Poll - Spring Shoes

Bye Harry :'(

Harry died tonight. Harry was more my Tom's pet than mine ... nonetheless I cried like a baby.

He hurt his leg the other day and it was downhill from there.  He couldn't walk or hold himself up. He spent the last few days on the bottom of his cage, or in the bedroom with us on a comfy bed made of towels. It looked like he was going to get better, we were nursing him and he was drinking water and he even tried to bite me this morning! He just started trying to walk again after being sedentary for a few days.  But Tom and I came home from a walk and he was having spasms, flapping his wings all over, and Tom picked him up and we cooed and kissed him but it was no good, Harry died in Tom's hands at 7:30 tonight. He will be hard to replace.

Funny how a small little bird could have such a big place in our hearts.

Sephora Addict

I can't stop shopping at Sephora. In the last few months I have placed 5 orders and I visited the store yesterday. Initially it was the allure of the 3 free samples that got me in. OMG perfume samples! It was so exciting opening the package -- I blew through the stuff I had ordered (Christmas gifts) to see the little perfume bottles at the bottom. The first three I received were Michael Kors Island Capri, Dior Midnight Poison, and Narciso Rodriguez for Her. I loved them all but Narciso Rodriguez for her really stuck with me. I couldn't stop smelling my own arm. So I ordered it, deciding that it would be my winter signature scent. (My summer one is here.) That's where it all began. Every sample they sent, I fell for it and ordered the product. I'm a marketer's dream.



Over the course of the last three months I have acquired the following:
(images courtesy of sephora.com)



Philosophy The Present: This little bottle is probably my favorite beauty item. It's clear makeup applied as moisturizer, or over moisturizer. Once you apply, wait two minutes and it gives you sort of this airbrushed look that you can apply makeup over. (You can speed the process by aiming a blowdryer at your face on a cool low setting. This technique also helps set moisturizer before applying makeup.) The only thing is if you do not wait the two full minutes, it can become kind of gunky. I tried to use this under liquid foundation but found that it didn't smooth the way I like. So I skipped that step. The results were amazing! I ended up removing liquid foundation from my morning makeup routine, and my face has a flawless look, and stays non-greasy throughout the day.



DiorShow Mascara: I got this after researching mascaras to find the 'best' mascara (subjective, but whatev). When I first tried it, I thought it was too clumpy, too tarantula looking. A coworker advised me to give it another try, so I really experimented, using double coats, curling my lashes differently, etc. The result was amazing when I stepped back to really look at my eyelashes. This mascara can extend almost infinitely. It seems if I apply more toward the very end of my lashes the formula really binds to the small hairs making them look longer and longer. So, I love this stuff, even after almost giving it away.




Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler: I have to be honest, there is really no reason why a sane person should pay $18 for an eyelash curler. I added it to my favorites one day, and the next thing I knew it was in my shopping basket, and then I was paying for it! I am sure there are $5 or even $1 eyelash curlers that can do the same thing. But I use it every day, and I was super thrilled to see it mentioned the other day when I re-watched The Devil Wears Prada. I was all, "I have that!" LOL I'm such a dork.




Smashbox PhotoFinish Foundation Primer: Um, yeah. I wasted 44 bucks on this. I don't know, I thought it was going to be so great after using the sample for a week. But when I got the bottle and used it full force, it felt greasy and gross. It dries soft but I am still greasy throughout the day. Maybe I could revisit this like I did the mascara but it almost feels like smearing baby oil on my face. It even makes a 'greasy noise' that I can't explain in words. Well this serves the same purpose that the Present does, so I'm not too dissappointed. Has anyone else out there tried this and liked it? What am I doing wrong? ...sigh...



Oscar Blandi Dry Shampoo: This comes in an aerosol spray or a powder. I first tried the spray and used the whole bottle already. I use this to eliminate the oily look from my hair when I don't shampoo that day. Hold it as far away as possible and spray, and a fine lemony-smelling mist comes out. When that dries onto your hair you comb it through/shake it out, and it absorbs all the oil from your hair, leaving it clean and shiny (shiny in the good way, not shiny in the gross way). This bottle went kind of quick and I also noticed that it made me a bit flaky (my hair, people, my hair) so when this was gone I invested in the other kind. The saleslady at the Sephora store (which I visited yesterday) told me just to make sure I work it through my hair very thoroughly. People with darker hair colors may have more trouble using the spray, she says. I gotta tell ya, you could achieve the same result with regular old baby powder. Work it through your hair, yes, got it, don't spend $19 on this, yes, got it. It just won't smell lemony-fresh, fine, got it. Save yourself 18 bucks.


