Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Beauty is in the Eyes of the Beholder?

I was going through my old college art projects and stumbles across this... thought it was quite interesting...

"This is my portrayal of most women.  They are nude because it is a woman truly exposed.
Tear away the fancy clothes, peel off the makeup, wipe away the fake tans, let down the hair... this is what you get.  
A real woman with feeling and emotions.  
Dreams, fears, confidence in some areas and insecurities in others. 
The bubble in this picture is the woman's thoughts.  
We all portray ourselves in our minds differently than we really are.  
The woman in the thought bubble looks fairly similar to the real one but has flaws.  Well more flaws than then the real woman. A larger butt, thicker thighs, arms and a little chunk on the belly, not to mention uneven breast. 
Myself personally I know I am not always happy with the way I look.  I find myself comparing myself to other females and being envious at times of how they have beautiful bodies or faces.
Not being able to add up to societies "ideal" beautiful can be very hurtful and have some extreme effects depending on the female.  The thing I have been learning though is, what is it that truly makes the figure more beautiful than the thought?  I may think one is beautiful and someone may think the opposite. .."

Monday, December 2, 2013

Pumpkin Spice Latte

One of the blogs I follow is called Mamanatural.com and she is always posting healthy alternatives for not so healthy recipes (or less expensive versions), she also blogs about pregnancy and other such things.  Today on facebook she posted a recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Latte and I made it immediately.  It was just what I needed to pep up a bit on this chilly and gray day.

Her Recipe

Click on the link above if you are interested in her recipe.  I will tell you though the tweeks that I made to make it more delicious and also to use what I have without having to buy new machines.

First of all, I do not have an espresso maker... one day maybe... so I made extra strong coffee in our coffee pot.  I did 2 heaping scoops for less than 1 cup of water (keep in mind I am guesstimating at all this, so this was strong for me, but may not be strong for you).

Next, I do not have a milk steamer or an immersion blender... so I whipped out my trusty nutri-bullet (NB).

Also, I did not have any liquid stevia, so I used 1/2 stevia packet.  Mama Natural suggests using more maple syrup if you do not have liquid, but I am not a huge fan of maple syrup, so I opted for the regular stevia.

I put my strong coffee in my nutri-bullet and added the ingredients she listed.  I then blasted it real quick to get it a little thicker and all mixed well together.  I then poured it into my mug and rinsed out the NB cup and blade.

Next, she said to boil milk (I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk) on stove, well I was impatient, and as much as I do not like to use the microwave because it is suppose to be hazardous to your health...  I popped it in there for 1 minute and 30 seconds.  Being careful I poured it into the NB cup and blasted it until frothy and then followed it by taking spoon and holding back froth while I poured milk over my pumpkin espresso mixture and then topped with the froth.

I did not put any coconut sugar on top because I do not have any.

It looked super yummy though, but when I took a sip it was missing something to me.

Well, I don't know about you but I think pumpkin and chocolate go wonderfully together!  So I melted 1 tbsp mini choc chips with 1 tsp almond milk.  Mixed it together (it would not get the runny consistency I wanted to drizzle it on top) and just stuck the whole spoon in with some chocolate on it and mixed it and mannnnnnnnnnnnn was it good!!



Give it a try!  It is a latte kind of day!

Let me know if you have any healthier versions of yummy drinks!

XOXO- B