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There is a little blog I love to follow called Bonzai Aphrodite . It is written by this incredibly genuine, intelligent vegan woman named Sayward, who writes all about the vegan lifestyle, gardening, and raising her beautiful little boy. It makes me feel inspired every time I read it, and you should definitely check it out. One of the things Sayward does every Friday is post something she calls, "Le Love List." It is a compilation of all the wonderful things she is loving in her life at the moment--a kind of thankfulness list that lets her remember she has a lot to be grateful for, and encourages others to share what they are grateful for too. I think it is a great practice, so I thought I would take a minute to share some of the things I am loving in my life at this moment as well. So here is a short list of things I'm in love with this week: We planted: tomatoes, zucchini, rosemary, basil, oregano, lettuce, and lemon verbena. 1. My Garden I am not a huge fan of s...

Confession: I love pictures of crumbled makeup I may be a little belated, but I AM going to reward the winners of my makeup giveaway! After careful consideration, I have decided that ALL the women who commented on the post win! I have zero competitive drive, so this makes me feel really good. If your name is: Annie Lindsey @ I Run in Heels Anonymous Cindy You have won a free cosmetic piece from the post I made last week! Congratulations! Email me at mkdupre@gmail.com to claim your prize! Make sure you tell me what you want, and if you have a specific color preference. Thank you to everyone who participated, and double thanks to all the people who were nice enough to compliment my makeup-free face! It really gave me a boost! Feel free to keep sharing your makeups favorites, tips, and tricks!

First, My BB Cream Story. I am not sure if you are aware, but there is a new beauty product flooding the market right now. It is called BB Cream, and no, I do not have any idea what the Bs stand for. It is a cross between foundation and moisturizer--one step up from tinted lotion and one step below actual makeup. In short, this is a product tailor made for people with sensitive skin, a lax beauty routine, or both. I decided to try it immediately upon discovering that such a product existed, but decided that I did not want to spend a lot of money. So I picked up the L'Oreal BB Cream. L'Oreal makeup has rarely disappointed me. It is usually my favorite drugstore brand, but this time, they really let me down. The cream was not very creamy at all. It came out of the tube as a white liquid, requiring me to rub it between my fingers for application. This got more product on my fingers than my face. Once applied, it became almost powdery, leaving me feeling less than moisturized, and...

I don’t know about you, but I love young adult literature. And when I say love, I mean that I am obsessed with it. It might be the enjoyment of watching a young character grow up, or it might be that it gives me the freedom to relax and be fanciful in a way that adult fiction just doesn’t allow. Whatever the cause, YA heroes from Harry Potter to the Beaudelaire siblings have won my heart, and the hearts of readers everywhere. Now, joining the ranks of this illustrious tradition is Edgar Wilde, a young man whose passion for cemeteries and the mysteries surrounding local history land him in a whirlwind adventure and no small amount of danger. Fans of series like Percy Jackson and the Olympians and Stoneheart will definitely enjoy following Edgar as he searches his hometown of St. Edmund, Massachusetts for clues to the whereabouts of a mysterious book of healing and spells—a grimoire that was passed down through generations and is being by turns sought and guarded by multipl...

Becca J. Campbell's novel, Gateway to Reality, engendered high expectations after the release of her first novel, Foreign Identity , last year. I am pleased to say that Campbell's second effort has more than lived up to her first, and Gateway to Reality is  a pleasing blend of science-fiction excitement and convicting personal drama that makes it a highly satisfying read. When Wes, the protagonist, starts having strangely vivid dreams, his life takes a turn he never expected and he begins discovering things about the universe and his earthly body that he never thought he would. Confronted with an alternate dimension in which "Existence" is the only law, Wes must work to discover to which world he truly belongs, and which version of himself he an learn to live with. To compare this story to The Matrix might be apt in that Campbell has created an alternate reality for her characters in which they know the truth of their existence--namely that they are part of an un...

This weekend I hosted a wine tasting at my house. The rules were simple: everyone brought a bottle of wine that could be purchased for under $20. The unofficial rule with my particular group of friends involves choosing wines with interesting labels. Serendipitously, the wines with the interesting labels turned out to be some of the most delicious and affordable wines--which was, of course, the goal. We ended up trying two white wines and five reds. Yes, we tried seven different wines. Then ended up talking late into the night while we polished off a wheel of brie. We've come a long way since the heady days of beer pong and bottles of Boone's Farm with giant straws sticking out of the top. The Whites The first white wine we tried was Apothic White . It is a blend of chardonnay, moscato, and riesling. For those of you not in the know, this is a fairly sweet blend. However, despite not being white wine drinkers, everyone at the table admitted to enjoying this wine. The tr...

Sorry about the blur. Normally I don't go in for oddly flavored sodas. I love the colors and creative labels of the Jones soda empire, but in general, we are a Coca-Cola Classic household. But when I saw this Chai Cola at Sprouts Farmer's Market in Tulsa, I impulsively purchased it out of curiosity. It always starts out so great...  An initial taste of the chilled soda revealed a perfectly portioned chai flavor. It was spicy and sweet and aromatic in a way that a soda has no business being. This is fine in itself, but wasn't quite enough. What ultimately threw it off for me was the carbonation, and I found myself thinking, "This would be fantastic with ice cream." I think, ultimately, what I was still really craving was that creamy complement to the spicy chai that is found in chai lattes, and something to tone down the bite of the carbonation. See that foam? That's what I don't like. Yum! So I got out my trusty blender and some B...