Sunday Seven!

1. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap – Lavender - This soap smells amazing. Plain and simple. From Mrs. Meyers: “A special recipe of aloe vera gel, olive oil and a unique blend of natural essential oils to create a hard working, non-drying, yet softening cleanser for busy hands. Hands have never had it so good.” True, true. $4

2. Morningstar Farms®Spicy Black Bean Veggie Burgers - We’ve been eating these black bean burgers at least once a week — and they’re delicious. With tons of flavor, they’re a total indulgence, even though they have 73% less fat than a regular burger. $5

3. lolo BeatBurn Elliptical Trainer - This is one of those apps that has changed everything. Gone are boring count-down-the-minute workouts, thanks to lolo’s Beatburn training apps. It’s a personal trainer on your iPhone, coaching you through interval-based training on the elliptical (and they have apps for the treadmill, stationary bike and even yoga). Add your own music playlist from your iPhone library and the app processes each song based on beats per minute — plugging them in throughout the workout based on their speed. It’s been worth every penny –and more. $1.99

4. F.lux - This software for your Mac (or jail-broken iPhone) adjusts the color of your computer’s display to adapt to the time of day, warm at night and like sunlight during the day. Studies are suggesting how bad blue light is for sleep patterns, and I’m a believer. After using F.lux for only a week, I’ve noticed the difference in how my computer and phone make me “feel,” especially at night — it’s a lot less “jolting” and yes, even much less stressful.

5. Benefit ChaCha tinted lip & cheek stains - I got a sampler of these lip and cheek stains as a bridesmaid’s gift from my best friend Emily — and I’m not sure how I lived without them. All of the colors are remarkably natural — even the mango — which is incredibly coral at first. $29

6. Woolite Heavy Traffic Carpet Cleaning – Dogs are the best. But, when it comes to my poor rugs … anyway, I’ve tried just about every carpet and upholstery cleaner down the aisle at the grocery store, but this stuff is the best for cleaning dirt (and other unmentionables) and it leaves a fresh, “non-dog” scent. $5

7. HBO’s Girls - Judge me all you want, but I look forward to this show every week. Yes, it’s incredibly uncomfortable at times, but I can’t help but see a little of myself (and close friends) in each of the characters. It just has an air of nostalgia about it — like college, when everything was still unsettled, in transition, messy. I guess I can look back to that time with fondness now, and I find myself wishing the characters could know that someday they will, too.

Dwell in Possibility

I spent this Sunday afternoon on a new drawing. It’s from a poem by Emily Dickinson I’ve been thinking about quite a bit:

I dwell in Possibility– 
A fairer House than Prose– 
More numerous of Windows– 
Superior–for Doors–

Of Chambers as the Cedars– 
Impregnable of Eye– 
And for an Everlasting Roof 
The Gambrels of the Sky–

Of Visitors–the fairest– 
For Occupation–This– 
The spreading wide my narrow Hands 
To gather Paradise–

Emily Dickinson,“I Dwell in Possibility” #466

Last week I got word that I won a car (infographic) from the cool folks at Lemon.ly! I’d attended their session on how to make infographics while I was at NMX in Las Vegas a few weeks ago, and it was really neat to hear about their company and philosophy on creating understanding through “sweet” visuals.

I was contacted by their lead designer for some details about my car and I replied back with info on my daily commute, weekly miles driven and even threw in a pic of my dogs– so check it out! I’m guessing you’ll know my favorite part.

Happy 2013, everyone!

1. Village Naturals Therapy Foaming Bath Oil & Body Wash – Stress & Tension Relief - I’ve been addicted to this stuff for several months now (3 bottles later!). With juniper, orange and menthol, it really does soothe your muscles and the smell is incredible. Use it before bed to help relax and wind down. $11

2. Sunsū Brush for iPad - My hubby surprised me with two new iPad “paintbrushes” for Christmas. The bristles on the Sensū are a bit more sturdy and it has a stylus end, too. I can get lost for hours in my iPad doodles (like the pic above!), but I’m still figuring out the possibilities of this new digital medium. $40

3. Good Earth Original Sweet & Spicy Tea & Herb Blend - I am so in love with this tea. It’s the perfect winter-day drink — with orange, cinnamon, peppermint, lemongrass, papaya and chamomile, it’s really so lovely (and sweet!). $3

4. Nomad FleX Brush - My other fancy new iPad brush is the Nomad FleX. It’s definitely more like a watercolor brush, so it’s great for working with Paper‘s color wash tool. $29

5. Febreeze Gain Original Scent To Go - Most days I try to squeeze in a lunchtime workout at the gym. I started packing Febreeze Gain Original Scent To Go in my gym bag — it smells just like Gain’s laundry detergent and fabric softener, so it’s a great for freshening up clothes. $2

6. Vivo Per Lei Facial Peeling - Yep, I’ll admit it. I got “conned” into buying some of this stuff by an overly-pushy salesman in Vegas last week … but I’m really glad I did. After just three uses, I can already see a difference. It’s made my deep-into-winter skin super-soft. Plus, you can actually see it working — which is partly gross and partly amazing. It makes all of the dead skin ball up as you massage it around your face. $40

7. Onsen Milk Lotion Cleanser - This bottle was part 2 of my Vegas-salesman incident (he threw it in for “free), but again, I’m glad I bought it. It’s a lotion-based cleanser, so it doesn’t foam. Seriously — I’ve barely needed any moisturizer since I started using it last week. $45

We’ve all heard the scoffs at undecided voters – and I have to agree with most of the criticisms I’ve heard so far. If you’re undecided at this point, you’re probably not very interested in politics or you just haven’t been paying much attention. And you mostly likely weren’t watching any of the recent debates.

