I'm 32!

It's funny to think I'm 32 because while that does sound a little old...it doesn't seem to affect me like 30 or 31 did.  Maybe I'm just over it and ready to be in my 30s!  Basically I'm saying this birthday didn't have a milestone feeling and it just felt normal which I'm ok with.  I want to thank everyone who took the time to tell me happy birthday in all the many different ways whether by technology, phone or in person!  It's a special feeling to feel loved on your birthday.  My kind husband even bought me Sigma makeup brushes and a bag of jelly beans from his work that I'm addicted to.

Still practicing with my Sigma brushes but so far I am favoring the kabukis with the rounded heads.  The  f84 works great for contouring with bronzer and the f82 is a great buffing/blending brush for me.

Here's how the day unfolded: My little family rolled our of bed at 8am and hit the ground runnin'!  Jesus set off for work and Joaquin and I had a bright and early dermatologist appointment.  No, my son does not have Michael Jackson disease, in case you've noticed and have been wondering.  But yes, he has been losing pigmentation.  Turns out it's eczema and not permanent!  Hallelujah on the not permanent part.  His tan skin is just too beautiful to lose!  He tends to break out in red eczema spots and then when the redness fades, so does his pigment.  We've tried many creams and a prescription shampoo and it was nice to finally get a prescription from the dermatologist who should have more knowledge in this area than all the other family doctors we've seen.  The cream should take away the redness and lessen the loss of pigmentation.  Turns out only the sun can bring the pigmentation back but it will come back.  It may take years but it will come back!  Then we ran some errands at Target, went to the mall to replace my iPhone screen protector and stopped at Sephora to get my present from my mom.  We got the Urban Decay Electric palette and all you have to do is google or Pinterest it to see how amazing it is!  I've wanted it for months but had to gain some confidence in my makeup artistry before branching out and I'm finally ready!  Then of course, we finished our time at the mall in the play place.  Here's my first colorful and relatively basic look with the electric palette but there are so many more looks to come!

Then in the evening, I took my husband on a surprise date!  I signed us up for a grilling class/BBQ party at Kitchen Window in Uptown.  We learned how to use a charcoal and gas grill as well as a smoker.  We made several delicious recipes using all the different cooking methods and got to eat every bit of it!  It was a really fun and new experience for us.  Something Jesus said we should even do more often...if it wasn't so expensive, I definitely would!  But perfect for a b-day celebration.  Here's what we made in photos...all delicious!

Prepping a marinade

Steaks fresh off the grill

Steak slider with sun dried tomato aioli

Chicken wings going in the smoker

Marinating the lamb chops

Smoked and grilled chicken wings with parmesan herb marinade

Grilled lamb chops with tzatziki sauce

Grilled white bean, feta, red onion and yogurt sauce flatbread

And now it's finally time for bed!  Happy Birthday to me, thanks to all of you!

Quick waterproof summer glow tutorial!

I am definitely planning on spending lots of time at the lake and waterparks with my toddler this summer so I've started looking into water proof products and a quick routine to give me that summer glow without a ton of makeup or time.  I'd like to share with you a quick waterproof summer glow tutorial I've created that takes less than 10 minutes.

Step 1: Apply Perfectly posh lip scrub (or scrub or chapstick of your choice) to exfoliate your lips.

Step 2: Apply a waterproof BB cream in the same way you would a moisturizer.  The one in the photo is Garner BB cream but it's not waterproof.  I've heard the Rimmel BB cream is so that's on my list before summer hits!

Step 3: It cosmetics Bye Bye under eye concealer under my eyes.  I have a huge blue vein under my left eye and this is the best product I've tried so far to cover it and while it's not perfect, it's great and it definitely covers dark circles and brightens everything up while claiming to be waterproof!  A good drugstore alternative for brightening is Maybelline age rewind concealer but it's not waterproof.    

Step 4: Set the under eye and any shiny spots of your face with Rimmel Stay matte translucent powder...I don't have a waterproof version of a setting powder to recommend yet!

Step 5: Any waterproof mascara but I'm loving Loreal Miss Manga right now. 

Step 6: Bronzer across your cheekbones, temples and tip of your nose.  Anywhere the sun would naturally hit your face.  I used Tarte Amazonian Clay bronzer because it's waterproof and has a subtle shimmer!  A cheaper bronzer I like that again isn't waterproof but has a little shimmer is Pop Beauty sun kissed bronzer.  NYC sunny bronzer is also a great universal shade for lots of skin tones but I guess I don't have a cheaper alternative that's waterproof to recommend just yet...

Step 7:  I almost forgot, I filled in my brows with Anastasia Dip brow which of course is waterproof! I also used the Anastasia brow brush with spoolie but I think the Sonia Kashuk eyebrow brush works just as well for a drugstore alternative. (FYI: if there's one thing I've learned as a makeup artist, it's learn to fill in your brows!  There are different methods so just pick what works for you.  I think the Sonia Kashuk retractable brow pencil is a good place to start for a beginner.)

And that's it!  Ten minutes and you're ready to hit the beach and the waterparks with long lasting makeup!  I hope you've gained some tips!

Anniversary Stay-cation

Oh to be in love. Just the idea of taking a stay-cation for our 4th anniversary was romantic before the actual event even took place!  We booked a hotel downtown Minneapolis, found sitters for our toddler and our dog and made a reservation at the Melting Pot.  What more could you ask for of an anniversary?  Upon arrival, everything we did seemed romantic to me: "Jesus, let's take a romantic walk through the skyways."  "Jesus, let's eat a romantic snack of croissants and cheese in our big bed."  All of my gestures got the same lovely reply from my husband: "Becky, it's not a romantic walk, it's just a walk to Target! If I go take a poop, will that be a romantic poop too?"  

Oh wait, now I'm exposing the real story!  Let me continue with the anti-climactic stay-cation for Becky and Jesus's 4th anniversary as a married couple.

Yes we made the above arrangements and everything fell into place for our little adventure.  We got to our hotel and enjoyed hanging out as the two of us without a child or a puppy.  We walked to Target and through the skyways but everything in the skyways was closed on a late Saturday afternoon. We searched and searched for a yummy snack as our dinner reservation wasn't 'til 8:30 and finally settled for the Starbucks in our hotel.  We bought some vanilla coke and a little plate of cheese, veggies, and summer sausage.  Little did we know that the summer sausage tainted the flavor of everything else on our plate!  We continued to relax and got to watch some un-interrupted TV about millionaires and the homes, watches and helicopters that they buy.  

Our parking lot view but there are still some skyscrapers.

Oh to have alone time!

comfy eh?

Finally it was time for our dinner reservation and I was very happy with my pink blush and makeup for the night.  I've been growing my pixie into a new style and even felt like I had a good hair day so here's a vanity shot but mostly to show off my Loreal color lift blush in rose gold for my makeup readers. 

We got to the Melting Pot and it was so exciting because we had never been there!  We ordered the four course meal of cheese fondue, a salad, our entrees and a chocolate fondue.  You get to dip bread, apples and veggies into a cheesy mixture and then cook your meats right at your table in the flavored oil of your choice.  Doesn't that sound and look amazing? 

Well...it wasn't.  The cheese wasn't even that good but maybe it's the flavors we picked.  The best thing I ate all night was my salad and it was just a wedge of lettuce topped with ranch, blue cheese and bacon.  Then for the meats.  Their suggested cooking times were not medium rare but raw.  As we let the meat cook longer, they just over cooked and became chewy.  The shrimp and Lobster turned our fine but seafood is always delicious when it's boiled!  Steak on the other hand is not delicious boiled and that's what you get at the melting pot.  Maybe we are food snobs because we would rather pay for a professional chef to cook our steak on the grill.  I was most excited for the chocolate fondue but by that point we had already left so much food we couldn't finish and I knew I would only fit in two bites of chocolate covered fruits and brownies before needing to fall over from being too full.  So instead we got a complimentary chocolate fondue for our next visit and I can't even promise there will be a next time.  I know people rave about the Melting Pot so don't knock it 'til you try it but for us, we tried it.

