Can’t help you on 1, although would love to know the answer, same goes for 2, 4, no clue my girls hurt themselves just to get attention, I think, on 3 though, I may have some advice. I present a lot for work and I make sure I know my material well, but NOT memorized and get up there and just explain things to people as if I was talking to a friend. Putting it into my own words and describing what I know seems to work much better than trying to memorize a bunch of things. Don’t know if that helps, but Good Luck! By the way, adorable kids!

Could part of the makeup issues be because of your makeup brushes? I don’t change mine nearly as often as you’re supposed to, but then when I do it’s like my makeup instantly works again. I am guessing bacteria-laden or gunky brushes would make for less even or complete coverage (hence the shine) and could probably worsen rosacea.

Public Speaking Story… gave a 5 minute speech on Ted Bundy in college for public speaking class *am facinated by Serial Killers for some unknown reason*. I KILLED the talk (har har)! Was so impressed with myself. When I finished, I stood at the podium awaiting my immediate and public critique. I knew I had done well because my prof had cocked his head and had a slight smile on his face throughout my presentation. My prof cleared his throat and said that while he was QUITE impressed with my speaking ablilty and the extent of my knowlege on the subject, he was even more impressed by my fondness for podiums. I stood there pleased, but slightly confused. The class snickered and I reddened. I didn’t get it. The teacher went on to explain that, while it is very common for people to absentmindedly wring their hands, touch their hair, or clear their throats when speaking in front of a group, I had shown him a first! Apparently, I had unconsiously swung a leg out and around the podium during my speech, and RUBBED my leg up and down the side of it the ENTIRE time I was talking. LOL… yeeeah. (I did get an A though, at least!)

So just make sure you practice, practice, PRACTICE your presentation out loud until you know it inside and out and be AWARE of yourself while you’re speaking. And, most importantly… don’t hump the podium.

GOOD LUCK!

I use Clinque and it seems to do the trick Superfit I think it is. I like it because it is not very expensive and does the trick. I do like the Jane Iredale stuff and have used the face wash but man the places I can get in our town is one hair salon and it is pricey! Go to Sephora and see if they have any good recommendations. And I have heard great things about Origins.

Otherwise, I am no help in the other areas. Just contemplating public speaking makes me feel yucky inside!

Thumbs in his pockets! So cute!

I’ve been using Cosmedicine Medi Matte (which I got at TJ Maxx for $13!) and it works pretty well on my oily/giant-pored skin. http://www.amazon.com/Cosmedicine-Medi-Matte-Tint-Shade-Light/dp/B001HC76CU
I dab my mineral makeup on top, just on my forehead and nose where I get really shiny, and it doesn’t sink into my forehead crease. It helps me stay shine-free well into the afternoon.

Yay, being in my 30s! Oily skin plus wrinkle bonus! Woohoo!

My God, Linda. Your kids are so cute they make my ovaries hurt.

Re the public speaking thing. Just think of when you’re sharing something at a work meeting – and understand that your sense of really.big.presentation. is at a much, much higher level that is expected in a community college class.

And practice. Practice in front of your kids, your husband, people in the Starbucks line. Practice until you start thinking who the HECK is interested in this stuff?! Practice until you can mumble it in your sleep [just don’t skip the sleep] Good Luck!

Try Rampant, by Diana Peterfreund. Not quite as good as the Hunger Games, though. (I didn’t like Catching Fire nearly as much as HG.) But it’s such a cool idea. I mean, come on! Man-eating unicorns?! How can you lose?

I have not read all of the comments but I have read some. I have advice for the public speaking thing.

1. Others have said this but the best advice is to know your material. And practice. You can quit reading now. The rest is fluff.

2. Some have said to write everything down and if this helps to get your thoughts organized then do it but for all that is holy DO NOT READ FROM A PAPER. Sometimes I write everything down and then from that ‘report’ I will prepare slides that pick out the high points I am going to cover. More often I create an outline of what needs to be covered.

