Friday Finds & Check-ins, Volume #566
Share your recent beauty purchases or rediscovered favorites in your stash (for those on low/no-buys!), chit chat about weekend plans, and learn a little more about each other!
Let's Chat!
Share your own answers in the comments!
- Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Peter Thomas Roth Cucumber Gel Mask, Dr. Jart+ Ceramidin Mask, NARS Soft Matte Foundation
- Weekend plans: Trying to relax a little bit now that a lot of the big to-dos for the year are finally crossed off our list… but also, I’m catching up on photos/swatches since I’ve spent the last three weeks recovering from a back injury that made it infinitely harder to photograph/swatch.
- What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: Indian or Italian to eat… to cook, I don’t do much cooking but Italian would be one of the few that I could do decently – at least a few dishes.
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This week's doggo photo/video...
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Recent Purchases: Several single shadows from Devinah Cosmetics – Celesta (finally an item that is my name exactly. Obviously, I had to get it, plus I’ve seen nothing but wonderful things about this eyeshadow in particular), Sugies, Marpesia, Messier, Phoebis, Centaurus, Rainbow Blossom, Pancake Bubbles; I’ve been VERY into special singles lately.
Rediscoveries: CoverGirl + Olay Advanced Radiance and Simply Ageless Foundations (specifically, mixed together; they’re BEAUTIFUL on my skin), Stila Cosmetics Heaven’s Hue Highlighter in Kitten – it’s one of those odd putty-texture highlights that Stila came out with a couple years ago, and it’s SO lovely! Just melts into my skin.
Weekend plans: MY MOM IS FINALLY COMING DOWN TO SEE ME!! I’m so excited; she hasn’t been down since Christmas and I’ve only been able to see her in person once since then as well. And, bonus, my favorite cousin, who lives in Texas and has been up north in my hometown for a few weeks to help out with my ailing grandmother, is coming down too!
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: I would choose Tex-Mex to eat every single day if I could. I really love making a variety of dishes and trying out new recipes. I just really like to cook because it allows me room to experiment, and it turns out well when I do experiment 93.7% of the time.
Oh Celesta, I’m so happy for you finally being able to get a visit with your Mom! And also a cousin who also seems to be a good friend. That’s a rare blessing! Enjoy every minute you get with each of them!
Thank you so much, Nancy. I can hardly contain my excitement!
I’m so happy for you being able to see your mom and cousin!
Thank you, Rachel!
How wonderful for you to see your mum and cousin after such a long time! She will absolutely love catching up with her grandson. I hope the weather shines and it is fabulous day for you all.
It was a beautiful day, and we had a wonderful time. Thank you, Genevieve.
Recent Purchases: Sephora Hair heat protectant primer.
Weekend plans: Recovery from the Wildfires on Monday. We were lucky not to be evacuated but neighbors had their homes destroyed.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: We love the Sushi place (sushi for me, off-the-grill for dear hubby). But we also (pre-plague) loved to travel and enjoy local cuisine and culture.
So sorry that you’ve been so close to the fires, Arena. We left the Bay Area in March/April, and seeing the destruction all up and down the West Coast from afar is heart-wrenching. We still have family and friends there, and we got to travel all up and down the coast through Washington, Oregon, and CA, so places that I have been within the past year being devastated like this is hard to watch. Be safe, and I will keep you in my thoughts as I am everyone being traumatized by this.
Hope you are safe, along with all the people affected by the wildfires. Here in my area the sky is finally nor orange anymore, but it’s tons of smoke and there’s ash in the air. I’m in the Bay Area, but between the fires, can’t imagine how bad is for the people near the wildfires. ☹️
That’s awful about your neighbors. I’m glad to hear you’re safe.
I am truly sorry to read how the devasting bushfires have come so close to your home and how your neighbours have lost their places. We have been watching the news about these fires and they are so awful – it seems like a lot of your west coast is on fire. It’s good to know that you both are still safe, but it’s so hard when people you know have lost everything.
Back injury? No! Hope you do everything you need to to get better quickly. Don’t forget a PT consult and tx prn. You have a Loch Ness monster! Nessie in the garden is wonderfully creative. I did order some UD liners on sale. Stoned vibes are not discounted. I was dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Succumbed to a phone. W/my hand issues, very hard to use. It’s a home phone for now, at least until I can hold it with stability. Already dropped it once…. W/e? Massive cleaning and donations. Phone junk. Cooking: Asian and Middle Eastern, but usually take the easy way out. Old TV show: Doorknock Dinners. A guy shows up at your house and makes a meal from whatever you have. That’s basically my approach. Thank god I have a bazillion spices and ingredients.
I hope your hand heals quickly kjh – it must be such a nuisance for you.
Christine! Back injuries suck! I hope you are on the mend and it doesn’t become a recurring thing. I also hope your husband is doing well and recovering from his surgery.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: I broke down and got ND Glam. It pulls cool on me and I wore it last night. The only shade I dislike because it doesn’t really show up on me is the “transition” shade. I look dead in it if I do a wash with that color. But every other color is super nice and I think it pairs well with the Bronze palette. Rediscoveries: Chanel Alezane Blush.
Weekend Plans: Clean my makeup brushes, keep tackling my closet, organizing my office, reorganizing my pantry, and relax/read in between. I hope to also rearrange my Bronze and Glam palette. I am hoping to go to the Keys again in November to see my family and would like to have my version to go with me.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: I love Mediterranean, Indian and Thai. I usually always have cut up veggies for my Greek salad at home. I love cooking. I love making TexMex too. I make authentic cowboy chili and soups. I also am venturing into fall and my new focus is Greek style soups and lamb dishes.
I’m glad you like the Glam palette and there is always a shade or two that doesn’t work in any larger palette. I am hoping to get this for my birthday in November. By the time I order it, it should arrive by then (I hope!).
I am a great fan of Greek food too as I just love lamb. Unfortunately I am the only one who does in my household, but at least my grandchildren love it too.
Hauls: I don’t think I bought anything this week but I’m really keen to get out to at least check out the Dior quints (they’re not in-store at Sephora so I’m going to have to try The Bay). Rediscoveries: an old Tarte eye and face palette- Aqualilies for Tarte! I pull it out every few months and always end up wishing they’d repromote some of the eyeshadows. Also, the MUFE Nudes You Need palette. Someone here mentioned it the other day (Celeste, maybe) and that spurred me to take it out to use yesterday.
Weekend plans: new sofa arriving today; gym tomorrow and I said to hubs that I really, REALLY just want to go out to eat somewhere (patio – I’m still not keen to eat inside) – almost anywhere and any meal – breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner – I just want someone ELSE to deal with the food prep stuff
Favourite cuisine to eat: Thai or French; to cook – anything that’s easy and flavourful, no matter what the origin.
I definitely understand your desire to eat out Mariella! That is one of the very many things I am missing in lockdown version 2… I just want someone else to cook a delicious meal for me and not have to clean up. I am also very desperate to get to a hairdresser too. Some of our strict rules are being eased, but hairdresser won’t be available until late October.
I hope your new sofa is comfortable.
Back injuries are the worst. I am glad yours is healing.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: No purchases or rediscovered products. So many sales and nothing tempts me.
Weekend plans: Zoom visit with my best girlfriends. Maybe watch some tennis. My apartment complex puts up a big outdoor screen for the US Open every year. Otherwise the usual farmers market run and cooking it up.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook? I don’t have a favorite to eat. I don’t know if dessert qualifies as a cuisine but it’s my favorite thing to cook. I used to do a lot of serious cooking but over time I grew to dislike what a project every meal became, what with sourcing ingredients, prep work, actual cooking, and then the clean up.
Yes, I would have to say that dessert is a cuisine, Lesley! You just reminded me of what I look forward to cooking once the Arizona heat dies down: homemade baked goods!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Purchased UD Uzi from Ulta (with points!) today, also waiting on the bundle of the original 4 Juvia’s mini palettes that I bought last weekend on sale. I pulled out my Hourglass blush palette and wore that yesterday, but that’s not as much of a rediscovery as a reunion with an old love.
Weekend plans: Setting up the kitchen so I can begin making handmade soap and cleaning/setting up the living room so we can put out our Halloween decorations.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: I love Thai, Korean, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese (who doesn’t), and Indian. My husband cooks brilliant Indian food at home, and he makes amazing handmade pizza from scratch too. I like to cook just about anything, and I usually will try to combine techniques to come up with fun and interesting vegetarian meals for us to eat. I have more fun baking, but cooking & sharing a meal, especially dinner, is a lot more satisfying to the soul.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: I hauled a bunch of Sugarpill liquid lipsticks that were on sale for Labor Day and some Terra Moons duo chromes I pre-ordered in July are arriving today!
