Hallmark Channel’s LOVEUARY Original Encore Premiere of “The Wedding Veil” on Saturday, February 5th at 8pm/7c!

This post is sponsored by Hallmark Channel, all thoughts here as always, are my own.

The time has come! January (which always feels like the longest month ever) has passed and February has arrived… In all her glory. We all know that February is traditionally the “month of love”, so I have a proposal for you (drops to one knee, gasp!)… How about we just coin it already? Loveuary IS the new February *slap it high if you’re with me*. Now, we don’t have the pressure of one specific day to take ourselves out on a date, or meet up with our girlfriends for a Galentine’s Day, or be all romantico with our lovahhh! Because now, we have all month long.

I’ve always said that the best form of self care is self love, so we are where love happens. Us and the couch. Ahem, meaning watch your favorite show or movie and chill times. Ever since I was little and my mom would put on Hallmark Channel during every imaginable holiday, it’s been our go-to destination for romantico movies and all things love stories… I’m a rom-com kinda girl and Hallmark Channel is actually Where Love Happens so.

Date night in with my favorite
Spoiler alert… these movies are SO good!

Find you a life partner that will watch romantic comedy love stories and keeps the rosé flowing- just like their love… All day baby! Cheers to us Lacey, I love you all the way and our date nights in <3 Okay, so let me fill you in on the 4-1-1… Do we still say that? Because I’m not like a regular mom, I’m like a cool mom. There are four NEW romantic movies premiering that are part of the original Loveuary programing on Hallmark Channel, all throughout February- which begins on Saturday, February 5th with the encore of the premiere of The Wedding Veil starring Lacey Chabert (Feb. 5th), The Wedding Veil Unveiled starring Autumn Resser (Feb 12th), The Wedding Veil Legacy starring Alison Sweeney (Feb 19th), and Welcome to Mama’s starring Melanie Scrofano (Feb. 26th). Write that down, I’ll wait.

The Wedding Veil trilogy follows three best friends who met in grad school and it’s a story we can all relate to, trust. It includes the three movies and is a first for Hallmark Channel. It will include three of its biggest stars who’ll also be featured in all three movies while starring in their own AND highlighting their personal love stories. How cool is that? You can follow along each of their stories individually and as a group, and I say just get all of your friends together and have a movie night with popcorn, bubbles, and sweet treats.

Be sure to TAG me and @HallmarkChannel in your posts so we know what you’re sippin’ on, what you’re watching, and how you’re loving them! I’ll be following you all at #TheWeddingVeil and #Loveuary and you can find all the information you need about all Hallmark Channel #LOVEUARY original romantic movies HERE!

Extra goodies:
Loveuary Sweepstakes– https://loveuarysweepstakes.hallmarkchannel.com/
Virtual Backgrounds- https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/hallmark-channel-virtual-backgrounds-love
Loveuary recipes- https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/loveuary/loveuary-recipes/**

So tell me, how are you spending Loveuary?

Tips and Ideas for Being More Active in the House

In light of coronavirus, millions of people across the world are working from home. While working from home may have countless benefits, it also poses some challenges. While working from home, you perform most of the tasks while sitting in one spot either from your laptop or smartphone. Staying in one place for extended periods can lead to a sedentary and unhealthy lifestyle.

So, to ensure that you stay active while indoors, here are some essential tips to help you stay fit.

Take a Walk Daily

Make it a part of your routine and a necessity to walk for at least fifteen minutes daily. Just walk around your neighborhood, either before you start working or after work. Walking enhances the pumping of blood and also boosts metabolism. Experts also say that regular walks boost your moods and help in weight management.

Use a Fitness Application to Exercise

Just like other endeavors, keeping track of your fitness program when having to stay indoors all the time can be difficult. But today there are so many options online hat will help you stay on track. On the app store there are many fitness apps to choose from, one of them being the 30 Day Fitness Challenge that has a variety of different workouts you can do, like this slim waist workout at home for example. A combination of working out regularly and healthy eating, will help you stay on top of your fitness game.

Involve Yourself in Cleaning Activities

Cleaning your house is a win-win situation. Going up and downstairs, lifting laundry, and being on the feet from time to time is a good way of exercising. Also, having a clean house improves your mental health too.

Use Household Tools as Weights

You can improvise the household items if you’re used to going to the gym regularly. For example, you can use a pack of rice as weights or even water bottles. Besides, you can run up and down the stairs for a couple of times, and try to make the run as much intensity as possible. This will get you sweating in a matter of minutes.

Dance

Put on some music and make your living room a dance hall. Dancing is a good way of keeping yourself active while indoors, as well a great mood-improving activity. Dance is proven to be a useful type of workout that burns as many excess calories as bike riding, walking, or even swimming. But the intensity of dance, the effort you integrate, and length of the dance determines the calories you burn.

Walk around during Calls

If you are not on a call that needs you to use a webcam or laptop, consider standing and strolling around while on the call. This is undoubtedly an incredible way of performing some stretches and getting some extra steps in.

Include Online Yoga Classes

Yoga isn’t only essential for your overall physical health; it is also a fantastic way of boosting your general wellness. The reason for this is that yoga lowers stress and improves your emotional health and sleep patterns. Besides, it reduces neck pain, low-back pain, and manages depressive and anxiety symptoms.

These are just some ideas for staying active during a time we are encouraged to leave our homes less as possible. Do you have any useful suggestions to add to this list? What have you been doing to stay active? I’d love to know!

 

xoxo- Jess

Local Discoveries – The Who, What, Where #DiscoverTorrance

Shopping, adventures, and foods oh my!

As you saw from my last article, I visited the neighboring city of Torrance last month and I’m so happy to share my discoveries with you. Where we shopped, our explorations, local eats … all the things! We stayed at the Best Western Plus Avita Suites and they provide a complimentary breakfast buffet so we only had to find lunches and dinners … and saucy sips … oh and desserts 😉 There’s so many options and I got so many of your recommendations from Instagram, thank goodness discovertorrance.com exists which helped me narrow down all my choices! Pssst and thank YOU for your recs <3

So day one was all about settling into our suite and enjoying dinner at our hotel, so the next morning after we enjoyed the buffet we visited the Farmer’s Market for some lunch and local goods.

It was such a beautiful day in Torrance that it was easy to walk around for three hours before I decided I wanted a mid-day pick me up. We headed to the best boba in town… 7 leaves cafe

That would be my macarons and cafe over there chillin’ next to the Moana tree haha. Sooo good, please go there and get the Taro milk tea boba! The Depot was high on your recommendation list as it was on the discovertorrance.com site so that’s exactly what we did for dinner and let me tell ya… I’m a martini kinda lady and their martini’s cannot be matched! So perfectly paired with a filet and mashed potatoes dinner. Umm and that would be pistachio butter you see next to that fresh baked bread *drool*

P.S. that’s the Chef! Of course I asked to take a photo with him, it was one of the best meals evaaaar! And what better way to wrap up day one than a night cap?! We walked over to a neighboring hotel bar and enjoyed one more saucy sip… can you guess what I got? And of course- a bar pretzel is the best choice duh.

Perfection ah. With time in the books I was already fully enjoying my time in this city. Day two began the same as the previous morning but we switched up routine by having some Hawaiian lunch for the first time. I learned that Hawaiian food and Chamorro food (it me!) are very similar! Think spam and rice haha This was The Loft in Torrance and they did not disappoint.

Musubi and Hawaiian fried chicken for the win! Since I’m the type of person who plots my next food venture WHILE still having the current meal (ha!) I decided we’d go to Brio for dinner AND dessert and enjoy some home made donuts… they had me at donuts let’s be real.

We wrapped up the day by finishing our holiday shopping at Del Amo Fashion Center, which by the way is just a hop and a skip away from our hotel… winning! It was such a perk considering I shopped ’til I dropped.

Why yes, I did purchase this camo cropped pull-over *hail hands* I ended up completing all of my holiday shopping AND shopped for myself so… treat yo self. Day two was a smashing success and when I tell you I slept like a baby, trust.

Before leaving on our final day in Torrance, I ran one last time at our hotel gym, enjoyed a homemade waffle and took time with every bite, and just had to make one last stop before checking out of my staycation dream. Enter Strand Brewing for some FUNS!


Ending my staycation in Torrance could not have been any more fun than enjoying a flight of local beers, playing some games, and sports!

I had the best time and feel so lucky to have partnered with such a welcoming and hospitable community to showcase some of the best places in Torrance to eat, visit, explore, and shop <3 I hope you get a chance to visit our new home away from home and I’ll link you to all the places that helped make our stay so memorable and easy to navigate!

Have you added ‘more adventure’ to your New Year goals yet? Let’s do this! 

https://discovertorrance.com/stay/

https://discovertorrance.com/hotels/best-western-avita-suites/

www.discovertorrance.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

Summer Recipes – Crowd Pleasers

Every city in the world may not be as hot as Los Angeles is right now but man oh man, have we been on a heat wave! Since you’re bound to go through a Summer season of your own I wanted to share with you my favorite summer recipes that are definite crowd pleasers.

So for your next girls day, catch up brunch, bbq, or BYOB- I’ve got you! These will take you no time at all and you probably already have the ingredients to get cookin’. Here’s a Summer ‘salad’ and two of the yummiest and easiest cocktails.

Disclaimer: if you know me than you already know this ‘salad’ is not an actual traditional leafy green ‘salad’. It’s one of my go-to summer salads though and one of my best girlfriends introduced me to it!

Lentil Salad- this is a cold salad 

  1. one package of cooked lentils from Trader Joe’s
  2. one whole bruschetta tub- drained of juices
  3. chopped red onion and cucumbers
  4. chopped kale would be yummy here too with some sprinkles of vinaigrette but we were out
  5. salt & pepper
  • mix all together, top with some fresh basil, enjoy with home made tortilla chips (like we did) or by itself, or even over a real traditional leafy salad 😉


Summer Spritzer – so refreshing! 

  1. your favorite rose´ wine
  2. sparkling water (I used watermelon because yummm)
  3. whatever fresh fruit you like
  • fill your glass 2/3 of the way with the wine and top with bubbly water and fruit


Homemade espresso martini frappe  – slushy and perfect for hot days when all you wanna do is crunch on ice

  1. cold brew, iced coffee concentrate, or espresso shot
  2. whatever milk you like, I used almond coconut for creaminess
  3. 4-5 ice cubes
  4. drizzle of maple syrup
  5. Kahlua – I used a whole shot just because
  • combine coffee, milk, ice, and maple syrup into a blender. Top with Kahlua and stir, garnish with espresso beans. ENJOY!

P.S. did you know today is National Tequila Day?! One of my favorite adult beverages has a whole day! For my fellow wine moms/people out there, this is for you. I’m concocting an entire recipe list for tequila don’t you worry! 

 

 

 

 

 

Everything Nice With Banhez

I hate to see you go, but I love to watch you sip your drink as you walk away… that’s the saying right? Awww this is the final episode in our holiday cocktail series with Banhez Mezcal and I saved the best for last. AKA I love a spicy sip and this is so adequately named Everything Nice… with sugar and SPICE! A lil kick of heat at the tip of your tongue as you enjoy this drink, it’s my favorite.

The Everything Nice!

1.5 oz charred poblano-infused Banhez Ensemble*

1 oz fresh pineapple juice (fresh juice is preferred)

1/4 oz lime juice

1/4 oz agave

Pinch of salt

*Charred Poblano-infused Banhez:

Use 1 poblano per every 1.5 cups of Banhez.

Warm a pan or cast iron skillet to medium-low heat and place the poblano pepper in, turning every few minutes until the skin of the pepper is charred and cracked in places. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Finely chop the poblano- remove the seeds and ribs if you don’t want it too spicy, leave them in if you like the heat like I do. Make sure to wash your hands after handling the peppers, or opt for gloves… and don’t touch your eyes. I learned the hard way.  

Place the diced pepper + 1.5 cup of Banhez in a mason jar, seal, and shake the ingredients to incorporate. Let it sit for 15-20 minutes, checking periodically to make sure the level of spice is to your liking. Strain out the solids through a sieve. This will hold indefinitely and can be stored in your pantry in a sealed jar.

Banhez pro tip: if poblanos aren’t an option in their market, any pepper works! Jalapeños are great, as are green bell peppers. 

