|
|
By Amber, on October 27, 2011, at 8:00 pm A couple years ago I met the new girlfriend (now wife) of Mark’s best friend, and her eyelashes were so amazing that I had to ask whether they were real. It turned out she was using an over the counter lash-growth serum. I looked into it, but it is made with ingredients that have some questionable potential side effects.
Later I came across some information about myristoyl pentapeptide-17, which supposedly does the same thing without side effects. I looked at a number of serums, and settled on one formulated by a small company in Arizona and priced reasonably.
Supposedly it takes 3-4 weeks of twice-daily application to start to see a difference. Life got busy, but I’ve been faithfully applying twice daily to the upper lashes and once daily to the lower. Here are results at 6 weeks (two coats of mascara in each; I even used the same eyeliner just to be consistent):
See the difference? Me neither. The outer corner seems to be in a growth phase so I’ll ignore that. The lower lashes might be microscopically better, or I might just be paying more attention in the last 6 weeks.
Back to the drawing board…
By Amber, on October 25, 2011, at 10:36 pm As promised, a tutorial on the bracelets I recently made! This is going to be picture-heavy.
You will need: a couple feet of beads, leather cording and matching embroidery floss, the bar half of a toggle clasp, scissors, pliers, three needles, tape (I used painter’s tape because it’s sticky but not too sticky), and a measuring tape of some sort.
Continue reading Beaded wrap bracelet: how-to
By Amber, on October 23, 2011, at 10:56 pm What a whirlwind weekend! I spent lot of time with the important Fs: friends, family and food! If you asked Sweet Pea what the best part of the weekend was, she would tell you it was the beautiful Bakhtiari rug that my parents brought her — er, brought Mark and me. They bought it about a decade ago and it doesn’t match the colors in their new home, but it does perfectly match ours! Of course, Sweet Pea doesn’t care — she’s busy loving the fact that she is finally allowed on carpet, which is not the case elsewhere in the house.
She likes that rug so much that she didn’t wake us up by serenading us the way she usually does on weekend mornings. She doesn’t need us for entertainment anymore — not when there are so many little patterns and fringe pieces to pounce on!
I hope you had a nice weekend. Today after our customary enormous Sunday brunch I made another bracelet, and this time I documented the process so I can share it Tuesday or Thursday evening. I also have a random beauty product review to share.
Let’s go get ‘em! Have a great week!
By Amber, on October 20, 2011, at 10:40 pm I can’t believe we are already 2/3 of the way through October! October has long been my favorite month because of crisp weather and changing leaves. We still don’t have changing leaves here in Houston (unless you count the thousands of trees that have been killed by our terrible drought), but we have been enjoying some unseasonably cool weather this week. It’s been amazing and refreshing.
October is also my favorite month because of Halloween and our wedding anniversary! Actually, those days are the same. Win-win! And then comes my birthday at the start of November!
It’s bittersweet to realize that October is almost gone. We’re going out with a bang, though, as we’ve got some fun stuff planned for our anniversary. Oh shoot, I just realized I haven’t bought any Halloween candy, and I was just at Target yesterday! The only candy I love more than Halloween candy is Easter candy!
Be right back, I need to correct this oversight…
By Amber, on October 18, 2011, at 10:42 pm 
Today is Eat, DINK and Be Merry’s second birthday!
I may not have any fancy sponsors (on the other hand, I don’t have any annoying ads, either!) or giveaways, but I appreciate all of you who visit my corner of the internet now and then. Thanks especially to Mark, Heather and my parents for being super-supportive and pretending that everything I write is interesting. ;)
By Amber, on October 16, 2011, at 10:42 pm I have been a bad, bad blogger. Thursday I was so tired I forgot all about blogging until about 11:30 when I was getting ready for bed, and although I thought about writing a post Friday, obviously I didn’t bother. I haven’t even touched the blog I maintain for my Toastmasters club in nearly a month! I don’t think you can call that ‘maintaining.’ I’m ashamed.
I’m a little bit more rested now after three days off, however, so let’s just let bygones be bygones. Did you have a nice weekend? I did. I got a crafty little whim and decided I could whip up some of the bracelets that I’ve been coveting but refuse to pay $100-200 for. Come on, I can put beads, leather and string together for less than that. So I did!
The first one was tricky to get started, but now I’ve got my technique down and I plan to make a few more in various colors.
Have you DIYed lately?
By Amber, on October 11, 2011, at 10:50 pm My favorite role at Toastmasters is Table Topics Master. For one thing, it means I don’t have to answer any questions (even though I really need the practice). More importantly, it lets me be creative. I like to step out of the usual Q&A format when I can. I’ve brought out a bag of props and asked people to sell random, useless items to mismatched buyers. I’ve asked people to give a report on a book they’ve never read and probably never would (although after that one, a couple people asked to borrow ‘their’ book!). Some of them have been so successful that it is getting to be a challenge to come up with new games.
Tonight I got to fill the Table Topics Master role again! I asked people to randomly select three slips of paper, on which I had printed assorted nouns like ‘chicken’ and ‘chainsaw,’ and incorporate those things into the confession they were going to give us about the terrible thing they had done. Some of the answers made me laugh so hard I nearly cried. My club has very creative members!
The best part of the evening was our little stopover at a local watering hole for a quick drink after the meeting. Our social events always far exceed my expectations. Who would think that Toastmasters members would have so much to say..?
By Amber, on October 9, 2011, at 10:58 pm On Saturday I drove three hours to meet my family at the San Marcos Premium Outlets. I mostly stuck to my list! Of course, my list was fairly nebulous: jeans and work dresses. Given those parameters, how could I not be wildly successful?
Having started my new job in the summer, all of my work dresses are summery. I really love wearing dresses to work, so I wanted some that I could wear through fall and winter with tights and boots. I think I did pretty well:
I was especially successful at Michael Kors. I don’t know if it was just my sales associate or they train all of them that well, but the experience was far above what I would expect at any outlet store. Come to think of it, Last Call had pretty good service, too. I think outlets have come a long way. Oh, and for those paying attention to my shopping philosophy: I made sure I spent enough to save enough to make it worth six hours of driving! (PS: thank you, family, for waiting patiently while I tried on a million dresses!)
Do anything fun this weekend? Maybe something more local than I did? ..Or less local?
By Amber, on October 6, 2011, at 9:26 pm I found an activity to fill that empty Thursday evening slot that used to be occupied by spinning class before I left my previous job and its gym!
I started playing cello in 3rd grade and played all the way until I graduated from high school. I went to college with a rowing scholarship, so I didn’t even try to make time to play, and I’ve barely touched it in the years since.
I decided a few days ago that I was ready to start playing again. I can still read music adequately, which is a good surprise. But the actual playing? Oh, it’s awful! It’s so bad compared to what it used to be that I can hardly stand to hear myself.
I might want to take a few private lessons once I get my bearings again, and maybe I’ll even see if I can find a chamber quartet or something, but wow do I have a ways to go. I ordered a book and cd that are designed for adults to teach/re-teach themselves cello, and it should arrive in the next week. I can’t wait! Despite my rasping and squeaking, it felt really good to play a couple of my old favorite pieces (Brandenburg No. 3 and an arrangement from The Moldau).
Rediscovered any old skills lately?
By Amber, on October 4, 2011, at 11:29 pm Has anyone seen my blogging motivation?
I usually come home from Toastmasters and blog, but tonight I took a nap while Mark did the cleaning and then we went for pho, and now it is suddenly super-late o’clock! It’s good to have those days sometimes.
Speaking of pho and good days, we’ve finally gotten a break in the heat and we are down (down is relative) in the high 80s with humidity around 50% or lower. It’s sunroof weather! The last couple days have been the kind that make Houstonians feel like there is no other place in the world they would rather be. We may not have autumn leaves, but we do have this!
|
|
