CLWO #5

Click to see: Arbonne Smoothing Facial Cleanser


some might think of arbonne as the mary kay of this century, but i don't really think it has much in common other than the pyramid structure.  the company is held to the stricter european standard in health/beauty care as far as the ingredients.  it is a natural line, costs a little more, and works wonders.  i suppose that's relative over what you've been using before though.  clinique is a big fav by a lot of women i know, but it really never did much for me.  that also has been years ago.  bioelements is a line i've favored for a while, and i've liked several of their products and continue to buy them on a not so regular basis, except for one of the gel based moisturizers that i use in the summer.  might be CLWO #6.

on to the item of today, the RE9 line is an anti-aging line designed specifically for more mature skin, as in over 40.  i've been using it for over three years and i don't know if i look 33 or not.  click the link and find the before and after pictures to see for yourself.  what it has done for the texture of my skin has been fabulous.  i love all the products of the original RE9 line, and just received my kit of the RE9 advanced.  i couldn't wait to try it.  i was wowed by the cleanser.  my skin felt silky, not oily (big issue here).  the product itself lathered up better than the previous cleanser, and almost felt mousse-like by the time i was ready to rinse.  the sticker price on arbonne (because you can't possibly buy just one item) always makes me cringe, but with the improved dispensing of this cleanser - which comes in a gravity-fed tube with a quarter opening lid - i have a feeling this bottle will last me three months.  i got a box of goodies to try, so you might see a lot of products coming after this.  but when i pay for an item like this, you'd better believe i'm going to be picky!

L'anza

after living with a hair designer for years, and playing with hair like i knew what i was doing for decades before that, i feel like i've experimented with a lot of product.  this line has made my hair feel like the hair in commercials look.  trauma treatment, just a dab, will smooth out everything.  with this mop, you know that's no small feat.  i can run a wide tooth comb through my hair and it doesn't snag.  the conditioner is weightless but it actually conditions my hair; doesn't just clog up my drain.  and my hair feels healthier and looks healthier.  after years of coloring, i think any shampoo and conditioner that can do that is beyond amazing.  i have been a paul mitchell, tigi, redken, aquage girl ... and all of that stuff felt like i was using some homemade combination of dawn and lord knows what, in comparison.  it's fantastic.  get a trial size - you will not be disappointed!

CLWO #4

Click here to link to: Bob Revolution Stroller

I run a few times a week.  I can't call myself a runner ... it's a thing.  I wouldn't consider myself a runner unless I was die-hard.  And I'm not.  But I do love a challenge, and if anything running always is for me.  Especially when I have 20 pounds of stroller, and 40 pounds of boy.

I like to call him Bob Lexus.  Bob is a dream.  Lockout wheel, should you choose; ample stride space; convertible in the event you just want something to shop with; recline if your child will let you (ahem); padded seat, easy and quick to fold and put in the trunk of your car (keep the brake unlocked so you can roll it in and out quickly).  It's pricey.  But I promise you spending money on this once will keep you from buying something half the price, and then again when you find out how disappointed you are with your first purchase.  With an optional rain cover, and a sun canopy that borders on overkill, your child can only complain so much about the three miles you're trying to log because you don't have a sitter and they have to come with you this one time!  So hand them a DVD player or a toy, load up the snacks, and get rolling.  Mine is chocolate and blue, and other than tire wear, it looks as good as the day I bought it.  A really nice step from a Pilko P3.

CLWO #3

Click to link to: Blackberry Curve 8530

currently there's a lot of deliberation and question regarding our contract and coverage for our cell provider at work.  in the interim, i managed to land a plum colored curve (8530) while the details of a possible switch are ironed out.

in the meantime, i can't stop playing with my phone and figuring out all the new tricks and features.  they don't call it crackberry without reason.  make that reasons.

once i can hook up my work email, i will be in business!

CLWO #2

Click to link to: VS The Nakeds Demi Bra

so i've been a VS fan for years.  they're marketing geniuses that speak to me, anyway.  it seems every time i'm ready to try something new, they come out with the next best thing.  i've been on the dream angels kick for a while now ... a big fan of the solid microfiber, wet suit bra - whatever that one was.  and now, drumroll please, The Nakeds have arrived.  i think VS works for you or it doesn't; sort of like nike and running shoes.  but if you're a current client, you won't be disappointed in the $45 you drop down on this bra.  it's light but not overpowering in the padding department at all.  it's supportive without being toddleresqe on your ribcage.  the straps are just right.  you've got to try it.  oh - and my three-year old conveniently experienced his first trip into VS and raves about the bronze metallic one.  at least that's the one he picked out for me.

CLWO #1

Click for: CB2 Cora Carafe

Forgo your next Chik-Fil-A lunch and order this instead.  The glass is solid and heavyweight without feeling like you'd break a toe if it slipped.  And amazingly, it might even survive the fall.  You come up with 17 reasons a day (and night) to not drink more water and your skin, organs, and attitude suffer because of it.  For $10+shipping, your body will thank you for making this purchase.  Suggestion: order one per adult as these things will grow legs in the middle of the night.

Today, this is the item I Can't Live WithOut.

the oprah effect.

apparently oprah guides the USA with her omniscient perspective of life.  oprah for president?  i'm all for it.  people become famous for mocking her, imitating her, just mentioning her name next to a product speaks $$$.  she is a strong economy booster, and even a five-minute google search on the oprah effect will provide you enough reading to understand that this woman is a force.  she might even be The Force.  but however voluminous and bigger than life this Democratic Queen is over her followers, there are two things i can't get past.

1. she appears on the cover of every one of her own magazines.

