Golden Globes Observations

It's no secret that one of my favorite evenings of the year is always Golden Globes night.  

It's a simple equation ...

Hollywood awards + boozed up celebrities = Ashley's idea of heaven

In addition to critiquing everyone's gown like it's my job, I also love seeing the various makeup looks the stylists choose for their clients. Most are usually very timeless looks, but occasionally I'll luck out and an executive producer or composer or two will treat their face like an Easter egg and that's always a lot of fun to take in.

One of the biggest trends I began to notice Sunday evening during the red carpet shows was the nude lip many of the blonde celebrities went with:

Reese - nude lip. Naomi - nude lip. Margot (The Wolf of Wall Street) - nude lip. My fantasy BFF Amy - nude lip.

In a matter of moments, No. 8 on my list of resolutions for 2014 was destroyed.

But, leave it to the impeccable Cate Blanchett to save my resolution and keep the hopes and dreams of bold lipsticks on blondes alive ...

And if Cate alone wasn't enough to convince me that a bold lip is still a trend (I honestly don't know sometimes if I'm two years early or two years late ... my 30s have thrown my trend-ar off kilter), America's reigning sweethearts proved it's still far from a fashion faux pa ...

Let's mentally revisit the best night of 2014 (so far) ... what were some of your favorite moments from the awards show? 

High Five for Friday #H54F

It's my first High Five for Friday post of 2014! Cheers to the weekend and to me (finally) resuming blogging!!!

Link up at thelaurenelizabeth.com

1) I attempted "pattern mixing" earlier this week and felt like I let a 3-year-old dress me at the beginning of the day. Surprisingly, my ensemble received decent reviews. The necklace in the picture, however, received rave reviews. I'll have a blog about where you can purchase the flower necklace in the picture above early next week - the "store" and cost will probably surprise you!

2) Snapchat - I finally caved in to the world of Snapchat. It's like picture texting, but the "text" goes away in a few seconds. It's perfect for when I'm sending Mommabear a make-up free selfie that she can't save and blackmail me with down the road. 

3) This mask was included in a Glossybox a few months ago and I finally tried it out Sunday afternoon when I noticed my skin was exceptionally dry from the "polar vortex." It did the trick, but I can't say I'd ever order one. That fine print at the bottom that you might not be able to read is "cell renew snail hydro-gel mask." The mask didn't have an escargot scent or anything, but it still felt weird knowing I was soaking my face in snail gel.

4) #thelettucelife struggle is already real. I'm certain there will be many days ahead when Thomas and I try to bail on our salad resolutions, but hopefully we'll continue to hold each other accountable. 

5) Urban Decay's Naked 3 palette - it's awesome. If you've never heard of these, they are eyeshadow palettes (12 shades in each) made by Urban Decay and are available at UrbanDecay.com, Sephora, ULTA, etc. There are three palettes in the series, and this third one came out in December. I purchased the first palette, too, which is warm, golden shadows (have had it for at least a year, if not longer). The second one never quite appealed to me - cooler, taupe-y shadows - and I passed on it, but Naked 3 is full of rose gold shadows that I needed to purchase. 

That sums up five of my most memorable moments from the week. I'm excited to see what the next 50 weeks of 2014 have in store!!!

Livin' La Vida Lettuce

I'm pretty sure this blog title correctly translates to "living the lettuce life." It might seem like a really odd blog title, but it sums up life as I'll know it this year.

Caesar Salad from Jason's Deli = Tuesday's lunch.

Let me explain how #thelettucelife came about ...

After I came up with my resolutions for 2014 over the weekend, I shared them with my friend Thomas who is the most resolute person I've ever known when it comes to the subject. (Seriously - the only resolution I've ever known him to flake on was learning to play the banjo. However, I'm pretty sure a banjo was purchased at some point, but I don't recall any tales of lessons with banjo specialists ... but this is a topic for another blog some day down the road.) Other than the learning-to-play-the-banjo resolution that may or may not have come to fruition, previous non-runner Thomas knocked out running 1,000 miles in 2011 with two months remaining in the calendar year, ran not just one but TWO half-marathons in 2012, and in 2013 he was really motivated and ran an entire marathon in January. (Which gave him 11 months to not worry about accomplishing his resolution. His other resolution for 2013 was to "not die" when he attempted the marathon, so he went 2-for-2 for all of 2013 on a single day. Not too shabby.)

Anyway, at some point in the conversation we were having, Thomas mentioned that he had yet to officially declare any resolutions in 2014. He threw out the few ideas he'd been mulling over and when he tossed out his idea to choose a salad for 300 meals, I responded with, "I'd do that one with you." During that moment, it seemed like a really good idea. (It is probably still a really good idea, but I should've thought it through for a few minutes before jumping on board ... 200 might've been a less-daunting amount.)

So I ran some numbers the other day to figure out how to make this resolution work and here's the reality of our situation: need to average six salads per week to accomplish this goal ... six of 14 meals each week (lunch and dinner [2] x 7=14) will need to be lettuce-based ... 25 salads per month to stay on track.

Sidenote: major props to accountants, math teachers and other number-oriented career professionals that work with digits all day long. The above math took me an embarrassingly long time to calculate.

Pinterest has provided several salad recipes that intrigue me, and I really want to try out the whole Mason jar salad concept that supposedly keeps the ingredients fresh for up to a week ... it'd be nice to have salads pre-made like that for dinner or when I'm on the go.

So do me a kind favor, please ... if we're ever making plans for lunch or dinner this year, make sure salads are an option because I've got 297 remaining. And if I start to resemble a rabbit at any point, let me know that, too, so I can pull the plug on this idea. 

