MakeUp Mondays: Flat to Fab Mascara

Remember how I mentioned before that my daily makeup (if any) is just lips and lashes? Well, to make getting out the door even faster, I’ve discovered a new product. A mascara that curls your lashes for you. And no I’m not talking about back in the day, when they had wonder curl, and you can “see” your lashes curl right before your eyes like the commercial. I mean you swipe on that first layer and they hold up in the way you swipe it. I usually spend a minute curling my lashes at the base then moving up to the tip to make sure the lashes don’t droop, but now I don’t have to. My new quick start mascara is Hard Candy Flat to Fab in BLACKEST BLACK.

A couple of swipes and I’m out the door. I love IT! But it’s not water proof so don’t use this as your beach/pool wear.

*I was not compensated for writing this review, I just like to share my review in case you needed something like this in your life too!

Posted on June 25, 2012 by miemo 0

Father’s Day Crab Boil

I spent Father’s day with my big brother and his wife, my nephew and the dog. Here’s the visual recap.

Great weekend with family. Next up, going to the OBX for the first time!

Posted on June 19, 2012 by miemo 0

Soy Hoison Orange Salmon

Yes. I did it. I finally cooked a fish right…without battering and deep frying it. What we’ve got here is an oven baked salmon over baby bok choy with a side of shrimp. Here’s how I did it.

Ingredients
2 5oz pieces of salmon
Baby Bok Choy
Grated Fresh Ginger
1 Orange
Soy Sauce
Hoison
Cilantro
1 Green Onion
Salt
Ground coriander

How I did it:
Preheat the oven to 425F. In a foil, lay down a enough bok choy to place the salmon on top (each piece gets its own foil). In a separate bowl, mix zest from the whole orange, about 2 tbsp of fresh grated or minced ginger, 2 tbsp of hoison sauce, 1 tsp of soy sauce, the whole orange’s juice and the thinly sliced green onion. Stir well. Spoon the sauce over the salmon to fully coat, sprinkle a little bit of salt, then rip a few pieces of cilantro and top the salmon. Shake some ground coriander on top, then wrap it up into a package in the foil, place the two packages on a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes (my pieces took 18 minutes to cook so it depends on the size of your fish), or until the center of the salmon is opaque.

This was adapted from We Are Not Martha They have more pictures and detailed instructions. But you know me, I barely followed it and put my love into it. So that always makes it better right?!

For the shrimp I just rubbed some seasoning on it and threw it in the oven until pink. SERVE WITH RICE.

NOM NOM.

Posted on June 14, 2012 by miemo 0

Lip Obsession

I don’t know what it is, but red lips are hot. I like looking at them on other people. I ask people all the time how they wear it. I’m so jelly. I have huge lips. Sometimes I feel like they take over my face. I’m pretty much just lips and lashes. I was scared to draw attention to them. A little self conscious even. My upper lip is significantly larger that my bottom lip. Someone once told me that wasn’t normal. So I’ve just been wearing lip balm.

NOT ANYMORE. Thanks to the help of Kimberly and Vitya (thanks for the tips ladies!) and encouragement from the boo. I had many random nights of just wearing lipstick at home to get used to see MYSELF in it. I finally eased into it. Starting with wearing it to work early in the morning and only applying it once, and let it wear out. To wearing it out at night to dark places…I am finally comfortable. FINALLY. Took a few months but HELLO WORLD. MY LIPS ARE HERE.

But because of that, now I buy too many lipsticks/stains. I think I will start sharing my reviews on my current obsession in case it would be helpful to someone else who wants to join the dark(er lips) side.

Posted on June 6, 2012 by miemo 0

Drag Show: Golden Lantern

To continue with our streak of live performances for the weekend. The ladies were invited to a drag show Saturday by Miss Monique’s alter ego, Michael.

We got to Tubby’s Golden Lantern a little early after dinner, so we had some time to kill, especially since they moved the regularly scheduled 10pm show to 11pm due to some country line dance convention (yes they really have those). This is were we met Britnee Aluxander.

She became leader of the pack for the night, leading us to her favorite hot spot Bourbon Pub where she performs weekly. As we were walking the streets and exploring the area, we stopped in on a few ghost tour groups and listened a little (well, I ran away because I’m not having a ghost follow me home). Then we headed back to the show!

The show’s platform was pretty much as follows, 5 drag queens, performing country songs, they each get about 3 songs each, with a costume change for a 2 hour show. As they sing they walk around and interface with the crowd, and this is where you can pull out your ones and tip them. It was hard to believe that these women were actually men! Beautiful with sparkle and shine, we were all mesmerized.

