Places I've (Mostly) Never Seen

It’s been a busy couple of weeks getting things moved into our new home, and I have to admit, I’m pretty exhausted. The labor, both physical and emotional that it takes to move into a new space is outrageous, and I’m still adjusting. I have considered all day about a topic to write about, but nothing really came to me until a few minutes ago. I don’t have anything structured, or deep, or even tidy to share. Instead, I thought it’d be best to give you another little glimpse into who I am, and share some of the places that I want to someday visit.

The first on my list has to be Ireland. Since childhood, I have been fascinated with tales of Irish lore, and the beauty of the country. All my life, for almost as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to walk on the grounds of the Emerald Isle. Whether it’s the culture, or the romance that seems to surround the stories from Ireland, I’ve always felt pulled there by some invisible force. I’m a sucker for rich history, folklore, and beautiful scenery, so it’s no wonder that it calls to me.

Likewise, Italy is on my list for many of the same reasons. Rome, Naples, Venice, I’d love to see it all. Seeing pictures of all the sights that Italy has to offer is one thing, but it’d be completely something else to experience it for myself. And can I mention the food? Just the thought makes my mouth water, to think of delving into authentic Italian food!

Paris. Who doesn’t want to go to Paris?! The romance, the Eiffel tower, the Louvre. Coffee in outside bistros. Croissants. Coq au vin. The whole French experience. I love museums, so to be able to go to one of the most important, renown museums in the would be such a treat. There’s such a luxury and magic about some of these European countries, and I would love to be able to go and soak in all that they have to offer!

In America, there are also places I’ve always wanted to see. Top of that list was Boston. Yes, I’ve been, but as I was there for such a short amount of time, I really want to go back. There’s an ambiance about Boston that is so unique, and I absolutely love it! I would love to really immerse myself in the city, and see all the things I didn’t get to see on my first trip. I’m not a sports fan either, but I have to say it’d be something to see the Red Sox play at Fenway. I’d love to visit Salem again, as well.

NYC has always been on my to do list as well. The closest I’ve been has been an abysmal layover at La Guardia that had me in tears. I want to soak in the gritty vibrance that is New York, to eat at some of the acclaimed restaurants. I want to see Times Square, and the Statue of Liberty. There are a million things to do in NYC, and I crave the opportunity to get to do them all. First and foremost though would have to be a visit to Broadway. To see a musical on Broadway would probably just make my life ten times better than I ever imagined. Whether it’s Wicked, or Hamilton (THERE’S a dream for ya!) or Dear Evan Hansen, one day I WILL achieve this dream. It’s not so far out of reach!

Finally, I’d have to say I’d love to visit San Francisco. My best friend lived there for a few years, but I was never able to go while she was there, but I’ve always wanted to go. Yes, I want to do all the touristy things from the Fisherman’s Wharf, to the Golden Gate Bridge and all that, but I’d love to see all the places that Melissa would recommend. I feel like it’d give a chance to see the part of her life that I missed out on while she lived there. Plus, it’s so different from where I’ve always lived that I know it’d be a great adventure!

I know this wasn’t much of a blog this week, friends, and I hope you’ll forgive me for it. I just didn’t have the energy to write about the hopelessness that seems to permeate the very air these days. I wanted to focus on something light and fun, and not to strenuous on the brain. Next week, we’ll tackle something a little more thought provoking, perhaps! Until then!

What about the Kids?

When I was thinking about what to write for this week’s blog, I figured I’d do something easy and simple, like documenting our big move into our first home. However, that’s going to have to take a backseat, because, once again, friends, I am ANGRY. When our internet was finally set up and I logged on, what was the first thing I see? Trump and his stupid space force, but that’s another topic for another time. No, I see videos and pictures of children in cages. I hear their echoing sobs of terror. Why? Because they were taken from their parents. And I thought to myself, “this is just about the most evil, inhumane you can do, to rip a screaming, terrified child from his or her parents’ arms.” There is a special place in hell for everyone in this administration, you guys, AND everyone supporting it. If saying so loses me friends, so be it. Whatever you think about immigration, and I don’t really care, taking someone’s children is NEVER THE ANSWER. Let me say that again for the stubborn people in the way back that refuse to hear me: TAKING CHILDREN FROM THEIR PARENTS IS NOT THE ANSWER.

