November 19, 2009 by selecu
What a lovely way to spend a dreary Thursday afternoon – sitting in the laundromat (my first trip!), watching the clothes spin (one of my favorite things), and watching Chowder (one of my favorite shows) in the kids’ corner. AND doing my picks. I’m SO getting a front-loading washer after this. Seeing the bubbles and the colors is definitely worth the price of admission. Plus: a huge shout-out and God bless to the nice man who gave us his leftover laundry cash cards! YAY!
It’s the little things in life. I feel so chic like a city girl.
On to more pertinent things…
Another favorite: Natalie Dee <3
Thursday, November 19
- Miami Dolphins @ Carolina Panthers
Sunday, November 22
- Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants
- Buffalo Bills @ Jacksonville Jaguars
- Cleveland Browns @ Detroit Lions (you can doooo itttttt)
- Indianapolis Colts @ Baltimore Ravens
- New Orleans Saints @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers (srsly?)
- Pittsburgh Steelers @ Kansas City Chiefs
- San Francisco 49ers @ Green Bay Packers
- Seattle Seahawks @ Minnesota Vikings
- Washington Redskins @ Dallas Cowboys
- Arizona Cardinals @ St. Louis Rams
- Cincinnati Bengals @ Oakland Raiders
- New York Jets @ New England Patriots
- San Diego Chargers @ Denver Broncos
- Philadelphia Eagles @ Chicago Bears
Monday, November 23
- Tennessee Titans @ Houston Texans
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November 9, 2009 by selecu
Since graduating from nursing school (where no nail polish was good nail polish), my nails have been painted CONSTANTLY – hot pink, black, dark green, purple, aqua…you name it, I’ve done it. I guess I ran out of inspiration ’cause lately I’ve just been rocking my nails au naturale. Well consider me inspired – these manis rock!
My next one will be Zoya Raven with a LA Girls taupe holographic glitter a la Lianne’s “Blackberry Bling:”
And Katy Perry’s blingin’ it out, just how I like it:
What are your favorite fall nail trends? Let me know in the comments!
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November 2, 2009 by selecu
ELF, come on, you’re KILLING me here. Today I dropped by Tar-jhay with B. to pick up some cheap Halloween candy (a SUPER-SIZED bag of Kit-Kats for $3?! Yes please!) and perused the ELF items. For those not in the know, ELF stands for Eyes Lips Face and their standard line items retail for a staggering $1 each. They also offer a mineral line and a Studio line, with those items retailing for around $3 each.
Recently the blogosphere got all worked up when ELF announced they would partner with Target to produce specially-packaged items to for the chain. See, I was a bit confused, because my Target has always had elf, albeit in “regular” packaging. That confusion was heightened when I got to the beauty department today and in one endcap were the new, sleek, black boxes with an assortment of new “for-Target-only” goodies, and in another display right next to it was the traditional ELF stuff. Um, what? The new display was really picked over so I headed over to the old one…holy moly. I’d never looked at the shadow quads before but they had some really gorgeous colors. It seems that I’d heard that they weren’t that pigmented but now I’d really love to try them out.
There was also a “newly designed” eyelash curler in the old display, which piqued my interest since that’s one of my favorite items from the line. Neither display had any brushes, which is a shame because their standard eyeshadow brush is my most favorite tool EVER (I have five). Word is that Studio brushes will debut in Target sometime next year, which I’m really excited about. I have the flat-top Studio powder brush and it’s amazing for applying mineral or powder foundation. Oddly enough, I’m also loving their Studio blush brush for applying liquid foundation (I was trying to find something in my stash similar to the Sephora #55, which I am really wanting to try).
ELF sends me emails all the time with online coupon codes and offers, and although I walked out of Target empty-handed today, I have a feeling I’ll be placing an online order soon. In today’s newsletter I saw that they have a new Studio lip balm (supposedly comparable to the Fresh sugar lip treatment) and a new line of Studio pressed powders. I jump at the chance to try new powder foundations in hopes of finding something I like as well as my MAC Studio Fix. Click the image to learn more!
Will you be checking out ELF at Target? Let me know in the comments!
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October 31, 2009 by selecu
You wouldn’t know from my lack of coverage that my favorite sport of all is Major League Baseball. The postseason has kinda gotten away from me after all my favorite teams dropped out, one by one. Right now we’re smack-dab in the middle of the granddaddy of them all…the fall classic…the WORLD SERIES. The Phillies and Yankees are all knotted up at one game apiece with game three tied right now 3-3. Let’s take a look at how the boys of summer became the men of October.
ALDS
Yankees beat Twins, 3-0
Angels beat Boston, 3-0
ALCS
Yankees beat Angels, 4-2
Phils win it all in 2008
NLDS
Phillies beat Rockies, 3-1
Dodgers beat Cardinals, 3-0 (boo hiss)
NLCS
Phillies beat Dodgers, 4-1
Are you kidding, I can’t even finish this post without the Yankees scoring. I’m praying for a repeat of last year, ’cause who wants to see the Evil Empire with another feather in their caps?
This song always makes me think of driving down to the ocean with my old boyfriend, unsuccessfully looking for a place to park near the beach, sun on my face, wind in my hair, love in my heart.