Weekend plans: Celebrate a wonderful first week at my partner’s new job with an exciting champagne and great food. Try to make the best of staying indoors (while being super thankful Seattle is only dealing with smoke right now and not the devastating fire) with games and anime.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: I am SUCH a food person, I love it all. I especially love eating Szechuan, Cantonese, Levantine, German, Turkish, Ethiopian/Eritrean, Scandinavian, and American Southern cuisines (Cajun and all the amazing regional barbecues). Oh, and I love upscale vegan fusion! At home I love making Mediterranean food broadly—I mainly learned to cook from the cookbooks The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen and Claudia Roden’s legendary The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I make a lot of meatballs and I love to make dumplings of all different cultures. Lately I’ve been trying to eat and buy less meat so I’m on a potato pierogi kick. I’m also trying Georgian recipes because I got an awesome Georgian cookbook and I love the marriage of Middle Eastern and Eastern European flavors.
Hello, fellow Seattle-area food-lover 🙂 Which Georgian cookbook do you have? I’m pretty sure we picked one up but my spouse hasn’t make anything from it yet. I first experienced Georgian food from a food truck down in Portland but my spouse hasn’t had any yet so I am excited to introduce them to it this weekend, if we can safely do our planned car picnic.
Supra. The spinach walnut dip recipe in the first few pages is easy and incredibly delicious, if that happens to be the book you picked up. ?
He…wonders. Too funny!
I’m so sorry to hear that your back is still knotted up and painful. I have a bad back myself, so I know it’s a hindrance.
Purchases/rediscoveries: Nothing purchased. As for rediscoveries, last weekend I did a beautiful eye look using Smashbox Punked Cover Shot e/s palette and felt very sultry and ready for the cooler weather!
Weekend Plans: Gotta rise and shine early enough for my Zoom meeting tomorrow at 10. I’ve just been having a heck of a time getting up early again. Over our horribly infernal summer, I took to sleeping in since there wasn’t much to do anyway because of the heat. Now getting back on track is not so easy. Also, as Scunci’s surgery looms ever closer, getting my nerves in check and just enjoying every moment with him. He’s really such a wonderful, intelligent cat. Don’t know what I’d do without him.
What’s your favorite cuisine to cook? To eat?: If I’m just cooking for myself, which is almost 100% of the time, then Asian (Indian, Chinese, Thai) or Italian. If I get to cook for others, then still Italian, but also things like pot roast or homemade Mac & cheese. But for eating, let me have at Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers!
Nancy, how’s Scunci doing? Any more learned regarding his potential heart issue?
Hi Kitty, Scunci successfully finished up his antibiotics several days ago and seems to be more comfortable at this time. He’s still not eating his dry kibble, just wet food and paté tubes. As for the heart murmur, they will be doing a fast-track blood test just prior to anesthesia and surgery to check for some specific enzymes/markers. I forget what the Vet called them, though. They are looking for something that would make him a poor candidate for anesthesia. Hoping with all my heart that it comes up in Scunci’s favor. Also, we are currently at 2/3 of his GoFundMe page goal to cover this entire procedure. With two weeks left, paws and fingers crossed that we get there. I just want this entire thing over with, and my sweet old cat on the mend and happy again!
Best wishes for Scunci Nancy and I hope that he is able to have his surgery. It’s not fun for you in the waiting game. I hope the weather cools down for you too. I am really dreading our summer this year as you just don’t know how hot it will get and, of course, the threat of bushfires.
Purchases/rediscoveries: Nothing this week!
Weekend plans: Probably take it easy this weekend, we’re getting a lot of smoke in the air (but currently there are no major fires near us). We are going down to Downtown Seattle tomorrow to pick up our kit for the virtual CiderFest, and to get some takeout from a Georgian place I found. Maybe swing by Canon for some to-go cocktails?
Favorite cuisine to eat: Probably a toss-up between sushi and Mexican! Good Mexican is really hard to find up here, though, and good sushi is pretty easy. We were happy to find a good but affordable sushi place near us that does takeout, so we order from them about once a month.
Favorite cuisine to make: I’m an indifferent cook. My spouse Chris does pretty much all the cooking. I do occasionally enjoy baking cookies. But mostly my kitchen activities revolve around making cocktails, or cocktail ingredients. I’ve got a bowl full of Italian plums macerating so I can make a shrub, and maybe I will finally make some homemade orgeat this weekend. My homemade cocktail cherries turned out really good too.
Omg what Georgian place? I’ve been cooking Georgian cuisine but I’ve only ever been to one Georgian restaurant and I didn’t realize we had any in Seattle!
Skalka! They’re down near the waterfront downtown. I think they are relatively new. They describe themselves as a “bakery and dumpling house” and it looks like their selection is pretty limited, but what they do have looks really good. They also have a few pantry items like preserves. I randomly started getting Facebook and Instagram ads for them and decided we should try them while we’re downtown tomorrow (we pretty much never go downtown anymore since the pandemic, we live up in Lynnwood).
It looks wonderful. I’ll definitely be going. Thank you for the tip!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: None this week, but there are some orders I just need to press hit on.
Weekend plans: After 3 days of orange skies and darkness, and with the wildfires still on going… I just plan for walks around my neighbourhood. Just the usual boring stuff and chores, but I really hope for a little more sunshine and fresh air. At this point I might just end up doing some work related stuff just to do something. ? I might also make a short trip to ship some Terracycle boxes.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook? I don’t have a favorite cuisine, I just take ideas I like from different cultures and recipes, and make them my own. I rarely eat out, I love cooking and I would be happy cooking all my meals the rest of my life. Generally, I gear towards a Mediterranean diet, lots of fresh and roasted veggies, olives and nuts, grilled or roasted chicken and fish / seafood. I do play around with Asian ingredients, love my jasmine rice, bok choy, daikon radish, noodles and egg drop soup; but I don’t cook them truly traditional, I adapt them to my taste. I do like some of the traditional Romanian recipes (Romania is my home country), but some ingredients are not as easy to find in US. I do tend to cook a lot of British inspired stuff, especially since I get often inspiration from Jamie Oliver’s cookbooks.
Haul: I didn’t receive any purchases this week but yesterday I placed an order with Clionahd for a bundle of products. I will wait until they arrive to list them but I dropped a pretty penny.
Weekend plans: I am still working on my origami ornaments for Christmas and staying on track. I will fold a few roses this weekend. I am really trying to fold this one very complicated rose and it is kicking my butt. I have used so much paper trying to get it right and I am no where near. I enjoy the challenge, though. I am also getting my house ready to be painted, outside. I am still playing with the idea of selling my house and moving to a larger area. I am going to see how I go through the winter and make my decision from there. I wasn’t too worried about it because my daughter was going to move home for the winter and then move to the Seattle area in the spring. She has decided to stay in her job through the winter so this will be my third winter alone here at the house. We didn’t have a particularly heavy winter last year so other than falling twice, I made it through okay. This will be my test.
Favorite cuisine to eat: What I would call American comfort food, pot roast, ribs, etc. A close second would be Moroccan food. Needless to say, there aren’t a lot of Moroccan restaurants in my area of Montana or probably anywhere in Montana.
Favorite food to cook: Again, American food. I do cook a fair amount of Italian but it is mostly because of time constraints. About the only type of food I don’t like is sushi. Raw fish isn’t my thing. I know there is sushi that isn’t raw fish but again, just not my thing.
I can understand your desire to move to a larger area where there are more facilities and you have neighbours. Whilst your current home is, no doubt, in a beautiful area, it can be quite lonely and isolating if the snow falls are heavy. Have you any other town in mind?
It is a hard decision because I would like to stay as long as I am physically able but you never know when that might change suddenly and then you have left it too late. My daughter would like me to go west since she is moving to the Seattle area. She suggests Spokane, WA. It is about 3 hours from where I currently live and would still let me be close to my Mom and able to come if there is a problem. It has excellent healthcare services. It would put me 3 hours closer to where she is going to be which would make it about a 5 hour trip so still doable for her if necessary. I don’t love Spokane. But then, I have only spent time in the downtown area where the stores are at. I haven’t spent a lot of time in the outlying areas. Before I decide I will likely take a trip over there and spend some time. I would go all the way to the coast but cost of living there is crazy and I would also be so far from my Mom. Whatever decision I make, I will have to live with it so it is important that I make the right decision. Also, not sure about the housing market right now. I don’t want to sell it without getting what I put into it and I will never find rent for the amount of my house payment here. I mean it is just over $500 a month and that is crazy cheap for my 3000 square foot home and land.
