April has been a fun month. For starters, it’s my birthday month. I am not really a huge birthday celebrator. I tend to play the “birthday card” when it’s convenient for me. (Can we have pizza for dinner? Will you bring me a glass of wine? – Basically when I need something and feel too lazy to do it myself, I ask Paul to do it.) 🙂 But I never want a big party, and I don’t care what people give me. I don’t need presents. Like my dad has always said, it’s just another day. I still have to get up and go to work more often than not and go about my daily business. However, I am very blessed and have people in my life who love me and made me feel very special. I turned 31 and had a fabulous birthday weekend spent with family, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. All I wanted was cheese dip, tacos, and fruit pizza. And I’ll be danged if I didn’t get it!
I even got peanut M&Ms from one student and a pair of earrings from another. How sweet were they? I even got two birthday dinners. (Tacos were lunch.) My family cooked for us on Saturday night a scrumptious dinner and that awesome fruit pizza. Then on Sunday, I got steak, a baked potato, and a chocolate pie. I felt very spoiled and very full. It truly was a great weekend. Thank you to my wonderful families and to my husband for always making me feel special not just on my birthday but everyday.
Switching gears to products- A few things I’m loving lately in the realm of beauty products is a new company I’ve discovered called Beauty Counter. Beauty Counter is a safer beauty company that doesn’t use harsh chemicals that are found in virtually all of our cosmetics and skin care. I am slowly (very slowly) but surely making the switch to these safer products, and so far, I’m in love. I purchased the Charcoal Bar for washing my face. I use it both in the morning when I wake up and at night. Some nights, if I’m extra lazy, I use it to remove my makeup and cleanse my face. But most nights I use coconut oil to remove my makeup and then wash with the Charcoal Bar.
When I bought the bar, I heard wonderful things about this Charcoal Mask. Now, it’s not like the scary charcoal masks you’ve seen all over Facebook that pull the blackheads out of your face and make you cry in the removal process, but it is a cleansing, detoxifying, smoothing mask that leaves my face (every single time) feeling smoother and softer than I’ve ever felt it. I have extremely oily skin, and I believe these two products were some of the best ones for my skin type in this company’s line of skin care.
There are so many products I’d like to try. They can be pricey, but they have nice incentives and a little goes a long way with all of their products. My consultant said she was on month 3 or something of the one bar of soap. That’s a long time for daily use of a bar of soap. I’ve had mine for about a month and have so much left. Also, I haven’t even put a dent in the mask. It’s going to last a while for sure.
I ordered their sunscreen this week during their special they were running for the best sellers. (I think it ended, but it’s worth popping over to see if it’s still going on.) Did y’all know about all the harmful chemicals in sunscreen? Whoa!
Because I ordered during the sale, I am receiving a full sized mascara with the purchase of my sunscreen. I can’t wait to use it!
If you are reading this and want to place an order, my consultant is a friend from Louisiana, and she is wonderful! She would love to help you. Her website is found here. She can also be found on Facebook. Feel free to message her for more details and info. Or if you want to know more from me about how my products are working out, let me know and I’ll hook you up with Kelly.
April, well actually March, brought on a serious battle with my allergies. I haven’t lived in Alabama for 8 years, so I’ve gotten used to the changing of seasons in Louisiana. Y’all, when I tell you I couldn’t breathe for two months, I’m not kidding. I take a daily allergy pill and have for several years now, but nothing, and I mean nothing, was stopping this! I even did the Netty Pot. (Perhaps the most unpleasant thing I’ve ever endured.) I’ve been known to be a little stubborn, so I finally went to see Dr. Slagley. He fixed me right up with a shot (miracle working stuff right there) and all the other meds I needed to get well. And within two days I could breathe through my nose again. I have thanked God so much for that since I’ve been able to do it. I will never take it for granted again. Thank you, Dr. Slagley. I’m sure I was the 1,000th patient of yours that came in with these same symptoms, but I’m well now.
Say hello to the countdown to summer. I’m so stoked! One of the perks of being a teacher is definitely having summers off. That doesn’t mean we don’t work hard during the school year. We totally earn our break. I do love the kids and will miss them, but this teacher loves her summers.
It was my first year being able to attend Putting on the Ritz, and I’m so happy I was able to. Putting on the Ritz is a local production featuring all local talent from top to bottom, on stage and behind the scenes, directors, costume designers, choreographers, everything. The talent here is just wonderful. There are so many talented children too. One little red head, in particular was stealing the show with his stellar dance moves. This year’s theme was An Evening of Pure Imagination and had a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory theme for many of the numbers. Other acts were tributes to those gone on before us like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen, and Merle Haggard to name a few, The Beatles, there was a fun Vogue number, and even a performance by the youth featuring the song from Trolls, “I Will Get Back Up Again” (I love that song 🙂 ). Maybe my favorite one was Tom Jones. Those sparkly pants and wig! So fun! Mr. Tommy did an amazing job, and I laughed a lot.
My father-in-law was in a quintet with some very talented musicians doing the tribute and sang Merle Haggard’s, “Mama Tried” wonderfully.
There were two other performers that truly blew me away with their talent and that’s Joseph Longmire and LaTonya Johnson. Holy cow, y’all! I hope they are in the Putting on the Ritz for many years to come. He has such a smooth voice, and the boy can dance! And LaTonya is a powerhouse. She sang “You Don’t Own Me” and that’s the dang truth. Don’t nobody own her! She proved that when she belted at the end of the song. I was so into their performances that I didn’t get any video or pictures of them, but trust me, they are fabulous.
All of the people involved in getting this thing put together deserve so much praise. I mean, this was so fun to see local people come out to just have a good time and enjoy other local people putting their talent out there at our very own Ritz Theater. If you have never been, next year is a must. My first year was great!
Easter was this month. I always enjoy Easter. I was able to go to church with my parents. Paul is always working on Easter, it seems. When will golf courses learn to close on Easter Sundays? If you can close for Jesus’ birth, you can close for Jesus’ resurrection. Anyway…….I quite enjoyed the day with my parents and the day before we had our Easter celebration with Paul’s family. We dyed eggs and hid them for the children and ate a very yummy dinner. I’m so enjoying being able to spend this time with family. I’ve missed it these past 8 years. It’s so good to be home.
Our community has suffered a tremendous loss therefore making April one of the worst months of many people’s lives. But one of my other April favorites is the way our town, community, schools, churches, etc have come together to rally around a family and a group of teenagers that lost a friend and loved one much too soon. I’m not sure how I would have reacted if I had been in their shoes at such a young and impressionable age, but I know that there has been such an outpouring of love from them to each other and for them from the community. It’s still very early in the stages of grief for these young people and for this family, but I know that because they are such a close bunch, they will get through this. And they’ll get through it together. Their bond will forever be strong and deep-rooted. I hope they carry that with them for the rest of their lives and look back on the happy memories of their friend. I know the pain is indescribable, but I’m thankful for the people of this community who come together to take care of their own. It’s truly inspiring and a testament to how special this person was. Though I didn’t know him or his family personally, I’ll be praying for them and his friends, and I ask that if you’re reading this, you’ll say a prayer for them too.
On a happy note, spring is a time for new things. April brought lots of new things to my life. Every month seems new to me in this old/new town of mine. I look forward to what May has to bring, and I wish you a happy May as well.