Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Sephora Update

Lipstick is still missing. So I called Sephora (on the very astute advice from my aunt) and they looked for it and decided to send me a gift card for the equal amount. I think that once they realized that our total order combined was close to the amount of taxes and delivery on a compact car, they had to give me something to keep me happy.

In other news, the new beauty regimine is quite the ordeal. Better than botox cream first, then the eye firming lotion, then the face firming lotion, then the skin rev-er upper, then the moisturizer, then the rest of the makeup. I didn't realize I was this ugly.

Ok that was funny.

I have been getting all these emails from Lavalife lately so I finally went in to check. I gave up on the whole internet dating thing because for some odd reason, in this area, and with my profile all I seem to attract are freaks. Or guys from other countries. Who could be freaks. No really, I even put it in my profile "if you're over 40, married or live in another country, I'm not interested" and yet I was still bombarded with guys who were over 50 (!!!) and in other countries. Noteable third world countries to boot.

I digress.

The funniest came today. The whole paragraph is filled with spelling mistakes, spacing errors, english errors, grammar errors, and the like. Not that I'm perfect, but if you can't get the "I am" down properly and at least be consistent with your errors, what's the point. We'll also note that his age said 35 but he looked close to 50 and it wasn't the leather skin tan either.

No no, the best part was this: "Overall a bestfriend with benifits is what we all want. I want someone ican relate to and take a romantic naked walk along the beach."

There are naked beaches in this city?

Sunday, November 19, 2006

The road to hell

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Although I like to think that the road to hell is any one of the interstates in Michigan. Because it seems like whenever I get on one of them, it is with good intentions, and then I end up in hell. Well, not really hell, it's more of a "what the hell?" kind of place, but I'll go with the old saying instead.

I had big plans to go to Sephora to get some new eyeshadow. I was all excited because finally I had a reason to go in to Sephora and actually buy something. Normally I wander around there and have no idea what exactly I am going to get. This time however, I had big plans to purchase the Tarte trio. I had seen it in a magazine, fell in love, and wanted it. So we hit the road.

We went to Twelve Oaks in Novi. Which is this really cool mall, and my aunt hasn't been there in a few years so it was fun to go together since I was seeing it for the first time, and she hadn't been there in a while. Our goal was to go to Sephora and also hit The Limited Too for a gift for my niece. Which is where it went a little off the rails.

They didn't carry that eye stuff in store, I had to get it online. I was pretty much ready to go until my aunt discovered they carried the Bare Escentuals line of makeup. She was interested in the foundation. And that led to a consultation. Which led to getting my makeup done. Which led to me wanting to get some stuff and that led to...well, let's just say that my credit card company should be giving me a big thank you after that. I ended up with this line of skin care products that interestingly enough, I ended up traipsing through Paris looking for with my friend. Some of you might remember the big Paris escapade where Elaine and I went looking for this line of skin care products you could only find in France. I don't know if it's the same stuff, but it's good stuff. I picked up this skin firming lotion, moisturizer, a cleansing toner, and a finishing spray (which was actually pretty cool). The best one though, was the bottle of this stuff that is supposed to be better than Botox. It has managed to firm up the wrinkles I have in my forehead. Wrinkles I have had since I was in my early twenties that have come along as a result of the whole smiling thing. Apparently you have to have no facial expressions should you wish to have no wrinkles. I'm working on the two lines I get in the middle of my eyebrows when I frown. This may require an electronic dog collar for every time I do this. Because I tend to make this one face all the time...which some people might call the "happy face" or the "looking like a normal person who uses the muscles above and between the eyes to show expression". But that's just me...

Needless to say we were in Sephora for a while, and while the sticker shock was killer, I was kind of happy with the purchases. I figured spending that much on something that will help keep my skin looking good (I'm not being shallow, I do have good skin) was definitely worth it. I'm loving the new eye shadow pallette I picked up. It's the Urban Decay Ammo Eye Pallette. The way she did my eyes is so cool. And they look so much bigger, and I hated that about my eyes. The caveat to wearing glasses is that when you don't have them on, your eyes look so much smaller. This should help. I think it's awesome. However, I got home and discovered that my $20 Shiseido lipstick was not in my stuff. I'm worried that it was either left at the store (they're looking in to it) or that it was left in the bag, which I threw out when I was emptying my stuff into my purse. I can't believe I'm actually a little sick about losing a $20 lipstick when I bought an $80 tube of facial firming lotion. That should upset me more shouldn't it?

