bitches be crazy

Parks and Rec was a rerun this week but still hilarious. I love the part where Amy Poehler is being interviewed by the ranger.

Reading it makes it even funnier

• I got that tunnel vision that girls get.
• I let my emotions get the best of me.
• I cared too much, I guess.
• I was thinking with my lady parts.
• I was walking and it felt icky.
• I thought there was gonna be chocolate.
• I don't even remember!
• I'm wearing a new bra, and it closes in the front, so it popped open and it threw me off.
• All I wanna do is have babies!
• I'm just going through a thing right now.
• I guess when my life is incomplete, I wanna just shoot someone.
• This would not happen if I had a penis!
• Bitches be crazy.
• I'm good at tolerating pain; I'm bad at math, and... I'm stupid.

bitches be crazy

My Beauty Favorites: Body and Hair Products

I am always looking for product suggestions from friends (hint hint) so I figured I'd take a little time to go through my favorite beauty products for body and hair. I love trying out new hair products, make up, shampoo, and other nonsense that you really don't need. Seriously I walk out of Target always wondering how I just spent $50 on a bunch of crap. Am I alone in this?

Body Lotion

I have a freakishly sensitive/dry skin which I think is because I have mild eczema (makes sense since I have asthma too). That was probably tmi but I felt like Itchy Legs McGee until I found Eucerin Calming Cream. It is the ONLY thing that works for me. I've tried a million different lotions and none of them compare. It is expensive ($8-9 a tube) but in my opinion totally worth it.

Shampoo

At this point I pretty much just use the giant tubs of Pantene from Costco but if you are looking to splurge I love Kerastase products. After reading this post you're going to think I'm obsessed with this brand but its because my hair salon in Boston uses the products so I always get suckered into trying something. (If you are looking for a salon in Boston, I go to G2O on Newbury Street and see Chrissy - she's only $55 for a cut and blow dry)

Bain Satin 2 is great for dry hair. Its expensive at $32 a bottle but it does make your hair feel lovely.

I like Bain De Force because I put my hair through hell with blow drying and curling/flat ironing. Its gentle and made for people with damaged hair. Still $32 though...

Deep Conditioner

Ciment Anti Usure is amazing. Its $36/bottle but makes my hair so soft and it feels thicker somehow. If you're choosing between shampoo and conditioner to splurge on, I would always splurge on conditioner. That's just me though...

For a much less expensive treat, I love Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask. It also makes my hair super soft and smells wonderful.

Dry Scalp Care

I love to use Aveda Scalp Benefits Balancing Conditioner in the summer when my scalp and hair get dry. Its feels really soothing and works wonders. ($13/6.7 oz bottle)

Styling Products

I currently use Kerastase Ciment Thermique before blow drying.

I was using this Living Proof No Frizz styling cream for a while but didn't think it was all that amazing so I switched. $24/4 oz bottle

Then before curling or flat ironing my hair I just started using this Shu Uemura Iron Design which works pretty well and gives your hair some texture. $28/bottle

If I want to give my hair some extra shine or if my hair is kinda frizzy I use this Kerastase Lumiere Nutri Scupt which is amazing. Its $29/bottle but I've had mine for 2 years because you only need a tiny bit every time you use it.

Dry Shampoo

When I'm lazy or don't get up with enough time to wash my hair I'll use dry shampoo to make sure my hair isn't greasy all day.

I've tried a few brands and these are the ones I like:

Klorane ($18/bottle)

Ojon (although I like this one the least and its $24/bottle)

Rene Furterer ($24/bottle)

I hated Bumble and Bumble's version because its really thick black spray (and expensive at $35/bottle). If you touch your hair, your fingers get black and gross. In theory its great because all these sprays can leave little white specks if you don't brush them out enough. Clearly not optimal if you have dark hair because then it just looks like you have a dandruff problem.

Curly Hair Days
I have yet to find a product that I love for this. Right now I'm using Bumble and Bumble Curl Conscious Calming Creme and it actually works okay. I have to apply once when wet/damp and then again when its pretty dry to get my hair to be non frizzy. I barely leave my hair curly though so maybe I haven't given it enough of a chance. ($27/bottle)

I use a lot of stuff on my body and hair I guess. I'm sure I'm actually forgetting things but for now these are my body and hair product favorites. At some point I'd like to do make up and face products as well.

What are your favorites? I'm a product junkie so please share away :)

*No one is paying me to recommend these products - they are just my own product finds and suggestions :)

My Beauty Favorites: Body and Hair Products

The nicest thing

This song is really speaking to me today. I love Kate Nash...

The Nicest Thing

All I know is that you're so nice
You're the nicest thing I've seen
I wish that we could give it a go
See if we could be something

I wish I was your favourite girl
I wish you thought I was the reason you are in the world
I wish my smile was your favourite kind of smile
I wish the way that I dressed was your favourite kind of style

I wish you couldn't figure me out
But you always wanna know what I was about
I wish you'd hold my hand
When I was upset
I wish you'd never forget
The look on my face when we first met

I wish you had a favourite beauty spot
That you loved secretly
'Cause it was on a hidden bit
That nobody else could see
Basically, I wish that you loved me
I wish that you needed me
I wish that you knew when I said two sugars,
Actually I meant three

I wish that without me your heart would break
I wish that without me you'd be spending the rest of your nights awake
I wish that without me you couldn't eat
I wish I was the last thing on your mind before you went to sleep

Look, all I know is that you're the nicest thing I've ever seen
And I wish that we could see if we could be something
Yeah I wish that we could see if we could be something

The nicest thing

Fashion Cartoons

The Dream Dressing is a french blog has the cutest fashion illustrations. I don't understand french but the cartoons alone are worth visiting this blog.

Found from perusing Lucky Magazine on my last work trip.

Fashion Cartoons

For Emma, Forever Ago

I am not really all that clued in to the music scene but my husband finds the most amazing bands. I credit him for 95% of all my new music and his best find so far has been Bon Iver. This band is just so ridiculous and inspired. The video below doesn't even do them justice.

We went to their concert last year in Cape Cod and it was by far the best concert I have ever been to. Ever. I'm not kidding. You can just feel how much this band absolutely loves music and how connected they are to music and sound. If they are playing near you and not already sold out - GO (they are only playing in Cincinnati so far in 2010)! i promise, you will have zero regrets.

Bon Iver - "For Emma" from MySpace Transmissions

For Emma, Forever Ago

Finding a "Happy Weight"

Self has this quiz that helps you find your "happy weight". It takes into account your height, frame, obesity in the family, age, smoker status, exercise habits and if you indulge. For an explanation on why they look at these check this article out.

This is how you figure out your frame size:

Wrap a tape measure around your wrist and use this chart to determine your frame size.

	If you're under 5'2"	If you're 5'2" to 5'5"	If you're over 5'5"
Small frame	Less than 5.5"	Less than 6"	Less than 6.25"
Medium frame	5.5" to 5.75"	6" to 6.25"	6.25" to 6.5"
Large frame	More than 5.75"	More than 6.25"	More than 6.5"

So I'm in the medium frame and my happy weight is...not where I'm at now.

To be honest this is probably right around where I look my best and I am healthy (working out, eating right, etc). I haven't been under 125 lbs since I was a freshman in high school and it really is too skinny for me in terms of how I'm built and my body type. I have a lot of work to get back to my healthy weight and work stress and my general blah feeling is NOT helping things.

Whats your "healthy weight"? Do you think its reasonable?

PS - this isn't for use with women that are prego :)

Finding a "Happy Weight"

ask me anything

I keep seeing that people are joining formspring which is a site which allows people to ask you any questions (anonymously or not) so of course I joined. I don't really love/understand twitter but this formspring site actually seems kind of interesting. I like the idea that you can ask someone anything in a non threatening way and I think it'd be fun to answer questions as well.

