Just For Fun

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.

1. Are you better at remembering names or remembering faces?

Oh, it’s a tossup because I’m equally bad at both! ?

I guess I’m a little better at faces if, and only if, I’m wearing my glasses or contacts (I’m nearsighted)… That said, I’m getting pretty lazy when it comes to wearing either. What I really need to do is invest in some good reading glasses, but I’m still in complete denial about that.

2. What’s your favorite TV show?

The Great British Bake Off! But this one-new-episode-per-week thing on Netflix kind of pains me. I got used to marathoning the earlier seasons.

“Give me all the gluten!” is all I have to say.

3. Something on your bucket list?

I desperately want to learn how to play the accordion… I really need to make that happen, because when there’s an accordion playing, everyone is happy. ?

4. If you had more time for hobbies, what are some hobbies you would have?

Baking would be one, for sure. Brownies and bread are my love language. ❤️ I’d also like to take hip-hop dance classes again, although I don’t think I’d be much good at it anymore, since it’s been years.

Oh, and if there were an American Ninja Warrior-type gym nearby, I’d start doing obstacle training in a heartbeat.

Oh, and one other thing: does sleep count as a hobby?!

5. Apple or Android?

Apple! — mostly because I’m already stuck on the Mac hamster wheel, and once you’re on there, it’s hard to get off.

Because I’m a “list lady”

Speaking of remembering names…I really don’t like that awkward feeling when you keep running into someone whose name you can’t remember, but after a certain amount of time has passed you can’t ask what their name is again. At that point, it’s clear that neither of you remembers the other person’s name, but you both keep pretending that you do, and it’s so uncomfortable (at least it is for me, LOL!).

So here’s what I do now: I keep a list oh-so-creatively called “People I’ve Met” on my phone, and right after I meet someone, I jot down a few details about them, like, “Long red hair, Molly’s mom, met her at the dance studio in the fall, super friendly.”

It’s actually REALLY handy, especially 1) if you’re bad at remembering names, and 2) you usually have your phone on ya. When I see that person again, BAM! — I just pop open my list, and there are the details.

Super nerdy, and yet super effective. ?

Have a wonderful week, OK? Talk to you soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon!

1. Are you better at remembering names or remembering faces?
2. What’s your favorite TV show?
3. Something on your bucket list?
4. If you had more time for hobbies, what are some hobbies you’d have?
5. Apple or Android?

P.P.S. Please be extra kind and loving to yourself this week. If you do that, I’ll do the same. ?

Good morning from the Bay Area! It’s that time of year around here when the microclimates go cray. You can leave the house in shorts and a sleeveless shirt and be desperate for a warm sweatshirt a few hours later. People are NOT playing when they say to bring layers for Bay Area adventures. The pic up top was from the beach a couple weeks ago in the heat of summer. It was warm enough to play at the edge of the water (granted, just our feet because it was cold!), but that pretty much sums it up.

What are you up to today? I hope it involves a little rest and reading.

Speaking of that…your beauty links for the week:

• You can now buy a makeup mirror with Alexa built into it, and all I have to say to that is SNOOZE. Call me when she can actually do winged liner for me.
• The New York Times asks, “Are you being kind to your butt?” (P.S. Apparently, butt skin care masks are a thing now.)
• Favorite quote of the week: “Eventually…I was caught. My mom got home early from work one day and found me in her room wearing her favorite red lipstick. I learned one thing that day that forever stuck with me after the fact: you can’t trick your mom for as long as you think you can.”
• These two clever penguins keep sneaking into a sushi shop.
• According to NYFW, basic beauty is dead.
• I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Marin Humane Society website lately, and I just found out they have a lot of in-depth and useful resources on cat and dog behavior in their Training Handouts section. (And they come in both English and Español!)
• Sasha Plavsic, the founder of clean beauty brand Ilia Beauty, is obsessed with typography.
• Got a pimple? Cover AND heal it with these cute yellow star stickers.
• NYFW also told us that hair scarves are going to be everywhere come spring/summer 2020 (yikes, did I just really type “2020?”).

Easy hair styles with a scarf

I want to try these styles, too.

When Riri stands up and starts clapping, you’re doing something right.

I needed this today.

Now, this is usually the point when I go get another cup of coffee, but I’m going to make a green juice instead because my body is craving spinach… Does that ever happen to you? And sometimes I don’t want to expend the effort to actually sit down and eat a big bowl of it, so I just blitz it in my Ninja Blender with some fruit. That’s where I am in life right now, LOL! ?

Anyway, have a great rest of your weekend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I jokingly mentioned to El Hub that I could fill countless volumes of this blank notebook titled “Ledger of Perceived Slights,” and he replied, “Yeah, you could,” a little too enthusiastically.

HMMM.

I honestly didn’t know whether to punch him or kiss him… The man knows me too well, HA HA HA! ?

