ISSA SKINCARE ROUTINE!!

People do different things when they're having a bad day - some might exercise, paint, write, meditate. Me? I turn it into a "spa day" (in quotations because I don't really go all out), and part of that day includes a sort of deep clean for my face. So check out all the stuff I put on my face!

Don't get me wrong, I DO wash my face more than just once a week (but not every day because that's bad), this is just my routine when I'm off my rocker upset and want to feel better.

STEP 1: GENTLE CLEAN

Make sure you get your face nice and wet when you do this: from experience, dry rubbing with this product leaves it on the skin and can make it feel tight. This isn't for getting all of the dirt off, just most of the surface dirt, so I don't scrub super hard.

Bioré deep pore charcoal cleanser

Walmart

Amazon

Great for oily skin!

Also, is there anything more pleasing than using up all your product?

This is also what I use when I'm fresh out of the shower.

STEP 2: TACKLE THE BLACKHEADS

Gentle reminder: those little dots on your nose are more than likely sebaceous filaments and happen when oil forms around a hair follicle - don't worry, they're perfectly normal, and everyone has them! If you aren't sure if what you have is blackheads or not, talk to a dermatologist.

Garnier Skin Active Clean+ Blackhead Eliminating Scrub

Walmart

Amazon

The one listed on Walmart's website looks different, but they carry the one without plastic micro-beads as well.

STEP 4: EXFOLIATE THAT SKIN, YO!

I use a gentle exfoliator but to each their own.

For this step, I usually use my hands because I have torn open my skin before with an exfoliator, and I assure you: it's not a pleasant experience!

Up&Up Skin refreshing Apricot Scrub

Target

Up and Up also has a blemish controlling apricot scrub and a deep clean exfoliator scrub.

Walmart

St. Ives also has a  fresh skin apricot scrub.

From experience, the Up and Up is a lot finer and more gentle on the skin.

Step 5: Mask it up!

It wasn't until I was in my senior year of high school when I learned about the magic of face masks. Had I learned about them sooner, I'm confident I would have saved myself a TON of embarrassment...

L'Oréal Detox-Brighten Pure Clay Cleanser

Walmart

This stuff feels amazing and leaves skin glowing and glorious! They have other kinds as well, so if your skin is different, you can get what works for you.

Feel free to stop at this point if you so desire, but I do have one more extra and optional step for anyone trying to combat redness or splotches.

(OPTIONAL) STEP 6: REDUCE THE RED!

I dealt with a lot of redness in my younger years, and if any of you youngsters want to avoid that, then boy howdy, is this'n for you!

You can also do this earlier in your routine to help with blackheads.

Remember to be gentle!

St. Ives Blackhead clearing Green Tea Scrub

Walmart

This stuff feels as amazing as it smells and makes your skin super soft!

It also helps to calm redness, and it feels really good!

FINALLY: MOISTURIZE!!

Alright y'all, listen here: we just used a lot of stuff on our face to get rid of the sins of society, so our skin needs a little bit of help. Whenever you wash your face, ALWAYS MOISTURIZE. Yes, your skin is capable of bouncing back on its own (the human body is an amazing thing), but there's no harm in helping it just a little bit. It's like when you get out of the shower, you put lotion on? Well, this is lotion for your face. It's face lotion!

I don't have a picture of it, but I use the St. Ives Timeless skin Collagen Elastin Moisturizer. It comes in a 10oz jar, and it lasts a while - a little goes a super long way!

St. Ives is pretty inexpensive, but their products may not be for everyone. For example, if you have sensitive skin, it might not be a good idea to use a coarse exfoliator, and you might prefer the Up and Up more since it's a finer texture.

Some important things to know:

-What works for me may not work for you: finding a skincare routine that works for your skin type takes time and patience, but you can always ask a dermatologist for help.

-DO NOT WASH YOUR FACE IN THE SHOWER! I wash my face in the bathroom sink after I get out of the shower. Speaking of, don't use boiling hot water in the bath or shower - your skin produces oils that help protect it, and stripping it of that causes dry, flaky skin and no one wants that. Remember: you aren't shabu!

-Before you wash your face: WASH. YOUR. HANDS. There's really no point in washing your face if you have dirty hands because you'll just be mixing that dirt into your products.

TO ANY MEN WHO MAY FIND THEMSELVES ON THIS POST:

Listen, guys, there's no shame in practising good personal hygiene and keeping your face clean. No, it's not "girly" and no one's gonna think you're "gay". Just wash your face...

