Eat & Feel Happy

Eat & Feel Happy. 

Simply. 

Deprive yourself of nothing that brings you joy. 

Work towards being healthy, being happy, staying blessed. 

Mary Kay Botanical Effects Mask

Haven't written a beauty blog in a while so, here you go! 

There are times when I seriously need a deep clean. For my FACE! I always try to wash up before I go to bed. But, between the makeup, oils, and all the face touching, there are a lot of things that can clog up your pores. Clogged pores means your skin isn't breathing. Hello! Skin is alive, of course it breaths! 

Mary Kay has several different masks. The Botanical Effects mask is the one I use. The mask has a paste consistency and dries as a clay on your face. It's not heavy at all. All you need is 15 minutes with it on and then you wash it off. I do not believe in the excuse of "oh, I am too busy to wash my face or do facials". No! I take one minute to apply the mask on and then I go about my day. I check emails, I prep stuff in the kitchen, I even organize my clothes. Who said you have to sit down and be idle for the mask to work? No one. I am a busy person - life is always on the go! So I do my business and in 15 minutes I wash off the mask and all that stays behind is magic on my skin. 

The Botanical Effects mask exfoliates impurities from your skin, is rich with antioxidant radicals, it does not have synthetic dyes or fragrance (sensitive skin approved!) and, gives you a radiant glow! 

There are three different formulas: 

Formula 1 (Dry Skin)

Formula 2 (Normal Skin)

Formula 3 (Oily Skin) 

Take a look at the Botanical Effects eCatalog to see the entire Botanical Effects line! 

Stay beautiful! 

<3 Mariela 

My very own Tea Time Chat!

I just wanted to take some time and show off what my boo-boo got me for Christmas. I think she did amazing! I think I might be a little obvious that I am obsessed with coffee and tea. So, for Christmas she got me the cutest traveler. 

I don't know why but, I am the type of person that loves to know the "real" story behind a gift; like why you picked it, why the color, why that?! So, I found it beyond interesting that she told me the traveler was custom made and she switched and changed all the colors on it and made sure it had pink sparkles! I mean, how well do my friends know me when they absolutely make sure my gift has pink sparkling glitter on it?! Ha! 

She also added some bath bombs. I don't know if she did this on purpose or not but, the bath bombs had a penguin on them. I am a Theta Phi Alpha sister aka I love anything penguin. I also got a protein cookie (I guess I've been posting too many gym pics!), a lipstick that I just freaking looove and, some Herbalife tea. And may I say, that tea is amazing. 

Check out all her lovely love notes on each of my gifts. I just freaking love her cuteness. 

Thanks honey!
<3 Mariela

Girls Night at Carro

One thing I very much like doing is getting dressed up. Give me a reason to get dolled up! I mean granted if you tell me we are gong out there is a 50% chance I'll get excited and want to put on heels and the other 50% is me procrastinating taking a shower because I want to stay in pajamas.

However! This outing was my idea and I had a new outfit to rock so, heck yah I was excited to go out. I didn't want to name this blog "farewell" or "goodbye" or anything that even promotes that I am not coming back, because I am. I will just be out of New York City for a while (dying in the cold of Potsdam, NY). And, because I knew I was going to be gone for a a few months, I wanted to hang out with my girls. So we went to Carro.

Carro, is this small place in East New York. Honestly, I don't know if anyone who doesn't live in the neighborhood knows about it. We used to go there in the "old days" when we used to rep F.N.G.M. and I have fond memories of the place. Plus I remember the food being good and that night I wanted to be all Spanish.

I was feeling HOT! I had just cut my hair that morning; new look!. My face was Mary Kay on point! My jumper showed off a slim figure and killer arms! I was just feeling myself aalll over. In fact, Desiree and I looked sooo good that Tatiana had to take to Twitter and just broadcast how drop-dead-gorgeous we were. Ha! Although I believe it could have also been the fact that we made her wait 30 minutes until we got there. How does the saying go? "Fashionably Late".

That night we ordered food (salmon & mofongo for me!), had drinks, smoked hookah and, listened to an array of music that really, really made me wish we were hitting a lounge after that. I soo wish we could have these types of get-togethers more often.

Friends for Life!
<3

Butternut Squash Soup

First, yes I do drink soup out of a cup. If the broth is liquid enough I just like to sip on it. 

Second, this butternut squash has been sitting on top of my fridge for almost a week until I had time to slice and dice it. My mushroom soup was such a success that I just had to look up another recipe and dance in the kitchen. 

I found a simple recipe online and thought it was going to be amazing. Well simple is just that simple. There was no kick to the soup. No "Mmm Mmm Good" moment and, that made me very sad. But, perhaps it's because the soup was still hot. It was still on the burner and I had just turned it off. The consistency of the broth hadn't had enough time to thicken. So, I packed it away and came back to it the next day. 

