Things I Love

There is a little blog I love to follow called Bonzai Aphrodite. It is written by this incredibly genuine, intelligent vegan woman named Sayward, who writes all about the vegan lifestyle, gardening, and raising her beautiful little boy. It makes me feel inspired every time I read it, and you should definitely check it out. One of the things Sayward does every Friday is post something she calls, "Le Love List." It is a compilation of all the wonderful things she is loving in her life at the moment--a kind of thankfulness list that lets her remember she has a lot to be grateful for, and encourages others to share what they are grateful for too. I think it is a great practice, so I thought I would take a minute to share some of the things I am loving in my life at this moment as well. So here is a short list of things I'm in love with this week:

We planted: tomatoes, zucchini, rosemary, basil, oregano, lettuce, and lemon verbena.

1. My Garden
I am not a huge fan of summer, but one thing I love is being able to grow fresh vegetables and herbs. The hubs is a huge gardening buff, so he keeps our house well landscaped and full of flowering goodness, which I love. There is nothing more relaxing than sitting on the patio amid climbing vines and vibrant blooms, listening to the wind chimes and thinking about the homemade pesto you will make later. I love it.





2. Iced Coffee
One other good thing about warmer weather is iced caffeinated beverages. Something about cold coffee is just so refreshing and satisfying and wonderful. I personally usually use Pioneer Woman's iced coffee recipe to brew it cold and keep a huge pitcher of it in my fridge, but instead of adding condensed milk the way she does (which is delicious, by the way) I use liquid Sugar in the Raw, and tell myself I'm being healthier. Don't spoil it for me. If you have never tried iced coffee, I must insist that you do so immediately. If you aren't into caffeine, go decaf! It's better than lemonade on a warm spring day, trust me.

                                                                                        3. My Family

Not pictured: my dad, who works more behind the scenes.

Mother's Day just happened, and obviously I was thrilled to let the mothers in my life know how important they are. It was kind of wonderful and weird to be receiving calls as well as making them this Mother's Day. But I am so thankful for my whole family. My husband, my daughter, my mom, my sister, my dad, my grandma--everyone. The older I get the more I realize how disgustingly functional we all really are, and it makes me so happy that I have this safety net, and a group of people that I am actually thrilled to be a part of.








4. Goal Completion
Something huge happened to me last week. I took the very last final of my Master's degree. After three years of working full time, going to school at night, and even giving birth during midterms, I have finally completed my Master's in English! Not only am I so grateful that I have accomplished what I set out to do, and that I will finally have a little bit of free time to do things like clean the house and review more books for the blog, but I am so utterly grateful to the staff, faculty, and overall English program at UCO. After spending the last three years there, I can say that this is possibly one of the most underrated universities in the state. I learned so much from the professors, all of whom are passionate, intelligent, and great at what they do. This is a program that really has the student in mind, and it was very refreshing. I could not be happier that I chose to do my first graduate degree there.

5. Goal Making
Now that I have a big accomplishment under my belt (I'm not trying to be a braggart, I promise. I'm just pumped.) it's time to make more goals. Among these new goals ranks getting a new job, working on getting more special training for my career, and actually sitting down and writing a short story. I'm really grateful that I have these ambitions, because sometimes I get really frustrated with the state of the world, and the slow progress of my professional life, and it's very discouraging. Knowing that there are still things I want to accomplish keeps me focused and motivated, and I love that.

Now it's your turn! What things are you loving right now? What inspires you? What are you thankful for? How was your mother's day? Share it with the world!

Makeup Giveaway Winners! Also, I don't know what day it is.

Confession: I love pictures of crumbled makeup

I may be a little belated, but I AM going to reward the winners of my makeup giveaway!

After careful consideration, I have decided that ALL the women who commented on the post win! I have zero competitive drive, so this makes me feel really good.






If your name is:
Annie
Lindsey @ I Run in Heels
Anonymous
Cindy

You have won a free cosmetic piece from the post I made last week! Congratulations! Email me at mkdupre@gmail.com to claim your prize! Make sure you tell me what you want, and if you have a specific color preference.

Thank you to everyone who participated, and double thanks to all the people who were nice enough to compliment my makeup-free face! It really gave me a boost!

Feel free to keep sharing your makeups favorites, tips, and tricks!

Drugstore Diva: What My Face is Wearing These Days plus my First Ever Giveaway!

First, My BB Cream Story.
I am not sure if you are aware, but there is a new beauty product flooding the market right now. It is called BB Cream, and no, I do not have any idea what the Bs stand for. It is a cross between foundation and moisturizer--one step up from tinted lotion and one step below actual makeup. In short, this is a product tailor made for people with sensitive skin, a lax beauty routine, or both. I decided to try it immediately upon discovering that such a product existed, but decided that I did not want to spend a lot of money. So I picked up the L'Oreal BB Cream. L'Oreal makeup has rarely disappointed me. It is usually my favorite drugstore brand, but this time, they really let me down. The cream was not very creamy at all. It came out of the tube as a white liquid, requiring me to rub it between my fingers for application. This got more product on my fingers than my face. Once applied, it became almost powdery, leaving me feeling less than moisturized, and for the coverage (which is very light) I felt like I should just go ahead and use traditional foundation. So I relegated it to the box of cosmetics that I never use but can't really bring myself to throw away.

Then I came upon the BB Cream by Olay. Now, Olay is a skincare company that I am highly devoted to. Face wash, body wash, soap, lotion, you name it, I own the Olay brand of it. And this time I was not disappointed. The Olay cream was the exact texture of my creamiest moisturizer, and its color perfectly matched my skin tone. It went on smooth and smelled amazing. I was so pleased because after applying makeup, I felt as fresh-faced as if I had just washed. I do add a little powder to it for deeper coverage, but in the summer definitely, I will be using this and nothing else. If you are curious about BB Creams, buy this one immediately.

This adventure made me start thinking about my beauty routine as a whole. I have finally settled into a set of makeup that I really like, so I thought I would share what I wear on my face, complete with a terrifying picture of me before anything has been applied!

Now, on to the fun part. Here is a picture of me without any makeup on:

 

Here it is, my bare naked face. No filters, no photoshop, just the warm, flattering light of my bathroom. I'm just going to get this out of the way: please ignore my bushy eyebrows. I am desperately in need of a wax. If you are curious about my face wash routine, I take my makeup off with good old Pond's Cold Cream, and I generally use Olay anti-aging facewash and moisturizer, along with copious amounts of Bert's Beeswax on my lips before bed. 

 

And this is me with makeup! This is just my everyday look, nothing special. Sometimes I will put on darker eyeshadow, eyeliner, and/or bright red lipstick, if it's a special occasion. But here I am using just a simple brown palette and a peach lipstick. 

 

Close-ups of my eye and lips. You can see that the eyeshadow isn't super heavy. The palette I used (which I will be listing below, along with all the other products I use) has four colors. One that goes up from the inner corner to the brow bone, one that goes over the whole lid, one that goes on the outer corner, and one that goes in the crease. The lipstick is wonderfully glossy, but stays on better than most lip glosses.

(Also, that's not a booger in my nose. That's the stem of my nose ring. Just want to be clear.)

 This is the same face in natural light. I think we can all agree that natural light is not great. We should all be surrounded by incandescent bulbs and vanilla scented candles all the time. It just makes us look better.

List of Products:

Listed in the order in which I put them on my face.

Face:

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser w/Dark Spot Corrector in (220) Light Pale

Olay Fresh Effects BB Cream in Fair to Light

Revlon Photoready Pressed Powder in (010) Fair/Light (are you noticing a theme here?)

 Eyes:

Revlon Colorstay 16 Hour Eye Palette in (545) Attitude

L'Oreal Voluminous Mascara in Carbon Black

L'Oreal Extra Volume Collagen Mascara in (680) Blackest Black

Cheeks:

L'Oreal Visible Lift Color Lift Blush in (703) Pink Lift/Rose

Lips:

Maybelline Color Whisper in (30) Pin Up Peach

 So that's what I wear on my face most days. I do own some nicer makeup. In fact, I have gotten into the Urban Decay Naked Basics palette lately, and I LOVE it. Like, LOVE. Lancome also makes a blush that is to die for. However, these things are a little more pricey, so if you don't want to pay $30-$45 for your makeup palette, these drugstore picks will glam you up just fine! 

