Wednesday Wishes: Keeping it Beautiful

I put a moratorium on purchasing new beauty products during the months of January and February as I attempted to purge and reduce the clutter in my bathroom.  While I am still trying to limit myself in that area, I recently organized my counter and figured out a few of my beauty favorites.

Below are some items that I cannot live without and are allowed to be replaced as others are used up.

1. Dry Shampoo – I am a HUGE fan of this when I have straight hair days.  I have used and loved the following items: Rusk, Not Your Mothers Dry Shampoo, Toni and Guy and Tresemee.  I have tried others and though they did not meet or even come close to the standard these provided.  I recently broke my beauty product hiatus to purchase Klorane and we shall see what I think of it.

2. Phyto defrissant – I have curly, frizzy hair.  Nothing results in more compliments than when I use this product to straighten my hair.  I started using it after a friend give me her half used container.  (I am not sure why my naturally straight haired friend had this but…I digress) I have since purchased a new container.  I am in the process of contemplating these two products (day cream and curly hair mask) but I have to first PURGE some of my other products.

3. Redkin Curly hair conditioning shampoo in low foam.  I LOVE this and have purchased it three times enough said.  It cleans my hair without drying it. I also use this from them to help control my frizz as my hair dries curly.

3. Burts Bees Hand Cream – I love this.  My sister and I both purchased this without telling the other and LOVE IT.  Its likely to be replaced in the next month or so when i finally finish it up.

4. Hildegard Braukmann – This is my absolute favorite day cream for the winter.  I have ALWAYS peeled in the winter.  This product was orginally purchased because I went to Germany for 16 days in December 2012 and forgot my face lotion.  This was all I could find in my quick visit to the mall that was not EXTREMELY expensive with some UV protection.  Well LO and BEHOLD, my face did not peel for the first time ever.  I have been a fan ever since.  I order it when a friend is heading this way to have them bring it over.  It’s about 15 and I cannot sing the praises loud enough.  I wear it everyday and my face thanks me.  I imagine if they sold this brand in the US, I would try more of their products due to my love.

5. Kiss My Face olive oil soap –   My boyfriend suffers from dry skin and when I met him he was using a harsh bar soap that did not help.  I attempted to encourage moisturizing cream or gel soaps but he refused.  So I scoured the web and found this.  He loves it.  He likes the clean scent and finds that it meets his needs.  I notice he has less dry skin.  This has been repurchased over and over.

6. Micellar Water – I have used La Roche Posay’s and found that no noticeable difference between it and the cheaper versions made by Garnier and Simple.  I recommend all of them.  I have acne occasionally.  I use it ever night to remove make up and sometimes add a drop of tea tree oil to help keep my acne at bay.   I would like to try Bioderma’s version as some point.

7. Undereye concealer – I am the first to admit that I am lazy in the morning.  I often ONLY put this one from Maybelline before walking out the door and nothing else. I have dark circles under my eye regularly and love the ease of the applicator.  I have used it for years.

8. Oil Body Wash – I have used the L’Occitaine Almond Shower Oil for years.  I love it but this year the boyfriend gifted me Burt’s Bees Lemon one and I am loving it just as much.  No dry skin when you use this.  You feel clean and fresh.  There is no oily residue post shower.

9. Lip Liner – NO Bleeding Lips is my lip liner of choice.  It is a clear one that you apply on the outside of your lips and it goes with any shade.  I bought this cause my red lipsticks bleed so much and it solved the problem.  Three sticks later it is still the only lip liner I use.

10.  Nail Polish – I love nail polish.  I am really into nudes, reds and pinks.  But I bought this color and am trying out OPI Infinite shine system.  I am not sure if I see any difference between infinite shine system and the normal OPI or Essie.  I love these reds (1,2,3), these bold pinks and purples (4,5,6,7), these light neutrals(8, 9, 10) and these deeper neutrals (11, 12 13, 14,15, 16).

Making a House your Home

I am a HUGE believer in taking your time and only purchasing things that you absolutely love for your home.  I also believe in taking your time to live in it before making any drastic changes.

While I am still in the process of purging my grandmother’s almost five decades of stuff, I have begun to see this house as my own finally.  I find myself appreciating the wall paper she has in the house more with time, except the wallpaper in the hall.  The hall is covered in a burgundy and white stripe wallpaper that screams 90s builder special to me.  I abhor it.

