Editions of Me

My picture for this one would be of a specific person, and I can't really post just post this person's picture, for obvious reasons. And I can't even post a picture of anything associated with this person without it being really obvious, so...... let's just leave it at that. :(

Um, I'd kind of die of happiness if I got to go on a Jane Austen tour : JASNA (Jane Austen Society of North America) sponsors a different tour every year, of various Austen-related places. This summer, they're going on a Sense and Sensibility  -inspired tour. I really, really, really want to do a P&P -inspired tour sometime, or maybe Persuasion, since they go to Bath AND Lyme Regis.

I was taking a look at the Burning Heart palette from Sugarpill Cosmetics : And while I LOVE the idea of such bright, pigmented colors, I had to ask myself... would I really wear these colors? Do they even look good on me? I wear purple a lot, so that one isn't an issue, but red, yellow, and orange? Really? So I decided to break out my trusty ELF 100-color palette and test them out. (Keep in mind, of course, that there's no way these ELF shadows will be as pigmented as the Sugarpill ones.) Eyeliner is Zero by Urban Decay.

This for sure goes along with "my biggest insecurity." Oh, how I wish I could quit you...

Only fitting, since I'm leaving my favorite place to go home today... I regret not getting a chance to go hang out downtown this time around, but when I come up here, I don't have my own car. As nice as Beaverton is, Portland is really where my heart belongs, because Portland is where I went to college, and college is where I really started figuring out who I am. To me, Portland is Powell's, record stores, Mio Sushi, fareless square, the Crystal Ballroom, Cup and Saucer, cheap parking garages, thrift stores, Regal Fox Tower, and lots of awesome vegan food. (No, I'm not vegan, but I like vegan food.) Portland is where my adult life started, where I learned about activism and strength, and where I would pick up and move IN AN INSTANT if the opportunity presented itself. I love Portland.

Day 16 - A picture of you and your friends. I don't have one picture with all my best friends together, since my group of friends is comprised of people from different parts of my life, so here are a whole bunch: Day 17 - A picture of your biggest insecurity. My weight is my biggest insecurity. I think I look really fat here. :(

I want to complete a marathon. At least one, and sooner rather than later, but for sure, before I die, I will complete a marathon.

This is my family. (This photo was taken in 2006 at my grad school commencement at UC Irvine.) I can't imagine my life without them. I'd be nothing without them. I'm lucky that I've grown up with such a solid family unit - I grew up spending lots of time with both my immediate family and my extended family, so I feel very fortunate that I've had so many people in my life to care about and who care about me. My brother and I have always gotten along, and I'm glad for that, because I can't imagine being one of those people who never speaks to my brother. We're four years apart, and I think that gives us just enough distance to get along really well. We are there for each other. When I first got pregnant and my parents were *NOT* happy with me (understatement of the year), my brother was the family member who helped me stay strong. When he first got engaged and my parents were *NOT* happy with him , I did my best to support him. Sometimes "kids...

So, usually when one thinks "Jane Austen," one doesn't automatically think of guacamole. However, as my good friend Cristina and I made plans to get together while I'm up here in Portland, we both decided to get a couple things out of the way that we've never done before: she's never seen the Colin Firth Pride and Prejudice , and I've never made guacamole before (that didn't involve the packet of powdered seasoning), so we decided to do both. Because snacks with movies are good, and so is getting one of my 30 Things items done.

Well, what do you know? I've actually been waiting for this blog topic to come up because my favorite band is RADIOHEAD and they just released a new album - by surprise! - on Friday. New promotional photo! Earlier in the week, on Facebook, they simply posted a link and "Thank you for waiting." And of course, we were all like, WTF??? And when you clicked the link, it took you to a website for their new album, with buying options and such. So of course, every single Radiohead fan just about pooped their pants. They told us that it would be available digitally on Saturday (yesterday), but then they ended up making it Friday instead. And then the next day after their official announcement, they posted this: And then we were even MORE excited! I've had a chance to listen through once or twice, and I really like it. I swear, I'm not just saying it because it's Radiohead. (Though, Radiohead have rarely done anything that I don't like.) It's sho...

As much as I complain about it, I do actually love being an advisor. I love my officers and my co-advisors - I think we're an awesome team, and I will be sad when my kids graduate this year, since I've been with them for four years. (I won't miss the workload and the stress though.)

I finally received a couple of my big orders from SweetLibertine.com, and four of the shadows caught my eye especially - they are GORGEOUS, vibrant colors, and I had to crack them open right away to swatch them:

I would prefer not to give attention to something that I hate, but since you asked... I might've posted this once before - it's children, protesting on behalf of Fred Phelps/Westboro Baptist Church. It's one thing if you're a hateful adult who has lived in the world and formed your own bigoted opinions (and that is indeed bad enough), but these are CHILDREN. Children who don't know any better. I'm so disgusted.

