I quit wearing make up. This is what happened.

I've never been good at make up. It's a skill I don't have. Professionally, I often hid behind face paint because it was easier. Most people reading this will know I work in circus, so face paint is a viable choice, but if you didn't know that, Hey! I'm Jana, I work in the circus. :)

Face paint, ice rink themed! Photo by Ron Tencati.

The more paint on my face, the less confident I felt that day. The reverse is also true, the less I make myself up, the better I feel.

Before I go any further, let me say this. If you love make up, if it's fun for you, if it's your art, if you enjoy expressing yourself with make up, awesome! I think that's terrific. You do you and I'm all about it. I think you're gorgeous and I'm in awe of your skill. Seriously, you're killin' it.

But for me, makeup is not something I enjoy. It's a chore and it I don't like how it feels on my face. I struggle to keep from wiping it off the whole time I'm wearing it, particularly eye make up. The first thing I gave up was eyeliner/mascara and I swear it was life changing. All of a sudden, my eyes were comfortable!

Some of you are thinking, well of course Jana, cheap make up would feel terrible on your face. But I did the thing guys! I went to Sephora, I scoured the internet, I had professionals choose products for me and I still hated the way they felt.

We indoctrinate young girls with toy make up products from toddlerhood onward. I remember begging for these when I was little.

My kid self would have LOVED this!

From an early age make up is a prized possession to be hoarded. As a kid, putting on toy make up meant feeling special. Putting on *real* make up meant something special was definitely afoot...a dance recital, competition day when I was a gymnast, something good.

I'm not sure when make up transitioned from a fun activity to a necessary, expensive burden. It happened slowly and took a while to realize.

Here's a video I made, with no make up, even though I felt like I should probably put on make up to film a video. I'm still getting used to my new found make up free life.

If that was the first time you've heard of trichotillomania, stay tuned, I plan to write more extensively about it soon. I've had it as long as I can remember, and it's caused a lot of stress and shame over the years. I'm finally beginning to just accept that it's part of me and that's okay, so if I can help anyone with that disorder, I want to.

Here are the four products I continue to use somewhat regularly, because I spend so much time outdoors. Sunscreen is a necessary evil.

* Lubriderm Daily Moisture Lotion SPF 15

* Make Up Forever Ultra HD Foundation (mixed with the lotion to tint it)

* Sephora "Blush Me" in the color "Crazed and Confused" which I find appropriate!

* Shiseido Powder Broad Spectrum SPF 30

Do you have a recommendation for a good sunscreen that's weightless and not oily? Please let me know. I would love a better sunscreen. I've never found one I like. Leave your recs in the comments!

Right now I'm enjoying my mostly-make-up-free life quite a lot. However, I reserve the right to change my mind. So if you come to the show one day and I've got eyeliner out to my ears, know that it's because I truly felt like doing it up that day! And if you see my minimal look, know that I felt like having a naked face and that's okay too!

I hope you do whatever you feel like doing, and stop worrying about other people's opinions or expectations. You're awesome just the way you are!

Check out the one make up product I'm still *always* going to want in my kit...mystery product...and remember, if you use my link to get to amazon for your purchases, Circus Stella will get a small commission of whatever you buy, even if it isn't this. Or if you'd like a free trial of AmazonFresh, Kindle Unlimited, or even Amazon Prime, please remember to use our links! Thank you friends.

Mabel rocking some eyebrow pencil realness.

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New Trailer Tour!

I know, you're thinking...Jana! You guys *just* bought a new van. What are you doing buying a new trailer? I completely agree. It's crazy, but it's all part of the plan to downsize our touring show in terms of weight. For this to work, several things needed to happen in a row, and we're not done yet!

No, we didn't buy the tractor, but it is tempting!

We'll spend the rest of the summer with the van towing the trailer to make sure this set-up is optimal for us. Once we know it's good, we'll sell our beloved Chevy 3500 diesel dually truck and buy...a car! I don't even know how to drive a car, they're so tiny and you can park them anywhere and go through drive throughs. What will that even be like?

Now that's a fine looking truck!

Ultimately, all these changes will lower the price we pay to work. It's expensive to keep Circus Stella on the road, and we're looking to increase profit by lowering long term cost. Hopefully this new set up (van + tow behind trailer as opposed to giant diesel truck and giant 5th wheel toy hauler) will last us a good ten years and allow us to recoup the purchase price. I'll keep you posted.

If you're interested in how we track our finances, we use Personal Capital. It's free, let's us see all our accounts in once place, and helps keep tax information organized all year. Use my link to sign up and we'll each get $20, it's free to use and I wouldn't recommend it if I didn't love it myself, so give it a try!

