Birthday Recap...

Today has been great! =)

I appreciate all my friends wishing me a happy birthday on Facebook. I can't remember any year in which so many people took the time to wish me a happy birthday. Everyone has been so supportive and friendly, even if we've never met in person. Warm fuzzies abound!

My sister couldn't make it over this morning. She was going to help me learn how to do the "smokey look" for my eyes. First, I have NEVER been able to do makeup other than the usual eyeliner and foundation. Sometimes, a light eyeshadow, but usually, if I'm wearing makeup and it looks WOW, my sister came over to do it. LOL. She's a licensed cosmetologist, so she's always done my hair and makeup for those special days.

Well, I got a free sample of Covergirl's "Smoky Shadow Blast" to try out. It's a double tipped, two colored eyeshadow applicator. The rounded tip goes on first, then you flip it over and use the tapered tip to do the crease of your eyes, then blend to create the smokey look.

Umm...I'm half Chinese and I have the Chinese hooded eyes. I have no crease to use for the contour color! LOL. After trying to apply this stuff without a crease, it got tossed to the counter and my face was washed, amidst some cussing.

Grabbing my makeup case, I pulled out some of my eyeshadows to use. U looked up some tutorials on YouTube and with my laptop in the bathroom with me and much use of the pause button, I tried this tutorial out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLxMfBL6QqE&feature=related

(I love the way this woman looks. She's gorgeous!)

Anyway, I did try. Unfortunately, it looked like I caked the eyeshadow on. UGH. I washed my face again to start over, with much more cussing.

This time, I went with this tutorial - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWIk5c7jRuw

I don't know if it's because the guy talked through the steps, or what, but even with the extra steps in his tutorial, I actually managed to do the makeup! So...here is the result... (as always, click to enlarge)

(By the way - that's not a blonde streak. LOL - I have grey hair growing in a streak!)

Oh, the necklace! Hehehe. I bought the necklace from a local jewel crafter who I had befriended on LiveJournal. This woman is AMAZING. She not only creates necklaces, and other jewelry, she also cards her own wool, knits, dyes her wool, and spins (spinning wheel). Her name is Ann and you MUST visit her Etsy store - http://www.etsy.com/shop/Ebonraven

Here's a closeup of the necklace.

Click to enlarge, of course, but the center piece is obsidian (hand wire wrapped with silver wire), as well as the bell shaped beads on either side. Beneath those are garnet beads, and in the center of the serpent pieces near by neck are more garnet pieces. I fell in love with this necklace when I saw it on her website and I all but begged and pleaded with Spike for permission to buy it. =)

Why dress up? Because Spike and Pixie-Brat took me out to "Linner" (Pixie-Brat's word for a meal too late for lunch, but too early for dinner) at Sumay, an Indian Restaurant, here in Puyallup.

Lamb mango curry, naan (center, background), saffron rice (center foreground), and chicken curry. We had leftovers! Hehehe. Pixie-Brat and I both had mango lassi as our beverages. YUM!

To end the night, we finished with a birthday cake. Not just any old birthday cake though. Oh, no! I've been hinting for YEARS I've wanted an ice cream cake for my birthday, and years went by without one.

Not this year! I actually got my ice cream cake!

This birthday has been the best! My first book released, a birthday filled with greatness, awesome makeup. I feel really great!