Skin Care Stupid?

I'm one of those girls who has never known much about proper skin care or make-up application. So imagine my delight when I walked in the library the other day and found the book, Skin Rules by Debra Jaliman, a prominent and very popular New York dermatologist.

This book is a super easy read. I finished it in about an hour and then spent about 30 minutes on Amazon making a wish list of what skin products I wanted to buy.  The book has 77 rules on all aspects of skin care. I learned a lot and am now going to switch up how I care for my skin.

The best part is that most of the products she recommends using are products that can be found at your local drugstore and in some cases at a department store.  I have added a Clarisonic Skin Cleansing Brush to my must-have list, but that's a little bit pricey so it'll probably wait for awhile.

I did however, find some of the items at the PX and commissary today which was a miracle, as they usually have nothing in stock and I'm super excited to start caring for my face in the correct way.

If you don't know much about skincare, products you should be using or some of the various other procedures that can be done to make your skin look your best, then you should check out this book. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Tuesday Thoughts

I feel lately that my mind is a huge jumble of thoughts and because of this, it makes coming up with a blog I actually think people will want to read, difficult.

We're still waiting to find out when we leave Italy and where we are going. I know people are just eager to see Sean and I again, but every convo I have with my family contains the words, "So when are you coming home?" This is the million dollar question and one I cannot answer. I'm honestly kind of tired of trying to answer it.

I feel like a big ball of emotions lately. It seems like the slighest thing can turn my stellar day into the most craptastic day ever.

I feel restless a lot lately. As if one thing cannot hold my attention. I go through this every year at varying times, but I hate it. It's just not me.

I keep finding myself wanting things and when I see other people with those things it makes me jealous. I hate being jealous. It is not a favorite trait of mine. These "things" range from a successful Etsy shop, to a toned body, to traits that I admire in others.

It would be nice to be able to plan things without wondering where I'll be within the next month.

I've discovered lines and wrinkles on my face that were not there before. I'd hoped I'd age gracefully, but I didn't think I'd start doing it at the tender age of 28.

Not Everyone is a Mother

Let me start off this post by saying I don't mean to offend anyone with what I am about to say. This is merely a post about my frustration of getting together with women around the same age as me.
Last night, Sean and I went to a BBQ at our friends' house. There were several other people invited and most of them were women, as training is currently keeping our soldiers occupied elsewhere.  Most of these women are mothers, although there were a couple other than myself that were not.

By the end of the night I was sorry I'd even agreed to go to this BBQ. For a good four hours all that was discussed was breastfeeding vs bottle feeding, pregnancy, how pregnancy changed their bodies and various actions their children perform on a daily basis.

I do love children, I do plan on having children, I like discussing the children of my friends. However, most of my friends do talk about other things other than their children. I simply cannot deal with all children talk/pregnancy talk all the time. It simply drives me batty.  Somehow women managed to discuss other things before they become mothers, so what is so keeping them from doing that now? I do not mean that mothers should never discuss their children, but please consider that their are others out there that do not want to hear every single story of what happened when you were pregnant or every mundane activity your child completes during the day. Quite frankly I find it a bit inconsiderate when there are people around that do not have children and topics of motherhood are all that is discussed.

I ended up spending the night mostly hanging out with the two men that were at this BBQ, one of which was my husband.  It appears until I have a child, that's most likely the formula I will be following at future gatherings.

Book Review: February

I know I'm a little behind on this book review, but my philosophy is, "better late than never!"  So, I am still doing my February book review even though it is mid-March.

Leaving off from my list of books in January, these are the books I read in February:

13. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal- Conor Greenan
14. Once Upon a River- Bonnie Campbell
15. Commencement- J. Courtney Sullivan
16. American Dervish- Ayad Akhtar
17. The Last American Boy- Jane Leavy
18. Doc- Mary Doria Russell
19. The Last American Man- Elizabeth Gilbert
20. Before I Go To Sleep- S.J. Watson
21. The Wilder Life- Wendy McClure
22. Silver Sparrow- Tayari Jones

Of these ten books, my three favorites were:

1. Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

I'll be honest, I didn't know much about Nepal or the political situations going on there before I read this book. Now I have a bit of a better understanding how the political situation there has affected the children of this country. This book was a good read, focusing on a man who thought he'd impress his friends by volunteering at an orphange in Nepal and then goes on to fall in love with the country and the children that he is taking care of.

