With hot summer days approaching I always start thinking of fresh, seasonal foods that don’t require cooking. This salsa is so easy and versatile that it has become a favorite for our family.

Variety of Salsas

We have always loved going out for Mexican food and enjoyed the salsa they serve with the meal. We noticed how different each salsa was in taste, texture and spice level. Same with the jarred salsas we purchased from the grocery store.

I wanted to try making it at home, so I began to experiment. What I found is that even with the exact same ingredients you can come up with an entirely different salsa. Some are cooked or blended, others chopped. It’s all personal preference but we love the flavor of the raw vegetables and a nice medium heat.

How to Use Salsa

We have found so many ways to use this salsa it’s almost become a game to see what else we can put this on. Here are some of our favorites:

• Carne Asada (grilled meat) Tacos
• Breakfast Tacos and Burritos
• Scrambled Eggs or Omelet
• Guacamole
• Avocado Toast
• Mexican Shrimp Cocktail
• Cold Black Bean and Corn Salad

The Salsa Recipe

Ingredients:

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
4 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 scallions, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and adjust seasoning to taste. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Notes: For a milder salsa reduce the amount of jalapeno. Also, this salsa can be blended and stored in a plastic baggie for several months in the freezer. I use it as a flavorful addition to soups and stews.

What summertime favorites do you enjoy? Do you prefer easy to make or more complicated recipes? How do you like your salsa and what do you use it for? Share your stories and join the conversation!

For a decade, Carli Bybel has been sharing her beauty tips and tricks with her more than six million YouTube subscribers. Now, the new mom is sharing more than makeup, letting her 4.7 million Instagram followers into her life. Recently, she had some big news outside the birth of her son. She announced the second Il Makiage x Carli Bybel collection in a stunning photoshoot with her pregnant belly under the stars. It’s a collection she’d been working on for a year and a half.

In her YouTube reveal, Bybel goes into the galaxy packaging and the personal names behind each product. First, she brought back the fan-favorite Libra lipstick from the previous collection, which is Bybel’s perfect creamy nude shade. (She’s also a libra.) She also honored her late father with a lip liner named AI.

“I’m sure some of you guys who follow me know that my dad did pass away this past September and it was right after I found out I was pregnant and it was a really, really hard time for me,” she says. “My dad is my best friend and he was living with me for a while and one of our traditions like our nightly traditions was we would watch Ancient Aliens together and don’t ask why but he would always be like, Let’s watch AI even though Ancient Aliens is AA. He would call it AI so I had to name this lip liner after that.”

The lipstick that goes along with AI lip liner is named Taurus, after her father and her husband. “You’ll see the names throughout the collection all have to do with our family,” she adds.

Whether you’re an astrology buff and love the names and packaging or are a fan of Bybel and Il Makiage makeup, you’ll want to pick up this collection. Shop it now before it’s gone for good.

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Il Makiage.

The Full Collection

If you need it all, grab the Face Shaping Palette (in Light, Medium or Deep), Blush and Contour Brushes, two lip colors and two lip liners.

Il Makiage.

South Star (Trio Set)

This gorgeous set gets you the Face Shaping Palette (in Light, Medium or Deep), Libra Lip Color and Luna Lip Liner.

Il Makiage.

North Star (Trio Set)

Or grab this trio to get Face Shaping Palette (in Light, Medium or Deep), Taurus Lip Color and AI Lip Liner.

Il Makiage.

Moonstruck Palette

This face shaping palette comes in Light, Medium and Deep with matte bronzer, baked blush and two pearlescent highlighters.

Il Makiage.

Dirty Talk – Libra Lipstick

This fan-fave “nude” shade is a pretty matte mauve. Wear it with the waterproof Luna lip liner. 

Il Makiage.

Dirty Talk – Taurus Lipstick

If you prefer more of a rosy hue, this mid-pink shade will be your jam. Wear it with AI lip liner.

Morgan Stewart’s Turquoise Knit Outfit on Daily Pop / Instagram 

Daily Pop / Morgan Stewart Instagram Fashion 2021

She’s back baby! For her first day back at work from maternity leave Morgan Stewart brought a pretty “Pop” of colour with her turquoise knit outfit. And while it’s her job to break all the celeb news for us on E!, it’s of course our job to break all the deets of this lewk down below (and possibly your bank account with it ).

Fashionably,

Faryn

Click Here to Shop Her Bottega Veneta Jacket

Click Here For Additional Stock and in Green

Click Here to Shop Her Bottega Veneta Dress in 3 Colours

Click Here For Additional Stock

Click Here to Shop Her Gianvito Rossi Sandals

Photos & Info: @MorganStewart

Originally posted at: Morgan Stewart’s Turquoise Knit Outfit

I am writing this the day after Phil Mickelson won the PGA Championship, becoming the oldest winner of a major. The number of references to Phil as old was pretty remarkable because if 50 is old, what am I at 64? Nonetheless, Phil had a few wise words in the press tent.

“There’s no reason why you can’t accomplish your goals at an older age. It’s just going to take more effort. If you put in the work, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Well said. 

Redefining Aging

An Instagram page tries to redefine aging with beautiful and sometimes provocative images of older women.

Louis Aronson’s book Elderhood, according to one reviewer, “encourages readers to help put an end to the anti-aging industry and its profiteers, to engage in better self-care and to collectively ask the medical community to look at elderhood not as a disease.” 

Decline is certainly a narrative that society embraces when it comes to older people. We are diseased, just waiting to die. After all, how remarkable was it that a 50-year-old athlete who, according to the critics, could not win any longer on tour, suddenly surprises everyone and wins a major – surprising everyone except himself. 

Thriving, Not Declining!

Spoiler alert – we are not declining. In fact, we are getting better every day, learning new things, exploring, taking chances. My wife and I got the same surprised messages on Facebook after posting picture of us zip lining in St. Lucia! “OMG, how could you do that at your age!”

Yale School of Health Professor Becca Levy, in a frequently cited paper published in 2009, introduced the term “stereotype embodiment theory.” She described the aging process as a social construct in which cultural influences in a person’s life lead to internalized attitudes about aging that have a long-term impact on health.

So if the culture says you’re old, well I guess you’re old. If you want to buy into that.

Speaking to Next Avenue, she noted that: “the risk of dementia goes up with people who have taken in more negative age stereotypes from their culture, but you also could think about it in the opposite way, that people who take in more positive age stereotypes seem to have a cognitive advantage over time.”

Who Benefits from Aging Stereotypes?

The health and fitness arena has thrived by painting pictures of older adults fight against aging, therefore needing their products. 

The senior living industry has thrived by putting together one population of people together communally. Yet, when older adults interact more with younger generations, this leads to less stereotyping between the two groups and better attitudes about each other. 

Fighting with Attitude

Despite laws, ageism culture exists in society and the workplace. Ask any employed family caregiver. 

Jelena Sophie Siebert suggests we avoid “the widespread public view that declining cognitive and physical health is primarily due to calendar age,” because thinking along those lines has a tendency to bring about “a reduced sense of responsibility and a down-playing of the importance of a healthy lifestyle.”

Maybe it comes down to age is just a number. Your attitude is everything. A healthy physical and mental lifestyle will keep you ageless.

What do you think about aging stereotypes? Do you think that attitude is the ultimate solution to the agism problem in our society? Why do you think the younger generations think of people over 50 as old and incapable? Please share your thoughts below!

As a woman over 60, you want every day to be fresh, vital and filled with joy. You try hard to keep negativity at bay, and are disappointed when you have feelings of boredom.

In fact, most people are bored at one time or another during their lives. It is such a commonplace emotion that it is thought to be harmless, and easily solved.

There isn’t a lot of sympathy for those who are affected by this state of mind. If you say you are bored, there is often an outpouring of advice about activities you should do. You are told to get a part-time job, volunteer, find a hobby, exercise, or change yourself in some way.

But that is a shallow approach, and doesn’t help at all. Boredom is painful, and if it is chronic, can be dangerous. No one who has experienced the stress of sustained boredom wants to keep on feeling that way. To address it in your life, you need to understand it.

Boredom has two faces: one in which you sink into helpless lethargy, and one in which you become restless and anxious. Both can lead to depression and destructive behavior.

What Is Boredom?

Researchers have only recently begun to study boredom and have come up with a definition.

Psychologist John Eastwood (University of Toronto) discusses boredom in terms of attention. A bored person, he claims, doesn’t choose to have ‘nothing to do’. He or she wants to be stimulated, but is unable, for whatever reason, to connect with his or her environment.

This is a state he describes as an unengaged mind. “In a nutshell,” Eastwood says, “It boils down to boredom being the unfulfilled desire for satisfying activity.”

That explanation ties boredom to activity, and suggests that the solution is within easy reach. In other words, if you change your activities, you can change your boredom. But it is never that easy. Sometimes circumstances change, and are beyond your control. Perhaps you have recently retired, and suffered loss of social contacts. Or a partner may have ended your relationship, leaving you feeling stranded, alone and bored.

You may find yourself oscillating between lethargy and anxiety. Your mind may go round and round in a negative cycle. You may try to address these feelings by eating or drinking too much. You might start gambling, buying things you don’t need, watching endless hours of television, or even sleeping too much. Today, these activities may take the form of surfing the net or looking for stimulation in electronic media.

These novelty-seeking activities may give you only temporary relief. They may prevent you from looking deeper at what is so stultifying in your life. By constantly distracting yourself and not paying attention to your feelings of boredom, you are closing off the path to your emotional awareness. It is only in having awareness of yourself that you will find solutions.

When you become bogged down with chronic dissatisfaction, nothing you try seems to ‘take hold’ and keep your interest. You may have to take several different approaches to understand the nature and roots of your boredom. Here’s how you can start:

Remove Your Avoidance Strategies

Do a behavioral cleanse, starting with removing your most readily available methods of distraction. You might begin by cutting down on television viewing or time spent on social media. Your next step could be changing your sleep habits. This continues until you have addressed every one of the things that keeps you from exploring your boredom. You can then begin to introduce more positive activities, like visiting a gym or taking a walk in a park.

Immerse Yourself in Nostalgia

Allow yourself to look back into the past. Feelings of nostalgia are associated with seeing your life in a broader perspective. Memories can take you back to a time when you felt vigorous and alive, and life in general had more meaning. This may be a good time to organize old photos and mementoes. This can remind you about the dreams and ambitions you had in the past.

Reach Out to the World

We have become a world of strangers and have turned away from each other because of necessity. And isolation is a breeding ground for boredom. You may feel that no one is connected with you. It may be that no one calls or visits you anymore. It will take an effort, but you will need to take the initiative yourself – to call, write, and socialize.

In her inspirational book, The Gift of Years, Joan Chittister comments on isolation. She says, “There is then another reality to be reckoned with when we bemoan our isolation that so often comes as we get older. It is ourselves.”

Find Your Sense of Purpose

Nothing will alleviate your boredom more quickly or effectively than discovering a sense of purpose. Your 60s are a time of life when you may not have career plans. This offers a perfect opportunity to explore the interests and passions you may have had in the past, but didn’t act on.

Begin by asking yourself what you love. You can start taking steps to find something that inspires you. It may take some time, but try to find an activity that enthralls you. When you can spend hours doing something without lifting your head, you will have entered a state of flow. There is no room for boredom when you are fully engaged in such a way.

Boredom is dangerous. The destructive behaviors you might indulge in while bored can affect your health or shorten your life. A bigger danger is that it blocks your passage to a sense of fulfilment in later life.

Are you prone to boredom? Are you bored once in a while or frequently? What distractions do you indulge in to avoid feeling bored or depressed? What have you tried to do to deal with your boredom in a healthier way? Please join the conversation!