Lara

manis

by Lara on February 8, 2012

I’ve been really bad lately about buying lots of nail polish but not actually doing my nails.

I did manage to squeeze 2 in in the past few weeks of feeling like grim death (this is the cold that will not go away).

This plum color is some brand called Pro 10 that I can only find at CVS. It’s super cheap and the racks have been 75% off. I think they’re getting rid of it. I can see why. It took 4 thin coats to get it even but this lasted an entire week before looking really bad. I stamped with an old bottle (like over 10 years old) of L’Oreal antique gold. Ulti approved.

Sorry for the bad pic. I hadn’t had my coffee yet. This is 3 coats of Revlon Blue Lagoon and 1 coat of LA Girl Glitter Addict in Nostalgic (can be found at Rite Aids). The teal glitter isn’t showing up in the pic but it’s pretty rad.

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Valentine’s wreath

by Lara on February 7, 2012

in crafty

I went to Goodwill yesterday and found a bunch of those 3-pack felt x-mas ornaments from Target. (Goodwills have been getting brand new Target surplus lately and it’s awesome.) Anyhoo, they had the trees and snowflakes and HEARTS!

Of course I wasn’t thinking about Valentine’s Day around x-mas so I never scooped any hearts up when they were 50% off but, these were 2 packs of 3 for $1.25. Not bad. I got 1 pack each of 5 colors so that’s about $3.

I still had no idea what to do with them. Twitter suggested a wreath!

After work, I ran to Ben Franklin Crafts and got a 16″ straw wreath on sale ($3) and a 25 yard roll of wide white ribbon for $5. I also got a lil $1 tube of glitter puffy paint to decorate the hearts a bit. I was thinking sparkly white cookie icing but it dried clear. Whatevs.

So, at home I didn’t bother to unwrap the straw wreath from the plastic (avoiding a huge mess) and just wrapped it up with the ribbon, pinning it in place in the back.

Just so you know, I HATE hot glue. Other than it being a huge mess of wispy glue strings, inevitably burning your finger prints off and stuff sliding everywhere – it never lasts. A few years down the road, you’ll get something out of storage and half your stuff has fallen off. I love using straight pins. This way you can rearrange if you notice something’s crooked later, and you can also take decorations off a base and re-use it for something else.

I puffy painted and let them dry overnight then brought everything to my mom’s house today and got to work.

I wasn’t thinking I would add a bow but I didn’t have enough hearts to fill the gap so, I dug around in my x-mas stuff and found another 25 yards of red wired ribbon I got on clearance years ago, made a bow, slapped it on and there ya go!

I need to adjust that ribbon!

So, about $12 + that red ribbon and I have a cute little Valentine’s wreath that I’ll take down in a week anyhow!

I also re-wrapped my mom’s old heart-shaped straw wreath and gave it a lil makeover with all the leftover ribbon.

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fool proof

by Lara on February 2, 2012

in crafty

This is a basic recipe for a roast – chicken, beef or pork- that never fails.

either 1 whole chicken cut up, 4 chicken breasts, a beef chuck roast, or a pork tenderloin/butt roast

Season your meat however you want (salt, pepper, dried herbs, Montreal seasoning, etc) and sear all sides in a pan w/ a touch of oil.

Preheat oven to 350 and put a small can of low-sodium veggie/chicken/beef broth in a roasting dish. (I just tried those concentrated Knorr things – seasoned gelatinous broth you mix in water. Not bad.)

Add a 1/2 – whole pack of fresh rosemary to the pan. Thyme and fresh or dry bay leaves are good too.
While your meat is searing, get your veggies ready. I always cut the top off a head of garlic and put it face down in the roasting pan. About an hour or so in, I take tongs and squeeze out the roasted garlic onto the vegetables.

via

Use whatever veggies you have – like cut up potatoes, carrots, onions, celery, sweet potatoes, parsnips, mushrooms – asparagus, broccoli and sugar snap peas are good towards the last half hour of cooking. Salt and pepper your veggies after you dump them in the pan.

This serves 4 so, keep the amount of veggies in mind. (2 medium potatoes per person)

Add the meat on top of the veg.

You can deglaze the pan with more broth, water or wine (red for beef, white for chicken & pork), and sherry works great with beef too. Add this to the pan. About an inch of liquid in the pan should be good. the veg & meat will give off liquid as well.

Cover well and toss in the oven for about 2 hours. You don’t have to baste or really check anything except maybe your liquid level, which really should be fine.

NOTE: Roasting means the meat cooks in its own steam – not swimming in liquid – that’s braising. That’s why I set the meat on top of the veg. You can have the meat in the liquid, surrounded by veg if you want. That way, you can cut your cooking time by a half to a full hour and still have tender meat. You can also raise the oven temp to 400 to speed it up.

Since it’s just the two of us, this makes great leftovers for the next night and I think it’s even better once heated up again in the oven for about a half hour.

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+ & –

by Lara on February 1, 2012

in + & -

Finally getting over this cold! It was a beast! I’ve been a non-stop bitcher and moaner on le Twitter and for that, I apologize.
I hope I’m well enough to go to a potluck tomorrow night!
find beauty everywhere:

Sheep herding bunny!

