At age 52, I finally got my first Botox. I had needed it for a long time, since my crows feet were pretty bad. I was procrastinating because…well, I don't know why I put it off. I obviously shouldn't have! Just take a look for yourself.

Sagginess…

crepiness…

and wrinkles. Oh, my!

Wow! I skerd myself! In defense of my poor eyes though, I do have to say these “before” photos were taken after I got a makeover from a makeup artist. I had masses of concealer and powder piled up under my eyes which accentuated the wrinkles. They were still my wrinkles – I have to own up to them – but they were looking especially heinous with all that makeup gooped upon them.

Also notice the skimpy eyelashes. My lashes aren't uber-short, but they definitely lacked fullness, and a little extra length would be nice.

I absolutely noticed the wrinkles, sags, bags and crepey skin every time I looked in the mirror, and finally addressed it with a very conservative bit of Botox in early December. I actually wished my doctor had been slightly more aggressive with it, but it's a start and I think it absolutely helped. That's not to say that other women might not have success with some of the Best Face Oils For Anti Aging and other products like it, they do! For me personally, I felt like this was my best option.

If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have waited so long for my first foray into Botoxland. It was relatively inexpensive, and the procedure was a piece of cake.

There were 3 tiny – I mean tiny – little needle pricks around each eye. I'm not freaked out by needles, but even if you are, I still think this process is really non-threatening. Just don't look when the needles come out to play. 😀 It was totally worth it to me, and I'll keep doing it as long as there is no revelation about Botox causing cancer or something equally disturbing.

While I was at the doctor's office, I also talked to a rep for Allergan, the company who makes Latisse. They were offering a $100 rebate on the product, which pretty much paid to fill the first prescription. Insurance doesn't cover Latisse, of course, since it's a cosmetic item.

My first prescription for Latisse cost me about $114, and was supposed to cover 30 days' application of the product. Instead of one drop per eye per night though, the nurse in my doctor's office suggested that one drop shared between both eyes is plenty. That's how I've been using it, and that first round of Latisse is just now almost gone nearly 3 months later. That works out to less than $1 a day.

I'm not a doctor so I can't recommend that you use Latisse as I did, but I can tell you what I did and that the shared drop per night seemed to be adequate for me. I think that using one drop per eye would have been wasteful overkill with dripping excess to wipe away.

I haven't had any side effects from Latisse, but you should consider them before you try it. The most-publicized potential issue is that light brown, green or hazel eyes can permanently change to a darker brown. From what I understand, that is only a rare risk when Latisse is used to treat glaucoma, which involves using the product in the eye, not on the skin around it.

That explains what I did. So how do those scary eyes look now after a little Botox here…

and there…

and some Latisse each night?

These aren't 20 year old eyes, but I'm not 20. These eyes have seen things and been through things, and they're entitled to a few earned war wounds. Maturity isn't an easy road, and getting there can leave a little evidence of the journey, right?

They're still my 52 year old eyes, but they're not quite as scary as before. These “after” photos were taken with no concealer, foundation or powder, so you can still see little imperfections like brown spots, but you don't see the previous horror. Hurray! As the years pass, it seems that it is deemed more acceptable for the average person to undertake such treatments. Trends in cosmetic surgery have evolved with more people improving on what they have. In fact, this source here shows the statistics of cosmetic surgery throughout the world in recent years.

In these photos I had about 8 weeks of Latisse behind me, and the full effect is supposedly reached at 16 weeks. At 4 weeks, I could already see longer lashes, and now they are thicker as well.

If you ask me if Botox reduces wrinkles, I say absolutely ‘yes'. And if you wonder if Latisse really works and grows longer and thicker eyelashes, I say ‘yes' again. I don't foresee ever getting a facelift, but I'll keep doing these little tweaks because they work. To me they're no-brainers. There's no cutting, no downtime, and the expense isn't prohibitive. It feels good to be doing a little something to fend off the ravages of time, but still look like me.

Now I need to tweak those brown spots…

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

Frederic Fekkai Beachcomber Leave In Conditioner

Woo Hoo! It's Friday; my favorite day of the week and time for another Fabulous Friday. Today, I've got another fabulous product to share with you.

This Frederic Fekkai Beachcomber Leave In Conditioner is the best leave-in conditioner that I've ever used.

I first discovered the Fekkai Marine Summer Collection last summer while visiting BigSis in Texas. We actually had a day to lay by the pool so we popped into a nearby Ulta to buy something to protect our hair while out in the sun.

We both tried this product and loved it! If you happen to have curly hair, then you know what it's like to lay by a pool on a hot, humid day and try to keep your hair from frizzing. I had almost forgotten how much I love this product until I used it again a couple of weeks ago while out by the pool in 100 degree weather out in the desert.

This product not only works great to protect your hair while in the sun, but I've started using it again, as it's intended to be used, as a leave-in conditioner. It's lightweight, has a wonderful scent and doesn't leave your hair feeling greasy or droopy.

When I first bought this last year, we were told that it was a limited edition product and I'm not sure if Ulta still carries it, but I found it on Amazon for $21.95. If you've have trouble finding a great leave-in conditioner, you may want to give this a try!

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a fabulous weekend! 🙂

~LilSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

How often do you shop online and find great selection, speedy shipping and excellent value?  Not often enough, if you ask me!  I have a site to tell you about that has all three of those boxes checked, and what's even better; they'll help you get ready for Christmas!

Thanks to Anna's recommendation on CookieMadness, I found out about PaperMart a few years back and have been using them ever since.  PaperMart  says they are the largest and most complete packaging store, and I'm here to tell you their claim is justified.

What can you find at PaperMart?  What can't you find might be a better question!  Here are a few of the items we ordered this year for our Charity Bake Sale for Animals (benefiting In-Sync Exotics, by the way).

Paw Print Organza Bags (5″ x 7″ $0.60 each)

Paw Print Wire Handle Boxes (4″ x 3.5″ $0.88 each)

Candy Cane Satin Ribbon (5/8″ 25 yds $3.94 per roll)

We got the red/pink variety and the red/green one.  Both are gorgeous! These ribbons have the design woven into them, not just printed on like you'll find with cheap ribbon.

Narrow Christmas Satin Printed Ribbon (5/8″ 25 yds $5.96 roll)

We got the pink Christmas print and the white Christmas ornament prints, and loved both of them.

We loaded up on red and green solid color 5/8″ ribbon too, which was a steal at 100 yds for $3.52.  We were completely impressed by the high quality of all these ribbons.  They are shiny on one side, and matte on the back, but you can upgrade to a variety that is shiny on both sides if you're even more obsessive than we are and don't mind paying a bit more.

We also buy the hard-to-find cello bags that we use for breads and cakes at PaperMart.  I daresay that PaperMart carries pretty much anything and everything you might need for packaging gifts and food this Christmas and year-round.  Check them out and let us know how your shopping experience goes!

~BigSis

Posted under Shopping

Tomorrow is already July 1st! Wow! Another month has flown by. And Summer has definitely arrived. It was hot, hot, hot and humid on our vacation in Chicago this past week. Any cooking that we did was outside on the grill to avoid turning on the oven. But one night, after a long day at the family reunion, we broke down and ordered some pizza. And, of course, it was awesome pizza so now I have pizza on the brain.

In the summer, I rarely turn on the oven. We make almost everything on the grill. But, for some crazy reason, I've never made pizza on the grill so I've decided that it's time for me to give it a try. Here are a couple of pretty basic recipes.

Tyler Florence's Pizza on the Grill with Sausage and Mozzarella may not be Chicago Pizza, but it looks incredible to me and I can't wait to try it.

Tyler Florence Pizza on the Grill with Sausage and Mozzarella

I just recently saw a good step by step instruction on Amanda's Kitchen for Making Pizza on the Grill. These are a couple of examples of her awesome pizzas.

Pizza on the Grill

While surfing the net for a few more ideas, I stumbled across this Pizza on the Grill: 100 Fiesty Fire-Roasted Recipes for Pizza by Elizabeth Karmel and Bob Blumer.  I think I'm going to have to put this in my Amazon shopping cart!

I don't know about you, but I'm ready to fire up the grill! Once I perfect the basics of making the pizza on the grill, I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun experimenting with different varieties. But, I can guarantee you that I won't ever try to compete with a real Chicago pizza. Never!

~LilSis

Posted under Food

I don't like to get off on a rant on our blog.  LilSis and I decided to be positive here, since there is so much negativity in the world, and we all need a little break from the stress of everyday life.  But I have to let it loose today!  The space program is my pet peeve, and if I see one more video of our moon landing 40 years ago I'm going to have a hissy fit.

