Author: Big Mama

  • What separates us from the animals is our ability to moisturize

    Well, I really didn’t plan to write a post on beauty products this week but, in the immortal words of Loretta Lynn when Ernest Tubb asked if she’d play the Grand ‘Ol Opry the next week, “I ain’t got nothin’ else to do”.

    Plus several of you wanted to know Gulley’s thoughts on Clinique’s Even Better Eyes Dark Circle Corrector. And here’s her official response, “The jury is still out”.

    The guy at Sephora told her you put it on in the morning after your moisturizer. And she says she can tell her makeup goes on smoother over it, but it’s too soon to tell if it’s actually improving her dark circles. She promises to keep us posted.

    But she did want me to tell y’all that the tip that has made the most significant impact on her dark circles was something the makeup consultant at a Laura Mercier counter told her a few years ago. Always apply your regular concealer under your eyes last, after all your other makeup is on. The reason is that you are getting mascara residue and other things under your eyes that you can’t even really see, but are making your dark circles more prominent. The concealer covers it.

    And since we’re talking about beauty products, I thought I may as well share a few things I’m using lately that I really love. Some of these are probably repeats from when we’ve discussed it before, but I’m a creature of habit and if something works I stick with it.

    That’s why P and I have been married for fifteen years and counting.

    1. skinceuticals renew overnight dry

    I love this moisturizer. It’s light enough that you could use it in the morning and evening, but I just use it at night. I didn’t use it as much during the summer because I tend to use self-tanner as moisturizer, but I’ve used it daily for the last few weeks and can already tell my skin looks better.

    It’s a little pricey, but I’ve almost had the same jar for a year. A little goes a long way.

    2. skinceuticals retinol 1.0

    Retinol is the key to the youth kingdom. It’s true.

    I only use this every other night because it can irritate my skin if I use it more often, but nothing is better at lightening up the sun spots on my face and smoothing out fine lines.

    3. clarisonic brush

    Do y’all remember that I debated forever about a Clarisonic brush? I couldn’t decide if it was worth the money or not. But I’m here to tell you it was worth it.

    If I had to get rid of everything else, I would keep this. And by everything else, I mean makeup and cleanser type items. I wouldn’t give up my family or anything like that. Probably.

    4. bobbi brown long wear cream shadow

    Here’s the thing about aging. It can do weird things to your eyes. And then you put on your favorite powder eyeshadow and realize it’s kind of all wrinkly. Then you realize that the eyeshadow is just highlighting your wrinkled eyelid.

    And then you drink wine.

    But this cream shadow is great. It goes on smooth and lasts all day. And I can wear it as a base under a powder eyeshadow and get a smooth finish. It’s like Spanx for your eyes.

    5. revlon colorburst lip butter

    This is the best lip product I’ve tried in a long time. It’s smooth and so moisturizing and seems to last for a long time. I bought it in a shade called sugarplum that looks much darker in the tube. It goes on a little more sheer.

    6. diorshow mascara

    So I mentioned I just bought this on Sunday, but I think I’m already sold. It’s the brush. It’s almost like a toothbrush for your eyelashes. I’m a fan.

    7. too faced primed & poreless skin smoothing face primer

    You know how when you get your makeup done at a makeup counter and they try to sell you on the primer? And it kind of feels like a scam?

    Well, I’m here to tell you that a good primer makes a big difference. It makes my skin look smoother, evens out my complexion and, best of all, I don’t have to use nearly as much tinted moisturizer to get good coverage. So, in a way, it pays for itself because I’m saving all that moisturizer.

    There are a lot of different primers on the market, but I really like this one. And a little goes a long way so a tube can last me about six months.

    It also helps that I don’t wear makeup everyday since I write for a living and often wear pajamas until noon.

    8. laura mercier tinted moisturizer

    This has been my favorite for a long time. It feels light and doesn’t look like you’re wearing anything. It’s just a better version of your skin.

