A day on the farm….

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than going out to a farm and being able to pick some blueberries and cherries.  Ott Farms in Modesto is one of the best blueberry and cherry farms around the area.  I would highly recommend coming here with the kids, make a day of it and just have fun.  

One of the best parts of choosing which ones to pick is “taste testing.”  It is always recommended to taste the different varieties of  what’s out there, so you know whether you want a sweeter taste or a more tart taste. Of course, by default, by the time you are ready to leave the farm, you’ve eaten as many as you have picked….and loved every one of them.  There are rows and rows of blueberry bushes just ready to be picked for your bucket and taken home. It was a especially nice day on the day we went, so it was nice being able to just take our time and have fun while we were out there.  The bushes were loaded with blueberry clusters as well as the cherry trees.  There were at least 5 varieties of blueberries and a couple varieties of cherries as well.

You can check out my post about Baking with Blueberries as well for some more delicious blueberry recipes. 

Next, it was time to take home our stock of fresh fruit.  I had a recipe to try for blueberry muffins again…and….they came out…
A-MAZ-ING!!!

Blueberry Cream Muffins

Now for a little bit of CREATIVITIY…

I even tried out a great blueberry smoothie recipe as well, another great breakfast on the go drink.  I love smoothies on a hot day and I can’t always make it over to a smoothie place to buy one, so it’s great when I’m able to grab some fresh fruit and yogurt to make some of my own when I have a craving for a smoothie. 

Strawberry-Banana-Blueberry Smoothie

1 Banana
1/2 cup Strawberries
1/2 cup Blueberries
2 TBSP Greek Vanilla Yogurt
about 1 cup of Milk

Ice (if needed for consistency/thickness)

Grab your favorite blender and add the ingredients and mix it well until the desired thickness is achieved.
Then pour into your favorite glass and enjoy!  

I tend to vary my ingredients by what I have on hand, but this mix usually produces a really great smoothie to start off your morning with!

Blessings,

My favorite line of Color Cosmetics!!!

  I hope everyone is doing totally awesome this week!  Last week I talked about my favorite skin care line.  So…this week I am honored to introduce my favorite brand and line of color cosmetics! Which along with my favorite skin care is a TOP BRAND!!! Yes, it’s Mary Kay!!! From foundation to eye color, eyeliner and mascara, cheeks, lips, etc.  I love my Mary Kay makeup!!!  

So here are a few of my FAVORITE products that I use:

• Mary Kay Brushes: I love my Mary Kay brushes to apply my makeup.  They are so soft and now they have recently came out with their very own brush cleaner to keep these fabulous brushes in great shape.  Much cleaner also than applying the foundation with my fingers, I’m so glad I decided to start using the foundation brush.
•   After washing my face with the skin care, I use the Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover to get my eye makeup off.  A little dollop on a cotton ball and a couple swirls around the outside of the eye and all clean.  This stuff is truly fabulous!!!
•   Love my eye colors from powder to crème, I have to say I am a huge fan of the crème eye colors.  So many choices and they last a long time as well.  (btw, love my pink eye crème,  and I just got in new colors and tried our newest green).  I use them quite often also.  My favorite eyeliner would have to be the gel eyeliner they just came out with…love the way this stuff glides on.  And, the Lash Love Mascara(comes in black or brown)…who doesn’t want longer fuller lashes….another great product!
• The cheek colors are awesome as well and just add to the colors I use.
  (Sunny Spice is probably my favorite)
• Love, Love, Love our lip colors, whether it the lipstick or lip gloss. When using the lip gloss’ really make the color stand out on your lips.  Use it with the lipstick or by itself.  (I love the Berry Kiss Lipstick and the Clear lip gloss, and also the Red Passion Lip gloss).

I do love the fact that this can be a very simple and natural way to wear my makeup. The colors make it easy where you can go for a nice and natural look for during the day or a fun and dramatic look for going out at night.  The choices are endless and Mary Kay provides several looks that you can try on yourself before you even buy.  AND, what makes this even better is our NEW Virtual Makeover App and you can get on my website (you can even download the App to your PC or iPad through itunes) where you can upload a picture of yourself and try on different colors, products, and even hairstyles to find what you like.

