Fun as they are and as much as I would love to make one, there will be no list of resolutions for the new year this time around for HomeGirl. It would just make me feel like a failure by the year's end. 2009 has been a good year, as are most. As usual, I have enjoyed the awesome times and endured the not-so-awesome times. I have learned a lot about myself as time and life reveal more of who I am to me. Some of these revelations are awesome and a couple are disturbing and surprising, but it's all me. I will not even try to make a list or suppose I have any inkling of what the next year will bring, because some of the things 2009 brought my way? I would not have imagined...ever. One thing I can say I will do in 2010 is try to do better in general. I can definitely try.
Here is my gift to you guys! A video of my favorite Mariah Carey Christmas song. Love you guys for reading my blog and following me on Twitter and Facebook and in general. All I want for Christmas is you and you and you and you. lol Merry Christmas!
There are a handful of Christmas films that I look forward to watching every year. There are some movies that I wanted to add to this list like Soul Food and Bridgette Jones' Diary and The Wiz and Why Did I Get Married and Serendipity, but they only had snow in them or scenes that occurred during Christmas, so they really aren't Christmas movies per se, and thus did not make the official list.
Here's the quick and dirty in no particular order...
Bump what you heard. Black girls can wear blue eyeshadow...the bluer, the better. Last week I got a Facebook friend request from Iman Cosmetics and discovered this video on their profile. Anytime I see a professional (or really good) makeup demo for dark brown girls, I'm all eyes and ears. I am always on the lookout for what other brown girls are using and this video is full of beautiful products and tips on makeup application. I got the Iman sable blush featured in the video from Target about 2 years ago and use it as contour eyeshadow ALL the time just as the artist does in the video. It's long, but every minute is worth watching. Check it.
And while we're here, shout out to Erin, of ScandalousBeautyOnline.com, who reminds us in the following video to bump what you heard, black girls can wear pink! I LOVE LOVE LOVE her videos! She has over 20k subscribers to her Youtube page. Watch this video and you'll see why.
This version of Donny Hathaway's This Christmas is AWE.SOME?! It's from a new album, A JoVenTosh Christmas "The EXPERIENCE", and it's the perfect new sound for Christmas. His voice is right buttery and, if I'm not mistaken, he's singing his own back-up too, a la Beyoncé. This is just one of the amazing tracks on the album. I've known JoV since he was a bundle budging out of his mommy's belly. I'm SO proud of him!
She was definitely one in a million. I don't think any of the solo artists out now could sing a song like this one (totally about sex) and not look raunchy. Yes, she's dancing in a bra, but again, she manages to do so tastefully. Right now, the solo girls (Rihanna, Beyonce, Ciara, etc.) don't even need to be singing about sex to flash their cheeks in a leotard. Most recent example is Rihanna's latest video about how "hard" she is. I only saw like 40 seconds of it and couldn't take another second of her 1. body parts, 2. military costumes/mine fields?? and 3. lyrics, so 40 seconds was all I needed to see. I'm a fan of everybody I've mentioned so far (except "new" Rihanna--loved dancehall/pop Rihanna), I'm just sayin'. I'm not up on popular music, so maybe there is some brown girl out there who is doing her thing without also getting naked for no reason...Solange comes to mind...and Alicia Keys. The point is, I just miss Aaliyah and her vibe.
This is a photo that I took with my Blackberry this afternoon. We where at the neighborhood park. Instead of playing on the playground, Zack decided he wanted to spend about thirty minutes splashing in the puddles on the parking lot. I had so much fun watching him. he could have puddle-jumped forever and I would have watched every second, but the temperature started dropping and he was all wet from attempting to swim in one of the big puddles.
I'm in a peacock kinda way right now. My next tattoo will be a peacock. And my living room, the biggest room in my house, is going peacock blue, baby! If you've read my blog over the years you know I LOVE color and I'm not afraid to tackle big painting jobs. Remember my dining room and nursery projects? That was only the beginning. I'm going on a painting spree! By the time I'm finished my whole house is going to be one big awesome expression of ME! I'm really glad my husband goes along with my bold decorating choices. Otherwise, we'd have some more issues. Many people choose painting projects based on resale--appealing to potential future buyers. But it's just paint, which means it can be painted over. So I'm enjoying filling every room in my house with awesome, lively COLOR! It's going to be so cute. You'll see. The peacock blue will complement my kitchen and dining room perfectly.
