A Free Mini Facial from Origins

I'll be phoning on this one quickly.  I'm sure they'll go fast.  Origins is product I actually like and use.  

Just click Origins and you'll find an invitation for a free facial (Let it play, its pretty).  And, yes, it's okay that I'm giving it to you --- there's a "pass it on" button right on the page --- and besides, Champagne Living passed it on to me!!  (She really does find some great deals on froufrou stuff.) So, give them a call  -- and enjoy a free facial. What do you have to lose? 

Pampering Bag for My Desk

I was putting together a mini bag for my desk drawer ----Here's what I'm thinking about putting in it:

1.  Wisp Toothbrushes from Colgate

2.  Soap leaves (I'm thinking Crabtree and Evelyn?)

3.  A set of good tweezers -- the ti

ny kind

4.  Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream

5.  Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil Styling Cream (love this stuff -- its made for guys, but the minty smell from the tea tree oil is so terrific when I need a pick-me-up.  Plus, it works like nobody's business to control whatever the weather has wrought with my hair -- frizzies, a chunk sticking out somewhere, flatness -- it tames it all with a quick slick with the fingers)

6.  A few of the Olay Daily Facial cloths

7.  Lavender inhalation beads

Anything else I should consider?  I want it all to fit in a small cosmetics bag (the half moon kind) and take up just a tiny bit of space in the desk drawer.  

Just the thing to reach for when I need a quick refreshing before a presentation or a stressful meeting.  Not too much, but not too little either.  

Worldly Matters

It has often been said that the mark of class is knowledge and understanding of the world at large. Educated and upper-class people (and for years those two have gone hand in hand) have always been aware of the world and involved in the world.
I've been actively working on keeping myself abreast of the world beyond my own little life. Its so easy to become myopic and hyper-focused on my own issues and forget about events and people beyond myself.
I've become addicted to NPR on my morning commute and that helps alot. But I've also been building the habit of taking the daily news quiz at the BostonGlobe every day. The Crickler puzzle works like a crossword (sort of) and gives you a daily check up on your knowledge of what's going on in the world.
There are twenty blanks in short summary statements about national and international news stories. You fill in the blanks -- letters from one word automatically appear in the other answers in which they appear (that's the crossword-like part). Generally about 8-10 stories are covered. They range from the mundane and silly to budding international political crises.
How much trouble I have with the daily puzzle gives me a good idea of how in touch I've been with the news. Some days, I move quickly easily through the puzzle (this morning was like that). Other days, I struggle and need to click the Owl for a hint (he's not a nice owl --- don't ask for too many hints --- he scolds!). When that happens, I know I need to pay more attention to the news -- I'm getting myopic and I need to start re-focusing myself.
Its a nice check-up.

Spicing Up Water

Okay, so I'm back and I'm working both blogs now. And I'm back to really working the cheap chic lifestyle --- and I'm back to losing the 10 pounds that have crept back up on me ----
So, obviously, one of the first steps I'm taking is to replace a significant amount of my beverage consumption with clear tea or water. Frankly, that gets a little bit boring really quickly. So, here's my plan:
1. Plain old clean, fresh water. But I'll spice it up a little. I'm thinking of adding

• a lemon wheel -- I think these look so much prettier than just a wedge of lemon. If I cut a slice of a lemon early in the day and let it float around in my water bottle, that should look appetizing, fresh and refreshing.

• mint leaves --- I'm growing mint again -- this time in the AeroGarden -- so its easy to clip a few sprigs and float them in the water bottle. I love the fresh taste of mint, so this should be a delight.
• cucumber -- I'm thinking that I'll cut this as a spear rather than as rounds. We'll see how that looks and feels. I just want a really different feeling with each change of what I'm doing with the water. The whole idea here is to make this interesting and appetizing.

• strawberry slices --- Or maybe a whole strawberry partially sliced and fanned out?? I'm not sure that this won't get yucky after a few hours in the water. We'll see.

2. Seltzer -- I love the fizzy stuff!! And it comes in so many flavors. One of my favorites is the Polar Seltzer Vanilla flavor. Its a bit like drinking unsweetened creme soda --- all of the pleasure of creme soda without the sicky-sweet taste. It won't need a thing added to it to be delightful. Its tricky to find (ShopRite had it for a while, I'll check back there) which is why I stopped drinking it so much. It just was too difficult to find and keep handy. It only came in the 1 liter bottles (I prefer the cans for taking to work) and most stores didn't stock it at all.

3. Unsweetened Iced Tea -- this should be an easy one. There are so many excellent flavors of tea out there. Fortunately, last year I splurged on an iced tea maker from Target. It has a lovely glass pitcher and it makes excellent tea. We've become fussy at my house, so we start with bottled water now. Believe it or not, it really makes a huge difference!

So, I'm off to begin some heavy drinking ---- join me??