I saw it while shopping for a birthday gift at Copperfield’s Books in Novato, but it’s also available online.

Even though I really wanted it and the other notebooks with slightly snarky titles on the shelf for myself, I have a not-so-small collection of blank notebooks threatening to bury me under an avalanche of paper at the moment, so I resisted the urge.

Marie Kondo would not be proud

A lot of the writing I do is on a keyboard, but there’s just something wonderful about old-school pen and paper! For some reason, the information processes differently, and it sinks in better when I write things down, which is why there are multiple notebooks around me at any given moment.

There are three on my desk right now, each dedicated to a specific subject — an orange one for time management, a purple one for outlines and drafts, and a green one for career notes.

Oh, and I don’t just get notebooks for myself. I also get them for other people. Just the other day, I found a cute pink Minnie Mouse spiral-bound hardcover notebook in the dollar section at Target that I got for Coco-baby, who, by the way, is currently obsessed with finding “fresh pages” in her notebooks.

Hmm… I wonder where she gets that from.

Shout-out to ribbon placeholders

My number-one requirement for any and all notebooks is that the pages have to be lined, since sloped script on unlined pages is way too much chaos for me.

And while an attached thin sliver of ribbon for a bookmark is also a plus, it’s not a necessity.

I also need a notebook that easily lays flat, and so the first thing I do with any potential notebook is open it up to see how the pages fall.

Oh, and a hard cover is a major plus. When you have a hard cover, the world is your desk!

That’s something I figured out in my early 20s, a time during which I spent countless hours writing things down while waiting for…something (usually public transportation).

Last week I found an old hardcover notebook from when I was 24, and I swear, half of the pages had been filled while I waited for BART, MUNI or for my laundry at the laundromat.

[Continue reading…]

Do I mind if my makeup feels heavy?

Hmm…

Yes and no. I’m not as accustomed to wearing ALL. THE. THINGS. on my face as I once was. I mean, four or five years ago, when I’d contour my nose just to go to Trader Joe’s to buy bread, I reveled in my multi-step process, but I had more time. Heck, I remember my base alone would take a minimum of seven products, and that was not including bronzer, highlighter and blush.

OMG! It was intense. Granted, I thought it looked great in pics, and I loved doing it, but that was a different time. I didn’t mind wearing lots (and lots and lots) of product on my face.

These days, I don’t wear as much makeup on a daily basis, so now I’m used to wearing makeup that feels lighter.

Once or twice a week, though, I’ll do something akin to full glam that feels heavier than my usual minimal makeup, and when I do, I don’t mind how it feels… I think I’ve still got that makeup muscle memory.

Maybe it’s just that once you get used to wearing heavy makeup, that feeling of being comfortable with it never goes away. LOL!

How about you? Do you mind if your makeup feels heavy on your face?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

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.

1. When was the last time you were stung by a bee?

It was in elementary school approximately one billion years ago, give or take. I was in third grade. It happened on the street by our house, right as I was walking by the corner.

I remember putting my arms around myself at the time like I was giving myself a big hug. I don’t remember why, but I was doing that, and I guess a bee got stuck in the cable-knit pink vest I was wearing… ? So, my arm touched where this bee was stuck, and I got a very deep, very intense bee sting right then and there.

I vividly remember running home and my dad taking out the stinger.

2. A sweet treat you can’t resist?

Oh, girlfriend, don’t even think we’re going to drive by a Baskin-Robins ? without stopping by. We are doing this, babe! I need my scoop of pralines and cream in a sugar cone.

NEED. IT.

3. Your thoughts on waxing?

Do it! — and do it yourself at home, because it’s 1) cheaper, 2) less mortifying, and 3) did I already mention that it’s cheaper?

It’ll take a while if you’ve never done it yourself before, but you’ll get the hang of it, and when I say do it at home, I’m saying do EVERYTHING at home. Mustache, brows (be very careful though), lady parts, ‘pits. Do it all at home. You have the power!

4. Comb or brush?

Hmm… This seriously gave me pause, because you can do a lot of cool things with combs, especially teasing combs, but I’m going to have to go with a brush. They’re just so practical.

5. Something that smells funny to you?

Squid. YUCK! It has a very distinct smell, and I can’t stomach it.

OK, so I gotta know…

Does anybody else plan their makeup looks ahead of time for the week? I just starting doing it a few weeks ago, and I looooove it. Weirdly enough, I feel like planning my makeup looks ahead of time frees up my imagination, because then I don’t feel the last-minute pressure during the week.

Anyone!?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon!

1. When was the last time you were stung by a bee?
2. A sweet treat you can’t resist?
3. Your thoughts on waxing?
4. Comb or brush?
5. Something that smells funny to you?

P.P.S. I hope your mascara stays smudge-free all week long. ?