June is kicking my butt, and I want the summer to be over. Thankfully, I'm a third the way there.
Monthly Archives: June 2010
Alamo Plaza Courts – Dallas Tx OPEN! Photo #2
Alamo Plaza Courts – Dallas Tx OPEN! Photo #2, originally uploaded by SouthEast Dallas Photographer.
I also really enjoy this Flickr stream. This fellow is great about going around Dallas and taking shots of endangered, disused, or demolished structures. It's really interesting – he's got some shots in there of buildings I had forgotten about.
Sadly, this motel is now closed. It's sitting empty, I'm sure to be torn down. It's a shame, because it's a pretty neat structure.
Beauty is skin deep.
So recently I haven't been hungry. I'm sure it is stress. I don't really feel like discussing it, but I put it out there because yesterday I ate… pretty much nothing. Then I sat and had some beers on the porch with friends. So at least I got some caloric intake, but it also meant that the alcohol hit me pretty hard and I've been somewhat miserable and brain-dead today. Which was crap, since I had to work
This long intro is simply to say I want to write about something superficial and easy. Can it get more superficial than beauty products? Or more easy than a meme? How about a meme about beauty products?
Some of you probably know I am crazy about makeup. It's kind of funny that I don't wear much of it these days. It's turned into special occasion-wear stuff for me. I tend to go more all-out now with it since I don't wear it that often. For work appointments I wear a bare minimum, but most days I go without completely. However, I still love the stuff. It's magical. I love playing with different looks. I love putting it on other people. I love sparkle and glamour. It's just really really fun.
So. I'll answer the meme now.
My Foundation: I've never been much of a foundation wearer, though I keep it around. I have used MAC's Studio Fix line for forever. Literally, I can't remember a time I didn't use it. High school, maybe? I'm a pretty big fan of their foundations and primers generally. But for every day, I just use a tinted moisturizer by Laura Mercier. Love it.
My Mascara: Maybelline Great Lash has been a longtime favorite, but in the past year I have switched to Blinc mascara and that shit is awesome. It does NOT come off. It's pricey, but I think it might be worth it. If I ever have reservations about spending money on it though, I really have always been happy with Great Lash. For some fun, I have some Benefit Lash Lovies in a couple crazy colors – teal, magenta – but I don't wear them nearly often enough.
My Blush: Ooo. I don't have a regular favorite for cheeks. Depending on my look and the temperature outside, I wear MAC Blushcreme in Blossoming, Bobbie Brown Shimmer Brick, Benefit Bene-tint, Benefit 10, Benefit Dandelion… oh, any of the Benefit cheek powders, really, if I'm in a powder mood. And I love Benefit's High Beam and Moon Shine for an extra glow.
My Eye Shadow: MAC or Shu Uemura. I do not own any other brand of eye shadow. By the way, I will never have to buy another eye shadow ever. I literally have every color I should ever need. You name it, I have it. With the exception of canary yellow. I might need that. But I have everything else. In addition to their shadows, I love MAC's Fluidline and Liquidlast liners. I love eyeliners generally.
My Lipstick: Another that I never need to buy again. Though these days I wonder why I buy anything new at all, because they all seem to be the same sheer colors. Favorites: Chanel Scintillantes lip glosses, MAC lip glasses, Shu Uemura Gloss Unlimited glosses. Lip Medex.
My Skincare: I drink a lot of water. And I have good genes. Past that…it will sound really complicated but it is just because I have a day and night regimen. In the morning, Lush Angels on Bare Skin scrub, Origins A Perfect World Skin Guardian, and Aveda Botanical Kinetics moisturizer (I also love Lush's Imperialis, but it's wicked expensive for a very small amount and I only buy it once or twice a year as a spa treat for myself). At night, Shu Uemura High Performance cleansing oil, Skin-ceuticals CE Ferulic, and then the same moisturizer. Oh, and sometimes Origins perfect world eye cream, but I can't seem to keep it out of my eyes so sometimes I'm just not in the mood for the pain and tears. When my skin is really dry, pure vitamin E oil. And for the rare times I get a spot, I use Origins Spot Remover. That shit knocks zits out like Tyson! Or something. None of this stuff is cheap, but it lasts a long long time (with the exception of Imperialis).
My Essential Beauty Product: Vaseline. Eye makeup remover, lip balm, moisturizer. I never let myself run out of it.
My Favorite Makeup Product: I can't. You can't make me. But probably lip gloss. My friend Kelly, who I met at my first Real Job in 1997, likes to tell the story about how she used to sit in front of me in our team room at the office. When she first started, she would turn around to ask me a question, and pretty much every time she turned around I was reapplying lip balm or gloss. With my ring finger. And wouldn't stop during my answer.
My Perfume: I like lots. I have lots. Mostly perfume oils from Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab. Lush's Karma. Adore Jo Malone fragrances. Kiehls Musk. And some traditional ones too – Calvin Klein fragrances, Thierry Mugler, Marc Jacobs, etc. If you'd like a sample, come on over. I'm a fragrance counter, especially if that fragrance counter is in Istanbul.
My Nails: Nothing. I'm too messy and make too many things to have nice nails.
My Feet: Bright colors and moisturizer.
My Hands: Neutrogena hand cream, when I remember.
Three Products to bring on a deserted island: Vaseline, sunscreen
and vitamin E oil.
