Woo Hoo! Happy Skin!

Recently, I started using something that has made a big difference in my life...and my skin.  Let me explain.

My skin is super sensitive,  I have rosacea, and it is tough to find something to cleanse my skin well without irritating the heck out of it.  Plus, even though I'm getting to the point where anti-aging products might be a good idea (hello crinkles at the sides of my eyes!), anything that contains AHAs or other slightly harsher acids makes my skin very, very angry.

But the last few weeks?  I have been trying something that has made my skin really happy.

Meet the Olay ProX Advanced Cleansing System.  It is my skin's new best friend.

The brush is very gentle.  I had been thinking about trying one of the Clarisonic brush systems -- but they cost upwards of $200.  Honestly?  That seemed like a lot to throw down just for clean pores, especially when you add in how my skin usually overreacts to things -- and returning stuff you buy over the internet from here in WV can be a pain.

When I stumbled across the Olay ProX Advanced Cleansing System at the store, I thought it looked a lot like the Clarisonic system...but was under $35. Woo hoo!

The fun thing for all of you is that around the time I started trying and liking this, BlogHer began a program with Proctor and Gamble (the company that manufactures this product) for discounted purchases through the month of August:  you get a 10% discount until August 31st!  So if you click through the link above, you get a discount on buying one...and on other Proctor and Gamble products as well.  Sweet! 

Proctor and Gamble is also offering free shipping on all orders over $25 -- and they have lots of Olympic bundles right now because they are a huge sponsor of USA Olympics.

Even sweeter for me?  I get a commission on any sales made through this link, which I'm hoping to use for more supplies and books for the school library.

So please, if you are ordering the Olay ProX Advanced Cleansing System or any other product, please, please use the link here on this blog. 

Where Do You Get Your Style Inspiration?

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To say that I worry about fashion takes it too far.  But I do like to wear something that fits well and has some stylish flare.

In my mind, there is a fine line between paying attention to style so that you look well turned out and being obsessed with it so much that it is a constant worry or fixation.  I try to stay on the sane side of that line.  The occasional foray into trendy pieces as accents or single piece notes works much better for me than a head to toe blast.

Maegan Tintari of BlogHer's Life Well Lived style page has some great suggestions for online and in-print browsing if you are trying to find your own style. 

Take a peek at some of the personal blogs on her list -- they are a wonderful peek at individual style imprints just in the way the individual blog aesthetic is put together for each, let alone in the styles featured therein.

One of the things that I did several years ago, and continue to do off and on now when I start feeling a bit frumpy or in need of "refreshment" in my day to day wear, is to keep a "style book" of sorts:  this is a hard-bound sketch book, into which I paste cut-out photos from magazines of outfits, colors, fabrics, accessories, etc., that grab me as I'm looking through magazines.  (I also do this with decor for the house and housing styles as a "someday if we build our own" dream book, too.)

Keeping everything all in one place is incredibly useful, because you realize certain things that always catch your eye.  In my case, it was scarves.  Once I started wearing more of them, I was a much happier person in my clothes.  Sometimes, it is the little things, right?

The Perils of Baby Bun Head Week

It is once again dance recital week.

Which, at our house anyway, means that mom obsesses about buying hairnets so that The Peanut's bun doesn't look malformed due to momma's lack of hair skills.  And lots and lots of bobby pins to get us through the various practices, dress rehearsal and performances.

This week is likely to be a whirlwind.  As any dance momma can tell you, costume and hair changes at light speed are not for sissies.

As a parent, I think you almost get as nervous for your child -- maybe even more -- than they do for themselves.   Funny how that works, isn't it?  Parenting is a constant balancing act of trying to not over-do it at the wrong time, but trying to not be too detached when hovering might be needed.

Now that The Peanut is headed toward the tween stage?

I'd never admit it out loud, but I'm way, way off balance trying to navigate the choppier waters of "I can do it myself" land.   Where did the time go?

It was much easier when a burp and a good nap pretty much solved most problems, wasn't it?

This week will require me to boldly go into the land of tightly pinned bun head.  Once more to the breach, stiff hair gel and small rat comb in hand, bobby pins at the ready. 

Wish me luck.  Someone keep some margaritas on hand, in case of emergency...

Ideas For Dressing Your Shape And (Changing?) Size

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We have been eating much more healthfully at our house for about a month now. We were eating pretty well before that, but we've consciously eaten only lean proteins and veggies and only whole grains and absolutely no processed crapola (with the exception of a single cupcake each for our nephews birthday).  Thank you cleaner eating!

