A few of my favorite things...

7/4/10 EDITED to include $$ for each item...

So I'm sitting at my desk performing my afternoon ritual- and by ritual, I mean the lag in the afternoon where I have already had 3 diet cokes and still look like I need a good nights rest...my skin is oily and tired and I need serious lip gloss to perk me up...anyway, I am performing my ritual and I realize that I am truly a creature of habit. When it comes to skin care that is...I also realize that there are things I have ALWAYS had at my desk, ever since I had a desk of my own starting 18 years ago...things that I LOVE and cannot do without no matter what. I actually have two sets of these things..one for home and one for work. Yea, I'm a freak...most of you will probably be thinking, "dude, put them in a bag and carry them back and forth"...the rest of you, well you understand me and the need for CONVENIENCE....Now, the brand names of these things may have changed, but the things themselves have not!

I'm telling you ladies, and even gentlemen, making this ritual, that takes all of 3 minutes, part of your afternoon,will have your skin happy, glowing, and not old and haggard any longer! At least that is what I tell myself to feel good....and to justify the cost...:)

My favorite things that I am never without are (in order that I use them in my ritual):

1. Oil Blotting Tissues (my fav is MAC Blot Film)- I have oily skin...especially in the summer and it is disgusting. I have a ginormous forehead as it is, I don't need an oil slick accentuating it...know what I mean? Anyhoo...these little wonders blot the oil from your face without removing your make up.! The MAC brand is a bit pricey at $13.50 a pack but you can also get the Clean and Clear brand from any drugstore for half the price and they work just as good. The MAC films are just larger...for people with GIANT foreheads like me. :)

2. Face Mist- I have used Evian Facial Mist in the past, but my all time favorite facial hydrator is MAC  Fix+. It is basically purified water infused with vitamins that hydrates your face giving it a dewy finish. It feels so good and relieves the stress from your skin...I love to use it when I travel as my skin gets pretty dehydrated from the nasty recycled air on the plane. Be careful that you don't get your neighbor with overspray. LOL! not that I would know anything about that...:) ($18)

3. Lush Sweet Lips Lip Scrub- There is a store that sells all natural cosmetics called LUSH. They sell two of my favorites on this list. This one is their sugar lip scrub. You basically lick your lips, rub this YUMMY scrub on your lips to exfoliate them, then you lick it off. It is edible...It makes your lips soft and ready for my favorite item #4...or for kissing.... I use it before bed too! ($8.95)

4. Lip balm- and my favorite is Rosebud Lip Salve shown here: it is hands down the best thing EVER and hey, I started using it way back when IN Style magazine told me that Gwenyth Paltrow loved it! You used to only be able to order it online, but now they have it everywhere. It comes in a fun round tin, and smells really good. I use it all of the time especially right before bed...after my Lush Lip Scrub (see #1 above). ($6)

5. Cuticle Cream- I was an all time fan of Sally Hanson Cuticle Cream for years, until I found this new little gem. It is called Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter and it can be found at LUSH. It can be used on hands, feet, etc..I use it for my cuticles in the summer and the backs of my hands in the winter. Again, this is another thing I use before bed too. It smells really good!  I NEVER have hang nails or dead skin around my nails. This stuff is amazing!!! ($12.95)

6. Nude Lip Liner- I used to use Revlon Colorstay lip liner in Fleshtone until they discontinued it after 8 years! Ugh! I was pissed! Anyhoo, I have several favorites including MAC lipliners in Spice and Whirl, but my go to fav is Loreal Color Riche Lip Liner in Vintage Nude. It is the perfect shade for my favorite lip gloss in #7 below. ($7.95)

7. Lip Gloss- I am a (excuse the expression) make up whore. Everyone who knows me will vouch that I own too many eyeshadows, lip sticks, lip glosses, etc to count...I love pretty make up. It makes me feel great! As many lip glosses as I have coveted over the years there is one that has been my all time favorite for exactly 7 years. I wear it almost everyday....well, because it is part of my afternoon ritual. It is the PERFECT shade of nude. You can wear it alone for an all over gloss, or with the lip liner above for the perfect nude lip...goes GREAT with smoky eye looks! It is Loreal Colour Juice in Carmel Creme. This one is getting harder and harder to find. I had to order it on line the last time...($7.95)

So there you have it! I honestly love these things. Feel free to let me know of any new things you love that I should try!

Look who is back!

I'm back! This much awaited blog update has been tough for me. I have been really busy...I mean REALLY busy...and honestly, not really motivated to come up with a creative blog post. While having dinner with my BFF awesome blogger the QUEEN, she reminded me that my blogs need not be creative, nor for anyone else. Type to get the crap out of your head...and two weeks later, here it is!

While traveling for my job this week, I observed a few things that really made me think.