Woman I admire for their beauty: More of my friends than I can count, but for a few: Nora, Dabney, Kristie H., Anita, Angie, Danielle, Devery, Hollis, Kat, Courtney, my sister. Really too many friends to name, that's just a smattering. As for well-known personas, there are lots of pretty ladies. Angelina Jolie. Drew Barrymore. Zooey Deschanel. Melanie Laurent. Blythe Danner. Gwenyth Paltrow. I don't know. Lots of beautiful celebrities i guess since they have to be, but my friends are most beautiful of all.
Woman with the Best Sense of Style: Allison B, here in Dallas. DJ Bad Holly in Dallas. Frankie in London. Devery. As for famous people, not sure. Jane Aldridge, usually. Tavi at Style Rookie just cause she is fearless. Gala at amlul.com. Carolina at Fashion Squad. Apparently I love teen fashion bloggers. Who knew? More my age… Drew Barrymore. Zooey Deschanel.
What does beauty mean?: Being comfortable in your own skin.
My Favorite Fashion Publication: Said teen fashion bloggers. I hate fashion magazines with a passion. I always walk away from them feeling stupider and hating my boobs. The internet kids make it fun, though.
Aspen, CO – Halloween 1977
This Flickr stream is one of my favorites. It is the photo archives of Nick DeWolf, photographer and a founder of Teradyne (more info here). I'm totally dressing up for Halloween like the dude above, by the way.
Amazing 1970s stuff, including Dallas shots. The archivist adds 20-50 photos a day. It's seemingly never-ending and it is all wonderful. Here is another, from the State Fair of Texas, 1977:
David wasn't quite born yet when these shots were taken.
Addict.
Uh, ok, so I just booked a two night trip to Tuscon.
I COULDN'T HELP IT, PEOPLE!! SOUTHWEST WAS HAVING A BIRTHDAY SALE!
Annie is coming for a visit thanks to it as well! Yay. We're going to take her to the State Fair.
God, I have a problem. Thank goodness we don't have grown-up things like car payments and credit card debt. Guess my travel bug is enough to deal with.
All I know is I'm spending a whole day at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. I'm going to be there at, like, 8am. If David wants to sleep in HE'S MISSING IT, DAMN IT.
There are spas too, I hear. And Biosphere. And it will be a balmy 80-something degrees. Sounds lovely.
Sweetheart, you’ll find mediocre people do exceptional things all the time.
I'm feeling awfully uncreative these days, which would normally bother me. And, to be fair, it DOES bother me a bit that I'm not producing anything interesting, be that crafty-wise, food-wise, or otherwise. However, June is shaping up to be a bit of a cleanse. It feels like we sort of WALLOWED for a little while, and suddenly the shades have been pulled open and the light is streaming in and we are pulling some shit together. Hell, I even came home one day and David was VACUUMING. I was immediately turned on, by the way, which was worrisome.
It makes me wonder if it is part of the rhythm of coupling/marriage for us (and maybe for others). A transition out of the higher energy fervor of the first five-ish years together, into something a little more introspective and calm. Focused a bit more on the Us we have become, and how we want to set the stage for the rest of our lives. Nesting a little more into our relationship and space.
Or maybe we just met each other right when we were running out of energy. Lord knows I used up a lot of it in Europe.
Whatever it is, we are definitely spending a lot of time cleaning out and organizing and trying to get our shit – actual shit like belongings and more figurative shit like finances – really in order. I mean, I purged a hell of a lot of stuff before the last move, but it is interesting how living somewhere more than three years really adds STUFF. Before meeting David, moving every 3-5 years really FORCED me to choose a lot of things. Adding a partner, a wedding, and a family who APPARENTLY kept every damn thing David ever owned (old school notebooks? spirals? really?) means I've become uncomfortable with the STUFF we have. It feels nice getting rid of some of it.
(NB: I contribute with my three problems too, mainly keeping books and not knitting fast enough to keep up with new yarn and going to Dolly Python & buying shoes, which I'm trying to remember every time I see a new box brought from his parents' home of what looks, to me, like rubbish that should have been sold or tossed ages ago. I, too, am part of the problem. )
So maybe my lack of creating is really just an interim – a time where I can try to reclaim some space, both physical and mental. I'm a pretty mediocre talent at most things I do, but I like making nice things, and I hope this meditative downtime will help me become more regularly producing. Mediocre people do exceptional things all the time, after all.
Perspective.
"It occurs
to me that several of those are linked to each other – the weight
loss/gym/triathlon for example. Have you considered looking for a
training group for a triathlon you'd like to participate in, the groups
cover all levels. That was how I trained for the Chicago marathon,
paying the money and being accountable to my fellow trainees was a big
motivator at 4am on a Saturday morning! There are several charities too
that provide 'free' training if you agree to raise a certain amount in
sponsorship. The same applies for Mt Kilimanjaro climbs. Maybe if
you re-wrote your list putting them in these groups the list would seem
more achievable."
You know, Jenny, I did not think about it that way. But you are totally right. Thank you!
Sometimes it is so great to have this little forum. And have these smart friends. To help me get over my own stumbling blocks.
Off to see what tri-events are scheduled for Dallas in the fall. I'm probably not read to jump to the Tour d'Afrique quite yet.
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Flickr.
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