tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55221002158334528262024-03-13T03:25:39.694-07:00My Afternoon TeaRamblings on life, food, health, and learning.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-59671243031209127542016-04-19T11:17:00.000-07:002016-04-19T14:46:26.255-07:00Rebuilding, Restructuring, and Recreating"Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life." ~ J.K. Rowling<br />
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In my "first" post of this renewing of my blog, I talked a little bit about possibly having hit "rock bottom," That's a REALLY big term, right? Thinking about it, my "rock bottom" could just be a bump in the road of my life at this time, honestly. It's just that I've never quite felt mentally and emotionally like I do now; this is by far the most stressed and the most lonely and the most lost, so in the scheme of my own life, it has been pretty stinking bad.<br />
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But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I've found a great podcast, the <a href="http://yourkickasslife.com/blog" target="_blank">Your Kick Ass Life podcast with Andrea Owen</a>. One episode I recently listened to talks about "rock bottom" being the point at which you actually start to feel human again. You can't avoid your stresses and emotions and problems and loneliness anymore - you have to face them head on. And facing those things, breaking down, being forced to actually FEEL all of those things for REAL...that's a good thing. We learn a lot from it. We grow from it. We get stronger because of it, we build stronger and more meaningful relationships because of it. We know ourselves better, we can make better progress toward our goals, we can BE BETTER because of it.<br />
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That's where I'm hoping I am now. At the rebuilding point. Where I can cry and open up to my confidants, where I can learn that I'm not the only one who feels this way, and we're all in this together and we can do all of this grown up stuff that we have to do and it will all be okay. Just keep swimming...find your pod or tribe or gaggle, and keep going.<br />
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My problem has been that I can hardly even get out of bed in the morning. I flat out don't want to. And find myself without a reason to, until the very last second when I HAVE to or else I'll be late for work. So I'm barely on time for work. That's the ONLY reason I've found lately to actually get out of bed...just to not be late for work. And it feels shitty. There's got to be something more.<br />
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One of the things I started with this week was just making the bed in the morning. I have been saying I'm going to implement a whole morning routine, a la <a href="http://miraclemorning.kajabi.com/sq/12270-tmmbookcom-free-downloads-and-resources" target="_blank">The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod</a>, and I even made my list of routine things I want/need to do, and was having a really hard time even getting myself out of bed. So, I needed a reason to actually get up. I'm still struggling with not hitting snooze for 40 minutes, but on Tuesday last week I snoozed and then when I got up, I made the bed. Then yesterday I did it again. Still snoozed, maybe five or ten minutes less...? Not sure. Every day since then, I've still snoozed (albeit less than I used to), but I've made the bed. Every single day since a week ago. Now it's Tuesday again, so this marks the 8th day in a row.<br />
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Making the bed is now a thing. It's a daily thing, and when I walk in the door at the end of the day and see the bed made, it is one less thing that used to be stressful for me to look at. The pillows aren't on the floor anymore, they're on the bed, that's made. And I love it.<br />
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That's all for now, friends! I'll be continuing this rebuilding theme for a while now, because that's where I'm at in my life, and I'm going to keep doing it. Every day the goal is: better than before. Now, go forth, friends, and be better than before!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-59384931781227318152016-04-06T13:10:00.002-07:002016-04-06T13:11:47.861-07:00Skimming the Surface of Adult RelationshipsWhen we're kids, it's pretty simple:<br />
Toddlers just wanna be all up in all the business. They're little sponges, soaking up interaction with any and all humans and animals and things that can fit in their mouths, and their brains love when they see a face that looks about the same age as them. Easy. Oh, we reached for the same cookie, you must like cookies, and now we're best friends sharing a cookie.<br />
Your favorite color is the same as mine? OMG BFFs.<br />
We're in the same class at school, or the same gymnastics class or on the same baseball team. Now we're friends.<br />
Oh, you've got a skateboard, me too! Let's skateboard together. You like going down the slide? Awesome, we're friends.<br />
You're my next door neighbor? Easiest access to friendship ever.<br />
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When it's not your responsibility to vacuum or wash the car or make the money for the household or cook dinner, you've got tons of free time. In fact, parents put us in sports and various neighborhood activities to socialize and make friends and it's EASY. Because it's laid out for us. We don't have to plan it, we just show up and BOOM. Friends. For the making. Which is awesome.<br />
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But now we're adults. We have the bills and the commute and the job and ALL OF THE LAUNDRY and cooking and and and...the responsibilities. Why is it that when we're kids, all we want to do is grow up? How could I have NOT become the well-adjusted adult that it seems like most people my age are at this point? I mean, maybe we all put on great acts. Fake it til you make it, right? I don't know. I do know a couple people have admitted to me they don't have it all together either, which is comforting but it's also kind of disturbing...we can't be the only four people our age in the world who appear to have it together but who are literally breaking on the inside...? Right? WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU?! Come forth, let's band together and make it better.<br />
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Amidst all of the adulthood happenings, some relationships have faded away or imploded, some have remained steady or gotten stronger, and some new ones have come into the picture. Family relationships, friendships, romantic relationships.<br />
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Relationships change over time. Some things feel familiar and awesome, like being BFFs since high school or even before. Or like my relationship with my brother, which has actually changed for the better over the years. But learning how to be an adult in the presence of your parents, to whom you'll always be their child, is really hard. Knowing and being honest about what YOU really want, in light of the fact you've never actually made any important decisions for yourself your entire life (see previous post)...that's hard y'all.<br />
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Making new friendships and trying to fit them into the way your life has drifted together thus far is also really hard. We always seem to find friendships based on our life's categories, like where we work, whose parents are in our kids' playgroup or school class, etc. Which makes sense, right? But what if I'm the owner and leader of my business, therefore kind of a lone wolf, and crossing a certain line of friendship with employees is unprofessional? What if I don't want kids, so I'm never going to go to the playground or drop them off at preschool? Making new friends who fit into how our life is, is hard. I enjoy meeting new people, but man...it's really hard to sufficiently maintain different relationships. Am I seriously the only one having these life troubles?<br />
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I'm having a hard time expanding my network and making new friends while also maintaining my "tribe." I'm at this place where I'm actively becoming a person who is very different than I was a few years ago, and the transition is really difficult. I fully realize and admit that this is happening to me WAY LATER IN LIFE than it probably happened to you (either that, or you'll all come to this realization when you're like 50). I discussed this in the previous post - I was in school for 22 out of my 31 years of life. So maybe that has played a role, I assume it probably does, because like the first season of Grey's Anatomy pointed out: when you're in school for the majority of your life, you're socially and romantically awkward. You've aged to the point of being an adult, but you haven't had the social interactions that adults outside of school have had. It's like childhood extended because you're with the exact same small group of people who happen to be in the same place as you doing the same activity...so the friendship or whatever relationship is sort of the default. You don't have to actively seek out and carve out special time for those who are important to you, because they're already right there. And in my case, keeping in touch with those people I had in my life before professional school wasn't all that hard - I lived 1700 miles away from where I had lived my entire life, so phone calls and Skype were what I had. I did learn about who back home still felt I was important in their lives, that's for sure. And I was super busy with school...with all of the people who were becoming my new, additional friends. The relationships with whom are actually really hard to maintain after we've all scattered across the country. So there's that, too. I miss them and it's hard.<br />
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Rather than rambling on and on about all of the above for longer than you care to continue reading, I'll cut to what I think I could do better, and some things that are on my personal development/goals list.<br />
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I have been using this planner called the <a href="http://www.thesparknotebook.com/" target="_blank">Spark Notebook</a> by Kate Matsudaira, At the end of last year, there were some emails she sent out to those of us who ordered the Kickstarter version of her 2016 planner, and the emails were basically four weeks of wrapping up 2015 and how to make 2016 a kick-ass year. Among various brainstorm/idea pages with life values and goals and assessment of "why," one of the pages wanted me to list the people who were the most important to me in my life. Those with whom I have a relationship that I truly value, with whom the relationship truly supports my life goals for the long term. This might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but my list was pretty enlightening. And I realized that some of those people were floating in the breeze, I haven't been in touch with them for entirely too long. I miss them. I value our relationship, but I haven't maintained contact with some of these people, and I NEED to.<br />
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So, one of my goals for this year is to practice good correspondence. Who's addicted to super cute stationary packs in the dollar zone at Target? Who picks up cute notecards in the clearance bins at the craft store? Who loves papercrafting (another one of my goals is to make time and space for more crafting) and making cards for birthdays and holidays? THIS GIRL. I have a ridiculous amount of stationary and card making/papercrafting supplies. I think I mentioned in one of my posts from a few years ago that I could probably open my own Hobby Lobby with all my own craft supplies, and a lot of that is for papercrafting. So, let's put it to good use! Keep in touch with the people who matter! They need to be told they're important to me just as much as I want to know how they're doing and what's going on in their lives.<br />
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That's one thing I can do to try to maintain adult friendships, is keep in touch with those who matter, no matter how far away we are geographically. In 2016, it really doesn't matter how far away we are anymore, given all the ways we can keep in touch now.<br />
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That's all for now, friends. Hope you found the little bit of optimism in this post, I'm trying to end this on a positive note rather than just keep ranting :P Enjoy the beautiful weather this week (I'm in the PNW, and it's just gorgeous right now)!<br />
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Next time I'll delve into more grown-up ish, and keep digging out from under the avalanche. Until next time, friends, thanks for reading!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-74724693636141551142016-04-03T19:10:00.001-07:002016-04-03T19:10:50.669-07:00How Did I Get Here?It's been forever since my last post. I no longer have a Birchbox subscription, nor do I get Stitch Fix anymore. After Birchbox, I switched to Ipsy, and I don't even get that anymore. Those were sort of my go-to post topics, and I didn't even keep up on those regularly. So I figure it's probably time to start anew here, and I think what I'm going to do is write about my life and the things that have been going on. Deeper topics, not fashion or cosmetics samples. LIFE. The important stuff.<br />
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I'm not sure how exactly to get started with that, but basically this is just a post declaring that it's going to happen. Life is changing A LOT right now, in fact it's been changing for a couple of years now. Some good things, some bad things, and some things that are down right rock bottom thus far in my life.<br />
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I will say, however, that I think things are finally on the uptick...I mean, there's only one way to go once you've hit bottom, right? That's what I've heard anyway, when people have referenced addiction or abuse or anything like that. Now, to clarify (upcoming posts will be more revealing with details), I am not an addict and I am physically fine - this is not an emergency, I do not need an intervention or a hospital or anything else. I just have hit two recent periods of absolute extreme stress that I was not equipped to handle as an adult.<br />
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Let's back up for a minute - how is one "not equipped" to handle the stresses of adulthood? A lot of reasons, I'm sure I'm going to miss a bunch, but these are some possibilities for my own life and my own struggles with being an adult:<br />
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1. I was super sheltered and relatively privileged as a kid. No struggles. Safe. Never took risks. I DO NOT DENY that that was my childhood. I don't know a lot about all the struggles and adversity that a lot of people have experienced. Super sheltered. Lots of taboo topics, issues, activities, events, etc. I never had to be uncomfortable. I'm really compassionate, but I'm probably one of the most sheltered people you'll meet.<br />
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2. I'm REALLY indecisive. Most of that is probably because that's my personality, but there are definitely some environmental influences on personality (no matter how big or small). If you don't believe that...well, I'll respectfully but strongly disagree with you. The other part is probably just that I never had to be decisive, per se. Just went down the path that was set forth, asking no questions. If I did ask a question, the answer was "that's just what you do."<br />
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3. I quite literally just learned (and I'm still learning and trying to figure this out) how to make a budget. Yes, you read that correctly. They don't teach it in school (I didn't learn it at home), and I've been in school pretty much my entire life until three years ago. And by then I was married. He was doing all of that for us. Now I have a business to run and I'm just starting to get the basics down. I never had to do it until I owned a business. This is a BASIC LIFE SKILL that I basically didn't even hardly know about at all. Had no clue how complicated it could be, or how many different ways to do it that exist, or anything. Great.<br />
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4. Sh*t is complicated, y'all. Have you tried shopping for an individual health plan (most of you probably have an employer or spouse's employer who handles the majority of this for you...)?! Are you actually kidding me right now? There is absolutely NO WAY you can POSSIBLY compare various plans to each other. It's literally comparing apples to bananas to spaghetti squash. And the truth is, it's actually designed that way, which makes it even more frustrating. It's a confuse-opoloy. As a consumer, it's literally not even fair. What about taxes? Maybe you use TurboTax for your individual or joint return if you can do a simple 1040. Own a small local business with hundreds of thousands in cash flow per year and a few employees (and you're not actually an accountant)? GOOD LUCK. There's tens of thousands of pages of tax code, most of which should just be sent up in flames anyway, to be honest. Sure, some stuff is easy like just making sure the electric bill for your apartment is in your name. Great. Done. But there are a lot of things that are just complicated in life that I just wish I could ignore or do without, but because of adulting, must actually be dealt with. Those were just a couple examples. You catch my drift.<br />
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So those are a few of the reasons I feel I'm finding myself in my current position. Feeling really lonely. Feeling really inadequate. Flat out not good enough. Not smart enough. Not productive or efficient enough. I feel totally naive and uninformed and confused. Like I'm literally not equipped to be an adult. Like, who allowed me to be an adult? Clearly I wasn't ready, but now it's too late, right? This is where I am right now.<br />
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This is the jumping off point of my new life. The snowball started forming a couple years ago. It started rolling down the hill when I bought the business about a year ago. It became an avalanche about six months ago. And here we are. Here I am.<br />
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Thanks for reading, y'all. All three of you...haha. I know that was pretty depressing and sounded a whole lot like a pity party...but if you, too, feel like you're alone in this whole adulting thing, be assured I'm right here with you. Read along, friend, and we can get through this avalanche aftermath together.<br />
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<br />Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-67822587247332304692014-12-14T13:57:00.000-08:002014-12-14T13:57:14.042-08:00Christmas Crafting!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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WOW! It has been SO long since my last published post...if you actually read my stuff, thank you, and I apologize it's been so long. I appreciate that you actually check out my posts </div>
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All of you three readers know how much I love crafting, so you're not going to believe me when I tell you it had been literally months since I had gone to the craft store for more than just one specific item. Well, I went about two weeks ago and had an amazing time. I was there for over two hours! I think I circled the entire store at least three times, and perused several sections more than that. It was fantastic. I got some great ideas for projects I wanted to do, and got some supplies for a few of them and additional supplies to add to my armamentarium at home (like the jewelry findings and gift ribbon). The photo below is only about 3/4 of what I bought, because I got multiples of some things and I did get more jewelry making supplies but it would have been hard to see what they really were anyway. </div>
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So the yarn is going to be for a scarf; I need a brown scarf and have a pretty hard time finding exactly what I want and then have a hard time justifying buying it because I can make it...we've had this conversation before! The green scrap fabric is this really thick upholstery-type fabric almost, and I'm going to use it to cut out a mini tree skirt for our tiny table-top Christmas tree...if I ever get around to putting it up this year...haha! The beeswax is for candles, lip balms, and lotion bars. The feathers are for all sorts of things, but I saw these amazing ornaments at a store down the street (very posh home decor...) and couldn't bring myself to buy them - they had cool pheasant feathers and they were really neat blown glass shapes...so I thought, I'll just make something similar. I got some clear glass ornaments on the local Buy Nothing Facebook page, and put a few feathers inside each one. Similar enough, and super easy and cheap - not like the $30+ ones at the home store down the street! </div>
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The little package of the mini trees and wreath was SO cute, I just had to come up with a project for it. I first thought I'd do a shadow box type of project with them, holiday themed of course, but I couldn't find quite the right type of box I was thinking of. I wanted to decorate them somehow, so I got some really small fake pearl beads to glue on like they were ornaments or something. I got the moss to go in the bottom of whatever form of diorama I ended up making with the trees. Fast forward a couple days, I was at the Goodwill in the Central District (the best Goodwill ever, their Seattle Flagship store), and I found the perfect jar for the project! Just big enough for both of the little trees and the wreath, and just the right price - $2.99. I also scored some other amazing finds at Goodwill that day - love when that happens!</div>
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So below is the in-process photo, working on gluing the little pearl beads on the trees and wreath.<br />
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Yes, I still use Elmer's Glue, haha! Below was the part when I was trying to figure out if the trees were going to be very stable on the moss in the bottom of the jar, and just how much moss I should use and what would look good.<br />
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The two photos below are the finished product! I put three of the little feathers in the bottom as well, to add some more nature feel to the whole thing. I used clear fishing line to hang the wreath, and wound the end of it around the hardware that holds the lid on. The trees aren't standing perfectly straight up, but they weren't actually perfect even before I glued them to the moss, so I figured it would just have to work as long as they don't actually tip over.<br />
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So, there you have it! One of several project ideas I had while at the craft store, and the only one that's actually come to fruition so far. But I do have some hope that I'll actually get the tree skirt done and get our mini tree put up...and maybe the stockings too.<br />
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Well, thanks for reading friends! Until next time, and hopefully it won't be so many months until the next post! I honestly think about it, and have written several draft posts about some more serious life topics, but haven't actually posted them publicly. Hopefully following this holiday season I can increase my post frequency for you three readers ;)<br />
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Merry Christmas!<br />
<br />Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-13787805965403402002014-06-27T09:15:00.001-07:002014-06-27T10:15:47.762-07:00Hemp Milk and Multicultural CurlsWell hello friends!<div><br></div><div>It's been a while since my last post and I think I have even skipped a month of Birchbox product reviews. Here's why: I haven't been all that impressed with Birchbox lately. I love the idea. But my products started getting uninteresting to me. So I logged in and updated my preferences and profile, and I hope by next month I start getting products that I'm more interested in. I was getting too many hair products and body products that I don't use a whole lot, so I just sort of lost interest for a bit. </div><div><br></div><div>This month's box came last week, here's a pic: <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UHnadzKC340/U62YpvEbkzI/AAAAAAAAEIo/XseTSkVZgls/s640/blogger-image--583469307.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UHnadzKC340/U62YpvEbkzI/AAAAAAAAEIo/XseTSkVZgls/s640/blogger-image--583469307.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The theme was travel or something, so there was this passport thingy with a little quiz and info on how to enter a drawing for a travel certificate. Anyway, I'm going to quickly talk about a couple of the product samples. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The benefit They're Real! mascara is great - I've used it before, so this wasn't a new thing for me. I don't like the ingredients, but as a mascara in general, it's AMAZING. It defines individual lashes, makes them look like twice as long, and lasts all day and into the night. It will come off with lots of regular eye makeup remover, just be patient and switch to a new cotton ball when one is saturated. It literally makes your natural lashes look like you're wearing falsies, which you don't have to do with this mascara. That being said - I have pretty long and full eyelashes already, so I would be interested to hear from someone who has thinner and less full lashes. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The lotion: </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--4-KFGNVIL4/U62mt5hhTdI/AAAAAAAAEI4/1TZL6hdNBAI/s640/blogger-image--75715914.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/--4-KFGNVIL4/U62mt5hhTdI/AAAAAAAAEI4/1TZL6hdNBAI/s640/blogger-image--75715914.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The smell was nice without overpowering, not a horrible ingredients list, and it was nice and thick without feeling greasy. I think I got about three evenings of use out of the sample size, applying to hands and arms and legs and shoulders. It was about the size of a hotel lotion sample. Pretty good. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The hair product:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x_sOsAFanb8/U62mwR2i_6I/AAAAAAAAEJA/uScbPr5rFA8/s640/blogger-image--1621791554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x_sOsAFanb8/U62mwR2i_6I/AAAAAAAAEJA/uScbPr5rFA8/s640/blogger-image--1621791554.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">At first I was like "hmm, ok, I don't really have 'multicultural' hair," whatever it was referring to. I'm pretty darn white. With pretty darn white-girl hair. THIS IS THE BEST HAIR-SCRUNCHING PRODUCT EVER. No lie. This is amazing. Use a quarter size amount for almost-shoulder-length damp hair, let dry. This is fabulous. I've tried fancy scrunching creams, cheap scrunching sprays and all variety of styling mousses. This is the best. Whether I have "multicultural" hair or not, (and I know the package says it's really for all textures) I am seriously considering purchasing this product. I haven't worn my short hair in scrunched curls very often because I couldn't find a product that was sufficient in terms of weight, texture, doing what it says it does, holding curls all day, etc. Love this product. Buy it; I'm about to. Oh, and the size of the sample is HUGE! I thought I'd have to use a lot of the product, but I didn't, so now I've used it like four times and have at least enough for four more uses probably. Amazing. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">As far as the other two products:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">One is a shower gel, smells nice but I prefer Dr. Bronner's Castile soap. The sample size was really nice too, a little jogger than standard hotel sample size. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">The last item, the tiniest little tube in the photo of my whole box, is some wrinkle serum or something. I've used it but cannot speak to it's efficacy as the size of the sample is too small and I always forget to use it consistently. It's really smooth and doesn't smell bad or anything, both characteristics are sometimes hard to find. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">HEMP MILK. I am loving it. I use a brand called Tempt, unsweetened and without added flavor like vanilla or anything. I needed something to put in my tea when I worked one of the public health clinics last week, and I had a bunch of almond milk at home already so I thought I'd try hemp milk. I like this brand because, unlike every other brand of hemp milk, it does NOT have carageenan. Hemp milk is a bit thicker than almond milk (a huge plus for me, because my tea additive of choice is still heavy cream!) and tastes a but more earthy. Oh, and the reason I don't just use heavy cream is because I am doing the Whole30 for the month of June. So that means no dairy. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">So the other day I tried making my own little "creamer" by mixing half almond milk and half hemp milk, and have been trying it in a few different teas that I drink. It's working quite nicely as a universal dairy- and chemical-free creamer. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">There you have it! Thanks for reading, and until next time - make sure to schedule at least one weekend this summer where you can unplug. As soon as this post goes live, I'm off until Sunday. Enjoy!</div></div>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-80724898621229525722014-05-21T15:53:00.001-07:002014-05-21T15:53:11.518-07:00Kickstarter: Barbell ApparelHey all of you three readers, I've got something I just HAVE to share with you. <a href="http://kck.st/1jxbS5Y" target="_blank">THESE JEANS.</a> Barbell Apparel looks pretty stinking awesome, if you ask me.<br />
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I think most of us will readily admit to despising that event that must happen every couple of years...jeans shopping. Find your new favorite pair, buy two or three or eight of them, and then one day after you've started your new fitness regimen or had a baby or changed jobs or ate four bites of cake...BAM, your faves no longer fit. Better yet, you think they fit, and then you reach down to pet the dog and you hear that ominous "rrrriiiiiipppppppp." Threads shredding, splitting open the crotch or backside or even the knee. Then you spend a half hour changing your outfit to go with yoga pants instead of jeans just so you can go to the mall and curse at every single pair of jeans you try on. Best. Day. Ever. NOT.<br />
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For those of us who aren't built like toothpicks but aren't thick-boned either...you know, the right-in-the-middle-average-but-no-one-makes-clothes-for-the-average...it sucks. I'm sure it can suck for either end of the spectrum as well, but seriously, how many women are ACTUALLY the exact same pants size between their waist and their hips? My guess: not very many.<br />
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I found a great pair of Levi's at Costco once. It was great, they fit perfectly for like five years, and after I wore them for the first week I went back to buy another pair. They were less than $20, which, for favorite jeans, is unheard of. Recently I have tried on every single pair of Sevens and Levi's that Costco has had over the last year, and NONE OF THEM fit right. Banana Republic and Ann Taylor usually have pants that fit me pretty nicely, but jeans? Forget it. Paige Denim makes a pretty nice pair for curvy girls, but they're over $150 a pair, so that's kind of like saying, "hey, you're average so we're going to charge a premium because we can." And that's annoyingly expensive. I have a pair of them, but I definitely do not plan on buying a second pair, at least not for a very long time.<br />
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About a year ago I started really lifting - I mean, increasing my personal records by leaps and bounds, getting way stronger. Not just toned, actually making strength progress. I'm talking about going from squatting barely 45 lbs (on a "strong" day) to squatting my body weight plus 10 lbs, on a regular basis. Bench pressing, dead lifting, etc, all hitting personal records.<br />
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So, what happens when you really drop it like a squat?! It shows. Mostly in your butt. And you split the crotch of almost every pair of jeans you own, unless they're super stretchy or way too big to begin with. Which, I suppose, is entirely possible, because you will definitely reduce your pants size if/when you start lifting - and that's a promise. [Suggested reading: <a href="http://us8.campaign-archive1.com/?u=cb489f6973a55e83bf89363e5&id=10eb9e6747&e=b85f8284d8" target="_blank">10 Pounds Down (And Counting)</a>. Side note: <a href="http://www.jensinkler.com/" target="_blank">Jen Sinkler</a> is fantastic.]<br />
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The problem is, when your waist starts shrinking and you lose a bunch of body fat from lifting, usually your butt stays about the same, or gets a little bigger - only this time around, it's getting super muscular in addition to storing some necessary body fat (because that's just where women store it). So your pants don't fit anymore. Your waist is smaller, but you can't get those size 4s past your mid-thigh because you're strong. Your muscles are going to split those pants. Damn it. So you try the next size up, and a 6 snugly fits up around those thighs and booty, but then you get a nice big gap at your lower back and you're showing everyone your plummer's crack. And belts just end up looking stupid at that point, because they just make your pants bunch up all over the place and then you're not comfortable anyway.<br />
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The solution: Barbell Apparel's jeans.<br />
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<a href="http://kck.st/1jxbS5Y" target="_blank">I'm so stoked to try these jeans!!!</a> The Kickstarter campaign ends on Sunday the 25th, so if you are so inclined you better become a backer SOON! I chose the two-pair plus t-shirt option, because I wanted both the women's skinny and the women's bootcut pairs. They don't ship until July, and just thinking about waiting any longer is killing me. I have one pair of jeans that sort of fits and doesn't have a rip in it. I need to expand my casual wardrobe options, people.<br />
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<a href="http://kck.st/1jxbS5Y" target="_blank">I need these jeans.</a> And I bet you or someone you know could love these jeans as well.<br />
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Happy jeans shopping, friends! (Ha, ha, ha) I'm really hoping the Barbell Apparel jeans will be the end of my jeans-shopping misery!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-11326903480196981052014-04-28T13:38:00.002-07:002014-04-28T13:38:41.534-07:00Baby Shower ForecastNope, not MY baby shower (and none of that for me for a while!!), but one for a friend from dental school. Super cute. I wish I had taken photos of all the cute decor and cakes/cupcakes and games.<br />
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The hostess did a great job, and even admitted most of her ideas came from Pinterest - good news for all of us, haha, because basically it means we don't have to reinvent the wheel to host a great event - just follow tutorials and use printables and everything we can find on Pinterest.<br />
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The cake was super cute; I'll just have to describe it: three tiers, match the invitations. Theme was "You Are My Sunshine," so the top tier of the cake was red velvet cake covered in blue fondant with clouds on it. The middle tier was chocolate cake with white fondant and gray chevron stripes, and a little cutout paper attached that said "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray." The bottom tier was confetti cake with blue fondant with raindrops and an umbrella. I'm pretty sure there was a sun on there somewhere, but I can't remember. SO CUTE.<br />
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All of the cupcake toppers, activity sheets (bingo sheets, baby shower mad libs, and "wishes for baby" paper ornaments to hang on some branches) and invitations all matched and it was all so so cute!!<br />
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I got her several gift items, as usually happens with baby showers, and I wanted to avoid the giant gift bag because they're like $5-10 and what can you really do with them besides have the gift recipient use it again for the next baby shower they go to? So I prefer baskets or bins, and wanted to sort of match the theme a little bit as well.<br />
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Related tangent-rant: does anyone else absolutely hate going into Babies 'R Us? I literally cringe when I think about walking into that store and printing out a registry and trying to find the things on it. Awful. Horrible experiences, every time. I spend entirely too much time in that stupid store, and the things I end up buying are like alternative versions of the items on the registry because none of the stores EVER have the exact same items EVER. Ugh. Okay, done.<br />
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Anyway, they don't know the sex of the baby so everything was super neutral. I got them a set of washcloths with hooded towels, some rubber duckies for bathtime, Butt Paste (I buy this for literally every baby shower I go to), the book "I Love You Stinky Face" (another one I regularly give for baby shower gifts and first birthdays, etc), and a couple of those dangly plush toys that hang from the carseat handle.<br />
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So...with a random grouping of items that would have been difficult to wrap in paper (not to mention I can't stand wrapping paper...), and not wanting to buy a gift bag, I opted for one of those cloth bins from Target! I found the perfect neutral color, too - yellow! And it had a little circle window in one of the sides of it, so I decided, hey, I'm going to use those little yellow duckies as decoration!<br />
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Here's the finished product:<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ey0SEhqd9Y8/U167ORcsDBI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/IHi6D8WUjaY/s1600/IMG_1838.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ey0SEhqd9Y8/U167ORcsDBI/AAAAAAAAEFQ/IHi6D8WUjaY/s1600/IMG_1838.JPG" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
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I'm not super great at making tissue paper look all good and cute, but this turned out pretty okay!<br />
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I made the card, but totally copied it from one I saw at Target that had buttons floating around in the little umbrella on the front. It was more than $4, and I thought that just asinine, so I decided to make my own. I used an exacto-knife to cut out an umbrella shape from a white piece of cardstock, then glued that to a seafoam green/blue paper with white polka dots, then glued that to the front of a white blank card. The front says "Baby shower forecast..." and the inside says (wait for it...wait for it...it's SO CUTE!!!) "Showers of love with a 100% chance of joy!"<br />
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So stinkin' cute, I thought. Maybe you don't think it's as cute as I think it is, but that's ok, haha!<br />
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Anyway, that's my latest miniature craft project and event. Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading, and until next time - ciao!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-64234121970853885542014-04-28T13:07:00.001-07:002014-04-28T13:07:02.801-07:00This Is Important<a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">This is important.</a><br />
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I have to warn you that this post is going to be a bit rant-y and probably a bit depressing. I just HAVE to <a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">share this podcast</a> with you all, because to me, the message it sends is SO SO important. This has nothing to do with the fact that I belong to this "paleo" or "primal" community; this has everything to do with the fact that the guest on this particular episode of my favorite podcast has done so much work to get the information he has uncovered, and <a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">I NEED to share this</a>. I am so passionate about REAL and accessible information, that I feel it would be borderline criminal to have listened to this podcast and not share it with people.<br />
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Just a quick note: it's going to sound like I'm on some sort of soap box and think that I'm perfect and I've found the answer to amazing health and all of that...I have NOT, and do not think anything about me or my choices is perfect; we all have our vices and adjustments we've made in our own lives to make our own lifestyles work, one way or the other. This is in no way meant to insult anyone or their choices; my main concern here is sharing this information. As if I have enough followers to reach anyone, haha, but hey...this is the internet. Endless possibilities, right? Haha. The main thing I want is to <a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">SHARE THIS PODCAST</a> with anyone and everyone who might consider listening. Here we go...<br />
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So a lot of the episode is about running and metabolic damage. If you are an avid runner or are totally set in your belief that running is THE WAY to get healthy...maybe you shouldn't listen to that part. Actually, maybe you should. But running is so ingrained as "the American way" to get healthy, and we believe so deeply that cardio is the only way to lose weight and burn fat and all of these things...this message is going to be hard to swallow. It took me over a year to wrap my brain around the fact that this is metabolically damaging, and to this day I struggle to get the thoughts OUT of my head that tell me I should do a 5k or go to a spin class four or five days a week, or whatever.<br />
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Moving on...the conversation is great leading up to all of that, and immediately following they start talking about the health care system and the money behind prevention versus treatment of conditions we bring upon ourselves due to lifestyle, etc. Tidbits on how expensive this all is, information that just isn't getting out to the general public, things we want to deny and just pretend aren't there, etc. Talking about trying to affect change, trying to positively help people change for the better, etc...I mean, what does it take to convince someone to change their LIFESTYLE? For so many people, a pill from Big Pharma is the answer they're looking for. And then everything gets more expensive for everyone. Literally, everyone pays for this. Okay, moving on again...<br />
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The part that really started getting to me was when they started the discussion about cancer.<br />
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Cancer.<br />
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It's the word that we're all afraid of. I think it would be pretty safe to say that the vast majority of us have known at least one person who has had some form of cancer.<br />
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Cancer is a metabolic disease. It does not matter what form of cancer we are talking about - it is, at its basis, cells behaving inappropriately. The normal metabolic behavior of cells has been destroyed. Mitochondrial function, cell replication, and the genetic implications of all of that have resulted in whatever form of cancer we're talking about. Of course, there is a lot of information about cancer and different types of cancer that I'm not going to talk about here, because let's be honest - I'm pretty sure none of you three readers are going to want to read it, and there is simply entirely too much information for me to ever even read and understand myself. So I leave that up to Kiefer and Jason Seib and Robb Wolf.<br />
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Back to the conversation in the podcast, and the underlying theme of the conversation about cancer - it's carbohydrates, guys. Sugar. In whatever form you want it, carbs are the most important factor in cancer. James Watson, anyone? 20 years of cancer research, and he's not the only one who came to this conclusion. As a metabolic disease, cancer literally cannot live without carbs. In fact, it shrinks and even dies without carbs. Humans can live in ketosis, meaning our normal metabolism can function and even thrive without (or with very little) carbs.<br />
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I'm not going to get into how vegetables are carbs (wanna compare carb content in two cups of broccoli versus two slices of bread?) or how this or that or the other thing is "protective" against cancer (think: tomatoes, red wine, whatever else). There are plenty of links in the right hand module to the websites I follow, so you can go read about that yourselves.<br />
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My recommendations, if you want to read about the metabolic effects of high carbohydrate foods, etc, are <a href="http://robbwolf.com/" target="_blank">Robb Wolf</a> and <a href="http://chriskresser.com/" target="_blank">Chris Kresser</a>. Use the search features on their websites. Also, <a href="http://body.io/" target="_blank">Kiefer's website</a> is full of additional information as well. Another source of a wealth of information is <a href="http://thepaleodiet.com/" target="_blank">Loren Cordain</a>.<br />
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That's going to be the end of this post, because I don't want to keep ranting about the whole thing - the podcast does an awesome job of addressing attempts to get this information out there, touches on some great information in general, and puts the idea into our heads about what we are doing to ourselves and how we've become so brainwashed into believing that what the government and mainstream health education tells us is "healthy."<br />
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My point is that, while we may not have a cure for cancer, we have SO MUCH IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT CANCER that we are not using. And we aren't sharing it with anyone, either. Mainstream treatment for most cancers is: surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. And yet things continue to get worse on the cancer front.<br />
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<a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST.</a><br />
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<a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">But seriously, listen.</a> It's so, so, so important. I know women who have had breast cancer. My FIL had colon cancer that metastasized to his lungs, pancreas, and bone. My dad's best friend had some form of bone cancer with all sorts of metastases, my friend's brother had osteosarcoma. A family member has a rare invasive tumor inside the head. A close friend had testicular cancer. I'm not trying to one-up your personal experiences with cancer, I'm saying WE ALL KNOW SOMEONE.<br />
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<a href="http://eplifefit.com/2014/04/08/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-84/" target="_blank">So please. Listen.</a>Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-44005939783643085162014-04-23T15:29:00.000-07:002014-04-23T15:29:08.637-07:00Cleansers and Masks and Moisturizers, Oh My!I'm off work today. In fact, I'm off for the rest of this week. Pretty sweet after poor doggy girl was stuck in her crate for 13 hours yesterday since Husband is out of town and Tuesdays are my longest work days EVER. So exhausting. At least I got a fifteen minute walk in the sun over my lunch break...? <div>
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I'm so sore from Monday's Warrior Woman session! WOW. Oh hey, butt and thighs, haven't done that in a while, have we? Maxed out squats (135 lbs) and bench press (85 lbs). Not horrible for feeling super weak since I haven't been to a Warrior Woman class in almost a whole month. I tell you, though, going up and down stairs and trying to get up from chairs right now...haha. It's intense. Hurts so good.</div>
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Let's move on, shall we? I've been promising a post about non-Birchbox beauty products for a looooong while now, and finally have decided to sit down to do it! Here we go! I'm going to start with skin care products:</div>
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I have used Mary Kay skin care products literally since I was 12. It was the first brand I used when I started washing my face with something other than water. I always resisted it, because I thought it was for old ladies and my mom was a consultant and so I thought I'd be rebellious and make her buy me Clean & Clear (the absolute WORST kind of thing to do to your skin, ever...ugh so dry and bad...). So once I realized what that crap was doing to my skin, of course I switched to Mary Kay's teen skin care line, Velocity. Then I moved on to the TimeWise 3-in-1 cleanser and moisturizer. Both of those systems are really good for what their purpose is - I didn't use the TimeWise Day and Night Solutions religiously, just sometimes, but they were good additions to the cleanser and moisturizer. I like it because it's relatively gentle, doesn't make your face feel all tight and dry after washing and rinsing, and the moisturizers are soft and work well.<br />
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When Mary Kay came out with this TimeWise Repair Volu-Firm Set a couple years ago, I had to try it. The cleanser was even better than the regular TimeWise cleanser I was using before, and I loved the Volu-Firm Lifting Serum - super smooth and silky, and made my skin feel new. Then there was the day cream with sunscreen, which was not my favorite. Felt like it sort of just sat on top of my skin rather than soaking in, and actually would sort of pill up underneath my makeup as I was putting foundation on, so I ended up flaking a lot of it off - at least that's what it seemed like. Does that make sense? The night treatment with retinol was pretty great though, thick but not oily or greasy, felt like it was really doing a nice job of moisturizing my skin. The dispensers for both the day and night creams were pretty annoying. There was also the eye renewal cream, supposedly to reduce the crow's feet lines in the outer corners of the skin around the eyes, and boost firmness in all the delicate and thin skin around the eyes in general. This felt nice, but I don't know that I have an opinion about how well it actually works.<br />
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Overall, I liked this system of skin care. I never felt like my skin was dry, but always felt that the cleanser removed my makeup effectively. The different creams and serums didn't really take any longer than my normal cleanser and moisturizer plus face cream routine, so that was definitely a plus. For the record, I have stopped using this in favor of trying different systems that contain less chemicals and preservatives.<br />
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I got these samples at one of my trips to Sephora. There is a facial mask and an eye mask. The facial mask felt pretty good, my face felt super clean and exfoliated and new after I used it. It did feel slightly harsh, but I used some pretty great moisturizer afterwards (can't remember exactly which one I used now, but it was probably one of the Birchbox ones I liked so much). The eye mask...ouch. I'm not actually sure what it was supposed to be doing, but it did not feel awesome on that delicate around-the-eye skin. Kind of stung actually. I don't think I left it on as long as it said to, because I didn't want to be hurting that skin without a proper moisturizer to use afterwards.<br />
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This was another sample from Sephora. Actually, this might have been the one I used after the GlamGlow face mask above...but I can't remember. It wasn't too thick, nice and smooth, but nothing to write home about. There are plenty of nice moisturizers out there, including plain old coconut oil, which is what I'm moving more towards now.<br />
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However, I will tell you what did NOT work with my skin: Josie Maran Argan Oil. Talk about some serious clogged pores and break outs. It felt super nice, but it definitely made my problem skin WORSE. I gave it a few weeks, too, and it was not good. Maybe when my hormones are more under control I will try it again because it does feel AWESOME, but definitely not again anytime soon.<br />
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These were on clearance at Target (I think) a couple months ago, so I figured I'd try them. I like cleansing cloths for taking camping, especially when we go someplace hot in the summer that requires multiple sunscreen applications throughout the day, because I just cannot wait to get that GUNK off my face at the end of the day! And let's face it, toiletries requiring some form of water or wet washcloth or something are really annoying on a camping trip. These are good for that purpose. In general, facial cleansing towelettes (both Burt's Bees and the Mary Kay ones I have) leave my face more dry than I like it, but bringing my regular moisturizer or coconut oil on a camping trip isn't a big deal for me since I usually need some lotion on the rest of my body as well.<br />
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This is my newest adventure in varieties of skin care: DeVita Natural Skin Care Aloe Vera Moisture Cleanser. I found it at Pharmaca, and it's paraben-free and safe for gluten-sensitive skin (which mine definitely is - as evidenced by my itchy eczema break outs after eating just about any form of gluten in an amount larger than two or three bites). The ingredients list is mostly essential oils and extracts, and it's touted as being 100% vegan (which I don't actually care about, but likely ensures higher quality sourced ingredients than larger brands laden with chemicals). I've been using it for three days, and last night I used ONLY this cleanser and plain coconut oil to follow, and this morning woke to find my recently very problematic skin looking and healing significantly better than it was just last weekend. So, good news for this brand so far. It's super gentle, doesn't foam much but that's not a huge deal to me. It's also not a cream, but again, doesn't matter much to me. My skin feels clean afterward without feeling dry or taught.<br />
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A few notes to add:<br />
I previously have used Mary Kay Oil-Free Eye Makeup Remover EXCLUSIVELY since...literally since I started wearing mascara, so probably since I was about 14. Even if I didn't wear eyeshadow or eyeliner, I usually wore mascara and would need eye makeup remover, and the MK was THE PRODUCT. I still recommend it to anyone and everyone who doesn't like their current eye makeup remover, and even to those of you who think you like yours. The MK one is great. I have tried several other brands, both expensive and relatively cheap, and none of them compares. Until I started using just coconut oil. Yup, plain old coconut oil; put a little bit on my finger, smear all over my eyelid, above and below, and get it on my lashes, and then wipe it all off with a cotton ball. It's AMAZING, you guys. Seriously. Looks like it makes a mess, but comes off SO nice and clean in the end, especially after rinsing or cleansing as well. Pretty awesome.<br />
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Like I said, I've switched to almost exclusively coconut oil as a moisturizer, too. Super awesome for any skin on the body, non comedogenic, safe around eyes, smells nice, and just all around great.<br />
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So, since I started with skin care in this post, the next one will include some makeup products I've tried recently. Might be up later today, or might not be up til tomorrow. We'll see.<br />
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It's time for me to get outside and take Tiny Girl out for her walk! She's getting antsy, and I am too.<br />
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Until next time, y'all, thanks for reading!<br />
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Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-38838964055894004662014-04-21T12:06:00.001-07:002014-04-21T12:12:25.467-07:00Crafty Afternoons and Cinnamon Butter PopcornHappy spring, lovelies! I haven't posted a non-Birchbox/beauty product-related entry in a while, so HERE WE GO! Finally.<br />
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Setting aside time for myself is a huge part of stress management for me, but just setting that time aside isn't good enough. I have to seriously be involved ONLY in that activity for that time, whatever I've allotted that time for. I have a hard time just thinking about the activity I'm doing, and engrossing myself in it without feeling guilty about the business- or dentistry-oriented activities I could be doing otherwise. Unfortunately, that just adds to the cycle of poor stress management, and makes things that much worse.<br />
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Fortunately, I finally decided to begin organizing fairly regular group crafting events. I know, I know...add another responsibility, and surely stress levels will go up. Well, yes, there is the time spent trying to organize a date and time that will work for a small group of busy women, and then there is the decision about what project to do, and maybe stopping by the craft store to get a few things, but overall it's been great for me so far. I've only held two events, but they have literally made the difference in starting the following week off with a more positive attitude. It really helps to have at least one other person there enjoying the allotted time with me, it keeps everyone on track and adds a social component to the dedicated time.<br />
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The first crafty afternoon was back in March, and we had several girls show up - one I graduated high school with, the rest I went to elementary and middle school with, and one girl brought her sister in law. My mom was also there, since it was at her house. It was a great afternoon! I decided to kind of copy a piece of art I saw on Pinterest, except instead of making it a graphic print I did it all by hand in watercolor paint. I found a Google image of the Seattle skyline that I liked, used it as a silhouette, traced it onto watercolor paper (same method as my previous watercolor project with the posterized photos of the kids), freehand sketched the umbrella and letters, then painted. The whole project, I knew there was something about the quote that was SO familiar, I could almost hear the song in my head, and then a friend reminded me it was Shirley Manson from Garbage :) Perfect! Below is my finished project, unframed still because I don't actually have a place to hang it in my apartment right now...<br />
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I shared the photo on Facebook and a friend was so excited about it that I painted another one and sent it to him as a surprise! Truly Seattle, skyline and umbrella and rain reference, plus the fact that it's a total grunge reference too! Still love this, even though I can't take credit for the design idea. Just made it custom for myself, what with watercolor and all.<br />
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When I was shopping for some random project ideas and supplies for that craft party, I came across a couple cute home decor things at Big Lots. Now, I've said this before, but no matter how cheap a cute thing is, I always look at it and think "can I make that? I think I probably can, so I can't justify buying it..." Hahaha, SO, that's what happened at Big Lots. Below left is the photo of the thing from Big Lots, and below right is the one I made myself and filled with a bunch of shells I had in a shoebox from years ago. I currently have the jar's original lid on, and my ultimate goal for that is to drill a hole in the middle of the lid, paint it ocean blue, and attach a fun drawer pull knob to the top so it's all cute. I love PNW-themed things and anything beach or ocean related - so naturally, this piece of decor HAD to find a place in my home somehow. And I made it for free, because who doesn't have an extra jar, I had a thing of jute already, plus a ton of shells I've collected over the years from beach combing.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Big Lots, $6 or $8, I can't remember.</td></tr>
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The second crafty afternoon I had was just over a week ago, and only one other lady could come, but we both worked on similar projects. She was reorganizing a ton of photos from her year in the Peace Corps for a big digital scrapbook, and I was working on my Ireland/Scotland scrapbook with photos and journaling from a trip I took almost NINE years ago...wow. So behind on these things...but hey, I got a couple of page spreads done in a few hours, and the other girl and I took advantage of catching up with each other (hadn't seen each other since college!) and thoroughly enjoyed each others' company.</div>
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So, planning craft parties is one of the ways I've been working on stress management - incorporating time for crafting, because I do love being creative in those ways.</div>
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A couple months ago I had also started yoga at the gym I go to, once a week. I'm most definitely NOT a yoga person - I think the way we've made it almost competitive and impossible for the average person here in America is just ridiculous. Whatever happened to listening to your body, doing the moves that are comfortable for your body and modifying as necessary, and MEDITATION? I mean, isn't that the whole point of yoga in the first place? Anyway, the yoga instructor at our gym is fantastic, but unfortunately a few weeks after I started the classes I had to quit because I see patients until an hour prior to the start of the class, and have to finish charts after that, plus commute home...so there isn't really a way for me to get there ever. Fabulous. But on the bright side, I have a consistent part time job now!! Definitely helps with the financial stress we've been under since we moved back to Seattle. Direct deposit every two weeks is a beautiful thing.</div>
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Speaking of my consistent part time job ruining my gym schedule, it really screwed up my Warrior Woman (strength training) schedule too! So not utilizing my gym membership to its potential in addition to seeing my gym performance decline slightly, was another stressor. So, I sat down with the owner of the gym and figured out another way - AND, they are adding another Warrior Woman series to the schedule so I will be able to join that one. I also added boxing into my training regimen. Love it. </div>
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So, I've done some really effective things as far as stress management over the last few months. Other minor things I've added in are: more walking around the neighborhood (more walking in general - even at the grocery store I park about as far away as possible and take the stairs most of the time for everything), more reading books before bed, decluttered our apartment a bit more (it's definitely a work in progress, but it's getting there), cuddling the dog more, and saying "no" to more things. </div>
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Last week, I also was quite aggressive in an email to a company I rely on for web development and marketing for my business. They are pretty expensive, but the first live version they posted was a JOKE - I'm not even kidding, from some minor spelling and grammar errors, to NOT even posting my business phone number and address - with multiple email attempts at getting some of those issues corrected and seeing NO changes in three days, I finally went ahead and made a shared Google doc with all of my issues, drafted a very brief and sharp email attached to it, sent it to five people instead of just my main project manager at the company, and low and behold - within two hours of me sending that email they had held a meeting specifically for MY project, and fixed several issues already. The rest of that day was spent addressing other issues and continuing work on the subpage content. I have a phone conference with them later this week to review other recent updates and go over what comes next, and hopefully they'll start the tutorial on my dashboard site so that I can review ROI for the webpage and everything. </div>
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In addition, I am finally on track with a graphic designer and should therefore have a logo and all my print products (stationary, etc.) really soon. Just in time for my Valpak to hit mailboxes.</div>
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Summary of the previous two paragraphs: being passive-aggressive as is very typical of almost any PNW-er does NOT bode well for stress management. I organized my concerns, was extremely firm in presenting those concerns, and followed through. This resulted in better efficiency and productivity, and therefore decreased my stress that much more. It was awesome.</div>
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Now, if only that would actually affect my skin health in a positive way too. Ugh. I still think my lady hormones are all sorts of screwed up, and am trying my best with sleep management and eating clean, but I still have just AWFUL break outs about the same time every month. Driving me crazy. I'm currently in the process of changing cleansers for good, and moisturizer as well, so hopefully that will help reduce some of the surface inflammation that's contributing to it. But I know I need better hormone regulation from the inside as well. Lots of experimenting still to do.</div>
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On that note, the next post will be about some products that I have tried outside of my Birchbox subscription (i.e. some of my favorite Mary Kay products, coconut oil, various gift sets and trial sizes of things on sale at Sephora and others, etc.).</div>
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OH, but I almost forgot - I made delicious stovetop popcorn while Husband was gone a couple weeks ago, and made it again yesterday. A quick how-to:</div>
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2 Tbsp coconut oil</div>
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2 Tbsp grass-fed butter</div>
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4 handfuls popping corn</div>
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Put the oil and butter in the pot and let it start to melt, then add the popping corn and salt and cinnamon. Once it starts to pop, start rotating the handle of the pot so none of it sticks to the bottom and burns. Once popping decreases to about a single pop per two or three seconds, it's about ready. Dump in a giant bowl and EAT ALL OF IT BECAUSE IT IS SO GOOD.</div>
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I enjoyed some yesterday with my afternoon (iced) tea. While cuddling with the dog on a giant blanket on the floor. It was great. I hope you do the same!</div>
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Hope you are all well, thanks for reading, and get ready for some more beauty products next time!</div>
Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-87092026544974839972014-03-27T13:30:00.000-07:002014-03-27T13:30:09.827-07:00March Birchbox Product Reviews and Google DriveHi everyone, so great news - I have discovered Google Drive. Hahahaha, I know, right?!<br />
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I went to download the iOS update for my phone, and of course there wasn't enough room on my phone for it, so I had to delete like half my photos (but I definitely uploaded them into iPhoto first...). Then, after uploading to my computer, my computer needed to be updated also, and then it started really screwing up and telling me there wasn't enough room on my startup disk and that it's running out of room to run things from and all of that - so I needed someplace to store all my photos that I don't have hard copies of yet...which is, like, almost all of them, haha. Lots of my photos I can delete after I use them, like the ones I take for the blog, and I obviously make CDs of the catalogues of photos from huge life events like graduation and wedding candids and stuff like that, but I had about a gazillion other photos that I couldn't bear to delete forever but also haven't found a "home" for yet. So I asked some friends what they recommend, and ended up trying out Google Drive. I installed in on my computer, and on my phone, so hopefully when I move photos into those folders they are stored someplace that's NOT my computer disk or my phone...right? Please, someone techy and smart out there, please please confirm this for me? I know I'm not tech savvy, but seriously I should at least be able to figure out if they're still taking up a bunch of disk space on my computer...right?<br />
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Anyway, I'm excited to have some form of cloud storage for all my photos because they sure do take up a LOT of memory on these new fangled tech gadgets we all have. Holy cannoli.<br />
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I'm assuming you probably didn't come here to read about my adventures with Google Drive, so I'll get to the reviews of my March Birchbox products. Below is a photo of my March Bb:<br />
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1. Air Repair Rescue Balm</div>
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2. COOLA Tinted Matte SPF 30 for Face</div>
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3. Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper</div>
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4. Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator</div>
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5. Mighty Leaf Tea Pouches (Organic Earl Grey, Green Tea Tropical, Chamomile Citrus)</div>
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BONUS! A treat from Ghirardelli: Cherry Tango Intense Dark Chocolate square</div>
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1. Air Repair Rescue Balm: "Balms away! This all-natural salve repairs dry, cracked skin anywhere on the body. Dab onto chapped lips, cuticles, hands, elbows, and knees."</div>
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This product feels really smooth and moisturizing, not too heavy although does feel like it can heal super dry areas. I used it on my cuticles and a couple areas on my face that had some dry patches forming. I did not use it on my lips because it's kind of funny smelling and I didn't want to have it right under my nose to have to smell it. I have only used it before going to bed because it doesn't really soak in like a lotion would, it's definitely a healing balm similar to Vaseline or something like that. I do like how it works, but I don't think it necessarily works BETTER than other similar products. I think I prefer Mary Kay's Extra Emollient Night Cream, it smells nicer and does the same thing.</div>
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2. COOLA Tinted Matte SPF 30 for Face: "Organic tinted moisturizer with lasting sun protection that evens tone and masks flaws. Smooth a thin layer onto clean skin."</div>
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When this first came, I totally thought it would be a horrible color because I'm SO fair. I don't use sunscreen a whole lot anymore because I really need the vitamin D for my mood and mental health (more on that in another post on stress management), so I kind of wish this was SPF 15 instead of 30 because I will more than likely be using up this whole thing in the next couple of weeks. It's super super light, has just enough tint to even my skin tone so it's not so pink-splotchy, and it doesn't smell funny like a lot of sunscreens do. It's touted as organic, and sure it has some organic ingredients, but let's be clear - chemical sunscreens are not exactly good for our bodies - there is evidence that these chemicals easily travel transdermally and can affect our endocrine systems (think: hormones...not something I want to screw with anymore). So, whether "organic" or not, I'm not a fan of sunscreens in general anymore. I do, however, need some sort of protection from long periods in the sun, because I am so fair and a bad sunburn is worse than the bad things about sunscreen, in my opinion. Anyway, I was pretty surprised this product doesn't feel greasy at all and it feels like it just soaks into the skin, leaving a very-well-blended, more even tone. It doesn't smear funny or anything either, which is great - it spreads out really nicely.</div>
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3. Curly Hair Solutions Curl Keeper: "This water-based, weightless styling lotion keeps curls shiny, defined, and frizz-free. Comb through wet hair from roots to ends."</div>
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This sample was HUGE...a tiny tiny bit of this serum goes a LONG way. I'll probably get at least 6 uses out of it, I've only used it twice so far and it still feels almost full. That said, I don't think this is like a super awesome product. It's just sort of...meh. Maybe it's meant for super curly hair that is frizzy, to help hold tighter curls in place without reacting to humidity; my hair isn't super curly but has some significant waves. It does tend to frizz a little bit, but maybe not enough to notice the effects of this product? I dunno, I'm not that impressed. Today I used it in combination with my Beauty Protect spray in conditioner (from my December Birchbox), and I'm pretty sure my hair only really feels the effects of the conditioner. Curly Hair Solutions: not for me.</div>
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4. Vasanti Cosmetics BrightenUp! Enzymatic Face Rejuvenator: "This powerful exfoliator mimics the results of professional microdermabrasion, minus the potential for redness and sensitivity. Three to five times a week, wet your face and massage a pea-sized amount into skin; rinse off."</div>
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I used to use the Mary Kay TimeWise Microdermabrasion set that had two steps: the microderm scrub, followed by the replenishing moisturizer designed to help skin heal from the microderm. Let's be real here, microdermabrasion is designed to remove the top layer of the skin, which is dead skin cells anyway, BUT they are protective. When we remove them, skin can be easily irritated. Yes, it makes your skin look new and fresh, but the potential for irritation is high. The Vasanti BrightenUp! is pretty great in my opinion. It's not as harsh as the Mary Kay MDA, but it also didn't come with a post-MDA moisturizer like MK does, so I still need to apply my normal moisturizer after using it. (They may make a moisturizer to use afterwards, I just don't have it since it didn't come in my Birchbox.) I use it in the shower so I'm not tempted to scrub harder by using a washcloth over the sink. My skin doesn't get as irritated with this as it used to with too-frequent of use of the Mary Kay kind. The Vasanti also smells pretty good. For a MDA product, I like this quite a bit.</div>
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5. Mighty Leaf Tea Pouches (Organic Earl Grey, Green Tea Tropical, Chamomile Citrus)</div>
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Mighty Leaf is pretty much whole leaf tea in separate bags so you don't need your own tea-steeping filter thing. I have only tried the Earl Grey so far, but it was pretty darn good. I like tea quite a bit, but I'm usually not a fan of Earl Grey. I prefer Irish Breakfast, Chai, or other black breakfast teas - normally Earl Grey doesn't brew strong enough for me. Mighty Leaf, though, was really delicious. I used a single teabag to brew my entire normal tea pot worth of tea, and I enjoyed it all morning with my half-almond-milk-half-heavy-cream mixture (I know, I'm weird about that, but it's how I like it). I'm looking forward to trying the energizing Green Tea Tropical and relaxing Chamomile Citrus flavors, given that I know they will brew nice and strong and flavorful. I may enjoy Mighty Leaf quite a bit, but on the Birchbox website this tea is $9.95 for only 15 teabags...!!! For those of you who know me, that's much too expensive when I can enjoy my standard Trader Joe's Irish Breakfast Tea for the discount price of $3 for 80 teabags...just saying. My other fave Irish Breakfast Tea is Barry's (actually an Irish company, makes it all that much better, too), which I believe is about $10 for 80 teabags on Amazon...? Also not a bad price considering it's ACTUALLY IRISH!</div>
