Bacon, Egg cups

Today, after class, I turned into Betty Crocker and COOKED. (Gasp, I know.) I saw this recipe on Pinterest for bacon egg cups cooked in a muffin tin awhile ago and I knew that one day I'd make them myself. And today was that day.

Here are some pictures from my adventure!

All you need are eggs, cheese, salt & pepper, and bacon:

You scramble the eggs. Add the salt, pepper, and cheese.

 

Grease a muffin tin. Line each with a piece of bacon:

Pour the eggs in the middle.

Bake in the oven for about 25 mins. I broiled for the last 5 cause I wanted to make sure everything was done.

And then viola! You're done. I took them out the pan and put them on paper towels to cool and seep up any grease.

Overall, I really liked them. I think I'd add more salt and pepper next time though. My roommate and her friend even said they were good...although that may have just been them being nice ;)

Anywho...quick and easy. Just the way I like it :)

Make Yourself.

Nike ran an ad campaign awhile back called Make Yourself. Each ad has a famous, female athlete working out and the words "Make Yourself ____". Each fill-in-the-blank has a different word: Fit, Strong, Shine are the three that I've collected so far. Here's a group shot of the 7 athletes. These ladies look AMAZING!

I think they did a great job with the wording. Whoever came up with it should get a raise...as I'm sure they did. LOL. Anywho...I love the idea that you can make yourself whatever you wish to be, because in a sense, you really can...if you're willing to work for it.

If you want to be fit, you have to work for it.
If you want to be strong, you have to work for it.
If you want to shine, you have to work for it. 

I, my friends, want to be fit, strong, and shining.

And that's why I work out.

Not because I like sweating dripping down my body.
Not because I like gasping for breath after a run.
Not because I like the sore muscles the next day.
Not because I like the pain I get in my side.
Not because I like lacing up my tennies.

But because, I want to be fit, strong, and shining.

Celebrity Cover-up - 2013 People's Choice Awards

This cover-up post finds us covering the People's Choice Awards red carpet.

Here are my favorite and modest outfits from the night.

Rumer Willis - (Oh, to have Bruce Willis and Demi Moore as parents...haha) Rumer looks great in this sparkly, striped dress.

Here, we have a repeat offender ;) with Julianne Hough.

Ellen Pompeo, in a beautiful, white dress. I like casual/elegant mix with the rumpled sleeves/floor length.

This time I saved my favorite for last. I adore Katy Perry's outfit choice. I read articles that said she looked frumpy...and some that said she looked underdressed, but I think she is just the person to pull off something so simply beautiful.

Next up, the SAG awards!

all photos taken from here and here.

Spending fast

Okay. Here are the requirements for my "modified' spending fast.

(Side note - The idea for a spending fast first came from Anna over at And Then She Saved. Check it out. She has great tips and ideas for saving money and getting out of debt! She paid off thousands of dollars of debt in her first year of doing a spending fast.

• I have to save. save. save. I work hard for everything that I have and I'm of the mindset that if I have the money and if all my bills are paid and my affairs are in order, feel free to spend money...usually, that results in me spending money on clothes that I certainly don't need and on fast food that I most certainly don't need. So, I'm doing a saving guide that I found on Pinterest at the beginning of the year (that I don't feel like looking for, just know that I didn't come up with the idea lol) - basically you save a certain amount of dollars equal to whatever week of the year that we're in. So the first week, you put 1 dollar in a jar, savings account, etc., and the second week, you put 2 dollars....and on and on until the last week of the year when you'll put in 52 dollars. It totals up to 1300 and some change. It's a good way to save a nice chunk of change, so here we go!
• I can only go out once a week...to some that seems like a lot for a spending fast...but I have a group of friends from school that usually grabs lunch after class...and I don't want to have to bail on them all the time. That being said...once a week means once a week, so if I go out to lunch on Monday, I can't go out for dinner on Saturday...if I eat out on Monday, I can't catch a movie with them on Friday night...and so forth. 
• No money on CLOTHING at all. for any reason. I have PLENTY PLENTY PLENTY to get me through YEARS without ever buying anything.
• No shopping. except for food and needed personal items.
• I'm also going to look for a parttime job to save some extra cash. I'm thinking of either setting up a profile on Nanny.com and babysitting on the weekends. Or getting some type of server job, which I think would be really cool, since I've never been a waitress before and I feel like it's an important coming of age job lol.
• No iTunes purchases.
• No Redbox rentals (except for my free coupon that comes once a month! Yay for freebies!)
• ....and anything else that I might think of later.