I can see your dilemma Deborah – you want to be able to visit both your mum and your daughter and live somewhere lovely in the middle. That’s a hard one. I get what you mean about leaving it too late too.
Maybe spending a couple weeks in Spokane so that you get more of a feel for the place, will help you rule in or out of that town. Being close to health care facilities is wise too.
I guess this winter is going to be the litmus test for you. Best wishes Deborah.
Totally get your issue with sushi Deborah as I really dislike it myself and just don’t get the hype whatsoever surrounding it, my fave cuisine is mainly spicy food and anything garlicky like I love Indian and Thai food the most but I do cook a fair amout of Italian food but then again, I’m half Italian lol!!
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: No purchases this week. My rediscovery has to be the Pixi Glow-y Gossamer Highlighting Duo in “Delicate Dew”. Two powder highlights with a wet, putty texture and intense shine, reminds me of a slightly denser version of the Super Shock Highlighters
Weekend plans: Me and my sister are going watch my grandfather for a few hours so my parents can give my grandmother a break and take her shopping. My grandmother hasn’t been able to leave the house at all since my grandfather got sick since he can’t even get out of bed by himself anymore, so this is a well-deserved break for her
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: There’s practically something from every culture I like to eat. If I had to pick an absolute favorite to eat it would be Japanese. On the other hand my cooking vocabulary is very limited. Is pasta a type of cuisine? Being away for college was the only chance I ever got to cook for myself, I would buy pasta and ramen in bulk and perfect different variants. I’m allowed to cook at home sometimes, but my mom would prefer I just eat what she cooks
That’s so sweet of you and your sister to give your grandma a break. I’m sure she’ll enjoy getting out.
That’s a lovely thing for you and your sister to do Kimberly and I am sure that your Grandmother will appreciate it. And your grandfather would love to see and converse with you both. It would be quite tricky for her to leave him on his own whilst shopping for essentials. It must be difficult for both of them. I hope you have a lovely day.
Mellon can’t seem to find what he was looking for in your garden – some juicy treats perhaps!
Gosh Christine – both you and your husband have been suffering lately – I hope his recovery is going well. Are you able to seek professional help for your back? I also hope that it gets better soon for you. Backache is not fun at all.
Recent Purchases: My Laura Geller Sculpturing lipstick in Battery Park Bronze arrived this week (I ordered it on National Lipstick Day) and it is a beautiful, soft bronze shade. Love it.
Also arrived was a Skin Doctors Serum and Night time moisturiser – so I am set for skincare for awhile.
I am starting to collect items for my daughter in law’s Christmas skincare package – so I bought her some Neutragena Gelee Milk cleanser and Hydro boost moisturiser (which she loves), hand cream, and The Ordinary’s Argon Oil – just for starters.
Rediscoveries: I have been using Tarantino’s Wonderful Jewel 5 pan this week – with all the beautiful greens and golds.
Weekend Plans: Hmmm – not much at all. We are still in the midst of Stage 4 lockdown – which has been extended for at least another month or so. At least our Covid19 numbers are down into the double digits for all of Melbourne. Next week the playgrounds will be open – all the kids are getting cabin fever badly, and with the lovely weather, it has been hard to keep them to two hours of excercise per day.
So this weekend will be shopping, cleaning and watching the Tour De France on TV and that’s about it.
I have been reading and watching the news about your terrible bushfires along the West coast of the US and I am devasted about the loss of homes, lives, animals and livelihoods. I hope that all of the readers here, who live there are safe and well. The smoke haze has been incredible and so damaging as well.
Cuisine: I cook a great deal – in fact I often think I am chained to the kitchen because of all the family celebrations we have had at our place (so much easier for the grandchildren).
To eat – my preferred cuisine is French, Italian, Greek, Indian and the mixture that is Australian seafood. I love diverse salads as well.
