Products

Built-in shelving in my bathroom that I love.


An average day at my bathroom counter, please excuse the dirty mirror.

I don't suppose you noticed, but I have five moisturizers pictured here. Five! They are all used regularly. This doesn't count the Mary Kay moisturizer of Brandon's that I use on occassion or the Proactive Repairing Lotion, which technically has no moisture in it.
I am a product junkie. A nicer term might be, an expert. I think if I were in a courtroom I could be called as an expert witness on skincare and cosmetics, but that could just be because I've been watching a lot of Perry Mason episodes this week.

Let me give you my qualifications. I got my first job in cosmetics (and skincare) at age 19 at ZCMI (later Meyer and Frank and now Macy's). I worked there part-time at the "Etcetera Counter"(all small lines: English Ideas, Exuviance, Ultima II, etc.) for a year while going to college . A few months after quitting that job I got a job at another department store, Liberty House (also now a Macy's) working part-time at the Lancome counter. I worked there for about 6 months and then went very part-time as a freelancer for Lancome giving makeovers at special events about two days a month for the next 3 years. I did that two or three more times for Lancome in the following four years. I also worked for a year as the Prescriptives counter manager at Foley's (now also a Macy's) and freelanced a couple times for them after that. In the middle of all this I ran my own business as a Mary Kay consultant for three years.

I have decided to share a random sampling of my wealth of knowledge with you my dear readers. Here are three cosmetic products I have purchased in the past three months that I have decided to review here on my blog (on a 1-5 star system).


#1 - Calming Moisture Lotion (for Sensitive Skin) by Elizabeth Arden. ****1/2 stars

This is a wonderful product. It gives a very lightweight, soothing shot of moisture. I recommend it to people with oily to normal skin (sensitive or not). It contains no SPF. It doesn't give me quite enough moisture for Utah winters, but I will certainly use it the rest of the year. I especially like it for travel since I can use it day or night, though at home I like to have seperate moisturizers for night and day (SPF in the day, extra benefits like anti-aging or more moisture, etc. at night). Retail price: $34 (1.7 oz. It does not appear on the official E.A. website so this leads me to believe it has been discontinued. I got it for $10 at TJ Maxx, still sealed in plastic around the box.)


#2- Perpetual Moisture 24 Cream by Elizabeth Arden (also available in a lotion) ****1/2 stars.

Tried a sample I had given my mother-in-law while I was staying at her house over Christmas and fell in love with it. Needed a good winter day/night moisturizer so I ordered a sealed one on ebay for only $22 including shipping. I have decided that the fragrance is a bit strong, but that could be because everything smells strong while I'm pregnant. Overall it is a great basic moisturizer that really does last 24 hours (I found out one day when I didn't wash my face in the morning). Retail price: $40.50 (1.7 oz).

I've never owned any Elizabeth Arden skincare before but I definitely will try more in the future.


#3 - Uplifting Mascara by Avon *star.

In my unending search for a great, cheap mascara I tried another new one. This product has small "fibers" just smaller than a bottom eyelash. I don't know if they are to thicken or to help "lift" or what but they scare me. If you look at the product closeup it looks hairy. I got one in my eye and found several under my eye at the end of the day. That said, my eyelashes did look great for several hours. I will be exchanging this for another formula. Retail price: $8.50 (but I got it for $4).

I believe that to an extent you really do get what you pay for (or at least what they're asking for). Skincare lasts a long, long time and you only get one face, so take care of it. I still believe that I can find a great mascara for less than $15 and when I do, I will let you all know.

Shampoo Head

When I was little I loved giving myself shampoo mokawks. It is also fun to do it to others.


Why is he so stinkin' cute?!!



It's hard to keep him sitting down safely in the tub.



"Gimme that camera."

Weird

Aren't Christmas trees supposed to be dying from the moment they are cut down?
I took these pictures like a week ago. When we returned from our Christmas vacation we expected our tree to be on the brink of death. Instead we found that it had sprouted fresh new growth all over. See the light green parts? I suppose the guy watching our cats may have watered it while we were gone, but still! Very odd, I say.

Just Some Stuff

Today I am exactly halfway thru my pregnancy; 20 weeks; 4 1/2 months. It has gone by so quickly. Last night Brandon felt the baby move for the first time. I am pretty much past the morning sickness now. Unfortunately we as a family are not over our colds yet. Jonah has been sleeping better with a humidifier but it is pathetically sad to hear him cough and to have to wipe his nose every 15 minutes and blow my own nearly that often. He is very busy taking all the dvd cases off the shelf right now and carefully examining the boxes. He especially likes the two disc sets.
He can stand on his own for several seconds now and his favorite thing to do is to hold hands and walk me (or anyone) around the house. He is also very kissy lately. He also loves walking on his push toy from Nana Lisa and reading his books. He's getting more and more interested in his drum and maracas now too.
Jonah has been grinding his teeth lately. It really worries Brandon, but I think he's just getting used to the novelty of having top teeth. I've got to try and get a picture of them, they are so darn cute! He tried french toast for the first time this morning (no toppings) and seemed to really like it.
I must recommend to all of you to rent Beyond the Pale, Jim Gaffigan's stand-up comedy. It is such good clean fun and we laugh so hard!
Apparently it is wedding season here (?). In the past month I have been to two bridal showers and a reception. I still need to get gifts for the two weddings I missed and I have another bridal shower to attend this Saturday followed by the reception the following week. Wow.

Random Stuff

Brandon and Jonah clapping and cheering for Viv and Tori on Guitar Hero.


Jonah with Grandpa Mike.


Alan and Linda always find us unique stocking stuffers.


"Christmas" morning #2.


Bathtime with Jocelyn.


Heading back to the cabin from the pond.


Snow accumulation at the cabin on the deck's table, chairs, and bird feeder.


Jonah lovin' on Cody.


Jonah watching us ice skate.


Jonah taking a quick turn at ice skating with Dad and loving it!


Jonah lounging on Aunt Andy's lap.

I don't think I've ever mentioned on here that we have deer that roam our neighborhood in the evenings. I usually see them in a pack of three, mostly young bucks. A couple nights ago as we were pulling into our driveway we saw a herd of about seven in our next-door neighbor's yard. Crazy.
Flying with an 11 month old is a nightmare. Even though he'd had a good morning nap, was fed and changed and entertained, there is no consoling a tired baby who doesn't know how to sleep without a bed and surrounded by distracting visuals and noises. Any tips?
Loved every minute of our trip to Illinois. Jonah basked in the attention and affection of Nana, Grandpa, and his two aunts. Brandon and I enjoyed having minimal responsibilities. Lisa and I stayed up super-late one night to watch all four hours of the North & South (British Elizabeth Gaskell novel adaptation) dvd she gave me for Christmas. Jonah's favorite Christmas gift was the vtech storybook I gave him. It's a plastic book that sings/reads nursery rhymes to him. He is also loving a toy which assists him in walking around the house, he holds onto the handle and pushes it all around. It's pretty darling, so are his two new top teeth.
Hmmm, what else?
Ah, yes, New Years. We arrived back in Utah on Sunday the 29th. On the 30th we went up to the J. family cabin with the Andy, Brandon M., Katie, Jamon, Alisha, and Joselyn. Alan and Linda were already up there. The next morning we did the J. family Christmas. We got lots of great gifts. My best one was probably the black dressy boots from Linda. Can't wait to wear them to church tomorrow.
Felt kind of crappy both days at the cabin but was determined to get out and enjoy some winter sports while I had someone willing to watch Jonah. I got to snowmobile for a couple hours and ice skate for a little bit too. I probably shouldn't have done either while I was pregnant, but I was very careful and will be more careful in the future. Had a ton of fun nonetheless.
New Years Eve I wasn't feeling well and was exhausted. I was asleep by 11. We set off fireworks before that with Linda's best friend and family. It was the coldest night of the year and our themometer said 1 degree at 10:30pm.
Jonah had his first fever last Saturday night. It was 105 and pretty scary. After some Motrin, some cold water, and a snuggle, he slept the rest of the night like a rock. He had a fever the next day but we kept it under control with baby Tylenol and baby Motrin. He never even acted fussy.
I've spent the last three days homebound so that I can always be close to a box of tissues. I ventured out last night to grocery shop. Brandon has had the same headcold as me. Today I'm actually feeling much better. Unfortunately today Jonah's nose has started running and he has a little cough when he sleeps. He's still his usual cheerful self though yesterday he was cranky. Is there anything I can give him before bedtime? The pharmasist said there isn't really anything on the market for children under age two but I remember a friend mentioning a product called Little Noses or something like that. Anyway, we have been blessed to have such a healthy little guy all these months.
Well, I think I'm beginning to ramble on and this post is going to be really long. Au Revoir!