I know that I will be living with it until I make a few more changes first (such as removing the neon pastel green, which I can attest does exist, from the walls in the bedroom).  Yet, I find myself thinking about what I want to do to remedy the situation.

Do I go the lazy route and cover it with another wallpaper such as this grasscloth?  Or do I suffer through removing it and paint it a neutral color? Did I mention it is a LONG hallway with an offshoot that heads towards our master bedroom? I will leave you with a gorgeous hallway complete with my dream of a chair rail.

This traditional Hallway is wonderfully pleasing to me.  (Source: Lonny)

Valentine’s Day

I am not one of those people that just loves Valentines Day or has major expectations for it.  I think it is partially because my parents celebrated it really low key.  As children, my parents had a present for each of us.  Meanwhile, they would not really celebrate it other than an occasional casual meal with just the two of them.

It might also be due to a traumatic event regarding valentines cards and stealing one of my sister’s and her retaliation. (J/k since I know you read this…sorta)

This year, the boyfriend and I have plans to celebrate in a way I find ideal.  We spend the day together.  We hope to go on a walk with our dog and visit our neighbors (aka The Horses).  That will be followed up with a quiet dinner at home.

Our menu is not fully set, but we are thinking steak, salad, sweet potatoes, maybe asparagus and a fun dessert.  One option that is winning out for dessert is chocolate lava cakes.  I love chocolate and a chance to make something I have not done yet.

We might end the night curled up watching a movie at home.  That is an ideal way to celebrate the holiday in our book.

Any suggestions on a movie to either rent or stream from Amazon or Netflix?

Wednesday Wishes – Blue Edition

I am attempting to implement a more positive attitude in my life.  I am starting with intentional gratitude and preemptively trying to circumvent “down” periods in my week.  While I will say nothing compares to a BAD Monday, yet I find the midweek slump to be unavoidable.  It is not quite the weekend and you have to work to keep that attitude flowing positively. (Or at least I do…)

I find that Wednesday is when I most often find my mind wandering to updating my wish list for travel and shopping.  My shopping list is quite interesting.  I find myself adding anything and everything of interest to it and then cull it down once I have debated the relevance of these items.

I always wish for new shoes.  I honestly need a new pair of navy shoes but I find myself evaluating all shades of blue currently.

I like these blue flats.

 

Fun Ankle Strap Heel

I have these in Black already and love it.  I wish this was not a suede so that I could wear it more often.  These would be perfect for a date night.

 

 

Classic Kitten Heel Pump

I honestly have these in my amazon list right now to debate purchasing.

 

Girls Night Out Booties

These scream fun girls night out to me.   While this D’orsay pump would be perfect for Easter.

 

This stacked heel pair is fun yet work appropriate.

D’orsay Wedges – Very Comfortable

I have this pair in nude and have to say they so comfortable.  They are the perfect pair to wear on a day when you have to be on your feet all day.

How do you fight the mid week blues?

Commuting

The move has resulted in forcing myself to rise early.  The ride to work takes approximately 35 mins, which is not bad at all.  The boy and I share a ride most days, with one of us leaving our car …

Moving Pains

Moving is just plain awful.  I dread the packing and most fervently the unpacking.  It gets overwhelming.  When you add a move with moving into a fully furnished house complete with 40 years of stuff your family collected, you have a disaster on hand.

Take the kitchen for instance, I PURGED the kitchen heavily prior to our move heavily.  I am talking I gave away pots, pans, plates, cups, etc.  I sorted through the cookbooks and gave away four boxes of cookbooks I would never use.  Fast forward to the unpacking stage, I still have too many cookbooks.  I now have 6 boxes of cookbooks to try to sell at a garage sale.  You add this to the flatware, pots, pans, measuring cups, etc that I also have for a garage sale.

I guess the moral of this story is, if you want something for your kitchen ask me first I might have triplicate.  Unless it is the three rolling pins (1 from my mother’s father, 1 from my dad’s stepmother and 1 handmade french rolling-pin I bought myself) , I will probably be more than glad to spare.

On the positive side, I finally have the kitchen at a not embarrassing level.  I am sure that by this time next year, I will have it organized exactly how I wish.  Like I told a friend, I like to call this slow and steady method “thoughtful decorating.”

