My Favorites (aka The Girliest Post EVER)

As I mentioned a few months ago, one of my favorite podcasts to listen to is Lip Gloss and Laptops. I like this podcast for a lot of reasons, but one of the most important reasons is their creative, experimental, and enjoyable take on beauty.

They never say things that make me feel insecure, they never make me feel like I NEED more stuff, and listening to their podcasts always leave me feeling happy, relaxed, and like I've had a nice shot of Girl Power, right in the arm. They treat beauty like a fun hobby, which is how I treat it, so I like their style.

Next week's LGL episode is scheduled to be "Listener Favorites," so the girls have asked everyone to turn in a list of their favorite products. I just emailed them my list today so it might be too late to make it into the episode (they record each week's podcast the Friday beforehand), but I had SO MUCH fun making it that I thought I'd share it here too.

It seems a little long (so I hope it's not too boring), but I genuinely like everything listed here. If you have any questions about a product that you think I can answer, or you have a favorite product you'd like to share information about, feel free to comment! :)

HAIR
Giovanni 50:50 Balanced Shampoo I have to use SLS-free shampoo (otherwise my scalp gets itchy and flaky, and my skin breaks out), and I've found this to be a pretty good one. It works okay with my color treated hair, and doesn't seem to build up OR dry it out. It also has a nice scent.

Alba Hawaiian Gardenia Hydrating Hair Conditioner This is a great daily conditioner. Sometimes it's a little difficult to get it out of the non-squeezable bottle, but it's worth the effort. It leaves my hair soft, shiny, and smelling fresh and clean.

Fresh Hair Cream - Anti-Frizz I've tried a plethora of products, both high-end and discount, and this is the ONLY anti-frizz product that doesn't break me out. It doesn't leave my hair super glossy like a silicone gel would, but it does leave it silky smooth and definitely NOT frizzy. It looks very natural, and has a great (though powerful) scent. A little goes a long way.

Revlon RV484 Ion 1875-Watt Hair Dryer This has been my holy grail hair dryer for about four years. I love it. I'm on my second one (the first lasted about 2.5 years), and the one I'm using now isn't showing any signs of wear or damage. Revlon has a new dryer with Tourmaline that I'm kind of interested in trying, but honestly I couldn't really ask for a better dryer than the one I'm already using. It get my hair dry super fast, doesn't seem to do much damage (despite the fact that I always use it on High), and isn't too heavy. It also comes with a concentrator attachment, which I find VERY helpful.

Avalon Organics Therapeutic Shampoo, Nourishing Lavender This is Brett's holy grail shampoo. His skin is even more sensitive than mine, but this shampoo doesn't irritate his scalp at all. He doesn't even have to use conditioner with it.

Jonathan Product Dirt Texturizing Paste Brett's current favorite hair product. He was using Sumotech before, but the smell was a little too strong for both of us, and he said it was kind of difficult to wash out. Dirt has a really mild (almost non-existent) smell, makes his short, thick hair silky and manageable, and washes out easily. I wouldn't recommend using this on long hair.

FACIAL CARE
DDF-Doctor's Dermatologic Formula Sulfur Therapeutic Mask I'm so addicted to this stuff, it's not even funny. I use it as a spot treatment every night, and as a clarifying mask during a certain "period" of time as well. It calms down zits FAST, and keeps new ones from forming.

Murad Clarifying Cleanser A really gentle cleanser that does a good job washing off my makeup, but doesn't irritate my sensitive skin.

Murad Vitalic Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer (SPF 15) Kind of a "meh" lotion as far as special features go, but it's hard for me to find a facial moisturizer that doesn't make my skin crawl (especially one with SPF), and this one doesn't. It also comes in a pretty good-sized tube, and works well under makeup.

La Cross Tini-Tweeze Tweezers, Point Tip The best tweezers EVER. They're tiny enough to fit in any pocket or purse, come with a protective cover (probably so you don't stab yourself), and get a really precise, strong grip on tiny little eyebrow hairs. I have multiple pairs of these. Oh! They also work really well for splinter removal.

Rosebud Perfume Co. Rosebud Salve I will never, ever, ever use chapstick again. My lips used to get so chapped in the winter that they sometimes split and bled, but in the three years that I've been using Rosebud Salve they've NEVER cracked ONCE. Sometimes they do feel a little chapped, but I just put on some Salve and they feel fine again. I've even used it on the end of my chapped nose when I get colds, and it helps there too. The Minted and Strawberry varieties are good as well, but I don't feel like the Strawberry one (which is a balm) is as moisturizing, and the Minted one is fun sometimes (it's kind of tingly), but I find the flavor a little off-putting for every day use.

Fusion Beauty LipFusion Lip Plump The Marysville Costco carries these in two packs for about $35. I bought a couple from Sephora at full price before our Costco opened, and I haven't noticed a difference in the formulas. What I like about LipFusion is that it's a really moisturizing, really good tasting, really nice looking clear gloss. I haven't noticed any change in my lip plumpness, but before I started using it I'd never gotten compliments on my lips, and now I get them all the time. So go figure - maybe it IS doing something.

MAKEUP
Shu Uemura Eyelash Curler I've tried other eyelash curlers, and they do NOT fit my eye shape correctly. They're too round for my almond eyes, and they don't curl my lashes in a flattering way. Before I tried this curler I thought eyelash curlers were stupid, but after I got this one (as a last ditch effort), I was like, "Ah. I see!" Now I *always* curl my lashes before I apply mascara. With the right curler, it makes such a difference!

Max Factor Volume Couture Mascara, Soft Black 802 I've never bought a high-end mascara, so I honestly don't know if this is comparably good or not, but it's definitely better than all the other drugstore ones I've tried. Well, this, and Max Factor's Lash Perfection. That one's good too. I don't get the waterproof kind, but it still stays on really, really well. Since it's not waterproof, it removes easily with just soap and water, but if I get a little teary from a sad movie or a spicy dinner, it doesn't smudge. I noticed today that it couldn't hold up to a severe hay fever attack, but I don't know if even a waterproof mascara could've held up to the amount of tears streaming from my eyes this afternoon. Bonus: the bristles are made of some kind of rubbery stuff, so if you're clumsy like me, it hurts WAY less than a normal brush when you jab yourself in they eye.

Urban Decay Primer Potion As the Sephora girl told me when I bought this last year, "less is more." Dab a little of this stuff on your eyelids, smear it around, and voila! You have a mild, non-stingy, moderately concealing eyeshadow base. This stuff really does a great job of holding my eyeshadow in place. I can put on a little bit of shadow and it's still there at the end of the day, or I can put on a LOT of shadow, and find that in the end of the night it's all still where I put it.

Prescriptives Perfect Every Line Gel Eyeliner (Licorice) I've tried liquid liners, and I'm just not skilled enough to make them look right. This stuff is easy to use, and stays put nicely. I've even, um...fallen asleep without washing my face, and had it look great the second day too. Because I also didn't wash my face in the morning.

Prescriptives Fine Lining Brush The perfect eye liner brush for the perfect gel eyeliner (see above).

Prescriptives Virtually Fresh Skin Refining Makeup SPF 15 (B/R Natural Rose 23) I just switched to this foundation a few weeks ago, but I really like it. It gives good coverage but still looks really healthy and natural, and doesn't break me out any more than my old foundation (which was pretty good at not breaking me out, considering how sensitive my skin is). It also has SPF, which is important for us pale chicks.

Clinique Clarifying Makeup Clear Skin Formula (Pure Ivory) What I was using before I got the Prescriptives stuff mentioned above. Worked well, was okay on my sensitive skin, blended nicely, but contained no SPF, and didn't look quite as good as the Prescriptives stuff. Though it's still a really good deal for the price.

BECCA Creme Blush (Amaryllis) Powder blush always breaks me out, no matter how often I clean the brush. I used a Dior cream blush before this that was discontinued, and a Sephora girl turned me on to BECCA when I asked what the hell I was supposed to do without my Dior So Cheek. It's been about two years, and I've never looked back. This stuff doesn't break me out, blends well, and is SO easy to tote around, because it's so small, and because you don't need anything but your own fingers to apply it.

Smashbox Soft Lights (Smashing Halo) Sephora hasn't carried this shade for awhile, but I searched for it online so I could put up a link, and it looks like Nordstrom still carries it. I think most of the Soft Lights are supposed to be used as bronzers, but Smashing Halo is a pinky-goldy-violet iridescent white color, so I use it as a highlighter on my brow bones, and in the corners of my eyes. And the pan is HUGE, so it lasts awhile.

Revlon Brow Fantasy Pencil & Gel, Dark Brown#106 Most drugstore brow pencils look too reddish on me, but this one doesn't. It's a little dark, so I have to use it sparingly if I want to avoid looking too Madonna c. 1986, but for lightly filling in any sparse patches, it's perfect. And the gel (when also used with a light touch) gives a nice bit of extra definition as well.

Urban Decay Wallpaper Shadow Box, Urban Decay Skull Shadow Box, & Hard Candy Eye Candy Palette I think I'm starting to outgrow the glitteriness of most UD and HC eyeshadows, but I still love these palettes. Eyeshadow palettes are great because on the weekends you can toss on some foundation, throw a shadow palette in your purse, go to breakfast, put on a little neutral shadow in the car, go shopping, put on something a little bolder in the car, and go to a party. As long as you're not the one driving. The reason I love these palettes specifically is because they contain such a wide variety of colors, the pigments are great, and they're a steal for the price (esp. if you're like me and you usually get sick of an eyeshadow color before you finish the pan). I've found the UD colors much easier to blend than the HC ones, but the HC palette was cheaper, and contains colors that neither of my UD palettes have.

TheBalm Plump Your Pucker Tinted Gloss (Razz My Berry) I prefer gloss over lipstick, and this gloss delivers a great natural pink color. It's a little sparkly but not TOO sparkly, and it has a neat minty-fruit flavor. It's also not too sticky, seems to stay put (unless I lick it off), and is sheer enough to put on without a mirror, but also looks great layered over a lipstain.

LORAC Lip Polish (Delicious) This gloss has a slightly metallic sheen to it, and is the PERFECT pale pink shade for me. It's basically the same color as my lips, so all it does is add a metallic glossiness to them that makes me feel more polished and put together. I'm not really a fan of the nail-polish-style bottle, and Lip Polish doesn't taste neeearly as scrumptious as Lotsa Lip, but this shade has me hooked.

FRAGRANCE & BODY
Philosophy Senorita Margarita Hot Salt Scrub The one bad thing I have to say about this product is that you have to remember to put it on BEFORE you start the water. Because you put it on dry skin. Other than that, it's great. It smells AMAZINGLY good...kind of like a virgin margarita, and leaves my skin super soft and fresh, but without the oily residue that some other scrubs leave behind. It also doesn't gunk up the floor of my shower.

Soft & Dri PowerStripe + DriTec Antiperspirant Deodorant Invisible Solid, Kissed Peach I'm not a big sweater, but I AM a big stinker. Most deodorants leave something to be desired on me by the end of the day, but this one does not. In fact, *sniff, sniff* I put it on yesterday morning and I still haven't showered today, and I still smell fresh and clean. Plus the scent is really light so it doesn't compete with other fragrances, and the formula isn't as goopy as some other antiperspirants, so it's easier to wash off.

Crabtree & Evelyn La Source Hand Therapy My skin gets DRY. As in, crack-and-bleed dry. I still haven't found the perfect body lotion, but C&E's Hand Therapy is my favorite hand lotion. It keeps my dry hands soft and crack-free (ha, crack-free), absorbs quickly, and usually lasts until the next time I wash my hands with soap. I'm into the La Source scent right now, but before this I had Summer Hill, which smelled great too.

Fresh Sake This has quickly become my favorite "night out" fragrance. It makes me feel grown up, but not old lady. I described the scent on a previous post so I'm not going to do it here, but yep...this one's still a winner.

Fresh Sugar (& variations on) I go through phases with Sugar. Sometimes I favor one, then I change my mind and favor another...I just sprayed all of them at the same time just now, and I wish I hadn't. Wow that's a lot of perfume. Anyway, I recommend smelling all four varieties to decide which one you like best (or if you like them at all, because some people don't), but in my opinion, Sugar Blossom has the softest, most easy-to-take smell, Sugar Lychee has kind of a heady, florally, lychee-ish smell, Sugar Lemon smells kind of like a cross between lemon drops and lemon-scented cleaner (but in a good way!), and Sugar smells like sugar-coated lemon drops. None of them amazing staying power, but I *love* them as daytime fragrances. I feel like when I wear them I smell fresh and clean and ready to start my day.

Fresh Hesperides This is new and I just have a sample of it, but I love it. This is super citrusy, but with a hint of green thrown in to make it EXTRA fresh smelling. It smells crisp like grapefruit and...something else. Whatever it is, it smells like it would be great to wear to a BBQ or some other summertime event. Very refreshing, and very subtle.

Salvatore Ferragamo Incanto Charms I've smelled Shine and Dream too, and I like Charms way better. It has a light, sweet smell (which I clearly like), but it's more complex and mature than Fresh's Sugars. It also works really nicely with my body chemistry, and I love it for the spring and summer, even in the evenings. It's perfect in the heat, because it doesn't smell too sticky-sweet, or too heavy. Note: Sephora is selling all three (Incanto Charms, Shine, and Dream) in a pack of minis right now for super cheap, if you're interested.

