being a grown-up

Graciousness

By in being a grown-up

The Internet led me to a short piece on Esquire.com yesterday about graciousness. It’s intended for men in business but I thought it was nearly as applicable as one of my hippie readings, including these two thoughts:

“You own the time in which you live. You grant it to others without obligation. That is the gift of being gracious.”

and

“If you can’t muster enthusiasm for the people you happen upon in life, then you cannot be gracious.”

I have not been doing so well on my goal to Be Kind, so that last thought in particular gave me a new way to think about it.

What Adult Women Do, I Suppose

By in being a grown-up, makup

Like jewelry, I’ve never worn a lot of makeup. I’m not opposed to it (although this blog can get me spinning out), but I never really learned how to do it.

But now that I’m dealing with getting older (and working under the worst florescent lights imaginable), I’m trying to learn about things like undereye concealer. And wearing blush that doesn’t make you look like a doll. And eyelash curlers, which still really freak me out.

So I was beyond happy to find the video tutorials of makeup artist Lisa Eldridge. She’s British, so the accent adds a lot more gravitas to a fairly superficial topic, but she’s also really down-to-earth and non-judgmental. And she starts out most videos without any makeup, so you can see what differences the products are making.

I mean, just look at her talking about “a minimal rosy flush”:

One of her latest videso is about “the best makeup look to wear when meeting with an ex,” and it’s twenty minutes of a nice lady making you feel (and look) better. She ends it with the advice “be strong, look gorgeous..and keep your head up high.” I can get behind that, eyelash curlers or not.