Peaches and Cream Protein Smoothie!

My husband and I have been making it a big point to go to the gym together at least 3-4 days a week. And along with that, we have been making protein drinks for after our workouts! The only drink i knew how to easily make off the top of my head was a banana vanilla smoothie, which was delicious but i want more options! So today I prepped out drinks for tomorrows work out. I searched up recipes and came across a few i really want to try out, but the one i had all the ingredients for was the peaches and cream protein smoothie! If your trying to be a bit more fit this summer, I defenitly reccomend this recipe!

I made this for two jars, so cut the recipe in half if you're making it for just one!

• 1 1/3 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk 
• 1/4 cup rolled oats 
• 1  peach (or 1 cup of sliced canned peaches)
• ice ( i used 4 cubes)
• 2 scoop vanilla protein
• 1/4 cup orange juice

I hope you try out this recipe and enjoy it!!

DiY: Honey Sugar Face Mask!

On my off days i tend to clean up house, but today after I didi that I decided to have my own little spa day. Usually i'll do a hair mask BUT, today I did a face mask and a moisturizing oil bath! Its good to take some time for yourself to relax and let some stresses go. So since I've been having some breakouts lately I decided to do a Honey Mask. Some people so the simple honey wash mask, but i like to add a few things to mine! Sugar or brown sugar is added as a light scrub, Milk or almond milk is always good for your skin so i add a bit of that too! And of course, I add vitamin E oil which is great for your skin! Please be sure you wash your face of make up, i use a lavender/wichhazel/aloe remover and toner that can be purchased at whole foods.


3 tsp raw honey
1/2 tsp sugar ( or brown sugar!)
1 tsp milk (or almond milk)
and 3-6 drops of vitamin E oil

Mix it all up! And be sure to tie your hair back!

Use your fingers to gently massage the honey mask onto your face, and go ahead and let it sit for at least 10 minutes! If your doing a whole home spa day, try drawing a hot bath and add some drops of vitamin E oil or coconut oil for a moisturizer make over for your whole body!

After patting my face dry, I add a drop of Vitamin E oil and massage it onto my face for an extra kick!

BENEFITS OF WASHING WITH HONEY!

• Honey gently removes dirt and impurities without stripping the skin of natural oils. Foaming cleansers and soaps frequently strip the skin of these protective oils and cause the skin to overproduce oil.
• The natural antibacterial and probiotic properties of raw honey effectively reduce breakouts and prevent new acne.
• Since it is so gentle and nurturing to the skin, it is ideal for very sensitive skin, rosacea, and eczema.
• It works well on all skin types. It balances oily skin and moisturizes dry skin.
• As far as excellent facial cleansers go, it is much cheaper than store bought options!

6 Books I Decided to Judge By the Covers, And Were Awesome!

I usually go off book recommendations, or by reading the back cover of course, but I decided to judge a few books by their interesting covers and titles and it worked well! It was pretty hard trying to resist reading the back cover. And now i want the word out on these books! These six books range from fiction, teen fiction, poetry and even graphic novel!  Three of these are bestsellers that i've been recommending to people and the feedback is great! Each book has a link for you IF you just cannot judge a book by the cover, don't worry, i completely understand. If you do happen to read one of these lovely books, leave a review in the comments! 

Hm, Maybe i'll do a single book review soon.

The Library of Unrequited Love By Sophie Divry 

Fuck: An Irreverent History of the F-Word By Rufus Lodge

The Last Time We Say Good-bye By Cynthia Hand

In Real Life By Cory Doctorow

Eleanor And Park By Rainbow Rowell

 Mouthful Of Forever By Clementine Von Radics

Netflix: Whats Disappearing Forever & Whats new! This May!

With only a few days left in April, it’s time to learn what you’ll need to watch before it disappears off of Netflix FOREVER (or at least until they renew it). Here’s what’s coming and going on the streaming site in May!