Boo.

I just read about the shootings at Virginia Tech this morning, and it made me so sad. Maybe I'm over-sensitive, but I don't think so. I just don't understand how people are even capable of that sort of thing.

Brett and I were watching something on tv last week about someone who'd killed someone else for some stupid, trivial reason, and he said that he believes ANYONE who has a desire to kill anyone else is mentally ill. I agree.

If I'm in a situation where it's kill or be killed, I hope I'm able to go through with taking that person's life in order to protect my own life (or someone else's, if they're unable to protect themselves), but I don't think it would even OCCUR to me to kill someone unless I'm in that kind of a situation.

How do we end up with human beings who are so disturbed that they end up making a conscious decision to murder someone? Let alone DOZENS of someones, many of them most likely strangers?

Whenever I hear about murder, my heart always goes out to the victims and their loved ones, but I also feel sad for the murder and THEIR loved ones (if they even have any). I could be totally off-base, but I feel like, for someone to be THAT disturbed, either they were born with a mental illness, or they must've experienced some really horrible things in life. Or both.

If the killer was BORN with a mental illness, their family may have tried everything in their power to help the person rise above their illness and find happiness and normalcy, but to no avail. Or maybe their family didn't even realize the person WAS mentally ill. Either way, after something like what happened in VA, they'll not only be grieving the loss of their loved one, but also grieving the loss of all the victims, and most likely feeling a heavy load of guilt and shame (rational or not) for the rest of their lives.

If the killer was born happy and healthy, but was abused, rejected, and kicked while they were down enough times to turn them into a mass-murderer, I think that's sad too. Lots of people who've had rough childhoods are able to get back on their feet and continue on with their lives afterward, but some aren't that strong. Or they don't find the right kind of support to get them through. Everyone handles hardship differently: if someone honks at me on the street I might feel flustered for a minute, but if someone honks at say...John Smith, maybe instead of feeling flustered he feels panicked, and maybe that panic leads him to scream obscenities out his window or something...who the hell knows. I guess my point is that if this kid's killer instinct was spawned from environmental damage, I feel bad for him. Because regardless of what he went through, he must've been in a hell of a lot of pain. Nobody wins.

Jesus...when I was in college I was having the time of my life. Well, actually, I'd say my life now is comparably good, and high school was (for the most part) pretty agreeable too, but still. College is fucking awesome. You're so young, you're FREE from your parents' house, your classes are interesting, you're basically living in a miniature city of teens and twenty-somethings, and you have your whole life ahead of you. And the weather is just getting nice too - spring quarter was my favorite time of year.

While I was reading about the shootings I kept thinking of how amazing my life was back then, and it broke my heart to think of the kids whose lives were cut short, and what all the survivors at Virginia Tech are going through right now. It's gotta feel so surreal - like the worst kind of nightmare, come to life. Some of them may never fully recover from this emotionally, not to mention physically.

Blah. This post is a downer, and Brett's always complaining that I let the news get to me too much (he's right, which is why I try to avoid paying attention to most of it), so I'm gonna stop. Besides, the doorbell just rang, and I think it's a package for ME! :D

Um...WordPress?

I've been with Blogger since 2003, and thinking of leaving them makes me a little sad, but I'm kind of frustrated about my lack of comments, and I'm wondering if switching to WordPress might help.

WordPress has a plugin called "Top Commentators" that shows a running tally of the top ten commentators on your blog. You can opt to have it reset itself every day, week, or month, and the people who comment you the most will have their names not only listed, but hyperlinked, so that their own websites actually get a little bit of promotion out of it.

I've been reading about this plugin online today, and not only is there no plugin even remotely like it available to Blogger users, but I found out that if I want to utilize ANY of the plugins offered through Blogger I'll have to lose my customized html/css and start from scratch with one of THEIR layouts which I then customize through their site (I can't just type my own html). Right now I don't even have the option of "upgrading" my website to one of their templates, probably because I'm using an external style sheet. BOO.

I don't know if WordPress has the same sort of permanent training wheel system set up for their users, and if they do, I'm not interested. But if they DON'T, should I switch? If I had a Top Commentators plugin like Tony does, would it make you guys more interested in commenting? I had 45 hits yesterday, and the only person who commented me was Brett, and only because I told him he should.