-If you're looking for a first-time skincare routine, I have two things to tell you:

1.) Listen to your skin. Ex: If it's dry, don't use products for oily skin, because that will make you drier, and

2.) Drink more water, less sugar. I'm not going to sit here and preach to you about how water is the best and only drink (After all, coffee is my bae!), but just drink more than half a cup a day. When I first started taking good care of my skin, the first thing I did was drink more water and I cut out energy drinks. Immediately, I noticed that I felt better, I wasn't as sluggish, and my skin felt so much better!

We always talk about how we don't want wrinkles or dark spots or crusty skin when we reach elder status. The best way to prevent that? Wash your face!

My Favourite Cookbooks!

If there's one thing not a lot of people would guess about me, it's that I thoroughly enjoy cooking. However, I'm not one of those amazing cooking wizards that can eyeball a cup of flour or a teaspoon of salt, so I follow recipes (which there's nothing wrong with). So naturally, I have a few cookbooks, and I thought I'd share a few of my favourites with you!


1. World of Warcraft: The Official Cookbook

Bought at: Books-A-Million
Cost: Somewhere around $35

-Hardcover
-Available online and in-store





I freaking love World of Warcraft. Despite what people say about nerfing, buffing, PvP, Raid culture, and Pandaria, I love every bit of the story in World of Warcraft, so when it was announced they were making a WoW cookbook, I was over the moon with happiness!

For anyone who's played WoW, this book doesn't have every single recipe that you can get in the actual game (it's a cookbook, not a cooktome), but it does have most recipes from all expansion packs, from vanilla to Warlords of Draenor. Well done!



2. Quick and Easy Korean Cooking

Bought online from Amazon
Cost: $16.40 with Prime
-Paperback
-Ten dollar Kindle edition






Ohh, how I could go on about Korea, its culture, people, and food. I'll just keep it simple and talk about the food.

This cookbook has every recipe you'd ever need to explore Korean cooking - It's got side dishes, seafood, kimchi, noodles, and even a guide on spices used in Korean cooking. 10/10 would recommend this to anyone who wants to expand their culinary tastes to new countries.




3. Coffee
Bought at: Ollie's
Cost: $1.99 !!!
-CHEAP!
-Has recipes for coffeecakes and other baked goods as well as recipes for coffee house favourites and other worldwide specialities.

First of all, a cookbook. About coffee and coffee goodies. For only. ONE DOLLAR AND NINETY-NINE CENTS?! Yes, please!!!

I have a few good ideas about what I can make from this cookbook, but it's got TONS of goodies, from mocha lattes to cinnamon walnut coffee cake to Limpa bread, it's got everything you could possibly ask for when it comes to different coffees and baked goods made with coffee, so I can definitely tell you that I LOVE this one. After all, coffee is my bae :)

Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen

A little bit of backstory without giving away too much information: I have two brothers in the Air Force and a sister (with her own kids) who lives in Berea, Kentucky (about a 5-6 hour drive from here). It's been a while since my parents have had all 4 children in the house at once, but this weekend, my sister decided to pop in for a short visit because one of my brothers is in for a while. Naturally, we all went out to eat before my sister had to go back home, so we went to Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen in Beckley. *Note: this one might be a bit long*

This picture isn't mine!!

Cheddar's has an atmosphere that makes them feel like they wanted to be Chili's, but gave up halfway and wanted to be something else with a Chili's vibe. Not too terrible, but at the same time completely unoriginal. The building itself is clean enough (and I'd hope so considering it seemed like someone would wipe down the fish tank every 4 seconds!), and the restrooms were nice and clean as well.

As I write this, however, it is Sunday, a few hours after we got home from the restaurant, and boy oh boy, do I still have some complaints...

When we arrived, we knew it would be packed (is it just me, or does every churchgoer seem to be hive-minded? When one man in a button-down and khakis shows up, they ALL show up). When we told the hostess we had a party of seven (me, my brother, my mother and father, my sister, and her two toddler age children), she told us we would have an approximate wait time of twenty minutes. Seeming fair enough for a busy Sunday, we decided to enjoy the semi-spring weather and wait outside, where the outside seating was wet and no one had bothered to come out and wipe it off, considering it hadn't rained since early this morning and had no plans on raining anytime soon. So there are just large parties of "I just got out of a church, look at me in my Sunday best!" looking people STANDING outside in chilly weather. Remember that twenty-minute wait?