Nars Orgasm Blush: If you haven't heard of this by now you should come out from under your rock. I let the experts and beauty bloggers guide me to this one. I can never decide on a shade of blush, and there are so many to choose from on this page, so I just went with their recommendations of the Orgasm shade (besides, it's a really cool name right?). I really like this shade. Also, and we'll see if this comes true, it supposedly lasts a really long time so there is no need to keep replenishing. Unless you listen to the advice to throw away old makeup after three months or whatever. I do not follow that rule. I have makeup that I use every day that has lasted for years. And I hope this does too.





Philosophy The Supernatural: I left this picture huge so you can see what the fuss is all about. Or lack of fuss, rather. Look how easy it is! It is mineral makeup in a bottle, with the applicator sponge attached to the top of the bottle, with a mirror on the lid. And it smooths my complexion so nicely. You just turn it upside down and shake some powder around and then smooth the thing over your face. That's my kind of makeup! I want one for home, one for the car, one for the office. However, I don't need to reapply that often because this stuff lasts so long. I chose beige as my shade, for medium complexions with no yellow or pink undertones. This is one of my favorite products. So far Philosophy is winning.





I've also purchased assorted hairbrushes, makeup brushes, and gift sets. Pictures below. Click on any of the pics to be taken to their Sephora page.





So as you can see, my addiction is full blown. My Beauty Insider points have rolled over many times. But I wanted to share my experience and knowledge with you so you can make better decisions than I did. :-p I suppose I could attempt to return the stuff that wasn't to my liking, I'll have to investigate that further.

Tell me, what have you purchased from Sephora? What are your favorite beauty products in general?

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I'd almost forgotten that I own a blogger blog and not just a Xanga blog and a MySpace blog and a Facebook blog and a Polyvore profile and a Craiglist forum handle and YouTube account and a Digg profile.

So here I am again. I don't exactly know what I'm doing here but we'll find out at the next sentence.

I just gave some friends of mine their wedding gift a week and a half early. They sounded like they were a little strapped and I forked over the $200 Visa card I'd picked up earlier in the week. Did I break the laws of weddiquette? I think I just made up a new word. Anyway, they seemed happy and that's all I want for anyone who is about to get married in the next few weeks. So I say it worked out well.

I signed myself up for a doctor appointment tomorrow. This is a big deal for me because I haven't been to the doctor in almost a decade. I hope she doesn't tell me I'm dying. Well, I know I'm dying, slowly, we all are, but I hope she doesn't announce some life threatening something or other. Wow I have a really positive attitude don't I.

NOT.

I just realized my friend never gave me back my Borat movie. I'll have to call him. His birthday was the other day and I didn't call. Oh great now I can't call about the movie, I'll have to buy a new movie and forget about that copy.

Bummer.

I feel like Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm. There's all these rules. Funny.

Tommy Bahama - Very Cool

I went perfume shopping yesterday. This is sometimes a frustrating task, because once you have smelled two you have smelled them all. If you're lucky, like I was yesterday, one of the first two will smell so good that it becomes your final choice.

It did come down to two scents for me: Tommy Bahama and Tommy Bahama Very Cool. The regular Tommy Bahama in the pink bottle was more floral and flirty while the blue bottle of citrusy Very Cool caught my nose coming back for more with a clean crisp scent of tangerine, clementine, pink pomelo and cactus flower. Kim and Dave both initially thought that the Very Cool disappeared when they smelled it. I thought perhaps the first scent was just overpowering the cooler scent. So we went back and forth: left wrist, right wrist, which do you like better, smell this one again, now look at me and smell it, close your eyes and smell it, smell fresh air and then smell it again, compare it to this one -- it was really quite ridiculous! But it helped me make a final decision: I just ignored everything they said and bought the one I liked. 

Tommy Bahama Very Cool is going to be my new signature summer scent (I used to wear Clinique Happy).  It is clean and calm, summery and citrusy.  The scent doesn't call attention to itself -- it is subtly intriguing. (It made me want to smell my own arm every ten minutes after I sprayed myself at the fragrance counter.) The bonus was that the 6 pm spritz on my wrist was still lingering when I woke up the next morning at 6 am. I am Very Happy with my choice.

Water Cooler Moments...

Water Cooler Moments...

with Dave and Anne 

Because, isn't the internet just a big water cooler, anyway?

 

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Moment 1

Dave: "My you sure are tan!"

Anne: "I've been tanning in the beds a bit."

Dave: "Oh yeah, how much does that cost?"

Anne: "$7.00."

Dave: "Seven dollars!!  I could buy a tanning bed for that much!!"

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Moment 2

Dave: "Hey Anne, what's the difference between a trampoline and a pile of dead babies?"

Anne: "That you're a Nazi?"

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Moment 3 

Dave: "What were we just talking about?"

Anne: "Jeez, I can't remember...Don't you wish you could have a camera recording everything so you could just rewind?"

Dave: "Yeah! I'd call it KonstaKam, with two K's!"

Anne: "Um, that sounds like a laxative."

