Well I warned you...

Oh hey...I thought maybe I'd update at some point this weekend, but since the wedding on Friday, I've pretty much been face-down on the couch in a bagel-coma. But I'm BACK! To give you a recap:

• workouts
• the wedding
• my ammo

The workouts were, to be frank, busted. It was EFFING HOT. I am normally a trooper, but really, it was tough. I ran a little before the wedding. During the wedding I wore my beloved Jimmy Choos (scored on super-sale) and while they were really comfortable from about 4pm to 10pm, I woke up in serious pain on Saturday. I have an old ankle injury that haunts me and I think the angle of the heels were cruel to my legs. I'll get to the injury in my next "about me" post. Anyway, it felt like a burning line up the side of my leg from my ankle bone to my knee. I know this means "cut it the F out for a couple of days, and you'll be fine." My trainer will not be amused when she asks me about my workouts tomorrow. Also will not be amused when I haven't dropped into the next weight "decade" (as in if I weighed 130, which I DON'T, she wants to me to 129...not so much). In the "about me" post, I will get into how I started, what I ran into, and useful advice I can give. Please keep in mind that I am in no way a professional and that you need to consider your own health/fitness and even have your MD check you out before starting a running program. Maybe that sounds excessive, but it's better safe than sorry. Also, if anyone has any questions for me, let me know! Either comment here or if I know you via facebook or email. Like I said, I am not an expert, but I really wish I had someone like me to talk to when I started.

The wedding. It was awesome!

I love my brother and his wife is really pretty awesome. The joke is that I don't really like anyone (not true! I'm just a little suspicious of people, that's all...) so when I said I liked her, I also said MARRY HER! Well, I doubt it was because of me, but he did! Um...also, did anyone notice it was 104 in Plymouth during the big day?! YOWSA. For real...even on the bluff where the wedding was, it was 95 or so. That being said, it was beautiful, the ceremony was great and everyone had a good time. Here are some pictures. No pics of people because I'm not sure how anyone feels about being all-up-in-the-internet.

 

And now....my ammo. You might wonder how the sweatiest-person-ever survived a 100-or-so degree wedding and looked presentable. Remember, I'm family, so I knew I'd be doing pictures too and I didn't want my brother and future sister-in-law remembering me as "raccoon face."

At the house, it was almost 100. The bedrooms had great AC but the bathroom, the only room with decent lighting? Not so much. I showered and then had my hair done at Verona Salon in Plymouth by Glen, who is not only amazing, but one of the most genuinely nice people I have met! I wish I had more occasions to have updos done. I hear he is great for color and cuts too. I would absolutely see him if I hadn't moved to Boston. After the salon we went back to the house and I concentrated on sitting up straight so I didn't mess up my hair like I did for my own wedding! (Sorry Glen! It was only a flower I messed up, and we fixed it, but it was pretty traumatic.) At that point it was about 2pm and I had 90 minutes until we had to leave. I was teetering between doing the makeup early in case I messed it up and not doing it early so it didn't slide right off my face. I finally started around 3. I have to say, not a thing moved after I applied it. I was amazed. Sweat was beading on my face when I was still at the house, but I just gently blotted with tissue or oil absorbing papers. Here's the routine:

• I washed with Cetaphil. I am a ProActive convert (after resisting for a long time, claiming it would "kill" my skin. It did not.) but I was afraid my skin would rebel against a tougher clean in the heat.
• Then I applied the liquid primer that comes with the Bare Escentuals Get Started Kit
• I then used Smashbox Photo Finish Foundation Primer in Original to make sure NOTHING moved and to smooth everything out.
• I used the darker of the two powder foundations in the Bare Escentuals kit. I get pretty tan in the summer and really pale in the winter. I bought the kit with fair/fairly light (the darker one) and it works well. It's the lightest of all the kits, but you can use a little more of the "warmth" color that comes with it. I find that the darker kit looked orange on me.
• After that I use one of the Bare Escentuals/Bare Minerals blushes and then added the warmth on top. Word of warning, you barely need any of the warmth powder to do the job. Usually there is some stuck to the lid when I open it, just a little dusting, and that's all I need. Unlike the foundations where I have to shake some onto the lid, this doesn't need it. I finished with the mineral veil. Both the warmth and veil were in the kit, while the blush was separate. I love this stuff since my testy skin doesn't flip out.
• EDIT: Almost forgot this one in the original post...Urban Decay Original Eyeshadow Primer. I love it. Don't be afraid to use a decent amount, but make sure it's blended really well. I didn't do a great job the first time and it left a line.
• After that I used the most amazing eye shadow ever. I had been using a cheaper silver toned eye palette to do a smokey eye, but it made me crazy. The smudging and the non-blending and the smudging and the crap in my eyes and DID I MENTION THE SMUDGING EVERYWHERE? And it wasn't CHEAP, it was just cheapER. I had a make-up meltdown every time we went out and was usually still dabbing my runny eyes in the cab on the way to where ever. That was until one day in Sephora (okay, last Monday...) my brain whispered, "Diorrrrrr......gooooo." Listen. I know it is a $59 compact, but I did my makeup in five, FIVE, minutes on Thursday to test it out in the heat and it was perfect. Butterflies in my stomach perfect. Would now be a good time to mention I'm pretty terrible at applying make-up? It doesn't matter because this compact is a game changer.
• I curled my eyelashes and used the Fresh Supernova Mascara. It is not waterproof, because my eyes can't deal with it. However, it didn't smudge or run despite the surface of the sun temps that day. It's super gentle, but works better than anything I've tried, gentle or not.
• I used my very favorite lip gloss, by Fresh, that Sephora no longer carries. I'm going to use their link anyway, since the site for Fresh can be a little testy. You may be able to order it from Sephora (it's not in stores) or from Fresh. I love the Pin Up color. I can't find anything else that has a color that works as well on me.

That's it! All I needed was my spanx (ha!), my magic dress and I was ready to go! You still awake? Ok, good. Remember. Find me with any questions you have. There are no silly or stupid ones!