What’s a potato?

Haha I like you ;)

She was a super good doggo, I’m sure she’s in charge of dog heaven by now! Here’s a pic of her from early last year.

She was a retired racing greyhound. Greyhound racing has mostly been banned in the States (there’s only one racetrack left), which is great, but also means it’s harder and harder to adopt retired racers. So we’re thinking of getting greyhound puppies since we like the breed so much.

I love goulash, that recipe looks awesome!

Nice and simple, I love it!!

I’ve been with my husband for a long time - it’ll be 25 years this September. We only got married 3 years ago, and it was because I needed to go on his health insurance so I could retire. We were both happy with not being married, and also both fine with tying the knot once we saw an actual reason to do it. We didn’t have a wedding, we just self-united (something you can do in Pennsylvania thanks to Quaker tradition) and filed the paperwork with the state. We don’t wear rings and I kept my name. Literally nothing changed other than my health insurance.

Until we got married, a lot of people seemed really unable to understand why I didn’t care about getting married. In the beginning there was a lot of external pressure/expectation on us to get married, which did die off after a while. I’m really glad that we did it on our own terms when it made sense to us, rather than caving to societal expectations.

Same. I knew from a very young age that I didn’t want kids and that has never changed. I got my tubes tied in 2006 and never looked back!

Sadly no, I had a dog but had to put her to sleep last year. She was the best 💜 I do plan to get two puppies probably next year though. :)

This weekend I’m at my folks’ house petsitting their cat, who is a floofy little purr machine!

What’s your favorite comfort food recipe to cook?

Do you have any pets?

My favorite thing about myself is that I’m creative. I’ve lost touch with that a little bit but I’m working my way back to it. I used to love drawing, painting, and making things like colored pencil art, abstract design art, Christmas decorations, beaded jewelry - I was always making something. Now I mostly express my creativity with makeup and nails. And I’ve just started picking up woodworking - so far I’ve only built a chair for my deck, but the goal is to make all my deck furniture*, plus a new enclosure for my veggie/fruit garden!

* There’s a lot to make! A second chair, a sectional to match, a propane firepit with a cement top and matching tank cover, an outdoor dining table with 8 chairs… and I’m considering getting a sewing machine and learning to make cushions for all the seating!

I feel that. I’m stubborn as hell which often translates as persistence. But sometimes I’m persistent about the wrong things!

I love to see quirky women who don’t feel the need to dim their shine just because society expects us to conform. You go girl!

Holy shit I never stopped to think about the Wizard of Oz in that way!

Luckily I haven’t been in this situation. I feel so badly for women who have, it looks draining and stressful.

Minimalistic, clean lines. I don’t like a lot of detailing or filigree on things because it just collects dust and makes it so much more work to keep things clean. No curtains and only a limited amount of tchotchkies for the same reason. Other than that, I like a lot of grey, blues, and greens, with the occasional pop of something bright. Soft, textured fabrics for duvet, throw pillows, and area rugs.

Between this and the one you had put in a few weeks ago, your taste in wallpaper is on point!

Sorry I’m late to this thread - I haven’t been online as much recently. But makeup is one of my favorite things!

If you want simple basic makeup for everyday wear, try Angela Bright. She’s great about explaining exactly what she’s doing, which products and brushes she’s using, and lately she’s in kind of a neutral, simple makeup phase, so her looks are pretty approachable.

For simple makeup, people also seem to like Jen Phelps and Hannah Louise Poston.

And then if you’re feeling adventurous and want to try colorful fun makeup, try Angelica Nyqvist. I really love her tutorials and even if you’re not so into bold colorful looks, her techniques are still useful to apply to more simple neutral looks.

These are all white women, which is helpful for me because I’m Casper the Ghost pale. But if your skin is deeper in tone, their techniques might not show up so well on your skin. Here are some channels by women of color that I see mentioned pretty often. I can’t vouch for them because I haven’t tried them, but maybe you’ll find them helpful.

• Cynthia has loads of step-by-step beginner-friendly tutorials for women with dark skin
• Smitha Deepak for those with hooded eyes
• Alexandra Anele for women with an olive undertone
• Monica Ravichandran does makeup reviews and discusses color theory for brown skin

Aging does help! It’s pretty freeing to care so little what others think.

I have the opposite problem: I have a hard time letting others get close to me. I’m very emotionally closed-off and as a result most of my friendships have been pretty surface-level. How the heck do you figure out who is safe to be emotionally vulnerable with?

I was intrigued about Sweet Almond Blossom, so I went and read the description. It says:

A fruity, floral, gourmand perfume. A blue sky natural high, all year round. A daydreamer’s fantasy. A fragrance for the enchanting, ethereal, sensuous and hypnotic.

Smells like… Mouth-watering natural pomelo and juicy passionfruit float over clouds of delicate apple blossom. Creamy vanilla, sandalwood, and nutty tonka bean are beautifully balanced with explosions of other-worldly crisp green matcha tea.

… none of those words are almond, which is a surprise. From the name, I’d imagined this would smell like a floral marzipan, but the description doesn’t sound like anything almond at all. Do you think it smells like almond? Because if yes, I’m intrigued to try it, but if no, I’ll skip it.

I love indie makeup! A few suggestions for brands who have colorful palettes and whose formula I think it’s pretty good:

• Cosmic Brushes
• Bella Beauté Bar
• Lethal Cosmetics
• Nomad Cosmetics
• Unearthly Cosmetics
• Clionadh Cosmetics

For fragrances, I hear good things about Replica but haven’t tried anything of theirs for myself. I’ve tried a bunch from Ellis Brooklyn and have really liked some of them (Scifi, Miami Nectar, Super Amber), but they’re not as long-lasting as I’d like, so I find that I need to reapply once or twice during the day. Some of their scents are really nice for layering (Super Amber and Marshmallows, for example). Nice thing about Ellis Brooklyn is that you get two free sample vials with each purchase. Other fragrance brands which seem to be pretty popular are Kayali (their Yum Pistachio Gelato is soooo good) and Phlur (I love their Mood Ring scent).

For Doc Martens I do Bushwalk; everything else just gets normal lacing

This is a really interesting take - I hadn’t considered socioeconomic class as a covariate!