That’s what it is, time to blog. After all, a girl can’t stay away on vakay forever, now can she? No, she cannot. You’ll notice that I said part one up there in the title. I don’t know how far I will get tonight, but I though I might begin to tell ya’ll where I have been. Before I do that, I want to take a minute to mention a fairly local business.

We have a lot of what I like to call local celebrities around here. I’m sure you know exactly what I mean–folks or businesses that all the folks you normally associate with IRL know, but that if you step outside your comfort zone may not be so well known. Around here, we have Paul’s Place for hot dogs (known for at least 50 miles in every direction) and we have the two men who were mayor of the two cities I spend my time in for more years than I can count, but who were recently “replaced” by those of a more northern persuasion (insert eye roll).

And then we have businesses that are aiming to make a name for themselves far beyond the immediate area. Bruce Cavenaugh is one such entity, and I say entity, because that name belongs to both a person and business. Bruce Cavenaugh (the business) wants to be known as the place to go for used cars Wilmington, NC. With the price of gas these days, and the need many people have to move into smaller vehicles, it can actually make sense to travel a couple of hundred miles to get a sweet deal on a good used car. And that’s a fine reason to come see Bruce and his cars, but there’s another one that’s maybe even more compelling to me lately: in a day when I can hardly drive from point a to point b without running over 48-11 yankees, Bruce Cavenaugh (the person) has one major advantage over the competition. He’s a native, and he still sounds like it. Just click the link to hear a short clip and hear for yourself.

Okay, it’s time to get started with the updates, but I will let that be another post. I think we can safely go back to the 11th-ish of June and go from there. Relax, it won’t be a post per day, LOL!

I have been wanting to try the new Lash Blast mascara since I saw the commercials with Queen Latifah. Last Friday, when dh and I were at the store, I saw it, packaged with eye shadow trios. I believe I might have mentioned that I love me some eyeshadow. And the colors were so purdy, ya’ll. So I asked for it, and I got it, and girls, it’s good. It’s practically as good as the commercial says it is. Go get some. It’s the one in the orange tube, so you can’t miss it at the store.

So, I was reading my issue of InStyle this past week, and ripping out pages of stuff I want to try out. Yeah, I know, I am probably the last person you’d expect to read that mag, but I like it.

Anyway, item number one, and also recommended by my friend Deb, is the new croc shoes. They have new and different, not quite so hideously ugly, styles. Including these. Only, I want them in brown and pink instead of black on black. And then, there’s Aveeno Skin Brightening Daily Scrub. It was rated as one of the best beauty buys, and it is supposed to cleanse and exfoliate without being harsh and drying. We’ll see about that. And finally, the Neutrogena nourishing eye duos. I love an eye shadow, and these colors look yummy. If they are good for my skin, too, then I am sold. Dreaming by Tommy Hilfiger smells heavenly, but I don’t think I will be trying it anytime soon. I just got Poison in January, and I don’t think I can justify another spendy fragrance splurge just yet.

Here’s what I didn’t like so much: huge bags and ultra high heels. First huge bags look ridiculous on me, because I am little. And second, how can I juggle a suitcase, and chase kids while wearing 5 inch platforms? Now, I know I just bought some over the top high heels, but I plan to carry a very small bag when I wear them

I have another pair just like these only opposite.

Guess what I did last Friday? That’s right!

Before:

During:

After:

Today:

All in all, I am satisfied. The color costs less than $5, and so I saved myself at least 55 bucks over having my hairdresser do it for me. It didn’t smell bad, and the after conditioner was incredible. And I had half a bottle of the solution left when I was done. No hat you can do anything with that except throw it away, since it doesn’t keep once it’s mixed. I think I will keep doing it myself a least for now.

I also had a hair cut on Saturday, with a different stylist, and that was a disaster of incredible proportions. The cut was fine, but the woman knew nothing of curly hair. She turned her blow dryer up as hot and as hard as it would go, and she blew my hair dry (say that like the bog bad wolf blowing on the pigs’ houses.) She burned my scalp, ya’ll. And I ended up looking like Broom Hilda. On a bad day. When she was done, I had her put me back in the bowl and re-wash it. Then I styled it myself. And then, when I was checking out, she asked me “Would you like to add anything to that, Cassie?” So I added five bucks, and that five dollar tip was her severance pay. I despise to be called Cassie, truly I do. Not to mention the truly horrible hair she gave me.

For the first time in many days, I am sitting here ready to post, but lacking an idea of what to write about. Ordinarily on Wednesday, I’d pop off a product review or something to do with health and beauty or a Lensday post. See, I have options and backup options and backup on the backup. Today, however, there are a series of issues.

1) This week’s Lensday challenge isn’t posted yet. I’m finding this is usually the case at my normal posting time. You’ll note I missed Manic Monday for the same reason. I need to get my posting done earlier in the day than some of the memes are ready. Which serves as a great incentive to get mne ready and auto publish just after midnight, I guess.

2)I’m not up for a health and beauty post because I am still paying the penalty for that period of time that I put my momentary desires above my weight goal. Consequently, I don’t feel qualified to give anybody any advice, nor do I wish to wallow in my own failure to do what I want to do for my own self. Ok, one piece of advice: if you are trying to count calories, WRITE DOWN your food counts. Seriously, because if you think you can “just keep it in your head”, you can’t. Boys and girls, I lost weight eating fruitcake when I kept track of the numbers, and I gained eating “just food” when I stopped.

3)The only things I’ve purchased lately are new sneakers and the mp3 player, both of which I have mentioned. Hmm, mentioned. Not discussed in detail. Ok, let me talk about my new shoes. I’m really enjoying them! I got the New Balnce Abzorb WR414wfs. These things weigh next to nothing; they feel like butterflies on my feet! I tried on a few pairs in different brands and these fit my narrow-heeled high-arched foot the best of any of them. I’ve worn them every other day for a couple of weeks now, and I am still very pleased with them. That’s a high compliment from this clog wearing gal. These are without a doubt the best fitting shoe I have ever had, with the exception of my red Fanfare pumps, which I outgrew during my first pregnancy. That was 20 years ago, and I still mourn those shoes.

Thank you to my sponsor, City Feet, who specializes in commercial real estate transactions.

There’s a new razor in my shower, ya’ll. For years, I have had a Silk Effects Plus, and it had done an adequate job of removing the forests from my legs. Recently, I needed to buy some new blades for it, and so there I was in the women’s shaver aisle. Let’s just pause for a moment and reflect on the length, depth and breadth of that section of Wal-Mart shall we? It boggles the mind that there are so many ways to get rid of what is essentially a normal part of being human. Of course, BO is also a normal part of being human, and we attempt to get rid of it, too, but there I go again, digressing. Anyway!!

So, I found the blades, and then from the corner of my eye, I saw the Intuition. “Well, that’s intriguing”, I thought. See, I’ve quit buying shaving cream. I like the good stuff and it’s a little spendy, and with 2 teens in the house, I got just about sick and tired of buying my favorite scent just to have it all used up before I ever hit the shower door. Why must they shave every day? 5 times? With more and more of my cucumber melon shave gel?????? Since all I ever got to use was soap anyway…. that’s what I bought. Muhahahhaha. Oh wait. I digressed again. Sorry.

Ok, so there I was and there they were, and do you know??!!?? They have a cucumber melon scent! Let me explain a bit about what the Intuition is, in case you haven’t seen one. Or paid attention. Maybe you’ve just been buying blades for your old razor and not paying much attention to the new products. The Intuition is a 3 blade razor with a thing around it. The thing is a shaving gel type stuff, and when your leg is wet and the thing is wet, it provides a glide that is most excellent. Also, it smells good. And when I used it, my legs were slick and they were smooth and when I was done, they were not dry. And that right there is what sealed the deal: I have a new razor ya’ll. And the best part is that since the idea of using someone else’s razor gives my girls the heebie jeebies, I have it all to myself!

Have ya’ll been enjoying the extra pictures? I’ve tried to remember to include one if I had one even remotely related to what I have talked about. Some subjects lend themselves to that better than others, of course, but I have tried. And remember that massive to-do list? One of the items on it is to organize the two 1 GB cards I have, and when I do that, I’ll be uploading a lot of shots, and that will in turn lead to blog posts.

One of the things I have been wanting since I got involved in digital photography is a digital photo frame. It seems wrong somehow to leave all those good pictures on an itty bitty card, yk? But I’ve not had a place to put a digital frame until just recently, and so while I have looked, it’s been cursory. Now, though, we have re-arranged the furniture and that has opened up a large expanse of wall space over the loveseat. I’m planning to fill it with cross-stitch, and one digital frame to show off some of my artier shots.

I have to say that looking over these reviews of different digital photo frames, I am still amazed at the very concept of one frame and multiple pictures– an entire photo album hanging on the wall. Some of the pictures I mentioned above are shots I took of old family photos. I’ve showed you a couple of those, but I have lots more. What a treasure that would be for my mom, uncle and cousins! I have another set that I took at a family birthday party that would make a good gift for Granny.

Hmm, now my brain is churning with ideas…… time to pull out a paper and pen to take some “notes to self”.