AND:

Because I want to share my joy with the world, I am going to give away three of the pieces above! Three winners will be chosen at random. Just go to the comments section and tell us: What are you favorite drugstore makeup finds? What are your favorite colors to put on your eyes and lips? 

Winners will be announced on Tuesday, and will be asked to email me with their choice of product and what color they prefer. 

P.S. I'm sorry about the weird formatting. I don't have a decent photo editor/collage maker right now.Thank you for your patience.

Book Review: Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire by Paul Ramey

I don’t know about you, but I love young adult literature. And when I say love, I mean that I am obsessed with it. It might be the enjoyment of watching a young character grow up, or it might be that it gives me the freedom to relax and be fanciful in a way that adult fiction just doesn’t allow. Whatever the cause, YA heroes from Harry Potter to the Beaudelaire siblings have won my heart, and the hearts of readers everywhere. Now, joining the ranks of this illustrious tradition is Edgar Wilde, a young man whose passion for cemeteries and the mysteries surrounding local history land him in a whirlwind adventure and no small amount of danger.

Fans of series like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Stoneheart will definitely enjoy following Edgar as he searches his hometown of St. Edmund, Massachusetts for clues to the whereabouts of a mysterious book of healing and spells—a grimoire that was passed down through generations and is being by turns sought and guarded by multiple parties. Edgar is a young cemetery enthusiast and amateur tour guide who, as he competes with other locals for the solution to the mystery, must also learn to navigate the treacheries of high school and the fierce competition he has for his historical tour business.

Paul Ramey does an admirable job of combining past and present; it melds then and now through alternating chapters, at once immersing readers in a Witch of Blackbird Pond-type history and at the same time plunging the story and its characters into the present, where the ghosts of past wrongs haunt the living, even after two hundred years. It is a race to the finish line to figure out what happened all those years ago, and to see if Edgar will be able to emerge victorious. There is magic here, not only in the grimoire itself, but in the storytelling. Though there are a few slight historical anachronisms, they in no way detract from the overall satisfaction of the tale, and the characters are so vivid and sympathetic that it is likely they won’t even be noticed. One caveat: There are a few instances of adult language, which are highly realistic for high school characters, but if you are a parent reading this to a kid younger than high school, you might read it out loud so you can skip those if you want. It is certainly not a reason not to read the book. This is a tightly-woven, enthralling novel that will please readers both young and old. I devoured this novel in two days, reading through meals and staying up late into the night with my itty bitty book light. If that isn’t the sign of a great read, I don’t know what is. Pick up Edgar Wilde and the Lost Grimoire as soon as you are able. 

Paul Ramey is a writer, graphic artist, musician, and unrepentant cemetery buff. His most recent published works include a two-CD goth/rock musical album, Veil & Subdue, and Zen Salvador, a limited-edition book of zen-styled dog wisdom.  He has also had numerous tourism-related articles published in Courier, the official magazine of the National Tour Association. Originally from Frankfort, Kentucky, Paul now lives in Jacksonville, Florida with his wife and child. This is his first novel.

Book Review: Gateway to Reality by Becca J. Campbell

Becca J. Campbell's novel, Gateway to Reality, engendered high expectations after the release of her first novel, Foreign Identity, last year. I am pleased to say that Campbell's second effort has more than lived up to her first, and Gateway to Reality is  a pleasing blend of science-fiction excitement and convicting personal drama that makes it a highly satisfying read.

When Wes, the protagonist, starts having strangely vivid dreams, his life takes a turn he never expected and he begins discovering things about the universe and his earthly body that he never thought he would. Confronted with an alternate dimension in which "Existence" is the only law, Wes must work to discover to which world he truly belongs, and which version of himself he an learn to live with. To compare this story to The Matrix might be apt in that Campbell has created an alternate reality for her characters in which they know the truth of their existence--namely that they are part of an unconscious construct called the Logiverse, where they believe that true reality is just a dream. But to do this would ignore the bigger questions that are being asked in the novel. Questions such as, what does it mean to exist, and given the choice, would people really choose to be a part of a world where there were no laws, no rules, and absolutely no logic to anything?

As a struggling artist in the Logiverse and a world-making Creative in the Existance, Wes represents both sides of the coin--he is given the opportunity to create freely, with unlimited prowess and materials at his disposal. But the lure of the Logiverse is always present, the limitations actually appealing to his sense of normalcy, and creating a true moral dilemma that draws in the reader and forces them to play a short game of "Would You  Rather" with themselves.