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BONUS! A treat from Ghirardelli: Cherry Tango Intense Dark Chocolate square</div>
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This little morsel was delicious! The "intense dark" was the best part, I think, because it made it not too sweet, so it was definitely enjoyable with wine - those of you who have been to wine tastings or dinners with my mom, you'll know she LOVES to bring up the fact that wine and chocolate don't actually go together unless you've got either a SUPER sweet wine (generally not all that great...) or a VERY dark (and therefore, bitter) chocolate. This chocolate flavor was just the right amount of bitter to pair with the wine I happened to have open, and the sweetness I felt really just came from the bits of cherry, so it still went well with the wine. Pretty fantastic. The ingredients list was short and not full of chemicals, too, so yes, I might be inclined to purchase a box of these sometime in the future for a party or hostess gift. Probably not from Birchbox because let's face it, Target carries Ghirardelli and who can resist a trip to Target? NOT THIS GIRL!</div>
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Alright, so there you have it: my March Birchbox products and a little blurb about computer troubles, haha! Next up will be a discussion of some other products that I acquired via Sephora samplers and some other products I have used in the past. Also coming up: new job, less stress, managing stress, etc etc etc. Wow, so many changes have occurred in the last month or so, and they have been GREAT. So, my stress level has fallen SHARPLY. Always good. More on that in future posts!</div>
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Until then, friends, be well and take care! Oh, and feel free to share any info on your own Birchbox products, and check out my girl over at <a href="http://betterinrealife.com/2014/03/beauty-products-review-512/" target="_blank">I'm Better In Real Life</a> for some additional product reviews and general life banter that is fun to read!</div>
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<br />Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-60265797995013799632014-03-02T12:22:00.002-08:002014-03-03T16:38:03.629-08:00February Birchbox and Some Housekeeping/AnnouncementsHappy Sunday to you all! It has been a while since my last post, and also a while since I actually received my February Birchbox, but I couldn't write any reviews until I had actually used all the products, so here we are.<br />
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A few things to note/upcoming posts/random thoughts before I jump into Feb's Bb.<br />
1. I have managed to collect a bunch of additional cosmetics/skin care items that I've started trying in addition to my Bb stuff, and I will be reviewing several items in a couple more posts. I'm excited to share some great products I've found and my experience with a bunch of new products!<br />
2. I do have every intention of continuing posts about other things in life also, I just have been SUPER busy getting an additional part-time job! Woop! Predictable income that will help me fund my own slowly growing practice, and participate more predictably in funding our household as well. FINALLY something consistent.<br />
3. These next couple of weeks are going to be super crazy with starting the new consistent part-time job, so bear with me - I'll have some updates on stress management and how it's been affecting me.<br />
4. Speaking of stress management, other topics I'll be discussing in the near future include: sleep, acne, performance at the gym, food experiments, and some amazing podcasts I've been listening to lately - so, basically, my lifestyle, what I've been doing to try to improve it, and some good resources for you if you are so inclined to check them out.<br />
5. Also related to stress, I have gone to yoga several times in the last two months (if you know me, I'm NOT a yoga person at all, so this is a big deal), and it's been pretty awesome. I'll have a tidbit about that as well, if not on its own then with the stress management stuff.<br />
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I think that's about all of the random things I needed to say...without making this post FOREVER long, let's get to the Birchbox products!!! (below photo pulled from Birchbox)<br />
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The items I received were:<br />
1. Beauty Protector Protect & Oil hair oil<br />
2. Cynthia Rowley Liquid Eyeliner in Black Ink<br />
3. Harvey Prince Hello fragrance<br />
4. Previse HydroMilk moisturizer<br />
5. Ruby Wing Color Changing Nail Polish in Ride 'Em Cowgirl<br />
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1. Beauty Protector hair oil: "This just-for-you hair oil defends against UV rays, heat, and breakage. Work 1-3 drops into damp hair, or to the ends of dry hair. Perfect for all hair types."<br />
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If you read the review of my December Birchbox items, you will know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Beauty Protector products - my December box had the spray-in conditioner in the red bottle, and it's amazing. I still love it, though I have found I use significantly less than I did the first time I used it - I need my hair to go at least two days in between washings, so more than three spritzes of the conditioner was weighing my hair down too much. Anyway, this oil is pretty fantastic as well. It makes my hair feel awesomely soft and healthy. I like that a little bit goes a long way; I don't think I would purchase this product simply because I already have the spray-in conditioner which, as an added bonus, is actually a detangler, duh...so I prefer products that detangle in addition to protecting and making my hair feel soft and great. Beauty Protector products are reasonably priced in the $20-30 range depending on the product; if I did not already have the spray-in conditioner, $21.95 for this hair oil would not be unreasonable to me.<br />
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2. Cynthia Rowley Liquid Eyeliner in Black Ink: "Ultraprecise, smudgeproof liner from the designer's just-launched makeup line. Gently trace upper lash line from inner to outer corner. Lightly stipple bottom lash line."<br />
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The texture (is that the right word) of this eyeliner is pretty great. It goes on really smooth, I wasn't fighting for the color to be consistent when I was making the line on my eyelid, like some pencils can be, and I wasn't really struggling much with the fact that it was liquid either - I'm notorious for sucking at applying liquid eyeliner. What I didn't really like so much about this was the applicator itself - did your mom ever have those, like, feather tipped markers to use on rubber stamps to color the stamp different colors before stamping on a card or whatever? Do you know what I'm talking about? Haha, anyway, the tip applicator for this eyeliner is really long and feather-like, so I had a hard time using it because it was too flimsy at the very end. Maybe if you're a pro at using liquid liner, you wouldn't have this problem. I am still searching for an eyeliner that is super easy to use (pencil OR liquid, don't care), doesn't smear all over my eyelid as soon as I open my eye, and doesn't scratch my eyelid during application (some of my pencils do that, and it's bugging me). Also, I'm moving more towards products without parabens and phthalates anyway, and this does not fall into that category. This product was "meh" for me, and not worth the $18 for a full sized package.<br />
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3. Harvey Prince Hello fragrance: "Best-selling spritz that mingles cheerful citrus with floral notes. Well, hello there!"<br />
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Sorry the photo quality of this is not awesome (this goes for all the photos taken in my bathroom, actually...). So, this fragrance is pretty great! I like how it smells on me, it's citrus-y AND floral, without being sweet or overpowering, and the price for a full-sized bottle is really reasonable! Just $55. I likely won't be purchasing the full sized bottle, just because I have about a million fragrances (sample sized and full sized), so I don't see a need to additional bottles to continue cluttering my bathroom, but I do recommend this scent if these notes work well with your own skin. Unlike the sample I got in December's box, which was $180 for the full size bottle, and in my opinion wasn't even that awesome to begin with, this Harvey Prince option is pretty fantastic.<br />
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4. Previse HydroMilk: "Lightweight hydrator that floods skin with antioxidants - but zero parabens or synthetics. Twice daily, smooth over clean face. The nongreasy formula is perfect for all skin types."<br />
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This is a very lightweight moisturizer, I like how it makes my skin feel. My skin is very easily irritated, and I have had some serious breakouts lately (will go into more detail on that, including products I have tried, dietary modifications I have tried, etc, in my post on stress management), and this product did NOT make things worse at all - in fact, I think it may be contributing to healing my painful, irritated, dry and cracked patches. I know that sounds graphic and horrible - it's not as visibly bad as it sounds, but it HURTS and ITCHES. So this product has been quite soothing, dare I say successful at helping along the healing process. I LOVE that it's paraben-free, because parabens in skin care and cosmetic products have been shown to affect hormone regulation (endocrine system), and acne/problem skin is, at its core, a hormone problem. More on that later in my stress management post...<br />
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So anyway, I quite enjoy this moisturizer. Although I'm not entirely sure if it's 100% free of the ingredients I'm trying to avoid in my daily routine, it IS proving to treat my skin very nicely. If you all remember my rave review for the Embryolisse 24-Hour Miracle Cream back from December, I think this Previse cream might be even better - it feels more lightweight, and the ingredients are pretty clean as well. What I don't like about the Previse, is that the full-size is $48 for 60ml...!!! Woa. I mean, I know it's important to invest in quality products for use on skin, but that's a bit much. The Embryolisse is $28 for 75ml.<br />
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I'm sure I'll come back to these reviews if in the future I need to purchase a new moisturizer from Birchbox rather than Sephora or Nordstrom, so hopefully this review will help jog my memory - Previse is so smooth and light; Embryolisse feels amazing but is a bit thicker on the skin.<br />
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5. Red Wing Color Changing Nail Polish: "This color-changing polish morphs from a gold glitter into a sparkly berry hue in the sun."<br />
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In the photo, the cap for the bottle of polish shows gold glitter on one half ("inside"), and red glitter on the other half ("outside"). My first thought was, "ya right, this doesn't work." I did mention previously that I like Birchbox nail polish samples because the bottles are a reasonable size for a nail polish - who uses a whole bottle of nail polish before it gets all goopy?! Not me...so I like the size of the bottle, and the fact that it's free, so I can try different colors and stuff and not worry about buying a full size bottle for $8 or $10 and then never using the entire bottle, ever (the full sized bottle of this polish happens to be $10).<br />
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So, I tried this polish out. I painted two layers - the glitter flakes are kind of big so instead of thinning the applicator brush of the polish, I found myself trying to keep as much polish on the brush as possible to make sure I had a fairly even amount of glitter on my nails. The polish itself is clear with gold glitter. Because the glitter was kind of large, I followed my manicure with a nice coat of the Orly No-Chip clear top coat to fill in the uneven surface of the glitter polish. Some of the Birchbox reviewers complained about the finished uneven surface of glitter polish. The way I feel about it is: if it's got glitter in it, of course it's going to be uneven. Be realistic. Plus, in my opinion, you should always apply a top coat of some sort after a manicure. Just saying. Anyway, even after I had set the bottle of polish on my west-facing windowsill and held my hand up to the window, my polish didn't change color. I thought that, if it was going to change color at all, it would surely happen if it was on the windowsill, right? Wrong...sort of.<br />
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BUT! Then I was walking outside the day after I did my manicure, AND IT CHANGED COLOR! The glitter stayed gold, but the clear polish TURNED PINK. To say "berry" colored would be accurate, like the description from Birchbox. So, what I'm thinking is that the color shift only really occurs when exposed to direct sunlight for a sufficient length of time. It's not particularly fast, and it does require a pretty good dose of UV, but it happens. And it looks cool! While I don't ultimately care whether my manicure changes colors, it was neat to see it actually happen. This polish is true to its claims.<br />
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Here's probably the best part about this polish...so some of the reviews on Birchbox said that it was hard to remove with nail polish remover, because the glitter shreds cotton balls and it's hard to really get all the glitter flakes off...about five days after I initially did this manicure, I noticed a chip on my pointer fingernail, so I sort of slipped another fingernail under the corner of the rest of it just to see if it was likely to keep chipping, and THE ENTIRE NAIL POLISH CAME OFF IN ONE PIECE! One whole flake, and my fingernail was bare again. So, to remove it, I didn't even both making a shredded-cotton mess and stinking up the bathroom with my acetone - I just slipped my fingernail under an edge of each painted nail, and the polish just flaked off in one piece, off of every single fingernail. It was awesome.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">What's next?</span></b><br />
After Christmas, I bought a couple of gift sets on sale at Sephora (bareMinerals and Urban Decay products) to try out, got several samples from them as well, and have since also acquired some Tarte products and even more samples of random products. I have also gone back to using some of the Mary Kay products I have used in the past, since I actually still have them in my closet and I'm not selling anymore - I figure I might as well use it because I like it and I already have it. However, keep in mind that this does not follow with my goal of "cleaning up" the products I use by avoiding certain ingredients - MK definitely contains ingredients that I ultimately am going to be avoiding in the future. However, MK products do work well with my skin (for the most part, with the exception of two specific products), and like I said, they're already in my closet. So, they will get used.<br />
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I'll be writing a few more posts that will have multiple product reviews in them, to get through the new products I've tried and some of the products I was already using and have gone back to using, too. Just to give you TONS of info about what's out there!<br />
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In addition, I'll be addressing stress management, sleep, my attempts at yoga, some of our recent happenings (dance lessons and date nights at local restaurants), and whatever other topics I decide to discuss on tangents :)<br />
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Thanks for reading today, I hope you'll come back next time! If you haven't already, check out <a href="http://betterinrealife.com/2014/02/beauty-products-review-412/" target="_blank">I'm Better in Real Life's review of her February Birchbox</a>, and note that she's going to be doing a GIVEAWAY later on as well. If you get Birchbox, and got different products than me, PLEASE SHARE!! I'd love to hear about YOUR products, and I'd also love to hear whether you have a different opinion on products we both got in our Birchboxes :)<br />
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If you don't get Birchbox, but would like to start, <a href="https://www.birchbox.com/invite/lmmc8" target="_blank">click here to check it out!!!</a><br />
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Enjoy your Sunday, friends!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-21093969331002352872014-01-19T12:52:00.002-08:002014-01-19T12:52:26.402-08:00January Birchbox!Man, I just LOVE Birchbox. This was just my second month, but I was just as excited for this one as I was for December's. Maybe even more so! Let's jump right in, shall we?! Here's the photo of what was in my box, the photo is from the Birchbox website:<br />
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I have to also say that I absolutely LOVE that it comes in that little brown box - it's SO cute, and just the right size to use for a small gift for a friend or something. I love stuff that I can reuse with little to no effort involved, and this box is just perfect.</div>
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So, here's what was inside! (clockwise starting from the mint colored bottle on the left)</div>
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~ Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser with muslin cloth</div>
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~ Camille Beckman Body Butter in Morelia Monarch scent</div>
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~ Coastal Scents Revealed eyeshadow palette (the full size has 20 colors, the trial size had 4)</div>
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~ Under Armour Braided Mini Headband</div>
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~ Omnipotent Duosity Hair Treatment</div>
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Liz Earle Cleanse & Polish Hot Cloth Cleanser:</div>
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At first I thought, "I haven't used a washcloth in years. Literally, probably not since I was like 8. Why would I need a washcloth...?" Well, let me just tell you, I washed my face this morning with my normal cleanser after using the Liz Earle one the last few days, and I was missing Liz Earle and the muslin cloth. The cleanser itself is awesome. It doesn't foam or even lather at all, and it's meant to be used without water first. So, squirt some on the hand, massage onto dry face, then use the muslin cloth with nice hot water to wipe everything away. The ingredients list for this product is surprisingly SHORT, always a good thing, and most of it is plant oils. It's safe for use around eyes, which is always important to me since the skin around the eyes is SO delicate and sensitive, and yet we plaster on so much eye makeup and make it so difficult to remove...this cleanser removes it. I still really like my eye makeup remover (Mary Kay), and I have been using it even while I used this cleanser, but it does tend to leave a little bit of smudge underneath my eyes - this cleanser gets that smudge OFF! This cleanser feels super smooth, totally non irritating, and apparently has won over 90 beauty awards worldwide. There's a reason - it's great. The hot cloth wiping it all off at the end makes me feel like I'm in my own little spa for a couple of minutes. Feels great. I wish it had also come with the moisturizer that pairs with it; I would love to try the whole system together. There is also a toner solution that is sold separately, but I'm not a huge fan of toners in general. If one ever comes in my Birchbox though, I'll DEFINITELY try - I'm loving Liz Earle. When I run out of all of my Mary Kay cleanser, this is definitely a product I will consider buying to replace it.</div>
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Camille Beckman Body Butter in Morelia Monarch scent:</div>
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Body butters usually fall into one of two categories: soak in nicely and make skin soft, or don't soak in very well and make it impossible to do anything with your hands for an hour because it's too greasy. This one definitely falls into the first category; it's really thick but rubs in really nicely and makes the skin feel great. I used this mostly on the backs of my hands, my elbows, and my knees. I still have some of course, but I do have to admit that this is not one of those products that you can say a little bit goes a long way. I used a totally normal amount, maybe even a little bit more of it than my normal lotions. The scent is really subtle and nice. Overall, I really like this, but it's not something I will buy - I have about a million lotions and stuff that I don't use very often so they just last forever. I can't justify buying more when there's so many on my shelves and in my drawers.</div>
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Coastal Scents Revealed eyeshadow palette:</div>
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I'm not sure if all of the samples of these that were sent out this month were the same, but the colors I got were black, a light nude shimmer, brown shimmer, and a sort of greenish brown shimmer (sort of like weathered bronze maybe?). The reviews of these shadows tended to say that it didn't have much staying power and would crease on the eyelids throughout the day as it wore off a bit. I haven't had that same experience, but I also use a primer first so that's probably why. (Side note: I LOVE the primer I use; I ordered a couple of gift sets for myself in the post-Christmas Sephora sale, and this primer came in the bareMinerals set - it's called Prime Time in Rose Nectar, a light shimmery pink color.) Back to the Coastal Scents Revealed shadows...I like the colors, they are similar to ones I already use regularly, although I have been trying to reduce the amount of shimmer in my life lately - without success, obviously. But that's ok. I don't really have that much to say about these eyeshadows; I have about a million shadows in all sorts of brands: Clinique, Mary Kay, Urban Decay, and now Coastal Scents. Eyeshadow is something that I don't normally buy because I always get them as gifts with purchase or in a gift set or something like that, so as long as they're fairly neutral in color (i.e. various shades of browns) and not bright blue or something, I'll wear them daily. I save the fun colors for rare occasions of summer parties or concerts or something. So, I am very indifferent about this product, sorry.</div>
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Under Armour Braided Mini Headband:</div>
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Mine is not multicolored like the one in the photo, it is one color - neon coral. I really like this headband. I like headbands in general, but don't wear them very often because the ones that wrap all the way around the back of my head ALWAYS slip back and fall off. I must have the wrong shape of head for these kinds of headbands, because this is literally the only one I have ever found that lasted through a workout - and I did have to adjust it once still. It grips like nobody's business, and it's TIGHT, which definitely helps. I like this headband a lot and will definitely use it when I remember to. I don't think I'll need to actually buy any of these though, one is probably enough until it wears out or the grippy stuff gets too dirty to do its job or something. So I guess I may end up buying one at some point in the future, but not anytime soon.</div>
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Omnipotent Duosity Hair Treatment:</div>
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I really really wanted to give this product a RAVE review. I mean, it's gluten- and paraben-free!! Which, don't get me wrong, is awesome. But the truth is that, while it's nice and I like it, I don't feel like I really CARE about it. So, here goes: it's designed in such a way that it's actually two products, stored separately in their compartments, and then you dispense it in relatively equal amounts and rub it together. It foams/lathers really nicely on the hands, and then put it in your hair focusing on the ends - it's basically a conditioner that's supposed to do a bunch of healing things to your hair. Which I'm sure it does, but quite honestly I don't feel THAT much of a difference once my hair is dried. When I rinsed it out in my shower, though - WOW, so so so so soft. The first time I tried it, I was worried that it wasn't rinsed out all the way because my hair was SO silky. I expected my hair to feel weighed down after I dried it, but that wasn't the case. I used this product again yesterday, and didn't use any of my normal after-shower hair products, so I'd have a better perspective on this particular product - and my hair feels really nice still today. Not greasy or weighed down, the ends are soft and nice. So, I suppose it does live up to its claims. The thing is, I don't really care. Haha. Maybe that's because I absolutely love the Beauty Protect leave-in conditioner I got in last month's box, so I just spritz a bit of that before blow-drying. The Duosity does smell really good though, and I am pretty shocked at just HOW silky my hair feels in the shower after it's all been rinsed out. It's nice, for sure. Probably not something I will spend money on, but I might reconsider when I run out of the shampoos and conditioners I already have.</div>