The Golden Lantern was very welcoming to everyone, male, female, gay or straight. They had a community vibe and gave us the best southern hospitality I’ve ever had at a bar. Afterwards there was plenty of line dancing for everyone all around!

Posted on June 4, 2012 by miemo 0

Swamp Adventures

There are two kinds of Gator people in the bayous of Louisiana. The kind where they love the alligators, and treat them as members of their family and are conscious of their preservation. And the others are the kind you see on swamp people who make their yearly income in the short hunting season chooootin’ em.

We were the kind of gator people who sat with our cameras safely inside an air boat. I’ve been on gator tours before in different bayous, but this is my first time on an air boat. I was terrified of being that open to gators, but after reassurance from Deanna, who has dealt with boats for a good chunk of her career, I was pumped.

It was awesome. When the air boat was on the go, we were going so fast, the breeze helped relieve the heat. Our captain was hilarious and knowledgeable. You got to get up close and personal with the gators. Did you know they love their marshmallows? And if they are old enough, they’ll enjoy a nice cold brewski. I’ll let the pictures speak.

After all that, we came off the boat with literal swamp ass!

(photo by Deanna K.)

Posted on May 31, 2012 by miemo 0

New Orleans: Girls Trip Overview

I know, I say all the time, I have the best girlfriends. Because, well…I do. Memorial Day weekend we decided to hit up New Orleans, since none of my friends have gone, and I haven’t been there in two years, since my family moved closer to me. I got there a day later than my ladies because I couldn’t take the time off work, but you can bet that I was there right after work on Friday!

A quick Snapshot of the trip:

Friday// I land, dropped off my stuff and headed straight to House of Blues to see Future ( WALAAA MAAAGIC) Then a walk to Pat O’Briens for the strongest hurricanes ever. I opted for water because I was not planning to be hungover the next day!

Saturday// Woke up and had brunch at Cafe Fleur de Lis. Huge portions, everything was DEEELICIOUS. Biscuits are amazing. AMAZING. So were the hash browns. They’re cajun so if you can’t do spice, this might kick you too hard.

Then we got picked up to go on our air boat swamp adventure. This is going to have to get it’s own post. It was SO FUN.

After that we got cleaned up, and went out for dinner. Waited over an hour in line to eat at Acme’s Oyster House. I’ve been there before it was televised and was happy with their food. But this time around, greatly disappointed. I’ll detail it later.

Then live entertainment for the night? The drag show at Tubby’s Golden Lantern. We met a couple of fabulous divas and enjoyed an entertaining show filled with gorgeous women..with balls.

Sunday// Woke up, feet hurt and just tired from being up late and walking all over we grabbed some Mickey D’s for a quick breakfast. Stopped for a foot rub. Then headed to the French Quarter for market shopping, snow cones, gator jerky, and of course no NOLA trip is complete without a trip to Cafe du Monde for iced cafe au lait and fresh hot beignets.

Headed back to the hotel on foot, got cleaned up and made our plans for the evening. We were done with cajun food and just wanted something YUMMY to eat and decided to eat at Ginger Lime, a modern sushi bar, which was by far a good choice.

Deanna and Scooby missed their ghost tour (more on that drama later), and headed to the casino for the night. Me and Vitya headed to a metal show at Siberia in St.Claudes. My first metal show, in a super sketchy part of town. We came back safe and I was barely bruised from getting thrown during some moshing and headbanging.

All in all, a super fun trip, and I look forward to yearly girls trip after the success of this one! Hope everyone is re-calibrated and ready to get back to the daily grind!

Stay tuned for break out posts about new orleans!

Posted on May 30, 2012 by miemo 0

Dewey Beach, Delaware

Ahh, another weekend at the beach. I need to quit until June, all this vitamin D is getting me nice and crispy, even under my big hat and and umbrella. This weekend, the little brother, the boo and I took a road trip up to Dewey Beach. We stayed in an oceanfront beach townhouse, explored the streets, the beach, and the eats! (Wow, I am rhyming?)

Eating is always on the agenda. We walked over to Sunrise Restaurant where they serve breakfast ALL DAY (my kinda place). The service was friendly, the food came out fast, and it was delicious. An awesome way to start the day. We went back there the next morning as well. NOM NOM. I love food. Definitely will go back there for beach breakfasts!

