True Confessions of a Selfie Addict

If there is one thing you should know about me: it's that I love taking selfies.

Quite frankly, I could care less if you're looking down your nose at me.

You wanna know why?

Because I worked damn hard for the body I have now and I'm proud of it. 

I've worked even harder to stay in good health through all the changes life has brought me. Like moving to a new state, going back to school again, and working new jobs.

So I am going to keep taking selfies, keep making silly faces, and keep posting them on social media.

All without giving a damn what you think, and enjoying every minute of it. 

So here's a duck face to leave you with, and remember:

LOVE YOURSELF FOR WHO YOU ARE AND STOP CARING WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF YOU.

Viva la Selfie!

Love,

Lauren 

On the Blog again...

My 2013 Toyota Prius! 

Hey guys!


Did you miss me?


Don't answer that.


Somehow it's June and the last time I posted was October... I've lived in Cincinnati for over a year now, how does time go so quickly?

Cousin Katie and new husband Kevin!

Life is crazy, but things seem to be looking up. I bought a new(to me) Prius at the beginning of the month. Then my soul-sister got married and afterwards I immediately cut off my hair to donate.


I finished my first year of classes at the Midwest Culinary Institute in May and am now taking summer classes until the fall semester starts back up in August.


I'm going to at least three more weddings this year, and my extended family just welcomed baby Cecilia into the world.


So really, life is good. I want to get back to blogging, hopefully about actual topics and not just me rambling about how blessed I am.


We'll see what comes of it.

Until next time,
Lauren

The Next Food Network Star

I want you guys to know that I am dead serious about auditioning for Food Network Star.

Dead.

I got the casting email, and over the course of a month there will be 8 open casting events. That's it, just 8 and if you want to be on the show, you'll be there.

So I'll be there. 

My current plan is to rent a car and drive to the nearest open audition in Atlanta, Georgia. This audition is on November 9th from 10am to 1pm. I'm assuming that this short window means that not everyone is going to get to cook. That they're going to have some sort of screening process for personality and if you make it, then you get to cook. Thank goodness I have personality!

So, how can you help? 

Let's just throw it out there that I'm a broke college kid(again) that sells Mary Kay. I've decided that my profit from EVERY purchase from now until then will go towards my trip. No purchase would be to small and it doesn't even have to be for you! Why not start your Christmas shopping? We have some awesome limited edition items for the holiday. Check out www.marykay.com/ldhart1331 to shop around?

Want a different option? I've set up an account with GoFundMe where you can donate to my cause! 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and thank you in advance for your support! Every little bit helps get me to Atlanta!

Love

Lauren  

Home is...where?

This weekend, I got to see a lot of my favorite people while visiting one of my favorite places. This weekend I got to go back to Purdue for Homecoming. I graduated from Purdue University in 2012 and didn't make it to homecoming in 2013, so this was a first for me! It was also only the second time I've ever participated in Breakfast Club. So it was a wonderful, but short, weekend. 

While driving back from Purdue, on Saturday night because I had work Sunday, I started reflecting back on my time spent at Purdue and how my life has changed since graduation. We've all heard the adage "home is where the heart is" and there are even variations like "home is wherever I'm with you" etc. Sometimes I feel like I don't know where my home is anymore. 

Sure, pre-Purdue home was with my mom. We moved around a little bit in high-school, but that one is still a no-brainer. I was still a child and therefore, home was with my parents. At this point my dad hadn't moved to Ohio yet, so home was localized in central Indiana. 

Once I left for Purdue, it became home. Going "home" on weekends was okay, but I only spent one summer away from Purdue during my 4 year tenure. West Lafayette is a beautiful place, full of tradition and people that love being there. At Purdue I met my band family and formed some of the closest friendships I have to date. In all honestly, I keep in constant communication with ONE person from high-school. All of my other friends are from Purdue or I've met them recently in Cincinnati. 

Trip to Kings Island!

Sadly, we have all graduated, with one exception and he graduates in December. We've started moving around the country and now extra effort is required to get everyone together. Between the members of this group we reside in: South Bend, West Lafayette, Indianapolis and Jeffersonville IN, Dayton and Cincinnati OH, and in the Twin Cities of  MN. That's not all, but you get the picture, we're spread out! 

Now that I've moved to the Cincinnati area, this should be home. I mean, I live here, so technically it is. Yet, I'm constantly traveling away from the area to see the people I care about. Honestly, I feel like I'm in a transition phase. Sure, I'm here for the next 3 years while I work through culinary school, but as far as I can see nothing is keeping me here after that. Cincinnati doesn't yet feel like home, and I'm not sure it will. I know that it would be nearly impossible for all of my friends to coordinate our professional lives so we could live in the same area, but I can tell you we would try pretty hard! 

For now I guess home is Cincinnati, but I'll always feel more at home when I'm around these people.

Waiting in line to get into the Cactus!

With my bestie in front of the Engineering Fountain!

Until next time,
Lauren

Single Serve Pancakes

Some people have confidence coming out of their @$$. You know the type, you see them eating alone at restaurants and not just sitting at the bar, but at a table in the middle of the dining room.

I am not one of those people.

That being said, I really wanted some pancakes this morning. Now since I'm not about to go to the pancake house down the street, I had to get creative.

Thus Whole Wheat Coconut Berry Pancakes were born. I almost never "create" an original recipe, rather I take a recipe I find online and tweak it. I always like to give credit to the original recipe but I was using my phone this morning, and now I can't find it :(

What you'll need:

• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 TBSP sugar
• 1 TBSP coconut oil, melted
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• berries of choice - mine were raspberries!