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Well, that's all for now friends! Thanks for reading, and any of you who got different items in your Birchboxes or have opinions on the above products, I'd love to hear all about it! Also, my friend over at I'm Better in Real Life <a href="http://betterinrealife.com/2014/01/beauty-products-review-312/" target="_blank">wrote her review of her January Birchbox,</a> and I'm sure she'd love for you to take a look!</div>
Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-79224590596422571942014-01-09T13:39:00.000-08:002014-01-09T13:39:39.252-08:00Homeschooling Makes Me Happy: Logan LaPlante at TEDxIf you have a spare 12 minutes, or even if you don't (MAKE the time) - watch this: <a href="http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/01/07/this-is-what-happens-when-a-kid-leaves-traditional-education/" target="_blank">Logan LaPlante at TEDx with accompanying article.</a><br />
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I haven't really confided in many people lately, but suffice it to say the last few days have been REALLY weird. This whole week, actually. WEIRD. Not at all how I was picturing a new year to go. Even with my gung-ho attitude in my last post, somehow things weren't really coming together like I expected them to after I'd completed several things that needed attention and followed my schedule and to-do list ALMOST to a T (exactly to a T? This girl isn't known for that, let's try with baby steps here...)<br />
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A friend posted the above link to Facebook earlier today, and I watched the video twice. In a row. This 13 year old kid is pretty amazing. A major takeaway (for me) from the talk was the following:<br />
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Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLCs): 8 practices that make people happy and healthy (Dr. Roger Walsh):<br />
1. Exercise<br />
2. Diet and Nutrition<br />
3. Time in Nature<br />
4. Contribution and Service to Others<br />
5. Relationships<br />
6. Recreation<br />
7. Relaxation and Stress Management<br />
8. Religious and Spritual<br />
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The above list is exactly what I have been wanting to integrate, and with a new year I was contemplating exactly HOW to integrate it - because when there are multiple facets to your goals (i.e. the more and more complicated things are), the less likely things are going to go as desired. This was the sentiment I was trying to articulate in the last post, though I'm not sure I did such a great job. Instead I just ranted about new year's resolutions, haha!<br />
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Anyway, as I listened to this kid's talk twice in a row, I decided that the way to implement these changes into my life, and make it really simple so I can stick with it and reap the benefits of all of it, is to just focus on one of these changes per week, in a rotating fashion. So it would take two months to get through the whole list technically, but I think integrating one thing at a time, a week at a time, could be a great way to start building each as a HABIT, so those things just actually happen naturally after a while. So, I'm going to make myself a little calendar series that's JUST my TLCs so I know what's going on that week and also so I can see it every day and do just one little thing to achieve that particular TLC on each day.<br />
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So, that's what I'm going to do. Another thing I really wanted to do, after reading friends posts at the new year such as <a href="http://buffalowrites.com/" target="_blank">Buffalo Writes</a> and <a href="http://betterinrealife.com/" target="_blank">I'm Better in Real Life</a>, was set aside two hours on one day - JUST ONE DAY and ONLY TWO HOURS - for crafting. I know that sounds like something I really should not be focusing on at this point in my life and career, but that's the thing - I literally go insane when I don't feel like I have time to make a project I've been wanting to make. I lose sleep over wanting to do something that I didn't have time to do that day. It makes me upset when I see my half-finished ear-warmer headband on my nightstand shelf...and it's been unfinished for TWO YEARS. And I refuse to buy one because, as one of my previous posts discussed, I know how to make those. I simply cannot bring myself to spend the $15 or $20 when a ball of yarn costs $5 or less and I can make it exactly how I want it, and I get pleasure out of making it. Retail therapy doesn't last all that long, but knowing that I made something that I enjoy wearing or looking at often - that's DOING SOMETHING, like my last post referred to.<br />
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Also, Buffalo Writes has a thing called First Friday Happy Hour every month with a group of her friends from elementary school, and I would be lying if I said I wasn't jealous of this regular event. I want to do something like this. There are people I see frequently enough, and there are people I love to death but never get to see - and why? Because we all have excuses, and unfortunately a lot of them are legit - since we're responsible adults now. Everyone's schedule is either super super hectic or so organized that there is literally no wiggle room - so I want to establish a gathering for a group or maybe even a couple different groups of people I would love to see more regularly. Each of these wouldn't need to be once a month - that gets to be like one thing per week, and that's too much for me! But maybe every other month. Six times a year sounds like a pretty good frequency for our totally nutso adult lives. First things first, figure out who's interested. That's something I'll tackle when I'm feeling ambitious. Haha.<br />
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On to the next part of my discussion about Logan's TEDx talk:<br />
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"Much of education is oriented toward making a living rather than making a LIFE." - Dr. Walsh<br />
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Now, husband and I have discussed the topic of homeschooling a lot. Not just had long discussions about it, but frequent discussions. Our own public and private school educations were great, but we see a lot of problems in the changes that have since occurred, and seeing various school environments as adults we have decided that when the time comes - our kids are going to get at least the first 13 years of their educations at home. Come high school, we will more than likely put them in a traditional classroom, especially if they are girls - because we all know my girls are going to be graduates from my alma mater! Fifth generation! (That is, if we even have any girls...) We've done some poking around on the Internets at various homeschooling curriculums, and I've learned that Washington is a pretty easy state in which to homeschool. And at least one of the Internet communities we follow has some good resources from all over the place for homeschooling, and the more we listen to our podcasts and everything, the more we really don't think we want our kids in the current school system.<br />
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We know there will be backlash, it will be hard, and our friends and family will criticize. We will be the weird ones. Our kids will be the weird ones. I cannot and will not judge anyone whose children go to traditional school, whether public or private, or whatever. Every family dynamic is different. We just happen to consider it feasible to do this at home, not anytime soon, but by the time any future children will be old enough for a structured education. But I get it - it's not for everyone.<br />
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Anyway, TED talks have some AMAZING talks regarding education...actually, regarding just about anything and everything. There have only been a couple of TED talks I didn't like; the vast majority of them really light fires under my booty and are totally inspiring.<br />
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Well friends, thanks for reading, and until next time - be inspired! And inspire others! Haha, easier said than done, right? Ready...GO!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-50819672281069790762014-01-02T12:52:00.003-08:002014-01-02T12:52:43.584-08:00New Year's Reflections and IntentionsWOW! My last post (likely due to its keywords, like "Birchbox," and Facebook sharing) had 109 page views...according to the shifty Google stats, anyway. No matter how many times I tell it NOT to count my own pageviews, it still does. Even though I only looked at the actual blog page twice after posting it, still throws the numbers off and makes me wonder just how inaccurate it is. Anyway, the most views my posts have EVER had! Pretty cool :)<br />
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In light of the new year, I have been thinking a lot about everything that happened in 2013. How cliche, right? (p.s. I wish I knew keyboard shortcuts for accents and stuff that go on letters...alas, I don't have those skills yet. Sorry for improper grammar.) SO MANY things happened this year:<br />
I took (and passed!) my board exams<br />
I graduated from dental school<br />
We moved across the country (again)<br />
We celebrated our first wedding anniversary<br />
We found a fantastic apartment exactly where we want to be<br />
We did some super fun tourist-y things and enjoyed the amazing summer weather<br />
I began paying down my student debt (a long road ahead, for sure...)<br />
I tried so hard for so long to find my "ideal" work situation, and failed<br />
I experienced several different offices on a temporary basis<br />
I officially started my own practice, in a pretty much ideal situation<br />
We spent a lot of time with friends we have missed, and a lot of time with family as well<br />
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I'm sure there are a lot of other notable things I could list, but they aren't coming to me at the moment. There are several things that need loose ends tied up as well, such as finishing my business plan and receiving the last paycheck I am owed from a job that ended over two months ago. So, 2014 will see some BIG things happen - namely, (hopefully...) the growth of my practice and everything that entails.<br />
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I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions. I think I've addressed this before, but I'm not sure if it was here on this blog or not. At any rate, in my opinion New Year's Resolutions always end up being the afterthought during the holiday hangover that goes something like this: "hmm, I better come up with a resolution to start off the new year...ya, I think going to the gym EVERY DAY should be my resolution. I'm going to sign up for a membership (on a whim...) and then MAKE MYSELF go every day, and then I'll be happy with myself for achieving this empty goal." Whether the resolution actually is going to the gym every day or not, I feel like so often resolutions are forgotten about after the first two weeks. Then the membership (or whatever investment went into the resolution) keeps costing the same month after month, and life gets in the way of achieving the goal that requires overextension of an already hectic life. So then there's that feeling that comes in a few months later when you realize you gave up on your resolution after three weeks, and you feel like poo about yourself. Self-esteem? Out the window. Mull that over in your head a little bit, and feel even worse about yourself.<br />
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I've experienced this multiple times in the last couple of years, and never once did I make a New Year's resolution. I just set goals for myself, without STATING the reasons behind them or planning out the logistics, and then when I realize I didn't achieve them - wow, talk about a downer. So, this year is going to be different (we always say that, don't we?). Now that we're officially adults and live life by the actual calendar year, I figured it was time to address some of the things that need changing - with a change in the calendar, so here we are.<br />
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I came across this post that was shared by one of my Facebook friends yesterday: <a href="http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person_p2/" target="_blank">6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You A Better Person</a>. It's pretty fantastic. It's a swift kick in the butt, that's for sure. But let's be honest - that's what some of us need. Even if you can't admit that you need it - you probably do. Great post.<br />
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I decided that instead of "resolutions," a better term would be "intentions." I feel like "intentions" is more open-ended. It's not finite, and it encompasses change as necessary. "Resolutions" reminds me of legislation or bylaws or whatever - I've been in enough House of Delegates meetings for dental societies that the word "resolutions" just is much too binding and specific for me to use to describe the goals I want to achieve. "Be it resolved that...this is our opinion on this matter, and changes to the wording or anything else must be presented for a vote in the House of Delegates and thereafter be very official." That's not how I want my goals to be.<br />
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Whatever you or I call them, the goals we want to achieve at the turn of the new year will be difficult. If they aren't, you haven't improved yourself or your life all that much, so what was the point? Achieving life-altering goals requires a new perspective, intentional living, re-prioritizing, learning...you know, all of those hard grown-up things we all know we need to do, yet have such a hard time actually DOING. Well, the 6 Harsh Truths above emphasize just that - you have to actually DO SOMETHING. Why is that actually so hard? I don't know. But I need to knock it off and DO IT. There is absolutely no reason I am unable to do SOMETHING. Just something. Move forward. Get on with it.<br />
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Doing something, just about anything, improves self-worth SO MUCH! I listened to a great podcast yesterday, one of my favorites, and the topic was fantastic - body-loathing and how to change it. Why do we loathe our bodies? Because our self-worth is severely diminished (I get that there are complications with all of these psychological and emotional issues, but for the sake of this synopsis, bear with me). How do we change that? DO SOMETHING. Volunteer. That's a big one - what can you do to help another person - THAT is your self worth. What can you do that is of worth to another human - it might sound superficial, but it's SO TRUE! Think about that for a minute. Volunteer. Create. Write. Work. Produce something. DO something. Right in line with the 6 Harsh Truths.<br />
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<a href="http://eplifefit.com/2013/11/12/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-63/" target="_blank">Listen to the first 18 minutes of this podcast.</a> If you want, continue listening as they address a listener-submitted question about carb requirement for running. Interesting, though definitely not shocking.<br />
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Also, <a href="http://eplifefit.com/2013/11/05/paleo-lifestyle-and-fitness-podcast-episode-62/" target="_blank">listen to this entire thing.</a> They have an awesome guest on this episode.<br />
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Sarah and Jason of the Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness podcast are AMAZING, they are by far my favorite podcast. I highly recommend listening to them on a regular basis. I had forgotten how influential they are on my general attitude, and yesterday was reminded of how important this single hour per week is to my wellbeing. I feel like they are close friends of mine, and we have never met. They have no idea who I am. But that's ok - their podcast is a big part of my life, and needs to be.<br />
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I realize I kind of went off on a couple of tangents here...again, another reminder that I'm not a writer like some of my blogger friends are. I didn't even list my intentions for 2014. Oops. Suffice it to say that this girl needs to start out by simply DOING SOMETHING. Holy cow, I need to WORK. And CREATE. So, first things first, finish my damn business plan and finalize my loan situation. That will be one HUGE step towards improving the state of my sanity.<br />
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Welp, I think it's about time to wrap this one up, kids. I need to get going to a classified location to shove myself in a corner until sufficient work has been done on my made-up financial statements for my business plan. If that doesn't sound like a party to you...you're right. It sucks. But I need to DO SOMETHING. For real.<br />
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See y'all next time, and thanks for reading.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-78672636458489219142013-12-29T10:44:00.003-08:002014-01-19T10:35:21.115-08:00My First Birchbox: Product Reviews<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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That's my December Birchbox! (all of the photos in this post are from my Birchbox app on my phone, by the way) Okay, so I was pretty sad when my first box didn't arrive by Christmas, but what a surprise to find it in the mail the day after! It was SO cute, too; the box was gold with white stripes on it that looked like ribbon and a little "Sparkle and Shine" blurb in white on the outside. Then you open it up and there's the regular Birchbox box inside that's so perfect (and 100% reusable for gifting!!!) with its tissue paper and everything. It's literally like a present you ordered for yourself but you're not exactly sure what's going to be inside!</div>
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I decided to finally bite the bullet and sign up for Birchbox because let's face it - $10 a month for five or six personalized samples (and sometimes full sized!) of beauty and hair products, a possible snack-type item, AND shipping - that's pretty darn good. Since I've decided to end my Mary Kay business, and I've been wanting to make some changes to the products I use, I sort of wanted to accumulate a bunch of samples of high quality stuff to choose from. So, Birchbox it is! (side note about the Mary Kay: I still have a TON of product that I normally use, like cleanser and eye shadows and stuff, so I won't actually be running out real soon, but wanted a bit of direction as to what products are out there for when I DO run out. Products that aren't necessarily found at the drugstore, that is.)</div>
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I heard about Birchbox on my friend Lauren's blog, <a href="http://betterinrealife.com/2013/10/products-oh-overwhelming-products/" target="_blank">I'm Better in Real Life</a>. Check her out!</div>
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So, here we go with the reviews!</div>
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This nail polish came to me in the same color as in the photo - it's called Top Shelf. It's a regular polish, not gel-like or anything super fancy, and for $8 for a full sized bottle I'd say it's pretty good. Definitely up there with Essie and OPI, which are about the same price point. The color is sort of a muted copper, with a shimmer that's just perfect for someone who's 28 - still trendy without being like WHOA. It's a more neutral color, so it goes with skin tones really nicely (I'm super pale, so some neutrals can look kind of funny on my see-through-skin, but this color is great on me). The consistency of the actual polish while I was putting it on was great - not too thin, not too thick, and easy to apply even layers with the brush. I didn't apply a top coat, so it did chip after about a day (this is VERY typical for my nails, I think they must be weak or just flex really easily, because this happens to me no matter what brand of nail polish I use), but because the color is so neutral, it's almost impossible to see the chips. I'm going to apply a second coat today to touch up. Also, it dries pretty quickly. Overall, I like this product. The sample size I got might actually be really close to the full size bottle, so I won't be buying this product because nail polishes last me forever! Thanks Birchbox!<br />
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Side note about nail polishes: I got a free color change at Nordstrom from the girl who works for Julep (nail spa and nail polish brand), and IT WAS AMAZING. Literally the only regular (read: not Shellac or gel or gel-like) nail polish I HAVE EVER HAD that did NOT chip after day one. She did apply a Julep top coat, and that might just be the secret - I don't know. It was amazing. It's also kind of expensive, BUT the regular polish manicure lasted me about 5 days without chipping - and then it chipped because I was weakening my nails with the gloves at work and hand sanitizer and sci-can wipes (surface disinfectant wipes for health care facilities...). Bottom line: I'd pay for a Julep manicure.<br />
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This ChapStick was the Birchbox FIND for this month - every once in a while, the people at Birchbox find a brand new product that is just SO GOOD that it goes in everyone's monthly box that month, and this month it happened to be a FULL SIZED tube of this new ChapStick product (that's why the price says zero dollars). I haven't used actual ChapStick brand stuff in a long long long time (I typically use the freebees from dental conventions and Burt's Bees lip balms), and I never realized just how much of this brand (and probably other brands, too...) are made of chemicals! The ingredients list for a tiny thing like lip balm is ridiculous - and to think it goes ON YOUR LIPS, which you're then going to lick and touch your food to, and...ew. So, some of those chemicals aren't that bad - oil extracts and stuff from various plants like coconut, scents like peppermint or vanilla, etc. The chemical name for a lot of that stuff sounds scary but the actual thing is not. What is scary to me is phthalates and parabens, and other preservatives, and artificial colors and and and...yuck. This product is chock full of chemicals. But I have to admit, it feels good on your lips. If you're a ChapStick/lip balm fiend, you will probably love this product. I like it, I just have to clear my mind of my chemi-phobia before I use it. The good news is that it feels so good that I've only had to apply it once a day (or night).<br />
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I don't actually eat pretzels (or any wheat) regularly - I make conscious choices to enjoy a holiday cookie (and suffer the discomfort later), let's face it, but normally I don't eat wheat. The sample of the gourmet chocolate covered pretzels above was truly a tiny sample, about two bites' worth of a single pretzel, so I tried it. The full size pack is of course larger, and contains five regular sized pretzels for $7. The flavor I got was dark chocolate with toffee crunches and toasted coconut flakes - it sounded AMAZING. After my two bites, I can honestly say my expectations weren't exactly met, unfortunately. If you're a pretzel fiend, you will like these, no matter what flavor probably. I wasn't impressed; maybe it was bland when I had expected wonderful flavors of toffee and coconut to accompany some chocolate? Maybe the pretzel was too thick for all the flavors of the coatings to be fully enjoyed? Not sure. This didn't do it for me, though.<br />
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The Beauty Protector Protect and Detangle leave-in co<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">nditioner - WOW. That is all I can say - WOW. Smells GREAT, kind of a subtle vanilla without being sickly sweet, and the product definitely does what it says it does! Here's the blurb about it from Birchbox: "<span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; line-height: 26px;">This paraben- and sulfate-free detangler seals the cuticles (the microscopic scales that compose the outermost layer of each strand of hair). It also smooths and moisturizes, thereby minimizing frizz, while safeguarding color and adding shine. Lastly, it provides protection against UV rays and heat. Happily, it accomplishes all this through a weightless, non-greasy formula that leaves behind an airy floral scent." So, it's without a couple of the chemicals I like to avoid, AND it has super protective features! AND IT WORKS! I used it the last time I washed my hair; I blow-dried my hair (didn't straighten it that day, because IT DIDN'T NEED IT!), and WOW. Felt amazing. So soft (and still is, two days later, and without being greasy), weightless, added volume to my stringy-thanks-a-lot-late-20s-aging hair, and smells wonderful. The scent is NOT overpowering, it's very light, so don't worry. My only complaint - the pump on my sample sized bottle didn't work, so I put a pump on it from one of my travel bottles, and it worked fine. So, that's not even really a valid complaint! This product is FANTASTIC, and I'm seriously considering buying the full sized bottle (the sample bottle is about the size of a normal travel-sized bottle of anything you'd buy at the drugstore). Bonus - because I don't wash and dry my hair every day, it will last me a LONG time. And, a little bit goes a long way to amazingly soft hair! Love this!</span></span></div>
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This moisturizer from Embryolisse is definitely another WIN from Birchbox!! FABULOUS product!! Also seriously considering purchasing the full size of this product as well - another one that doesn't have several of the chemicals I try to avoid, this moisturizer (can also be used as foundation primer and makeup remover!!) is SUPER silky and lasts all day/night. It's really lightweight, doesn't clog my pores (which are huge, by the way), and feels amazing. I love this product. The sample size is smaller than a normal travel sized tube of lotion, so that's kind of a bummer...another reason I'm seriously considering buying the full size - I WANT MORE! And to me, the price is worth it! Win for the French, win for Birchbox, win for me. Love it.<br />
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Alright, I know you're thinking "WHOA, a buck-80 for this perfume?!" Yup, that's exactly what I thought, too. It smells great - again, not sickly sweet like most vanilla-scented things can be. It's a light vanilla scent with jasmine and a hint of lime. Definitely a mature take on the food-scented perfumes (remember the days of vanilla sugar scented lotion and eau de parfum from, like, Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works?! Ya, that's not this...). The sample was not a travel sized bottle of it, it was one of those tiny tubes with the hard-to-remove cap on it with a little info card. Smells good, but I absolutely will not be purchasing a full sized bottle of this, nor will I ever ask for it as a gift for any occasion. To me, that's ridiculous. There are plenty of fantastic perfumes out there for under $100, and although this is pretty unique and does smell good...it's not necessary.<br />
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Well, there we have it! First Birchbox product review: CHECK! Hope you enjoyed, and if you already subscribe to Birchbox and received different products in your December box that you'd love to share, please do! Thanks for reading, and until next time - ciao!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-11591686089542195852013-12-19T23:46:00.000-08:002013-12-19T23:46:01.157-08:00#samelove #keepmrZ2013 #standwithECToday we all learned that the vice principal at Eastside Catholic High School was asked to resign because he is gay. He married his husband over the summer, and apparently school admin just found out about it.<br />
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Students at Eastside Catholic organized a sit-in to protest the situation and show their support for their vice principal. Buzzfeed reports that a petition has been started in attempts to get their VP reinstated back into their school community. Once social media began buzzing with word of the sit-in, students at both Seattle Prep and my alma mater, Holy Names, also quickly organized a sit-in and even made some awesome posters with hashtags like "#samelove" and "#keepmrZ2013" to show support for the students and staff at Eastside Catholic who are quite upset about the whole thing.<br />
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Totally valid. Rock on EC, Prep, HNA. I'm proud to say I can associate myself with King County's Catholic high school community. This is a pretty big deal for so many students to rise up and make this an event that can't be broken up by admin coming through telling them all to get back to class. I'm really glad to see this type of thing happen in a younger group of people too, because so often as adults (even young-ish adults) we stereotype kids and teens into this category of people that we think doesn't care about much aside from drama and pop culture, and doesn't know enough about anything to hold a valid opinion, etc.<br />
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Something to note in this situation is the separation of church and state - unfortunately, even with a petition and solidarity in support of this VP and his husband and the school's sense of community, the school admin ultimately is at the mercy of the employment contracts issued by the archdiocese. Technically, a teacher at a Catholic school can be fired or asked to resign for a lot of things that we would consider to be horrific and unfair reasons. While I don't agree with all of the items in the archdiocese employment contracts (my husband read me a lot of what was in his contract), it is the way it is. This thing is bigger than just one school's administration - we're talking the entire city's archdiocese. I do hope that the solidarity of the students in the community will send a message to the archdiocese that change is long overdue.<br />
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This is an interesting time, what with our new Pope and all. I wasn't raised devout Catholic or anything, but I went to church sometimes and then more often in high school and college, and haven't really gone in a while. One thing I can say I was NEVER taught in Catholic church is intolerance. I know the church has a reputation for being intolerant, old fashioned, almost exclusive...and although some men in the hierarchy of the church may have written the church's position regarding various social issues, I truly feel that I was never, ever once told in the name of Catholicism that I should not accept or appreciate someone because of their differences - whether those differences be in sexual orientation, lifestyle, race, sex, whatever. NEVER was I told it was acceptable for me to judge a person based on any of those, never was I told that those who are different than me will go to some sort of hell.<br />
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That was just my personal experience with the Catholic church, and I realize I'm just one of many thousands of Catholic fish in the sea who may have had very different experiences than me. However, I think it's important to realize that at the root of Catholicism and its social justice values, acceptance and celebration of the world's diversity is by far the best way we can live - if you're more devout than me, you probably strive to live the way Jesus lived, and all of that...and if you do, that was to love, accept, celebrate EVERYONE. [Haha, this reminds me of the Megyn Kelly thing recently...let's just remind ourselves that the Jesus who walked this earth was, in fact, NOT white, and THAT is the verifiable fact...] This might be a strong opinion to hold, I don't know, but I honestly feel sad for those who have resentment, hatred, damning feelings toward people who are different than they are. It just seems like so much energy to be wasted on negative feelings towards our fellow humans, on a purpose that is literally going nowhere in this world of progressive positive change. And I also feel sort of a sad wonder about those who literally have the fear of god in their hearts - how draining it seems to be, to be afraid all the time of doing something and being punished for it? Or doing something good only because there is a promise of a reward? Why not do something good because it's the right thing to do? Why not just avoid hurting others for the sake of taking care of each other? Aren't those the real values we want to preach anyway? And I'm pretty sure it doesn't require a specific religion to teach any of those...Catholics, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, you get what I mean...I kind of feel like when it comes down to it, the basic core values are all pretty much the same. But hey, I'm not a theologian or anything either.<br />
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Maybe it seems like I'm being a hypocrite and behaving as though I don't accept those with other religious beliefs, so let me clear that up a little - I don't mean to attempt to discredit someone's faith by ANY means, I am literally curious as to what it would feel like to be afraid of a supernatural consequence of my behavior. I'm way more afraid of what will happen to me in THIS lifetime if the government decides to hunt me down for not filing taxes in 2010 because I literally made zero dollars (and if you make zero dollars, you don't HAVE to file taxes anyway. At least not according to my dad...). I'm afraid of the culture of litigation and mudslinging we have fostered. I'm WAY more afraid to see the consequences of irresponsible agricultural practices, unsustainable social welfare programs, and the ridiculous political system we've allowed to come into existence. I'm afraid of the physical world my children and grandchildren will live in. I'm not sure what's going to happen to my body and/or soul after I die, but I'd like to think that the living friends and family I leave behind will have lived in a better place because we enjoyed time together. Did that make sense?<br />
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I'm not the most articulate, and some of this may not have great diction or syntax, but hey. This was all written on a whim, because I was so happy to see on Facebook that all my high school friends were sharing the story about current HNA students standing together in support of their fellow Catholic high school students. I have been trying to cut back my obsession with Facebook lately, so I decided to write about it here instead. And you got the long version instead of the abridged Facebook version :)<br />
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Anyway, that's my two cents, if any of my three readers care (haha!). Peace be with you, friends! (p.s. When the Catholic church changed the wording of a bunch of the traditional responses a few years ago, I was TOTALLY thrown off, and I don't like it. Just saying. Not that my opinion matters to the Vatican or whoever even makes that stuff up...I'm a great Catholic, as I'm sure you can tell, haha!)Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-31930362119727142042013-11-03T10:12:00.001-08:002013-11-03T10:14:11.230-08:00A Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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As you may already know, I am in the book club at my local library now, and we've now moved on to reading The Whole World Over by Julia Glass. But last month was The Brief Wondrous Live of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz (I need to learn shortcuts for symbols in blog posts...). WOW, what a piece of literature. I absolutely loved it. (Cover photo from Amazon)<br />
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Now, as I am not a writer, I don't know all the proper terms for his style of writing or for writing in general, so just bear with me. That's not the important part anyhow. The important part is this: READ THIS BOOK! Haha. But seriously.<br />
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Diaz's style is very casual, but not without detail. The book is written such that each section is the perspective of a different character at a different point in time. I am not sure that I would call them chapters, although technically I suppose they are, but they are much longer than what we would consider normal chapters and they aren't exactly chronological either. It is almost as though each section is written such that it implies that the narrator interviewed various people and then wrote that section based on each person's perspective of that span of time.<br />
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The profanity and vulgarity was, at first, alarming. However, it contributes much to the story. I know some people are offended easily by this, and believe that great literature can be written without resorting to this type of language, but I truly believe that the style and language conveys much about the culture in which the story is based and helps to convey the desperation, drama, and detail that make this story so great.<br />
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A brief (and I mean REALLY brief) summary: Oscar is an outcast in his Dominican family, community, and school. He and his sister live in New York; he is overweight, loves video games and sci-fi-fantasy, and is basically a huge nerd who's not actually all that smart. He falls in love many times and is broken with each failed attempt at love. He does not have the stereotypical Dominican male success with women, so even amongst his nerdy Dominican male "friends" he is still the outcast. His sister is a rebel, but deep down cares about him and wants to see him happy. Their mother's story is tragic, and without going into graphic detail, I will say that her aunt took her in after a horrible childhood in Trujillo's Dominican Republic - she lost her parents to the regime, floated around to various homes, and was finally recovered by her aunt who tried to help her become an upstanding woman. She got wrapped up in a lot of drama in her early adulthood, including a romance with one of Trujillo's men who was cheating on his wife, and was nearly killed more than once. Eventually she ended up in New York with her two kids, and they were pretty much raised there.<br />
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I don't think it would spoil anything to reveal that Oscar dies in the end - the title pretty much says it all. But the winding drama that has all led to it is so important. The profanity, the vulgar and explicit language to describe everything from sex to the basics of a woman's body to the beatings Oscar and his mother endured at different points in their lives - it really conveys the desperation of the Dominican Republic as a whole as its people struggled to simply survive under Trujillo and then try to pick up the pieces after the man himself was finally gone. The author includes many extensive footnotes, at the beginning of the book mostly, that give information regarding the recent history of the country and its culture, also full of profanity and emotion and explicit descriptions of violence. Quite informative, especially for the white girl who grew up on the west coast and was "educated" with the increasingly inadequate standard history books of our school system. The footnotes contribute to the feeling of desperation and hopelessness that an entire generation and a half felt while living under Trujillo and his cronies. The footnotes also come right out and say, in so many words, that what we are taught about this country and its history is essentially sugar-coated lie - that is, if we are taught anything about it at all.<br />
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Now, I understand that the part of history this book refers to is SO recent compared to the standard requirements for history classes (in high school, at least), but I believe the author is making a broader point about history of cultures and countries - our education on these matters is embarrassingly inadequate and we PERPETUATE it rather than change it. Let's keep in mind that this is a fiction book, but it is based in a history that is very real and largely misunderstood. I am no expert on this history either, but this book has inspired me to seek more information.<br />
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At any rate, my point is that YOU SHOULD READ THIS BOOK. About half the ladies in my book club said they didn't like it because it was so depressing and they got so wrapped up in how awful the violence was and that the narrative was so hopeless...but I truly found it amazing. And I don't meant to sound morbid at all by loving this book so much; I simply thought the style, diction, detail...all of it, it was all fantastic. I am looking forward to reading more by Junot Diaz, and I would love to meet him if the opportunity arises.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-6667684147926557752013-09-06T13:54:00.000-07:002013-09-06T13:56:49.761-07:00Adventures in Housewifery, a Meltdown, and a Hard HatWHOA! Two posts this week...that is CRAY. (alright...I left this in there because I thought it to myself, started laughing, typed it, and laughed even harder at the fact that I sound incredibly stupid saying that...just go with it...)<br />
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Yesterday I went ballistic in the kitchen. When I was done, it literally looked like a housewife had exploded. Crockpot, cookie sheet, fry pan, mixing bowls, cheesecloth, multiple glass food-keeping containers, kombucha kit, cutting boards and knives...that's a lot for the kitchen of a 624 sq ft apartment, I will tell you that right now.<br />
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When I listed all the things I did, it actually didn't really justify the explosion of housewifey-ness. The crockpot had been used to render lard. The lard got poured into a jar, the crispies (WOW YUM) went onto the cookie sheet and truly crisped in the oven. The chicken carcass with part of its breast meat went into the crockpot, with some melted lard still in the bottom, along with some water, carrots, onions, and spices. Bone broth. The two GIANT bundles of kale from last weekend's farmer's market got stripped of their stalks, massaged with olive oil and salt and garlic powder, and onto the cookie sheet to make three batches of kale chips. The kombucha is ready to go, but we haven't started it just yet...I'm super excited to do it though, I LOVE kombucha and it's so expensive at the store.<br />
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So, to recap, all I got out of the housewife explosion was kale chips, lard, and chicken broth...<br />
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Fast-forward to bedtime last night...complete meltdown. I'm not even going to try and sugar-coat this by saying it was a mini or minor or baby meltdown - we are talking absolute raging storm of a meltdown. I attribute this to one thing, with many contributing factors: STRESS. About everything. Stress, embarrassment, feelings of failure, worry, hormones getting back on track after giving up my Rx...all of these things, and more, contributing to one BIG STRESS.<br />
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The only thing else I'm going to say about this meltdown is that I'm damn relieved that we did sledgehammer swings at the gym this morning. It didn't solve all my problems, but it gave me an outlet for the cortisol build-up to be utilized. Man, sledgehammers are an AWESOME workout. In addition, I killed 135 lbs in a couple dead lifts, 115 lbs in several more dead lifts, about 35 pull-ups, and some serious battle rope slams. So, go me. Everything else is crumbling around me, but I am KILLING IT AS A WARRIOR WOMAN.<br />
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Oh, and earlier this week I got promoted to my blue shirt. [There's a progression of colored shirts we are working through; promotion happens via participation in challenges (fitness assessments, must have improved since previous) and regular attendance to reflect dedication to the mission.]<br />
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Then a couple hours ago I found a great blog post by the wonderful Steve over at <a href="http://www.nerdfitness.com/" target="_blank">Nerd Fitness</a>. I enjoy his blog because he really doesn't focus on labels of lifestyle, he seriously is all about motivation and creativity and dedication. This guy...man, he just seems to always have a post that picks me up right when I need it. Not that Friday is a great day to need a pick-up, since it's the start of the weekend and supposed ultimate relaxation, but still. This post is actually from the other day, but I didn't hunker down at my Feedly reader until a couple hours ago, so <a href="http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/03/the-30-day-hard-hat-challenge/" target="_blank">here it is!</a><br />
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He's calling it a <a href="http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2013/09/03/the-30-day-hard-hat-challenge/" target="_blank">30-Day Hard Hat Challenge</a>. It basically says: stop it. Stop whining and complaining and stop feeling like a failure, put your damn hard hat on and get through it. Pummel or crawl or whatever...just get through it. If you go through a single day without getting through something you know you need to do, that's too many days. BETTER NOT ALLOW IT TWO DAYS IN A ROW. Pick yourself up, put your hard hat on, and do it.<br />
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If you haven't clicked on that blog post at Nerd Fitness yet, I highly suggest it. In fact, I suggest reading all or most of his posts. Some can seem repetitive because he's basically finding different analogies to help motivate people, whether with regard to health and fitness, profession, or just life in general. BUT, there's always one for whatever off-day you're having. So it's kind of nice that it's repetitive. And who doesn't need to be reminded once in a while to just do it. And if it's worth doing (read: worth stressing out about NOT getting it done...), do it ALL OUT. No half-assing this business. Crawl if you have to (metaphorically, of course). But do it and make it your best crawl ever.<br />
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Anyway, I think that's all for now, loyal readers. Haha. Thanks for reading, and enjoy this nice little bit of sunshine trying to poke through the storm from this morning.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-20024091767884175082013-09-05T08:46:00.002-07:002013-09-05T08:46:48.655-07:00The Pinterest-Perfect HouseholdThis is going to be another post about Pinterest. But not just about Pinterest; about the things and feelings it implies, inspires, and invokes. (Wow, I'm not a writer but I'd say the use of three "i-" words in a row was kind of awesome. I digress.)<br />
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I do love Pinterest, but I spend entirely too much time repinning other peoples' pins. Most of the time I don't double-check where a person got something that I'm repinning, so I probably have a TON of pins that ultimately aren't that useful. That said, I also find it quite useful as a catch-all for things I find all on my own - like articles about food and wellness, craft ideas and things, and all the other interesting things I want to save to come back to from my Feedly reader.<br />
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I love it for the inspiration that comes out of it. I like to think of myself as pretty crafty, but I don't always have the imagination and vision that I wish I had...so I use my pin boards for ideas, designs, patterns, printables, etc.<br />
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There's always a fashion pin board. I wish I could say that I could go back, click on the site, and add to my closet...but I can't, and I don't, and even if I could, I probably wouldn't. It's one of those fun boards that is just that - fun to look at and add to, but not all that useful. A lot of the photos are from blogs anyway (I think), not to the site for purchase of said outfit or accessory or item, so ultimately...it's just there.<br />
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I have gone back through my Reading and Watching board, because I tend to keep blog posts that I want to go back to and read again, videos that I want to reference or watch again later, books that I want to read (this board is definitely NOT all-inclusive, just some that I don't have written down elsewhere), books that I recommend (again, not all-inclusive), movies I like or want to see, etc.<br />
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I do pin my own findings quite a bit, because I hope that as I accumulate more pins and my boards and pins start showing up in peoples' searches or browsing screens, I can help people by sharing that piece of information with them. Whether it's health and wellness, a funny, a craft idea, or whatever, I hope it helps someone who's looking for just that something.<br />
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Okay, so onto one of the things about Pinterest that is frustrating. I'm totally guilty of doing this, too, I know it. There are a million trillion gazillion pins of ABSOLUTELY PERFECT parties, weddings, furniture, cupcakes, living rooms, wrap-around porches, gardens, closets, YOU NAME IT.<br />
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Here's the thing - ya, it's great to dream and gather some inspiration for planning, brainstorm...but it's not great to get caught up in what we think is the IDEAL event, house, whatever. Having a goal or idea in mind for finished product - awesome. Being completely unsatisfied and depressed because we aren't as perfect as these Pinterest mamas and wives and people because we don't have the time to build a sweet sandbox-swingset combo with flags and whistles and retractable rooftops and all of this - NOT AWESOME. Or being sad that our wedding day didn't turn out the same as all of these Pinterest weddings; or not having the time or resources to throw our sister or best friend the cutest, most detailed, intricately-planned dreamy-perfect baby shower...<br />
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I'm about to wrap up here, but before I do, <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2013/06/moms-when-are-you-going-to-learn.html" target="_blank">this blog post over at So Wonderful So Marvelous</a> is what inspired this post this morning...<br />
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So, yes, I pin a lot. More than I should. I may have a problem.<br />
