Ok so even the name of this week's site is cool: Pink Mascara. A good friend reminded me of the site recently and I hadn't been in a while. Shame on me. Don't be confused, its not a makeup store. Its an eclectic little online boutique that would make you think of in Soho IRL.
With unique or hard-to-find designers like Ya-Ya, Citizens of Humanity, and Tom Ford (yes, I said Tom Ford - as in Gucci saving, YSL resurrecting, now on his own and blazing a fashion trail, Tom Ford) you will be sure to find something you like. One of the best parts is once you click on an item, they give you a few "you may also like" selections at the bottom... unlike many online stores the options are not just randomly selected stuff they have too much of - they actually seem to match your current interest. Case in point, I clicked on the Madison Marcus Mercurial Top (come to mommy) and at the bottom they also listed a Robert Rodriguez Sequin Top that I also thought was ab fab.
The tricky part can be prices - those are unfortunately often reminiscent of a Soho boutique as well. My advice - do what any savvy shopper does, check the sale racks: http://www.pinkmascara.com/saleall.html
So, without further adieu, I present to you: http://www.pinkmascara.com/
Happy shopping!!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
That's Golden
Wow - so here it is... my 50th official blog post. My "golden" post. Who'da thunk it. Not me. I can't even commit to flossing everyday so I never really thought I'd keep up with daily (for the most part) blogging.
Buuuut having said that... I can say that my umph is starting to wane a bit. Its becoming harder to find topics. For instance, had today not been my 50th post (convenient) I would have been forced to choose between writing about waking up with yet another cold this morning, buying our first familymobile this past weekend (Buick Enclave), or the fact that at 34 years old I finally signed up for FaceBook (is that creepy?).
Plus, each day I check my "hits" for the prior day and lets just say I don't have the readership of say, CNN. Included on my "hits" page is a little map of the world showing hits. I have no (zero zip nada) hits out of the US. Not that I guess I would think that would be expected... but it would be cool. :)
I dunno - maybe its time to go ahead and let this be what it is - a blog about Cora for my family and friends who are interested and leave it at that. Maybe I should cut back to weekly blogging. But the little part of me who uses writing as an escape and hobby would feel defeated I think if I did that. So I suppose for now I'll keep on keepin' on and continually reevaluate. But I swear if my hits drop to single digits I'm outta here. :)
(p.s. - to pull you all into my international obsession, I added a visual "clustermap" indicator off to the right.... once a little dot shows up outside the US you can help me do the happy dance. see... interactive blogging!)
Buuuut having said that... I can say that my umph is starting to wane a bit. Its becoming harder to find topics. For instance, had today not been my 50th post (convenient) I would have been forced to choose between writing about waking up with yet another cold this morning, buying our first familymobile this past weekend (Buick Enclave), or the fact that at 34 years old I finally signed up for FaceBook (is that creepy?).
Plus, each day I check my "hits" for the prior day and lets just say I don't have the readership of say, CNN. Included on my "hits" page is a little map of the world showing hits. I have no (zero zip nada) hits out of the US. Not that I guess I would think that would be expected... but it would be cool. :)
I dunno - maybe its time to go ahead and let this be what it is - a blog about Cora for my family and friends who are interested and leave it at that. Maybe I should cut back to weekly blogging. But the little part of me who uses writing as an escape and hobby would feel defeated I think if I did that. So I suppose for now I'll keep on keepin' on and continually reevaluate. But I swear if my hits drop to single digits I'm outta here. :)
(p.s. - to pull you all into my international obsession, I added a visual "clustermap" indicator off to the right.... once a little dot shows up outside the US you can help me do the happy dance. see... interactive blogging!)
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Creepy Coincidence or Divine Special Order?
My mom reminded me this weekend of an event I'd quite forgotten. Many years ago I had moved into my first apartment. I'm not sure if I was lonely, or starting to feel the twangs of looking toward motherhood, but I found these adorable dolls that you could actually special order. You could choose the face, hair, coloring, etc etc. Even though they were expensive I decided to get one. When she arrived I was amazed at how lifelike she was. I named her Maggie and took some "new mommy" photos of her to share with my family and friends.
After a few months I realized that a 20-something single girl didn't have a lot of use for a collectible, life-like doll. I sold Maggie on eBay hoping she'd go to a good home. Within a few weeks I had all but forgotten about her, heartless as that may sound. At least until this weekend.
I don't think anyone can deny they at least resemble each other. More likely, I think most people would have the same reaction my husband did. So, what's the explanation? Was it just an odd, creepy coincidence? Was I so in touch with my genetic makeup that I inherently knew what my offspring would look like? Do I have some sort of paranormal view into the future? Or was God watching and said "Hmmm, yeah I think you may have it right there - I'll send the real deal down for you when you're ready"? Who knows.
After a few months I realized that a 20-something single girl didn't have a lot of use for a collectible, life-like doll. I sold Maggie on eBay hoping she'd go to a good home. Within a few weeks I had all but forgotten about her, heartless as that may sound. At least until this weekend.
For some reason my mom had remembered Maggie and even without the photos commented on how Cora looked the way she remembered Maggie looking. As coincidence would have it, a couple weekends ago I transferred a bunch of old files (including photos I wanted to keep) from an old computer I had sitting around onto my laptop. After getting my mom's email, I searched until I found the sub-folder titled "Mags" under the aptly titled "my old crap" folder.
The minute I pulled up the first photo I was astonished. I called my husband in and explained the story - then showed him the photos. He was actually freaked out by how similar they looked. Below are some photos of "Maggie"....