But you're not here to talk financials (which I could seriously do ALL DAY folks), you're here for the TRAILER TOUR! I put together a video over on youtube, linked below. If you like it, please consider giving us a thumbs up and subscribing to our channel. We've been working hard to improve our youtube lately, and we hope it shows.

Voila! Fancy, isn't it? Especially all the weird extra lights and the ridiculous solid state counter top. Ultimately, it's the perfect trailer for us and we're hoping to have lots of fun camping trips in it over the years.

With our salesman Tyler, who I convinced to arm wrestle me. See video above!

Thanks for reading and for watching our video. Please feel free to leave a comment if you have any suggestions for future blogs and videos. I want to make what you want to see! Remember, if you're going to buy something on Amazon and you'd like to support the circus at no cost to you, just use one of our links to get there and we'll get a small kickback from anything you buy. It's a win win! Or if you'd like a free trial of AmazonFresh, Kindle Unlimited, or even Amazon Prime, please remember to use our links! Thank you friends.

Have a great day everyone and enjoy the rest of summer. Stay cool! :)

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Bonus: I did a video of our old trailer tour back in the day as well. It was my first ever video with a go pro. If you're into that sort of thing, here it is:

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Amazon Prime Day Deals!

In honor of Amazon's Prime Day 2018, which seems to have spread across two days this year July 16-17, I have a confession to make...

...my name is Jana and I'm addicted to online shopping. It's been 4 hours since my last purchase.

Let's face it, doing chores from my couch in my pajamas as the dogs bark at the delivery man is more appealing that driving to an actual store. And shopping is a chore. Fight me. Wait don't fight me, I'll probably lose.

Throwin' it back to this oldie!

Want some deals on prime day? I'll list them here. Not a Prime member? No problem! You can join for FREE for one month to take advantage of this year's deals, just click right here.

Need some free books? You can try Kindle Unlimited for 3 months for only 99 cents. I'm doing the free month trial right now, trying to decide if it's worth it. I'll give you a tip, try searching Goodread's lists of Kindle Unlimited books in whatever genre you fancy to find the good ones. There seem to be a lot of great books available through the program, but finding them is tricky. If you know any good kindle unlimited search hacks, please let me know!

More 2018 Amazon Prime Day Deals so far:

   Get $10 off a $40+ Prime Pantry order for trying it out (first timers only).

   Get $30 off your first order with Amazon Fresh, groceries delivered to your door!

   Save 66% on 3 months of Audible (So buy 1 month and get 2 free!)

   Save $100 on the echo show (Usually $229, now $129)

   Free game daily with Amazon Twitch

   Amazon Music, 4 months of unlimited music for 99 cents.

Check back later, I'll add to these as deals pop up.

UPDATES

  Fire Stick regularly $39.99 now $19.99
  Fire TV Cube regularly $119.99 now $89.99
  Fire TV regularly $69.99 now $34.99
  Home Security Systems on sale
  Video Doorbell regularly $249 now $174
  Cloud Cam regularly $119.99 now $59.99
  Blink Security Camera regularly $129.99 now $75.00

Don't worry, I didn't forget about our mystery link. I can't guarantee it will be on sale, but who cares, don't we all need one of these (or ten) in our lives?

Jokes aside, I'm all about being financially responsible, so don't buy stuff you don't need just because it's on sale. That being said, if you do need something from amazon, we sure would appreciate you using one of our links to get there. Circus Stella will get a small commission for anything you buy on that shopping trip, at no cost to you! Thank you!

Amazon is great for dressing up your dog!

I'll be honest, so far I'm not all that impressed, and I remember being let down by prime days of the past. But seeing as it doesn't officially start until 3:00PM Eastern, I'll keep an open mind. We're in the market for some new dog beds, and I'd love to score some while they're discounted! If you've made it this far, let me know what you'd like to see go on sale in the comments! I'll keep my eyes out for you!

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Shop from your couch, you know, where your dog is!

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Meet Circus Stella's Rescue Dogs!

Our pack of performing pups includes Stella, Adrian, Louise, Mabel & Clarice. They are first and foremorel our pets and beloved family members. They also get to work alongside us as we flip and fly on down the road touring our family circus show.

Photo by Emily Breeden of Paws, Pose & Play

This year we'll be at the Jefferson County Fair in Brookville, Pennsylvania for the first time, and their savvy social media director requested a video. Together we decided a video featuring our K9 companions would be the most fun, so without further ado, I present to you...The Circus Stella Dogs!

Thanks so much for watching! 

Let me tell you a little bit about our girls, because of course they all happen to be girls (poor Dextre!) and what their lives are like.

Our dogs get to spend a lot of time with us, whether that be hiking in the woods, cuddling on the sofa, or performing in the show. They're pack animals and like to stick together, which is great because one of the original reasons they ended up in the show in the first place was a desire to have them backstage with us. So that worked out awesome.

