2.26.2013

Body Basics: dry skin edition

Hello my dear internet cosmos!  Hope you all had an awesome weekend.  Ours was spent mostly huddled inside as we got our first real snow storm of the year (and of our lives), and after watching cars get stuck in the middle of our street, we decided not to brave it.  And lo and behold, I look outside right now and it's snowing again.  Shocker.

We also spent the weekend reflecting on the unbelievable amount of love and support we received from my last post--I really never expected to see so many well wishes in our lifetimes.  We are so very grateful for you all.

So between being pregnant and living in CO in the winter, one of the most important lessons I have learned is:  MOISTURIZE.  You thought you were gonna get something deep and profound, huh?  Well, winter at 5400 ft. and pregnancy hormones will teach you real fast that remembering to pack in as much moisture as possible is about as profound as it gets.  Plus, when you're pregnant, it's easy to obsess over ever ingredient of what you put on and into your body, so finding products that are safe and natural are an added must.  And it can get real expensive real fast buying every all-natural moisturizing beauty product you can find before you actually find what works for you.

And that's where I come in:  in hopes that you may have a bit of an easier go at it than I did, I put together a little cheat sheet for all of you searching for the perfect products.  Here we go:



1- Burt's Bees Richly Replenishing Body Lotion.  I searched and searched for a lotion that wasn't greasy, yet was still thick and super hydrating and this is the hands-down winner.  Plus, it makes you smell like a cake, in a non-barf-inducing-knock-you-over-the-head-and-out-the-door kind of way.  

2- Manuka Honey Night Cream.  I've found that no matter what face wash or daily face lotion I use, this is the only thing that ensures that my face stays hydrated.  I put it on after a lazy swipe of a cleansing cloth before bed and I wake up with noticeably more moisturized (and clearer!) skin.

3- Rosebud Salve.  I have spoken before of my love affair with this stuff and I swear it will never die.  In addition to using it on my lips and dry cuticles, I've starting dabbing a bit around my eyes if they feel extra wrinkly and dry and rubbing it on (and possibly in) my nose as the big bad pregnancy hormones turn my nose into a rock garden.

4- Giovanni Smooth as Silk Deep Moisture Shampoo.  It is borderline impossible to find a good hippie-shampoo that lathers and moisturizes like all the non-hippie shampoos out there.  And I have a particularly thick head of hair that demands a good moisturizing cleanse, regardless of my geography or the status of my latest pregnancy test.  This shampoo is the clear winner.  You'll never know you're skipping out on all the gunk and grime that makes other shampoos so silky smooth.

5- Sedu Anti-Frizz Polishing Treatment.  No matter how wonderful your shampoo is, the second you throw a hair dryer on your head, your hair is gonna go flying.  This argan oil serum is unbelievable.  I literally use ONE drop of this stuff after drying my hair and it makes my hair shine like the dickens.  That's right.  Like the dickens.  I'll even use it on my second-day-without-a-wash head of hair and it gets rid of the static without making my hair oily.  Seriously.  Buy it now.

6- Kiss My Face Peppermint Foot Creme.  When I first moved here, I tried to lather up my feet with regular body lotion at night and put on some socks and head to bed, but alas, I'd wake up in the morning with no socks on and feet dryer than they were before.  Now, I've found the trick.  Every morning, before I get out of my house shoes, I'll put this all over my feet, put my super soft wooly house shoes back on, and not take them off until I'm putting on real shoes to walk out the door.  Works like a charm.

7- Burt's Bees Baby Oil.  Yes, I know it's for babies.  Yes, I realize you are not a baby.  And no, you do not have to be pregnant to use this.  All I know is that if it's safe for baby's skin, it's probably safe for momma's skin, and it's certainly safe for everyone else's skin as well.  Once or twice a week, I'll squirt a little of this onto a wash rag and wipe it over my entire body at the end of a shower and then rinse.  It is outrageous how much more moisture this adds to your skin.  Before I lived in one of the most scorched places in the US, I would use just this at the end of the shower and not even need body lotion.  That's how good it is.

8- Origins All-Purpose High Elevation Cream.  I keep this in my purse and put it on my hands multiple times a day.  I think the name speaks for itself--it was formulated for us up here in the clouds and it is heavenly.  A little bit goes a long way thankfully because it's certainly not cheap, but it's the absolute best.

Hope this helps!  Now go and save your dry skin!
--MEL






2.22.2013

Baby Love

Happy Friday my dear internet cosmos!

So, I think my last post was a little too obvious because you guys totally guessed it.  My Mr. and I have fallen head over heels in love with a new little something in our life, and we've been waiting 3 months to tell you about it...


We are expecting our first baby in August and we are completely over the moon.  We never knew that we could feel a kind of love like this.

