Kiss my face

Truth: I am obsessed with skincare.

I am blessed to have pretty good genes when it comes to my skin. 99.9% of the time, my complexion is pretty flawless.

Don't hate. Trust me I have plenty of other things that aren't so wonderful. Let me have my skin.

So I really love skincare. I wash and moisturize twice a day. I use toner once a day. I use anti-wrinkle serum around my eyes daily. I do a refining mask or microdermabrasion once a week. It's my thing.

However, for some reason - literally for the first time in my life - my skin has been rebelling against me. I'm not handling it well. Whining and crying to Chad about how horrible my skin looks - to which he gives me the look that shows when he has a face swollen the size of a basketball he could really care less about how my "skin looks." And I feel a little guilty - because it's not really bad... it's just a few little bumps here and there. Regardless, I ain't happy about it.

So when my lover Amy over at Little Fish.Big Pond. said she was about to start using Origins Checks and Balances frothy face wash because she heard such great things about it, I figured "why not."

So I bought myself two 5 oz bottles of it.

And I'm torn. I obvi want it to work really well so my skin can go back to being madly in love with me. But I'm afraid if I decide it's the best thing since sliced Great Harvest Bread Company's japeleno cheese bread, than my grandmother - Ms. Mary Kay herself - will disown me.

My gma has been with Mary Kay for more 30 years, and she's some national senior sales director of the world. The woman has won her share of pink cadillacs - yes they exsist, and yes she's won them... more than once. Her basement studio - Mary Kay pink of course - is like something out of a little girl's dream.

Here is just one of her MK closets.

So you get the pic. My gma wants all her decendants to wear MK, but sometimes I feel guilty calling being like - yo gma, can you please send me some more full coverage foundation, sunny spice blush and some timewise mostiurizer pronto? Especially since she refuses our money for it. So when that happens, I usually just buy some other brands which I'll not name because I'm afraid if my gma sees this she'll drive down from Annapolis, smack me upside my head, and then drive back.

So I try to keep these devil brands away from her watchful eye when we visit. Unforunately, I almost got caught a couple years ago. We were up for Christmas I believe, and I left my make-up bag there on accident. My gma calls my mom to say, "I think one of the girls left their make-up bags here- but it must have been Molly since there wasn't much Mary Kay in there." Even though my mom knew it was mine, she understood the dilhema and quickly said, "Oh yes, it was Molly's. Just mail it here."

Note: I already apologized to Mol for throwing her under the bus... but I can't get on gma's bad side. She understood.

So that said - I'm giving Origins a try to woo me. If anything, I'll just see if this face wash can get me past the horrible time in the life of my skin, and then I'll return to my gma's good graces in earnest.

Another great article by Rick Reilly

If you are even remotely interested in sports, I suggest you follow Rick Reilly's weekly columns. This guy is really great. As a writer, I greatly respect his wit and style.

You can find a link to it here, or if you're lazy, I've pasted it below for you reading enjoyment. As a publicist by trade, I think he's offering some good advice to Tiger and I'd second it.

An image-rehab plan for Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods is the first person in history to run his car into a hydrant and set himself on fire.

His wife reportedly has left him. His reputation is shredded. His once-perfect name has been dragged through more mud than a Nantucket clam digger's boots. A once-spotless life is now an episode of "Cops."

So what now?

First, Oprah Winfrey.

"It has to be Oprah," says the king of Las Vegas publicity men, Dave Kirvin. "If you did a poll on who's most disgusted by this whole mess, it would be women. To win over those women, you need to win over Oprah. You win over Oprah, you win over America."

Once he's on Oprah's couch, he says this:

"To my wife, to my kids, to my family, to my friends, to my fans, I am so sorry. You believed in me. You looked up to me. You thought I was different, and I let you down. I'm ashamed of myself. My mom is ashamed of me. I'm sure my dad would be ashamed of me. I'm an idiot." Then he has to go full Tebow: "From this day forward, you will never see somebody work harder, 24 hours a day, to win back your trust."

It has to be next week and no later, because every day the British tabloids have him sleeping with everybody but the Page 3 girl. "The sooner he makes his public act of contrition, the sooner he takes the oxygen out of the story," Kirvin says.

Second, he needs to shut down his public life.

He needs to skip San Diego, skip the Masters, maybe even skip the U.S. Open. When your house is rubble, you don't go play the Buick Open. Tiger needs to prove to his wife, Elin, sponsors and fans that morality is more important than majors.

Third, he needs to clean house. If he wants to keep his wife, he has to get a new agent, a new caddie and some new friends. It's hard to believe all this went on without their help or knowledge. How can she see them as anything but enablers?

Fourth, he needs to freeze his corporate sponsors before they freeze him. He needs to tell them, "I'm not doing any ads or taking any payment until I can again prove myself worthy of your products. I'm sorry I've let you down. It won't happen again."

Fifth, he needs to write his Tiger Woods Learning Center a check for $5 million with a note that says, "Keep studying hard. I'll be back to help you fundraise in 2011."

He needs sincerity and commitment and honor now because he might have just ruined a lot of lives, maybe even his own. He needs transparency.

Let us into your life a little. Do the "A week on the road with Tiger" story. Give a home interview once in a while. Let people check in the closets and under the bed. Prove to the world you've changed. Because "no comment" and three security guards are only going to make people suspicious.

Sixth, a few manners wouldn't kill him. No more terrible-twos temper. No more swearing. No more throwing clubs. And instead of pulling his signature blow-by move on the hundreds of autograph seekers waiting for him after every round, stop and sign for 15 minutes. Hasn't hurt Phil Mickelson any.

This fall is straight out of the Book of Wallenda. Not so much because his bottom was so low, but because his top was so high. His image, his likability, his hero factor were in the clouds. He was the kid with the 10,000-watt smile from the public golf course -- he brought golf to people of color all over the world. He was the great black hope of the game who made good.

A golfer? With two young kids at home? Alleged to have had affairs with as many as 10 women? The best swinger becoming the biggest swinger? Overnight? Unthinkable!

Seventh, he has to return to the Tour and take the ridicule he has coming. He'll feel as though he's being paraded down Main Street, naked, in a glass box. Women will be wearing TIGER, YOU FORGOT ME T-shirts. Guys will be holding ELIN OVERCLUBBED signs. Babes will be hollering, "Hey, Tiger! I took my name off my voice mail like you said!"

He can shoot 42 over par; he just has to get through it. Then he has to play in a major, maybe the British at St. Andrews, where he won last time. And then he has to start winning again.

"There's four steps to getting past this in the public eye," Kirvin says. "First tournament. First major. First tournament victory. First major victory. Only then will the media let us get over this. The public will forgive him. They won't ever forget, but they'll forgive."

He'll come out of this as an even better player, if that's possible. The golf course will be the one place where he can go to forget, and he will want to forget constantly. Where he once spent six hours on the range, he will spend eight. Where he once had the will of 10 men, he will have the will of 100. He will win again -- win huge -- and people will call it a comeback.

But it won't be a comeback. He never lost his game. He lost only his mind.

It's the little things

I sometimes feel guilty that Chad does so much around the house. He keeps up with car issues, pays the bills, does laundry, helps clean, etc. Sometimes I feel like my "list" isn't as long as his. But yesterday it kind of dawned on me that there are certain things that come up throughout the year that it's my job to do... or else it most likely wouldn't get job.

These things are work too!

For instance, in the madness of house stuff, doctor's visits and surgery, I about had a heart attack Monday night seeing that it was already December 7th!!! Less than 20 days to Christmas. Not only had I not gotten a single present (except one for Chad), but I hadn't even started to think about Christmas cards.

Christmas Cards = Major Chore.

Because it's more than selecting a silly card. It's sitting down and writing out my Christmas card list (since my one from last year I was planning on simply modifying has vanished). It's choosing a picture. It's figuring out shipping, getting Christmas-y stamps, addressing all 75+ cards, etc. With the time crunch, I made it easy on myself this year and ordered photocards. In the past, I would get actual cards and actually hand write notes to each person. So this year - generic card is just going to have to do!

My Christmas cards aren't even supposed to get here until December 20th. Bad news. That means I'll have like a day to get them all addressed and out in the mail so they're not late.

Another job that usually falls on the woman is gifts. Not just Christmas but birthdays, anniversarys, weddings, etc. Online shopping makes my life much easier on this account. I have my little spreadsheet with my list of Christmas gifts - the ones I've gotten and the ones I need to get.

And beyond the gift itself - gift WRAPPING is definitely a girl job.

Last year, Chad went upstairs to my "wrapping room" to wrap my Christmas gifts. I could hear him all the way downstairs heeing and hawing over it. You'd have thought someone was sticking needles in him with all the complaints.

Lucky for Chad, I'm a fabulous gift wrapper. I not only have a knack for wrapping, but also picking the most beautiful papers and ribbons (wire-only please) and gifttags. Only problem with this is I have about 20 rolls of wrapping paper under our bed right now at Chad's parents house and I'm afraid if he sticks his head down there he'll never let me buy another roll again. It's a complusion for me. I can't see pretty wrapping paper without buying it. We were at Swoozie's a few weeks ago and I had two rolls in my hand, but Chad give me the look so I put them back. Glad I did, because went I went home and checked I already had 3 very similar rolls that haven't even been touched yet. Oops.