1. On the plane ride out to NC, I noticed an attactive elderly couple sitting in front of me. They were probably in their 80's and the woman had to be assisted out of her wheelchair and into her seat. Somewhere between the two beverage services, the gentleman helped his wife to the restroom. While watching this man, who was obviously very much in love with this woman, I began to cry. I don't know why...it touched me and I realized that I want that...I want to grow old with someone that will help me to the bathroom on an airplane when I am 80. More importantly, I want someone to look at me like that when I am 80.

2. The airport in Charolette NC has a restroom attendant. One of those women who pulls the paper towels down for you and offers you scope and hair spray for tips. I want to give a shout out to Belva, the woman who did this job with more sparkle than Tinkerbell at Disneyland. She was in such a good mood, she was singing, and literally wiped up the floor in my stall before I used it. For someone who has a bit of an issue with public bathroom germs, this is not a job I would pick for myself. But this woman, she loved her job. She made me smile at 5:00 in the morning AZ time. She made me realize I could show a little more enthusiasm for my job which I actually do love and it does not involve wiping ANYTHING left behind by some nasty ass woman....come on ladies...you have to agree that the womens' restroom is probably the most disgusting thing you encounter during your day....Anyhoo...thank you Belva for making me see that it doesn't matter what you do, as long as you have fun doing it. $5 wasn't enough, but it was all I had....

3. I have a serious issue with certain noises...my husband calls it my bitchy noise sensitivity...teeth on forks, chewing with your mouth open, slurping of liquid, chewing ice, and rude cud chewing gum poppers! These noises litterly make the hair on the back of my neck stand up and if my spine wasn't in the way, they would make my head spin around Exorcist stye...So, we are taking off out of Charolette and I keep hearing this person behind me smack his gum....and making this popping sound and then giggling. We were taxing so I couldn't have my headphones or music on...and the engines were not loud enough to drown out the sound of this gum popping/slopping person! I wanted to turn around and tell them to spit it out but the FAA frowns on you threatening other passengers...halfway through the flight, I get up to use the restroom and I get a good look at the gum chewer....turns out, I am the biggest, impatient asshole on the planet....the guilty party? A special needs child whose mother is at her wits end. I immediately smile at the mother and give her "I'm sorry for the bitchy thoughts I was having" look...and silently say a prayer for this woman, and thank God for my two healthy children....

For those of my wonderful friends who have reminded me lately how much they enjoy reading my blog, I am going to do my best to post at least once a week from now on!

LOST and other shows that jumped the shark with the finale....

Do any of you out there watch LOST? Have you watched it from the beginning or were you like me and my husband who joined the phenomenon late? We started watching/obsessing over this show in between seasons 4 and 5. At which point we watched all 4 seasons within a 2 month period to get "caught up" before season 5 started. We started on a vacation day and were hooked by the first episode. It was exciting to have something that we mutually enjoyed watching on TV. I mean not since Melrose Place has my husband even pretended to be interested in ANYTHING I watch on TV. Well, there are exceptions...Dexter, Entourage, How I Met your Mother, and....well, that's about it. Small compared to the number of shows scheduled to record on my DVR every week...yes, I am a lazy ass who loves to watch TV...Anyway, we were so excited to put the kids to bed, run to the bedroom and start on a new episode! Even the last two seasons when we had to wait with the rest of the LOST watching world for the new episode, we looked forward to Tuesday nights.

However, somewhere between seasons 4 and 5, I started to get really frustrated that every week I left with more questions than answers. And became excessivly pissed when the writers wasted valuable time on "filler" epidsodes giving background and useless facts on characters that had NOTHING to do with the plot.  I stuck with it. I knew there was only one more season and I was PROMISED answers....so I watched....and I watched....and I watched...18 times this season! 18 hours of my life I am NEVER going to get back...And by the time the last NEW episode before the series finale, I knew I was going to take it up the ass and never know if any of it was real or fantasy. And sure enough, the writers did not disappoint me.

The finale BLEW! But, I am okay...I don't really need to know how Jack dying on the island brought everyone together in "heaven"...I don't really need to know if the time on the island was real...why the "others" took all the children...why John Locke could walk on the island or why in the hell Jack had a child in the sideways universe that never exisited...no...I don't NEED to know those things.

However, not since I read IT by Stephen King have I been so disappointed that a 1400 page book or 6 year series be so incredible up until the last 50 pages, 5 episodes and then FUCK it all up?! I mean really? really? REALLY???? The creepy scary clown that kept me up at night turns out to be a ridiculous giant spider with one eye? And the Island is actually purgatory, which was rebuffed by the writers from the start? Great book...great show...why couldn't they close the deal...follow it through to the end? They are incredible minds...gifted storytellers...why couldn't they close the deal??? I was there...I watched...I cared...

I'm just saying....like Seinfeld and Sopranos...the LOST series finale did not leave me wanting more....it left me wondering WTF made these incredibly talented writers bail at the most crucial moment?

What do you think?