And now my Cora:
I don't think anyone can deny they at least resemble each other. More likely, I think most people would have the same reaction my husband did. So, what's the explanation? Was it just an odd, creepy coincidence? Was I so in touch with my genetic makeup that I inherently knew what my offspring would look like? Do I have some sort of paranormal view into the future? Or was God watching and said "Hmmm, yeah I think you may have it right there - I'll send the real deal down for you when you're ready"? Who knows. I feel a little sad now - wondering where "Maggie" is - if she went to a good home - if they kept her or if she was shuffled around yet again. I almost feel now like I gave up the "mold" for my future child... as if it was something I should have kept and treasured and shown Cora. I know I'll never know what happened to "Maggie" but hopefully wherever she is, she's making some little girl, (or big girl) as happy as Cora makes me.
Weight Watcher's Weigh In: Week Four
Today is weigh in day. Not too much to report so I'll keep this one short - lost exactly one pound. Not setting the world on fire am I? I'm finding that its getting harder to stay within my daily points when I'm not "saving" for something (like a special dinner or event).
So, 6lbs down, 18.5 to go. And that's the "skinny" on week 4.
So, 6lbs down, 18.5 to go. And that's the "skinny" on week 4.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Life Ain't Fair
We have a set of friends who recently had a baby. I remember the day they shared the news they were pregnant. It was not long after Cora was born - maybe a month. We were well into our Colic crisis and so sleep deprived it wasn't even funny. I believe the last words I said to them before they cleared their throats and delicately changed the subject was "so make sure you value every bit of your freedom before deciding to lock down to parenthood". Nice.
When my husband called to congratulate them shortly after the big event they told us what a "good baby" they had. I told my husband - wait until he's two weeks old - that's when all hell breaks loose. Today we saw our friends at church with the little one. I believe he is now all of three weeks old. Let me just mention that we did not take Cora to church until she was about two months old because we knew screaming through the service would not be the best way to ingratiate ourselves into our new church family. Our friends' little one (Michael) however snuggled into his carseat and slept the service away. At one point he did open his eyes and try to wake up, only to determine it was too much effort and fall right back into dreamland.
Later this afternoon, we stopped over to our friends' house to finally get an indepth meet and greet with little Michael. He was sleeping when we arrived but woke soon after. Instead of immediately screaming his head off for the next hour which was what I was used to and expecting he looked around, made a few squeaks, was picked up by mom and settled back down to suck on his paci and chill. We were there about an hour through a diaper change and various people swapping... he barely made a peep. The closest he came to fussing was when his mom set him up in his Boppy to look around. Until he got comfortable he squawked a bit - all of about one minute.
After we left and got home, I was torn between feeling a tiny bit of hope that if we did decide to have a number two, that there was another outcome we could have but mostly feeling a little down. I realized that our friends probably now thought that we were either weak-willed or exaggerating about Cora's beginnings. On top of that there was a very small childish part of me that thought - "it's just not fair." We are not bad people, we did everything we were supposed to do during the pregnancy, why did we get such a trying time when so many others got off so 'easy'. It was then that my hubby spoke with the plain wisdom that I count on him for in these times. He told me "Honey - regardless of what anyone else thinks, we know what we went through and we're stronger people for it. Maybe we needed to go through this to learn something - to learn patience." And I know he's right. I know that there's a reason no matter whether we see it now, or whether we never know it. There was a reason. So at the end of the night I focus on being happy for our friends and the blessing that they have with little Michael, and being happy for Ryan and I in the blessing that we have in Cora. No matter what the initial "buy in" cost us the jackpot is worth it.
When my husband called to congratulate them shortly after the big event they told us what a "good baby" they had. I told my husband - wait until he's two weeks old - that's when all hell breaks loose. Today we saw our friends at church with the little one. I believe he is now all of three weeks old. Let me just mention that we did not take Cora to church until she was about two months old because we knew screaming through the service would not be the best way to ingratiate ourselves into our new church family. Our friends' little one (Michael) however snuggled into his carseat and slept the service away. At one point he did open his eyes and try to wake up, only to determine it was too much effort and fall right back into dreamland.
Later this afternoon, we stopped over to our friends' house to finally get an indepth meet and greet with little Michael. He was sleeping when we arrived but woke soon after. Instead of immediately screaming his head off for the next hour which was what I was used to and expecting he looked around, made a few squeaks, was picked up by mom and settled back down to suck on his paci and chill. We were there about an hour through a diaper change and various people swapping... he barely made a peep. The closest he came to fussing was when his mom set him up in his Boppy to look around. Until he got comfortable he squawked a bit - all of about one minute.
After we left and got home, I was torn between feeling a tiny bit of hope that if we did decide to have a number two, that there was another outcome we could have but mostly feeling a little down. I realized that our friends probably now thought that we were either weak-willed or exaggerating about Cora's beginnings. On top of that there was a very small childish part of me that thought - "it's just not fair." We are not bad people, we did everything we were supposed to do during the pregnancy, why did we get such a trying time when so many others got off so 'easy'. It was then that my hubby spoke with the plain wisdom that I count on him for in these times. He told me "Honey - regardless of what anyone else thinks, we know what we went through and we're stronger people for it. Maybe we needed to go through this to learn something - to learn patience." And I know he's right. I know that there's a reason no matter whether we see it now, or whether we never know it. There was a reason. So at the end of the night I focus on being happy for our friends and the blessing that they have with little Michael, and being happy for Ryan and I in the blessing that we have in Cora. No matter what the initial "buy in" cost us the jackpot is worth it.
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