• Check out on my website also to see the NEW colors and products I have.  www.marykay.com/tgregor
• Shipping is FREE and all orders over $40 get a FREE GIFT!!!!
  

Thank you for letting me share my favorite brand of color cosmetics with you all today!

Blessings,

 

My Favorite Skin Care line! :-)

Hope everyone is doing great! I thought this week I would chat with you all about my

favorite brand of skin care and color cosmetics.  If you don't already know, I sell Mary Kay, and use these wonderful products on a daily basis...and I love the way they make my face feel!  I never thought much about being a sales person but it can really be a blessing, even if it's disguised at times.  :-)  That’s another blog posting in itself though.
So...I wanted to share some of my favorite MK products and when/how I use them.  First, I want to dedicate this blog post to skincare, next time I will talk about the makeup part....so stay tuned to this series.  :-)
Did you know that every time you go to sleep with your makeup on your skin ages 9-17 days overnight!  Wow…crazy, right?  Well, with these couple of steps and around 3 minutes each day and night we can help this aging skin we have. Yay! 

First, I would like to introduce the Time Wise Ultimate Miracle set, which cleanses, exfoliates, tones, moisturizes and protects your skin.

I wash my face with the time wise 3-1 cleanser, this takes care of 3 of the steps (cleanses, exfoliates, freshens/tone).  Dermatologists say we need to be doing this day and night from the age of 16!  When washing our face use your last 3 fingers because your 1st 2 fingers are the strongest and can cause pulling and tugging.  Always go in an upward and outward motion.  Remember, up is young and down is old.  And, wash our faces 2 times per day, no more!
Next, I use the Time wise Microdermabrasion and replenishing serum (twice a week— Wednesdays & Weekends). This is one of my favorites, because it’s going to shrink our pores  and help with dry patches, wrinkles, blackheads, whiteheads, scarring on our faces as well as on the body, and stretch marks. Now the replenish serum is the “layer of luxury,” this is after the microderm scrub and it floods a NEW layer of healthy skin with vitamins, nutrients from it’s tri-tea complex(red, green & white teas) and most importantly anti-oxidants which are HUGE to help keep our skin healthy, even fighting off free radicals which could drastically alter the overall complexion of our skin! Plus, LOVE how it feels!  
Next is the Time wise Replenish Vitamin C Serum.  Did you know that by the age of 15 the collagen in our bodies start breaking down?  What naturally happens is that with age our elastin fibers start breaking down, causing unwanted drooping and fine lines in our faces, ugghhh…   What this does is it allows the production of collagen back in, as well as tightening, firming and lifting our skin to produce a more healthy GORGEOUS GLOW!

Then I use the Time wise day solution (and at night, the night solution), also known as “fountain of youth/miracle eraser, or Spanx in a bottle.” During the day we are going to protect our skin, and at night we are going to renew it!  Plus, the day solution has a SPF 35.  It has calming peptides that relax expression lines, contains antioxidants that neutralize free radicals, light diffusers to soften the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles, and it’s gluten free (not oily or sticky & great for those allergic to sunscreen.)  The Night Solution repairs your skin while you sleep by counteracting daytime damage with botanicals & peptides.  Will help restore, stimulate collagen, & restore the elasticity & firmness, helps fine lines and wrinkles fade away. The pump burst beads in the bottle, giving you a fresh dose of these vitamins daily.  (Vitamins A,C&E)
**great for acne, cuts, scrapes, mosquito/bug bites, burns, shingles…etc.
Then the Firming eye cream, which firms, tones, brightens and moisturizes around the delicate eye area.  Ending with the Time wise Moisturizer with SPF, have to love that, right? This will give you 10 hours of hydration, restoring the moisture in our skin.  It’s oil free, and there’s a special humectant blend which will draw moisture from the air, plus powerful antioxidants,  Essentially it will form a protective barrier to keep the good things in and the bad things out!