What do you think?

The Internets

Happy Friday the 13th!!! Muahahaha. We're going to watch Snakes on a Plane tonight, because it didn't occur to me to have Netflix send a scary movie instead. I don't have high hopes for SoaP (ha), but maybe things will wind up all freaky and I'll end up thinking it's the best movie ever. Doubtful, but you never know.

So, the point of this post - I spent a lot of time exploring the interwebs today, and I actually managed to stumble across a few cool things for once:

Twittervision
I found this site almost hypnotizing. It bounces you around the globe as different people post to twitter, and shows you their avatar and what they've said. You can also vote that you either like or dislike what they've said.

What I liked the most about this site was watching new posts popping up ALL OVER THE PLACE. It's neat to see a visual representation of people in different parts of the world engaging in the same activity at the same time. Because really, no matter what you SAY you're doing, at that particular moment in time you're twittering. Whether by phone, IM, or web, you're aaalll thinking the same thing: "I should update my twitter." It's very cool. To me, at least.

We Feel Fine
This site is dope as fuck. Well, in concept, at least. It captures that nice global unification feeling that twittervision provides, but does so by spidering blogs for the words "I feel" or "I'm feeling," capturing the whole sentence (as well as a bit more info about the author, if available), and inserting the information into an interactive...almost like, galaxy of humanity.

You can change the way you view the information, and you can fine-tune what you view (for example, you could choose to view only the feelings of American women in their 20's who are having sunny weather and feel lucky), and sometimes there are even images. I saw boobies. In a strange way I actually like how non-linear most of the information is, but I did feel it could've been a little faster at times. That's the only negative feedback I have about it so far.

AboutUs
In truth, I'm not really sure how cool this site will end up being - it probably depends on how popular it gets. It's still a beta, but my parents know the creator and his wife, and my step-dad told me about it while I was in town for that purse event last week. I think it's supposed to be like wiki for websites or something, so I added my site. I love wiki, so that's why I'm hopeful for AboutUs. So add your site, and get the word out there! :)

Old Navy Sale
Old Navy always has cheap stuff that's cute, and I love them for it. Right now though, they have cute PANTIES on sale. Cute, cute, cute. I ordered a bunch, and I hope I like them in person, but at $4 a pop I don't think they could really go wrong. You should order some panties too! :D Or, you know...not. I love Old Navy.

MyBlogLog, Technorati, and BlogTopSites
The only one of these sites that was actually NEW to me today was BlogTopSites, which I still feel kind of meh about. I've been on MyBlogLog for awhile now, and I've used Technorati for years, but finally just claimed my blog today.

I'm actually listing these three sites because they're new to my blog sidebar: I now have a MyBlogLog widget that shows recent MyBlogLog members who've viewed my blog, a button to fav me in Technorati, and a button that is SUPPOSED to show my rank on BlogTopSites, once I actually have one.

If you have a blog you should check out these sites too! :)

Now I'm off to watch Snakes on a Barf. Have a good Friday night! :D

Art for Art's Sake

I'm a pretty well-balanced person. I have a few good friends, an amazing husband, two adorable cats, a nice big family, a house, a college education, NO job (by choice), a husband with a GREAT job, and compared to millions of people in this world, I live like a princess. Almost every minute of every day I feel lucky to be me.

Even when times are "bad," I still feel grateful for my life because I know in my heart that I've been given a pretty sweet deal. AND I'm intelligent and strong, so even when times get VERY bad I still trust myself to pull through eventually.

The only thing is...my creative energy thrives on passion. At least, it used to. Please don't read this and think my marriage is passionless; my marriage is fine. I'm talking about like, teen-angst style passion. Like, anger, sadness, unrequited love, gut-wrenching loss, a desperation to belong, or even that feeling where you love EVERYTHING so much that it hurts.

Most of my best paintings have come out of those feelings; bent over a canvas on the floor of my bedroom or dorm room, 3am, sweating and covered in paint. I used to think of it like throwing up: I felt horrible beforehand, uncomfortable during, and when it was over, things were okay.

It's not that I want my life to be less okay now, but I really miss feeling that inspired. That, like...DRIVEN. Shh! Don't tell anyone, but even now, when I bead or knit or do basically anything creative, it's still coming from feeling stressed out or insecure about something. The problem is, they're usually only *little* insecurities. Like, "God, please don't let me be the only fat girl at this party." Or, "I really hope this isn't strep again."

