Snow bunny Jo wants to look her best this winter, and she’s getting ready for a grand adventure on the slopes.

Hiya Karen (oops, feel like I know you!),

I’m about to go skiing for 5 months. I’ve always used cream blush (especially the MAC ones), but now I need one that will give strong color but that won’t rub off too easily with goggles, gloves and possibly snow!

I’m terrified about beauty on the slopes to be honest, so any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Jo

Hi, Jo. Sounds like an awesome trip. I’m really excited for you!

Before we start, I gotta come clean. Snow and I don’t always get along (I’m more of a surfer girl), but here are some things that should help keep your makeup where it belongs.

1. Start with a makeup primer

Primers are typically colorless lotions or gels applied before foundation, blush and/or powder to anchor your makeup in place. It’s simple: when I wear a primer, my blush lasts longer, and I don’t have to reapply as often throughout the day. Take a look at Korres Face Primer; deluxe sample tubes are just $10 at Sephora.

2. Try a layer of powder blush above your cream blush

Whenever I wear a cream blush, dusting a layer of powder blush on top really seems to lock in the color. If you can swing by the MAC counter before your trip, bring some of your favorite cream blushes with you, and ask the MAC makeup artists for coordinating powder blush recommendations. Oh, and if you don’t have one already, shop around for a good blush brush. I really like the MAC 129 ($34).

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Ah, the things we do for Cupid…

After I met and fell in love with El Hub, I wanted to be closer to him, so I left my favorite city of San Francisco and moved the 10 miles north across the Golden Gate Bridge to the suburbs of Marin.

I like it here, but I’m a city girl at heart. I miss SF’s bustling beauty scene, and the city’s diversity, restaurants, museums and clubs.

San Francisco at dusk

Which is why I love to visit. If you’re planning a trip to San Francisco and looking for Bay Area adventure, you’ve come to the right place! Here are 9 of my favorite things to do in the city.

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Thanks to Sesame Street, I learned that C is for Cookie. Years later, I learned that it’s also for Chanel, but that’s a different story.

This November 10 marks the 40th anniversary of the show, and I felt compelled to salute it today with 10 simple Sesame Street-inspired beauty tips.

1. Don’t forget the sun protection

Take it from the Count, “One, ha ha ha! Two, ha ha ha!” — by focussing on preventative measures, like the regular use of broad-spectrum sunscreens, we can all age a little more gracefully.

2. Be good to yourself

Grab your drink of choice (mine is coffee), sit beneath a shady tree and listen to the leaves move in the wind. Take a picture of yourself after a really fantastic workout. Limit your prepping — comb your hair and wipe away the perspiration from your face. Capture a shot that conveys how strong and proud you feel at that moment. Later, on days when you don’t feel like exercising, look at the photo you took of yourself and try to remember how good you felt at the time it was taken.

3. Try a creamy facial cleanser

Cleansers strip away moisture as part of the job of removing makeup, and dry winter air tends to magnify the problem. Gel cleansers can be very drying, but creamy ones like Dove deep moisture creamy facial cleanser and Neutrogena deep clean cream cleanser should help.

4. Moisturize meh!

Moisturize throughout the day, and don’t forget to drink extra water when it’s cold and windy. Your hands, feet, knees and elbows may need a little more help, too. I like rich products containing shea butter, petrolatum, mineral oil, tea tree oil, linoleic acid or glycerin. For intense relief, moisturize hands and feet at night, and then slip on gloves or socks to lock in moisture.

5. Find a workout buddy

A workout partner can be a great motivator, especially when you’re trying to get back into exercising on a regular basis after a long hiatus. If none of your friends or family are in the mood for fitness, try to make new friends at the gym, and keep your eyes peeled for any open team activities like intramural soccer leagues or basketball.

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In committing more than a million blog words to digital paper, I’ve battled struggled through some SERIOUS bouts of writer’s block.

No matter how many times I beat it back, writer’s block always returns! It’s funny that way, but I’ve learned a thing or two about writer’s block over the years, and if you’ve faced it too, here are some things that might help.

1. What’s the theme?

Most of the time, if/when I can summarize an idea in about one sentence, it’s fully baked.

That’s my theme, and I treat it like my hypothesis. Basically, it’s what I plan to prove in the blog post/e-mail/memo I’m writing, and everything I put on the page should help to back up my point.

Before I start to write, I’ll post my theme at the top of a blank page to remind myself to stay on topic.

A few of the themes I’ve written over the past few weeks…

2. Try an outline

Even harder than figuring out what to talk about is figuring out what not to say.

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Today the fantabulous Christina Olson of Too Pretty For This (a great blog!) shares the ins and outs of hair donation.

I have been having a series of amazing hair days.

This is big news, because curly-haired me got a haircut last week – just in time for Virginia’s wet weather to begin.

If you’re a curly girl, too, you might be wondering why I’m thrilled with my “amazing” huge, frizzy hair. It’s not a look I normally attempt or embrace.

What makes it different is the reason: I cut off 10 inches last week for Pantene Beautiful Lengths, a non-profit organization that provides custom-made wigs to women fighting cancer. If you’re anything like me, hair can make or break your attitude toward the day and really affect your self-image. So while I might have a few rough run-ins with the mirror, I’m honored by the opportunity to help provide some good hair days to a brave woman I’ll never meet.

According to the American Cancer Society, nearly 1.5 million Americans will be diagnosed with some form of cancer by the end of the year, and more than 500,000 people will die of it before New Year’s Day. I’m not smart enough to figure out a way to prevent, cure, or better treat cancer… though I wish I could. So while other people are working on that, I cut off some hair.

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