Facial at Vivande Medical Spa

I am pleased to report that I loved my free facial today.  I prepared myself to hear some bad news about my face.  It was a free facial and I was expecting that they would draw me in only to tell me how desperately I needed to have extra work done to repair my damaged skin. After all,  I spent years playing tennis in the hot Southern California sun with no skin protection.

I didn't hear one critical comment about my skin.  In fact after I apologized for not taking better care of my skin, Candice, my sweet and very kind aestetician, only had a few positive comments.  She said my skin felt good and that my face was not badly damaged.  The whole experience was positive.  I couldn't have been more comfortable. I lay under a warm blanket and soothing music played in the background.  She massaged and cleaned my face and then gave me an enzyme mask which tingled a little.  The whole experience was about an hour.

The great thing about this free facial is that it has encouraged me to take better care of my skin.  Morning and evening I am cleansing, toning and moisturizing my skin.  I am motivated because I am noticing an improvement in my skin.  Here's a a video promoting and explaining my Enfuselle Skin Care products
http://annes.myshaklee.com/us/en/welcome#/pop_videos.s.html

Healthy Skin

I must confess that I have a history of being terrible at sticking to skin care regimens.  There are many nights that I go to bed without washing my face.  This week I have made a renewed commitment to the largest organ of my body, my skin.

This all started last weekend when I entered a drawing for a free facial.  I don't know why I entered the drawing. I have never been comfortable with someone I don't know rubbing and poking at my face.  For many of the same reasons, I don't really enjoy manicures and pedicures either.

Well, as you might expect, a few days ago I got a call that I had won a free facial!

A feeling of slight panic settled in as I marked my calendar for facial, next Tuesday, 9:30 am.  I use what I consider to be the best natural skin care products on the market. But the best natural skin care products do not help if you use them sporadically. I realized quickly that I needed to commit that moment to taking care of my skin morning and evening until my appointment.  I want the lady to look at my skin through a magnifying glass and be really impressed.

So every day, twice a day, this week I am faithfully cleansing, toning, repairing, moisturizing, and protecting my skin.

In case you are interested, I am using Enfuselle skin care which is Shaklee's skin care line.  The product has 7 patents and does not contain any of the harmful chemicals such as parabens, 1,4 dioxane, SLS/SLES, and pthalates to name a few.  I am eager to find out what the skin care lady says.  My skin is looking noticeably better.  This may have been what I needed to get me motivated to take better care of my skin.

I'll post next week and let you know how the facial goes.

If you are looking for healthy skin care that is supported by research go to  http://annes.myshaklee.com/us/en/category.php?main_cat=Beauty

Beautiful Rain!

Hannah, Franz (90 lb. yellow lab)  and I walked to school again this morning.  I wasn't really planning on walking today because of the 100% chance of rain.  Hannah didn't see why the rain would be a problem.   So I'm proud to say we walked.  It was a beautiful walk.  The air smelt like rain, although it wasn't raining yet, the air was fresh and clean.  We managed to get to school without an umbrella.  We jogged a little because we left a little late.  Hannah skipped and told me that she loves rainy days at school.  They get to play special rainy day indoor games and eat inside.

I am really excited about the simple little changes that we are making to be more healthy.  Just walking to school has enriched my relationship with Hannah, given us all (incuding Franz) more exercise, cut down our CO2 emissions, to name a few.  It is amazing how significant small little changes can be. It looks like walking to school may become our new habit.

Beautiful Sunshine!

Gray Fog covers the floor of the Central Valley during much of the winter months.  We have had several days of fog recently.

Two days ago the sun came out.  What joy!  I been walking Hannah to and from school for the last couple of days.  We have had great conversations as we walked to and from school. It is a fifteen minute walk so we have time to talk about a lot.  This has been a special time for us.  I realized that walking to school slowed me down and gave me time to listen, without distraction, to all that Hannah had to say. What a blessing it is to have a daughter.

Today we took a family bike ride to Great Harvest Bread Company.   I rode my new cruiser bike that Dean gave me for Christmas.  Again I appreciate the simple.  We enjoyed being together and the beautiful sunshine.  A storm will come in tomorrow.  I am thankful for the sunshine today.