Beauty Review - An ongoing experiment!

Day 2 above. A little color but to be fair, I am wearing makeup (foundation and blush) in this picture and no makeup in day 1. The experiment continues.

Alright, I'm sick of being pale. It's the end of winter (I hope) and I feel like I have to pile on the bronzer just so I don't feel like a zombie. Then it occurred to me, self tanner. Duh. Well, I looked at reviews and ALMOST bought a fancy expensive kind off Sephora and then I remembered that I am one of those people who starts things and never finishes them so I don't want to waster money. So then I searched for drugstore self tanners and the Jergen's one got the best reviews. In the past I have used the kind for fair skin and never noticed a difference so this time I bought the kind for fair to medium. Aww yeah!!! Above is day 1.

Recipe Box: Japanese Chicken and Veggie Fried Rice

The other night I made this little beauty: Japanese Chicken with Veggie Friend Rice. The sauce for this stuff is SOOOO good. And guess what! The leftovers are awesome too! Keep reading for the recipe...

What you need:

2 eggs

1 C. flour

6 Tbsp sesame seeds

1 tsp. oil

8 chicken breasts

3/4 C. soy sauce

2 C. vinegar

1/3 C. water

4 C. sugar

Rice:

1 egg

2 C. instant brown rice

1 small package of frozen veggies

soy sauce to taste

To make the chicken:

If I'm just making this for Mike and I, I half the recipe and it still makes plenty for the two of us.

(preheat your oven to 350 degrees)

1. Whip the eggs in a bowl and set aside.

2. In a separate bowl combine flour and sesame seeds

3. Dip chicken breasts in egg and then roll generously in the flour and seeds

3. heat oil in skillet over medium high heat and quickly brown the chicken, just a couple minutes on each side. The goal here is not to cook the chicken, just to brown the flour and make it a little crispy. (if I'm in a hurry, I skip this step)

4. Put in baking dish and make the sauce!

5. Mix the soy sauce and vinegar and water. NOW, for the sugar. If you are like me, you don't love putting a ton of sugar in stuff and you probably noticed that 4 cups is a lot of sugar. This is what I do. I pour the sugar in a half cup at a time and taste test. You can add as much or as little sugar as you want. Oh, and keep in mind, the majority of the sauce stays in the pan, so it's not like you are actually ingesting all that sweetness.

6. Okay, once you have your sauce the way you like it, pour the whole entire thing over the chicken. Don't worry, it's supposed to be swimming.

7. Bake in your preheated 350 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. MEANWHILE, let's make the rice

Rice:

First thing, scramble the egg in a skillet. When it is cooked, set it aside in a bowl. In that same skillet, prepare the rice according to the directions on the box (Very Julia Child, I know). When the water starts to boil, pour in the veggies and then put the rice in. Stick the lid on and let the rice do its thing. When the rice is done sitting, pour in soy sauce to taste

Then you are done. If there is still time left on the chicken, start on the dishes! I always like to start on the dishes while my food is baking because after I eat, I'm always too lazy to clean up. Ugh!

That's it! Hope you and your family like it!

Happy Almost March! And a commentary on my perfect life.

Happy Almost March to Everyone! This morning I was just thinking about how blessed I am. Normally, I cringe and avoid the word "Blessed" but my life seems more than lucky. I think of everything that led up to this point and I am amazed. I live in a house that we own. Well, the bank owns it but we aren't renting and I consider that a step in the right direction. We are financially secure. That's more than most people can say right now. We don't worry about paying for groceries and things we need. We both have jobs. We might complain about them but we have them and they are good jobs. We have each other. I never used to believe in soul mates until I met Michael. We are truly meant for each other. We have a dog that we complain about a lot but she's taught us so much about ourselves and each other. Don't know what I mean? Then you've never owned a dog ;). We have families that love us. I can never understand how I got to be so lucky with the parents and brother I got and the family Michael got. We live in America. With all the natural disasters going on, it's more apparent than ever that we are the luckiest people to live in such a wonderful country. I could go on but Mike wants to eat breakfast with me :) What are you grateful for? Think about your life and comment below.

A Wonderful Surprise

I came home from work today and found these waiting on the table for me with a note that said, "These are for you because you are wonderful. Love, Michael" I then noticed the fridge was cleaned out. I mean, what more could a girl ask for? But really, it turned my day into a fantastic one. I'm so lucky to have snagged this guy. Can't believe he's really mine.

I give up!

So I tried really hard to do a weebly webpage but I finally caved and came back to my safe, familiar, friendly blogger. Hello, buddy. I find I just don't have the attention span to write html code. I did it once when I was younger so I know I can, I just don't want to. Already checked off on my to-do list.