When My Hobbies Collide June 16, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, My Former Dog Children, Photography, Projects , 4commentsI’ve been thinking about which lens to get next.
Our neighbor has the same camera we do, but different lenses.
I borrowed the Nikkor 50mm
I think I want it.
Ahem . . .
I think I need it.
It’s great for portrait shots with a shallow depth of field.
It’s great at blurring the foreground and background and leaving your subject in focus. It’s also great for low light setting because it has a quick shutter speed.
I shot some newly knitted hats with it.
I may have gone a little crazy making hats . . . (I only photographed a small portion of what I’ve made. David kind of makes fun of me for knitting so many hats, and I kind of pretend I can’t hear him when he tells me I’ve gone overboard.)
And shooting hats . . .
And when my knitting and photography hobbies collide, this is what you get.
Any other hobby suggestions?
A Call to Action! June 15, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Photography, Princess Hannah , 1 comment so farI can be bossy.
Just ask my husband.
I don’t really mean to be, I just am.
So this is me being bossy to you . . . (which, obviously, is not a deviation from how I regularly live my life)
Start taking pictures of your kids!
So often I hear parents put off taking pictures because their kids look messy, their hair is sloppy, or they’re outfit looks like a homeless person dressed them.
Guess what?
Isn’t that how they always look? Don’t you see them like that everyday? If I only took pictures of my kids when their hair was done, their clothes were clean or matching, or their faces were clean, I would only have a handful of pictures. Let’s face it, the sun, moon, and starts would need to align to get a candid shot of my kids with beautifully styled hair, coordinated outfits, and looking happy.
Start photographing your kids exactly as you see them!
In five years from now, you’re not going to care how your kids looked in pictures, you’re just going to care THAT you have pictures.
(This is Hannah, sporting second day bed head, and wearing her “princess dress” that she wears almost everyday. This beauty has been worn in more pictures than I can count. But this is Hannah, the way she looks everyday. I love capturing the real her.)
This is your call to action!
Start snapping away! In 10 years from now, you’ll thank yourself!
Facial Care 101 June 12, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Beauty , 6commentsDid I mention I would post Skin Care 101 last week?
Ahem.
I meant this week. (Obviously.)
First off, I would like to make a disclaimer: I am not an esthetician, professional makeup artist, or scientist. (I’m sorry if this disappoints any of you.) If you are looking for the nitty gritty of WHY our skin does certain things and exactly HOW products work, you’ve come to the WRONG place. If you’re looking to satisfy your inner nerd, check out WebMD and ask them your questions.
However, I started caring about wrinkles at the ripe old age of 16 and dove right into caring for my skin. I have managed a hair salon, participated in more pageants than I can recall, modeled at Dallas Market Hall, produced hundreds of prom fashion shows (this is not an exaggeration) and worked closely with professional makeup artists (and filled in several times as an artist) during photo shoots. I have a passion for skin care and makeup.
I firmly believe that looking good is a choice. Not a privilege.
Now, let’s talk about looking good!
Your makeup will only look as good as the skin it graces. Let’s talk about your skin (in another post I’ll address makeup tips).
Consider your skin as a blank canvas. You need to keep it as healthy and beautiful as possible. The right skin-care ingredients can coax your skin from blemished to smooth, blotchy to clear, and dull to radiant.
But, before you run out to the nearest department store makeup counter and plop down hundreds of dollars on lotions and potions that promise to spring your skin to life, you must determine your skin type.
(test below taken from the book “Getting Gorgeous
To figure out whether it’s normal, dry, oily, or a combination of dry and oily, take this simple test:
Wash And Dry your face and leave it un-moisturized for three hours. Press a single piece of tissue to your face and remove it. Make your diagnosis:
Normal Skin if no oil comes off the paper and your skin doesn’t feel tight or flaky.
Dry Skin if your skin feels dry, tight or flaky and no oil appears on the paper.
Oily Skin if oil comes off your nose, forehead, and cheeks.
Combination Skin if there’s oil on your nose and forehead but not your cheeks.
Sensitive Skin if your skin tends to be tight and blotchy and reacts to new skin-care products by becoming red, inflamed, or itchy.
Remember: Your skin type can change depending on the climate, the season, or your age. You may need to use lighter moisturizers and gel cleansers in the summer and use creamier products in the winter.
Do you know your skin? I didn’t need to take the test to know mine! (BUT TAKE THE TEST ANYWAY! Do as I say, not as I do!)
Before you wash your face, you must wash your dirty little hands. Okay, you might think they’re clean, and maybe they are, but don’t take any chances. You don’t want to introduce new bacteria to your face while your pores are open!
Wash your hands.
Splash your face with warm water. Warm water opens your pores, making washing your face much more effective.
Wash in an upward motion, and outward circles. Your skin will do what you tell it to do, so over the course of 40 years, if you wash your face inward (pushing your cheeks to sag) your face will sag! True story. ( Although, I don’t want to spent the next 40 years trying this to prove this point.)
