Free times = more time for me to cook and experiment.

Brinner (breakfast for dinner) has been a monthly tradition in this household for the past five years. Instead of doing the usual waffles/sausage/made-to-order eggs/omelettes, we decided to try a breakfast casserole. After an hour or so of recipe research (just Googling pictures), I decided that simple was the best way to go.

I have the tendency to take more photos than I really should, but I didn’t follow a recipe for this so I decided that if anyone else wants to try to replicate it photos are the best way to do it. Onward!

Brown your sausage or meat substitute in a skillet over medium heat with vegetables. I used onions and peppers.

Once the veggies are soft, put into casserole dish. I used pre-shredded hashbrowns as the bottom layer for this.

It took 14 eggs with heavy cream added to fully cover this casserole and 8 for the little one.

I decided to be ambitious and make buttermilk biscuits and grits as well. Grits obviously not pictured.

A lot of cheese,  spinach, and more cheese.

This one has turkey sausage and portabella mushroom added.

Finished biscuits! Tada.

On top of wild rice.

Any color combination will do. I am not (that) picky.

Cherry blossom trees in full bloom prefaced…

Homemade salsa with A LOT of cilantro…

And resulted in amazing fish tacos. Mental note to suggest making these again.

I did not start wearing makeup until I was a freshman in high school, and that wasn’t until a senior girl in marching band literally sat on me and put eyeliner on me. It was my first experience of being taken to this upper level of “beauty”, and now that I am older, I realize that wearing makeup is a personal choice. No one has to wear it, but we choose to. From that moment on, I have actually been semi-obsessed with makeup and the application of it. This year, however, I hit my all time peak of purchasing. The number of Sephora points that I have in my V.I.B. account is actually embarrassing, and I purchased my first train case. Notice how I said first. Since I purchased the majority of my collection this year, I found it only fitting to conclude the year with my absolute favorite products of 2011.

Nail Color(s)

•  Sephora by O.P.I.’s ‘Smells Like Rain Dear’: The perfect chunky gold glitter shade
• O.P.I.’s Gargantuan Green Grape: The perfect mint green
• Essie’s French Affair
• O.P.I.’s French Quarter For Your Thoughts: For when I’m feeling gloomy
• O.P.I.’s A-Taupe the Space Needle: My version of a nude nail

Eyes

• MAC’s Brow Set in Clear: I used to absolutely hate my eyebrows because I did not know how to tame them. When I learned how to wield a pair of Tweezerman’s tweezers and to not overpluck, it was a god send. Filling them in with eyeshadow and using this brow set was the best thing I could ever do for my face. Don’t worry – It’s not like actual hair gel and will leave your eyebrows feeling hard nor will they clump together. It washes away easily.
• Covergirl’s Last Blast Fusion Mascara: I have short, thin eyelashes and needed a mascara that could give me both length and volume. I was using Dior, but when I decided that spend $30 on mascara every three months was beginning to be too pricey, I went back to this. I can say this is better than Dior because when I put on multiple coats of this, my eyelashes don’t clump together into something unrecognizable.
• Urban Decay’s 24/7 Glide On Eye liner in Perversion: I was really, really lucky to actually win the entire set of the much sought after 24/7 Glide On eye liner set. This is one of two eyeliners in the kit – Zero and Perversion. As you can see, my Perversion is almost down to nothing. It is darker than any jet black eyeliner you can ever imagine. It does glide on incredible smooth, and if you set it with a decent matte eyeshadow, it will last you all day and/or night.
• Stila’s Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in Koi: I have been hard pressed to find a liquid gold eyeliner that wasn’t Chanel’s so I finally broke down and bought this when I saw it on sale on Hautelook. Every time we need to go out and I needed a holiday flare to my makeup, I lined my waterline for this to make up for the lack of sparkle in my mostly matte eyeshadows. Unfortunately, it is no longer available on Sephora or Stila’s website.

Bronzer and Highlighter

• Urban Decay’s Baked Bronzer in Gilded: It isn’t too shimmery and for my skin tone, I am able to build it if I need or want to. It was a staple in every single look I did on myself this summer.

