What's in your {Makeup} Bag?

So you had fair warning. I'm sort of a schizophrenic blogger... I thought it got a little heavy the other day up in here and I wanted to lighten it up a bit.... so here we go!!!

Do you not LOVE those sections in US Weekly that are "What's in your bag?" They feature a celebrity and all of their favorite things that they "carry" with them in their purse. Side note :: I highly doubt that they carry all of that in one bag... but that's besides the point. I'm obsessed with reading this column. I think it's so interesting and, although I hate to admit it, I love finding new products to love!!!

So...... now that I'm up and blogging again,  I thought I would do my own version.

Here's the "What's in Your {Makeup} Bag" post.

First thing's first.

I'm 33 and I have 3 kids. That means I am automatically qualified to be in the I-Need-To-Cover-Everything-Up-To-Look-Decent-But-I-Don't-Have-Time Category. I also am a self-proclaimed` makeup hoarder but I rarely put on "full" makeup. (Think.... more than 5-10ish minutes while a toddler pulls on my leg and a 5 year old wants to put on all of the things).

All that to say - proceed with caution - I am no professional makeup-putter-oner, but I do love these products. LOVE them. Several of them come from recommendations from others, so you know they're tried + tested! I hope you find something you like!

So let's get started.

First.... Operation Cover All The Spots.

I grew up with great skin. That's not me bragging, it's just Truth. Great skin and great hair. The end. There are many things I'm lacking in, but these are not them. However... because I was "cursed" with great skin growing up, I never (read NEVER) took care of it. And now I'm paying the price and have highly uneven skin with tons of sun spots. All that to say that if I don't put anything on my skin in the morning, I literally look like death by the end of the day. So this is my go to combo.

Loreal BB Cream. 

I now use a combo of the light + fair colors since it's winter and I'm ghostly. But most of the time I'm in the light range. I cannot rave about this enough. It's super easy to slap on and it's extremely light coverage, but at the same time it evens out my skin. It's just enough for my day to day stuff.... like dropping the kids off at school.

Erase Paste 

Calling all the new mommies :: The next two products are for you!

Erase Paste is heavy duty concealer, y'all. I think I've had this container since right after I had Landry. I don't wear this every day... but when I do, it brightens everything up and does a good job of concealing the dark circles under my eyes. It's thick, but it works magic every time.

Lemon Aid

A good friend told me about Lemon Aid right after I had Landry and I immediately went to get it. It neutralizes my eyelids and makes me look like I got a full night's sleep!! Fake it, till you make it, baby!

REVLON Matte Balms

Y'all. Revlon makes the best lipstick ever. I'm a lip gloss girl, so it takes a LOT for me to make a statement like that!! My favorite are the matte balms but I also like the balm stains. My favorite color right now is Sultry. (I have like 7!)

Cover Girl Eyebrow Pencil

If I'm headed out the door in a hurry, filling in my eyebrows is one of the things that is a MUST. I may have grown up with great skin but I also grew up with bushy + spotty eyebrows!! Filling them in is a game changer for my day. I mean, who wants to look in the mirror halfway through the day and think "AHHHHH! Who IS that person!?"

Gold Bond Healing Hand Cream

This is the BEST lotion ever. My friend Jaime sent this to me in a happy mail package once and I now feel lost without it. I'm not a super brand-loyal person, but for this thing I am!! I haven't found anything like it. Drop what you're doing and go get it. Now. Your hands will thank me! Promise!

Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo

A momma's best friend!!!! Dry Shampoo! Where was this when I had my first two kids?!?!? I've tried several different ones and this one is my drug store favorite. (My real favortie is from Dry Bar.... but I go through it so quickly that I determined I need a drug store brand....). ***I didn't love dry shampoo until I knew how to put it in my hair! Watch this video for a great tutorial!!***

Alright y'all.... those are my absolute favorites!!! I hope you found something you either already love or that you're wanting to run out and get right now and give it a try! What are your favorites? It actually helps me want to get ready in the morning if I love what I'm getting ready with! Let me know what you've tried and love (or HATE)!!!!! Happy Thursday, y'all! It's almost the weekend!!!

bump update {34 weeks}.

oh, being pregnant. 

it's glorious, isn't it? no. way. i'm not one of those who loves being pregnant. i'm pretty miserable at this point - and i'm SURE i'm miserable to be around too. pretty grumpy, impatient and irritable. not to mention that i have no energy to spare for anyone yet i have two little ones running around, a small business, a new ministry {that i LOVE} and precious husband who tends to my neediness. 

but it's all good. the baby is healthy and i am so thankful for that. it's not lost on me, the healthiness, that is. i'm so grateful that baby L is doing so well. 

me, on the other hand. well... that's another story. 

ever since we got back from disney, i've had some physical ailments. all ones that i thought were just part of the end of pregnancy.... but it turns out that i had some low iron levels and other yucky stuff going that was causing me to feel gross. so maybe i won't feel this terrible the rest of the way..... but maybe i will. 

all i know is that this is my LAST baby. it's hard on me physically and i'm ready to be holding sweet baby L instead of sharing my body with sweet baby L.... know what i mean?????

and speaking of that.... and being ready and all.... this is the nursery. would you say i'm ready? ha! i feel like with our first one i was probably done doing the nursery at 30 weeks. and with sweet c probably about that time too. and everything was fully decorated and we had custom window treatments and everything. 

this time..... well. you can see what this time looks like. we've been busy preparing the two oldest littles to share a room {this used to be lil' miss's room} and that was my big focus all summer. so now i'm trying to finish putting that together + get the nursery together. which i better hurry because i don't think i'm going to make it all the way with this one. 

just a gut feeling. 

i will say that we at least have the crib set up in there now. i got the car seat this week {NEWS FLASH :: THOSE THINGS EXPIRE} and i bought the bedding + got my diaper bag. so that's all something, right??

we were originally going to paint the furniture white and do a navy theme but i ran out of time {ahem :: energy} so we scratched the painting and now it's pretty neutral with gray walls + gray and white bedding. but i want to add accents and i love this green and black and white. the green at PB is perfect. it's kind of a mix between kelly green + apple green and THAT is the green i want. but i'm having a hard time matching it in the fabric department. any suggestions would be more than welcome.

these are a few inspirations from my pinterest board. and i'm dying over this green hutch that meg posted on her instagram. i wish i could paint a piece of furniture green before he gets here. that would be amaze. but alas, he's already blessed just to have a bed to sleep in. i don't mean that in a "i'm-not-going-to-decorate" kind of way. i just mean that it's kind of at the bottom of my list. after getting my older kids situated, freezer meals made, closets organized + cleaned out, clothes washed and diapers bought. {oh how i love the smell of that dreft..... i think i might start that process today!!!}

{source} 

they have the cutest kids rooms!!! THIS is the perfect green.

 

{source} 

i love the ikea shelving and toy storage here. 

 {source}

oh, sweet girls... how i want a book display wall like this. so. much. color. and whimsy. i just love it.

do you have any other inspirations?? i'm inspired to finish it this week {yes, i just said FINISH it... which probably should be start AND finish it this week....} but i must get it together and these pictures just get my creative juices flowing. i can't wait to see what ends up getting pulled together!

the garden i never dreamed of.

so it's no secret that i suffer with a little bit of barnheart. 

i want to live in the country with loads of land {3 acres, to be precise - so i guess it's not loads}, a goat and 3 chickens. maybe two dogs and an outside cat. i have dreamed of a nice, big, raised garden that is neat and manicured and meticulously taken care of. 

but that's not my life. 

so i don't have a big and fabulous chunk of garden like lesley and ashley {totally still envious, by the way}... so what???  i definitely have a backyard.... and....

i live in my dream house in a dream neighborhood with wonderful friends and families and schools. but there isn't any "land" anywhere near here that i can live out my fantasy on. but my hubby and myself were determined to get our hands dirty in our little makeshift garden this year. 

and can i tell you something??? it's so ME! i was out there yesterday picking and pruning and watering in all the different containers and make shift spots we have in our beds and i thought - this is so my life. we just roll with it and make room for what the Lord gives us. 

and so we garden. 

