Piano Week - Day 4

I played for less than 10 minutes today. Too many external things got in the way. One thing I noticed in my brief bit of playing was how worn out my fingers were; I think they've been getting a better workout than I first realized. I also noticed a bit of my memory kicking in to help  me remember the songs that I've been practicing a lot over the past few days.

Piano Week - Day 3

I practice for about 30-35 minutes today. I kind of felt like I was a little kid again. I was practicing a song that I learned and passed off about 16 years ago, but the song was hard again. I was really working at playing with both my right and left hands together. It was fun, though. I did some warm-up exercises, practice a couple songs out of the lesson book, then I had fun and played through a Disney song, and I ended with practicing "Come, Follow Me." I figure I should know at least one hymn, in case a pianist is ever needed at church.

Piano Week - Day 2

By the time Charlie went down for a nap today, I had a migraine. It's still hanging around, so I just decided that there won't be any piano playing tonight.

Piano Week - Day 1

This week is going to be Piano Week. We have a keyboard that I pulled out and I'm going to try to play for around 40 minutes every day. Today, I pulled out my John Thompson 2nd Grade book that I never finished and decided to just start at the beginning again. It's been SO long since I've played the piano, so it was more difficult for me. My fingers aren't used to that kind of use at all, and they weren't "cooperating" in the way I wanted them to. I enjoyed playing a lot, though. One frustrating thing is the keyboard itself. There isn't the same resistance in the keys as on a piano, so dynamics are extremely difficult to play. It seems like I can only play really loud or really quiet. I also tried giving Joseph a little piano lesson. He was really excited to play the piano like me, so he was willing to try. He does not get the idea of using different fingers for different keys, but he did learn what middle C is and he's very proud of that. It's easy for him to remember where it is because there are some stickers on the keyboard. We'll see if he wants to keep doing "piano lessons" after today.

Beauty Week - Days 6 & 7

I didn't do anything for Beauty Week on Saturday.

Today, I tried one more new thing. After my shower, I mixed a little bit of baby oil with my regular lotion before putting it on. It was awesome! It's the first time that my legs haven't felt super dry after shaving. And my skin looked so soft and nice for a long time after my shower. I really liked doing that a lot.

When I put my makeup on, I just used a bunch of the tricks that I've tried throughout the week. I think it all came out alright.

Summary of Beauty Week:

It was fun to try out some new things this week, and I even got a couple new things to try out. However, it felt like so much work! I'm so lazy about stuff, so removing makeup every night before bed felt like too much work. And I felt like I wasted a lot of time getting ready everyday just so that I would have something to blog about. I guess it's because I'm married and a mom, but I just don't feel like wearing makeup and looking "pretty" are that important right now. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it! And I think it's fun to do on occasion. I do like looking nice, but I don't like that I have to spend forever putting on makeup to look nice. I think I'll just stick with my occasional wearing of makeup and other such beauty things.

Beauty Week - Day 5

Let's see, today I tried out a few more things.

I wanted to try out this primer that has some shimmer to it, but Sephora doesn't carry that brand and that's where we went. A guy at Sephora recommended a different product, which I found out I was allergic to, but it led me to an illuminating primer that I tried out. It was an okay product, but I'm not super sold on it. There's already a primer that I know I like, I guess I was just looking for a good illuminator/highlighter.

I was a little more deliberate and careful when I put my concealer on today. I have terrible under-eye circles that are difficult to cover up. Today, I waited a bit after moisturizing before putting concealer on, then I applied a foundation, and I followed up with my powder, which I applied with a smaller brush to make sure that it got on and stayed on. I feel like the extra care was worth it because my concealer seemed to work longer.

I tried a new trick with my mascara, where you hold up a card on the other side of your eyelashes so they don't bend away when you're applying the mascara. It didn't seem to make much difference to me, but that may be because I'm blessed with good eyelashes, so I don't need extra care. It might work great for someone with light colored or finer eyelashes.

I also carried around my chapstick with me, which I haven't done in years, and remembered to apply it multiple times during the day, so now my lips are nice and soft.

I tried getting photos a couple times, but the sun wasn't really my friend when it came to that. However, here they are:

Beauty Week - Day 4

Today, I tried doing a few different things. I put hand sanitizer next to my computer to use whenever I sit down because I read that one major cause of chin and jaw acne comes from resting our face in our hand while looking at the computer, which I do all the time. I also learned that it's best to use a lighter face wash in the morning and a stronger one at night.; it removes your makeup and all the dirt at night without drying out your face from over cleansing.

For my makeup, I blended a drop of liquid foundation with my moisturizer and then put it on. I loved that because my face felt hydrated and the color was evened out, but it wasn't cakey or too overdone. When I put my eyeliner on, I put black liner on my top lid and brown on the bottom lid; I layered the black with pencil first and then liquid and I used a liquid marker type liner for the brown. Doing that is supposed to give a softer look. I don't normally where liner on the bottom, so it was a heavier look than I usually have, but it was definitely softer than having black on top and on bottom. I also lined the rims and corners of my eyes with white liner to brighten and open them up. I bought the most amazing liner for that! It's Buxom Insider Eyeliner, and it's the smoothest, softest liner I've ever used. I highly recommend it; it's the only liner I'll buy from now on. My first two pictures where taken right after doing my makeup, but the last was taken much later in the evening.

Here's a close up of the eye makeup:

Full face:

It's hard to see past my glasses, but the makeup lasted all day, so that was really great.