I prefer fake restaurants

I was just talking to someone about my lack of enthusiasm for the host city of a conference I will probably have to attend later this year. It's in a big city in a big state that I've been to before and don't particularly care for. I summarized my lack of enthusiasm for this particular city by telling a long-winded story, which I will now share with you.

Rose gold lover

I love rose gold. I didn't at first - when I was first introduced to rose gold jewelry some 20-odd years ago (prior to that I thought gold only came in yellow tones), I thought it looked cheap and tacky. Probably because the rose gold jewelry I first saw was cheap and tacky. But over the years, I've come to love it. I'm sure I've come to love it in no small reason because the color is very flattering on me. It combines my love of gold and copper perfectly.

Because I love it and find it flattering (on people besides me), I've found myself attracted to rose gold makeup, so it was great to see a video with recommendations on some of the best posted by one of my favorite YouTube beauty gurus, Emily Eddington. While I loved that she featured some of my favs, like the L'Oreal Infallible eyeshadow in Amber Rush (love it), I thought - hey, Emily, you're missing some! So since she can't actually hear me while I watch her videos in the comfort of my home, I thought I would post on the internet and add to the list, in case others were interested. Below are some of my favorite rose gold makeup items, in addition to hers. (I encourage you to watch her video for those.) I've tried to link to other sites where you can look at the products more closely if you so choose. 

• Milani baked blush in Rose D'Oro: it's kind of a sparkly/glowy peachy coral with gold, which in and of itself makes it lovely, but it also pairs really nicely with rose gold/rose copper eye makeup.
• Sleek blush in Rose Gold: it is a softer/lighter color than the Milani Rose D'Oro, but a similar description applies. I think it's gorgeous and super flattering on fair skin. (If I ever go to the UK I'm positive I'll walk into a Boots and buy every Sleek item they sell, because I've loved every product I've tried so far, and the price is right. Also, I LOVE the fact that their site shows you almost all of their color products swatched on different shades of skin. Why doesn't everybody do that?) While we're on the subject of Sleek, you can get a nice rose goldish look from their i Divine eyeshadow palette in Oh So Special. 
• NYX jumbo eye pencil in Yogurt: as an eyeshadow, I don't love it since it creases in like 5 minutes on me, with primer after about an hour, but it makes a great lower lash eyeliner. Really brightens the eye, and ties together a rose gold eye look quite nicely.
• The eyelid shade on the left side of the Wet N Wild Color Icon Comfort Zone palette. This might be my favorite drugstore eyeshadow palette. A major reason I love this palette is that coppery/rose gold shade in particular, it's great for every day wear. (Although I have to admit I'm not crazy about the definer shade on the left column or the crease shade on the right since they're a bit too dark for everyday wear on me.) 
• Essie Penny Talk nail polish - a very light copper/rose gold shade. I love it, it's a beautiful color, but I do have to say the formula is kind of a pain to work with. It will show every single imperfection. But with patience and a really good base coat, I think it's totally worth it.
• NYX jumbo lip pencil in Copper Pink paired with NYX Mega Shine Lip Gloss in Crystal Soda. It's a very shiny pairing, but I love it. I don't love the smell of the NYX jumbo lip pencil, but do love the scent of the mega shine lip glosses (kind of like cherry candy). Thankfully the scent of the lip pencil fades quickly, especially paired with the gloss. 
• Last but by no means least: Color Club halo polish in Cosmic Fate. In regular lighting indoors it's a pretty rose gold/light copper shade, but in the sun/direct light, you get the full spectacular rainbow halo effect. I love the color both ways. Plus, unlike the Essie polish, it's a dream to apply, and you can almost get away with just one coat. Love this polish, will probably be playing favorites with it this summer, which is saying a lot given my rainbow collection. 

If you're a lover of rose gold like me, have you found any makeup products you recommend I try? 