You can tell it makes a difference by the looseness of the waistband on my jeans.

The great thing about dropping a size is that you feel better -- physically and emotionally in my case, because I was beginning to really loathe how much weight I had gained and was beating myself up for it a little too often.  I'm not after some number on the scale at the moment, but I'm definitely working on getting back to a healthy, happy point wherever that happens to be at my age.

That said, now I'm dealing with a problem I hadn't ever thought would be a problem:  half my clothes are too big and now hang weirdly, especially pants and skirts.  But I'm not remotely close to where I hope I will be in the next few months, either, which makes me question whether it is worth it to get a lot of my clothes tailored now. 

Maegan Tintari has some great tips on how to deal with this sort of thing.  While I'm not ready to go out and pick up a caftan, I really love the boyfriend jeans pictured in her post and am going to have to give those a try, I think.  I could make that work on a short and curvy frame, right?

Because I've lost a little weight -- actually I'm down a size, woo hoo! -- I've been thinking about how to manage the clothing transition a lot, and here are a few ideas that have been working for me of late:

Confessions Of A Hair Challenged Momma

Once again, it is the day of dance class photos and I am in a panic.

I have a confession:  I am horrible at doing my own child's hair. 

And I mean really horrible...as in, I completely suck at it.

My whole life I have been hair challenged, unable to whip my own ginormously challenging mane of rambunctious waves into anything resembling an orderly coiffure.  As I've gotten older, I've gravitated toward more easily wrangled haircuts and, more recently, miraculously found a genius stylist who can cut my straw and spin it into well-managed gold.

But my daughter's hair?

It is the exact opposite of mine.  Stick straight and fine rather than hefty and wavy.  Even though she has a lot of hair just like her momma, it is impossible to keep in any sort of tidy order because it all likes to fly away all over the place.

Last night, it took me over an hour just to get her wet hair up in those evil foam curlers so that she could wake up with a halo of curly ringlets.  My hope was that the curl would relax just right by the time pictures rolled around this evening.

But, alas, I am curler challenged.

Finding Your Own Personal Style

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Maegan Tintari has a few suggestions about finding your personal, signature style that are worth perusing if you have trouble expressing yourself with your clothes and such.

But I think her wonderful suggestions will only get you so far if you are missing the most important part:  be comfortable in your own skin, and loving yourself just as you are.

For years, I struggled with that aspect of fashion.

The "I'm too fat, too bulgy, too much of this and not nearly enough of that" syndrome that every woman I know has to deal with at one point or another.  I mean, honestly, even supermodels have a bloaty day now and then, right?  The trick is to see them as an aberration and move on because your awesomeness is not simply defined by your waist size at any given moment, it is SO.   MUCH.  MORE.

One of the best things I ever did for myself was to marry a man who loves me for who I am, not how I look.  Not that he doesn't enjoy a well-fitting pair of jeans or a nice cashmere v-neck sweater when I'm feeling particularly good about myself in them, but he sees me for who I really am all the way through to my core -- and loves all of me, warts and all.

When I began to see myself through his eyes, and not through my own hypercritical, imperfections magnifying ones?  I started to like myself a lot more, and laugh off and let go a lot of the insecurities.

Confidence makes all the difference.

Hooray! Ladylike Is Back In Vogue!

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Spring flowers are beginning to pop up all over our yard and the neighborhood, including the little johnny jump-ups growing out of our stone retaining wall.  They certainly are freshening up the place, and I'm feeling the need to refresh my look as well as the weather warms and my thoughts turn to sunshine and sunny colors.

I was reading through Maegan Tintari's post on Spring fashion trends this morning trying to see what I could throw together in my sorry old closet to revive my look and...whammo!...I realized my usual style choices are out of the fashion forward dog house and somehow back in vogue again!

Woo hoo!

Is there nothing better than discovering your favorite pieces can be reworked into something fresh for the coming season?   Especially when it will cost very little, adding a scarf with a fresh print here or some color-blocked shoes or a more modern printed top underneath.

Still Going Gray(cefully)

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How do you find your perfect hairstyle?

Maegan Tintari at Life Well Lived suggests trying out a few styles via YouTube to get ideas. I love this as a concept, but my stubborn hair has never done well for me in terms of styling according to other people's hints and tips.

Although, honestly? Maybe that's because I am awful at doing my own hair and can't follow simple hair directions.

