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Makeup and Beauty Blog Monday Poll, Vol. 654

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hello monday november 30 2020
It’s a good day!

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start. 🌻

    1. Best thing about my day so far: ________.

    Frankly, the best thing about my day so far has been the coffee! I bought a bag of Trader Joe’s Light Roast coffee for the first time in ages and forgot how good it is.

    Mmm… It’s mellow, very little bite, which is perfect for me because I’m a coffee wimp. I don’t need to be challenged by my morning beverages, but I digress… I’m drinking it with a splash of half and half, and it’s absolutely delightful. 😋

    2. Pick one — I [LOVE/LOATHE] surprises.

    LOVE

    3. In my spare time, I ________.

    …wonder why I don’t have more spare time. LOL!

    4. I’m very picky about ________.

    …eye makeup brushes, Thanksgiving side dishes (I can’t do stuffing or mashed potatoes out of a box, or gelatinous cranberry sauce out of a can), liquid foundation, oranges, underwear, socks, jeans, dental floss, pasta, hair ties, face lotion and writing utensils.

    Seriously, this could go on FOR DAYS.

    5. I’m not picky about ________.

    …plastic sandwich bags, dryer sheets and canned beans.

    6. The first three places I’d like to visit when all of this is over are ________.

    1) My mom and dad’s house
    2) Kauai
    3) The Rotunda at Neiman Marcus in San Francisco for high tea (it’s temporarily closed, so hopefully they will eventually open up again)

    7. Baggy sweat pants or the Reeboks with the straps?

    Baggy sweat pants!

    8. My current hair essentials include ________.

    …scrunchies and anything by Odele!

    9. My current makeup essentials include ________.

    …ALL OF TEH EYE PRODUCTS, but especially brow pencil and mascara.

    Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

    Karen

    P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

    1. Best thing about my day so far: ________.
    2. Pick one — I [LOVE/LOATHE] surprises.
    3. In my spare time, I ________.
    4. I’m very picky about ________.
    5. I’m not picky about ________.
    6. The first three places I’d like to visit when all this is over ________.
    7. Baggy sweat pants or the Reeboks with the straps?
    8. My current hair essentials include ________.
    9. My current makeup essentials include ________.

    P.P.S. Happy Monday to you, my friend! I hope your day got off to a calm and peaceful start. Give yourself a hug for me, and if you can, take a few minutes to play in the fallen leaves. It’s GREAT for the soul, I promise. 😊

Sundays With Tabs the Cat, Makeup and Beauty Blog Mascot, Vol. 635

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There were a few months — a very brief window — when Tabs was just, like, checked out and burnt out from kitty modeling, and he actually packed up all of his things and headed to big sky country in order to pursue cowboy life.

Yes, it’s totally true! I guess I should’ve become suspicious when he had me play Bon Jovi’s acoustic version of Dead or Alive on repeat for three weeks straight. Next thing you know, I’m ordering cowboy boots, 10-gallon hats and elaborate belt buckles (which, believe me, are not easy to find for overweight tabby cats).

Don’t ask me why I was so shocked when he announced one day that we were moving to his ranch in Montana.

To be honest, I actually really loved it there. I liked being off the grid, and I appreciated Tabs’ affinity for horses. Looking at him, you wouldn’t think he was a horse cat. I mean, he was all soft paws and immaculately groomed fur, but he got down and dirty, man! Ranch life suited him well.

There were a few instances when I could have sworn he was communicating with his ponies telepathically. I asked him about it once while we were cooking beans out of a can over a campfire, and he said that he felt a deep camaraderie with the horses. He admired their inability to be tamed.

Obviously, we came back to the Bay Area. His tech companies kept calling, and the fashion people eventually found us, so he had to return to real life, and so did I.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, Nov. 28, 2020

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Heading into the weekend!

Is it just me, or does today feel like the third Saturday in a row? 🤣 MAN, sure is nice to have some time off. I love Thanksgiving week!

I’m about to head out soon for a hike at the nearby College of Marin Indian Valley campus and to play “soccer” with li’l bean on their field. I say “soccer” in airquotes because I don’t really know anything about actual soccer at all, because I grew up majorly Asian, and our equivalent of playing soccer was playing piano (seriously, everyone I knew did it), but CoyCoy really seems to enjoy kicking the ball around, so that’s what we do. It’s fun.

