TollHouse Pie

Okay- remember Friday when I said I was trying to watch what I eat? Yeah, well I kind of let that go with this one. I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while now + finally bought all the stuff needed to make it. I borrowed the recipe from A Bountiful Kitchen which I found via Pinterest. Let's get started so you can enjoy the goodness too.

Toll House Pie

adapted from Nestle

1-9 inch unbaked pie crust

3/4 cup butter at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup flour (3/4 cup if omitting nuts)

1 1/2  cups chocolate chips, Nestle semi-sweet are best for this recipe

1 cup coarsely chopped nuts

1/2 teaspoon salt

(cream butter + sugars together)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time and vanilla until blended well. Next, add all of the dry ingredients into the same bowl, mixing all at once, just until wet and dry ingredients are incorporated.

Pour filling into unbaked pie shell(you can make this on your own below OR use store bought like I did.)

(I didn't add any sort of nuts to this)

 The recipe calls to make your own pie crust- but I just bought the Publix brand frozen brand because it has to be uncooked.  If you want to be extra fancy, you can make your own crust using the instructions below.

Pie Crust

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup solid shortening

1/4 cup cold water

Cut shortening into flour and salt  in medium size bowl, until the mixture resembles small pieces the size of peas. Add cold water all at once. Mix with a fork until dough starts to form into a ball, do not over mix. Add additional flour to the dough just until the dough is not sticky. Sprinkle flour out onto a flat surface. Roll the dough out and place in a 9 inch pie plate. Lightly press into the corners of the plate.  Crimp the edges. Fill and bake as directed above.

Bake on center rack of oven for about 50 minutes or until knife inserted about half way from center of pie to crust (outer edge of pie) comes out clean.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. 

Sadly we didn't have any vanilla ice cream. So I just ate it normally + it was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. Pretty proud of myself for not messing this thing up. Let me know if you try this out in a comment below. Link me to your recipes too.

Ways to Make Money Online

I don't know how often I see people asking "how can I make money online?" and today I thought it would be fun to talk about some easy ways to make money online. I've found a few easy (and free) ways to make  money.

1. SwagBucks- Swagbucks is a website that you join (for free) and you can earn "Swagbucks" which can later be used to buy gift cards, gaming systems, or whatever else you want. I've been using SwagBucks for a little over a month now + I rarely get on + I've almost got enough to get a gift card online. Earning points is simple, you can answer surveys, do daily polls, watch videos, play games, etc. You can even use SwagBucks when you shop online + you get points when you purchase stuff. I haven't used it to buy online but I think you get one swagbuck per dollar you spend. Also, you can follow them on Twitter or Facebook for codes + trivia posts that earn you more points. If you're interested, click here and sign up!

2. AdSense- If you have a blog, you can sign up for AdSense through Google. I use this on blog + my YouTube. I've had it running for a while now and haven't been paid yet, however you don't get paid until you reach the threshold of 100$, which obviously can take some time. This is a simple way to earn money if you already have a blog.

3. Opinion Outpost- I tried to use this site but I wasn't very fond of it. I've heard of people actually making money from it and that is isn't a scam, but like I said I've never used it so I can't back it up 100%. Basically you take surveys and then you get money for these. It's similar to SwagBucks but you only have to take surveys.

4. Sell Things on eBay or Etsy- If you've got things laying around your house (like I know I do) you can sell your things on eBay or if you're crafty, start an Etsy store and sell your things through there. These sites both have fees that are charged for using their site but they are super cheap (like .20)

5. Services- I've seen lots of bloggers have "Hire Me" sections on their blogs where they offer up their services. I've seen them offer services like design work, guest blogs, PassionFruit Help and lots of other things. If you're good at something, try selling your services online through your blog.

6. Don't forgot that if you have ads/sponsors on your blogs you can also bring in money. Set up your ad shop with Passionfruit + you can easily start making money from your ads. Passionfruit tracks your ads, how much money you make + just makes it super easy to have sponsors on your blog. Don't worry, if you want to just set up free swaps Passionfruit can help too. If you are a blogger + aren't using Passionfruit, well you're just silly.

Erin from Living In Yellow  breaks down some more info about making money from blogging. Give it a look here.

I hope these helped. If you have any more tips or ideas, let me know in the comment below!

Clean Your MakeUp Brushes; A How To

I will admit, I never EVER clean my brushes. This is the first time in a good year that I've cleaned them and I had NO idea what I was doing. I did some research and I wanted to share with you all how I cleaned my brushes. I think it worked pretty well + it was pretty simple. Let's get started.

You're going to need some sort of baby shampoo. I used Johnson soap because it is what I had around my house. You're also going to need a towel and of course some dirty brushes.

 Start by pouring some shampoo into your hand or onto a plate. Take your brush and rub it back in forth into the shampoo.

Once you feel you have the shampoo worked in well enough, wash the brush in some warm water. If you run under the sink, make sure your brush is slanted so that the water runs down the brush. If you let the water run into the top of the brush it can hurt the glue and make your brush fall apart. (This brush was extra messy)

This brush is one that I use for EVERYTHING. I know it's totally bad but I use it for my liquid foundation, my powder foundation and my blush. I have never cleaned it + I'm not pretty sure that it will be forever ruined because my foundation clumped up in the middle and I cannot get it clean for the life of me. This is the Powder Brush from ELF.

Once you're done make sure you lay your brushes out to dry. If you can put them on a slant so that the water will run down and not into the glue that holds the brush together. It could take a while for some of your brushes to dry, so just be aware of that.

6 Ways To Boost Your Self Esteem

1. Go take some pictures: Of yourself or others. Taking pictures is sort of my escape, so this totally makes me relax. I also love messing around on my camera and learning new things, this makes me very happy.

2. Surround yourself with positive people: The people around you make a huge difference. I let go of a lot of negative stuff  (and people) very recently and I cannot express how happy I am now. I feel so much better not being put down all the time.

3. Go shopping for new clothes, or get your hair cut and colored: Woah, getting my hair colored makes me feel like a new lady. I love the sister time (my sister owns her own salon!) and it makes me feel so much...better. Plus, if I had a new wardrobe to rock out, I'd be on top of the world.

4. Write down a list of things you like about yourself: It's OKAY to like things about yourself. I love my eyes, they are probably one of my most favorite features about myself. I also think I am an pretty decent photographer. Not all things have to be physical, think about that awesome personality you have!

5. Do what makes you happy: If you're always trying to please someone else, you start to lose track of who you are.

6. Do something nice for someone else: Helping others is awesome and it usually makes you feel pretty stinkin' amazing about yourself. Go pay for someone's food in the drive through, help someone carry bags to their car or even give a stranger a compliement. The smallest things can make a world of difference.

You are beautiful, remember that.

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