Is It a Middle-Aged Thing?

As of my last birthday, I am officially counting myself as middle-aged. Granted, I am at the very bottom end of that spectrum, and other people might not put me in the middle yet, but I am not in my twenties or my early thirties anymore. And it feels good. I have no dismay over my age (other than my baby turning 4 yesterday!) and in some ways it feel nice to consider myself a full-fledged grown up now. Dad, if you're reading this, I still reserve the right to borrow money at some point in the future. You're still my father.

One of the things I have never done in my life is see a dermatologist. I know lots of teenagers go to one for the standard teenage acne stuff, but I just saw my pediatrician or GP for all of that. And as I age I am more concerned about wrinkles and skin cancer than acne. But not exclusively.

So I made my appointment, waited in the waiting room for AN HOUR, and finally had my turn to be examined. And in the end, I kind of felt like I had wasted my time and money. Here's what I came away with:

• I need to wash my face morning and night. Duh. I knew that (but still don't do it).
• Wear sunscreen. Um, yes, especially in Arizona. I did find out my daily 15 spf should be higher.
• Use good lotion/moisturizer EVERY time after you wash your hands. Apparently it's worth the effort and the excema problems on my fingers (under my rings) will probably be fixed by this.

And that's it. I found out that so much of what we fight is genetic & unless you want to drop money on cosmetic work (I might) then there's not much you can do about it. But I am hoping to do better at the above three things - wish me luck - and I think the most important thing I did was get an entire body inspection for skin cancer.  Which is a bit embarassing/uncomfortable but so important. That was worth the money by itself. Have you ever done this? I hear stories of people getting skin cancer in strange places and not noticing and I wanted a good baseline to start judging by. So I guess I will plan to get checked regularly now that I am middle-aged. Maybe every 3-4 years? What do you think? Do any of you go regularly? How often? Or are all my five remaining readers still in their twenties? You babies!

Also, what are your favorite products for face wash, daily moisturizer (with high spf), hand lotion, and eye cream? My dermatologist recommends Neutrogena.

2011 Books in Review

I read 68 books in 2011. That seems like a lot to me, averaging over one a week. Yet I still feel like my time would be better served reading more books and less blogs - and definitely watching less television. I review every book that I read on Goodreads, so check out my reviews for recommendations. But here are the best books I read last year.
Favorite 5 stars:

Sapphique (#2 Incarceron series), by Catherine Fisher
The One Hundred, by Nina Garcia
The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness - I gave the entire Chaos Walking Trilogy high marks
Jellicoe Road, by Melina Marchetta
The Forgotten Garden, by Kate Morton


Noteable 4 stars:

Dancing in my Nuddypants & Away Laughing on a Fast Camel, by Louise Rennison (hilarious series)
Mini-Shopaholic, by Sophie Kinsella (another light comedy)
My Life in France, by Julia Child
Daddy Long Legs, by Jean Webster (I bought this!)
Maisie Dobbs, by Jacqueline Winspear
Bloody Jack, by L.A. Meyer


My list for 2012:
The Book of Mormon (I will re-read this as my church studies it for Sunday School this year)
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee (how have I never read this!?!)
finish Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte - another I have missed over the years but am 70% through
The Happiness Project, by Gretchen Rubin
The Maze Runner, by James Dashner
I Am the Messenger, by Marcus Zusak
The House at Riverton, by Kate Morton

I actually have 184 books on my To-Read list, but those are the ones I really want to get to in 2012.

Tara's bookshelf: read

Tara Carpenter's favorite books »

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Still Looking Tired

As a BzzAgent, I was offered the chance to try some fancy skin care products: Dr. Lewinn by Kinerase. I was sent the Under Eye Recovery and the Wrinkle Repair Daily Lotion. I used the Under Eye Recovery for a month and don't really have any complaints. I'm not sure if it helped my eyes look better, but it felt good when I used it every morning and evening. Here's the before and after photos, close-ups of my eyes that I'm not loving, but whatever. Looks like my eyebrows & pores need much more help than the bags under my eyes. In review, I can't recommend the Under Eye Recovery because I didn't notice any difference in my month of use.

I also received the Wrinkle Repair Daily Lotion to try. I used it for about a week, despite the fact that I didn't like it from the beginning. It was far too greasy for my already oily skin. I was really nervous about a break-out, but it din't happen. I think this might be a good product for someone with dry skin. I loved the light, citrusy scent. I can't comment on the wrinkle repair properties since I only used it for a week. Anybody else want to try mine?  I still have an almost full bottle.

Thanks Kinerase and BzzAgent for letting me try out these products but I am still on the look out for a good under eye cream. I'd like something that erases the bags & fixes/prevents wrinkles. Anyone have a suggestion?

More Holiday Planning

If you are thinking about Christmas cards, and were not swayed by the last lot I posted, maybe these will float your boat.

I've posted about Night Owl Paper Goods before. I adore the cards I ordered last year & have used all of them up. I need to order more! I even picked up a couple of birch postcards that I have on the wall in my foyer. I admired the birch Christmas cards and if I weren't doing my own this year I would seriously be considering something from Night Owl Paper Goods holiday collection. I love the birch ones, but now they have all of their great designs in a paper version also. And they just announced an incredible Early Bird Special - a 20% discount on all Personalized Holiday Cards PLUS free domestic, ground shipping on all orders $49+. This offer is only good until October 26th, so head over to their website & get choosing! These are my favorites (click on the image to go straight to the site):

   



Disclosure: Night Owl Paper Goods offered me a free goodie pack for posting about this special deal. But it was easy since I already love this company and have bought their products for myself in the past.

Shiny & New

In going with a metallic "color" scheme for my grandmother's birthday party I was using these images for inspiration. I found them on Pinterest.

After many hours spent crouching in my garage spray painting, and folding & taping till my fingers hurt, here are my versions of the shiny tin can flower vases and the paper rosette photo backdrops.

My sister borrowed some silk flowers and put together the arrangements (with help from her 9yo). I like the look of fresh flowers in the inspiration image, but this was SO much easier on the day of the party.

You can see that I needed about 50% more rosettes, but I love the coverings for the centers. I bought packs of paper doilies at Walmart (30 for 97 cents) and spray painted them in my metallic colors. The rosettes will look fab on my dining room walls for Thanksgiving, and maybe even permanently. That last shot is my family (sans the 7yo boy) with my sweet grandmother.