That twenty-minute wait turned into a good thirty to forty-five. This, I can forgive, seeing as how you can't really force anyone to give up their table if they're still giving you money. What you can do, however, is tell your staff to put a little pep in their step and hurry up with cleaning the tables. Speaking from experience, it does not take fifteen minutes to clean a table and put down new silverware.

Also speaking of waiting for a table, my sister's youngest child is one, so naturally, he needs a high chair. Not one, but TWO hostesses walked by our table, looked at my sister with a baby in her arms, and did nothing. No high chair, no asking if we'd like a high chair, no asking if someone was getting a high chair. Just a small 'I-don't-want-to-be-here' smile and a 'please-get-out-as-quick-as-possible' nod. It took our waiter, a lovely individual by the name of Brian, bringing us a high chair after taking our drink orders. Brian, if you happen to be reading this: thank you.

After the debacle of waiting almost an hour just to be SEATED, we ordered our drinks, and they came in a good five minutes, along with our appetizer (chips and queso, no beef). This was fine and dandy, and I am more than patient enough to wait five minutes for an appetizer.

My sister got a house salad before her main course, which was a bacon cheddar burger, but we'll get to that later. After talking with her after the meal, she told me that her house salad had romaine lettuce, which she prefers over iceberg, and the tomatoes were nice and...tomato-y? Anyways, her burger came, and just to put it simply, not only do you get a better-looking burger from Wendy's, it comes with more on it than three sad patties and two slices of flaccid bacon.

As far as my order, I just got the simple chicken tender platter with a side of french fries and mashed potatoes (judge me all you want, I am not a fan of their watery not-coleslaw). Seems like a simple enough order, right? My order came out last, after three burgers and an order of full-rack ribs. My total wait time for my food was almost an hour. AN HOUR FOR CHICKEN TENDERS AND POTATOES.

*As I'm writing this, my mother felt she should tell me that we got no napkins for our drinks despite the table behind us, which had five or six people, had napkins for theirs. Again, not holding this against Brian because it was completely crowded and he seemed 100% overwhelmed.*

Everyone else seemed to like their food, despite the fact that not all of it was brought out at the same time and most of our orders were mixed up (my brother had my mash, and my sister had his extra fry).

Despite all of this, Cheddar's has really good food, not one of us received a cold plate, and it was a lot of food for just $84 (despite the actual nightmare that is Golden Corral...). However, underestimated wait times, lazy hostesses, and a swarmed Sunday lunch rush is a horrible mixture.

Brian, if you happen to be reading this, know that the only thing I hold against you is refills, but even that's forgivable - you performed well under the pressure, and I applaud you.

My go-to Peanut Butter cookie recipe

I like to bake. I like people who like to bake, I liked baked goods, and I'm always up for trying a new baking recipe. That being said, there are also sometimes where I don't want to try anything new and still want to bake something, and my go-to is peanut butter cookies.

Naturally, if you have a peanut allergy or intolerance, you won't agree with me on this, but what's not to love about peanut butter cookies? They're good as chewy cookies or crunchy biscuits, you can dunk them in a hot chocolate or milk, and don't even get me started on how they taste paired with the perfect cup of coffee.

So basically, I like peanut butter cookies, and I think I like making them even more. For me, it's a super easy process that takes probably twenty or so minutes (depending on how big I want the cookies to be), and the recipe I follow has been in my family for quite some time.

*DISCLAIMER: I don't remember where the original recipe is from, but you can find different variations of it with a simple Google search to compensate for any allergies.*

What you need:

• 1 cup peanut butter ( I prefer creamy, but you do you)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 1 tbsp baking powder

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 Celcius if I mathed correctly) and grease baking sheet.
• Beat peanut butter and sugar until well blended, add egg and baking soda. Beat until mixture is thoroughly combined.

• Roll even teaspoons of dough into balls and arrange about 1" apart.
• Flatten balls with a fork dipped in flour making a grid pattern. (This is optional and recommended if you want a biscuit instead of a cookie.)
• Bake until edges are a light golden brown, approximately 10 minutes.

Following this recipe, I usually get about 24 cookies, but you may get more or less depending on how big you want them to be.

Golden Corral: What are you Doing?

Hello, my name is Marzelen, and I love buffets but hate spending money.

