Rimmel London Moisture Renew Review

I recently joined influenster.com. If you've never been to the website, you should. It has reviews written by real people that give products a more accurate, real-life use grade.

I was recently sent a qualified for the Rimel London Moisture Renew sample. I've been playing on how and when to where it because I don't wear a ton of make-up. I'm a make-up struggler. Yet, it was our anniversary last week so I thought lipstick was the easiest way to add a little POC (pop of color) into my life. 

I was honestly feeling a little drab and not so confident. Then I added a little Rimmel Moisture Renew!

This is the only lipstick I've tried that doesn't feel like a lipstick. Most lipsticks I've used have a chalky/thickness to them leaving your lips feeling like they're covered in a mask. Not this one. I was surprised by the moisture in this lipstick. I even put it on chapped lips and my lips felt good. The moisture lasted so long! The best part: the color lasted too! I ate, drank, and it was still on.

I'm not a lipstick person, but I think this changed my mind!

We spent our 3year anniversary relaxing: not  having a set plan or anything.
I got my husband a "Trophy Husband" shirt (Old Navy) and we just enjoyed each others company.

WOMEN: Stop Comparing Yourself!

As women, we share a sisterhood. The kind of bond that doesn't have to be spoken or flashy; the kind that enables us to relate to each other as we try to find ourselves in the world around us.

We share the bond of knowing what it means to be a woman--a bond that cannot be taken away.

Despite all this, why is it so hard for us to empower one another?
We're constantly in competition with each other instead of reaching out to lift each other up.
We form cliques that are exclusive to a group of people that we deem are the only ones fit to join. This cliques go beyond friendship and are even in the work place.

Why? One simple action: comparisson.
We are constantly comparing ourselves to everyone around us. It doesn't matter what the comparison, we are always finding something in someone else to compare against ourselves.

Why do we constantly compare ourselves?
Theodore Roosevelt said, "Comparison is the thief of joy," and boy is he right.

Before we go compare ourselves, we need to ask ourselves a few questions:

• Do I have control over the item I'm comparing myself to? 
• Example: She's such a fast runner; I want to be a fast runner. Oh wait, I've had three knee surgeries...so, yeah, that's not realistic.
•  What is it that I really want?
• Example: She's so lucky that she doesn't have to work. Oh wait, maybe it's not her I'm jealous of, it's just that I'm not satisfied with my job.

• Am I comparing apples to oranges?

• Remember: That girl your comparing yourself to might be working on a project for years. Instead of being jealous that it worked for her, start looking at your own project and get it moving.

Life is hard. Let's not make it harder on ourselves. You are GREAT as is. If someone makes you feel otherwise, then go to where you're celebrated not tolerated. There are people out there who love you and think you're GREAT just the way you are.

Let's do ourselves a favor and start living like we each are fine with the people we are.

Love & Marriage, No Kids

I've been on a bit of a sabbatical from posting lately. I decided to take some time and do some soul searching.

Taking an inventory of all life's treasures, my bucket is pretty full. I married a great man, live in a house I love, live close to my family, and have a job that pays the bills.

Overall, I'm pretty blessed. I can't believe how hard it's been realizing this.

Infertility took it's toll on my self-image, my self-worth, and my marriage. There is so much emotion on that topic that it only makes sense that such power makes an impact.

Life has been an adjustment. We grew up withe the whole  "first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in the baby carriage." What if that's just not in the cards for us?

I've been grappling the whole marriage without children thing. I focused on the positive aspects of it all. Perhaps if were more of a choice and less of a condition, it would be easier.

Life without children has a lot of good--a lot of fun. There's no responsibility, no diapers, no rushing schedules to have to pick up a kid. There's more time for vacations (adult versions) and more time to just spend together. Yet, we find ourselves longing for those very things: planning a Disney vacation, tucking someone into bed at night, a reason for working our butts off.

Our marriage is great. Talking about having kids is like a business meeting for us know. All the excitement is gone. All the what-if's about having a baby have been answered. It's a meticulous (and extremely expensive) science for us now. It's a science that isn't guaranteed either.