Lastly, to build the drink: Combine all ingredients together in a shaker tin, shake with ice for around 20 seconds, or until the outside of the tins are very cold. Double strain liquid out of tin into a rocks glass with ice in it. Garnish and enjoy. Here’s a video of me making the drink live with you!

A lil spice and a lot nice, this cocktail is a crowd pleaser for sure! Make it for your holiday gathering this weekend and if you’d prefer more heat, allow the peppers to brew longer before straining it into a mason jar!

Try all three of these cocktails and let me know how you love them and which one is your favorite! Don’t forget to enter my giveaway, I can’t wait for one of you to receive this awesomeness. You’ll get a 1L of Banhez Mezcal and this entire cocktail creating kit as seen here!

Giveaway Entry Rules:

– must be 21+ years old to enter
– winner will be selected at random
– enter as many times as you like, the more you enter, the more chances you have to win!
– an ‘entry’ is a comment on all 3 Banhez Mezcal cocktail articles here on the blog, here’s part 1 and part 2! Be sure to enter on ALL 3 blog articles!
– stumped on what comment to leave? Tell me a fun fact about yourself or what your plans are for the holidays! I love learning more about you guys!
– and drink responsibly as always please and thank you <3
, love Mama Lizama

Be sure to follow Banhez for exciting things happening in 2019 here’s their links: BANHEZ IG , BANHEZ FB, and you can purchase a bottle of Banhez Mezcal for yourself and as a gift HERE! <3 

I want to give Banhez a big huge thank you for sponsoring this giveaway and to you for your support always <3 I hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday and I’ll see you in the new year! Happy holidays from my family to yours, 2019 here we come!

 

 

 

DIY Halloween Cocktail

Halloween is this week and I’m all for an easy themed cocktail just as much as I’m up for an easy costume! This is the Vampiress Kiss, it’s delicious, Rum-my, sweet, and you’ll just need one… kinda like that vampiress kiss, only takes one.

 

What you’ll need:
– Captain Morgan’s White Rum
– Coconut Rum
– Ice
– Kahlua
– coconut essence
– Milk

For the Vampiress Kiss Drizzle:
– Sugar
– Cherry juice

Method: add ice to a tumbler and combine an oz of white rum with an oz of coconut rum, splash of coconut essence, half an oz kahlua, 1/4 cup milk, and SHAKE

For the drizzle you’ll combine one part sugar to two parts juice in a small pot and boil the mixture until thickened. Then drizzle that goodness into a martini glass and try not to lick the pot. Or do!

I hope you enjoyed this easy and not so spooky Halloween themed cocktail and have a safe and happy Halloween babes!

What are your plans? Staying in or braving the chilly weather and going trick or treating?

 

 

Vaping With Friends – What We Thought We Knew!

If you would have told me that today I’d have my friends over to try vape mods and e-juices I would’ve given you an eye roll because, moms who vape?! Seriously though we had the BEST time laughing over what we thought we knew about vaping and trying the different flavors!

I’ve vaped essential oils before but never an e-juice and I found the same went for a lot of my friends. So when I got the opportunity to try out different mods from Mt Baker Vapor and the e-juices they offer, I called my friends over and here we are!

It’s incredible the amount of negativity that surrounds vaping and I believe it’s largely due to misinformation and lack of individual education. I’m not a nicotine smoker and as a mother I’d never promote something that I believed was a ‘gate way’ to anything- this was something that also came up as a hot topic. However, I will promote something that I myself have tried and tested and I will absolutely promote something that I think can help people when used with proper intention.

My mom has been a cigarette smoker since she was a teenager, I grew up with it my whole life. So I know 1) the effects of smoking  2) the effects of peer pressure and 3) the effects vaping can have on someone transitioning away from smoking cigarettes and finally weening off of nicotine all together with the help of vaping. So it really bothered me that I got flack for wanting to try vaping and be more educated about it and less curious about all the hype.

I understand the concern but again, you have to inform yourself on the issues that concern you. I was hugely concerned about this “popcorn lung” that kept coming up any time I talked about or searched vaping. It was a lung disease in the 90’s that became headline news because of a chemical used in artificial butter popcorn factories. Lung disease … now that scared me. But I did my research and Mt Baker Vapor DOES NOT use that chemical in any of their products! Relief!

I’ve never vaped with my friends before, so Mt Baker Vapor to sent us different mods to try and a selection of e-juices. They were even so kind to send me more of their 0-Nic juices to try knowing that I’m not a nicotine smoker. We got to try the Joyetech All In One, Vaporesso Swag Kit, and Smoant Charon TS 218. Buzz words haha! I had no idea what we were looking at or that they’re called mods! Luckily though they’re much easier to figure out and operate than they look.

Essentially, we received the beginner, intermediate, and advanced mods and we tried them all! We went through the different flavors and some of our favorites were Hawk Sauce (berry fruitiness), Green Apple (sweet and sour yumminess), and Cinnatoast Munch (I mean! It tastes like your favorite cereal)! Fan favorite of the mods was the Joyetech AIO vape pen because the ladies thought it was dainty enough to toss into your handbag and they loved the design! Joe really loved the Smoant Charon with the sapphire blue Uwell Valyrian sub ohm tank <— more buzz words, sub ohm tank! He loved how sturdy it felt and that it was a glossy glass mod with a rad touch screen. I loved the Vaporesso Swag Kit box mod! I liked that it’s palm sized, so medium in comparison to the vape pen and bigger box mod. It has a spin push top (twist open) design which if you’re tactile like me you’ll find that fun too, and an OLED screen on the side.

I really enjoyed trying out vaping with my friends, debunking some rumors, and having a genuinely good time with my people who are like-minded. I hope you enjoyed the video and please enter my giveaway! Mt Baker Vapor was so generous to gift 3 of you with one of these: Joyetech AIO, Vaporesso Swag Kit, and an Innokin MVP4 vaporizer. All you have to do to enter is go to my YouTube video, LIKE the video, and leave me a comment! I’ll choose 3 of you next week and Mt Baker Vapor will send you the e-juice of your choice.

Even if you don’t win the giveaway, tis the season and I have a treat for you! Head over to Mt Baker Vapor and enter the code ICHOOSEFLAVOR for 50% off your first purchase of Mt Baker Vapor juice! Check them out they have other really awesome products on their site, be sure to enter the giveaway, and have a wonderful holiday season! Vlogmas, it’s a thing and I’m doing it!

Have you tried vaping before? Do you know someone that used vaping to stop smoking cigarettes? Which mod would you like to try? 

 

 

 

Winter Is Here – Game Of Thrones Saturday Sip!

Winter is here! Yassss it is week two of GOT season 7 and I’m so excited to share with you a new drink each week in its honor! This will be an especially themed #SaturdaySip for your Sunday’s viewing pleasure, and today’s shake up is “Winer Is Here”!

Shake it up baby! You’ll need:

  • 1 oz lime juice
  • 1 oz mezcal
  • 1 oz reposado
  • 1 oz simple syrup
  • 1 egg white

Shake everything up into your shaker without ice and then shake it up again WITH ice. Pour into a salted rim cup (very ice like) and enjoy!

What ingredient would you like see used on this week’s #winenotwednesday? Here’s the last drink in case you missed today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

VALENTINES DAY READY!

I’m so excited to share that you can finally shop my posts directly and see what products I’m currently using in my featured videos! You’ve perhaps seen this utilized by other creators on Instagram and Facebook, so if you aren’t on DubCandy already, download it (it’s free!) and add me! I’m jess_lizama over there just like on all of my other platforms. I’m sharing my most recent videos over there!

This week I have for you a Valentine’s day cocktail (Cupid’s Kiss to be exact), a ‘day to night out’ makeup look, and the worlds quickest and easiest flat-iron ‘beachy waves’ tutorial!

If you’ve already explored the app and shopped people’s posts and videos, please share them with me so I can see what everyone is most interested in these days! I’d love to know if you’d like to see more beauty stuff from me, or cooking and travel . . . let me know and I’ll recruit my Corriney to help me post more frequently on there! I love being able to link you to the things I’ve tried and tested, and I hope you enjoy these and it makes it easier for you to peruse the items I feature:D


Do you like posts where you can shop the products featured or do you feel distracted by the option? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FTC: I am an affiliate with DubCandy but the products I feature and the opinions expressed here are mine. As always I’ll continue to share with you the things I truly use and love, and always in my honest opinion.