In addition to the questions of life, the universe, and everything that Campbell brings to the novel, there is, of course, the realistically complicated relationship between man and woman. When flitting in and out of different perceived worlds, the hero and heroine of the novel keep finding and losing each other in different ways, and readers are never quite sure whether they will make it work, or whether, indeed, it would be desirable for them to end up together. The romantic relationship encompasses all the complicated ins and outs of interaction between the genders, with Campbell's signature poignancy and genuine feeling.

Genre novels are often dismissed as literary fluff, rarely given the consideration they are due. But as Becca J. Campbell proves once again in Gateway to Reality, genre fiction can confront our ideals and incite us to consider the larger world we are a part of, while telling an engrossing, fantastic tale to boot! In short, read this novel immediately and enjoy it thoroughly!

Enter the Giveaway for Gateway to Reality here!

If you are participating in the Blog Tour Scavenger Hunt, the clue for today is: 
Wes visits many worlds in the Existence. Here’s your challenge in this scavenger hunt:

Collect the names of the fifteen worlds in Gateway to Reality (one will be revealed each day).

Following the schedule above, collect a world name at each stop, and when you have them all, plug that
list of 15 worlds into the giveaway below to win a BONUS TEN ENTRIES.

HERE’S YOUR FOURTH WORLD: The Nelson

Continue with your hunt tomorrow at Write for Life. Good luck!


About Becca J. Campbell:
An avid lover of stories that tiptoe the line between fantasy and reality (even when they plunge off one side or the other), Becca J. Campbell looks for new angles on bridging the gap between the two. She holds a special place in her heart for any story that involves superpowers or time travel. Her passion is defying the limits of her own creativity.

Becca's journey into writing began as many of her other creative endeavors do - by daring herself to try something new. The question "what if I wrote a novel?" and some hastily scribbled notes on a church handout were the inspirations that jump-started her first book. Since then, she has written three additional novels and several shorter works.

As the wife of a musician and mother of three young boys, Becca's life is never dull. Whether it is writing, painting or knitting, she enjoys making stuff that wasn't there before. You can find her blog, Inspiration for Creation, at http://www.beccajcampbell.com.

Perfect Wines for Shallow Pockets

This weekend I hosted a wine tasting at my house. The rules were simple: everyone brought a bottle of wine that could be purchased for under $20. The unofficial rule with my particular group of friends involves choosing wines with interesting labels. Serendipitously, the wines with the interesting labels turned out to be some of the most delicious and affordable wines--which was, of course, the goal.

We ended up trying two white wines and five reds. Yes, we tried seven different wines. Then ended up talking late into the night while we polished off a wheel of brie. We've come a long way since the heady days of beer pong and bottles of Boone's Farm with giant straws sticking out of the top.

The Whites

The first white wine we tried was Apothic White. It is a blend of chardonnay, moscato, and riesling. For those of you not in the know, this is a fairly sweet blend. However, despite not being white wine drinkers, everyone at the table admitted to enjoying this wine. The tropical fruit flavor from the sweeter grapes definitely came through, but with a refreshing bite from the chardonnay at the end. It left no sickly sweet residue in our mouths after swallowing, and it was agreed by all that this was a white wine that we would be more than willing to sip on a hot summer evening while waiting for a nice fish filet to grill.

The second white, Cupcake's Angel Food fared less well. Based on the name of this wine, we expected it to be extremely sweet, but it was the opposite of that. It was much, much drier than the Apothic wine, and while we couldn't discern a distinct flavor from the initial taste, it did leave behind a biting after effect that tasted mostly of alcohol. It was pretty bland in both color and tasted, and we all agreed that we would only drink this wine if it was maybe made into white wine sangria, so that it had something to punch up the flavor a little.

The Reds

The red wines were much more popular. Every single tasting participant had an incredibly hard time choosing their favorite. So instead of choosing a favorite wine, we chose to DRINK ALL THE WINE!

