#90. Make a killer cocktail

Do you like raspberries? Do you like lemon? Do you like Vodka? Then I have a cocktail for you!

I was killing time in the lunchroom at work and came across a LCBO magazine with pages and pages of yummy alcoholic recipes- but the one that caught my eye happened to be non-alcoholic. I was pissed, who puts an eye grabbing picture and recipe for a non-alcoholic beverage on the back glossy cover of a magazine for liquor?! That’s prime ad space.., fine I get social responsibility and all that…, but come on, it looked so good. So I decided vodka would make the drink better.

Here is what you need:

1. 26er of Smirnoff Raspberry Vodka

2. Freshly squeezed lemon juice (if you’re being fancy) if not the bottled kind is fine.

3. Raspberry juice

I make these cocktails by the pitcher because it makes the whole process easier. One pitcher takes ½ the bottle of vodka, an entire bottle of raspberry juice, and squeezes of lemon juice (to your liking). Raspberry juice is incredibly hard to find but I have found a great one by SUN-RYPE.

There are tons of raspberry/cranberry concoctions, but to me they just don’t cut it. There is also raspberry juice frozen from a can which is equally as good and the cheaper choice– off the top of my head I’m thinking it's minute maid. Pour all of this into a pitcher with some ice and serve in whatever glass you prefer. You can make it fancier by adding fresh raspberries to each drink.

Now, I would love you show you all this concoction made up perfectly with beautiful pictures of it taken, but after ‘taste testing’ the batch you’re not really thinking about your camera – so you get these beautiful pictures of the batch (or 2) I made while camping. NOTE the amount of alcohol as you don’t taste it, but you sure as hell feel it the next morning :)

#21. Find the Perfect Red Lipstick

First let me tell you that I don’t wear lipstick ever. I don’t wear lip gloss; I don’t even use Chap Stick – unless I have to in the winter. I also am under the strong belief that red lipstick makes me look like a hooker. 

My cousin’s wedding is quickly approaching and my dress is black & white, so I figured I’d wear my red heels (yes I can pull those off), and that I’d find some red lipstick to top off the outfit. I’ve had the dress since May and figured lipstick couldn’t be that hard.

I looked for some kind of inspiration in other blondes that wear red lipstick – you know Gwen Stefani, or Scarlett Johansson, or Christina Aguilera. Scarlett goes so far as to say she uses red lipstick for therapy. I myself think wine, running, or shopping is therapy – but if it’s that good – I had to test it out for myself.

I am not frugal but I am against running out and buying every red lipstick available just to try it on, what does that leave me with – testers. Testers in drug stores, department stores, and grocery superstores. Where are all of those places? In Public. When you look like a hooker do you really want to be out in public?(unless of course you a first year university student) When you try on a red lipstick, look at yourself in the mirror and decide Bozo the clown can pull it off better than you can, you immediately wipe it off – only red lipstick stains. So the brightness is gone, but you now look like a hooker the next morning, or Courtney Love.

Did I mention family pictures are being taken at this wedding? Pictures that are going to be around and framed in family member’s homes – I know this because the last family picture taken 10+ years ago still haunts me. So if I’m going to pull off red lipstick I have to do it 10+ years of trends good until the next if ever picture is taken. That’s pressure.

So I get it all narrowed down, decide on a Revlon lipstick as when I’m only likely going to wear this lipstick once, maybe twice, I’m not spending an arm and a leg on it. I have it in my hand, I’m wandering the store waiting for a prescription to be filled before I can check out when I wander down the hair dye aisle and remember that I’m having my hair colored the night before the wedding, so it’s quite possible the lipstick won’t match.

Wasted hours and numerous appearances looking like a hooker for nothing, lipstick went back on the shelf, and I’m giving up. There is no way in a small town after 8pm on a Friday (when my hair appointment is over), that I will find the perfect red lipstick that will look good in a photograph for 10 years – impossible.

Another blogger posted pictures of herself as a blonde as a redhead and it gave me the guts to finally do it (while I’m still young). So instead of red lipstick, I’ll have red hair, and for the next 10 years when I look at the family picture I just might kick myself :)