    9. covergirl natureluxe gloss balm

    I bought this on a whim at Target one day and have not regretted it. It has been my summer go-to lip balm. I have a shade called Spice. It goes on really sheer, makes your lips feel moisturized, and has a little bit of a shimmer to it.

    10. essie merino cool

    So technically this isn’t makeup. It’s nail polish. But I think this will be my preferred shade this fall and winter.

    Right now I’m wearing a very subtle shade of SWEET MERCY IT’S FUSCHIA on my toes. That’s not the official name, but it should be. That’s what I get for just telling the lady at the pedicure place to paint my toes the same color as Caroline’s.

    Okay, now you’ve got to return the favor. What are your must have beauty products right now?

  • The weekend of the labor

    Is it already Wednesday? Because this is what happens to me after a holiday weekend. I’m disoriented and confused about my days and can barely remember what I did on Saturday because, well, it was four days ago.

    On Friday afternoon Caroline went home from school with a friend and then I picked her up so we could meet Mimi and Bops for dinner. As we drove to dinner I informed her that she was not allowed to wake me up the next morning because I know how her little body works. Her internal alarm automatically resets itself for 7:00 a.m. no matter what, while my internal alarm doesn’t really comprehend 7:00 a.m. That’s an hour for farmers and chickens and kids who have to go to school. And none of those things apply to us on a Saturday morning.

    And the chickens and farmers apply to us never.

    So she let me sleep in while she watched one of the myriad of survival type shows available on Netflix. This is her new thing. She loves a survival type show. There is nothing that excites her more than someone who has to live for days off the leg of a dead antelope while dodging the most poisonous snakes in the world.

    She and P were watching one of these shows together. I’m not sure what the name of it is but it’s a husband and wife who are both Bear Grylls wannabes. As they sat there watching this madness, Caroline said, “Dad! You and Mom should be on one of these shows!”

    I heard P say, “Your mother has been known to leave a vacation early because the hotel didn’t have a ceiling fan and she was hot. She’s not really cut out for survival.”

    And I really wanted to defend myself but I was so comfortable and felt like it was going to take a lot of effort to walk into the next room.

    Anyway, on Sunday morning P took Caroline and Gulley’s boys to the ranch for a day of fishing.

    Needless to say, they had to have chocolate donuts to fortify them for the long day and all the hard work that lay ahead.

    After they left I posted that picture of them on Facebook. And then one of my friends, AJ, commented that the most important question was what were Gulley and I going to do all day since the kids were gone. Which was a valid question.

    Gulley and I have this thing we say and I don’t even really know when it started. But whenever one of us is having a bad day or is tired or we just wish we had time to hang out together, we will say, “I wish we could just get in the bed and eat some fried chicken”.

    Let me just clarify that neither of us has ever eaten fried chicken in bed. Because that seems kind of gross and unsanitary. I think it originally began as two separate concepts that might make a day better.

    Eat fried chicken.

    Get in bed.

    See? They work better as separate entities. But in our own language we just combined it into one event. Apparently it was too difficult for us to add an “and then” into the equation.

    And so we decided against answering AJ’s question in the comments on Facebook because do I really want someone I haven’t seen since high school thinking I’ve turned into someone who eats fried chicken in bed?

    The answer is no. No I do not.

    Anyway, Gulley did bring over Church’s chicken for lunch. But we ate it at the table. And then we sat on the couch and discussed an array of topics before finally landing on skincare. More specifically, the state of our skin after a summer of trying to use sunscreen and wearing large hats and not always succeeding.

    Which is how we ended up at Sephora around 3:30 on Sunday afternoon. Normally I am diametrically opposed to going to the mall on the weekends. A stance, by the way, that was confirmed as soon as we walked through the entrance doors at Forever 21. I had no idea San Antonio has that many people, much less so many people who feel like booty shorts are a valid fashion option.

    Our Sephora mission was two-fold. I needed new mascara. Gulley had read about Clinique’s new under-eye dark circle corrector. Oh, and we also wanted to try Dior Airflash foundation because a friend had said it was the best, most natural coverage ever.

    But when we found the Airflash, we realized it was actually a spray on foundation. Which explains why it’s called Airflash. You have to shake it like spray paint and then spray it on your face. I’m sure it works beautifully, as well it should at $60, but there isn’t really a universe where I can imagine spraying my face with something every morning. It would only be a matter of time before it would get in my eyes and earn me a trip to the ER where I’d have to write “Makeup Application Tragedy” on my admission form.

    However, I did decide to buy a tube of Dior Show Mascara. I’ve debated about it forever but finally took the plunge and I have to say that I love it so far. It’s a great consistency and has a big fluffy applicator brush that’s easy to use. I mean, it hasn’t made me look like Sophia Loren or anything but it’s not bad and definitely better than the L’Oreal Voluminous I’d been using.

    And Gulley bought her Clinique under eye corrector. The guy who was ringing up her purchase was BESIDE HIMSELF with excitement over it. He told her it’s one of the best products he’s ever used and has already made a huge difference in his under eye circles even though he didn’t use it that morning because he was hung over and what was the point and he didn’t want to waste it.

    I was standing there trying to take all that in when he handed me a small sample of it to try for myself because “ONCE YOU SEE HOW AMAZING YOUR FRIEND LOOKS YOU’LL HAVE TO HAVE IT”.

    Which kind of made the whole trip to the mall worth it. It was so much better than eating fried chicken in the bed.

    Then on Monday we debated going to the pool for one last hurrah. But Caroline said she was sick of the pool and didn’t want to go. So we got pedicures instead.

    And that was officially the end of our summer.

  • It’s like a little book club

    I know you’ve all spent the weekend wondering how we spent our Labor Day weekend here, but I’m going to save that for tomorrow.

    (Please tell me you can feel the sarcasm in the previous sentence.)

    Today there are two books I want to tell you about because the authors are both near and dear to my heart. Not to mention that they are both incredible at what they do.

    The first is Perfectly Unique: Praising God from Head to Foot by Annie Downs.

    This one is so special to me because I first met Annie at a writing conference almost five years ago. And she had just quit her teaching job and was about to move to Nashville to pursue her dream of being a writer. Which made her the bravest person I know. Plus, she was in her twenties at the time and I have a special place in my heart for girls in their twenties trying to find their way.

    Anyway, that conference didn’t really go that well for either of us. I mean, we had people who acted mildly interested in the books we were thinking about writing but no one handed us a contract or anything. In fact, one lady who shall remain nameless told me no one would really be interested in my “cute stories”.

    Thank you. That was my heart you just crushed.

    But Annie kept pursuing her dream and never gave up and I’ve felt like a proud big sister watching her sign a contract with Zondervan and get Perfectly Unique published.

    It’s the perfect book to buy for a young pre-teen/teenage girl in your life who might be struggling to love herself and the way God made her. (And isn’t that all girls that age?) Annie has the unique gift of being vulnerable, funny and relatable all at the same time. You will love her.

    The second book is Mended: Pieces of A Life Made Whole by Angie Smith. Angie is one of the most gifted writers I’ve ever read. Seriously. I read the things she writes and pretty much decide that I should never write again because I’ll never say it as great as she does. And she has the ability to make you laugh and cry and think. Sometimes all at the same time.

    I love this description of the book. “Mended takes you on a journey to show how faith lived in the regular events of daily life is all that it takes to be a part of creating God’s picture of redemption in your life and those around you. Your life does make a difference—because of how He is magnified in the cracks.”

    The stories in this book will change you. I know that to be true because God has used Angie’s words to show me so much about myself, good and bad. And in honor of Angie’s new book her publisher is going to give one of you the opportunity for a full day at the spa for you and a friend just for sharing your story. Click over and read Angie’s latest post for all the details.

    (Make sure you read the whole post and not just about the contest because the post is amazing. I cried. And I laughed. But mainly I cried because I related so much.)

    3. Okay, I didn’t know about this one until I checked twitter this morning, but now I think you need to know about it too.

    Emily Freeman has a new book out that’s also for teenage girls. It’s called Graceful: Letting Go of Your Try Hard Life.

    It’s a book about the girl who is trying so hard to be perfect and do everything right that she’s missing the joy and freedom that Christ intends for us to have. And Emily has the gift of speaking teen girl. I plan to buy Emily’s book and Annie’s book and give them to Caroline to read in about a year.

    So there you go. Three great ways to add to your book collection on a Tuesday.

    Tomorrow I’ll be back with a report about mascara and other important news.

  • Fashion Friday: Edition it’s a holiday weekend

    I almost hate to mention this for fear of jinxing it, but then I remembered I don’t believe in jinxes so I’m hoping it’s okay.

    We have had no wardrobe drama this school year.

    Granted, we’re only five days in.

    But we majorly cleaned out Caroline’s closet the week before school began. It was fairly easy since she had basically outgrown almost everything and decided she no longer likes anything plaid.

    On the first day of school she had her outfit all ready to go so that was easy. But then the next day I noticed she finished breakfast, announced she was going to her room to get dressed, and came out ten minutes later wearing something that passed as acceptable.

    (Sure, it’s probably not what I would have picked but I’m done climbing that mountain.)

    Not only that, she’d even managed to put her hair in a side ponytail with a bow all by herself.

    What is happening?

    I thought maybe it was a fluke. A one time thing. But she’s done it every day this week.

    Which is so much better and less stress-inducing than our old method of her asking me to pick out something just so she could reject it. I think she’s finally realized that maybe you shouldn’t make your mother want to drink before 8 a.m.

    We’ll see if it lasts.

    Anyway, here are a few things I’ve found this week:

    1. leopard print belt

    I saw this in Old Navy and it is just perfect. A good leopard print. I can totally picture it with some colored jeans and a denim shirt. Or maybe around a cute tunic of some sort.

    2. bus friends cardigan

    I like this. It’s a little Joseph and his coat of many colors, but it’s fun.

    3. noticed everyday coat

    This is just red and fun. And red.

    4. wool blend cardigan

    Why am I looking at stuff like this when it’s 100 degrees outside?

    5. sunset in the fall cardigan

    And this. But it might be really cute around Thanksgiving when the temps plunge into the 60s.

    6. lenny and eva bracelet

    I love these Lenny and Eva bracelets. And the one pictured above is really special because all profits go straight to World Vision.

    But there are tons of other options and colors and styles. I don’t know how I’ll ever decide what I want.

    7. pintuck texture tunic

    I adore this tunic. I would like one in every color.

    8. rockstar super skinny jeans

    My friend Steph told me one of her friends told her about these jeans. They’re inexpensive, come in a ton of great colors and are the perfect way to enjoy the colored jean trend without a big investment.

    But a warning. The pockets aren’t very flattering so you may want to only wear them if you’re wearing a longer top. However, I tend to think that’s a good rule of thumb for skinny jeans in general.

    9. maxi skirt

    I’m a fan of the maxi skirt. Especially when they’re made of cotton and comfortable and you can throw them on and look like you put some effort into your appearance.

    10. mia calvary boots

    If you’re looking for a cute boot that’s reasonably priced, these may be it.

    That’s all for today.

    Y’all have a great Friday.

  • Sometimes Wednesdays are boring

    After y’alls comments yesterday I feel like I need to try about forty-two different kinds of mascara. I don’t know how I’ll ever decide. But I’ll keep you posted on what I end up with and if I love it and adore it and have people stop me on the street to ask about my eyelashes.

    Here’s how our week is going. Please lower your expectations.

    On Monday morning we jumped right out of bed. Then on Tuesday morning we still managed to have a little spring in our step and were even ready in time to walk to school.

    Yesterday morning we slept until the alarm went off. And I was in such a stupor that I walked into the kitchen, poured Caroline a bowl of Cheerios and then threw the spoon in the trash.

    So basically we’re only three days in and I’ve reached a low.

    Oh. And I also realized after I’d dropped her off that I forgot to pack her water bottle.

    This doesn’t really bode well for the rest of the year. Or maybe I’m just having to readjust to a real schedule where we actually have to be somewhere at a certain time.

    I spent most of the day running errands and ended up at Michaels. Which led to me feel completely inadequate because I see all these cute crafty-type items and think that maybe this will be the year I make some fabulous wreath for the back door or stack some faux bales of hay by the back steps with a wagon full of pumpkins, but deep inside I know it’s all lies. LIES. Because I’m more of a pay someone to make something really cute for me kind of person than a make something cute kind of person.

    And even though I can find a step-by-step tutorial on Pinterest on how to make my pumpkins look like mummies or witches or preppy argyle sweaters, I tend to just pin those things as if that will make them magically appear on my porch.

    So I left Michaels pretty much empty-handed. And certainly not any closer to coming up with a fall centerpiece for my dining room table. Any suggestions are appreciated.

    (This should be the point in the post where you realize I really have nothing to write about if I’m talking this much about Michaels)

    After I picked Caroline up from school we ran by Academy because she needed new soccer cleats since her foot basically grew two sizes over the summer. That’s not even an exaggeration.

    We spent the better part of my life in the shoe aisle at Academy looking at all the various cleats. Because it’s not just about which ones feel the best, it’s about which ones look the best. And I appreciate that. I really do.

    But for the love of all that is good and pure, just make a decision.

    She finally decided on the pink and black Adidas. Which is when we realized they didn’t have her size. And so she ended up with some gold and white Pumas that I assured her looked “fierce” and she informed me I pronounced “Puma” the wrong way.

    Why do you want to correct your mother who’s buying you new soccer cleats?

    And then we bought a new pair of running shorts because that is apparently going to be her standard attire again this year.

    Then I came home and took two Advil.

    And that was our day.

  • Because six is the number I pulled out of a hat

    Well, the good news is my car is legal again. I took it back to the service station around noon yesterday and the whole thing only took about five minutes. Which made me feel a little stupid about putting it off for so long. And for about three seconds I felt inspired to do a few other things I’ve been procrastinating on, but that feeling pretty much passed as soon as I drove out of the parking lot.

    There are a couple or six things I wanted to share with y’all.

    1. I’m almost out of mascara. Which means I’m in the market for a great mascara that will perform eyelash miracles. Please let me know if you have any suggestions.

    2. My wonderful and extremely patient agent, Bill Jensen, posted this link on his Facebook page. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to write a book this pretty much sums it up. I laughed until I cried.

    3. Speaking of books, several of y’all (at least two) have asked about my book, Sparkly Green Earrings. It’s all finished. Cover art and everything. And it’s coming out the first week of February.

    I’ll be here alternating between excitement and wanting to curl up in the fetal position if you need me.

    4. If you haven’t watched this Feel Inside (And Stuff) video by Flight of The Conchords then your life isn’t as good as it could be.

    5. I kind of fell off the fitness wagon this summer and have got to get back on. But I can’t run everyday because I hate running. And I can’t face doing The Shred because it makes me so dang angry. Not to mention that I can’t even get off the toilet seat for the first five days after I do it.

    So I ordered Body by Bethenny. I’ll let you know how it goes. I hear those exercise DVDs can really work if you actually put them in your DVR an use them.

    6. I wrote a post about football movies on Ree’s blog. You can read it here.

    I’m slightly depressed about the whole thing now that the Aggies season opener has been rescheduled due to Hurricane Isaac but I guess that makes sense because, you know, it’s a hurricane. Stay safe if you’re on the Gulf Coast.

    And that’s it for today. I know it’s brief but back to school is kind of kicking my rear end this week. I mean, did you not read the part about how I had to get my car inspected? It was exhausting.

    Y’all have a great day.