the fear of color

before aviano

before a toddler

i was a professional

i wore makeup daily

rewind a few years 

prior

to 

"professional"

and 

i was a college student

who lived with a girl

who 

LOVED 

makeup 

and was GOOD at it

lucky me!

she did my make up for EVERYTHING

even my wedding!!

while i never 

loved makeup

i did enjoy it

and 

wasn't scared per say to wear it

then aviano happened

and

lack of conveniences

mixed with a toddler

made for a 

bad bad bad 

makeup situation

let me paint you a picture

first aviano's bx

carries limited amount of makeup

there's

clinique, estee lauder, lancome

and 

your main drugstore brands

covergirl, almay, revlon, maybelline, and loreal

(no neutrogena which prior to aviano is what i wore)

 and 

there are very rarely any reps to help you color match 

at 

the higher end makeup counters

so options are

the bx

a sephora 30 minutes away

or 

online

but 

when you have a two year old in tow

you don't dare walk into to sephora

trust me i have

it's a disaster!

so

i mainly dealt with the bx selection

still

with a two year old in tow

which means very very little time to look

second

time to apply makeup 

changed drastically

after having a child

(mom's you know what i am talking about)

given the circumstances

and 

the fact i wasn't a professional anymore

and 

didn't have a true need to wear makeup daily

my makeup situation

was 

well honestly

very sad.....

enter

morgan

from 

{face on face off}

 

 

  isn't she adorable!!

and

she's an okie!

not just any okie 

but

she's an okie 

that through multiple people

knows me

and 

my family 

she was one of the

"lucky" 

ones to be transplanted to aviano

and 

she is a licensed make up artist!!!

i proposed 

because i knew my sad makeup situation

and 

was kinda sacred to buy the wrong color

that we do 

a bx make up makeover

(thinking this professional make up artist would LAUGH in my face)

she agreed!!! 

and it made shopping so much easier

i took care of the kid

she grabbed a few colors

asked what i liked and then we checked out

went back to her place

and 

she demonstrated on half my face how to apply

then 

let me apply

but i am getting ahead of myself

so 

first here are the contents of my make up bag before our shopping spree

 

i know 

it's sad

AND 

the foundation bottle is empty

the fact is 

i had not bought any makeup 

since christmas 2013.

the lipstick was from christmas party 2011

the rest of the makeup 

well 

i really don't want to date it....

so

morgan had her hands full

or 

a blank slate

however you want to look at it

she asked me

"what look do you want to go with"

i said

"easy" 

haha

but after 3 minutes with my wonderfully energetic daughter 

she understood!

we grabbed some more foundation

then headed to the drug store side

after asking my budget

she started to grab

she would bring two or three colors 

of one product 

such as eye makeup 

to me 

while i was entertaining my tot

and 

she would explain why she picked each one

then

i made the decision which to keep

or 

to keep them all

we left with my make up bag filled with these wonderful products!

 it is exactly what i need 

to have a 

day look

and a 

night look

that i can transition to easily

and quickly

and it's a wonderful foundation

for me to start building back my inventory

when we get back to the states

and

i have more choices

the best part though

was having her show me

how to put on the make up

while it sounds silly

shouldn't i 

a thirty year old woman

know how to put on makeup?

yes

i do

know the basics

but

despite the lessons on pinterest

i wanted to know a few tricks/tips/etc

and she walked me through everything

even while my toddler was tormenting her house and her cute dog blondie

(again, morgan, i apologize for that!) 

so without further adieu

a before and after pic

 

i can not tell you how the couple of hours spent with her

boosted my confidence in trying new colors

(like coral on the lips or gold on the eyes)

and 

gave me confidence in application techniques in general

knowing i will reenter the professional world soon

i feel that i will go with a fresh look

and

one that i can manage 

every day!

in fact i was able to put on make up today and feel comforatable with it!

aviano folks take advantage of having her here!!!

even if you don't have a special event to go to

she can teach you SO much!!

 

 

and hurlburt field folks...

you are lucky to get her! 

thank you morgan!!!

love love from aviano! 

 

milano in a day

this past easter weekend we went to milan!

i was so excited because it was one city in italy 

i didn't see twelve years ago when i visited as a high school senior 

so

is it possible to go to milan in one day?

YES

but i highly recommend more than one

because 

let's be honest

you need at least a day to shop

we took the train to milan

it's an easy train ride from aviano 

and the most gorgeous site welcomes you when you get off the train

the train station itself!

it is gorgeous

{picture credit: blog eurorail}

the prettiest train station i've been in so far!

when you exited the train station 

another gorgeous site 

welcomes you

the duomo

the duomo is a key building in milan
it is the fifth largest duomo's in europe
and 
the seat to the archbishop of Milan

 i could write a short paper on the importance of it 

but 

i encourage you to 

{click here} 

and 

{here} 

but know this

do not miss it!

go inside because inside you will find

 some of the prettiest stain glass i've ever seen

it is at moments like this that i wish i was a better photographer

and  

 

another look

but i can not take pictures

so to tease you more

  {picture credit: the roaming lama}

**travel tip: while entering the duomo is free

 it cost two euro to take pictures inside the duomo! 

you pay at the booth that greets you when entering**

next to the duomo is the infamous 

{galleria vittorio emanuale II}

aka "the mall" 

where prada and louis are neighbors

and

swarovski lives across the street

it really is a wonderful world

while in milan 

you must see 

leonardo da vinchi's 

"last supper"

the "last supper" is hidden inside

the ordinary looking church 

in the

refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie 

i was expecting an extremely small painting

similar to the mona lisa

but

"the last supper"

does not disappoint

it is an extremely large painting

and 

while the tour is brief
(you only get 15 minutes to look at the painting, 

seriously only 15, 

they will kick you out)

the painting is stunning

 {picture credit}

and 

don't forget to take in

Giovanni Donato da Montorfano 

fresco

"The Crucifixion"

{picture credit}

more information about "the last supper" can be found

{here}

finally we stopped at 

{castello sforzesco}

{picture credit-mighty mac}

the castle is extremely impressive

it is almost all intact

and

covers a mass amount of ground

by the time we arrived at the castle

we had a very tired toddler

so we 

didn't venture on the tour

(again why you should do milan in two days not one) 

other highlights of milan

chocolate!!!! 

Monte Bloc Gourmet writes a great blog piece about chocolate in milan

read it 

{here} 

and of course buy some chocolate!!

throughout milan there were wonderful statues and art pieces

below are a few we found

disclaimer:

most of the following pictures are straight from my iphone 

so i apologize for quality

and

since i was totting a toddler i only saw bits and pieces

in between goldfish and juice boxes 

i know very little about what i saw

except it was appeasing to the eye

and finally

the coolest way to order at a mcdonalds yet

 we had never seen something like this before

call us sheltered

but we were thoroughly entertained

by

such technology

milan was doable in a day 

from 

aviano

however

i recommend

two days

especially if you have a kiddo in tow!

it is a gorgeous city

and

a perfect combination of

art, history, and modern

love love 

from aviano

 

how many blondes does it take to change a lightbulb?

remember

{my mission}

well 

today

actually the past few weeks

i've been trying to change a light bulb

seriously folks, don't laugh!

but my kitchen light went out three weeks ago

thankfully 

it is summer so it stays light outside longer

and

i have a big window in my kitchen

my first attempt was to buy this

it's circular

and i knew the lightbulb at home was circular

and it was the only circular light bulb at the store

this was the wrong choice

the wrong 15 euro choice mind you

that's equivalent to about 18-20 american dollars

so i thought i would do the smart thing

and take the light bulb down

only to find 

that it has a battery!

this is my ah-ha moment

but then i forgot to take the battery to the store

at the store i had two options

and since both were relatively inexpensive

i bought both

and 

again

fail!

sorta

the battery fit

but the light just flickered

so 

kenneth said

"hun, i think it's the light bulb"

emphasizing light bulb

so i did the thing i should have done to begin with

i took the light bulb out

took it to another store

and 

found it!

however,

when i got home

opened the box

i realized it didn't come with batteries

but wait!

remember i had already bought some

and 

guess what

they fit!!

yay!!!

with a click of a switch 

i had light!

and 

to answer the question

it only takes one blonde to change a lightbulb

one very persistent blonde

thankful thursday...things that take you back

we were at the local bakery

and 

kenneth

exclaims

"look they have kinder eggs"

my first response

besides almost jumping out of my skin 

due to the fact

kenneth rarely gets excited

was

"oh that's nice honey"

followed by

"what's a kinder egg?"

well 

folks

you would have thought

i just told my husband

i killed his favorite dog

his heart was visibly broke

he almost shed a tear

then 

he stepped back with a look 

of shock 

and disbelief

and 

almost as loudly as he exclaimed the first time

he said

"you don't know what a kinder egg is?"

politely

realizing i'm treading on 

a delicate matter here

i responded

"no honey i am sorry 

i don't know what a kinder egg is"

i grew up 

in a town where we got crimson and creme slushes

and root beer with hot tamales

(trust me its fabulous!)

turns out

this is a kinder egg

turns out 

it was all the rage

during kenneth's youth in germany

but

they were at one time

illegal in the states!

chocolate illegal in the states

with our obesity rate!

can't be true!

i digress...

what's so special about this egg

that has cadbury running for the hills?

from the naked eye

nothing

it's an ordinary chocolate egg

but

what's this?

that doesn't look like creme filling to me!

a little plastic container

and 

inside

he was so excited!

a toy!!!

turns out the toy caused american kids to choke

enough kids choked that 

kinder eggs became illegal!

i guess the kids missed the plastic piece..thought it was creme filling.

after some assembly

and

some instructions

we had our first kinder toy

a little man

that you could

manipulate to

give a thumbs up

if you liked something

or 

a thumbs down

                                 

if something wasn't to your liking

but the best part 

was seeing kenneth's face

as 

we embarked on our kinder adventure

the kinder chocolate 

brought back 

found memories of childhood

that we often forget 

in the hustle and bustle of our days

and 

that my friends

is what i'm thankful for

look you can see his dimples!!

that's when you know he is really smiling!

love from aviano!