That beautiful moment when I smile to myself knowing next week when she asks, I will casually say, "Okay, go ahead and buy it."
Wednesday, May 9, 2018
That Moment When ...
"Mom, I'm going to need more toothpaste" she announced across the house in normal, she speaks the words, and her items appear. The prattling of her needs list I hear at least 3-4 times per week.
That beautiful moment when I smile to myself knowing next week when she asks, I will casually say, "Okay, go ahead and buy it."
That beautiful moment when I smile to myself knowing next week when she asks, I will casually say, "Okay, go ahead and buy it."
Sunday, May 6, 2018
Brooke & Alex Senior Prom 2018
She felt beautiful and she was! Always going with up hair styles, for Prom she decided to go with the elegance of long, soft curls and her hair in an ombre of darker to light. Subtle on her make-up she is a natural beauty.
Alex looks so handsome in his suit and bow tie (Brooke is all about bow ties) and that weeping cherry tree in bloom was the perfect backdrop for this photo montage.
I am excited for her to wake up so I can hear all the details.
Alex looks so handsome in his suit and bow tie (Brooke is all about bow ties) and that weeping cherry tree in bloom was the perfect backdrop for this photo montage.
Brooke cried today that morning when she saw so many girls have their prom photos with their dad and hers is no longer here. Papa surprised her and dressed up to have photos with her. When she walked in the room in her grand presentation, she saw her Papa in a suit. He stood up and told her how beautiful she is. He hugged her for a full minute and with tears in his eyes told her he loves her and how proud he is of her. She said, "Papa, your going to ruin my make-up." She needed him. He has always been there for her and he always steps up. He is a good man.
Grammy & Papa, Mariah & Jeremy and Sofia came to see Brooke ready for Prom and to be a part of her photos. It made her feel so special. She is!
Oh Sofia, you are a hoot! Sofia's first Prom photos. One day we can use this as her "Then & Now".
My girls ... xo xo xo
Brooke has planned for Prom for over a year. She is so happy and they are truly in love with each other. They've come into their own after all these years and they work. They are perfect for each other.
I am excited for her to wake up so I can hear all the details.
Saturday, May 5, 2018
Beauty Faux Pas
Ohhhh, the world of beauty and the price that both men and women pay.
I work as an Office Manager/Patient Coordinator in a cosmetic surgery center and am a patients first point of contact, through their consultation, scheduling their procedures through continuum of care.
I love their stories. The stories that bring them through our doors, how quickly they are to be so open, raw and candid with tears in their eyes and hugs before they leave. Some are just cosmetic junkies, what procedure haven't they had, yet? It's still fascinating and I love being on the front line.
There is a fine line between natural beauty with gentle enhancements and maintenance versus looking plastic.
Clearly there is a beauty faux pas that makes beauty experts gasp in horror! Bar soap.
Well, bar soap and Walmart make-up. How could you ever be beautiful using this sludge? It cracks me up!
One of the first and most popular questions a beauty, skincare expert will ask is, "What do you wash your face with?" This is a trap! They are sizing you up to see if you're cheap or they can financially suck you into their high dollar products. They feign a gasp and make you feel as if you've found the fountain of youth coming to them.
I smile sweetly and say, "Oh, you don't want to know."
"Please tell me you don't use bar soap?!" They shudder.
"Sometimes" I answer feigning in naive victim innocence. I want to hear about their products. Different product lines do offer different gems, you just have to find what you like.
Here's the thing, I do use Dove bar soap sometimes on my face, 40/60, I also use different kinds of gentle cleansers. I always hydrate with a toner before using a moisturizer.
It's simple. Cleanse, hydrate, moisturize.
If you pay $67 for a gentle cleanser, $87 for a renewal serum, $72 for shield protection, redness defying, anti-aging, blah, blah, blah, $91 for must-use moisturizer or you will look 80 when your 40, before you add your primer, foundation, and paint your eyebrows on with a marker, that's your choice.
Here I sit at a high-end beauty counter looking for a foundation that was recommended by my friend who is a seasoned beauty expert and has worked in most lines of beauty skincare and cosmetics. She is my "What is the best" go to, shoot it to me straight person. I'm almost 48 years old and I still do not use foundation. I use a tinted moisturizer BB cream that is light but does not give that flawless finish.
She swears by Dior's Airflash Spray Foundation, so I went to try it out. I really like it! Incredibly light and natural, my face had an unusual flawless finish that is controllable applying with a brush.
I will use it when I want to look flawless, but I'd like to say for the record, my keep it simple and natural look has me at almost 48 years old with skin that doesn't use foundation, and with only one very slight hairline that desperately wants to become my first line at the crowsfeet.
I've watched that fine line for the last couple of years wanting to become my first wrinkle and I water it with moisturizer two times a day. I could easily and at no cost hit it with Botox, but there is something beautiful being natural that I love.
As I left, I looked around at the make-up masks every woman wore. The time and layers they applied to achieve that look that must have co$t a fortune.
What happened that caused a garish make-up mask? God said in the garden, "Who told you that you are naked?" Who told you that lie? Who told you that stenciled on and marker painted eyebrows are considered to be socially beautiful to women?
Both my daughters keep it natural with gentle enhancements. Keeping it clean, simple, and natural.
That's what we need to teach this next generation.
I work as an Office Manager/Patient Coordinator in a cosmetic surgery center and am a patients first point of contact, through their consultation, scheduling their procedures through continuum of care.
I love their stories. The stories that bring them through our doors, how quickly they are to be so open, raw and candid with tears in their eyes and hugs before they leave. Some are just cosmetic junkies, what procedure haven't they had, yet? It's still fascinating and I love being on the front line.
There is a fine line between natural beauty with gentle enhancements and maintenance versus looking plastic.
Clearly there is a beauty faux pas that makes beauty experts gasp in horror! Bar soap.
Well, bar soap and Walmart make-up. How could you ever be beautiful using this sludge? It cracks me up!
One of the first and most popular questions a beauty, skincare expert will ask is, "What do you wash your face with?" This is a trap! They are sizing you up to see if you're cheap or they can financially suck you into their high dollar products. They feign a gasp and make you feel as if you've found the fountain of youth coming to them.
I smile sweetly and say, "Oh, you don't want to know."
"Please tell me you don't use bar soap?!" They shudder.
"Sometimes" I answer feigning in naive victim innocence. I want to hear about their products. Different product lines do offer different gems, you just have to find what you like.
Here's the thing, I do use Dove bar soap sometimes on my face, 40/60, I also use different kinds of gentle cleansers. I always hydrate with a toner before using a moisturizer.
It's simple. Cleanse, hydrate, moisturize.
If you pay $67 for a gentle cleanser, $87 for a renewal serum, $72 for shield protection, redness defying, anti-aging, blah, blah, blah, $91 for must-use moisturizer or you will look 80 when your 40, before you add your primer, foundation, and paint your eyebrows on with a marker, that's your choice.
Here I sit at a high-end beauty counter looking for a foundation that was recommended by my friend who is a seasoned beauty expert and has worked in most lines of beauty skincare and cosmetics. She is my "What is the best" go to, shoot it to me straight person. I'm almost 48 years old and I still do not use foundation. I use a tinted moisturizer BB cream that is light but does not give that flawless finish.
She swears by Dior's Airflash Spray Foundation, so I went to try it out. I really like it! Incredibly light and natural, my face had an unusual flawless finish that is controllable applying with a brush.
I will use it when I want to look flawless, but I'd like to say for the record, my keep it simple and natural look has me at almost 48 years old with skin that doesn't use foundation, and with only one very slight hairline that desperately wants to become my first line at the crowsfeet.
I've watched that fine line for the last couple of years wanting to become my first wrinkle and I water it with moisturizer two times a day. I could easily and at no cost hit it with Botox, but there is something beautiful being natural that I love.
As I left, I looked around at the make-up masks every woman wore. The time and layers they applied to achieve that look that must have co$t a fortune.
What happened that caused a garish make-up mask? God said in the garden, "Who told you that you are naked?" Who told you that lie? Who told you that stenciled on and marker painted eyebrows are considered to be socially beautiful to women?
Both my daughters keep it natural with gentle enhancements. Keeping it clean, simple, and natural.
That's what we need to teach this next generation.
Thursday, May 3, 2018
Rainy Day
Rainy day, what a blessing you are!
I love the rain! I've put the name Raine as a name option for my grandchild (girl or boy) with a star by it. Perhaps, I love the names of nature like I've named my own daughters, Storm (Mariah's middle name) and Brooke (brook).
The air is humid as I walked in the door after work this evening. The house quiet, Brooke at work, and my first initial thought was to close the windows and run the dehumidifier.
Then I thought, no ... it's perfect.
I opened all the windows and I can hear my wind chime play it's music in the breeze, and I watched the rain fall, listening to it's soothing sound.
