Year: 2009

Because there’s no such thing as natural beauty

I have a group of girlfriends that have gotten together once a month for dinner for the last three and a half years. We call ourselves Birthday Club, even though there are only 6 of us so, as our husbands like to point out, the math doesn’t really add up. But we are like the government and don’t allow arbitrary numbers to stand in the way of what we want. Not to mention, it’s not like we’re going out 1.2 trillion times a year because that would be an excessive number.

Anyway, last night was Birthday Club. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that we met at Chuy’s because why, oh why, are we going to a chain Mexican restaurant when we live in the Mexican food capital of the world? Actually, Mexico is probably the Mexican food capital of the world but they have an advantage because if you’re visiting Mexico then technically you’re eating Mexican food even if you’re eating a cheeseburger and fries.

But we went to Chuy’s because it’s a fairly convenient location, they have excellent queso and some jalapeno ranch dip that is totally worth all the 30 Day Shred workouts that it will take to work it off.

We covered our usual array of topics in no particular order: Shopping, marriage, kids, shopping, reality television and life in general. However there was one question that I meant to ask and I completely forgot all about it once I got there and got engrossed in the fact that one of them had just bought the cutest jacket from a boutique located inside a carwash. Needless to say, my car is getting washed later today.

Okay, back to the point. In the last two days I have run out of all my makeup essentials. My tinted moisturizer is almost empty, I used the last of my bronzer getting ready last night, and my eyeliner broke in half and cannot be salvaged. In what is an unprecedented circumstance, my entire makeup bag is in need of an overhaul. Sure I could just go out and buy the same stuff I had before, but what if I’m missing out on something great?

I don’t want to spend my life wrapped in a Neutrogena tinted moisturizer bubble and miss out on a blessing that could cover my uneven complexion and make me appear fresh faced and impossibly dewy. (I really don’t like the word dewy, but I’m keeping it there because I can’t think of a better word right now)

So before I just run off to the drugstore or the department store or Sephora all willy nilly, I’d love to know what makeup products you use and love. Like the ones you truly love. I don’t want to know about the lipstick that you kind of like but could live without or the mascara that’s just okay. I want to know the products you can’t live without. The ones you will buy over and over again because they are worth the money.

I will anxiously await your input, but in the meantime I’m planning on staying home all day and avoiding mirrors because the world isn’t ready to see my winter skin without a little bit of bronzer.
The non-caped crusader

So we had a little excitement on Halloween that I failed to mention yesterday. And by failed to mention, I mean that I was coming down from my massive forty-eight hour sugar high and way too tired to find all the words. If you visit here on a regular basis then you know that finding the words isn’t usually much of an issue.

Whether or not they are words worthy of five minutes of your life is debatable.

Saturday morning started with yet another mighty Rainbows soccer game. As we near the end of the season we are so proud that our team has really come together and embraced all that is good and true about playing soccer, as evidenced by the fact that they are all highly concerned about whose mom is bringing snacks to the game and what the aforementioned snacks will be and when, OH WHEN, can they eat the snacks? How long, O Lord, until snack time? HOW LONG?

We came home after the game with big plans to spend the day doing absolutely nothing but resting up for a big night of trick-or-treating. It was a gorgeous fall day so I spread out a blanket in the backyard and prepared to spend a leisurely afternoon perusing the vast quantity of Christmas catalogs that arrived in the mail that day because heaven forbid we get even one day of rest between holidays before we are bombarded with reminders that time is running out to get ready for the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER.

While I looked at the catalogs, Caroline was busy serving fake tea to Scout and Bruiser and P was attempting to make a homemade windshield for his Polaris out of plexiglass.

On a side note, I do not have a good feeling about the stability of this homemade windshield and if I could ask Santa for just one thing this year it would be to witness the moment that the plexiglass windshield falls apart and the ensuing non-Sunday school words that will come out of P’s mouth as it shatters on a ranch road somewhere in South Texas. That may seem like a twisted wish, but even P knows that there is nothing that brings me more delight than seeing him on a tirade about any sort of mechanical failure. It’s a sickness.

I’d just stumbled upon a page in the Garnet Hill catalog that featured this darling Buckets of Joy Advent Calendar and decided that I would recreate that crafty idea all by myself. I was ready to declare it Christmas Project ’09. However, when I showed it to P so he could admire all its cuteness and my thriftiness in declaring it Christmas Project ’09 instead of just buying it from the catalog, he totally killed my Martha buzz by asking, “Where on earth do you think we have room to hang 25 buckets in our house?”

“They’re not buckets. They’re tiny pails.”

“Ok. Where do we have room to hang 25 tiny pails in our house?”

Christmas Project ’09 was dead on arrival. Probably much like a homemade plexiglass windshield.

Anyway, I’d just found the tiny pails of Christmas joy when the phone rang. It was my sister and I could tell when I heard her voice that something was wrong. She said, “I don’t want you to freak out, but Mimi and Bops were just in a wreck on the way to our house.” My heart stopped for about three minutes until I was able to get Bops on the phone and hear that everything seemed to be okay even though they were taking Mimi to the hospital just to be on the safe side.

