Facecare

Hiya. So, I’ve seen Harris sneaking around the neighborhood a few times lately — once, a couple days ago when he was chilling under a car out front. I was walking Marnie Mae around the circle when she started barking like mad woman at something. I crouched down to get a better look, and who do you suppose was sitting there totally chillin’ like a villain a few feet away?

Yup, Harris, the neighborhood cat lothario (and, incidentally, Tabs’ former foil).

Anywho, I also spotted him darting across the main street at the base of our hill (I think he was chasing a squirrel), and then again yesterday skulking through the dry grasses, presumably hunting something else.

This post is a reprint in Harris’ honor. He’s still around. I believe he’s about 10 now, still doing what boy cats are apt to do (causing trouble).

What’s up with these damn cat stalkers?! Every week there’s a new one trying to dominate the common area, which sucks because that’s where Tabs likes to do his morning exercises and tai chi.

Every time he goes out there, there’s a different cat skulking around the employee parking area, even though there are signs posted everywhere that say, “No soliciting cats. STEP OFF!” and whenever Tabs turns to head back to the office, there’s always some cat intruder trying to sneak around the corner to make a move on him.

It’s enough to make a cat nervous!

I swear, that’s how it is in cat business these days. Ruthless. If you’re a cat boss, there’s always some new hungry upstart trying to take over. For CFOs (Chief Feline Officers), hostile takeovers are a constant risk…

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. What did you do for your most recent birthday?

I had a lovely casual tea with my peeps, aka El Hub and Connor.

2. How organized are you?

At work my organization is pretty darn great, if I do say so myself. At home it’s another story, ha ha ha!

3. One thing you need to do more often?

Honestly, stretch. I’ve gotten back into the habit of *not* doing it every day and my body suffers when I’m not consistent.

4. What’s the best day of the week?

Saturday!

5. One of your favorite fall activities?

Does eating pecan pie count?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. What did you do for your most recent birthday?
2. How organized are you?
3. One thing you need to do more often?
4. What’s the best day of the week?
5. One of your favorite fall activities?

Hi, friend. Happy Caturday! Goodness gracious gravy. I am overjoyed to be sitting here, just happily typing away about whatever I wanna gab on about, and to not have to deal with a myriad of last-minute, pseudo work emergencies that could’ve been avoided by taking care of one’s administrative tasks early on, OMG! Side note, my day job has been kicking my butt lately.

I really do wish more people understood that 1) getting things done early makes everything easier, and 2) you get more bees with honey.

Anywho, I’m overjoyed that it’s Saturday, the sun is out and that we have a good chunk of the weekend ahead of us. 🙂

Before I sat down to write, I was thinking about how sometimes, I fall into a mode where everything I want to do feels so daunting that I get overwhelmed before I even start.

Like this morning, the first thing my inside voice said to me when I plopped into my chair was, “I’m too tired to sit down and bang away at the keyboard.” It’s been a ongoing internal creative struggle that I’ve been dealing with over the past month, sigh.

I’m realizing, though, how it’s so very easy to fall into a pattern of being too tired to do things, especially when you feel tapped out from adulting in general.

Anyway, I’m over it, so I’m trying to shake things up a little by breaking each task in front of me down to the smallest, easiest version.

The idea is that if I can do even just a little bit of something, that’s more than I would’ve done if I didn’t do anything at all. My hope is that tiny sense of accomplishment will propel me to keep the momentum to move forward.

Today, I told myself that if I could find just three beauty-related stories — ONLY THREE — which I wanted to read and share with you, I would be doing a-ok.

And guess what? I did it!

I will now rejoice in the small victory of doing the tiniest little bit of something.

Have a great rest of your Saturday, and take good care of yourself. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Honestly, so many things…and that makes me wonder what I’m doing now that will make me cringe in the future, ha ha ha!

A couple have been relatively recent, like not washing my hair every day. This was during the phase when my hair was long and caramel brown with blonde streaks, and so to help retain the color and keep it from getting too dry, I would try to see how long I could make it through the week without washing my hair. Some weeks I’d go four or five days without washing it.

On the one hand, this saved me SO MUCH TIME in the morning because I could just do my hair on day one, and then not really have to do it until after I washed it again, so my hair styling time was like one minute in the mornings, which was FANTASTIC.

Also, not having to spend the time in the shower washing and conditioning was great too, but ya know…eventually I just got tired of dealing with an itchy scalp and greasy-feeling roots, and I slowly got back into the habit of washing it every day. This really kicked in when I started working out consistently. Now the thought of having even one-day roots grosses me out.

I also went through a spell where I was wearing full-coverage base every day — primer, foundation, color corrector, concealer, powder, the whole nine yards. It looked great in pics! — but dang, girl…it was WORK. I think at that point I was blocking out at least 45 minutes just to put on makeup.

Now I rarely wear full-coverage base because I can’t tolerating feeling like I’m wearing a ton of stuff on my skin, and the thought of wearing full-coverage all day, every day makes me go YEEOUCH!

And, of course, there were the many questionable beauty decisions I made in the ’90s. The one that haunts me the most is plucking all my eyebrows away!

