Thursday, August 14, 2014

Well, hello, there!  Today, I thought I'd share with you some things I love and some that I rather don't!
I absolutely love reading lists like these about other people - little quirks that make each person a little unique!  A little silly list is sometimes perfect to start a day of laughter!
Here we go!

1. Cucumbers with salt! Note: these are not pickles, but cucumbers with salt sprinkled over.
2. Peeling garlic... it's therapeutic, somehow!
3. Cleaning dirty dishes, particularly by hand.
4. PJ dresses - as cute as a dress, but as comfy as a blanket? Yes, please!
5. Candles! Particularly: in our reading room! Yes, we have a reading, and I am awfully proud!
6. Giving surprise present to special people!
7. Chocolate glazed donuts!
8. Rain, and anything that can be done when it's raining: whether it's reading, cooking, napping, cuddling, watching a movie...
9. Dancing like a fool. :)
10. Stationery of all shapes, textures, colors, and decorations; also: pens! Not even pretty pens, just having lots of them.
11. Doing something different in a small way, like having breakfast for dinner!
12. Flowers!  Flowers on clothes, in hair, as decorations, on jewelry... anything, really!
13. Letters - writing them, receiving them, decorating them!
14. TV shows and how we get attached to characters and stories :) It's like having a weekly gathering of friends (er... I promise, I have real friends, too ;) )
15. Directness.  I can read between the lines, but like a little kid, I'd much prefer the truth straight out. No surprises, just tell me everything that's on your mind: the good, the bad, the ugly.
16. I totally think tea can fix nearly everything. And chocolate can help make any situation better.
17. Jim Croce's music! I love a lot of music, but his lyrics and melodies are beautifully moving and full of stories. "I've got a song. And I carry it with me and I sing it loud. If it gets me nowhere I'll go there proud." "Every time the time was right, the words just came out wrong."
18. The smell of coffee, especially the smell of french vanilla coffee.
19. Sunshine - sunshine on faces in photographs, sunshine peeking through clouds, sunshine on an overwhelmingly warm day, sunshine that is so bright sunglasses aren't enough, sunshine that is bouncing off the snow....
20. Great tall water glasses, with or without a straw! I can't just drink a little bit of water, and having a big glass of water makes me cool off and feel good!
21. Petting other people's dogs!
22. Hot chocolate - even when it's not cold outside!
23. Scarves!  Infinity scarves, long drapy ones, or warm knits
24. Baking for friends or neighbors or coworkers  - because the day ends up with a warm, yummy-smelling kitchen, a cup of tea and some extra treats to dip into it!
25. Popcorn 3 ways: *with chocolate chips * with parmesan cheese * with cinnamon and melted white chocolate *


1. Construction noises! Ugh! Of any kind, they just drive me nuts!
2. Unloading the dishwasher!
3. The kind of summer weather when the sun is blinding one moment and hidden the next.
4. The way foundation is so nearly impossible to match!
5. How every woman I talk to hates shopping for jeans. It is like a game of memory out there! Can you match the jean structure to your body type?
6. Overly perfumed women in enclosed spaces. Er... just how many spritzes can a theater hold?
7. Boats. Nearly all of them make me nervous!
8. Growing up - who started this idea swirling that being an adult is challenging?  Being a kid is challenging, too!  There are great and tough aspects to any age.
9. The fact that us girls have visible symptoms to "that time of the month" - it's almost adding insult to injury when those zits come up!
10. The fact that I love hats but generally don't look good in them!

Monday, August 11, 2014

Makeup Questionnaire

Hi y'all!  How's your day?  Mine has been spectacularly calm - ya know what I mean?  We just got back from a big, annual family trip with one side of my husband's family.  After a week of enormous non-stop family fun, filled to the brim with sunshine, sunscreen, bikes, dresses, wet swimsuits, stories from the day, games upon board games, and seafood dinners out..... today has been a calm day full of fresh food, simply ordinary activities, peaceful chores, dancing, and enjoyment of our home.

One of my favorite bloggers does a weekly questionnaire which looked really interesting this week!  This is all the idea of Karen from the Makeup and Beauty Blog!

Here we go!

1. What’s the weirdest thing in your refrigerator right now?
Diet Cokes!  It's only weird because my husband doesn't drink soda and I'm allergic to artificial sweeteners.  Why then, you ask, do we have cans of Diet Coke in our fridge? Our friends and family loves them, so we're ready for any visits! :)
2. Some of the best moments are [FILL IN THE BLANK].
Spontaneous! For example, a spur of the moment trip to the movie theater late at night or a day trip just because.  One of the best moments for me was when we went on a rescue mission when our friends got stuck two hours away during a cross-country move.
3. [FILL IN THE BLANK] brings me major makeup joy.
Eye liners! or a bright lip! Sometimes when I'm wearing no other makeup, one of those will make me feel fierce!
4. [FILL IN THE BLANK] is overrated.

Cheerfulness! Don't get me wrong.... I don't mean that it's not important to be happy.  I mean that it's more important to feel what you feel.  Happy today? Awesome! Angry at the moment? It's still part of a beautiful life! It's alright to feel what you feel, a concept us grown ups often forget about.
5. Shimmer or matte?


Shimmer!  Cause unlike a student who once said she doesn't want to be a sparkly purply unicorn, I totally would love to be!  Sparkly nails and lips, sparkly skirts and sparkly jewels... some might say tacky, but I think it is beautiful!

In other news... with 6 of us at the beach for a week, we ran through 3 bottles of sunscreen, only one of which ended up in a river. ;)

Friday, August 1, 2014

What is it with palettes?

They just draw me in!

"I could be the multi-tasker you have been searching for...," they say. "I am small and feign low maintenance with my sleek packaging, but you and I both know you just need a lot of choices. I can be your perfect make up companion."

Girls, I found a face palette that is absolutely perfect for natural, girly, soft looks!  It's this tiny Sephora palette:

And I mean tiny!  It's about the size of a cell phone!


The bronzer is a light colored matte brown, perfect for pale girls to contour with!  It adds a nice color without looking overwhelming.  There are also two powder blushes.  The lightest is a bubble gum pink that adds a sunny flush to the cheeks.  The darkest is a deep mix between coral and berry, and looks fabulous when you need a little extra umph!  I am so excited to take this palette on a trip and see how it holds up!  The packaging is seriously sturdy, something to be grateful for, as any girl that's dropped a powder will know.

Happy Summer, Y'all!