New Look & News

There’s a big-for-me makeup change in my life. Huh? “Girl, you don’t even own an intact makeup mirror!!!” :-D I know, I know! That actually plays into this: for over a decade, the only two things I put on my face every single day have been eyeliner & lip stuff. I have *no* eyelashes, so without eyeliner, I look like I haven’t slept in days. I even bought an eyelash curler once, and my lashes were so short, it couldn’t grab onto anything to curl! I don’t usually succumb to hair & makeup trends, but so many friends around here either have eyelash extensions or do Rodan + Fields Lash Boost = beautiful!!! I love the idea of eyelash extensions, b/c they are instant & gorgeous in person! But they can inhibit your real eyelash growth over time, and y’all know I’m too cheap for that maintenance – around here they seem to run ~$75 for 6-8 weeks? I don’t even get my hair cut more than twice a year at Great Clips without a $9 coupon! :-P

I also don’t buy expensive beauty products. Ever. I refuse to get sucked into some insane regimen, when actually think I look just fine au naturale, thank you very much. :-D There will certainly be a time for that down the road!!! You won’t find a more skeptical beauty buyer than me. Enter my BFF, Wendy. When I saw her in person this last summer for the first time in a year, I literally gasped out loud: her eyelashes were the longest I’ve ever seen!!! (& they certainly weren’t always like that!) I grilled her: were those extensions, b/c I had already been thinking about them? Nope – Lash Boost. She’s the one person on earth who I know won’t feed me a line. She doesn’t sell the stuff, and she is as thrifty as I am. Her recommendation was the only reason why I actually pulled the trigger…two full months later. (I told y’all, I don’t give into this stuff easily! :-D)

One swipe of the clear gel along each upper lash line each night before bed. That’s it. Progress:

Currently:

And now in the last few weeks, for the first time in certainly over 20 YEARS, I’ve started leaving the house with NO EYELINER on my upper lash line! :-O I still add just a touch on the outer edges of my lower lash line, because those lashes are still short, and I don’t want to give up the bit of sparkly gold glitter in my signature eyeliner (No. 12. Cappuccino.) ;-) But y’all - this is MONUMENTAL for me: to *naturally* have enough definition there, so that I don’t look half asleep at all times, even without eyeliner?! It may seem small, but it is a huge personal appearance joy. I’m still on my first bottle, over 4 months in, so it’s way cheaper now than extensions, and they’re REAL! Naturally all me!

I haven’t gotten crazy with any mascara, yet, because I live at the gym, and runny mascara is disgusting. I also don’t like rubbing my eyes, so I don’t like the idea of removing waterproof mascara every single night, either. We’ll see. I’m just happy with the totally natural results now, at this point... And I *did* buy a new $2 Elf eyelash curler! ;-)

(Full disclosure: I don’t sell or have any monetary connection to R+F or anything else I commented on this post. Just my straight up, unbiased opinions.)

We’ve got some more - extremely more significant than eyelashes!!! :-D - changes coming up over the next month for our family. (No, we’re absolutely not pregnant! No, we are not moving!) It’s *good* stuff, a bit impatient right now in a period of unknown (so please don’t ask for details; just pray for God‘s favor, provision, & protection) but I can’t wait to be able to share how God works out a certain situation!

In the meantime, more positive, winning attitudes for the kids: Will’s basketball team won an insane game last weekend 35-1. Yes, 1. The other team just scored one free throw. Our team wasn’t cruel – this other team beat two other teams fairly handily this season; we weren’t beating up on a last place team. They had plenty of shots – they just couldn’t make them fall. We were all stunned! It was pretty awesome! :-D Will, #34:

The next day, Will’s team was invited to play in the select tournament outside of our youth league, against teams that have been playing together for years. That was *their* turn for a deep lesson in humility!!! ;-) But it was a great experience, and now they’re ready to come back and dominate again this Saturday!

Annelise is also competing this weekend on Sunday afternoon in a surprise competition that we hadn’t originally planned on. Heat was invited, since we already earned a Summit bid, and there’s no better practice during nationals season than an actual competition! We’re taking the offer!!!