Buddhist monks freak me out

I was getting ready to cross the street, and while waiting for the light to change, two Buddhist monks walked up next to me, and I flinched. Why would I flinch as these two friendly looking men in yellow robes stood next to me, you may ask. Well, because I got a PTSD flashback in their presence. The reason for this flashback was an incident that happened to me well over 10 years ago, and I apparently still haven't gotten over. So much so I was just recounting this story to some colleagues at work when I heard the Dalai Lama was in town a few weeks ago, and here I am, telling it again.

I was taking an Amtrak train home from visiting friends/family one weekend – I think it may have been Easter since the weather was spring-like. The train was packed, but I found 2 empty seats. I sat next to the window, and a Buddhist monk who boarded at the same station ended up sitting next to me. A little while after the train departed, the monk started trying to have a conversation with me, something that was complicated by the fact that he didn't speak much English. He had recently arrived to the US and (I think) was visiting some friends or going on a retreat or something. Anyway, after a few minutes of awkward chit-chat in broken English, I turned away and started reading my magazine.

Just as I was starting to get into some article on mascara or whatever the hell I was reading, the monk shifts and starts saying that he’s cold. He repeats it. I ask if he has a blanket or a jacket, but he just had his robes. A moment later, he leans in to snuggle next to me, since apparently he loves the softness of my sweater, and then proceeds to sniff me. I am horrified, but somehow frozen. He sniffs me again. This sweet looking little old man who looks like the Dalai Lama JUST SNIFFED ME??!! He tells me I smell good. I catch the eye of the man sitting across the aisle and look at him in horror, while he just looks on in amusement.  I think, "am I on Candid Camera? Is someone trying to punk me?" I shrug the monk off my arm, press myself up against the window, and say thank you to his compliment. (I’m only good with witty comebacks several days AFTER weird things happen to me. Plus, it's always nice to know the deodorant is working in stressful situations.) The monk kept staring at me, then grabbed my hand and started looking at my palm, then into my face. Internally I was thinking, “is this some gypsy fortune telling monk?” but externally all I did was start to panic and pull my hand away. The monk then proceeded to take a ring off his hand and put it on my finger, telling me it would bring me good fortune. At this point, every self-defense alarm system in my body is going off, and I’m panicking. I was also wondering if I was just an unwitting participant in a marriage ceremony of some sort.

I tried to give the ring back, but the monk said I needed it for hard times ahead. I grabbed my bag, told the monk my station was up next, wished him luck, and walked over to the next car, where I stood for the next 25 minutes until my station stop, all the time looking around for the damn cameras, because surely this had to be a joke. Not having seen Ashton Kutcher or ever having to sign a release form though, it seems the incident with the sniffing /snuggling monk was all too real.

I took off the monk's ring when I got home, and tossed it in the corner of a drawer. I didn't throw it away because I thought I would look up the symbols on it to see what they meant, but then decided I didn't want to know, and then forgot about it. Years later, it didn't make the move up to my condo with me, but I'm not sure if I ended it putting it in the giveaway or trash pile. (I also took off that sweater and washed it twice before wearing it again.)

I hope that ceremony wasn't binding, 'cause he's not getting the ring back in the divorce.

My soundtrack

I love music and I love movies. Nothing blends these two loves as well as a good movie soundtrack. The first album I remember buying was the GREASE movie soundtrack, and I have had a love affair with movie soundtracks ever since. FLASHDANCE, FOOTLOOSE, TOP GUN, PRETTY IN PINK, TWO OF A KIND, PURPLE RAIN, WHO'S THAT GIRL, LOVE ACTUALLY, JUNO, BOOMERANG, GARDEN STATE....I have purchased a lot movie soundtracks over the years.

So the other day while listening to music during my commute into work, my mind started to wander, as it often does. I started to think - if I could score the soundtrack to the bio film of my life, what songs would be on it? And I kept thinking about it - tough choices would have to be made. Because it would have to be songs that I not only love, but that would match a particular period of my life, or would work for particular scenes. Many of my all-time favorite songs would not make the cut. My weakness for pop music would probably make this an impossibly expensive album to put together in terms of licensing. But I put some thought into it, and I pared it down to this: the soundtrack to my life, so far.