Apple Pie

I have been a SAHW (Stay at Home Wife) for the last 2 weeks after recently getting married. Even though I am eager to start back to work soon, I am enjoying this time off to get used to a new place and to have some well deserved "me time"! The first week at the new apartment was SUPER BUSY! I unpacked a never ending stack of boxes (plus more from wedding gifts) and organized every single drawer in the house...WHEW! However, now things are starting to settle down and I have found that I have some free time on my hands. Perfect time for practicing my cooking skills and finding some "keeper recipes". My husband is lucky that I LOVE to cook and he can play taste tester after work. ;) This year, I have the honor of hosting Thanksgiving dinner for the first time. I have used my free time to research recipes and prepare/freeze as many meals ahead of time that can still be good after 2 weeks in a freezer. I am being very ambitious this year and am trying to make everything homemade...we'll see how that goes! My first items I plan on freezing are apple pie filling and pie crusts. Apple pie filling is very easy to make and fairly inexpensive! Justin and I went to an apple orchard a week ago and I got 2 bags of Honey Crisp apples (BOGO Free!). The man said that Honey Crisp (cute name!) apples would work great in an apple pie because they are on the tarter side, but still sweet. Anyways...after 1 week, only 5 apples have been eaten and I'm afraid that they will go bad soon, so I decided to go ahead and make the pie filling and freeze it for Thanksgiving. Here is the recipe:

After peeling and slicing all of the apples...I ended up with almost 9 cups of sliced apples! Whew...it took me about 20 minutes to cut it all with my good knife! After I figured how many apples I had...I adjusted the rest of the ingredients. This recipe will make enough for 2 pies. almost 9 cups of Apples 1 1/2 tablesppons of lemon juice 1 1/3 cup of sugar (original recipe called for 2 cups, but I don't like things super sweet! This amount tasted JUST RIGHT for me, but you can adjust after you taste it.) 1/3 cup and 1 tablespoon of cornstarch 1/2 teaspoon of salt 1 teaspoon of cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon of nutmeg 4 cups of water After peeling apples, slice with an apple slicer and then cut the apples in half one more time. Toss apples in lemon juice and set aside. With a wisk, mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Boil 4 cups of water in a large saucepan. When it starts to boil add sugar mixture and stir continuously for 2 minutes on high. Reduce heat to low/medium and add apples. Simmer apples covered with a lid for 8-10 minutes until tender (be careful not to cook to much or you'll end up with mushy apples!) Check on the apples every 3 minutes or so to stir. Then all you have to do is transfer apples to a large bowl and wait until they cool. After COMPLETELY cooling, ladle apples into a freezer bag and put in freezer! *BTW Justin approved the apples...he had them as "cinnamon apples" for dinner that night!

Calling All Dior Divas

I cannot believe I didn't know about this sooner, but a lovely Dior sales lady at Belk informed me of the Dior Diva Program. Here is the website: https://wws.dior.com/beauty/usa/en/actions/crpBenefits.ep

Keep all your receipts that have your Dior purchases on them, because you can send the receipts in and get rewards depending on how much you spend. 1 point equals 1 dollar spent. Here is the rundown (I copied the following text from Dior's website):

Adorable Diva - 100 points
Receive deluxe travel sizes of Dior best sellers in an adorable mini Dior shopping bag.

Diva Deluxe - 250 points
Receive a full size Diorshow Extase Mascara in Black and a deluxe skincare miniature in a must-have pouch.

Runway Diva - 500 points
Receive a full sized Diorshow Maximizer Lash Plumping Serum and Primer, Dior Addict Lip Glow Color Awakening Lipbalm, and a deluxe fragrance miniature in a chic makeup pouch.

Divine Diva - 1000 points
Receive a full size Diorshow Extase Mascara in Black, Dior Addict Lip Polish in Fresh Expert, 5-Colour Eyeshadow in Earth Reflection, and two deluxe skincare miniatures in a signature Dior makeup trunk.

Dior Beauty Haul

First of all, I want to clear one thing up. I love makeup, but I am not a makeup snob. I have designer makeup in my train case as well as my wonderful drugstore brands. HOWEVER, I have found through experience that more expensive eyeshadow and blush is well worth the extra bucks because it is more pigmented and stays on longer. While I'm on that subject, here are my categories of what to get at the drugstore and what to spend your money on.

Drugstore: lipstick and gloss, eyeliner, brow pencils, sometimes foundation, sunscreen, and daytime mascara, basic skin cleansers and moisturizers.

Department Store: eyeshadow, blush, night time mascara, powder, specialized skincare, and self tanner.

Back to my original post...I recently purchased some Dior eyeshadow, lipstick, and blush that are perfect for fall time and in case you don't know....I have decided to go brunette (brown highlights, mixed with honey blonde, and reddish brown...maybe some feather extensions too) The picture of MK is sort of how I want it, except I will have more blonde highlights. I am excited about the change! Don't worry...I will go back to being blonde in February. I have to put my pinky blush and lipstick aside and go for more peachy and rich tones to accentuate my new look. I will post pics on August 10th!





Here is a video of what I bought.

I am CRAZY for...oil??

No, I am not promoting the oil you fry your chicken in or bake in your cakes (I actually suggest avoiding those oils at all costs...I especially dislike the chicken part and only if the cake is vegan)... Anyways...the oil I am totally obsessed with is the oil you slather on your face...and body too! Crazy I know, but the Ancient Romans used perfumed oil all the time to cleanse the grime off themselves and keep their feet smelling good. So this idea is not new.

I was skeptical and terrified :/ at first by just the thought of putting oil on my face. I have acne prone skin and my last intention was to feed my face oil. However, after reading reviews on Philosophy's new Purity Made Simple cleansing oil, I had to try it.

You first apply the oil on damp hands and it becomes warmer after rubbing your hands together (kinda cool actually). Then you rub the oil on your DRY face (I repeat, do not wet your face before applying the product!) and apply in circular motions with your fingertips. After a few seconds of rubbing, you can literally feel the makeup melting away and all of the nasty dirt just come off. You are supposed to massage your face for 30-60 seconds, but I went longer cause it felt so good an moisturizing. Works well with the Clarisonic too! Then you just rince your face off with warm water and let your face dry. I always air dry my face to avoid bacteria from used towels. Now..just to be sure the cleansing oil did it's job, I took a cotton ball with toner on it and swiped the cotton ball all over my face. The verdict: Not a TRACE of dirt or makeup...and I use lots of foundation! The only caveat, was that it did not remove all of my eye makeup...but that's Dior mascara for ya! The best part was...no breakouts afterwards!

Another oily product that is miraculous is Clarins Double Serum. I got this as a sample and was a little upset at first because the sales lady gave me tons of samples for AGING! Was she trying to say something? I don't know, but because of that one sample, I will forever be a Clarins fan! I <3 samples! Anyways...this serum is an oily product that your skin instantly soaks up and it is supposed to work well for wrinkles, firmness, and radiance. I haven't used it enough to see results for the firmness...and I don't know what wrinkles your talking about, but the RADIANCE factor...OMG...instant results! My skin glowed immediately after putting it on and when I woke up in the morning my skin still looked fresh and dewy! The scent is fresh too!

So there you have it. Go and give oil a chance! Maybe those Romans weren't so crazy after all for slathering oil on their skin.

Stay tuned for my fall make-up haul and Clarisonic review. :)