Thursday, May 23, 2013

A Memorial Feaux Glow

Growing up in the south means that I spent my long summer days playing or laying in the sun. I loved being tan but, alas, as I got older, I realized just how damaging all those years in the sun had been to my skin. These days, I am very proud of my pale, white skin. Thank goodness for the vampire trend! However, when summertime rolls around, I still have that urge to sport a golden tan. Instead of baking in the sun, I like to do a feaux glow. Here are some options I hope you will try!

BODY BRONZER

JIFFY TAN BODY BRONZER

I absolutely LOVE Jiffy Tan when I am in a pinch. I mainly use it on my legs when I am going to a party or want to look my best while wearing a short skirt or dress. As my friend Mary Susan says, "Tan fat looks better than white fat." Ha ha! Come to think of it, why does she keep saying this particular quote to me? ;)

Jiffy Tan is a tinted lotion that, when applied correctly, can give you an instant glow. The upside is that it dries quickly, which helps avoid staining your clothes, and it tints your skin for about two days. The downside is that you have to be very careful when applying it because it is very messy. It also has a bit of sparkle so just be aware that your legs will glitter in the sun.

Don't be afraid when the lotion looks like this when you first put it on.

I cannot stress to you enough the importance of wearing disposable gloves. This is key in helping the lotion to spread on evenly because, unlike your bare hands, the product won't stick to the gloves. Also, use on old cloth to buff areas where the excess doesn't rub in easily (ie: heels, knees, etc.)


Kind of amazing huh? 
Yes, I left one leg white & one leg tan just for you!!

NOTE: Apparently Benefit has actually discontinued this product.
You can still get it websites like this:

There are several similar products out there:

VICTORIA'S SECRET BODY BRONZER
Victoria's Secret has a plethora of choices of body bronzers.
A girl in my office uses it & seems relatively satisfied.

BODY BLING (The J. Lo glow)
Body Bling is also apparently fabulous. I think I will order this one when I run out of Jiffy Tan.



BRONZING POWER


COVER GIRL PRESSED POWDER
I tend to avoid self-tanners on my face since I don't love putting anything on my face that is out of my skin care regimen. Bronzing powder, however, can help me achieve a natural summer glow when I want to match my legs :) There are so many options out there ranging in price, smell, etc. but the main thing for me is color. Also, since I use it during the summer when it is hot & my face sweats, I want a product I can toss once a month to avoid putting any sort of bacteria on my face. My top choice is a tried & true brand that won't break the bank: Cover Girl (Soft Honey)  Their options are pretty great too. You can choose from: pressed (my choice), translucent, sensitive skin, oily, etc.

 AIRBRUSH TAN

SUNSET MIST AIRBRUSH TAN

A friend of mine owns a mobile tanning company called Sunset Mist. She comes to your house & gives you the most even, beautiful and natural tan. I love working with her for special events or in the summer when I am feeling especially pasty. She e-mailed me one day to ask if I would be a test model for her summer season meaning that she was training new staff members & wanted them to practice on me. I immediately agreed for the sake of my blog.....the things I do for my blog readers ;)


BEFORE:

IMMEDIATELY AFTER:
(the lighting in the conference room was really terrible, sorry!)


TWO DAYS AFTER:
P.S. I never said I was a good photographer......


I hope you have a fantastic Memorial Day holiday and enjoy whichever feaux glow you choose to try. I am headed to one of my favorite beaches where I hope to relax, read and perhaps enjoy an afternoon bushwacker.....while wearing lots of sunscreen of course :)




Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Get Ready for the Summer Sun with these Must-Haves

OBAGI-C SUNSCREEN
There are few things that get me in the mood for summer like the smell of sunscreen. I wear it every day, even in the winter, but there is something about piling it on in May that makes me very anxious for June, July & August! My favorite sunscreen costs a fortune but works. I can easily wear it under makeup without a cakey feel and I will never use anything else.


Retail price: $45

As proof of how well Obagi works, please "enjoy" (ha!) these before & after photos of my forehead and cheeks.