To cook – my family loves my Italian food (my husband and his family are Italian and my late MIL was a sensational cook) – particularly my bolognaise sauce, chicken parmas, lasagnes and risottos.
I also cook French casseroles, which go down well, Vietnamese stir fries, Indian dishes (my own Vindaloo that is spicy but not hot) etc. From my MIL – I learnt to cook fish properly too.
I love creating diverse salads – such as Seafood salads, Orange segment salad and a big hit last Christmas was my roast carrot salad.
I am always on for a good carrot-based salad. What did your roast carrot salad use? My mum likes to make a carrot salad with citrus and aromatic herbs, and it always takes me by surprise a little bit how much I enjoy it. There’s also the cafe salad I keep meaning to try and replicate which had five C ingredients — carrot, coriander, cashews, coconut, and cumin! So good.
It’s a fairly easy salad to put together Dandy. And it goes like this:
Cut 4- 5 carrots into large matchstick size, brush with honey, cinnamon and olive oil and roast in the oven till they are cooked (about 20 min on 180 Deg.)
Boil a cup of French lentils until cooked and mix with chopped herbs: parsley, coriander, thyme, sultanas, chopped walnuts and even some quinoa. Cool.
It’s a layered salad:
Layer 1 – Greek natural yoghurt
Layer 2 – Lentil mix
Layer 3 – Avocado slices
Layer 4 – Roast carrots
It is very, very yummy
Your roast carrot salad sounds delicious, Genevieve. Can’t wait to try it!
You’re making me hungry Genevieve! Everything sounds so good! I know what you mean about being chained to the kitchen, I have pulled out every recipe from my recipe box, now I’m going to start going through my recipe books, but I do love cooking thank goodness lol!
It’s always a challenge to come up with something new that everyone will like. It’s like creating the wheel every single day – although sometimes we just have an ‘easy’ meal. I find it easier to cook in autumn/winter as summer just drains my energy. I am pretty sure you are a great cook Brenda.
I’m sorry you’ll be in Stage 4 for a while longer, but I’m glad to hear Melbourne’s numbers are coming down. I’m sure parents and kids alike will be glad for the playgrounds.
We can’t wait Rachel and when we have a look at what is going on overseas, with the numbers spiking again, at least ours are going in the right direction.
It’s the hairdresser I am so, so missing the most at the moment.
I get that. I’m missing manicures so very much.
Back injuries take so long to recover from. I’m glad to hear yours is starting to feel better. I hope your husband is recovering well from his surgery.
I hope everyone here is staying safe from the fires, early snows, COVID, and whatever weird sh*t is going down in their part of the world.
Recent Purchases:
*Sephora — Natasha Denona Glam Palette; (sale) ABH Norvina Mini Pro Palettes Vol. 1 and Vol. 3; GWP mini Sol de Jeneiro Bum Bum Body Scrub; primer samples.
*ColourPop — Lil’ Ray of Sunshine Palette and Pressed Powder Blush in Terran Up My Heart.
*Profusion — Replacement for my broken Emeralds palette. (Sale) Mauves Palette, Rubies Palette, and Sparkle Pigments Set (6 glitters, glitter adhesive, and a brush). Bring It On Glitter Eyeliners in Crystal Diamond, Royal Ruby, and Precious Opal.
Big Kudos to Profusion’s CS. They replaced my broken palette super-quickly, and made sure it was packed really well. My last order being sent in a padded envelope, so this time the same sized order was packed in a box with lots of bubble wrap so nothing would break.
*Other — Paula’s Choice Calm Restoring Moisturizer, Elta MD UV Clear Broad Spectrum SPF 46 transparent zinc oxide sunscreen (I can’t wear chemical sunscreen on my face any more due to my rosacea), and Too Faced Pumpkin Spice Palette.
