Gindi Vincent

The Dish on Career, Fashion, Faith, and Family

Women

28 Days: Day 21, Fashion Friday, Icons

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As I pulled open the door to the ladies room this morning, I saw a stunning woman step out.  Tall, slim, dark hair, and a beautiful high collared camel-colored blazer paired with her Friday dark wash trouser jeans and boots. 

It made me want to go buy a camel-colored blazer, even though that is far from my best color. 

It also got me to thinking about style icons.  More specifically, images from movies that shaped what I love most about fashion.  As I still have no idea what I’m doing with Fashion Fridays, or if I’m going to even do them anymore, I decided to write about iconic fashions for today’s Fashion Friday.

That woman’s jacket from this morning jump started my first iconic style movie. The Thomas Crown Affair (remake). Every single outfit Rene Russo wore. She even made bathrobes look glamorous. I even tried to recreate her haircut so I could BE her (it did not work out).

Audrey Hepburn in every movie she plays in. Classic. Simple lines. And lots of black. I don’t channel her often, given my draw to color, but she’s matchless.

Julia Roberts, in and out of movies, has long been a style icon of mine, although her fashion out of movies is arguably better than her fashion in movies.  However, while I know it is utterly 1990s period, her post-shopping style in Pretty Woman made a pretty big impact on me.

Julia Roberts at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California (Photo by Jim Smeal/WireImage)

And even better, which is saying something, in and out of movies is Cate Blanchett.  Seriously, she is magnificent.  Movies from The Aviator to Monuments Men create Cate-only styles to make you want to makeover your closet.

There are so many other formative fashion movies – The English Patient, Reality Bites, Pretty in Pink, The Royal Tenenbaums, Sabrina, Clueless – and icons from Grace to Gwyeth.

I love movies and I love fashion.  Who are your fashion icons or what’s your most memorable movie fashion moments?

28 Days: Day 19, Better

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Well, I’m better than yesterday.

I even made it to work.

I ate a banana and some chicken soup.

Ha!

Small progress.

We were all praying none of the rest of the family got “it.” I don’t know whether it was a stomach bug, little man had one last week, or food poisoning, or something else, but it was not good.

But at the same time, do you know what it made me feel?

Relief.

Isn’t that crazy?

Yesterday was going to be a bear. Work calls every hour on the hour practically from 8 to 3. I had something to do before work and I had a commitment after work and I needed to run someone food whose wife was very ill.

I had come back from the farm and Day 1 back was about to knock me out.

So as I lay there, in between throwing up, I started processing how to reconfigure my day. Well, I’d have to do this and cancel this and move this and ask if this could be done via phone, etc., etc.

And this huge sense of relief swept over me. I slept. I mean I napped which NEVER happens and I went to sleep at 7 pm and work up the next morning after 6 am.

If a deathly stomach bug brings you relief, maybe you need to reconfigure how you’re living.

I mean I am trying. You know that. I’ve been writing about Present over Perfect and I’ve been stepping down from commitments, but still. It’s not enough.

How do you blow it all up? And still exist and provide in today’s society? I’m working that out…

Fashion Friday: Mascara Mama

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I’ve been mulling over what to do with Fashion Friday. 

It seems like everyone is starting to look the same.  You scroll through social media and there’s a kind of style that catches on and then that’s what women look like. 

I’d love this to be a place where, when we talk about fashion or style or cosmetics, we talk about tips and what works, but it’s not talking points on the “one” thing you have to wear to “fit in” – whatever that is. 

So until I’ve settled on what that looks like, I decided to post on a topic where it utterly does not matter if everyone uses the same product: MASCARA. 

That’s right, let’s talk about our lashes.  Now I don’t go and get fake lashes and I just have average lashes. Not short. Not long. Just perfectly fine lashes.  But I love for them to look darker and full. 

If I leave the house with nothing else on, I have cover up and mascara on.  I guess because I’ve always really liked my eyes, I keep them ‘done.’

For the longest time, over a decade, I wore Voluminous by L’Oreal mascara.  It kept them full but it didn’t flake like some mascaras.  And I usually kept Great Lash mascara by Maybelline in my purse in case I needed evening touch ups.  That was it. 

Periodically, I’d get some tester from MAC or Estee Lauder or Mary Kay or something, but I never liked them better than Voluminous. 

Last year, I decided to branch out.  As any good consumer would do, I asked Dr. Google about the best mascaras on the market.  And that led me to research from Elle and Glamour to Business Insider. 

I did not try any of their super pricey nominees, like Chanel, so I can’t compare those products for you. 

Plus, there were a ton of different makes and models from L’Oreal I didn’t try because Voluminous was already my go to.  I did try one called Voluminous Lash Paradise, not to be confused by L’Oreal Paris Voluminous (the original and one I love). I did not like it nearly as much.  Even though the reviews said such good thing.  Just like a movie remake – the original is always better.  (Let me know if you have another L’Oreal mascara you swear by – totally willing to give it a try.)

Then I decided to go a little higher end.  Not Chanel higher end, but in the $20-$30 price range given how long my mascara lasts. 

I narrowed it down to two mascaras: Better than Sex by Too Faced and Urban Decay’s Perversion.  The pros on them were similar and the price was the exact same so it was basically a coin toss when I walked into Ulta to choose.  I went with Perversion. 

I loved it.  My lashes looked better than they ever did with Voluminous.  Very full and rich looking.  BUT.  And this is a big one.  Almost daily I ended up with black under my eyes.  It hadn’t happened before Perversion and didn’t happen when I stopped wearing it, so clearly it was the mascara.  I loved it so much I tried to compensate by powdering under my eyes at lunchtime.  But given that I’m already battling dark circles, I just can’t have it from my mascara too.  So I took a break.  


Which is how I ended up trying Maybelline Snapscara.  I had low expectations after my L’Oreal change.  I don’t love Great Lash to begin with, though all the movie make up artists swear by it, and that had been my only Maybelline experience.  Well, let me tell you, I was in for a pleasant surprise. 

I love this mascara.  It gives me these lovely long looking upper lashes which are very well defined, and not clumpy, but there’s not a bit of smudging or flaking.  No under eye blackening with this number.  And here’s the best part: it is $5.99.  That’s right, department store results on a dime store budget.  This is now my go to mascara. 

I will always keep Voluminous around (the original).  It’s been good to me and will probably become my purse mascara. 

Also, I’m willing to continue the hunt if you have found the greatest mascara since sliced bread.  Comment so we can all try it out!

But if you’re looking for a new one, I definitely give the nod to Maybelline Snapscara.  An affordable home run. 

Mama Drama: The Elephant on my Chest

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It’s been a while since a Mama Drama installment.  I have a thousand.  They’re the basis for my dream book I’d love to publish one of these days.

You may recall the last couple zany Mama Drama installments recounted the rollercoaster that hits when you work from home. 

So in today in Mama Drama, let’s talk about the seasons that just spin out of control. 

This season: WOW!

I was talking to one of my closest friends, a rockstar mom and career woman and wife and daughter and volunteer.  She has A LOT on her plate.  So I was venting to her about how right now just feels like SO MUCH, because she gets it.  She left two really wise and insightful voxes, a snippet of which said:

I understand the stress of having to work.  And being the one who takes care of the schedule and the doctor’s appointments and the…well, when you’re the Master Puppeteer of the House.  It’s a lot and when you add extra work stresses, sometimes it just feels TOO MUCH.  I’m telling you, I felt like I constantly had an elephant on my chest last year.  I was utterly overwhelmed. 

Ah yes.  I listened to the message again, more slowly.  An elephant on my chest.

Yep.

This year started off already busy with work, and then such sadness accompanied it with the loss my best friend suffered.  The sad came with a fog that slowed my reactions, but life and school and the house and work didn’t stop.  So all the things kept stacking on top. 

You step into that busy season and add a bunch of travel.  In one month, I have been to Minnesota, Louisiana (twice – one for a mommy-and-me trip that was planned nearly a year ago), and Washington D.C. (twice for work). Late night hours and seven day work weeks and a dog that will not quite eating my entire life around me and a few unexpected doctors’ visits that had to occur this month. 

Elephant.

Meet my chest. 

I believe this is going to be a year of big change.  I don’t know what it will hold, because I asked God not to let me see too far down the road a while back, and boy He’s been super good about that… (Sigh, exhales the Type A planner.)

If I’m going to be equipped to absorb the change and press into it, then I’m going to need to find a way to wrangle that elephant.

Not eradicate him.  That’s just silly.  But maybe relocate him slightly, off my chest.

So I’m being intentional. 

One: I stop working at dinner time.  Maybe that means I’m still working at 10 pm but it allows me to eat, usually, with my whole crew.  And then I read to the kids.  Little bit and I are reading an American Girl book and the boys and I have just started the SIXTH Harry Potter book (they only read that with me). 

Two: When they come to me with a story, I stop to listen, even though there’s a thousand things going on around me.  This morning, we really needed to get out the door.  But little bit wanted to tell me about her dream.  She got interrupted twice but she finished. 

Three: Sixty second snuggles.  This morning, I crawled into bed with each one to give them hugs and kisses to wake them up.  They rolled over smiling.  No screaming from the hallway, come on, get out of bed already.  Three minutes and a solid start to the day (but don’t let that fool you, one was still in tears when he couldn’t find his chapel sweater for school).

Four: Stopping.  This weekend, I could have worked all weekend.  But I didn’t.  I worked some.  But I asked my mom to watch the kids and I did a little shopping and got a pedicure.  Two hours of being totally unplugged. 

Five: Declining invitations.  I’m having to un-RSVP to a few things and say no to others.  Not everything.  I’m still doing some things that are important, but I’m saying no to otherwise good stuff that I just can’t make work in the next 30 days. 

And…hopefully…SIX: Writing.  I love to write.  It’s therapeutic.  I really want to make it a bigger priority in the next 90 days.  That sounds insane of course.  But it’s important to me. 

And I’ve agreed to participate in a spiritual formation retreat over the next year which I’ve long wanted to do.  This seems like the absolute worst time to do it which I think makes it the best time.  Two days, four times, over the next 12 months.  To sit.  Chill out with the Creator. Figure out what’s next.  Over and over again God has brought me to this scripture: He brought me out into a spacious place; he rescued me because he delighted in me. (Psalm 18, 2 Sam 22)

Then He proceeds to bring me to a spacious place (Alaska, Yosemite, Hill Country…). 

I’m always better after that.

So I’m going to “retreat” in the truest form of the word.  I’ll write and pray and relocate that elephant.  In March, the five Vincents get to venture into another spacious place: Sedona and the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park.  In April, we get to slip away with my best friend’s family at one of my safest and most regular spacious places, the farm. 

And in this pressing season, this one that feels oh so overwhelming at times, I will stand on the promises which I know to be true and look forward to the hope that lays on the other side of the test:  We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed… (2 Cor 4)

2020 – The Ellipsis

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Today, it is 2020.

As my brother in law said this morning, welcome to the roaring ’20s.

For me, this new decade didn’t come in roaring. It came in in a fog.

I’m in a fog.

I left on the 26th for Minnesota to spend a few days with my best friend, Kristin, and attend her son’s funeral, and returned on the 30th. A quick turn around of my carry on bag at the house, and then I left with my family for the farm. As is our New Year’s Eve tradition.

Two of Bray’s siblings and families were there, along with his parents, and the kids popped fireworks last night and laughed and ran and drank too much soda. I posted photos on social media, as I do, and my daughter and I even snapped a photo of us with me smiling.

It felt fake.

I didn’t smile much the rest of the time. Isaac wasn’t even my son but I have been heartbroken. I can’t focus or function for very long. I’m completely sleep deprived. Last week, I slept with the phone in my hand in case Kristin needed anything in the middle of the night. She never did, but somehow me not sleeping felt like I was helping. Then I never get any sleep at the farm, and little bit got sick, so I’m bleary in my fog.

I just didn’t have a bright and shiny New Year’s post to offer.

Last year I wrote about resolutions and hopes. And this year, I don’t know how I’m going to be able to work this week. I’ve left a part of myself in Minnesota and I just want to get back. (It’s actually a miracle I got out – thank you all for praying. I ran from the snow in Marshall and got out 6 hours in advance, and then my plane just beat the snow in Minneapolis by hours too.)

At the same time, I don’t want to let go of my kids. I kept hugging and kissing them once I got back until they finally pushed me off.

As I plowed through emails today, a GetAbstract book title caught my attention, You are Awesome, by Neil Pasricha. The book professes to help you through change and failure and be more intentional. So I started reading.

His first point is what struck me and finally enabled me to write something. Like I’ve meant to for weeks.

He writes to see changes with an ellipsis instead of a period. It moves your thinking from “finality” to “future” – the gap in the sentence marks a transition. He wrote about a woman who saw a change through the lens of an ellipsis instead of a period. Seeing changes as beginnings instead of endings helped her to press forward and remain stronger internally.

This ‘door opening’ perspective, according to the author and his research, gives you the ability to say “yet” at the end of your sentence.

So, I don’t have any catchy resolutions. I don’t have any grand bargains or promises, which I most certainly will fail to execute.

I have an ellipsis for this year. A ‘yet.’

I don’t understand God, yet. (That yet may never be fulfilled this side of heaven.)

I can’t focus on my work, yet. (I’ll get there. It will be far easier for me than for Isaac’s family.)

I don’t know what’s next, yet. (Maybe I won’t know until the next happens, and so I wait.)

This fog won’t lift, yet. (It will lift. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. – John 1)

As a Type A planner, this is the most unplanned I’ve ever been. Darn near unraveling.

But maybe it takes unraveling to pull together what God has planned instead of what I planned. The dictionary says unraveling means to undo twisted, knitted or woven threads. And Colossians 2 says:
I want you woven into a tapestry of love, in touch with everything there is to know of God. Then you will have minds confident and at rest, focused on Christ, God’s great mystery. (The Msg)

So I don’t know, yet, what to expect or want from 2020. Maybe simply to expect or want this unraveling to result in a new tapestry that is woven by the hand of God.

Rejoicing after weeping.
Clothes of joy after grief in sackcloth. (Psalm 30)

Peace through tribulation. (John 16)

Beauty from ashes.
Hope from despair.
Rebuilt and restored ruins after devastation.(Isaiah 61)