Just For Fun

Whenever something good happens, I pick up a rock. Then I bring it home.

It’s a little ritual I use to help me remember special moments in my life, and I have rocks from all over the world.

Including Spain! I picked them up off the ground in a tiny town in Spain on the day El Hub asked me to marry him. Funny story: Those rocks almost didn’t make it back to California, because on that same trip, after we left Spain, El Hub and I took a old, slow-moving overnight train to Portugal, where I packed up the rocks and a few other souvenirs into a flimsy cardboard box, which we shipped from a Lisbon post office.

At the last moment before taping up the box, I wrapped the contents in a thin sea foam green floral maxi dress I got at an H&M in Spain (This was before the chain had arrived in the U.S., and their clothes were very exotic to me.), just in case the box ripped open.

It’s a good thing I did because that box didn’t arrive in California for more than a month after we returned from Europe. I’d pretty much given up on seeing any of those souvenirs again until the box, broken and torn at the corners, showed up on our doorstep one day.

Somehow, thanks to a bit of shipping luck and that protective sea foam green dress, everything was still in the box, including my rocks.

Oh! — and I also have a red rock I picked up from the front of the OB-GYN’s office on the day I saw Connor’s heartbeat on the ultrasound the very first time. The rock reminds me of how happy and utterly terrified I felt when I saw that teeny, tiny white blip on the screen. I wondered, was this my only chance to have a child? And would she make it past the dangerous first few weeks? (Even on that day, I knew she was going to be a girl. Don’t ask me how, but I did.)

The polished green beauties at the top are the most recent additions to my collection, gathered from Moonstone Beach on the morning of my 44th birthday after I finished a jog along the beach.

Now they’ll always remind me of beachcombing and how loosey-goosey I felt after that run. They’ll go on my windowsill for a few months, and after that, into the special box where I keep the rest of my rocks! 🙂

How about you? Do you have any memory rituals? Little things you do to remember meaningful events?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

This is the last week of Connor’s first year of preschool.

Wow! I can’t believe it’s already June. It feels like I took a breath, and BAM! — she’s a full-on little kid.

Over the past year, Coywolf has discovered a love for ballet, drawing and counting. Her favorite things are currently Disney princesses, her collection of “treasures” (unusual rocks, coins, dried flowers and sticks), fishing with Dad, and slumber parties with Mom.

She’s also still obsessed with Doc McStuffins and has gone so far as to open her own medical clinic for toys in the living room, where she also occasionally tends to human patients with the help of her magic stethoscope.

Having a doctor on staff sure has come in handy, too. Yesterday she took El Hub’s temperature, and he had a fever of 199 degrees!

Apparently, he had a bad case of Mondayitis, which she promptly added to The Big Book of Boo-Boos.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

So…what is the Monday Poll?

Excellent question! It isn’t, contrary to its name, an actual poll, like with little clicky buttons. It’s just a list of five more or less random questions I’ve been posting on this blog every Monday morning for the past quadrillion years (since 2007). I love reading your answers, and it helps me get my week off to a good start.

1. Fruit OR vegetables?

Ooh! Tough one… I have a sweet tooth, so I generally prefer the taste fruit, but I always feel so much better, both physically and mentally, after I eat a massive bowl of vegetables…so I’d go with veggies, if I had to choose one.

2. Ulta OR Sephora?

You know I love me some Sephora…but I gotta give it to Ulta because of their variety (I really like that I can get MAC and drugstore stuff there, and I know that some Ulta stores even carry Chanel, which is awesome!), and I also think they have a waaaay better rewards program.

3. Have you ever had a pet who disliked your significant other?

Nope. Also, Tabs loved El Hub to pieces. Anytime El Hub called his name from anywhere inside or outside of the house, Tabs came running.

4. Wearing perfume or cologne while you’re working out in a public place: a do or a don’t?

It’s a do! Go for it! I certainly don’t mind when someone lifting weights next to me smells really good. Just please don’t douse yourself to the point where your Drakkar Noir fills every square inch of the room, thanks.

5. Do you like your water with or without ice?

With ice. Yummy tasting ice. I have zero tolerance for ice that tastes weird (you know what I mean if you’re the same way). I also like ice because I love biting down on it, for some weird reason.

Don’t know why, but it’s very satisfying to me.

Hearst Castle, San Simeon, California

My birthday trip to the coast last weekend was tons of fun, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Hearst Castle. All my years in California, and I had no idea just how huge and opulent and…huge it is. It’s huge! In fact, the tour we took, referred to as the Grand Rooms tour, is just one of many tours available of different parts of the estate. We didn’t even see the upstairs of the castle!

I highly recommend seeing the castle if you’re ever visiting that part of California. It’s a truly remarkable architectural wonder.

(Oh, yeah, and there are also wild zebras.)

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