Yes, I watched all three debates. Well, four if you count the VP. And I hated just about every minute of them – the tension, the obvious strategies, the meaningless numbers and statistics, the lies, the body language, the disagreement. It all seems like some warped sporting event, except it’s guys in suits with calculated facial expressions. And the score is pretty subjective, depending on what color you’re wearing.

These debates were a bit of a problem for me. Why? Because watching the debates made me doubt my decision. The debates have actually made me uncertain. And I couldn’t help but wonder:

Do we really only have two options in this election? What if we really want something different than this?

In 2008, I voted for Barack Obama. I got caught up in the emotion of his campaign and was deeply moved by his speeches. We spent that election night with friends, staying up late to watch the results come in. We all gathered around the TV and I even cried a little because I was, well, proud. It was amazing to feel apart of something, to believe that hope and change was possible. I remember the drive home that night – feeling inspired in the march of progress, in the unchangeable ideals that make our country great.

Four years later, I haven’t exactly given up on President Obama. I’m just less hopeful that he’ll be able to accomplish anything because our political system is so broken. It all needs a drastic overhaul and maybe we need someone that can really “shock” the system. Maybe we need someone very unexpected to win, throwing off the whole media machinery and undermining (heck, exposing) the crazy pundits on both sides. We need a rebirth of our politics.

There’s a candidate named Jill Stein that I’ve been following (distantly, I’ll admit) for a few months now. She’s the Green Party candidate – a party I’d never really considered before this election. Visit her website and you’ll see no patriotic colors – just green, the color of her party. Visit her donation gauge and you’ll see it sits at a modest 250k.

There’s just a bit of bravery about her, about her policies, about the fact she’s even running for president. And it’s politicians like Jill that make me wish I had more options.

This year in Oklahoma, no third party candidates will be listed on our election ballot.  So you have two choices: vote Team Blue or Team Red.

A third choice might have made it a far more difficult decision, if only I had the option.

Sunday Seven – back again! It’s been a long hiatus, I know.

1.  Neutrogena® Naturals Fresh Cleansing + Makeup Remover – I’m really loving this lightweight all-natural cleanser from Neutrogena. It doesn’t dry my skin out, and at $7 a bottle, it’s much, much cheaper than my other favorite cleaner, Purity by Philosophy. $7

2. Neutrogena® Naturals Multi-Vitamin Nourishing Night Cream – I’ll admit it: this is my very first tub of night cream. I wasn’t sure what to expect – but this stuff feels like silk, smells amazing and makes my skin super hydrated by morning. $13

3. Dove Dry Shampoo – I’m a dry shampoo junkie. I’ve tried just about every reasonably-priced bottle I can find, and my experiences have definitely varied between brands. Dove didn’t let me down, though, with their take on dry shampoo. It smells like heaven and refreshes between washes. $5

4. Organix® Hydrating Macadamia Oil Intensive Moisture Mask - I bought this on a whim a few weeks ago since I was needing a good deep condition. After about 20 minutes, it had done the trick – nourished my tired hair and added loads of shine. $6

5. Arugula - This is just a plain shout-out to arugula. I’ve been eating it in salads, on sandwiches, in pastas and in soup. The nutty, bright flavor is an unexpected (and delightful) departure from the sometimes bland flavor of other leafy greens.

6. Paper – This app is so, so cool. The “texture” feels just like a real, well, paper  and each tool (pen, marker, pencil, brush) is very life-like . The color choices for each tool are a bit limited, but it’s such a cool experience for sketching or drawing on the iPad. $7 (for complete app + tools)

7. Targus Stylus for iPad - Since I bought the Paper app, I knew I needed a stylus. I did a little research and found that the Office Depot around the corner had a good selection. It does have a larger surface area than I’d like (making detailed work difficult), but for $9, it does the trick. Plus, it comes in fun colors. $9

I hope you enjoy the new design. It’s simple and clean because I wanted to focus on content.

• My favorite part is the new header – my own handwriting. One of my favorite finds lately is the Paper app by FiftyThree and my new trusty stylus (more to come on this later … hint: Sunday Seven).
• I’ve been learning a little CSS, too, so I was able to tweak the Default child theme for iThemes Builder to customize it quite a bit. I even added support for a cool Google web font (used in navigation, headings and titles).
• The fun social icons are from the shop at August Empress.  Fun!
• I combined content from another of my blogs to make one. I’m just trying to simplify across the board.

Oh, and here’s a link to my “Blog and Website Inspiration” board on Pinterest. These were a few sites that really inspired me:

Anyway, here it is. The all-new RedDirtDarling.com. Enjoy!

I first heard Real Estate on the Tiny Desk Concert below – and I couldn’t stop listening. I immediately got their 2011 album Days – and it couldn’t be a better summer soundtrack.

It’s airy, dreamy – makes me imagine ocean coastlines on the northeast.

“Easy,” the first track on the album (and in this video), is definitely my favorite.

Enjoy!