Anyways, I heart wrapping. I actually thought about starting a small business during the holiday season where people (let's face it --- men) could drop their gifts off at my house, and for a small fee I'd wrap an equisite present fit for a king... or queen. I'd include the cost of all the wrapping and they could choose from basic (just paper), classic (paper and beautiful bow) and fancy (paper, bow, pretty adorned ornament, etc.).

Maybe I'll hassle Chad's single guy friends to see if I could entice them with such an offer. Probably not though, because most guys (until they are married) could care less about the power of beautiful wrapping. So maybe I should market this to a woman on-the-go. Wrapping she could pass as her own.

I'm going to keep thinking about this.

Why, hello soapbox. I've missed you.

I've been asked my thoughts on the top story of the past week:

Tiger Wood's alleged infidelities.

Since I could go on for awhile on the topic - I'll try to keep it brief.

I'd just like to propose that everyone that is wanting to tar and feather Tiger should maybe suspend their judgment at least until the end of this post.

Of course, I think what he did was horrible - and will cause all sorts of damage to his family. For that, he'll have to make amends and try to heal those broken relationships. Or if his wife chooses not to accept that apology, he'll have to accept his poor decisions led to a broken family.

Tough any way you look at it.

But before anyone goes on about what a horrible human being he is, remember for just one second that there are millions of people all over the world that make this exact same mistake. They are just lucky enough to not have it splashed all over every media outlet. And they make the mistake without being a person in the spotlight with presumably thousands of women throwing themselves at you. Reading about Tiger's infidelity reminded me of some comments made by Eddie George, a friend and former teammate of Steve McNair (former Tennessee Titan who was killed by his mistress in August). This was from the transcription of his interview with NBC's Lester Holt:

Eddie George: You literally go from-- depending on your background, not having anything to overnight having anything you want. You walk into a situation where you have millions of-- millions of dollars and it's guaranteed--

Lester Holt: How do people treat you? Friends, strangers?

Eddie George: Oh, you're their best friend. (laughs) I mean you go from bein' a funny lookin' guy to bein' the best lookin' guy on-- in the world. You know?

Lester Holt: What's not to like?

Eddie George: I mean it's-- it's a great lifestyle. But the flip side of it, it-- it's a mean business. And you can be taken advantage of very easily.

Lester Holt: We all face struggles. But as a professional athlete it just seems like the temptation just must be rollin' in front of you all the time?

Eddie George: Oh yeah. I mean you walk in the clubs and-- and people recognize you. And it's like flies. You know? They're attracted to-- to the light.

This interview really stuck with me and made me think of these celebrities and athletes in a different way. Yes, they presumably chose this path. And yes they get billions of dollars for it. But is all that money worth the cost of never really knowing who likes you for you, or who just wants to be with you for money or fame? Is it worth not really knowing if your wife or best friends really loves the real you? Or if they're only around for the limelight. How horrible would that be?

Look at Tiger! He has billions of dollars. Gets paid to do something he loves to do. Gorgeous home. Even more gorgeous wife. Beautiful kids. "Easy street" you would think. But instead of just being able to enjoy all that he has, he goes out and carries on all sorts of lewd relationships with women that we can only assume he knows don't really care much about him - but just want to be with him for who he is. THE Tiger Woods. It's crazy to even think about. The pressure of "having it all" is almost more pressure than having nothing at all. It's like something happens in their subconscious that makes them self destruct. To want to push the people who supposedly love them away to see if they'll stick with them through the rough times.

And then you hear stories that Tiger's lawyers are trying to now draw up some paperwork to give Elin millions of dollars for staying with him just a few more years. Whether or not Tiger himself has anything to do with this - I don't know. But if he doesn't, imagine not knowing if your wife wants to try to "work things out" and really mend the realtionship because she loves your despite your shortcomings, or if she really just wants the payout that will come at the end of it.

I guess all this is just my point of saying, listen - 99.9% of us will never understand the situation they are in. Even if we were, no one understands their unique relationship and all the dynamics involved. So leave that poor family alone to deal with the aftermath of some really, really destructive decision making. Yes, he has a lot of apologizing to do. But not to us - to his family.

Don't hate me

I'm back. I know you didn't know what to do with yourself without new posts for 5 days!

So here is the lowdown on Chad's surgery. I couldn't live blog from the hospital room with funny things Chad said after surgery, because...

there was absolutely NOTHING funny about that surgery.

It was horrible, horrible, horrible. I broke down in tears quite a few times over the last few days. My poor little baby. He's been absolutely miserable. I think the surgery was a lot worse than either of us expected.

But he's doing "great" according to his doctors. The surgery went well and he's healing the way he should be. He's just still very swollen and in some pain. Hopefully he'll turn the corner in the next couple of days.

But thanks for the calls.

And texts.

And BlackBerry messages.

And Facebook posts and messages.

I've read each one out to Chad to let him know how many people love him and are thinking about him. Though he can't really talk - or even crack a smile - I know it means so much to him that people care about him and want him to get well soon.

And thanks for the ridiculously delicious homemade pudding and potatoes (my mom ROCKS)!

I almost want to break my jaw just so I have an excuse to eat that pudding and potatoes all day every day.

NOT.

I cursed myself...

After making it quite apparent in my Black Friday post that I detest waking up early, I just got word what time we have to be at UNC Hospital tomorrow for Chad's surgery.

6:30 IN THE MORNING

Which means I'll likely be getting up around 4 a.m. to make sure I have time to shower and pack our stuff. I'm groaning and complaining now, but no doubt I won't be able to sleep tonight. And since I'm staying the night in a hospital room tomorrow night, I probably won't be sleeping for two nights in a row.

I'm more nervous than Chad is! I keep asking him if he's worried or nervous about the surgery... which he responds, "I'm not UNTIL YOU START ASKING THAT!"

So I'm trying to keep my mouth shut (pun intended... jaw surgery, remember?).

So keep Chad and his caregivers in your thoughts and prayers tomorrow! And be patient with my lack of blogging for the next couple of days, as I don't think there will be wireless internet access in the hospital...

...and yes, I asked Chad that question. To which I got a snarky, "It's not a hotel."

Granite and Tile and Accents, oh my!

Y'all would have been so proud of us! Chad and I were able to come to an agreement on several big decisions.

So here are some big things:

After some debate, we both agreed that we just weren't feeling any of the level one granite options. I knew there was a chance this would happen. My dad used to joke that even as a little girl I could go to a restaurant and pick out the most expensive thing on the menu. Call it a gift... or a curse. Depending on if you're my best friend... or my husband. There were some level ones that were nice enough - but weren't exactly what I was looking for.

Then I saw it - Colonial Gold.

Ooooh.
Aaaah.

Chad agreed. I had read that finding your granite is like finding your wedding dress. Once you see "the one" you'll know. I thought those people were idiots. But I now see what they mean. You get excited when you find what you're looking for. Colonial Gold will look great - its a nice creamy white with some caramels, golds and bronze running through it. It's definitely more veins than speckles...which I prefer. We're still waiting to find out the cost of the upgrade. If it is absolutely ridiculous we'll have to rethink things... but I'm crossing my fingers for now.

For the master bathroom - we were allowed to choose from any level granite, since you don't need a full slab so you can pick whatever remnant in the granite yard you find. We picked River White.



Ooooh.


Aaaah.

River white is a great natural white with some silvers, blacks and a few specks of merlot. I think it will look fab with our black cabinets.

On a side note - I've learned more about granite in the past 2 weeks than I've ever cared to know. So if you go shopping for granite - I'm happy to pass along my insight.

On to the tile store. Here is where Chad and I began to butt heads a bit.

We began with the master bathroom. Here is what we ended up choosing:

The tile on the floor and shower stall will be that nice cream colored tile. We'll use the blue-green glass tile (which Chad loves... and I'll explain later how this became an issue) as the accent in the shower stall (a row of three that will go around the stall at eye level), as well as a row of three on the floor when you cross over the threshold into the bathroom, and again into the master closet (which is off the bathroom). The nice little pebble matting with be on the shower floor... so it'll be like having your own little foot massage in the bathroom.

Fancy. I know. If you're super sweet to me - maybe I'll let you come use our shower one day. Maybe.

I'm planning on painting the master bathroom Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage to match the master bedroom. I think it will be a nice relaxing color.
We were on the same page for the bathroom - for the most part. Things got a little tricky in the kitchen.

For the tile backsplash in the kitchen, I had looked into various options. Glass tile, subway tile, etc. I ended up wanting to do a neutral ceramic tile in various shades of cream and white. Chad was cool with that. However, problems arose when choosing a detailing for behind the range. Chad wanted to do the blue glass tiles - like in the bathroom. I didn't. At all. I tried to explain that the blue glass worked well for the bathroom because it was a cooler color. But I wanted to kitchen to be warmer - with my yellows and cream. Chad did not understand the concept of cool vs. warm as it pertains to a color palette. He's a scientist... not an artist.

However I convinced him (more like he gave up) to do a rectangular detail around the center of the range in this nice scroll ceramic:We also chose tile for the laundry room and buddy bath - but that would take too much time and the bathroom/kitchen is more of the highlight anyway.

Then there were decisions like this...

...for the kitchen faucet.


...and this one...


....for the downstairs and master bathroom.

This for the lavatory.


This for the doors...


...and this for door knobs.

And on, and on. So it was a very good, happy, productive day. We have our framing walk-thru next Monday - and then they'll be rolling on interior stuff. Halfway there, friends!