I should point out here, I'm not totally in love with myself. Or a big freak of a narcissist or anything. I just love stuff like this. Deep down, there's a big girlie girl in there struggling to get out. And when I let her come out to play, she gets a little giddy. And I'm kind of dumb when it comes to makeup. Being able to do it right, makes me happy. Especially considering I wear so little of it, and when I do, it never looks this good. Although, I have a sneaking suspicion it's going to be like a good hair style from the hair salon, lightning won't strike twice.

I also ended up picking up the cutest little outfit for my niece. And a cute little hat for the other niece to go with the outfit I bought last night. I'm kind of pleased that I started my shopping early. I just have to go and pick up the gifts for my sister and brother in law, as well as the gift for my brother and his girlfriend. Maybe the time is going to help me figure out what to get my mom.

Oh let's just go back and look at the pretty shiny things to distract us ok?

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Nothing to say really

I've been toying with posting for the last three days. But then I realize that I really didn't have anything to say. Sure I've had stuff going on, but nothing monumental. Which I think is the curse of having the online blog...what do you do when you have nothing to say?

Staying with my sister and the kids was awesome. Which might provide me with one thing to say, as my youngest niece gets older, she gets funnier. She tried to convince me she couldn't eat her pineapple because it had fat on it. Not because she is anti-fat, just that she doesn't like meat that has a little bit of gristle through it. So the veins in the fruit looked like fat to her. Her little drama-sode was enough to melt even the coldest hearts. Love her.

I'm also trying to decide if I want to go over to Novi, MI this weekend or wait a couple of weeks to get some shopping done. I could go this weekend and also hit Sephora for a new eye shadow combo. Or I could wait it out and just make due with what I have. I have to hit The Limited Too to pick up new outfits for the kiddies. I'm sticking to my budget this year for Christmas. No over spending on the girls.

I want to spend the weekend doing things like sleeping. Or crafting. Or cleaning. Or organizing. Sigh...decisions decisions decisions...

Monday, November 06, 2006

Sometimes I suck

I am a bad friend. Bad bad bad friend.

Here's the deal, I have this really bad habit of not keeping up with my friends. Granted, life is tough when you have so many that you have to keep track of in different cities/parts of the world (hello Elaine, how is Tibet?). My friends are normally pretty good though. Take Frank for instance, he and I talk maybe four times a year but when we do, it's like we spoke last week. Then there are my other friends that I can just drop random emails to "hi, I'm in town for work, want to have lunch?" and they have no problem that I haven't spoken to them in six months. Then there are the friends that I hardly ever talk to because they're so darn busy that I just send an email with a subject line of "I'M COMING TO DALLAS, MEET ME AT THE AIRPORT" and they are totally understanding and meet me at baggage claim.

I admit that I have a serious problem with the whole keeping in touch thing. And I have no idea how to solve it. Thankfully I have so many great friends who don't mind that I don't keep in touch with them every day and they still continue to speak to me. Especially when I pull the "come and help me pack my apartment on your only day off" line. I think it might have something to do with the fact that I get to regale them with stories about my "offbeat" and "colourful" family but that's a tale for another day.

Today was a day of infamy in the whole "Lesley is the worst friend ever" book. Today I sent an email out to people I used to work with to see if they would be interested in getting together for lunch next Monday. I have the day off and was going to be in London so I figured I would head downtown and meet up with the ladies for a bite to eat to catch up etc.

Now these are people I saw every day for two years. People who would randomly drop by my office several times a day to chat or just see what was shaking. People I would drink coffee with, eat lunch with, go walking with, who CAME TO MY FREAKING GOODBYE PARTY and even ones who wrote goodbye notes to me in my goodbye card that I happened to come across and read yesterday and saw their names clearly written in there.

I managed to forget about one of the really great ones today when I sent out my email. Added to that, I forgot the last name of the other one I wanted to talk to since I haven't really chatted with her in about 10 months. Thankfully they were both very understanding. Whew.

I am a bad person. I don't deserve such wonderful friends.

She's forgiven me of course. How could she not, I may not be a wonderful friend, but I'm a pretty fantastic person!

Saturday, November 04, 2006

Sometimes things suck

There are a couple things on my mind today. Bad things. Things that make me sad. Things that really suck.

Yesterday, my sister and I were talking about my oldest niece and she told me that there is now a new kid on the horizon at school who is bullying my niece. Which really bothered me. Probably more than it should have.

I can't help but be bothered by it. I was bullied at school. And I know what it's like when you're in that situation. And no matter how old you get, you can't escape the bully.

Needless to say, my first instinct is to get in my car, drive to the school and start kicking some eight year old ass to get it out of my niece's life. But I can't. Nor can my sister get involved. Other than to teach my niece how to deal with these situations. How to get out of these situations. How to handle herself.

When I went to the school last Friday, I noticed all these posters up on the walls about bullying. How to be a good friend. How to respect one another. How to treat each other. No matter how many posters you put on the wall, it's still going to happen.

So I started to think about how it happens. Why it happens. What to do about it happening. When to get a parent involved. And how to fix the situation. You see, it's not something that my niece brought to my sisters attention. She learned about it inadvertantly, when she asked where my nieces mitts were. This bully took them. Because she wanted them. Because she could.

My sister in turn called this child's mother. And the mother agreed to send them back. But my sister has a feeling that the mother may be playing into the behaviour by not dealing with the situation appropriately. By allowing her child to get away with it and just sending the gloves back to be taken home again.

I had some colourful responses my niece could use in response to this kid. Including my personal favourite: if you touch me again, I'll punch you. Which, of course holds the adage "two wrongs don't make a right" as true, but still, how do you deal with this situation? Apparently this kid is about three times the size of my niece, which makes the punch comment a moot point. My niece will get creamed. My sister wanted to have her say "my dad is a cop, don't even think about it" but my brother in law can't be there when this kid decides it's all talk and no walk.

I hate it. My sister hates it. My niece hates it. Everyone else in her life hates it. It's not fair and I wish there was a good solution to the bullying problem. My niece is a good kid. And it's hard for the good kids to get away from the kids who don't like the good kids.

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

A Moment, if you please

I am in love with the new Lexus print ads about moments that have been appearing in the Globe and Mail lately. It's gotten to the point where I have actually cut them out and posted them on my cubicle so that I can feel inspired in those moments (ahem) that I feel that I need them. Among my favourites from the ads:

You are the sum of your moments. Why shouldn't you be happy and hopeful and funny and famous or anything else that you choose to be? Why shouldn't you travel and laugh and smile and dream or fall deep, deep in love? Why shouldn't you conquer your fears until there aren't any left and leave all of your worries far, far behind? Why shouldn't you have the life that you've always dreamt of, the one deep down inside? You should go get it. It's yours. no regrets. Live life.

People get old, but life doesn't. Life never loses its ability to amaze. Not when you're interested. Not when you're curious. Not when you're enthusiastic and passionate and eager. Not when you fill your passport with stamps and dance at every opportunity. Not when you learn something new every day and laugh, laugh, laugh until it hurts. Not when both feet are firmly planted in the present and your greatest obsession is living. And not when you are really, truly alive.

Are you happy? Pursue what truly matters, true love, true happiness, true truths. Pursue your passion. Whatever it may be. Capture the flag, spin the bottle, unplug, play. Pursue your heart. All of it. you have no choice. Laugh. Smile. Cry. Cringe. Love. Love. Love. Pursue 'you', the one deep inside, the one dying to get out, the one looking to live life and enjoy every,
single, solitary, second of it.

It's not just how long you live, it's how much.

Moments are pearls.