Sass Up Your Water!

I'm that person who sometimes finds water well... boring. Unless it's extremely hot out and I don't have anything else to drink. So I was browsing through Pinterest, (part of my daily routine now haha!) and I found recipes for this "Sassy Water." I had no idea what it was and decided to look into it. I heard it was good to detox your body, and even for everyday drinking. So I have been having this water and it not only tastes delicious, but it is also very beneficial. I have this water as soon as I wake up, with my lunch, and dinner. So I don't feel bad about having plain water now that I have my sassy water.
Now there are many benefits to this water. Not only does it help detox your body, but it also gets rid of the water weight, clear up your skin, and keep you hydrated of course! So here is the recipe to this delicious water! (Also you can refill your pitcher for up 3 uses.)

Sassy Water:
2 liters of water
1 cucumber
1 lemon
1 lime
12 mint leaves

In a large pitcher mix all the ingredients and let it soak overnight. And enjoy! Make sure you finish the whole pitcher in one day, then refill with water.

Getting Crafty with the Kiddies

So during Mother's day weekend my family always has to celebrate not only that holiday, but my little sister's birthday as well. This year I decided I would be the one who would plan everything and make it fun for my sister. She was doing great in school, and at home as well, so she deserved to be spoiled a little. She is a very creative kid, so we decided on a arts and crafts party (how fun!)
I went on pinterest and searched as many ideas as I could, and I ended up finding two really fun ideas. One was a mason jar luminary, which I though would be great for the kids to give to their moms, and decorate masks. The mason jar luminaries were super easy to make.
All you are going to need is:

• mason jar
• mod podge (or make your own by using 50/50 of elmers glue and water)
• tissue paper (cut into different size pieces)
• paint brush
• battery operated tealight. (color changing ones are really cool to use, you can purchase it online on amazon or sometimes walmart)

All you do is:

• using the brush, paint the mod podge/ glue mixture on the jar 
• cover what you painted with the brush with tissue paper
• paint over with glue once again
• continue doing all these steps until the jar is covered.
• let it dry overnight 
• then watch your luminary lighten up the room :)

Overall the party was a success. We had lots of fun with the kids, even though it rained we made the best out of it :) Happy 11th Birthday Margarita!

Give me Ribs Baby!

This week we have (drumroll please!) Teriyaki Honey Glazed Baby Back Ribs! Just the name itself makes your mouth water (mines sure did.) My dad went to the grocery store this week and decided to get baby back ribs. My mom knows I like to get creative when it comes down to ribs, from smoking them in the oven and then my dad grills them, to just baking them and broiling them in the oven. Personally I am terrified of the grill (bad experience in the past,) but I decided I wanted to do something different, and teriyaki seemed like a pretty good idea. So let's begin shall we?

What you need:

• A rack of baby back ribs
• your favorite spices (my mom seasoned it the night before with garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper, and paprika)
• A large cookie sheet, or whatever pan is big enough 
• Teriyaki sauce (I used Kikkoman Teriyaki Marinade and Sauce) 
• Cornstarch 
• Brown Sugar
• Honey
• Aluminum Foil

The night before you plan on cooking the ribs, use your spices to make a dry rub and put it all over the ribs. Let it marinade over night.

The next day, preheat your oven to 325F, prepare your cookie sheet or pan and cover it with aluminum foil and place your ribs on the sheet or pan. Cover your ribs with foil nice and tight. Once your oven is nice and hot place your ribs in there and let it cook for 2 hours. (It does take a while, but hey you can't rush perfection right?) 

Now about 15 minutes before it's time to make your teriyaki and honey glaze. Take about 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce, 2 tablespoons of honey, 1 tablespoon of brown sugar, and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch. Make sure you strain the cornstarch so you don't get any lumps. Cook it on low heat, and by the time the glaze is ready, so will your ribs!

Once the time is done remove your ribs and uncover.Preheat your oven on broil at 500F. Pour the glaze all over the ribs and make sure you get them covered allll over. Don't cover your ribs again, just place them in the oven for 5-6 minutes and VOILA! You have delicious tender, fall off the bone ribs! 

DIY No UV Gel Manicure

Hello my loves!
This week I want to share this wonderful idea I have found on pinterest. I love going to the nail salon and getting a gel manicure, but who am I kidding my budget will not allow me to spend $40 every two weeks. So I browsed on something I could do myself at home, and thank goodness for Pinterest I found the perfect thing. The Sweetest Thing is where I found this marvelous idea. She explained how the process is a bit long, but the polish will last longer than a regular manicure, AND there is NO UV light! So let's get started!

What you need:

• Gelous Advanced Nail Gel Coat (I purchased mines at Sallys at about $5.49)
• Any nail polish of your choice (I used one I already had I used Wet N Wild's Megalast in Sugar Coat)
• Any top coat (I used Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat)
• And a little glitter from the crafts store and something to dip your nail in (I used a coffee filter)

Here are the steps:

1. Apply a thin coat of the Gelous polish and wait 2 minutes, and then apply another coat and wait another 2 minutes.
2. Apply a thin coat of nail polish (and I mean a THIN coat, because you will add more) and let that dry for 4 minutes
3. Now on the nail you want to add glitter don't let THAT nail dry completely, dip your finger in the glitter and shake off the excess. I would squeeze a little bit of the glitter on the nail so it's flat.
4. Apply another layer of Gelous and let that dry for 2 minutes (except on the nail with the glitter, continue to let that dry.)
5. Apply one more layer of nail polish and let that dry for 4 minutes
6. Apply your top coat, and let it dry.

And that's it! It took me about an hour to do my gel manicure, and since I already had nail polish and a top coat, all I paid for was my Gelous polish! So it only cost me $5 for this manicure, after this it's always going to be free! Now how can you beat that?

I will say though, if you work a lot with your hands it might chip off a little the next day. I'm a cake decorator, so this always happens, but most of my nails stay completely polished for about a week.  

I hope this helped my loves, and I hope this helps some of you save some money :) 

Have a wonderful rest of the week! ♥

DIY Ombre

Hello Lovelies! So I had to create another blog because well, I forgot my email and password. Haha! Anywho, I always wanted to go for the ombre look, but never had the time or the money. (I mean in this economy who does?!) So I while I was at work looking around at the hair dyes and all that good stuff, I noticed the Loreal Paris Feria Wild Ombre box, before I even bought the box I wanted to see reviews and tutorials, and well I got convinced to buy it and try it myself! I purchased one box which was the 060 for medium to dark hair. Now let me tell you that my hair is a bunch of different colors already, so I was a little nervous to try it out. Also, one side of my hair for some reason has always been lighter than the other. Anyways I told my love that I was going to attempt doing the ombre look at his place, and so I began to prepare my work space. And this is what came in the box:

You get this cool comb that helps spread the color through your hair (I decided to wash it after I used it and keep it). So after opening everything and mixing them together (HEADS UP! The process for the pouring the powder in the bottle is difficult. TAKE YOUR TIME!) I used an old tshirt because in case this is your first time dying your hair, well it WILL get messy. I did my tips first and let that set for 3-5 minutes then finished coloring the rest of my hair. I went up at least 3-4 inches for all my layers. I parted my hair first just to make it easier. And so I waited 45 minutes. (ONLY wait up to 45 minutes, do not go for more than that, remember it's bleach, so it WILL damage your hair). Once that was done I washed my hair our with the shampoo conditioner they provided, but I also decided to use my Organix shampoo and conditioner just to help my ends come back to life. 

Overall I really like the color and quality of my hair. If you don't want to spend crazy amounts of money to get the ombre look, then I definitely recommend this product. I hope this was helpful for you guys! 

Here is my hair before attempting the ombre look (ignore the messy frizziness going on, I had work earlier haha!)

This was while I was waiting (about 20 minutes into the process)

 And this was the final result! 

Have a wonderful day loves!