Friday, March 31, 2023

Fun Friday - Pt. Two: Science, Colors & Emotions


A few years ago, I had written a post entitled, "The Color of Moods" in which I talked about a seminar I attended that was facilitated by a registered nurse on how colors affect our emotions. This post is intended to serve as a more scientific view on the subject. 

Have you ever noticed that certain colors tend to induce or bring about specific emotions when looking at them? For example, does the color light blue make you feel calm or peaceful? Does the color red make you feel passionate - or perhaps even a little more aggressive? Have you ever noticed that mental hospitals tend to use the color yellow on their walls?

While doing some further research on the subject, I learned a few very interesting things. For one, not only do certain colors evoke specific emotional responses regarding our brain patterns, but scientific studies have found that there are three ways in which colors effect us: 

1) Psychologically: This effect is based on our personal experiences.
2) Symbolically: Such colors can be associated with a specific object. For example, the color "sky-blue," "sea-green," "candy-apple red," and so on.
3) Culturally: The color white, for example, is usually associated with pureness and innocence in western society, but in eastern culture it is the color for death and sadness.

How exactly can colors manipulate our feelings and emotions? Well, according to a study by Wellesley College researchers Stoughton and Bevil Conway, it is possible that our brains are hard-wired to like or dislike certain colors and it all relates to emotional responses when we see color. Advertisers are well aware of this fact and use this information to their advantage when promoting and selling their products. As stated by Conway, the research study has significant implications for the creative community "to the extent that anyone would find it informative to know how the nervous system works, and through that would gain an appreciation for these phenomena, I would think artists and designers could benefit."

(For more information on colors, please click on the links at the bottom)

While the science behind our emotional connections to color is a complicated one, it is becoming more clear through anecdotal knowledge and scientific experimentation. 
Science Behind Color and Emotion

(References: "Science Behind Color and Emotion" and "How Colors Manipulate Your Emotions")

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I have always been fascinated by "eyes" ever since I was a child. I used to (and still do) love to draw, most especially, eyes. As an adult, I love to use color mascara when playing/experimenting with make-up
(M.C. Escher, study for Eye, pencil on paper, September 1946.)

Speaking of colors, I recently purchased some more colored mascaras. One brand is Lime Crime, Inc. cosmetics Astronomical Vegan line ...
Green (51) - This is a lime green color and shows up fairly well after two applications.
Nebula (purple) - This color goes on very light purplish so it needs about three applications in order to be able to actually see it, but it is pretty. These are the swatches ...
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Have a Blessed weekend, all!

Wednesday, March 29, 2023

The Rainbow After the Storm


As most of you may have already heard via the National news, last Friday at approximately 5PM there was an explosion in downtown Reading, PA. The R.M. Palmer chocolate company building (one of two of their buildings -  the other is located in Wyomissing) was destroyed along with a total 7 casualties known thus far - devastating the lives of the families of the victims and the community. There has been an on-going investigation which I imagine will take some time before its' conclusion although it is believed that it may have been caused by gas. The blast was so bad that it was reported that it had moved a couple of buildings a few feet some blocks away.

On Monday, a rainy day left a beautiful rainbow which decorated the skies of Reading and surrounding counties. The huge rainbow over the R.M. Palmer building had not gone unnoticed by local residents (per the first photo). 

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(The above photos courtesy of Bill Bradley)

Friday, March 24, 2023

Fun Friday

Happy Friday! Anyone who has been following my blog for some time knows that I am absolutely obsessed with colored mascaras! With my skin tone being so light and also at my age, black mascara no longer looks good on me as it is far too dark and brown simply does not show up well. So, I began looking for alternatives. GOOD colored mascara is very hard to find and the products out there are either too expensive OR they are eventually discontinued.

The following is my list of the Top 5 colored mascara brands. 

1. Urban Decay Double Team Colored Mascara. One end is a Cream and the other is a Special Effect which makes the color really pop!


Urban Decay Double Team Colored Mascaras - Gonzo, Gold/Dime, Vice, Deep End, and Junkshow.

2. Colour Pop BFF Colored Mascara

Kiss 'n' Teal, Purple Prose, Right on Red, Yellow, Black on Black, Pink, Inc., and Blue Ya Mind.


3. Pat McGrath Dark Star Colour Blitz Mascara (Star Wars) 
Pink Mistique (on the left), Aquamarine Dream (on the right), and Ultraviolet Blue.

4. Lime Crime Astronomical Volumizing Vegan Colored Mascara


Nebula (Purple)

Green

5. L'Oreal Voluminous Cobalt Blue Mascara

Have a Blessed day everyone!

Sunday, March 19, 2023

Weekend Happenings

Greetings everyone! It has been yet another busy weekend. Beginning on Friday when my husband took a vacation day in order to install and replace our tankless water heater ...


But first, I had to move EVERYTHING out of his way in my altar room - one shelf at a time, one item at a time and I just put everything back tonight ...


On Saturday night we had dinner and drinks at The VFW in Sinking Spring ...


I wore a festive new sweater and shamrock earrings that I bought earlier this past week at The Mint Leaf ...

On Sunday afternoon I spent the entire day with my sweet fur babies ...
 Teddy assisting me on my laptop.


As you can see, Teddy has officially been accepted as one of the "cat clan" ...
The "bookends" - Miss Ginger and Teddy.

I also baked the cupcakes which I promised my co-workers on Friday that I would make for them - Milk Chocolate with chocolate sprinkles and another batch of Confetti cupcakes.


And just for fun, an old Throwback pic from before my husband and I got married, circa 1998 ....


Have a great week all!

Saturday, March 18, 2023

I'd like to thank my air fryer oven



Happy Saturday everyone! Yesterday, we surprised our Supervisor, Patricio, with a Birthday Party. We all brought in homemade food, drinks, and presented him with a birthday card from all of us! ...

Patricio is the third person in from the top (I am standing next to him on the left, second in).
Me and my co-workers.
Patricio's birthday IS actually on St. Patrick's Day hence  his birthday cake (top photo). The bottom cake was baked by one of my co-workers who also has a cake decorating business ...

My co-workers LOVE my homemade cupcakes that I bake in my air fryer oven and so I made 48 of them - 24 red velvet and 24 confetti ...

Their only complaint? I did not make enough of them! SO I promised I would bake some more sometime this coming week. 😍