Oh, regarding the gluten-free cheddar garlic biscuit/mini scones recipe I mentioned on Thanksgiving, I’m going to whip up another batch this weekend (twist my arm, why don’t ya?!) and take some pics and notes along the way. Then I’ll post it later this week. That is, if I don’t pass out from butter and cheese-induced ecstasy, HAHAHA!

Onto this week’s reading…


We BUMPED this on repeat on Thanksgiving!


Let’s get this party started.


I kind of love this.


YES

I hope the rest of your weekend involves fun and, ideally, yummy leftovers!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

A 15-Minute Face With Shimmering Cocoa Brown, Pink and Gold

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For the record, I absolutely did *not* look this fabulous on Thanksgiving (this was from the day before), and to the ladies who can pull off prepping a full T-day spread while looking fab, I salute you!

I wore the above 15-minute look the day before Thanksgiving when Connor and I dropped off Thanksgiving cookies and cards to our neighbors. Pretty simple, pretty classic and wearable, and done completely with permanent collections products!

As for my look on Thanksgiving day itself? — it was far less fashionable. I cooked all day long, and it was all I could do to run a brush through the mop on my head and change my pajama pants into joggers. 😁

Please excuse my very non-Instagrammable mauve-toned Golden Girls-circa-1992 kitchen. It came with the house, and I make do with it because…eh, it works! #normalizeregularkitchens #itswhatigot

Anyway, the above pic was taken before the hurricane of baking and cooking happened, and waaaaaay before these happened…

These gluten-free cheesy cheddar garlic drop biscuits, which are like mini savory scones, were the last, and by far the best, T-giving thing I made this year. We had maple glazed ham as our main dish (no Turkey this year), and we sliced the biscuits in half and put a slice of ham in the middle. There was also Yukon gold mashed potatoes, a sweet corn casserole, homemade cranberry sauce, GF pumpkin pie and Christina Tossi’s Milk Bar Pumpkin Pie.

MAN. SO GOOD. I’m drooling just thinking about them again… They were so easy to make, too!

If you want the biscuit recipe, let me know, although I do have to warn you… There’s a lot of butter and cheese, so if you’re trying to make healthier food choices…it ain’t exactly health food.

Happy Friday. What are you up to today? Are you doing any Black Friday shopping?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

Happy Thanksgiving! 🦃🙏🏼❤️

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What a year, ya know? Hasn’t it been one for the ages? Happy Thanksgiving, my friend. Our holiday, like that of many other families today, will look a little different than usual. It’s just me, El Hub, Coycoy and Rosie Posie today, with the rest of our family joining via Facetime and Zoom throughout the day. We’re definitely blessed to have the technology to make things like this year’s remote holiday possible.

We sent care packages with snacks, cards and artwork to our parents, and we’ve been “hanging out” with them on Facetime while they’ve snacked on the cookies and sugar-free candies we sent. I was chatting with a friend the other day, and she and her mom baked a pie together on Facetime… How cool is that? Even though virtual meetups aren’t the same as being able to hug our loved ones (not even close!), food still brings us together.

One of the things I’ve been trying to teach Connor this year is that nothing is ever lost from being generous, and I think the lesson finally hit home with the big ol’ box of persimmons my mom sent me a few weeks ago. We had too many to eat by ourselves, so Connor and I put them in brown paper bags with notes and delivered them to friends and neighbors. At first Connor was worried that we would give all of them away and wouldn’t have enough for ourselves, but I told her to not fret about it, because we already had more than enough, and the act of giving would make us happier. And you know what? It did. We visited with friends we hadn’t seen in a while (good for the soul), and some of our buddies were kind enough to drop off other goodies for us to enjoy in return (including more persimmons!).

Even if you and I haven’t met in person before, you have a virtual spot at our Thanksgiving table. Of course, our house is a little messy and chaotic…but it’s filled with love. I’ve poured lots of it into MBB over the last almost 14 years (!). It’s been A LOT of cats 🐱 and makeup, and silliness, and I hope it has fed your spirit like it has fed mine.

Happy Thanksgiving, sweet girl. ❤️ Thank you for keeping me company. Love you. Have a wonderful day!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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