Karen

Hot in Here

June 14th, 2019 by Karen 14 Comments

Let’s just say that grocery shopping has been challenging…

Things nobody ever warns you about but probably should:

If you’re going to fill your trunk with things to donate to others — things that no longer spark joy for you (like that pink paisley polyester dress from Bebe you haven’t worn since 1999), but that could still hopefully spark joy for someone else, you’ve got to get your booty in the driver’s seat, put the keys in the ignition, and drive to Goodwill LIKE RIGHT NOW; otherwise, you’ll be driving around town with metal mixing bowls rattling around for months!
The majority of “adulting” consists of paperwork…and biting your tongue.
When the bare skin on your thighs repeatedly rubs together over a long period of time, it really, really hurts.

I’d like to file these things under “Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way,” especially item number three, which I figured out during my first half marathon. About halfway through, the friction between my bare thighs hurt so bad that I had a minor meltdown. I cried for three miles straight and had visions of the ground opening up underneath me and swallowing me whole.

I can laugh about it now, but it was like a raging garbage fire between my inner thighs at the time. This minor trauma taught me that whenever I wear something like shorts or a maxi dress, and I know that my legs are going to be rubbing against each other, it’s vital to have something to ease the glide between my thighs. I used to use a little Vaseline (I’d store it in an old contact lens case to prevent spillage in my purse!), but I got tired of it staining my clothes, so I just recently started using the Anti-Chafe Stick by Love AnyBody.

This unscented, non-sticky balm can be applied pretty much anywhere and everywhere your skin rubs — underarms, your neck, and the nook beneath your boobs — to stop chafing. It has vitamin E and aloe to soothe irritated skin, and no parabens or aluminum. The stick’s a little big and awkward to keep in a purse, but it’s convenient and doesn’t stain my clothes. I have a stick in my bathroom and use it in the morning, but I’m thinking about keeping an additional stick in my car because it’s kinda like deodorant or hand cream; it’s always handy to have extra around. I just whip it out and slick it on! Life changing, especially in this hot weather, I tell ya.

Another warm weather must-have I rely on: waterproof mascara. For YEARS, my go-to was Urban Decay Cannonball, which they discontinued a while back… Yes, I’m still hella salty about that, because why mess with a good thing?? Anyway, they replaced it with a waterproof version of their Perversion Mascara ($24). I’m totally on board with its dark black color, the anime ingenue curl and smudge-proof-ness (it was 99 degrees here yesterday, and there wasn’t a single smear underneath my eyes). Taking it off is also a cinch ’cause it slides right off with an oil-based makeup remover, so I don’t stress about my lashes breaking off. (Always a good thing.)

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Back When CDs Ruled the World

June 13th, 2019 by Karen 11 Comments

I’m feeling ’90s music nostalgia right now. It must be a side effect of carrying around a little black backpack again. I’ve been listening to some old songs I haven’t heard in literally decades.

Funny how you can not hear a song for years but still know the lyrics…

I always thought Trent Reznor seemed like a cool guy.

Gather up your jackets; move it to the exits.

Holla if you know who Alanis wrote this song about!

I wonder if this guy ever managed to get some air?

All malls looked like this one back in the day.

CHECK THE BROWS THO!
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Rockin’ Good Memories

June 12th, 2019 by Karen 15 Comments

cambria green rocks — To remember the first day of year 44.

Whenever something good happens, I pick up a rock. Then I bring it home.

It’s a little ritual I use to help me remember special moments in my life, and I have rocks from all over the world.

Including Spain! I picked them up off the ground in a tiny town in Spain on the day El Hub asked me to marry him. Funny story: Those rocks almost didn’t make it back to California, because on that same trip, after we left Spain, El Hub and I took a old, slow-moving overnight train to Portugal, where I packed up the rocks and a few other souvenirs into a flimsy cardboard box, which we shipped from a Lisbon post office.

At the last moment before taping up the box, I wrapped the contents in a thin sea foam green floral maxi dress I got at an H&M in Spain (This was before the chain had arrived in the U.S., and their clothes were very exotic to me.), just in case the box ripped open.

It’s a good thing I did because that box didn’t arrive in California for more than a month after we returned from Europe. I’d pretty much given up on seeing any of those souvenirs again until the box, broken and torn at the corners, showed up on our doorstep one day.

Somehow, thanks to a bit of shipping luck and that protective sea foam green dress, everything was still in the box, including my rocks.

Oh! — and I also have a red rock I picked up from the front of the OB-GYN’s office on the day I saw Connor’s heartbeat on the ultrasound the very first time. The rock reminds me of how happy and utterly terrified I felt when I saw that teeny, tiny white blip on the screen. I wondered, was this my only chance to have a child? And would she make it past the dangerous first few weeks? (Even on that day, I knew she was going to be a girl. Don’t ask me how, but I did.)

The polished green beauties at the top are the most recent additions to my collection, gathered from Moonstone Beach on the morning of my 44th birthday after I finished a jog along the beach.

Now they’ll always remind me of beachcombing and how loosey-goosey I felt after that run. They’ll go on my windowsill for a few months, and after that, into the special box where I keep the rest of my rocks! 🙂

How about you? Do you have any memory rituals? Little things you do to remember meaningful events?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Why Yes, You Need to Revisit the Little Black Backpack

June 12th, 2019 by Karen 15 Comments

Target Convertible Nylon Mini Backpack — Does she or doesn’t she have cat food in there?

Is it 1994? Are we wearing Doc Martens, flowery black dresses and Revlon Raisin Rage? HAS ANYONE SEEN MY NIRVANA CD? Sorry, for a second there, I could’ve sworn we took a hot tub time machine back to my late teens, which was when the little black backpack was the undisputed Queen of All Accessories.

Believe it or not, enough time has passed for them to slingshot back into style again. It’s only a matter of time before the beauty gods also bring back pencil thin brows, but that’s a discussion for another day.

I’ve been wearing this tiny black nylon one I got at Target practically everywhere lately, and ya know what? I cannot help but wonder why I ever stopped carrying a little black backpack, because they’re freaking great.

This one is from A New Day, and it’s an affordable $19.99. The nylon is feather light, so I’m not hauling around three extra pounds of purse, and it’s juuuuuust big enough to hold the bare necessities. (You know me; if there’s an opportunity to overstuff a bag, I will totally do it.) This one’s the perfect size.

Best of all, my hands stay free, so I can scoop up the Coywolf at a moment’s notice, or pet a passing kitty.

But wait, this particular bag also easily converts to a cross-body bag. You just pull the straps up at the top!

If black nylon is too retro for you, check out the black-and-white striped one instead. I came this close to picking it up because it has a slight J.Crew vibe. The pale pink one is also pretty cute (but it would probably pick up more dirt), as are the bright blue and the canary yellow.

Some reviewers on the Target website say that the zipper gets stuck, and yeah, it happened to me once when I shoved one too many things inside. It was an easy fix, though. I slowly pulled the zipper back to the starting position, and the teeth slipped back into place. I think as long as you don’t push the maximum capacity, you’ll be OK.

I bought it mainly to take with me to the playground and have both hands free to play with Connor. I don’t feel comfortable leaving my purse on a table or bench, which the moms do here all the time, but I ugh, I just can’t. I feel safer with my wallet and phone physically on my body. I looked online, at Marshalls and at T.J. Maxx, and this Target bag was the lightest and cheapest hands-free option I found. It fits my wallet, phone, keys and a pouch for Connor’s Travel Potty, and then I usually bring my water bottle in a separate bag, along with snacks.

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First Year of Preschool, Done!

June 11th, 2019 by Karen 13 Comments

This is the last week of Connor’s first year of preschool.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already June. It feels like I took a breath, and BAM! — she’s a full-on little kid.

Over the past year, Coywolf has discovered a love for ballet, drawing and counting. Her favorite things are currently Disney princesses, her collection of “treasures” (unusual rocks, coins, dried flowers and sticks), fishing with Dad, and slumber parties with Mom.

She’s also still obsessed with Doc McStuffins and has gone so far as to open her own medical clinic for toys in the living room, where she also occasionally tends to human patients with the help of her magic stethoscope.