Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start.

Hi! Hello from Marin County, California. We’re calling this week’s installment of this post “The Monday-ish / Tuesday Poll,” because yeah, Monday’s almost over. I apologize, but there’s been a lot happening, as I’m sure you know.

These are crazy days, man! It’s totally surreal. I never thought I’d live to see something like this. ? Today our county Public Health Officer issued a shelter-at-home order, making it officially illegal to go to a movie or the mall. The order is in place from today through at least April 7.

Wow.

Just wow.

I hope you’re safe and doing well. I miss you. Stay safe. Sending you and your loved ones positive thoughts. ❤️

And now…for the first time ever in almost 12 years, it’s time for The Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday-ish / Tuesday Poll.

1. Cupcakes, cookies or brownies?

Chocolate cookies with a sprinkling of sea salt, please.

2. Can you do a chin-up or pull-up?

If I’m well-rested and powered by good tunes and coffee, yes, I can do one or two chin-ups.

I still can’t do a full pull-up with an overhand grip unless I use one of those stretchy rubber band things for help, but I think I’ll get there eventually if I can strengthen my core.

Speaking of chin-ups, this is the scene I think of when I’m doing them, although I don’t look as cool as Linda Hamilton does…


One of the great ladies of sci-fi, Sarah Connor (I named Coy-Coy after her)

3. Tell me about your favorite pants.

Right now I’m feeling my thick black stretchy pants by Zella. They’re super soft and, weirdly enough, they keep me warm when it’s cold outside, but I don’t get too hot in them when I’m working out. They truly are a miracle of modern times. LOL! I do wish they had pockets on the sides like my Athleta ones, though.

4. When you’re reading a really a good book, do you read it as fast as you can (GOTTA GET TO THE END!), or do you prefer to savor the chapters slowly?

If it’s so good that I can’t put it down, then I’ll read it every free moment I get — standing in line at the grocery store, doing squats at home, cooking dinner… Every chance I get to sneak in a few sentences, I’ll do it. And if I really, REALLY love a book, I’ll immediately start re-reading it.

5. What are you wearing on your nails?

Essie Crop Top & Roll… It’s a neutrals day!



Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Because you never realized you needed to see an 80-year-old elephant listening to Clair de Lune until a pandemic struck…

Hang in there, my friend. ❤️

P.P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Cupcakes, cookies or brownies?
2. Can you do a chin-up (underhand grip) or pull-up (overhand grip)?
3. Tell me about your favorite pants.
4. When you’re reading a really a good book, do you read it as fast as you can (GOTTA GET TO THE END!), or do you prefer to savor the chapters slowly?
5. What are you wearing on your nails?

Yea! Huzzah! Hooray! We made it to the weekend in what officially may go down as the craziest week ever.

Oh, my goodness, right?

Happy Caturday, my friend. We may be locked indoors. We may be tired of hearing terms like “self-quarantine,” “social distancing” and “fatality rate.” We may be stockpiling toilet paper, but it sure beats the alternative!

Oh, gosh, I’m anxious. Our little town in the Bay Area is really starting to shut down now. Businesses are closing left and right, and I just got an email from Connor’s school that they’re shutting down all classes for at least two weeks starting Monday. My hours also got cut at the bakery because nobody’s stockpiling cupcakes. Big box stores are swarming with people stockpiling cleaning supplies and pasta. (And some of them are behaving badly. Oh, the stories I’ve heard!)

So, yeah, it looks like I’ll be holed up here at home with Coywolf, PGR and El Hub for at least the next two weeks.

I think we could all use a little extra luck these days, so here we go…

And some weekend reading…

• Makeup stores are responding to COVID-19 by cancelling events, suspending beauty services and wiping down high traffic areas with Clorox every hour. Sephora is also banning in-store testing.
• Because you’re washing your hands a lot, here’s a list of the best hand creams, according to dermatologists.
• If you’re stuck at home, here are 12 famous museums that offer virtual tours from your couch.
• Last of the virus-related stories for now (I promise): how coronavirus is impacting the way makeup artists work.
• I’m feeling this blue eyeshadow Duchess of Sussex (otherwise known as Meghan Markle). Don’t you love how you can only really see it when she blinks? It’s subtle yet kinda flashy at the same time. Hmm… I think I just found my new makeup aesthetic.
• Staying in more often? (I take it your answer to this is “Yes.”) Perhaps you might want to do an at-home mani with Vogue’s step-by-step guide to the perfect manicure.
• Speaking of nail polish, Target is selling Peeps scented paint for your claws.
• “For far too long, women have been forced to submit to male workplace norms, especially those who serve in the military or in law enforcement. First responders and transit workers are often subject to dress codes that equate any expression of femininity with weakness. Defenders say we need uniformity because it’s key to maintaining authority within the ranks and with the public. But that uniformity has been built around a male body… In nearly every walk of life, women’s bodies are policed because of the fear of how men will react to them.” <---- I enjoyed this opinion piece on Danielle Outlaw, the new Philadelphia Police Commissioner and the first black woman to lead the 6,500-member department.
• We’re due here for some rain this weekend and next week, which leads me to the Hairbrella, a $35 hat designed to shield makeup and hair in high humidity, drizzle or downpour.
• Can you find the cat hiding on this bed? It took me a minute!
• Could this species of jellyfish be the future of human skin implants?

How are you holding up?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Because mine is driving me nuts.

ABSOLUTELY BATTY.

It’s coming up on a year since my last cut (it was a grief haircut and happened right after Tabs passed away). The shape and style are long gone, so now when I try to wear it down, it just hangs there like a long shag carpet…

And now, since I end up throwing it into a pony or a low bun all the time for work, I’m in the habit of just wearing it up all the time, so I haven’t really bothered to do anything to remedy the situation.

It’s getting to that point, though, where if I don’t do anything soon, I’m gonna end up with an impulse hair chop — which sometimes works out for me, but usually doesn’t.

Are you having hair woes, too?

If you aren’t and you’re having a good hair day, week or month, first of all, HOORAY. Second, I want to hear about that, because I could do with some mane inspo! Anything to take my mind off the news!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Hope you’re hanging in there. This has been a craaaaaazy week, hasn’t it? Every time I glance at the news, it’s like watching a scary science fiction movie.

Words can’t even describe. ?

Do you ever use a habit tracker? — some type of visual way to mark your daily, weekly or monthly progress when you’re trying to start a new habit? The one I use now is a weekly desk planner, but I’ve also used Post-Its and pieces of paper in a notebook.

I’ve seen daily habit tracker stamps (there are a bunch on Etsy) that also look cool.

I started regularly using my current habit tracker back in January, and I’m definitely a believer. I use it daily, and it’s surprisingly effective. It really helps to be able to see my progress at a glance, and it’s oddly satisfying to fill a square every day.

Of course, tracking is only one piece of the habit-building puzzle. I’ve also learned, and maybe this is just me, but I’ve figured out that habit-building is like building up a muscle… You start with the lightest weight, and build up.

In the beginning, start with something easy to accomplish and incorporate into your life, like spending five minutes each day on your new habit (or 10 minutes tops). Because if I try to bite off much more than that, even when I’m totally fired up about something and really, really want to commit to spending an hour on it every day, I resist the urge because new goals can quickly get overwhelming, so I force myself rein it in.

Right now for me it’s spending five minutes on meditation and gratitude every morning. Five minutes is all I have to do, and then I’m done. (But if I want to keep going, I’m allowed. I just don’t have to. Anything beyond five minutes is gravy.)

When I’m done, I tick off a square in my habit tracker.

The second piece of the puzzle is the reward. ? You don’t have to go crazy and spend $$$ every time you tick a square (this is not an excuse to blow your budget!), but whatever your reward is, you should recognize your good work. Give yourself a pat on the back for sticking to this.

I like to treat myself to a bottle of nail polish or a movie rental on iTunes (this week it was Knives Out! SO GOOD), but whatever you do, DO NOT forget the reward. The reward is key.

If you want to make a life change or just start a new habit, give habit trackers a try. They’re a great way to chart your progress and cheer yourself along. ?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen