RambleRamble

Chuck Taylors, Age, and Strutting Your Stuff

by Ginger on May 21, 2013

Today’s prompt comes from Kelly, a question I just love:Am I too past it to wear my Chuck Taylors now that I’m 46?Simply put, NO. Or, more elaborately, rock the Chucks my friend. What, you want a little more rambling about it? Ok, fine.
There are certain things I definitely think almost all people age out of someday: short shorts, stilettos (though maybe that’s just my aching knee talking), strapless tops come to mind. At some point, there are certain things that become less appropriate for your aging body.
And maybe Chuck Taylors are on that list, eventually. But since I 1) don’t think 46 is old and 2) think people should (mostly) wear what they want as long as they’re comfortable and confident in it (ESPECIALLY in shoes) and 3) think Chuck Taylors are awesome, I say wear them and strut your stuff. Look, if you were asking me about, I dunno, rompers, I’d probably have a different answer (although, honestly, I really think MOST people, regardless of age, should avoid rompers. If only for the bathroom challenges). But Chucks? Nah, Chucks get to stick around. Although, I might recommend a shoe insert. Chuck Taylors are many things, but MAN do they have CRAP foot support.

Tags: #bringbackthewords

Makeup Monday–The Eyeshadows, Plus My New Favorite Trick

by Ginger on May 20, 2013

in Becoming Myself, The Essential Products

Oh, eyeshadow. Of all the makeup items I own, eyeshadow is probably the 1)most abundant and 2)one I’m least skilled with. And yet, I love it so. I find it very hard to resist the siren call of a nice eyeshadow, particularly, as you can see, a trio or palette.

Eyeshadowsclosed

These are my current most used eyeshadows. There are a couple of others tucked away in a drawer, but these are the ones I end up reaching for the most.

Eyeshadowopen As close as I can get from left to right, top to bottom:
Urban Decay Naked palette, Urban Decay Glinda Palette, Urban Decay Feminine Palette, Benefit Creaseless Cream Shadow in RSVP, Maybelline Expertwear Eyeshadow Trios in Almond Satin, Maybelline Expertwear Eyeshadow Quads in Amethyst Smokes, CoverGirl Exact Eyelights for brown eyes (which, as an aside, came with an eyeshadow brush that remains one of my very very favorite), Stila Eyeshadow in Kitten, (ignore the Smashbox trio there, because I only use it for eyeliner, and I don’t think it’s available anywhere anymore), Yves Rocher Matte Tri-tone Eye Shadow in Rosewood, Stila Eyeshadow in Azure (it broke as soon as I opened it. This is the softest eyeshadow I’ve ever used. But it still works), Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Sin, and Studio Gear Color Studies in Taupe.

You can kind of tell from the photo, but I like some shimmer in my shadows–yes, I wear shimmer eyeshadow almost every day, even to work–but there are a few mattes in there. I would recommend every last one of these (except the Smashbox), but my current favorites are the Naked Palette, the Studio Gear trio and Stila’s Kitten.

Now, what I really wanted to talk about though, was the trick I finally figured out. See, I’ve never been able to figure out how to wear REAL colors–I would try and use, say, that teal up there, and it would just turn into a muddy mess on my eyes. No bueno.

I fixed some of that with primers.

Primers

I mostly started using primers to stop a couple of (unphotographed) shadows from creasing like crazy. And they totally help with that, and I love that. But they also serve to make the colors more vibrant on the skin. However, I still never was able to get as close as I wanted to the pan color.

Until:

NYXMilk

This little guy, NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in Milk which cost all of $4.49 is my new favorite trick. Instead of using one of those other eye primers, if I want to get VIBRANT color? I use this guy. It goes on waxy, but it just makes the color POP. Here, lemme show you. Let’s take these three colors:

Pink

ACDC

Hijack
Magic (pink) from the Glinda palette, AC/DC (a nice purple with grey tones) & Hijack (a beautiful sparkly teal. It’s not as green as that photo) from the Feminine palette. Let’s see what Milk does.

Eyeshadowswatches2

At the top, eyeshadows with no primer underneath. In the middle, a regular eye primer. And at the bottom? Milk.

Eyeshadowswatches

Another view, this time from left to right: Milk, Primer, nothing.

I mean, CMON, that’s a pretty major difference with Milk. That sucker is AWESOME. I mean, I kind of feel like an idiot for being surprised that a bright white base makes the colors pop (and you KNOW my loving artist husband shook his head at me), but I don’t care. I can admit that I’m only really figuring out makeup at 33.

Alright, now go check out the other Makeup Monday posts over at Maria’s!

Tags: #bringbackthewords, makeupmonday

Sunday Tidbits

by Ginger on May 19, 2013

in Random

We finally watched Argo on Saturday night. I can see where some of the criticisms came from, but I can also see why it won a bunch of awards. But mostly, I’m not entirely sure that I’ve unclenched from the tension of the last hour.
Today Jackson went without a nap, and hooboy did that end up exhausting. It was our own fault–we didn’t even LEAVE for brunch until about 11:30 (at which time, it’s really just having breakfast for lunch)–and it could have been way worse, but still. By the end of the day, *I* needed a nap. It also served to remind me that I will weep when Jackson drops his nap. As it is now, most days he still sleeps for 2-3 hours during naptime, and he NEEDS that time. When he gives that up, I have a feeling we’re all going to have a rough adjustment period.
We bought a couch cover this weekend. Our couch has survived the kid fine, but the dog has jacked that thing up. The cushions are so stained from mud and dirt that the dog drags in, but we’ve dealt with it. But recently, the HOA had a bunch of trees trimmed in our area, and that included cutting some huge branches from a couple of pine trees right outside our house. Which resulted, lucky us, in SAP everywhere. Everywhere. The dog unfortunately tracked that nonsense in, and I really think the couch fabric is unsaveable. So! New couch cover it is! We opted for a dark red one, to go with some of the red accents in the living room, and it basically makes it look like we have a completely new living room. It’s a nice change. We’ll see how long it takes before it’s destroyed.
I am going to New York for work in one week, and I am in severe denial about this fact. I’m so unprepared for this trip, or at least the business part (I’ve got some great plans for dinner, and am super excited to get to see Jennie while we’re both there). I’m…actually starting to panic a little about everything I need to do to get prepared to leave, for the business stuff while I’m there AND the work stuff that will continue to go on during the week I’m gone AND for the actual travel part (things like finding my plane ticket come to mind). I know I’ll get it all figured out, but…yeah, I’m a little stressed about it.
I want to bring back Reads From Around the Web in some form or another–I read a lot of great stuff–but I’m trying to figure out a way to do it that I’m going to keep up and not just abandon in 2 months when I get overwhelmed (ha, 2 months. It’s cute that I’m so optimistic about myself). I’m not sure what that is exactly, but it’s on my to-do list to figure out.
I am 3 days away from finishing 30 consecutive days of the 30 Day Shred. I…have not lost any weight, or, to my eye, any size (I really should have taken measurements). But, I’m feeling stronger, though this go round has been murder on my hips and knees. I don’t really recommend doing consecutive days of this particular program if you have bad knees or joints. I will not be doing this one this way ever again. That being said, it’s been nice to get some strength back up. And, when I finish, I am buying myself a little something, for doing this damn program every day. Including Friday nights after a long week, late at night after a long day at work, and yes, even Mother’s Day. I think that calls for a little prize.

Tags: #bringbackthewords

The Post Birthday Party Crash

by Ginger on May 18, 2013

in Day in the Life, The Kid

I had big plans to write this whole complicated post about family size and being an only child, and then I went to a birthday party with a zillion 3-6 year olds at a jump place after my kid had a short nap, and now I am exhausted from the fallout, so yeah, big complicated post will have to wait.

What is it about birthday parties that makes these kids into absolute mental patients? With the exception of the cake, it all SEEMS like it’s going to be a good plan–this party was 1.5 hours of playing in the jump room (4 different HUGE jump structures, including an obstacle course and a slide), followed by pizza, then cake, then done, all from 3:30-5:30. Theoretically, the play time is going to wear the kid out, he’s going to get most of his dinner taken care of, and you’ll be in for an early bedtime. Instead, what seems to happen a fair amount of time is that the excitement, chaos, cake, and other kids lead to this giant physical and emotional crash that gets buried in absolute jackassery, and you end up with a crazy, defiant, exhausted, over stimulated kid who can’t regulate his emotions and ends up pushing you all to the brink of insanity.