The grass is so green, my flowers are popping up from the ground, I love to see their life. My flowering shrubs with their bright green leaves getting larger every day.
Closing my eyes, I can hear the birds. There are so many. You don't hear them when your eyes are open and your looking at a television or your iphone. Sight drowns out their song.
It's beautiful and I am grateful sitting here, in the peaceful quietness of an unrushed evening.
Three Decades Later ...
It was the week of March 6, 1990 when we went on an ocean cruise to the Bahamas. Our last trip together as a family, it was on my brother's 16th birthday. I was 20 years old.
That's when I met him. So sexy, so charming and that accent! He was an entertainment waiter on staff on the cruise ship and our table was in his area. I remember when my mom said for a younger guy she thought he was sexy!
He could barely speak English, who cares I was in vacation heaven!
I remember the day we went into port in the Bahamas, he and I spent an afternoon at the beach together. When you're young and so alive in vacationing sunshine, who cares if there is an English barrier.
That evening we went into town to an open air night club and danced to Top 40 hits to a steel drum band. It was magical and I when I left the ship, I was heart broken.
We wrote to each other for a short time, this was back before social media. Life happens and we stopped.
Fast forward almost three decades later ... my mom text me this photo two days ago.
[As I am writing this, Ting! I smile and I know ... it's him.]
My mom text me his photo and last night I wonder if I could find him. Guessing he is back in his country or perhaps anywhere in Europe, I put his name in search.
I knew him immediately.
Sending him our photo, a brief conversation, he Facebook friend requested me. I learned he is living in Florida, has been since the early 1990's and doing remarkably well. Oh my goodness, had I of known all those years ago.
Still a total hunk!
Total confession ... as I was checking his life out on his Facebook page, I saw some videos he posted. In one he was talking. Surprised, his accent still thick, after all these years. I closed my eyes and listened and remembered after all these years.
That's when I met him. So sexy, so charming and that accent! He was an entertainment waiter on staff on the cruise ship and our table was in his area. I remember when my mom said for a younger guy she thought he was sexy!
He could barely speak English, who cares I was in vacation heaven!
I remember the day we went into port in the Bahamas, he and I spent an afternoon at the beach together. When you're young and so alive in vacationing sunshine, who cares if there is an English barrier.
That evening we went into town to an open air night club and danced to Top 40 hits to a steel drum band. It was magical and I when I left the ship, I was heart broken.
We wrote to each other for a short time, this was back before social media. Life happens and we stopped.
Fast forward almost three decades later ... my mom text me this photo two days ago.
[As I am writing this, Ting! I smile and I know ... it's him.]
My mom text me his photo and last night I wonder if I could find him. Guessing he is back in his country or perhaps anywhere in Europe, I put his name in search.
I knew him immediately.
Sending him our photo, a brief conversation, he Facebook friend requested me. I learned he is living in Florida, has been since the early 1990's and doing remarkably well. Oh my goodness, had I of known all those years ago.
Still a total hunk!
Total confession ... as I was checking his life out on his Facebook page, I saw some videos he posted. In one he was talking. Surprised, his accent still thick, after all these years. I closed my eyes and listened and remembered after all these years.
Wednesday, May 2, 2018
Oh, Mighty Monument
Oh, mighty Monument, you are a force to be reckoned with!
First run of the year I make it up 4-5 times, by the end of the season I can do 12-14. This year, I made it up 6 times, although the last trip up wasn't pretty.
A group of of us went down and I teamed up with a sweetheart of a colleague who is 20 years younger, a runner, and can talk up and down those stairs. Not sure she was breathing hard, that's youth and I admire and respect her no-woman-left-behind encouragement. I'm already thinking this group may do Warrior Dash this year.
I've challenged Brooke if she trains through the summer and does Warrior Dash with me, I will pay her $500. She readily agreed.
This is going to be a very fun season!
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
Biking in the Sunshine
There is something so peaceful riding a bike in the sunshine.
It happens the moment I sit on the bike. It is if an adventure awaits, the breeze envelops and the white noise of life cannot catch up. Sights of spring everywhere welcome me.
Trees in bloom. Ahhh, the weeping cherry tree covered in soft pink flowers hanging beautifully for only weeks.
Riding at a pace where I can catch all the detail, the earth awakening from winter bright green from spring rain. Tulips displaying their majestic array of color in grand presentation.
The warmth of the sun and that wooden dock overlooking the lake that makes a perfect destination to sit and relax with a cold bottle of water before I head home.
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