watch your tone

I trust Clinique but when this product came out, I was very skeptical. Mostly because it sounded too good to be true. While I never suffered from acne or other skin problems, I was always wishing the overall tone of my skin was more even. It's not severe enough to call in a doctor and can easily be covered up with minimal makeup. For those reasons alone, I sing the praises of Clinique's Even Better line. It works for severe cases and cases like mine that are minimal. After 40 days I saw a noticeable reduction of redness in my lower cheeks and my chin from using the serum (shown on the right). Now I use the moisturizer (shown on the left) every 3 days and the serum as a spot treatment. The best part, I'm still on the same bottle of serum from 3 months ago and I never skipped on application. There's more than enough in the bottle. So whether you can severe skin tone problems or minimal you can use this product. I highly recommend it.

espressing my love

I pour my heart out for espresso machines. I love coffee, lattes, teas, espresso, the works. But the expensive of an espresso machine and the wariness of not knowing how to use one was keeping me from indulging in my favorite bad habit. That was until, I met Bialetti. Staying in Chicago last weekend was full of coffee shop stops and many, many pots of coffee shared between me and my best friend. I was eying the strange little contraption on the stove until the news broke, it was an espresso maker. That was the same moment I feel in love. Her kind boyfriend showed me how it worked and voilà! perfect espresso. My sole goal is to pick one up this weekend and to scout some espresso cups, can't wait!

sweet treat

I've always wondered how to make these and when I came across them on Steph Modo's blog, I couldn't resist. Taste tested and approved by my entire family and office, these are easy, fun and mindless to make. Go! Do it! I promise you'll love them!
Original recipe re-posted from here: http://tiny.cc/izm9z

Double Lemon Bars
Bon Appetit, 1991, Lana Sills

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all purpose flour

1 tablespoon grated lemon peel

Powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 cup powdered sugar in large bowl. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Press mixture into bottom of 9x13x2-inch baking dish. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Maintain oven temperature.

Beat eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon flour and lemon peel in medium bowl to blend. Pour into crust. Bake until mixture is set, about 20 minutes. Cool.

Cut into 24 bars. Sift powdered sugar over top before serving. If you are going to stack them, be sure to sift powdered sugar on top before using wax paper to divide the top and bottom row. This way they won't stick together. :)

olfactory bulb

I love how smells trigger memories. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. Certain perfumes remind me of people or moments in time. Chanel Chance will always remind me of my first summer in Manhattan. The smell of coffee always triggers a smile, reminding me of my mom and mom-mom. (I was always allowed to sip along even as a child.) There are even smells that while they trigger bad memories, I am grateful for the conditioned response regardless.

I read up some and learned that your olfactory bulb, part of the brain's limbic system is responsible for this experience. Whenever you smell a new scent, your brain automatically links it to a place, person, event, or experience, forever forging the two together. The article is below. Above are my 6 fall picks. I hope to slowly gather them all for my collection and to forge new great memories this fall.

Clockwise, starting at the top left: Chloe, Flowerbomb Viktor & Rolf, Bvlgari Omnia Green Jade, Vera Wang, Chanel Mademoiselle and Balenciaga Paris.

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/nose-throat/smell3.htm

nyfw

Katie Gallagher's SS11 Arena Preview

http://vimeo.com/14904229

made-well-type

I have a sister who bleeds bobby pins. Seriously wherever she goes you know because she leaves them behind like a paper trail. This type treatment goes out to her. Love you Dani :)

clipping coupons

Good Morning! I'm thinking with my discount card I might get a new perfume. I've had my eye on a few :)

how to treat a snake bite

I have been gone for a long while. The truth is, the truth hurts. The internet is a very public place and when I started writing and posting, I didn't fully grasp who exactly would read this. Sometimes the feedback was really sweet and sometimes, not so much. I hadn't realized how much it actually hurt my feelings until I had finished deleting everything from the page. That was when I decided I needed to suck all the poison out of my life. It went something like this;

1. Get the victim away from the snake: I tried to ignore it. One of those mind games that go like, "If I don't look at it, it won't hurt me or I won't feel the effects." But it still stung and it wasn't going away quick enough.

2. Remove clothing or constricting items: I deleted the posts, realizing that if it was still up, comments could still be made. I had to protect myself. My opinions and thoughts are mine and while I openly accept criticism daily, this hurt because it was personal and I really took it to heart.

3. Minimize activity: I found new activities that were more private and much more rewarding than surfing the web. I found myself becoming a great runner and an alright cook when I really put my mind to it!

4. Do not cut the bite site or use your mouth to suck out the poison: There was no use in saying anything about the comments. Carrying on was the best thing I could do. I feel the need to speak now after I feel different about the situation and have forgiven completely.

5. Clean the bite site with soap and water: Surrounding myself when bright, shiny new people. Making more friends, thinking double, even triple before I speak, working on being a better person and friend to everyone I come in contact with. Even if that's complimenting a stranger or holding a door.

6. Splint the bitten limb to prevent motion: There has been so much time between when I've last posted, I needed that time to situate myself and make sure that if it happens again, I'll be ready and okay with it.

7. Keep the victim calm and protected from the environment: I'm back but my guard is up and it will forever be with those who felt the need to impose their negativity on me.

I'm not upset anymore. It was probably not even as big of a deal as it was when it happened. But I did what I had to do to protect myself from getting hurt. I'll be happily posting when I can. In the meantime you should read this post about a similar subject.

http://www.stephmodo.com/2010/09/combating-negativity.html

all in good time

up, up & away. back soon & posts to come