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Preaching In A New Way And Bits of Sparkle

Well, pigeons, the big exciting thing happening for me in my ministry is to feel a tremendous sense of energy and connection with my new congregation. I am continuing to push myself into Fear Land by preaching in a completely different style, and it is yielding powerful results. I am still scared. I do not know exactly what method it is I am using. I am feeling my way by faith and prayer and intuition. If I come up with some kind of formula for what I am doing I will certainly be happy to share it with you. Right now, though, it is just a messy kind of thing that I am doing only because I can’t seem to NOT do it. It reminds me of when I got the call to ministry: nothing that I did felt right no matter how much I thought I wanted it, until I was willing to let it all go and fall into the abyss. The abyss turned into my life’s purpose and joy and desire but I had no idea at the time. At the time it just felt like my life was miserably unraveling.

This is a similar sensation: God grew tired of waiting for me to be willing to communicate in a less carefully linguistically crafted way and threw away my script. I simply cannot prepare one right now. I cannot under the best of conditions prepare a manuscript. I’m not burned out. I am not tired of writing sermons. I love writing sermons. I am just unable to do so. I have stopped fighting that and am just trying to accommodate the new technique.

Anyway, I am having a grand time with my congregation. Dare I say it is a honeymoon period? Well, I dare say it! I feel very, very fortunate to have met the Search Committee a year ago to start on this new chapter of my life.

As for image, art and such, I find that I feel happiest when I work something sparkly into my day. Like this sweet eyeshadow pen in Midnight Cowboy by Urban Decay:

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It’s a super easy way to get a subtle wash of sparkliness. Make sure to use an eyeshadow primer or a bit of foundation on your lids first to get the best bang for your buck:

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Today I wore a brown long skirt, boots, a leopard sweater and chunky gold and black drop earrings to church. It’s brutally cold so this was my way of bundling up but still being dressed in a slightly more feminine way than Nanook of the North. DSC02291

The one detail that made the outfit feel fun (it could have used a necklace but I didn’t feel like it with the animal print and the chunky earrings) was this pyramid studded belt from Torrid, which you can’t really see in the photo. Just a hint of bling:
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I won’t lie to ya, it has been a draining winter with all this brutal cold. But being psyched about ministry is a great elixir. How are you doing, kittens? What’s inspiring you all right now?

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PB Make-Up Tutorials! Two For The Price of One!

Because I love ya, and because this was fun! I piled on a ton of make-up to show you some tricks! It was late, I had hideous hair, and I put on way too much eye shadow but the techniques might be helpful or interesting or entertaining to some of ya!

Here we go!

And then I decided to do a Part II with options for less stage make-upy eyes. But then I got out the liquid liner and got all punchy. It’s very late, it’s CHRISTMAS EVE tomorrow and Santa Jesus is coming! Yay!

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Eye Bags Help

In honor of a colleague’s pre-Christmas craziness comment that she was rocking enormous Vuitton bags under her eyes, I wanted to remember to tell you about my favorite little helper, Garnier’s undereye roller. Here’s how I use it: I wash my face and apply moisturizer, let that absorb for a bit, do all my make-up (and eye cream! Don’t forget eye cream!), and then after everything is done I roll this brightener under my eyes, pat it in gently with my pinky and let it dry.

Love the stuff. It comes in a few shades, from sheer to deep. Garnier Skin Renew Anti Dark Circle Eye Roller, Sheer Tint, about $12.

That and a nice pop of blush (well-blended!) on the apples of ye cheeks can get you through these stupid ricka-frassa snowstorms!

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Sometimes a Little Sparkle (Also Rants and Reflections on Clergy Groups)

It has been a sad, crummy week. You know that.

Today I had a wonderful clergy gathering that turned out to be small enough that we could get into a really deep check-in (curses on those colleagues who urged us to hold our regular meeting even though it’s four days before Christmas — and then Didn’t Come. I find that to be so rude. I also think it’s incredibly rude not to RSVP for a gathering when you know that your hostess is making lunch and that the program person is planning to do something that might be different if fifteen people are showing up versus five. Why do clergy people do this to each other? Don’t we find it frustrating when lay people do the same? And how about this one: colleagues who come to a group and then have the temerity to complain about the program without volunteering to DO a program. PET PEEVE! If I think a clergy group has a low quality or unworthwhile program, I send my regrets. You don’t COME every time and GRIPE. This rant is now over. For now).

