Chapstick vs. Lip Saver

It's been a while since I did an Arbonne post and today seemed appropriate because I can't find my Arbonne Lip Saver, ie. a chap stick.

Now ChapStick was a staple through my whole childhood! I remember crossings to Catalina and the smell of original ChapStick, you know the one...black label with white script.


My Dad used to put it on us when we sat for hours on the bow of the boat, so we wouldn't come back in with...chapped lips.

As I got older the Wild Cherry took preference, and then lip gloss and then Carmex, and an assortment of other products. What I didn't realize is that there was already something on the market that did what I needed, I just didn't know about it!


I have this habbit...I chew on my lips when I'm concentrating, or nervous, or even absently thinking! My lip saver is literaly my LIP Saver! I don't bite my lips because it smells good, my lips are softer and don't peel or crack, and the feel of it is just so smooth going on!

My Arbonne lip saver is now my go to everything stick. If I need help with chapping or cracking lips, a good base for my lipstick, or a little bit of shine my lip saver does it all! AND it does it all with a good smell and no waxy feeling!

 Now this is starting to feel a little like a commercial, but just to put it in perspective, I own two (maybe three) of these because I believe in it that much. It has a SPF 30 for my lips, a great feel and a non-girly smell so I don't feel bad kissing the hubby! Now he doesn't get left sparkly and smelling like fruit. This should be in every pocket or purse of kids and adults...to good to pass up!

...Nature girl

Geckos are hell spawn

Years ago on a trip to Tahiti, I laughed with a friend about geckos.  Not in the way you might think though, we laughed about their sinister nature, and their ability to torture people.

"But geckos are so cute and exotic", some say. I say you tend to stop thinking of them as cute and exotic when they keep you up all night with that infernal chirping, or fly at you at Mach 2 while you are naked in a shower.

Tonight I was prompted to write this because there is a gecko living in the air conditioning unit in our room... And it is making the sound.

I hate the chirp. I loathe their little incessant communications. The fact that I don't sleep very well seems to have no effect on the nightly chorus drifting from the air conditioning.

It isn't consistent, it has no pattern, and it always starts just as I drop off to sleep, yanking me back to consciousness. Geckos are Satans little minions.

I go through phases in my death wishes for them, sometimes I am even mildly supportive of their presence, eating the creepy crawlers of the tropics. But tonight I wish them ALL a 
firey death, or a bird death, or a death of rats death, or even a cat death (which is slow and usually involves the loss of a tail).

... Nature assassin 

I feel the need, the need for sweets!

For me there is nothing better than a dish of ice cream, or pudding, or cobbler (I love cobbler). In a fix a candy bar, or a cupcake will do it, but if it's sweet, chances are it's an easy sell for me.

I have had this need for sweets since I was tiny, just ask my Mom! She has lost more See's candy than she may know to my voracious sweet tooth. The only problem is now that I have crossed that 30 year mark, I feel like my sweet tooth hasn't diminished but my wardrobe's ability to compensate has. 

I have been trying to eat healthier for months, and though I have been better about getting all my fruits and veggies in, the intake of desserts hasn't really slowed down. I was talking to the hubbs about my dilemma and I have decided to try and wean myself off. He and I have a tentative arrangement for me to only have one dessert a day.  You see, I would be happiest with a sweet breakfast, a dessert for lunch and one for after dinner too.

My goal is to get down to 3 treats per week. Even writing that makes me shudder, but it needs to be done. My Mom is pre diabetic, and my Uncle is full blown diabetic, it's in my blood to not handle sugar well! So far so good but I've only been at this for a few days.

My plan right now is to sub out unhealthy desserts with no redeeming value, for more nutritionally dense choices. Yogurt with some fruit or nuts, Lara bars in delicious flavors, or just a serving size of GF cookies (ie 1...maybe 2) instead of the handful that is my M.O.

So I am putting it out there to the inter webs.... Any great healthy desserts to help beat a sweet tooth?

....Nature girl

New years traditions

Everyone has something that they do for new years. Some little tradition, or habit, or a silly little mark of the new year. I have three and I won't be able to do two of them this year, this is going to be really strange.

The one that really starts it off for me is Joshua Tree with my peeps. We drive out and camp in the desert for a week, rock climbing, hiking, and brushing off the stress of the last year. It is cleansing and rejuvenating at the same time, and as a side bonus I usually loose about 5 pounds. This year I'm in HI...two thousand miles away from that beautiful trip and I feel every mile.

In an effort to reclaim some of that rest, I'm taking the pup with me hiking tomorrow. Supposedly there are some really beautiful trails on Oahu, and I'm setting off to find one that I like...keep me in your prayers so I don't die or get horribly lost.

The second thing is a silly thing. I always watch the Rose Parade in my PJs. Sometimes my sister or Mom is there but Mom usually watches it live, I watch it when I come back from  camping. Today I watched it on YouTube, on the right day, but sadly in work clothes. However there was a distinct lack of sister or parent, and it seemed a little less fun and silly, and there was no popcorn. What there was, was gorgeous floats, silly bands (yes, I'm talking about you Stamford) and beautiful horses!

It is always astonishing to see the designers bring seeds, flowers and grasses to life as animals and this year two really blew my mind - Indonesia and the one by the financial company "So close and yet So-fari". The silly factor was hit dead on with the Trader Joe's cheese city, and Public Storage's aliens. And as always some made me cry...thanks so much City of Hope. You and all your wishing trees made me get all teary, and I didn't have any tissues.

The last thing I do every year to ring in the new year is take the train with my sister, friends and nieces up to Chinatown for Chinese New Year. We shop, we eat at the same little Pho restaurant, see the parade, and end the day on Olivera street buying sweets off of the street vendors and their colorful carts. 

Oahu has a Chinatown, and I hear the new year is a big deal, but somehow I just don't think it will be the same. It is so much fun to spend time with the girls, and see all the dancers and pageantry, somehow I don't think I will experience it quite the same way by myself - but I'm going to try. Maybe there will be food trucks, or little trinkets I can buy to send home to them, I will have to explore...I love to explore.

As much as it feels different this year, the new year has started and will continue without my markers of time. I guess it is time to forge ahead and create new markers, try new things, and see new places...even though my heart is in the dessert, or in my PJs, or on a train in another city, I guess it will just have to catch up.

...Nature girl

A Dynasty of Crafts

Duck Dynasty and Hobby Lobby...that is supposedly current events...so sad.

That being said, the fact that everyone seems to be talking about one or the other (sometimes both), made me actually go and read multiple articles on both topics.

Hobby Lobby vs Obamacare (this has been going on for a while)

I am very split on this issue, but if I am objective it isn't really an issue, there is a very simple solution. Can a corporation entity claim the rights of an individual? Even from my hands off Libertarian stance I can't make that one work. Corporations employ thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people of different creeds.  Religion cannot dictate hiring OR firing practices so why should it be able to dictate health care...even poorly designed government health care.

Companies can be founded and run on deeply religious ethics (Chick fil A, In and Out, and Hobby Lobby) but you cannot affect the employees choices because of the founding ethics of the company. It infringes on the personal liberties of the individual and their ability to determine their own plan of care.

I am deeply faithful, and happen to support the Green's (Hobby Lobby's founding family) assessment that the morning after pill and some kinds of IUD's are actually abortion methods, but that is a personal belief. I would never propose a mandate that would define another person's right to make decisions about their care.

There are a few good articles about this issue if you want to read up on it, here are the links
CNN
Huffington Post
LA times

Moving on...

Duck Dynasty...really?!

In this day of reality TV, are we really surprised that some old redneck said something racial or inappropriate? That's what you get A&E! If you put opinionated people out there, they are going to spew their opinions...whatever they may be...all over the screen or page.

This isn't an important political figure, royalty, or even a charity worker! He's an old man, with old school values and no filter on his speech. He has a right to say whatever he wants to whoever he wants. And they have a choice to print it, film it, agree with it, or disagree with it! GQ printed an article, because they knew it would cause a stir, or because they agreed with it, doesn't matter what the reason they printed it...and yet Phil is getting lambasted.

This is not a story, get over it and move on, the man's too old to change now, and he's just living his life....agree or disagree and get on with life.

I am continually surprised by what gets the focus in social media and the news, you want to know what is really going on in the world around us? Check these two out, and tell me what is REALLY important.

BBC- Human species find
CNN- Surveillance program

...Nature girl

Blast from the past

Today I had a client come in with the last name of LaBroad...unusual name and it got me thinking about a guy named Benson LaBord that I haven't thought of in years...my first real pen pal. 

