During the holiday season I have a few traditions that I would like to share. I create a Christmas tree out of the cards that we receive for Christmas.

I also like to wear my ugly sweaters during the time leading up to Christmas. It puts me in the spirit of giving and loving.

Todays’ adventure started with a nice drive on the #LongIslandExpressway. As I was driving however, my radio station changed, without me touching anything, from one station to another to another. It was as if the “Seek” button was pressed. It landed on a station with a different language. It was an Asian language, I’m going to go with Korean, but I’m not sure. This, unfortunately, is not the first time that this has happened with my car. Of course I was alone so no one else was able to witness. At one point I was thinking “is it ghosts? Godmother, are you here with me?” Then I got the chills and it scared the bejesus out of me. It could also be that my car is old and the electronics are on its way out, but who wants to think about that? Am I right? Shout out to my people with a #hooptie.

Fast forward to work. When I turned on my laptop it sounded like it was taking off. The fans were on and very loud. I turned it off a couple of times and back on and that airplane taking off sound kept on coming. Everyone that was in the office was like…what the hell is that? I had to contact our IT department for them to fix it. They had to reboot the whole thing to bring it back to life. Also, while in a meeting, my friends laptop did not works and she had to restart it. She of course, blamed it on me and my black cloud.

 

I’ve recently watched the documentary “GAGA: Five Foot Two” a Lady Gaga story and though it was very cool. She is a hard working, no looking back bad ass. I did not realize that she writes her own music, so kudos to her for that. I can respect her more as an artist knowing this. She also has been through a lot since she broke her hip. She’s still going through a lot of pain that people would not know about without seeing this documentary. She has someone on staff who helps her through all of the pain. And she is real and understands that she is lucky to have someone on staff that she can afford to help her. She even said that she was lucky and does not know how people with chronic pain live without medicine or someone to help them through the pain. I thought that was very grounded of her.

She is also very sweet to her fans and especially her family. There was a scene where she went to go visit her grandmother and she had her listed to one of her new songs. The interaction with her family was so sweet that I longed for a hug from my little girl. Lady Gaga is a non apologetic character with a lot to offer.

 

I received a free trial of Hydrating Cleaner from CeraVe. This cleanser is for dry to normal skin types. It states that it hydrates as it cleanses. As for me, I have combination skin. Oily in the T-zone and dry on the cheeks. This is how I feel about this product:

It left my cheeks a little dry feeling. It went on smoothly and cleansed my makeup, including my mascara, really well but as for the hydrating part, I did not feel it. Also, the scent of this product could be better. It has a distinct scent of something that my grandmother would use on her skin. If you are looking for something to hydrate I would try something else. If you need something that cleans really well to get all of that makeup, this would work for you, I would then use a thick moisturizer. My rating 3 out of 5.

Last night we had a winter storm and my car had a lot of snow on top of it. When getting out of the house in the morning, I was looking for the snow cleaner. I was not sure if it was in my trunk or the back seat. So I unlocked all doors and opened the trunk, just in case I needed to get back there. It turns out the snow cleaner was in the back seat. I cleaned all of the snow as fast as I could and left the house.

As I’m driving, the car has the check engine sign on, the maintenance sign is on and then there was another red sign that was on…the trunk is open sign. My dashboard is filled with lights like the Rockefeller Christmas tree. In case you are worried, the check engine sign is no longer lit and the maintenance sign is for an oil change, which has been scheduled for the weekend.

During my drive there was a car that started honking at me. Being a New Yorker, my thought was “what the F&$% do you want?” When I looked at the driver, he told me that my trunk was open. I politely said thank you and though to myself “no S*&%, my dashboard already told me that.” Should I have stopped and closed the trunk…Yes. But it was snowing and there was a lot of traffic so and I was driving nice and slowly as to not have the trunk open during my driving. I was able to get to work without it flying open on the LIE. Yes, I am proud of myself accomplishing this LOL. It’s the little things.

On Sunday I decided to take care and place a much needed hair mask on my head. I went to Sally Beautyand got myself a little packet of one ‘n only Argon Oil Hair Mask and went to town. The consistency of the mask was really gooey and that’s when I knew…This is going to be good stuff.

The directions stated to leave it on for 10 minutes but I decided to put on a shower cap and leave it on for half an hour. It probably doesn’t do anything by leaving it on longer, but, hey why not. More time to color with my little one. Once the half hour was up, I rinsed my hair and in the shower and dried it with a blow drier. Usually, I let my hair air dry as not to damage it, but this time, I couldn’t wait for the results.

The outcome: The mask is to texturize and shine and it did just that. My hair has been very limp lately and it needed some volume. This product did just that. I am so happy with the results that I will be going to the store really soon to get more packets of this prorduct. Check out the after shot of my hair with some volume as opposed to my before picture with my hair sticking to my head.

Although The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin is a beautifully written story about family and what one will do for the love of that family, I found myself tuning out for some of story while listening to it on audiobook. I am the kind of person that likes suspense in a story and this story left me wanting for more. There is a lot of sibling love and it goes through how far you will go to help each other out and how much you’ll say or not say as to not hurt each other’s feelings. Since there is always the sporty sibling, the pretty sibling the sibling that hides behind the crowd. That is what Conklin ultimately writes about in this book. All of the different personalities within a family and how they interact with each other.

I was secretly hoping for some sort of scandal, but that never came to be. At some points in the book it got really sad that it almost brought me to tears. There was a part of the book where the mother of the kids went through a rough two years, and that brought me back to the time I had gone through that which put me in a bad place. In the book this sequence of events happened during the “pause.” This was the time the mother was going through a state of depression and the kids had to do for themselves. In the beginning of the book there is a funeral and that funeral is of their father, so when the mother was going through her depression state the kids didn’t have any adult to turn to. At this point is when I thought how luckily I was during my “pause” that I had my husband to help me along during my time of depression.

I would recommend this book for those who are in the mood to go through a rough yet, beautiful journey with these four siblings.

 

See the second part at the bottom.

I am currently listening to Little Women by by Louisa May Alcott. I am currently on the second part of the book and am struggling to keep up. There are some sections that I honestly just tuned out. I usually listen to my audiobooks during my long drive home and for the most part I pay the utmost attention to all of the audiobooks that I listen to. However, this one, is rough. There was a section of the story where there was a play the girls put on. The author added the dialog of said play to the book to which this part I completely tuned out. I wasn’t sure what it had to do with the story so I stared to daydream about the kind of day I had at work. And of course, the traffic. My favorite part of the book is the relationship between Jo and Laurie. They are always in good spirits and messing with each other in a loving way. 

I have never read this book before, have barely read any reviews on it, nor have I watched any movies, as there are some, in relation to this book. I just know it is a classic and I am looking forward to reading/listening to as many classic pieces of literature as my phone can handle as these stories are long and the memory on my phone is short. Fun fact, I had to delete some of my stuff from my phone in order to be able to download this bohemoth of a book. No big deal, just some duplicate pictures and some useless videos.

I will continue to listen to this story and will return with my thoughts on the full story including the ending. I truly hope the ending is a good one.

The second part of this book was just the same as the first…at one point or another I tuned out. There were some sad parts and some plot twists that I became very mad at. Teddy and Jo continue to be my favorites. Their interactions are always lively and make me smile. All of the other characters were just living their lives nicely and day by day.

This book was tough for me to get through. I guess it was a great one back in the 1800s when it was first written. As for me, I like more suspenseful books the who-done-it types. This book is more of a romance. Beautifully written and a tribute to families and day by day living.

 

 

Today I tied Shea Moisture African Black Soap Clarifying Mud Mask.

The products’ description is a “deep cleansing mud mask helps remove impurities from blemish-prone skin. African Black Soap blends with Tamarind Extract and Tea Tree Oil to clarify and soothe skin. Skin feels clean, softened and refreshed.” I did feel clean after my shower.

I started with a clean face.

I then added the mask.

Usually Tea Tree oil leaves me with a tingling feeling on my skin. This product did not do that. It was smooth to put on and easy to remove in the shower.

This was a great self care treat after a long day at work. Yes, I dry my hair with a t-shirt. Hey, its better than a towel and it leaves my hair smoother and eliminates the frizz.