 First we gotta pour one out for the following flicks:

Leaving May 1st:
6 Bullets
 12 Dogs of Christmas: Great Puppy Rescue
 A Knight’s Tale
 The Accused
 Airplane!
 Airplane II: The Sequel
 All I Want for Christmas
 Along Came Polly
 An American Haunting
 Baby Genius: The Four Seasons
 Baby Genius: Underwater Adventures
 BASEketball
 Bitter Moon
 Boys Don’t Cry
 Bratz: Babyz: The Movie
 The Brothers Bloom
 Call Me Claus
 Call Me Crazy: A Five Film
 Cecil B. Demented
 Deuces Wild
 Diving Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood
 Fantastic Voyage
 Finding Forrester
 Friday the 13th: Part 7: The New Blood
 Funny Face
 Ichi the Killer
 Into the Blue 2: The Reef
 The Jewel of the Nile
 Life is Beautiful
 RoboCop
 Romancing the Stone
 Sabrina
 The Secret of NIMH
 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze
 True Justice (Season 1)
 Valkyrie

Leaving May 2nd:
Flight

Leaving May 3rd:
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement

Leaving May 5th:
Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel
 Frank Skinner StandUp: Live from Birmingham’s National Indoor Arena
 Grumpy Old Women Live
 Russell Kane: Smokescreens & Castles Live
 Skyfall

Leaving May 6th:
1428
Leaving May 12th:
Grimm’s Snow White
 Robot & Frank

Leaving May 13th:
Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milo

Leaving May 15th:
Buffalo Girl's

Leaving May 16th:
Fun Size

Leaving May 17th:
Bridezillas (Season 9)
 Cloud 9
 Dane Cook: Rough Around the Edges Live from Madison Square Garden

Leaving May 19th:
Red Dawn

Leaving May 20th:
No Woman, No Cry

Leaving May 23rd:
Silent House

Leaving May 28th:
The New Guy

Leaving May 31st:
The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia


Here’s what’s arriving!

May 1st:
Beyond Clueless
 Jimi: All is by My Side
 The Last Waltz
 Legally Blonde
 Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde
 Longmire (Season 3)
 No No: A Dockumentary
 The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio
 Shameless: Series 10
 Underclassman
 Witness (Season 1)

May 2nd:
 Lalaloopsy: Festival of Sugary Sweets
 LeapFrog Letter Factory Adventures: Amazing Word Explorers
May 3rd:
Anita
 D.L. Hughley: Clear
 Royal Pains (Season 6)

May 5th:
A Few Best Men
May 6th:
The Longest Week

May 8th:
Grace & Frankie
 Puss in Boots (Season 1)
 Tyler Perry’s A Madea Christmas

May 9th:
Jinn
 The Liberator

May 12th:
Extraterrestrial
 Fruitvale Station
 Magical Universe

May 13th:
The Identical

May 14th:
American Restoration
 Counting Cars
 Dance Moms
 Duck Dynasty
 Hoarders
 Modern Marvels
 The Universe

May 15th:
Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown (Season 4)
 CyberSeniors
 Dawg Fight
 Give Me Shelter
 Granite Flats (Seasons 1-3)

May 16th:
First Period

May 17th:
Tinker Bell and the Legend of NeverBeast

May 19th:
Before I Disappear
 Girlhood
 Zombeavers

May 21st:
Between (Season 1)

May 22nd:
H20 Mermaid Adventures
 Inglourious Basterds
 Jen Kirkman: I’m Gonna Die Alone (And I Feel Fine)
 The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir
 Richie Rich (Season 2)
 Transporters: The Series (Season 1)

May 23rd:
Antarctica: A Year on Ice
 The Boxtrolls

May 24th:
Love and Honor
 Welcome to the punch

May 26th:
Graceland (Seasons 1&2)

May 27th:
Before I Go to Sleep

May 29th:
Hot Girls Wanted
 Mako Mermaids (Season 3)

And that’s all for now folks! I'll keep y’all updated as more titles are leaked. In the meantime, happy streaming!

Lovely Little Critters: My store

So for a while I have been wanting to open my own online store, and make my own postcards and bookmarks. I have actually made some bookmarks as gifts for people, and they loved them. And it made me think, what are things I like to make? well, I love cute little bookmarks and cute postcards! So after doing some searching and some rough drafts of little designs, I decided to make a few postcards to try to sell! This is something i've been thinking about doing for a while, but never thought it would be something people would like or even notice honestly. Well, i'm taking the plunge anyway!
I decided to go with Zazzle because they make it pretty easy to set up a store, and I named my store LovelyLittleCritters! I want it to have a woodlands critters feel to it as a base theme, but along with other cute little things I design on postcards. And I'm going to be making as many as i can! I even added some stamp designs to go with the postcards! I love this, creating little things that I'm proud of. I really hope you check out my store, wether you buy a card or not, send me some love and feed back! I want to be successful in this! And I want to share my lovely little journey with you!

LovelyLittleCritters

All About Mordecai!

About two years ago Nic and I found this little fella outside, abandoned by his new mother. He seemed to be the runt of the litter , and she didn't want him. So she just left him in the middle of the yard. When we took him in, he fit perfectly in our hands. Just looking at him, you could tell he was the runt, but also, they he was definetly sick.
When we took him to get checked out, the vet said he had a very bad ear infection, so bad they the poor little black kitten wouldn't raise his head at all! He always had it laying to his left, basically on the ground. They pretty much told us he was a loss cause, is sick with more than an ear infection, and just is not worth it. BUT, he had our hearts. We kept him, gave him all the medicines he needed and soon he started to look better! but he just would not raise his head, weeks later and he still leaned it to the far left.
One day he just started running around and we were beyond happy!! He was getting comfortable with us and our home. As he ran around we noticed, he ran with his head still leaning to the left. We realized that having that ear infection heal with his lying on his left ( cause it hurt him too much to move) made his head permanently lean to the left. It was odd, sad and cute. But he was alive and getting healthier! and thats what counted.
His oddest quirk has to be when he panics, he has no idea what to do, or where to go. So he runs in a circle heading to the left- yup. Poor thing! He'll run for a full minute if he's really freaked out. Like the day we brought him to our new apartment, he did nothing but run in circles for about five minutes before retreating to the safety under the bed.


He is finally, getting use to this new home and he honestly seems happier than he was before- having us both here with him. His head is still leaning to the left, I'm sure that will never change- but his mood is beyond sunny!
I thought it'd be nice to share the story of our little love with you- he's so special to us. And such a sweet little creature.

Home Sweet Home

Today i am feeling pretty thankful, because Nic and I have finally moved in together! The feeling of having your own home, just the two of us is so amazing- i am so beyond happy. I love our home, its a combination of both of us and jeez it shows. Needless to say, i brought about a million books with me. Honestly most of my boxes were filled with books, and he handled moving them like a champ! what a fella. I thought id share a few pictures of our up and coming cozy home! We still have the dinning room to set up, I've been using that space for empty moving boxes and general trash, so its the only untidy spot here! And today, i tried to put together the book shelf, and i got two parts put together, but that was as far as i got. I just couldn't figure out how to put it all together! So my husband (feels good to say it! husband!) put it together!

I think my favorite part of our apartment has to be the back wall with all of our frames, some new some antiques, and the book shelf. The frames always reminds me of the heights antique shops because that is normally where we go for fun sunny off days together. Needless to say, we will be adding to that wall. Under the frames is a small royal blue bench with two cute pillows. We got the bench from target (thanks to our wedding gift cards, we have plenty of room for sitting!). We wanted sort of a small reading nook area- but also wanted the option of moving the seat when company was over. We love that bench!

The book shelf, the awesome wonderful bookshelf which carries some of my favorite things. Books! in fact, i had too many books and had to take up the two shelves above our built in desk. Is it weird that I felt proud I needed more book space? The little nic-nacs on the book shelf are from our travels, Hawaii, Mexico, Puerto Rico- We love to travel.

We are planning on buying the dinning room table and chairs next weekend, so that room is still bare and waiting to be prettied up! Along with our own room, which is missing a few things, we just need the time to move the furniture in is all!

One thing ill mention is that in every photo here, there is a wedding gift we got from friends and family. And i just want to say thank you, thank you so much for taking the time to go out and think of us. For attending our wedding and celebrating with us. We got so many lovely things from everyone, and they are helping us start our lives and marriage just right. Thank you.

Also, again, I'm still loading wedding pictures (there are a million!) and will be doing a wedding post soon! Thank you for checking out my little corner on the internet!

