Microdermabrasion Face Off

It's time for a skincare face off <- see what I did there ;)  Okay back to the blog... I've been using and loving a high end microdermabrasion face scrub for the last few months.  But when it came to time to repurchase, I had some major reservations about shelling out my hard earned cash for another bottle.  So I thought I would search the shops and if there were any comparable items on the market. 

And, of course, I found a winner for only $15.79!  I got mine at Target and it's the Boots No 7 Total Renewal Microdermabrasion Exfoliator - wow, that's a long name.  Since I picked up this bad boy I've been using and loving it.  It is just as effective as the high end brand I was previously using.  Can't go wrong with this.

Not to be outdone by the cheaper version...  I had been loving my Dr. Brant Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant from Ulta, but I couldn't bring myself to purchase it again.  It works great, I just wish it didn't make me hesitate when pulling out my wallet.  Just another $78.00 I'll never get back...  No big deal :o

The Boots brand microdermabrasion product has a similar consistency and scent to the Dr. Brandt version but for WAY less.  In actuality the Boots brand has a slightly larger grit than the Dr. Brant.  But that's the only big product difference, in my opinion.  Oh, and of course the price!  Who can forget that?!

Both products do the job and they do it well.  So I would recommend either of these to you.  However if you're not a fan of spending money unnecessarily (like me) I'd try the Boots brand first and see what you think. 

I hope this was informative.  Hope you're having a great start to your week and I'll talk to you all very soon!

Thanks for reading

July Fashion & Accessories Haul

Let's be honest, I've been lacking for a while in the fashion department...  I have had no motivation to shop for myself.  Maybe it was the lack of cute clothes, or maybe it was the idea of paying for them.  Let's be real here, it was probably a bit of both. 

But I an happy to announce that I am finally out of my fashion rut!  I picked up a few articles of clothing and some fun accessories recently.  Since I have been "fashion" absent for so long, I thought it was time I get back into the swing of things.

 

 

Longline Open-Front Cardigan - Gray - Forever 21

Lattice Stich Sweater - Olive - Coldwater Creek

Apricot Lane Necklace & Earrings - Gold - Apricot Lane

Seaside Striped Tote - Navy - Forever 21

Perched Bird Jewelry Stand - Gold - Forever 21

Ann Taylor LOFT - 16196827 (clearance)

Women's Slub-Knit Tanks - White (metallic pineapple) - Old Navy

Ann Taylor LOFT - 16661325 (clearance)

 

 

This haul is a collective effort over the past month or so.  I haven't worn any of the items yet, but I have a fun girls weekend coming up that I'll pack a few of the items for - Bring on the SELFIES!  No, just kidding.  We don't do that... 

Can't wait to style some of these cute tops and wear those fun earrings.  I'm not a huge dangly earring fan, but I can get into the leaves.

 

Hope you are all having a fab mid-summer month, aka:  July.  I can't believe summer is already 1/2 way over :(  Where I live you MUST relish with non-sweater/non-parka months.  But the end of summer means, awesome "Back to School" shopping, with awesome summer clearance sections!  I'll be staying right next to an outlet mall this weekend...  I MUST RESIST.... 

 

Have any of you hit a fashion-rut lately?  If so, what got you out of it??  I'd love to know in the comments below. 

 

As always, thanks for reading!  



I'm too young for this....

So I need to give you 100% realness in this blog post.  I just walked Doyle (my dog), and I went into the bathroom to wash my face, only to realize that it's Sunday night.  If I'm being super-duper real, it's actually Monday morning at 12:52am as I'm typing this.  I tend to do my weekly skincare touchups on Sunday nights, i.e.: facemasks (if needed), eyebrow plucking, etc.

So much to my horror as I looked in the 10x magnifying mirror....  and there it was.  The illusive culprit for all that is horrible for a woman in life.     T   H   E       F  I  R  S  T       G  R  A  Y       H  A  I  R    !

It was in my right eyebrow, just staring me right in the face.  Taunting me.  So I had to make the almighty decision.  To pluck or not to pluck?...  And just to be clear, this was NOT one of those light blonde hairs that you think "might be" a gray one.  It was straight up GRAY, no joke.

Aaaaand, you guessed it I plucked that bad boy!  I'm sorry, I'm 33 frickin' years young and I don't need no gray hair crampin' my style.  Albeit, I understand it was only in my right eyebrow, but hey your "first" is always a bigger deal than you make it out to be.  *you know what I'm sayin*

I thought these horrifying mirror discoveries would happen in my late 40's, but no.  Let's just show up to the party a few decades early when I'm 33, I'm not even to my MID 30's yet.  No need to get ahead of yourself you gray little monsters.

I'm just going to chalk it all up to stress.  Yep, that sounds like a perfectly acceptable excuse...  Stress.  Obviously my right eyebrow was stressed out to the max.  I hadn't maintained her and she got mad.  And she's down right nasty, if you ask me.

I promise, my rant is over...  But I will never forget the day I had my first gray hair.  I may have nightmares.  I'll keep you posted :/

So have YOU found a gray hair yet?  If so, how old were you when you found it???  I'm extra curious to know, so post a comment below. 

Thanks for letting me rant today

Ideal Image Hair Removal - My Story

If you follow me on Facebook you'll know that I have been doing laser hair removal on my legs for approximately the past 2 years.  This has been one of the most requested blog posts I've ever had.  Now that's I'm finally done, it's time to write all about it.  I know that a lot of people are leery of laser hair removal, but it was the best choice for me.

Okay, so lets back up about 5 years before I committed to laser hair removal.  I was starting to have some serious pains in my arms and legs, I had no clue what it was.  After too many tests , 4 months and hours and hours of testing at the doctors office they finally gave me a diagnosis.  I had Fibromyalgia. 

Fibromyalgia is a nerve disorder that effects they way your body responds to pain.  In my case my arms and legs were the areas that hurt.  So the only way to describe the pain is that of a horrible bruise.  Just imagine that your entire arm and leg are bruised.  That's exactly what it feel like.  So needless to say it hurt to be touched.  And don't even talk to me about accidently bumping into chairs/walls/etc. - OUCH! 

After my doctor prescribed me some steroids (which didn't work) it took me over 6 months to get off of that medication.  Once you start you have to wean yourself off  s  l   o  w   l   y.  So you can only imagine that pants of any kind were a serious problem for me.  I still have a hate/hate relationship with jeans.  They were just too hard for my skin, and the pressure made them incredibly painful to wear.  I'd have to be swimming in jeans for the pain to subside, but that didn't work because they would fall off.

So during all of this it was so incredibly difficult to shave my legs.  I would be in the shower for over an hour shaving my legs.  It was so painful, that tears would be streaming down my face as I inched over every bit of skin.  It was too much pressure on my legs.

Okay, I swear I'm getting to the point...

After some careful consideration, I decided that laser hair removal was for me.  At the time I started my treatments my Fibromyalgia pain had subsided somewhat (I could wear pants without pain), but I wanted to do something more permanent.  My doctor said that this condition could flare up again, at anytime, for any reason.  So that lit a fire under me to do something about it.

So I went to consultation appointment at Ideal Image in Maple Grove, MN.  I met with a very nice woman who explained the treatment and payment options.  She looked at my skin and leg hair color to see if I would be a good candidate for their lasers.  Thankfully I was a good match. 

Once I scheduled my first appointment I felt so relieved.  Relieved that I was finally doing something about my problem.  This issue that plagued me for so long would finally be over.  Mind you this was going to be long process, but that being said, at least it was start.

Most people want to know about the pain....  Yes, it's painful.  But it's a laser, what do you expect?..  If you've ever had a rubber band snap on your wrist, that's what each pulse feels like.  When you start the treatment, the pain isn't too bad.  But the longer you go the more intense the laser gets.  But at that point they are only "spot treating", so they don't have to cover the whole leg - thank goodness. 

I did my treatment for almost 2 years.  Each person's hair grows in different cycles so there is a time lapse in between appointments.  It was usually 6-8 weeks until the next one.   

After my last session I am happy to report that I am pleased with the results.  There is no more dark hair on my legs and they feel so much smoother.  But be aware that most lasers will not remove blonde hairs.  So if you have any lighter colored hair, that will stay.  The lighter hair is typically softer and less noticeable.  So I still have to shave, but I can go more than a month without shaving and I'm still comfortable wearing capris or shorts. 

All in all it was a great experience.  Painful at times, but no more pain that what my shaving was causing at the peak of my Fibromyalgia.  Even if I didn't have pain with shaving I would recommend this to anyone.  I'd love to do other areas someday, but I now live over 250 miles away from the closest Ideal Image.  So for my last few treatments I had to drive...  Which sucked, but then I had excuse to hang out with friends and family in the area.

