Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Bite

What is this new lipstick??  Just came across my inbox today from Lifestyle Mirror...BITE lipstick.  Such a catchy name and a look at Sephora tells us this:

With this unique formula, one swipe leaves a lush velvet finish for hours of moisturizing color. Organic fruit butters create a creamy texture that conditions and nourishes lips with every use, while antioxidant-rich Resveratrol fights free radicals and helps reduce the appearance of lines. This richly pigmented matte wash of color was created using a unique mix of pigments, powders, and oils for a hydrating finish. 

The above description sings to me...organic fruit butters...lush velvet finish. Most importantly, it contains none of the following:  Parabens, sulfates, synthetic fragrances, synthetic dyes, petrochemicals or phthalates (what kind of word is that??)

Uhh, have I mentioned I am the biggest sucker for copy??  The next time I come across a Sephora (which I hope is today), I'm going to have to purchase.  If you can't wait and want to purchase online, go here.  And, then tell me what you think!



Monday, April 29, 2013

Little white lies?

Ohh, the honesty of children...last week my mother finally had the opportunity to watch D for an entire half a day.  My mother is not a consummate mother, quite the opposite rather.  She would rather watch TV than spend time with her granddaughter.  Add that kind of attitude to my own daughter's attitude of not wanting to be with her grandmother for sheer reason stated above - children can sense when someone is not truly into them.  And, D really just would rather just be with her parents.  Her peeps.

But, the two of them had a lovely day...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Slowing down


Southwest Airlines’ Spirit magazine has the best articles. I always take this magazine off the plane with me.

This month, they had an article on Slowing Down ("Not So Fast").  How apropos in today’s times…the author talks about how he and his wife commit to slowing down for 30 days.  Taking the time to cook, walking or biking instead of driving, banning FB and Twitter, which are total time sucks and choosing personal connection over technology.  He then talks about how in his effort to slow down, he then filled up his schedule with “slow” practices which led instead to a “slow frenzy” – just more mellow activities I guess but more of them which of course defeats the purpose.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Praising the child

"Kind words can be powerful motivators, but only if you praise the right things. Praising someone's ability to work hard is more effective than gushing about how brilliant she is...Being praised for effort or other aspects of performance directly under your control leads to resilience, while being praised for being smart or some other innate abilities can lead to feelings of helplessness or self-doubt when a setback occurs. The ideal is to help someone think positively but realistically about achieving goals while praising their hard work. When praised for persistence, those who think the path ahead will be difficult invest more effort." 
- Heidi Grant Halvorson in Psychology Today (March 2013) 

As a parent I will need to remind myself of this.  I don't believe it is actually that pertinent in early childhood but I can see how being praised for effort during grade school years could be a positive motivator.  As I child, I was rarely praised (because my efforts did not produce "A"s) so in being praised only for attaining the highest grade possible and not achieving, I then began to not achieve anything at all.

Monday, April 22, 2013

Dinner inspiration



The internet is my friend when it comes to cooking.  Truly!

Tonight, I decided I wanted to make lentil soup with a bone broth that I had made previously and frozen.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

A new lippy!

I just bought this new lip tint from Clark's Botanicals. I love the packaging and the color is very sheer.  I love it because the texture is just right - not too moist such that it disappears within a couple minutes (I hate that) and not too thick where it's goopy or sticky.  It's just right and has just the sheerest tint of color with a nice shine.

Friday, April 19, 2013

A letter to her daughter

A few days ago, there was a post in the Huffington Post Parenting Blog where a mother is writing a letter to her 8 year old daughter explaining why she works.  Apparently, her daughter was giving her the guilt trip.  There was one line from this post that struck me:

I work because this nice house and those gymnastics lessons and those sneakers you need to have are all made possible by two incomes.

See, I wonder if that nice house and new sneakers, etc are more something the mom would want her daughter to have.  It's our materialistic, keeping up with the Joneses mentality...consume, consume...

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Setting my girl up for success

My daughter is very strong willed and hates to be "put on the spot" or embarrassed.  Don't tell her what to do...and definitely don't tell her what to do in front of people!  I see that in her and I want to set her up for success too. I don't want to embarrass her in front of people so I know that I need to be proactive when I expect things of her.  For instance, if we are going to meet people and I expect her to greet them, I will prep her beforehand - "D, we are going to meet M and her parents.  Now, it would be polite of you to greet Mr. and Mrs. L when you see them right?"  I do that when my mother is coming over too and D joyfully runs in to greet my mom in Chinese.  And everyone is pleased.

The other night, we didn't prep her and when the friends showed up D was less than eager to greet especially since I jumped in to remind her to greet the adults and I guess that embarrassed her. She was quite grumpy...

It seems like a pain to have to be proactive, but truly, I don't really like being told what to do either and I would rather set her up for success than cut her down.  Sometimes I forget and then I have to remind myself that my opportunity is lost and just to let it go.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Dove moves...

A couple people sent me the link to this very moving video from Dove...http://realbeautysketches.dove.us/

It clearly shows how women's perceptions of themselves can be so off, we tend to be so critical of ourselves and our features that it distorts our own self image. This can absolutely affect the way we present ourselves. Give this video a watch.  It moved me to tears.

Yet I also wonder, how much of our misperceptions stem from childhood? I know I have always thought of myself as having a flat nose and small eyes because that is what my mother had always told me when I was growing up.  Yet, my daughter clearly has my nose and I think it is the cutest nose, especially in profile view.  I always say I have small eyes and my friends all tell me I'm crazy...

Mothers do tend to be quite critical of their daughters.  Or maybe it was just a generational thing.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Pouches

I wonder if the person who invented baby food pouches ever dreamed that this phenomenon would move completely out of the baby years...into toddler and above and now even to adults!


A colleague of mine had recently taken up eating these pouches

Friday, April 12, 2013

Gluten Free and then some...

Our little Waldorf school community is so small right now...nine families to be exact. And would you believe that despite being so small, we have a nut-free, a gluten-free and a couple dairy-free children!  At first one might look at that and be exasperated since we are a co-op lunch bunch.

However, it really makes me think "Hmm, maybe we should all be eating less gluten, nuts..dairy?"  Nah.  Just maybe less gluten.  I'm okay with that since I have several friends who aren't necessarily allergic to gluten but have reported feeling better in their body since giving up gluten electively.

Tomorrow I will be making Sesame Cookies

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Hellllo Boden!

My Boden catalogue came in the mail yesterday!





I love flipping through this catalogue

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Safe cosmetics

My box of goodies just arrived!  Have you heard of Beautycounter?  This brand just launched in February.  A friend of mine turned me onto it as they were outreaching for possible sales consultants for the brand.  Their sales model follows that of Avon so person-to-person.



I ordered the Anytime Eye Cream (since I am always on the lookout for something that will rid me of my wrinkles), the Routine Clean Cream Cleanser (coconut oil base!) and the Every Day AM Hydrating Cream (always need some good hydration in the mornings...which is why I drink a glass of water first thing in the morning).

Monday, April 1, 2013

SPF!

This post will cover some of my favorite sunscreens right now for the face.

I was gifted Coola Unscented Mineral Sunscreen Matte Finish Tint SPF 30 and I love it because it's all organic and has a skindeep rating of 3.  That's not too bad.