Bites of My Life

I love weekends. The cherry on top of what was either a sweet or salty week. Either way the weekend   always turns a bad week around or just adds more good to a good week! Tears may have almost happened when I got overly stressed about my capstone class, but due dates got pushed back and all was good in the world again. More "sweet" moments kept happening through the week then a great last Dad's weekend rounded it out!

-Harvest orzo salad aka my lunch all week. Recipe posted so you can also take a bite. 

-Such a good response to my "Makeup Manners" post. I love getting friends in on the blog!

-Pumpkin spaghetti squash with rosemary and parmesan. Adapted from this recipe.

-Rainy day homemade tea latte. 

-Played hostess for a Stella and Dot trunk show at my house on Wednesday!

-Used it as an opportunity to make fun apps and get good friends together. Check back tomorrow for the recipe for these fig and mascarpone crostini.

-Took pumpkin pecan baked brie to help celebrate two of my friend's birthdays. It was destroyed in about 5 minutes so this is honestly the best shot I got. 

-Kylie's healthy brownie mix is now available for purchase! Ordered mine and got them three days later, now that's service!

-Such a perfect last Dad's weekend. Love hanging out with dad while he gets to relive his glory days. 

Annie

Harvest Orzo Salad

I wasn't originally planning on posting this recipe, reasoning for my lack of pictures, but after posting to Instagram I got lots of recipe requests! So enjoy a quickie afternoon recipe post for this yummy harvest pasta salad! The colors scream fall and translate this usually summer dish into the perfect Autumn lunch!

Harvest Orzo Salad
yields about four, 1 cup servings

Ingredients:
1 cup of orzo pasta
1/4 cup of pecans, chopped
1/2 of a red onion, chopped
1/2 cup golden cherry tomatoes
a handful of spinach, chopped
1 cup shredded chicken
1/4 cup of parmesan

Dressing:
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp. dijon mustard
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper

Directions:
Cook your pasta according to the package directions. While it is cooking, slice your onion, tomatoes, spinach and pecans. 

Once the pasta is done, strain it then return to the pan. Add in your veggies, pecans, chicken and parm. The heat from the pasta will wilt the spinach and melt the parmesan slightly. 

In a mason jar or a small bowl combing your dressing ingredients. Shake or whisk, then dress the pasta. The dressing just makes a little because I don't want it to sauce the pasta. I still don't even use all of the dressing. 

Toss the pasta together. Taste and see if it needs more salt or pepper! I made a full batch and kept it in the fridge all week to eat for lunch. It would also be a great side dish at a picnic or for dinner. Serve warm, cold or at room temp!

Annie

Mid-week Musings

image via Free People

Useful steps to deal with the anxiety I've been having. This too.

All you need is 10 minutes.

Tucking these ideas away for Thanksgiving pies.

How to quiet your sweet tooth during the holidays.

This Instagram is everything.

Where they are now. #13- my boys

I'm turning into a pot head.

A special delivery, brought to you by Starbucks.

Beer latte?

We are all born creative.

Love that Liz is now posting recipes intertwined with her stellar fashion posts!

Would you and your mom be friends if you were the same age? My mom once said she was pretty much like me in college, so I'm guessing we'd be friends. 

Lastly a good ole buzzfeed quiz...Can't help it, I'm a RomCom junkie, what are you?

Annie

Makeup Manners

I'm 21 and still feel like I don't know how to do my makeup. To be honest, I feel like I don't know how to properly do anything beauty related. This most likely comes from laziness. I'm a simple girl when it comes to hair, skincare and makeup. I'm all about the 5 minute look. My hair is bone straight and I can go from the shower to ready in 15 minutes. It's handy, but as I've gotten older I've realized I need to have better "manners" when it comes to my beauty routine.

I use the word manners because just like saying thank you and chewing with your mouth closed, I think those some ideas can be applied to beauty. It's time I start treating my skin with respect and applying my makeup and fixing my hair the proper way. 

I turned to my bestie and beauty guru to get the best tips on which products to use. Megan has the best manners when it comes to all things makeup and skincare. She takes her beauty routine seriously and it's definitely noticeable. 

Let's start with skin. After reading article after article about skin-care tips or "what I wish I would have told my 20-year old self," everyone talks about how important it is to take care of your skin. I've started to listen a little and added sunscreen, flossing and heavily moisturizing to my everyday routine. I've also been applying vaseline to my dry areas and eyelids before I go to sleep.

Now for Megan's tips and favorite products: 

She uses an incredible cleanser and moisturizer as well as a Clarisonic. For a cheaper version, Megan suggests
Orgins - Checks and Balances cleanser, Cetaphil - Oil Control moisturizer and Biore`- Acne Clearing Scrub. A good cleanser, scrub and moisturizer are the first steps in skin care. Below are more of her favorite products!

Step 1. Cleanse
Omorovicza Cleansing Foam -worth it

Step 2. Moisturize
Omorovicza Radiance Renewal Serum- revives tired skin
Omorovicza Balancing Moisturiser - for long lasting hydration
J.Berry Beauty Balm - A beauty lined started by Megan's facialist back home. I've tried this product and it rocks, put it on everything. 
Kiehl's Creme D`Elegance Repairateur - you can't beat Kiehl's

Now for makeup. I love having Megan do my makeup for special occasions, she makes me feel like I'm sitting at the makeup counter in the mall! She has all the brushes, primers and highlighters to make you look great without looking like you tried too hard.

Step 1.  Prime
Laura Mercier Hydrating Primer - Julia suggests it too!
Too Faced Hangover - for that red puffy "after a night out" skin
Smash Box Photo Phinish - to reduce redness 

Step 2. Foundation
Bare Minerals Original powder - for light coverage 
Chanel Viltalumiere Aqua - for medium coverage
Laura Mercier Silk Creme Foundation - for full coverage

Step 3. Conceal
Laura Mercier in Secret Camaflage

Step 4. Add some color
Nars Bronzer in Laguna
Nars Blush in Orgasm
Nars Highlighter in Albatross
Urban Decay Naked Palatte - every girl's favorite eyeshadow

Step 5. The finale
Chanel mascara #10

Now that's a long list, so I asked Megan to pick her tip top/can't live without products and she said...

1. Omorovicza Cleansing Foam
2. Nars Blush in Orgasm
3. Bare Minerals Original powder
4. J.Berry Beauty Balm
5. YSL Touche Éclat
6. Chanel mascara #10

Okay so who just wrote down all the beauty buys they need to go make? My hand is raised. To start, I'm thinking a big tub of Kiehls, Laura Mercier's primer and Nars blush and highlighter. Thanks Megan for sharing all of your wonderful makeup manners!

Annie 

Bites of My Life

My week was looking at two tests and days full of studying, when BAM, my allergies slapped me in the face. It got so bad I had to excuse myself from the local coffee shop to escape the disgust I was probably causing everyone with my pile of snot rags and the sneezes every minute. After that, I decided to say goodbye to my chances at focusing on studying. Probably not the most responsible thing to do, but no worries the tests ended up great!

A healthy dose of Zyrtec and a home cooked meal from mom healed me right up! I was then able to enjoy the rest of the week filled with birthday celebrations, Halloween, and day 1 of wedding dress shopping for Kathleen!

-Homemade Ramen. *pats back* Used How Sweet It Is' recipe.

-My current Blogging For Books shipment, A Beautiful Mess' Happy Homemade Home. Lot's of retro home decor ideas that unfortunately didn't strike my fancy. I'm a huge Beautiful Mess fan but their book didn't excite me as much as I'd hope. 

-So I've mentioned the hot tea kick I'm on, but now I'm welcoming homemade tea latte's into my life. The perfect cure when allergies hit you in the face mid-afternoon. Try Kylie's recipe from Yeah...Immaeatthat, one of the blog's I featured last week. 

-A spur of the moment trip home treated me right with a family favorite for dinner and cinnamon apples for dessert. 

-A stunning view from the 20th floor at The George restaurant for mom's birthday dinner!

-Just the start of an incredible meal. To follow was the bacon tart, beet salad and seasonal salmon. Read more about my meal here. 

-Leftover salmon from mom's birthday dinner was the star of this fall salad. Seasoned pumpkin seeds helped too!

-Played the part of MOH for our tacky bridesmaid Halloween look.

-Bowl 1 of 3 amazing chili's from VI Brand's Carne Diem Chili Cook-Off downtown! Yummy warm lunch with daddy on a chili day.

-Spent actual Halloween in, cozying up with my gal pals, candy, queso and homemade pumpkin bread!

-Made cutie wedding dress sugar cookies for Kat on our first day of dress shopping.

-Pumpkin breakfast quinoa spiced up with dried figs, granola and a splash of soy!

Annie

p.s. If you didn't see,  I've started a new album on my Facebook page where I'm sharing all of your take a bite pictures! If you ever try one of my recipes, DIYs or just eat something "bite" worth, use the hashtag #takeabite for me to see it!