What I Learned in the Mountains

Mossy rocks along the Fishin' Jimmy Trail

 I hiked in Wilderness Heals this past weekend, and I loved it. I realize the irony of writing about outdoorsy ventures in a "girly" blog along with the cosmetics reviews, and believe me, I do need a facial right about now. But I don't want to forget what I learned in the mountains, so I'm going to write about it before retiring to the spa, a.k.a. my bathroom.

It was really mind-blowing to be around so many generous people. I have met so many people through Wilderness Heals who would literally give someone the shirt off of their back. Three different team leaders offered to loan me equipment, and I was constantly amazed by the amount of effort that staff and participants put into organizing, fundraising and helping each other prepare for this event. I hope to keep in touch with all of the women on my team - it was a great group, full of sincerity and humor!

Also, I don't know what it is about being on the trail, but people are friendlier than anywhere else I've been. Maybe it's that we all know that if something goes wrong, we might be dependent on the kindness of a stranger to splint a leg, give us a liter of water, or tell us the best way to get back on the trail when we're lost. Maybe it's because it's just so freaking gorgeous out there. Look at the pictures if you don't believe me. Despite my aching muscles and general exhaustion, I was downright chipper at work the day after I got back.

Another thing I noticed is that it is was far easier to live mindfully out in the wilderness than it is in the city. Aside from the lack of electronic distractions, keeping my body from dehydrating or careening off the side of a mountain depended on my awareness of what I was doing at every given moment. I focused on packing the right amount of food, water, and protective clothing each morning. I focused on picking up my knees and my toes so I wouldn't trip over a boulder. I focused on leaving no trace - picking up every bit of trash, walking 200 feet away from trails and water sources to pee, wiping the bug spray off of my skin before wading into the lake.

The AMC huts (we stayed in Lonesome Lake Hut) are staffed by young people who live there all season, carrying our breakfast and dinner in and our trash out by foot, cooking, cleaning, entertaining, and apparently getting into all sorts of mountain-related hijinks in their spare time. This was pretty impressive to me; I can't imagine living like this for more than a week or so! Nonetheless, even a couple of days was an antidote to the frantic pace and cynicism of city life.

Summer facial for oily/sensitive skin

I've used a lot of expensive products on my skin, though probably not as many as some people. Some of them are worth it. For example, Origins Ginzing Eye Cream is the only eye cream I've tried that I can stand; it doesn't irritate my skin or melt into my eyes and make them sting.

However, sometimes those old drugstore standbys work just as well as the fancy stuff. I'm thinking of Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque, which my mom always had around the house when I was a kid. One year she even used it as face make-up for her Halloween "witch" costume. It's the classic green color, and goes great with hair set in rollers and a house dress.

I bought some Queen Helene's at CVS recently, and it was less than four bucks for the 8-ounce tube. It's just as effective as I remember! It's a basic clay mask that sucks the oil out of your pores. I have large pores and oily skin, so oil suckage is essential for me, especially in the summer. My skin is also sensitive, though, so I used a couple of products afterward to calm the irritation that results from said oil suckage. This seems to keep my skin from reacting by producing even more oil, which defeats the purpose of the whole thing!

Tamara's Summer Facial

1. Take a shower or steam your face to open your pores.
2. Use Queen Helene's Mint Julep Masque according to the package directions. Basically, you slather it on, let it dry, and rinse it off. It may sting for the first minute or so if you have sensitive skin. I find sitting in front of a fan set on low helps. Also, you don't have to let it dry all the way. If it's still got damp patches, this is fine - go ahead and rinse it off.
3. After rinsing off the mask, apply alcohol-free witch hazel toner (I use Thayer's) with cotton balls. I find this to be soothing and it's an astringent as well (closes pores).
4. At this point, I apply a thin layer of Boiron Calendula Gel - you could probably also use aloe vera gel or sliced or grated cucumber here. The purpose of this step is to moisturize and calm any irritation.
5. Follow with your typical moisturizing regimen.

Enjoy, and let me know how it works!

Being a "Not Much of Anything"

My wife and I got married in a lovely Congregational/UCC church. We weren't originally planning to get married in a church, since I don't belong to one and we couldn't get married in hers (Roman Catholic, two girls, you know the drill). But we happened upon this great church that was willing to let us get married there, and it felt right, somehow.

In our conversations with the pastor (she wanted to make sure we weren't totally cuckoo before marrying us, I guess) my wife explained our spiritual backgrounds thus: "I'm Catholic, and Tamara isn't much of anything." I voiced my objections to her phrasing, though for someone coming from a strongly Catholic background, I can understand that's what it looks like.

In the intervening years, I have explored Christianity and gained a new appreciation for it, but have decided that it doesn't completely "fit" me, at least not as it has been presented/explained to me. I attended the church we were married in for a couple of years to check it out, and got to the point where I felt it was time to fish or cut bait, i.e. get baptized and join the church, or look elsewhere for spiritual community.

I pondered my position in the community for several months, and realized that I didn't fit there, for a few different reasons. First, I still felt marginalized in that community as a childless adult, and as a queer person.

Second, I could never wrap my mind about the idea of "believing in" the Trinity. What does it mean to believe in something that seems so abstract? It's very confusing for me, having been raised by pragmatists. I couldn't truthfully say, "I believe in God; I believe in Jesus Christ; I believe in the Holy Spirit," and have it mean the same thing as, "I believe that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius" (at sea level, of course). Maybe it doesn't have to mean the same thing, but I haven't been able to work that one out for myself either.

Third, it bothered me that there were some topics that never seemed to get discussed. For example, it seems inconceivable to me that a liberal spiritual community can go years without discussing sexuality. I'm not talking about the civil rights of GLBT people; they covered that pretty well. I'm talking about actual sex and sexual relationships and what they have to do with God, or spirituality. Sex is an important part of my life, and I think it's weird not to talk about it in a space where we are supposed to be talking about The Important Things In Life.

So I guess I'm back to being a "Not Much of Anything." Apparently, I am in good company. Recently, I read an article about Robert Putnam of Harvard's Kennedy School, who has been studying religious "nones" for the last several years, and I am planning on delving into some of his articles. I've just added All Things Shining by Hubert Dreyfus and Sean Dorrance Kelly to my reading list. All of you "nones" out there, is there anything else I should be reading?

I promise I will get back to writing about lipstick one of these days....

Belongings

When I get off of the subway at the end of the line, the conductor (or an automated facsimile thereof) admonishes me, "Don't forget your belongings." I find this reminder interesting. Are people more likely to forget their belongings when they get off at the last stop? It's possible; I suppose I fall into a kind of stupor knowing that I don't need to worry about missing my stop, so maybe I am more prone to absent-mindedness in this situation than if I actually had to pay attention to where I was getting off.

But that's not really what the automated conductor facsimile is talking about, is it? No. "Don't forget your belongings" is a nice euphemism for "pick up your crap!" The voice is telling me to pick up the newspaper, coffee cup, etc., that I have brought onto the train with me. (I probably don't even think of these things as belongings. They don't belong to me. They were just a temporary means of holding my beverage, or filling my time.) Again, I point out the inconsistency: Are people more likely to leave their trash when getting off at the last stop? Alternately, is the anti-littering message somehow more effective at a terminus? Does the fact that the train is stopped there for more than a second make it more likely that a passenger will look around and realize that she did leave some trash behind, or even take a moment to pick up something left by another careless subway rider?

Regardless of whether the reminder works or not, it got me thinking about the word "belongings." Over the last year, I have been trying to "declutter" my life, with varying degrees of success. I have learned that the inverse of the old saying is also true: My treasure is someone else's trash. It even goes beyond that: over time, something that was once my treasure becomes my own trash, like the exciting new lipstick I have decided I don't like the color of, but it's practically unused, so I feel guilty throwing it away, and it's now adding to the clutter on my dresser. (I thought a lipstick example was only appropriate, given the theme of the blog.)

Even if my desk has three projects-in-progress cluttering its surface, or baskets of clean laundry litter the bedroom because I can't fit them all in my closet, I have become more careful about the belongings I acquire, and have started to think about whether they are better than something I already have, whether they are worth the X hours of work that I spent making the money I will exchange for them, and how likely I am to see them as junk in a month, or a year, or a decade, much the way the coffee cup or the newspaper becomes, a half hour after I acquire it, something I no longer think of as belonging to me.

Product Review: Revlon ColorStay Mineral Lipglaze

Details: 
I bought the "Overtime Wine" color, at CVS last night. I believe it was $9.99, which seems to be the going rate for a tube of colored lip gunk. CVS is running a special right now - if you buy two Revlon products you get $4 in "Extra Bucks." This will be great if (a big if) I remember to use the coupon the next time I am there.

How it looks:
The color is translucent, so whatever shade you buy, it will probably be lighter than it appears in the tube. "Overtime Wine" has a little shimmer to it - I didn't notice if this was true of all of the colors. I'm happy with the color on me (I'm fair-skinned and blond, my face tends to be ruddy, and my skin has cool/blue undertones). I think it will be good for wearing to the office...the shimmer is there but it's not crazy, and it's a nice medium color.

How it feels:
My main concern when I bought this is that it would be sticky. It's a liquid that you apply with a wand, and it's supposed to be "long wearing," so how else is it going to stick if it's not sticky? I was right; it is sticky. It's not awful, but if sticky bothers you, look elsewhere. On the plus side, it's not drying, as some of these "long-wearing" products seem to be.

How it wears:
It seems to wear better than most of the non-"long-wearing" lip products I use. I applied it before my morning coffee and bagel, and while it came off all over the coffee cup and the bagel, there was actually still some on my lips when breakfast was over. I was impressed.

How it tastes/smells:
I found the flavor inoffensive - it tastes like orange-flavored Italian nougat candy. (How's that for specific?)

Hello World

So, I decided to create a new blog, because Blogger is cooler than LJ. At least, that's what all the cool kids tell me.

No, not really. I just felt like a fresh start. The focus of my blog, for now, is probably going to be recipes I like, craftiness (sewing, knitting, etc.) and products I have bought. I am getting back into using makeup, so I will probably review lipsticks and eye shadows and stuff, for anyone who is interested.

By the way, what should I call my blog? Suggestions are welcome.

Thanks for reading!