Empties 2017

I decided to keep a bag of all the products I finished throughout 2017.  Here's what I found:

HOLY GRAIL PRODUCTS
Michael Todd Blue Green Algae Antibacterial Toner (X3)
Lubriderm Unscented Lotion (X4)
Freeman Feeling Beautiful Mint & Lemon Clay Mask (X2)
Origins High-Potency Night-A-Mins Mineral-Enriched Renewal Cream
Origins Mega-Bright SPF 30 Skin Tone Correcting Oil-Free Moisturizer
Shiseido Senka SPF 50+
L'Occitane Hand Cream with 20% Shea Butter
The Body Shop Tea Tree Night Lotion
Aveeno Clear Complexion Foaming Cleanser with Salicylic Acid
John Frieda Frizz Ease Serum Extra Strength
TRESemme Thermal Creations Heat Tamer Spray
Dr. Bronner's Pure-Castille Soap
Embryolisse Lait-Creme Concentre
Bioderma Solution Micellaire
St. Ives Fresh Skin Apricot Scrub

PURPLE PRODUCTS - EMBRACING MY BLONDE AMBITION
Joico Color Endure Violet Shampoo and Conditioner
L'Oreal Serie Expert Color Corrector Blondes Color Correcting Cream Anti-Yellowing Rinse Out
Touch of Silver Brightening Shampoo
Pravana The Perfect Blonde Purple Toning Masque

SAMPLES TURNED STAPLES
Glamglow Glowstarter Mega Illuminating Moisturizer
Laneige Waterbank Moisture Cream
Fresh Soy Face Cleanser
Ole Henriksen Face the Truth Gel Cleanser
Ren Glycol Lactic Radiance Renewal Mask

MAKEUP - YOU WEAR LESS THAN YOU THINK
Bourjois Healthy Balance Unifying Powder
Smith's Rosebud Salve
Kiehl's Lip Balm #1
Benefit They're Real mascara
Clinique High Impact Mascara
Maybelline Eye Studio Color Tattoo 24H Cream Eyeshadow
Clinique Chubby in the Nude Foundation Stick
Glossier Boy Brow
Benefit Gimme Brow
Diorshow Iconic Overcurl mascara
Nars Radiant Creamy Concealer

PERFUMES - YES, YOU CAN LIVE OFF MINIS
Elizabeth & James Nirvana Black
Chloe Eau de Parfum
Clean Reserve Blonde Rose
Roses de Chloe
Elizabeth & James Nirvana Rose
Tory Burch Jolie Fleur Lavande

CONDITION, CONDITION, CONDITION
Fekkai Brilliant Glossing Conditioner
Aussie 3 Minute Miracle Moist Deep Conditioner
L'Oreal Paris Extaordinary Oil Nourishing Mask Balm
Phytojoba Intense Hydrating Brilliance Mask
Shu Uemura Ultimate Remedy Extreme Restoration Treatment
Macadamia Oil Nourishing Moisture Mask
Moroccanoil Treatment

COMPETITION
Klorane Dry Shampoo with Nettle
Drybar Triple Sec 3-in-1

first she fell in love with materialism... and then she fell in love

Now that I'm getting into the habit of trying to be conscious of my lifestyle, I also am more attuned to references to simplicity. It's easy to see the (voluntary) eco-friendliness in the smiling faces of the Organic Campus club and the Environment Students Society, or in my co-worker's effort to organize a vintage clothing swap. There is also an upcoming CSR conference which addresses voluntary simplicity as it applies to business. The most fascinating part about keeping my eyes peeled for this kind of stuff is that it appears in what I thought were unlikely places: Vogue magazine and Good Morning America.

The January 2009 (yes, I have year-old Vogues that I enjoy as much now as the day I bought them!) issue of American Vogue includes an article, "Mommy Greenest - When her mother left the family to live off the grid in Hawaii, Lori Campbell worked hard to achieve success in Manhattan. But who really has the better life?"