Story Time Writing Challenge: Little Black Box

Little Black Box
By Ariel Morales

I tend to keep little reminders of lovely parts of my life boxed up carefully- trying to preserve the feelings of that moment. Small things, tickets, a pressed yellow flower, a map of Puerto Rico and a small velvet black box. Just big enough to conceal in your hand. I take it out of its hiding place every few months- and run my fingers on the soft fabric. This is the box that, when it opened, I saw my future heading straight towards me and I said yes. 
We were in Vegas, a city that had become our home away from home. We'd been up and down the main street, or the strip as they call it, plenty of times. It was flooded with glittering lights, people, amazing street dancers and fountains that seemed to dance with the music playing all around us.  We headed to the middle of the strip, to take the eiffel tower ride at the amazing Paris hotel. It was cold, so I held on tight as we bought tickets to take the clear glass elevator up 15 stories to the top of the Vegas eiffel tower. I was terrified. Heights never bother me too much, I've ridden in planes plenty of times, but that elevator with its glass doors and floor seemed to be hovering mid air. I held to him tighter, and pushed my face against him- " its too high!" I said. He squeezed me. 
At the top we all stepped out onto a clattering grated floor- and I looked down onto the strip. Small people everywhere, the city seems like its own sun, and the empty black desert around us seemed so alone. It was beautiful. He came up next to me and put his arm around me, and kissed my head. 
He led me to a smaller area where it was only us. He put his hand in mine and told me how much he loved me, and wanted to spend his life with me. I stared into his watery eyes and told him I love him too, always and only him. He let go of my hand and got down on one knee, pulling out a small velvet box, just big enough to conceal in his hand.
"will you marry me?"
On the plane ride home we were inseparable - curving into each other as if we were in our own world. Married, I was going to marry my best friend and see him every day. I was so happy, so in love that my cheeks got sore from all the smiling. I turned to him, and asked if he still had that pretty black box. He gently handed it to me, and I placed it in my bag.

Some things, no matter how small, can have all the meaning in the world.
****I was inspired to write this after reading about the story time challenge on a friends new blog, anonymouslyjaded****



Also, ill be doing a wedding post soon! still fixing up and collecting pictures from friends and family, so check back for that in a few days! We still don't have our hi speed internet set up so loading up pictures takes an eon. Hope you enjoy my little non fiction story!

Sneak Peek! DIY: wedding programs!

If you haven't noticed, I love to go the route of DIY, for bookmarks, parties, gifts and right now, my upcoming wedding! Today in doing our wedding program and we decided like the rest of the wedding, it shall be DIY! So, here we go.

First step is finding a template, or design for your program (or invite).

When I had gone to Michaels for some craft materials I browsed their invitation section. And I was surprised to find that they sold kits for making your own invitations and programs! Very cool. The thing I did not enjoy too much was the price, running up to 80$. Being a frugal penny pincher, that was way to much! So I figured, well, all I need is a template that I can edit the wording of- ill check Etsy! And there, I found an abundance of people selling their designs templates! For between 5-20$! What. A. Deal. We decided on a template that had a lovely heart at the top of the page, with the ceremony all laid out (you can also edit the writing!). The one we chose was a whopping 8$!


Here is what it looked like:

No specialty paper, no edits, plain template.

Next, since you'll be printing from home, make sure your printer has ink, is set up to receive commands from your computer. We are going to be making hole punches at the top of the cards so we can tie a bow with twine, so if you want to do that you will need a hole puncher, scissors, and a spool of twine, and make sure you go out and buy the kind of paper you want! We are going with a brown type paper.

Here it is: I got a pack of this paper at Office depot, 250pgs, thick and perfect for programs and invitations!

Once you finish editing the words, if you decide to change or add to what it says, you will go ahead and print! I ended up printing two cards to a page. So if you do this, you will have to cut out each card.

I got these other materialist Walmart! Good price too. And of course you will need coffee, to keep yourself awake!

Next you will punch the holes in the cards, cut up the amount and correct length of twine you will need, and pull the twine through!

Once that's all done, its time to tie bows!!  Cute, tiny and the final touch!
And then the finished product!

our wedding is in three more days! I am feeling really proud of all the DIY wedding projects we have been doing for this special day. It makes it that much more special and unique. I haven't put every project on here because as you can imagine, I am busy! Moving today and wedding errands to complete in three days! But I do hope whoever is taking looks at these posts loves them as much as I do. I can't wait to be Mrs. Ariel Morales <3 p="">

#MoralesWeddingParty

DIY Wedding Bouquets!

