Tiny food, tiny laptop, tiny (um) makeup

When I'm stressed, I don't eat. Which can be good ... and bad. Stress in my life can mean that my skinny jeans will fit just right, but it also means that I am not taking care of myself.

About a month ago, my husband made me tell him what I had eaten in "the last three days." And as I really thought about it, I kind of cringed and said: "Well, I remember having a bowl of cereal today, and that day we went to the Mexican place, I ate those, um, two bites of rice and then I think I ate a bite of a sandwich the other day."

I mean, that is how bad I get. When I stress, I shut down. "You can't do that," he said sternly. "But, it's not like I'm doing it on purpose, so what's the big deal? I mean, if I was purposely, like, starving myself, then we could have this discussion."

I was really annoyed, because, honestly, I don't have time to even have a discussion like this.

He wasn't quite buying it. But, this is how my husband works. This past week, he has just happened to take me out to eat about five times. As if I don't know what he's trying to do.

So, when we went to Olive Garden on Monday, I was excited because I knew a secret that most of you probably do not. Do you know that Olive Garden has, as I like to call it, "tiny food?"

LOL.

The waitress, Stephanie, remembered me because I had been in the week before with a girlfriend. And for lack of a better term (and because I had been crying the entire way there, which meant that I--and my brain--was shutting down), I asked her this:

"Do you guys have any ... tiny food?"

To my delight, they indeed had tiny food.

For just $3, you too can order tiny food from Olive Garden. And they'll even put it in a regualr-sized dish if you so desire. Woo-hoo!

For just about $3, my tiny food came in a tiny dish and I even took some home in a leftover box.

... which is why she rememberd me so vividly. "I remember you. You ordered the 'tiny food' and took a to-go box for your leftovers." We laughed ... and then talked about earrings while hubby's eyes glazed over.

So, "tiny" has been a theme that I have been quite enjoying this past week. I have totally embraced my "tiny" laptop. In fact, I can never go back to regular size. "Tiny" fits in my purse and what girl doesn't love that?

My tiny laptop!

You know, "tiny" really is the way to go and this morning, I learned that "tiny" lesson in the biggest way.

When I get ready for work, I'm usually half awake. This morning, I had to get to work early for our monthly branch meeting. I threw my hair back and began my morning ritual--which is not much of one. I always start with a moisturizer followed by a little bit of Bare Minerals bronzing powder.

I took my brush and swept the side of my right cheek, when, OMG. What? What?! WHAT!!!

My cheek was reddish-brownish-bronzish. It was caked on. What I didn't know at that very moment was that, just about 10 minutes earlier, my beautifully brown daughter decided she'd give the bronzer a shot--all at her pale mother's expense.

But, here's the thing about Bare Minerals: they stick. There's something about the minerals that stick to your pores, unlike standard make-up. I looked at the clock and knew I had to bolt. So, I swiped a box of baby wipes and--while driving the mom van--I feverishly scrubbed my cheek--over and over again.

"Oh man! I look like I am on my way to a Glamour Shots gone wrong!" Ugh.

Sometime in the middle of the branch meeting, I whispered to Christine, my favorite co-worker, "Do I look like I am on my way to a really bad 80s Glamour Shots?!"

"What? You look great." She giggled. (I had actually managed to scrub the Raggedy-Ann look off of the right side of my face, and I had a beautiful glow--or something, lol).

"Well, you know how I've been telling you about the tiny food and the tiny laptop? This would have been the perfect morning for tiny makeup!"

She thinks I'm nuts. I just know it.