately, too, and I have no idea why. Could be worse.

Random snaps

Here are some random photos of highlights from the past few weeks. :)

 Exploring the wine section at World Market

 Remanence of lunch at California Pizza Kitchen - Club pizza and margaritas

 Warm weather unlikely mix-and-matching (pink and purple with Camo-shorts? Sure, why not?)

 Shopping for summer "essentials" at Garage

 My first-ever pie from scratch (lemon) for Steve's birthday

Shaggy hair, with new fringey bangs

Cucumber-avocado Soup

Lately I've had the urge to throw random healthy ingredients into my blender and see what comes out. Usually I'm going for smoothies, but I decided to try a chilled cucumber soup. I looked up some random recipes online, but most of them called for sour cream. I decided to try adding avocado to achieve the creamy texture in a healthier way, as well as a little bit of almond milk. It has become my new obsession over soy milk, when I want to reduce dairy intake. I think it tastes much better.

The recipe:

- 1 large cucumber
- 1 medium avocado
- 1 cup almond milk (or you can go for soy milk or regular milk. Your choice.)
- salt (to taste)
- cayenne pepper (to taste...but you don't need very much!)
- lemon juice (again, to taste...but I probably added a table spoon.)

You can also change how much avocado, cucumber, or milk you use, depending on how thick or thin you want the soup.

Slice up the cucumber and the avocado. Pour all ingredients into a blender and blend until it is to the consistency you want. I was happy with how smooth mine came out. The texture was the best part.
Pour it into a bowl and enjoy!

This is an extremely low calorie and healthy dish. If you're not worried too much about that part, you could certainly top the soup with some sour cream or shredded cheese. If you have extra, you can just stick it in the fridge for a super quick lunch the next day!

Spring cleaning

I hadn't planned to do a complete overhaul on my apartment this past weekend, but the Spring cleaning bug took over and I ended up going on a spree. However, I'm thrilled that I did! Steve joined in and we ended up giving our fridge a makeover, fully cleaning our bathrooms, and switching out all our wintery home decor (such as pillows, holiday scented candles, and flower vases filled with poinsettias) with spring accent pieces like lemon and "fresh cotton" scented candles and white hydrangeas.

Most notably, Steve took the initiative of cleaning out the outdoor closet on our balcony, which I had probably been too scared to look in for at least a year. Haha. I wasn't even sure what was in there anymore. He got rid of everything we didn't need and organized the stuff we wanted to keep. The closet looks twice as big now and has room to spare! He also set up a seating area out on the balcony, which I've been wanting to do forever. We're still keeping an eye out for some nicer (and affordable) patio furniture, but at least for now, he created a fully functional area with stuff we already had around.

We decided to spend the evening out there with a bottle of wine and some snacks, chatting and listening to music. The weather was perfect. I'm so glad it's Spring!
 

 Steve found my old coffee table in the outdoor closet, so that provided an easy table for now. Plus, I finally have somewhere to use this floral fabric.

 

 The life!

 Chilled Pinot Grigio (I highly recommend The Naked Grape!) and jalapeno poppers. You know...health food. :)

Have you done any sort of "Spring cleaning" this year?

Sunday in Austin

I spent this past week in Columbus, Texas on a film shoot at a 900 acre ranch. I'm not really an outdoor girl, so the camping-like experience was quite an adventure. However, it felt great to be taken out of my comfort zone a bit. Between the shoot and spending 2 weeks in Arkansas the week before that (I was back for 3 days in between), I've barely seen my apartment OR my fiance all month! So, after getting back home around midnight on Friday, I was excited to have a normal, relaxing weekend ahead of me. An important part of it was simply being domestic. On Sunday morning, Steve and I cooked up a pancake brunch. I was quite proud of how well my pancakes came out. :)

 All natural "Blackberry Patch" brand Wild Blueberry and Apple Butter syrups from Cabela's.

I thrive on the crazy schedule, but for right now it's nice knowing I don't need to think about packing another suitcase in a couple days and leaving again... for a little while at least!

Silver lining

As unorganized as my life has felt over the past 6 weeks or so (crazy illnesses that wont go away, travel, being apart from my fiance for way too long, auditions, wedding planning, "real" work, and acting work...), I've had a real craving to stay as organized as possible in smaller ways. My current purse had recently become so worn out that the now fraying straps are in danger of snapping at any moment. Rather than waiting until that happens while I'm out shopping somewhere, I decided to take the plunge and purchase a new handbag today. Always fun!