My heart is absolutely breaking for these parents, and their children. You see, it doesn’t matter if they’re entering the country illegally or legally, asking for asylum or what have you. To take someone’s children away is without question unconscionable. What if it were you? What if you were fleeing from a country, terrified for your life, wanting only the best for your children and knowing the only way you can do that is to go to a country that doesn’t want you? What if when you got there, your children were summarily pulled screaming from your arms against your will, and taken to a “tender age facility” where they were given blankets and made to sleep on concrete floors? If after thinking about that you can still say, ‘well they shouldn’t cross the border,” then there’s a serious problem. These children didn’t do anything wrong! They are innocents, caught in the human rights nightmare that Trump and his zealots have caused. Why is this separation necessary? Why do it at all? WHY? There IS no reason. It’s cruelty for cruelty’s sake, done to a group of people that don’t have the means to fight back. It’s not even bullying at this point, it’s simply hate. Yes, hate, because if you can sit and listen to those kids sob for their moms while they sit in cages, then you’re simply heartless. The fact of it all is this: you’re never going to see the government round up white children and put them in what is basically a detention camp. Don’t tell me this is about “border control” or “keeping America safe from MS-13”. These children have nothing to do with either of those things. You’re punishing families for the gall to want better for their kids.

Our entire nation is founded on immigration. Every person living in this country today, aside from full blooded Native Americans, came from somewhere else. Just because you were born here, or your parents were, or even grandparents, that doesn’t make you any better or more important than those that are coming to live here now. Becoming an American citizen isn’t easy.  The path can take years, and that’s if you are lucky. When you are desperate to make a better life for your family, or in real, physical danger of losing your life, there are choices made that may not be the legal ones, but that doesn’t make them wrong, either. I saw something today that said “the people that hid Anne Frank were breaking the law, and the ones that killed her were following it.” Let that sink in, and realize how precarious our situation is here in America. By not stopping this horror, we are saying it’s okay to take someone’s children and put them in camps. We’re descending down an increasingly dark path in which not only are our morals being challenged but our humanity. Do we want to be known as a country that allows this to happen? Do we want to be compared to Nazi Germany? Because guess what? WE ARE. The longer we continue down this road, the worse things will get. If we don’t stop this, there’s no telling what future atrocities will occur.

I admit, I used to be one of the people saying “if you can’t do it legally, don’t come into this country.” I didn’t understand the intricacies of immigration, or how hard that path to citizenship is. I was incredibly naïve as to the process.  As I’ve grown as a person, and began to learn more about the complex political world we live in, I’ve come to see that I was wrong. I was making judgments based on things I’d heard all my life, and not what I actually thought myself. My thoughts on immigration aren’t as simple as open or closed borders. America has many opportunities for people, and yes, protocol should be followed, but at the same time, we shouldn’t make it so incredibly difficult to live here. It shouldn’t take years to gain citizenship. Our predecessors didn’t have to go through all the hoops and challenges to live here. Yet, at every point in our nation’s history immigrants have been seen as lesser by “full blooded Americans.” The Irish were seen as lazy drunks. The Italians were portrayed as thieves, or dirty. There were even laws passed to limit the immigration of Chinese, Asian, Greek, Italian, and Eastern Europeans starting in the late 1800s and into the 1920s, according to my brief research. Basically, you were only allowed to immigrate here if you were white enough. Sound familiar? Here we are, in 2018, still telling people that they aren’t good enough to live here. The very things that make them who they are, such as the tone of their skin, their varied cultures, their language, make them undesirable to live here. It’s 1920s thinking persisting almost 100 years later.

The whole point, and the scariest thing about this new “zero tolerance” policy, is that it’s making it so much easier for an immoral, crooked, disingenuous administration to test the waters for what horrors Americans will tolerate. “Okay, so they didn’t say anything about us not taking care of Puerto Ricans after the hurricane. That’s good. Good for nothing bad hombres coming into our country? Hell no! Take the kids, shove them into cages! That’ll teach them! We got away with that?! All right, let’s start sending them ALL to camps, and make them EARN their allegiance to us, but they still can’t have rights! And if they don’t do what we say, well, I guess we know what happens next, right?” I can see it so clearly, the direction they want to take.  What Trump and his administration are doing is using tactics of fear to control a group of people that cannot stand against them. It’s abuse, and emotional terrorism, and Trump and his cronies know it. If we as a nation allow it to happen, then we are just as vile as he is.

My final thought is this: what makes America truly great is this rich tapestry of different cultures enmeshing with one another to create what we’ve come to know as American culture. It’s the different cuisine, the richness of intertwining dialects and languages, the bold stamp of different cultures on our fashion. It’s seeing an Indian child, a black child, a Hispanic child, and a white child all playing together on a playground, learning from one another. It’s communities built from nothing, and neighbors helping neighbors just because. Our similarities are greater than our differences. Underneath the different hues of our skin, we are but flesh and bone. We can only be great as a nation, and proud as a nation, when we lift one another up, and help those that are in need. We are ALL descendants of immigrants, or immigrants ourselves, and we should never forget that.

If you want to help these children, and their families, please call and write your senators and government officials! You can also donate to the charities I’ve listed below.  Fighting injustice and inhumanity starts with us.

ACLU

https://action.aclu.org/give/make-tax-deductible-gift-aclu-foundation-0?s_src=FNNC180001C00&ms=web_about_dif_fdn

RAICES

https://www.facebook.com/donate/490507544717085/

My Top Ten Favorite Beauty Products

My top 10 favorite beauty products

Excitement and stress are vying for top billing in my mind this week. With our big move only a week away, and Scoot’s last day of school this week, things are a little nuts! As I start tying up loose ends, making contacts for all the deposits for our new home, it seems I almost forgot to write this week’s post! However, I didn’t, and I’m here, so there’s that!  This week is short and simple. I’m going to review 10 of my favorite beauty products that I have tried within the last year or so. Without further ado, here we go!

1.      Julep’s With a Twist mascara: This is BY FAR the best mascara I’ve ever used. I love so many things about it that I barely know hwere to begin. First, I guess is that there is no nasty, chemical mascara smell to the product. It goes on smooth and is very buildable to the perfect amount of coverage. Second is the brush itself. The wand is adjustable, making it so this mascara both lengthens and volumizes. Third, it actually helps your natural lashes grow. Yes, I said grow. And yes, it’s true. My lashes are quite a bit longer than they were before I started using this product. The only downside to this mascara is that it isn’t waterproof. However, I can live without that (and honestly, I wore it in Fenway in pouring down rain and it didn’t track down my face at all. So there’s that.). I cannot stress enough how much I recommend this product!!

2.      Julep’s Love Your Bare Face Detoxifying stick: I swear, I’m not sponsored by Julep, (But if that’s a thing, PLEASE, Jane Park, hit me up!) I just love their products. This stick is a wonderful exfoliant and cleanser. It’s an easy, one step way to wash your face, and gently sluff off dead skin cells. It doesn’t dry out or tighten my skin, and has helped so much with this pesky adult acne that has been plaguing me for years now. It has a very light fragrance, barely noticeable, and this one tube will last for months with daily use. I think I average about 3-4 months per tube, and I sometimes use it as a mask as well. 

3.      Julep It’s Whipped : This is my favorite lip product. I absolutely love how easy it is to apply, and how rich and pigmented the color is. I have at least 8 shades! One of my favorites is Liplock, a berry red that is the only red lipstick I’ve found that complements my skintone. It’s just the right shade of red! They carry tons of colors, and they feel great on. As most matte lip colors are, it can be a touch drying, but not nearly as bad as some products I’ve tried. Amazon unfortunately only has links for a couple of shades, but you can find others at the Julep website (julep.com) or at Ulta. 

4.       Sara Happ The Dream slip: Okay, this is probably the priciest thing on the list per volume. I realize that. However, this stuff is AMAZING. I’ve been using it for about two months now just at night and it has rejuvenated my lips. From late October of last year until April this year, I had a terrible split in the corner of my mouth. You know, one of those places that will just keep bleeding and opening up because of where it’s at? Yep, that was happening. Every time I’d take a bite of food, it’d split open for days at a time and bleed. Other times it’d almost heal completely, only to open back up again. Needless to say, I was frustrated and wondering if the spot would ever heal. Enter this stuff. Within two weeks of using this, that spot had healed completely. My lips stay hydrated all through the day, and don’t chap as easily either. My lipstick goes on smoother as well. Just a teensy dab at bedtime is enough! This has really been a surprise product for me, and I know I’m going to hate it when my little bottle runs out. And can we talk about packaging? It just looks fancy! It makes me feel like an elegant sophisticated lady. 

      

5.      Lorac 3 in 1 primer:  Let me tell you, this stuff will give you SHIMMER. It goes on silky smooth and truly does illuminate your skin. You’ll feel like a late 2000s vampire….in a good way of course. I like the texture and the ease of application, and I will admit, I love that extra pop of sparkle as well! I haven’t tried Lorac’s blush, which is included in this link, but I’d say give it a go! I actually got this primer in a small gift set from Kohl’s so it’s one of my first experiences with Lorac, but I like it. I’ll be looking forward to trying more of them in the future!

6.  BH Cosmetics Galaxy chic palette: I love this little palette. The colors are really lovely, and they go on great. The packaging is beautiful as well. I use this palette a lot, because it has more neutral colors as well as some wilder shades, just in case I’m in the mood to play around some! It’s a fun addition to my makeup collection. Plus, as far as eyeshadow palettes go, it’s priced well!  

7.    Lumene Valo Glow Reveal Moisturizer: I love, love, LOVE this stuff! Last year, I received a full size sample of the product from the company, and from the first time I used it, I was sold. This is the perfect moisturizer for my skin. It is light, airy, and has the lightest fragrance of citrus. It absorbs quickly into the skin, and doesn’t leave me feeling oily or over moisturized. This small jar lasts months with daily use, and only takes a finger tip’s worth of product with every use for your whole face. I have recommended this to so many people! I will continue to recommend it, because it really is that great. It’s also not super expensive, which is even better!

8.   Nyx Lip Lingerie: This is another of my favorite lip products. When I say this stuff lasts, it LASTS. Once it dries, it ain’t budging! There are tons of colors with frisky little names, as the product name suggests! It dries quite matte and lasts for hours, so it’s great if you’re going out to dinner or drinks. It can be drying on the lips, so I recommend some lip balm before to keep your lips hydrated. The best part? So many places sell this stuff, and it’s a great price!

9.     Physician’s Formula Butter Highlighter: This is a fairly recent find, as I have just recently started my foray into highlighters and bronzers. I love how velvety smooth this is, and how easy it goes on. It’s weightless and provides enough shimmer and color to make you feel glowing and incandescent without looking like a disco ball. Plus, it smells faintly of coconut, so you feel like you’re at the beach every time you apply it! I like that it’s a buildable coverage, so you can have as little or as much as you want! Once again, this is priced well, so it won’t break the bank, but you will still look like a million bucks!

10.      Julep 5 in 1 Cushion Complexion: First things first, finding the perfect foundation is a pain in the ass for me. I’m pale. I don’t know my undertones, and the “helpful” guides that are supposed to help me figure it out only confuse me more. I love this stuff. This little tube with a sponge applicator will apply as little or as much coverage as you want. It works as a concealer or your foundation, or both! I’ve even seen some women use different shades for contouring, and it looks great. The coverage is buildable, and the product goes on smoothly. It blends well with either a brush or your fingers, but I haven’t had as much luck with a beauty blender. In any case, there are actually a range of 3 shades that I can use that match my skin pretty close to perfect, depending on the time of year. Of course they are the 3 lightest shades, but there are 18 shades in total, so there are tons of options. Also, Julep is always adding new shades to their products, so I am sure they’ll add more! I love that this product doesn’t cause breakouts, and isn’t heavy on my skin. I do wish it was slightly more full coverage, but all in all, I can’t complain! 

So, that's it for this week, friends! I really hope that you'll check these products out if you're looking for a new product to try! I really enjoyed this one, and I"m always discovering new products myself, so I may do another post like this in the future!