*****************************

Moment 4

Dave: "I'm hungry, do you have any snacks?'

Anne: "There's something in my desk with your name on it!"

Dave: (finds 'David' sunflower kernels) (laughter ensues)

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Moment 5

Anne: "Hey Dave, listen to this song, you'll love it!" (hands him headphones)

(Anne starts dancing that little finger dance boogy)

Dave: "It's not on."

Anne:  "Oh, oops."

 stay tuned for more ...

Water Cooler Moments

Top Ten Things That Annoy Me

Although I have been insanely happy for the last few weeks, I am still a normal person with normal mood swings.  I have been racking up this list of things that just drive me insane, and I'd like to be an annoying blogger and annoy you with them.  Maybe I'll make your top ten list of things you hate!

10.  Slow computers - Whether it is my Frankenstein computer attempting to make me tap my foot until it falls off or computers at school taking *just* enough time to boot up that I go to another one, only to be locked out because the other one finally logged in.  I am an impatient person, and it's 2007 -- computers are supposed to be fast!  Don't get me started on dialup.  Or the web browser on my Treo, ironically named "Blazer".  Shyeah.  Right.

9.  Microsoft Word Formatting - If I wanted to make a list, I would click the number button myself.  Can't I just hit enter and not have the entire text moved into next week?  And, no, I don't need your help, 'Annoying PaperClip'.  I'll figure out how to change the settings on my own.

8.  Bumper Stickers on New Cars - This one beat out black sneakers for a place on the list.  Basically, if you have a nice new shiny car -- do not ruin the back of it with STICKERS!!!

7.  Getting the car keys out of my purse - Mostly because I cram too much stuff into my purse because I refuse to carry a ginormo hobo bag everywhere.  Picture this: I'm holding like seven things (my phone, a coffee mug, ipod, purse, rubber chicken, kitchen sink)  and I'm approaching the car and I still haven't unzipped the bag to retrieve the keys.  Now comes the annoying part.  More than likely, I will need to systematically remove items from my bag until the keys are reachable.  Usually, they will still manage to snag on something that will fly out of my purse at the same time as the keys, forcing me to put everything down anyways and pick up the thing that fell on the ground.

6.  Radio Commercials - These only come on right after I have tuned in and turned up the volume on a station that I want to listen to while I am in the shower.  Therefore, the entire shower, I will be listening to people shout about things I need to buy tickets for next weekend.  I have had a cd skip while I was in there too, and I can't decide what's worse.

5.  Shopping, in general- Tangled hangers usually torment me at home, but they also find me when I'm racing through the clearance rack.  I just want to look at one thing and then that hanger is stuck on another one and items start to fall to the floor and then I just want to give up and go home.  But what do I do?  I carry six items into the dressing room and get all sweaty trying on things that look great under the store lighting and then need to be returned because they look more red in the natural light.  ARGH

4.  VoiceMail Instructions - Okay, I don't know who, in this day and age, really needs 'the voice' to tell them how to leave a message.  "You have reached the automated voice messaging system for _____.  The party is unavailable right now, so please leave a message after the beep.  The beep will sound like a beep.  If you do not want to leave a message, you may leave a number to be called at by pressing 0.  Okay, are you ready for the beep?  Here it comes, okay, are you ready, because this is the part where you have to speak into the receiver.  When you are finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options.  Then after that, you will be done with the phone call completely and you can go on living life, or you can finally shoot yourself."

3.  Every Other Driver on the Road - Does this one need an explanation, at all?  I mean, this is you.  You cut me off, you turn in the wrong lane, you don't use your blinker, you drive too slow, you drive too fast, you eat while you drive, you are on the phone, your kids are staring at me out the back of your minivan, you lucky bastard, you can get in the carpool lane, I hate YOU.

2.  Pulling Sleeves/ Pant Legs Right Side Out - Again, with the laundry.  I just hate reaching in there to pull the sleeve out.  It's time consuming and irritating.  I usually try on like 6 different outfits before I leave the house, so this happens all the time.  Inside-out-things, I hate you!  I'm getting dressed, I don't have time for you.  Or when you take your pants off and they are like all stuck at your calf.  Or when you are putting pants on and you go to step down and you have bad balance and you step on the pant leg and you stumble around and eventually almost fall.  Yeah, that's me. I'm awkward and uncoordinated and clumsy.  (But it's the laundry's fault.)

1.  The Shower Surprise - This is when you reach in the tub to get the water ready and someone left the shower on.  Then you get a nice cold drenching.  Good for waking up, Bad for the attitude.  This only made number one because it happened to me the other day, but I was the one who left the shower on so I couldn't even get mad!!! 

Actually, making this list was pretty fun.  A lot of the things are things I could just avoid or do something differently and I'd never be annoyed again.

Shyeah, right!!