Summer Love

Hello all!
I believe I missed my blog birthday last week.....the blog has not been a priority this summer. Anyways--happy belated blog birthday to me!

I realize I have not posted about beauty or fashion items for a very long time....so I am dedicating this post to some beauty products (and beyond) that I am loving this summer.First off, I am obsessed with Balmain Ambre Gris, and I am working my way to Paris to get a full bottle. It smells crisp and warm to me. One of the main notes is Tubereuse, but it is very subtle, which is good because I am not a huge fan of Tubereuse. The cost to ship this bottle of goodness to the US from Paris is more than the actual bottle of perfume costs. No thanks--I will save my money for a plane ticket and pick it up myself--which I hope to do soon because this fragrance is gorgeous.Yum! This Guerlain Double Vanille is delicious. I am not a foody gourmand fragrance fan the majority of the time, but this vanille is special...it has something a little woody and tobacco-esque in the composistion to my nose. I am loving it this summer.On a recent visiti to MAXINE SALON in Chicago, I picked up a few of the new Shu Uemura hair products and I have to say, I love them as much as my beloved Kerastase. My favorite out of the bunch is the Moisture Velvet Nourishing Treatment with Camellia Oil. This makes my unruly locks soft and glisteny....even in the Chicago summer humidity. I love it!Speaking of hair, I am LOVING Rihanna's new short do. I could never ever ever pull it off, and I guess most people couldn't, but I think it is gorgeous and so flattering to her beautiful face. I am also loving the new MAC Mineralize Blush in Gentle. It is the perfect color to brush lightly on your cheeks this summer. It has just enough iridescence to give a lovely, yet light glow. I have very fair skin, and it is even flattering on me. I am totally and completely obsessed with KIEHL'S new line of Superbly Restorative skin softeners. The salve pictured above has been my best friend this summer. I use it on all my dry skin areas, and it even makes my heels soft and supple. There is a body lotion and a body oil in this line too--I have them all and have used them every day this summer. They are all wonderful for dry summer skin.This TNS Recovery Complex is a new find for me this summer. I can thank my friend M for turning me onto this little bottle of magic. It makes my face so soft and smooth. I got mine at THE SKIN STORE but a lot of dermatologist's office carry it too. It is a little pricey, but I find it to be worth the money. I saw this Elliot Lucca Portia Shopper bag in a magazine and I fell in love. I purchased this in cognac brown, and it has been one of my favorite purchases this summer. I love that it has the long shoulder strap that attaches--which makes it perfect for summer travel. It is big and roomy and I love the structure. You can find Elliot Lucca bags at Nordstrom or ELLIOT LUCCA .

I am loving music by JOSHUA JAMES this summer too. This is the lovely M and me and Joshua at a recent concert in Chicago. He is so talented and his lyrics make me weep. He has one song in particular called "Lovers Without Love" and it is beautiful and sad.....but he also has a happy song called "The New Love Song" which is perfect for summer listening. All his songs are thoughtful and most have a message. He puts on a great live show, so if he is in your town, go out and see him.

Oh....So You Think You Can Dance--I am hook, line and sinker for this show. Obsessed does not even cover it. I plan my evening activities around this show. The talent on this show is incredible. Oh and I love the host, Cat Deely. She is catwalk material, but is an improv actress first. I love a pretty woman who rocks the improv. I am so thinking I am going to go see the Top Ten dancers when they go on tour across the country. I think I am going to ask Jamie from PARALLEL FIRST to be my date because she loves this show too, and she might be the only person as lame as me --I mean as cool as me -- to buy tickets to see a bunch of reality show dancers probably in a theater somewhere like Aurora.

Last but not least, I am obsessed with the fact that I AM GETTING A SONIC IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS. Anyone who knows me well (at least all my family and friends in Oklahoma) have heard me whine and complain that there are no Sonics anywhere near me. I have lamented this fact for years. My friend LeAnn used to mail me bottles of their special cherry syrup from Oklahoma so I could make homemade cherry limeades Sonic style. Well I do not need cherry syrup charity any more because soon I will pull in to the Sonic Drive IN and order my own Sonic Cherry Limeade like a proper Southern Lady. I cannot wait.

Anyone care to share any of their loves this summer? I would love to hear them.

Lovely day to all.

(photos property of Kiehl's, Guerlain (euro), News Parfums, Fox TV, Sonic, and MonkeyPosh LLC)

Seward, Alaska

As I said in my last post, Seward , Alaska is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Not pretty like Paris, France is pretty--full of man made objects and art that make it pretty-- No, Seward is naturally and ruggedly beautiful. The rough ocean meets the big mountains meet the fluffy clouds. It is simply breathtaking. In Seward, you can visit the Kenai Fjords. A fjord (pronounced fyord) is an inlet of land with steep sides caused by glacial activity. To you and me that basically means pretty mountains with glaciers everywhere.

This wooden bear is cute, but look at the cruise ship and the mountains in the backgroud. So beautiful. The whole time we were there, the clouds lingered about half way up the mountains and the effect was majestic. We did not go to Alaska on a big cruise ship, but I have heard it is the best way to see everything.
Beautiful glacier melting into waterfalls in Resurrection Bay.
More waterfalls into the ocean..beautiful.

I think this one is Harding Glacier. Here is an example of the bright blue color the glaciers cast. It is because of the absorption of red and yellow light (just like in oceans) and something to do with hydrogen bonding. The effect is brilliant blue. On clear days the color is much more vivid. Sadly, it was overcast most of the time we were there.

The wildlife in the Seward area is AMAZING. This is a gorgeous Bald Eagle that was sitting atop a telephone pole and my husband was able to get a great picture with his zoom lens. It is so sad to think that the Bald Eagle was on an endangered species list at one time. They are still protected and with good reason-they are so beautiful and regal.

We took a day cruise out into the bay and all around the Aleutain Islands that surround Seward. The waters were VERY ROUGH and scary but the scenery was worth all the nausea and fear. There was a pod of Humpback Whales and they were being very active. They breeched and slapped their tails and fins for over 30 minutes. We have seen Humpbacks in Hawaii a few times, but they have never put on a show like they did in Alaska.

This is a Dahl's Porpoise which is a cousin to an Orca Whale. The coloring is the same as an Orca but the Dahl's porpoise is about 1/3 the size of the whale. We saw an Orca while we were there, but it was in the glacial water with tons of little icebergs and so we could not get a good photo. There are a lot of little otters and they almost flirt with the tourists. Half the time it seems like they are waving. They usually hang out in parties of two and they are very active and jovial. They lose most of their heat through their hands/paws so that is why they hold their little hands together--to maintain their body heat--awwwww.
This was an angry male sea lion protecting his harem. According to our boat guide, male sea lions stake claim to a rock in the ocean then they lure many females to live on said rock and he mates with those females for over a month. During this time he does not eat at all because he cannot leave his rock. If he leaves his rock, another male sea lion will overtake it-so he eats and eats and eats in the months preparing for mating season sometimes gaining over 500 lbs. Damn.

Learing about all the animals was just as good as seeing them.

All in all, my husband and I agree that this trip to Alaska was one of our best vacations yet. We look forward to going back and visiting Juneau, Ketchikan, and other parts of this beautiful state.

Have a beautiful day!

(all photos property of MonkeyPosh LLC and most are courtesy of Mr. MonkeyPosh's mad photography skills)

Head in the clouds

Greetings!

I have been so negligent of my blog all summer, and I really have no excuse other than just being busy and distracted, and out of Ritalin. Ok, just kidding about the Ritalin, but I have been totally taking advantage of the summer time and if I do sit down for any amount of time, it is usually to watch reality TV and/or eat junk food (so obsessed with So You Think You Can Dance!)....but not to blog. Plus, during the summer so many friends (skree Violet Noir, Kate, Les, and WW) visit Chicago and it is so fun to get to spend time with them. Oh and we got a Wii and a Wii Fit--so that keeps me busy and teaches me all sorts of things like how out of shape I am and that I have the balance of a 60 year old.

Up yours Wii.

A few hours will pass very quickly while trying to master the Wii.....seems this whole summer is going by way too fast.

So, last the blog left off, I had just returned from Alaska.

As I said in the previous post, we flew into Fairbanks, which was not really in the mountains like I expected. We spent a few nights there, but during the days we drove all around, because honestly, Fairbanks was a little boring. One day we drove to North Pole, Alaska which was very cool in a cheeseball kind of way. The stores there are decorated for Christmas all year round. It is a small town, but it has lots of silly things to take photos of. Exhibit A= the photo above.

I must also point out that we were in Alaska for their Summer Solstice which is the longest day of the year and a huge celebration. The daylight lasts 24 hours for about 2 months in the summer. It was FREAKY to say the least. You would wake up at 2 am and it was full blown light outside. In Fairbanks, they had a midnight softball game and when they were promoting it on the news, they said everyone who was going to to the game should wear plenty of sunscreen because it would be 80 degrees and sunny. Their heat of the day is AT MIDNIGHT!

One of the things that shocked us was the large variety of wildlife EVERYWHERE. This moose was just hanging out on the side of the road. I was not privy to how huge moose are. They are massive and when you spot one on the side of the road you must stop like a lame tourist and take a photo.Driving around Alaska is very beautiful. The scenery almost everywhere is amazing. This is a photo in Denali National Park. Denali means "The Great One" in Native Alaskan and it refers to the largest mountain in North America. It has since been named Mt. McKinley by our government, but none of the Alaskans ever call it Mt. McKinley. It is Denali--period.These photos were taken from the car driving in and around Denali National Park. This is a snowshoe hare who was sucking on the pebbles then spitting them out. It was in a creek bed and all the creeks are glacier fed and full of minerals, so I can only guess he was getting some sort of mineral off the pebbles. He was very very cute and not scared of me at all.

This is a photo of a Ptarmigan which is a grouse. These birds are loved at Denali. Many of them had hatchlings the week we were there, and this made the Park Rangers very excited. All of the Park Rangers talked about the park as if it were a person. All the ones we spoke to seemed to truly adore their job.

We took over 1,300 photos, so I could post so many more of the mountains in and around Denali, but sadly none of our photography could ever do them justice, so I will humbly move on to Anchorage, Alaska.

The drive from Denali to Anchorage was gorgeous, but we were happy to check into our hotel because it was a such a long drive. Anchorage is much more of a "city" than Fairbanks. Anchorage had lots going on AND they had a Nordstrom-HA! The first thing we did was eat. We ate coconut fried salmon, king crab legs, halibut, ETC. The seafood there is amazing. Next we went to a "Sled Dog Rodeo". The Iditarod Dog Race is HUGE in Alaska. The mushers are superstars there. We got to see some movie dogs.

This dog was in Snow Buddies,and this dog was in Eight Below. I have never seen either movie, but my husband has seen Eight Below and he totally remembered this dog. Apparently, Alaskan Malamutes are extremely intelligent and easy to train for movies. I think the dog that was in Snow Buddies looks kinda like Day-Z from Fightin Mad Mary's blog--all the cool dogs have a little Sled Dog blood!

This is Dallas Seavey whose Father won the Iditarod a few years ago. He is shooting for a win too. Those dogs were so excited to be harnessed up and run. They are a joy to watch.

I posted a few months ago about Finley going to Sled Dog Fantasy Camp because he could totally pull a sled through subzero temperatures in the mountains.

A dog can dream, can't he?

I will do a post about Seward, Alaksa in the next few days. Seward is worthy of a post all it's own.

Have a wonderful day!

(photos property of MonkeyPosh LLC)

Home

I am home from our journey to Alaska. It was beautiful, and rugged, and not at all what I thought it would be. We landed in Fairbanks, rented a car and drove all over that huge state.

When I was in college, one of my favorite songs was "Anchorage" by Michelle Shocked and one of the lines is : "Hey Chel, you know it's kind of funny, Texas always seemed so big, but you know you're in the largest state in the Union when you're anchored down in Anchorage". No truer words were ever sung--especially if you are driving through Alaska. The maps are all so misleading, simply because the scale is so much bigger there. What might be 10 miles on a map of New Jersey can easily be 70 or 80 miles in Alaska. However, the drive 90% of the time in Alaska is simply breathtaking. We drove from Fairbanks, to North Pole, to Delta Junction, to Denail, to Anchorage, to Seward. Seward, Alaska is easily one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. My husband stayed a few days longer than me in Seward to go fishing. He was supposed to fish for salmon and halibut, but due to the long winter there, the salmon were not in yet. That was a bummer, but not all is lost because now we have a freezer full of Alaskan halibut that my husband caught. Who knew I was married to such a Grizzley Adams?!

The above photo is our drive into Denali National Park.

Denali is the native Alaskan name to Mt. McKinley. That is not Mt. McKinley in the photo as most of the time the peak of Mt. Mckinley is in the clouds and even catching a glimpse is a lucky thing.

More photos coming soon.

I hope everyone's summer is as great as mine!

Lovely day to all.

(photo from MonkeyPosh, LLC)