What Works for Me: Curly Girl!

So as I mentioned before, I have been trying to figure out my hair for the last 10 years or so. My hair was never perfectly straight, and I noticed as I got older that it started to bend more and more. I never considered myself "curly", though, because as soon as I brushed it out the curl turned into bends so I assumed, well, must not be curly hair! Plus neither of my parents have curl in their hair.

As you can see, I should've caught on sooner.

In college, I had a roommate with curly hair who clued me in; she let me try some of her products and told me not to comb it out, and VOILA! Curls! Or at least definite waves. I started using products and working the curls, but they still seemed awfully unpredictable.

In the last few years, I managed to get my waves to a point where they looked ok and were fairly consistent, but I still wished they looked better and it still felt like guessing as to how to make them look good. I did some internet research, like the "no poo" method, but all the methods depend on the person, and frankly I still wasn't sure if I could count my hair as CURLY when they aren't tight curls. I got some help from naturallycurly.com, but not as much as I wanted.

LUCKILY, my girlfriend J has legitimately curly hair. She also struggled for years trying to get it manageable (not that you'd know as she's so naturally lovely ;D), and finally found a resource that helped her out, and passed it on to me - the book Curly Girl by Lorraine Massey. And thank GOD, because it was SO HELPFUL.

I've only been doing her methods for the last two weeks, and I'm still figuring things out, but it has been a crazy change (for the better). I even have photo evidence:

Before

Before

AFTER!

I don't know what is wrong with my face in the last picture, but look at those CURLS! That's after just one week!

Here's what I do differently, based on Curly Girl's advice:

• I've only washed my hair with shampoo three times in the last 2 weeks. Seriously. If it's looking a little greasy, I rub it gently under the shower's running water. 
• I condition every day, about a teaspoon's worth, and wash it out. 
• I no longer do the towel turban to dry my hair; I scrunch it gently with the towel and squeeze a little. I will confess I kind of hate it, because I hate that feeling of water dripping down my back, but I can't argue with the results. ;p
• Clear dollar-store gel is all I use to style it. Scrunch it in, and done. It air-dries in about an hour.
• I was using Garnier's Curl Calm Down cream (which I still highly recommend if you're not in my situation), but the conditioner I just started using (Trader Joe's NOURISH brand) is REALLY rich - seriously, the second ingredient is rosemary oil (yeah, it smells delish too). That + more moisturizing cream = flat curls again. They were soft as heck still, but it's too much for my hair, I think. I used just gel today and they're back to their glorious springy selves!

Even The Hubs has noticed a huge difference, and he loves how soft the curls are. I'm just happy because my dream has finally come true - low-maintenance hair that makes me feel gorgeous! It's a little more work, but it's still maybe 10 minutes total of my morning routine, and that's including the part that takes place in the shower.

This post isn't paid in any way (Pfft, I WISH I had enough readers to merit paid opinion posts). I wanted to post about it because while it's vain as hell, it's also exciting to finally have my hair look so good and I have to share it SOMEWHERE (The Hubs can only tolerate so much). Plus if I felt so much confusion, I figured it can't hurt to spread the word around about this great resource.

 

Accepting My Size: Size 22-24

I am full-on into the "Fat Pride/Fat Acceptance" movement. Healthy is defined by your inner workings (physical and mental), not your outer shape. Lately I've been unhealthy, using food as my stress relief, but I'm ready to start working back to healthy mode - not for weight loss, but because I like how I feel when I'm making my blood pump and when the food I eat makes me feel good.

Also, I have sweet legs, a killer rack, and a nice caboose, yo, and these must be recognized as such.

My outfit is together, but my desk is in shambles. 

Showin' off my nice legs, cute shoes, and BRAND NEW BIRTHDAY PURSE OMG

These were taken Monday, the day after my 31st birthday. I was in a great mood that morning, but to be honest, the rest of the week was... less than. I'm working my way back to happiness, though; this is a temporary setback due to work circumstances. I still really like my job, though, and my career field despite the efforts of a select few to make things more difficult for me; I also have a lot of catching up to do, so once these things work themselves out and I find a balance again, I think there will be a lot of happiness returning to me. Despite feeling very moody and overwhelmed, I still feel life is good and the second full year of my 30's is off to a nice start with me still feeling very fulfilled.

One of those fulfillment areas is accepting who I am, inside and out. I'm a beautiful woman, and I really love myself a lot of the time.

Prepping for Back to Schoo/Work: Routines

So as I may have mentioned before/is viewable in that little profile blurb to the left -->, I'm a teacher. More specifically, a high school English teacher. All teachers would probably agree with me that a major component of classroom organization is ROUTINE. Kids love routines - even older kids that don't like to be called kids, a.k.a. teenagers. Heck, it's human nature to prefer routine - there's comfort in familiarity and the expected, and it makes life easier to know what to do in certain situations.

Love this, but didn't make it. Fitting, though.

That said, I've never been great at establishing routines outside of the classroom. Or, I guess I should say I've never been good at establishing EFFECTIVE routines. I routinely wait until the last minute to do things or hit the snooze button - so it's not like I don't have routines, they're just routines I don't want. ;p There's some dysfunction in my personality that rebels against the idea of HAVING to do things; it drives me nuts, and at the same time I'm like "UUUUGH DON'T WANNA." Now I'm trying to be better.

Since I'm a grown-@$$ woman and need to get my shtuff in order, I've been trying to get used to a morning routine. I'm currently working at a camp for international students, and I teach ESL in the mornings, so it's similar to the scholastic setting to which I'll return in about 3 weeks. (In other news, HOLY CRAP I ONLY HAVE 3 MORE WEEKS TO PREPARE.) So I've been trying to create a routine in the mornings that I can work with, and get used to it for the next 3 weeks so I can ease into the school year, rather than it be a big ol' shock, y'know? The first weeks of school are always tough when you're getting used to the routine again, so the easier I can make it on myself, the better.

This is the morning routine I'm trying to establish:

• Wake up, 10-minute workout (yes, just 10 minutes - I'm easing myself into it)
• shower, hair and make-up done
• make and eat breakfast
• take Daisy out for a nice walk (about 20 minutes)

I've been getting up about 2 hours before I need to leave for work for this routine... it's way more time than I need, but I like it because I don't have to rush. Which, when I leave for work at 8:30, isn't so early... but in 3 weeks, I'll be leaving for work at 6:30. Getting up 2 hours earlier, which would be 4:30... yeah, I don't know. Might need to work it into 1.5 hours earlier. Probably could save myself some time by jumping out of bed, not dilly-dallying on my phone trying to wake up.

So far, I've managed all but the workouts. Heh. I need to work on that, obviously - so that's my focus this week; the idea is to get 3 separate 10-minute workouts of decent intensity done morning, noon, and late afternoon (like when I get home from work). Eventually, I'd like to up the workouts to 20 minutes. It's not a vanity thing - it's literally doctor's orders... but I've never been one to workout for the sake of working out, which is why I'm trying to do it in short spurts. (Unless I find a class I like, then on days I take an exercise class I'll excuse myself from the other workouts as long as it's equivalent to the time I'd normally workout.) Again, though, this is why I've given myself some time to establish this routine - the more habitual it is when school starts, the less problematic it will be to keep it up, hopefully.

The other routine I'd like to establish is a kitchen-related one. First is that I want to prep my lunch at the same time I'm making dinner, like get dinner in the oven/prolonged cooking time, and in the in-between time, prep whatever I need for lunch the next day so it's ready to grab and go in the morning. I would also like to take that in-between time, or after eating time, to do the dishes. I have good weeks and bad weeks of doing the dishes daily, but I also hate the dishes piling up. They still DO, but man do I hate it. ;p

The biggest thing I'm fighting here is myself and that natural reluctance do things that I HAVE to do, or that I'm EXPECTED to do; I'm not normally a rebellious person, but basic housekeeping/chores has always been something I've fought. Yet I prefer living in a cleaner house and having life be a little easier, so I need to do little things throughout the week rather than big overhauling things once in a while, which is more exhausting and frustrating. Right? Right.

Makes perfect sense, and yet I still drag my feet kicking and screaming. I am noticing a little less kicking and screaming, though. Maybe I'm finally growing up!

30 Before 30: "30 for 30" Wardrobe remix

So, as a birthday present to myself (and 'cuz I've been putting it off until I could start on a 1st day of the month), I'm doing a 30 for 30 wardrobe challenge.

The basic concept, as instructed by Kendi Everyday, is to pick 30 pieces and remix them to make new outfits every day for the next 30 days. Underclothes, pajamas (or workout clothes, if you're so inclined), and accessories are "free pieces", everything else is NOT. She added in the provision of no shopping; I'm allowing myself 1 piece, because I'm considering buying this super-cute sweater dress from Old Navy. So as of right now, I have 29 pieces technically until I chose to buy or not (if I don't, I'll pick a new piece or leave that space free for another purchase - it IS my birthday month, after all!).

I've added two exceptions of my own: I count tank-tops as underwear, because I usually wear them for extra coverage, and some of the pieces I chose are lower-cut than I would wear without a tank-top. Also, I'm STILL job interviewing; while I could create work-worthy outfits from most of my pieces, I step it up a little bit for an actual interview, so I'm allowing myself interviews as an exception to the 30 for 30 pieces.

The goal with doing this is mainly to have fun and give me a challenge. I'm actually pretty excited; I purposely picked a few "wild cards", as well as challenged myself by only allowing myself 1 denim piece and 1 pair of shorts. I ended up choosing denim shorts! Haha. That's right, no jeans for a MONTH. In fact, here's a list of my pieces:

• 6 dresses (I KNOW RIGHT)
• 8 tops
• 4 jackets
• 1 vest
• 3 pairs of pants
• 2 pairs of leggings (one black, one "jeggings", which I don't count as denim)
• 5 pairs of shoes
• 5 skirts

Don't worry, I won't be blogging every look here. Instead, I'll be going back to Flickr; I miss that website, and need an excuse to use it. (Yes, I'm a social media whore, don't judge me.)

I will, however, leave this picture to lead the way to the Flickr album. Follow me, guys!

This is what happens when your husband is the photographer

Follow-up to vanity post: OMG MY CRAZINESS WORKED

Ok, so if you read my last post, you know I was waaaay over-thinking and over-prepping for my friend T's wedding today.

Well, first things first, it was GORGEOUS. The bride was, like I thought she would be, the most beautiful girl in the room - and I don't say that just 'cuz she was the bride, or to call the other females in attendance ugly. We gave her a run for her money, but she was BEAUTIFUL. Great, intimate wedding with lots of love and warmth for the bride and groom.

Onto more important things: what people thought of ME. ;p So of the 3 former guys, neither of the actual exes showed up (THANK GOD), but I did see the friend whom we mutually benefitted. I wasn't terribly worried about his opinion (after all, I wasn't emotionally involved with him), but I don't think his reaction could've been any better...

He literally did a double-take, and kind of shook his head in shock, and said, "Wow, SAM?" Then gave me a big hug. (His girlfriend kind of gave me the "wary eye" after that, but she's a total babe and they're totally cute together so there's nothing to worry about on her end, obviously.)

Other high school peeps that were there were also happy to see me. One of them (a guy who I was never super-close to but we ran in the same circles and thought the other was cool) was unusually happy to see me - jumped up, gave me a big hug when I walked up, then sat next to me at the ceremony. We're catching up before the ceremony, and he made some jokes about being single and "looking for hot single ladies" at the wedding. Then he says (I SH** YOU NOT), "Of course, I have to go and sit next to the hot married lady." I joked that if a hot single lady arrived, I wouldn't be offended if he ditched me. He replies, "Nah, I'm good." He also kept leaning into me and nudging me while we talked... HE WAS TOTALLY FLIRTING WITH ME! (He was cute, too, which makes it even MORE validating! ;D)

OMG I AM TOTALLY A HOTTIE... when I wear a sexy halter dress (with a modest shrug to cover my shoulders), wedge heels, full makeup, and straighten my hair.

Meh, I'll take it. ;D It's nice to know that I am attractive when I put in the effort (and said effort makes me FEEL hot and sexy). T and D (both guy friends) also told me I looked pretty today, which was nice.

Of course, now I just have to not let this one day of optimum hotness go to my head. ;p I mean, it totally has, but now I have to ACT like it hasn't.

30 before 30: The ridiculousness of vanity

Tomorrow is the wedding of a friend from high school. I'm not the bride, I'm not in the wedding, I'm simply a guest.

By the time we leave for the wedding Saturday morning, I will have done the following to prepare:

• 3 different methods of hair removal on 4 different areas of the body
• painted my fingernails and toenails
• ironed my dress, and shoved myself into Spanx and a strapless bra
• Blow-dried my hair
• put on a full face of makeup

Comparatively, this is the prep The Hubs will need to do:

• Shaved face other than goatee
• Iron his shirt (which I'm actually doing, which is fine)
• shower, comb hair

Guys suck.

Of course, I don't HAVE to do about 95% of what I'm doing to prep for this wedding. After all, it's not MY wedding, I'm just going to watch my friend get married! So why am I going to all this trouble?

Well, let me offer a peek into the way my insane little mind works as to WHY all this effort needs to be made:

1. This particular high school friend is part of a group that includes no less than 3 gentlemen who have known me in a more than friendly way (If I wasn't a teacher, I would put that in SUCH a more ribald way, damn my public status) that are possibly also guests. 2 of those 3 are guys who I actually had feelings for. One of the rules of womanhood is that all ex-boyfriends MUST regret breaking up with you (or, um, I dumped them... yeah, that's it) every time they see you, and any ex-hook-ups must NOT regret hooking up with you every time they see you. I don't know what's worse; an ex thinking "Thank GOD I jumped off THAT sinking ship" or an ex-hookup wondering what the hell they were thinking going "THERE". I plan to avoid both of those situations. (Just watch, all 3 don't show.)
2. I didn't go to my 10-year high school reunion because I was unemployed, childless, and fat. It's been 12 years, and I'm again unemployed, childless, and fat. BUT I'm actually less fat right now (yay!), and at least I had a job in between the last high school friend's wedding 2 years ago and this one. However, there will be a lot of people from high school most likely, and I want them to remember me as being gorgeous, witty, and urbane despite my childlessness and joblessness. Yup, I'm worried about the opinions of people I never see, and will probably not see again for years (if ever). 
3. Most of the high school people that might be there are nerds. Have you ever been the hot girl amongst a bunch of nerds? It's like being a king (queen) among peasants. Now, I won't be the hottest girl there (that position will belong to the bride, who really is gorgeous - T, my friend, scored a hottie), but I at least want to be in the running. It's amazing how male attention changes when they think a girl is hot; I've both been on the receiving end of it AND been ignored for hotter girls. It's interesting. I prefer being on the receiving end of it. 

Yes, these are all completely ridiculous things. The only thing I can control right now in my life is my outside, and when I feel like I look good, my attitude and confidence get the necessary boost that makes me a whole lot more fun to be around. I'm not even meaning this entry as a complaining entry, I just want to point out my own ridiculousness to show you all that I TOTALLY get how insane I am.

Also, some of the girliness is TOTALLY fun. I love how my toenails look when they're painted. They're this perfect shade of pink right now that will look SO CUTE with my pale-green polka dot halter dress and white wedge sandals. So, really, I'm doing all this prep work for my own swollen ego. ;D

30 before 30: Feeling OLD - not my age, OLD

So for all my claims of OMG 30 I'M SO OLD, it's mostly a case of "she doth protest too much". (Mostly.) I'm upset about turning 30 mainly because there's a mental checklist that is still missing a huge number of checks, and that's what upsets me more than the actual getting "older" part.

As by now I've probably established that I am a vain emmeffer, I'm not too worried about the looking older part. A bonus of being of mixed ethnic heritage is that I've managed to inherit that lovely oily Mexican skin - bad for zits (which I've mostly outgrown by now), good for preventing wrinkles! I also have the weird blessing of never looking quite my age - when I was a teenager, I was often mistaken for being in my 20's, and when I've worked at high schools now in my mid-to-late 20's, I've been mistaken for a student when not wearing my "teacher clothes". This is even with a handful of gray hairs that have been growing in regularly since my teens! But the "sparklies" (as my mom calls the gray hairs) don't even bug me that much.

But this week, I had my first experience of where I felt OLD, aside from the whole being called "Ma'am" annoyance.

First, back-story. If you've seen my Twitter avatar, the one before the most recent choice was me in glasses. These were 10-year-old reading glasses that I only used occasionally - when I first got them, they were too STRONG and while the words were bigger, they made my head hurt after a while, so I never really got in the habit of using them. In the last few years, I pop them on for shoots and giggles or if I'm working on something that requires me seeing very tiny details well... and as of late, they haven't been that helpful, but they also stopped giving me headaches, so I figured it was just natural aging. Other than that, I don't wear glasses.

When I was in high school, my anatomy class taught us how to test our vision, and I found out I had 20/13 - I saw from 20 feet away what normal people saw at 13 feet. About 3 years ago, a re-test showed that my far-away vision had degenerated to 20/17. Still pretty good, and again, must just be natural aging!

This week, my friend J., who hired me to help him out here and there this summer while I've been unemployed, and I were driving home from work together when he switched his sunglasses to his regular glasses. He'd mentioned before that his prescription sunglasses were insanely dark-tinted, so I asked if I could try them on to see how much darker they made everything, and he handed them to me.

I pop them on, and not only do I not get an insta-headache, but everything looks sharper and more clear.

I take them off, and double-check that J. wears prescription sunglasses. He assures me that yes, they are prescription. I put them on again, and it's like I'm watching a high-def movie, and I can literally feel my eyes re-adjusting to the new vision. I try on his regular glasses, and same thing happens.

J. was laughing his head off at my reactions; I'm sure I looked like a monkey doing algebra as I tried to put two and two together. Apparently, I still didn't get it because J. states the obvious: "You need GLASSES."

This is still really weird to me - I feel like I see fine, it's just not as sharp as it used to be, and I assumed that this was what 20/20 vision was like. But the difference between my "normal" vision and J's glasses was pretty astounding. I mean, I'm not Mr. Magoo or anything here, but it's still a shock! Not that it's totally unexpected - my dad and my brother have each worn glasses since they were kids, and were also far-sighted. My mom has also been wearing non-prescription reading glasses for years. So obviously this was bound to happen, I just... I'm flabbergasted!

J said that he discovered he needed glasses the same way I did, and several other glass-wearers have confirmed that the same scenario clued them in as well, so at least I'm not a total moron. BUT now I'm thinking... what will it be like to wear glasses ALL THE TIME? I've never worn them for more than a few minutes at a time! How will I look? Do boys, in fact, not make passes at girls who wear glasses? ;p

Well, obviously, I have an idea of how I look in glasses, as I mentioned earlier:

I call this my "Liz Lemon" look

I'm still tripping out that this might be what I look like ALL THE TIME SOON. Of course, I have to wait to get insured again before I can actually know for sure if I need them, but it's still a trip to realize.

And it really proves that when you get older, your body really does degenerate. UGH. THAT'S why this new development makes me feel older: stone cold evidence of my body falling apart. ;p

30 before 30: Superficial much?

Soooo... hi!


I know, I never blog on here. For one thing, I feel like this blog should stick SOLELY to "the art of housewifery", but, well, I'm kind of a crap housewife! I don't have that many useful tips to add to the proceedings. (Although I AM actually working on some tutorials that I think will be awesome!) Hell, I need more help than anyone. 


So I think I'm going to just blog what I feel like as it relates to my life - I am a housewife of sorts, and this blog is about what a hot mess I am. My goal is to blog at least 30 times before I turn 30, which is October 14th. I'm giving myself free rein to blog what I feel like bloggin', as long as it relates to my life and my experience as a woman trying to be modern, mature, and domestic. 

So, onto the actual entry:

I have become a big ol' girly-girl as of late. As I've mentioned before, I got lazy about my looks and dressing well in college, and since The Hubs thinks I'm cute when I'm makeup-free and in a tee and jeans, I figured, what's the point?

Well, for the last year or so, I realized that I'M the point. I'M worth being cute. As Ryan Gosling's character says to Steve Carrell's in "Crazy, Stupid, Love", "Be better than The Gap." I take that as a simpler way to say, "Think higher of yourself, and dress accordingly."(I have no problem with the Gap as a store.)

Now, I'm not saying that I've started adorning myself in high-end labels and piling on heavy layers of expensive makeup, which to ME was what I associated as being "girly-girl". I mean, I know how to do my face up nice; I read women's magazines religiously as a teenager, and I remember every tip and trick. (Studying theater make-up in college doesn't hurt, either. ;p) BUT doing my hair and a full face and then heels and uncomfortable clothes just didn't sound worth it to me, even with the idea of valuing myself higher.

So I've found my own comfort level, my own compromise between "glamazon" and "tomboy", when it comes to my day-to-day look. Clothes-wise, I still wear jeans (or shorts), but my t-shirts are not unisex anymore - they're specifically bought from the women's section and made to flatter my shape more. I also have no problem switching it up with leggings (or jeggings) and a cute top/ mini-dress. The shoes are cute flats or strappy sandals. As for the face, I wear makeup that looks like I'm not wearing makeup, so I feel like I'm a slightly-more-polished version of my own actual face. Again, occasionally I'll do up my eyes with a more colorful shadow palette, but overall my makeup routine stays relatively simple.

Best part? Takes me 15 minutes tops, hair AND makeup. Not. Even. Kidding. I've got it down to a science.

You want to know my makeup routine? Of course you do. Who DOESN'T want to have a natural-looking-but-better face in less than 10 minutes?
Products needed:
- a warm peach-tone blush (Mine is by NYC); if you're pale, you might want an actual eyeshadow that's closer to your skintone, bb. I recommend ivory or butter for pale skin.
- brown eyeliner (Wet n' Wild, baby!)
- a taupe/light brown eyeshadow (mine is part of a duo from Clinique that is, like, YEARS old)
- your preferred mascara (I keep it old-school with Maybelline Great Lash)
- Tinted moisturizer as close to your skin tone as possible. This is where I splurge on the good stuff - your skin should be where you spend the money when it comes to makeup, IMHO. Ya need a properly primed canvas if you want the painting to stand out, amirite? I use LORAC.**
- tinted lip balm. I totally scored these $2 ones at SaveMart that smell like peppermint and look good on me - I bought one of every color. $2!

Tools:
- an eyeshadow brush (I like this one from e.l.f.)
- a blending brush (You should have this no matter what. Again, I buy cheap stuff from e.l.f.)
- your fingers. Seriously. That's it.

The "Before" (I assure you I am wearing a towel on my body as well). No makeup, fresh out of the shower!

How to do it:
Eyes  - This'll be the one that takes some time, but it's also where you want the most attention if you have beautiful eyes, dammit. I have beautiful eyes, dammit, so attention must be paid. ;D

See the red circle? That's the "crease". Put the brown shadow there.

1. Sweep peach blush over your entire upper eyelid, including the browbone. 
2. Put the taupe eyeshadow on the edge of your brush, the sweep the crease of your eyelid. As gross as it sounds (if you're one of those people who get weird about eyeballs), you basically want to follow the top of your eyeball, like as if the brush was resting on it and rolling back and forth dispersing the eyeshadow. 
3. Lightly brush your blending brush over entire eyelid to soften your eyeshadow.
4. Line the outer third of your upper eyelid with the brown eyeliner. You want a thin line, so apply it like you're trying to color in the roots of your eyelashes (a great tip I read). Then smudge it with your fingertip so it's not so harsh. 
5. Apply mascara to JUST THE OUTER THIRD of your lashes, one good swipe is plenty. Remember, we're going for "natural" here, not "drag queen". "Drag queen" is for going out at night ONLY.

 Face - 

1. Apply tinted moisturizer with your fingers all over your face and into the top of your neck. SERIOUSLY. BLEND IT INTO YOUR NECK. You don't want the dreaded "brown jaw" from forgetting to blend the makeup PAST your jaw. Make sure to overlap slightly in different areas via blending. I cannot stress how important blending is, seriously.

Lips - 

1. Apply tinted lip balm.   

That's it. Seriously.

Ta-da! Full face makeup, but not overly made up.

Now, I'm not claiming that I am OMG SO MUCH MORE GORGEOUS with this routine, but it's enough to make me feel a little more gussied up and polished. Like I'm taking what (insert deity of choice here) gave me and adding a nice glossy coat to ensure it looks its best.

**Alternately, I also use Almay's Smart Shade Smart Balance foundation when I can't afford the REALLY good stuff - and I'm a little in love with it. It's heavier than tinted moisturizer, but still offers sheer coverage, plus it really does blend in to match your skin (LOOOOVE IT) and evens out my uneven coloring while covering my redder areas. It's also cheaper. BUT you need to take the extra step of moisturizing, which is a strike against it on principle of "easy makeup application"; it also dries hella fast, so you have to apply and BLENDBLENDBLENDOMGBLENDGODDAMMIT, which is why I ultimately prefer tinted moisturizer. Still, I'm out of LORAC right now (and can't afford more), and happily using Almay in the meantime (and in the "after" picture). Just throwing it out there if you want a slightly heavier base.