I was tag...

A while back I was tagged with two awards from the amazingly stylish and fashionably well-versed
Terri and Viviane.

The terms are to reveal 7 or 10 things about oneself and to share what is on my make-up bag.

I decided to mix both concepts and just share some of the stuff I do to keep myself in check to be able to live my life and keep up with my kids, family and friends.

These are my tune-ups tools.

This are my make up essentials:
I use the Avon concealer around my eyes because I've have dark circles around my eyes since the age of 7 or 8. Its an inherited trait from my father and from his mother.

The base and powder are Cover Girl, and the Maybelline best-seller great lash mascara.

The lipstick, lips glaze and eye pencil are from Avon; I have few more colors in my makeup bag.
I buy Avon and Mary Kay products because believe it or not when I was a young girl in the mid to late 70's most companies didn't make makeup for women of darker complexion.

Avon and Mary Kay were very popular in Puerto Rico when I started to wear makeup and they took care of us brown girls.

This is my thrifted makeup bag, here are the rest of my lipsticks, eye shadows, eye pencils, lips glazes and my faithful powder brush. As you can see I don't have any blush. I always have difficulties finding one that I really like or that goes well with my skin. I know they are out there I just haven't cared to find them.

Here is the part that I share some stuff about myself beyond the makeup bag.

I use extra virgin olive oil on my face, neck and body right after a shower at least 3 times a week. By the time I'm ready to go to bed I remove it with a very cold wash cloth.

I also use honey in any area of my face, neck or body where there is any blemishes. I apply it right after my shower and again I remove it with a cold wash cloth before bed. I don't want to become a human bug collector while I lay sleeping.

I use the coffee grinds to exfoliate my entire body during my showers and it supposed to help combat cellulite. Hey we all have it; unless you get it surgically removed and/or go through many suction spa treatments it's going to be there in many areas of your skin like a faithful "friend".

This are the creams that keep my chocolate skin soft and protected.

I was born on an island and lived on another for many years, traveled and lived in many parts of The USA and now I'm living here in South Florida; during all of my life I had applied on lots of sunblock and had stayed away from excessive sun exposure . I wore so much sunblock during my college years in P.R. that my mami used to said she could smell me a mile away.

My night cream is from Avon for women over 40, my day cream is from the local pharmacy for women that want to spend less than $20.00 and my body lotion is my favorite and it was on sale at my local pharmacy. I change body lotion often; I like to try different brands and different mixture of elements. However I don't like fragrance in my body lotions.

This is the shampoo, conditioners and the leave in conditioning cream that I use to try to control my hair from sticking up like Edward Scissorshand's hair. I also change my shampoo and conditioner often (always going for the cheapest brands) because hair gets used to the shampoo ingredients making it less effective.

This is my remedy when I feel bloated and sluggish after spending some time over-stuffing my mouth!!

This is my brown rice and vegetables; I eat this for lunch and dinner for a couple of days to settle my system and allow it me to get back to my normal self.

DISCLAIMER:  I'M NOT A DOCTOR OR PLAY ONE IN BLOGGER LAND. 

I ALSO AM NOT YOU: SO WHAT WORKS FOR ME AND MY BODY IS NOT NECESSARY GOING TO WORK FOR YOU OR YOU BODY AND I'M NOT GIVING ANYONE MEDICAL ADVICE OR TELLING YOU TO DO WHAT I DO.

This is my home gym; I only exercise at home or walk or dance because I don't ever, ever, ever feel like driving to any gym!

I need to wear the ankles and wrist weights all the time because they help to strengthen my knees and hands which had giving me problems before.

I would like to tag the following bloggers because I'm curious to know what is in their makeup bags and how the take care of themselves:

Vix from Vintage Vixen

Sarah from Misfits Vintage

Sharon from MyStyle- Fashion, Vintage and Me...

Tabouled from Tabouleh

Loo from Jumbles and Pompoms

Fabienne from The House In The Clouds

Have a great week, 

Some school shopping...

My youngest daughter needed some clothes for all of the upcoming events that she's going to attend this coming school year. I haven't purchased anything retail for myself since 2 years and 10 months ago but I buy retail for my girls all the time. So we went to a mall here in Plantation called The Fountains. We've being going to this mall for about 10 years. I was in a very relax mood so my clothes are loose on me and I wore the most comfortable sandals that I could find.

I wore:

Napa Valley shirt, made in Kenya about 3 sizes larger than my usual shirts and just thrifted at the end of June.

 Sweetheart red pants also thrifted in June and made in Cambodia.

Thrifted belt purchased about 4 months ago.

Report sandals from Ross; they were purchased for my daughter

but somehow they end up with my shoes.

Bracelets from all of the places that I lived and rings from my times in NYC.

    The hearts necklace is from the Indian store by my job and its quite old.

 

One of my most loved purses; my Paloma Picasso purse. 

Thrifted more than 10 years ago.

Here we are on our way to Marshalls to get some shorts, tops and dresses for my daughter.
This entire area was constructed in the last 2 years. The sidewalk where I'm walking used to be a family
owned Italian restaurant that made an amazing lasagna.

These are new condominiums; the Fountains movie theater used to be in this location and all the green area were stores or parking spaces. My girls first movies with friends was in those movies theater but now they gone.

They developers did a good job including many green areas and even though I still feel bad for many of the specialize stores that close down the new green areas are very nice to take a stroll in between the giant stores that have taken over the mall.

                                       
                       More luscious greenery!

Of course The Fountains have many fountains around the mall areas.

Me, myself, my little car and the restaurant behind me is where we sat our behinds to eat.

                                  The cup said it well...

                           My girl's lunch-dinner was this gigantic burrito and chips.

This are my fajitas and chips. Both plates plus soda were very reasonable and I still had some money left for gas.

This is the inside of Lime; right to the left of us. The wall are yellow and all the wood accent makes it so homey.

              The collection of sauces; from mildly heaven to hot as hell.

Adorable yellow flowers right by the parking area across from the restaurant.

Have a great rest of the week,

My prayers...

My prayers are with the people of Norway after the killings and bombing in Oslo and the lost of lives as well as the lost of the sense of security and openness that this country has always demonstrated.
I receive many daily readers from Norway and of course the lovely Anika lives in Oslo; thank god she and her family are fine as I just found out (I emailed her and she just emailed me back).
I just want to take this opportunity to send a message of support and condolences especially to those parents that have lost their children in the camp shooting.


And then the amazingly talented and so sadly portrait in the press, Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment.
Every time I saw photos or videos of her behaving irrationally; I always felt so sorry for her because she had so much talent and incredible potential but couldn't control her addiction demons. I introduced her music to both of my girls and I tireless played her cd's for many years.


So I dedicated this post to those whom are still here on our beautiful earth; breathing, crying, laughing, dealing with the joys and the suffering of every day life.

Con Amor,

Saturday July 9th....

We went to a Florida Marlins baseball game on July 9th. My ex-sister in law (whom is like a second mother to my girls, their aunt as well as their godmother) gave us 4 tickets plus a parking pass.

I took my youngest daughter and two of her best friends to the game.

We have been going to the Marlins games since 2006, we took a break last summer because I couldn't afford the tickets anymore. Its not that I'm an incredible knowledgeable baseball chick but I was born in Dominican Republic, raised in Puerto Rico  with a Cuban grandpa and grew up around uncles and cousins that loved the game. I've been watching baseball at stadiums and on TV since 1976 and I love the game.

Its a long game and it takes a few moments to get adjusted to the pace and the rules but both of my girls know all the basics and they love staying after the game for the entertainment and the fireworks. Yes, they have fireworks!

I wore:

Thrift shirt purchased the Friday before the game, with no name tag but it looks like the brand I.N.C from Macy's.
Mossimo jeans, thrifted a couple of weeks ago.
Thrifted belt, purchased about 4 months ago. Old Italian sandals.

Necklaces: some from Steinmart, some thrifted and others were presents.

Rampage purse.
Bracelets from Dollar General and others were gifts from friends.
Ring from Steinmart.

Here we are, the game started at 7:00 we made it to the parking lot by 7:20!

Walking fast to get inside. We were surprised that there were so few people in the parking lot because in years before the games were always packed.

We walked this round pathway to make it to our seats. The art is done by the great Brazilian artist (living in Miami) Romero Brito.

Our seats were the in the fourth row right by the Marlins dugout.  We could almost, almost hear some of the players talking and we waved at them and some of them smile back at us.

Again we were amazed by the small amounts of fans inside the stadium.

The great Bonifacio getting in the swing of things!

By the time this play came to, we were already 3-1.

We were winning. That's the reason for the big smile.

DISCLAIMER: THE PEOPLE IN THIS PHOTOS HAVE NOT ASSOCIATION OR AFFILIATION WITH MY BLOG.

Here I'm again thanks to my youngest daughter's friends camera work.

The Marlins cheerleaders doing their dance.

The pink and orange sky right before it turned dark and all the stadium lights were turned on.

This is the Houston Astros, the rival team. The change the pitcher 3 times during the game.

These dudes dress in funky costumes are the Marlins Manatees, the male counterparts to the cheerleaders. They come out and also do some dancing.

 My favorite player Emilio Bonifacio. He is from Santo Domingo, the capital of The Dominican Republic and has been playing for the marlins since 2008.
He got 2R and 1H and had the best batting average of the entire game.

 We won 1 to 6!!!!!!!

The team getting ready to leave the field after the game was over.

This was the after-game show: Cirque Dreams. They did some amazing acrobatics!

They had some sort of springs attached to their feet and they were jumping very high and doing flips.

This was a very busy day before the game I took my daughter to a birthday party, did 6 loads of laundry, picked her and her friends up, drove to the game, stayed for the show, drove from the stadium in Miami to this Steak 'n Shake in Sawgrass  and needed some good old Coca Cola to continue with the celebratory mood and keeping up with 16, 17 and 18 years old kids!!!!!!!

One of the shakes.

And another.

Steak 'n Shake is an old-style take on fast food you actually sit and have an waiter and their menu is based on American Classics like hamburgers and hot dogs.

Some pictures of their old stores. This company was started in 1937 in the Midwest when a gas station was combined with a hamburger stand.

I'm always up for some good old American cuisine at 12:30a.m.

The kids choice. They were in food heaven, I mean small hamburgers, french fries and shakes is all you need to be in food heaven.

The moon and the restaurant entrance as we said goodbye for the night (actually early morning) and right before I drove two of the kids and them drove ourselves home.

 

Here are the gates to a good time and a free game thanks to my girl's auntie!

Have a great week,