2. Doc

If you like the movie Tombstone (hello hot Val Kilmer) then you'll like this book. It's pretty much a prequel of the movie Tombstone and tells how Doc Holliday was raised and where he grew up and how he got to Dodge City, Kansas where he met the Earp Brothers. I really, really enjoyed this book a lot and loved knowing a bit of a backstory to some of my favorite characters.

3. Before I Go to Sleep

I really liked the creepy undertones and the plot twist in this book. The story is about a woman who has lost her memory. Every day she wakes up and remembers nothing. Eventually she starts seeing a doctor who is trying to help her regain her memory and she begins a journal, writing down her story everyday and other events that happen so she can look back each day and build upon that.  It was scary to think that could happen to someone, but the book was good. I always love a good creepy story.

My biggest disappointment of the books I read this month was The Wilder Life.

Growing up, I was a huge fan of the Little House on the Prarie series, so I had high hopes for this book.  There were good parts of it, where the author went to go visit the various home sites from Laura's youth, but she always seemed to go on and on about how the house was so small and how disappointed she was that it was different then the book of her imagination. I got tired of the book quickly, but stuck it out, hoping that it would improve. It didn't.

Seville, Spain in Pictures!

This post has been a long time coming! In my defense, I've hopped back on the fit-train this past couple of weeks and between gym and errand time, I haven't had a lot of extra blogging time. So without further ado, my pictures from Spain!

Tapas menu outside one of the many, delish tapas bars. We seriously ate our weight in tapas while in Seville.

Cute little cafes  were all over the city. So were these oranges. As a side note, these oranges aren't really eaten. They are made into cat food, medicine and sent to England to be made into marmalade.

There were gorgeous parks in Seville with lots of trees, tiles and oranges. I loved how beautiful this fountain full of oranges was.

Another shot of one of the parks. Such a beautiful place to relax.

This was some sort of statue down by the river. I'm not sure the significance of it, or what it is even supposed to represent.

This is one of the two main markets in Seville. This one was not as busy as the other, but the outside was very pretty.

This is inside the other market (Triana market) These are all legs of ham. A common sight in Spain.

I love the markets in Spain. We got some fresh (cheap) strawberries that were sooo good.

Waiting on our tapas and sipping some sangria.

When we travel, I'm always on the lookout for cool doors or doorknobs. These did not disappoint!



Seville was full of these close alleyways and back corridors. I loved the asthetics of this one.

Paella! Something you have to try if you go to Spain. Or so everyone says...



More oranges along the walk to the park. I told you these things were everywhere!

The above two pictures are from the flamenco show we attended. It was called Casa de la Memoria de Al-Andalus. It was a smaller, more intimate flamenco show and it was amazing. Totally not what I expected. Sean and I got lucky and got to sit on the first row and the tickets were way cheaper than any other flamenco show in town. I highly recommend it.

This building is VERY photographed and is on one of the main pedestrian streets in Seville. It looked so pretty at night, that I couldn't resist twenty, a few pictures.

This is the cathedral in Seville. It *apparently* holds the remains of Christopher Columbus and is the third largest church in Europe. Sean and I planned on seeing the cathedral, but were foiled by poor planning. The first we were there we ran out of time, the second day it was closing earlier than normal so we missed out on it then and the third day it was closed for a celebration. Can I just say I was super sad that I didn't get to see Christopher Columbus' bones?

This is one of the inner courtyards of the Real Alcazar. First built by Moors and later added on by later monarchs, it is an amazing sight to see in Seville. It was probably my favorite thing in Seville, as I LOVE Moorish-style architecture. I think it's so beautiful.

Some inner rooms in the Real Alcazar

Tiles inside the Alcazar

One of my favorite parts of the Alcazar were the many peacocks in the gardens. I love peacocks!

This was one of Sean and I's favorite tapas. It's jamon and bread with quail eggs on top. Delish!

This is part of the Plaza de Espana, which was built in 1928 for the Ibero-American exposition of 1929. There are tiles all over the plaza, depicting different cities all over Spain. It is a beautiful, beautiful place.

Another view of Plaza de Espana

Plaza de Espana at night. One of my favorite pics from the whole trip.



This was taken at the fountains at Plaza de America. I beautiful spot that I found on Flickr and knew I had to take some photos there as well.

Fountains at Plaza de America at sunset

Plaza de America. Loving those palm trees!

I have a ton of pictures of Seville, so if you'd like to see more, email me and I'll send you the link to my Facebook album.

And...just as an FYI...some of these pictures are already on my Etsy shop for sale, so if you see anything you like and want to buy it, let me know!