Here's to saving money! Woohoo!

Before time gets away from me, I figured I should write down what I'm hoping to accomplish in twenty-thirteen. I haven't set hard goals...I, like most of America I'm sure, don't do well with hard goals (yes, yes, I'm lazy, privileged, comfortable..none of which are crimes, are they?? lol). Instead, I just came up with some things/actions that I would like to begin and/or do in the new year...which I guess are hard-set goals. I guess I'm trying to psych myself out...and I'm okay with that. Here are my not hard-set goals -

1. Spending fast, of sorts - My sisters and I did this for a few months last year and Dehli and I are going to do it again this year. Unlike last year, I have no credit card balance or large bills or anything to pay off (sans my car and student loans...but everything in its season lol) but I want to take some pretty wicked vacations after graduation next summer. That being said, I will be participating in a modified spending fast...which I guess means I can't call it a fast, but whatever lol. I'll be describing my criteria in tomorrow's post.

2. Work out - 

- I have two apps on my phone. 0 to 100 push-ups and 0 to 200 sit-ups that I want to conquer. I started last week and I can already feel improvements. The apps have three work outs per week to build your endurance. So far so good!

- I also want to run a 5k this year. I did one last year...but I didn't train and I had to walk a bit. I have another app on my phone to help me build endurance and learn to pace myself.

3. Spend more time getting to know God. He deserves far more of me than I give him.

4. Blog more. Self-explanatory. I usually do really well in the first part of the year and then quickly trail off.

5. Sleep more. I want to be in bed no later than 1030 every week night (Sun-Thurs). I have an alarm set on my phone to further remind myself of the goal.

6. Keep on top of my school work and get more A's this semester than I did last semester.

7. Finish reading the Bible through. I'm on track to finish the New Testament this week, in fact. But I want to read the OT straight through. I've read a good chunk of it...but I tend to jump around, purposefully avoiding some (*cough cough* Deuteronomy...lol)

What do you think? Any tips? What are your no hard-set goals for 2013?

Celebrity Cover-up - 2013 Golden Globes

I did my first Celebrity Cover-up almost a year ago...and the last one I did was in March (yes, I've been a really, really bad blogger)...but I like scouring red carpet looks so I've decided to bring back up this series (Can you call it a series, if you only did it three times?? Hmp...I vote yes.).

Yesterday saw the 2013 Golden Globes. Here are some celebrities I saw "covered-up" in dresses that I just adore!

Enjoy:

Adele - I love her. Although, I am annoyed (albeit, understanding) that she won't share her son's name with the public. I drool over baby names so I'm curious to see how she did in choosing one.

Emily Deschanel - I really like the sleeves on this one.

Jacki Weaver - I don't know who she is (forgive me, Jacki) but I'm liking the kelly green dress:

Julianne Hough - I finally watched the remake of Footloose and I have to say, I was pretty impressed. Anywho, every once in a while, my girly-ness comes out...and this is one of those times. I really like the ruffles!

Mayim Bialik - I think this one is my favorite.

I saved Ariel Winter for last because the Yahoo Blog I read gave her a C- grade on her outfit and I couldn't disagree more. Here are the comments from the writer:

"Who didn't wear something at age 14 that now makes you cringe? Unfortunately for "Modern Family" starlet Ariel Winter, the Valentino floral frock she wore to the Golden Globes – accessorized with a Jennifer Behr headpiece, Benjamin Adams shoes, and a Jimmy Choo clutch — will be one of those looks she regrets from when she was young."

Wow...She's 14! The "frock" is a totally age-appropriate floral dress! And she looks adorable. So she's not wearing a low-cut, high-hemmed, skin-tight dress...she's wearing a cute dress that makes her look 14. Kudos to Ariel's stylist or parents...or I guess, maybe even Ariel.

Next up: People's Choice Awards.


all photos taken from here or here.

Week 2 - Second Semester

You'd think that after 14 days into a new year one would begin to write the current year on their papers and/or checks. No such luck here, unfortunately. I flubbed a couple papers and one check. Haha. It's harder than it looks, I suppose.

Today marked the start of my second semester of graduate school. Definitely nervous for the coming months, but today proved to be a breeze. I am thrilled with one of my professors. She's replacing an inadequate teacher that we had last semester so I'm really looking forward to her Diversity class.

So looks like it's back to the daily grind: School, internship, homework, church, and sleep, when time permits lol.

Half a week down. 17.5 to go.
That's not too bad, right????? :O

Week 1.

This past week has been so amazing.

I flew out to Miami on the 2nd to help a friend move from FL to Fort Worth. I made sure to get in a few days early so that she could show me around. I've only ever driven through the top part of Florida, I've never actually been to Florida.

After much delays, I got in at 430 and per my request, we headed straight to the beach. We stopped at Miami beach first and just walked along the Ocean. After that we got a little hungry so we went to South Beach to grab something. Ate at a little Italian restaurant. Food was good, service not so much. But the fact that I got to people watch for an hour made up for it. I love getting out of Texas. People are so diverse and funky and fun. And that really only happens in Austin for us Texans. On our way to her mom's, I got to see Star Island. Aptly named, since Shaq and Will Smith and tons of others live on this tiny man-made island.

Her mom lives in Fort Lauderdale, so that's where we stayed the first night. Thursday morning, we had lunch with her mom and then headed to the Everglades for my very first airboat ride! It was so cool! I felt like Horatio Caine from CSI - Miami! We saw alligators, birds, and turtles! After that, we went to downtown FL. We walked around some very ritzy shops and then of course, went to the beach. This time, I went in and laid out. Amazing that it's like 80 degrees in the wintertime! After that it was pretty late, so we got home, cleaned up and headed to her dad's, which is right outside of Orlando. Once we got there we just crashed for the night.

Friday, it was rainy! Bleh...it is not supposed to rain in Florida. Haha. So no beach for us on Friday. We did some running around so she could say last minute goodbyes to her friends. Once we wrapped all of that up, we decided to head to downtown Orlando. We went to Plato's closet and a vintage thrift store. Afterwards, we ate at Kobe's Japanese steak and sushi bar and went to a comedy show at Sak Comedy Lab, which is where Wayne Brady got his start! I love Wayne Brady. The show was so much fun. Once we got home, we packed up her car and turned in for the night.

Saturday morning, we ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel with this awesome couple that she is friends with. We made one last stop to drop off something to a friends and then we headed out. We stopped in St. Augustine, which is the oldest city in the country. We saw the fort and a reenactment with soldiers in full garb. We walked along the streets and even saw a lady talking wedding pictures outside of the museum. Everything was so gorgeous.

After that nice break, we got serious and drove 6 hours to her grandfather's in Panama City. We hung out for an hour or so and then we started our long drive, with the idea that we would get a hotel if we got too tired. She drove until Biloxi, MS and I took over the rest of the way. I drove like 9 hours straight through the night! It was exhausting but I'd rather us get there sooner. So we got to my sister's place in Dallas at about 9 Sunday morning. After breakfast, I crashed out for most of the day recovering on sleep!

And now my sister and Kera are both at their first days of work and I am home alone! So let's see what I can get into.

Overall, I had a great time! I could really see myself living in Florida one day! Like I tweeted, any place where you can wear a bikini all year round is alright in my book! Haha. But now it's back to reality. School starts up next week and then my next break won't come until March for Spring break!

Anywho.

Have a great week, lovelies! Here are some photos from my trip. I have to stick them here at the end because I'm on my phone.