a list

1. I AM SO HUNGRY. With all the reading I’ve been doing (my newest cookbooks, my ex-pat-chef-living-in-France-memoirs, Pioneer Woman’s blog, Kath’s blog), I see food at every turn. With just a few more pounds to go, I MUST control myself!

2. Why is a cake cone called a cake cone? It’s not made of cake, or really anything remotely like cake. In fact, I’ve always thought they tasted like styrofoam.

3. I called around to local apartment complexes today. We have about another month here in the hotel, and if by the end of that month we have no solid prospects on a house, we have to get an apartment or house for rent. It seemed a little dicey as I called place after place and heard they only accepted “small” dogs, or none at all. However, it looks like there are at least two places that will take all three of us, and one is actually in East Aurora–praise God!

4. We looked at a house today that is closer in price to $500K than $400K… I don’t know what we were thinking. Actually, I take that back. I know exactly what Andrew was thinking. He did his homework and found out the house had been for sale for a whole YEAR awhile ago and never sold…which means they’ll take less. However, our “less” and their “less” are probably two very different numbers. That, and in seeing the house, (while it was AMAZING) it was really too big for us.

5. We just had a heat wave here, along with the rest of the country. The temps soared to mid- to upper-90s and the locals were dying. While it was definitely warm and uncomfortable, it wasn’t too bad for Andrew and me. However, one must remember that a lot of people here don’t have a/c, including Andrew’s parents. Their house was HOT.

6. Have you heard of that “Dessert Delights” gum? They have flavors like Key Lime Pie, Orange Dreamsicle and Strawberry Shortcake, all of which I’ve gotten before. In the Target check-out line today I saw Apple Pie. I grabbed it immediately.

7. I’ll be in Phoenix next week with my mom and brother, Aaron, for his Assemblies of God National Youth Fine Arts competition. I’m excited to see them both and his guitar solo, but I’m also excited to find hole-in-the-wall places to eat. I love eating at special/famous/local favorites while I’m traveling; I think it’s better than sightseeing.

8. Andrew’s 10-year high school reunion is this weekend. I’m super excited. Going to his reunion is second only to going to MY high school reunion, which is this October. Let’s just say I’ve been waiting for this for, well, ten years. In fact, I was actually a little worried that they’d be on the same weekend. That is so me.

9. I just ordered two more cookbooks; a smoothie one and an Eastern Mediterranean one. I’d been eyeing the smoothie one for a bit and thought Andrew would like the other one. And I had a 60% at The Good Cook. I found another one to add to my wish list today: Quinoa 365. Lord help me.

10. I’m so hungry…did I already say that?

fun with color

I’ve been planning this post for awhile now. Not sure why it’s taken me this long to get it all together and hit the “publish” button, but I suppose it does fit in well following yesterday’s nail polish post. (Yes, unfortunately there are times that my life really is this UN-interesting.)

Anyway, last month’s Real Simple featured an article on colorful makeup and it really intrigued me. I love makeup, and I love color, but I’ve never really branched out beyond browns and plums when it comes to eye shadow. And don’t even get me started on lips…I rarely do anything more than lip gloss since I don’t recognize myself with lip stick! That, and my lips are ENORMOUS, so color of any sort just kind of amplifies them.

But, I decided to give some of the shades a try (green, teal and purple) so I brought the article to Ulta and scoured the aisles looking for the suggested lip colors. I’ve been hooked on bright eyes ever since!

Click below for the article; I tore out the last page that had a re-cap of all the color pairings and have been using that to mix and match.

“Bright Makeup for Eyes and Lips” Real Simple June 2011

Here is green/teal eye shadow with coral lips. I actually already had greenish and teal eye shadows, so I’ve been interchanging and mixing those depending upon what I’m wearing.

Doesn’t my hair look red here? Unfortunately, it’s just the lighting…

I like the coral lips, but having color on takes some getting used to. And it’s time-consuming! The only coral lip stick I could find was Sula Natural, but it’s SO BRIGHT, so I have to blot, then apply gloss, then blot again. I’ve been going through the stash of napkins in my glovebox like crazy!

Here’s navy blue shadow with reddish lips. I love the navy and red combo.

The red is a combo of a maroon lip pencil (it’s NYX in Maroon) and a free sample of Trish McEvoy’s Beauty Booster SPF 15 gloss in “Brightening Pink” I got in the mail. I love the lip pencil because it goes on really smoothly and then kind of “stains” my lips, so I just have to keep re-applying gloss instead of both.

Another color combo was purple eye shadow with brown lips. Again, I already had a purple shadow, which I think really brings out the green in my eyes. This is more of a lilac or lavender purple than a plum.

The article said to pair it with brown lips, but I couldn’t find a brown lip stick I liked, so I chose Palladio’s Herbal Lip Gloss in “Sheer Bronze.” I love the smell and that it’s pretty sheer, but next time I’m at Ulta, I might try to find another NYX pencil in a darker brown to get a little more color on my lips.

So, what do you think? Do I look ridiculous? Is it something you would do? I’ve been having a blast pairing colors with different outfits. Summer is such a great time for this; I love pairing neutral outfits with bright accessories and makeup!

mezmerised mermaids

My fingers and toes look like an ocean!

My fingers are currently sporting OPI’s “Mermaid to Order.” I found it at Sephora a couple summers ago and bought it immediately. I love teal. Pretty much anything in teal makes my heart jump–clothes, shoes, makeup, kitchen gear, home furnishings… (Specific shades of blue and green have a similar effect as well.)

The photo above is a little washed out; I was by the window trying to get some natural light, but my nails are just so shiny and smooth that the light wouldn’t stop reflecting! Here’s another shot in different lighting:

Upon closer examination, it looks a bit more green here. I also, apparently, need to moisturize my hands more.

While reading last month’s issue of Shape Magazine, I came across this color:

It’s called “Mesmerised” by Essie. Yet another thing I had to own immediately. Fortunately for me, Carolyn works part-time at the local Ulta and scored me a coupon. I was in need of some mascara anyway, so off I went.

I love this shade of blue. It’s just the right mix of cornflower, royal and periwinkle, all mixed into one. It’s not matte, but it’s not metallic either, which I like because almost every polish I have is metallic.

I just love these colors in the summer. I’ve also been using my peachy orange color from Essie called “E-nuf is E-nuf” that I got this spring and blogged about here. There is just something about tan skin and bright colors.

Ever since I got out of the military, I’ve been going crazy with nail polish! I love these teals and blues in the summer, and then I transition to deep, dark reds, browns and a navy blue in the fall. I have a classic reddish-maroon and multiple shades of nude and light pinks that work all the time.

I’ve also been experimenting with makeup colors; more on my style and love of color soon!