So you’re going on a tropical vacation. Hooray! Soon your daily stressors will be washed away by the warm, sandy tide. But first, what do you pack? How do you deal with long plane flights with small children?

Never fear! I’m here with the answers! (Well, most of the answers. Okay, some. A few?)

We just returned from a glorious vacation to the Westin Maui, and it was perfect in every way. In fact, I think my body is on the mainland, but my brain is still in Hawaii. What I love most about beach vacations is that you don’t need to pack a lot for yourself. In fact, I only truly needed 6 essentials while vacationing in Maui.

If left to our own devices, my husband and I would work all day, every day. We both possess a “there’s always something to accomplish” mentality, whether it be an upcoming deadline for me, a client meeting for him or an overdue household project waiting in the wings. While it’s nice to accomplish tasks, this kind of behavior shifts the focus away from the two most important people in our lives, our children.

It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot this year…the importance of slowing down and savoring time with our kids. The last thing in the world I want is my kiddos thinking I’m physically attached to my laptop. (Although sometimes it definitely feels like I am…)

When Westin Hotels & Resorts offered to send my family to Hawaii for an extended weekend, I jumped at the chance. 3 days of sunshine, beaches, and most importantly, no excuses. Let Operation Slow Down commence!

I’m currently in the midst of a massive coast-to-coast travel extravaganza, so travel beauty products are on the brain (and my body) right now. While I certainly try to keep my travel bag light, a handful of products are essential for my time spent away from home.

Far be it for me to only write about my favorite beauty tips and secrets every week. Quelle horreur! No, I decided it’s high time to share the beauty wealth, so I rounded up some of the Internet’s loveliest bloggers and asked them:

What’s your #1 beauty tip?

Here are their fantastic replies – you might want to grab a pen and paper for this one!

I love watching video tutorials, especially when they involve beauty and hair. Something about watching a woman transform her look right in front of my eyes captivates me completely, however, I do have some requirements for securing my undivided attention. The looks need to achievable and easy-to-follow, the videos need to be relatively well lit and decent quality (so I can see what’s going on), and most importantly, the person in front of the camera needs to get to the point quickly. If I feel an unrelated tangent coming on, I’ll click that little “x” faster than you can blink an eye.

My very favorite makeup tutorials are done by Lisa Eldridge. She embodies everything mentioned above, and her lovely British accent is the cherry on top. You’ll find a few of my favorite Lisa Eldridge videos in this list, as well as tons of other gems from around the internet. Enjoy!

There are several ways to create healthy-looking skin with cosmetics (foundations, tinted moisturizers, bronzers, primers, BB creams, to name a few), but I would be remiss If I didn’t write about how to create healthy skin the right way.

We’ll definitely touch on the above-mentioned cosmetics in future posts, but today I want to chat about what truly makes your skin glow, and that is taking excellent care of yourself. All the tinted moisturizer in the world won’t create the luminous look of a face whose body is happy and healthy. Here are 6 daily tips that I swear by for creating healthy, glowing skin.

Let’s face it, there are definitely days when I feel like something the cat dragged in (the words “tired” and “mother” are totally synonymous, right?), but that doesn’t mean I have to LOOK IT. Nope, I’ve spent extensive time in my highly scientific laboratory (aka my bathroom) figuring out ways to cheat exhaustion and look downright chipper.

The most common complaints I hear from fellow mamas are as follows: dark undereye circles, a dull complexion, tired-looking eyes, dirty hair, and dry, chapped lips.

Well, I’ve got 5 products that I swear by when it comes to these issues, and they’re right after the jump.

Beauty products.

I love looking at beauty products, reading about beauty products, experimenting with beauty products, making lists of beauty products that I need to investigate…ENOUGH ALREADY, SARAH. Really, it’s ridiculous. When my Sephora catalog comes in the mail? Hand me a glass of wine and don’t bother me for about 45 minutes.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m not some high fashion beauty maven. I don’t enjoy making my eyelids resemble a golden plum sunset nor do I claim to know the secrets of laser face rejuvenation. If you are looking to recreate a Hunger Games-inspired look, you probably need to move along. I’m all about approachable beauty. Healthy skin, “no-makeup” makeup, and fresh faces are my beat. And it’s not just cosmetics – taking care of ourselves from the inside out is huge. Health and wellness are very high priorities in my household. We mamas have enough on our plate, so feeling good is the ultimate key to looking good. As for the day-to-day grind, we need to easily transition from errand-running and soccer practice to work meetings and date night.

So, I hope you’ll join me in this new venture starting in April. I can promise lots of recommendations, lots of fun lists, and lots of questions (hopefully) answered. And yes, I am naming the column after one of my very favorite albums of all time, Beauty and the Beat. I mean, COME ON. It’s the Go-Gos. How could I not?

Do me a favor, though. I am keeping a running list of topics that I’d like to address, and I’d love to hear from you. Any beauty or wellness-related questions or topics that you’d like to see addressed? Let me know in the comments, and I’ll see you beauties next week!

I’m not sure how we got so heavy-handed with sports this month, but Wito is currently participating in a youth basketball league, spring soccer, and tennis lessons. We’ve basically gone from simple park playdates to a significant part of our week devoted to practices, games and lessons.

I don’t mind the schlepping back and forth in the car or the numerous visits to sporting good stores or THE FEES because Wito enjoys it. (Although, I must say that he enjoys the social aspect of team sports more than the actual PLAYING of the team sports…his athletic ability is a bit questionable, but hey, he’s only five, and this subject needs to be saved for an entirely different post.)

This is all to say that I’ve definitely been feeling the soccer mom vibe as of late. The loads of equipment rolling around the back of my car, the empty snack-size packages of fruit chew snacks littered across my floorboards; hell, I now need to add “early morning weekend soccer games” to my growing list of why I can’t drink more than one glass of wine during date nights with my husband. (Wine hangover + soccer fields at 8am on Saturday = DISLIKE.)

Spaghetti Eddie pretty much rules.

Do I need to list the reasons why I don’t regularly listen to children’s music? Really? Beyond complete annoyance, my kids will learn to appreciate The Black Keys and Andrew Bird if it kills me. (They do, by the way. The Black Keys’ biggest fan is 4 feet tall and sitting right next to me.)

Many of you know that I was born and bred in Oklahoma City, and recently I’ve been hearing talk about Spaghetti Eddie from my friends back home. Spaghetti Eddie? What the what? Turns out, Spaghetti Eddie is the brainchild of Brendan Parker, an Oklahoma musician who recently moved back to the Sooner State after a 4-year stint in Los Angeles. Brendan has created two albums full of music geared towards children, and we’ve been listening to it for the past few weeks.

After checking out the completely awesome branding and illustrations (seriously, love the website design, love the CD sleeves, love it all), I was positive the music would be the downfall. Let’s face it … a fellow Oklahoman, great concept, adorable design: it was good to be true, right? Would the music make me cringe?