Christmas Cards

Can't wait to see what else has arrived in the six days we've been gone!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We're spending Christmas here in Illinois with the M. Family (Brandon's mom, stepdad, and two sisters). We're having a ball. Jonah loved the excitedment, paper, ribbons, toys, and books of Christmas!


Waving (Jonah's newest trick) with Grandpa Mike.


Jonah with Aunt Vivi.


Who is SOOO Big? (Jo with Nana Lisa)


Unwrapping gifts Christmas morning.


Jonah and Brandon playing Mario Galaxy.


Aunt Tori (12 & a great babysitter) with camo Jonah.


Brandon and Vivian rockin' it on Guitar Hero 3.

Yet another special occassion with no pictures of me.

4 Months Along

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant. My belly is progressing faster than last time. My MIL bought me new maternity clothes for Christmas today. This evening we ate dinner in Wisconsin. Christmas pictures, etc. to come shortly.

Compliments

I received two glowing compliments today that I wanted to share cause they made me feel so good (and I need that when I'm feeling so overweight and frumpy!).

"You could get along with a pissed off gorilla." - Victoria

And my SIL Michelle told me that I had a flair for storytelling. We both agreed it's nothing like my brother Adam's talent for it, but she says my whole immediate family has the touch for storytelling:)

No Ts

Jonah's official second word (after Momma) is "kitty-cat." He pronounces it "ki-ee caa."

Reading n' Stuff

Finished the satisfying Persuasion by Jane Austen last night. I'm going to begin Life of Pi tomorrow. I fall asleep reading most evenings now.
Only three more Christmas gifts to buy and I can get them all online. Yippee! Now I need to get started on wrapping and get a few things mailed.
Jonah now says "Mama" when he is asked to:) !! He's on the verge of saying "kitty cat" too. He doesn't babble "dada" or "blah, blah" anymore lately. Still no top teeth.
He's also displaying the signs of picky eating for the first time ever. He's figuring out what he likes. He likes things he can feed himself, meats, and juice. He loves carrot apple juice and the green Bolthouse Farms juice. He's not so into oatmeal lately. We like grapes. He tried edamame/soybeans last night for the first time and loved them.
He poked/pinched/pulled his belly button so hard in the tub last night that he cried. Silly baby!
Off to Illinois for Christmas on Sunday, we're excited.
Nothing else I can think of right now.
Adios.

Snack of the Day

www.marysgonecrackers.com

This is NOT salsa

Lomi Lomi salmon (not to be confused with Lomi Lomi massage, which is a story for another day)

I just read an incredibly funny blog by my friend Lauren about her first experience with sushi. She ate the wasabi plain. PLAIN! I got a good laugh at her expense.

It reminded me so much of another story that I now just have to share.

I lived in Hawaii for 3 1/2 years. My best friend there was Arianna. The first time I went to a luau was shortly after Ari had gone to hers. She said to me, "When you go, there will be stuff that looks like salsa. That is NOT salsa. It might even taste good but if you are expecting salsa and you get fish, it just isn't good."

Top 5 Christmas Things (edited)

Brandon and I were trying to list our Top 5 things of all things Christmas: movies, songs, albums, treats...

Here are a couple of my lists. (Had to replace one cd)

My Top Five All-Time Favorite Christmas Movies


A Christmas Story (the red ryder bb gun, the leg lamp, the bunny pajamas... there is SO much to love about this movie)


White Christmas (one of my favorite musicals too)


National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation


How The Grinch Stole Christmas (animated)


A Charlie Brown Christmas


My Top Five Christmas CDs


White Christmas - Bing Crosby (Hands down, both Brandon and my favorite since childhood)


Tchaikovsky The Nutcracker (The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra)


Christmas with the Rat Pack


Harry Connick Jr.'s When My Heart Finds Christmas


Home Alone: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (stop laughing)

This Week

Somebody is stylish.


Brandon and I watched Charlie Brown's Christmas too many times. Here's our skinny tree; we love it, so does Jonah.

This week we trimmed our tree.


The cutest baby in the world.

This week (Thurs) Jonah learned to clap.


Me being a dork in our luxurious room at the Grand America with my roses, white chocolate swans, and berries.

This week we finally celebrated our anniversary.It was 24 hours of luxury. We began by dropping Jonah off with his Gampa. Then we went to a play at the Pioneer Theatre Company. We both love plays and we we lived in Utah while we were dating and the first two years we were married we went a lot. We saw The Foreigner, it was pretty silly, fun though.
Then we checked into Salt Lake's finest hotel, The Grand American (Brandon says he still likes The Four Seasons in Dallas better). Our room was on the 22nd floor with a nice view. There were a dozen red roses waiting for me in the room, Christmas music playing on the tv along with sparkling water, two white chocolate swans, raspberries, blackberries and chocolate. Great room.
Brandon had me choose where we would go for dinner. We went out for Nepali and Indian food at the Himalayan Kitchen. It was only a block and a half away so we decided to brave the cold and walk, which was fun.
After dinner we spent a little time checking out the hotel spa before our massage appointment. Our therapists had us spend a little time enjoying their designer chocolates while smelling the different fragrances we would choose for our custom-made massage oil. We have never done a couple's massage before. In fact, Brandon has never had a professional massage before at all. He was not disappointed. Both of us have had sore backs lately and we REALLY enjoyed this much-needed pampering.
We slept in (8:30 is sleeping in for me) and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the Grand's Garden Cafe. Then I swam laps in the indoor pool while Brandon enjoyed the spa's saunas. We picked Jonah up at 1:30 and came home. It was a wonderful 24 hours!

RC Sumo Guy

I've never had such trouble posting a video. Ugh!!
Anyway, the cuteness is all worthwhile. Here is a minute of Jonah playing with his current favorite toy.

Congrats Captain!

This is one of my best friends, Ryan, he is Brandon's closest non-related friend. (Ryan and I are actually distantly related by marraige). Ryan has worked in the airline industry for about seven years (I'm guessing here). He has wanted to be a pilot for longer than that. A couple years ago while living in the Houston area (he still lives there) he decided to splurge on his dreams and go into debt to go to flight school in Florida. It has been a rigorous road. He has terrible hours and not the best pay and he works another full-time job. He has been flying as a first officer for Continental for awhile now. He flies domestic, Mexico, and the Carribean. Recently he was promoted into the Captain training. It has been really hard work and only 50% of those put into the program pass. Last night after chatting with Ryan on the phone for about 20 minutes, he went in for his big Captain's test and PASSED! Way to go!! Though he's been calling Brandon "Doctor" for about 6 years and we've been calling him "Captain" for about as long, they have both finally earned their titles. We're all grown-up now.

Full Weekend

Brandon spent all day Friday and Saturday at a course learning more about how to do dental implants. He loved it and excited to start doing them on patients.
It snowed most of the day on Fri. and Sat. which made B's commute home Friday evening twice as long as it normally would have been and kept Brad, Stephanie & kids from coming up to hang out with Jonah and I on Saturday and enjoying the Christmas festivities up here. It also made it look like Winter has truly arrived in Utah. It's lovely.
Saturday I indulged in my second Happy Meal of the week. I've also been eating a lot of bacon, but not as much as I want to eat. Maybe it's not because it's my second pregnancy that I'm already looking so round.
Saturday Jonah and I got to ride the train in Heber, which was free for locals who picked up tickets in advance and who were accompanied by a child under the age of 12. Jonah liked the train ride more than I expected and LOVED having so many kids around. He didn't give a hoot about Santa.
After the train ride we went to Swiss Christmas at the town hall in Midway. It was small and crowded and the kids we saw perform were neither especially darling or very talented. I'm sorry to be so critical, but I was unimpressed. However, we did pick up a bar of locally made soap (I love homemade soap) and locally made jam (including the local service berry), which was delicious. Jonah was too tired to make it to the creche and gingerbread house exhibits going on nearby.
Today we enjoyed the company of the whole immediate J. family. Linda made her fantastic homemade chili and we all ate at our house. The dogs (Cody & Oakley) loved playing in the snow together. Then we took family pictures, or I should say picture, the first one turned out well, so we just left it at that. It was a Christmas miracle. Then we drove up Daniel's Canyon and cut down our own Christmas trees. We chose a very skinny, but full fir. It is about 6 ft. tall. Jonah enjoyed riding around in Grammy Linda's coat watching the three trees being sawed down.



Jonah and me with Santa aboard the Heber "Creeper".



Brandon, Brandon M. (our brother-in-law), Linda, and Jonah.



Brandon with our tree, just before cutting it down.