When Your Day ALREADY Sucks

and it's barely even started, I advise putting the very most you are capable of into your appearance so that at least you don't look like your entire world is crumbling into little cookie pieces around you. It's the fashionista version of "Laugh and the whole world laughs with you...look like dung and they'll be laughing AT you, and really, doesn't your day suck enough already?"So this morning after Husband's alarm went off and there were no signs of said Husband actually vacating his couch, I lay in bed cursing the day I was born, I mean, waited for a little bit to see if he was going to get up and then stomped out, I mean, walked to the living room to inquire as to his plans for the day and whether or not that would include more than simply adding body heat to our living room.Apparently not.I fumed, let the dogs out, fumed, let the dogs in, fumed, fed & watered the dogs, fumed, fixed my lunch from the leftovers still sitting out in the kitchen that no one had bothered to put away last night, fumed, checked both my blogs for comments and the will to live, fumed, woke up Zac for school, he complained of stomach pain and threw up, thus vacating the possibilty of him getting on the school bus and at this exact point I said to myself, I'm going to take a shower, put on makeup, and style the hell outta my hair before I leave for work this morning. I have good intentions, but a lot of times my makeup stays in it's case and my hair airdries after I leave for work in the morning. Not really my best look, I know, and so this morning I showered, lotioned, prepped my skin with L'Oreal Skin Genesis serum and Clinique Cityblock in SPF 40, wiped on a little Prescriptives custom blended foundation, dusted on Prescriptives custom blend loose powder with my big Sephora retractable powder brush, Nars Orgasm blush, lipliner (some no name .99 pencil I picked up at Walgreen's a long time ago) in Nude, Cover Girl TruBlend lipstick in Nude Shine, black eyeliner on the outer half of my top lids and inside the rims on the bottom (again nothing special, Prestige eyeliner from Walgreen's in Black), Almay Intense i-color trio for greens, I used the lightest green all over my lids and blended up to my brows (with my ring finger as applicator) and the purple shade in the crease, went over my brows with a mascara wand from an almost empty tube of Lancome Defincils, curled my eyelashes and then Cover Girl Lashblast mascara in very black. I put on Lane Bryant classic cut jeans (what passes for a straight leg on us curvy girls) with a Lane Bryant top in black that has a very cool attached necklace, my wedding set, and my most comfortable heels, a four inch Bebe black leather platform with an ankle strap.After Brilliant Brunette Shine treatment and a going over with my flatiron, my hair curved perfectly against my face, but of course by the time I made it to work it was back to doing it's own thing and I recieved a compliment on "that flippy thing your hair's got going on today." Haha. Oh well. Woman Flatirons, Hair Laughs. GAH.

Thank You

all for your deep concern about the heel measuring. I will admit I was not quite sure if this was a funny joke on me because of my dramatic tendencies or if the supervisor who measured my heel was planning on getting onto me because it IS part of our Dress Code that heels not be "too high." Thank God a specific height for "too high" is not listed in the DC as something tells me that 6 inches miiiiiight just qualify. Although I don't want to overreact, say, by not wearing them anymore, or by not buying THESE.
The DH thought they would be too high for work but I downplayed his concern (nothing shall come between me and my shooooooes!). "I can just see these with some slight bootcut extremely dark rinse jeans and a beautifully cut black shirt!" I yodeled lyrically in a manner guaranteed to send the poor man rushing to the flat screen in search of a basketball game to watch.

Some time ago I promised you (yes, YOU, my lovely one!) a review of the Patricia Wexler products I purchased at Bath & Body Works back at the beginning of March. I read an article about her a couple of years ago in Vogue and I was convinced this product would Change. My. Life. (surely that's not too much to ask of eye cream?) And the fact that I was running out of my Neutrogena Eye Radiance? Karma, pure and simple. And the coupon entitling me to a free sample of Skin Regenerating Serum? A SIGN FROM GOD.
I am sad (truly, terribly sad) to say that I did not care for either product. After a couple weeks of the eye cream, I felt that the Neutrogena Radiance actually worked BETTER than the thirty dollar plus Wexler cream, although it PROMISED to lift, tone, tighten, smooth wrinkles, load the dishwasher, remove stains from furniture, and discipline my children. I tried the Serum of Magic a couple of times, waiting breathlessly for radiance and freshness to EMERGE from my skin....and nothing. I like my twenty five dollar L'Oreal Skin Genesis Daily Treatment Serum Concentrate much better, particularly in conjunction with the L'Oreal Skin Genesis Daily Moisturizer Oil Free Lotion. Unfortunately, the aforesaid lotion is PINK, which means I was able to use the two products together for One Glorious Night when I awoke with such smooth, glowing skin that I was unable to stop grinning at myself in the mirror....and by the time I got home from work, my daughter had made off with my Magic Bottle of Pink Perfection, I still haven't been able to track it down :0(((((

Why, Yes, that is a Small Tear leaking down my face as I refill my birth control pills for another year.

Measure of a Heel

I work at The Bank, and it's a constant struggle to maintain what The Bank believes to be a proper mode of dress. Sometimes I kick off my heels and put on flats (God forbid, flipflops) at my desk simply because the heels I wear are so high that some of them hurt to wear even when (gulp) I'M SITTING DOWN.

