Just For Fun

Happy Thanksgiving, my sweet friend, and thank you very much.

I don’t tell you that often enough — how grateful I am for your friendship and companionship over all these years. Thank you for your funny stories, your baby carrier suggestions (and other baby-related recs and advice), your banana bread recipes (YUM!), your compassion, your cat stories (and your dog and bunny stories, too!), your Trader Joe’s recommendations, your movie recs, your TV recs (OMG, GLENN!), your makeup recs (obvs), your book recs, and the glimpses you’ve given me into your life.

You have literally made my life these past — almost nine years (!) — and I’m eternally grateful for it.

I love you. 🙂 I hope you’re having a wonderful holiday.

Your tabby nephew also sends his regards, BTW. We went out first thing this morning literally BEFORE the crack of dawn, in the dark, at like 6 am, when I could still see my breath in the cold, because Tabs loves skulking around in the dark. And I do too, truthfully. The world is so quiet and peaceful, and it’s a good time to think, ya know? — outside with my cat on his leash… LOL.

We’re all set for our little T-giving feast over here. My brother is supposed to be driving up from the city, and then it’ll just be him, me, El Hub, Tabs and Baby Girl. I picked up a pre-cooked turkey from a deli this year, so we’ll see how that turns out (fingers crossed).

Enjoy the rest of your day, my friend. I’ll talk to you soon.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past seven years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. Where do you usually spend the holidays?
   Well that’s a good question! It gets a little complicated sometimes, but we usually spend Thanksgivings here in the Bay Area at my parents’ house in Union City, which is about 40 or 50 miles away. I little more often nowadays, though, El Hub and I will just spend a quiet holiday here by ourselves with Tabs in Novato, which, truth be told, has been nice (I like being in my own house, ya know?).

   Christmases are more complicated. El Hub’s parents live in a town called Redding, which is about 200 miles north, just south of the Oregon border, and my parents live in the East Bay, so we usually split the holiday between the two sides of the families, which means A LOT of driving on our part.

   We’ll spend Christmas Eve at my parents’ house, which is when we’ve always celebrated, and then, at the crack of dawn on Christmas morning, we drive up to Redding, which gets us there around noon, where we celebrate the day with El Hub’s side of the fam.

   Things will change after Baby Girl arrives, ’cause you know how that goes. When you have the babies, people come to you (I hope), and all I have to say about that is THANK GOODNESS.

   I’m looking forward to hosting the holidays at our house, to be honest, and starting some traditions of our own at home with our daughter. 🙂

2. Time to toot your own horn! What’s your Thanksgiving specialty dish?
   I make some killer garlic mashed potatoes, yo. Fluffy, buttery, and they melt in your mouth.

   And my blueberry peach cobbler isn’t half bad, either, and it’s really easy to make. (Here are both recipes if you’re interested!)

3. To fill in your brows, which do you prefer — brow gels, powders, pencils or a combination of two or more?
   I’m a brow pencil/gel combo girl, because I like that when I fill in my brows with a brow pencil, it looks like I’m creating more little brow hairs, and then the gel sets everything, holds the shape and keeps the hairs from flying all over the place.

   Also, at least for the time being, until I embrace some other technique, my brow filling workflow is a little unorthodox, because I start with the brow gel, before going in with the brow pencil…which sounds backward, I know, but it works for me.

4. How do you feel about rimming your water lines? For you, is it a do or a don’t?
   It’s definitely a do! I love wearing liner on my water lines to draw extra attention to my eyes, especially when I use greens, blues, purples and reddish browns, which I think go well with my brown eyes.
5. Do you have freckles?
   I most certainly do, like the one I’ve had just under my right eye ever since I was a little kid, and now I have a bunch more of them on my nose and cheeks.

Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!

1. Where do you usually spend the holidays?
2. What’s your Thanksgiving specialty dish?
3. What’s your preferred method of filling in your brows? Gel, powder, pencil, a combination of a few things etc.?
4. Rimming your water lines: a do or a don’t?
5. Do you have freckles?

T-minus three days till turkey day, aah!

As you can probably tell, I’m very excited about that. My parents are on a trip, and El Hub’s parents have other plans up north, so it’s just going to be me, El Hub, Baby Girl, Tabs and maybe my younger brother, who’s one of those people who may or may not show up at the last minute with a tub of macaroni salad…but you just never know.

I hope you’re having a good Monday so far, and I hope it’s the start to a great week. Thank you for being here with me on this Thanksgiving week. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Oh, my gosh. Gimme those foamy bubbles every time! They make bath time so much better.

Buuut, I won’t say no to bath salts if there are no bubbly options available. I mostly just like sitting in the tub…although I haven’t taken a real bath since I got pregnant with Baby Girl. I’m just a little nervous about slipping or not being able to get out, because my balance has been off.

I mean, a shower gets the job done, but a bath gets it done so much better. I miss ’em!

The other ish is the whole cleaning the bath/shower thing. My tub is about 30 years old. It has seen better days, if you know what I mean, and the only time I like to take a bath in it is during the few days after I thoroughly clean it.

How about you? Baths with or without foamy bubbles? Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. TGIF!

You might be wondering, “So what in tarnation is this Monday Poll thing anyway!?”

Well, it isn’t exactly a poll. It’s more of a constantly evolving (devolving?), somewhat random list of questions I’ve been putting out to readers every Monday morning for the past seven years. (It’s like a kickstart for your brain.) I’ve always enjoyed reading your answers in the comments, and I hope you enjoy reading mine.

1. Are you over the bold brow trend?
   Aw, hell no! I freaking love it. I hope it never goes out of style, but my rational mind fully accepts the fact that the tide will eventually turn, and plucking those fuzzy little caterpillars into super skinny, thin arches will come back in style.

   I just hope it happens in, like…500 years. LOL!

2. If you could have a magic hair fairy do absolutely anything to your hair right now, what would you have her do?
   I’d have her use her mystical fairy magic to add eight inches of length and make my gray roots disappear and never come back for the rest of my life — POOF!

   And if after that the fairy still had some magical mana left in her bag of tricks, I’d have her make my hair permanently wash-and-wear, so I’d never have to use heat styling again.

3. Can you buy happiness?
   Ooh! Interesting question. I definitely don’t think it’s possible to buy long-term happiness deep down in your soul, but I do think you can buy a quick jolt o’ joy every once in a while.

   Like when I’m having a rough day, a quick Target, Sephora or Starbucks run usually makes me feel a little better (depending on what made the day rough).

4. Something on your desk right now?
   A grumpy 20-pound tabby!

   Tabs is sleeping on the lefthand corner of the desk right now, allegedly supervising his favorite employee.

5. If you could only use one or the other for the rest of your life, which would you choose — face wipes or oil cleansers?
   Agh! Seriously, this one was harder than I thought it would be.

   First, I just love face wipes. They’re so handy when you finish working out and need to wipe away the sweat and grime, or when you’re too exhausted to wash your face before bed (I even keep some on my nightstand), but oil cleansers are amazingly effective. They remove everything and work quickly.

   Ultimately, though…I’d have to go with face wipes because I’d be able to use them for more things.

Your turn. 🙂 Just copy and paste the following questions into a comment with your answers. I look forward to reading ’em!

1. Are you over the bold brow trend?
2. If you could have a magic hair fairy do absolutely anything to your hair right now, what would you do?
3. Can you buy happiness?
4. Something on your desk right now?
5. If you could only use one or the other for the rest of your life, which would you choose — face wipes or oil cleansers?

Happy Monday, sweet girl!

You know what I just realized? I just realized that Turkey Day is next week! YOWZA!

Tabs, Baby Girl, El Hub and I are going to be spending a relaxing one here at home in Novato, which is exactly what I want/need.

For various reasons, I don’t feel up to cooking a big feast this year (I don’t know why, but the thought of prepping a turkey from scratch scares the bejeezus out of me), so I’ll probably end up getting one of those pre-made deals at the supermarket that you reheat at home.

What are your Thanksgiving plans? Whatever they are, I hope they involve pie. 🙂

Have a good week, my friend.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen