good things

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Things I Love Lately: Never Say Never Edition

My house looks like the scene of a collision between a LEGO truck, a dinosaur themed party supply warehouse, and a JoAnn Fabric. LEGO bricks and crafting supplies and dinosaur-themed things are strewn through pretty much every room. And our beloved housecleaner comes TOMORROW, along with the long-awaited plumber, so I need to de-toy-ify the floors at the very least. I am DREADING the act of finding a home for all these new things. WHERE will it all go? I’m sure it will lead to one of those things where you open the craft cupboard to put in new supplies and you decide the only way the new things will fit is if you reorganize the whole cupboard and I am not up for that.

Instead, I think I shall type up a blog post. 

New Nail Polish: I have been admiring some of Essie’s summer nail colors, but I have two problems with Essie nail polish. First, it is expensive. Second, it takes too long to dry and I am impatient, which means that any time I DO spend the $9 it costs to acquire an Essie nail varnish, I end up wasting a bunch of it because I smear my nails every time. Every. Time. I’m really a Sally Hansen Insta-Dri nail polish kind of girl, you know? Despite the absolute ridiculousness of spelling “dry” with an I, the Insta-Dri line has a wide variety of colors, dries in seconds, and costs under $5 per bottle. Done and done. But when I saw that Essie now has a quick-dry line of polish, I was very intrigued. The name of said polish – Essie Expressie – made me heave a deep, exasperated sigh, but what can we expect from those poor beleaguered nail polish marketing folk who have to continually pump out name after name for slightly different shades of pink? (In the Time Zone? Mall Crawler? Mic Drop-It-Low? How are these names? At least Get a Mauve On has an indication of the actual color.) This is all to say that I was intrigued enough to shell out $8.99 for a bottle of Crave the Chaos and I am very pleased indeed. The exact right shade of pink and it went on smoothly and with nary a smudge. Now all I need is a nail polish that sticks only to fingernail and repels instantly off skin. 

  • It is very hard to capture the polish bottle AND the polish on my nails in a single photograph so you get two.

Mask-Friendly Mascara: While I don’t really wear makeup, I do have one true love and that is mascara. I almost ALWAYS wear mascara, because my eyelashes are pale and stubby and I feel like I look very odd when I go au naturel. The problem, though, is that mask wearing, especially mask wearing plus heat and humidity, make my mascara melt down my eyelashes and onto my cheeks. (And I am still wearing a mask indoors, in public, so this is a Real Issue.) I recall with horror one incident this past winter where I wore mascara skiing, and when I removed my goggles – but not my mask – to greet some friends I hadn’t seen in many months, I registered the Disturbed Looks on their faces but brushed them off. Only once I’d ambled into the restroom, much later that day, did I discover the Severe Raccoon Eye Situation I’d been sporting. Ever since that day, I have been doing something I SWORE I would never do: I wear waterproof mascara. If you know of a good waterproof mascara, please let me know because I do NOT. And every waterproof mascara I have ever tried is IMPOSSIBLE to remove. I have to practically rip each individual eyelash out of my lids to get that infernal substance off me. But I have found a solution! I got a sample size tube of Chanel mascara when I bought someone  fancy face cream from Nordstrom, and it came with a sample size tube of Chanel La Base mascara base. (A rather redundant name, but at least it isn’t “Taxi Hopping” or “Lose the Snooze” or “All Things Ooo” which a real, live person or persons came up with and slapped on the side of a nail polish bottle.) So what I have been doing is applying the base – which is white – and then putting the waterproof mascara on top of it. Voila! The waterproof mascara stays put, but comes off much more easily with the base than without. I am assuming you can use any base-coat mascara, to avoid paying THIRTY-TWO AMERICAN DOLLARS for the Chanel.

image from nordstrom.com

Good Clean Dino Fun: My mother-in-law brought Carla this soap-making kit, and, best of all, the soaps are shaped like dinosaurs. They did the project together and made little soaps for the favor bags we handed out at Carla’s dinosaur themed party. It was an excellent craft, very easy to clean up, and made very satisfying little soaps. If you have a child in your life who like both dinosaurs and crafting, this should be on your radar. 

image from amazon.com

Dinosaurs and LEGO Unite: While on the subject of the dino-loving child, she received this 3-in-1 dinosaur LEGO set from a friend. I think it will be PERFECT for when we visit my parents later this summer, because it’s small and yet you can make three separate creatures out of the LEGO bricks included. In fact, I have had this in my Amazon cart, waiting until we got a little closer to our trip to order it. (I find it’s nice to have a couple little surprises on hand, to help with the stress and potential boredom of traveling.)

image from amazon.com

Maxi Skirt: I have continued my search for a maxi skirt I like. And I think I found it in this Tie-Dye Striped Midi Skirt from Loft. The fabric is lightweight but sturdier than jersey, so it floats over my lumpy hips rather than rippling magnifyingly along every bump and bulge. I am pleased that it is also white and blue, which means I can wear it for the Fourth of July. 

image from loft.com

More Jean Shorts?!?!?!: Also from Loft, I am really enjoying these Fresh Cut High Waist Boyfriend Shorts. They fit my criteria: high rise, roomy leg openings, not too short, and free shipping.

image from loft.com

I find the name perplexing – fresh cut? like flowers? or a bundle of garden-grown herbs? And I really doubt anyone’s boyfriend would wear these, ever – but they are comfy and long enough that I can roll up the hems if I want to. Somehow I have transformed, in a single year, from a person who owned zero pairs of jean shorts to a person who now owns SIX PAIRS. (The shorts I ordered most recently have a button fly, which I dislike… but they are also very cute so I may keep them. And I also got a pair of these striped denim shorts from Loft that I am pretty sure I will keep as well.) Now that I have these bad boys and two more Madewell tanks, I am thinking my summer uniform is now complete. 

Fun Raisins: Well, this is a post of eating my words, I think. I never thought I would be a shorts-sporter, or a waterproof-mascara wearer, or a person who buys $9 nail polish, but I NEVER EVER thought I would be someone who eats raisins for non-life-and-death reasons. And yet here we are. My sister-in-law had a box of strawberry flavored raisins with her when she came to visit, and I tried some to be polite, and they were SUPER YUMMY. They tasted more like slightly-sour candy than a raisin, which, I cannot stress enough, was always right up there with eating someone’s surgically-removed mole in terms of appetizing. But I liked them so much I bought a box MYSELF, and a box of watermelon flavored raisins to have as a cupcake backup at Carla’s birthday party. They are very tasty and I highly recommend them. Even if you are a raisin hater. NEVER SAY NEVER.

  • images from target.com

What are you loving lately?

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Summer Love/Hate

Ten things I hate about summer:

  1. Sweating.
  2. Never knowing how to dress for the constant fluctuations between instant outdoor heatstroke and freeze-your-freckles-off air conditioning.
  3. Shaving my toes. Or, more accurately, forgetting to shave my toes.
  4. The smell of self-tanner. (I have been using this spray tanner from Neutrogena, excuse me micromist; it has a very mild, very fleeting scent but the scent is there. Also, I cannot tell if it is doing ANYTHING to “build my all-over flawless tan.”)
  5. Persistent debris – sticks, leaf bits, dirt, pebbles – all over my floor.
  6. Relatedly: stuff stuck to my feet.
  7. Sunblock, especially putting it on my child. WHEN will she learn to apply it herself, thoroughly and accurately and regularly? Please say eight, please say eight.
  8. Watermelon, and the abundance thereof.
  9. Wasps. 
  10. How fleeting it is. A friend summarized it yesterday: “We have four weeks of camp, then two weeks of vacation, then a week at home, and then it’s pretty much back to school.” Nothing like packing your entire, much-longed-for summer into three short clauses to make it feel like it’s NEARLY OVER already.

Ten things I love about summer:

  1. Walking in the sunshine, and, whilst walking, stepping into a sudden patch of scent that wraps you in a lovely fragrant cocoon: clover, honeysuckle, lilac.
  2. Freckles.
  3. The near-constant thrum of distant lawnmowers. (Not to be confused with the angry drone of lawnmowers in your own yard, always too early or during a Zoom call.)
  4. Fancy cocktails, fresh fruit, and their delicious intersection.
  5. The thrill of watching pea shoots and tomato plants stretch toward the sun.
  6. Reading outside in the sunshine.
  7. Grilling. I don’t care what it is. Throw it on the grill. 
  8. The opportunity to sleep an extra hour, if desirable/doable.
  9. NO SOCKS NEEDED. 
  10. How fleeting it is. It feels rare and precious, and I spend all summer reveling in its many joys, trying to tilt the bottle of the season to just the right angle so I can savor every last honeyed drop.

What are your favorite/least favorite things about summer?

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Good Things

We are in the middle of Day 5 of nearly solid rain. Rain is great, don’t get me wrong. And I’ve really leaned into it by making soup and spaghetti sauce for dinners and crawling back into bed with my computer instead of working at my desk in my (chilly) office. But even with these accommodations, it’s not the most uplifting of weather patterns. Plus, you know. There’s all the… You know. * Broad gesture toward the rest of the world. *

Let’s focus on some Good Things, shall we?

  • Questions. Carla has been SO inquisitive lately, like all of a sudden she’s achieved Peak Curiosity, and so we have been investigating some of her queries in the car line in the morning. (While parked. Because of the strict way Carla’s school is controlling crowds and monitoring students’ temperatures, parents cannot release their kids until eight o’clock on the dot, so if we get to school a bit early, we are just sitting in line, waiting.) Yesterday we looked up a.m. and p.m., today we learned the difference between tiaras and crowns. It’s delightful, the things that pop up in her brain to wonder about. I hope she always, always shares her questions with me.
The other day, Carla was so full of questions that I started writing them down so we wouldn’t forget any of them. Just in case you wanted a peek inside a typical morning at my house.

  • Décor. We finally put up our Halloween decorations, and I love them so. I don’t really know what I was waiting for? I adore Halloween – it’s such a low-pressure, high-fun holiday – but I was really resisting the act of decorating for some reason. I think the delay helped build up the anticipation for Carla, though. And then! Joy of joys! She HELPED ME put them up! Like, she was actually helpful and very careful and had Strong Opinions about where to put our collection of glittery pumpkins and how to hang the wall bats. It made the whole process both easier and more enjoyable. 
  • Outdoor explorations. Despite the rain, we went on hikes/walks both Saturday and Sunday of last weekend, and I’m still feeling happy about them. If there’s one good thing to come of this pandemic, it’s that my little family has spent a LOT more time exploring our local park system than we ever have before, and it’s been really fun. A good excuse to get outside in the fresh air, a good excuse to move our bodies, a good excuse to be together. Saturday was sunny and we went on a walk that took us up over a river valley, with some really spectacular views of the river and the fall foliage. Sunday was rainy, and yet we trudged through a deliciously creepy forest until we reached a beach and then walked on the sand and skipped rocks in the pounding surf while the rain pelted us. We got absolutely soaked but I think that made it feel more like an adventure. I’m already looking forward to our next excursion. 
A break in the rain.
  • Target drive up. This continues to be one of the best innovations of the pandemic. It is so easy to order something from the Target app in the morning, and then swing by Target after I pick up Carla from school. They have really fine-tuned the system so that the staff member is walking out of Target with my purchases almost immediately once I’ve arrived. And sometimes lately they have been adding little free samples of things to my bags. It’s very convenient and I love that if they don’t, in fact, have your item in stock, they will ship it to you for free. Do I wish that they offered more food items for drive up? Or anything Lysol-related? Or hand sanitizer or bleach spray or sanitizing wipes? Yes, obviously. But I understand why those things aren’t available, or are so quick to fly off the shelves that they don’t even try. It’s still a very good thing. 
  • A full night’s sleep. I’m in the midst of one of those wake-up-every-morning-at-3:30 sleep patterns. And worse, I have been unable to get back to sleep after I wake up. Sometimes I lie awake for hours, going through all my Get Back to Sleep strategies. There’s nothing worse than finally drifting off to sleep at six, only to have your alarm wake you up thirty minutes later. The whole thing is AWFUL, is what it is. It leaves me bleary and teary and crabby. But! Last night! I fell asleep at about ten o’clock and didn’t wake up until six! (Well, okay, I woke up around one to pee, but I don’t count that because I was able to get back to sleep right away.) One night of solid sleep will do wonders for a person’s soul. 
  • Mums. It seems like all of September I kept seeing mums everywhere. Mums for sale! Mums on porches! Mums hanging from hooks! Mums in fluffy rows outside of grocery stores! So many mums! I got serious mum envy. So a couple of weekends ago, I finally decided that I needed some. I’m not so great at keeping flowers alive; my landscaping preferences tend toward easy and low maintenance. But I found some mums – and, so late in the season, they were HALF OFF – and bought four burgundy mums and two yellow ones PLUS two decorative kale? kales? heads of kale and I am just so PLEASED with them. I have two big planters in the backyard where I planted some as-it-turns-out NOT deer resistant flowers during the summer, and I added one burgundy mum each to those, plus a head of kale. And then I put four smaller planters with one mum each on the front porch – burgundy and yellow – and added a couple of pumpkins. If I were to do it again next year (which, why not?!?!?!), I might try to get some fun fallish grasses or something, to fill out the bigger planters. 
Neither my mums nor my kale; mumspiration
  • Fall toasties.  I made these WONDERFUL fall treats this past weekend: a slice of sourdough bread spread with some apple and onion jam, topped with a slice of apple and a slice of brie, baked until the brie has melted all over the top of the bread and apple. SO GOOD.