Just For Fun

I’ve lost so many objects and items throughout the years, but I have a foolproof method for finding lost items that always works for me. It’s somewhat unconventional, though. I just kinda let whatever’s lost be lost for a while until it eventually shows up and makes itself known. 🙂

And I’ve been doing this for years because it stresses me out to look for lost things. I know that if I use this method (more like non-method), I’m eventually gonna find whatever’s missing… It may take five minutes. It may take five years, but eventually the lost item will find its way back into my life.

For example, I’ve been missing my tablespoon measuring spoon for weeks, but I haven’t looked for it. I’ve been using a teaspoon and doing three teaspoons instead (because three teaspoons equals one tablespoon). Well, I found the missing spoon last night! I’d left it in a bag of brown sugar.

LOL.

So, yeah, this method probably isn’t for everybody, but it works for me, and I’m telling you all this because I can’t find my bottle of Annick Goutal Des Lys perfume…

It was an LE scent from back in 2002. I remember discovering it one day at Nordstrom and immediately falling in love with the peppery notes and bright citrus undertone. I loved it so much that I bought right there on the spot, which I never do with perfumes.

Currently, I have NO IDEA where it is, and I actually have looked for it! I’ve combed through all of my drawers and scanned and re-scanned all of my counters, and I just can’t find it anywhere, so now I’m a little stressed out about it because I loved that scent, and I’ve kept it around for all these years… I hope it turns up eventually.

On that note, while I continue to cherish the crème brûlée and vanilla notes wafting off my first precious cup of coffee this morning, here are the stories that caught my eye this week…

• Although I will occasionally partake of a glass of wine or a frou-frou drink with an umbrella and tropical fruit ? in it, I’m not a big drinker, and that’s mostly because I’m swinging from the chandelier after one margarita! You think I’m kidding, but I’m not…

  Anywho, I still want to visit Sfumato Fragrances in Detroit, a fragrance store that transforms into an 18-seat craft cocktail bar called Castalia Cocktails at night. And all of the cocktails they serve mirror the scents sold in the store, so you can get your swerve on while you find your new signature scent.

• Technology previously used in the food industry is being adapted to help researches find ways to capture subtle transient fragrances from products as they’re being washed and make them longer lasting when used on skin. To overcome this challenge, researchers adapted “…a device known as the twister bar headspace sorption extraction sensor,” according to the American Chemical Society, “commonly used in the food industry to detect chemicals that could contribute to off-flavors or scents. The sensor absorbs trace amounts of volatile fragrances deposited on the skin after a shower. Combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, the team can gather a profile of the scents that remain on skin after rinsing. Then, fragrance evaluators are brought in at the last step to validate and verify the results.”

• While we’re on the topic of fragrance, these are the finalists for the 2018 Fragrance Foundation Awards, and now of course I want to smell them all. 🙂

  Do you recognize any of your favorites? The only one I know is Bath & Body Works Cucumber Melon. I’ve been pretty much in the same scent groove for a couple years now (hello, Byredo Gypsy Water), so I’m down to find a new favorite perfume.

• Wherefore art thou, Obsessive Compulsive Cosmetics?? OCC, the O.G. of indie vegan makeup brands (and arguably the line that first put liquid lipsticks on the map), abruptly shuttered their website, store and social media presence without any explanation.

• What makes curly hair curly, according to science.

• Gah! The MAC Aaliyah collection arrives in June! I’ve always loved her music, but I wonder why nobody ever talks about her secret marriage to R. Kelly (she was under the age of consent, from what I can recall).

  Anyway, it’s supposed to have ’90s glam vibes, so I’m wondering if there will be any unblended dark lip liner involved.

• Lots of scent stories this week for some reason, including this one about why some people gravitate toward body products and perfumes that smell like cupcakes, ice cream, cookies, chocolate, vanilla, caramel… OK, now I’m really hungry. The article also discusses Jessica Simpson’s defunct beauty line, Dessert.

  I love dessert. I’m physically incapable of saying no if you put a strawberry cheesecake in front of me, but I’ve sniffed a few dessert-themed products at Sephora that made me want to gag. Oh, man.

• In case you were wondering, why yes! — each bottle of Chanel No. 5 contains a REDONKULOUS amount of jasmine and ? rose.

• Here’s something I’d never thought I’d see in print: Jaguars in the wild go bat-sh*t crazy for Calvin Klein’s Obsession for Men perfume.

  SAY WHAT?

OK, now I have to go run some errands in the rain. Here’s to hoping my mascara doesn’t run. Wish me luck!

Have a great day, babe. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Where your black stretchy pants at?! BECAUSE I GOT A GO-TO BROWNIE RECIPE, AND NOW YOU GET TO HAVE IT TOO (gotta sing that last sentence out loud because these are that good, if I do say so myself).

I dedicate this pan of brownies, or as they would say on The Great British Baking Show, this “tray bake,” to my high-waisted black Zellas, which are a touch too snug and borderline indecent at the moment.

I also dedicate them to my people, a.k.a. chocoholics everywhere. Oh, you know who you are. You read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when you were a kid, and when Augustus Gloop fell into the chocolate river, you secretly wished that would happen to you someday!

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Say what!? You don’t have a favorite tree? That, my friend, is crazy business. You need one. You owe it to yourself to find a tree ? that speaks to your soul, and designate it as your favorite. 🙂

This one’s been my favorite for years, and it goes OFF in the spring. I know it sounds ridiculous, but I get so emo about this tree! I could get lost for hours just staring up at it. I love her pale pink flowers, silvery gray trunk and the light green lichen on her branches. I look forward to it every spring.

Strangely enough, I’ve never named it — this coming from the person who names every inanimate object that crosses her path. It’s just my favorite ? tree. That’s it.

What about you? Do you have a favorite tree? Or another favorite plant?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

BABE. Thank you for telling me about toasting nuts for baking recipes. It was totes key. I did it for the “rustic” carrot cake I baked for Easter yesterday, and it made all the difference. (And yes, I call anything that doesn’t look Instagram perfect “rustic.”)

Also, I haven’t forgotten that I said I’d share my go-to brownie recipe, but my pants have been feeling a wee big snug lately, and I want to bookend the recipe with new pictures of fresh brownies… But I have it on deck for this week, much to El Hub’s delight.

I made four Easter dishes yesterday — the carrot cake, roasted chicken and potatoes, corned beef and cabbage (which I made in the Instant Pot, and IT WAS A REVELATION), and roasted lemony asparagus and rice. 🙂

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So…what is the Monday Poll?

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past 11 (!) years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. What’s one of your best high school memories?

Most are just small things, but there are so many to choose from! What really stand out for me are the little things that I miss so much now as an adult.

One of my best ones, and Cindy would probably disagree with this, but it was on a day when we had a written test in honors history class (because we were nerds in that way), and I remember this clear as day. It was senior year. We were in the car. Jen was driving us to school, and Cindy was like, “Are you ready for the test?” and I was like, “No, not really.” I hadn’t studied for it. I can’t remember why, but I didn’t.

It was going be an essay test, so I asked Cindy, “Well, what did you learn last night? Give me the bullet points,” and she broke it down for me over the course of the drive. From the time we got into the car, got to school, and then left the car was about 15 minutes, and Cindy told me everything she studied, everything she learned. The highlights.

We go in, and we both take the test…

I got an A on it and Cindy got a B. And she was pissed! I can’t blame her.

2. What’s the last show you marathoned?

I’m always starting shows with a bang, and I’ll watch for a few hours but never finish. But the last show I marathoned from start to finish was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Prime Video.

It’s by the people who did Gilmore Girls, which is probably why I liked it so much.

3. Favorite decade?

I mean, I could do without the spiral perm coming back, although I’m down for hair that reaches for the sky, but obviously the ’80s. The music was so much fun, and even though I had such a hard time with high-waisted pants back then, I’ve come around to appreciating them more with my mom bod.

Also, all of the leggings we wore back then are making a comeback again, too.

4. Will you be my lucky charm?

Only if you’ll be my lucky star. ⭐

5. Peeps: love ’em or hate ’em?

I wish you could see my face all scrunchy right now. ?

In theory, I don’t like them. There’s something about the texture that isn’t appealing to me…but if you put one in front of me, I’ll go there.

New yummies

What was for breakfast this morning? You know it’s my favorite meal of the day so I had to ask. Well, it’s one of my favorite meals of the day. I’m a big fan of lunch and dinner, too, and the snacks in between. HAHA! But breakfast is my fave, which is why I looked around for some new breakfast yummies while I was grocery shopping over the weekend. They’re pretty healthy too!

Starting with… Dave’s Killer Whole Wheat Bread. I like the nutritional numbers, and this dude on the package (I’m assuming he’s Dave) cracks me up.

I don’t know why a muscled guy playing guitar on a loaf of bread is so hilarious to me, but I dig it!

Also: Thomas’ English Muffins Double Protein Oatmeal With Cinnamon. There’s 7g of protein in each muffin. I toasted one this morning and topped it with a tablespoon of peanut butter and YUM! So good.

I also picked up Dannon Light ‘N’ Fit Greek Yogurt in Strawberry Cheesecake because sometimes I wake up wanting dessert for breakfast. Wait… that never happens to you? You’re crazy!

I found all these yummies at Target, by the way, because the one in our town has a grocery section. And yes, it’s awesome.

So, Monday. Looks like it’s going to be a sunny day here in Northern California. I feel like it’s gonna be a good one, too. If you need some extra cheer, allow me to be your cheesy cheerleader and remind you that it’s a beautiful day, an absolutely gorgeous one, to be alive. I know, super cheesy, but sometimes you need a little bit of cheese in your life. Happy to provide it for ya.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy and paste with your answers in a comment:

1. What’s one of your best high school memories?
2. What’s the last show you marathoned?
3. Favorite decade?
4. Will you be my lucky charm?
5. Peeps: love ’em or hate ’em?

This is NOT my breakfast, I swear. This is the practice pre-Easter roast chicken and potato dish I made earlier this week.

I get really nervous when I have to cook something new for people other than El Hub, Tabs and Connor, so I like to practice a dish one or two times.

I dunno… It’s just that I’m not naturally gifted with cooking. Sure, I can follow a recipe and do OK, but I don’t want people to leave hungry. I want you to come over and stuff yourself silly. That’s my new mission in life, which is why I do things like practice runs of this roast chicken and potato dish, which I think I also talked about in last week’s Saturday Surfing (yes, after 11 years of blogging, sometimes I repeat myself, haha).

It turned out really well! The recipe’s by Laura Vitale of Laura in the Kitchen. Her recipes aren’t fussy, and they’re delicious and easy to follow. This one took me 10 minutes to prep the night before. Basically, you throw the marinade ingredients and the chicken into a bowl, then stick it into the fridge overnight so the flavors can marry. The next day, I warmed up the oven, chopped some potatoes, and added those to an oven safe bowl with some olive oil, salt and rosemary. That was it. So easy! And so delicious.

So that’s what we’re having for Easter tomorrow, and I think I might also make a carrot ? cake.

I just got that Ralph Lauren lemon print tablecloth at HomeGood last week, by the way, and I was so excited to see the colors in the room that I put it on the table right when I got home without thinking about the wrinkles or anything. Of course, Tabs is now obsessed with it… I think he thinks it’s there to make the forbidden naps he takes on top of the table more comfortable.

*sigh* Cats…

Other than Easter prep, I also have to swing by TJs, and oh! — while I’m there, I’m going to have to track down one of the sales associates because I heard through the grapevine that the famous Trader Joe’s Rose Oil Ultra Moisturizing Hand Cream, which I’m putting on my hands right now, by the way, is returning for Mother’s Day, so hopefully that’s true.

