Do you have a big fancy party to go to this New Year's Eve? Or maybe you're hosting a soiree at your home? Either way, you no doubt want to look gorgeous and you may be looking for a new “party face”. Have you ever thought to look on YouTube for makeup tutorials? There are some fabulous ones out there, and the cool thing is you can actually see the look done. If you're a visual learner, this is the thing for you. I think one of the best video makeup teachers out there is Miss Chevious. Besides the video, she also gives you a complete list of all the products she used in the look if you go to the MissChevious channel on You Tube.

There are a few different looks here, so make sure to follow whichever one you prefer. You might even like to change up the looks slightly to make sure they match your facial details. For example, you might want to change the eyeshadow to make sure it enhances your eyes, or you could consider changing your eye colour by using the bausch and lomb contact lenses. That could give you a completely different eye colour to make sure the makeup really stands out properly. Anyway, this is a Christmas makeup look that she did, but I think it would be pretty for New Year's Eve too, perhaps with a gold dress?

This look is Miss Chevious's modern interpretation of Marie Antoinette; really heavy on the eyelashes with pink lips. I love this look! I can see it with a white or pink dress, or even black.

This look is called Icy Winter Chill, and I think it could be beautiful with a silver or white dress. It's very Snow Queen!

I've saved the most dramatic for last! This is the look that Miss Chevious specifically designed for New Year's Eve, and it's definitely over the top! It's based on hot pink and black, and would probably be most suited for a night out hitting the clubs, rather than a dinner with the in-laws! To me it's kind of Morticia Adams meets Hello Kitty! I definitely couldn't pull this off, but I know there are those of you who can, and if you can, go for it!

If none of these seem to be a fit for your style and your coloring, check out the rest of Miss Chevious's videos on YouTube. You'll be hooked!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

I always make at least one New Year's Resolution, but most of the time, it usually ends up being two or three, or more. Last year, I had 12 things on my list.

Instead of calling them resolutions, I like to think of them as a ‘life list' of things I really want to accomplish in the upcoming year. Some may be harder than others, but some are small, simple things that help me function better on a daily basis.

For me, being a ‘list maker' and a ‘visual learner', the process of setting these goals and making my list helps me kick off the new year with focus and motivation.

Princess of the North

photo credit: h.koppdelaney

For 2011, I have a few things on my list that were also on my 2010 list and I managed to maintain them for several months, but gradually got away from my routine.

Here are a few things I want to work harder at sticking to in 2011:

• GO TO BED EARLIER. (This is a real challenge for me!)

• Plan healthy meals for the week and do all grocery shopping in one trip.

• Get back to yoga class twice a week.

• Restrict weekday “cocktails” and afternoon snacking.

• Weigh in once a week on Friday morning.

Last year I joined the Ten in 2010 Challenge that was led by The Recipe Girl and I did find that by joining the challenge and sharing my weekly progress with others, it kept me motivated to achieve the weekly goals that I set for myself.

Dr. Oz has a comprehensive, eleven-week challenge, called  “Move It and Lose It” that he just started and has made available to anyone who wants to join in. He has a team of nutrition and fitness experts who are going to be answering questions and sharing tips on how to stay motivated to help you meet your goals.

photo credit: angietorres

Whatever your goals may be for the upcoming year, here are a few tips that have helped me in the past that might help you stick to your plan.

• First and foremost, WRITE IT DOWN! (Until you write it down, it's just a passing thought and you haven't really committed.)

• Break it down into baby steps. (If you want to obtain something by year end, break it down monthly, weekly and even daily, so it's more manageable and the end result seems easier to obtain.)

• Visualize. Make a visualization board. Experts will tell you that if you can visualize it, it's more likely to become a reality. (I'm starting a new one for 2011.)

• Journal. If you've got some weight-loss goals, and a new exercise routine you want to stick to, start logging your workouts and what you eat each day. Last year I bought the fitbook: fitness + nutrition journal.  (I loved this little journal and have already started using it again. I kept it up daily and I know it helped me reach my goal in 2010.)

Whatever you happen to have on your ‘life list' for 2011, I hope some of these tips help you stick to your plan!

We wish you all a very happy, healthy, prosperous 2011!

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

~BigSis

Posted under Holidays

Hurray!  I finally found it after almost a year of searching…the perfect eye make-up remover!  It's oil-free, cruelty-free, and super-effective yet extremely gentle thanks to the aloe, chamomile and cucumber.

What is it?  It's Philosophy Just Release Me.

One of the things I love about Philosophy is their sense of humor. Here's the story from the bottle of Just Release Me:

“from caked on to baked on, from lid lock to grid lock, from dressed up to stressed out, from high shoes to win-lose, from run fast to slow down, it's time to release your eye makeup and set your sights free”

Cute, huh?  I like it already!

Just Release Me reminds me a lot of my old long-time favorite eye makeup remover; Lancome Bi-Facil, which I dropped like a hot potato when I banned animal-tested products from my home last summer.

Both of these removers are oil-free, dual-phase and look the same in the bottle: thin blue liquid separated in two layers that need to be shaken before using to blend together.

Both removers quickly remove all traces of makeup – even loads of mascara – without pulling or rubbing delicate under-eye skin, and without losing any eyelashes.

I've used both of these products in the same manner, with great results.  I wet a cotton round with hot water and squeeze out most of the water, then add a dab of remover.  I hold the cotton round over my eye for a few seconds, and then gently wipe away all of the remaining makeup, turning the pad over if necessary to finish up.

What's different between the two?  Just Release Me is $18 for 6 ounces ($3 per ounce), and Bi-Facil is $26 for 4.2 ounces ($6.19 per ounce).  That's more than double the price!

And the biggie that I already mentioned is that Lancome animal tests and Philosophy does not.  That's more than big…it's huge.

Just Release Me is currently sold out on the Philosophy web site, but it's in stock at Drugstore.com, Sephora and at Ulta, which is where I got mine.

Philosophy does not animal test, but they are not a vegan company.  If you're ok with that, then Just Release Me may be the eye makeup remover for you!

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

I wonder if she had to address, stamp, and mail all the Christmas cards, do all the gift shopping, the wrapping, the shipping, the meal planning and grocery shopping, the tree decorating, the baking, the party planning, and the cleaning? If so, I'd like to know her secret…

But seriously, let's talk about stress and ways to try to avoid it this holiday season. If I'm not careful and don't make a conscious effort to stay calm during the holiday season, stress can take a serious toll on my body. I end up with stomachaches, headaches, a back full of knots, and sleepless nights. Even though this holiday season has snuck up on me more than ever before, I'm working hard not to let stress get to me this year. One of my friends actually suggested that I look into some of the products that Delta 8 THC has on offer. Apparently, their products promote stress-relief. This would allow me to relax properly, which is what people should be doing over the festive period. Now, I understand a little on cannabis, that there is a difference between THC and CBD and the effects they have on you. I've been told that you need a considerable amount of THC for it to give you that ‘high' feeling that so many people are worried about. However, I've never really experimented with either. So, perhaps before trying the THC products, I should try CBD products to see how I get on with them. In fact, I might very well head on over to somewhere like Thecbdinsider.com or a similar site to find more information on CBD (Cannabidiol) to see if that can have any benefit to my stress levels currently. Perhaps these are both things to look at.

Here are a few things I've found that might help us all create a more stress-free holiday:

• First and most importantly, make time, and even block out time on your planner, to eat right (not fast food on the run), exercise (even if you can only squeeze in 15 or 20 minutes), and get a good night's sleep (I'm know, we've heard it all before!)

• Create or purchase a holiday planner. BigSis has already given us some great resources for Christmas planners.

• Make sure that your planner has a place to keep your Christmas card list. It sure makes the Christmas card giving a lot easier if you keep a list of who you sent cards to and who you received cards from each year. My planner has a section for this and it has really helped me these past three years. (And yes, I think it's okay to omit some from your list if you are cutting back.) We can't send cards to everyone we know! It's just not possible, so don't stress over it.

• I love this 9 Steps to Stress-Free Holiday Giving article from iVillage. Get a pencil and paper out for this one and take just a few minutes to go through these 9 steps. It's some really good advice from a professional organizer. She really simplifies the entire gift buying process.

• The 10 Tips to a Stress-Free Holiday from 1stHolistic has more great advice. Beth Tebak starts off this article with the most important tip of all, RELAX!

• Whole Living has some GREAT articles on stress relief, all in one place!

Being organized and prioritizing all your errands is obviously a major part of not getting stressed out during the holiday season! This time of the year should be for celebrating the true meaning of the season and for enjoying friends and family. So, relax!

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Happy new year!  Have you made a resolution, or turned over a new leaf, or decided to get serious, or determined that this is THE year?  Chances are that you want to get in shape and get healthy this year, like most of us do, right?

We would love to help you with your health and fitness goals!  LilSis and I are not experts or professionals; we're just 40-plus women who have worked out for most of our lives and are always striving to be more fit and healthier.  And because we're both in that very challenging menopausal stage of our lives as women, we've had to kick things up a notch and go way beyond what used to work for us.  The battle is getting tougher, but we're not giving up.  We're getting more determined!

We don't know everything, but we want to share what we DO know to be true.  So, for the month of January, we'll put up a new health or fitness tip on our BigSisLilSis Facebook page every day.  We'll share little tidbits on working out, healthy eating, motivation, inspiration; anything that we think might help you meet your goals in 2011.

Have you visited us on our BigSisLilSis Facebook page?  If not, please come check us out and make sure to “like” us so you'll get our tips without missing a thing!

We'd love to have your input, and to learn from you as we share our thoughts.  If we put our heads together, maybe the road to health in 2011 for all of us will be a little tiny bit smoother!

~BigSis

Posted under Fitness

Hey LilSis, and Happy New Year!  How funny that many of your resolutions were mirrors of my thoughts.  Not so surprising after all though, I suppose.  We do have a lot of similar experiences with similar responses to them.