After these steps I add the final skin care step, Time wise Foundation (Matte wear).  I love the finish of the foundation and a little goes a long ways. 

The foundation not only matches with your skin tone but your undertone as well.  It work amazing with the foundation primer to last through out the day.  I also love using it with our foundation brush! 

Then I add color, eyes, cheeks, lips, but that’s in another post. 

I hope you enjoyed a look into some of my favorite skin care items.  Comment if you have any questions.  I do love to hear from my readers.  Oh, and check out my website as well.  Leave me a comment or send me a message if you are interested in knowing more about the Mary Kay products or career as well.

www.marykay.com/tgregor

Blessings,

Making dinner fun! (Meatloaf Cupcakes)

So what up, readers?  How have you all been recently?  I would love to stay connected with each and every one of you on a regular basis.  I love being able to share my heart with people through this blog, whether it's from a devotion or novel that I read recently or just something that I have been think about lately.   Also, I love being able to share a recent recipe I  tried or a craft that I made.
This past week I was able to get together with family over Easter Weekend.  So we were talking about different recipes to make and we came across the Meatloaf Cupcakes from Pinterest.  This dinner is a fairly easy meal to make and your family should love them.  I love that it's a way to, well...not make "meatloaf"  look not so much like, you know..."meatloaf." lol.  :-)  More kid appeasing also. :-)

Meatloaf Cupcakes

Ingredients
Meatloaf1 teaspoon olive oil1 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup ketchup, divided
1 1/2 pounds ground beef, extra lean (raw)
1 cup bread crumbs
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 large eggs
Cooking spray
Mashed Potatoes 4 cups cubed peeled Yukon gold potato (about 2 pounds)1/4 cup 2% reduced-fat milk
1/4 cup low-fat sour cream
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Garnish3 tablespoons chopped chives4 pieces of bacon cooked and them chopped

PreparationPreheat oven to 350°.
Heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion, chopped carrot, dried oregano, and minced garlic; sauté 2 minutes. Cool.
Combine onion mixture, 1/2 cup ketchup, and the remaining ingredients except cooking spray in a large bowl.
Spoon the meat mixture into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Top each with 2 teaspoons ketchup. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 5 minutes.
While the meatloaf is cooking, make the mashed potatoes. Place potato in a saucepan; cover with water. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes or until tender. Drain. Put potatoes into a ricer for best results. Return potato to pan. Add milk and remaining ingredients; stir with a spoon to desired consistency. If they are not creamy enough for you, add up to 1/4 cup more milk - although they need to be stiff enough to pipe on top.
Put the potatoes into a pastry bag with a wide star tip and pipe the mashed potatoes on top of the meatloaf. Sprinkle with bacon crumbles and chopped chives.
***If you've tried these please let me know what you think about them.  Thanks.  Talk to you soon.
Enjoy!!!

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The Lone Nut....

The Lone Nut + The First Follower = A  Movement!

A Lesson in Leadership!

Have you ever wondered what it takes to become a great leader?  Well, this video gives a fun glimpse at what just stepping out of your comfort zone and being willing to...well....look 'like a nut' for a short time, until we gather enough people to join in with us. 

Whatever you're doing in life, whether it's starting your own business or career (such as MaryKay, as I did), moving into a leadership position, or just getting up and dancing for thousands of people. :-)  You might ask yourself these questions:

1. Am I easy to follow?  Can others do it to?
2. Am showing people how easy it is to do if they are just willing to try it?
3. Am I producing "activity" in what I'm doing?  So that I am continally moving and doing something.

Then just start dancing! See who comes along and joins you.  Be willing to step out of your comfort zone and be that "lone nut" for a while....and see what happens! It just might be the most thrilling experience of your life!  So why not?!?!

Ready....Set....

Until next time....DANCE!!!!

Britt Nicole | Watch and Win!