• MAC’s Cream Colour Base in Shell: I have been looking for a decent highlighter for awhile because my face had been falling flat in a lot of photographs I had taken from myself. After a lot of YouTube tutorials (more specifically Kandee Johnson – no shame), I finally settled on this. Next year I hope to graduate to the big girl league and invest in a good cream highlighter once I get the hang of this.

Eyeshadow

• This color is Miss Piggy’s Pink from MAC’s Miss Piggy collection that was sold exclusively online this year. It is the most perfect pink that I have come across this year. I use eyelid primer and Urban Decay’s 24/7 Eyeliner Pencil in Asphyxia to prep the lid before patting this color on. It helps it to hop and also stay put. Purchase it here.

Blush

• E.L.F.’s blush in ‘Gotta Glow’: You cannot beat E.L.F’s blushes ($3 USD a pop!), and I have actually purchased all of them just to have. I actually use this shade as a powder to press on top of my highlighter.
• E.L.F.’s blush in ‘Pink Passion’: It actually took the place of the next blush as my perfect pink
• MAC: I don’t know the name since I de-potted it, and unfortunately, MAC no longer sells it. I am using it sparingly because I am an idiot and recycled the pot before I took down the name.
• I apply all blush with my MAC 129 brush because without an un-tapered blush brush, I am nothing.

Lipstick

• MAC’s Pink Plaid: I have finally found the perfect pale pink lip for myself. It’s matte and the perfect shade. I couldn’t have asked for much more.
• MAC’s Such Flare!from their Glitter and Ice Winter 2011 Collection: I recently had MAC’s Matte 01 from their Viva Glam line as my favorite red lipstick, but then I swatched this and fell in love. It is a pure red unlike Matte 01 which has strong undertones in blue in it. I am still kicking myself in the pants for not buying two tubes since it is currently sold out everywhere.
• Yves Saint Laurent’s Rouge Pur Couture in #13 Le Orange: I went into Sephora on a mission this spring; I needed to find the perfect orange lipstick. Not red orange but orange. It proved to be harder than I thought until another sales associate stepped in and showed me this beauty. It was the exact orange I had been looking for. With a sheen finish, I couldn’t ask for a better orange. I wear it sheerly as a lip tint here and there now, but as soon as spring rolls back around, it is coming back out in full force.

What are some of your favorite products to use? It doesn’t have to just be the ones you discovered in 2011!

I didn’t know that taking pictures of half-rotten berries would be so much fun.

Not even half of the onions that went into the French onion soup.

The beginnings of lemon chicken..

Finished product.

I made French Onion soup for the first time, too.

Stuffed green bell peppers with seasoned ground turkey and mozzarella.

Roasted banana cupcakes.

Tomato, yellow squash, zucchini, red onion.

Christmas Eve brown sugar ham.

]]> http://coutureforthought.com/2011/12/26/end-of-the-year-photo-dump-version-food/feed/ 0 coutureforthought DSC_2515 Image Image Image Image DSC_2380 DSC_2382 e8b28295c8ea4ea39539c9613ece0406_7 DSC_2203 b20857c42e7711e1a87612313804ec91_7 http://coutureforthought.com/2011/08/23/an-infamously-long-hair-care-blog/ http://coutureforthought.com/2011/08/23/an-infamously-long-hair-care-blog/#comments Tue, 23 Aug 2011 23:54:03 +0000 Jocelyn http://coutureforthought.com/?p=943 ]]> Shirt: GAP // Lipstick: M.A.C.’s Girl About Town

Guys.. I’m back! Are you excited?

What is this nonsense doing on a fashion/personal style blog you ask? Because your outer image extends past what clothes you are wearing and if they are in season or not. It includes your outfit, makeup, hair — the entire package. I have not seen many people tackle the issue of black, or ethnic, hair care on a fashion forward blog. For me, since this is right up there with how I am going to be wearing my makeup for the day, I felt that it was necessary to open up this post for comments, concerns, and even products for other people to try in order to solve the issue of what to do.