3. Then prepare your slides. These should just be memory prompts and probably not whole sentences. Then just talk to the slides. Again, though, DO NOT JUST READ THE SLIDES. Presumably your audience can read so you don’t need to read to them.

4. Hold something in your had. For some reason this helps me. Lots of times people don’t know what to do with their hands. Hold a pen or a pointer in your hand and then your hands are occupied.

5. The idea of picking out friendly faces & talking to them is a good one. If you see people smiling and/or nodding this is a good thing (hopefully not too many people nodding off though).

This is now a novel and I wish you good luck in giving your talk. Remember that everyone is in the same boat as you and try to have fun.

My skin is 31 years old, marginally oily and I use Benefit Play Sticks. I put just a little bit on with a MAC foundation brush and I love it a lot.

I heard a radio personality talking about public speaking and she said something that resonated for me: that the audience WANTS to love you. I don’t know — it gave me just a subtle but powerful perception shift, wherein the audience is more of an open, friendly sort, instead of a teeming, rabid mass of people waiting to devour my soul.

For the presentation…these are things I’ve learned to help manage my nerves.

– Remember that everyone else is nervous, too. Really. When you get up there, take a moment and smile while you take a nice long breath. Think of the pictures of your boys, whatever it takes to muster up a warm smile (you will feel better, honest). Stand up straight, relax your shoulders, and relax your hands instead of clenching your fists. Be kind & supportive of the other people presenting, too.

– You know those jitters right before it’s your turn, when the person before is wrapping up? They suck. So, volunteer to go first. Get it out of the way so you don’t spend the whole class in anticipation. The anticipation is worse than the actual event. Also, going first means people won’t be antsy and desperately checking the time. If you can’t do that, take 5 deep belly breaths while the person before you is speaking.

– Practice. All the way through. You don’t need to memorize all the exact words. Practice making sure you hit the points you want to cover. Write the main points down on a small card to take with you so that if you suddenly feel like a deer in headlights, you have something to jog your memory. If there is a podium or table, put the notes down instead of grasping them in your shaky, sweaty hands.

– Reframe your thoughts. Instead of dreading it, think about it as an opportunity to shine, to conquer the self-doubt. Maybe you can be a positive presence in a room of nervous people.

– Loosen up your voice. Sing on the way to school, loudly, to a song or two that you like. Gets the shakiness out. Works well for job interviews, too. If you have a long enough drive, you can practice your speech in the car afterwards.

Good luck!

Those are the most beautiful children. The pictures are just great.

My hint on public speaking is the same….practice, practice, practice!!
Good luck.

Think about how much you listen/care when others present? Not much, probably. You will do fine and when it’s over, you will feel awesome!

Make up, I just starts using mary kay powder foundation and like it. But I think it’s the mineral stuff too…

Aw. I love those school pictures. They are the perfect school pics.

I use pur minerals. It’s a lot lighter, I think than bare minerals.

These books haven’t been published yet, but sneaky teacher got advanced copies!

Matched by Ally Condie

Halo by Alexandra Adornetto (this is a trilogy)

If you loved the Hunger Games, you will LOVE Matched. Look it up on Amazon, and count the days until release!

I can’t help with the makeup because I never wear a foundation, never have, and I think that’s one of the reasons I have smooth soft skin, wrinkle-free, as I stare 68 in the eye.

I also can’t help with the kids who can’t seem to learn that you have to WATCH WHERE YOU ARE GOING! If I had a dollar for every time I snapped that at one of my three…

I can help with books, though. I just finished “House Rules” by Jodi Picoult, she is amazing and although not YA, I recommend anything she’s written other than possibly “The Tenth Circle” which I didn’t like. I also read a fantastic book by John Hart, “The Last Child” – it’s sort of Huck Finn in modern times with murder and mayhem thrown in and it’s incredible, so much so that I ordered his two previous books from Amazon. I also recently enjoyed a vampire book by Linda Howard (can’t recall the name, it’s on the supermarket shelves and has an orange cover) and you really can’t go wrong with Nora Roberts – nothing deep, but thoroughly enjoyable and easy reads, which is good when you have someone interrupting you every three seconds. And my all time favorite is Jennifer Crusie – my favorites of hers are probably “Welcome to Temptation” and “Fast Women”. They are romance/mystery and hysterically funny. I can’t let myself read them in public any more, because of embarrassing myself with uncontrollable giggling.

Sorry I don’t wear make-up so I don’t have any recommendations on that one.

I don’t read much, but I do love the Stephanie Plum series.

The Spencer Pratt comment made me gag, but try practicing in front of friends, or JB, or coworkers.

My 4 1/2 year old does the same thing and I let him cry and he eventually lets me comfort him. He does love ice packs and band aids so I usually give him those, oh and a popsicle.

And gosh you’re kids are almost as cute as mine. :-) If you ever come to Maine please let me know so we can meet, I feel as if we’re just alike.

Make-up: I never used Bare Minerals because I had heard that it did just the things you described. I use Too Faced Magic Wand Illuminating Make-up and brush on Make Up 4 Ever’s HD Micro Finish Powder. I am 44 years old today and have some fine line around my eyes and am normal to oily. I love this combo of makeup, I keep a powder brush in my purse and use is midday, if needed.

Books: Chronicles of Imaginarium Geographica series by James Owens.

Public Speaking: No advice, I hate it

Great looking kids, love the thumbs in the pockets and Dylan looks like he is ready to take flight!

Dysotopian YA book recs from a middle school reading teacher: The Uglies series, City of Ember series, the Host, and Life as We Knew It.

Also, I teach my kids, that when they are giving a presentation to pick 3 spots on the back wall to look at during the presentation. The audience thinks you’re making eye contact with them and you really aren’t. You could be at home, practicing to the wall, and wouldn’t know the difference. It works. Whenever I teach this lesson, I ask them to guess when they think I’m looking at people, and 99% of the time, I’m looking at the wall when they guess I’m looking at Student A.

Did you know that Bare Minerals has a matte makeup now? The matte makes a HUGE difference!

Superfit by Clinique – petal. I have combo skin with a pink undertone.

I’m going to suggest the Libba Bray books (A Great and Terrible Beauty, et al)that I just decided I didn’t like, because they came highly recommended by someone who likes that sort of thing. I just found that I didn’t care for YA fiction so much unless it had vampires. In that vein, I’m one of those who LOVED the Vampire Academy series (I just devoured the latest one of 500+ pages in one evening).

For kids, I’ve found that my son doesn’t really care for babying but when he hurts himself I don’t freak out and ask if he’s okay (which he usually says yes to even if he’s crying) and I ask him if he wants me to kiss it or if he wants to kiss it. It especially helps if he hurts himself in the car, and the hysteria usually wears off while he’s trying to figure out how to kiss his elbow.

I have to do presentations/ interviews for my job as a consultant and the best tip I ever got is to stand in front of a mirror once you are dressed and ready to go and give yourself a pep talk – along the lines of you have worked hard, you know your shit, you are good at what you do and no matter how this goes down, you did your best. Does the trick for me.

Because I did my degree in performance violin, I get most of my information from that…this wasn’t advice, but it always helped me to remember that it was just my perception of a crowd. To each of the people out there, it was just one person they were sitting watching, like a one on one situation.

The school photos turned out great!

A quick tip about the make-up situation: Consider WHY your skin is reacting the way it is. Without knowing your skin type, other than it’s getting oily and your rosacea is returning, I suggest exfoliating 2x a week (no more!) with a chemical exfoliant (something with salicylic or lactic acid in it). This will help rid the fine lines and ease up on oil production. Also, moisturize with an oil-free moisturizer/SPF in the morning and save the heavy cream for night time. Everyone needs to moisturize, so don’t skip it. :)

I think you’d appreciate the effects of a lactic-kojic chemical peel, btw. Call around and see if any of the esthetics schools in your area offer them (they’re cheaper at schools). You can try it once or get a series (6) and they’re great for exfoliating, hydrating, & hyper pigmentation. As you know, rosacea can be stimulated with aggressive treatments, so a chemical peel would do wonders for your skin. Just be forewarned that you will probably need to be on a good home care regimen first; Image’s Ageless trial kit is what I recommend to clients, but talk to your esthetician and see what he/she recommends. :) Good luck!

