Miami Heat Wave...

Dang if it isn't hotter than Haiti out here in Beantown with more hot. hot. hot weather predicted to take us through the weekend. It's already 90 degrees this morning and it's not even noon yet, but I'm not complaining. It's just with these extreme climate changes, our temps have gone from 60 to 90 in a flash!

It feels like California in July around here, so check out below how hot that really is.
Happy weekend Bloggers! And try to keep cool.


YOU KNOW YOU ARE IN California, USA
IN JULY WHEN...

~ The birds have to use potholders to
pull worms out of the ground.

~ The trees are whistling for the dogs.

~ The best parking place is determined
by shade instead of distance.

~ Hot water now comes out of both taps.

~ You can make sun tea instantly.

~ You learn that a seat belt buckle makes
a pretty good branding iron

~ The temperature drops below 95 and
you feel a little chilly.

~ You discover that in July it only takes
2 fingers to steer your car.

~ You discover you can get sunburned
through your car window.

~ You actually burn your hand opening
the car door.

~ You break into a sweat the instant
you step outside at 7:30 a.m.

~ Your biggest bicycle wreck fear is,
"What if I get knocked out and
end up lying on the pavement and
cook to death?"

~ You realize that asphalt has a liquid
state.

~ The potatoes cook underground, so all
you have to do is pull one out and
add butter, salt and pepper.

~ Farmers are feeding their chickens crushed
ice to keep them from laying boiled eggs.

~ The cows are giving evaporated milk.

A Blank Canvas

I put makeup on people for a living, so everyday, when I go to put on my own makeup, I have a host of choices to choose from. I always start with my complexion. I begin with a simple BB cream, which we already know I love, and I wear it as my primer, before I even out my complexion with a foundation/foundation powder.  My hands down favorite complexion enhancing product is Smashbox Halo Hydrating Perfecting Powder, which is so very versatile and amazing, (with anti-aging properties) my friends call it the "magic dust". But recently I've been working with a wonderful creme-to-powder foundation called Water Canvas.

Vincent Longo's Water Canvas creme-to-powder foundation is a patented and award winning foundation that after one use, is easy to see why it's an award winner. It comes, pictured above, in a small tub and when you touch it, you feel a cool, smooth creme like no other. The touch test alone make you want to apply it immediately. This amazing product is made up of 75% water and oil free. When applied with a sponge or with the Beauty Blender, it gives the skin a medium to full, flawless coverage that looks completely natural and lightweight. Did I mention it feels great?

Water Canvas can be applied to the skin in so many ways. You can use your fingers, a sponge, a Beauty Blender, a foundation brush or a stippling brush and the result is a smooth, flawless complexion you will love.  I sometimes dust my Halo Powder, lightly over it to set. I used it HERE, to apply it over my contour and you can see for yourself the great result. At $57.00, it's not cheap, but it's worth every penny if you covet a flawless look to your complexion.

As I said before, I have many choices when it comes to makeup and people constantly ask me if it's ok to have more than one complexion enhancing product/foundation in their beauty wardrobe. I say YES! It's better to have more than one product, each one giving you a different result for different looks and even better when those products are paired together. You need not worry about looking "cakey" or overly made up, you just need to know what kind of look you want to create that day.

Experimentation is key, and I recommend the Vincent Longo Water Canvas Creme-to powder foundation to create a special glow to your skin. This amazing product can be found at The Candy Bar, and will give your "blank canvas" the right look for any occasion.

I Was Just Thinking....

• B's-Pittsburgh Sat night! I'm gearing up for a good hockey game. I think this is going to be the series of the playoffs. 

• Get this: buzz is that, this tea kettle is stirring up some major controversy. JC Penney put this "Bells and Whistles Stainless Steel Tea Kettle" on a major billboard on the 405 Freeway in Southern California. Seems innocent enough, right? Commuters and people in the area are complaining that the tea kettle resembles Adolf Hitler. Really??? The curved handle is said to resemble Hitler's hairline. Do you see it? Looks more like a Colorforms character to me.

• You've got to know things have taken a turn for the worst when you get a public lashing from Courtney Love. Evidently Love Tweeted some advice to falling teen star Amanda Bynes on Monday night. "Pull it together babe", Love Tweeted at Amanda Bynes, to which Bynes responded via Tweet: "Courtney Love is the ugliest woman I've ever seen, To be mentioned by her at all makes me and all my friends laugh." Hello Amanda? Have you checked the mirror lately? And if you have "all your friends" around you, why doesn't one of them tell you that you are on a crash course for disaster?

• Police say this guy...Who is known as "Thong Caped Scooter Man", isn't breaking any laws riding around Madison Wisconsin. Seems he got a little too close for comfort when he rode by an elementary school when the kiddies were walking to their bus. Staff at the JFK Elementary School in Madison alerted authorities that Thong Man was in the vicinity of an elementary school. He was questioned and said it was unintentional, but may have been "poor judgement". Good thing for Thong Man we live in the USof A, because he is free to exercise his constitutional rights. Although some may say he's just a bum....  

