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Sometimes I feel like a lone wolf weirdo prancing my way through life…

But I know, deep down inside, that I cannot be the only person who gets cheap thrills out of things like the $3 Trader Joe’s Mystery Bags.

(Good mornin’, by the way.)

How cool are these?! They’re supposedly available at all Trader Joe’s stores in the US. For $2.99, you get a collection of three randomized reusable TJ’s shopping bags that are only available during the holidays. The designs are regionally specific, so you just never know if you’re going to get the bags from New York or Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Las Vegas — YOU JUST DON’T KNOW.

I hope I get ones from far flung locales…like Key West!

I wonder — are there TJ’s stores in Key West? Inquiring minds want to know. I’m going to try to hold off until Christmas to open mine, but history has shown that I don’t have that type of restraint, ha ha ha.

On that note, I’m off to wrap some presents. Here’s your reading for the week.

• A few clean beauty ideas for sparkling holiday makeup (I kinda sorta want the palette!).
• Blushed lids, pops of glitter, bold liner — these makeup trends are supposed to be big in 2020.
• Holy moly! I think I just found my entire Christmas wish list in this roundup of 60 life-changing gifts on Amazon! (Um, I may or may not have just bought the HELESIN Gap Covers.)
• Makeup artists offer their inside tips for acing glowing and neutral soft glam makeup.
• Wash your makeup sponges frequently, y’all.
• Thicker hair doesn’t necessarily mean it’s stronger, says science.
• On that note, here are 14 products a veteran beauty writer swears by for thinning hair.
• Apparently, cats don’t like it when humans use filters to look like felines.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

I say this every December, but where did the year go?? Has it really been a year? I worked as a legal assistant at a law firm in my 20s, and one of the lawyers said something I still remember. He said that time moves faster as you get older, and I didn’t understand it at the time, but I totally get it now. Nowadays, it feels like I go from task to task to task until I pass out. Then I wake up and do it all over again. Then I look up and it’s December, and another year has passed!

Anyway, my life (and my makeup) changed in quite a few ways this year…

The biggest change happened in the spring, when my sweet boy Tabs crossed over to the rainbow bridge.

I’ve finally gotten to where I can think about him without feeling a sharp pain in my heart… There’s still sadness, but it’s somewhat easier to bear. I really, really miss that thug, and I still have days when I really wish I could hold him and smell the fur on his “delicious belly meat” just one more time, but it’s getting better.

We took out our Christmas decorations last weekend, and I found his Christmas stocking and got a little teary… I’m going to hang it up and put in a can gravy for Christmas so his spirit will know that his people still love him and think about him during the holidays. 🙂

(That may be the craziest cat lady thing I’ve ever written.)

I hope he’s OK with Pretty Girl Rosie — who moved in with us in October — sharing our space. She’s a sweet, dainty torbie girl who unexpectedly pranced into our lives last October. It’s a different type of love than I had for Tabs, for sure, yet it makes my heart feel a little fuller knowing that our home is a safe place for another abandoned kitty that would’ve otherwise stayed a stray.

Another big change that also happened recently — I started working part time as a baker at a bakery. It’s a weird pivot for someone who’s been writing about makeup steadily every day for the last 13 years (!), I know, but when the opportunity opened up, I got the same tingly feeling that I had when I started MBB. It’s a move, my gut tells me, that will lead to many good things (both figuratively and literally).

This fall Connor also started going to preschool five days a week, from Monday through Friday (she’s going to be four in March; can you believe it?). I miss her like crazy — some days it’s so intense that I physically ache, which probably sounds nutty, but it’s true — but she’s flourishing in school, and it felt like the right time for the both of us to start learning, little by little, how to spread our wings on our own.

So this has been the most time I’ve had to myself in five years, and it’s been a (welcome) shock to the system.

OK, makeup wise, I still love me some neutrals. That hasn’t changed, ha ha! And it probably won’t, either. What has changed, though, is that I’ve pretty much stopped wearing false lashes (thanks, Lash Boost!). I also rarely do looks that involve complicated blending these days. I mean, I’ll still go full glam on occasion, like once every other full moon, but most days I’m doing a more pared-down style, which takes me 10 minutes. 15 max. And I’m fine with that.

That’s where I am in this season of life, but who knows? Maybe someday I’ll get back to doing daily super intense looks with shading and lashes and all the steps. I do still love the artistry of it all. 🙂

How about you? How has your life and your makeup changed in 2019?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!