Costume designer/art director Eiko Ishioka died on Saturday January 21st. She’s responsible for the luxe costumes in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Cell, The Fall, the Batman show on Broadway, many of Bjork’s album covers as well as directing videos, Grace Jones’ tour costumes, the 2008 Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, Cirque so Soleil, the new Snow White movie coming out directed by Tarsem Singh- one of her favorite collaborators and pretty much a duo to be reckoned with.

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action cats

by Lara on January 30, 2012

in geek

I’m sick. Sick with a stupid stupid cold. Cat gifs make everything better.
click for more action cats 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – 11 – 12 – 13 – 14

And… pretty much how I’m looking today:

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blargh

by Lara on January 27, 2012

in beauty

Rite Aid was having one of their BOGO sales so I swiped up a bunch of new Revlon nail polish colors.

This one, Starry Pink, was a thick chalky disaster. 4 goopy coats and it still looks splotchy in certain light. It’s not sheer enough to layer and I didn’t want to add a topcoat to the 4 I already had on so no stamping on that rough surface. And that’s that.

via

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TKOB

by Lara on January 26, 2012

in geek

Taking care of business you guys!

January is about to kill me but I’m getting stuff done. I didn’t have a real list of New Years resolutions but instead, a long list of things that simply needed to get done.

read 3 books in less than a week
hooping
took Ulti & Nibbles to the vet – Ringo is next

Got worked on for 2 miserable hours at the dentist and I’m not even halfway done. 9 shots of novacaine later, I got some fillings and a deep cleaning below the gum line on the right side. I really don’t want to admit how long it’s been since I’ve gone to the dentist. I grind my teeth at night and because of that, my gums have receded in spots, leaving small cavities along the gum line.

Next, I have to

take Ringo to the vet on Saturday
go to the lady doctor for my annual on Monday
get my oil changed some time in February
get Valentine treats for everyone
back to the dentist on March 15th for the left side
schedule a normal cleaning
get my teeth whitened at a medi spa (cheaper)
get a mouth guard
my 33rd b-day is on March 23rd and we’re going to see The Hunger Games movie! Can’t wait!

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chain letter

by Lara on January 25, 2012

in geek

I don’t do chain letters but I got tagged for a post by Lindsey at The Savvy Speechie (who I really adore) so I will do my part in answering 11 questions. If you want to do this or check out her answers, this post will help you out.

1) Are you allergic to anything?

Not really BUT I just found out yesterday that I’m super sensitive to epinephrine (adrenaline) at the dentist when he gave me a zillion novacaine shots. I had the same panic attack feeling I had at the dermatologist a while back, getting a mole removed. So, that explains that.
2) If a genie granted you one “do-over” for anything, would you take it? And if so, what?

That’s a tough question because of the butterfly effect. I’d be scared to change anything in case I didn’t wind up where I am now. If nothing would change, I would’ve never met a few jerks in my life.
3) What’s the meaning of life?

A change to live a kind loving life, being true to yourself and others. That’s all I got right now.
4) Do you have a favorite drink?

caffeinated ones – tea, coffee, coke, cherry coke (oh and Naked juices)
5) Toilet paper: do you let it hang over or under?

OVER!!!!

6) What pair of shoes did you wear today?

An old pair of black Saucony Jazz sneakers.(I also went to work in what I slept in last night plus a cardigan. I’m kinda disgusting today.)

7) I give you a dollar for the food kind of vending machine. What do you buy?

something crunchy and salty – chips, pretzels, crackers, etc

8) When was the last time you were embarrassed?

It takes A LOT to embarrass me. I can’t even remember. Maybe the first time I farted in front of the bf? That took 3 years. Not even lying. It’s a full-on gas attack now.

9) Taylor Swift has a song called Fifteen. It’s about, as you might have guessed, what you would go back and tell yourself. What would YOU say to your fifteen year old self?

Travel every chance you get. Go on the senior trip. Have more fun! Quit smoking!

10) The majority of your grocery bill, on a pretty regular basis is _______________.

planned out dinners, drinks, and snacks – about $80 a week for the two of us.

11) Have you ever run out of gas? When was the last time and where?

Never. Never ever. How does that even happen?

This was pretty fun! Thanks Lindsey! Anyone wanna answer the questions?

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where I’ve been

by Lara on January 23, 2012

in geek

Heyoooo!

I’ve been slacking on the blog lately… really at life for about a week.

I finally got the first of The Hunger Games books and the hula hoop in the mail last week. Let me just say, hula hooping is hard y’all!

10 minutes into my first try and I was sweating and felt it all over! I’m still having a hard time keeping it up for any great amount of time but I try to catch it before it slams on the floor and whip it back around me immediately so, I can feel it in my back, shoulders and arms. I slacked this weekend on it though because…

OMG The Hunger Games! I started with a goal to read a chapter a night. That lasted until Friday evening. Sunday morning I was at the store getting the second one and this morning, I got the 3rd one. I’m plowing through them and love them so so much. I’ll be sad when it’s all over.

Here are some cute Hunger Games Valentines via: