"A New Year, A New You"- LITERALLY

So, our first enrichment activity for the year was entitled "A New Year, A New You". It was a night of nutrition, fitness, and make-up information to help us get the year started right. One lucky individual was going to get a makeover to be the model for the tips. I declined putting my name in because I thought that I wouldn't get picked, but later on, Sara Hurst, the one in charge of the raffle bowl, said that she was putting my name in. I said okay because there were about 15 other names in there and what was the likelihood that I would be called. I should have known that I would be the first one drawn. It was slightly embarrassing because I had to walk around the room and have everyone look at my "bushy" eyebrows because they were soon to be "shaped". They really needed them as I normally get my eyebrows waxed, but haven't found anyone here in CA to do it yet. Thus, I was the "guinea pig" as Katie put it and was her demo for nearly an hour. They would cut back and forth between us and the nutrition and fitness info but it was just amazing to me to hear just how healthy one sister in our ward is. She only places olive oil as a seasoning on her food- she grills and or steams all of her vegetables and meats and eats some peanut butter and ice cream occasionally. I was literally just amazed and she looked fabulous being over 40 and having a little boy, but I was thinking that there is NO WAY we could do that because William is not a fan of vegetables. I really have to try to get him to eat them so, maybe we will just try a little harder to incorporate a bit more "green" into our food intake.

Back to the makeover. She also put mascara on my eyes with liquid liner on top that she "squeegeed " (her term) into a straight line and then placed normal pencil eyeliner on my bottom lid, but ABOVE my lashes, so right on the crease before my inner lid. I've never done this before and it was kind of painful so I'm not sure that I will be able to do it everyday. She later placed 4 different colors of eyeshadow on and several layers of lip gloss. It was nice to know that I have GREAT eyelashes- I don't need to curl them, just put mascara on. This was a really involved makeup routine and it was nice to have done, but I told Katie at the end that I could not spend that long every day on it. But, I did pick up some new tips. And I had to walk around and model again so that everyone could see the difference. And, here are a few photos of the results.

Up close and personal- you can see the work she did on the eyebrows and eyes.

And finally, the overall effect. (William took this photo from a "high fashion" angle).

Up until a year ago, I never really wore very much makeup. I usually would just wear mascara, some foundation, and a little eyeshadow and chapstick. I started expanding my makeup while I was in Boston due to my good friend Jamie who helped me to become more aware of makeup, but it wasn't until last year in Las Vegas with my sister Sarah and my mom that my ability with makeup dramatically increased. Sarah and I both got makeovers from Clinique and the girl who took care of us did an AWESOME job. I FINALLY found a foundation that matched my skin tone perfectly and she taught me how to use a makeup brush to apply it. I will never go back to just the finger or sponge application again. I also used foundation, blush, and . . . . EYELINER. Yes, I discovered just how much I like eyeliner- and how it makes a difference- with the Clinique Navy Blue Quickliner. Some of the best stuff. My mom is a GEM and loved how I looked and so she bought me most of my materials and I am SO GRATEFUL, especially for the brushes. After this latest makeover, I am now doing liquid liner on my top lashes and will experiment with that to see how I like it. I'm making makeup progress- slowly, but surely :-)

The nice thing is that William really likes me WITHOUT MAKEUP! He keeps telling me that he just likes me how I am naturally (a sign of true love) and that if I want to wear makeup, that's great. Basically, it is whatever I want to feel good. He was really shocked by the above makeover because when I got home, he was like "What happened" and I asked him if he liked it, and in a smart husband way, he said "You're beautiful whatever you wear" and "Whatever makes you happy". He's learned well.