An AMAZING video!  I just had to share it here on my blog as well!!! Check it out!

"Gold" (Britt Nicole)


Britt Nicole | Watch and Win!

No Secrets!

No Secrets.  I love listening and reading to devotionals and this video devotional is by Rebecca St. James. Where there are no secrets there are no lies.”  Well, what does that really mean? No Secrets.  Have you ever really thought about it? And, what does it mean to ‘live a life with ‘no secrets’’ in this world?' It can mean being openly honest with people.  Allowing the people involved in your life to know what you are really about.  Especially when it comes to our faith and beliefs.  We want to be able to have people really see what we are about in the way that we live.  By living pure lives in how we think, act and speak.  Sometimes we may only be the only Jesus that some people come in contact with, so if we live to be “like Christ”  and let our “God light” shine bright, we can be that positive influence in so many people’s lives in a world that may not be positive all the time. 

What about these words?  Faith, Hope and Love.  What is Faith?  What is hope?  What is Love? What is it that you hope for or find hope in?  What do you put your Faith in?  What do you find Love in?  Is it true love? Is it pure?  Some of the many questions that can go through the minds of people on a daily basis.  So how can you deal with all the questions that fill your mind.  Sometimes…your mind can overwhelm you.   I’ve recently been studying on prayer, it’s kind of therapeutic about how much taking time to pray can keep your mind at ease.  Not only that, but prayer enhances our relationship with Christ.  When we keep God, “clued in” on our lives, we stayed “in touch” to what His plans our for us.  We can’t keep ‘secrets’ from God, He knows us better than we know ourselves.  When we open up and we’re honest, our trust circle develops better and we know who we can go to for help.  Like I’ve read so many times, the five people you surround yourself with the most are the ones whom you will most likely take on a similar likeness/attitudes.  So surround yourself with positive people who are going to lift you up rather than tear you down. People you can talk to, related to and be open and honest with, people who you don’t hold ‘secrets’ from, and you’ll learn so much about yourself and others when you open yourself up to so much more in your life. 

Shine brightly for Christ!

Grace and Peace

Let my life be the Proof of Your Love!

Well, I think it’s here! What you may ask?  Winter…finally!  Yay!  After a long warm, summer….it’s finally starting to cool off, and yes…even rain a bit.  I have been waiting for this as the Pumpkin Spice and Caramel Brulee latte’s have come back at Starbucks and and everyone talking about being able to wear their “Fall” and “Winter” outfits (sweaters, boots, hats, scarves, etc).  While I’m sitting here in California just waiting for the next season to arrive, since it seems like it has hit everywhere else but right here.  Let’s just say 100 degree days in the early Autumn made it seem like Winter would never come. Really made me want to take that short escape back to Indiana for the amazing ‘cooler’ weather they had from what I can remember from living back there.  But now as the new year has come upon us the upper 20 degree weather has come upon us. 
As I am sitting here thinking about what I wanted to write this afternoon…I was thinking about the title of this blog.  Listening to the radio at the same time, I started thinking about the song, Proof of Your Love, from the band For King and Country.  In the past couple months the song that has been playing on the radio several times.  I mean just the chorus of this song is simply awesome and amazing and has me singing along all the time!  I was so blessed to be able to attend a for King and Country concert a couple months ago at a local concert. They were amazing!!! From their awesome stage presence and singing with a passion in their soul to being able to share the wonderful message that God had laid on their hearts that night!  They are as incredible live as they are on the radio, and so on fire for Christ during their concerts.
Which brings me to what you may be asking, what is the proof of your love?  It’s living for God, but it’s so much more than that as well.  It’s living fully devoted and sold out to Christ.  There’s a saying that says generally speaking, to live your life so on fire for God that anytime someone were to speak bad about you, nobody would believe them. Isn’t that completely the truth though?  We’ve all been hurt by people we’ve trusted and we learn to forgive them. If we stand for what we believe in and lead pure lives, even though we may slip we know we can get right back up again, forgiving those who hurt us and living the PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE!!! Being love and showing love!!!  Be the light that shines to everyone.   You never know, you may be the only Jesus that some people see, so live for Him in everything you do.

