Skin Care Past & Present

As you know, I've started this blog to discover beauty products, tips, and tricks for those of us that aren't considered young'ens any longer. Before we delve into the good stuff, I wanted to go back again. About 3 years ago is when I noticed the dreaded "signs of aging". But at the time, I didn't realize it. You don't realize it. It just sneaks up on you. I remember getting ready for work one morning and looking in the mirror. I just didn't look right. Did I not sleep well? I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew something was different. All of the sudden, foundation that I had been wearing for years looked off. Powder that I had at one time LOVED was cakey and gross. What was wrong? Then I made the mistake of looking in the mirror in the car in direct sunlight. OMGOSH WHAT ARE THOSE LITTLE LINES AND CREASES AND WHERE DID THOSE PORES COME FROM? Is my skin dry? Up until this point, I thought dry skin was a mythical creature that was the opposite of the oily skin I was cursed with thus far in life. I was pretty sure I would never need moisturizer EVER!

Prior to this, I washed my face in the morning in the shower and at night to remove the make up and occasionally dotted on some zit cream - that was my skin care routine. Sure I tried all kinds of cleansers, but didn't put much thought into it. If I got a sample of some other skin care potion in a bonus or with a Sephora or Ulta order, I'd try it once, think to myself, I don't need this, and let it dry up before throwing it away.

So after the realization that yes, your skin is going to age and you, my dear,  are in the beginning stages, I've been on the hunt for SOMETHING, ANYTHING to reverse and stop this process. Haha, I know that's crazy, but a girl has to try! Fast forward and my skin care routine is now 4 - 6 steps depending on the day and time. Moisturizer is now a MUST! Exfoliating is also a must that previously I thought was a waste of time. Microdermabrasion and facials, two things I thought were a giant waste of money are now standing appointments on my calendar. My how times (and my skin) have changed...

Why ForeverSummerTime? And why you should stick around!

If you are reading this, thanks for coming back! Today is just more background and my WHY for starting this blog. As I mentioned previously, I've been following some blogs, mostly beauty related, for the last several years. To be honest, I found most of them on Pinterest after "pinning" something of theirs, I'd go back and review their other posts and I was hooked. Some of my favorites are MakeUpByTiffanyD (Shout out x2!) and The Small Things Blog. There are more, but I don't miss a thing these girls put out. They both have very different styles, but they are both at the top of my list! 

One thing both of these girls have in common...they are younger than me - I'm not sure by how much...but it is probably more than I wish to admit. While still very relatable and I still love their product recommendations and tips, they aren't experiencing the same skin and make up issues I'm dealing with over here in in late-thirties land. They can wear things, fashion-wise, that I should probably think twice about. Oh, on another note, they are both currently pregnant...CONGRATS to both!

So that's my WHY - I want to start a blog for those of us in our mid to late thirties when skin, hair, metabolism, and life is changing. I'm sure there are blogs out there for us, but I haven't come across any - or at least any that I like well enough to follow. I hope to fill that void. I don't have all the answers and I'm not a trained make up artist, hairstylist or fashion stylist, but I'm here to share what I find works to keep me ForverSummerTime. I'm okay with getting older, but I want to look as good as possible doing so!

Some questions you may have:

Who are you? Again, my name is Summer. I live in the Midwest in a small'ish town. By day, I work in the insurance industry. I have a couple of kids that I'm sure I'll introduce at some point. They are teenagers, so I'm not ready to embarrass them yet. I'm married to my best friend, Derek, and we have a little Maltese, Cali. We love to travel, spend summers on the lake, and root on MO sports teams!

What is the purpose of this blog? See above! Follow me as I try make up, skin & hair products, and fashion for us in, ahem, late-thirties land (as I said above, I like it, so I'll probably keep saying it). I'll probably throw in some travel, food, craft, and totally unrelated posts as well because it's who I am. I hope you'll stick around!

New blog, new name, new game!

First post! Hey everyone! My name is Summer. I've been trying to start a blog since April 2013 obviously without much success since here I am exclaiming, "First post!" in October 2014... After tirelessly researching HOW to start a blog all signs pointed to web hosting, wordpress.org, plug-ins and a bunch of other stuff I'm still not completely sure I understand. I just want to write a blog. I don't want to re-invent the interwebs. So here I am on Blogger. I follow many blogs that appear to be successful that use Blogger. So if Blogger is good enough for MakeupByTiffanyD, it's good enough for me. (I've said "Blogger" way too many times)

If we want to go way back, my original go at blogging started on MySpace. Haha, does anyone even remember MySpace? Any-who, it had a little corner of your page reserved for blog posts. I actually think this is brilliant and wish other social media websites, ahem, Facebook, would implement this. So back in 2007, before I understood what blogging was, I would write about things that happened to me that day or thoughts I had that made me chuckle. I'm still pretty proud of those posts and copy and pasted them to start my wordpress.org (ugh, don't remind me) blog, SummerTimeBlog, There was a post about TropicalSno, MembersOnly jackets, turning the big 3-0, a client that called me "Summers" and drove me nuts and a few others - pretty funny stuff. It's interesting to go back and read your thoughts from seven+ years ago. Ahh, simpler times. So here we are: MySpace to wordpress.org to ForeverSummerTime on Blogger.

In between MySpace and wordpress.org, I discovered the world of blogging. I mostly follow beauty/lifestyle blogs, but also enjoy some foodie blogs as well. I realized that when I'm researching beauty products, make up, fashion or any major purchase, I use good ol' Google and what usually comes up is someone out there that has tried to product/made the recipe/bought the shoes and has taken the time to write about it or make a video and share what they know. Brilliant! Why didn't I think of this! I'm going to join in the fun and I hope you stick around! Next time I'll dive in to WHY you should stick around.

P.S. I'm wordy...I'll work on that.