Growing Up Tomboy and My New Journey

So as I've mention before I was a tomboy growing up. I wasn't one of those girls who just didn't wear dresses. Yes I despised dresses with a passion but I was on another level. Almost all of my clothing included a Nike symbol and was most likely bought in the boys section or the athletic section. I don't recall owning a dress until my step mom came into the picture. Even then I hated wearing dresses. I'm not going to lie. I just recently started wearing dresses and enjoying them. I'm 26. Once I hit middle school I started to wear cute girl clothes and makeup. Yes makeup. After my sophomore year of high school I went back to not caring as much. No makeup and lots of sweatpants. My little sister is now at the phase of high school. It's like reliving high school through her. Though she makes more of an effort than I ever did. I'm not sure how I got away with wearing sweats to school and still had the friends that I did. 

Anyways. Let's fast forward to today. I now own a few dresses. I own more than just running shoes. I even have a pair of high heels. I love to paint my nails and can never have too many nail polish colors. The one thing I just recently got into is makeup. I know you're thinking wow that took a while. Don't judge me. I'll admit it, I'm lazy.  Usually I just wear makeup when we go out on fancy dates. The other day I decided I'm going to make an effort to wear makeup everyday. At my job people mostly see my eyes since I wear a mask most of the time. Why not make it pleasant to look at. As of right now they are looking at my tired eyes hiding behind my glasses. Also I'm sure my husband would enjoy the view. Even though he loves me for the yoga pants wearing person I am I'm sure he would like me prettied up a little bit. 

What I look like most of the time

So where do I start? I do own a few staple items such as mascara, eye shadow  and lip gloss. Though I own about one of everything I just mentioned. If you haven't heard of Birchbox look it up. I've been getting a Birchbox for about 6 months now and it has opened my eyes to makeup. Well with Birchbox you can earn points. If you earn enough points you get $10 of Birchbox cash. So I've been saving up my birch box cash and decided to use it for makeup purchases. I am proud to say I bought my very first eyeliner. It should be a fun experience. Today I'm going to take an adventure to the store and buy more eye shadow colors and makeup brushes. Yes I'm going at this thing head first. Usually when I have an idea I go balls to the wall. This is no exception. I've been researching on Pinterest to see what the cool kids are doing. Not to mention I have a super stylish sister that could help out if I need her. 

So let's make an improvement to the photo above. I will keep you all updated on my makeup journey. Wish me luck and hope I don't look like The Joker when all is said and done.  It's happened before....

Tacky Prom Party

Party In My Tummy

So it's been cold here in Texas. By cold I mean low 60's but in the evening it's been down into the 50's. You're probably saying "Holli, you should know cold you lived in Indiana." Yeah like 6 years ago. So what do you do when it's cold outside? You make soup. My husband found a recipe for corn chowder that sounded good. So I decided to make it. I made a few changes. Let me just say it is #2 on my favorite soups that I make. I thought I couldn't keep this to myself, so I decided to share with all of you! Here is my take on the recipe.

Ingredients

6 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed, divided (I used sweet corn)

4 cups low-salt chicken broth, divided

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 ounces smoked Spanish chorizo*, cut into 1/4-inch cubes 

2 cups chopped onion

2 pounds unpeeled red-skinned potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch cubes

2 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 cups fat free half and half

*Chorizo is kid of greasy, so I'm sure you could use another type of sausage.

Preparation

Blend 3 cups corn kernels and 1 1/2 cups broth in blender. I just left it in the blender until I needed it.  

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add chorizo and sauté about 3 minutes. Transfer chorizo to small bowl. 

Add onion and remaining 3 cups corn kernels to same skillet (Do not drain out the the chorizo juices, it adds flavor)  Sauté over medium-high heat for 5 to 6 minutes. Add potatoes and stir about 2 minutes

Put corn mixture into a large pot. Add dried thyme, cayenne, pureed corn mixture, and remaining 2 1/2 cups broth to pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer uncovered 10 to 12 minutes. Add half and half and chorizo. Simmer uncovered about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper for some extra flavor. 

I served this with some fresh tortillas I bought at the store. Our grocery has a station where little ladies press tortillas all day. They are AMAZING!

This recipe makes a ton of soup. It will probably feed the two of us for the rest of the week. So try it out and let me know what you guys think. 

Growing Up With Asthma

I have had asthma ever since I was a toddler. Most of my childhood revolved around this. I like almost every kid had asthma but mine was not mild by any means. I was pretty much destined to get asthma. On my dads side almost everyone had it. My aunt still has it. My mom grew up with asthma but grew out of it. On top of genetics did I mention my dad smoked like a chimney? I think that may have something to do with why I still have it.  I spent most of my childhood in the hospital. Talk about fun. From toddler age to about 3rd grade I would spend 2-3 weeks in the hospital from asthma attacks, bronchitis, and pneumonia  I became a regular at Parkview. No really. I had the same nurses each time. To this day when my mom sees them out and about they ask how I am doing. I am almost 27, so yeah I made an impact. I also spent a few holidays in ICU along with my birthday one year. Have you ever trick or treated in a hospital. I have. They came around room to room and handed out candy.

Most kids got away with taking an inhaler every once in a while. I had so many medications that my mom said I looked like a drug dealer. I had a bag full of inhalers and pills. I lived with my dad growing up(my parents were divorced) and he was super protective. If it was under a certain degree outside I couldn't play outside in fear that I would get sick. He also made me wear a coat until almost summer time. Could you imagine little me running around with a coat on in 60 degree weather? Well I did. The other thing that sucks is that I can't be tickled. If you tickle me too long I could have an asthma attack. My poor husband tries to tickle me until I yell "Stop! I can't breathe! Where's my inhaler?" Doesn't that sound like fun?

