My Beauty Top Ten

I haven't had the chance to pamper myself in quite a while. I just looked down at my toes, thinking about a mere few years ago when I had the time and flexibility to take care of them. Not that I did it super often, but I remember from time to time, I'd soak my feet in Epson-salty warm water, pumice my feet into a leathery softness, slather them with my favorite foot lotion (LUSH's Pied de Pepper - spicy, delicious yumness), yank on some socks, before kicking them up to watch an episode of Friends or Desperate Housewives. Well, I just recently threw away the remnants of my Pied de Pepper. It was nasty - all separated and liquidy, a far cry from its opaque and creamy hey-day. I just don't have the time to pumice and slather and recline much anymore. Although I did get a pedicure with my good friend Beth, what, six months ago? From which I still proudly sport a jagged sliver of burgundy nail polish on the tips of each of my big toenails. Never surrender!

Anyway...

My beauty regime is less a lingering pamper, and more a minimal, rote series of events. Since having Anika in 2008, what I do is exactly that: a routine. However, in the name of good spirits, hope, wishful thinking, whatever you'd like to call it, I'm sharing my list of my favorite beauty products that I love and have loved, whether by necessity or desire. This was actually in response to a Show Us Your Life post from one of the blogs I read regularly, but I was too late to join in. So, a solo post will have to do. Here's my top ten beauty products I use.

1. Bare Escentuals Foundation - in the fairest color, natch, appropriately titled FAIR. This is the product that really made me interested in beauty products. The dip, tap, swirl method of the mineral makeup is really easy for me, and not heavy looking. I love it. And then I looked into their eyeshadows and.....

2. ... found Bare Escentuals Celestine. It's just a lovely cool neutral taupe that works great with my pale skin and greeny/bluey eyes. And it's just shimmery enough to make me swoon.

3. Biolage Defining Elixir - My holy grail of hair products. I've been using this for over 15 years and haven't found anything that works as well for my hair type. It defrizzes and separates my curls without weighing down my hair or making it greasy or crisp, two words I don't want associated with my hair - groooooosssssss.

4. Trader Joe's Honey Mango Cream Shave - Yum to the um. This stuff smells like a tropical deliciousness. And its $3. It makes me want to go shave my legs right now. Actually, I'll be right back...

5. Laura Geller Balance and Bronze - If I could take one piece of makeup with me to the deserted island, it would be this. I can use it as an all over color, blush, bronzer, eyeshadow and concealer. How miggity-magical is that? And it lasts for-ev-er. I've literally had my B&B for well over five years, I use it nearly every single day, and there's still about a third left. Laura, please don't ever stop making this.

6. Origins Ginger Essence Perfume - My signature scent. It's just so fresh and so clean clean. A little citrus, a little spice. They should make it into a cocktail.

7. Almay Oil Free Eye Makeup Remover Pads - Utilitarian. These little pads are total workhorses. They get the job done well.

8. MAC pigments - How could I pick just one of these. I just can't. MAC. I loooooooooove you. You sucked me in with your sparkly Crayola hues, like Key West on a Saturday. Crayola hues that I never actually wear, but just really like to look at. I stick with colors like Subtle, Coco, Goldenaire, Mauvement... Neutral colors, with some purples too. I've pared down my stash considerably, but just can't get rid of all of them.

9. Philosophy Shampoo, Shower Gel, and Bubble Baths (3-in-1s) - Any and all. The one I am currently enjoying is Coconut Toasted Marshmellow. I'm not sure if I should eat it, or just smell it, but oh YUM! It's tropical with just the slight slight slightest bit of bakery. Also, Cinnamon Buns is the bomb. Seriously, go buy it. And then lather, rinse and yes please repeat.

10. Biolage Detangling Solution - Just the tiniest dollop of this gets through my curly birds nest wind storm hair on a bad day.

Update: I got to do a spa day with my sister right after I finished writing this. And (to quote my good friend Michele) man oh Manischevitz did I need it. It was pure condensed euphoria. And we had a beautiful snow day to cherry the sundae. Ah, sweet relaxation! Chummin' me in, relaxing my defenses. What a difference a day makes...

Monday, I am so ready for you. Bring it.

Our New Home

First, my apologies, there are a lot lot lot of photos in this post. Yet a picture says a thousand words. However, a thousand words also say a thousand words, so I'll just go with both. I really hope these aren't redundant or boring to anybody. If they are, just stop reading. :) The details are for gardenwebbers (we like to geek out on the details). ;)

This past weekend was insane. Moving with two kids under three is really difficult. Things like packing boxes, going to Goodwill, and cleaning up the rental (by themselves time-consuming) all take three times as long to do while toting around a crying baby who just pooped (again) and who is hungry (again). The clingy whiny two-year-old following me around constantly asking for milk and a banana didn't help either. There is absolutely no way we could have completed this move with any remaining semblance of sanity without our family to help us. Ryan's sister, Trina did the bulk of the work, along with Ryan. Robin, Ryan's brother, also helped move a whole bunch of stuff as well. Mom and Ryan's parents helped out big time by taking care of the kids for a good chunk of time during the move. And Gretchan and Dylan helped with the cleaning. But a lot of the time it was just me taking care of the kids, while just Ryan did the moving and the cleaning.  

