New favorite product: Clinique's Even Better

I went shopping with my mom on Mother's day weekend and found myself looming over the Clinique counter... not sure why I stopped because I do not wear Clinique, but I'm glad I did.  I think I was subconsciously reminding myself that when I used Clinique's skin care line, my face was flawless.  That was well over 10 years ago, well before I had any real life stress and well before baby.  I recently have been getting these crazy zits on my cheek area due to the fact that I mess with them, they leave a horrible scar.

Nothing in my Mary Kay inventory and definitely nothing in my beloved MAC skin care line could possibly address this serious issue.  I've become very self conscious about it, always worried that my concealer wasn't doing enough "concealing", always making sure my brushes are clean and well maintained just to avoid these crazy zits, and so I decided to venture out to other skin care lines to see if anything moderately priced would help.

I decided to go back to the basics, what really made my skin feel fresh and clean, and so I purchased the facial soap, clarifying lotion 2- to exfoliate and make way for brighter, smoother skin, and of course the dramatically different lotion- we must hydrate our skin!  I spoke to the Clinique counter associate about my acne scar and she introduced me to my new love- Even Better Dark Spot Corrector.  At $49.50, it's not cheap, BUT, it's a bargain to someone who's tried it and saw results in 3 days! I don't just brag about anything, this is serious business people.  Our face makes the first impression, and I want mine to always look it's best.  It's been 2 1/2 weeks of my new (or reverted to?) Clinique regimen PLUS the Even Better, and I'm loving the results.  I only wished I had taken  a picture on the first day of use.  Maybe I will go in a zoom in on a few pics to try to demonstrate the effectiveness of the product. 

Other pieces of my daily skin routine include Mary Kay's Day Solution with 30 SPF and the Night Solution which has antioxidants and Vitamin A, E, & C.  I also use MK's microderm abrasion set every 3 days around my nose and on my neck, chin, and forehead.  I exfoliate every couple of days as well with an MK mask that I use as a scrub.  I like MK's Firming Eye Cream as well as MAC's Fast Response Eye Cream for mornings when I'd been up late the night before.  The caffeine helps with puffiness and my Targeted Eye Revitalizer helps with darkness under my eye, I use it morning and night.  It sounds like a lot but I'm 30 people, I've got to take some serious preventative measures if I want to look halfway decent in 10 years plus!  The sun can do some real damage, even to dark pigmented folks such as myself.   Two must haves in my skin care, SPF & moisturizer. :)

8 favorite things: A You Tube Tag I've been dying to do....

I can't cross this off of my list of things to VLOG about until I do it- BUT I'm too shy to VLOG, so I figured I'd blog about :)  My absolute favorite vlogs on YouTube is Tonya Burr's Vlog & Hauls.  I'm a subscriber to her pixi2woo channel because I LOVE make up tutorials and since I loved that channel I decided I would subscribe to her hauls channel as well.  Tanya is adorable and I just LOVE her. 

Tanya's 8 most worn things tag is really cute and I enjoyed learning what her favorite things were.  I also enjoyed watching other people's responses to her tag.  I felt like the questions were so simple yet said a lot about who you are.   It was fun coming up with my answers.

The questions on the tag are:

1. What is your most favorite lipstick/lipgloss?
2. What are your favorite pair of earrings?
3. What's your favorite shirt?
4. What's your favorite nail polish?
5. What is your favorite shoe?
6. What's your favorite hair product?
7. What's your favorite perfume?
8. What's your favorite purse?

Here's my blog response (with pictures in the order)

1. My favorite lipstick at the moment is Mary Kay's Sweet Nectar & my favorite lip gloss is Full for you by MAC.   It's a beautiful pearl nude color, on my skin tone, and I just love it and it's my every day go-to lipstick.  I love Full for you by MAC also.  I think it's a play on Full on Lust, which I think was a FAFI limited.  I'm a MAC Addict!!  I love limiteds but I hate them at the same time, most of my favorite glosses are limiteds... and they are hard to replace.
2. My favorite earrings are my rhinestone hoops and for work, pearl studs of course.
3. My favorite shirt: I don't have a favorite shirt  but I have a favorite cardigan... it's a simple black cardigan that I wear every chance I get.
4. My favorite nail polish is currently pulled from OPI's Hong Kong collection... I love Meet me at Star Ferry & Dim Sum Plum!  Wearing these colors reminds me of my trip to Hong Kong in January of this year!
5. My favorite shoes- My shox! or a pair of flip flops!
6. My favorite hair product:  I love Bumble & Bumble's Surf
7. My favorite perfume: Viktor & Rolf's Flower Bomb, it was a birthday gift from my beautiful wonderful friend, Norma & her hubby Sal last year & it will always remind me of her and my beautiful wonderful friend Staci, she loves to wear that too!  It smells MAGNIFICENT!
8. My favorite purse:  I don't like carrying a purse.  I usually lose the most important things when carrying them in a purse.  However, for Christmas, my co-worker & friend got me a very cool wrist purse from Coach- it's absolutely adorable! (And perfect for me!)

Things are about to change... or resume?

When Steve told me he wanted to pursue his MBA, I was so excited. I thought, wow, if either of us should go to school, it should be Steve, especially because Stevie needs me. Then he got accepted to Rice- then I was in awe! Wow, Rice University, that's like Texas' equivalent to an ivy league school.

Then, reality set in...

Steve would begin classes in the Fall of 2008, Stevie was 18 months old...very much a baby, a toddler in every sense, but a baby who definitely had high demands. That first week- a week they called "immersion week" but was more like bootcamp... really set the tone. Steve wouldn't be around at night; he wouldn't be home to help with dinner, or to entertain Stevie while I made dinner, give him a bath, and on most nights read him books and soothe him to bed. He wouldn't be home on most Saturdays, which was very much a family a family day, he wouldn't be available on Sundays because he had to study and preparing for the following week was left on my shoulders. Life was pretty tough the first year, I really didn't know how I was going to survive another year.

Then, I realized I could still have a life and be a good mommy! It all started off very slow. I felt so lonely at home and felt like I was missing out on social events with my friends. BUT, I definitely wasn't going to sell my alone time with Stevie short. We would have dinner with friends or go to the Children's museum (or any other free kid's event during the week) when Steve had school. We would visit my friend Melissa and her baby every other week on Wednesdays and have the best play dates. All this was fun, but I felt like I also needed to be at home- especially when the days got colder.

I think I got hip to this new idea all too late. After our trip to China this past January, I decided to host my friends for "rita nights" on days when Steve had school. This way, Stevie had his mommy and I had my girl time- with salt and lime, hehe :) I would make Greek food and switch to wine for my friend Bianca, enchiladas verdes for dinner with my Sister-in-law and dear friend, Jennifer. Then, I decided to try to have weekly dinners with my SIL and friend, Yolanda, whom I like to call the ladies of the Bunny Pack. When I wasn't having dinners, I was at our neighbor's home. The Ali's have become very good friends of ours. They are young and hip parents just like ourselves- who also like to have a good time (just like ourselves!). I wish I hadn't come up with these outings so late in the game. It's May 2010 and this past year just flew.

Now that Steve is done with school, I am wondering if I have to give up those nights, or expand them to couples' dinners, or perhaps play dates. Just as unaware as when Stevie grows a quarter of an inch, we'll evolve without noticing it. I'm so excited and proud of Steve but I'll definitely miss my time alone with Stevie, my girl nights, my unplanned adventures to the zoo or to dinner. It's time for a new chapter. :)

Firsts and fears

Isn't it super strange that I created this blog 3 years ago without a single entry?? Could it have been that I had just had my son, Stevie, a month before creating? Did I honestly think that I'd have time to blog, much less shower, eat, and have meaningful adult conversation? Well, here I am, 3 years later with so much on my mind, so many things to do, and so little time to marinate on either. But now I have my blog, yay!! Now I can totally vent about the things I kind of tip toe around on facebook and really get to the heart of the matter.

I really wish I had started this sooner. I will say, well, I've been busy. When I think of firsts and fears, I think of being pregnant. Pregnancy is not something you come to the table to discuss unless you're at a play date or dinner with your mommy friends (yes, pregnancy, sex, and potty training are always discussed at Mommy GNO dinners). So, a first with a little fear, is this blog. I mean, who wants to read what I have to say? I'm not that interesting. I don't have a whole lot going on (other than getting married, planning summer vacations, exploring the world of photography)... but maybe I will amuse one or two folks, maybe someone will understand what I am saying and where I'm coming from. So, I try not to be so scared to write what I really want to say.