So how did I find a hairstyle that I can live with and actually like?  I found a really good hairdresser.  A great one, actually.  He takes the time to talk with me about what I am or am not willing to do in terms of styling, he's gotten to know my hair's texture and quirks over the last few appointments, and he listens when I say that I don't want to spend an hour with a straightening iron every day.

I want to look nice.  I'm just not willing to spend hours in the bathroom first thing in the morning trying to get there.  And I can't believe I'm not alone in feeling that way.

Going Gray(cefully): Stage Two

Thought it was about time for an update on how the gray hair and I are getting along.

As you can see above, I had a little fun with hot curlers this morning.  Mr. ReddHedd and I had made a date for lunch out today, and I thought it would be fun to go curly.  I hadn't used hot curlers in years -- but I think it turned out rather well for a girl who is awfully rusty at this sort of thing.

I may have to use the hot curlers more often.  I feel so retro-80s.

In any case, you can see the gray streaked through, and coming in quite aggressively at the roots.  In the sunlight, it looks like really bright highlights, streaked through especially fiercely at the front, when in reality it's just my own hair and the champagne-whiteness of the gray patch in the very front.  Luckily, I really like it.

Going Gray (cefully): Stage One

I'm home from the salon and I have to say I really love the transition phase of my hair from dyed to partially gray.

See what you think.

We did fairly chunky highlights throughout the top and sides of my hair and lightened the colored parts quite a bit.  Then she went in and toned them a nice, light champagne color to match my roots, so everything blends nicely.

Yay!  No more skunk stripe of roots.

It looks so much better, and the roots blend in really well.  We'll have to play around with it as it grows, but I think I'm going to like this a lot once we're done.

Guess we'll see.

The State Of The Day (And The Gray)

Another day, another batch of cookies.  Or several batches, as the case may be.

Yesterday, I managed to get three separate batches of refrigerator cookies made, rolled and packaged in plastic wrap so they could chill overnight for baking today.  If folks want exact recipes for these, please let me know and I will post them as I get time today or tomorrow:

-- Honey Spice Cookies with Walnuts:  This is a new recipe for me this year, and it says it makes 12 dozen cookies.  Given how many rolls of it I have in the fridge right now, I believe them.  The dough smells heavenly as you mix it altogether, because it has cinnamon, cloves and allspice along with 2 cups of honey.  I'll be interested to see how they bake up today.

-- Jeweled Fruit and Pecan Slices:  Red and green cherries and pecan halves, in a tender butter-cookie dough.  I love these as much for how pretty they are on a cookie tray as anything, but they are pretty yummy, too.

-- Lemon Meltaways:  These are amazing with a cup of tea or some hot spiced cider.  They are a really tender cookie, and I always frost them with lemon frosting so you get double the zing.

Today?  I have a couple more types of refrigerator cookies to make so they can chill for baking tomorrow.  And I'm hoping to get a batch of maple pecan drop cookies going, too.

This afternoon?  I have a hair appointment and we're going to talk about what I want to do with the ever-increasing amount of gray in my hair. 

Going Gray (cefully)?

I'm aggressively going gray.

There.  I said it.

For my whole life, one of my most immediately defining characteristics has been my red hair.  Beyond a short period after birth when it was bright carrot orange, then  a deeper brownish red, then a light strawberry blonde in the summer at about age 2 (at least in all the old pictures, anyway, and curly as all get out -- hello, Orphan Annie!), my hair has been a fairly mid-range auburn-y red pretty much ever since.

I've had highlights done, gotten perms, had short layered dos and long curly Miss America dos -- whatever -- through the years.  But the consistent truth of my life is that I have always been a redhead.

I like being a redhead.  Love it, in fact.

That hasn't always been the case.  But I've grown into a confidence with it through the years to outright owning my redheaded pride in being a little different.  Frankly, for the last couple of decades, I've sort of defined myself by my sassy red hair.

Hell, when I started political blogging, my moniker was "ReddHedd," for heaven's sakes.  When I met my husband, one of the first things he loved about me was my red hair -- he's always had " a thing" for redheads, it seems, and it's one of the things that drew him to walk down the hallway to meet that "redhead" talking with a friend of his. 

Honestly?  Just thinking about not being a redhead as I'm typing this is making me well up.  I kid you not, a tear just rolled down my cheek.  Over hair color.  How crazy is that?!?

So what does a girl do when that is no longer true?  In my case, I panicked.  Well and truly panicked.