Editions of Me

I've been running again! I stopped running after my last marathon. Having developed osteoarthritis after a knee injury (from roller derby, not running), I had trouble running without pain after all that training, due to the weight I gained back after my weekly mileage dramatically decreased (because my body needed a break from that intensity) and the fact that I got more seriously into powerlifting (my knee can handle running OR it can handle squatting extremely heavy weights, but not both). So for a while, I convinced myself that I would never be able to run again.  Last year, while I was pregnant, I suddenly found myself bit by the running bug again, which is funny because when I WAS heavily into running, I needed a constantly full calendar of races to stay motivated, and right now, races are a rare thing because of the, you know, worldwide panna cotta that we've been living in. But all of a sudden, I just really wanted to RUN. I didn't, because I was heavily pregnant and...

Plus some updates about training/fitness. CW: This post will talk about weight loss and disordered eating habits/thoughts. If that might be triggering to you, please proceed with caution or opt out of reading this entirely <3

 (Wow, I'm great at promising to post regularly, and then just not posting. I need to stop announcing things.) A year ago today (March 13th) was the last day of school before everything closed down for the pandemic. At the time, we didn't know what the future would hold, so at first, we were like, "Okay, double-long spring break. That's cool, I guess!"  And then we just never came back from it. Our extended spring break turned into online supplementary learning (it was only a year ago, and I can't remember any of the official names or acronyms we used last spring) where we couldn't move forward with curriculum and could only assign bonus work that students wouldn't be held accountable for missing. Then the bonus work turned into Real Work That Will Affect their Grades for just a hot minute until we received notice that students grades would default to whatever they were as of March 13th, and that they would count as P/F only, and that students could co...

This isn't going to be much of a post, because I haven't not trained this week, but I did want to impart my take-away to you:  Prioritize sleep. Wellness isn't just a fancy spa mask and a yoga class. Those are nice, but they're still doing  something, and sometimes what you need is to not  do anything.  I haven't trained this week because I've been dealing with some major insomnia, and my personal rule has always been that if I didn't sleep enough (under 6 hours) or sleep well, then I wouldn't allow myself to work out. Of course, in a week like this, it means that I have gone several days without training or anything, but as they say, you can't pour from an empty cup. And this up is DRY, my friends. But just so I'm not leaving things on a sad note, I do want to share that I bought myself a new pair of running shoes, and I'm planning to get (very slowly) back into running. It may be weeks, even months, before I actually start doing more than a...

I've been super excited about the influx of new makeup brands lately at Target, especially since they are designated as "Clean at Target" (though YMMV when it comes to the label "clean"). One of them is a brand called Jason Wu Beauty , by a Taiwanese-Canadian artist/designer of that name. (Sorry, I don't know anything about him. I had to google that.)  His collection looks to be lots of neutral, natural tones, in an assortment of products for all over the face, but not enough to do a full face. (Like, I see tinted primers, but no actual foundation or concealer?)  After watching some other reviews on YouTube, my interest was piqued, and I decided the first thing that I really wanted to pick up, actually, was his eyeshadow palette in Matte Agave, as the only all-matte palette in his line. I've been in search of an clean-beauty all matte palette that would function really well as a collection of base shades, because I'm very into wearing my highlighters...

 Ayooooo! You know how I started doing "Makeup Monday" posts? I chose that name with the full intention of adding other themed days into my repertoire, but gradually, because jumping into blogging multiple days per week is... a lot. I had to work up to it. So thus, we begin Fitness Fridays. This will just be a weekly check-in about my health and fitness--a little progress report of what I've done for the week. To begin with, both of the gyms that I called home closed this year.  Now, full disclosure: I hadn't been lifting much at all this past year due to being pregnant, and then when gyms had to close due to the pandemic, I definitely was trying to get some workouts in at home. And then both gyms (not at the same time) have permanently closed. I was already in the process of putting together a garage gym anyway, because I was too apprehensive about working out at a gym, but my long-term plan was to train in person when the time came for me to start competing again.  ...

This week's topic comes from YouTuber Allie Glines: she recently posted a video called 21 Questions about her makeup collection and tastes, and I thought this would be fun: 1. What is the oldest makeup product in your collection? At this point, I've decluttered most of old makeup. The oldest things I'm still keeping around are some Urban Decay eyeshadows that I bought in the mid-2000s (that I depotted). Remember their old matte eyeshadow singles? I have all of them. Their Deluxe Eyeshadow Palette? It's there too. They're not moldy or bad or anything, but I don't use them anymore either. I kinda just keep them for nostalgia. 2. What is your most recent makeup purchase? Uh, I literally last night just repurchased the Fenty Matchstix Trio because I wish I hadn't decluttered them, and they're on sale now. But the most recent thing I've purchased that I actually have in my possession is the new Fenty powder foundation (shown below) and an Ilia Multi-Stic...

 First off: I missed posting last Monday! The day just completely got away from me. The idea for this post came from a video from a beauty YouTuber that I follow, Reagan Hart, called 20 Products I Don't Like from 20 Brands I Like . It got me thinking about my own list, but I don't think I can even name 20 brands that I like, from which I've tried enough products to determine what I like or don't like, so I'm just going to NOT put a number on it :) Please note that just because I didn't like them, it doesn't mean that they're bad products or that no one should buy them; they just didn't work for me. (So please don't take any of this personally.)  1. Ere Perez's Rice Powder Blush and Bronzer in Roma Ere Perez is one of my favorite clean beauty brands, but I found that this was hard to work with. It may have been just the one I received, but it was dry, and I had a difficult time picking up product. (I have heard similar critiques of their eyesh...

So, I used to beauty-blog a lot more actively, and as such, when you need to stay current on what's new and on offer, your makeup stash tends to grow to epic proportions. I was going through some of my old posts on my beauty-blog-no-longer (which I recently renamed because Google Domains wasn't letting me access the blog with the old URL any longer), and I came across this post where I give you a tour of my makeup station and stash. Go look at that post, I'll wait. It's pretty wild to think that this is what my entire makeup collection consists of now: Same table. Gone is the 9-drawer Alex chest. (Well, it's not GONE, but I have repurposed it for art supplies.) The actual table drawers hold makeup bags, all the brushes/tools I don't use, hair ties, skincare stuff I don't reach for often (like face masks), and makeup samples I've received with orders. Maybe an extra mascara or whatever that I haven't started using yet. YUP, my entire active makeup co...

You would think that being stuck at home all day, every day, would mean that makeup would be rendered irrelevant, but actually, this was the year that I got back into makeup in a BIG way. The fact that I wasn't going anywhere or seeing anyone was actually a plus--what better time to experiment with products than the safety of isolation? :) I don't know about you, but being able to test and practice makeup feels a whole lot less stressful when you know no one's going to see it. I wasn't in full beat every day or anything (in fact, I'm not wearing any makeup right now as I type this, because *shrug*), but there were a few products that rose to the surface in terms of being great everyday products. In general, I found myself being drawn to the Clean Beauty aesthetic (and I think the whole of the beauty industry kind of shifted that way too): a light foundation layer, cream blush, one-and-done eyeshadow looks. Don't get me wrong, not everyone has given up on full-co...

I hereby dub Mondays Makeup Mondays ! I will be posting about makeup (yes), skincare, and beauty stuff in general on Mondays: reviews, tutorials, swatches, etc.  Today is short and to the point: here is the first post in a series of beauty products I loved this past year. I started getting back into makeup in a big way, but I definitely saw my aesthetic shifting to something more low maintenance and fuss-free. Also, I started getting more into clean beauty, which opened up a whole new world of products and brands that I've been really excited to try. I've spent a lot of time trying to figure out what my Holy Grail products are, and I think I'm getting pretty close! Here are some of the things I can't live without. (Note: none of these are affiliate links or sponsored or anything like that. Ain't nobody giving me money, y'all.) My skincare routine changed a lot this year, due mainly to being pregnant and then having the baby (and all the changes that entails, in ...