Little blips of panic lead to little blips of creativity. I want someone to like me? I make them a scarf. I want to feel pretty? I make myself a scarf. Or a necklace, or something - you get the idea. I have all these canvases downstairs, and I just don't feel inspired to PAINT anything. Our walls are practically bare because *I* am supposed to provide the artwork, and I'm not doing it. I actually have a few ideas in mind, but I haven't even gessoed, let alone started sketching.

So...here's what I'm thinking. Rather than sabotaging my life in order to create turmoil and angst, I simply need to find a new source of inspiration. I think cleaning up our basement will help, because right now I can barely find stuff down there, let alone sit down there to work on something. And after that...maybe in May or June? I was thinking it might be fun to have people over for like, "creative time."

I haven't cleared it with Brett yet, and it would have to be people we already know (I'm leery of strangers), but I was thinking maybe like every other Friday night or something, whoever wants to come over and make shit can...well, come over and make shit. Jon can paint eggs, Shannon can write, Tony can do his homework, Brett can compose, Dan can make me a pie, and I will probably still procrastinate, but at least I'll feel somewhat pressured to do SOMETHING creatively productive. And if we know you and I left you off, you're invited too. Oh! Brad could probably compose, too. And Kim, you could do whatever you do. Because I'm sure you do something. And Nicolle could do something, etc. Anybody. As long as we know you. And you're interested in doing something creative. And you're not messy. Or a serial killer.

What do you think? Too cheesy? Too bohemian? The idea just came to me tonight, so I haven't said a WORD about it to Brett. He might hate it and veto it, but you never know. He likes hanging out with people, he likes exercising his creativity, and he likes social plans that don't involve leaving the house, so this may be right up his alley. Eh?

Complain, complain.

What the hell is up with this weather? I checked the weather before I left for Portland last week and it said it would be hot, but still overcast and possibly rainy the whole time.

But it wasn't overcast - no, it was hot and SUNNY. It was a blessing, really; gorgeous weather the whole time I was there (except for some brief showers Saturday morning), but since I thought it would be overcast I brought long pants, long-sleeved shirts, no sunglasses, etc. Fortunately I ALWAYS wear sunscreen, otherwise I'd probably look like a lobster right about now.

And as soon as I get back to Washington? Crapsville. Rain, rain, and more rain. I've been wanting to do a photo set of our house (remember me mentioning that, way back when we painted our guest bathroom?), but I want to do it on a sunny day, so I checked the weather again last night to see when the next sunny day would be. Last night, it said Wednesday.

Wednesday kind of sucks for a photo shoot, because at 1:30 a new Nielsen person is coming to do some maintenance on their equipment, so I wanted to scrunch all of my normal chores/activities into the morning, since their appointments can sometimes take the whole afternoon. So I figured I *might* take some photos, but that I might not have time.

Then at some point during my workout today, the sun came out. What the butt?!? Had I KNOWN it would be SUNNY *TODAY*, I wouldn't have planned a dinner that requires homemade bread (sammies made with leftover Easter ham, served on big, soft, homemade buns).

The birds are chirping, the wind is still, the sky is blue...and now that my bread is rising it's too late to take photos because the light's too long and our house will be too dark. Poo.

It's okay though; there's laundry out, a cat (Star) sleeping on the ironing board I've been ignoring, and spatters of...I think macaroni and cheese? On the kitchen counter. And my suitcase is still in the hallway. So I should probably clean up before I take pictures anyway.

Maybe the lighting wouldn't matter as much if I had a different camera, though. And then I could just take photos any old rainy day, and they'd look fine. I love my little coolpix (I LOVE it), but sometimes it's too hard to control the shutter speed, and I end up getting yellow, blurry pics in partial light because it auto-adjusts (or something - I don't know the words) and tries to make the photos brighter. Which I hate.

My mom asked me a few days ago what I wanted for my birthday, and on a whim I picked a new camera, but I'm not sure. I've never taken a photography class, and I've never had a manual camera, but I think that might be a really nice thing to have.

I think they're called digital SLR's, but I don't know what the SLR stands for. I just know that *I* control the focus and shutter speed and all that, and it just does what I tell it to do. That *seems* like it's exactly what I need, but at the same time I'm really intimidated by the thought of having to suddenly understand the technical aspects of my camera in order to use it. And I don't feel like reading any boring technical books, so please don't recommend one.

I'm also unsure about the idea of having to switch lenses - I like how on my little point-and-shoot camera I can *click* photograph the horizon, take two seconds to change the setting, and then *click* photograph an ant from about half an inch away. The convenience of not having to change lenses has come in especially handy in situations where I want to photograph the same object from like, a "normal" distance, and then super close up. Like photographing a tree, and then a leaf of the tree.

Anyway, so does anyone have any thoughts on this? I've had Nikon, Kodak and Pentax cameras in the past, and I feel like Nikon is the most intuitive for me. I've never tried Cannon or Olympus though. Or anything else, for that matter. I don't want to go too crazy expensive either; if I could get the camera and a lens or two for about $800 or so, that'd be great. Or if someone out there thinks I should stick with a camera that doesn't require lens changes, and has a good one in mind (it MUST have good macro though), that'd be even better.

For now though, I'll just eat dinner and leave my photoging for another day. :D

Going, going, gone.

I'm packing right now, and tomorrow I'm off to Portland for a few days. I'll update on Twitter occasionally, so feel free to view those updates either in my sidebar, or at twitter.com/catjackson (I don't have time to create links in this post).

Have a good weekend! :)

So Feminine...

Ugh. Last night I ate like, four servings of veggies, three servings of fruit, beans, lentils, AND a kashi bar. I think that's probably like, 80 times the amount of fiber someone with IBS should be eating. But I loves my fiber - the more you eat, the more you poop! It's like magic!

Anyway, so now I have acid reflux and a swollen belly that's creaking like an old wooden ship. I'm not OUTSIDE gassy, but I think I have what my old boss Belinda Cannady used to call "inside gas." Because I don't think food can make creaking sounds.

Now back to my laundry folding...

Clearly, I'm procrastinating.

I opened up a browser window to check the weather in Portland, in order to better plan my wardrobe for my impending trip...and I went to Twitter. From Twitter I went to my own profile page (WHY?!? I know who I am.), and then to my own blog. I admired its pinkness for a minute, looked at my twitter badge (I'm done capitalizing twitter I think...I hate capitalizing things), and then decided, "hmm...I should post."

And now it's almost 12:30, and I still haven't started my pack list, and I leave Thursday morning...I think I have to get up at like 5 or 6am or something, and I usually roll out of bed around 10ish. So I SHOULD be establishing an earlier sleep pattern, but no. It's 12:30am, and I'm blogging. Blah.

I'm really stressed out about leaving Brett. It's not like, "oooh, I wonder what crazy shenanigans he's going to partake in..." It's more of a, "how will I manage to spend so much time without him?!?" The worst part is at night. Marysville is only a few hours from Portland, but my arms don't reach that far, and I'm a snuggly sleeper. Brett's starting to stress about it too - neither one of us likes being apart from the other over night. It stinks.

It'll only be a couple of days though (I'm leaving with Maria Thursday morning, and taking the train home Saturday afternoon), and then I'll be HOME, and then it'll be Easter, and then we'll eat candy. Yum! :)

On that note, I think I'll forgo writing my pack list tonight, and head to bed. I can work on it in the morning, and if I take a melatonin now, I could get a solid 6 hrs and still be up by 7am. Or...you know, a solid 8 hrs and be up by 9am...we'll see.

Good night! :)

Yar.

I need to hit the hay, but I wanted to say a few things here before I head off:

1) After a little elbow grease and one box of L'Oreal Natural Match hair color in 8C, my new hair looks MUCH better. My highlights are still definitely noticeable, but now they're a much more subtle and sophisticated shade of neutral dark blonde, instead of the vivid orange streaks they were before. So yay. It all worked out okay. :)

2) We ended up going with kind of an 80's-meets-short-bus look for Chris' birthday party. I wore big fluffy hairsprayed 80's hair, teal/gold irredecent eyeshadow, a necklace with animal print glass beads, a plastic Hard Candy ring (you know, from their nail polish back in the day), and a hot pink long-sleeved shirt under a kelly green "MAKE 7 / UP YOURS" t-shirt. With regular gray pants and blue tennies.

Brett wore a mustard yellow Rose Bowl t-shirt from 1981 with a cherry red polo on top. And his regular jeans and tennies.

We had a really great time, ate some really great food (but played no pong), and still got home with enough time to get a few things done before heading to bed.

3) Brett wants to shave his head. After all the summers of pooh-poohing my "cheeky summer do" buzz cut suggestions, all of the sudden in APRIL he wants to shave it all off. down to stubble. Because he thinks it'll feel cool.

