Joy!

Blessings to you and yours!

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara Naturale

(Image from L'Oreal Paris USA website)

Recently, I read on the blog "Girls of a Certain Age" (by the former editor of Lucky magazine) that this was one of her favorite inexpensive products. Well, actually she was talking about the "regular" Voluminous mascara, but when I got to CVS, this one was on sale. So I figured, what the heck, I'd give it a try. There was one left, in brown, so I bought it. 

Now I am picky about mascara, and have not bought a "cheap" one for a while.  But this mascara is AWESOME.  No clumps, goes on easily and really pretty, and lasts all day without flaking or smearing if I happen to rub my eyes.  I've been using it for about about two months now, and it's still nice in the tube and on the brush.  

It's not a overly dramatic effect, like you get with something like Diorshow mascara, but it's fine for every-day-going-to-work as well as for anything "glamorous" in my life (I am seldom attending black-tie events).  For the price (anywhere from $5.00 to $7-something online), it's a good deal.  Even more so when it's on sale, like mine was!  

This may just become my new go-to mascara ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Walkway, Irish National Stud 

Tully, County Kildare, Ireland

May you have warm words on a cold evening,

A full moon on a dark night, 

And the road downhill all the way to your door.

-- An Irish Blessing

Here and Now

I felt terribly sad this week when I heard the news that Valerie Harper had an incurable brain tumor and probably only had about three months more to live.  I had always loved the character of Rhoda Morgenstern from "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and then later from her own show.  Rhoda was someone I wanted to be friends with - pretty, funny, smart, and lots of fun.  Even though I was a teenager when we first "met" I felt like she was a friend.  So learning of her illness was a shock.

Since hearing about it, I've read things about Valerie Harper that say she is determined to enjoy her life NOW.  Because she has learned the hardest way possible that living in the present should be the most important thing.

This is always hard for me to do.  Without consciously realizing it, I'm always making plans for "when I ..." or "as soon as ..."  When I do realize I'm doing this, I always get annoyed with myself.  I tell myself that there is no reality in living my life only in the future, because there are no guarantees.  And I don't even  mean as far as still being alive goes - rather, I may never save enough money to do X, or lose enough weight to buy/wear X, etc.  I like having goals, because I do better with some kind of structure to things, and having goals gives me something to work towards.  But when the goal takes over, you miss everything happening right in front of you that day, hour, moment, etc.  And that's sad, because you're right there, and not paying attention!

For a good part of my adult life, I've battled depression.  Sometimes, just a slight amount, but often debilitating.  Then I spent a LOT of time, thinking that "when I feel better ..." but one day it did occur to me that I needed to work on feeling better THEN and that it would mean I could/would do the things I was always wishing I could do.  And it's still hard for me to remember.  But if on any given day, I can remind myself that I am still here, still [relatively] healthy, with someplace to live, enough to eat, a great family, a job I like most of the time - well, you get the drift - then I can feel like I'm paying attention to the here and now.  So many people have bigger problems, and they manage to get through the day and maybe even be happy.  Maybe because getting through the day makes them realize they are alive, they can do it, they have LIFE.

And so, Valerie Harper's sad news reminds me once again to LIVE my life NOW, and appreciate that I can.  I know I'll feel terrible when she dies, but I hope that I - and others, especially her own family - can take some comfort in knowing that when she could enjoy her life, she still did.  Because, even if she learned the lesson the hard way, it is always a lesson worth learning.

No More Slogging

I managed to get through February without getting sick.  Granted, I spent the month still dealing with respiratory and energy issues from being so sick in January, but at least none of it got worse.  I did lose my two pounds - though again, not from any real effort on my part, but because I didn't feel that great most of the time to want to eat.  I got a few small things accomplished, so even though the progress is painfully slow, it's still there.

March offers new opportunities, as well as being the month when winter becomes springtime - at least according to the calendar.  Personally, I love March because besides my own birthday, there's a lot of other fun stuff that happens.  And this year, on the very last day, we even have Easter!

So, what am I hoping March will be for me?  Well, I really hope I can feel better enough to stop slogging through my life for one thing.  I plan to try really hard to get back to physical activity, even if at first my respiratory issues can make my endurance low.  But since in theory the weather will be improving, even just something like a walk or bicycle ride can happen, and I know myself well enough to know that I shouldn't overdo it when I have the chance to start again.

I'm still hoping to lose another two pounds, and now I have extra motivation, since one of my nieces is getting married in June, and I'd like to show up looking healthy.  I also want to continue on some organization projects around the house.  If/when the weather starts to cooperate, I also want to clean up outside in our garden.  I'd love it if I could plant some flowers and get it looking nice again, so we could sit outside as much as we used to.

Of course, in a perfect world, I could accomplish everything and then more, but I'm perfectly content to do what I can and keep going.  It's not a race, and as long as I remember that, I'll be just fine.

Happy March!