Perhaps life is just, "first comes love, then comes marriage" for us.

Hope

Where do you find hope?

Life is filled with so many ups and downs that somewhere in the middle of the crazy ride we find something to keep us going--we find hope.

We find comfort in hope

Hope is that little feeling that picks us up when we're down. The hope of a simple possibility empowers us to keep moving.

Infertility has given me a new perspective of hope.

That little feeling of hope is what makes it all worth it.

We find hope in having competent and specialized doctors and nurses.

We find hope in that there may be a miracle and that maybe it will happen.

Hope is a funny. We must believe in hope, but not count on it.

For two and a half years I've held on to the hope of having a child.

A full year, I fully trusted and invested in hope. I put all my eggs in one basket with hope.

Doing so left me farther down than I ever could imagine. I made hope my expectations, instead of a  feeling that things turn out for the best.

The second year of infertility, I believed in hope but didn't expect or rely on hope.

I find comfort in believing, but didn't get too caught up with expecting things would turn out how I wanted them to with our infertility journey.

Great thinks happen when you hope something will happen, but don't expect them to because of hope. It's a fine line, I know, but it's a line that must me set.

Infertility is a continuous cycle of ups and downs, but we continue with the hope that the best will happen. 

I continue to believe in hope, but am detached from being fully invested when it comes to hope and infertility.

I have to be.

Friendship, Kids, & Living Childless

Living childless has it's ups and downs.

The hardest part: friends with kids.

We adjust our lives to work around their schedules and babysitter availability.

We go to birthday parties.

We buy birthday presents and Christmas presents.

We adjust our lives to be part of theirs and their children's.

It's not always reciprocated. 

Yes, our lives are much different, but does that mean that we're too different to adjust?

Often times people say, "You won't understand until you have kids of your own."

That may very well be true, but that's no fault of my own.

We've spent so much of our lives sad, longing for kids of our own.

We've spent so much financially and emotionally on having kids that I don't think it's fair.

We're taking a break from the heartache of infertility and celebrating what we have.

And what we have is a life without kids.

Why shouldn't we celebrate the life we have? 

Yes, we would love kids but that's not an option right now.

Is it too much to ask that friends be willing to adjust into our lives as well?

We spend a lot of time celebrating with our friends with kids, why not have them celebrate with us?

I'm not asking people drop everything and meet our every request, but we're busy too.

I'm working two jobs (trying to start a third) and still have time to ask how little Suzy is doing, so isn't it common curtsey to ask how we are as well?

While life with and without children is very different, I think we all need to be willing to adjust.

High{5} for Friday

 High Five for Friday is a weekly post about your five favorite things recently. it's a chance to stop and reflect on the things that you've enjoyed over the past week, which is something we should all do.

1.Yogi Tahitian Vanilla Hazelnut tea. I'm not really a tea fan, but this stuff is delicious.

Not only does it taste great, but the little inspiration and saying in the tea bag lifts you up too.

2. Headbands. I'm working on headbands and finally made some packaging for them. Just Love 'em! They'll be up on my etsy site soon! 

 3.talenti gelato sea salt caramel gelato. If heaven and happiness were in ice cream form, this would be it in my book. It's SO amazing. Worth every single penny!

4. Ninja turtle hats. So fun. So simple. So soft! Available at sweetcheekssd.etsy.com

5. A simple reminder--YOU are ENOUGH!  

{Trying to} Focus on the Positive

Made using Rhonna Designs App.

2013 was a rough year at my household. Looking back on all the negative, I focused too much on it?

Why is that? I know I'm not alone in struggling with this.

Personally, I think my nature everyone is good. I believe we're all born into the world good.

Maybe that's why we focus on the negative because the negative is the part that's out of the norm.

Think about it. When we see the news the majority of it is about negative things out there. The positive stories are deemed human interest stories or fluff pieces. The newspaper (at least in my small town) has a section in the paper listing every police report/violation.

It's because those things are out of the norm; they go against our innate nature. And that's the good part.

There's SO much positivity and good out there that it's not considered hard-hitting news.

That's the great part.

 

In 2014 I'm going to focus on the positive rather than the negative.