Just For Fun

Why do I always feel better near a body of water?

It must be some kind of primitive woman thing… Like, the prehistoric part of my brain feels safer knowing that I could wash my hair in this creek if I had to…

After story time at the library today, Connor and I crossed this bridge to visit a bakery we like called Creekside. They give the kids that go to story time a free cookie. 🙂

And sometimes the nice person working the counter hooks me up with a cookie too. 🙂

This place has almost every kind of cookie imaginable, many of which taste even better with a cup of tea, or dipped into a cup of coffee.

I love their cookies, but I spend most of my time ogling the cakes. In my fantasy world, I’m the winner of the The Great British Baking Show, and I can bake everything in this display with my eyes closed.

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One might think that someone drowning under a landslide of laundry would be able to find something to wear at any given moment.

Nope. Not the case.

This is why I was running late to the last mom’s group lunch — because I was trying on all of the clothes in that top Leaning Tower of Pisa pic, but nothing fit right. Everything was too small.

This is probably one of those instances where my inside thoughts should not be outside thoughts, because I feel self-absorbed and selfish even contemplating something like this, but I need to know if I’m the only person who’s had these thoughts in such great detail…

It’s been two years since Connor popped out of my body, and for two years I’ve held on to my pre-pregnancy clothes.

I’ve tried to squeeze into my old pants and shorts a few times since then, but… Well, it didn’t work. My body is completely different now.

Before Connor, I just assumed that by the time she was two years old I’d be able to get back into those clothes again. Other moms have told me that your hips and ribs eventually shift back to where they had been before, but I don’t think that’s gonna happen for me at this point. Everything is just wider than it used to be. My hips, my booty, my upper body. Everything.

Part of me knows I need to turn the page and build a new wardrobe at my current size, because, well…even though I don’t fit into those old clothes anymore, I’m generally happy with my body. Yes, I look different than I used to, but I’m physically stronger than I was when I was skinnier a few years ago, and I KILL IT when we do burpies and weighted switch lunges in HITT class. Oh, and is that a heavy sand bag?? Yeah, I can press that bad boy over my head!

I may have been able to fit into my short shorts back then, but I know I wasn’t strong enough to do things like that.

My current shirt and pant size are the largest I’ve ever worn, and sometimes I wonder if I should keep fighting against that, or accept it. I don’t know if accepting the size I am right now is me just giving up.

Even though I’m happy with where I’m at, I feel like I should keep trying to get back into those clothes, which sounds like a contradiction, I know, but yeah, I am conflicted! I don’t know what to do! LOL. Part of me thinks, “I can do it. I know I can.”

But do I want to? Do I care that much? Is it necessary? Am I just being vain?

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So…what is the Monday Poll?

Good question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll. 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 gazillion years (more than 10!). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a great start. ?

1. The three lip colors you wear most often?

Ooh! — this one’s easy. Pink, coral and blue…

(Yes, j/k about that last one, LOL. It’s not blue. It’s brown.)

2. Have you ever had a lemonade stand?

Not formally, no, but I vaguely recollect lining up Dixie cups on the sidewalk outside my house, filling them with water from the hose, and selling pretend lemonade to my friend Karrie who lived next door for the low, low price of three leaves. ?

3. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this summer?

The long days. I love that it stays light so long and late into the evening. I swear, I get a lot more done (the only problem is trying to go to bed early sometimes when it’s still broad daylight at 9).

It’s already staying light later than it was. Like tonight I know it’ll still be light when I get home from HIIT class, so I plan to plant the herbs I got for the Lady Sanctuary (dill, cilantro and thyme)!

4. Your signature dish?

Hmm… That’s a good question! I don’t really have one. I wish I did, because who doesn’t love taking special requests for something you’re famous for?

I do get requests sometimes for my brownies, and I make a mean frozen waffle with peanut butter and raisins…

5. Your signature makeup look?

Bronzed/plummy lids with coral cheeks and lips.

Soft glam all day, every day, my friend.

Missing May entirely!

Is it just me, or does May feel like it’s moving faster than usual? This first week went by in the blink of an eye! Everyone used to tell me that time passes faster when you get older, and I’ll be damned if they weren’t right. Why is that? Spring is zipping by at breakneck speed.

I hope that happens to our Monday, and it passes in the blink of an eye…except for the good parts. To whom it may concern, please slow it down for the good parts, like lunch! 🙂

See ya later.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. If you’re game, here are the questions to copy and paste into a comment with your answers:

1. The three lip colors you wear most often?
2. Have you ever had a lemonade stand?
3. What’s one thing you’re looking forward to this summer?
4. Your signature dish?
5. Your signature makeup look?