Let me explain my unpopular opinion.  I think the space program is a gigantic race for bragging rights between countries.  It's an international ego trip.  Who can get to the moon first?  Who can get to Mars first?  Who can have the biggest and best space station?

I say who gives a flying fig?  Do you know how much we spend on the space program?  In 1969, the Apollo project cost $25 billion.  That's 40 years ago.  Now NASA wants to go back to the moon by 2020.  Any idea of how much that will cost?  President Obama has requested funds of $18.7 billion for NASA in 2010, $3.21 billion of which would go toward manned space exploration.   And did you know that the International Space Station is a $100 billion project?

My problem with all this ego spending is this.  I bet you a dollar that you know someone who has been impacted by childhood brain cancer, by breast cancer, by Alzheimer's disease, or by Lou Gehrig's disease.  What if we took the money we're throwing up into the atmosphere, and throw it at one of these diseases?  Do you think we might get a better return on our money?  I think we might. I want us to try.

I get that the space program provides a lot of jobs.  I get that the space program is a source of national pride.  But I say there are better sources of national pride. I'm proud of what our military is doing throughout the world to bring peace, for one thing.  And could there be any greater pride than that which would come from our research brainiacs finding a cure for one of these devastating diseases, as opposed to flying all over the galaxies looking for little green men…throwing our valuable mis-spent dollars out the window the whole way?

Do we really think there will come a day when we will need to live on the moon or another planet?  Really?  What are the odds of that?  Contrast that with the odds of getting one of these horrendous diseases.  I rest my case.  Let's kill the space program now.  Please.

~BigSis

Posted under Health

When I say “40-Something Butt”, I'm talking about a butt that's 40+ years old, but I could also be talking about a butt that's 40+ inches around.  Either way, shopping for jeans can be as stressful as shopping for a swimsuit, and you know why?  For me, it's because I'm too stingy!  And cheap jeans usually means poor fit + crummy fabric = yukky looking bum.

I've realized that spending a little bit more for jeans is SO worth it.  Scrimp and save money on other things, but don't be cheap like the old me when it comes to jeans.  A well-made and perfectly-fitting pair of jeans will do MIRACLES for your rear view.  Trust me.  Go to a store that has a wide selection of quality jeans, and just try them on, even if you think you will absolutely not ever buy one single pair.  I promise that you will see an enormous difference, and will be sold as I was when I spent a couple of hours at Nordstrom's last year.  Did I think I would ever ever ever spend over $100 on a pair of ding dang blue jeans?  Oh, HELL no!  I'm way too cheap for that.  But I only had to look in the 360 degree mirror to see what that price tag brought to my bod.

An excellent pair of jeans will enhance your heinie, lengthen your legs, smooth out the line of your thighs, and flatter your hips.  No, I'm not smoking crack…these things can be achieved via a wise choice in jeans worn with a great pair of heels.  I think that when you're 20 years old and have never experienced pregnancy, decades of gravity, hormones and/or metabolism issues, you can get away with cheaper clothes.   Am I right?  Am I right? But when you're 40-something, you owe it to your wonderful body to clothe it strategically.  That means good jeans!  Wearing crappy old I-don't-care-what-my-butt-looks-like-cuz-I've-given-up jeans will age you as fast as the sun on your face!!  Don't do it!

I have a butt and a small waist, so most jeans will gape at the waist if they fit in the hips.  These are the jeans that I'm thrilled about wearing now.  Note that I had them hemmed a bit, even though I'm 5'7″ with pretty long legs (good jeans give you a very generous length), but no other alterations whatsoever were necessary.  They even fit in the waist!

• Joe's Jeans:  Rocker lean flare fit…my absolute favorites!  They're dark dark dark wash, and fit like they were made for me.  These are my dressiest jeans.  And mine don't have the bleachy light spots on them that you see in the photo below.  Oh, and that's not me in the photo, just in case you thought it was.  😉

Joe's Rocker Jeans

• Citizens of Humanity:  Ingrid #2 low waist flare style.  These are slightly more casual than my Joe's and are a tad lower in the rise.

Citizens of Humanity Ingrid Jeans

Keep in mind that the key is that you try on a BUNCH of brands and styles and colors til you find the perfect fit for you!  I promise it's out there.  And once you find it, your butt will do a little happy dance!

LilSis, you were my motivation to get my butt into a fabulous pair of jeans, so I have to ask you. What are your favorite jeans right now?  Do you have any tips for choosing the right pair, other than trying on everything and then examining the rear view?

~BigSis

Posted under Shopping

For Mother's Day, brunch is normally on the agenda for a lot of us moms. It's just nice to have one day out of the year when you don't feel guilty saying: “I'm not cooking today.  And, as a matter of fact, I'm not doing any laundry either!”

Most Mother's Day Brunches include mimosas, too. But no one says you have to drink Mimosas on Mother's Day. How about some Margaritas?  Food Network has over 100 great recipes for different varieties of Margaritas.

I think this Whole Citrus Margarita sounds nice because it just calls for fresh juices instead of a store bought mix.

Whole Citrus Margarita

If you're not really in the mood for a tequila-filled Margarita, how about one of these treats for after dinner?

We love these Margarita Cupcakes from Recipe Girl.

Margarita Cupcakes

This Frozen Margarita Pie from Cookie Madness looks scrumptious!

Frozen Margarita Pie

This Key Lime Bundt Cake with Margarita Icing is another from Cookie Madness.

Key Lime Bundt Cake with Margarita Icing

And the Margarita Cookies from Peanut Butter and Julie are adorable!

Margarita Cookies

How about Margarita Ice Cream from Barefoot Kitchen Witch!

Margarita Ice Cream

Whatever your plans are for Mother's Day, we wish you a wonderful day!

~LilSis

Posted under Food

I'm literally making a batch of hummus every week. I didn't make one last week though, and guess what? I was a little bit low in energy and my workouts weren't 100%. I don't think that hummus is a miracle food – although it is really healthy – but I think it gives me a great boost of protein that I need. Last week I guess I was on more of a salad kick and didn't have good balanced meals at night, so back to the hummus I go!

I used my usual Healthy Hummus recipe, and tweaked it a touch. I had some dill and chives left over from last week's Potato Ho Down Dilled Potato Pie, so they went into the hummus, giving it the great green color. I used 5 cloves of garlic, crushed and sauteed as always, and the juice of 2-1/2 lemons. I clearly like my hummus really lemony and garlicky. I also like to use a great flavorful olive oil in it, even though it doesn't take much. My favorite right now is Texas Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I'll talk more about that incredible product next time.

Dill Chive Hummus with Green Dippers

All this green hummus needs is some lovely green veggies to scoop it up with.  Besides my hummus addiction, I'm still nursing my asparagus obsession, and probably will until it gets too expensive.  I found great asparagus at Central Market for $1.50 a pound, and also got some fresh sugar snap peas.  I blanched them separately for just 3 minutes, and shocked them in salty ice water before draining and drying them off for a week of tasty dipping!

~BigSis

Posted under Food

Hooray for Urban Decay!  How can a company with only two products in my makeup drawer have an enormous impact on my daily makeup routine?  I don't have the popular Urban Decay Lounge or YDK Eyeshadows, Greed Lip Envy, Midnight Cowboy Lipstick, or Catfight Heavy Metal Glitter Eyeliner in my stash.  Nothing but two little beauties: Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer Potion and 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils.  I don't like to say a product is life-changing, but these guys are incredible!

LilSis and I talk all the time about what MAC eyeshadow snobs we are, but without a good eyeshadow base, we'd be cheating ourselves out of a lot that a high quality product has to offer.  A good eyeshadow primer will grab onto your shadow, and enable it to last longer while intensifying the vibrancy of the color.  Fading and creasing will become an instant thing of the past!

Even with a great eyeshadow like MAC, you still have plenty to gain by taking a few extra seconds to apply a base.  I resisted adding another step to my morning routine, but I finally caved and tried some products that were recommended to me as base: MAC Paint in Base Light, Bourjois Survolteel Waterproof Eyeshadow in Beige, and Bourjois Shimmering Shine Liquid Eyeshadow in Beige Metallique.  As far as I can see, these particular Bourjois products aren't available any more.  My experience is that they're all great as long-lasting shadows, and I especially like them for muggy summer days when my chances of creasing climb to 100% along with the humidity.  As a base for other shadows though, I think they're too thick, plus they bring color and shimmer with them so any shadow you put on top of them is going to change.  Maybe for the better, but it's going to change.  Plus, it takes me way too long to get the application even and smooth, and I just don't have that kind of time (or patience) in morning crunch-time.

Urban Decay Primer Potion

I much prefer the invisible Urban Decay Primer Potion.  The Primer Potion goes on clear and you can't even tell you have it on.  You use a very very small amount;  I spread it around quickly with a small concealer brush but you could smooth it on with a fingertip if you wanted to.  Then apply your eyeshadow on top as usual.  You won't believe how much difference it makes!  Today, I put my makeup on at 6:30 am, worked all day, worked out at the gym, did a bunch of errands, took care of the furkids, made dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and at 9:00 pm, my eyeshadow looks like I just put it on!  I'm SO not kidding!  The color is true and there is literally NO creasing!  Try this Primer Potion now!  It may be the best $16 I've every spent on a product.  I agree that the cutesy container leaves a lot of product inaccessible, but you can do what Clumps of Mascara does, and hack into it!  That's what I'm going to do!

The other Urban Decay product I'm crazy about is their 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencil.  I like automatic pencil eyeliners usually because I don't like fiddling around with a sharpener whenever the pencil loses it's point,  but I'm willing to make an exception for the 24/7, which is a normal-needs-sharpening pencil.  This super-creamy pencil glides on like butter, and then you have 30 seconds or so to smudge it around or blend it as you wish.  Then it's ON baby for the rest of the day!  No fading, no disappearing, no creasing.  It's totally waterproof, but disappears easily at bedtime with a swish of Lancome's Bi-Facil.

Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-On Pencil

I have the Glide-On Pencil in 4 colors and none of them are boring.  I have 1999 (plum with teeny gold glitter), Bourbon (brown with teeny gold glitter), Lucky (brilliant deep copper), and Covet (peacock green).  My favorites are Bourbon and Lucky.  Bourbon is a great snappy bronzy brown, but don't be afraid of the glitter…I wouldn't even call it glitter.  It's just a little pizzazz!  Lucky is a fabulous color for blue eyes!  Try it!  1999 doesn't show up much on my skin, so it needs a deeper shadow color on top of it, which I always do anyway to help set any liner pencil I use.  I'm not sure what to do with Covet, maybe someone can give me a suggestion of how a blue-eyed person can wear peacock green liner without looking like a peacock.  I have my eye on a couple of other colors:  Underground (metallic taupe), and Ransom (deep purple with subtle silver sparkle) or Lust (bright iridescent purple).  At $16 each, you can afford to try some fun colors, even if like me you need a little guidance in wearing them!

You can order Urban Decay through their web site, but you can also find their products at Ulta, Sephora and department stores.

~BigSis

Posted under Beauty and Skin Care

We mentioned the other day that I'm organizing a Bake Sale for December 15th (yes, I am truly insane to dream up a project like this at Christmastime). 100% of the proceeds will go to the SPCA here in Dallas, and our goal is to raise $3000. Yep, I said $3000 (I guess I'm insane AND overly-ambitious). Seriously, I'm doing this with two of my awesome co-workers (K and SA) and K's sister L. We love to bake, we love animals, and we know that the SPCA and other animal organizations are in a real financial crunch right now, so it just makes sense to try to help them before the end of the year. The sale will be held in the conference room of the office building we work in (thank you to the building management), and we're extremely excited to do this. We could each make a cash donation to the SPCA, but if we can invest that cash into baking supplies, and leverage it for the SPCA, so much the better!  We believe our goal is doable, and we're praying that God will bless this event!

Having said all of that, what does a girl's kitchen look like before she starts a 9-day baking spree of this magnitude?  Here it is with some of the ingredients queued up ready to be called into service.  This little bitty kitchen has no idea of what is about to happen to it!

Pre-Bake Sale Kitchen

Closer view of the left...

...and the right

Well, now you know.  It started out neat and clean and organized.  Here's one shot of Day One…still pretty neat.

Baking Day One

I'll post some more pictures mid-spree (it's going to get messy next weekend, and dare I say – ugly) and post-spree! I'd say “wish us luck”, but I don't believe in luck, so pray for us! And if you're in Dallas, email me for the particulars on the sale!

Ladies, start your ovens!

~BigSis

Posted under Animals