However, I have never had A MANAGER ACTUALLY MEASURE THE HEIGHT OF MY HEELS BEFORE. Yes indeedy. I was on a call when a manager whipped out a ruler, knelt down, and Measured my Heels.

Perhaps a 6 inch heel and The Bank do not mix.

Good Lord do NOT look at my hair. I was washing my hands in my restroom when my visual image assaulted me in the mirror and I screamed, "OH MY GOD MY HAIR HAS BEEN ATTACKED BY YAKS!!!"

Because, you know, it can't just be a bad hair day, for me, only the heights (or is it depths) of hyperbole will do. nevertheless that is some horrible hair.

Lane Bryant shirt from Nov. 08, necklace same, dark wash jeans same, heels by Nine West courtesy of amazon.com (26.00 and change with free shipping!!!).

Hair by....Yaks.

The Puppies Have Eaten My BlogTime!

Even if I had a picture to show you, it might cause retinal damage. I am thisclose to giving in and wearing FLATS to work. Today there was no makeup, no hairstyling (unless you count my daughter's acid green terrycloth scrunchie which I most certainly do not and neither do you since you have the innate good taste to read my blog, hehehe), and I just barely managed to throw together a semidecent outfit of dark wash bootleg jeans, a black wrap top and black platform Bebe heels. Hell, there was no shower (rest assured I did apply deodorant) this morning as...you guessed it. The dogs have eaten my blogtime, having crunched it up in small chowlike chunks and found it good.
I DID have to bid on (and win!) a pair of nude patent leather heels from Aldo and a dark red dress from Old Navy, can't wait to get my spoils in the mail.

Wednesday

Being off yesterday, my one thought was: I can update BOTH BLOGS!!! Because my life has been so crazy lately, I haven't been able to update Little Miss Blackwell as frequently as I'd like--heck, if I had my druthers I would pretty much sit around and blog all day! but such is not the case.I realized after I posted that I didn't have any makeup on in the pic Zac took of me outside; I am ashamed to confess that I usually (read, always) head out barefaced and makeup is something that gets applied gradually throughout the day. As in, Clinique Super City Block SPF 40 I keep in my purse and apply on my way to work, then once I get there, between calls I put on powder, blush, and lipstick, saving the biggie (eye makeup, bien sur) for my first break. If you haven't tried Cover Girl's Lash Blast, I HIGHLY recommend, and of course an eyelash curler is a MUST. If you don't use one, get one! I promise you will be shocked at the difference it makes to your eyelashes. So, leaving work after my staggering 13 mins yesterday, I never put any makeup on, and today I admit I have skipped blush and eyes altogether. Work in progress!

Skirt is new for spring, just got it from Walmart about 2-3 weeks ago, shirt is George/Walmart as well. Or Lane Bryant, I don't have it in front of me right now, but I had the skirt out looking for a shirt to wear with it and I was going through my closet looking for my favorite black wrap dress that has DISAPPEARED, found this shirt and said, AHA. Shoes are Nine West, from fall at least 3 possibly four years ago, the cutout in the back is a knockoff of a Jimmy Choo style. Heels are only about 3 or 3 1/2 inches so even with no platform they are fairly comfortable.

Pictures by Bookey! Ignore the finger over part of the picture, hehehe.

Sick Day!

I got to work a few minutes early, and at 9:13AM a coworker tapped me on the shoulder to let me know that the switchboard operator was on her line looking for me. It was the school nurse, Zac had vomited at school and needed to be picked up.
I must point out that it is the most fabulous of spring days outside and there are many hours of CSI recorded on the DVR, also David is at his CDL refresher course all day, so, all in all, I was devastated at having to leave work. Forcing myself back out into the amazing cool spring day was simply agonizing, I must tell you. Note to self: make sure kids always get sick on beautiful days.
I'm dogging it now in tattered gym shorts and an elderly raspberry pink tee, but here's what I wore to work.


Ivory pants from Lane Bryant (fully lined and these are AMAZING white pants, I LOVE them!) paired with royal purple satin squarenecked top, also Lane Bryant from their Spring 08 line--the pants were purchased at least 2 years ago. Normally I shy away (okay, BOLT) from any color pants other than black; I generally look at colors and prints and think, Okay, who the hell wants to see THAT spread over my size 18 ass? However, my favorite styleblogger Allie at http://mywardrobetoday.com/ had a pair that she simply wore the heck of a couple of years ago and when I saw a pair at Lane Bryant that fall, I tried them on and went for it. Since they are so light, I've had them dry cleaned pretty much every time I've worn them, but recently I've begun washing them in the same mesh bag I use for my bras with excellent results, and now it doesn't cost me seven bucks per wear, they get a much more frequent rotation!
The top I bought for the color, I adore royal purple. I've also worn this top with dark rinse straight leg jeans from Lane Bryant and purple "Albas" Jessica Simpson heels (cuffed to show the straps, I didn't wear the jeans like that!)


Zac took those pics probably a month ago, they are pre-Charlize'-haircut, but I wanted to show the two different looks. The shoes I wore today, the black patent leather heels with the cork soles, are also Jessica Simpson's, the style is called Barb and I have another pair of them too in a metallic silvery croco print with a black platform. Probably the most comfortable four inch heels I have, you can walk blocks in Barb no problem due to the platform. Both pairs were bought new off eBay for less than 20.00 each.
Have a lovely day, beautiful reader!