(The boys’ chalk drawings.)
This week was Spring Break and we had a wonderful time! The boys spent a few days with my parents in San Antonio, and Ryan and I enjoyed our free time and the chance to cross a few things off our To Do list. This weekend, we’ll wrap up the break and get ready for the rest of the school year. Warm weather arrived this week, too, and it will be summer before we know it. Here are a few things that caught my eye this week.
The California suburb with a modern aesthetic, designed by Joseph Eichler after World War II.
Hopes for the sixth season of “Downton Abbey,” and a fun quiz to discover your style icon. (If you take it, let me know who you get.)
Have you ever noticed how shows from Canada and Britain just look different? I have, and I found an explanation.
Spring Break means South by Southwest in Austin, and this year is the first anniversary of a terrible accident downtown.
The new pub-shed trend. Ryan wants one of these.
And baby names in danger of extinction. (Claudine is very pretty.)
Have a great weekend!
(After Birth by Elisa Albert.)
I finished After Birth by Elisa Albert a few weeks ago, and it’s the kind of book I thought about for a while. The premise really caught my interest: a new mom, still reeling from her difficult birth experience a year later, trying to make sense of her new life. I’ve been there.
From the beginning, it’s obvious that Ari, the main character, is angry and definitely depressed; but she’s also refreshingly honest and open about the parts of motherhood that women still don’t talk about. Her days are spent alone in a run-down upstate New York town, while she cares for her son (whom she loves deeply), and struggles to find herself again. It’s definitely a common experience among new mothers, but one that few writers seem to examine. To read a novel about this topic was incredibly interesting to me.
Albert writes with a candidness that is raw at times, but also extremely conversational, as if she’s sitting across from you and narrating Ari’s story. The inspiration for After Birth came, according to Albert (see the article at the bottom of the page), after re-reading “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Albert, also a mother, recognized the issue of postpartum depression (or perhaps psychosis) in Gilman’s character, and examined it herself within After Birth. She noticed a lack of women’s literature examining birth and motherhood, in comparison to the many war stories revered as rites of passage for men. It’s a really interesting concept, and one I agree with completely.
After Birth is not a light read, or even that much fun at times, but it is insightful and entertaining, and discusses issues that need to be addressed more openly.
(Emery board, small box for medicine, lip products, powder, cosmetic bag.)
I’ve had makeup on my mind a lot lately, and I always enjoy reading those What’s In My Bag posts regularly featured on many blogs. I find them interesting, because I carry very few beauty items with me on-the-go, though I use a small arsenal of products each morning in my beauty routine.
I apply my makeup after my shower each morning, and I just touch it up as needed during the day. When I’m running errands or going out for several hours, I take my small cosmetic bag, filled with an emery board, my current lip products (I always use more than one), pressed powder, and a small box that holds medicine. These are my basic necessities, and I keep the bag on my bathroom counter when I’m at home. In my handbag, I always keep a larger bag filled with things like band-aids, tissue, gum, snacks, and other personal items the boys and I might need while we’re out.
It’s simple and easy, and I just throw my cosmetic bag in my purse, along with my phone, before I leave. I’ve never been one to lug around the kitchen sink, and I prefer to leave my larger products at home.
What do you keep in your on-the-go cosmetic bag?