If you've made it this paragraph - HOORAY!  Would any of you like to do laser hair removal?  If so, what would be your reasons?  I'd love to know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

 

My Soda Story

I have recently made a HUGE life change...  I mean, it's a big change for me.  So let's get personal

Well I guess I have to back up and tell you a little history about me.   As a child, my parents would rarely have soda in the house.  It was a big treat if I got to order a soda when we went out for dinner at a restaurant.  But in middle school things seemed to change.  Soda was becoming very accessible in my home and at my school.  I have been drinking at least one a day since then. 

In my early 20's, when I was working crazy retail hours, I even drank up to 40 oz. a day!  That's just ridiculous!!!  I just couldn't keep my energy up and a can of coke was my bad solution.  That worked to energize me for a while, but eventually I would crash out.  Too much sugar and caffeine for me.

So now, going almost 20 years with drinking a soda everyday, I am taking a step back...

In late May I decided to go one weekend without my constant companion.  A can of delicious, bubbly, mouth-watering Coke-a-Cola.  After the initial shock to my body, (there were some nasty headaches like you wouldn't believe, but thankfully I stocked up on Advil) it got so much better. 

After that weekend, I challenged myself to go one week without my trusty can of Coke.  And I was amazed at how well I did!  No serious cravings after Wednesday and I still had energy.  Even more energy than when I was drinking all of that sugar and caffeine.  It was so exhilarating to know I had gotten past all the headaches and I could see the other side of the soda game.

So now, I've gone over a month with no soda.  Not even a drop (however I did have dream about drinking a coke a few weeks ago... that was strange)  I'm not sure how long I'll go without having one, but the only temptation is in my fridge.  I still have 7 cans of coke staring at me every time I open the refrigerator door, but it's not worth it to me to start up again.  I think I'll have to put those cans in my pantry... 

At some point I'll drink soda again, but I will never go back to drinking one a day.  That got so out of hand, and I can't believe I put my body through all that.  YUCK! 

Have any of you ever given up soda?  Or tired to give up soda?  I'd love to hear your story in the comments below.

Thanks for reading!

The Favorite Father....

I've been on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter today reading everyone's heart felt gratitude for their fathers, and I can't help but feel a little left out... 

You see, my father and I have always had a strange relationship.  Not a bad one, just different than the normal "father/daughter" dynamic. 

We didn't get a long for a good chunk of my life.  It wasn't until I moved to another state, at 20 years old, that I finally realized that he was doing the best he could with the parenting tools he had. 

To come to my dads defense, he worked odd hours my entire life and couldn't be present for lots of important milestones (well, they were important to me).  So that's where our "odd" father/daughter relationship stems from.  Since he wasn't someone I could rely on in a tangible way as a child, I grew to resent him for it.

But after leaving when I was 20, we seemed to be better pals.  It was a very strange thing to finally give up the "resentment" of something that can't be fixed, since it was all in the past.  I had to realize that all I can do is look forward to tomorrow and make it the best day I can.  I am also a lot like my father in MANY ways.... 

Now, as an adult, I can rely on him to be around for me when I need him to be.  Some of my favorite times with him are when we get to talk for hours and hours about how to better our own lives.  We talk about family, relationships, and work.  He has some great advice to give because he's lived a very full life.

So that being said...   Happy Father's Day to my FAVORITE FATHER!  You're strange.  I'm strange.  So it all makes sense now :)

Mask of the Moment: Freeman Acai Purifying Clay Mask

So....  long time no chat peeps!  I'm finally back with a little review for you all.  As many of you know, I love a great deal.  And what I love even more than that is a great deal, is a product that actually works!  Well I found it in this facemask Whoop-d-whoop

This is the Freeman Mega 8 Complex Facial Purifying Clay Mask Acai - wow that's a mouth full.  I found mine at my local CVS Pharmacy, but I've seen this brand at Wal-Mart and Target in the past.  The brand is super affordable.  A full size tube is only $3.99 - amazing, I know...  And even better it actually works.  The smell alone is worth it, smells like heavenly sweet berries.  Smells so good, you may want to eat it, but don't.  No seriously, don't. 

Have any of you tried the Freeman masks before?  I'd love to hear your thoughts on the brand.  Thanks for reading!

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