The March 2010 issue has first-hand account of the voluntary simplicity choice in, "The Luxury of Less - Jessica Kerwin Jenkins leaves the thrills of the big city behind to forge a new life-on a new budget- in rural Maine."

On Thursday February 25, 2010 Good Morning America had guest Ree Drummond lead the kitchen segment to promote the cookbook she released last fall, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Ree is the writer behind the blog, Confessions of a Pioneer Woman, which was one of the top 25 blogs of 2009 according to TIME Magazine. In her own words, she "traded black heels for tractor wheels" when she married a cattle rancher and "went from spoiled city girl to domestic ranch wife in the blink of an eye". (The sophisticated combination of great writing, beautiful photography, and humour have made this one of my new favourite sites!)

Campbell, Jenkins and Drummond are three very different writers with very different experiences of the simple life. Comparing them yielded some valuable personal insights:

The things we do for love
First of all, the writers are all women. Women in love. Campbell's mother moved to Hawaii 23 years ago with a tent, a stove, and her boyfriend. Campbell herself has a husband with whom she shares "a four-bedroom apartment in a "white glove" doorman building in Manhattan, a country house, and two kids in private school". Jenkins follows her husband Nico from New York City to the deep countryside of Maine. Drummond lived in LA and was studying for the LSAT when she met her husband-to-be, whom she endearing calls, "Marlboro Man" on her blog.

The conclusion I personally draw from these cases is that women support their men's decisions to live versions of Voluntary Simplicity. H. Jackson Brown Jr. must have been right when he said, “choose your life’s mate carefully. From this one decision will come ninety percent of all your happiness or misery.” I think the idea that these women's partners are showing them a life of happiness and simplicity is great, but I wonder if the women would ever have arrived at such choices on their own. Probably not.

Jenkins describes her first foray into simplicity, which followed a nasty break-up and consisted of selling off most of the designer clothes she'd accumulated while working for a magazine in Paris. A stripping away and purging of the unnecessary is definitely therapeutic - but is the creation of aesthetic (minimalist?) simplicity only useful to a) move on from a relationship and/or b) to make room for new stuff? Drummond freely and wittily admits to missing city things like regular pedicures and Starbucks visits, even though her account of life on a working cattle ranch with her (handsome, virile, perfect) cowboy and (beautiful, kind, brilliant) children seems like a modern fantasy.

So I wonder what my feelings about Voluntary Simplicity will be when I am grown up and earning a proper income and choosing a man to marry. If my husband has interior design tastes like Donald Trump, which run to covering surfaces with gold and requiring an entire quarry of Italian marble (I heard this on Access Hollywood), will I question it? Will I worry about the fossil fuels produced by transporting so much material accross the Atlantic? Or will I indulge in everything we can afford because we've worked so hard for it and want to display our wealth where our friends can see it? Conversely, if my husband is some kind of creative professional who requires a spartan farmhouse to nurture his next book/film/other project, could I hook up the wifi and just go with it? Or would I keep my high-heeled feet firmly on the city pavement?

to be continued...

mindfulness is...

... walking through a snowy campus because it is the most beautiful way home, even though it takes longer.



... noticing just how much time TV-watching can consume and making the choice to read a book insead.



... experimenting with meditation over a cup of tea at 6:30 a.m. I still don't know if I get it... but slowing down and not thinking and just trying is an exercise that makes me feel good.

i love the night life

It's the middle of the night and everything is quiet. Except, perhaps, for the movement of windowpanes because of the storm. And the cat's tiny sighing snore. This is my time to meditate.

Lately I've found that the only time I can focus is the nighttime. Daybreak is like someone pressing "Play" on a dozen tracks that run in my mind from hour to hour. Every day is different and my schedule is such that I am always thinking of the next location at which I need to be (on time, always). When I list the tasks that have to be done I think what a great personal assitant I would make for myself; simply managing the business of living. These are the days I'll miss when if I settle down to a 9-5 rhythm post-grad.

I think part of living consciously is taking time to just be. Surrounded by the peacefulness of night I have clarity - I know what I have to do over the next 24 hours, over the weekend, over the next 3 months, to stay on track with my goals. I'm not comparing myself to anyone or selling anything to anyone or proving myself to anyone. I remind myself that the race is long but it's only with myself.

goop, glorious goop

Gwyneth Paltrow's online newsletter, GOOP, featured an article about meditation.

more evidence of a movement

Totally not surprised to discover other blogs about VS:

Adventures in Voluntary Simplicity: Follow along as a former highly-paid lawyer gives up a life of material comfort and unencumbered excess, and embraces the beauty and freedom of simple happiness.

Choosing Voluntary Simplicity: About finding balance in your life, connecting with who you are, and creating a lifestyle where you wake up each morning eagerly anticipating the day ahead.

Welcome to Voluntary Simplicity: Experiments in freedom

now this is my kind of test

I've enjoyed taking tests and quizzes to learn about myself since I started buying fashion magazines (remember Sassy from the 90's? YM? CosmoGIRL?). Now I've found another test, which won't tell me which of the Spring trends fits best with my personality but will contribute to my desire to live consciously.

Penelope Trunk of the Brazen Careerist blog recently wrote, Test: Is your life happy or interesting? which is based on her research about happiness. She proposes that A) an interesting life and a happy life may be mutually exclusive, and B) individuals should pursue either an interesting life or a happy life, because C) your overall level of contentedness is based on creating a life around the goal that is best for you. I'm going to include my answer and comments for each of the test's questions below, but I also suggest reading the full blog post at Trunk's site. Here we go:

1. Did you relocate away from family for a better job or another more interesting experience?
I would relocate for a more interesting experience. I'm not afraid of having to make new friends (I consider friends to be family). (-1)

2. Did you relocate to be near family?
I would relocate again to be near ageing parents. I guess questions 1 and 2 are a wash. (+1)

3. Are you nationally recognized as being great at doing something or do you have nationally-recognized expert knowledge in something? Or are you reorganizing your life in order to achieve this end?
Ever since I won a national competition, I would say that yes I am reorganizing my life in order to develop expert knowledge. (-1)

4. Were you a happy child?
Yes (+1)

5. Do your friends pray?
No

6. Do you need your kids to go to a school that is recognized as excellent in national rankings?
Yes (-1)

7. Do you have fat friends?
No

8. Do you have an opinion on Picasso?
Yes (-1)

9. Do you have three friends who are a Jew, a Muslim and a born-again Christian?
No

10. Are you a Republican?
I'm not sure. Pass on this question.

11. Do you think Christmas is a national holiday?
Yes (+1)

12. Have you been to a therapist?
No

13. Do you know the difference between $70 eyebrows and $20 eyebrows?
Yes (-1)

14. Can you tell the difference between real diamonds and fake diamonds.
(Trick question. A maximizer will have tried to learn to figure it out and will have learned that even experts can’t without a special tool.)

15. Have you tried on a pair of $200 jeans?
Yes (-1)

16. Do you think this test is BS?
No (Trunk explains, "People with interesting lives do not get offended that they cannot be happy. Happy people are offended that they cannot have interesting lives.")

Score: -3
Which means: I have a desire for interestingness over happiness

Conclusions:

• My desire to be the best and have the best (education, eyebrows, etc) make me what is called a Maximizer. I feel happier just knowing that I shouldn't expect to be happy with the status quo. Ambitous people are rarely content.
• I form opinions on subjective topics (like Picasso) because I value the interesting. I must be, or want to be, very interesting indeed because I have very strong opinions on fashion, food, film, and other cultural endeavors.
• In our class, we often ask how our society can wake up to the environmental crisis, become aware of its destructive (materialistic?) patterns, and adopt voluntary simplicity. One way could be to appeal to those who seek Happy more than Interesting.