La Jolla, CA and other things I love

October has always been a busy month. Busy and fun and my absolute favorite. The weather changes, there’s plenty of birthdays and reasons to get together.  And it’s the opening act for November – my next absolute favorite time of year.

I say all this as a massive excuse to why my last post was so long ago.  What happened to daily posts you ask? Same thing that happened to my diet – it went off a cliff. Actually, I may have pushed it off a cliff. I’m tired!

Let me catch you up. Here’s what I’ve been up to:

  • Went to La Jolla, CA and fell madly, deeply in love with San Diego.  I think I’m really a surfer dude inside (without all the physical activity)
  • Although I was there for work – I had a life changing make-up/product experience. More below. Thank you Kathy the make-up artist!
  • I’ve decided that living next to the ocean needs to be in my future.  I’ll have to clue my husband in on this plan.
  • Came home and swiftly over decorated for Halloween.  I need help.

This should be everyone’s view from work…

 

 

Or this…

 

When not staring at the ocean, I was staring at all the goodies our make-up artist brought. Her name was Kathy. She set me straight.

For the majority of my life I’ve been searching for the perfect lip color. In high school I wore a bright red lipstick every day – cause I was cool like that. Then I moved to a more bronzy brown for most of my 20′s. My 30′s were obsessed with finding the perfect nude lipstick (damn you Jennifer Lopez).  In my 40′s I’ve given up and gone with chapstick. And then Kathy walked into my life. Or I ran into her make-up bag – whatever.

In one quick minute she told me,”you can’t wear a nude shade on your lips. It doesn’t look good. You need a plum. Let me help you.” What followed is tears, joy, and triumph. Too much?

Here’s my perfect color.  I would never ever have guessed it.

 

Although these pictures are blurry – I told you I was excited – it was important to show you.  This lip liner went on like butter and stayed on all day. I’ve already bought some. Thank you Sephora and Lisa Watier.

 

Here’s some other random stuff in her bag that was genius. Yes, I went through her bag.

 

To the left, antiperspirant for your face.  Even in full on humidity and heat – your face stays completely matte and dry. To the right, the reason everyone on TV looks like they have perfect hair. Sigh.

So that’s it. That’s what I’ve been up to, in to, at. That and you know, work, motherhood, wifedom, etc.

And here’s a look at our front door. Christmas sweaters here I come!

Leaving on a Jet Blue Plane….

It’s crack o’ dawn here – and I have exactly 4.5 minutes to get this post done (although hours of love went into the thought, I promise you).

This week we’ve got 2 big events  - one in Beantown (Boston) and one in Lala land (Los Angeles).

If you told me you were traveling – I’d ask you where you were going and why and blah blah blah.  What I’d really want to know is….what did you pack?

Are you a devil-may-care, take just the essentials kinda person?

Or are you a when-i-lift-off-all-the-drugstores-in-the-world-will-disappear type?

I’m in between.  I never worry about packing the right clothes. I tend to under pack.  One pre-post event uniform (you know, black top/denim bottom).  One event suit (black!).  If there are multiple events, multiply the amounts.  Done.  One pair of shoes packed – only – ever.

Where I do go a bit bananas is the lotions and potions.

See below – I’ll explain:

  

  

 

  • Shea butter – I have horribly dry desert skin (I almost wrote dessert skin, which would have also been true). Aside from the usual upkeep essentials (toothbrush, contact solution, etc.), I need my shea.
  • Facial product:  the multi delivery peels are essential.  After an event, you’re amped, sometimes bloated and always exhausted.  These babies make you look like a human the next day. ROC wrinkle cream hidden in a moisturizer, ’cause I’m old man. Real old.
  • The 5 minute mask – ridiculous.  Get it. Now.
  • The Neutrogena scrubber thingie – the best.  I know a ton of people are buying that Clarisonic one, but I like this one.  You know why?  It’s $20.  It’s not $100.
  • Biosilk hair oil.  Sigh.  It’s that small, clear bottle to the left of my Chanel bronzer.  I’ll be writing a whole love letter/post on Biosilk soon.
  • Chanel bronzer:  I am not a product snob.  I am open to it all! I think I’ve told you how I heart St. Ives.  But this stuff. This is beautiful.  Just the right touch of color and somethin’.  I don’t know what – but it gives me some definition in an otherwise sea of fat cheek.
  • Recent obbession that I hope to never kick – Lolla body products.  This is the perfume.  Lavender/Honey.  Dreamy.
  • It all gets packed in my small, neon green bag.  You know how I love to wear black?  Well my luggage is not allowed to wear black, or brown, or blue.  When you’re standing at the baggage carosel of life, waiting for the 54th black bag to come off the plane while frantic people who don’t travel grab at every one, you quickly realize one thing.  Get a bright, obnoxious bag that others will poo poo.  Trust me, no one ever grabs for that little bag.

Ok – over and out.  Say a prayer to all your gods for me – and for gods sakes tell me what you pack when you travel – please? – thank you.

Random, yes. Thoughts, barely.

  • I’m obsessed with Ginsberg on Mad Men.  He is hysterically weird and looney.  I’d like an all-Ginsberg episode please.  Or a Ginsberg spin-off show with his dad. Am I the only one? I also spend a lot of time thinking about the imp from Game of Thrones, Stringer Bell from The Wire and Maggie Smith’s character from Downton Abbey.  I have problems.
  • Pinterest…Tumblr….we just can’t get enough of ourselves right?? Is there anything we don’t need to share with the world immediately, she asks while writing a bulleted list of things she wants the world to know immediately. (Be sure to check me out on Pinterest & Tumblr).
  • Shellac is a kind of instant dry nail polish. Perfect manicures people. I know it’s not world peace but it’s a start.  
  • St. Ives Apricot Facial Scrub.  It’s cheap, harsh and potent – all my favorite things in alcohol and skin care.  
  • I had a conversation with our neighbor after she walked her dog.  She had a question about a painter we used, she’s remodeling her bathroom.  In truth – I have no idea what I said because I was so focused on the Target bag she was holding with poop in it.  This is why we are a mystery to the rest of the world, because we stand in our front lawns with bags of poop talking about remodeling our bathrooms.

Mista Mayor

Photo Circa 1994. Me and then newly minted Mayor of NYC , Rudolph Giuliani. We were at the Pen & Sword Honor Society dinner at my college, he was the keynote that night, and an alum.  It took me all night to work up the nerve to go meet him… when I finally did, all I could say was,” My birthday is May 28th too!”. He just smiled and laughed. I think a security guard moved in closer and someone took the picture. That was it. Not sure how I got into the honor society. Here’s my main observations about this photo:

  • I rocked that tuxedo top I borrowed from my roommate.
  • Those earrings weren’t even close to being the biggest ones I owned.
  • See that hair…that’s my pre-marriage, pre-babies, frizz free, never-touched-a-flat-iron hair. I would trade one of my kids for that hair now.
  • Not sure why I felt the need to wear white eye shadow – maybe to draw extra attention to my unkept brows?
  • What I remember most about the night is that I was too chicken to tell the waiter I didn’t eat chicken – and since I wouldn’t eat anything on the plate with the chicken I hid in the bathroom until dessert was served.

Good times.

It just looks like crack….

I love face and body products.  Scrubs, masks, lotions, creams– sign me up.  You say it’ll take a layer of skin off?  Bring it.

So randomly, whether you like it or not, I’ll post new products that I’m in love with.

This is a vitamin C booster powder from Philosophy….it comes in a small vile with a tiny spoon and did I mention it’s a fluffy white powder?  It’s meant to be mixed with an oil/serum thingie.  It’s awesome.  It’s as close to living on the edge as I’ll ever get.

           mix with this… 

What products do you use and/or abuse?  Inquiring obsessive minds need to know.

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