Tag Archives: 30 Before 30

Guitar Lust

26 Jan

I don’t play guitar.

Yet.

But it’s on The List.

My sister happened to leave us her guitar along with most of her furniture to store in our attic when she moved down south, and I quickly co-opted borrowed it to start working on #3. Which leads me to my current pressing question: how do I judge when I can cross “teach myself guitar” off of my list? Is it when I’ve mastered common chord progressions? When I can successfully play a few songs? When I am able to play any song that’s put in front of me off of the tabs? In a discipline where there will always be more to learn, where there will always be someone out there more talented than you, how do I know when I can say “I know how to play the guitar?” I need to know, because I’m almost positive A won’t let me buy this until I do:

black beauty - the ovation celebrity

Gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous. My sister’s man has one, and as soon as I saw it I fell in love. What else would you expect from a girl who has made a life out of choosing the different and unique? Lest you think I’m entirely superficial, there’s a lot of reasons besides the look that makes me covet this guitar. First off, the sound is great. Whether played acoustically or plugged in there’s a warm richness to the sound that makes me melt. Two, it has a shallower body than a standard guitar. This combined with the feature of a narrower neck – closer to an electric than an acoustic – means this tiny-handed girl will be able to play more comfortably. Plus, look how pretty! Ok, I never said I wasn’t a little bit shallow.

But there’s no way we’re going to plunk down those kind of bucks without me being able to absolutely 100% without-a-doubt guarantee that I will play this instrument. We just had to replace our water heater yesterday for crimeny sakes. (Hello? Did everyone else out there know that water heaters are expensive?!? Holy crap, people! Hot water be pricey!) And so I will learn. Somehow. I have to, it’s on The List after all. And I’ve got this little beauty and all her friends as an incentive.

So tell me, folks: when will I be able to say I can play the guitar?

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#8 Complete – I Ran a Half Marathon!

9 Dec

On October 16, 2011, I ran a half in the Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco with two of my best girlfriends. For me, this fulfills #8 on The List: to set a rediculous challengs for myself that I [was] currently not capable of, and meet it.

The following is a re-post from my Team in Training blog, which won’t be around forever. So enjoy!

I have to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated, prayed, emailed, texted and tweeted your support. It’s because of you that I made it across that finish line (some of you literally – see below). Over all Team Fascinators raised $10,402.98 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. YOU DID THAT! That’s Team Fascinators Supporters: 1, Cancer: 0. Go team!

I’ve had a lot of questions from you since finishing the race, so I want to get a few of those out of the way before we get to the photos. Continue reading →

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Working on #1 With Benefit

28 Nov

I’ve tried a few times to get on board with the daily sunscreen routine, to no avail. So I decided to pull out the big guns. I walked into Sephora with a specific mission: get a good-feeling daily moisturizer that didn’t make me feel greasy, had a decent spf, and was tipping towards this side of luxury so that I would feel excited to use it every day without breaking the bank. Enter Benefit.

I love Benefit, and have since high school. Since before I knew what good makeup was. I was assured by the uber-helpful sales girl that even though it was a new product for them at the time, it was already a huge hit with consumer reviews. A quick test at the counter left me with sweet-smelling, softly glowing cheeks with no greasy feeling. Quite the opposite, actually, my face felt moisturized and fresh. I took home a bottle with high hopes.

Benefit does not disappoint. I used it for two weeks straight and was complimented regularly on how healthy and ‘glowing’ I looked. My friend Lady Dianne insisted it was because of the new workout regimen we started – week two and I was glowing already! – but I knew it was due to the cream. It just made me feel better. The one downside to this cream is it is scented. I think it’s the scent that accounts for the funny taste…hold on, before you go thinking I lick my face cream, there are plenty of socially acceptable ways I can tell that it has an obtrusively bad taste.

  • Scenario one: I put it on in the morning, avoiding my immediate mouth area, and head to work. Between campuses I grab a cappuccino, and since I have a rare ten minutes to enjoy my frothy treat I pop the top and sit down to sip while perusing my favorite blogs. While sipping, some velvety foam gets on my lip, so I stick out my tongue to lick it off. Instead of creamy, espresso-ey goodness, I get a bitter, astringent flavor that totally puts me off my cuppa.
  • Scenario two: A comes home from work, and is understandably thrilled to see me. A loves to kiss my cheeks. I don’t know why, maybe I have cute cheeks. So after a big A-Bear hug, he plants one on my smooch-puff. He then gives me a big, sweet, butterfly-inducing smooch on the lips…only it would have been that kind of kiss, if it weren’t for that bitter, astringent taste. Totally ruins the moment.
So, yes, I know my face cream tastes bad. Which wouldn’t be a big deal, except that it doesn’t stop tasting bad, even hours after I apply it. In my book, it makes my skin look and feel so kissably-good that I can forgive it a little bitterness during otherwise sweet moments. I just know that I have to proceed with caution and encourage A to kiss the non-moisturized areas on my face when I apply it. So definitely worth the buy, but next time I may walk in to Sephora and specifically request a face cream that doesn’t taste bad.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Hold on, Christy, if you’ve already found a product you love, wouldn’t that mean you’ve accomplished #1 on The List to wear sunscreen? Not so in my book, my friends, not so. You see, it takes roughly 21 days to make or break a habit, longer if the habit is addictive. The longest streak I’ve ever had putting cream on every day is 16 days. I’ll go in fits and spurts, then take a few weeks off. I’m really bad about it, actually, which is why it’s on my list. So I’ll cross this baby off when I’ve got a solid three months under my belt – I figure by then that habit will be pretty ingrained. Will Benefit take me all the way? Only time will tell…

Do you use a daily moisturizer with spf? Let me know what you like, and I’ll know what to try next!

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