2. she once said at the end of the day from taping a show, sometimes she can't even remember what the show was about since she's dealing with so many things at once.

nevertheless i'm going to pretend to be oprah for a while, and post anything and everything i think you should think, own, experience, feel, and perceive.  i mean, you can't knock it 'til you try it, right?

easter recipe.

today with the fam was wonderful!  being outdoors for two days in a row, smelling like sunscreen, watching ashton run around and get filthy ... life has been good!  the house is a wreck but amazingly i care less and less.  if you know me, you might have just fallen out of your chair.

today my recipe was the embedded link.  since i've never done this before i don't know what it's going to look like.  if it doesn't post right, foodnetwork (pineapple, lime, coconut) and it should be the first thing to pop up from rachel ray.  not a huge fan, but this was fairly healthy, and easy, and super delightful on a day like today!  since i've developed weird food things, that i will save for another day, it was ashton-safe and 100% organic.  yum.my.

six weeks off.

sometimes stopping to think about something is a blessing and a curse.  but last night i laid awake in my bed until after 2am.  not from coffee, not from lack of my usual herbal supplements that aid in my rest.  i had a major processing session that would NOT cease.  and i cried.  and i smiled.  and i cried more.  and laughed at myself in my head.  all of the good things that come about with a true moment and revelation.

at the end of the day i'm pretty sure i'm swirling around aimlessly.  i have targets, but no aim.  i keep waiting for something to happen.  maybe i always have.  and it's a terribly bizarre feeling to be so controlling yet anticipating for other factors to shape my decisions.  how does that happen?!  and in the end, the thing i must let go is the control.  surrender is not a word that comes to my vocabulary easily.  neither does faith.  no offense but i have very little faith in anyone anymore.  i am sure i have earned the same level of respect, so i understand the magnitude of this statement.  there are people i trust.  there are people i do have faith in and believe in.  at 33 i have no idea how to cautiously trust or cautiously have faith in.  i do it or i don't.  one of the things i actually don't half-ass.

so the revelation, while deeply personal and profound and all that, will not rear its head openly or blatantly, but change is on the front.  the older you get, the harder it is.  the more people depend on you, the harder it is.  although i suppose the glass half full version is i'm not old, and only one person really depends on me.  guess i'm in better shape than i thought!

on to tangible ...

took ARB to the CMH yesterday and he had a great time.  i wish we lived in a city that had a children's museum more accessible.  the grand building downtown would be perfect - and could even provide a place for them to ride big wheels, and scooters, etc.  but, it helps push me out of the staunton city limits.  the older ashton gets the more i need to have access to - and i mean easy access to - bigger and better things for him to expend his energy on.

unfortunately this morning he's asking to go to the park, and he's sick with a cold again.  his poor cough was so bad last night i pumped a shot of my inhaler in him.  the meds he has are the wrong 'scrip and would have kept him jacked up all night long.  i had to make an executive decision.  thankfully it worked almost immediately, but the bad news is every cough he gets seems to exacerbate his asthma.  no, he hasn't been officially diagnosed with it.

the results came back with his blood test and his panel really shocked me.  i want to see the quantitative numbers so i know what we're looking at, but not good.  his soy allergy is registered higher than his brazil nut or almond allergy.  soy is a huge percentage of his diet at this point.  i'm hesitant to cease because of whatever antibodies his body has built up so far.  i may try to get him in at duke at a recommendation of a FB friend whose son makes ashton look like he has no problems.  gosh my heart goes out to her and her story has really shaken me.  but bigger hopes are that duke can help acclimate him to some of the allergens and push his immune system to handle more foods.  sort of a two-fold idea in that for his own safety the fewer allergens he has, the better and hopefully better quality of life.  the second fold being his nutritional needs.

i'm missing church right now - yoga.  i've been going sunday mornings for 90 minutes, followed by a run later in the day, and i have come to fall in love with my sunday schedule.  today it's off b/c of AsD having to work.  poor kid hasn't had a normal schedule in weeks.  and tomorrow i go back to school.  i'm  not nervous about this class.  i'm worried about studying for my GMAT's though.  i only have two weeks before I have the test.  not feeling prepared at all.  a lot of work ahead of me in the next two weeks with work and school.

work is kicking my arse.  i don't even want to go there because it would be pages, but my project is still not complete, and it's tax season, and i'm fixing mistakes left and right and it's making me a little nuts.  it's the actual work, not the people.  i have a great team, thankfully.  makes life much easier.

finally got my tree down yesterday, and all packed away.  it always gets worse before it gets better on the organizing side, so now i need to find where this tree is going to live in my house!  yikes!  i gave away six bags of clothes to goodwill NYE to help clear out some room.  i have so many clothes of ashton's ... i need to begin posting on eBay again, but there never seems to be time.  right ... that's why i'm typing on my blog.  it's always something!!!

i have a date with my sister tuesday night, and i'm really looking forward to it!  ARB's schedule, again, is all screwed up but thankfully AsD is being flexible monday and tuesday, and helping out tremendously.  ARB started basketball last tuesday - so freaking cute!!!  i cannot believe how much he's changed since turning three.  seriously amazing.  the potty training is going pretty well.  i have to watch him if he has a treat (sprite) because it makes his kidneys/bladder go nuts.  but other than that, we're just doing a diaper at night.  i'm not doing pullups.  blech.  and he knows how to hold it.  it's been more a question of attitude and willingness.  when they say you can't push it, they aren't kidding.  i mean, just take a look at his parents.  heh.

off to do laundry again.  without a washer/dryer from 12/24 through 1/22.  and it's making me crazy!  i'm a little religious about the laundry.  it is, however, making expand my regular clothing choices.  always a good thing when trying to clean out the closet.

off to have a wonderful mommy day sunday with the little dude.  and try to quash this cold so he feels better, and study!

gratitude:
- warm house
- good music
- owning a piano