As most Chicagoans will know, hearing "This is Jerry Taft from the National Weather Center" emit from your phone usually means a fun bout of weather is approaching. Last night I forgot that I had the ABC 7 Weather app set up for alerts and may have flipped my dinner all over the dining room. Whoops. Thanks Jerry.

While hauling the cats to the bathroom, I may have discovered that I am sorely under prepared for any type of severe weather. As a perfect example, the cats got locked in the bathroom but when I realized I don't have a battery powered radio I might have hung out in the living room watching the weather updates. (And then possibly stood on my patio during a period of creepy silence)

Some of the items I realized that I might need for the next storm include:

1) A flashlight that isn't my phone and isn't pocket size. My phone has the potential to die, and probably will because I'm awful at charging it. Plus, my pocket size flashlight spends more time lost than my keys do. 

2) A radio. Not having power means no laptop, and no tv for updates. Plus, my phone is a constant state of dead.

3) A second cat cage. Despite getting the cats almost 6 months ago, I still only have one cage. They love each other but I'm sure they'd rather not be squashed together if we have to evacuate.

Despite not having those three, somewhat major, items, I think I did pretty well for my preparations! The cats and I had plenty of food, and I was totally prepared to not have work today! But alas, I did have work and we got to pie a manager in the face and fill another manager's cube with balloons so I guess it all worked out!

So fellow transplants, what are some things you realized might be necessary during a major storm?

Every little girl dreams of having a pony. I dreamed of a grey pony named Tinkerbell or a black pony named Stardust. My childhood dream was slower pushed aside and I never got my pony. But, as a 25 year old adult, I have finally achieved my childhood dream and got my pony.

"Well hi everyone"

In May I finally found a barn in Florida. It is close to my apartment, close to work, and the riders at the barn are extremely welcoming. After having a few lessons on various horses I was asked if I wanted to try the green pony. She needed a short rider (check), who had time to ride her consistently (check). I said yes and tried her in a lesson.
During that lesson I fell in love with her. She knows her walk, trot, and canter, and how to jump. But she still has her "stupid baby" moments, such as not hitting her correct lead for the canter every time. My trainer asked if I wanted to lease her and my immediate response was "yes". I wanted more than anything to have the chance to work with this pony.

Since June I have been proud to call Cupid "mine". I get to see her as often as I like and work with her on her little quirks. We're focusing right now on building muscle and maintaining a consistent pace for the walk and trot. When I feel like we have both gained some strength I hope to work on her canter leads. Once she gets her leads down (and finds a child) she will be unstoppable in the pony ring.

So, expect to see more of Miss. Cupid, hopefully she'll be around for awhile.

The heart of on her shoulder that earned her her name

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As part of a funny introduction to Cupid I'll share a moment from a few weeks ago.

Some other riders in the barn were cooling down their horses and one had taken off her saddle to do a bit of bareback work. The saddle was sitting on one of the jumps so nothing would happen to the tree or anything. I don't remember if I saw the saddle and disregarded it, or just didn't notice it. Strange things tend to end up in the arena of this barn as people work on desensitizing their horses.

Cupid and I walked over to the mounting block, I tightened the girth, dropped her stirrups, and flipped the reins over her head. As soon as I lined her up next to the mounting block, Cupid saw the saddle and panicked. Thankfully, she isn't the type of horse to run. She began to back up slowly which gave me time to flip the reins over her head so I could maintain a grip on her. I did not want her to start to run and catch her leg in the reins.

She's always following me

After letting her back away from the jump and talking to her in a calm voice I was able to get her to stop and think. We stood for awhile and just watched the pony eating saddle. After standing for about 2 minutes, Cupid let me lead her a few steps towards the saddle. With each step she stood directly behind me as if I were the sacrificial lamb.

Something like this. But in this instance she was trying to find the treats that she thought I had.

Slowly we inched our way towards the saddle and jump, until we were close enough that I could touch it. As soon as I touched the saddle it was like something clicked in her mind. This saddle was just like the one on her back, only it was sitting on a jump. We took a few minutes to sniff and touch the saddle, then she was comfortable enough for me to lead her back to the mounting block and start our ride. (I did ask one of the other girls to hold her in case we had another spook. I did have to throw myself off our mounting block to keep a hold on her reins)

One would think that her reaction to this saddle would indicate that she is extremely aware of her surroundings. Today, my trainer had a whole new set of gorgeous jumps along the one side of the arena. Both of the horses who were in our lesson had "what the hell is that" moments. Cupid glanced at them and kept doing what I was asking her. Some days she's extremely smart, others she's willing to defer the thinking to me.

Just another day in the life of a green pony.

*Correction - I found out at our show in September that her show name is actually "Steele My Heart". whoops.

I love face masks. To me there's nothing more relaxing than using a face mask after a stressful day.

One of my favorite lines of face masks is Lush's Fresh Face Masks. I used to use them religiously in high school, then I stopped because life got too busy to take the time and use a face mask. Recently, I've been able to find the time for luxuries like face masks.

While at Mall of Millennia I stopped by Lush to see if they had anything that could help my skin. Recently I have been having more breakouts than normal and wanted to correct this issue. As I mentioned in a previous post the sales girl recommended Love Lettuce and let me tell you, that girl is a genius.

My Lush haul from that trip, including Love Lettuce.

Lush describes Love Lettuce as "our exfoliating ground almond mask that scoops up dirt, oil and debris and washes it all away. Exfoliation is an important part of good skincare, as it removes the buildup of dead skin that can clog your pores and cause impurities. Love Lettuce is a great example of how just a few ingredients can make a fresh, effective product for the skin. We blend calming French lavender oil with seaweed and honey to nourish and soften skin, and to balance oily T-zones."

While I personally hate to fully support the description that companies issue for their products, I do have to admit that Lush is spot on for their description of this face mask. 

While the pot this mask comes in seems fairly small I was able to get four and a half uses out of it. The four uses were full face with part of my neck and the final use was focused on my breakouts and T-zone. While I do wish I was able to get more applications out of this mask, I am pleased that I was able to get about five applications. At a price of $7.95 (at the time of this post), that breaks this mask down to $1.59 an application. I feel that is a fair price for a quality mask.

What it looks like when first opened. You can see the almonds used to exfoliate.

This mask gently exfoliates but is also strong enough to help banish any rough spots. Towards the last two applications my face became very dry from forgetting to moisturize while running late for work. This mask assisted with the dry skin without being irritating. It was not an instant ticket to soft, moisturized skin but it did help my skin repair itself faster than it normally does. (Forgetting moisturizer is a pretty regular thing in my life)

I also felt this mask lives up to the claim that it clears pores and draws away oil from the skin. Oily skin is not a huge issue in my life but it does occur from time to time, especially when it gets extremely hot and humid out. This mask helped clear up an oily patch that was present when I started using it. Unlike other masks that clear up oily patches it did not dry out my skin or make my face feel "tight". 

Smooth application and even coverage!

I wish I could claim that Love Lettuce cleared up my breakouts but unfortunately I can not say that. What I can say is that I believe this mask kept my breakouts from becoming severe and prevented anything major from forming. As someone who can occasionally resemble an appaloosa this was greatly appreciated. 

Overall I would happily recommend Love Lettuce to individuals looking for a good mask. It will probably not be on my list to clear up breakouts, but it will be on my list for a good exfoliating and cleaning mask. Plus, the ingredients are mostly natural which is always a plus in my book!

Back of the pot with ingredient list. Not the expiration date and production date.

Fresh Ingredients: Agar Agar Gel (Gelidium cartilagineum) , Kaolin , Honey ,Fullers Earth , Glycerine , Almond Oil (Prunus dulcis) ,Ground Almond Shells (Prunus dulcis) , Ground Almonds (Prunus dulcis) , Lavender Oil (Lavandula augustifolia) ,Chlorophyllin , *Geraniol , *Limonene , *Linalool ,Fragrance . *Occurs naturally in essential oils

Please note all of the black pots that Lush products are sold in are recycled. They have a program where you can bring in 5 empties and receive a free face mask, so remember to save those pots!