Already talked about Jimmy yesterday, but here are more pics :)

Finito! This is the Tulip Top from SnB: Superstar Knitting. It's knit with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (as called for by the pattern) in Nymph (blue) and Cotton Ball (white trim). For whatever reason, I ended up with a whole extra skein of the blue, even though I did everything as specified in the pattern and it fits fine. It was a pretty easy knit - it was a good combination of mindless knitting and pay-attention knitting. AND the sleeves didn't require much (just the ribbed edging). I thought the yarn felt rough in the skein, but the knitted fabric is actually really soft, and it's the perfect weight for a springtime sweater. This is the second pattern from SnB:SK, but the first one I knit ended up being off size-wise. This one came out perfectly, and I think it will be a staple in my wardrobe for a long time. And that bow is so durn cute.

I have two: My best friend Becca, whom I first met before the start of our freshman year of high school - we were all standing around waiting to take the test to get placed into Honors English at Notre Dame. And now, our 10-year high school reunion is quickly approaching. We've been through a lot, good and bad, but I know I can always count on her to give it to me straight. She is warm, caring, sees the good in everyone, and takes care of everyone. My life partner and baby daddy, Jimmy. We met the summer before our sophomore year of high school - we were both young and cute and eager to spend time together. We've somehow managed to stay together through a lot of distance and turmoil, and somehow we've ended up, over twelve years later, with the most special little girl we could have ever asked for. He is someone who relentlessly refuses to settle for status quo, never just accepts what is fed to him. He is somehow able to be both a rapid thinker and a deep thinker, and ...

This child has been making us laugh since the beginning :)

Another one to add to the red lipstick file! :) This is a beautiful matte brick red that is more red than brown. It's just a hair brighter and redder than Viva Glam I. It is a little drying, but the formula is very light on my lips - a lot of times when I'm wearing lipstick or even just lip balm, I'm VERY conscious that it's there, but with this one, it almost feels like I'm not wearing anything at all. This also happens to be the priciest lipstick I own now, though not by much - it's two dollars more than Urban Decay's lipsticks (but a good ten dollars more than MAC's).

I wasn't sure how to answer this one either - do I post a picture of myself knitting? Skating? Eating lots of cheese? All of these things are my true self. And then I decided to keep it simple. I generally post a LOT of pictures of myself wearing makeup, so... here's who I am, underneath all that - no makeup, wet hair, bleary-eyed, photo unretouched, early in the morning before the first footprint has been made on the fresh surface of my day. It's not glamorous, it's not even pretty, but it's truly me. Sorry, took this one with my iPhone

OMG

This is the London Eye, a huge-mongous ferris wheel that goes really really slowly. You get to see incredible views of the city from inside one of the pods. When I went to London for the second time ten years ago (after graduating high school), the Eye had been built by then. It was pretty awesome - the trip consisted of tours of various places in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Other than that and one trip to Mexico, I haven't been out of the country since. I'm not much of a traveler, but if I were to plan a trip now, I would definitely go back to England and do some sort of lit nerd tour :)

You know, I'm not even entirely sure that I could pick a  favorite memory. I'm not even sure how  I would pick it. And then to find a photo of it? I don't even know if I can remember such a standout moment from my childhood or teenage years that I would have an actual photo of. But here's one from my adult life that I will remember forever, that I will never regret, and that will stay with me until the day I die: The birth of my daughter. For which I refer you to my epic blog post in which I describe the day in detail. Memorable not just because it was the day she arrived, but also the manner in which it happened.

I've signed up for this service from Birchbox.com, where for $10 a month, I receive a box of 4 or 5 deluxe health/beauty/lifestyle samples to try out (meaning, not just the little one-use foil packets) from high-end companies. I just got my first box from them, so I thought I would take a little more care to document this, because I'm SUPER excited: Have I teased enough yet?

I didn't go to derby practice last night because I wasn't feeling up to it, so I stayed in, and did what I always do when I stay in: mess with my makeup. My latest thing is trying to decide whether I want to keep my MAC Russian Red lipstick - since I usually gravitate towards blue-based reds that are darker, this lipstick is something totally new for me, being brighter and more orangey on me (even though on other people, it's more pinky/blue-based). So I took this photo of myself to consult with people online about what they thought. What do YOU think? Please bear in mind that my eye makeup was from earlier in the day (and why would I completely redo my eye makeup just to test out a lipstick?) - I would NEVER purposefully wear green eyeshadow and red lips. I definitely subscribe to the "Wear neutral eyes with red lips" rule. Compare my photo to, say, this one of Dita von Teese wearing the same color: (I'm just shooting myself in the foot, aren...

I had a really tough time with this one - I have lots of favorite shows, and they're all old! I only watch two shows that are currently producing new episodes, and they both are dramas that have vampires in them, by the way (The Vampire Diaries and True Blood). My favorite series*: - Coupling (British) - The Office (British) - Kids in the Hall - Heroes - Battlestar Galactica - Daria - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (yup - coulda guessed this one, right?) The one I decided to go with for this blog post? This is the show that speaks to me the most, because it's got a little of everything that I love - mystery, science, philosophy, paranormal phenomena, mythology/folklore, horror, humor... even a little romance and flirtation. The strength of this show lies in the writing and portrayal of Mulder and Scully - they are my two perfect people. Honestly? Aside from his preoccupation with aliens to the point of endangering his own life, Mulder is totally my type of guy: smart,...

Okay, so I know that it's supposed to be an EYE look that's inspired by Valentine's Day, but seriously, how can you have a romantic, sexy holiday without red lips??? They are the centerpiece of my look: A not-too-dramatic eye look to complement the very dramatic red lips. Here's what I used:

I got my new Z Palettes today! So I finally put all my BOS pans into them, and I'm so happy to present to you... my Ultimate Palette!! I actually spent a good hour or two trying to figure out which shadows would make the cut. It took me so long because I wasn't actually at home with all my makeup, so I had to look things up, decide how many pans I could fit based on someone else's photo, decide which non-BOS shadows (if any) I wanted to include that came in the same size pan, etc. Once I'd gotten all the colors that were exclusive to the BOSes, the remaining spots were taken up by either 1) pans I didn't already have duplicates of from other palettes (like Romp, which I do have a single of), or 2) colors I DID have a lot of, but that I really love (like Flipside, Shattered, or Flash). Here's my arrangement: Top row: Deluxe palette pans (Hey, they fit there, so why not? I couldn't get another row of the BOS pans in there) Zero, Underground, Honey, ...

This is me and Jimmy - at my senior prom TEN YEARS AGO. (I wish I had appreciated being even a juniors size 13 then, because I would LOVE to be it now.) And this is us this past Christmas, with Jolie. We've been together over twelve years, and there is no one who knows me better than he does. We've had our ups and downs, but he is someone that I know I can totally be myself around, and it's the same for him. He is absolutely the person I am closest to, and it has plenty to do with the fact that we've almost spent as many years together as we have apart - we're starting to get to that point. (And Jolie is "close" to me by virtue of the fact that she is half-comprised of my genetic materia and she sprang out of my uterus. That's pretty damn close.) (And also, it's her damn fault that I'm posting this at 5:45 in the morning, on a morning when I don't have to be at school early.)

1. My birthday is December 7, 1982 2. The seniors I'm currently advising are exactly 10 years younger than me. (I was class of 2001.) 3. I used to play piano, guitar, and bass. (Now I play roller derby.) 4. My favorite author is Jane Austen, and my favorite book is  Pride and Prejudice. 5. Though I am widely known among my friends as a knitter, I actually learned to crochet first. 6. I am obsessed with red lipstick. My derby name, Viva Glam, is the name of my favorite red (MAC's Viva Glam I). 7. My running shoes are a men's double-E width. So are my boyfriend's. 8. I have a Master's degree in English literature from UC Irvine.  9. I named my daughter after a David Bowie song. 10. I have a very real fear of zombies (or zombie-like epidemics spreading through the land). Like, I am absolutely terrified of a zombie apocalypse. The thought keeps me up at night.

Urban Decay's new palettes ( that I posted about previously ) are now available on their website . So which one are you? (They left out Midnight Cowboy. Probably because they know we scream at the agony of owning about five tons of that one particular eyeshadow. Still.... this one's my favorite one. Darkhorse is the only non-permanent shade in this one.) (I like this one a lot better than I thought I would, actually, especially now that I know that the bottom row is not from the Black Palette. Still... there is such a thing as TOO MUCH OIL SLICK. Virgin and Rockstar are the two non-permanent shades in this one, and they are prettttttty. Not so dangerous. The Rockstar eye pencil is one of my favorite shades to wear - can't get enough of this one. Probably because they haven't released it with EVERY single palette like the black one. And I love that you get the Greed PP. Even though Feminine is my favorite color-wise, I would most want to buy this one.) (Um... wh...