We haven't talked about this offline, but I can give you some of my thoughts on what I'd love to talk about in BigSisLilSis in 2009.

• More MAC, more skin care, more beauty product info! I think we're all looking for the thing that works best for us, and if we put our heads together, we can compare notes and maybe save each other some time and money,  I have some leads on some interesting products that I'm working on already.
• More food and more recipes! I've got a bee in my bonnet to try some baked goods using agave nectar and coconut oil, since these two are touted as healthier alternatives to traditional ingredients.  Overall, I want to bake more and post more recipes and photos.  I have a whole bunch of new baking cookbooks that I need to break in, and baking just makes me happy!
• More tips and thoughts on achieving the healthiest state we can reasonably attain, as opposed to just trying to look good. Not that there is anything wrong with looking our best; I'm just focusing like a laser beam on getting healthy healthy healthy this year, God willing.
• More cats in hats, of course! My furkids didn't get a new chapeau this Christmas since their Meowmy was busy with the SPCA bake sale (sorry, kitty pies, sometimes you have to sacrifice for the good of your fellow felines).  But I promise more hats on more cats in 2009!  And that isn't just an empty campaign promise!  Since we agree that we need to laugh more, one of the best ways I know of is cats in hats!
• In the category of “materialistic”, I'd like to talk more about shoes! Buying shoes, organizing shoes, wearing shoes…you know, just talk about shoes.  I REALLY want to share my love (obsession or fetish may be better terms) for t-strap shoes!
• Last but not least, I'd love to do more Sister Showdowns, Sunday Suppers, and What the “L”s. I get a kick out of doing those, and I hope I'm not the only one who does.

Those are my off-the-cuff thoughts, LilSis.  What are your thoughts for the year ahead?

~BigSis

Posted under Holidays

Every year between New Year's Eve and New Year's Day our family consumes a ginormous amount of black-eyed peas; but, I may have finally gone a little bit overboard.  This year my black-eyed pea eating marathon started around noon on New Year's Eve when I started cooking them and ended late on New Year's evening when I polished off what was left.

We've always said that you can never eat too many peas on New Year's since they're supposed to bring you good luck, but I'm sure that I probably consumed several hundred of those little black eyes. Is that overkill?

Don't know yet. I guess time will tell.

Our Southern family tradition has always been to serve ham, black-eyed peas,  greens and cornbread at midnight on New Year's Eve. We've done it for as long as I can remember and I continue to do it every year whether it's for a large group of friends or just our family. This was last year's dinner plate.

This year we were invited to a neighbor's house for New Year's Eve so I decided at the last minute to make this Cheesy Black-Eyed Pea Dip to share with our friends for some added good luck!

Cheesy Black-Eyed Pea Dip
(adapted from Recipe Girl)

~LilSis

Posted under Food

Do you make New Year's Resolutions or not? I happen to like making New Year's Resolutions. In my mind, it's more of a goal, than a ‘promise carved in stone' that I'll feel bad about if I don't succeed. I want to reflect on the past year, say goodbye to it, and say hello to the New Year with some short term and long term goals.

It's funny that several things BigSis mentioned are exactly the same as some of mine. Of course, after everything that has happened in our family these past couple of years, we've come to the same realizations on what we feel is most important. I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet so we can move on.

• Decide between the two churches that I've been visiting this past year and join one. (This is a top priority for me this year, so I couldn't leave it off of this list, but that's all that needs to be said. I don't want to discuss religion or politics on this blog.)
  

• Spend more quality time with family. (I don't want to wake up one day and realize that I worked at times when I should have stopped for a few hours to spend some quality time with family.)

• Laugh more. (I just told SirHoney yesterday that was one thing we need to make sure that we do more in this upcoming year. The daily stresses of the business should not consume our lives so much that we can't make time to laugh more!)

• Make a commitment to go to yoga class three times a week. (I just feel better physically and mentally when I stick to this schedule)

• Lose 5 pounds this month. (I've got to kick start the year by being focused on increasing my cardio and adding some weight resistance training to boost my metabolism and lose a few pounds.)

• Eat better. (I have to make the time to get back to weekly meal planning and shopping so we aren't going out or picking something up during the week. And, I want to substitute a fruit for an afternoon snack instead of breaking out the Triscuit and cheese!)

• Be more forgiving, more patient and worry less. (I've been working very hard on this for over a year and will continue to make it a priority. I want to forgive things that have happened in the past, not worry about the future and just enjoy today!)

• Work smarter. (I have to multi-task less and follow my daily Time Map more closely in order to be more efficient.  I need to set aside specific time for blogging, emailing, and commenting and designated time for accounting and paperwork. I'm going to TRY really hard to not toggle back and forth throughout the day.)

That's it in a nutshell. I think we've officially said goodbye to 2008 , so let's say hello to 2009!

BigSis, maybe we should talk about what's in store for the future of BigSisLilSis for 2009?

~LilSis

Posted under Holidays

Posted under