Editions of Me

This is in no way meant to be even a remotely impressive tutorial - I've been sick with something awful for three weeks, and it shows. However, I'm posting it because I though people might want to see how some of the shades show up against my skin. (I'm a MAC NC40, UD Naked Skin 7.0.) - UDPP - Buzz all over the lid - Liar  in the outer third of the lid - Darkside  in the crease and along the outer half of the lower lash line - Limit  to blend out the crease - Strange  on the browbone - Eye pencil in Rockstar - Maybelline The Rocket mascara Buzz is described as "metallic rose shimmer" and Liar is described as "medium metallic mauve shimmer." On me, everything looks more brown than in the pan, but I can see the hints of pink as well. I'm curious to use these exact colors again over my NYX Milk pencil and see how different it looks on a white base.

I got my Naked 3! I managed to get my order in before they sold out. Very beautiful! Nooner and Darkside are probably my favorites so far. Dust and Buzz are my least favorite just because of their micro-glitter texture - they're very beautiful shades, but they're a little crumbly compared to the other ones. They don't all totally pull pink on me, and I think it's because some of them are less pink than others in the palette. Like, seeing them all together next to each other, you're like, IT'S ROSY! But swatching them individually, they aren't so pink that they clash with my warm undertones. (Also, I'm medium-dark, so that probably obscures some of the pink.) Here are some pictures of palette: And I know some people will find this sacrilegious, but I immediately depotted this because I want all my Nakeds to live together: Naked 1 on top, Naked 2 center (I took out Half Baked and Blackout because they already exist in Naked 1 an...

One of my coworkers posted this blog on Facebook called " Don't date a girl who teaches ," and it's a comical list of reasons why dating a teacher sucks. I thought it was hilarious. This isn't what I'm ranty about. I'm ranty about the original blog post that inspired that one, called " Date a girl who teaches ."** Oh, lordy. The girl who wrote this is obviously some sort of preschool/elementary teacher, because her reality is apparently all sugary-sweet and sparkly unicorns. If you are looking to date a girl who teaches, and THAT list is what you're expecting, then you'd better stay away from me. Date a girl who teaches children. Okay, I guess teenagers are technically children too, but I can guaran-damn-tee you that secondary school teachers are an entirely different breed from primary teachers. When I was a brand new teacher having to do obligatory new-teacher stuff at the district office with all the other new teachers in the di...

I was suuuuuuper excited to see the next installment of the Hunger Games series, and I was definitely not disappointed. I just wanted to share some initial thoughts. I guess SPOILER WARNING IN EFFECT ? I'm not sure what will be spoilery about the movie if you've already read the book. There weren't any huge changes or surprises a la Breaking Dawn Pt. 2. I went to the IMAX double feature with  The Hunger Games  showing first. I only ever saw it on a regular movie screen, so even though I've watched it MANY times since it came out, it was still a treat seeing it on the ginormous screen. Here's the blog post I wrote about it when I first saw it.  I still love this movie. I liked it when I first saw it, and I still like it now. So, Catching Fire ... - If I had to choose one word to describe it, I would have to say "visceral." The entire experience of seeing this movie hit me squarely in the gut, from the terror to the tragedy to the romantic feelings...

Decently pigmented 5-pan palettes for A DOLLAR. I kid you not. Check out the swatches here .

I have an overly large stash of makeup, and it goes without saying that I can’t take it all with me. But I do like to keep a basic stash of essentials in my purse for beauty emergencies, and I don’t always carry a large purse, so what are my most important things to keep around? Here’s my list of must-haves:

It was simultaneously not my best run and also a breakthrough run, if that makes any sense. It was not my best in that my pace (16:45) was nothing to write home about, and the first 3.5 miles were quite painful and hard on my knee. But it was a breakthrough in that after about four miles, everything just loosened up and stopped hurting, and for the first time in months, I could actually keep up a semi-regular (if super short) running interval for the rest of the run. I'm pretty sure I ran a negative split, not surprising when you consider that I was hobbling up and down hills before I got to the bridge and everything leveled out. Oh, the bridge! I've never run across the Golden Gate before, so I was SUPER excited, and that was my whole reason for signing up for this distance. It was a beautiful day - perfect weather for such breathtaking views :) I'm not sure I'll ever do it again, but I'm definitely glad I did it just this once. I ran this one with my fellow...

Remember on my 30 Things Before I'm 30 list, one of my unfinished items was "get a Jolie tattoo"? Well, I did! This one was inspired by the artwork for Shel Silverstein's "Moon-Catchin' Net": Because that picture is exactly how I envision my little Jolie, the adventurer who always wants to chase the moon at night in my car.

I teach a gender studies unit with my sophomores. Maybe some people in the world might object to this, but I try to introduce them to the concept of feminism and gender equality, and there is some media literacy and literature. We start out the year by critiquing Disney fairy tales and the messages they send about femininity, and then we move on to Killing Us Softly 4  and discussion of contemporary feminist issues such as body image/fat-shaming, slut-shaming/oversexualization of women, and the glamourization of violence in the media. We are wrapping up this second part of it with a big project/presentation that is due this week. (And just in case you're curious, we're just starting Cyrano de Bergerac  now, and we've been having discussions about society's standards for male beauty.) Today, before class, one of my students approached me at my desk. "You really inspire me," she said, all of a sudden. "... Thank you?" I said, not sure where this ...

Today I ran (er, walked/hiked) the ZombieRunner Halloween Half Marathon in Los Gatos. We will not speak of it (let's just say, I still can't run much on this knee AND there was a really difficult climb for the middle 5 miles or so AND they did not have mile markers ANYWHERE), but it's DONE, and that means one thing: I did it! 13 13s in '13! 13 half marathons in 2013, and along the way, I picked up two extra series medals (the Disney Coast to Coast Challenge medal, and the Bay Area Running Series medal). Phew. In addition to those thirteen races above, I also did a full marathon, and I have one more race next weekend (the Mermaid San Francisco 10-miler). I have more thoughts, but am exhausted, so I will save those for another time. For now, I just want to sleep FOREVER.