“Greene Acres is the place to be…”

Growing up I loved watching Green acres on television.  It was more about the hijinks that occurred on the show than anything else.  In fact, I never imagined that I would be thirty years old and moving back to my rural hometown. I honestly believed that I would be living somewhere in a city with the conveniences that provides.  I definitely would have told you that growing my own food was not going to happen.

Fast forward to today, here I am thirty years old.  I am sitting in my kitchen on a rainy Saturday morning looking out on the woods while drinking my coffee. I may have just searched using the terms “How to start a compost pile.”   I am thinking that this weekend might be the ideal time to start my compost pile.

We are going to be planting a small garden next weekend.  Nothing too fancy for our first year, but we hope to grow some tomatoes, herbs, Thai chili peppers, and probably some squash.  In the spirit of openness, I am not the leader of this plan, because this lady managed to kill a rosemary plant.  But last year, I had a container garden at my apartment that I fully enjoyed.

I have a feeling that this gardening thing will continue…Stay tuned for future reports.

Remembering

  
It has been a while since I wrote. The past year has been a whirlwind that has revolved around taking care of my precious grandmother. I will not lie by telling you it was easy, but I would not trade the past year for anything.  As I sit in her house this morning drinking coffe while trying to find the strength to finish the second of six closets of clothes to go through, I just remember her. I remember the times she drove me crazy for sure, but what stands out is all the times she taught me lessons with her actions.

Strength: On our trip to Europe when I was fifteen, she broke her ankle in Zermatt, Switzerland. So here I am fifteen and she is trusting me to handle everything while she is in the hospital for seven days recovering from emergency surgery. I have to handle checking out of the hotel, getting out luggage down the mountain, paying hospital bills, and updating our family back home all while in a German speaking area.  (Let’s just say my German is nonexistent) She had faith that this scared fifteen year old could handle it and more.  I still remember this trip anytime I am feeling overwhelmed. 

Hard Work: My grandmother was a Nurse Anethetist, whose main job involved working twenty four hour shifts in labor and delivery around three days a week. If that was not taxing enough, she often spent her off days moonlighting at small rural hospitals as needed. All this while starting a weekly newspaper in my small hometown. She never stopped moving. She worked hard and taught me that there was never a time to be lazy.

Adventure: While my grandmother worked hard, she also played hard. She only retired from her main job after they turned down her vacation request (she had worked there over forty years). She was always up for a trip whether it was a backpacking trip through Europe with your eight year old granddaughter or a week long trip up the east coast to tour colleges with her sixteen year old granddaughter. She is the main reason I value traveling so much and have a goal to experience new things. 

Many other key attributes in my life came from her such as there is never such thing as too much food on the table, the value of ones friends, and the importance of pets (especially rescued pets). So as I spend this quiet Labor Day morning sitting overlooking the family lake, I try to remember that she lives on through me.  
 

Fourth of July

I spent the most patriotic holiday of the year with a wonderful group of friends eating way too much good food, floating in the lake, and shooting off fireworks. Granted this year I chose to sit and watch and try to guess which guy would most likely end up in the emergency room from fireworks.
Good news, no one was seriously injured due to fireworks and I escaped any major sunburn. (A slight Rudolph nose does not count right?)
I will have to say my appreciation of the fourth and what it means to America did not really register to me as a child. It meant a day normally spent on the river with friends and family and swimming in the coldest pool I can imagine. (I truly thought my cousin put ice blocks in the pool as a child…artesian well did not mean anything to me.)

During the summer between second and third grade, I was blessed to take a back packing trip across Europe with my grandmother. It truly was an unforgettable experience. I discovered just how awesome French bread, European cheese and pasta in Italy truly is. The other thing I discovered was that the Fourth of July is strictly an American holiday. I still remember that the only thing patriotic I could find was a red drink, being dumbfounded that no one had a flag out anywhere and most importantly “where were the fireworks.”
Too this day my grandmother and I laugh at my understanding if the Fourth of July before and after that fateful trip. While I do still enjoy the fireworks (what good slight pyromaniac does not?), I do understand that this past weekend was celebrating the freedoms afforded to us by our forefathers fighting against others making decisions for us from across an ocean. I hope that you enjoyed your holiday celebrating the freedom you have in the good ole USA! I sure did!