¡Y feliz Cinco de Mayo! ??

I love to travel and “get outta Dodge,” so to speak, even if it’s just to head out of town for a couple days to visit my in-laws, like we did last weekend. It’s good for a change of scenery and to break your routines for a bit. And then it also makes the return to those comfy routines all the sweeter when you get back home, ya know?

So, this weekend… Oh, good morning, by the way! 🙂 I’m just rattling on, LOL! I had my coffee early and it’s kicking in.

Anyway, what was I saying…?

Oh, yeah, TRAVEL. I would love to be chilling in Punta de Mita today, maybe catch a few waves at Sayulita, but the furthest I intend to go this weekend is to the gardening store down the street to see if they have any herbs to plant in the pots I grabbed from HomeGoods the other day.

Which takes me to other thing I have planned today — good ol’-fashioned spring cleaning. I don’t want to do it, but it has to be done.

Speaking of HomeGoods, doesn’t that measuring cup with the blue kitty in the top pic look like something Anthropolgie would sell for $45?

Guess who found it at HomeGoods for $7.99. 🙂 Yup, this girl.

• According to Sir John (my spirit animal, and Beyoncé’s makeup artist), this is what you need to do so your cream blush looks like skin.
• This writer accidentally ripped out her lashes, and I totally feel her pain. Here’s how she grew them back.
• When you’re thinking about what to get mom for Mother’s Day, would you consider a $1,400 Gucci sweatshirt? $86 drinking glasses? A $310 one-piece swimsuit?! If so, then check out this over-the-top Mom’s Day gift guide — by The Wall Street Journal, so random!

• Ooh, I see a few cream blushes I want to try on this list of celebrity favorite drugstore blushes.

  I need that Revlon stick blush in my life, STAT.

• According to New York City dermatologist Dr. Rachel Nazarian, there are basically only two types of acne, inflammatory (red, painful cysts) and non-inflammatory (whiteheads and blackheads), and here’s how she develops a patient’s treatment plan.

  Oh, and speaking of acne treatments, people used to do lots of sketchy things back in the day, including using mercury, cyanide and cow poop applied to one’s face.

• Apparently, these iconic ’80s beauty products have withstood the test of time and are still beloved today.
• I spent about 30 minutes doing my own makeup for my senior portrait (which was a long time for me back in the day), so props to this 18-year-old high school senior, who spent four hours painting his face for his senior pics. Kevin Kodra, who also works as a makeup artist on the side, used lots of creams to create his bronzed, glowing look.
• The artistry in this took my breath away. I could never pull off these extra-long nails (figuratively) and bejeweled embellishments because I can barely type if my nails are a millimeter too long, so I’m wondering how the ladies who wear extra OTT styles get anything done! — but hey, if you can function with talons, more power to ya!
• Perfumes eventually expire after exposure to oxygen, light and bacteria, but there’s a small but growing niche of perfume retailers who sell vintage perfumes as if they’re fine wines.

If I play my cards right and get my errands done, I’d also like to stop by the library to grab a new book, because reading is fundamental! Are you reading anything good right meow?

Happy Cinco de Mayo, babe. Talk to you soon. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Makeup/life tip: if you’re into faux freckles but don’t want to spend the time painstakingly drawing them on your face, may I suggest gardening on your deck on a windy afternoon?

After I posted this pic on Instagram stories I got several nice compliments on my amazing freckles.

Homegirls…THAT’S DIRT.

LOL!

The Lady Sanctuary (also known as the deck garden off my upstairs bedroom) is back in business!

I went with things I’ve planted before because I know they should do well on my deck — snapdragons, salvia, cosmos, fuchsia, daisies, and these gigantic marigolds that are as big as my face.

Tabs isn’t allowed on this particular deck. He hangs out on the deck off the living room downstairs because that’s where his Tabby Command Center and the household catnip forest are, but since he also spends a lot of time sleeping on ze bed, I thought that a couple of plants up there would attract hummingbirds.

They seem to love the salvia and fuchsia.

This way Tabs has something ? to look at while he’s relaxing.

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Come on, we’re all beauty addicts here. You must have changed something lately. Mine is that I swapped black liner for colorful shades on my upper lash line.

Mind you, I’m still extremely on board with black on my upper water line (Chanel 88 Noir Intense for life), but dang! — purple, blue, green, gray or brown on the upper lash line — basically any color other than black — is the business. I think my eyes look MUCH bigger and brighter when I wear bright liner.

Of course, this revelation could also be a feeble excuse to expand my eyeliner collection, haha! But that’s cool. I’m OK with that. 🙂

How about you? What’s one change you’ve recently made to your makeup routine?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen