Day the 170th

Oh, Reader. I ate it.

First I made it; then, I ate it.

Granted, not all of it, but before I divulge my bad food behavior, let's recap yesterday.

Lunch was lovely sliced Roma tomatoes on a bed of...artichoke dip. No, not a very good thing to eat. Dinner was some homemade White Bean Chili With Chicken and this time, I cooked the onion and garlic until they almost carmelized, and the chili is now a rich brown broth with lovely chunks of chicken in it. And the White Beans. I love to cook.

Oh, and I took those 2 Eggplants that Had To Be Used Or Else and turned them into Baba Ghanoush - which is not easy. It's way too labor-intensive except for the most special occasions, and I also made it with browned onion, which adds a sweet and rich flavor. My Baba doesn't taste like the Baba at this great restaurant here in town, so I defo need to use the onion to make it a better dish. I love Baba, and I'm just not happy with mine, even though it comes from the America's Test Kitchen Cookbook. I know...hey! if you have a great Baba recipe, please oh please post it. Please. I am begging you...

But I also made praline fudge and it was delicious and yes, bad me is having some this morning. I'm jonzin' for the sweets.

MOST OF THIS IS CELEBRATION! Remember that story of the Prodigal Son and how the other son whined and complained and the father said, "The son who was lost to me, who was dead, has come back! It's a time to celebrate."

Thing One [see yesterday's post] seemed dead to me, but has come back. Yes, a time for rejoicing and BESIDES, PEOPLE, IT'S THE HOLIDAYS. This is my excuse through the Entire Month Of December. Egg Nog...here I come...

I'm also thinking about hosting a little Christmas Carolling Party of my nearest and dearest. Many folks from The Choir, but not all of them. I want to invite purposefully and not just a "mass invite" - plus, I have "non-choir" friends whom I want to invite. Yes, it's a spectacular that we are having - it's a Christmas Extravaganza. Woo to the frikkin' HOO!

And now...the Thought For The Day:

EYESHADOW

I'm a make-up - wearin' girl. I mean, if I were a lesbian (and I'm not...), I would be a Lipstick Lesbian. I like make-up. I like how it looks, I like the creativity of applying it, I like how other people react to how I look.

And I looooooooooooooooooooooove eyeshadow. It's wonderful. Actually, I love the whole 'eye make-up line.' But let's concentrate on the shadows...

I just bought this darling little set of 4 "baked" shadows. Most shadows are pressed into a small pan. Then, the beautiful-woman-to-be rubs the applicator over the pressed shadow and onto her lovely eyelids. Of course, there are loose powder shadows that are the very dickens to apply. They wind up all over your face. Moral of that story: if you're going to use loose powder shadow, put it on first and then apply the rest of the goo...

But these baked shadows are intense and can be applied dry (sheer, transparent) or with water (like water colors except the effect is...SPECTACULAR.) I'm totally all over them. They are dense, dense, dense, and intense, intense, intense. I love them. I do. I really do.

One of the things I loooooooooooooooove about eyeshadow is that you can contour with it around your eye socket to give your eyes, and I quote one of my men friends, 'depth.' You can also use an 'eyeliner' brush and apply a dark shadow as eyeliner. I love this. I think it's brilliant.

And let's talk about the colors.

I have blue eyes with some green in them and a great deal of grey. I can use brown (the more 'copper' the better), copper, mauve, and lavender, and I can line with either brown or black. I can even use orange - yes, orange - shadow with a little brown mixed in so I don't look like I'm trying to disguise my eyeballs as little Ronald McDonald heads [hey! Has anyone besides me noticed that with the New Look at Mickey D's - "I'm Lovin' It!" - that ol' Ronald McD has been retired? I mean, cool, casual, trendy doesn't exactly fit with a guy dressed like a rodeo clown, but I digress.]

Like most women, I'm of the opinion that A Woman Can Never Have Too Many Eyeshadows. Or various versions of the exact same color.

So...in the comments - and please, comment either on the blog or where I post the link on Facebook - I want to hear about eyeshadow from our women. Or men, too. Hey! I'm easy (but I'm not cheap...)

And a Happy Holiday Season to you - and remember, the Advent Postings start on THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1!

Thanks for hangin' in here with me. I'm going to lose all this weight. I may slow it waaaaaaaaaaaaaay down during the Holidays this year, but people, people, people, I have SO MUCH TO CELEBRATE!

Love you all.

Independently,

Weltha