I didn't use sunscreen on a daily basis for about two years and, ended up with lots of damage.
BEFORE



I had to work on my sun spots & melasma with product and facials....and protect it with a great sunscreen

AFTER

P.S. I didn't intentionally make the before picture dark & the after one sunny.
P.P.S (or is is p.s.s.?)  Consider this your update on Lattise from my February, 2012 post :)


OLD NAVY CAR HAT
My aesthetician recommended that I start wearing a hat in the car, or as I like to call it, a "car hat". I got mine at Old Navy & I love it!

http://www.oldnavy.com/products/fedora-hat.jsp
Retail price: $12.94

 See, it isn't dorky...right?

SIMPLE SUGARS SCRUB
One night, while watching Shark Tank for the first time, I saw a young lady present a sugar scrub that caught my attention. My sister used to buy a similar scrub for me in LA until the company went out of business about 10 years ago. I haven't been able to find a product that I liked as much since then. The way the sugar dissolved was amazing and the oil was the perfect amount of moisture for my overly dry skin. Salt scrubs are just a bit too harsh for my sensitive skin.The young lady went on to mention that this all natural product that she created at the age of 11 that had actually cured her eczema. I was sold....and so was Mark Cuban!

I love the grapefuit scent!
Retail price: $16.95 for the large, 16oz. jar.
Why would you buy the small? You are going to love it!



A DELICIOUS SMOOTHIE
Last but not least, I want to give you my super-easy smoothie "recipe". I love the idea of adding kale, spinach or other fabulous ingredients to my concoction, but the reality is that if I am drinking a smoothie for breakfast, it is because I am on the go & have very little time. So, with that in mind, here ya go!

Mix these two ingredients together in your blender with some ice and you can thank me later!

(140 Calories; 9g Carbs; 23g Protein; 0g Fat)

I only use about a cup, or 1/2 of the small bottle
(110 Calories; 25g Carbs; 0g Protein; 0.5g Fat)


Disclaimer: This is not your typical sweet smoothie. You MUST like greek yogurt in order to enjoy this beverage!  I am also not sure what this has to do with the summer sun except that it is refreshing.









Wednesday, May 1, 2013

An Un-Funny Tale of A Funny Tail Wagger

Meet Mardi!








Mardi is a cute little puppy that we adopted in 2010. She is funny, sweet and loves to play. I am kind of nuts about her. We adopted her after meeting a friend's dog, Stella, who was also a rescue, so well-mannered & just adorable. Imagine our surprise when ours turned out to be a wild little beast.

The thing about Mardi is that she has a tendency to run away, hence the phrase we use to describe her "Mardi likes to party." All of our neighbors know her and, most of them, let her come inside their homes when she makes a surprise visit.

She is a little Houdini & can get out of anything. We have an iron fence that she can dig under, an invisible fence that she can bust through and have even tried chicken wire that she literally chewed through....now we use all three to contain her & it seems to have done the trick.

Knowing this about her means that I am a nervous wreck to travel with her and therefore typically do not. My husband wanted to take her to his hunting camp which is about an hour & a half east of downtown Atlanta. I reluctantly agreed and said that she could only go if he used a training collar, (that she is very responsive to). He was re-charging her training collar inside the camp with her in the bed of his truck when she apparently made a run for it. This hunting camp unfortunately sits on 300 acres of land, that backs up to another person's 300 acres.

He searched all day and then finally had to make the dreaded call to me in the afternoon. I won't go into details but let's just say it didn't go well. You know how sometimes when you get bad news you immediately go into "fix it" mode? Well, that didn't happen. I skipped that step & went straight into meltdown, crazy-person, my dog is my child mode. It wasn't pretty.

She is micro-chipped but apparently the company she was registered with went out of business so it is basically useless. Obviously I was devastated but I got myself together & started the painful process of trying to find her.

Here is what we did:
1. Created a flyer with a large picture of Mardi & our phone number in large print
2. Identified the eight surrounding cities & looked up their counties
3. Distributed the flyer via e-mail, mail & fax to each county's animal control, Humane Society, veterinarians and shelters (several of them checked in on her daily)
4. Registered her on the following sites:
Petmetric.com; Lostandpound.com; Lostmydoggie.com (this one was the best)
The website registries send alerts to business in the zip code provided and then send you a list of the businesses contacted.
5. Printed very large posters
6. Placed the over-sized posters at the main intersections of the town & placed flyers in mail boxes.



After two days of not eating or sleeping, I received a call from a lady that said she thought Mardi was in her yard. The dog was acting sort of strange so the lady was afraid of her. Of course I explained that she was probably hungry, scared & disoriented. I told her to call me back if she saw her again since she wasn't able to grab her. She called twice more so I jumped in my car & headed her way. Her description of her was dead on. She said that she had a hurt leg and had what looked like a bandage wrapped around it. I thought it was odd but I just had to get out there to try to get her myself.

When I arrived (2 hours later), she was gone. Keep in mind, this is a VERY rural area but I was prepared to make myself at home. I talked to neighbors, walked through the woods & even walked down the train tracks where I encountered a man that I think is now sending me weird texts. Anyway, as I was driving out of town, I would flag down people to give them her flyer (including a police officer who I'm sure had nothing else better to do with his time, ha ha!). Most everyone said something like, "Oh yea, I saw her sign." In other words, every one in town knew about my little sugar. I drove past a mechanics shop & saw some people standing outside so I pulled in.

As I was showing them the flyer of Mardi, one of the guys said, "Wow, she looks just like my dog & he is missing too." I said,"Maybe they are running around together like Milo & Ottis." He replied, "No, mine can't run around because he has a bandage on his hurt leg." Of course I realized that the dog the lady had seen had in fact been this man's. With my heart broken, I drove over to the hunting camp, trekked through the woods to a clearing, sat down & cried. I just knew she was dead or hurt or missing forever. Somewhere in the last 30 something years, I think I may have turned into a city girl because I saw something out of the corner of my eye that frightened me. I started thinking about the baseball scene in Twilight so I pulled myself together & hauled booty!

Back in Atlanta, we were getting ready for bed when my phone rang. A very nice man named Alan said he picked up what he thought was my dog after church. He described her perfectly but I asked him to text me a picture to be certain. He told me that he saw her running near the street & recognized her from the sign. When he pulled over & opened his door, she jumped in. As soon as he told me that, I knew it was her! He texted me 4-5 pictures to be certain. I was putting on my shoes to go get her but realized that I wouldn't get there until after midnight. He said he & his wife would love for her to stay the night & that I could pick her up in the morning.

They bathed her, removed countless tics, fed her (lasagna!) & loved on her. When I got to their house, which was a beautiful log cabin DEEP in the country, his wife carried her out to greet me. (I can't wait until they look inside the basket I gave them & find a little surprise, aka: a nice reward!!) She was totally out of it & just collapsed in my lap. Her tummy was completely scratched & she had what looked like several bite marks on her legs. She was limping & had a fever so I took her to her vet as soon as we got back to Atlanta. In the car ride home, she tried to sleep a little bit but every time she opened her eyes, she just stared at me.

The Drive Home:
Staring

Sleeping

Staring some more



We came home to an adorable sign for Miss Mardi from our neighbors!


Today, as luck would have it, is that day that we celebrate Mardi's birthday. I think I am the one that got the present however. After a thorough examination, she is ready to be picked up from the vet. She is bruised & sore from doing whatever in the heck she has been doing for the last three days, but is totally fine. Thank heavens!!

I was completely overwhelmed by this situation but, at the same time, amazed at how many of my friends, family & people I didn't even know tried to help me get her back. After all the coordination with websites & animal control, what brought her back to us was a poster. I will leave this experience with a renewed sense that there are a lot of very decent, more than decent, people out there. The kindness that was bestowed upon me and my precious little Mardi was unmeasurable. A special thank you to the citizens of Eatonton, GA. Sorry about all the lurking as I looked for my dog & walking behind your houses & such.

Now that my appetite is back, let's discuss a delicious snack.......
When I was leaving Eatonton after the false alarm sighting, I was hungry but didn't want to eat. Know what I mean? With limited food options, I spotted a Zaxby's & my car just drove into the parking lot completely on its own. What? That can happen. Anyway, I really wasn't super hungry & saw something called a Nibbler on their menu. It is a single chicken finger on a bun with sauce. Kind of like a chicken finger slider. No kidding, if you want to be just a little bit bad, give this little snack a try. Oh, and it has 390 calories & 23 fat grams...I only mention this so you don't buy two :)


Bon appetit! I am going to kiss my puppy goodnight!



Marlin was also quite happy to have his sister & BFF back home 








 
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