{Happy Wednesday}

So, I've been SUPER busy lately with a whole bunch of tests and things so I thought I would just post this poem. It's not my greatest and maybe its pretty bad, but I would love feed back and response. Thanks!

They told me, in the fifth grade, that “growing up” was a sign of maturity. I have boys on my bus to prove them wrong. But growing up isn’t all its advertised to be. Like every other kid I’ve dreamed of this world, and now I want to travel back in time. I used to read poems like this and I didn’t understand (and sometimes I still don’t), but I slightly get it now. I used to think I could only cry when a B was my biggest problem, but now, that’s the least of my worries. When someone loves you and you don’t love them back or you love them, but they love someone else-its my new reality, its my real life now. Its not as fun to be considered “grown up”. Now, I grow apart from my friends because we’re not the people we used to be, people change. History cannot repeat itself. I try to end my poems with resolution in revelation, but I can’t, not this time.

{Motivation Monday Quote}

Last week I was completely off kilter with the schedule, so I just decided to take a break. This week I highly encourage you guys to take a break for yourselves. I know that for me, school is just starting to become a confusing melee and its starting to get stressful. I can't believe that my class has already had a standardized test! Anyway, take a break, take some time for yourself. Its absolutely not a bad thing to just chill for a little bit. And in response to that:

"All that I know is I'm breathing, all we can do is keep breathing."-Ingrid Michaelson

I don't know about you, but I love Ingrid Michaelson and I'll try not to quote song lyrics too often but I felt like this line was perfect. Have a great week lovelies!

{Motivation Tuesday Quote}

You guys, I am so sorry I didn't post yesterday! I don't have a whole lot to say other than that, but I hope you had a happy Monday and a good rest of the week!

"The most wasted of all days are the ones without laughter." -E.E. Cummings

{My Top 7 Uses for Coconut Oil}

Coconut oil has so many uses from your body to your hair and more, I know I use it all the time. I also have many uses for it and it was pretty hard to narrow it down to just seven, but here goes:

Top 7 Uses For Coconut Oil

1. Oatmeal- If you've never tried putting coconut oil in your oatmeal, I swear it will change your life! I don't know if it's the added fat or the flavor, but a 1/4 teaspoon greatly changes the flavor.

2. Conditioner- I can't say that this works better than my Pantene, but it works. Sometimes I don't use it as much as a conditioner, but a scalp treatment.

3. Vegan Butter Substitute- This is probably the most obvious one, but if you put your oil in the fridge for a bit to harden, it works just like butter.

4. Coffee- I recently started replacing milk/creamer in my coffee with coconut oil and popping it in the blender for a bit and it is AMAZING! Be careful because a little bit goes a long way.

5. Oil Pulling- Okay, I did this for a little while and I loved it. The only problem was that I didn't always have 20 minutes every morning to swish my mouth with oil.

6. Shaving Cream- I like to mix a little shaving cream with coconut oil to create the only shaving cream that leaves my legs soft with out having to put lotion on afterwards.

{Cinnamon Apple Chips}

I feel like we all go through it: you can't decide what to put in your lunch. PB&J is just not good enough and I, for some reason, can't stand sandwiches. Nonetheless, these apple chips are so good and a perfect alternative to cookies or anything sweet to put in your lunch this fall.

Not only are they wonderful, they are so pretty! They are healthy and overall just super yummy and they're great for fall. So, here's the recipe:

Cinnamon Apple Chips

1. Pre-heat your oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Take your favorite kind of apple (preferably one that's crunchier like honey crisp) and wash it and then use a knife to cut off the bottom of the apple.

2. Use a mandolin on a 3mm setting and mandolin away! If you get to the seeds, just remove them with a knife and keep going (you'll see a pretty star pattern).

3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay the apple slices on them. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar (you can also use Stevia or normal sugar-or no sugar at all).

4. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, flip each apple slice and bake for another 20-30 minutes.

That's it! They are so easy and super good. I hope you try this out and it will get you out of the lunch rut. Be sure to watch them after you flip them (I burned my first batch), so be careful with that. Do you guys like recipe posts? I really like doing them so I might do more of them soon! Have a good rest of the week!

They're so pretty!

{Motivation Monday Quote}

Hey guys! I don't have a whole lot to say today, but I did find something very exciting and interesting over the weekend: I have readers in Germany and France! So, if you are one of those people, thanks for reading (even if you hate it…)! Its just super exciting to me that I have readers all over the world, not just in the U.S. Okay, now onto the quote:

"If you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely."-Roald Dahl

Stay positive. I've been trying to avoid saying that the past couple weeks, but its so hard. Roald Dahl is right, if you stay positive with good thought you just seem more radiant. So have a good week!

{For The Love of Artichokes!}

Recently my family ate artichokes for the first time and they turned out AMAZING! They were so good and would be perfect as an appetizer (or we just ate them for dinner). Not only are they delicious, they are also so beautiful and I got a couple really good shots of them. But first, here's the easy recipe! It will be the easiest guest impressing food you will ever make!

Steamed Artichokes:

1. Start by rinsing the artichokes and then cutting off all the pointy end with kitchen shears.

2. Chop off just the very top leaves with a knife and then remove the stem, leaving a 1" stump.

3. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. Place in a steam basket in a pot of boiling water for about 20-35 minutes or until it's easy to pull off a petal.

5. Remove with tongs and serve warm with aioli or brush with butter.

These are so good and have such great color:

I even infused the butter with some basil and it was perfect!

These pictures look so much better since I started using my dad's olympus instead of my FujiFilm

The "choke" of the artichoke is gorgeous!

This is a great recipe to use this weekend and they are so good! There's also a way to roast them if you look that up and I'm sure that gives them great flavor. Happy Friday!