Side note: I’m not spewing tips from “Seventeen,” I’m currently earning my master esthetics license and I’m loving it! I’m headed back to Seattle when I graduate– can’t wait! :)

#3 – Practice practice practice. In front of a mirror, while you drive or run, while you shower. Practice every chance you get. I practiced my maid of honor speech so much for my sister’s wedding that I managed to not cry. And I am most definitely a cryer.

Yay for makeup and books!

But really, I just gotta know .. what IS IT with that two-year-old, trying-to-fly stance? Tony does it ALL THE TIME, even to the point that he’ll exlaim, “I RUNNIN’, MOMMA!” while doing it, and I’m all STOP OR YOUR GOING TO GET A HUNCH IN YOUR BACK.

I LOVE la la LOVE this stuff – it stays on forever, is NOT oily and it has SPF 30 built in http://www.amazon.com/Korres-Watermelon-Lightweight-Tinted-Moisturiser/dp/B0018BD0IE

I’ve never been one to spend lots on make-up, and I am in my early 20’s so I may not have the same type of skin as you but as far as I can tell you have great skin! I love good ol’ Covergirl. I use their Trueblend Whip Foundation. It goes on smooth, and it doesn’t feel oily at all. I have rosacea prone skin as well, especially around and on my nose, and this covers it completely. It stays on all day too which is great. Plus it’s no more than $15 bucks and lasts quite a long time!

As for your public speaking fears, I have emcee’d a few weddings and I always make sure I keep my breathing steady while I talk. Focus on what you want to say and just keep telling yourself its just like talking with friends about that certain topic. Once you start, I’m sure you’ll get in the groove and the nerves will lessen!

Cute pics of the little guys!

To Question 1 I also love Bare Minerals. Have you tried their matte finish foundation or using the Mineral Veil stuff to get rid of the shiny finish? That’s what I do, hope it helps. I also have sensitive skin and unfortunately only bare minerals has worked for me.

Re: public speaking. Your heart will race and you will hyperventilate. That’s ok. Just keep remembering to breathe between each sentence. IT IS OK to pause to catch your breath. Also, like anything (e.g.,running long distances!) public speaking gets easier the more you do it, so maybe you could think of this as a different kind of “training”?

P.S. I teach college courses as an adjunct professor, and one night I taught a class of 50+ undergraduates with my fly down–and survived. After that little incident? Pretty much nothing phases me anymore while I’m lecturing(although if I have to fart, I do try to do it discreetly!)

Good luck!

I am on a YA dystopian TEAR inspired by Hunger Games.

–I liked Graceling and its sequels very much
–I I did not like Maze Runner
–I am loving the Libba Bray (Great and Terrible Beauty) series; though it’s not dystopian, Gothic boarding school novels are another secret love)
–The Balefire series by Cate Tiernan, about twin witches in New Orleans, rocked (Twins! Blood witches! New Orleans!)
–I highly recommend the Parable series by Octavia Butler for your dystopian YA needs.
–The New Yorker has an article about dystopian YA novels this week, so this is all quite timely: http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2010/06/14/100614crat_atlarge_miller

I’m terrified of public speaking too & have found that having lots of visual aids (as someone else has suggested here) really does help enormously. Use them to break up the focus on you speaking (choose some funny ones too if you can, I dunno like a Far Side or something more current relevant to your topic) & as a moment to remind yourself to breathe while they’re up. Seriously helps.

Those pictures are adorbs, really. I don’t know about the public speaking, as I don’t have a problem with it, BUT I will say this – it’s not as bad as eating a live spider! Or kissing Spencer Pratt! Remember to take deep breaths and that you can do it. Because you can, totally. Practice as much as you can and practice with taking deep breaths.

I think (but don’t know) that Riley is at an age where you can really talk to him, maybe before you go out to a store, or to a playground, or whatever, and maybe tell him that when he needs help, he should say HELP and when he’s okay, he should say I’M OKAY! You could tell him that you understand that when he’s upset, he might not want you all up in his grill, but you do have to know that he’s okay. Maybe? I am not well versed in the ways of typical almost five year olds, so I could be totally wrong.

The first time I had to give a presentation, I genuinely thought I was going to keel over and die. Now I am a total attention whore…go figger.
It’s so much easier to give them to prospective clients because you are the expert. It is a little more difficult to give a presentation to colleagues who know as much as you do.
First thing to remember is that the people you will be giving the presentation to are your classmates (I assume). They do not want you to fail so they are not picking your performance apart. They are not looking at you, they are listening to what you have to say.Just remember they are on your side and not judging you, your haircut, that brand new pimple on your chin, cameltoe..or the toilet paper hanging out the back of your pants.
More importantly, most of them aren’t listening to a damn word you are saying because they are too busy thinking about their own presentation…pimple, haircut and cameltoe.

OMG Is it possible to have cuter children?! I mean, you know, when they’re not puking and screaming and pooping.

#2 Tomorrow When the War Began, by John Marsden – the first of a series of seven books that I just INHALED. Lots of books are described as un-put-downable – these really are. After I finished the first one I went out and bought the next six right away.

Public speaking tips from someone that hates public speaking and has to do it periodically: Try to do a powerpoint presentation if at all possible. It helps a lot if everyone is looking at the screen and it’s dark. If you can’t do that, have a desk or podium between you and the audience. For some reason it helps to lean on something a little. Write most of the speech out in short phrases. That way you will only have to fill in the little words (which is easy) and it sounds more natural. Hopefully, everyone else has to present too, that way it’s certain that some people will be better and worse than you. Also, try to focus on the fact that you are sharing information with people. It’s not about you, it’s about the job of teaching people and communicating ideas.

I saw these suggested already, but thought I would put my opinion of the best dystopian books after The Hunger Games. Personally, I think that series is the best of what I’m going to mention, but you might check out Life As We Knew It or The Giver. Also, the Uglies book is dystopian, but a little more on the dry side compared to Hunger Games.

Public Speaking–I always make sure that I have practiced what I am going to say over and over, so that when I do get nervous, I will probably forget things and do things not as well as I practiced, but it will be better than if I hadn’t practiced (you kind of survive on what you practiced). Also, instead of pretending that everyone is naked, I pretend that I am the best that they have ever seen. I don’t actually think that, but I just pretend it to give myself confidence. That’s how I got through music solos in JH and HS, too.

If you are using PowerPint: do NOT go up and give your presentation from a script. Reading from a script will be harder. You will forget to look out at the audience OR you will look up at the audience and then panic when you look back down and can’t find your place. If you’re using PowerPoint (and I hope you are) you just need to practice practice practice what you are going to say. Give your presentation to yourself in a mirror over and over again. Use the slides as your cues and remember: if you mess up and forget to mention someting? NO ONE ELSE KNOWS. Move on to the next slide. Good luck, you’ll be great!

Wow – there are a lot of comments to go through.

I highly agree with the recommendations for Graceling & Fire. I loved both of them, and also read them about the same time as Hunger Games. I also really enjoyed Life as We Knew it that someone else already recommended. That and the follow up Dead and the Gone (I haven’t read the third yet) fit very well with the dystopian theme.

I also enjoyed Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, but it’s a very different kind of book.

Someone also recommended the Host (Stephanie Meyer) and that was one of my favorite books last year. Really enjoyed it.

I’m thrilled you asked this question as I now have a whole lot more books on my to be read list :).

Books:
I second “Life As We Knew It”, the Uglies series, and I’ll also add World War Z (which isn’t YA, but still so great it scared the absolute shit out of me) and also Stephen Boyett’s novels: the first was “Ariel” which he wrote in the late 80’s, and just recently he wrote a sequel called “Elegy Beach”. They were great and I just happened to stumble upon them.