 

 

 

1. So first I  gathered all my materials. Which for me, were the flowers I wanted, wide loose burlap ribbon, small light colored lace/burlap ribbon, floral tape, and what's no pictured are my wire cutters, scissors and pins with yellow rounded tops.

 

2. I began to arrange my flowers to my liking. For me, I held the stems in my hand loose and just moved them all around until I loved it :]

3. I decided to wrap the floral tape before I cut the stems. Just to be sure it was exactly how I wanted it. It leaves you hands a little waxy, but washes right off! I got my tape from Michaels.

 

 

 

4. Then came the cutting, which is super tough, but I got it done!

5. I wrapped the newly taped base with the wide loose burlap ribbon, and placed my pins in it. Be sure to push the pins in at an angle, so it doesn't go straight through and poke you. 

 

 

And wah-la!  Were done!

 

 

 

 

The finished bouquets! Brides (mine!) and maid of honors

#MoralesWeddingParty

 

 

Wedding Sneak Peek

 

 

 

I decided to give you all a little sneak peek into some of our wedding decorations! Everything is, thankfully, going smoothly. Finding everything we need at lovely prices, and really I'm finding amazingly cute things too! So what's Nott pictured above are the table center pieces that are beautiful and hand made by my mom and I, were crafty that way. I haven't decided if you'll get to see those before hand, but, we are letting our guests taking the table center pieces home at the end of the wedding, so I hope everyone ends up liking them. All the plates, napkins and cups are from target, they had irresistibly cute designs and prices! Flowers are from Michaels and Arnie. Hope you like the sneak peek! I'm pretty sure there will be more to come. Can you guess our wedding color? Lol.

 

#MoralesWeddingParty

 

 

Lovely News..

so for a long while I stopped blogging and started writing in my journals, short fiction and poetry, some of which have been chosen to be published and have won a few contests. I also ended up releasing my own poetry chapter book after one of my cousins passed away. Right now in life, the sun is shinning. I'm about to marry my best friend, April 4th, we're starting our lives together and it feels like a lovely cool breeze has blown over our lives. everything just feels so blissful, and I feel like sharing it with everyone.
I want to try to keep this blog alive and going, with personal stories of our everyday lives from being lazy at home, to going out to shows or traveling the world. In fact, this past February, I was in Hawaii for two weeks with Nic, it really was paradise. I'll also be adding posts of book reviews, if you don't know, I work at a book store. And maybe some DIY projects too, especially with my wedding being very DIY, ill post those projects here too!

I'm ready to bring this back :]

Missing days

I'm back :) and some changes will be coming soon!

Bright Eyes

The bright eyed child
Looking around
Tempted by knowledge
And what was to be found.
He opened his books
Sniffed the accident words
Returning to that world
One in which he could be heard.
So life went on, this place had its appeals
But all the while he remembered
That this place
Its not real.
Written words
Swirling around in his head
Telling him keep trying
Keep swimming
It's cold
But your not dead.

(c)HeyJude
(C)ArielPerez

Some words can start fires

Ive been getting back into writing short stories and even some poetry lately, so i thought id share this. Here are a few of my favorite quotes from books, writers/authors. Words from others are always inspiring, so here are some that that have always given me a spark of inspiration. Read on.


“It’ll show you how I’ve gotten to feel about – things. Well, she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. I woke up out of the ether with an utterly abandoned feeling, and asked the nurse right away if it was a boy or a girl. She told me it was a girl, and so I turned my head away and wept. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m glad it’s a girl. And I hope she’ll be a fool — that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.’” -The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald

"I’ve heard writers talk about ‘discovering a voice’, but for me that wasn’t a problem. There were so many voices that I didn’t know where to start." -Sam Shepard

"Eternity bores me. I never wanted it." -Sylvia Plath, Ariel

"I often carry things with me so I will not have to look at the people" -Charles Bukowski

"I loves her against reason, against promise, against peace, against hope, against happiness, against all discouragement that could be" -Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

"we accept the love we think we deserve" -The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Stephen Chbosky

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity" -E.A. Poe

"the slime of all my yesterdays rots in the hollow of my skull" -Sylvia Plath, Ariel

"I think without writing I would feel completely useless." -Sam Shepard