During dinner we checked in with our little boy only to find our baby sitter asking us how in the world to get him to sleep and to ask us what he keeps repeating.  He was repeating "I wanna go" because he wanted to go home.  Did I mention this is the first time we left him overnight and he's never slept somewhere else without us?  The next phone call, my little boy went from saying "momma momma" to all out bawling and my poor sitters couldn't make him stop.  Jesus wanted to go home and get him and just take him swimming with us at our hotel the next morning.  At this point, it was already after 10:30pm.  I was going to be the strong one this time.  We cannot go get him.  He has to learn to be away from us. We need time as a couple; it's good for our marriage.  But my husband always has a 6th sense for emotional things.  He doesn't make rash emotional decisions so if he wanted to go home and get Joaquin, when he's normally the tough one, I couldn't help but listen.  We told our sitter we were on the way and I left the restaurant feeling like a failure.  How could we have given in?  We need to be each others' priority even before our children and now are we choosing him before each other?  After our walk to the car and talking/crying to my husband, my feelings of failure fled.  Jesus and I are adults and we can do what we want and what we wanted was to calm our child and take him swimming so we did!  It was wonderful.  He gave us some of the biggest hugs when we walked in the door and he fell right asleep when we brought him back to the hotel.  He loved riding the elevator and getting ice from the ice machine.  The next morning we swam and finished our stay-cation in Minneapolis!

Our little one's arrival to the hotel

Peace

Splashing papa

Gender Reveal!

I was hoping to write an eventful post after my 20 week ultrasound in addition to revealing the gender of our baby but turns out ultrasounds are pretty uneventful to write about.  I mean, being there is amazing and watching the baby inside you move while seeing the little heart beating!  But to a blogging audience...what more can I say?  

I did want to do something creative for our gender reveal!  So back to the Mall of America we went.  The same place I announced the pregnancy to Jesus in a photo booth.  You can see the reaction photos here. But this time, no photo booth.  Our lovely friend Emily so graciously took some photos for us around the mall.  My inspiration for our shoot was this handsome couple.  

Notice I used the word "inspiration" and not a word like "replica," you'll see.  While our cotton candy looks nothing like theirs...it was still fun stealing their inspiration.

So...it's a girl!  Joaquin is getting a baby sister.  Before the ultrasound, every time I asked him if he wanted a baby brother or baby sister, he always said "baby sister!"  Maybe it's because Daniel Tiger and Arthur have baby sisters or maybe he likes saying that word more than brother.  Who knows?  But we are all very happy!  Now I need to buy baby girl clothes!  I've always noticed the girls clothing sections being bigger than the boys so I have a whole new world to explore.  I can't even wait to see how much Joaquin is going to love this little baby!

PS for those that like my makeup posts...how can I forget my pink makeup to celebrate the day?!

How to have an inviting fridge - Part 1

This week my husband and I realized there was nothing to eat!  Nothing to cook for dinner, nothing to snack on, just nothing yummy.  But we looked in the refrigerator and found this! This photo is after I started cleaning it out.

Piles upon piles of tupperware and leftovers that we had no idea how long they had even been in the fridge.  Let's remember my husband and I are living with my mother right now so this is between all of us. Luckily today I made a lovely trip to Sam's Club and then cleaned out the refrigerator!  Here is what it looks like now.  

I realize there is an overwhelming amount of coke but the fridge as a whole is much more inviting.  I can see that we have pita bread and hummus, eggs, english muffins, a hunk of brie cheese, fresh cut berries and mangos and I know apples are in the produce drawer and cheese is in the side drawer.  I feel like if I'm hungry, I can simply open my fridge and find something to eat!  It's a miracle! Oh...this shouldn't be a miracle you say?  You already have an inviting fridge and there's always something good to eat?  You don't despise grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking like I do?  Well then this blog IS for you!  I am looking for help!  

What are your suggestions for how to have an inviting fridge?  How do you ensure leftovers get eaten?  How do you avoid tupperware piling up?  Does your fridge look nice and organized?  Have you ever gone to a friend's house and opened their fridge and just wanted to eat everything because it looked so much more inviting than your own fridge?  Maybe that's just me!  Together let's make a list of problems and solutions and then I will write part 2 of this blog and the world will know how to always have an inviting fridge based on our combined knowledge.  Thanks in advance!

Problems:

• Produce goes bad before it gets eaten
• Tupperware from who knows when piles up
• Sometimes there is literally no food in the fridge

Solutions:

• Wash and cut produce as soon as you return from the grocery store before you put it away. Then it will be ready to eat and much more inviting. 
• Put dates on tupperware with masking tap and don't cook several large meals in the same week that are not going to get finished
• Keep up on grocery shopping once a week or whatever is your family's frequency (question: how do keep a running list of necessities or is all just memorized now?)

Let's talk skincare!

Let's talk skincare and when I say "Let's," I mean really, Let's talk together, because this is not my field of expertise.  I know skincare is important.  Especially now over 30, I know it's even more important.  Since my big hobby is makeup, I also know makeup goes on smoother and looks better when you have smooth and clear skin.  The only skincare routine I've had in my life is to wash my face and use moisturizer, which I often skipped in the summer but always needed in the winter.  Recently I've started exploring a little more into skincare and wanted to not only share that with you but also get your expertise.

Here are some of the new products I've tried and liked.

After being in the Bridal party for my friend Leslie, she gave us all gift cards to Aveda.  Part of my purchase was this really cool deep cleansing clay masque!  Aveda products always smell amazing to me and this masque is fun because it really is like putting clay on your face.  I use it once a week.

When in Florida visiting Jesus's family for Christmas, his cousin Uki bought this particular cleanser for his parents by Aveeno.  I have since bought it myself because it smelled good and has great little scrubbing particles that feel nice.  Maybe I should be using a makeup remover in addition to this but it does get my makeup off! I don't know if I need something called "positively ageless" yet but probably, being 31 sounds like a good time to start caring about skin aging to me!

This next product is the one I am most excited about!  It's a moisturizer.  I've used an oil free moisturizer from Olay for years that cost about five dollars and I've loved it.  It was lightweight, oil free, and had an SPF.  Other moisturizers made my face break out and this one didn't.  BUT recently in the winter as I've been wearing makeup, I've seen that I needed something more moisturizing.  Old habits die hard and what once worked for me has finally come to my attention that it was time for a change.  It was especially brought to my attention when my husband pointed out that I was wearing A  LOT of makeup!  The truth is I wasn't but my makeup looked cakey on top of my dry skin so I knew my moisturizer wasn't hitting the mark for the winter.  So I sat in the moisturizer aisle for about ten minutes at the store and decided to try something new that cost $17!  Woah that's a lot but I have a new commitment to take skincare seriously so I wanted to explore new options.  On a whim I bought this Loreal Age Perfect hydra nutrition golden balm.  As I was reading all the backs of the many different brands and packages, this one sold me on the benefits of moisturizing the most hence the name "hydra nutrition."  This moisturizer is much thicker than what I was using and I am a little nervous about it causing breakouts but it's been a week and nothing yet!  While the thickness scares me, it also intrigues me because I feel like it's working and I haven't noticed the makeup cakey-ness since using it.

So clearly all these products are all different brands and I don't know if that really matters.  Do you have a particular line that you stick to?  Or maybe you mix your product brands like me and can tell me some things you recommend?  I'd love to hear what other people are using and am even interested in department store brands as I've only tried drugstore.  Thanks for all your recommendations in advance!

PS here are my most recent makeovers as I feel like I haven't practiced in forever!  Here is my sister in law, Yung, and I'm so bummed the light and I didn't capture a true photo of the beautiful purple I used on her eyes but you can still see a lovely flawless complexion!  

And here is myself using my Urban Decay Vice 3 eyeshadow palette and I simply followed this youtube tutorial to do it! 

Fat Power Ranger-reflections of trimester one

My lovely husband decided to nickname me the fat power ranger.  Not actually because he's calling me fat.  It's because I get so nauseous and can literally feel my blood sugar drop when I don't eat on time and all my energy is depleted.  As soon as I shove some food in my face, I'm back to my lovely self.  Food is my energy supply and what kicks me into gear after being out of commission.  So I'm like a Power Ranger; food powers me up after my true self being hidden amidst nausea, exhaustion, tears and feeling so needy.

Needless to say, I've been very nauseous!  When pregnant with my first child, I remember sleeping with crackers on my night stand to cure the nauseous feeling but this pregnancy has felt different.  I've felt sick during the majority of the day for so many days.  I'd say 6.5 weeks-10.5 weeks hit me the worst.  Somehow I didn't vomit though....well I had a couple dry vomits (TMI) while I still don't know why nothing came up.  I'll never forget the time when pregnant with Joaquin, that I vomited on myself driving to work on the freeway in the middle of a thunderstorm with nowhere to pull over.  I am just crossing my fingers something like that does not happen again and so far so good.  But here is the good news.  My daytime nausea has gotten much better and more manageable.  Now most of my sickness hits in the evening so Jesus gets home from work and is able to take over.  To be feeling better during the daytime is great news and I can only hope in a couple weeks that I will feel normal again.  Do you ever feel normal throughout pregnancy?  I thought second trimester was pretty good but I honestly can't remember!

Another thing that has been different this time around was gaining 4 pounds by week 11.  You shouldn't read too much online because I read that you only should gain about a pound in the first trimester and that made me feel bad about the 4 pounds in eleven weeks.  But whatever, everyone is different.  I know the weight gain was from my constant snacking and cereal before bed each night so maybe when I'm less sick, I'll level out my eating and I did join the gym today. I do however wish I was pregnant while living in the Dominican Republic because I miss Puno delivery.  I could get delivery from almost any restaurant and any kind of food I wanted all day long!  I never had cravings with Joaquin but I think I've already started to with this baby.  I crave salt and carbs like fast food which is terrible but I do monitor to not give into those all the time but when I have given in, it always cured the craving and the sickness.

On the other hand, I've had food aversions!  I don't like going to Hibachi or eating any Japanese food while pregnant these days.  I know I shouldn't eat sushi anyway but I haven't even wanted it and that is just crazy!  Here is a photo of what I have wanted near the beginning weeks.  We went to an Italian restaurant where the menu was full of delicious pastas and look what I ordered!  Plain noodles with sauce on the side.  Are you kidding me?!  I'm supposed to order the weirdest thing on the menu and I
didn't even want to!

There are some other perks I've experienced with this pregnancy.  Our flight home from our Christmas vacation in Florida was cancelled so Jesus pulled out all the stops about his nauseous pregnant wife who needed to eat asap and his cranky toddler so that we could get all the hook ups the airline was willing to give.  We didn't get much sleep that night as they put us in a hotel but sent us out at 4am the next morning.  But we did get everything paid for while others in line told us they would get reimbursed.  I remember with my first pregnancy, people would always offer me the front seat of the car for example, or other kind gestures just because I was pregnant.  I always felt silly accepting them because I was still capable without them but this time around, I'm trying to do a little better at letting people take care of me because it's a big deal to be pregnant even when I think I don't need help.

And my last reflection is I found a good doctor!  Any doctor who can tell me they have heard of what I have going on before and that seems very intrigued by it all gets a gold star in my book.  I have enough experience now to know that is not always the case.  We had such a lovely first visit and beautiful first ultrasound. So far everything is shaping up to look as Joaquin did but it is early.  The baby is in the right uterus and the placenta will likely be in the front and those are both just like Joaquin was.  My doctor is indeed very nervous about my risk of pre-term labor but I keep telling myself since things are starting out like Joaquin, maybe this baby will make it full term just like he did!  (With a constant prayer in my heart)

Here's a couple photos of my progress!

12.5 weeks!!! Maybe I'm bloated in this photo? ;)