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October 18, 2009 by selecu
My skin has spent the last, oh, 22 years or so trying to make my life miserable. There has never been a time I don’t remember it being oily, and as a teenager is was constantly red and broken out, a lovely contrast to my otherwise Snow White complexion. During spring break of my sophomore year of college my mom offered to buy me ProActiv. Before accepting her offer, I did a little research on my own. I stumbled upon the acne.org regimen and thought I’d give it a shot; it was cheap and I had a suitable cleanser and moisturizer anyway. I am not exaggerating when I say it changed my life. For the rest of college I hardly wore foundation and was comfortable going nearly bare-faced almost all the time.
Well that all changed about three weeks ago. I wasn’t using the regimen anymore, I was trying a bunch of different cleansers, and God only knows what else I did, but my skin punished me. It looked worse than in high school, and I was running out of ideas. Again I stumbled on acne.org, and after getting my breakouts under control, I modified it into my perfect skincare routine.
Morning:
- Wash with Aquanil cleanser. Aquanil is Cetaphil’s cousin in that it is super-gentle, but it actually cleans the skin. You can get it behind the counter at any pharmacy. I bought a 16-ounce bottle for about $12.
- Treat with Paula’s Choice 2% BHA liquid and Blemish Fighting Solution. I keep the BHA in a small spray bottle and 3-4 squirts is enough for my face. Rub that in, then apply a generous amount of the Blemish Fighting Solution. It has 2.5% benzoyl peroxide, which is the key ingredient in the acne.org regimen. I have the crazy belief that no matter what you put on your skin, you won’t break out if you use BP. These products are a little pricey but they are very carefully formulated to be gentle on the skin, so I think they’re worth it.
- Moisturize with original Nivea creme or Nivea Soft creme. I usually use the Soft creme in the daytime because it’s lighter but still does a great job moisturizing. I never would have thought to put this on my face until last weekend while I was staying with the fauxsister. My skin was super dry and flaky from the BP, and dousing my face in chlorine while swimming with the baby that morning hadn’t helped things. “I’ve got something for you,” said fauxsister when we left the gym, and when we got home she pulled out her little blue tin of Nivea. I was hesitant (I had only used the creme on my hands and body), but she’s got beautiful, glowing skin so I slathered it on. Best thing ever, and I feel so budget-savvy with a one ounce tin ringing in at 99 cents.
How cute are these?!
Night:
- Cleanse with Aquanil. If I’m wearing heavy makeup I’ll use MAC Cleanse-off Oil or just add some olive oil to the Aquanil (it really helps moisturize too). I LOVED the Cleanse-off Oil when my skin was more oily because it really deep-cleans without stripping the skin. I still like it but it dries out my skin a bit.
- Treat with Paula’s Choice BFS and RoC Retinol Correxion Deep Wrinkle serum. Don’t be fooled, retinol does so much more than improve the look of wrinkles. I use it to treat current breakouts and blackheads, fade old acne scars, and improve my skin’s texture. Just a pump covers my whole face. I’m looking at trying some other retinol serums, namely DERMAdoctor’s Poetry in Lotion or Philosophy’s Help Me during Sephora’s upcoming Friends & Family event.
- Moisturize with Nivea creme. If my skin is really dry, I’ll reverse the order and moisturize before I treat. It doesn’t seem to affect the absorption of the treatments, but I’m not a scientist so I don’t know.
I also use the Oil Cleansing Method two times a week at night in lieu of regular cleansing. I LOVE IT. I can really feel it unclogging my pores and it feels so good to use natural ingredients on my face. You can read more about it here. I use a mixture of castor and jojoba oils.
My skin is looking so good these days I’m going without foundation, and my family and friends are commenting on how it looks. I’m almost to the point that I don’t need any “face” makeup, and that’s really exciting! I’m waiting on a Pretika sonic skincare brush in the mail, and I hope that will just put me over the top. I’m also taking a daily multivitamin with iron, vitamin B-complex, and extended-release fish oil. I think the fish oil is doing great things from the inside out!
What are your skincare secrets? Share in the comments!
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October 18, 2009 by selecu
Better late than never, again. Today the feature game is a battle of the unbeatens…GIANTS AT SAINTS! Duh! Someone’s going to snap their perfect record, and it ain’t gonna be us!
I love this city.
Bye: Dallas, Indianapolis, Miami, San Francisco
Sunday
- Baltimore Ravens @ Minnesota Vikings
- Carolina Panthers @ Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Cleveland Browns @ Pittsburgh Steelers
- Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers
- Houston Texans @ Cincinnati Bengals
- Kansas City Chiefs @ Washington Redskins
- New York Giants @ New Orleans Saints
- St. Louis Rams @ Jacksonville Jaguars
- Arizona Cardinals @ Seattle Seahawks
- Philadelphia Eagles @ Oakland Raiders
- Buffalo Bills @ New York Jets
- Tennessee Titans @ New England Patriots
- Chicago Bears @ Atlanta Falcons
Monday
- Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers
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Last year, even in spite of being mortally wounded earlier at my own football game, I was super-excited for the Saints on MNF.