I don't know how old I was...it was one of those nebulous summers that somehow change you and you never know why.  Somewhere, I still have those letters that we traded back and forth for those months.  I remember sitting on the porch playing cards, just the four or five of us...Richie, me, Megan, John and Benson.  Benson would sit and draw, and we would talk and play until it was time to go home. I saw Ferngully for the first time that summer...and I still love it! 

Time is such a tricky thing...things that really get me, are the moments that seem so quiet, and yet stick with you for years.

The last letter I got from him was to tell me that his brother, John, was killed in a horrible car accident. I remember so clearly sitting on the stairs, blown away that this was what experiencing the death of a friend felt like.  Totally different from losing a family member... It felt so much more poignant, and yet "less"...somewhat removed. When family dies, you have had a lifetime of memories to comfort you, but their death is close...personal...and their death is not usually sudden. I remember the ripping feeling of that loss which I imagine was a hundred times worse for Benson and his family given that this WAS so sudden!

After my client left, I started wondering about what happened to Benson, I never heard from him again after that last letter.  Did he grow up, get a girlfriend, get married? Was his relationship with his family different without his brother? What kind of a person did he grow into, who did he become? Does he now have children of his own...maybe two boys?

Now this didn't start out as an In Memoriam, but more of a joyful and hopeful thought process, but it certainly took a darker twist than I intended, sorry. 

Maybe the little poem about people coming into your life for a reason, season, or lifetime is true.  Because of that little part of my life, I treasure my sister. I also learned that I will never be alone in my epilepsy, and it doesn't make me a freak (though I also learned that normalcy isn't something "better"). Most of all, I truly feel that snail mail will never be out of style because getting something personal in the mail can be a ray of joy.

So thank you, Benson, for teaching me about simple joys, accepting myself, and valuing time with family...God knows everyone needs to learn those lessons!

...Nature girl

Calendars

For some reason, maybe because I looked at a calendar right before falling asleep last night, I've had a phantom calendar at the front of my mind today. I can't seem to let go of the concept of time fitting into little boxes that describe the path of our lives.  A lifetime broken down into years, years into months, months into days, days into hours, all to chronicle the events of our daily lives.

Today was a good morning, you know the kind.  Those mornings where that extra ten minutes that the snooze gives you feels like an hour of blissful bonus time, and when you finally do get up you are charged and ready to go! I filled up my little hour slots with chores and getting ready, eating breakfast, and getting out of the house.  I could see the little time slots filling up as I did the various tasks. I love this kind of morning...it is so rare for me, I'm NOT a morning person and I felt very accomplished.

On the way to work, I passed half a dozen sandpipers and I could imagine the pages of my life calendar flipping backwards to the late 80's early 90's. I always think of sandpipers as my grade school mascot...piper pride! And for me they embody that time in my life, limbs a little too long (long wings and legs), bold and full of curiosity - they may be some of my favorite birds.

I can feel that this is going to be my day for remembering.  I feel nostalgic, like my brain is trying to make connections across my lifetime, flipping pages to connect two points in time.  

There are two birthdays in my sphere today.  One of a friend I have known more than half of my life, she is dynamic, and pushes herself to discover. The other has a life in flux, changing and morphing, forging a new path. Their paths are not mine, but in thinking of their spots on the calendar pages, I think of their personalities. They are a marker and a push for me today, to get out of my comfort zone, take risks and change! 

Every time I think of them, especially at this time of year, I experience this need to break form...expand who I am. I feel like the margins on my metaphorical calendar are full of things I want to do, need to do, or dream of having.  But very few of those things are written into the little boxes of my life - past, present, OR future. Looking at my actual calendar is a little demoralizing. It seems so empty for the life I am leading, and the life I want. It seems to be difficult to just start filling in the little boxes with new things, even scary.

There is a man here with a grocery cart full of signs, he's called "The Sign Guy".  I don't know if he has a job other than the signs, but I see him all over the place.  His signs are affirmations and encouragments of all varieties, "Be Happy", "Be the light you want to see in the world", "SMILE!", and on and on! I don't know what made him decide on a crusade of joy, but I long for his courage to commit to a thought and see it through. He is filling his calendar days and moments with smiles for other people.  I wonder how he see's his life? Does he see little boxes?

...Nature girl