How about you? What’s something beauty related you used to do that makes you cringe now?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. How closely do you follow trends?

Not very closely, at least according to my makeup bag and my wardrobe at the moment, ha ha ha! I’m finding that classic style on all fronts tends to suit my life at this point in time. I do love to read about trends, though, and was kinda thrilled to find out that skinny jeans are allegedly back in style.

2. Something about the early 2000s that you loved?

I was in my 20s and living in San Francisco, and it felt like there was so much possibility in front of me. It was a fun time to be young in the city!

3. Something about the early 2000s that you loathed?

I had a really hard time with all the uncertainty in my life at that time. As much as youth is celebrated in our culture, I remember having a very difficult navigating work, friendships, relationships and growing up in general.

4. How much would your pet enjoy riding in a pet stroller?

Rosie would hate it, LOL! She loves being outside, but when she’s out and about, she needs a little bit of freedom. I can already see her hissing and lashing out and innocent passersby, sigh.

5. Something that you are on a mission to figure out?

I would like to figure out how to eat a high protein breakfast without it becoming tedious. I get really tired of eggs quickly, and things like sausage or bacon don’t sit well with me early in the morning. There’s always Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and protein shakes, but they get old really fast for me, too. If you have any ideas, please let me know.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. How closely do you follow trends?
2. Something about the early 2000s that you loved?
3. Something about the early 2000s that you loathed?
4. How much would your pet enjoy riding in a pet stroller?
5. Something that you are on a mission to figure out?

Striking poses like he was striking fear into his competitors…as if he actually had any.

Domination — that’s the word that springs to mind when I think of Tabs.

Model. Genius. Boss. Majestic maestro of magnificence.

He was…Mr. Perfect.

For Connor Claire, he was there from the beginning. He was her first best friend.

Guarding the neighborhood…

Then Rosie came along, and she was…different.

She’s always had a lot on her mind, like particle physics…

And picnics. Also brunch.

Of course, she also does a little modeling on the side, mostly to fundraise for her scientific endeavors…

And her music career…

Marnie, our newest employee, is still kinda-sorta learning the ropes.

Let’s just say it’s a work in progress… 😂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

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So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007).

1. Which foreign language would you like to speak fluently: French, Spanish or Chinese?

Spanish because it would be useful for where I live in Northern California. So many times people looking for help have come up to me in stores or walking down the street to me if I speak it, and I always wish I could say yes. I only know a handful of words, though.

2. Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?

Oh my goodness, breakfast for dinner for sure! I once had dinner for breakfast once out of desperation, and I had a terrible stomach ache all day.

3. Pick a job: bookshop owner, makeup artist or a dog walker?

Dog walker, but I’d specialize in small-to-medium sized dogs because hello, big dogs equal big poop, LOL!

4. What’s the secret to having a good day?

I think a big part of it is having the ability to let whatever is bothering you at the moment go. Also, you know what I’ve found also really helps? Assuming that people are coming at you with the best intentions.

5. Which would you rather buy for yourself: liquid lipstick or liquid liner?

I’ll take the liquid liner, please. I need a new one!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Here are the questions to copy/paste with your answers in a comment. Talk to ya soon.

1. Which foreign language would you like to speak fluently: French, Spanish or Chinese?
2. Breakfast for dinner or dinner for breakfast?
3. Pick a job: bookshop owner, makeup artist or a dog walker?
4. What’s the secret to having a good day?
5. Which would you rather buy for yourself: liquid lipstick or liquid liner?

I can’t get over how much Tabs liked carbs! It was crazy. It didn’t make any sense to me. He was a carnivore! — so why did he get more excited about a zinnia flower, a croissant or a piece of toast than a piece of cooked chicken?

The only thing I can think of is that his old dry food (Hill’s Science Diet) contained whole grain wheat and other veggie fillers, which I didn’t think twice about at the time, but then a few years later Tabs was diagnosed as pre-diabetic, and his vet said he should lay off the carbs.

After a while, he progressed to low glycemic grain-free Nutrisca crunchies and grain-free wet food, which he ate…reluctantly.

Well, he loved his nightly wet food (mostly Sheba Paté, but sometimes he got $$$ ZiwiPeak), but I don’t think he loved it as much as he used to love regular Fancy Feast, which has wheat in it to make that delicious gravy.

Over the years, I asked a couple different vets why some cats like to eat grass, other plants and flowers, and they weren’t sure. I guess there are different schools of thought. Some vets think cats do it as an instinct to clean their teeth, because the plant fibers can get down in there between their teeth and gums, or to supplement their diet with certain nutrients that they don’t get from meat, or to force themselves to barf, because it helps them clear out their digestive system. Even wild cats do it.

I don’t know the reason, but I do know that Tabs was a fiend for grass. He’d eat grass and flowers till he barfed every chance he got.

Rosie, on the other hand, has very little interest in grass, carbs and other plants. She craves meat! Yup, especially chicken and turkey.

It’s weird. How about your cats? Will they eat greens if left to their own devices, or are they full-on carnivores?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen