Sharing My Experience

(photo courtesy: Dream Glow)

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About 10 days ago, I began writing for Examiner.com as

a beauty contributor. It's been new and exciting, and also fun

to share some of the beauty knowledge and experience

I've gained over my career. (I'd tell you I've spent 15 years in the

beauty industry, but that'd make me sound reeeeeeeeally old...)

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I feel that my time teaching at a beauty school gave me

so much knowledge when it comes to why things are done

the way they are, how things are created and what the result of

using certain ingredients, products and techniques will be.

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That being said, some of you who check this blog are

my family and friends- and some of you were

actually my students! I'm so grateful for blogging and

the way we are able to keep up with each other so easily online.

I'm excited about this opportunity and wanted to share!

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My latest article was about how to create the Perfect Smokey Eye

(in 3 steps)- photo below. My past articles are listed at the top right

of this blog. If you're interested in reading any, please click

those links. Or you can click HERE and subscribe!

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Thanks and love you all!

happy (random) things

I didn't feel like posting much last week...

My mind seemed to keep drifting off to

Naki and Abby... and life... and faith...

So this is kind of a catch-up post,

from the past week or so.

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First, at Saturday's game, the entire stadium

full of BYU fans held a moment of silence for Nox.

They were showing him up on the big screen,

while his little family was watching from down on the field.

Ginny and I both noted that the sun happened to

come out right at that very moment- a break in the rain.

I'm just saying.

I hope they don't mind that I'm posting this shot:

You can see the sun hitting the mountains in the background.

I was hoping Naki would sprinkle a little angel dust on the team but...

no such luck ;)
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Here's my little Raini in her little hoodie...

Someone gave us this darling sweater when Peli was born,

but he was already too big to wear it, so I hung onto it, and

now it's our fave for this little girlie...

Ready for church, last Sunday.

She was rockin' this dress...
... except that she likes to eat everything right now.
Especially her clothing.
Peli got some new undies this week, which
I know you are thinking is the most exciting thing
you've ever heard. It was exciting for us!
Plus, he got these uber-fantastic Buzz Lightyear jammies.
I love this boy. I can't believe he's getting so big.
If you haven't heard, I'm not one of those super-busy,
activity-driven Super Moms. BUT, I saw this cool lil idea and
Peli and I made some!
He made this one for Grandma Leslie:
(note that he wrote the "I" and "U" around the heart,
and his name under that... that was his idea.)
See the heart? It's made of Peli's hands!
You trace and cut out each of your child's hands
(fingers together), then hook them together at the thumbs-
it makes a heart shape. Glue it together and then glue to a
background. The creators glued the heart to a doile, but
I'm not really a doile kind of girl ;)
Way easy, cute idea!
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Here's the one on our fridge:

A couple of weeks ago, Peli found a sheet of postage stamps.

He brought them to me, thinking they were Stickers!

He was ready to play!

I was explaining to him that these are special stickers...

so Peli wrote a note to Grandma, we put it in an envelope,

put a "sticker" on it, and I told him the mailman would

take it all the way to Grandma's house.
A few days later, Peli got a package back in the

mail from Grandma!! How fun is that!?!?!

"Grandpa's Special Cashews" were inside, along with

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

He was stoked, though I'm sure he's still confused

about the whole sticker-mailman-grandma's-house-thing.

Here's to a Happy Week!!

Macho Macho Men

Do you recognize these crazies??!!

The thought crossed my mind that they could hurt me for posting this...

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then I thought, "They're the Village People. I can take 'em!!"

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

I came across the pic above, and it got me thinking about things I loved, did and said in the 80s. Here are a few memories... and fave things

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Can you say "Ghetto Blaster" ?
(and why did our shoulders not hurt more?)

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My ABSOLUTE, FAVORITE MOVIE QUOTE EVER:


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This is one I never said. I made fun of girls who said this. But I couldn't leave it out. Integral.

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I did say this though:



I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?

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Side Ponytails......Yeah, they're on their way back...

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The JoyStick of all JoySticks:

from the Almighty Atari!

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"I LOVE IT WHEN A PLAN COMES TOGETHER."

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Won't you... "Take On Me "

(You're singing that song in your head now, huh?)

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Wanna chat?

Just call me on my cellphone

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Back in the day, we were experts at Ridin' Derty, as they say...

(Was it just me, or was there always one big hole in one of the back tires, and one big dent somewhere in the front tire, so it rode a little "bumpy"?)

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And our parents rode in these:

You know the best seat was the "Machine Gunner" seat at the back, facing backwards!

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And finally, with much love in my heart, I leave you with the One-And-Only Mascot of the 80s:

It's My Mama's Birthday!

My Mom is the bomb-diggity. She's beautiful in person and in spirit! She is genuine, funny, smart, witty, supportive, helpful, generous... I could go on forever.

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I considered wearing this wicked-cool dress to the b-day party, but I wasn't sure it was appropriate- I'll let Gisele wear my mom instead!

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Even Posh can't get enough of my hot mama

Since we're on the topic, DID YOU KNOW, the day Mom was born:

• Gas was 29 cents a gallon; stamps were 3 cents
• From Here to Eternity won the Best Picture Oscar
• Audrey Hepbur won Best Actress
• What's My Line, Dragnet and I Love Lucy were on TV
• Those Little Green Army Men toys were introduced
• Michael Jackson was born on the same day, five years later
• The average income was $4700 per year
• The average home was $17,000
• "Vaya Con Dios (May God Be With You)" by Les Paul & Mary Ford was the Number One Song that day
  
  Once, my dad called my mom a "Heat-seeking missile" -in church!- referring to her intuition and her ability to know when something's not right, esp. with her kids-
  
  My mom has been Peli's "Second Mom" ... which is actually ironic, now that I think about it, because my brothers call me their Second Mom! She has raised him the last 2 1/2 years, and the three of us are now trying to figure out how to live our lives in our new situations. It's not been easy, but it's a new and exciting phase of all our lives!

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My mom is my best friend! She gives great advice, she always makes me laugh, she helps me keep things in perspective. She's a wonderful person and a wonderful mom. I probably can't say it better than her sister Sue said it- to read Sue's sweet tribute, click HERE.

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My mom has been a true supporter- of all of us! She's supported my dad and the team, she's supported the boyz in all their ambitions and athletics, she's supported me through alot of wacky times, she's supported her own family members, she's supported her grandkids! With all that supporting, it's no wonder she has a sore neck and headaches all the time...

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I LOVE YOU MOM!

HAPPY B-DAY!

I don't know what any of us would do without you...

Thanks to Kami and Mindi from whom I stole this whole idea, and Imagechef and PhotoFunia for the picture fun

I Yearbooked Me...

I got this idea from Mindi- and I'm all about doing dumb things online, so I quite enjoyed this! If you get a free five or forty-five minutes, try it for yourself! You just take a picture of your face, like this:

or this:
and you upload it on yearbookyourself.com. Then you can look at your face in any year from 1950-2000- edit it, rotate it, etc. and it was a blast! So here's me from various yearbooks: (*a couple of my faces are a little fuzzy because the original was so small and had to be enlarged)

1950:

1954: (this is one of my faves)
1962 (I personally think this one looks the most real)

1964: (I look like I should be chewing gum, talking on the phone and filing my nails)

1972:

1976: I love me some feathered hair! Can't you just hear the cheesy 80s TV theme music?

1978: Love the Fro! It actually makes me look tanner- even in B&W!

This one said 1990, but it seems to be lingering in the late 80s...
...it also kinda makes me look like I could be on Rock of Love...

1994: (Again, bangs are a little 80s-ish!) This one look like a pic I really have of myself-

Something Weird, Something Dumb & Toilet Humor

OK- This is the weirdest thing I've heard in a LONG TIME!! Rumors are swirling that L'Oreal digitally lightened Beyonce's skin color in her latest haircolor ad- and people are Ticked Off. The new add is below to the right. Granted, the photo on the left is affected by her dark hair and lighting, but still... L'Oreal is categorically denying altering Beyonce's skin in any way. What do you think?

Sorry. I do not buy it. My skin's darker than that!

Now, Something Dumb. There is horrible pollution goin' on in China right now. Officially, China keeps releasing statements that it is not smog, but "mist." The problem? Actual "mist" clears up by mid-morning, and China's SMOG lasts all friggin' day. I say to our countrymen over there: Keep your pollution masks ON.

Today is "Happiness Happens Day." I hope with all my heart that happiness happens for you. Happiness doesn't seem to just happen for me. I have to plan it in advance, create an evironment in which it will grow, feed it, water it, medicate it and then... Pretend. So if Happiness doesn't just Happen for you, here's some help: (and if you're bored, count the H's in that paragraph!)

This is exactly how I feel every morning- except for me it's via Diet Mountain Dew.

And finally, the Toilet Humor I promised. I come from a family of boyz, so this sign just... touched me. I'm sure some of you can relate.

On that last one, if you're like me, you laughed at the first part and furrowed your brows at the second.

See, I got you figured out...