Great Room view as you walk in the front door. Meyda Tiffany star hangs on the back porch. My sister, Gretch, says this is circa 1990s, but I don't care. I like it, and I like that you can see it from the inside.

View into the dining room/kitchen.
Floors are Hickory, Character Grade.
You can just barely make out the fiber optics in the backsplash in this photo.

Fireplace and entertainment center. Fireplace is a wood burning one (Fireplace Xtrordinair), but extremely efficient. The hearth is a solid chunk of soapstone and I love it. It has this incredibly soft texture and it gets warm after the fire burns for a while. The stone is Virginia Ledgestone, from NSVI. Paint is Miller Devine Macadamia. 

Oh zee kitchen! Zee heart of zee home! I've already deflowered this bad boy, and some. In fact, there's a pile of dishes waiting for me in the sink right now. I'm in love with this room. We really tried to make it warm with the colors and textures, even though granite is cold and hard, and the wood floors are hard as well. I'm a neutral color lover. It was Ryan's idea to do the different types of stone for the island and perimeter, and I like the effect, because both the granites are what I would call neutral tones - browns, greys, creams, blacks.

Backsplash: Florida Tile Horizon Slate Mosaics
Island Granite: Golden Crystal
Perimeter Granite: Cambrian Black Leathered
Cabinetry: Alder stained Cedar

Appliance garage in the corner, to house the mixer. Fiber optics show up better in this photo. Between ourselves, the GC, and Craig, our awesome tile guy, we came up with a plan to rout the fibers in channels in the dry wall. The LED illuminator is beneath the sink cabinet for easy repairs. It puts out an ethereal ambient glow at night. And it twinkles. I mean, who doesn't like twinkling things?!

The pantry. Door is a magnetic chalkboard, double sided.

Main floor bath. You can see the step-stool drawer for the kids to use to wash their hands. I've already caught Anika up here by herself "washing" her hands! Time to turn the hot water heater waaaaay down. Our builder made the mirrors for us with the same alder as the cabinetry.
Granite is Santa Cecelia.
Paint is Miller Devine Crunch. 

Laundry room! Also, deflowered a number of times already.
Paint in Miller Devine Pecan.

Grizly's drawer for his dog food bowl. Juni's cat litter box home. Floors are Montauk black slate.

Laundry chuuuuuuuuuute!

Mudroom
Floors are Montauk slate again.
Paint is Miller Devine Pecan.

View from Mudroom to dining room. 

Grandma Sue was a huge help! I didn't get a photo of my mom, but she helped me tremendously too.

Staircase and front door. The study door is hidden on the right between the front door closet and the fireplace.

The study

There's going to be a window seat here some day.

View from the stair landing

View into the Master Bedroom.
Paint is Miller somethingerother.

Master Bathroom tub

Double vanity. The mirrors are still in process. Can't wait to get them!

Granite is Black Galaxy. I liked the little twinkling flecks of somekindofmineralerother. Again with the twinkling!

The shower! Anika loves to take showers with me with the lower shower head. It's perfect for her.
Tile is Ragno Western Stone Yukon Trail. 

Shower detail - can you believe I can't remember what this one is called?! I bet you actually can. :) 

Niches and hillside view

Master Closet

Kid's Bath with another step-stool drawer.
Granite is Santa Cecelia again.
Paint is Miller Devine Crunch.

Our amazing, awesome, super nice crew (or at least most of the crew). From left to right: Lanny, Eleazor, Brian, Gary, and Jerry. Not pictured are Michael, Josh, and our EXCELLENT general contractor, Peter Finn, from Finn Construction/Yoder Cabinets. I can't say enough great things are these guys. They went above and beyond too many times to count. They truly, truly made our house a home. I almost wish we were building another one  so we could work with them again. I'll miss seeing them.

The moving crew! Ryan, Trina, and Robin. Besides dinner, this was one of the only times they stopped moving.

Trina, Denny, and Ryan unloading the trailer

Pizza and beer are must haves after a big moving day.

And in completely unrelated news, it's cute kids with stickers stuck to their faces!!

I'll just stick these here, if you don't mind.

And maybe a few on my face too!

I feel inordinately grateful and blessed to have had the opportunity to build this house of my dreams. So much effort and time from so many people has been poured into these walls. We are already starting to fill it with memories! What a journey...