Sunday, July 29, 2007

On The Other Hand Recommends...

In the tradition on Peacebang, and even the Sartorialist's Sartolia List, I thought I might tell you about some things that I would recommend, and NOT recommend, based on my week at the beach.

First of all, OTOH Totally Recommends Hawaiian Tropic Baby Faces and Tender Places 50 SPF sunblock spray, which works brilliantly and stays on for a long long time. It doesn't really spray - it's lotion, and it squirts like a squirt gun, which is kind of amusing, and then you rub it in, so it doesn't keep your fingers pristine, but it's still a superior product.

Unfortunately, it only works if you APPLY IT. Carrying it down to the beach and back without squirting - not that effective. So OTOH Recommends the only thing that has ever kept her pale blue Celtic skin from peeling:
pure shea butter.

A few years ago, attending my first-ever pastor's conference, I had the rare (for me) opportunity to be driven from Long Beach to San Diego in a convertible. Yes, it was lovely, and yes I got sunburned, and yes, as soon as I had registered, I took off for a nearby open-air mall to find some cheap unguents of some sort.

Well, the mall was too nice to have a Rite Aid or a CVS, and so I ended up spending $30 (!! I practically fainted) on shea butter products. I walked back to the conference hotel, muttering all the way 'this better work...'

It did. It does. It does everything, from soothe sunburn to soften scraped knuckles to control cuticles to, in a pinch, style hair. It lasts a long time. It's indispensable.

On the other hand, if by some chance you're going to be spending the week chasing a child around, plus missing your dead parents and reflecting on 16 years of marriage and all the physical and emotional exertion that entails;
and if for the last year you've been taking not one but two multivitamins per day;
OTOH Cannot Recommend leaving your damn vitamins on the windowsill at home. Go back and get them. Go to Happy Harry's and buy another bottle for God's sake, of course it seems like a waste of money but once you have experienced the alternative, you'll know.

Also, OTOH Does NOT Recommend getting your period twice in one month. Under any circumstances. I'm just sayin'.

However, I can without reservations (ha ha) Recommend getting a room close to the beach, so you can run down for a swim carrying nothing more than your room key. As I have mentioned, we used to stay on the outskirts of town, in a lovely house. There were many things about that which were lovely; however, leaving for a day at the beach was like packing the conestoga wagon for the journey west. We took food, clothes, books, a tent, multiple towels, knowing that we wouldn't be back until after dinner.

Try the boardwalk hotel. So those aren't Egyptian cotton sheets. So there's a bus stop outside your window. Doesn't matter. At all. Completely immaterial, compared to the joys of walking around barefoot with a key and a five tucked into the waistband of your bathing suit.

And speaking of bathing suits, OTOH Recommends getting a new one after being pregnant. (Happily, the Lane Bryant outlet had a good one.)

However, I DO NOT Recommend taking a toddler to an outlet mall. And here's why.

Saturday, July 14, 2007

by the way. before and after




got my hair cut about a week ago. First, my embarrassing lacrosse hair, shot in the ladies room at Clyde's (which is pretty appropriate, when you think about it.) And second, my kinda cute Kewpie doll cut, received from George at Cavallaro and Co in the Columbia Mall. (That's my kinda cute Kewpie doll facial expression, to go with it.)

Friday, July 13, 2007

tagged

we watch a lot of animal planet these days - even the commercials have animals in them, which thrills The Dude, who is in his I Can Name That Animal phase.

When you're tagged on Animal Planet, it means you have a radio collar, or maybe a tiny camera mounted (harmlessly, I guess) on your forehead or under your chin.

So Renee tagged me. (Rather recently, as opposed to when Flip tagged me and it took like 3 months for me to think of anything to say.)

rules to play

1. players start with 8 random facts about themselves.
2. those who are tagged should post these rules and their 8 random facts.
3. players should tag 8 other people and notify them they have been tagged.

my 8 random factoids:
1. I share my birthday with Penn Jillette, and my exact birth date with Craig and Charlie Reid, The Proclaimers.
(oh, come on, there must be a better picture than that!)
(Ah, here's one.

2. I am a huge fan of The Proclaimers, and I've seen them 4 times. (They don't tour in the US very often.) We saw them in Annapolis on September 10, 2001.

3.I'm a huge fan of Richard Thompson, and I've seen him at least 6 times. (He comes to the US all the time.)

4. When I'm bored, I make my way through Finslippy's blogroll. It's how I discovered Whoppee.

5. I'm sitting here crying, no lie, because I took a moment to read Finslippy's Minty Bear post.

6. My child uses 'Momma' and 'Dadda' interchangably. This secretly pleases me.

7. My favorite thing in the Bible is the Book of Tobit. This book may not actually be in your bible. I read it at a Catholic retreat center, because I had forgotten my NIV. You should definately find a copy and read it.
Here's the cool thing about the Book of Tobit - my experience of reading it really reminded me how many identities I put on the Bible (you know: research tome, mash note from God, Magic 8-Ball) and how often I (by all accounts a literary sort) forget one of the primary identities: Book of Stories. I sat down and leafed through the bible, and this section caught mt eye, and honestly, it was just like God took me aside and said "You will not believe this! Listen to this story!"

8. I have not missed an issue of Vogue since 1979. (No, I don't still have them all.)

8 people:
beth
Stacie
jen
Sandy, who can post them in the comments.
Lori, who can do the same.
Jeff
would April do this? (WWAD, anyway?)
Oh, what the hell - DJ and/or Rachelle, since they aren't busy at all.

Bonus factiod: My hair is no longer Special Effects USA Virgin Rose (as it was the last time I meme-ed.) It's now Feria Auburn Brown. This is very close to my pre-grey-patches natural color.

Saturday, July 07, 2007

One more thought snotty thought about Live Earth

Kanye West is not a good addition to the Police lineup.

Nous ne sommes pas de Londres

La femme sur cet autobus a une coiffeure comme celle-là de Brian May

It's possible that this is the funniest thing I've ever read.

all y'all, it's sabotage

Watching Live Earth - because I've been puttering between the living room (with cable) and the bedroom (with a radio shack antenna), and because Bravo and NBD are showing different shows assembled from the same footage, I've seen the Beastie Boys twice and a bit of Kanye West a second time. This morning, when the had less big-name footage to throw around, Bravo showed what appeared to be the whole set by the reunited Crowded House.

They had played in Australia, where apparently they are still a big draw, and the crowd seemed to all be as over-the-moon to be singing along with Tim as I would be.

Me, I sat on the living room floor and cried. I have no idea why - it wasn't like they were performing the dead mom song or anything. (Selected parts of Woodface have been known to make me teary, but only rarely.) But for some reason, this morning I started during 'Fall at Your Feet' and just kept going. Who in the hell would cry over 'Don't Dream it's Over'?

One might cry over the raging terribleness of the new Madonna song. It's enough to make one reconsider saving the planet, if this is the sort of thing produced on it.

And Joss Stone should select her backup singers carefully, as one might question who ought to be singing lead and who ought to be backing up whom.

Who's this? Metallica? I was about to chide their grey hair, but I must say the Beasties grey hair made me love them more.