So, if you want go ahead and ask me anything. I'm not shy :) I put a formspring box on the top right of this blog or you can go to my formspring page.

Image via Don Moyer

ask me anything

ruffles AND a bow

Still in a funk but nothing like a cute new dress to cheer a girl up...

I love the top and the fact that it has sleeves. The bow isn't really a bow - its more of a belt that can be tied any way you like. Its a bit shiny on the bottom and short but I still think I can rock it at work with some tights.

Image via ModCloth

ruffles AND a bow

gustoless

I'm feeling in a funk.

For a lot of reasons but mostly because I've been traveling a lot, working a lot, sleeping very little and seeing my husband even less.

Its only 19 days into 2010 and I'm burnt out. I know there are a million things I could/should do to take control of my life and I'm just too tired. I've lost my gusto.

How do you deal with stress?

Picture thanks to harold.lloyd

gustoless

Teuxdeux List

Get it...teuxdeux = to do. Yeah I'm slow and didn't get that for a bit. I saw this link on Post Grad Hair Cut and immediately went to it because I love making to do lists.

It has a nice, simple layout and its free (yay).

Its pretty straightforward but check out the witty little video to find out more details.

video via TeuxDeux

link thanks to Post Grad Haircut

Teuxdeux List

irrational irritation

I don't know whats wrong with me but this commercial irritates me to no end. Everything about that little boy is annoying and the woman ordering her stupid sugar free frappachino or whatever pisses me off.

I know its weird that this bothers me so much but there must be commercials or tv shows that irritate the crap out of you for no reason right?

irrational irritation

dogs need their teeth cleaned too! my random story...

I should be working. I have a butt load of stuff to do and I'm flying to California tomorrow for three days. Coming back Saturday and pretty much working until Thursday. UGH. But no one wants to hear about work and travel and how much I'm starting to loathe the 5-6 hour flight to California.

So on to my story...While we were in Sri Lanka, my husband was reading the book Running in the Family by Michael Ondaatje which is a memoir of the author's life growing up in Sri Lanka. I haven't read it yet but have glanced at a few pages and it got me thinking that there are SO many stories and so much history that I want to capture while I still can about my family, my heritage and Sri Lanka. Seriously, I found out that my great grandmother's name was Alice just the other day when I was talking to my mom. I don't even have a clue what my Dad's parents names are since they passed away when I was very little.

In a totally roundabout way things brings me to a story about my childhood that I completely forgot about. We were at my Dad's 70th birthday and one of his closest friends told my husband this story about how when I was four years old they caught me brushing my teeth in the bathroom and then using the same toothbrush to brush my dog's teeth. Apparently I'd watch my Mom brush my dogs teeth (she LOVED him and treated him like her baby) and so I thought I'd do the same. Just with my toothbrush because I'm gross. My husband was laughing and also not excited to ever kiss me again after that.

Although this isn't really the poignant story you might want to capture in a memoir these are the ones that keep me laughing and I want to remember all of them. At some point I'd love to put together a family tree but also just a collection of random family stories so they don't get lost somewhere down the line.

How do you keep track of family legacy, stories, etc.?

dogs need their teeth cleaned too! my random story...

Beautiful Blogger Award - *blush* my first award

I'm so honored to be nominated by one of my favorite new blogs jaeve + things! She has such a cute tagline that I completely relate to - "random and erratic and thats OK".

So the rules of this award are:

• Thank the person who nominated you for this award. - Thanks again jaeve + things!
• Copy the award and place it on your blog.
• Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
• Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
• Nominate 7 bloggers.
• Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate

So here are 7 random things about me...

1. My name is Charmi but my family and friends who have known me pre-high school all call me Melissa (my middle name). When I was going to kindergarten I insisted on going by Melissa and it just stuck. I was a stubborn ass 5 year old I guess. When I got to high school I finally realized that I liked my first name so I switched back. Its led to a decent amount of confusion - when I got to college my Dad would call and if my roomate picked up she would constantly tell him there was no Melissa there and hang up on him.
2. I have a serious fear of spiders. I just can't handle all those legs...so gross. Honestly its really all bugs but especially spiders.
3. I've never owned a car. In high school I used my parents car. I went to college in Boston and grad school in NYC so I never needed one. Right out of grad school I started consulting so I traveled 5 days a week every week. Now I just use my husbands car since he walks to work.
4. I have zero memories before the age of 5 or 6. I really cannot remember anything. Is that weird?
5. I was born with pin straight hair but I have wavy/curly hair now. I got a perm in 5th grade (I looked like a brown poodle) and it was never straight again. At least naturally.
6. I have 3 older brothers and we were all born in June and July. Our birthdays all fall in a 4 week period and my eldest brother's birthday is the day before mine.
7. I love sleeping but hate taking naps. They make me feel really crabby(aka bitchy), disoriented and even more tired. I would rather just sleep for hours and hours (my record is 16 hours!) but these days I can't really sleep in anymore. I guess it means I'm all grown up now and my body is used to getting up for work and other boring adult things.

Okay now for tagging 7 blogging friends. I love SO many blogs but I'll have to start with these...

Claremont Road

Oh! Apostrophe

His Birdie's Nest

Good Finking

Other Pieces of Me

Geek In Heels

e.louise

Beautiful Blogger Award - *blush* my first award

Return of the milk man

I was reading my friend's blog and she had a link to a local farm in Massachusetts that delivers milk, eggs and all sorts of other things. The milk actually comes from a farm in Vermont which has "happy cows" and its even delivered in glass bottles.

We are beyond excited to try the milk, eggs and ice cream (which won the National Geographic award for the 10 best ice creams in the world).

We're getting a weekly delivery of milk starting tomorrow so I'll let you all know how it goes. I'm excited to be supporting a local business and eating healthier, less processed foods. I may even join this Community Supported Agriculture (again thanks Miriam!) to get locally grown fruits and vegetables every week.

Return of the milk man

Tres Leches Goodness

Tres Leches cake is ridiculous. Its SO rich and light at the same time. And as the name would suggest, very milky. In my quest to cook something new every week, I decided to try this cake from The Pioneer Woman. Clearly this isn't going to help the weight loss goal but I just love to bake so I'll just have to hit the gym a little harder. Or really just go (I blame it on jetlag - I've been too tired this week).

The cake is super easy to make and the only things you probably won't already have are condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream and whole milk (yeah I guess its technically Quatro Leches cake).

I didn't add rum this time, but I think I just might next time...

*Images via The Pioneer Woman

Tres Leches Goodness

Birthday Snail Mail

In keeping with my resolution to try and keep in touch with friends and family more often I joined Jack Cards. Basically you import all your contacts from email and put in birthdays, anniversaries or whatever. Then it reminds you when they are coming up and you can order a greeting card which is then mailed to you (immediately, two weeks or four weeks before the event). You can opt to have them pre-addressed and stamped so all you have to do is write the card and drop it in the mail.

I LOVE getting cards in the mail and really anything thats not a bill or junk mail. I'm gonna try and go back to snail mail over facebook and email. Thoughtful, simple, and inexpensive :)

They even have cute cards like these:

This one is a card and a pirate hat!

Inside this one it says "you're still a fox"

Would you use this service or just rely on emails or even just going out to the store and getting cards yourself?

Birthday Snail Mail

LOVEly poster

I love this poster from Rifle Paper Company.


I know its a little cheesy but in a quirky cute way.

I'm thinking about buying it to put in our bedroom. Eventually I will put in shelves above our bed and then display the print on them. Even though husband has an irrational fear of putting *anything* above our bed. Seriously, even a poster? He'll get over that...I hope. :) This fits nicely in my 2010 resolution to finish decorating our apartment.

LOVEly poster

Resolutions and lots of rambling

Happy new year! I can't believe its 2010 already. 2009 flew by as does every other year and I can't stop thinking about all the things I want to start doing in the new year.

I just got back from Sri Lanka and India and read a few books during those long almost 20 hour flights. One of the books I read was the "Julie and Julia" book which I'm sure you all have heard about (you all being the few readers I have (Sachin and Sangeetha)). If not, its about this woman Julie who decides to change her life and stick to something by cooking all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. So to be totally obvious and lame, the book make me really want to be more creative and to actually spend my time doing things that could make me a happier and hopefully more productive person.

See my usual day goes down like this:

6:00am - Wake up very crankily. Try to snooze for a while and avoid actually waking up.

6:20am - Finally get in the shower, blow dry my hair, put on my makeup, figure out what I want to wear and grab something to eat in the car

7:30/8:00am - Leave for work. This departure time varies depending on how lazy and slow I'm feeling while getting ready

8:30am/9:00am - Arrive at work. God I hate my commute sometimes. At least if the drive was pretty it wouldn't be so bad, but driving to Raynham, MA is anything but.

5:00-6:00pm - Leave work.

6:00-7:00pm - Get home. Assuming I don't stop for groceries or to pick up my husband or get him dinner to drop off at the hospital while he's on call.

7:00pm-12:00am - Change immediately into sweat pants, cook dinner or heat up some lame frozen dinner. On rare occasions attempt to work out but usually just waste away on the couch while watching tv. Eventually I fall asleep on couch and then get irrationally and extremely pissed off when my husband tries to wake me up to take my contacts out and go to bed.

And repeat every day. Unless I'm traveling for work which happens about 2 weeks in a month. I'm a lazy lazy bum. The travel adds to my laziness. I just feel so tired by the time I get back from work that I cannot get myself to do anything. But its no excuse. I mean people have children and families to take care of when they get home from work and they manage that just fine. People actually DO things and don't just waste away in front of the tv.

So here are some things I'd like to start doing in 2010 with my life:

1. Work out regularly at least 4 times a week for an hour at a time if possible. I think this means I'll have to do this right after work because I know I won't do it before work and if I come home and sit for even a minute I won't get up again.
2. Eat healthy. Less cheese and chocolate.
3. Lose weight. This goes together with #1 and #2. I'm seriously so uncomfortable in my own skin. I have some days where I feel great about how I look. I feel sexy and confident. But honestly, many many days I just feel like a fat monster. I know I'm not a fat monster but I could stand to lose 10-15 lbs. I'm short and I shouldn't weigh as much as I do. Plus I want to feel good about myself and look good in the ridiculous amount of clothes I have. My weight has gone up and down a lot in the past 10 years. I have weighed 20 lbs less than I weigh now and 15 lbs more than I weigh now. That's probably not healthy.
4. Get creative. I used to take pictures, draw, paint and be generally artistic but I haven't done much in the past 2 years. I want to get back into drawing and painting. I also want to take some creative food classes - cake decorating, cooking, etc.
5. Blog more and blog thoughtfully. I want to be more honest about the things I write and whats really on my mind. Sometimes I care too much about how others write or what they write about. I don't have a focused blog. I'm not all about fashion or work or art or weddings or anything. I'm all over the place and my interests vary widely. As a child I was in a million activities - piano, violin, swimming, dance, soccer, etc. I wasn't really exceptionally good at any of them. Probably because I didn't have a focus then. Either way, I think being involved in all sorts of things as a child has really shaped the way I am as an adult. Its also probably partially my personality. I get passionate about things but also bored very easily. I ramble. Long story short, from now on I will write on this blog for myself.
6. Cook more and cook with variety. I want to eat a variety of food and stop making the same 5 things over and over. I want to cook different types of food and challenge myself. I also want to cook with goal #3 in mind.

I think I want to add more to the list but this is what I've come up with so far. Can anyone share their new year resolutions? Any tips on how to actually keep on your goals?

Resolutions and lots of rambling