I'm not too bad though - I like using coupons, I but clothes on sale/clearance, I only really get store brand foods, and I keep every single receipt like it's a page from a tome in the Library of Alexandria. Spending money at restaurants? Okay, but there comes with it a few stipulations: If I'm going to be spending, say, $60 on a buffet, then I better get the best service, the best food, and have the time of my life. My recent visit to the  Golden Corral in Beckley? Average, at best.

Golden Corral has been here for only two months, and I have to say: you wanna compete with the well-known and well-loved places around you (Chick-fil-A, Cookout, Logans, Five Guys, Rio Grande)? You better step up your game. As mentioned before, the total price for being able to just walk in and sit down, was SIXTY DOLLARS, and that's only for THREE PEOPLE. I understand if you think that's reasonable, but coming from a family with only one worker who's not NEARLY getting paid enough for all the stuff they do, 60 bucks is pretty steep. 60 bucks is a luxury.
As far as location, it's also another miss from me, considering the building sits on one of the busiest intersections in this part of the state(or so it seems) and getting in and out of that parking lot is asinine, and I won't even bring up trying to find a parking spot...

When you walk in, you're greeted by typical Golden Corral standards: no one even makes eye contact with you until you reach the till. You walk through what could only be described as a vertigo-inducing half hallway to the drinks, where you have all of your wonderfully basic choices: Dasani water, teas, both unsweet and "sweet"(meaning if you don't add your own sugar it tastes like earwax and lies), you standard Coke products on the same outdated machine you would see in a food museum, and coffee that's probably been sitting there since they opened the doors at lunch.

Getting to the till was okay at best, but if there's one thing that I didn't really like was the way they pretty much leave you to your own devices when it comes to finding a table as if this is high school. Thankfully, it didn't take us long to find a seat, but when we did find one, it hadn't been cleaned, even though the table next to us had not one, but two people cleaning it. Makes sense, right?

All of the impossibly annoying seating later, we finally got some food. I started simple, with a small bowl of chilli and some nice fresh fruit. My mum got their broccoli cheese soup.

To be a bit fair, the chilli was not at all bad, just underseasoned (and by that I mean it was nothing but salt. Wendy's chilli? Spot on). The broccoli cheese, however, was very good. As for my fresh fruit... 

 I'm not the biggest health nut out there, but I know canned fruit when I see it, and I have to say it's completely disappointing. I understand that it's winter and fresh fruit is hard to come by, but come on Golden Corral. For claiming to be America's #1 buffet and grill, you surely have access to growers in warmer parts of the country right now.

Appetizers aside, it was time for the main course, which I decided to keep simple as well: some chicken, a yeast roll (only one because God knows I don't need six for myself), a baked sweet potato, and some butter. (The white one is sour cream because I thought I wanted a russet but decided against it.)

 First of all, the chicken. How does one achieve a level of chicken like this, because the entire outside was seemingly sticky, and the skin dissolved the second it came into contact with my saliva, and not in a good way. The inside, however, was surprisingly greasy. Not the kind of greasy that comes naturally from the meat, but the kind of greasy [I thought] you'd only get from six buckets of Kentucky Fried Chicken (which tastes way better than GC's chicken, so save yourself the money and hassle).

Golden Corral's rolls are admittedly good when they're fresh. The roll pictured on my plate seemed more like I was eating a stale bagel than a famous yeast roll, which I can understand since I myself have baked before and food hardens with time. However, the second roll I got with my macaroni and cheese (not pictured) was very soft and buttery and delicious.
(Speaking of the macaroni, save your money there as well because it tasted EXACTLY like KFC's mac&cheese.)

As for the potato, I didn't really eat much of it because from my seat, I only had to turn my head a whole 2 degrees so that I was looking at the dessert table, but I do you see that butter? That butter was under two lights and right next to a hotplate keeping the potatoes warm, so there really should have been no reason for it to be frozen solid...
My mum got a Bourbon Chicken, which she described as looking like "dried, hard deer poop", and their pulled pork BBQ, which was "dry and chewy". Yikes.

As mentioned before, we were close to the dessert buffet, which had an amazing looking chocolate fountain, and I wish I was able to get to it, but alas I couldn't because teenagers feel the need to congregate like lost flamingoes for some reason, and even when you say excuse me, they look at you like you've just sprouted eyeballs all over your face. Go figure. My mum ended up getting a scoop of the mint chocolate chip and butter pecan ice cream.