Normally I'd say do what you want to do, but two things concern me about this decision right now. The first (and most important) is that he still needs to maintain an image of professionalism at work, and he's not just a grunt anymore. He IS somebody. And he aspires to be an even bigger somebody. Would a shaved head remind them too much of his youthful quirkiness?

And even if it would be an okay look to wear to work, there's still the second reason for my concern: my mom's staunchly conservative dad and his lovely conservative wife will be visiting with us on the Oregon coast in two weeks, and they haven't seen either of us in years.

My grandpa HATES fat chicks so I'm already stressed out anticipating his reaction to my fatness; he doesn't like The Gays and we have an HRC window sticker on our hippie rice burner car; he has strange ideas about some minority groups and we've just recently found out that Brett is mixed (surprise!); and he's pretty not-liberal and we're pretty much only liberal. In other words, we already have like 8,000 strikes against us - does he really need to shave his head too? I asked him to at least wait until after we get back from the coast to do it, and he agreed, but now I feel bad about it.

What do you think - should Brett shave his head now; professionalism and stodgy old codger be damned?

Twitter, glitter, emo hair, and Mr. T

Twitter
As you may have noticed, I've added a Twitter badge to the sidebar of my blog.

Brett says Twitter is disgusting, and promotes unrealistic feelings of self-importance. I updated it from the car this afternoon, and he almost keeled over from my lameness.

I say, I am American. I've made a habit out of feeling unrealistically self-important, and Twitter makes it that much easier to feed my habit. Plus texting it is fun - it's like a friend who only listens, and never talks back. Plus it's quicker and easier than blogging all the gd time.

So there you have it - I'm on Twitter. Feel free to add me, if you're on Twitter too.

Glitter
I loves me some UD (Urban Decay) eyeshadow, but I'm tired of how glittery their palettes are. I have both the Skull and Wallpaper Shadow Boxes (Urban Ammo has too many duplicates, so I don't want it) and I prefer to work from them rather than from individual pans, because if I'm putting on a lot of eyeshadow I'm probably going somewhere, and if I'm going somewhere I'm probably late, and if I'm late I'm probably putting on my eyeshadow in the car.

Anyway. My point is that I LOVE the colors, and I love that there's like, nine different shadows in one tiny compact thingy, but I think I've outgrown wearing that much glitter. At least to daytime and/or family events. So my question is this - do YOU have a favorite eye shadow palette? I'm looking for a new one, preferably with a good variety of shades (I'm not afraid of color), and preferably highly pigmented, and with brushes and/or smudgy thingies included, because sometimes I don't have a real brush with me.

I'm okay with drugstore makeup suggestions, but in my experience they don't have the best pigments. I'm okay with insanely high-priced suggestions as well, but I've yet to find a Chanel or Dior palette that I've liked enough to buy. Nars and Mac kind of interest me, but I haven't shopped either of those lines in years - do they have eyeshadow-only palettes?

Emo Hair
So I learned something new today: apparently if you dye your naturally blonde hair black, you then suffer the same hair-dying complications as someone with naturally black hair.

I went to the salon today expecting to turn my sleek, shiny black hair into sleek, shiny blonde hair, and was told that I'd either have to bleach my whole head to strip off the black and THEN dye it blonde (which they didn't recommend due to the amount of damage it would do), OR I could have them bring it up a tiny notch to a dark neutral brown, and then bleach in highlights. So that's what I did. And now...

I have emo hair. Well, Brett's mom says it looks nice and I'll get used to it, but you know that orange color that emo kids and punky Japanese teens sometimes have streaked through their hair? Yeah. That's my hair now: black with orange/caramel highlights.

It's okay, but when I go back next month to have them add more highlights in (to gradually make it blonder and blonder), I'm definitely going to ask for more toner. In the meantime I'll take comfort in the knowledge that the skateboarders in our local grocery store parking lot may start asking me to buy them cigs. (don't worry, I'll say no.)

Mr. T
My brother Chris is having a birthday/costume party/BBQ/ping-pong tournament tomorrow, and the theme of the evening is "I pity the fool!"

WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN?!?

When I asked you guys for your help picking a wrap to wear to next week's charity auction/dinner thing, your suggestions helped me tremendously. (btw, I went with Pistachio and I LOVE it. LOVE. And the shoes, and dress...it all looks great together!) So what should we wear tomorrow (technically today)?

Is it 80's? Is it gold chains? Is it jumpsuits and headbands? WTF? I'll probably call Chris (or his wife Sarah) for more info tomorrow, but our shopping will literally be last minute. And probably thrifted, for that ultra-retro ultra-tacky flair.