With the Fall season, it only seems fitting to delight our dishes with an October treat: Chocolate & White Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins!
We all know I am no chef, and I will proudly admit that my skills belong else where. So, here is this awesome recipe courtesy of my sister! Enjoy!
This Recipe makes 24 Muffins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray Pam or grease in your cupcake/muffin pan.
Here's what you'll need.
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup plain applesauce or 1/2 cup vegetable oil(applesauce is healthier)
1/3 cup water
2 eggs
Chocolate and white chocolate chips to your liking
Mix all of the dry ingredients in one bowl and all of the wet ingredients together in another bowl. Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Only add a little at a time of flour will be flying everywhere.
Once it's allowed together add in your chocolate chips and mix by hand.
Pour the batter into your muffin pans. Fill each section about 3/4 of the way full.
Bake for 30 min. Make sure a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy because they are dangerously delicious!
Lately, Ive been loading on the color on my lips. Maybe its growing older into adult hood, or maybe its just a phase. Im not exactly sure of the unitary standard, but I do know that I absolutely LOVE it.
However, upon entering my new era of pout palettes, I noticed how dry and vulnerable it made my lips. Why in the world would I want to bring attention to my lips when they are crackled and morbid? After doing a few lips masques (which I shall share later), I came to the conclusion that I needed an affordable, every day stain that would alleviate me from reapplying and irritating my lips.
I decided to pick up Maybelline's Super Stay Stain Gloss in Cool Coral. I went coral for a few reasons; One, being that I have pink under tones in my skin and coral reduces the emphases of my Irish attributes (as opposed to a true pink); Two, its great for every day wear, andddd Ive just been loving the color all summer.
At first glance, I didnt and still do not understand the design to the lip wand that Maybelline uses for the stain. But, it didnt make a difference to the application of color. The color was calmer than I thought it would be. Its always hard to predict what itll look like inside of the bottle. Upon application, I noticed that it smelled like bubble gum and berries (who wouldnt like that smell) and dried evenly even though i added more color to my bottom lip than top (always a bonus). So far, ive had two cups of coffee (ready to destroy some contracts), breakfast, a snack..and my lips haven't dampened. ANNDDD they are still hydrated. YESS! For under ten bucks, Id definitely say this product does what its supposed to do. Another recommendation from me to you :). Ill be trying out bold red next!
For the past year and a half, Ive been dying my hair myself. Sometimes, I opt to pick up a custom box dye sans developer at Sally's and other times, I head heavy healed to the nearest drug store to see what the shelves have in store for me..
Now, coloring your hair from a box can be tricky and I definitely do not recommend it for those of you who are attempting to pull lighter stands. This is for the dark hearted only (sorry blond babes).
Any dye, whether it be box or salon, has chemicals in it. It will damage your hair. Now, going to a salon, a colorist will have the ability to perform a personal analysis on the condition of your hair and select a color in order to accommodate to your stressed tresses. Color in a box, unfortunately, does not have this luxury...as we all know.
However, making a trip to a salon is no longer an option for me since ive traded my life for higher education. Thus, box coloring has been espoused so forcefully into my life--and im not complaining.
Box coloring IS damaging. Let me stress that again. So, please, keep in mind that you should probably take precautions with your hair before and after the dying process. Try to do a strengthening masque before and after. Color dries out your ends. Do you what you can to keep those beauties hydrated. I sometimes put a drop of olive oil in my condition or use a weekly repair treatment called MENDING from B&b. It has worked wonders on my staple hair.
BACK TO COLORING: Ive learned that the average developer in a box is at a 40, this means it lifts your natural color and deposits the color in the box (developer is that cream based conditioner looking stuff you mix the color with). This is what is very damaging. So, upon purchasing a Box dye at my local CVS (Revlon's Dark Auburn..it was 2 for 6 bucks, couldnt walk away from that deal, obviously). I decided to purchase my own gentle 10 developer as opposed to using the 40 to be less damaging on my ends. I emptied out the squeeze bottle that came in the dye and filled it half way up with my developer and then placed the color in. Mixed it up..and you know the rest..
Please remember: Your roots are vulnerable to color! So make sure to go a level the same color or darker than your roots (levels are the numbers usually listed on your box. EX: Dark Auburn 4). Here is the scale (1 is BLACK, 10 is BLOND..I usually use a level 4 on my hair). I recommend level 4 and 5's for medium browns and Ash tones.