I love the color silver for a purse. Infact, when I bought my last purse, I couldn't find anything I liked in silver so I settled on a white one. It was a cute bag, but the color gets dingy so quickly, even when you try to keep it as clean as possible. I was happy to find something in a more realistic color this time around! (Purse by Croft & Barrow from Khol's, 40% off 49.99).

It's so fun "moving in." I'd actually done a decent job of keeping my old handbag pretty clutter-free, but getting a new one is always a good time to check and make sure you're not constantly carrying around anything you don't actually need.

 What's in the bag:
"Bottom row" left to right:
- My wallet, which I am still loving and showed off HERE
- I also bought the little polka-dotted bag today (Walmart, $2.97) to keep essentials like floss and band-aids (for when those heels start hurting! Or, obviously, for an actual emergency...um...yeah...) plus, some personal items and a couple medications in the main (i.e. opaque) section.
- Gum! I'd been out for a while...it's always nice to have around to freshen up while you're out.
- Hand lotion. I apply this about 60 times a day, so having some on-the-go is a must for me.

"Top row" left to right:
- Make up bag with touch-up items like pressed powder, mineral concealer and brush, eyeliner, and lip gloss.
- Check book and pen (always carry a pen with you! You'll be glad you did).
- Chapstick. If I could only have one item in my bag, this would be it.
- Aviator sunglasses.
- Hair bands in case my hair decides it needs to be put away for a while.
- My beautiful compact mirror, a gift from a friend in China!

Pink eye (the good kind!)

I have an on-and-off love affair with pink eye shadow. Right now, it's back on. It can look punk or really pretty and fresh depending on how you use it. I actually use a rosey cream blush that I've had since my days of using stage make up, so don't even ask me to try and figure out what exactly it is and where you can buy it. ;) Just use whatever works for you. For this, I think a product with creamy texture looks fresher than powder eye shadow and blends really nicely. Just make sure you powder it after applying to set it.

A recent look:

I liked the pop of pink with the black and white dress. Don't be afraid to be a little messy with the pink. It shouldn't look too calculated. You can even put it all around the eye, but I didn't do that this time.
I traced the outside of the pink with a shimmer golden powder shadow and extended it outwards (up to my eyebrows and around the bottom outer corner of my eye). I wish my crappy little camera did it more justice. It's not that easy to pick up in these photos. But, along with the pink, it created a shimmery pastel look all around the eyes. Almost "fairy"-like, but understated.
I finished with black mascara. It's not often that I don't wear some sort of eye liner, but I didn't feel like I needed anything taking away the focus of the pink and gold or making it too harsh of a look. I kept the lips light and neutral as well.

Blush always goes below my cheek bones, rather than the apple of the cheek as many people suggest. It really helps accentuate the cheek bones that way. I put a little shimmery powdered bronzer on the cheek bone to help highlight them even more.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions? Share 'em!

Oscar ready

Alright, I'm a little late in posting these, but here are some photos I took while getting ready for an "Academy Awards watching/ Bacon Feast" party a friend of mine had. Everyone was asked to dress up for the night. Bacon + fancy attire? Love it!

 Accessories! Clutch purse and decorative headband.

 Picking out an outfit...

 A smile might have been nice...

Some favorite makeup: Hard Candy bronzer, Elf liquid black liner, Bare Minerals eye shadow in "1980s", 

and Maybelline Wet Shine lipstick in "Flushed."

 Bacon brownies, cupcakes, and cheesecake

 Bacon for dinner: Pinwheels, potato salad, banana sandwiches, chicken/jalapeno/bacon bites, and a variety of dips...to dip bacon slices in, of course.

  Me with fellow blogger, Christina Boudreaux
You can check out her blog (including her recount of this night!) at "Christina Does It All"

It was really fun night with many great people. There was no shortage of bacon dishes (Did I mention I already had plans to start a detox diet the next day? Good timing.) or fashion-critiquing the celebrities on TV. Did you have your own best and worst dressed? I think we were all in agreement that Angelina Jolie looked oddly thin. I'm not one to buy into tabloid reports of anorexia, or one of those girls who says "Oh em gee, eat a cheeseburger!" to ANYONE, because I am naturally thin myself, but wow. She really did look a bit scary. And what was with her leg-out stance while presenting? It was just weird. Thoughts?

I also wanted to see celebs like Sandra Bullock take more of a risk. I thought she dressed a little too "old" for her still-hot figure. Stars like Natalie Portman and Cameron Diaz looked lovely, as usual.

I know it might seem wrong to be concentrating on the fashion more than the awards, but honestly, I've barely seen any movies this past year! I definitely have some on my list though, now that they were showcased so nicely at the awards.