Go to your happy place

The weather is getting cooler, kids are back in school, the leaves are starting to change color - all sure signs that autumn is on it's way. Fall/autumn is by far my favorite season of the year. I love the colors of the trees, the pumpkins, the cinammon-y baked goods, the crisp weather, and the seasonal makeup releases in shades that tend to right in my color wheelhouse.

It is currently beautiful outside my window - what I consider perfect weather. Sunny, cool, slightly breezy - and you might be able to see in the picture above, taken from my balcony, the leaves are now just starting to turn those beautiful shades of red, orange and yellow that just warm my heart. It's the kind of day that just pumps up my mood, and brings a spring to my step. The kind of day I need to wrap myself in and fully enjoy, so I can remember it on those not-so-perfect days - which unfortunately, can make you forget the great ones.

Oh, memories

This morning a friend posted a link to one of Rick Springfield's many bizarre videos, which reminded me of what may be his video magnum opus, the video for the song Human Touch. And that is saying a lot, the man was like a machine of weird cheesy music videos with inexplicably grandiose plots. Human Touch is a lovely time capsule of what the video's director must have thought "the future" would look like back in 1983. Folks, in just 4 years (the video is set in 2016)  after some sort of apocalypse, people who were frozen in the 80s wearing some uncomfortable looking clothes, will be forced to use some really outdated technology, and will be in such dire need of human touch, they will spontaneously burst into bad choreography with their fellow survivors. Wonderfully kooky. I've watched the video about 3 times today, and giggled each time.

I was a teen in the 80s, and have the pictures of me with feathered hair and blue eyeshadow to prove it. As such, I have wonderful memories of all the incredibly bad music videos of the era, time capsules of the bad fashion choices and horrible acting that happened when musicians were forced to make music videos in order to reach the MTV audience. Most of the videos that I enjoyed at the time do not hold up well - and I'm pretty sure people watching them for the first time would be too busy laughing to enjoy the music. I have wonderful memories of incredibly odd videos from Duran Duran, Billy Idol, Hall and Oates, Pat Benatar, and of course my fav, Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. I have no idea what the names of the boys in One Direction or The Wanted are, or how their music will hold up, but I know they don't have the moves of the first boy band I remember dancing to, Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike (plus Ralph), aka New Edition.

Anyway, I always love a trip down 80s music memory lane, especially if it features an awesomely overblown music video. If you have a fav, let me know, and let's keep this little nostalgia trip going. If it features a dream sequence, even better!

Singing gibberish

My recent obsession with PSY's GANGNAM STYLE and a conversation with friends about music in French made me think of all of the songs I've danced/bopped my head/sung along to without knowing what in the world the singers were saying. Given the popularity of English-language music worldwide, I'm sure I'm not alone - there are kids in South America singing along to Justin Bieber not really understanding the words coming out of his mouth - but I think it's super rare for that to happen here in the U.S., partly because we're generally not as exposed to world music.

I didn't grow up in the U.S., and I had quite a few friends who didn't speak English. As a kid, I found it hysterical to listen them sing along to their favorite Duran Duran song, because they thought it sounded just like what Simon Le Bon was saying, and to me it sounded like complete gibberish. Unfairly, they couldn't in turn laugh at me when I sang in Spanish - well, except to laugh at how horrible a singer I was.  The great equalizer was when a song in a language than none of us spoke became popular - then we all sang along with our own nonsensical lyrics.

Worth your cash

My love of makeup has been established. I wish I had a relative who worked in the cosmetics industry, or a friend who worked at a beauty supply company and could hook me up with an employee discount, but I don't. So instead I take advantage of sales, coupons and rewards points to help reduce the cost of my habit, yet still end up spending way too much...because, well, pretty and shiny and new! I do generally try to research products before I buy them - but am not immune to the occasional impulse buy, particularly if I need a pick-me-up.

Most of my friends know that I'm always reading up on all things beauty, and often ask me for recommendations when they are looking to buy something new. As someone who has spent a lot of my hard-earned money on makeup, I thought I'd share some of my favorite makeup items under $10 - which also happen to be what I've been wearing the most this summer. So if you're not as much of a addict as me, but would still like to add something new to your collection, here are some things I believe won't leave you feeling like you just wasted your money. I've grouped my favorites by brand.

Olympic love

I love the Olympics. I don't follow regular team sports and am not athletic myself, but every four years, I become glued to the TV watching people run, jump, and swim to their bodies maximum potential. (And boy, oh boy, those are some bodies.)

I must admit I'm more of a summer than winter Olympics girl. The summer Olympics just seem less elitist. More countries send delegations, and although I don't want to bother looking it up, I get the feeling that more countries are represented in the final medal count too. Sure there are like 4 countries that seem to dominate, but there is always one event, be it archery or weightlifting or long-distance running, when one person from a country with a small, practically non-existent national sports program can make history.

A rainbow connection, I mean collection

As is clear if you know me, or becoming clear if you've read several posting in this blog, I have have a deep love for cosmetics and beauty-related products. Someone asked me recently when this love, some might say obsession, began, and I honestly couldn't remember. My age was definitely in the single digits.

One of the first beauty products I remember being obsessed with was nail polish. All those pretty shiny little bottles held some sort of magic for me. I REALLY wanted to paint my nails bright red or pink...it just looked so cool and grown up. I was so determined to paint my nails, that when my father told me I wasn't allowed to use nail polish, I decided to circumvent the ban by coloring my nails with red permanent marker. After much scrubbing, my nails still looked orange for a few days, maybe weeks, and I do believe I was issued various forms of punishment. I lost that battle....but ended up winning the war. Soon after, I was allowed to use a polish made for kids, that washed off with soap and water. Not my end goal, but it was a start. It was not too much later that I was allowed to get the real stuff. And not too much after that when I starting venturing from pinks and reds to blues and yellows.

Picky eater

I don't generally consider myself a picky eater. I'm lucky not to have any food allergies, and I'll generally game to try just about anything once. I love the cuisines of the world, and have eaten at Chinese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysian, Indian, Afghan, Mexican, Salvadoran, Bolivian, Peruvian, Brazilian, French, Italian, Greek, Spanish, Chilean, German, Lebanese, Ethiopian, and Cuban restaurants many times. (And other types of international cuisine I'm forgetting at the moment.) Most people who don't me very well wouldn't think of me as a picky eater. I've eaten frog, alligator, turtle, tripe, octopus, and snails - no problem. I'm not saying I love all those foods, but I've tried them without any fuss. That all changes when confronted with a "breakfast food 24 hours a day" restaurant. When confronted with a plate of eggs, THAT's when I balk. That's when my crazy comes out.

The thing is, generally all the things I'm picky about eating fall into the breakfast food category. Eggs being the top offender. I like eggs, and eat them at home all the time, but that all changes when eating out. I don't like them fried or poached, only scrambled, well done. I don't like eggs to be runny in any way. "So what about hard boiled?" you ask. Well, in that case, I don't like the yolk. Omelets suffer from my disdain for eggs that are runny or shiny in any way. When I do order order eggs scrambled well done, half the the time they're burned, so I can't eat them anyway. In summary: I am extremely picky about eggs, so I generally don't eat them out at all. I know, I have issues.