Unlike most kids I did not grow out of my asthma and still deal with it everyday. Let me just say being an adult with asthma sucks. I hated it as a kid but hate it more as an adult. I still have to take an inhaler everyday to keep my symptoms regulated. The thing that really sucks is when I get a cold it's never just a cold. It always turns into an upper respiratory infection, bronchitis or worse pneumonia. Just this week I felt a cold coming on so I went to the doctor. He said it was just post nasal drip and sent me on my way. Forward about 3 days later and I feel like I'm going to die. I go back to the doctor and go figure I have bronchitis. This happens every time I get sick, so I try my hardest to not get sick.  Let me just say I am so grateful I have insurance, because all these meds and doctor visits aren't cheap. I haven't always had insurance so I know it's expensive. My one inhaler without insurance cost $300 and I need to buy that one every month. I have learned little home remedies that seem to help a little. As you all know I'm a little bit of a hippie. I learned that anything caffeinated is good for asthma, especially hot black coffee or my favorite espresso. That's why I always drink coffee. 

A t-shirt I found that I want.

So for all you asthmatics out there I feel your pain! I aint easy being wheezy! Hang in there and drink lots of coffee. Dr. Holli's orders! 

I Married a Gamer

My my name is Holli and my husband is a gamer. This is not a new thing. He has always been a gamer. It's one of the things we connected on while dating. Growing up I too was a gamer. My dad was big into video games so we owned every system ever made. My favorite game happened to be Super Mario Bros. Not to brag or anything but I beat the game multiple times. Oh and I found the secret worlds. Booya! So back to my husband. When we moved in together it became apparent how much of a gamer he was. When we first lived together we worked opposite shifts. He worked all day and I worked most of the evening and night. We crossed paths around dinner. I believe during that time Battlefield was his game of choice (I could be very wrong). Well anyways, when I would get home from work around 11 and you could hear the sounds from outside. It sounded like World War III was taking place in our apartment. From that moment on I knew he had a secret lover, her name was XBOX (I'll called her Xena) My friends always ask "how can I deal with him playing?" I always say "at least I know what my husband is doing when I'm not home." That is when he gets most of his game time in. He does play when I am at home but not very often. I'm not that nice of a wife. I enjoy spending time with him away from zombie killing and Call of Duty. Not saying that my husband is anti-social. He does get out. 

So lately he has started playing Dungeons and Dragons. Yes he is a big geek, but that's why I love him. This is nothing new as well. In the past he has played Magic the Gathering and World of Warcraft. Yeah BIG geek! Well with the new D&D lifestyle he plays 3 games a week, one at a comic shop and two at home. The one on Wednesday he is dungeon master. If you are wondering "What's that?" well he calls the shots. No they don't sit around dressed up as wizards. At least he doesn't. I can't speak for the guys he plays with. He plays over in the reading area of our living room but I can hear everything he says. Let me just tell you I have learned a new language. I am now semi fluent in D&D. Sorcery, spells, elves and damage points. Now what! He has tried to get me to play but I don't think that will ever happen. I don't think I could take it seriously and in the long run would probably annoy him more than anything. Maybe one day I will give it a try but not anytime soon. I have too much on my plate with work and keeping up on my shows. Yes I am 90 and still call them shows. Don't hate! 

How many of you are in a relationship with a gamer? I know I'm not the only one. Don't be ashamed.  Unless they spend more time playing games than spending time with you. Homey don't play that! 

Why I'm Eating A Vegetarian Diet This Week.

The past week I have had a love/hate relationship with our refrigerator. It couldn't decide whether it wanted to keep my food cold or melt and ruin all my food. One day last week it decided that the food I had in there wasn't good enough and shut down. When I got home my fridge was warm and all the food in the freezer was melted. I was PISSED! I had to throw everything out. We called the repair guy to come check it out. Come to find out our fridge was heading to the appliance cemetery. So today we got a new fancy fridge! I'm like a kid on Christmas.    

Our new fridge

Our old fridge

                 

So since the refrigerator has been schizophrenic we have not been able to keep food in the house. This means we have ate out more than I would like to admit.  With all this eating out my body has begun to hate me. I usually try to cook during the week and then we will go out for meals on Saturday. We like to call that out cheat day. So I'm not accustom to all this fatty, processed food. Growing up I ate that kind of stuff all the time. My dad's favorite things to eat were Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. When we ate at home it was usually Hamburger Helper or t.v. dinners. Every once in a while we would cook something like stew or homemade pizza. How I was so skinny I will never know. Once I moved out I began to cook a lot more. Now we hardly eat any processed foods in our house. 

So this coming week I've decided to go back to a vegetarian diet just until I feel better on the inside. A little background story is that I ate a vegetarian diet for quite a while. Once we found out we were moving to Texas I thought we better change that. I mean we were moving to the state of the 72 oz steak and BBQ galore. My lovely friend Katie introduced me to the lovely world of being a vegetarian. Ever since she brainwashed me I can't turn away completely. For a while my carnivore husband was also eating a vegetarian diet. He said he felt better and lighter on the inside. I know it sounds crazy but it's true. I'm not sure if I'm ready to take the plunge back to full veg. I mean I also have a love affair with hamburgers. So I'm going to take it week by week and see how it goes. Wish me lucky. 

Do any of you lovely readers have a good website for veg recipes? I have a few but would love to have more.