I’m feeling a bit tired and blah today, and it’s only Tuesday. Thursday is usually Exhaustion Day, when I find myself waiting for the kids at karate and wondering if I’m going to make it or if I am just going to fall over from tiredness, but I feel like that today. It doesn’t really bode well for the rest of the week.
I should be more perky, really, since January is almost done and it’s light at five o’clock now. The sun is up before 8:30 and it sets after 5:00, and that alone should be enough to give me some pep. Also, we’ve only had a few Very Cold Days; mostly the weather has been (relatively) mild for the entire month. But the sky is a dull, dull grey and my husband is out of town and I bought the wrong lip gloss; all is ashes.
My two favourite lip gloss colours have been discontinued, and it is distressing me more than it should. Ideally, I should be able to bounce back from this kind of thing, but for some reason I am now obsessed with finding an exact match to my two favourite glosses. This puts me in mind of a lipstick hoarding issue I had; I had purchased a bunch of dark lipstick on sale, and time ticked forward and suddenly, that dark colour no longer suited me. Instead of making me look perky and red-lipped, I looked like a papery-skinned old crone who was desperately holding on to the vestiges of youth, which is not a look I want to embrace. Anyway, I was left with several lipsticks of that shade, thanks to my hoarding/ sale purchasing. Never again would I waste money that way, I thought to myself.
Sadly, this has come back to haunt me. Since the discontinuation of my two favourite lip glosses, I have tried – and failed – to purchase a reasonable facsimile. There is a significant hurdle to face: sample lip glosses. I cannot even bear the thought of putting a sample lip gloss near my face – think of all the people who have touched it! – and yet just dabbing it on my wrist does nothing to tell me if this is a suitable colour or not. So I buy a lip gloss, hope for the best, and become immensely disappointed when it washes me out or, in the case of my latest purchase, is purple.
When the lip gloss itself started to fade, it left me with a purplish ring around the outside of my lips, like a 1986 lip liner. This feels like an immense waste of money, although, as Swistle says (HI SWISTLE), it is educational and will keep me from purchasing anything similar in the future. Which is true, but damn. I just want a perfect, non-glittery, sort-of-mocha, neutral toned lip gloss. IS THAT TOO MUCH TOO ASK? If I could hop on my super-awesome-time-travel machine, I would go back and buy out the entire line of those two lip gloss shades and hoard them until they became brittle, crusty bottles of goo.
Anyway. I had no intention of this being a post about my lip gloss angst. What I had meant to write about was how women are often very self-deprecating; I read two things today (HI LISA) (HI ALI) in which the writers talked about their inability to accept compliments and their difficulty in saying what they love about themselves, respectively. How that segued into lip gloss, I have no idea. However, I want to know – what do you love about yourself? I want you to brag a little – tell me what is the most awesome thing about you. Do you have fabulous hair, do you take amazing photographs, can you edit a paper like nobody’s business? Can you run a 10k, do you decorate cakes, can you sing really well? Do you know how to knit or can you change a tire? I want to know what you think your best qualities are. Don’t be shy – it will brighten up this dull January day. Tell me, please. xoxo
See, I am pretty comfy with myself. I have GREAT hair, I am an accomplished cook and i am very good at my job. I have more, but that would be crazy.
I love it! You also have perfect skin, perfect teeth, and are a great friend with a kind heart!
I am a knitter, and a knit designer. And I’m a mom and a loving partner. I am very very good at those things. I also love to create pretty well anything (drywalling excluded) and most of my successes have been because I looked at things in terms of “what am I creating?”.
I also have really great legs. And awesome glasses frames.
Overall, I feel really good about myself almost all the time.
I love that you’re so creative and can knit – I am all thumbs in the fibre arts (or any arts) department! Also, I have noticed your legs and glasses frames and I concur, in a totally non-creepy way.
I am feeling very low about myself generally these days (hi, January!), but I can say this: I am a very good public speaker. Sometimes it surprises me that this is true, but I can say confidently that it is, and it makes me proud that I can pull off fairly effortlessly this thing that a lot of people fear. Otherwise I….have a good sense of humor? Doesn’t everyone say that, though?
Public speaking is a real art, and that is awesome! You do have a good sense of humour and not everyone does, so bravo!
Now I want to hang out with Lyn (I already did) and Kourtney. I know last Monday was supposed to be Blue Monday, but anecdotally this week has been much worse for me and everyone I’ve heard from online. My husband got the garbage already last night and then forgot to put it on the curb for the first time, like, ever. I have not been able to wake up in the morning, and Lucy lolls under the covers for half the morning.
Have you tried Burt’s Bees lip shimmers? I like Coffee – mocha, neutral. I actually really like the one on you in the picture, but I guess the fading plus purple ring is less than ideal. But look at your beautiful warm brown eyes!
This is a bad week for me to un-self-loathe. I have a nice smile. I can usually make a set of crummy events sound amusing for my friends. I give really good hugs.
I haven’t tried that but I will look for them! You do have a nice smile, and you also have great hair and you are an excellent friend.
I’m also having a terrible time getting up in the morning this week, and that’s after going to bed at 9 each night. What is it with Ottawa? Maybe there’s some sort of invisible sleep-inducing haze over the city.
Well, if I were talking about me physically, I like my eyes. They are really light blue and usually surprise people.
I really love that I know sign language. Sure, I love to cook and write but signing..when I get the opportunity it feels so wonderful to be able to talk to people who usually have a harder time communicating with those of us who can hear. It’s expressive, fun, and to me.. special. I love it. I’m so fortunate that I get to do it every day at work.
You do have lovely eyes! Knowing sign language is very cool – so great to be able to communicate with people. That’s awesome.
HI NICOLE.
Do you know, one of my favorite sheer lipsticks was discontinued, and I found it on eBay. It was the best. I got, like, four tubes of it. I AM STILL USING IT. HA HA HA COVER GIRL, TAKE THAT! I wonder if your lip glosses would be there and not a million dollars? Because other things that have been discontinued, like my favorite Dove face moisturizer, is available on eBay but only for a million dollars. I got lucky with the sheer lipsticks.
And I can tie this in very nicely to your other question by saying I have very nicely-shaped lips. I never even noticed them until someone else mentioned it. Now I notice it frequently, often while thinking it’s too bad I have a habit of picking at them so they never look as nice as they COULD.
I haven’t tried eBay but I will look! Thanks so much.
Nicole. Try Clinique’s Black Honey. I push this in everyone and have never seen it look less than perfect.
I will definitely try this and report back!
This is kind of random but I am the best at clappling. Like, two hands together applause. My clap is so loud and clear it sounds like a whip cracking. I am The Clapper.