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See, this is why one should tidy up their desk multiple times a week, as opposed to only doing it before Mercury goes into retrograde, because they just might find a treasure trove of random gift cards!

Over the years, I’ve learned that there are three types of gift card people in this world.

1. The people that spend their gift cards decisively and right away without any hesitation.
2. The people who hoard their gift cards, allegedly for a rainy day, but end up holding on to them for months or years. (Ahem! Yours truly.)
3. The people who totally forget about or lose their gift cards and end up frittering away what was essentially free money. (I hate to admit it, but I’ve been this person, too.)

Why do I hoard gift cards for so long? — because honestly it makes no sense. I like to shop.

No, I loooove to shop. I could get an honorary Ivy League PhD in the shopping arts, LOL! And I especially love that I get to pick exactly what I want when I use a gift card, because I’m super picky about…well, almost everything.

(And this is why it took me more than 10 years to finally decide on a new couch.)

But with great power comes great responsibility. Do you spend the gift card on something you need, or do you spend it on something you want? And if you go with something you need, do you play it safe, or do you get the thing you’ve been lusting after forever but never would have gotten yourself in a million years?

For example, say you suddenly get a $400 gift card to spend solely (ha ha) on shoes. Do you buy a single pair of Jimmy Choo glitter heels (SWOON), or do you go the practical route and buy the four pairs of Nike running shoes that you know you love and wear all the time (and that you know you’ll eventually go through over several years)?

As you can probably guess, those “Choose Your Own Adventure” books were a great source of vexation for Little Karen when she was a kid.

All of this is to say that I’ve been sitting on a Nordstrom gift card for months.

I know I should probably use it to replace my favorite Blank NYC faux leather jacket, which I’ve worn and loved for years. It held up well, but the pseudo-leather is falling off in huge flakes on the back of the collar, and I don’t think there’s a good way to fix it. Thankfully, I found out that Nordstrom still sells the exact same jacket.

I’ve hesitated to pull the trigger, though, because part of me thinks that even though I’ll wear it all the time…why not look around for something new and different?

Beyond that, should I even use the gift card get a jacket? I could use it instead on that Chantecaille foundation I’ve wanted for a while…

I think that maybe because gift cards feel like getting free money it ups the ante on the final decision. There’s more pressure.

Another funny thing I’ve noticed about gift cards — and I know I can’t be the only person who does this — once I finally get around to spending one, I still keep the physical card, instead of throwing it away.

Why I do this, I don’t know, but it results in a whole mess of confusion.

[I guess it’s kind of like going to the Chanel counter and leaving with your purchases in a Chanel bag? That is, you know the bag is disposable, but you keep it around anyway because it says Chanel? I MAY OR MAY NOT KEEP THIS, DECIDE LATER.]
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I left this place with cat hair all over my stretchy pants (the first time this has happened in ages), and I wasn’t even mad about it.

The Kitty Corner adoption center is run by the Marin Humane Society. It’s located in the town of San Anselmo, which is a few towns south of us. We went last weekend on a whim.

Quite a few friends have told me that they think it can be a good idea sometimes to adopt a new kitty shortly after losing one. I don’t feel remotely ready for another feline friend yet, but I remember a piece of advice my wise old landlady gave me once about feeling ready for big things. She said, “You’re never going to feel ready.” This short and sweet sentence has proven to be true many times over in my life. I don’t know… I thought about it as I met a couple of the residents at Kitty Corner: a feisty black cat full of swagger named Espresso, and a gentle long-haired lovely named Sammie.

Both girls were super sweet — especially Espresso. Chatty and confident, she has what one of the adoption counselors call “a smoker’s meow.” She throws her whole body into her kitty hugs, too, which is why I ended up with hairy pants.

I could kindasorta see Espresso fitting into our family, but I didn’t feel an undeniable sense that she was my cat.

It was only when we’d left that I realized that part of me had hoped we’d walk into Kitty Corner as a family of three and leave as a family of four. It was an “Aha” moment. There’s room in our family and love in our hearts to share with another cat, and when we find her (or him), we’ll know.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start.

1. Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Heck, sure, why not? Granted, it’s not my first choice for a pizza topping (give me a margherita pizza any day of the week), I’ll get down with a pineapple combo. Just as long as I don’t think too deeply about how it’s like putting ketchup on pineapple (which is what pineapple on pizza seems like to me), I’m cool.

2. Do you know any men who wear women’s perfume?

Haha! Yeah. My dad. He wore my mom’s Romeo Gigli perfume for years! I’ll sneak a spray of El Hub’s Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue for Men every once in a while, so I totally get it.

3. Black or brown eyeliner?

Brown, please.

4. How well would you do if you had to put makeup on someone else in the back of a moving car?

I might do alright if we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper Bay Area traffic (my peeps on 880, you know what I’m talking about), and the car was just craaaawling, but if that car was actually, ya know, moving…my subject/victim would end up looking like a demented horror movie clown.

5. [FILL IN THE BLANK] is good for your health.

Oh, sooooooo many things, like smiling, planning, shoes that don’t hurt your feet, and maintaining a positive inner voice.

First things first

I missed most of last night’s NBA Finals game between the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors because I had three million loads of laundry to finish, but I did catch the last minute, which apparently was all I needed to see.

Accurate footage of me during the last few seconds:

I hope you got a chance to rest last weekend. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about downtime, and I keep forgetting that relaxing and doing nothing are just as important as checking tasks off your to-do list.

I felt like we needed some downtime, so last Saturday El Hub, Connor Claire and I drove down to Stafford Lake (they have free parking every first Saturday of the month!) for a few hours. While they fished, I sat on a nearby bench and read some of my book, The Dreamers, by Karen Thomson Walker.

It was a gloriously much-needed break.

If you didn’t get enough rest, I hope you can sneak some in this week. I know you know this already, but downtime is very good for you.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Question time! Here they are to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to you soon.

1. Does pineapple belong on pizza?
2. Do you know any men who wear women’s perfume?
3. Black or brown eyeliner?
4. How well would you do if you had to put makeup on someone else in the back of a moving car?
5. [FILL IN THE BLANK] is good for your health.

Good morning! Deep breath in… Deep breath out… STRETCH. It’s early here so I’m still waking up. I’ve been literally tossing myself out of bed at the crack of dawn on Saturdays and Sundays for a couple weeks, which I’ve never done willingly in my life. My body loves to sleep in if given the chance, but when I get up early, it makes it easier to squeeze in a workout and some reading.

Do I miss the extra REM cycles? Yeah, a little… I’m still not a morning person AT ALL, but I can masquerade as one. It’s like one of those ’90s commercials for Barbizon modeling schools. “Be a model. Or…just look like one!” I’m not a morning person. I just look like one.

On that note, I hope your Saturday has been productive so far! Your reading for the week…

• Here’s the best way to remove makeup stains from your clothes, according to Well+Good. (Hint: It involves dish soap.)
• Hair and makeup teams help to create the characters on our favorite TV shows. The artists consider every detail, from period-specific tattoos and hair to the type of tan one acquires after spending time in a tropical locale.
• Here’s a growing market in beauty that I never saw coming: Within the last two years, luxury brands like Chantecaille have expanded into skin care for kids.
• 7 over-the-counter retinol products dermatologists recommend
• A new perfume concocted via artificial intelligence is launching in Brazil soon, with the idea being that a computer program can combine fragrance notes in ways no human can. I think it’s interesting that the scientists who work with the AI refer to the program as female, since historically men have held the top positions as “noses” for the big brands.
• Drake took a piece of lint from Stephen Curry’s hair during game one of the NBA finals and put it up on eBay. Side note: WARRIORS!!!
• Soon your favorite beauty brand could be selling you a shampoo through a scripted series.
• Did you know you can get a blowout at CVS?
• Why this entire college baseball team all wears Victoria’s Secret Amber Romance perfume
• Here’s what researchers found when they strapped cameras on cats and just let them do kitty things.
• Being a crazy cat lady is good for your health, according to science.
• Speaking of friends of the felines, here are a few famous cat ladies (and cat gentlemen) throughout history.

Katie Jane Hughes: makeup artist, magician

I’m not crying; you’re crying.

This is a good mix for cleaning your house on the weekend.

OK, time for a quick walk around the neighborhood in my pajamas (yes, I’m that person). Have a wonderful weekend and a fab first day of June. ?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen