Monthly Archives: May 2016

Mother Daughter Style

by Sunny

follow me on Twitter @sunnylooksleaps

I’ve always been a huge fan of shopping.  Malls, Marshalls, Target, online, I love to browse even if I don’t actually purchase.  I guess this is not surprising considering my mother and grandmother’s love of shopping.  I was always happy to tag along with them on their outings and owe everything I know about finding a bargain to them.

When MJ was born, the shopping frenzy took full force. Everyone loves to shop for a little girl! During her first year,  I remember her having more pink frilly sleepers, dresses, and rompers then she had time to wear.  At a year old, she would open her closet, look at all of her clothes, and say, ‘WOW.”  She loved to dress up, loved to wear costumes, and still loves to put together her own outfits.  She has a one-of-a-kind style that only she knows the rules to.  Her outfits are loud, often mis-matched, and only sometimes seasonally appropriate.  While I have always made rather sensible and safe fashion choices, MJ wears what she wants without a thought as to what other people may think.  And while I love this about her, shopping trips and picking out an outfit can be a challenge.

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Nostalgia Across an Ocean

by Wendy
Follow me on twitter @wendylooksleaps

One of the rewards of visiting another country is the opportunity to observe and appreciate what is different – as well as noticing what is the same. These flashes of familiarity can make you feel very connected to a place in ways you did not expect. Dad talks about this a little in his Travel Epistle post, how senses are often heightened during travel, and how the basic human need of eating and drinking can help visitors get to know a new place.

The other week my eye doctor told me about a recent trip to Portugal with his sister. I’m a longtime patient of his, sometimes obliged to visit twice a year because I’m blind as a bat with unusually high pressure readings for glaucoma. Luckily this bat can see well with contact lenses and doesn’t get quite as nervous about these appointments as she did as a bat teen. It’s pretty routine, we shoot the breeze and I ask what cool trips he’s taken lately. Continue reading →

Drugstore Beauty Buys

by April, Sunny and Wendy
Every gal has a few beauty tricks up her sleeve – including go-to budget products that can be found at the local drugstore. Here are some of our personal faves. Please share yours in the comments below! Continue reading →

Notes on Fragrance

by Wendy
What’s your favorite fragrance? This question was posed during an afternoon spent visiting friends and family in New Jersey. The answers were as varied as you would expect – as was the general interest in the topic. After everyone else drifted back to other subjects, I enthusiastically chatted about perfume and cologne with the questioner, who works in the luxury beauty industry and is a wealth of knowledge. To hear him discuss various designer scents is like listening to a sommelier describe wine.

We talked about the fun of taking a new sample fragrance on a trip, and then forever being reminded of that time and place by the perfume or cologne. This is not a new idea – other writers have mentioned this connection. But I think we often forget how powerful our sense of smell can be, how immediate our reaction to scent can be. A fragrance can be so evocative, almost conjuring memories to the surface as if by magic. It can influence an atmosphere or give a hint of someone’s personality. Continue reading →