Caring for black hair, albeit natural or relaxed, is a difficult challenge. If it is relaxed, like mine is, it is even MORE challenging finding the right concoctions of leave-in moisturizers, smoothing serums, and heating tools to keep it the way that it is portrayed in the media.

I grew up not knowing how to even begin to tackle my hair. I am of mixed descent (white and black) and was told growing up that I had ‘good hair’. I’m not exactly sure what that meant, but when I noticed that I had hair down to my back and other children that had the same type of hair as me did not, that clued me in. My mother started giving me relaxers when I was 5 years old, and every day that I wish she did not. My hair was left in a state where it was brittle, unhealthy, and abused even further past the chemical processing with hot combs that are heated by the coils of your stove and curling irons that when curled too tight left you amusing burns on your scalp and against your forehead if you dare twitched.

Why did black – no, ETHNIC – women with a coarse hair type get left with the torture act when it comes down to maintaining our hair? All of the African American women that we face in media today – including, but not limited to, Tyra Banks, Halle Berry, Zoe Saldana – have the relaxer hair style. It is very rare that we see a celebrity that is wearing a natural hairstyle that isn’t revealed as a very expensive and extensive lace front weave. As influenced by the media as my mother was to have my relaxers done at such a young age, I made the conscious decision as an adult to keep getting relaxers as an easier solution rather than shaving my hair to my new growth (virgin hair) and starting completely au naturale.

I started my journey three years ago after having enough of D.I.Y. glue-in extensions and hair that could not lie flat no matter how many times I pressed a flat iron to it. The first thing was when my boyfriend presented me with a CHI flat iron which was the be all of straighteners when he purchased it. The next step was going to my local ethnic hair dresser for her to fix the mess that I had started which started with a relaxer and ended with multiple trimmings that spanned six months in an attempt to get my hair to the point where it was healthy enough to avoid buzzing. I have grown somewhat since then and have figured out what products keep my hair at bay, but I have educated myself to the point where I have realized that I do not need a relaxer every month when, with the right care, I can stretch my hair out to where I only do relaxers every 4-6 months.

Now, I am not saying that having relaxer hair is the way to go by any means. There are many women that choose to bypass the harsh chemicals and keep their hair natural which I admire. It is just now how I am able to manage with my hair. I cannot even say that my hair is even as healthy as it could be or the pinnacle example of hair care.  I am simply expanding on the idea that there is a stigma surrounding ethnic hair care that clearly reads that is difficult and to go to a professional. While that may be true for some or most situations if you need to get your hair back on the right path, but afterward? Maybe you don’t need to aside from trimmings. Maybe you will have to do the testing phase of other hair products to see what is the best thing for you. My hair becomes unmanageable in the rain. I am still afraid to work out because I know that if I do too much cardio that I will “sweat my perm out” and will find myself standing in front of a mirror for two hours to fix the damage post shampoo. I will do my best between food and fashion posts to give you reviews on products that I know have helped me along and even new ones. I really, really want to see what the new craze of dry shampoo will do to my hair.

Feel free to ask any questions in the comments below or comment on some things that have helped you if it applies! I can also receive emails at coutureforthought@gmail.com and perhaps if I get enough I can make a collective post of Q&A!

A close family friend made these pink themed cupcakes complete with handmade gum paste Gerber daisies to match the floral centerpieces. Anyone that bakes and works with gum paste knows that the decorations do not necessarily taste good at all, but the cupcakes themselves were flawless.

I have been going through a healthy food kick (also known as a diet which is also known as hell), but this past weekend at a baby shower that I was asked to take pictures for, I allowed myself to delve in on some carb laced favorites.

Bruschetta on a toasted baguette with parmesan cheese.

Chicken Parmigiana garnished with roasted cherry tomatoes.

Overall, I had an okay time. Considering I was “working” most of the time, I did get to see a few people that I had not seen in a few months and managed to curb my awkwardness for long enough to have what would be considered “fun”.