bravelove.

tuesday, the hubbs and i had the awesome privilege of meeting with the founder of an organization called bravelove. i HIGHLY encourage all of you to check it out. 

their mission is to help pair moms who can't be mothers to those who find themselves mothers who don't want to be moms.

what an awesome goal? i tear up just writing it down. 

as many of you know, this is our heartsong. i don't know why the Lord has so strongly pressed this on our hearts for over ten years now, we have not had a personal experience with adoption, abortion or unplanned pregnancy. i cannot begin to imagine the heartache and the hoplessness that may come with one of those situations. but nevertheless this is something that we want to fight for - personally & politically.

but our goal is NOT to be ANTI-abortion; our goal, from the very bottom of our hearts, is to be PRO-life. 

please hear me on this. we are NOT just PRO-life in the sense of the baby. we want to be PRO mother. we desperately want to advocate on behalf of the mothers that find themselves in desperate situations. abortion in and of itself is heart wrenching of course, but the women who wake up in a situation that feels beyond their control and impossible is something that breaks us.

i understand that this may be a whole 'sex before marriage' debate for you. i get that, and i'm not advocating that we should just accept & tolerate it. however, the fact of the matter is that the majority of teenagers {and pre-teens and singles} ARE having sex outside of the confines of marriage. we can preach and teach abstinence all we want in our schools and in our churches, but it's still happening. i think the MOST important place to teach abstinence is in our HOMES, as parents with our children. 

the problem is finding the balance of teaching abstinence and being open to hear what is actually going on from our children & the people around us. i think this is an essential ingredient in ending abortion.

here's the truth of the matter: the Bible says that sex is designed to be between a man & woman within the sacred bond of marriage. in my opinion, it is simply not a gray area. 

BUT....

we live in the world, and it is completely saturated with sex and love and fairy tales. sexting is a reality among teens {and pre-teens}, and we cannot keep shielding our eyes as a body of believers and act like it's not happening. our whole culture is desensitized to sexuality and it has become the norm. i believe there are so many ways that we, as parents, can help de-saturate our children's minds, but the minute they walk out the door it'll be on the next billboard they see or in the news stands at the grocery stores. simply not watching tv & listening to only christian music isn't going to completely solve the problem. our kids are going to see our sex-driven culture no matter what we do.

so here's my point: if the church continues to bring shame and guilt to the young women who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy, i truly believe that the abortion rates are NOT going to go down. yes, we don't agree with their choice, and yes, we aren't supposed to "tolerate" sin, but the reality is that the preganancy is not the sin; having sex outside of marriage is the sin. 

so why are we singling out the ones who have a visible consequence and exiling them from the church, whether intentional or not?

the church needs to be a safe haven for these women to come and be loved, not to be shamed and guilt-ridden. we might do a good job of accepting those who are outside of the church without judgement, but what about the girl sitting in the pew next to you? what if she told you she was pregnant after she & her boyfriend made a 'mistake'? would you be less loving toward her because she "knew better"? 

i feel so much love for the women who find that it seems easier to get an abortion than it does to face the shame & guilt of the church body... it's just flat wrong for the body of christ to be found that judgmental and unforgiving. Jesus was an amazing & awesome blend of Truth & grace. we need to be that blend too or i fear that as a result of not being a safe haven for unplanned pregnancy, we are inadvertently becoming an advocate for abortion. as Christians, we need to be able to hear what is going on in the world without going into shock so that we can better show Jesus to others.  

these women, despite their choices & their circumstances, are brave to choose life. whether they choose to parent themselves or place for adoption, the women need to be recognized as having courage.  and i, for one, want to make it easier for them to be brave. don't you? 

if you have any thoughts on this, please feel free to email me & i'd love to have a conversation with you about it. please remember that these are simply my opinions & thoughts on the subject, i am not making any accusations or pointing the finger at any specific church or organization. the church that i speak of is the body that we ALL belong to as believers. becky@shoplittlebranches.com .  i know this is a tough subject for many of you, AND i know there might be one of you who finds yourself in a desperate situation this morning and i'd love to encourage you if you'd allow me to. 

blessings today.