My Mini Bio

In order... Makeup, Fashion, and a little bit of Gluten thrown in the mix...

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 I was not the kid who couldn't wait to wear makeup... Really I didn't start until my mid/late teens when they started making glitter to put on your face. Anyone remember those? I think it was made by Bon Bon in the day. A gel with glitter mixed in it in a little container with a screw off top?
  Resorting to Google I found this Buzz Feed on 90's glitter. (though some of this stuff I saw after 2000)
17 Reasons Body Glitter Was The Best Accessory

This was pretty bad then...
it's frightening now!

Maybe the makeup without the hair... or
the hair with out the makeup... a shame
Drew Barrymore is quite pretty actually. 

  Part of the reason I wasn't interested in makeup was the styles popular when I was a pre-teen/teen. Makeup styles from the 90's were... somewhat scary with the heavily applied jet black lines around the eyes often paired with a hairdo that would looked good on a poodle or some other fancy pup but not on a human... now if any of you reading this was guilty of said style don't take offence... I'm sure some people thought it looked good... I did not, but hey, whatever ;-)
  Really, it took me years before I felt comfortable getting eyeliner anywhere near my eyes after having to endure that craze...
 There were a few times I wore makeup (my mom put it on me, she was a model in the 70's so I was saved from the 90's look) for a show or Halloween as a kid and looking in the mirror I looked like a china doll! Wasn't a look I was crazy about either!

  I remember my mom and I finding a book (yeah, a book made of paper... no Pinterest back then) with different makeup looks I had never seen before. I LIKED what was in this book and we bought it. I'd still recommend it today! But at the time you just didn't see anyone going out looking like that! Sparkles, Gloss, Vivid Colors! Basicaly looks that would come to be popular in a few years following but you would look like a weirdo if you went out like that in circa '99/'00! At least not where I grew up!
Making Faces by Kevyn Aucoin

Me on set with Krampus after I
finished off his hands.
Fighting Owl Productions

  But makeup trends changed through the years and I joined a dance troupe which required makeup and then I moved into theater. For a time if I wasn't performing myself I was up in the makeup room helping out. It's a good skill to have. Though I have taken classes, on the job training is most likely what taught me the most.

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  Fashion...
 this is a topic that I think I must have been interested in since nearly birth! I remember at 5 seeing a young girl in what I now know as a "pageant dress" in Captian D's and I wanted a dress like it! My mom actually tried to make it for me but I never got her to quite understand the dress. It was close but it needed another ruffle! Oh well.... where were those cell phone camera's back then? :-)
  My love of acting goes hand in hand with costuming. I'd make all kind of things into some sort of costume. Also my love of history has played into my interest of vintage and antique clothing. My
collection started with dresses my grandmother gave me and other items that had been past down like my Grandfather's baby clothes. (1912) Also a collection of doll clothes made by his sister in circa. 1906. When I got into theater vintage and just out right usual outfits came in handy. I have worn a number of them in shows doing community theater.

My first northern winter. Taken in Jersey City

  But no, I don't wear costumes all the time. When I lived in a small city in the deep south (I mean DEEP south, not Virginia!!!) I was pretty much always a little more girly and glitzy. I would be asked why I was dressed up and I was a little at a loss cause that was just what I liked to wear! Moving to NY I was suddenly in a crowd in which everyone was dressed like me. It really bugged me! I struggled a little on finding my style identity. I'm not one who likes to blend in. Oh, and I get annoyed with NY'ers who cling to this all black thing! What on earth is wrong with color?! Black is no different then red, blue, green... why do you CLING to black?! I will continue wearing vivid colors in the city... maybe it will wear off on you people eventually! ;-D
  Check out my Pinterest board - The Reflection in the Mirror

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What's the deal with this mysterious stuff people call "Gluten"?

  Well, I can understand how people could think this in a health craze... like the 90's Sugar Busters (Which I know did work for people but that's besides that point) But the thing is Gluten has been secretly attacking me since birth. Yes, some people avoid gluten to live healthier and lose weight which if it works, that's great. My battle with gluten started at birth. Some people are born without what they need to process a protein found in wheat. Thus when eaten it enters your body and your body attacks it as a foreign invader.
 As an infant I had a hard time keeping anything down. I was told about this all through my life but it was never known what had caused this. My parents found that the only thing I could keep down was sprite and rice cereal... note; *rice*
 Having asthma I believe covered up what was going on with the rest of me. I was on meds which can also mask symptoms of gluten intolerance. It wasn't until I got off these meds that I really started having a problem. As my weight plunged I developed a rash or what I thought was at the time was acne that would turn into awful sores on my face and down my back. We treated it with all types of soaps and cleansers and while they may have taken the edge off it was FAR from a cure. A few years later came the stomach aches... Then in 2011 they got so bad that it was constant at times. I did not have a clue what was going on.
  I have a friend that years before had found out she had issues with gluten. One day I was reading

Best pic of my face I could find not touched up
or wearing makeup before Gluten Free.

about things people did to make their hair healthier and I hit a number of them talking about gluten... so, I googled gluten. The first picture to catch my eye was that of a sore on someone's skin... that moment... could it be??? That was not what I thought I'd be finding! Pretty much that moment the thought of giving up bread didn't sound so bad... if THAT is what was causing what I thought was some mutant acne... conceder me GLUTEN FREE from now on!!!! After a little more research both I and my mom started to cut the wheat and see what happens...
  It takes time to go gluten free and finding where they hid it in foods you would not think would have it in it. Now as long as I'm strictly gluten free my face it beautiful and my stomach is much better! After 10 years of those boils on my skin... wow, it was what I was eating!
  I hope to share in coming post some of the meals I have found tasty and safe for you all with Gluten intolerance....