Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Makeup

I have never successfully worn daily makeup but, as I alluded to in my post about my new work appearance, I am putting bb cream on everyday now. I really like how it evens out my skin enough that I notice.

The problem is, even with this absurdly small amount of makeup, I am a disaster. I touch my face WAY too much.

Here is my lab coat sleeve. Ew, right?



(I mainly used this one cause I still find it amusing that I use expensive scientific slurpee straws to weigh stuff out.)


So, how do I keep my hands off my face or is it normal to have residue?

In my own defense mainly it is using my face to pull up my sleeves. Hmm, possibly not a great defense.


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Friday, February 21, 2014

On the virtues of thrift shopping

Note: this post was started on Tuesday and topical but it turns out that leisurely pumping time isn't so leisurely.

Monday was a holiday and around here goofy bank holidays mean half off of everything at Value Village! I went to find some new work pants (a size down!).

Let me count the reasons why:
1. Recycling.
When I was a kid one of my aunts was a thrifting maniac. She would tear those places up. And despite benefiting from it many times (hello barely used Barbie dream house) I hated it. It was so annoying waiting in the car for her to comb through the aisles, I always felt weird eating off of her dishes that had belonged to other people, I hated the stale smell of the clothes I tried on. I had all sorts of issues with it. Until she explained to my third grade mind that it is the best form of recycling. Since at the time recycling was my passion in life (we had recycled and saved all year in our class to buy earth day shirts for our Recycle Rapper concert) I was sold. It wasn't until grad school that I started thrifting for myself but I had a much better attitude about the stale pile of clothes from then on.

2. Lots of variety
One of the things I find frustrating about shopping for clothes in stores like Loft or Banana Republic is that they tend to have a few cuts of pants per season and not a very large selection (I know this varies). In a large enough thrift store there is always a large selection of brands, colors, cuts. Often none of them appeal and you can't ask the sales person to go fetch your size but at least there are choices.

3. Allows you to shop for current weight.
I am conflicted when I'm working on losing weight, I think a person should dress to feel confident but it feels like a silly waste if you'll only be in a certain size for a short time.

4. I am a short tight wad
I already die a little inside when I do spend full price on things but add the additional insult that I need to get pants and dresses hemmed and it is full out seizure time. But I can invest in tailoring if I didn't spend an arm and a leg in the first place (then you definitely need tailoring, ha!).

5. The hunt.
This is certainly a biggie, it is a lot of fun to find an awesome deal or a new favorite piece of clothing. It is a low pressure shopping experience for me.

There are downsides too. I will often make silly purchases there and wind up never wearing the clothes. I will never be bothered to return clothes to a thrift store where I certainly would at a department store. And there is always the question of it still being a waste of resources, even if it is second hand.

I do however think that thrifting is the way to go for a lot of reasons. There are tons of tons of used clothes that thrift stores wind up selling by the pound into an outrageous stream of excess fabric , the fate of which I am still not savvy enough to understand. The rise of global e-commerce and the ability to get your own personal shit ton of new clothes isn't helping. Don't get me wrong, I still buy cheap clothes, from places that I probably shouldn't more often than I should. But this is one easy and fun way to minimize.

I might, for my own amusement mostly, write how I approached baby STUFF regarding waste and cost. That has been an interesting mix for me.

Me in a very eclectic mix of thrifter pants, Toms and a shirt I got at Ross which was probably made by a nine year old.
Baby boy in some consigned jammies. All standing in front of some craigslist stuff and our new from the big box store activity mat.





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Monday, February 10, 2014

Two month check in

It has been two months since I went back to work and a full month since the whole family started the daycare/work commute. And so far, so good.

Baby boy is thriving. He is fun and active and figuring out more and more new things every day.

I am less homicidal at work and have gotten to a much better place about my current situation. It is time to work on next steps now.

Michael, while I can't speak for him, is definitely enjoying our new life with our little guy. We have a good routine in the mornings which have so far not been stressful.

We still do need to figure out when and how to fit in other priorities and regain momentum for our personal passions and priorities.

I can't remember being sick as much as I have the last few months and, while it'd make more sense to blame this on daycare, it has been going on since before he started intermingling with other children. I honestly feel like it is because of breast feeding. Like maybe since my body is busy providing nutrients in the milk it doesn't leave enough for me to be tip top. And probably trying to lose weight and start running in addition to that exacerbates the problem. Writing that makes me realize that it is on me then to focus on getting the nutrition and rest I need. And try to be chill about the weight loss part (although it feels so slow and hard and bums me out).

It is amazing that this is just normal life now.

Barrage of funny baby pictures:














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