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!

Glad I tried the gladiators.

 I'm not usually a fan of gladiator sandals, but at a recent trip to Burlington Coat Factory, Steve forced me to try these on. Once again he was right. They looked pretty awesome. And they were comfortable. And they looked more glam-edgy than straight-up gladiators. Ok, they'll do.

...Now I'm pretty much in love with them.

I love the easy little outfits that get thrown together when the weather first gets warm again.

I also love when accidentally blurry photos turn out looking like you were trying to be artistic. Ha. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking. :)

Texas toast

While catching up on FashionToast, I saw Rumi had posted some photos of a trip to Austin! Pretty sure this is her outside the Whole Foods about 3 minutes from my apartment. WHERE WAS I?!?!
*sad and starstruck all at the same time*

I'm guessing she was in town for SXSW, which I always seem to miss for some reason. Last year, I had just severely sprained my ankle and was pretty much bed-ridden that week. This year, I was out of town. Boo.

But I must say, after too many years in places like Little Rock, Arkansas, I do love living in a city that people actually want to come to. :)

Straw-berry

 

It's officially straw-fedora weather. :)

This was me goofing around outside Cabela's outdoor store near Kyle, Texas (I'm not an outdoor person, but this store is seriously impressive) while Steve ran to get me a button down from the car, since I (as usual) was freezing inside. Sometimes I still can't believe I wear pink now.

p.s. That's not me trying to do "sexy" eyes. I was literally that tired. 

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!