Summer Staple: Cover Girl Pressed Powder

A friend works in the beauty industry and swears by the R&D spending power of major drugstore cosmetic brands. The next time you're shopping for makeup consider your local drugstore before Bergdorfs or Neimans.

My personal all-time favorite make-me-happy-on-a-Monday drugstore makeup buy? CoverGirl Pressed Powder. To be super specific:

CoverGirl Cg Smoothers Pressed Powder, Translucent Light 710

I love. It's cheap enough (about $8.99) to buy in multiples. You won't cry if you drop it, and the compact shatters. The powder smells wonderful. But best of all, it does what it is supposed to:  the powder truly stops the summer glow ("horses sweat, men perspire, women glow) without turning you into a giant makeup cake face.

Simple Pleasures -- Shark Fin-Shaped Ice Cubes

My shark fin ice tray was an "I can't live without it" toss-in to my basket at Bed, Bath, & Beyond, but looks like Amazon carries it too for $8.95. Shark fin-shaped ice cubes in your iced coffee as you rush out for the day? Simple pleasure.

What will they think of next? Handgun ice cube trays? Y'all thinking what I'm thinking? Yes! I knew it: Bonnie and Clyde themed party. Stat.

The Pleasure to be Found in $.44

I love the United States Postal Service. Yes, perhaps I don't love long lines at the service desk or very grumpy postal workers, but I do love the power of a $.44 stamp that takes my letter to the farthest reaches of the USA.

Today I mailed a card to a friend in San Francisco. "The mind is like a taco: the more you stuff in it, the more that falls out". The stamps I used on the envelope were from three jobs and two price raises ago...practically antiques.


And then stamps are plentiful: no worries with supply and demand curves. Designs are varied: you simply cannot get bored. Educate yourself on art, express thoughts on love, quiz yourself on American states' flags, or design your own postage.

Possibilities are endless, and the options change frequently. Enjoy....one of the cheapest (and greatest) pleasures in my life.