What you do:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together wet ingredients in a separate small bowl.
3. Add wet ingredients into dry. Whisk well to combine. 
4. Pour desired amount of batter into a warm skillet sprayed with non-stick spray.
5. Cook until bubbly (see right) and then flip. 
6. Repeat process until all pancakes are done!

I like big pancakes, so this only made two for me. Some people like smaller ones, you guys will probably get 4-5 cakes out of this recipe! Garnish as desired, I used a little bit of Speculoos Crunchy Cookie Butter and pure maple syrup. You don't have to be a fatty like me though!

Hope you enjoy these next time you're really craving some pancakes!


Lauren

Camp Holiday #TOUPININTENTIONAL

Guys, I've seriously had such an inspiring day. At the end of this blog I'm going to have two questions for you. I'll know you read this blog all the way through because once you do, you'll go to the Facebook link that lead you here and answer them in the form of a comment. I won't be offended if you don't, but c'mon, it'll take you like a minute tops. We'll come back to this.

Today was Camp Holiday in Louisville KY, put on by National Sales Director Linda Toupin. For those of you outside the pink bubble this means nothing, but it meant a lot to me. Let's rewind though to how I got there, because even that inspired me.

One thing you need to know about Mary Kay is that EVERYWOMAN is super nice and EVERYWOMAN helps EVERYWOMAN because that is what we're all about. Once I decided for sure that I was attending Camp Holiday I asked another consultant if I could carpool with her. She then went out of her way to make sure that the other two ladies she was riding with picked me up this morning. Not only did I not have to drive my car, but all three of these ladies were driving Mary Kay career cars! The one we ended up in had less than 400 miles on it when we took off this morning.

Guys. I need to earn my free car. Like right now.

Another thing you need to know about Mary Kay is that we don't have territories. This being said, sometimes a person lives far away from the unit that they were recruited into. Take me as an example: My director lives in the Jasper IN area, and when I joined I was in West Lafayette IN. So not only did I have my director to learn from but I had an adopted director named Cynda. Cynda graciously took me into her home like I was one of her own and taught me how to work my business like I was one of her own. When I moved to Cincinnati I left Cynda behind and met Liz. Now Liz is my adopted director who welcomes me into her home each week for our success meetings. When I got to Camp Holiday this morning ALL 3 of my directors knew I was going to be there and had seats for me if I needed one. Talk about feeling the love.

So, by now I'm sure you're wondering what exactly Camp Holiday was and why I was so gosh darn excited to be there. Well I'll tell you. Camp Holiday was 6 hours of listening to women who make up the top 2% of the company talk about how to be successful during the holiday season. Fun Fact: Today I learned that the holiday season starts September 1st. I for one, did not know that. Today was just so power-packed with all sorts of ideas to help me take my business where I want it to take me. We had an hour for lunch, and it was suggested that we pack our own because imagine 800 women all trying to get lunch at the same Panera. I spent that whole hour making lists and compiling my thoughts. My notes from today are eight pages long...I don't even take notes like that in class. #duh

I'll wrap this up because while I could go on and on about what I heard to day, it would just bore you. So, I have two questions for you:

1. Is there any reason why you can't buy a present for one person on your holiday list from me and my business.

2. If you had $10,000 AND a free car by Christmas, what would you do with it?

Love,

Lauren

www.marykay.com/ldhart1331

Mary Kay Monday - Mobility

Happy Labor Day everyone! Hopefully it means you have today off! I don't...but it's of my own choosing. Holidays are great days for those of us who work at restaurants. Even though Monday is my usual day off, I couldn't say no when asked if I would work dinner tonight.

I say that Monday is my usual day off, but what I mean is that Monday is my Mary Kay day. On a usual(non-holiday) Monday I have a weekly success meeting at 9:30. I love starting my day off with this meeting. Not only do we get together to celebrate each others success from the previous week, but we also share ideas and try out new products. I always leave feeling super motivated to move my business forward. After the success meeting, I drive down the street for lunch and productivity time at Panera. If you ask me, this mobility is one of the best parts of having my own business. I love that I'm not tied to an office or schedule. The fact that I can grab my laptop and work wherever I want is great!

With today being Labor Day our usual meeting was moved to tomorrow. However, I know myself well enough to know that if I don't stick with my schedule, it won't become a habit. So I'm sitting here chugging away, updating my customer profiles and gearing up for my last big push to become a Star Consultant for this quarter.

This week I have daily product goals, that when reached would skyrocket me past my goal! Tomorrow starts off my six day self challenge with a goal of selling 20 lipsticks! When you look at it, 20 seems like a lot, and I agree! I just started wearing lipstick and by that I mean I own one personally that I occasionally remember to put on. Even if you rarely or don't wear lipstick, I bet you know someone that does. Or I bet you know someone you could give one to for Christmas. I don't care if you buy one for you or if you buy five for other people. Each one is a lipstick gone and a notch in my belt, if you will.

Not to mention, I love to reward people for helping me! Anyone one that helps me out this week by referring customers to me will be awarded discounts or freebies, based on how the referrals work out for me. You can send your customers here!

So, are you ready to be bombarded with pink this week?! My daily goals are as follows:
Tuesday - 20 Lipsticks
Wednesday - 15 Satin Hands Sets
Thursday - 3 TimeWise Repair Volu-Firm Sincare Sets
Friday - 20 Mascaras
Saturday - 6 TimeWise Skincare Sets
Sunday - 7 Clearproof Acne Skincare Sets

Let's see where I stand this time next week!

Lauren
www.marykay.com/ldhart1331