Weekend plans: Literally up in the air. We were going to take our oldest son to my BIL’s house, and then goon to camping in Eastern Oregon as a late anniversary getaway. There are no big fires in that part of the state. It looks like our route to Eugene will probably be OK now, but the wind direction change that improved visibility has put the air quality in the East in the Hazard zone through at least Monday. It will cool down starting Tuesday by 15-20 degrees there, and the wind speed will decrease to almost nothing, so later in the week might be a lot better. If air quality remains improved on our route, we’ll probably still take my son to Eugene, and stay the night there and see what updated conditions in the East are. We currently have air quality in the Hazard zone in my town, so we won’t be going anywhere here if stay, unless that improves. I have asthma, and I, my kids, and my brother are super allergic to smoke, so we have to be extra careful. We’re not poking our heads out of our house if everything doesn’t look reasonably safe.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: To eat — Italian, Chinese, Thai. To cook — I prefer baking, but I suppose Italian is my favorite to cook.
My husband suffers from asthma and last year he couldn’t go outside at all because of the smoke haze. I think you are right to stay put until the situation improves, because winds do change direction pretty quickly and you don’t want to surrounded by poor air.
I hope the bushfires ease up this week for everyone.
It’s been brutal the last few days. It’s as bad as it was a couple years ago when California and then Oregon had big fires. This year is worse, and closer to home. Right now, it’s showing our destination’s air will be in the Good range by Tuesday afternoon, so if that still holds true, we’ll leave her Tuesday morning. We can extend our stay to Friday or Saturday to make up for losing Sunday and Monday if we want to.
We’re checking reports and advisories several times a day, and definitely will again right before we want to leave. If anything is iffy, we’ll just forfeit our campground fees and stay home.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: I got my first Chinese made makeup brushes (based off a youtuber recommendation) and they seem great!
Weekend plans: I really have none. Just staying at home like usual these days 🙁
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? Sashimi, nigiri and sushi rolls!! I could eat it ever day!!!
Hi Mellan! I hope your back is feeling better Christine, I have to be careful how I move or I can really hurt mine.
Recent Purchases: CT Pillow Talk Push Up Lashes, it is very wet and buildable, you need to powder the lashes after application or you will have racoon eyes, otherwise I like it.
Weekend plans: We are driving home to Calgary from Vancouver tomorrow, the smoke from the fires in the US is really thick here. I feel so bad for all the fire victims I hope they can get some kind of control of these fires, we need rain.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: Eat: Chinese. Cook: Mexican
Yes, the smoke haze would be quite bad in Vancouver at the moment and hopefully Calgary will be clear. A good dose of steady rain is definitely needed.
I hope your trip home is uneventful and you will be pleased to sleep in your own bed again!
I hope you had a safe drive.
Recent Purchases/Rediscoveries: Just ordered from Sephora Wednesday night, which means it’ll probably be here in 2 weeks-NARS Torrid blush, backups of my Fenty 110 concealer and soft matte foundation, redeemed 100 points for a YSL Libre sample, and chose Dior Joy Intense and some Dior Lip Glow shades as my 2 free samples.
Weekend plans: SVU marathon today, work and partial SVU marathon tomorrow, probably some errands Sunday.
What’s your favorite cuisine to eat? To cook?: I don’t have the desire or patience to cook-strictly minimal assembly, microwave, and/or takeout. I do love Italian food, as well as this little hole-in-the-wall (and far from gourmet!) Chinese place a town over from mine and (pre-pandemic) a Chinese/Japanese/American buffet in a different town that’s also one over from mine, but in a different direction. I love sesame chicken (the HITW has it), peanut chicken (the 3-country buffet seems to be the only place that has it-I think every other Chinese place around me is afraid of cooking it due to allergies), and plain lo mein-the butterier the noodles, the better!
Glad to hear your back injury is on the mend, Christine!
Recent Purchases: Beautylish (sale): Charlotte Tilbury The Rebel quad (2nd version).
Discovery: I found a MAC bag from last Christmas that had fallen off a shelf and inside was a brand new Powder Kiss lipstick in the shade 301 A Little Tamed.
Weekend Plans: Bringing items over to our new house before the movers come next week. We’re moving within blocks of where we live now. Went to Home Depot for supplies and, tomorrow, will be cleaning an area where we found a previous pest issue in part of the basement.
Favourite cuisine to eat? Cook? I love Asian, Italian, Indian, and typical diner food (burger/turkey burger, fried/baked fish, chicken fingers, etc.). I enjoy cooking pasta, stirfry, roasts, stew, chili, curry and fish dishes. I look to America’s Test Kitchen and A Pinch of Yum for inspiration. My spouse is the intuitive cook in the family; I prefer to source recipes and ingredients.