And I'm not just saying that. This is my favorite lip balm and it's literally called My Favorite Lip Balm. Something about the name already had me convinced before I even put it on. I was in Bath and Body Works to replace my C.O. Bigelow Mentha Lip Shine and the store was having a sale on lip care so I poked around a bit. The first thing I saw was the product title, followed by the ingredients: shea butter and sweet almond oil. Then I convinced myself that I needed a better performing everyday balm than my usual cherry Chapstick. So I got it, put it on in the car on my way to visit a friend and pretty much decided I had bought my last tube of Chapstick. It's replacement not only protects my lips from the dry winter air, but leaves them soft and delicately scented like...shea butter and sweet almond oil. Soft, kissable lips even in winter. This lip balm is a winner!
This video is inspirational. More than anything, it makes me want to spit poetry with an English accent. I have had my poetic moments here, but they're silly poems about a thermos and a trench coat. Seems to be a "cold" theme going on. I'd love to wax poetic about something a little hotter. But I would suck at it, because I'm a big ole goofball. I have been to spoken word sets where grown folks get up and perform grown folks poetry. I would try to act grown-up like everybody else, but would just be blushing inside. Cause I'm a good girl. LOL. Anyway, this one by Floetry is hot. LOVE them. Floetry FOREVER!
The girls in this commercial are just too cute. It's the one commercial I stop my DVR to watch. But this post isn't about this commercial, or those boots. It's about these boots...
Cognac, Steve Madden Fold Bootie. This is how I'd wear them if they weren't sold out of my size everywhere! You can try your luck HERE.
This weekend I went to put on my favorite everyday lip gloss, Benefit's The Gloss in Impromptu (peachy brown), and noticed that there is very little gloss left in the tube.I rarely reach the end of a tube of lipgloss, but either this particular one or a pinkish brown shade by Clinique go over my chapstick almost every day, so I imagine I'll be replacing them repeatedly. So I checked Sephora for a replacement for The Gloss and realized that it has been discontinued. A quick Google search confirmed it. I was able to find it for sale online from sites in the UK, but am on a mission to find it on the cheap and here in the U.S.
In the meantime, here is some info you might find helpful on the search for your favorite discontinued makeup:
Estée Lauder's Gone but Not Forgotten program allows customers can buy up to six in stock pieces of a discontinued item from any Estée Lauder brand including Clinique, Bobbi Brown, Prescriptives, Stila, Bobbi Brown, MAC, La Mer, Aveda, and Origins among others. Items are available up to two years after being taken off shelves. The drawback is that you'll pay full retail price plus $5 shipping, but it's worth it to stock up on some tried and true favorites.
Speaking of MAC, they (like many other brands like Nars) sell their discontinued goods right on their website in the Goodbyes Store. So right at the source is a good place to start.
Cosmetics Company Store, usually found in outlet malls also carries discounted items, including fragrances, from tons of cosmetics brands. If there's good outlet mall near you, you're likely to find one there.
A good bet too, especially with lip glosses is to contact the company directly. Cosmetics companies rename and repackage otherwise unaltered products all the time. So there's a chance that your fave just got a makeover.
When all else fails, there's begging. Yes, begging sometimes works. More than 3,000 calls for Clinique to bring back Water-Resistant Eyeliner led to a glorious comeback. So if you can find enough people mourning the loss of the same goody, there's a glimmer of hope for a resurgence. If only it worked that way with TV! *sigh* R.I.P. Lipstick Jungle and Kevin Hill.
Why do I want to read Miss J's book? Because he's awesome?! I remember being so excited to get to see him in motion on America's
Next Top Model. I've been over the show for a few years now, so haven't
seen him in a minute. LOVE Miss J.
I promise you I have never been more intrigued by a single person in the fashion industry more than by Miss J. I think he's awesome, but have always wondered how man who doesn't quite fit into the conventional standard of beauty, managed to establish himself as a runway expert and, like, fixture in the high fashion model industry. I've seen the walk, as many of you have, and I GET why he's the go-to guy to ready new models for the runway...the man, the legs, fierceness on the catwalk. But I want to know what made Miss J, Miss J, so I'm really looking forward to reading this one.
Supposedly it reads like a biography and a how-to. Here's an awesome quote from the book:
“There’s no getting around it - the church is the reason I am who I am
today. I thank Jesus I ended up a man with a killer stride that has the
power to burn footprints into a runway.”
Can.not.wait.to.read.it.
Title: Follow the Model: Miss J's Guide to Unleashing Presence, Poise, and Power by J. Alexander
So a friend of mine who is a raw foodie, her website is http://www.rawbella.com,
has challenged me and hundreds of others, to drink one green smoothie
a day for 10 days. She's a hard core raw food way-of-lifer, so her
smoothies are incorporated into full days of eating raw food. Although
I can see the benefit in a raw food day here and there, I can't imagine
and don't want to know how I'd give up hot food altogether. Cooked food
is what's helping me through this first challenge day. Apparently, I'll
be so pumped with energy and...um...flowing freely...flowing...freely...
after ten days of drinking one green smoothie a day, that I will make
green smoothies a way of life. After my first day I'm not so sure, but
remain hopeful.
I thought I'd start simple: banana, spinach, icy water. So I made the smoothie. Yuck. But, because it's a challenge
and because I'm determined not to be wasteful, I sipped it and placed
it in the fridge between sips. By the time I made it to the last sip,
after about 4.5 hours of sipping, it started to taste ok. I imagine
with a little more experimenting and adding ingredients like dates, mango, berries and apples to the green stuff (spinach and collards
mostly), I could actually get into the green smoothie thing. The
benefits seem harmless...actually helpful and it's a great way to cut
calories and increase nutrients, antioxidants and fiber, which is a
huge reason why, after sipping on spinach for 4.5 hours, I'm looking
forward to day two. I won't be posting daily updates, but do wish me luck!
Why is it my business who Tiger Woods is, has or has ever had sex with? I know the answer is that this is America and Americans love to be up in people's bedrooms. And why are so many people saying it's his fall from grace. A god on the golf course, maybe, but he's just a very rich dude . If you are one of those people who assume that because somebody gets paid an insane amount of money to sing, act, play sports, run governments exceptionally well (in most cases), then they are somehow a saint by proxy, that is your problem, not theirs. Top athletes, especially the guys, have lots of money and power and opportunity. That rarely comes without a huge ego. Don't be surprised when they're caught getting sex somewhere other than at home. They're human! Politicians? These guys are masters of manipulation! They manipulate people and circumstances FOR A LIVING! You don't get to be President or Prime Minister or King or whoever by being Mr. Pure-of-heart. Don't be surprised if they get caught getting a little something on the side. When all this blows over, if all the allegations are true, some woman will probably get rich off a book and/or reality TV show because she had Tiger's penis inside her, Tiger will still be making butt-loads of money, and will be grateful that he only hurt his wife and kids and not the family dog, because hurting dog gets you prison time in this country. *steps down off the box*
Amy Chua: Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother I'm reading this one as part of a Mocha Moms book club. Amy Chua was the keynote speaker at our National Conference in Las Vegas last year. She made a great impression on me. Cannot wait to read her book and discuss with other moms. I'll also review it here on Homegirl.
Tad Hills: How Rocket Learned to Read My son loves this book! He's learning to read now, so he relates to Rocket. At night, he says he wants to wake up with a waggy tail, ready for class. :-)
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos and videos from Homegirl Blog. Make your own badge here.
Clinique Beauty Reviews!
During 2009 and 2010, I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of 20 U.S. Clinique Insiders. As a Clinique Beauty Insider, I did monthly videos and written reviews of Clinique cosmetics and skincare products. There are new Insiders now, but my 2010 reviews are still over there. A few of the best ones from my 2 years with them can be found on Clinique's Youtube and Facebook pages. Enjoy!
