Pamper Thyself

I recently saw a towel that said: “I either have my hair and makeup done, or I look homeless.  There is no in between.”  That is so true for me.  Really, the natural look doesn’t much work for me and it’s a quandary because I don’t know any of the “new” makeup techniques and I don’t have enough time to practice them before I die.  I now know why the old ladies I observed from my youth had red circles for cheeks and bleeding lip lines.  But they always wore really nice earrings, which is how I console myself.

This time of year is so busy with shopping, preparing food, getting the house ready and visiting with loved ones that it becomes hard to remember to take care of ourselves.  I’m not a very high-maintenance person so I prefer home treatments rather than salon treatments where I can, but I have great appreciation for salons and the pampering.  If you are a salon-type person, book your appointments early and treat your specialist to a little gift or extra tip.  Our friend Jessy opened her beautiful shop, Skin Esteem in North Phoenix, and so represents the small business owners who need our support all year, but make us look even more special this time of year.  Some of her before and after shots are quite impressive.

I’ve always had pretty sparse eyebrows, but a year or so ago I wondered why I was getting my brows done because there is hardly any left to wax.  I do need to tint them though and found an eyebrow tint I like on Amazon.  It lasts about two weeks and I don’t need to make an appointment.  I’m putting more on order right now!

My DF Jill told me last year that she does her own gel nails using an LED light.  She said how pleasant the experience is by listening to her audio-book and not having to go to a salon.  After giving this some thought, I got on board with it and ordered the LED and a starter kit of polishes.  This makes sense for me because I like my nails short, and frankly, my hands are not a statement of beauty.  I’m not the best polisher, but I’m getting better.  The initial cash outlay was on the hefty side, but I calculated if I did my own nails for four months, it would pay for itself.  I have now been using it for seven or eight months and I love the freedom of it.  I can do my nails at 6 a.m. on a Sunday and listen to my audio-book.  So convenient.

I am not much for massages or facials – don’t ask me why, because it won’t make sense – but I do see a medical aestician to try to keep looking somewhat put together.  I really see a difference when I get the IPL laser treatment on my sunspots. I can tell you I go way too long between treatments because I forget.  So, this post just reminded me to make an appointment and I am going on Thursday.

My hair grows really slowly so I honestly get it highlighted for the summer, darkened back up for the fall and cut maybe once or twice in between.  That’s about as low maintenance as it gets.  The other day I looked in the mirror and realized how long my hair had gotten because it was months since I’d had it cut.  If anyone has ever seen me with scissors, you’ll know this is one service I will not do to myself.  Luckily, my hairdresser got me in the next morning. 

I generally don’t count on getting my hair “done” for an event and it hardly ever works out for me to get an appointment close to the actual event. I like to budget a bit more time for makeup and hair on those occasions to look like I gave it a try. Over the years I’ve owned hot rollers, then I chop off my hair and get rid of them.  I purchased a small set, but for the life of me I cannot keep the clips on them.  I am trying out these claw clips from Amazon which get good reviews and see if the hot-roller look is back on for me.

What I’m Reading

Phew, did I ever read this week.  I took a down day after Thanksgiving and basically read all day.  I finished the Preston and Childs Old Bones.  It was ok, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to recommend it.  I follow those authors regularly which is one reason I wanted to read it and the other reason is because part of the subject matter was the Donner Party.  We lived in Reno for many years and the pass between Reno and Sacramento on I80 through the Sierras is named Donner Pass for the tragic history of the area.  During the 1840s a group of pioneers were making their way to California from Illinois and encountered delays and took what they believed was a shorter route.  This coupled with a 100-year storm in October that kept dumping and dumping snow led to the party being stranded with access to no food.  The survivors resorted to cannibalism and that is now synonymous with the name of their party.

I read One Good Deed by David Baldacci and I would not recommend it at all.  In fact, it read like maybe David had someone else writing it for him.  Someone who could not do character development or get a historical perspective that the character lived.  Awful.  But I didn’t stop reading it.

I listened to The Quest for Ann Klein, and though I think the book is really good, the narrator isn’t great at delineating the voices so it was a struggle to get started.  David Sedaris and Calypso is up next on audio.  I was in the gym listening and literally laughing out loud on his treatise on aging.  I’m sure everyone thought I was nuts, but I couldn’t help it.

What I’m Eating

Well, you all know what I ate this week.  Yummy turkey and all the sides.  I can honestly say my plate was over ½ full of vegetables and I didn’t overdo food at all.  Overdoing champagne was another story.  Yum!  No pics this week, because everyone knows what that looks like.

What I’m Doing

I don’t think we’ve missed too many turkey trots on Thanksgiving morning.  We walked over five miles with SIL and BIL Linda and Dan and as always it was a great way to get the day of gratitude started.

The day before TG, we headed North to Prescott and boy was it cold.  They bill themselves as Arizona’s Christmas Town and they lived up to that hype.  We had lunch in The Palace which is historic and was a combo restaurant, bar and museum.  We loved it.  They are known to have served Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, and you know I love that connection! Here is a pic with a Lady of the Evening entering an upstairs room. Ha!

There are some big changes coming around here this week and I’ll update everyone on that mid-week.  I’m sure everyone has already kicked off this holiday season, but pace yourself and be kind to yourself.