And... yah. My taste pallets were right the first time around. This soup was missing something! Simple is not always good. I knew it wasn't going to be creamy because I avoided all the recipes that called out for heavy cream. I didn't have any cauliflower in the house to thicken it up either. Oh, well. I can't be a chef at all times and I am just gonna have to suck it up and eat this soup. 

But, I couldn't do that. My mind was racing with how I can make this soup creamier after it's already done cooking. Heavy cream was not an option, there was no more of that magical veggie called cauliflower, I ate all the greek yogurt. And, then it hit me - Cottage Cheese. Don't stop reading because you think it's nasty. The combination was perfect! 

Half a cup of my already made butternut soup + two tablespoons of cottage cheese = just the right amount of creaminess and kick to make my mind stop racing on why the soup wasn't creamy and full of kicks the first time. 

Enjoy! 

<3 Mariela 

Meal Prep Sunday 12.27.15

Sometimes we have to take a moment and thank God for how truly blessed we are. That's exactly what I did after I closed my fridge. All the food that was prepped is a blessing.

I prepped 5 breakfast, 5 lunches and, 5 dinners. And, although the main reason to prep food is so I can know what I will be consuming and have a heads up on my caloric intake and macros for the week - it feels nice to know there is food waiting at home. 

This week I told myself I wanted red meat. I'm not much of a red meat eater. I am the person who always orders chicken at a restaurant. And, I laid off red meats at the beginning of my weight-loss journey because red meats are more fatty. But, if I'm honest, I am just lazy and cooking chicken is a whole lot easier and quicker! 

I always concentrate on what I am going to eat for lunch. For me, this is my biggest meal of the day for several reasons: 

1. Because I have been sitting in a chair for almost 4 hours and deserve some good food to be able to finish the next 4 hours 
2. It's mid-day and even though I am sitting down, I am still more active than what I would be at home and my body can burn the meal throughout the day 
3. I usually workout in the evenings so, I tend to go for light dinner meals since it's so close to bedtime

So! With all that said, take a look at this weeks lunch menu: 

Monday: Salmon & Avocado Salad

Tuesday: Sweet peppers & Curry chicken with veggies and wild rice 

Wednesday: Round eye steak, yams and Sweet snap peas

Thursday: Sweet peppers & Curry chicken with veggies and wild rice (btw... Thursday is new years eve, so lets just assume a lot of alcohol will accompany all my meals!) 

Friday: Curry Chicken Salad 

I wasn't finished with the Butternut soup in this video yet. But, you can see it here. 

Have a healthy week! 

<3 Mariela 

Mary Kay Delivery

I absolutely love it when my Mary Kay order comes in. It makes me super happy. And, I love going through each and every product (like I don't already know what's in the box). 

I didn't expect this delivery until a week after Christmas so to my surprise I get a notification on Thursday from UPS that says my package was out for delivery early. I'm thinking, "Yes! Mary Kay Coorporate is awesome, thank you for sending my products so fast". I'm at work so I text my brother to keep an eye out for my package. Later on in the day I receive another notification saying my package was rescheduled for delivery the next day; Friday. Okay, not a problem. The next day I get a "sorry we missed you slip" from UPS stating that I could pick up my package at Zino's Convenience store. And now I'm like, wtf, who the hell is Zino?! Turns out Zino is a UPS access point but, they did not have my package. By now (Saturday) I was upset. Not so much that I hadn't received my package in the past two days but, more so that I had to put on real pants and leave my house to go to that damn convenience store. Sunday, no delivery. On Monday I get another notification that UPS "missed me" and will reschedule delivery for the next day. So I picked up the phone, called UPS and, was "politely" nasty to the customer rep on the other side. How many times are they going to try to redeliver the package when no one was home? Why didn't they leave it at the access point the first time? Who changed the re-delivery schedule? Why wasn't my request processed? Well, on Tuesday I finally got my package. I opened it up feeling like it's my birthday (I always get this feeling) and by Wednesday my customers orders where already shipped out. 

Take a look at a few of the orders in the video below! 

I mentioned the 3-in-1 cleanser in the video. It's my #1 cleanser. Like I said, I use the one with the pink strip which is formulated for Normal/Dry skin. My skin is very dry and keeping it moisturized is important! But during the summer I sweat like a pig and one thing I absolutely do not like is a breakout. So, during the summer, I switch back and forth between the pink strip and the purple strip (Oily/Combo skin). Your skin is the largest organ on your body! And, your perspiration changes with the season. You should change your skin regimen to match up to it!  

Every order was sealed with a flower and love!

Stay beautiful and blessed!
<3 Mariela