Anyway, it was great to be together. It always is with these colleagues. They’re very smart and good and funny. We did a big check-in and then we had Communion and then lunch. We’re good friends in addition to being colleagues so there’s none of that posturing and B.S.ing that goes on in so many clergy groups, where you put on a shiny face of perfection and brag under the guise of checking in, or you share something excruciatingly painful and then later feel total remorse that you did so, because you now you’re going to be seen as this fragile minister. I am of the opinion that the best way to get into a fantastic clergy support group is to make actual friends with colleagues. The formal clergy groups we are obligated to attend for reasons of denominational affiliation or geography/region can be nice, and sometimes even excellent. But for my needs, actual deep friendships with clergy colleagues have been essential to my well-being and love for the work.

This clergy group today involved really awesome Christmas cookies, too — little bite-sized sugar cookies that were just so buttery and had crunchy sugar sprinkles on top, I can’t even tell you. I think I had about ten.

So on the way home I stopped off at The Holy Land (Sephora, which, when you see that word, you should imagine a celestial choir singing “Ahh-AHH-AHHH!”). I had to pick up facial cleanser and also tinted moisturizer which I totally FORGOT TO GET, and to return some gel eyeliner by Stila that just dried out way too fast, and I can’t accept that. It used to be my favorite product but something has happened to their formula because it dries out in like, a week.

I got what I needed and then the cute sales clerk showed me this SPARKLY eyeliner by Stila. And I was like, “Oh no, I can’t wear that. I’m 47. I am a mature lady with lots of wrinkles and a serious job.” And she was like, “You could totally rock this!” And I was like, “Well, I’ll tell you what. I am madly in love with that color right there, and it makes me really happy to look at it. If this looks as bad as I think it’s gonna look on me, I’ll use it to draw flowers on kid’s faces.”

And then this huge accident happened on the way home just ahead of me on the highway and I was sitting there in traffic feeling so bad for the person who smashed their car to smithereens and got God -knows what injuries days before Christmas, and listening to the “Glee” cast sing “All I Want For Christmas Is You” and at a total stand-still in my car. So I took out my blue sparkly eyeliner and put it on right there on Route 93 North and lo and behold, it was very pretty. And it made me happy.

I don’t recommend buying eyeliner for happiness. You’re supposed to do works of self-sacrificing love for happiness, and to pray. But if you’re a shallow, materialistic, vain sinner like me you might want to have sparkly turquoise blue eyeliner on sometimes. Especially after a very sad week. It’s $22 and you can get it here.

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Not Better Than False Lashes: PeaceBang Reviews Too Faced Mascara

Darlings, you know I work tirelessly for you, testing blushes and creams and fussing around at Target illegally snapping photos of the latest affordable fashions (“Ma’am, I’m afraid that you’re going to have to stop taking photos of our merchandise”).

I even splurged on a gourmet mascara because I had several formal occasions coming up and I thought that this stuff would work on my eyes as well as it worked on the young lady in the salon where I had my hair cut and colored recently. This gal had lashes as long as my arm, and she told me she was obsessed with Too Faced Better Than False Lashes Mascara.

This is a two-step rigamarole where you curl your lashes (always my recommended first step for a lush lash), put on the black mascara, follow with the white goopy stuff, and then follow up with more black mascara. The idea is that the white goopy stuff is a fibre that extends your lashes. The reality is that the black mascara is super whimpy and does a pathetic job of priming your lashes for the goopy coat, and REALLY fails as a top coat. So I used the fiber coat and then topped everything off with a really good drugstore brand, good ole Maybelline the Falsies Volume Express (but in their waterproof formula, which is far superior to the regular).

In the end, I conclude that the Maybelline product is way better and that the lengthifying magical stuff isn’t worth your time or money. If you do a keyword search under “mascara” on this blog, you’ll find my other mascara recommendations, which haven’t changed much over the past few years. It’s still the Maybelline and the CoverGirl Remarkable formulas that give you the best bang for your buck. If you’re looking for a great brow tint kit, lashbombusa.com has the best one.