She claims that it was very delicious, but due to a certain lactose intolerance, I couldn't have any, so I got the chocolate pudding, and I don't think I've had anything so revolting in my life...

First of all, the presentation itself is lovely, but that's about the only good thing it had going for it. The whipped cream on top had solidified because it wasn't refrigerated, and the pudding itself? Abhorrent. It was crunchy, chalky, and oily all at the same time, which I don't know about you but that's not how I want my pudding to be. So I finally bit the bullet and decided on a small serving of ice cream (which I'm still paying for today, a week later. Although it could be the whole experience here).

This is their ice cream from the machine, whereas the one my mum got was actually scooped by a real person (although the way they didn't make eye contact with anyone made me think they were more robot than human...). This was surprisingly very good - not too sweet, not too chocolatey, it was a good consistency, and the all-around perfect duplicate to Wendy's chocolate Frosty.


All in all, I'd give this Golden Corral a solid 2.2/10. Way overpriced for their food, and everything you can get is a worse version of something you can get at a fast food place for cheaper, and the staff? Completely non-existent. Perhaps when they get a better idea of what they're doing it will be better, but for now? Don't waste your time.

Two things I Love

As it is with a lot of other places on the US's East Coast, it's cold here. Like, ungodly cold. It's so cold I thought I could hear Eddard Stark telling me that winter is coming. However, no amount of cold can keep me from food.

There are a lot of foods I love, but if there's two that absolutely take the trophy, it's pancakes and chocolate. So when I went to Bob Evans last night and got their Double Chocolate Hotcakes, I was over the moon.

Now I'm not gonna lie, there are two Bob Evans's in my town: one on Harper Park Drive and another on Industrial Drive. I went to the latter because it was on my way home from an event, and there are some days I don't want McDonald's (is there any adult who still gets excited about McDonald's? I never go there for dinner, I usually end up there). Also, the food in the background is rolls and butter on the left and twisted cheese sticks on the right, both very delicious!

Considering I only got this and my friends got the other two appetizers, the total for just the pancakes was a little less than 8 dollars, which for a stack of four large pancakes is quite the deal.

truth be told, I never really have anything bad to say about Bob Evans: the food is great, the servers are always nice, and the atmosphere feels like I've gone to my grandfather's farmhouse in Ohio's countryside.

10/10 Bob Evans. Well done!

"New Year's Resolutions"

The start of a new month usually means a fresh beginning, at least for me. With December here and gone already, I've begun to ask myself what kind of impossible resolutions am I going to set for myself in the New Year? Then I realized: I'm not a huge fan of the term "New Year's Resolutions".

To be clear: I don't hate anyone who decides to make them, anyone who enjoys them, or anyone who believes in themselves enough to see them through. What I hate about them is the vibe they've come to carry. Throughout the years, the term "New Year's Resolution" has gone from "this is what I plan to accomplish in the new year" to "this is what I plan to accomplish by the end of January", and quite honestly, I hate that.

See here's the thing about the new year: From 00:00 January 1, 2018, to 23:59 December 31, 2018, is the 2018 New Year. You don't have to lose all the weight you wanted to lose in a year in one month. You don't have to cut all bad things from your life cold turkey.

If you are one of these people who thinks that going on a New Year's diet means you aren't allowed things like chocolate, coffee, doughnuts, or the occasional glass of pinot grigio, I have news for you: You are a human. You are allowed to mess up, you are allowed the occasional treat, drink, nibble, and sip.

With that said, losing weight is more about accountability then how fast you lose it. If you slip up: oops! Just get yourself back on track.

Now I'm not one to sit behind a computer and tell you that you're a horrible person because you didn't meet all of your #goals. This post isn't meant to shame you, bully you, or make you feel bad about your life. After all, I'm human: I've made resolutions, and I've forgotten all about them, but here's the good thing: you're allowed to start working on that goal you set January 1st on February 18th. Your life is your own and you don't necessarily have to follow Sherry's 16-week workout plan for 16 straight weeks if you still have that leftover cake and wine that Trina let you take home from her block party. You're allowed to wait until June to sign up for that Gordon Ramsay Masterclass, and you certainly don't have to redo your whole wardrobe/lifestyle in one month (especially since you spent all of that money the last two on Christmas gifts and food!) Follow your own pace, and good things come to those who are patient.

You can do it!