Wash your skin with your hands only, and be gentle. Please, please, please don’t use a wash cloth! Sometimes, we can get a little overzealous with the soap, thinking that the harder, more vigorous we wash, the more life we’re bringing to our face. Just like brushing our teeth, pressing too hard can be very detrimental. Terry cloths (aka wash cloths) can cause microscopic scars on your face when washing with them! You may pat your face dry with one, but leave it at that.
I use a shammy wash cloth made by Aveda in lieu of a wash cloth. The shammy is antibacterial, and I use it to gently rub off mascara, and wash my face and pat it dry. You can also throw it in the washer and they last about a year. They run about $10. Worth every penny.
After washing, splash your face with a bit of cool water. This will close your pores (don’t want to leave those freshly washed pores open to more bacteria).
You must wash your face twice a day. It’s one of those rules in life. Like you only need to exercise on the days that you eat . . . you only need to wash your face on the days that your face has any contact with the air. (Ever heard of pollution? Yeah, it wreaks havoc on your face! Even though you can’t see it, you need to wash it off.)
It is very important to wash twice daily. At night to wash off your makeup, (or lack thereof which is my case 90% of the time) and in the morning to wash off any facial grease your face has acquired. At night, your body heals itself. I’ve been told, that your cells work to repair themselves while you sleep. (This made sense to me because how many times have you gone to bed with various aches and wake up in the morning feeling great?) It’s difficult for your cells to do their job while they’re covered in foundation, powder, and concealer.
After washing, you must apply moisturizer. MUST. I don’t care if you say you produce enough oil to share with every dry skinned woman west of the Mississippi, you still need it. For those of you with oily skin, don’t call it moisturizer, call it repair cream. We could all use a few repairs here and there, right? Find the right one, and you will have a new lease on life. The skin is very delicate under your eyes, so use your ring finger (which is your weakest finger) to apply cream. Your skin is not the same all over your body (I know, startling, right?) and this is why you don’t use Victoria’s Secret lotion intended for you body on your face. Irritation and breakouts are guaranteed. Use skin moisturizer for your face, and eye cream for your eyes. Try to find a skin cream with 50 SPF. Most creams do, but don’t be the fool to buy the only cream on the market without SPF. You’ll thank yourself in 20 years. (Or sooner!)
Some things I just don’t need to verify to believe. If it makes sense, and a skin care professional told me, I believe. So, the following list may or may not be true, but I have always believed these things and for good reason:
- Everyday you don’t wash your face, it ages three days (I’m sure this is true!)
- Everyday you don’t wash the mascara off your eyelashes, your eyelashes age 10 days. (Um, do any of you doubt this?)
- The best time to tweeze your eyebrows is right after you wash your face. Your pores are open, and the little hairs pull out easily. (Trust me, THIS IS TRUE.)
- You should use a weekly exfoliant. (True, True, True)
- You should give yourself a facial mask once a week, or two to three times a month. (I swear by this. It will liven up your skin, and invigorate your cells!)
Decide today to have great skin!
Next I will post about products and ingredients. What to look for, what to avoid, and when and if you need to splurge on that eye cream.
Teaching My Child Nonsense June 11, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Family, Princess Hannah , 4commentsMy dad always told great bedtime stories.
Most of his stories didn’t make much sense. (They didn’t then and still don’t.)
Every once in a while, I thumb through the invisible Rolodex in my brain labeled “Stories by Pa.”
I shared this little ditty with Hannah the other night:
Ladies and Jellyspoons, Beggars and Tramps, Bowlegged Mosquitoes and Cross-eyed Ants,
I come before you to stand behind you to tell you something I know nothing about.
There will be a woman’s meeting next Tuesday on Good Friday for men only.
Admission is free, please pay at the door.
Pull up a chair and sit on the floor.
At the end of the poem, Hannah looked very inquisitively at me and said, “Grandpa has silly stories!”
Even two-year-olds know nonsense when they hear it.
Two Different Worlds June 10, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Family, Medical School, My Former Dog Children, My Handsome Husband, Princess Hannah , 4commentsMy husband is a busy guy. He’s gone a lot helping people that have special needs. Needs like “cut off my leg” or “cut out the cancer in my arm.”
Not regular needs if you catch my drift.
He works long hours, and never has a chance to eat.
Ever.
(Okay, well, sometimes he has five seconds here or there to eat something so I may have exaggerated a bit.) He comes home starving after a long day in surgery with the most interesting stories. Stories that make me gasp, (WHAT? YOU CUT OFF A GUYS LEG?) cover my mouth, (YOU CUT OUT A GROWTH HOW BIG?) and sometimes make me throw up a little bit in my mouth (YOU GIVE SHOTS IN THE KNEES? EWE!).
He leaves early in the morning before the kids get up, (those of you who have kids know this is early because kids rise and shine early) and often returns home after they’ve gone to bed.
We miss him and love to share what little time he has.
After a “normal” day for him, (a day that would make most of us have post traumatic stress) he comes home to watch Hannah jump her little heart out, chat it up with the neighbors, and watch Paris run around the backyard.
(Hannah was jumping with all her might screaming, “Mommy! I’m jumping CRAZY!” She was so satisfied.)
(look at her tongue that is too big for her mouth!)
He even carves out a little time to shoot the breeze with me while watching our dog sleep.
I’m so glad he’s not going into surgery.
Killer hours.
Killer diet.
Killer for the family.
Much Less Complicated Than it Looks June 9, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Projects , 4commentsI’m sort of embarrassed to admit something . . .
but I have to get it off my chest.
I would hate for any of you to think I’m more crafty than I am.
Here’s the truth . . .
Knitting on a knitting loom is EASY.
Do you actually think I would embrace a new hobby that required me to think?
Honestly.
I don’t like to think unless absolutely necessary!
Here’s a secret, you can do it too! Go buy yourself a knitting loom
It’s so easy and quite a conversation piece. Once you knit in public, (public meaning your font porch while watching your child draw with chalk) all closet knitters come out and knock on your door.
Three of my neighbors (ages 10, 11, 12) have come over to knit with me on my porch.
True story.
Welcome to Kansas, home to all closet knitters.
What I Serve My Guests for Breakfast June 8, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Birthday, Family, Kansas , 5commentsMy niece, Betsy, celebrated her 17th birthday at our house this week.
Hannah is all about birthdays. (What two-year-old isn’t into cake, candles, presents, and chocolate?)
This is what we ate for breakfast on Betsy’s birthday.
Really.
No one complained.
It was delicious. All 467 calories per bite.
In fact, I’m positive this was the favorite breakfast my sister’s family ate while visiting.
Because they didn’t smile like this when I served cold cereal and oatmeal!
“Too Many Kids!” June 5, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Family, Kansas , 5commentsThis week my sister, Ang, and my brother-in-law, Mike, drove out from Utah to Kansas City with five of their six kids.
Hannah was in kid heaven.
At dinner, she surveyed the table burgeoning with people and exclaimed, “THERE ARE TOO MANY KIDS!”
In Hannah’s world, things are quantified as: one, two, a few, and too many.
Anything over three is too many. She referred to her cousins as “Betsy and those too many boys.”
We went on a walk with Betsy and those too many boys.
She particularity liked the littlest boy, Ammon. She called him “little boy” in lieu of his name. Which he did not appreciate.
But Hannah is quite charming and very persuasive, so not only did he allow her to call him “little boy” . . .
But he also danced with her. Girls can be very persuasive.
This is Betsy, contemplating life’s mysteries.
And thinking about those mysteries as she walks down the path of life.
Hannah and that “little boy” spied a “stage” (anything raised above the ground qualifies as a stage)
And ran like crazy to dance their little hearts out.
The other boys got bored, but not Hannah. She could go on singing and dancing for hours. (Well, maybe minutes.)
These two were good buddies.
Walking, talking, dancing, and playing together.
Ang and Mike seemed to enjoy the scenery . . .
And the kids enjoyed petting other people’s dogs, chasing bunnies, looking for watersnakes, watching squirrels, and throwing rocks in the river.
Sometimes I’m “Great in the House” June 4, 2009
Posted by Emily in : My Handsome Husband, Princess Hannah , 4commentsYou’ve all been there; your kid says a phrase they’ve picked up from somewhere and when you hear it, you tweak your ears, furrow your brow, and say, “excuse me?”
Because you have no idea where they picked it up.
While walking around the house, Hannah will very randomly exclaim in her outside voice, “I’M GREAT IN THE HOUSE!”
Immediately, I pinned this one on David. I knew I didn’t teach her that.
Wouldn’t you know, David pinned it on me when he heard Hannah say it for the first time too.
Either we’re both in denial, or someone other than us has convinced her she’s “great in the house.”
We asked her, “What exactly does that mean, being great in the house?”
Her response?
When you take a bath. That’s what makes you GREAT IN THE HOUSE!
Well, that eliminates me from qualifying for this. 
My Friends! They’re Here! What are Their Names? June 3, 2009
Posted by Emily in : Daily Life, Friends, Kansas, Princess Hannah , 1 comment so farHannah has some “best friends.”
Actually, anyone that breathes or walks by the house could qualify as one of her “best friends.”
Whenever she sees kids outside playing, she exclaims, “MOMMY! MY FRIENDS! THERE HERE! WHAT ARE THEIR NAMES?”
She’s a lover I tell you.
Do you have a name? Do you like to play with chalk? Do you like hop scotch? Do you breath? Are you nice?
A yes to any or all of these questions will make you and Hannah instant buddies.
These two girls are her “best friends.” One lives behind us, one lives next to us. (She has one more friend not pictured here)
You know it’s a beautiful day when the little girls take the “inside furniture” outside.
To chat it up on the driveway . . . sharing a few secrets in the bright sun.
(I overheard them say, “When I was just a little girl . . .” And I was all, WHEN? SERIOUSLY? How about you STILL ARE little girls and will be for the next 18 years!)
You know they’ve had fun when their faces are covered in chalk.
Admiring each other’s artwork.
One great day down.
Lots more to come.
