Pages

Thursday, July 3

Books, Bronzing, and Beats

Have you ever gone to the library and come out an hour later thouroughly engrossed in the next chapter of your life? Maybe this is just something I experience. As I walked into the young adult section in the Humboldt Library I ran my fingers over the books on display. They stopped on a light blue binding and I slid out the volume to see the cover.


You see, I've got two views on the "don't judge a book by its cover" rule. I do judge books because sometimes the picture shows something I'm really just not interested in. In fact, when I worked at Borders last year I was not interested in most of the books I shelved and sold. But some hooked me with their covers. But many books have different covers based on print editions and publishing houses. If we're going with good old Harry Potter, I'm completely hooked by Mary GrandPre's illustrations but the British Edition doesn't look remotely Hogwarts to me.
The story inside is the same, but I'm prejudiced by the artwork.
That was a long side note, back to yesterday at the library...
Here's the cover:

And let me tell you, I'm not into baseball. Not in the slightest. Something was calling to me out of this book though and I couldn't resist taking a deeper look. I opened the front cover and I was charmed by the witty banter of the flap copy (the summary of the story as I learned from this book's flap copy). I pulled back a hard wooden chair at a table in the room and turned to the first page. An hour later I managed to pull myself out of the binding, 100 pages in already! I'm still working on it and I don't really want the story to have an end. The writing is so personable that I feel like I really know the characters. I've laughed out loud several times, which can be embarrassing when you're in the break room at work... Read it. And no I won't give you a summary because I wasn't given one when I began reading. I just jumped in with both, um...eyes.

What are some new things going on in the life of Elle? I've been making progress on my summer tan while working odd shifts and I'll let you know my secret:

That's right, I'm a fake tanner now. And I love it! My little routine begins with exfoliation. Take a small handfull of epsom salt, pour a little baby oil in so it's just saturated and rub into your arms/legs/feet in a slow circular motion. Follow up by shaving, but instead of using shaving cream or gel use conditioner! I know it's the bottle that always runs out first, but maybe it's time to invest in a bottle just for your legs. Because it's totally worth it. After you're completely exfoliated and smooth, dry off and pull on an old pair of basketball shorts. The bottle of tanning lotion recommends putting a thick creamy lotion on your dry spots like knees and elbows, but if you've just exfoliated with baby oil you don't need to, in fact the process works better if you don't. Now that all the prep work is done it's time to do the real damage! Only it's not damaging because there's no UV involved! The first time you tan use just a thin application to see how it reacts with your skin. Work the lotion into your skin in a circular motion and make sure that you coverd everything evenly. Don't forget to jump right up and wash those hands of yours though, or they will turn orange! And no one likes Oompa Loopma hands! The lotion takes a little while to set into your skin and a full 4 hours for the color to develop. I've done it right before bed, so I don't know if it rubs off during the night, but my white sheets are still pristine, so don't worry about that. This lotion isn't a gradual tan, but it can be used as one. I haven't used this product on my face and it isn't made for that, but I'm sure it would work. Just mix it into some of your face lotion to dilute the pigment. Good luck bronzing baby!

Since I'm a music nerd I have to add a new favorite song to the page:


I also have to add that I'm almost done learning "Anyone Else But You" by The Moldy Peaches on guitar. It's G and C chords for those of you that play along. And If I can learn it just by knowing the chords anyone can! Oh Juno, you've started a revolution.

Oh and p.s. Note the new items in the shop! Finally it's a store and not just one bag!


1 comment:

Kimber said...

You there Elle? We've got our Etsy shop going too...