Storage Wars

No, this is not my personal review of a show I've never seen on A&E. Instead, it's a post about the never-ending struggle to create more storage space in one's home.

As a self-diagnosed product junkie, I'm constantly battling my bathroom cabinets for both organization and capacity. According to Mr. Cush, we're at "maximum capacity." According to me, there's always room for "just one more thing."

Enter this hinge-mounted door storage that came into my life recently ...

L to R: Mirrored outer door, inside of unit

Mr. Cush installed this on the door to our master closet that is connected to our master bathroom. The shelves are adjustable, and several more were included that I can add at any time. There's a magnet at the top of the unit that securely holds it in place and connects to the back of the closet door. Overall, it's slim enough (maybe about 4-5 inches from mirror to door) to be discreet and quite non-invasive in our shared walk-in. 

And for more storage in our closet, Mr. Cush added an extra rack to the area above the closet door after I saw something similar at my sister's home last fall. I've included a picture of it below to help you visualize it ... and a picture of our light fixture that really classed-up the entire room, too!

L: Because why WOULDN'T you need a mini chandelier in your closet??? 

How have you created extra storage in your home? Let me know in the comments below because I'm always looking for new ideas!!! (More storage = more fun stuff!)

Chicken & Asparagus Penne

There is very little in life that excites me more than finding a fabulous recipe that's five ingredients or less. If you've followed PBT at all, you probably know that about me by now.

Last week while perusing Pinterest during my holiday staycation (<- slang for a vacation spent staying home), I stumbled upon a delicious-sounding Chicken & Asparagus Penne recipe. I couldn't resist trying it, and I couldn't resist sharing it with y'all when Mr. Cush sent me a text yesterday after eating leftovers for lunch that read, "we need to do the asparagus, chicken pasta thing again." (<- Mr. Cush is a leftover connouissuier, so he knows what's up in this department. Trust him.)

Mr. Cush added some Italian seasoning - feel free to improvise as you wish with spices!

Ingredients
1 lb steamed asparagus
12 oz cooked Smart Taste penne
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 lb cubed and cooked chicken breast
1/2 cup shaved Parmesan (shredded would also work)

Instructions
1. Add all ingredients into a 9x13 pan and stir to combine
2. Top with cheese and broil for five minutes or until cheese is golden

Also for your enjoyment, I reorganized my Pinterest boards while staycationing and moved several of my favorite and PBT-approved recipes to a specially-dedicated "Five or Less Ingredients" board for your enjoyment (my enjoyment, too).

Bon appétit!!!

Back in the blogosphere at last!

Hey everyone!!!

First of all, I need to apologize for being M.I.A. the last few weeks. As my sister naggingly (er, lovingly?) pointed out, the last PBT entry was Dec. 11, 2013. Soon after that entry, my work life consumed me every single moment I touched my computer. Following that last entry, I bounced from Nebraska to Seattle, and within an hour of arriving home on Dec. 21, Mr. Cush and I were in the car and settled in for a 15-hour road trip adventure home to Illinois for Christmas with my family. Not long after hauling my suitcase into Mommabear and Ol' Rodney's home, I began to feel pretty under the weather. In all honesty, it was probably mostly exhaustion.  

Following a week with our families for Christmas, we made the trek back to Austin and ushered in 2014 with our best friends from Florida. It was a busy few days and before I knew it, today became Jan. 6.

L to R: At the Alamo Valero Bow in San Antonio on Dec. 30 before ringing in the new year in downtown Austin.

I'm not one to usually make resolutions, but my dear friend Thomas has inspired me to do so this year. He's the only person I've ever known that actually makes AND keeps his resolutions. To not entirely ruin my attempt in the first 10 days of the year, I decided to make some rather broad resolutions and see how those work out. Think the below resolutions are worthy of being attempted?

1. Watch the first four episodes of Downton Abbey to find out the allure of the show. If I get hooked, I can easily work it into my television repertoire now that Breaking Bad has ended and there's about 10 months until Homeland begins again.

2. Try Crossfit. There's a gym less than a mile away, and like Downton Abbey, I feel like I'm missing out on something quite popular.

3. Keep a food journal for a week. I hope that this leads to keeping a food journal for a month, and a month turns into long term. Between this and No. 2, I've covered that whole "lose 50 pounds" resolution without using those exact words.

4. Toss one item out of my closet for every item that I bring into it. My closet is completely and utterly out of space - it might burst if one more thing is wedged in there.

5. Sell unused and unworn items on eBay. Plenty of items in my closet haven't been worn (or in the case of handbags - used) in years  and are in perfectly fine shape for resale. (Can't believe I'm actually admitting this!) Since I spend so much time online, it'd be simple to photograph and auction said items away.

6. Keep my car clean. I actually resolved to do this last year, too, and it worked quite well for the first few months until I became pretty lackadaisical about it (<- fancy word for 'lazy'). Basically, I need to remove everything from my car at the end of each day. No more leaving shoes and coffee cups and old mail floating around the backseat. Having a tidy car eases my anxiety at the beginning of each day when I commute to work.

7. Clean out the pantry. Much like No. 5 above, we've collected a fair amount of items that are never used. Time to toss those.

8. Wear bold lipstick. I'm always afraid of trying bold colors because I feel like a clown with a really bright mouth … and that's never what I'm trying to achieve. Maybe practicing this will be better - like, wear a red lip to Target before I try it out around a group of friends? That might help me ease into it.