29 Apr
2013

Posted in: Regular Entries, Review Blog, Reviews, Sponsored
By admin    No Comments

Sweet Home California

This summer marks six years since we bought our house in Oakland, California. As I imagine most homeowners do, we immediately set about making it our own, which in our case meant painting the walls a rainbow of realtor-unapproved colors (red! navy! purple!), hanging guitars from the ceiling, stringing twinkle lights pretty much everywhere, and letting the front and back yards become totally, jungletastically overgrown because we have no idea what we’re doing. We’ve never had gardens like these before. We’ve never had a home together.

Click through to read more about why I love owning a home here. (It’s a sponsored post but not a review.)
Read more >>

13 Nov
2012

Posted in: Regular Entries, Reviews
By admin    110 Comments

It All Adds Up

I love birthdays but hate getting older. “Just one more year too old to be a child genius [on Jeopardy],” I say every May only semi-jokingly. Simon has tried to cure me of this disorder by reminding me that each year I get older is a year I’m not dead, and darn it if he isn’t right. It’s enough to make me shut my trap on the subject…until at least a month or two before my next birthday.

The thing is, I don’t mind being older so much as I mind what my age implies about what type of person I might or should be. I’m thirty-three (and a half), and isn’t that just so…middle-agey an age? People who are thirty-three have mortgages and children and Costco memberships so they can buy bulk orders of batteries and light bulbs and wet wipes. And wrinkle cream. The disconnect is that most days I just don’t feel thirty-three (and a half) AT ALL, and yet…I have these things. Mortgages and children and enough batteries and light bulbs and wet wipes and wrinkle cream (and wrinkles!) to get me through to age forty-three. I am, in many ways, exactly what I’m “supposed” to be at this age. And what in the world do I have to complain about when I’m definitely exactly what I wanted to be at this age?

So. Thirty-three. This is what it looked like when it happened to me:

It’s slower and saggier than twenty-three, but it’s also fuller and richer and clearer and wiser than twenty-three, and those are the things that count. It’s not middle-age, it’s prime time, baby.

Nothing quite puts it all into perspective for me than when people start talking about Life Lists–that popular ritual of taking formal and public inventory of all the things they want to do before they die. It’s inspiring and amazing and discouraging and morbid and, for me, mostly frustrating because at this point in my life, with two small kids and an underwater house, there isn’t much room for backpacking across Europe or rappelling into a cavern in the rainforest. No room and, frankly, very little desire.

That’s why my Life List isn’t full of things I hope to do but things I have already done. It’s a record, not a prediction. It’s not inspiration but reflection. I graduated college at the top of my class. I fell in forever-love. I bought a crazy house. I made two spectacular boychildren. I (finally) got married and there was a taco truck and a giant tub of Red Vines at the wedding. I’ve also been up the Eiffel Tower, sailed around the Statue of Liberty, knitted a hat, and made a galette from scratch using apples from our backyard tree.

My Life List is big things and small things.

Those are the things that add up to thirty-three. Those are the things that add up to me.

What’s on your Life List? Leave me your answer in the comments below for a chance to win a $100 Visa gift card courtesy of Olay.

Rules:

9 Apr
2012

Posted in: Regular Entries, Reviews
By Leah    Comments Off

The Total Effect (Sponsored)

I’ve reviewed Olay® products before, and all the usual praise applies to the most recent item they sent me (it’s quality, it’s affordable, it’s available at normal places I already shop), but this latest product, I think–no, I KNOW–is my favorite by far.

Introducing the Total Effects Tone Corrector UV Moisturizer.

I hate to start with a negative, but right off the bat I need to say that my main complaint is that you can’t see how inventive the product design is unless you open the box. IMO, the outer packaging should have a clear window so you can see how fancy the actual pump bottle is. The soft-serve twist-cone effect of the contents looks so delicious cool I want to eat it wear it all up in one sitting. Yum.

(Okay, even though product design doesn’t mean squat if the product itself is subpar, I will say that I DO appreciate it when my beauty products are…beautiful. Might as well go all the way, right?)

So, how do I like the actual moisturizer? Perhaps a better question would be: “Olay tinted moisturizer, how do I love thee?” Shall we count the ways?

No, let’s not do that, but here’s what I’m digging about it:

The vanilla and chocolate in this swirled-together formula are (a) moisturizer with SPF 15 and (b) tinted moisturizer, which comes in a range of shades. (I wear Fair to Light.) The fact that one product combines moisturizer AND tone-evening tint AND sunscreen makes it a total time-saver. And yes, those extra thirty seconds DO count for me because on some days the prospect of spending an extra thirty seconds on self-beautification is all it takes for me to decide I’m simply entirely too lazy for this whole “look good, feel good” racket and I seriously contemplate leaving the house either (a) bare-faced or (b) wearing a paper sack on my head. Since having this product on hand, I’ve been wearing it even when I’m not leaving the house; that’s the best endorsement I can give anything, really.

Olay says the product “minimizes the look of spots instantly, helps with the appearance of discoloration, and fights the seven signs of aging.” Check, check, and I sure hope so! It definitely evens my skin tone and balances my color, and it does so in a way that doesn’t look or feel heavy the way foundation usually does. It’s noticable coverage but it’s light and natural coverage. Just my style.

The moisturizer itself feels rich without being thick, and it absorbs into my skin without feeling goopy or sticky or greasy. The SPF works wonders; I unexpectedly spent a few hours in the sun recently, and later that afternoon my forearms turned pink with sunburn but my face had been completely protected. Yay for products that do what they say they’re going to do.

I was already primed to love the product when I read that it was a three-in-one, and now that I’ve used it and seen what a great job it does in place of (not just in addition to) several other staples in my bathroom cabinet, I’m a huge, huge fan. Hey, lazy people deserve to look great too!

For a chance to win a $50 Visa gift card, tell me in the comments how you expedite your beauty routine and you’ll be entered into the sweepstakes.

Rules:

No duplicate entries.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: (a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post, (b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post, (c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post, (d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to U.S. Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by email. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 4/9 to 5/16.

Be sure to visit the Olay TE page on BlogHer.com, where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win! While we’re on the subject of looking good, you might want to check out the “Looking Your Best” posts in the Life Well Lived section of BlogHer.com. There are some great tips and expert posts!

I was compensated and provided free product for this post. The opinions expressed herein are my own.