Apparently, they were heading down the street and a car didn’t feel the need to yield to oncoming traffic so it swerved around the car in front of it that was yielding and hit the passenger side of my dad’s car. And then, AND THEN, tried to speed away from the scene of the accident.

But what Mr. Hit and Run didn’t realize was that he’d just rammed into the Texas roadway equivalent of Batman. My dad had the presence of mind to block the driver’s getaway attempt and force him to turn into the closest parking lot where he was trapped like a rat. A dirty rat.

Mimi and Bops actually made it to our house in time to do some trick-or-treating later that night and didn’t seem too much worse for the wear. Of course it probably helped that I poured them each a glass of wine in a plastic cup to drink as we walked door to door. It was purely for medicinal purposes.

Because nobody ever said it was easy to be Batman. Or his sidekick.

Even on Halloween.
Night of the living scaredy cat

Honestly, I’m glad Halloween is over. It’s not that I don’t love the costumes, the candy, carving pumpkins, and the candy, but I am a pansy. You may wonder what that has to do with anything and I’ll tell you. All the scary movies that come on T.V. the week before Halloween are my nemesis. I cannot stand scary movies. I’ll be as bold to say they are worse than stirrup pants and pet guinea pigs.

There is nothing that ruins my television viewing experience like flipping through the channels and inadvertently stumbling upon Halloween 12: The Repeated Revenge of Michael Myers. The worst part is P loves a good scary movie because they don’t scare him at all. He enjoys dissecting the movie into all the different reasons it’s an implausible story line with the number one reason being that if there’s a deranged killer on the loose then why isn’t anyone carrying a gun? Says the man who plays pool while wearing a sidearm.

All I know is that he talked me into watching some terrible movie called Urban Legend a few years ago under the guise that it was so stupid that even I couldn’t be scared and I didn’t sleep for a week afterwards. Oh, and the time that we watched Sixth Sense and it freaked me out so bad that I put the DVD back in its case and put it outside. Because that’s normal.

I’m a pansy. I own it.

Nevertheless, we had a great Halloween filled with nothing much scarier than a southern belle who referred to herself as “Scarlett O’Harris” and a gladiator.

Unfortunately, I spent the rest of the weekend not feeling very well. I don’t want to say it was all the Reeses I ate, so I’ll blame the Butterfingers instead.
Happy Halloween

I’m not sure how we went from this:

to this:

But I’m pretty sure it happened when I blinked my eyes.

May your Halloween be filled with all manner of ducks, southern belles, and especially Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.

However, if you come to my house don’t have your heart set on the Reeses.

They were gone like the wind.
Edition 72: Fashion Friday

We had a big day yesterday, complete with our first gymnastics class and a makeup soccer game for the mighty Rainbows. It actually wasn’t our very first gymnastics class, but rather our first gymnastics class of the year. I thought we were done with gymnastics but we are in the midst of a gymnastics resurgence that I like to refer to as our gymnaissance.

On the plus side, our double-header of activities will only last one more week until soccer season ends. On the minus side, I was so tired by the time the afternoon was over that I went to dig the Reeses Peanut Butter Cups intended for trick-or-treaters off the top laundry room shelf where I hid them from myself and managed to cause a full package of assorted candy bars to fall on my head.

Unfortunately I didn’t let my head injury keep me from indulging in a peanut butter cup or two. Or five.

But let’s not focus on that because that’s not what today is about. Today is all about the winter coat and/or jacket. I have a deep, ongoing love affair with the jacket as evidenced by the many, many jackets I have collected over the years. Whenever I do my semi-annual closet cleanout, I can make myself get rid of many a clothing item, but never a jacket or a coat.

Which explains the cranberry red wool peacoat in my closet that I bought in 1997 and the denim trenchcoat with a faux fur collar that I bought when Gulley and I took a trip to New York in 2002. It’s not that I ever really wear either of them (I think the red peacoat has shoulder pads) but I can’t bear to let them go.

So here is my list of ten great coats/jackets for this season. As you look at the ones I love, please keep in mind that I live in a climate akin to the center of the equator. Which is to say, some of these coats may not keep you very warm, but they will keep you very fashionable.

And isn’t that the most important thing?

1. Park Avenue Coat

I just think this is the cutest thing. Plus it’s the pick of the week at Francescas and that means it’s on sale. Just think how great it would look with jeans and boots or even all dressed up with a black pencil skirt or pants.

And you seriously have to give some credit to the houndstooth print because it has some staying power. I’ve had something houndstooth in my closet for the last thirty-something years. It’s a classic.

2. Effortless Velvet Coat

If you don’t want to covet then don’t look at this coat. It is a delight and a wonder. It’s an effortless velvet coat.

Sophie called me last week and told me her best friend, EK, had this coat on at the Mississippi State game and it was totally fab. This is that coat.

And it’s totally fab.

The only problem is that Boden makes my bank account sad.

3. Hailey Plaid Coat

I know I’ve linked to approximately 452 variations of the plaid coat this fall, but I am a fan of the plaid coat and I don’t care who knows it.

4. Aeryn Double Breasted Cashmere Coat

A few years back we had to attend an outdoor wedding on one of the coldest December nights I can remember. I didn’t have a warm, dressy coat so Mimi let me borrow her black cashmere coat and it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. It was like being wrapped in buttah.

Although being wrapped in butter would probably feel kind of gross and that’s not how this felt at all. It felt like a warm hug made of fairy dust and bunny tails.

5. Double Breasted Ruffle Coat

I don’t mean to get political, but I am of the belief that you can’t go wrong with a ruffle on a coat.

6. Birling Ruffle Coat

While I am a little on the fence about the staying power of the red and black checked combo, I adore the style of this jacket. It may not be for everyone but if you are a frilly kind of girl with a penchant for wearing patterns favored by lumberjacks everywhere, then I think this may be your coat.

7. From Russia, With Love Coat

This is just a great classic coat. Love the chocolate brown. Love the faux fur collar. Love the cut.

8. Cloud Spotter Mac

Late this summer, Boden marked down their raincoats to 75% off and I almost bought one about a million times. It was like a daily obsession to go see if they still had my size available. And then once I knew that it was there and available, I was content to just leave it in the online cart and put off making a commitment.

Somewhere in the above paragraph is a metaphor for my late teens and early twenties, but I’m going to ignore it.

The point is that I never ordered the coat because it hadn’t rained in two years and it seemed frivolous to order a raincoat even if it was 75% off. And, I kid you not, since the day they ran out of my size in the on sale raincoat it has rained about 15 inches. Shopping FAIL.

Anyway, this raincoat is darling and I truly hope it goes on sale because, in the words of The Who, I won’t be fooled again.

9. Leopard Fur Coat

I hate to bring you down on a Friday with my tale of woe but I’m going to do it anyway.

Years and years ago, I bought this unbelievably darling leopard fur coat. I just happened to spy it in the window of some totally cheesy store at the mall. (I want to say it was Chess King, but even I have my limits. It may have been a Merry-Go-Round.) As if led by the sweet hand of destiny, I went in the store, tried on the coat, and discovered it was only $49.99.

I loved that coat.

Then I attended a baby shower at some upscale restaurant in downtown Austin and, while I was inside ooohing an aaahing over some blue satin blankets and pacifiers, some hoodlums smashed out the window of my sweet white Ford Taurus (company car) and stole my leopard jacket. And also all my makeup and a leather jacket from Harolds. Needless to say, it was tragic.

And I learned that insurance cannot replace a $49.99 leopard fur coat from a cheesy mall store.

10. Faux Suede and Shearling Coat

I am so tempted to tell you about the beautiful faux suede coat that I bought years ago at Wet Seal, but I really need to quit admitting that I actually shop in those stores on occasion. I’m just millimeters away from uttering the phrase, “When I was looking around at Hot Topic the other day…”

Anyway, I love this coat. I have always been a fan of suede and shearling paired together because it’s just that whole Western-influenced style that I adore. This would look so great with a pair of jeans, some cowboy boots and gorgeous turquoise jewelry.

And that’s a wrap.

Or a coat or whatever.

I also want to add that you can find some really great bargains on coats and/or jackets at TJ Maxx, Marshalls and places like that but I am limited to showing you things I can find online. So let this just serve as a guideline, if you will, to help you find the coat that best suits your needs.

If all else fails, you can always go see what they have in stock at Journeyz.
A giveaway and the best dip ever

Before I write anything else, I need to let you know that there is a brand new giveaway on my Giveaway page. And it’s good. It’s so, so good and just in time for the Christmas season.

On a totally different note, I’d totally planned to wait and post the fabulous dip recipe after I actually made it so I could include an incredibly below average photographed tutorial to go along with it. There is nothing I enjoy more than some blurry photography in a poorly lit environment.

But then I realized that you wouldn’t be able to make the dip for any Halloween festivities that you may have planned for Saturday night and that would be a tragedy. I mean, not a real tragedy like when you get your bangs cut too short or get a little overzealous while plucking your eyebrows, but the kind of tragedy where you’d be forced to serve your guests some Hidden Valley ranch dip instead of something exciting and new.

(Not that there’s anything wrong with Hidden Valley ranch dip. I find it delicious with tortilla chips, french fries, vegetables and even air.)

So here’s the dip recipe:

Sweet Ancho Chile Relish Dip

16 oz. cream cheese, softened (I use 1/3 less fat because I’m delusional)
1 jar of Jim Severson Ancho Chile Relish (available at HEB stores, otherwise you might have to order it off the internet)
6-8 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled
3-4 green onions, chopped

Spread softened cream cheese on a small plate, pour the Sweet Ancho Chile Relish over the top (probably about half the jar). Top it with fried, crumbled bacon pieces and green onions. Serve with crackers.

It is beyond delightful and so easy.

Also, I just want to dispel any rumors that this has turned into a cooking blog since I’ve posted recipes two days in a row.

(Not that any one has started those rumors but I like to be proactive)

It’s still very much a blog about absolutely nothing. I take that responsibility very seriously.

Okay, now go check out the giveaway!

***Don’t leave your comment to enter the giveaway on this post. Leave it in the comments on the giveaway page.