Foodie Friday: Outer Banks Seafood Festival

Delicious Sea Critters!

First of all, I apologize for missing Foodie Friday last week!  If you read my post on my new hair, then you know that I was out of town to get my hair done and visiting with some friends.  I attempted to write the post while I was there, but they have no internet and my phone signal was dismal at best.

Anyway, a few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of getting to spend a day at the Outer Banks Seafood Festival, enjoying some delicious food and beer!  Food tents for local restaurants were set up across the fair grounds, along with a beer tent, games and arts and crafts.  Upon entering, you could purchase "Sea Bucks", which you would use to purchase your food and beer at the festival and have at the tents!

Oyster and shrimp po'boys from the Jolly Roger!  Perfectly fried!  The rolls they were served in were a little much, so we mostly just ate the critters!  Sooo tasty.

Oysters Rockefeller from Captain Georges.  Very cheesy!  A little dried out, but the oysters were still pretty tasty!

Mahi fish tacos from Captain Georges.  Tasty fish!  Loved the crunchy slaw along with it!  The sauce was a little plain to me, but all in all, I enjoyed it!

This was the first time I had the opportunity to go to the Seafood Festival and it definitely did not disappoint!  We had some other great food while we were there, but unfortunately I got too excited and ate it before I took any pictures!  The beer choices were great as well.  Some local craft brews were featured, as well as some larger distributors if you were looking for a lower price point.

All in all, it was a tasty day!  I give the Outer Banks Seafood Festival a full five bugs.  I thought that the price points were great on the food and the concept was great as well.  You could buy as many or as little as $20 in Sea Bucks and eat until you run out.  Great food, great beer, great prices.  I will definitely want to go again next year!

Lavender Hair

Purple Hair, Don't Care!

That's right!  I colored my hair and turned it lavender!  And I am OBSESSED.

This is something I've been wanting to do for a long time.  With my job though, I can't have "unnatural" hair color.  Fortunately and unfortunately, my job is seasonal, so at the end of this summer I decided that as soon as I was finished working for the season, I would get this done.  I am SO GLAD I did.  I just can't get over how much I love it.

I had it done at a salon that uses Aveda products.  If you know much about Aveda, you know that it is a great line of products that are beneficial to your hair and even the dyes are not nearly as harmful as traditional chemical dye jobs.

To achieve the results I was looking for, my stylist pulled the brassy tones out of my hair to turn it into a bright platinum blonde color.  She then put in the lavender color with a hint of magenta to achieve a multi-dimensional lavender color.

One of the really cool things about the color is that with all of the different shades in it, it sometimes looks pink or sometimes blue, or even has a little silver in it at times.  It is MAGICAL.  I can't wait to see what happens over the next few months as it fades and the color changes.

As always, thanks for stopping in!  I apologize for missing Foodie Friday this past week...I was out of town to get my hair done!  See you soon!

Review: LUSH Northern Lights Bath Bomb

The Night Sky in My Bath?!

Oooh yes, that's right!  I had the night sky in my bath last night!  Well, sort of.

Yesterday Matt and I went to the mall, which is usually quite an adventure since we live over two hours away from any "real mall".  We had decided to go to an art museum, so decided to go to the mall in the same town which got me SUPER excited because it is the only mall in the area that has a LUSH.  *Happy dance*

So, obviously as soon as I got home and filmed my haul of what I bought yesterday at LUSH and Bath & Body Works, I ran a bath and lit a candle!  

Since it was a chilly night and I was looking to go to bed at a decent time (didn't happen by the way between editing my video and watching D3 The Might Ducks before bed!), I decided to go with the Northern Lights Bath Bomb.

First of all, I have to say that I love that Northern Lights is large enough to use for two separate baths which is always a plus to me since LUSH is prettyyyy pricey.  But worth it.  :)

This bath bomb initially explodes into a beautiful bright magenta color, but as it continues to dissolve, it creates a deep blue hue.  As the colors mix together, the bath turns into a deep indigo color.  It's beautiful!  

As far as the scent goes, it is extremely calming.  The description says that it's got jasmine and ylang ylang; I can certainly pick up on the jasmine, but I honestly don't know what ylang ylang smells like sooooo...that's helpful.  For skin benefits, I found that it made the bath water feel nice, it was smooth on the skin.  I've definitely had silkier feeling baths than this one, but the calming effect was what I was really looking for, which was achieved.  The scent lingered on my skin for the evening, creating a nice scent to experience when drifting off to sleep.

All in all, I like this bath bomb but honestly would reach for a different one next time.  There are some really nice ones like The Comforter Bubble Bar, which I have reviewed in the past if you're interested in checking it out.  In a nutshell, Northern Lights creates a beautiful bath, smells nice and creates a calming environment, which is nice before bed.  However, in my opinion it lacked in the skin benefits that usually go along with a good soak in the tub.  It's a fun bath bomb, but there are some even better ones I have experienced from their permanent line that I would reach for instead.

As always, thanks for reading!  Stay tuned for more reviews of what I picked up yesterday in the coming weeks.

Review: Montagne Jeunesse Manuka Honey Peel-Off Mask

Today was Spa Day!

Today involved having a productive morning of shopping at Walmart (does anyone hate doing this like me??) followed by an afternoon of catching up on my shows on Hulu with a face mask and a Jamberry manicure (future post to come on that).  One of the things I do enjoy about Walmart is their selection of one-time use mask packets.  Everytime I shop there, I have to grab one and today was not any different!  In fact, I bought three!  

Today I wanted to share with you my thoughts on the Montagne Jeunesse Manuka Honey Peel-Off mask.  First of all, being a peel-off mask, it is quite thick and gooey.  It was one of the smoothest peel-offs that I've applied and smells AMAZING.  It has a very strong honey scent, which I love but if you are not a big fan of honey, beware.  I can still smell the honey scent on my skin and I did the mask over two hours ago.

On the face, the mask felt very nice.  It has a cooling effect which I was surprised by, but after some thought and some research, the second ingredient in this mask is alcohol.  I'm not crazy about the idea of that, but there are quite a few other ingredients that are soothing to skin and make me feel a little better about the alcohol.  It took about 10 minutes to dry all of the way so that I could peel it off and was pretty standard as far as the act of peeling it off went.

After peeling it off, my skin felt super smooth and fairly hydrated.  Normally with any mask, I go straight to my moisturizer to rehydrate.  I didn't feel that this was necessary with this mask.  

Overall, I enjoyed the mask but I'm not sure that I'll reach for it again.  I have combination skin that errs on the side of oily and I really benefit from a clarifying or pore cleansing mask.  The honey mask is meant more to cleanse/hydrate the skin and I feel like I got those benefits from this product.  All in all, if you are looking for something to give your skin a little extra care, grab for one of these masks.  If you are looking for something along the lines of what I would use for my combination skin, stay tuned!  I grabbed another two masks (that I use back to back before bed a few times a month) today that I will be posting about within the next week or so!

As always, thanks for reading!  See you next time!

Foodie Friday: Ground Turkey & Spinach Stuffed Enchilada Shells

Mexican Italian Fusion

Hello!  This weeks Foodie Friday comes to you from my kitchen!  And Pinterest.  Let's be real.  I was super busy this week with finishing up my seasonal job for the summer and catching up with some friends I hadn't seen in a while.  I did actually go out a few times (probably more than I should have), but I was so busy catching up and eating the delicious food I had that I didn't think to grab some photos.  I DID however snag a photo of the dinner I made the other night which was quite tasty if I do say so myself.

Since I am not working full-time anymore, I have a lot more time on my hands to find and create meals at home.  Matt's work schedule has also changed a little, giving us more time to eat dinner together (a rarity for us).  The other day I came across this tasty-looking recipe on Pinterest and decided we should give it a try.

At the grocery store, we opted for ground turkey instead of chicken because ground turkey cooks quickly and we've become big fans of it as of late.  To add a little extra "oomph" to the dish, we chose to cook up some yellow rice to add to the mixture inside of the shells.  It most definitely turned out quite tasty.  Matt and I however decided that we are not big fans of enchilada sauce from the store, so we will be looking for different sauces to try out next time.  

Bottom line: I will be making this again.  It was quick and CHEAP and filling!  We made enough for three leftover meals AND another casserole dish full of shells to freeze for later!  Score!

I give this 4 bugs for the simpleness of the dish, price point and taste.  It doesn't get five bugs because we need to try it without enchilada sauce and go from there!

Coconut Oil for Acne Prone Skin

Oh, For the Love of Coconut Oil!