FYI, if you live in the Novato area, you better get to the Trader Joe’s on Grant before I do, girl, because I’m gonna clean that shelf out! I got no shame. I’m gonna walk up to the display with my cart and sweep everything into it with my arm in one fell swoop. You think I’m playing, but I’m totally not! 🙂

Alright, that’s my plan, and I’m stickin’ to it. Before I go, how about another coffee and some light reading?

• A few things I recently learned and will now be unable to unlearn forever. 1) That eating placenta for better skin really is a thing (say what?), but that 2) applying it to your skin topically isn’t a thing…yet. 3) That the most common sources of placenta used in skin care products are from sheep and pigs. 4) And that you can currently find this trending in Korean and Japanese skin care.

• Speaking of skin care, Lifehacker recently posted this detailed science-based skin care guide, and it seems to conclude that cleansing, moisturizing and sunscreen are probably all you need.

  There’s also a list of active ingredients that, according to the blog, probably do something, and I was glad to see some things in there that my skin likes, like salicylic acid (BHA) and benzoyl peroxide.

• I mean, I spend so much time on my phone already, and now that beauty apps are blowin’ up, it doesn’t look like I’ll be breaking up with my iPhone any time soon. There are apps to help you discover different skin care cocktails to address specific issues (like acne, wrinkles, what have you), which treatment masks are best suited for your skin type, and even oral care apps to help you figure out the best way to get a brighter smile and healthier gums (Ummm… WANT!).

• The “natural” beauty category is growing like a fertilized philodendron. Do you ever wonder what it really means when a line is labeled “natural,” “green,” or “organic,” since there aren’t any legal guidelines that define what truly makes a product [INSERT NATURAL-SOUNDING CLAIM HERE]? I do all the time. Allure recently interviewed five leaders in the space, including Josie Maran, Tata Harper and Tiffany Masterson (the founder of Drunk Elephant), about what it means to be green.

• To quote the great Diana Ross, who just turned 74 years young, “It takes a long time to get to be a diva. I mean, you gotta work at it.” Here are 18 of the most iconic beauty looks from her career so far.

• Didya know you could do this?? When you buy NYX makeup online, you can get it engraved (!).

  So this means I can get “Tabs rocks!” on all my eyeshadow palettes. Cool!

• Three dewy skin-loving makeup artists (including one of my faves, Katie Jane Hughes) give their top tips to achieve skin that gleams without venturing into grease ball territory.

• MIND BLOWN! You can clean your beautyblender and your other makeup sponges by sticking them in the microwave with some soap and water.

  (Please don’t burn yourself.)

• 11 things a makeup salesperson wishes you knew

There’s some sketchy history (haha) behind the origins of pencil lead.

You have the ability to improve your mental strength. Here’s how.

Banana Cinnamon Overnight Protein Oats ???? . Swipe right to see all ingredients! . ✖️1/2 cup oats ✖️1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk ✖️1/4 liquid egg whites from carton ✖️1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder ✖️1/2 (or about 50 grams) mashed/whipped banana ✖️lots of cinnamon! ✖️About 3-5 drops liquid stevia if desired for more sweetness ✖️Mix everything together in cup or mason jar the night before and then just put in fridge! Note: DO NOT MICROWAVE! These are meant to be cold oats and if you microwave the egg whites will cook- yek! ? Also- liquid egg whites in the carton are pasteurized and safe to eat. . Calories-290, Protein- 26, Carb- 40, Fat- 3

A post shared by Hannah Felix (@hannahfelixfitness) on Mar 17, 2018 at 7:00pm PDT

I ate this for breakfast a couple times this week and really liked it. It’s easy to prep, keeps me full and is tasty, too. I substitute the stevia for maple syrup or honey, add an obnoxious amount of cinnamon for flavor and top it off with a handful of blueberries.

Keep your fingers, crossed, OK? Because I need more of that Rose Oil Hand Cream in my life, and so do you, LOL!

Have a great weekend and a wonderful ? Easter. I hope to talk to you soon.

You friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen