cocktail spectrum

happy happy friday!  i am SO looking forward to sitting outdoors for drinks after work so i figured i'd get everyone in on the party!  here are my drink recommendations based on your drinking gender identity.

feeling girly: 

i recommend a fizzy fuzzy navel

it's the genius love child between the fuzzy navel and the mimosa. 

1 1/2 oz peach schnapps

2 oz orange juice

fill with champagne

feeling womanly:

i recommend a classic cosmo

as someone who has never watched so much as 2 minutes of sex and the city i have no idea what my love of cosmopolitans says about me.  c'est la vie, they're delicious.

1 1/2 oz vodka

3/4 oz triple sec

3/4 oz cranberry juice

1 oz lime juice

feeling boyish:

i recommend a tom collins

because they're named after a guy, but they are like a baby's gin and tonic!

2 oz gin

2 oz lime juice

3 oz club soda

1 tsp sugar

feeling manly:

i recommend a boiler maker

because i mean.... come on.  you said you were feeling manly.

(it's a beer and a shot of whisky)

my favorite place in town does them the right way

1 bottle stella artois

1 1/2 oz johnny walker red

feeling androgynous:

i recommend an old fashioned

they've just got that little bit of everything.  everyone looks cool drinking an old fashioned.

2 oz bourbon

2 dashes bitters

2 tsp simple syrup

1 tsp water

1 slice orange

1 maraschino cherry

hope everyone has a fun and responsible weekend!

products for life

i'm not much of one to experiment with beauty products anymore.  i think it's a combination of preferring slightly more expensive brands, not making a ton of money, and preferring to spend it on something other than the wrong color of bronzer.

as a result i have developed some real loyalty to the products i've chosen.  enough trial and error has me sticking to one solid product routine: they are the basic staples necessary for me to feel like i'm putting my best face forward.  if you are the experimental type, or if you are just looking for a solid replacement for a product you don't love here are the most important items in my bathroom bag:

l'oreal sulfate free shampoo and conditioner

i am not kind to my hair.  i haven't cut it or even trimmed it in over 3 years... excluding the funky things i do with my bangs.  i have been known to at-home dye it upwards of three times in a single day (and oftentimes it involves blonde and bleach).  so for the longest time i was a moisturizing shampoo addict trying desperately to keep a handle on my split ends.  suave professional was the best thing i found, but it just wasn't quite doing the trick.

eventually i read on some pinterested source that sulfates are terrible for your hair.  i have never been one to care for my hair like it is my child the way i've known some women to do, so i was skeptical that going sulfate free was just some holistic attempt to purify your beauty products by minimizing chemicals.  not that i have any problem with people who DO like to minimize their chemicals, but if i'm being honest, i straight up don't care.  it's hair.  hack it off it grows back whatever.  now i'm not saying my hair is like the undyed baby soft locks i was born with, but the visual difference, the difference in feel, and the difference in how easy my hair became to manage is not up for debate.  i've tried just about every moisturizing shampoo/conditioner combo in the drugstore and a whole lot of salon brands too.  once i tried the sulfate free stuff i had better hair than any other product i'd ever tried.   plain and simple.

clinique quick corrector concealer

this was the concealer i would sneak from my mom's bathroom when i was in high school.  drugstore brands just couldn't compete.  the bags i get under my eyes when i'm tired are big enough you could take them shopping.  i've never even bothered with other high end concealers because i'm pretty sure my mom was right about this one.  this stuff rules.

lancome teint idole ultra 24H foundation

l'oreal true match foundation had been my brand for a while, and even though it left my face shinier than the hope diamond, i put up with it until my skin had enough pimples to pass for a 15 year old.  i tried switching to clinique, but wasn't wowed, and when i tried makeup forever's foundation i felt like i had just flushed $55 down the toilet.

i walked in to sephora and decided to actually take advantage of one of their overly aggressive salespeople.  "what is the best long-wearing foundation for mixed skin?" i asked.

the salesgirl, without so much as a half second pause, pointed to the bottles of lancome tient idole directly next to her.  i was worried her hasty prognosis was just an attempt to get me to buy the most expensive bottle in the store, but when i saw the bottle cost less than some of the garbage i'd already tried i gave it a shot.

that woman knew what she was talking about.  the day i switch foundations will be the day this stuff is discontinued, or the day i get a totally new face of skin.  i have never recommended a product so often or to so many people.  i'm seriously in love.

covergirl lip perfection lip color

i did a post about this stuff a few months back when i was first learning how to pull off bright lipstick in daily life.  i was so excited that i had finally found a color that didn't make the rest of my complexion look like death. i didn't anticipate that this lipstick was going to totally change my life a little.

anyone who knew me very well between the ages of 12 and 22 would be able to tell you that i was a chapstick addict.  that might sound like i'm just speaking in cutesy makeup lingo, but i'm not kidding.  i had used blistex medicated lip balm so frequently and for so long that my lips literally ceased making their own moisture at all.  if i went so much as an hour without chapstick my lips were red, raw, and ON FIRE if not bleeding.  i once put butter on my lips when my chapstick was confiscated by TSA around one of the post-9/11 bomb scares.  it was ridiculous.

about a month ago i mentioned to steve, "you know, i haven't really been so dependent on chapstick anymore."

"i noticed that too," he said.

after a bit of investigation i discovered that something about the recipe for this lipstick actually balances the moisture levels of your lips.  if i hadn't been experiencing it in real time i would have called BS, but honestly this product has all but eliminated my dependence on chapstick and it is one of the most mind-blowing things any makeup has ever accomplished.  plus it's super pretty and every single one of the five shades i've bought so far has looked awesome.

so there you have it!  i also use bronzer eyeliner and mascara on a daily basis, but i'm less loyal to the products i'm using there.  i like them, but as the great ron swanson once said, "I won't publicly endorse a product unless I use it exclusively and I really believe in it."

sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome

i was going to bore you with some more of my fretting over steve's college graduation / job finalization, but that will all be more fun to talk about in retrospect so let's wait till monday!

instead i am just so happy to announce that the darling blogger in south africa meghan silva nominated me for a liebster award!  the liebster award is given to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers.  "liebster" is a german word, which means sweetest, kindest, nicest, dearest, beloved, lovely, kind, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome.

rules for receiving this award:

1. each person must post 11 things about themselves.

2. answer the questions that the tagger set for you plus create 11 questions for the people you’ve tagged to answer.

3. choose 11 people and link them in your post.

4. go to their page and tell them.

5. you cannot tag your tagger back

note from becky: (so ok, it's a little myspacey, but the best part is that it is an amazing way to discover new low-profile bloggers and i am all about that!)

11 things about me:

1. my brother, sister and i were all born on the 29th of the month.

2. my cat is named for the father of analytic philosophy, bertrand russell (who also invented the peace sign)!

3. i am a diehard disneyworld freak.

4. i have been to most of the 50 states and 5 countries.

5. i work in a renovated stone church that was built in the mid 1800's with an original tiffany stained glass window.

6. i collect wine, antiques, and fine art.

7. i love writing fiction but i have yet to find the dedication and attention span to get beyond 26 pages.

8. i prefer savory foods to sweets.

9. i used to have an impressive indie music library of over 6000 songs with artists from the format to godspeed you! black emperor.  then one day my mac stopped turning on and i was devastated.

10. i am obsessed with art museums.  my favorites are the MOMA in new york, the pompidou centre in paris, and the london national gallery.

11. i am a dog person.

meghan's questions:

what makes your blog unique?

in a lot of ways it isn't unique, but it's about US!  steve and i are weirdos and so far i haven't focused loose from the zoo on any one particular topic.  i like to think our personalities make the blog what it is!

how long have you been blogging?

i suppose that depends.  i have had a billion blogs over the years  from expage websites i made when i hadn't hit puberty and websites like homestead, expage, geocities, and freeserver actually existed (not kidding... I made this website when i was in middle school...it still exists).  i was actually a huge tech nerd girl when i was quite young.  i was addicted to tumblr through most of the first part of college.  i made this blog a few years ago and let it fall by the wayside.  as far as blogs that i've actually kept up on, this one has been around for about 5 months now.  i also have another blog where i write verbose social criticism and opinion pieces which i have updated sporadically between april 2012 and now.

flats or heels?

if i could only wear one for the rest of my life i'd have to go with flats.  but i love heels too!!

if you could live in any era which would it be?

i want to say the 1950's but realistically, as a woman, i like my opinion to be taken seriously so i don't think that would work.  i'm going to say the 1970's were probably my calling.  i genuinely despise technology more complicated than the color television.  and i think i would have made a pretty hip baby boomer.

which blog is your absolute favorite?

honestlywtf.com ...it's just too perfect.

where do you see your blog in 1 year?

i'm not entirely sure.  i suppose i see it more as a reflection of steve and i's life in 1 year.  i have some ideas about what you might see, but i wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you! ;)

how important is fashion in your life?

not very.  i like fashion and i like to try being stylish with fun trends, but in terms of my interests it's pretty low on the totem pole.  i'm much more passionate about writing, travel, and personal culture!

in 5 words how would you describe yourself?

fun, creative, witty, adventurous, and lazy.

favorite song at the moment?

i really can't stop listening to sigur ros's new single - isjaki.

what would be your one blog related tip for people who want to start blogging?

make yourself do it every day if you can.  even if you think you have nothing to say or nothing to contribute.  your blog is about you.  it is so much fun to look back on your own archives and see the record of your life laid out before you.  it reminds you of your strengths and your best memories.  make yourself do it and you'll realize that even the boring days were lovely.  because they existed and you made them worth remembering!

whats your beauty secret?

1.  learning to walk in heels.  and i don't just mean walk across the room i mean WALK in heels.  Obviously there are some pairs for which there is no hope, but the day you can strut around town in a pair of heels you will feel like a rockstar.

2.  lancome's teint idole ultra 24H foundation.  it's like new skin in a bottle.

my questions:

why did you start blogging?

if you could move anywhere on earth where would you choose?

what is your favorite thing about your blog?

what is the craziest thing that's ever happened to you?

what makes you happy?

what blog inspires your own the most?

how do you feel your most confident?

what's your occupation?

guilty pleasure?

who are your 3 favorite people from history?

what is your favorite book?

i recommend checking out any of the little blogs below because they are all simply lovely and i adore following them:

your turn: alyssa at glitter and gapske, lauren and josh at cornwellfam.com, jordan at jordan diane designs, brianna at itsy bitsy brianna, marie at smittenbyangels, mat at buckets and spades, ali at dressing ken, simona at i heart black, paulyne at pinky promise, valerie at sundaes best, anne at the hills are alive

relationship pro tip

so steve and i are busy enjoying deep fried mini tacos and left over easter candy so let me just give you all a tip.  if you and your significant other are both iphone users i would highly recommend checking out the "avocado" app.  it is a couple's app that lets you privately text, and do all sorts of other really corny stuff like send each other hugs and kisses and draw each other pictures.

it's extremely dorky, but i really enjoy it.

and it's free!  check it out!

ok back to candy and netflixing bob's burgers...