Happy Memorial Day weekend to all my US readers! It's the first unofficial beach weekend of the season, but the temp's barely going to crack 70 today. What's up with that? But really, all I care about is the 3-day weekend. I need a break!

Spring was a whirlwind of work busy-ness, an amazing vacation to Key West and the Caymans, my friend T's wedding, and then...the stomach virus followed by a neverending cough and cold.

Being sick gave me lots of time to obsess over LOST, Dancing With the Stars and American Idol (COOK!!), but not much energy to blog. Several bottles of Robitussin later, things are finally starting to get back to normal with both work & play.

Look forward to lots of great stuff at Beauty Addict over the coming months, from reviews of the much-buzzed-about no!no! hair removal system, the 5 best mascaras in the history of mankind, a full breakdown of my maid-of-honor makeup (by reader request!), and my adventures with a certain infomercial pedicure tool. In September we'll celebrate our 3-year anniversary with the Beauty Addict Hall of Fame - the best of the best of the best!

In other news, May brought that special annual event...my birthday! I wasn't feeling particularly celebratory this year, but it was impossible to stay miserable for long considering the amazing b-day gifts I received...including a Bose Wave radio, a tanzanite pendant, this massive black tote, some Kenneth Jay Lane animal bangles, and a batch of Fat Witch brownies. Yum.

More happy news...A big thank you to the editors at Glam.com, for choosing Beauty Addict as "Best Voice" in the 2008 Glam Network Awards! And I'm SO happy to report that my lovely beauty colleague, Afrobella, took the award for Best in Beauty this year. She also won a Fabbie award in the beauty category. Congratulations, Patrice! You deserve it!

One last thing...I read a really disturbing article this week about the effects of a common chemical on your hair. Click here to get educated on the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide.

Have a great long weekend, my lovelies!