Or is that just in my house?

We’ve been discussing what to do about Jackson’s birthday this year, and every time we have another birthday party that ends this way it really makes us think a little harder about doing a party for a zillion of his friends. We’ve talked about maybe doing an amusement park (like, perhaps one that’s a little ways to the north perhaps? That’s all happy and stuff?) as just a family instead of doing a party, and while those sorts of days have their own fallout, it just seems sometimes like the birthday party itself often is a bit overrated.

Or, maybe I’m just exhausted after today’s party. I don’t know. All I know is that kid’s birthday parties would be WAY easier to handle if they included a beer for the adults.

Tags: #bringbackthewords

My Top 10 Favorite Books of All Time

by Ginger on May 17, 2013

in Entertain Me

Today’s prompt comes from Shalini:

How about a list of your top ten books?

Hahahaha, Shalini thought this was going to be an EASY one. Yeah. That’s funnnnny. But I’ll give it a shot anyway. I will give the following caveats though:

1)I can barely remember what I read last month, much less last year, much less 15 years ago (I probably did some of the most reading of my life between the ages of 8-15 and 19-27). So…

2)This list is my all-time top ten, which means that it’s going to *mostly* end up being books I read over and over and over and over again during my childhood/teen years and/or continue to reread as an adult.

3)This list is mostly going to be books that make me smile and feel cozy like a warm sweater and cup of tea on a cold day. They are the books that are my friends and family. They may NOT be the best books I’ve ever read however.

So here are my (current, off the top of my head in the moment) top 10 books, in no particular order.

Jane Eyre. This one actually does occupy the top spot. I’ve loved Jane since the first time I read her, in large part because I felt a kinship with her. Yes Mr. Rochester is an ass and there are some really problematic bits to the romances in the book. But for me, it was never about the romances, it was about Jane, finding herself, becoming the important one, and oh, I just love her.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. What’s not to love? Harry, Lupin, Sirius, time travel, teenage angst? There’s just enough darkness, but without the overwhelming heaviness the later books had.
All the other Harry Potter books. But if I’m really honest, the entire series as a whole should be together, because they all have elements that I love, and I could make a case for any of them to be my favorite.
Little Women. One of the first books to make me sob like a baby. These characters all felt SO real to me, I wanted to be a part of their family.
Time Traveler’s Wife. A rare somewhat current book! But I did love it. It wasn’t an easy ready, and I had to really work to keep up with the timeline/structure, but the story was one of the most compelling I’ve ever read.
The Hobbit. My dad used to read me chapters of The Hobbit when I was a kid–probably 6 or 7 or 8?–and it just stuck with me. I’ve read it many times since then, though probably not in the last 10 years, randomly enough, and it will always be a book that feels comforting, and reminds me of my dad.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Hysterical, in a somewhat odd, English kind of way. This is one of those books that I think people either love or hate, there seems to be little in-between, and I am firmly in the love camp. It is just quirky and fun and smart and weird and a good time.
Anne of Green Gables. Oh Anne. I wanted to BE Anne. I wanted Anne to be my friend. I frankly can’t imagine a world where Anne isn’t a major part of my life.
The Joy Luck Club. Fun fact: this was one of the books that lead me to focus my literature major on minority literature. I know I read it before going to college, and the characters and the relationships between the characters just felt so strong and powerful. I loved it.
The Blue Castle. This book is nothing earth shattering, but it’s a sweet love story with quirky characters and a somewhat bizarre setup, and Ive now read the book so many times that it is literally in 5 pieces. But it’s one of those books that just makes me smile and grin like a fool when I’ve finished reading it.

Some runners up: All the other Anne books, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, The Secret Garden, From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Bean Trees, The Diary of a Young Girl, As the Crow Flies, Jo’s Boys, the other three books in the Hitchiker’s Guide series, Heidi, A Wrinkle in Time, Half Magic, Winnie the Pooh. I’m sure I’ll think of more as soon as I press publish.

I’d love to hear what YOUR top 10 books are too–if I haven’t read them, it’s a good way to fill in my “to-read” list on Goodreads!