Karen

You know I hate to say “never,” because you just never (ha, ha!) know. You never know when you’ll find a $100 bill in a grocery store parking lot, just like you’ll never know what you’ll be into next week, next month or next year, but if I were to choose a color of lipstick that I don’t think I should ever wear again…I’d have to go with blue.

It’s been “on trend” over the past few years to wear cray-cray Hunger Games lip colors, and blue, while I think it can look cool in pictures, looks ridiculous on me.

I’m not hip enough for blue.

I cringe just thinking about it…

Also, there was the frosty purplish gray lipstick I used to wear circa 1997. It was SO terrible! I wore it with dark plum — almost black — lip liner, which, of course, was unblended.

And we can’t forget the dab of clear gloss in the middle of the bottom lip.

OMG! It was fashionable at the time, but now I realize that it looked pretty terrible. I hope it never comes back in style, but if it does, I may try it just for kicks…

Nah. Nuh-uh. NOPE. Never again.

How about you? Do you have a “never again” lipstick color? Is it a dark brown from the ’90s? A bright Barbie pink? A pastel matte beige? Please do tell.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

1. The smell of Coppertone Waterbabies

To quote master wordsmith Nelly, “It’s getting hot in hurr.”

Today was 89 degrees! Last week it was 25 degrees cooler, but this week it’s starting to feel a lot like summer. I try to take Connor out nice and early to wear her little booty out, but before we go, I slather this sunscreen all over her and myself. This stuff always makes me think of summer and long lazy days at the beach. I love it.

2. Turn and learn

I mentioned this Ted Talk in the last Saturday Surfing, but if you missed it, please watch it now. Or whenever you can. I think it’s so helpful!

The gist of it is to think of the things in your life that you’d like to change as opportunities to learn. Like, for example, if you’re bad at time management (LIKE ME!!!), instead of thinking, “I must be broken. I’m so bad at time management. There’s for sure something wrong with me,” think of it instead as a chance for you to learn some of the myriad of helpful time management tips and skills that are out there. (And no, you are not broken.) Eventually, you’ll hit on a tip or technique that works for you and helps you get better.

3. MAC Studio Fix mixed with MAC Strobe Cream

Why do I always try to reinvent the wheel when this combo is such an oldie but a goodie?

I’ve been sheering it out, so it’s more Strobe Cream and less Studio Fix Foundation, but it’s still just enough to give me a little bit of even-ness and a lot of glow.

4. Ayesha’s Home Kitchen on Food Network

Don’t know if you’re watching the basketball 🏀 playoffs right now, but the Warriors are in it (yay, Bay Area!), and one of the players, Stephen Curry, is married to Ayesha Curry, the young lady who hosts this show.

She’s absolutely adorable, and so are her daughters. I haven’t tried any of her recipes yet, but I’m definitely going to, maybe as soon as this weekend.

I like that she takes shortcuts. Like, sometimes she’ll use boxed cake mix or a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, and she’ll jooj them up.

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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. What are the names of your furbabies, and how did they acquire their monikers?

“Tabs” is short of “Fussy Tabby,” which was the first name we gave him he earned, but it didn’t quite stick. For a while, he was also “FT” (further shortened from “Fussy Tabby”), and that morphed into “Tabs.”

2. Have you ever worn a celebrity scent, and if so, which ones?

I’ve worn a few… Don’t laugh! Some of them are pretty good. I actually really loved Britney Spears’ Midnight Fantasy, the bedazzled Britney Spears one. I wore that religiously for a couple months.

3. Your favorite/least favorite types of cheese?

Favorites: fresh mozzarella, brie and any cheddar with bite. Oh, and cream cheese. (Does that even count as a cheese?)

Least favorites: Swiss…although I do like the holes, go figure. Just not the taste itself. And any wimpy, mild cheddar.

4. Are you a good salesperson?

Girlfriend, I could sell cats to a crazy dog lady.

5. Who makes the best brow pencil?

I’m partial to the one by NARS at the moment. Not too harsh, stays on forever, has a skinny twist-up tip so the strokes look like real eyebrow hairs. 👍🏼

Food amnesia is a thing

Good morning, friends! I hope you had a hoppy Easter. Happy Monday, too! I spent yesterday cooking, eating, hanging out, and not thinking about counting carbs, ha ha ha! It was great.

I didn’t really have a lot of time to prep for the Easter meal, so I ended up making most of the same dishes I made last Easter, even tough nobody in my family seemed to remember that any of the dishes were repeats, which is fine with me because if this food amnesia happens every year and I can make the same dishes over and over again, it’ll be like a new experience every time. 😊

I made a roast chicken and rosemary potatoes dish from Laura in the Kitchen, which was really easy and delicious. Try it sometime! It’s not even really a special occasion dish. It’s like a weekday dinner dish, but it’s good enough for company. I also made corn pudding from one of my favorite sites — Recipe Tin Eats.

What else? Oh! — corned beef and cabbage, because my dad was craving it. I made it with my Instant Pot, which, by the way, I fell in love with once again. I hadn’t used it in a long time and forgot just how wonderfully tender it cooks meat.

Dessert. Ha ha. That’s usually my favorite part, right? But this year I decided that I had a lot going on, so I had to pull back a little. As much as I was tempted to make a carrot cake, I bought a pre-made dessert and doctored it up instead. So, I got a cheesecake from Trader Joe’s and made a homemade strawberry glaze to go on top.

The glaze was a winner. I’m definitely gonna do that again. But the cheesecake? Don’t ever trust TJ’s to make your cheesecake for a special occasion, nuh-uh. The cheesecake was dense, flavorless and MAN! — the part of me that loves pretty food pictures was kind of aggravated that one half of the cheesecake crust was lopsided, and the filling was collapsed around the edges… It was straight-up ugly, so yeah, if you want something pretty to pop in your feed, don’t trust a TJ’s cheesecake to take care of that.

Thank you for putting up with my food talk! 😊 I know it isn’t makeup or skin care, but it’s sort of related in that it’s also creative and usually visual at the same time. You’re just not putting it all over your face (most of the time). You’re putting in your tum-tum.

It’s a new week, and the sun is out. That always helps, doesn’t it? I hope you’re feeling refreshed and hopeful.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.

1. What are the names of your furbabies, and how did they acquire their monikers?
2. Have you ever worn a celebrity scent, and if so, which ones?
3. Your most favorite/least favorite types of cheese?
4. Are you a good salesperson?
5. Who makes the best brow pencil?