The Black Hole

So we have a dress code at work.

Our dress code is this: BLACK  (we mix it up with a few twists, like we can wear all white too, and we have "Funky Friday" when we can wear whatever we want)

But the majority of time spent at work is in all black. 

Having a dress code is new to me, and something I hadn't counted on until I made the decision to have a dress code. Leave it to me to impose a dress code that isn't necessarily essential to my current wardrobe.

It started out easily enough. I bought a few pairs of black pants and thought I was all set. What I didn't realize is that most of my black clothes are fancy-ier, dressy-ier, thank your everyday black for work. And now that it's spring/summer, it's getting harder to find black clothes among the clothes in my closet. I need a black shop day, where I go out and buy only black. But buying only black clothes for work somehow negates the idea of work entirely, doesn't it?

It's  like my wallet is the only thing that will soon become  the black hole.

Summer Kick Off!

Can you believe it?
Summer is here! This is the summer kick off weekend and I think we are all ready to rock and roll.

Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone, and please take a moment to remember the ones who fought so hard to make this country a great and free one. For the record, Monday is NOT National BBQ day. Instead it's an observance of the sacrifices the brave and strong made to ensure we will continue to be the home of the free.

But don't get me wrong, bloggers. Please enjoy your weekend BBQ's, just take a moment to remember. Peace! See you on the flip side.

Fun, Fun, Fun, Till Her Daddy Takes The T-Bird Away

It's been so wonderful having Frick home from college. Everybody is happy to be a complete family unit again. Even the dogs! I notice that Frick and Frack have a new found love and respect for each other, which is VERY rare and something I do not want to disturb. Part of this new buddy relationship may relate to the fact that they do not have to share a car anymore.

Quick back story: Frick left for college in August of 2012. Frack did not have his driver's licence at that time, so Frick's car sat unused until Frack got his licence in Feb 2013. Said car then became Frack's car, and you know how  a boy feels about his first car. When Frick came home on the occasional weekend during the year, it wasn't always smooth negotiations between the two of them for the car. BUT, lucky for us, we have 4 cars, and My Guy and I only need a car each for driving to work and back. Precious evenings out with their friends were salvaged by the parents carpooling at night. Problem temporarily solved right?

Wrong.

Now that we have Frick all to ourselves for the summer, the need for everyone to have their own car has reached a crescendo.Summer jobs, Frack still in school, my job, My Guy's job, we all need our own wheels. So what are we to do? Again, I said we are fortunate enough to have 4 cars. The fourth car is what we will call "the race car", and it's a two seater, five speed. The only one's that can drive a five speed in the family are My Guy and myself. The race car is a a little showy for My Guy to pull up to his office everyday, so guess who has to take one for the team and drive the rag top, race car everyday???

Oh hell YES! It's meee! and I'm loving it!

I have to say, driving a five speed is very freeing, especially when the top is down and the wind is blowing through your hair, but it's a lot of work too. It's definitely not as smooth sailing as an automatic, but who the hell cares? The work out, (I'm definitely getting an arm workout) and the power I am experiencing daily is a complete blast!! Heck, I may never give up this car. If it weren't for the severe winter weather here, one would have a hard time prying the key from my hand later in the year.

Nothing erases the stresses of a long day at work like the ride home, top down, in my race car and I'm taking downshifting to a whole new art form. I'm also feeling like I want my kids to experience this kind of joy, so I'm thinking it's time to teach them.But then again, if I do that, I may never see the race car again.

In fact, they may start fighting over the race car, and then we would be back to square one again.

No, I'm going to wait on Frick and Frack's stick shift lessons until later in the summer and keep on having my own personal fun. Because once I bring them in on the party, I know exactly what will happen.

It will be just like dear old dad taking my T-Bird away.

Those Who Fail To Plan, Plan To Fail

Once again as a Nation we are riveted by tragedy 

This time it was Mother Nature and she delivered a most beastly devastation. The tornado in Oklahoma, an EF-5, on a scale to 5, spanned a mile long and wiped out an entire town with catastrophic damage. The Death toll was revised to 24 with 9 of them children.

Our thoughts and prayers are certainly with them. News videos of the complete destruction, and cars twisted and tossed in piles like jigsaw puzzle pieces in the suburban area's remind us that life is so precious and can be fleeting. It seems residents had less than 16 minutes to prepare for the deadly tornado.

What I took from this "nightmare scenario", is that everybody needs a plan. Experts are warning that a global climate change is upon us, and that nobody is safe from violent storms. They predict that Midwest tornados and storms will get stronger and the Northeast will experience more powerful and violent hurricanes. History so far has supported these claims.

So I decided my family, my staff, we all need to have a plan of emergency, one that we can put into action if needed. We are not strangers to extreme weather, especially here on the East Coast and I think it's time to prepare. As climate changes become more severe, we must adapt to the threat of danger and prepare. It's beginning to become cliche, like a TV sitcom episode about an emergency preparedness drill gone awry. But there's nothing funny about any of this.

This isn't an episode of "Happy Days". In fact these aren't Happy Days at all.