"…let my life be the proof, the proof of your love
let my life look like you and what you’re made of
how you lived
how you died
love is a sacrifice
so let my life be the proof, the proof of your love…” (4 King and Country)
We were blessed again by being able to hear the amazing song styling’s of Jason Castro.  Another amazing concert piece and message from him. 
Just being able to listen to the stories of their life, whether they are at home or on the road, they can relate to so many people who may have similar issues.
“…This is only a mountain, You don’t have to find your way around it, Tell it to move, it’ll move, Tell it to fall, it’ll fall
This is only a moment, You don’t have to let your fear control it, Tell it to move, it’ll move, Tell it to fall, it’ll fall…” (Jason Castro)
I remember traveling with my drama team in college and we would always save a portion of our time we had to share for a personal testimony by one of our team members.  There were times we weren’t totally sure who was going to speak until we actually got to where we were going to be and God told us who needed to be addressing the crowd that night. Even our dramatic pieces were changed a lot just because of where we felt we were being led once we got there.  But, ultimately, where ever we went we wanted those watching us to see Christ in our lives while we were with them.  We wanted our lives to show the proof of God’s love in what we were sharing.  So many times we left those “performances” completely changed and humbled after sharing with people, praying with people and just listening to their stories as well.
Acts 20:24 - But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.

Shelli and Me after the concert that night!!!

Today I Dare to Be….

I love listening to inspirational messages and there happens to be a great daily inspirational message I have found so to be incredibly uplifting and motivational.  This person was talking about the blessings that come from our lives we live.  She refers to a prayer from the Bible in the book of Isaiah, where she talked about how we are to bloom where we are planted and how to prepare ourselves for what is coming up.  We may see ourselves somewhere completely different but we were put in this specific position for a reason, most likely to learn from our experience’s and grow from where we are. If we continue to “bloom” where we are “planted” then we can see we are growing continually.  We can look back at the “blessings” we saw from the circumstances and the challenges we faced.  It’s like the song Blessings says…                              'Cause what if your blessings come through rain drops
                                       What if Your healing comes through tears
               What if a thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
                                 What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise
She moved on to gratitude.  When she was talking about being grateful she reminded me of something I read a few months ago from a "dare to be" challenge. Challenging yourself to dare to be grateful for what you have and where you are in your life. Fits right in with here message.  Love it!  What are you daring to be today, this week, this month?  More grateful, more confident, better listener….we can always think of something we want to be better in our lives.  Something that can help us be more aware of our surroundings and what is happening all around us and not just in our “immediate world.”  Big things are constantly going on and no matter where we are we can do something to help, whether in our small community town or out in the big city or maybe in another country.  If we dare to step out of our comfort zones then we can make a difference.  We can be the voice to the voiceless and help the helpless.

And when you learn what you need to learn things will begin to happen...when your ready! Sometimes we feel we're ready but this is so true "are we really ready?" Have we actually learned everything from our circumstances to be able to help others where we once were, so we can inspire them?  Hmmm...something to really think about, right?  If we’re patient then things will eventually happen.  I know it seems to take forever, right?  I totally agree with that one, patience is defiantly a struggle for me all the time, but when I put my trust in the my Heavenly Father with it all…then I know I can have the strength to make it through anything.  

I love that she referred to Jeremiah 29:11. One of my favorites verses that can get me through so much. Knowing that God has His plans laid out for me. Probably why I have it in my signature in my emails. What a great reminder. :-) “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

The message ended with this quote, ‘Be thankful and enjoy the ride!’ :-)  I loved this, and it’s totally true, when were being thankful for what we have and what we've been through, whether we’ve gone through the good or the bad, if were thankful for all circumstances we have grown through so much and have learned through it all.  Then we can enjoy the ride without all the worries.

Be Thankful!