Share Our Lives: Favourite Hair And Make Up Products (Sort Of!)

I'm linking up today with the Share Our Lives bloggers. They are Sarah, Dara, Joanne, Adrienne, and Jen. (Click on each name to go their blogs.) We are talking about our favourite hair & make up products. But I don't wear make up and I don't use any hair products (other than shampoo and conditioner) so instead I'm going to show you my favourite toiletries. Hopefully the Share Our Lives bloggers will forgive me for "expanding" this topic, as it were :)

My hair and skincare routine is either a) very easy or b) non-existent! Hahaha! I wash my face every morning with a washcloth and cold water. That's it. Since I don't wear make up, I don't need to wash my face at night. I mean, maybe I should, but I don't. Also, I feel like I'm low maintenance but, when we go to Europe, I have to pack a washcloth because they don't have them there. It's a little ridiculous that it is an essential item to me, but it really is!

My hair washing routine is that I shower every other day and wash my hair and condition it. Then I towel dry it and comb it. That's it. I don't use a hair dryer. I don't use mousse. I don't even use a specific shampoo and conditioner. Right now I'm using a colour treated shampoo to try and maintain my highlights a little longer. After it's gone, I'll go back to using what ever is cheapest or sounds most interesting without being too expensive.

In terms of other "products" I use, they are the following:

We've each had our own shower scrub for a few years now. We all use a different Softsoap Body Wash. My favourite one has honey and lavender. I've probably been using this body wash for about three or four years now.

The thing I am most vain about is wearing my contacts. I wear them almost every day. My contact solution is probably the third most important toiletry I use, after toothpaste and my lip balm.

I started using Tom's of Maine natural toothpaste in 2000. It has a very strong taste which took some getting used to, but now I can't use any other type of toothpaste. Other toothpastes taste too sweet to me. When I go to the dentist, they have to use a non-flavoured pumice powder to clean my teeth because I can't handle the minty gel they would use otherwise.

Even though I don't use any hair or makeup products, I do paint my toenails. They are always polished. I do it myself at home, usually while blogging, watching a Blue Jays game, or a Hallmark movie! Hahaha! I've loved the Essie brand ever since I discovered it about five years ago. I introduced Rachel to Essie too and some of these colours are hers. I didn't realize we had so much nail polish until I put it all out for this picture :)

My mom introduced me to Carmex in 1990 when I was in Grade 12. If I wear this continuously, I get fewer cold sores. I have containers of Carmex all over the place -- on my nightstand, at work, in my purse, on our main floor -- I usually have about four on the go at once. And I use it a lot. This might actually beat out toothpaste for my favourite toiletry :)

So that's it. Those are all the products I use. Except for nail polish (and toothpaste!), I feel like I'm pretty low maintenance when it comes to products. Just don't take away my Carmex :)

Friday Favourite Moments #14

I'm doing a bit of a different take on my Friday Favourite Moments this week. Normally, I pick a few favourite moments from the week but we spent Easter weekend with our best friends at their house in Virginia and, after a packed weekend of fun with them, and twenty hours of driving, I've been working, doing laundry, and sleeping this week. The only other exciting thing I've done is met Sam's teachers for this semester, which happened last night.

So instead of sharing favourite moments from the week, I'm going to share my (many) favourite moments from our weekend. Our best friends live in our city but Tim's parents live in Virginia and Janice's family is from there. They both went to college there and travel there fairly regularly. After Covid lockdowns ended, they built a house on some property in Virginia so they have the option to spend more time down there with family. And this was our first time to go see it.

We were so happy to be out of the car and at Tim and Janice's!

It was lovely to go for a walk around their property and see their space.

Willem introduced us to disc golf and we enjoyed an evening of practising!

Sam turned FIFTEEN on Saturday and we started the celebrations with brunch.

I loved the glimpse of spring we enjoyed this past weekend.

Did I mention this kid is now fifteen?!?!?!?!?

An enjoyable afternoon of disc golf on Willem's college campus and a lot of laughter!!!

So happy to get back to the Book Fair! See this post here for our first Book Fair visit :)

Italian doughnuts with chocolate dipping sauce instead of a birthday cake for Sam.

We coloured Easter Eggs and the kids got Easter baskets.

Easter photo after church on Sunday.

 

Willem had been talking all weekend about a hike to a reservoir he had done with friends in the fall. I was super excited to do it, even though Janice warned us there was a "sketchy bridge crossing." Well, to me, that made it sound even more fun!!! And yes, the hike was gorgeous. And yes, the bridge was sketchy. And yes, there was more water in the spring than Willem remembered from the fall. And yes, Janice skipped the bridge after the first crossing and waded through the water instead! But yes, it was absolutely worth it!!! 

We enjoyed all our favourite US stops -- Target and Panera Bread! And we brought home a baker's dozen of cinnamon crunch bagels. Yum! Yum! Yum!

 

So those were my favourite moments from the weekend. This coming weekend looks nice and sunny, and somewhat warm, so I'll be spending lots of time in one of my favourite places -- our back yard! Whoo hoo!!!

Currently: April 2024

As always on the first Wednesday of the month, I'm linking up with Jennifer at Overflowing With Thankfulness for "Currently." You can find Jennifer here. We just returned from spending Easter weekend with our best friends in Virginia so this post is full of that, as well as eagerness to do some settling in at home :)

[loving]

I am "loving" that we had such a GREAT Easter weekend in Virginia with our besties! We celebrated Sam's birthday, we played disc golf, we went for a hike, we shopped at Target and a big book fair, and we had so much fun! I'm thankful for such a fun weekend!!!

Willem is playing disc golf on a college scholarship and was so gracious to introduce us to the game. He's currently playing at Nationals so we're excited to cheer him on -- from afar!

This was a really fun hike on Easter Sunday afternoon before we all went our separate ways.

I am also "loving" that we have no plans to go anywhere for a few months! Hahaha!!! I'm ready for some weekends at home.

We stopped at Panera Bread and bought a bunch of cinnamon crunch bagels so we're all "loving" that.

[looking forward to]

I'm "looking forward to" getting out and getting some yard work done! I'm excited to have some time, and (hopefully) good weather, over the next few weekends to get some spring clean up done.

I'm also "looking forward to" my first visit to my favourite local greenhouse. I was putting it off until after Easter but I think I might be able to get there this weekend! Whooo hooo!!!

I'm also "looking forward to" watching my first baseball game of the regular season on TV. We were too busy over Easter to watch and now the games are too late. But Saturday night will find me watching my Jays!

[buying]

Well, I am "buying" a starter pack of disc golf frisbees! We had so much fun playing with Willem in Virginia that Dave and I are determined to improve and play on some courses here. This should be a fun adventure this spring! Hahaha!!!

 

We all used Willem's discs this past weekend.

[planting]

As soon as it stops snowing (UGH!!!), I will be "planting" pansies, and probably, ranunculus! I can't wait!!! Even if I will have to cover them to protect them from frost and snow still.

[cleaning]

We need to be "cleaning" our car, after a weekend road trip, and going way too long without cleaning it. After I get the yard work done, the next nice day is going to be dedicated to car cleaning. It's way overdue.

So that is what's up with us "Currently." I'm getting anxious/excited to dive into all things spring and our yard. I just need a few more days of patience. Wish me luck!!!

Sawgrass? Saskatchewan? Who Can Tell?

Today we're back at work after an incredibly fun, but full, four day Easter weekend. I'll be telling you about that in a few days (probably) but first, I want to tell you about the last day of our March Break trip. We got off the cruise ship this day and our flight wasn't until late in the evening. So we rented a car and went on an Everglades tour.

The Everglades are a unique feature of Florida and we had never been to them so I wanted to take advantage of being so near. We went to Sawgrass Recreation Park which was about a half hour drive from Fort Lauderdale.

The water lilies were plentiful and beautiful.

I loved looking into the waterways, which is what I thought our airboat would be following.

Right off, we spotted an alligator. Can you see it? We ended up seeing four on this tour which was pretty cool because alligator sightings are not guaranteed.

With the flat, and the reflection of the clouds on the water, I was reminded of Saskatchewan! Yes, I'm always looking for Saskatchewan in places I go :)

If you take away the water, and the alligators, it's basically a Saskatchewan wheat field. Hahaha!

Remember when I said I thought we'd be following the waterways? Yeah, no. Our airboat operator just drove wherever he felt like. This is going through some of the long grass. Once we had gone over it, it just popped back up -- you couldn't tell where we had been.

Rachel enjoying the scenery.

The rest of us had a more traditional lunch but Dave ate gator tacos. Then Rachel held one. An alligator, not a taco :) She loved that the alligator guide had the alligator waving for the camera while she was holding it.

Then Dave held the alligator! I was happy to be the photographer :)

 

And that was the end of our March Break adventure. We had such a good trip and I'm so glad we got to see the unique landscape of the Florida Everglades too!