Red One: Pinot Evil Pinot Noir
This was a delectably mild red. I would definitely suggest this for red wine neophytes. It had a fairly low alcohol content, and a medium red color. The smell was light and faintly sweet, though there was no true sweetness in the taste. Instead, it was pleasantly dry; it washed over the palate evenly and didn't dissolve into alcohol flavor or bitterness after being swallowed. Instead, it left my tongue feeling delightfully blank, as if it was just waiting to be influenced by the peppery flavor of a roast pork loin, or a nice garlicky spaghetti sauce.

Red Two: Stark Raving Red
This wine was a crowd pleaser. First, we all loved the way the guy on the label somewhat resembled Robert Downey Jr. But it also proved to be an extremely tasty beverage. The label said that it should have notes of plum and red fruit, both of which definitely came through. It had a very strong scent that tingled in my nostrils, and unless you really enjoy red wine, I would not recommend sniffing too deeply. But the taste was refreshingly dry with a sweet, plummy aftertaste that left me wanting nothing more than another glass.

Red Three: Lenore Syrah
This is not a wine for amateurs. Syrahs are typically very full-bodied with deep chocolate, espresso, and peppery flavors, and this wine had all those things. As dark and mysterious as the Poe story it alludes to, the Lenore Syrah was complex, silky, and spicy, with a nice smooth finish. This wine belongs with a big rare steak and a true Ceasar salad. Or with a particularly pungent cheese and dark, bitter chocolate.



Red Four: Santa Ema Cabernet Sauvignon 
This was our exotic visitor for the evening (a Chilean wine), but ironically, it hit the closest to home. I am generally a cab-sav drinker by default, because it is a type of wine that is usually good with everything. This particular one was purported to have a pruney, cherry flavor, and it definitely had a fulller, deeper, sweeter flavor that, despite having an abundance of tannins, was incredibly well-balanced. This is a red wine for all occasions and I would not hesitate in the slightest to drink this again.

Red Five: Apothic Red
This was the red blend of the group. It was pretty much a grab bag of every red wine available: zinfindel, merlot, syrah, and cabernet. It's flavors were meant to be red fruit, vanilla, and mocha. The vanilla flavor shone through more than any other note, making it taste fairly sweet, but nonetheless thoroughly enjoyable. This would be another good choice for white wine drinkers looking to break into red. This would also be a great wine to take to a dinner party, as it would pair well with pretty much any food, and would appeal to almost any palate.

We all had a really great time trying so many new wines, and now we have a new, affordable repertoire to consult when wine shopping! What are your go-to reds and whites? Share them here!

Chai Soda Blended Float

Sorry about the blur.

Normally I don't go in for oddly flavored sodas. I love the colors and creative labels of the Jones soda empire, but in general, we are a Coca-Cola Classic household. But when I saw this Chai Cola at Sprouts Farmer's Market in Tulsa, I impulsively purchased it out of curiosity.

It always starts out so great...

 An initial taste of the chilled soda revealed a perfectly portioned chai flavor. It was spicy and sweet and aromatic in a way that a soda has no business being. This is fine in itself, but wasn't quite enough. What ultimately threw it off for me was the carbonation, and I found myself thinking, "This would be fantastic with ice cream." I think, ultimately, what I was still really craving was that creamy complement to the spicy chai that is found in chai lattes, and something to tone down the bite of the carbonation.

See that foam? That's what I don't like.

Yum!

So I got out my trusty blender and some Bluebell Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream and went to work. I am thinking now that a more subtle vanilla ice cream, like a Vanilla Bean flavor, might work better; it might make for a more complex, layered flavor to the whole affair. But Homemade Vanilla is what was in my freezer.

Now, you may be wondering why I didn't make a float. I love floats for their flavor, but I hate the oddly sticky bubbles that rise up when the soda hits the ice cream, and I wanted to create something that had a more consistent texture. So I threw it all in the blender and pushed the little red button.

Sweet, delicious float!

The result was a drink that was creamy and spicy, smooth and succulent, without being cloyingly sweet or shockingly fizzy. However, I think that a similar effect could be achieved by simply mixing in some heavy cream, making a chai flavored cream soda. This would probably be more refreshing and might be something I would choose to do in the summer when I am craving an iced chai. But right now it's January, and my New Year's guilt hasn't quite caught up with me, so I went for the equally decadent, thicker ice cream.

If you happen to come across some chai flavored soda, and you are a fan of chai in general, I would definitely suggest that you pick some up and give this a whirl.

Yum!