I am a true believer in if you find something that has changed your life, you should share it with people.  This goes for finding the person you want to marry, to foods you may want to marry but can't, a cleaning or organizing tip no one should live without, or in this case a life-changing beauty product.  Shall we consider the oil from a tropical nut a beauty product?  Sure!

I have been a long time sufferer of acne.  I have struggled with acne on my face, chest and back from the time I started middle school.  That's over fifteen years of dealing with breakouts and self-confidence issues.  I have tried this product and that product and oral medication that made me feel sick.  I went so far as to cut chocolate from my diet completely for a few years.  Not fun.  And with no results.

A few short years ago, one of my best friends was telling me that she had started using coconut oil as her moisturizer and it had CHANGED HER LIFE.  Again, sharing something that has changed your life.  Such a good friend.  :)  I was apprehensive so I smiled and nodded and said I might try it, but never made the effort to actually give it a go.  One day last year I was so fed up with my skin annoyances that I decided "What the hell...".  I love coconut ANYTHING, so why wouldn't I love smearing coconut oil all over my face?  

I cannot tell you enough how much I LOVE this stuff now.  It has completely changed my skin.  Before coconut oil, when people would complain about a little breakout on their chin, I would guffaw at them while I sat there trying to find a decent area that didn't have an active breakout.  These days, I am one of those people!  I seek out a breakout!

I honestly can tell you that there is nothing else in my life that I can attribute to this change in my skin other the coconut oil.  The only other thing I have changed is I have started using a gentle cleanser WITHOUT acne treatment medication in it.  Just a quick wash with Purpose Gentle Cleansing Wash and a little Virgin Cold-Pressed Coconut Oil to moisturize, and I'm ready to go!

Bottom line:

If you have oily, acne prone skin like me, try this.  I bet you will not regret it!

Foodie Friday: Bad Bean Baja Grill

Tasty Fries!

Today's delicious restaurant choice was the Bad Bean Baja Grill in Kill Devil Hills, NC.  Bad Bean is a place we have returned to time after time and always have something unmistakably delicious!

One of the really fun things about Bad Bean when it comes to their drinks specials is that they have a variety of margarita or mojito concoctions that change often!  In the past I have tried blackberry and cantaloupe; today I had a honeydew mojito!  Today's was my favorite of all three.   The refreshing mint with the cool honeydew was just perfect together and would go extremely well with a spicy dish.

Bad Bean also has four salsas to choose from for the complimentary chips they bring to the table.  There are three "normal" salsa varieties to choose from: mild, medium or hot (each of which has it's own little twist); along with a verde tomatillo based salsa.  Today we chose the medium variety, which is a roasted tomato salsa with a little kick.  DELICIOUS.  It has a nice acidity that is unexpected from the roasted tomatoe, but it balanced out well with a nice sweetness that also comes from the tomatoes.  The roasted flavor in the background pairs spectacularly with the chips!  Tasty!

For my entree, I went with a choice I discovered the last time we went when I was looking for something light.  Usually, I go with the marinated tofu burrito but rice and beans felt a little heavy for me today, so I ended up choosing the "Callie" Wrap.  This wrap is packed with marinated tofu, lettuce, fresh tomatoes, monterey jack and cheddar cheese, and guacamole.  It is a perfect light wrap packed with healthy veggies and protein from the tofu.  The wrap is cold, but the tofu is hot so the cheese melt well when it's all wrapped together.  It's a super refreshing, feel-good wrap!

The BEST part about getting an entree at Bad Bean that comes with fries are those damn fries.  They are RIDICULOUS.  They are named "garlic cilantro fries" and they are to die for.  The garlic flavor almost feels infused into the fries themselves and they are always fried up perfectly golden brown.  Now, I am not a cilantro person.  Don't like it at all.  However, they only sprinkle the chopped cilantro on top of the fries after they are plated, so a person like me can just pick it off.  They are perfect for my husband though, because he can just gobble everything right up.

Speaking of the husband, he grabbed a daily special today and went with the beef brisket sandwich.  It was tender, smoked brisket smothered in cheese on a sub roll served up with the amazing fries.  I only had a bite, but it was melt-in-your-mouth delicious!

So, if you're ever in the Kill Devil Hills area of the Outer Banks and are looking for a tasty meal, stop by Bad Bean Baja Grill.  You won't be disappointed, I'm sure!

Five Bugs!