After a yummy breakfast, we went to put in our flower petal order at Windsor’s and stopped by the arts festival by the bay. It featured local artist’s work, to include paintings, and sea glass and other beach-esque stuff. If you wanted to decorate your home a-la beach this was a good place to pick up stuff. There was a magician, pony rides and a moon bounce for kids, as well as hot dogs and hamburgers being grilled. It was small, so after making a quick loop, we headed back to our weekend home to get some beach time in.

(Vitacoco should pay me)

(Brother building a sand castle)

The water was FREEZING. Freezing enough for Sean to dare my brother to fully submerge himself for $7. He did it. Because he’s a bawse. After playing in the sun and sand, everyone was HULKSMASH hungry, so we got ready to head to The Rusty Rudder for some outside eats.

After getting stuffed, enjoying the weather and the ocean air, we took a walk back to the townhouse. We gathered our rose petals, our toasts and headed to the water’s edge.

The main event for this trip was to put flower petals out for our mom, for mothers day/one year anniversary of her death. It was a nice little ceremony in the sunset on the beach.

I had a great weekend, how about you?!

Dewey Beach on Dwellable

Posted on May 15, 2012 by miemo 0

RIP Maman, One Year Anniversary

It’s been exactly a year now since my mom was taken from us by cancer. As usual, I am in tears as I write this, but I want to share with you how great my mother was. This picture was taken Labor Day weekend 2005. I was 20 years old, in my third year of college and I chose to spend the weekend with my mom at the beach. She was funny, playful and loving. People that know both my mother and I, know how much of my personality was like her. However, since we were both the same in stubbornness and attitudes, there were times where we bumped heads a lot. She was strong, beautiful and outspoken. And I miss her. She wasn’t afraid of anything, not even death. The only thing she really was concerned about was the well being and future of her children. She did everything to make sure we turned out as decent human beings and not a menace to society, regardless of whether not we lived in the hood among the gangs and the drug dealers. I’d like to think we turned out alright.

My parents divorce ended pretty badly, but that doesn’t take away from a great childhood. A lot of you probably wonder what happened to my mom. When she got diagnosed, she kept it very private, only letting very few people know, and let alone see her sick. At the funeral a lot of people showed up, not knowing what happened or why. I explained it in the eulogy, and hoped that people took my words to heart. For those of you that want to know and read it, you can find it here.

I still can’t grasp that she’s physically gone. I still feel as if I can pick up the phone and call/text her. But I can’t. It will never stop hurting, but I will try to get the tears under control. However, today will not be one of those days. What hurts also, is that she passed the day after mother’s day last year. So I will continually be haunted by Mother’s day ads, and reminders that she is gone.

I hope you’re having fun up there, we miss you down here.

Vous me manquez Maman, dans mon coeur pour toujours.

Posted on May 9, 2012 by miemo 0

First Beach, First BURN!

It’s that time again, traveling season. And with the warm weather, you know what that means, BEACH. Due to last minute changes, I went from planning to spend Cinco De Mayo at the Kentucky Derby, to spending all day (and forgetting to reapply sunblock) at the beach in South Carolina. Lobster red is not a good look for me.

My ride or die chick, Vitya, and I got back to the root of our nicknames and had our first road trip of the summer! Picked up our Jeep after work Friday and hit the open road. Traffic wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be and made it to Monterey Bay in 8 hours!

The forecast was kind of iffy, but thanks to Mom, the weather was PERFECT all day and we woke up to amazing sunshine and the beach waves crashing. An awesome sight to wake up to, not to mention free continental breakfast with our suite. YESSSSS. Breakfast by palm trees is definitely a win! How could you not have a good day with that kind of start?

We spent all day, reading, wading in the somewhat warm water, spotting jellyfish and fish, collecting seashells, exploring random pools of water, trying to figure out which bugs bit me and enjoying the breezy sunshine.

The rest of the day pretty much went like this…

(Hey Napoloen gimme your tots!)

Then ending the night with… a hotel fort!!!

The trip had to come to an end. So after another good, free breakfast (waffles, grits, bacon, eggs, potato wedges and juice!) we hit the open road again. And oh yeah. I got burned.

…yeah I am going to sit under an umbrella for the rest of summer. No skin cancer for me please. Where’s the SPF 110?

Thanks to the mini vacay, I am back to work, refreshed and excited for the rest of summer. Hope ya’ll had a great weekend!!!

Posted on May 7, 2012 by miemo 0

Miemonster Archives

Old Posts from my dot net site