You must check out DHC products. They are a Japanese based skincare company and their products are AMAZING. They tailor each product to your skin’s needs and have things for rosacea-prone skin. Their makeup is reasonably priced too.

http://www.dhccare.com/DHC/CategoryIndexPages/makeup.aspx?Kwrd=Makeup&OrgID=1&gclid=CNWSo7aAj6ICFSI55QodfDrOZA

As for the other questions: I agree with the recommendations for The Uglies series.

Can’t help with public speaking, as I suck at it, but looks like you already got a lot of good advice.

Boo boo meltdowns…good advice already given. And do you have one of those “boo boo bears/bunnies/character of choice” thingies? That might help too.

And those boys? Beyond photogenic!

Oh, and anyone who read and loved Harry Potter should read The Magicians (but not to their children.)

2. Have you read How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff?
5. Awesome!

I have responses to one and three:

(1) Rosacea.

If you can afford it, the PHotofacial will correct this problem. (They’re $500 each and you need three to five. I had 5 and enjoy an alabaster complexion now.)

In addition to being pricey, the photofacial is also painful.

So you can also try the world’s BEST answer to ruddiness: Smashbox primer in green.

Yes, at first it looks like you’re smearing guacomole on your face, but the green magically disappears and take the red along with it.

I find I don’t need any other makeup when I use this product.

(3) Public speaking.

What works for me is this visualization exercise I learned from a Buddhist writer:

You visualize your pain (in this case, fear of public speaking) as a helpless baby crying out for your attention. You imagine that you’re cradling it and tending to it. What works best for me is to imagine that my breathing is creating a warm blanket that’s cradling the baby. (Actually I prefer to visualize a puppy, but you know, whatever works for you.)

This exercise allows you to have compassion for yourself, actually honor the feeling and feel it, but somehow magically detach from it at the same time.

When you do this, you find you can release the pain.

I know, it sounds weird, but it works.

Also benzodiazepenes are great, espcially if you take them only very rarely. I would ask my dr. for Klonopin if I were in your shoes. It’s longer acting than xanax.

But I wouldn’t take it the day of the big event unless I had test driven it in private beforehand. Some people don’t tolerate benzodiazepenes very well.

Good luck.

Also your kids are freaking GORGEOUS. -V.

Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Moon Crash trilogy including: Life as We Knew It, the dead and the gone, and This World We Live In are all brilliant and I think you’d love them. Oh, and have you read The Dead-Tossed Waves? It’s the follow-up to The Forest of Hands and Teeth. And, OMG, those photos of the boys turned out fantastic!

Public speaking-I think Amber might have been the first to say this, but I will repeat-the audience really wants you to do well. They are rooting for you, and keeping that in mind has always helped me out. Also, if you do make a mistake, take a deep breath, smile, and keep on going.

I loved the Percy Jackson books, but I am a total Greek Mythology Geek. Can’t get enough of it, and I loved Percy as a protagonist. Have you read “In A Perfect World” by Laura Kasischke? Not YA, but really good-and I dare you not to make a huge Costco run when you finish the book.

I don’t know anything about make up or public speaking or YA novels, but I know some damn cute boys when I see ’em. Yay for good school pix.

Makeup – I’m another vote for Arbonne. Here’s what you need to look for on their website – the makeup-primer. it mattes your skin and makes your foundation go on like butter. it’s only $36 and lasts for 3-4 months. TOP shelf stuff. seriously.

as for the presentations, I agree with June… for me anyway there are no helpful, cute, shortcuts. Public speaking pains me THAT much. What i’ve found is that knowing your material simply isn’t enough. You’ve gotta practice OUT LOUD (not the whispering voice you use when you talk to yourself in the car either). I’m talkin’ full on conversation tones that you use with your friends/family. It’s so freaky when you do it, it’s weird, awkward. But I think that’s what makes it so crucial. There’s something about listening to your own speech patterns, your inflections, your enthusiastic pitch, your serious tones (at regular volume)… it engrains the material better for some reason. Once you’ve practiced out loud (at least 10 good full run throughs), you’ll nail it. Good luck! :)