Met Photos & Favorites to come Soon!!

Maybelline Falsies Flare Mascara Review

So my Falsies mascara was running low and I have a wedding to go to this weekend so I was going to pick up the same mascara but I saw the new Falsies Flare on the shelf and decided to give it a go. I figured if anything, the formula is the same so I can just use the plain Falsies brush in the new mascara tube if I don't like how the Falsies Flare brush is. BUT I LOVE IT! It really works like they advertise it and if you don't believe me check out this photo of myself I uploaded...just ignore the foundation/blush/eyeshadow/eyeliner...I was just messing around with it and figuring out which of my products to take and which to shelf.

The eye on the right has plain Falsies versus the eye on the left which has the Falsies Flare. You can't really tell in the photo, but in person there is a VERY clear distinction. The Right eyelashes are more blunted and rounded but the Left eyelashes go up and out more. DEFINITE must buy. Although I asked my mom's opinion and she said they look like a put on fake eyelashes, but that was the look I was going for anyways so mission accomplished. =)

An Ironic Twist in a Suicide

Today I found the most interesting story on the internet while looking for something. Disregarding its morbidity, it was actually quite funny.I have no idea if this story is true or not though.

"On March 23, 1994 the medical examiner viewed the body of Ronald Opus and concluded that he died from a shotgun wound to the head. Mr. Opus had jumped from the top of a ten-story building intending to commit suicide. He left a note to the effect indicating his despondency .As he fell past the ninth floor his life was interrupted by a shotgun blast passing through a window, which killed him instantly.

Neither the shooter nor the deceased was aware that a safety net had been installed just below the eighth floor level to protect some building workers and that Ronald Opus would not have been able to complete his suicide the way he had planned. "Ordinarily," Dr Mills continued, "A person, who sets out to commit suicide and ultimately succeeds, even though the mechanism might not be what he intended, is still defined as committing suicide." That Mr. Opus was shot on the way to certain death, but probably would not have been successful because of the safety net, caused the medical examiner to feel that he had a homicide on his hands.

In the room on the ninth floor, where the shotgun blast emanated, was occupied by an elderly man and his wife. They were arguing vigorously and he was threatening her with a shotgun. The man was so upset that when he pulled the trigger he completely missed his wife and the pellets went through the window striking Mr. Opus. When one intends to kill subject "A" but kills subject "B" in the attempt, one is guilty of the murder of subject "B".

When confronted with the murder charge the old man and his wife were both adamant and both said that they thought the shotgun was unloaded. The old man said it was a long-standing habit to threaten his wife with the unloaded shotgun. He had no intention to murder her. Therefore the killing of Mr. Opus appeared to be an accident; that is, if the gun had been accidentally loaded. The continuing investigation turned up a witness who saw the old couple's son loading the shotgun about six weeks prior to the fatal accident. It transpired that the old lady had cut off her son's financial support and the son, knowing the propensity of his father to use the shotgun threateningly, loaded the gun with the expectation that his father would shoot his mother.Since the loader of the gun was aware of this, he was guilty of the murder even though he didn't actually pull the trigger. The case now becomes one of murder on the part of the son for the death of Ronald Opus.

Now comes the exquisite twist.

Further investigation revealed hat the son was, in fact, Ronald Opus. He had become increasingly despondent over the failure of his attempt to engineer his mother's murder. This led him to jump off the ten-story building on March 23rd, only to be killed by a shotgun blast passing through the ninth story window. The son had actually murdered himself, so the medical examiner closed the case as a suicide."

Surveillance

There's the surveillance where you have to sit outside a house and watch and then there's the surveillance where you have to rewind video footage and well...still watch. Regardless...it SUCKS. Between last night and today I had to watch a total of 7 hours of video feed on fast forward but it still took me over 3 hours. AND today was a no-food day so it wasn't even like I could sit there with a bag of popcorn and wait for something interesting to happen. Anyways the reason to set up surveillance in the first place is because you are anticipating a certain behavior, in this case theft. But after sitting and going through footage for 7 hours and NOT finding theft, it was even more bothersome to feel like I wasted my time on a senseless endeavor. Oh the things I have to do sitting at home and unemployed.

On a side note...I was asked today what my salary requirement would be for a Call Center Medical Librarian. NO IDEA. geez I would just like to get paid.

Potato Pizza

Since the start of Chaturmas, the pops only eats salads and farrari foods. So for the parent's 24th anniversary, which was yesterday, he wanted me to make them pizza that he could eat. Having visited Lowes 3 times, Home Depot, and a masonry place, I was in no mood to cook yesterday. Today's a new day, and despite feeling sick, I feel bad we didn't get them anything for their anniversary, which they surprised they made it to 24 years of togetherness, so potato pizza it is.

Originally, the idea was to use some sort of farrari flour like rajagda or singoda flour which you can find at some Indian stores. But after we thought about it, debras made of farrari flours usually turn out very hard and break like crackers instead of being soft. 

I found this recipe online for potato pizza, which is actually for those who are on gluten-free diets. Obviously I had to modify it for Swaminarayan appropriateness, so here it is. It turned out to be surprisingly delicious!

Ingredients:

5 Yellow Potatoes--These are great for all-purpose cooking. Russet Potatoes are even better for baking and can be used instead.

1 tablespoon Singoda Flour--I believe Egg Replacement powder should be a good substitute since the original recipe asked for 1 egg.

3 Tomatoes--Sliced

Mozzarella Cheese

Salt, Pepper, & Italian Seasoning to taste

Any additional toppings: brocolli, black olives, bell pepper, etc.

Directions:

1. Wash and shred the potatoes. Put into colander. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and let sit for 10 minutes. Pre-heat oven to 350F.

2. In a small bowl, add a few teaspoons water to Singoda flour and mix. The mixture should have a liquid consistency.

3. Lightly grease a skillet or pie pan. A nonstick saute pan will work as long as it does not have a rubber or plastic handle.

4. Press all the extra starch out of the potatoes in the colander. Transfer the potatoes into the skillet and mix in the flour mixture.

5. Evenly spread out and press the potato mixture into the bottom of the skillet similar to any other pizza crust.  Bake, uncovered, for 25 minutes at 350F.

6. Sprinkle some olive oil onto the crust and bake for another 20 minutes at 350F.

7. Place one layer of tomato slices onto the crust. (add other toppings if you wish) Sprinkle with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning to taste, and a light layer of mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes at 350F.

AWESOME EKADASHI-CHATURMASNESS! ENJOYYYYYYYY

Cardio-Strength Combo Circuit

This is one of my favorite workouts. I did this workout almost everyday of the week last summer after graduating college. I made it a routine after lab hours Monday-Friday and switched up to an hour of yoga on Saturday mornings and took Sunday off. Originally it is a celebrity workout, although I can't recall exactly which one right now, but I modified it somewhat. You do need a gym for this, however last summer, the closest/cheapest place I had to home was the YMCA--which can be literally grimy sometimes since its so affordable for family memberships, but if your goal is to look and feel great, just go and don't think about anything else except seeing results!
The workout entails alternating a few minutes of cardio with a few sets of strength exercises.
For cardio, I prefer to use the elliptical since its low impact because I have terrible knees and ankles. However, if you're multitasking and starting to train for a marathon or something that involves running, use the treadmill for your cardio routine.

10 minutes Cardio: 4 min at low intensity; 4 min at medium intensity, 2 min at high intensity/sprint
     The point is to raise the temperature in all your muscles and increase heart rate.

3sets20reps of each using 3-5 lb dumbbells. (Ladies, you have very little testosterone and you will NOT "bulk" up  if you use higher weights. If the dumbbells you are using are not providing any resistance and you are not feeling the burn, go for more lbs.)
     Lateral Shoulder Raises
     Reverse Flys
     Alternating forward lunges combo'd with bicep curls


5-10 minutes Cardio: Medium Intensity



2sets20reps of each--adjust weight on machine so that you feel the burn.
     Chest Presses
     Leg Presses
     Overhead Dumbell Extensions--Use a 5-10lb weight. These work your triceps. Maintain proper form by keeping elbows close to your head.

5-10 minutes Cardio: Medium Intensity


CORE

2sets25reps of Ball Crunches

3sets10reps of Reverse Crunches
1set10reps Planks--hold for 30sec each

2 minutes Cardio: Low Intensity


STRETCH STRETCH STRETCH. Hold your stretches at least 30 seconds each.