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But what resources do I have with which to make these dreamy unrealistic ideals come true IN MY OWN LIFE? I have me. I have my husband. I have my dog, who doesn't like to sit still for the perfect photo op. I have my crafty abilities, and someday, I will have a little bit of disposable income with which to fund my projects and events. But do I or will I have an unlimited bank account? Do I or will I have a personal assistant or two or three to be my party planners and seamstresses and bakers? Will I ever hire a party planning company for my two-year-old's birthday party? GOD I HOPE NOT!<br />
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Like <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2013/06/moms-when-are-you-going-to-learn.html" target="_blank">So Wonderful So Marvelous</a> said, if you are THAT WOMAN, more power to you. Congratulations, you won the dream life. Or maybe you were born into it, that's fine too. I know a small handful of those women. But most of us are on our own. We've got priorities that we need to keep straight without the help of a personal assistant or party planner or tailor.<br />
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All of this, and I don't even have my own kids yet! Imagine trying to do all of these perfect and Pinterest-worthy things WITH KIDS. AND A JOB. Shut the front door. For the vast majority of us, NOT GONNA HAPPEN.<br />
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I do enjoy Pinterest, obviously, if you follow me - I spend entirely too much time on there right now. I should only allow myself like 20 minutes a day on there, but ya know, I don't have that personal assistant looking over my shoulder to hold me accountable to that. The important thing to remember is that hey, while these pics and ideas of super parties and decor and houses/McMansions might <i>inspire</i> us to do something different or add a little touch of something elegant, do these ideas <i>invoke</i> resentment towards others with more resources, do we feel less than adequate because we aren't the super cake maker or bow tie-er, does Pinterest make me feel ungrateful for what I DO have?<br />
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I admit - sometimes I do feel some of those things. But then I snuggle my precious Doxie who's been curled up in my lab this whole time, and I come back down to Earth and can still appreciate reality.<br />
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That's all for now, hope I didn't bore you too much! Thanks for reading! And DO check out <a href="http://www.sowonderfulsomarvelous.com/2013/06/moms-when-are-you-going-to-learn.html" target="_blank">So Wonderful So Marvelous</a>, I quite enjoyed her post.Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-54788372602068089782013-08-12T14:44:00.002-07:002013-08-12T14:44:49.249-07:00Playing Tourist<div style="text-align: center;">
Since we've had such free time this summer, and my lack of job thus far has been extremely stressful, we have tried very hard to both find affordable things to do and enjoy what our "new" home city has to offer. Touristy things can sometimes be pretty expensive, and of course anything downtown is more expensive than anything in the 'burbs, but strategies like using student or teacher discounts where possible, sharing food at restaurants, doing flights or tastings rather than full-size of a few things, etc really help in reducing the cost of things. In addition, we took public transportation so we didn't have to pay for parking all day! Go public transport!</div>
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(Side note: I saw a billboard on the side of a BUS advertising parking downtown for as low as $3 per day. I'm pretty sure that's not accurate unless you literally use the same garage/lot 7 days a week and 365 days a year, but also I thought it was kind of a hilarious place to post a billboard encouraging people to drive their cars downtown...)</div>
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Summer is time for such fun things! From parades to great seasonal farmer's markets to festivals and block parties and reunions, not to mention this summer has had AMAZING weather here in the PNW, so what better time to enjoy the touristy things as well!</div>
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The above photos are from the very first Sunday we were here and went to our local farmer's market! Beautiful eggs, lovely bouquets, and much much more was seen that day. We talked with the meat vendors who were there, the dairies, and the produce stands. We bought eggs, some meat, and some veggies, and enjoyed the street musicians who were there. I'm so glad this particular market is year-round, since it is less than two blocks away. We still have yet to go to some other seasonal markets I've been wanting to go to, but we're working on that.</div>
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The above three photos are a select few from my parents' gardens. My mom's roses were stunning this year, and my dad's vegetable garden was taking off early this year (these photos were from June!) thanks to the soil taking a year off last year. Since the radishes, we've had beets, green beans, carrots, and snap peas! He planted another row of beets since his were doing so well so early in the season, and they can be harvested until late October - awesome! I was just there the other day and the tomato plants are going CRAZY! I can't wait until they are ripe enough for salad! Fresh food is definitely superior.</div>
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That's the three-sausage-plate from Uli's Famous Sausages in the Pike Place Market. [Another aside: I absolutely cringe every single time I hear or see someone say or spell "Pike's Place." It's seriously all I can do do bite my tongue!] Anyway, Uli's is SO delicious! Local-made sausages, in about as many flavors as you can think of, and all but one flavor is gluten-free! I love the little restaurant they've got in the Market, too. So cozy, just three beers on tap, some canned sodas, and then the Market-front display and register. The sides we got were potato salad, red wine vinegar slaw, and sweet and sour slaw. Very reasonable prices as well, whether you're ordering lunch or taking sausages to go.</div>
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There was about a week-long period in late-ish June when we had SUPER low tides, like 3.5-4.0 tides. It made for several days of great beach walks on the tide flats! My favorite, especially when I can find the areas of tide flats where the sand has all the ripples in it, it feels SO GOOD to go barefoot! There are some great gray sand beaches around with lots of low tide sea critters to see. Unfortunately, most of the sea life that's revealed at low tide is in serious danger of dying, if it's not already dead. Many of the sea stars we found were protected by the rocks they clung to, in tide pools, and typically in the shade - those ones had better chances, of course, unless they were to get eaten. Anyway, I just love going barefoot on the tide flats, it's literally the best type of pedicure I've ever had! :) </div>
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A friend of mine was able to get club tickets to the Seattle Sounders game earlier this summer, and invited us to go with him. It was so fun! Soccer is now my new favorite sporting event to attend, because it's literally non-stop. Much more entertaining than NFL breaks for commercials or the lulls between any big plays at a baseball game. That being said, I'll go to pretty much any baseball or football game as well as soccer, because honestly I love sports - and people-watching at baseball games is super fun. Anyway, the Sounders game was great; it was only the second time I'd been to Century Link field, and the Sounders won! Plus all the great food at the buffet in the club. Yum.</div>
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For the Fourth of July, we went up to Maxwelton Beach on Whidbey Island, my favorite place! Every year there is a quarter-mile-long 4th of July parade, and they have buttons made each year. Gotta buy one! The couple in the photo on the right were just legally married in WA state after being together for 21 years; WA state legalized same-sex marriage earlier this year. A huge milestone, and hopefully setting precedence for other states who have yet to do so.</div>
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My mom and I took a little day trip up to Sequim and Port Townsend a few weeks ago. Both really cute little towns on the peninsula. Every time I go to Port Townsend, I've got to go to this diner called Nifty Fiftys. It's been there forever, and the decor is so great! They've even got the classic KitchenAid milkshake mixers! And miniature table-top jukeboxes THAT WORK! On one of the roads we took out to Sequim from Port Townsend, we saw the jerky drive-thru. Just HAD to get a photo! Unfortunately, we did not stop for any jerky, but I'm sure it was delicious.</div>
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While the nephews were in town, we went with them on their downtown outing with my MIL and her BF. The nephews are ages 11 and 8, so we had tons of fun going on the Ride the Duck tour and the Great Wheel with them! The Duck Tour was hilarious, mostly due to our silly driver. The Great Wheel was awesome, 11-year-old and I were pretty scared of the heights though! We also walked through the Market, and visited the famous Gum Wall. I was pretty surprised that they thought it was so gross, they're elementary school aged boys...!!! It was funny, though. Then we had a huge meal at the Crab Pot! Yum, yum! It was such a fun day.</div>
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Right in our neighborhood there is a huge parade in late July every year, so we just walked right down the block and perched on the sidewalk for a couple hours! In case you can't tell, I LOVE parades! I love the marching bands, the floats (although the main float in this particular parade this year was extremely disappointing...), the drill teams (!!!), and the fleets of motorcycle cops! Pretty much everything about parades is awesome to me. Oh, and the Seafair clowns and pirates, too!! Can't forget them!!</div>
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A happy hour double date with another married couple we're friends with, at Maximilien in the Market (are we sensing a theme, here...Pike Place Market, anyone? Hehe). Apparently the menu can change daily, or even hourly, as their ingredients are quite fresh and the chefs do some different things. Their happy hour is pretty awesome, with reasonable prices (we ordered a ton of food and a bottle of wine), and a great rooftop deck looking out at the Sound. It was super hot the day we went, so I was sweating in my chair, haha, but it was great. The food we ordered (center, then clockwise from top left): oysters, escargot (left photo is it in its platter, right photo is it on my plate), foie gras, and cheese platter. I would definitely go there again, and recommend it to anyone seeking a new happy hour hideout, visiting the city, or looking for authentic French food.</div>
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Our most recent tourist day was spent in Pioneer Square. We started by walking around and enjoying all the little nooks and crannies like the dives, and some boutiques, and a great toy store. I love the architecture in this part of town, and the cobblestone sidewalks in some parts. Also, there are all sorts of flower baskets and pots everywhere! It just makes it so pretty and nice to walk around in. For lunch we ate at a salad and sandwich shop, the name of which is escaping me now, but there are plenty just like it in the area I'm sure, and it wasn't anything super special. Good, but standard. </div>
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I was so excited to see that Dry Soda has their tasting room and shop in this neighborhood! We totally tasted every single flavor and then each got a can to enjoy on our walk. They have really unique flavors, only four ingredients, and they are so refreshing - unlike typical Coke or Pepsi, which is pretty much just syrup, and tastes like it too! Dry Soda is very crisp, not syrupy at all, and each flavor is so delicious. I had cucumber this time, and husband had vanilla bean. I've also had rhubarb prior to visiting the tasting room, and it's excellent! My two favorites are probably rhubarb and juniper berry. Yum!</div>
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For an early-ish dinner, we went to a butcher shop we found, Rain Shadow Meats. Um, AMAZING. The items on their menu were like nothing I've seen or tasted before, and both mine and husband's selections were delicious. They also had a malbec rose wine that I had, which was also excellent. Looking at all the meat in the cases was great too, and fairly reasonable for the types of cuts they had! I just love local businesses like this.</div>
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After Rain Shadow, we went to a random little Italian place on a corner somewhere for a bottle of wine before our adult version of the Underground Tour. Great people watching as we enjoyed our wine sitting outside on the corner. On the Underground Tour, it was neat to see parts of the city that have been covered up, and to learn a little of the history of the OLD city. Of course, brothels and prostitutes are not unique to any city's history, but our tour guide was raunchy and entertaining at least, and I'd never done the tour so I'm glad we went. I might say it was a little expensive for what it was, even though it included a "free" drink at the end.</div>
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The best part about the tour was that we met three AWESOME Irish ladies! They were all best friends, and one of them had moved here almost two years ago and the other two were visiting her from Dublin. Have I mentioned before just how much I love Irish people and culture and country? Hmm, maybe it's time I mention it again - I truly love Ireland and its people. Anyway, I noticed their accents while we were all on the tour, and then approached them and introduced myself afterwards while we had our "free" drinks. What great ladies!! We totally hung out with them for the rest of the night, and ended up at Fado, a really great Irish pub, just down the street. It ended up being a much later night than we had planned, because we met these awesome ladies and hung out until 1 am! We bonded over Magner's Irish Cider (they told me it's the same as Bulmer's, just the American label is Magner's), and it was fantastic.</div>
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THEN, two days later when I was out on the bar crawl in another downtown neighborhood with a bunch of ladies I went to high school with (this year's reunion, haha!), WE TOTALLY RAN INTO OUR IRISH LADY FRIENDS!!! It was great. My reunion was great for many reasons, and seeing the Irish girls is definitely one of them :)</div>
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Anyway, this post has been FOREVER long, so if you've made it this far, thank you! Until next time, enjoy the beautiful August weather! Ciao!</div>
<br />Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-81793331537169265022013-08-11T10:38:00.001-07:002013-08-12T11:48:15.192-07:00Some Crafts and Gifts of SummertimeWell hello!<br />
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Again I've noticed it has been a while since a post, and since I still have no job there is really not a good excuse I can use for lack of updating. Funny though, how even without a job and with husband on vacation, we seem to be so incredibly busy! I suppose summer can get that way really fast, and in some ways I'm glad I don't have to be cooped up somewhere during the best hours of the beautiful weather we're having, but this lack of paycheck thing is getting stressful. I now know what it feels like to be amongst the depressed unemployed-and-looking. I don't recommend it. It's exhausting.<br />
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Scouring Craigslist and my profession's state association classifieds, responding to anything advertised within 60 miles, networking LIKE A BOSS (but apparently not well enough...??), cold calls, dozens (literally) of inquiries into posted positions with not even a "thanks for your interest and we'll get back to you soon..." even after I've sent follow-up emails...it's all very overwhelming and at the end of the day, depressing. It sucks. All I want is to take care of people, improve their quality of life, provide impeccable service and care, and be able to pay my bills. Please?<br />
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So obviously I've had plenty of free time on my hands. After sending email responses to classifieds for jobs posted, after driving around with three supply reps to all of their clients, and after making new cold calls almost every day...there's still so much time for everything else that summer has to offer. So, I've filled up that time with crafts, catching up with old friends, cleaning and settling into our new place (still after two months, I know...), and pretending to be tourists in our old/new hometown. If not for lack of income, I'd be having SO MUCH more fun, but I'm really trying to make the best of having free time and still trying to be thrifty as well...<br />
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Anyway, down to business! Here's a little project I did to help spruce up our place:<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KF7PaXqhRiw/UgbVJlZw67I/AAAAAAAAAFI/fQYeVFqh534/s1600/IMG_0895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KF7PaXqhRiw/UgbVJlZw67I/AAAAAAAAAFI/fQYeVFqh534/s1600/IMG_0895.jpg" height="315" width="320" /></a></div>
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I bought two plain wooden crates from JoAnn with my coupons, and stained and finished them. It took a couple of days to allow time for everything to dry sufficiently. They aren't all that large, the bottoms are about the dimensions of a small TV tray, which is actually perfect for our place. When we moved, we got rid of our entire living room furniture set, and have not replaced it. This has nothing to do with money, it is actually 100% due to the fact that our place is small. So instead of living room furniture, we have several floor pillows, a blanket, and two of these crates. </div>
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We also don't have a television, so instead we use Netflix and Hulu, and have a large flat screen monitor to hook up to our computer and watch movies and Top Gear and British sit-coms. We have five wall shelves, one of which is mounted about 18 inches off the floor, and the monitor sits there. Then we relax on the floor for some movies and cuddles, and we also usually eat dinner during a Top Gear episode or something, on the floor. So the crates come in handy to store some of the pillows, and also to use as little dinner tables. Floor living has been pretty nice so far, except it does make me feel like I don't have a space to use as an "office" or craft area. That is a little tough. But in such a small space, there's not really a ton of room for anything like that anyway.</div>
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Moving on...friends of ours had a party for the baptism of one and the birthdays of both of their children, and I wanted to make something they could enjoy as a family in addition to the little books we got the kids for their birthdays. I found the tutorial for the following project at <a href="http://growcreative.blogspot.com/2012/09/easy-watercolor-portrait-tutorial.html" target="_blank">Grow Creative</a> (click for tutorial...) It ended up being pretty easy and turned out great. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LuFV21ZuxTg/UgbZQFNnQHI/AAAAAAAAAFY/rj8kyqloRc4/s1600/IMG_0897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LuFV21ZuxTg/UgbZQFNnQHI/AAAAAAAAAFY/rj8kyqloRc4/s1600/IMG_0897.jpg" height="294" width="320" /></a></div>
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So, a few things I should share about this project. </div>
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1) Yellow is too light...unless your pencil tracing is already super light, you will NOT be able to erase the outline after you've painted with watercolors over it. So, I darkened up the yellow one to more of a golden/light orange and the remaining pencil marks all but disappeared. The other colors weren't as big of an issue, although I would definitely recommend tracing as lightly as possible so that whatever color you choose will cover up the lines completely.</div>
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2) The frame I had was 12x12, and since I wanted four images they were each 6x6. I cut my watercolor paper into 6x6 squares, and when I was done painting each one I definitely made sure to use my heavy duty scrapbooking tape runner to then arrange them on and stick them to a 12x12 scrapbook page. Then I trimmed the purple strips to frame each image.</div>
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3) Overall I was really happy with this project. One thing the original <a href="http://growcreative.blogspot.com/2012/09/easy-watercolor-portrait-tutorial.html" target="_blank">tutorial on Grow Creative</a> mentions is to pick a photo that has a good balance of shaded and lit areas...but that's actually kind of hard to do. Until you upload the photo into the online editor, it's really hard to tell exactly how it's going to turn out. And I won't lie, I didn't do *exactly* what the tutorial said to do. For her image, she posterized the photo to have only two colors. Well, three of the four photos I was working with didn't turn out that well with just black and white, so I posterized them with three colors, and used a faded version of my main color when I painted. Does that make sense? Just a watered down version of the darker color.</div>
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4) I kept small scrap strip of my cropped watercolor paper nearby so that I could test out the saturation of my color before I added it to my image. Helpful.</div>
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I think that's it for tips and notes about that...it was a fun project and, especially for photos of kids and pets, is an awesome addition to a home. It made a pretty great gift as well, I think.</div>
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Another great gift I put together this summer was a "Just in case..." bag with all sorts of great event-specific-emergency items. I gave it to my lovely bride-to-be friend as a bridal shower gift, and I actually got the idea from a great gift I got from my own bridesmaid for my wedding! I collected the same or similar items that I had received, and then added a few more things that were specific to this lovely's and my friendship together. I found a super cute cosmetics bag, made a cute tag, and just put everything inside! And my lovely bride-to-be loved it :) Oh, and I also made a card with my collection of cardstock, a little snippet of ribbon, lace, and tulle. I made a similar card (with slightly different patterns of how I put the tulle on, and a gray "belt" instead of the white ribbon) for another friend who is also getting married at the end of this summer. I really liked making them, and they were definitely unique; plus I didn't buy them for $6 each :P</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RvsqVQtcnl4/UgfCPSkc7UI/AAAAAAAAAGI/v6pP6n0JEWo/s1600/Bridal+shower+gift.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RvsqVQtcnl4/UgfCPSkc7UI/AAAAAAAAAGI/v6pP6n0JEWo/s1600/Bridal+shower+gift.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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Now, I wish I had kept an actual list of all the stuff I put inside. You can see some of it, but that's not even close to all of it! So, I'll list what I can remember:</div>
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Travel sized toothbrush, floss, toothpaste, and those little Wisp things.</div>
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5-Hour Energy shots</div>
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Eyedrops</div>
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Travel tissue</div>
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Travel Tide stain remover stick</div>
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Ibuprofen/Tylenol/Aspirin</div>
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A tampon</div>
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Lip balm</div>
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Bobby pins</div>
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Safety pins</div>
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Granola/snack bar</div>
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Q-Tips</div>
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Mini box of Altoids</div>
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Travel sized deodorant</div>
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...</div>
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Gosh, I feel like there was more but I just cannot remember what...! Here are some ideas that you could add also:</div>
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An airplane shot of her favorite liquor</div>
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Starbucks VIA or other instant or premade coffee drink</div>
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Travel sized hairspray</div>
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Moist towelettes/hand sanitizer</div>
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Sample/travel size of her favorite perfume</div>
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Little rubber earring backs</div>
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I think that's all the additional ideas I've got off the top of my head right now, but you're creative so you get the point. One thing I appreciated SO much from one of my own lovely bridesmaids was that she brought a PBnJ sandwich and a bottle of water, and she fed me a few bites and sips just before the ceremony as we were hiding from all the guests taking their seats in the chapel. We also had some bagels and cream cheese in our dressing area, but the bagels were really dense; a little hard to chew real quick and get it swallowed before we had to go! Everyone getting ready was able to enjoy a few bites though. Delicious. I then popped a mint, and we were ready to go. It was awesome because it wasn't even something I had thought of - needing a little bit of food between the VERY early breakfast that morning and the hors d'oeuvres at the reception at 2:30 that afternoon. </div>
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Well, I think that's all for now! There will be another post soon about being tourists in our own city, since I've been trying to live up my unemployment time...</div>
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Thanks for reading, mates! Until next time, make someone a gift. It feels wonderful to share your creativity, or even just share the fact that you've been thinking about someone in your life.</div>
Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-15952734278099378402013-07-09T09:18:00.000-07:002013-08-12T11:49:35.240-07:00Update Since Moving Across the CountryHello! So, I've been pretty bad at keeping this thing updated. I was really hoping that this would be something I could stick to, on a regular basis, but so far that has not been the case. I promise I'm trying to get better at this! (for you three readers out there actually reading my rambles...ha)<br />
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Since my last post, we moved across the country from a 950 sq ft apartment with a garage to a 624 sq ft apartment with a parking spot. I knew we had a lot of stuff, but seriously...it's been a real eye-opener to have to get rid of THIS MUCH STUFF. Five (I think) trips with a full car to Goodwill before we even left our old place, a couple trips since we've been back, and selling/giving away about half of our furniture. Wow, we had a lot of stuff - and the thing is, we literally don't miss anything that's gone. It's pretty nice to start minimizing.<br />
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One thing I am having a hard time with, though, is cutting down on my artsy fartsy supplies. I have so many projects I want to do and I actually do use a lot of my supplies fairly often (I don't buy greeting cards, I make them all; I use ribbons and rubber stamps to dress up gifts wrapped in brown craft paper; etc.) that I just can't bear to part with the majority of it. I did go through before we moved and got rid of a couple boxes worth of craft stuff that I had held onto for years and never used - you know, that stuff you look at and think, "oh this would be great for this particular project," and then one day you realize, "I'm never going to do THAT specific project, and if I did, I would want to get rid of it anyway."<br />
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So, a month later we're almost organized...there are a few more boxes of artsy fartsy things that won't fit into the hall closet and at this time I don't have a place for them...so they're sitting under the windows in the main room. I have to say it is driving me nuts that things still aren't all the way put away, but we are waiting on a storage unit inside our building to open up - right now we have things like camping gear and a few boxes of artsy fartsy stuff and some other randoms in a 4x4 cage in a room that's off the underground parking garage. Not easy access, and not organized well enough to be very functional. Also, Husband has some random stuff laying about that will go to his work, and I have a box and a couple cases of items that will go to my office someday...hopefully someday soon...anyway, that's that.<br />
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Despite the few straggling boxes, I do LOVE where we live now; we face west on the fifth floor of our building, one of the tallest in our neighborhood. We look at the peninsula, Puget Sound, and some small islands in the Sound. We can watch amazing sunsets with a water view. I'm pretty sure apartment living in our neighborhood could only be better if we were on the top floor, the seventh, but seeing as how we're only two floors below that, it's still really freaking awesome. The rooftop garden and fire pit is awesome, 360 degree views of the best Western Washington has to offer: Puget Sound, both mountain ranges, Mt. Rainier, and downtown. So, my mantra lately has pretty much been: "I win." Because this is really freaking amazing.<br />
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In addition, we are a block away from great public transportation, walking distance to Trader Joe's, the ongoing neighborhood produce stand, and the weekly farmer's market. Oh, and a bunch of great restaurants and bars, a couple of parks, the hardware store, SIX (maybe more...) coffee shops that AREN'T Starbucks (!!!), great little gift boutiques, our family jeweler, and pretty much everything else we could need or want. Did I mention life is pretty amazing right now?<br />
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Except for the fact that I have yet to find a job. It's kind of depressing, actually. And getting worse. However, I do have a lead for an Air Force Medical Dental Group recruiter, I'm going on a ride along with a supply rep to his client offices tomorrow and then with another rep next week, I've been offered a part time hygiene opportunity in a family friend's office (not terrible but definitely not ideal - hey, at least it would be a paycheck! If my license ever arrives, that is). So ya, I did mention my license hasn't arrive yet, right? I won't even go into how I feel about THAT (although I think it's quite obvious). So...trying SO hard to stay positive and keep on chugging!!<br />
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We have found some great places and things to do on a regular basis, so I'm excited to start getting more involved in the community! We visited a gym yesterday that we're going to start going to - my initial assessment/consult is in an hour and a half actually. They have a couple different practices of martial arts, boxing, and a thing called Warrior Woman which I'm going to do. I guess it's basically circuit and strength training bootcamp, so I'm really excited to try it out. I'm kind of intimidated that other women are going to have way more of a head start in this than me, but I'm super excited to get back to a community gym where is small enough to be personalized but not nearly as expensive as personal training, and provides a good community of fellow athletes.<br />
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Also, yesterday I went to a book group at the local library. I've been wanting to join one for a while, and wasn't really sure how to start my own - making sure everyone gets the book in time to have it finished by the next meeting was what I was having trouble figuring out...oh, and the fact that NO ONE in my building responded to my post in our online portal about wanting to start a book club! RUDE. Haha. Anyway, I went to the one at the library yesterday and it seems like a really good group of ladies. Of course they're all older than me, by at least 8 or 10 years, and some could be my grandmas, but it was a good time! I'm pretty sure they're all bleeding hearts, too, which is kind of unfortunate but at least one seems at least open to the fact that someone might think differently and that what makes the world go round is all kinds of kinds, not just one kind of thinking...at any rate, the only reason that all came up anyway was because the book they had just finished reading was Mornings on Horseback, the David McCullough biography of Theodore Roosevelt, so there was some political banter but mostly in good fun anyway. The book apparently didn't go into a lot of political detail, mostly his upbringing and career, and how he got into political service - not so much his actual presidency or what he did during it. The general consensus was that the ladies didn't particularly enjoy David McCullough's writing as a historian, wouldn't recommend other biographies written by him, and most of the ladies didn't even read the whole book because they didn't like it. It's hard to tell yet if the reason they didn't like the historian's book was because he actually writes in a manner that's hard for most people to read, or if it's because they might be reading at a much younger level - which is actually really common, unfortunately. Apparently most adults in the US read at about an 8th-9th grade level, so that definitely wouldn't cut it to read a book by an extremely popular PhD historian and political biographer. I mean, the man has written several biographies and has sold tons of copies of all of them...so I may just need to read one for myself and decide.<br />
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Anyway, I think that should be about all for now. Sorry I rambled a bit in that last paragraph, I'm super excited to have found a book club that seems great so far! Now we're reading East of the Mountains, by David Guterson. So far it's pretty good.<br />
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Okay seriously now, I'm done. Thanks for reading, as always, if you got this far :) Until next time, friends!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-14464044193416352082013-05-19T15:40:00.000-07:002013-05-19T15:51:59.091-07:00Washington State Map ArtSo, hello everyone! This is going to be a new type of post for me, because it's going to include photos AND a tutorial/description of a project I just finished. Not only did I finish it today, I only started it less than two hours ago. Yes, it's true, I started AND finished a project in less than an entire afternoon. Which is awesome, because now I have time for another project! Keep reading for photos and the tutorial!<br />
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We had been over to our friends' house a couple months ago for the husband's birthday party, and it was not the first time we'd been there. However, because they only moved into that house about six months ago, they were still working on getting all of their decor in place, so this was the first time I'd seen this amazing piece of art - a framed state map cutout of Michigan (where the husband is from) with colorful strips of collage in the background, with about a half inch between the background and the cutout so there was sort of a shadow effect. Amazed at this idea, I asked where they had gotten it, and the wife said a friend of theirs made it for them. Of course, a great project idea! I examined the piece of art and it's been on my mind ever since. For once, NOT something inspired by Pinterest (those tutorials usually lie anyway and the caption will say "super easy, only a couple hours, less than an afternoon, etc." Not true. But I've posted about that before, and I digress...<br />
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On to the photos and tutorial!<br />
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Materials needed:<br />
Magazines<br />
Paper cutter/rotary cutter<br />
Exacto knife<br />
Cutting mat<br />
Printer<br />
Two pages of white cardstock<br />
Glue stick<br />
Wall frame<br />
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1. Collect magazine pages that have little or no writing and people on them.<br />
I used a bunch of cool full-page photos from my husband's Scientific American magazines, plus some advertisements in regular magazines like More, Real Simple, and my seasonal Nordstrom catalog. Some of the pages I only used half of, because I was looking for a certain color scheme as well - blues and greens. I have to admit, the pages from the Scientific American mags ended up being the best, because I could use almost, if not all of, the entire page, and there were some really abstract photos like microscope photos blown up to be the whole page, different types of maps, and stuff like that. Other magazines that would be good for this would be National Geographic and probably travel magazines.<br />
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2. Use a paper cutter or rotary cutter to slice the magazine pages into lots of quarter-inch wide strips.<br />
THIS STEP IS THE LONGEST, I HAD DONE THIS PRIOR TO STARTING THE REST OF THE PROJECT...<br />
For this, I wanted the images to be unidentifiable and in case an awesome page had like one word on it, I didn't want it to be obvious what it was. So my strips were about a quarter inch wide - it sounds kind of big, but then when you actually start slicing the page, it seems like it takes forever! This was probably the most time-consuming part of the project, and I had done this last week while I was home and in between packing boxes for our imminent move across country. I guess technically, if you did this step the same day as your project, the whole thing would take a lot longer, about twice as long depending on how many magazines you decide to go through and if you can find good pages.<br />
So, cut enough that you have lots of photos and color combinations to choose from for your project. I went through about five magazines including two Scientific Americans (lots of pages from both of those!), for a total of maybe 15 or 20 pages - but for a lot of the More and Real Simple pages, I couldn't use the whole page because part of it was plain white or because of big words or peoples' faces, etc.<br />
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All my strips of magazine pages cut into quarter-inch wide pieces. I found an old elementary school pencil box to store them in so they wouldn't get all twisted or crumpled!</div>
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3. Search online for a state map outline for whatever state you want.<br />
I Googled "Washington state map outline" and ultimately found the image I used at <a href="http://www.printablemap.net/printable-map-of-washington.html" target="_blank">this website, and there are lots of other states too!</a> Click "Printable version," save PDF if necessary, print to use up the entirety of your 8.5x11in page, and viola, you've got your map.<br />
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My Washington state map.</div>
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4. Trace your map onto one of the pages of white cardstock.</div>
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I happened to have 8.5x11in cardstock in white, but if you have larger cardstock for i.e. 12x12 scrapbooking, you may need to trim yours. You're crafty, so you know how to take care of that. The reason I didn't print my map directly onto my cardstock, which is totally possible, is because I didn't want to turn the PDF into the mirror image of itself - I needed a pencil tracing of my map on my cardstock so that if there were pencil marks around the edge of my map, I could erase them. If you print directly onto your cardstock, make the map a mirror image of itself first so that when you cut the image out, you can turn the page over so you won't see any of the printed edges you left behind. Does that make sense? </div>
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I paperclipped my cardstock to the front of my map page, held it up to a window, and traced in pencil.</div>
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5. Use your exacto knife to cut along the edges of your tracing on your cardstock. Obviously do this on top of your cutting mat...</div>
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This was WAY easier than I thought it would be. My husband had a couple of awesome knives he uses for building replica models of like cars and airplanes and stuff, so those worked really well. Again, you're crafty so you probably already have awesome knives with which to do this.</div>
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Erase any pencil marks that remain at the edges of your map, and set the whole thing aside.</div>
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Sorry this is sideways, iPhoto doesn't like some edits sometimes for whatever reason. Cutting around the edges of my map was way faster than I thought it would be, about 10 minutes total, even with all those little islands! I saved my cut-out pieces for another project, yet I'm not sure what that'll be.</div>
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5. Glue your magazine strips to your un-cut piece of 8.5x11 white cardstock.</div>
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I guess technically it doesn't have to be white. So, what I did for this part is I used the cut-out piece of Washington to sort of mark where my "window" would be on the full 8.5x11 paper, so I would sort of know where my colors would show through and which part of the strip would just be too close to the edge or the middle for my liking. I hope that makes sense. I wanted a general idea of what would show of the strips when I was all done, so indicating the general dimensions of my cutout on my background page was helpful.</div>
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I used a glue stick so my pieces didn't wrinkle too much. The final product actually has a large wrinkle on the FRONT page (the one I cut out my map from! Booooo!) from the glue stick, but I was being careless...I guess if you were up to the challenge and mess, you could use mod podge or regular Elmer's with a bit of water and a paintbrush, but glue stick was WAY easy and WAY less messy than other options.</div>
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Start in the middle of your page with the first strip. I wanted to make sure my strips would all be straight up and down, and that I wouldn't end up with really awesome strips only half showing because they were on the edges of the cutout or something. I just found it easier than the right or left edge, because obviously you won't need to put strips all along there since those edges won't show!</div>
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It looked strange as I was assembling the whole thing; I wasn't sure I liked the order I chose for my strips, and I actually pulled one from the very center, didn't use it at all, and replaced it with a different one. Another advantage of using a glue stick - if you truly hate where you placed something, you don't have to wrestle much with it to change it! I was seriously doubting the outcome of the whole project when I was about halfway through gluing my strips to my page. But, I kept on, and I'm glad I did!</div>
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6. Place your cardstock with the map cut out from it over your background piece to see how you like it.</div>
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At this point, I realized I did need one more strip on the left side as you could see a little blank area through the cut out. And, the reality of how it would look really was much more awesome than how the strips looked just glued to the page - at this point, I was inspired to actually share this project with you and post a tutorial on the blog and everything. Maybe this will be just the beginning of many more tutorials!</div>
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I put a little circle of glue stick on the wider areas of my cut-out piece and pressed it onto my background page, because the frame I used had a pre-cut mat that was just barely big enough to fit the 8.5x11 paper in, and I didn't want all the pieces of it to move around. This will give me freedom later on, since I used the glue stick, to separate the cut out front and the background pieces to fit into a shadow frame if and when we ever get one. Held together, but still with flexibility!</div>
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When I put the circles of glue stick on the front piece, I wasn't careful enough with the thickness of the glue and the fact that I was just rubbing it on there - I ended up with a wrinkled circle in the bottom right corner. Hopefully the heat here will pull it out like it does with wrinkles after mod podge-ing, but we will see. Humph.</div>
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7. Put the final product in your chosen frame!</div>
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I just love how this turned out. Although I wish we had a frame that would allow for the shadow effect between the front and back pieces, I am still loving this. The thing about the frames that allow for shadow effects like that is that they are really expensive. With the move coming up, also, why would I want to buy another frame to pack? We already had this one that has been in its original wrapper from Ikea since before we even moved to Arizona, so it was about time it was used for something...sheesh!</div>
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Love it!! I have to admit, I'm a little bit impressed with myself... And I just can't wait to move home!!</div>
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Well, thanks for reading today mates! I know this tutorial probably exists all over the Internets and Pinterest already, but hey, I did this without someone else's tutorial with only the inspiration I received from a work of art at a friend's house, so I guess this is just one more tutorial to add to the bunch! Enjoy! </div>
Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5522100215833452826.post-62821409371594519602013-05-12T20:54:00.003-07:002013-05-12T20:54:42.322-07:00Things People Say to Reassure You"Everything happens for a reason."<br />
"Don't sweat the small stuff" (and for some reason they'll add "and it's all small stuff.")<br />
"If it's meant to be, it will be."<br />
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Yes, everything does happen for a reason - because someone made a choice, whether that person was me or you or someone else. Whatever happened is a direct result of someone making a choice and performing an action. It's not a mystery, it's not comforting to say there's some supernatural reason for things to have happened...because there isn't. The reason is that a human performed an action or spoke chosen words or made some other choice. Or there was some natural disaster.<br />
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It's not all small stuff. In fact, most of it is pretty big stuff. If it's truly not a big thing, someone wouldn't feel the need to reassure me. Instead, they should say "get a grip, it's not a big thing, get over it" or something of the like. There could be some explanation as to why said thing is not a big thing, or a question directed at me as to why such a thing is a big thing, and it may turn out to actually be a very small thing after all. In which case, get a grip. Otherwise, it's a big thing and it's something worth stressing over and working hard for in order to gain the desired outcome.<br />
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Nothing is "meant" to be. You don't just sit back and count on the things to happen that are "meant" to be. You make those things happen. You choose to act or not to act. If you think you ended up so lucky to have had something amazing just happen to you, think back to past choices you've made - the people you choose to associate yourself with, the job you choose, the location you chose to be in at a given time, etc. Everything else is a result of the choices of other people.<br />
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I know that at this point, you're probably thinking "wow, how cynical, how can she ever be happy with that attitude, etc etc etc..." I'm just not reassured when people say any of those above examples to me when something happens. Let's be honest - there are some things that have happened or not happened that I wish I could say "it happened (or didn't happen) for a reason." But that's not actually my opinion at all, so lying to myself about it to try to make myself feel better sure doesn't work. Being honest, making modifications to my actions and choices, trying again, trying differently, putting some sort of WORK into it usually results in the desired (or at least an acceptable) outcome, or at least puts me onto the right path towards the desired outcome.<br />
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And sometimes, you just have to know when to freaking quit already. And it's okay to quit. To choose to lose touch with "friends" you don't feel are such good friends anymore, or maybe never were but you didn't realize it until now. To choose to try another career path, to choose to walk away from a project that truly is a small thing but somehow was made into a big thing much earlier and now has drained an incredible amount of productivity that could have been put toward something that actually was a big thing. It's okay to ask for help, to seek more information, to change my opinion about something when it's warranted. Quitting, asking for help, etc - none of that means admitting defeat. It means prioritizing and moving forward.<br />
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I could probably keep going on about this and get onto lots of different tangents, but I tried to avoid that this time. I just wanted to share general thoughts on some comments I've heard over and over and over in the past 9 days that, as well-intentioned as their speakers may be, have not been helpful. Of course, except for the fact that I then reflected on those comments and why they were not helpful or reassuring to me.<br />
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Anyway, thanks for reading y'all, and until next time...goodnight!Lizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05532181457505123630noreply@blogger.com0