Mabel and I backstage at the Pickle Festival 2017

Dextre does most of our dog training. He uses positive reinforcement to reward sought after behaviors and will just ignore and quickly move on from incorrect behaviors. It's more complicated than that. Someday I will do a whole post on training and the resources and programs Dextre used to gain his expertise.

Our dogs LOVE training. In fact, I think they like it even more than performing. It's really fun for them. They love to use their minds, solve puzzles, and display their physicality. Not to mention the chicken. They also love the chicken.

Adrian can ignore a false cue to begin and wait for the real one...in style!

We use these training treats in this type of baggie you can clip on to your belt. During the show we usually use chicken, and once in a while, all beef hotdogs! Dextre recommends this book for basic training.

Louise walks across two boards at Spay It Forward's annual fundraiser.

I'm hoping to make a few training videos in the future, so stay tuned if you want to have some fun with your dog!

If you'd like to support Circus Stella for FREE, just remember to head over to our blog before shopping on Amazon. Click on one of our links, laugh at whatever I linked you to, then go about your shopping trip as normal. The Circus will get a small percentage of anything you buy! Or if you'd like a free trial of AmazonFresh, Kindle Unlimited, or even Amazon Prime, please remember to use our links! Thank you friends.

Thank you friends! 

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Log Rolling with the Lumberjills!

Dextre and I always have a blast at the Caroline County Fair, but this year there was a special treat in store for us! There was a new act at the fair, The Lumberjills, and they were a hoot!

Are you fangirling yet? I am!

Their show includes hot sawing, underhand chopping, axe throwing, cross cut sawing, chainsaw carving and LOG ROLLING!! It's "A family friendly show that is high action, fast paced, educational, historical, and tons of fun." We agree on all counts! Plus they're super friendly and let us roll around in their pool. Check it out in this video:

What a good time! Thanks you very much to Allison and Nina for being such patient teachers. It was really a pleasure to meet you both. I sure hope our paths will cross again soon!

Axe Throwing

The Caroline County Fair is conveniently located just off of Interstate 95 North of Richmond and South of Fredericksburg. Next year's dates are June 19-22nd. We'd love to see you there. 

Rainbow over the fair in 2017

Aerial Silk

Axe Throwing!

If you'd like to support Circus Stella for FREE, just remember to head over to our blog before shopping on Amazon. Click on one of our links, laugh at whatever I linked you to, then go about your shopping trip as normal. The Circus will get a small percentage of anything you buy! Thank you friends! 

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Circus Stella Show with the VAN as a Backstage!

   This was our first weekend to test out the van-as-a-backstage theory we've had going on from the start of this adventure and guess what! It worked great!

Thanks to Jessie Meyers for the photo!

   We performed in Blacksburg, VA for their Summer Solstice Festival and had a blast. The crowds were terrific and we were parked next to a vendor giving away free ice cream. I can think of no better neighbors than that folks.

Below is a fun video of our set-up and some snippets from the show!

   There you have it! The insulated cargo van is a much cooler backstage area than the tent we've used for years. Level up...complete! It is really incredible what a bit of insulation can do. It makes me wonder why the ceilings of ALL cars/trucks/SUVs aren't insulated. Of course the vents, exhaust fan, and box fans help too.

   If you're interested in safe kennels for traveling with your pets, these are the kind we use. And if you use that link to head over to amazon, anything you buy during that shopping trip will net Circus Stella a small commission at no cost to you. Blamo! It's magical...especially for us. Thanks! If you don't need a crash tested kennel, try this mystery link instead!

And now, for your enjoyment, here is a photo of Dextre's best side. You're welcome. :)

Thanks Jessie!

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Swimming with the Circus Stella Dogs; Underwater Camera

We're living in our trailer at Lake Anna State Park while performing on weekends at the Virginia Renaissance Faire. This gives us the opportunity to take the dogs swimming on the regular. They love to swim.

Jana holding Princess Mabel last year at Lake Anna.

We have these life jackets for them for when we take them kayaking, but they don't need them for shoreline swimming.

Dextre with Claire out on Lake Anna in 2017.

Clarice is an especially good swimmer. Her mother was a water dog, a Nova Scotia Tolling Retriever. Here we are, swimming together in the lake! I can't even tell you how much fun it is to be out in the water with them.

If you like underwater dog swimming videos, I also made this one. This is the dog pool called Oasis in PA near the Pennsylvania Renaissance Festival. We rented it just for our pack!

Friendly reminder, if you'd like to support this blog for free, just use our links to get to Amazon to make your ordinary purchases and Circus Stella will get a kickback! The price stays the same for you. Try this one.

Stella presents a stick offering.

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Rozi enjoying Lake Anna in 2015

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