And I am excited to be able to share this journey with you, my dear internet cosmos.  Maybe one day our little one will stumble across this post on the glorious internet and read about how much mom and dad were unbelievably in love with you from the first day we knew you were beginning to exist.  Even when you made momma's jeans not button anymore.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, filled with joy and wonder.  Every day has been that way for us since we found out about this new little one, and I don't foresee that high ending anytime soon.

XOXO
--MEL



2.18.2013

Music Love

Happy Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a fabulous weekend.

As Valentine's week came and went last week, I couldn't help but keep thinking about one of the things that really bugs me about this once-a-year holiday.  How is it that so many people take just this one day of the year to dedicate to the loves of their lives?  I mean, if you truly loved someone so much, wouldn't you celebrate them every day?  And as I discussed last week, if Valentine's Day is truly just a day to celebrate the one you love, it sure does leave a lot of people out.

So I'm continuing this week with more love themed posts, not about people specifically, but about the many things that I fall in love with every day.

Anyone who knows me knows that music is my oldest true love.  I fell in love with making music when I was 6 years old and I dedicated my life to it not long after it feels like.

To celebrate my love of music, I'm bringing back the Weekly Shuffle today!  This one is a tad bit different than some of my others in the past as it has a little theme to it, and a hint to another true love in my life.

Can't figure it out?  I'll be back later this week to explain.  Until then, what's going down on your shuffle today?

XOXO
--MEL



2.14.2013

Food Love

I think all of us can unanimously agree that there has been a point in our lives when we fell madly in love with something edible.  Single, dating, married, hopeful, bitter--we all have a true food love.  For me, it's cheese.  Preferably when mixed with an assortment of carbs and starches and fats.  But of course there's also chocolate, the food that does not satiate hunger but obsession.  For my Mr. it's things like tofu and carrots, mainly because I think his life's work is to be the most perfect specimen of human being ever.  Ugh.

Anyway, I think it's safe to sing the praises of the food and drink lovers in your lives, regardless of your romantic inclination.  Here are a few of my favorite recipes to accompany this lovely week:

Roasted Fig, Blue Cheese, and Honey Tartines.  Strong soft cheese, smokey floral figs, sweet sticky honey--all adjectives that can otherwise be used to describe other feats of pleasure.  Plus, I hear that figs are supposed to be a fertility boosting food so if you're headed in that direction this evening...

Blissful Eats

901 Smoked Peach Cocktail.   I had this cocktail at Williams & Graham in Denver and fell hard (I only had one drink so I didn't actually "fall hard"--just theoretically speaking.  But too many of these suckers will send you flying so drink responsibly.)  Spicy silver tequila meets smokey Mezcal.  Garnished with a slice of Colorado-grown Palisades peaches and you're in heaven.

A History of Drinking

Salted Caramel Chocolate Fudge Cake.  Rich dark chocolate cake, divided by layers of salted caramel buttercream, slathered with fudge icing.  I think the combination of salty and sweet brings out a bit of dualism in us--naughty and nice, one piece or two, fat or somewhat-less-fat.  Anyway, you get the picture.

Sweetapolita

And if all goes well, you're gonna need a morning-after meal.  Biscuit Cinammon Rolls, at your service.

Joy the Baker


Hope you have a delectable gluttonous Valentines Day--
MEL
  


2.11.2013

Puppy Love

Well, it's Valentine's week.  For some of you, this means you will be spending the week frantically searching for a last minute gift for your honey or fighting for the last reservations at your favorite restaurant.  For others of you, this means you will be drinking heavily and trying to avoid all the love-sick couples that have seemed to received the memo that you are boycotting happiness.  And for some of you, this means that you will be baking a extra huge chocolate cake because it's Valentine's day and that's reason enough to eat an entire cake by yourself.

I think I'm mostly in the first of the aforementioned categories, however baking myself a chocolate cake does sound like a pretty good plan as well.

Anyway, I figured that no matter what category you are in this year, I'm sure that there are still plenty of kinds of love for you to celebrate this week.  So I figured I'd try and dedicate all my posts this week to a different kind of love to be especially excited about.  And don't worry, I'll try not to be particularly vomit inducing.

First up:  Puppy Love.




Do you read Desire to Inspire?  It is a lovely design blog that features drool-worthy homes from around the world.  It is dangerously addictive.  As if it were even possible to make the blog more awesome, every week they dedicate an entire post to pictures of pets on furniture.  That's right.  Just cute animals on awesome furniture.  Could it get any better?

Here are some of my favorite pets on furniture as of late.  It's true that I tend to favor the canine variety mostly due to my own four-legged furry smelly children.  But seriously, is there really anything better than a nuzzle from your favorite pup?  I think not.






(Yes, I realize the last pic is not a dog.  But I have a somewhat unhealthy obsession with bunnies and have been begging my Mr. for one for years and I just can't help but include one here for your viewing pleasure.)

Start following this lovely blog if for no other reason than to get a dose of precious animal love every week.

Wishing you lots of love from your favorite animals this week,
MEL

(Images, in order from top to bottom, from here, here, here, here, and here.)