Welcome to Pumpkin Week on my blog! Let me introduce you to sugar pumpkins, they are about 2 to 4 pounds, thus much smaller than the pumpkins you buy for halloween carving. They are sweeter and don't have that stringy flesh carving pumpkin have so they are perfect for all your pumpkin dishes.

They only cost $2 each but make sure your cashier knows you're not buying a carving pumpkin and rings it up correctly, that happened to me and I saw she had charged me $8 for a little pumpkin! I prefer to buy sugar pumpkins instead of canned pumpkin because the taste is really quite different from fresh pumpkin and I've found that all my pumpkin recipes come out tasting different as well. Not to mention the orange color between fresh and canned pumpkin is totally different!

My goal is to show you how simple it is to prepare a sugar pumpkin so you're not daunted by this task. It does take some time but totally worth the effort for the better flavor of fresh pumpkin.

Directions:

It's pomegranate season and I'm excited to see them at the grocery store! And not just because they look gorgeous sitting in a bowl on my kitchen counter, but because they're a superfood with a high nutrient makeup! Pomegranates are originally from the region of Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq and are the oldest known fruit in ancient writings. Pomegranates are high in vitamin C, numerous B vitamins and antioxidants which helps in cancer prevention and skin health. They also aid in lowering cholesterol levels.

Consuming pomegranates regularly can help prevent acne and eliminate its root causes by correcting digestive problems and promoting healthy circulation of the blood. The fruit is rich in iron, a constituent part of hemoglobin that helps absorb oxygen. Oxygen is carried to the skin cells, making the skin look fresh and smooth. 

Cutting open a pomegranate is a messy operation since the juice splatters everywhere and stains. I wanted to share a foolproof method to avoid this! 

1. Fill a large bowl with water.
2. Submerge the pomegranate in water and cut in half.
3. Loosen the red seeds with your fingers; they will sink to the bottom of the bowl while the white peel will float to the top.
4. Drain the water and your pomegranate is ready to eat! 

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I like to eat them as is in a bowl but you can also try them sprinkled over a salad or yogurt.

As I was reorganizing my closet for fall I wanted to share a few things that I've done in my closet to make it much more easy to keep organized. Something I don't do often enough is wear jewelry, I typically would only wear stud earrings. I used to keep all my necklaces hidden in my lovely  purple jewelry boxes, but as they say, out of sight, out of mind. So I decided to take my jewelry out of hiding and hang my necklaces up in my closet. For some reason I thought my chucky statement necklaces were too heavy to hang up, but I guess if it can hang around my neck it can hang on display! lol This way nothing will be forgotten and I can now give myself a little more bling when I dress each morning. I also purged all the jewelry that I haven't worn in a year to help declutter.

I did a little photoshoot with a friend of mine who wanted to practice her photography. Never done something like this before, was fun to do!

Rihanna’s new MAC Cosmetics line is a 20-piece collection  including lipsticks, bronzers, brushes, eyeliners, mascara and false eyelashes packaged in rose gold. Her last collection sold out the first day! Last week when the store opened at 10am there was already a long line! I was lucky because a fellow Brooklyn blogger had to get to the store at 6am! My store was prepared and had employees walk the line to get everyone's order and had your bag ready for you by the time you got up to the register. There was actually quite a few men in line, buying up lots of lipstick, I was curious what they were going to do with all of it? Were they makeup artists or planning to re-sell it? Well after a 30 minute wait I got her cocoa eyeshadow quad that is full of golden browns because I thought it would match my coloring perfectly. There's also a red lip liner to match her riri woo lipstick, and a orange lipstick named "who's that chick" and you know how much I love orange. The collection debuted yesterday on MAC's website and sold out within the hour!


Favorite Rhianna song of the moment: