Things That Rock: Earth Science Skin Care

I decided to add a new category to my blog, Things That Rock. This category will be made up of things that I love so much that I have to let everyone know.

If you’ve read some of earliest blogs or my “About Me” section you’ll know that about two years ago I started getting eczema. What is eczema, you ask? It breaks down to a combination of really dry skin and allergies. Yes, I have the allergies from hell, and I’ve always had sensitive skin, so I guess eczema is the result.

A co-worker turned me on to Earth Science skin care line, purchased at Whole Foods and 1/3 the cost of the products I’d been using. Using these 3 products has really helped my skin go from patchy dryness to silky smooth, with no irritation. I can’t wait to try out more products in the line, such as their Gentle Scrub, Night Creme and Azulene Eye Treatment.

A-D-E Creamy Cleanser
Use to cleanse even the most delicate skin. This unique formula made from natural fruit oil cleansers is ideal for removing makeup or sunscreen from all skin types, including oily skin. Rich in Plant Sterols and vitamins A, D and E to leave skin radiantly fresh and healthy. pH 5.5 8 oz.

Aloe Vera Complexion Toner & Freshener
Use daily to freshen and balance your complexion. Functions as a skin “normalizer” by adjusting the skin to its appropriate moisture level, proper anti-bacterial zone and ideal pH of 4.0-6.0 (depending on individual chemistry). With Hyaluronic Acid and 85% Aloe Vera Juice. pH 5.5 8 oz.

Almond-Aloe Moisturizers
Moisturize, nourish and protect your skin, every day. This very light but intensely nourishing lotion combines the benefits of Beta-Liposomes (nature’s tremendously effective skin softeners, soothers, and moisturizers) with herbal emollients and anti-oxidants to help protect skin from premature aging and wrinkling. Available in Lightly Scented, Fragrance Free and SPF-15 varieties. pH 5.5 5 oz.

Feeling Good

I just got back from a crazy few days in Vegas that included some good moments and some bad moments. Good moments included seeing friends I hadn’t seen in a while or had never met offline. Bad moments included going to the hottest club in Vegas and it sucked, wall-to-wall people and people smoking, which made me sick. And, despite the cold, dry air in Vegas, my skin didn’t dry out like it did last time!! A big thanks to my co-worker who recommended Earth Science cleanser and moisturizer! My skin is reacting well, getting rid of the dryness that always happens in winter, without setting off a flare up of eczema. And, it’s cheaper than the stuff I’d been using before, which I can really appreciate.

Luckily, after weighing in, I still lost a bit of weight after the last week *grin*. But, let’s see how tomorrow is after today’s office potluck.

WI: 185.6lbs

3.4lbs more to hit my Short-term Goal Weight #1! Can I do it by the end of the year? It’s possible, but I’ll just have to wait and see how my will power holds up. Signed up for the “Biggest Loser” contest in my office, it starts in mid-January and goes through mid-April. Hopefully it will be even more incentive to workout and watch what I eat, since someone else will be weighing me in weekly.

My mood has been pretty good, especially Sunday. I don’t know what it is about Sundays, other than the fact that they are the beginning of a brand new week, but I’ve been finding myself in a positive mood when I get up.

Breakfast: Oatmeal with fruit, plus a cookie given to me by a co-worker
Lunch: Office potluck, don’t remember it all, but I tried to eat in moderation, especially dessert
Dinner: Total raisin bran cereal with nonfat milk

Went to see the Punisher movie with Lu, too silly with lots of blood and gore. Definitely wouldn’t see it again. Ate a bowl of cereal for dinner before I went, so I wouldn’t give in and eat theater food or stop for fast food on the way home. Seems to have worked, although I’m a bit hungry right now, but about to head to bed, so just have to make sure to have a filling breakfast first thing in the morning. Talked to Lu for an hour after the movie, recapping Vegas, who we’re each interested in, general life and love things, as well as discussing plans for Christmas and NYE. Now we just have to come up with exactly what those plans are, lol.

Lack of Updates

OK, my friend Anthony complained that I haven’t been updating my blog, so here is a short update.

Well, as most people know, I’m moving to California. My last day at my job is September 28th, and I was planning to leave Dallas on October 5th, but it looks like I won’t be leaving until the following week. I am taking the long route, through El Paso, Phoenix, Vegas, LA then to San Jose, all so I can visit friends along the way.

I can’t wait to see all of my Cali friends!!

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As for everything else, I’m constantly going insane. My friends Aimee, Jenn and I have this long list of things we have to do together before I move, but after having the list for over a month, we hadn’t checked anything off, until last night. Now we have 5 weeks to get everything done! This is going to take some planning.

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Also in recent events, I was sick a few weeks ago and went to the Dr, who diagnosed IBS, yet another stress-related illness. After speaking to my Dr about everything that has been going on in my life, even she agreed that moving is the best course of action for me, since it should reduce my long-term stress levels.

Unfortunately, a week later, I got called back into her office because during the previous visit she took blood and my test came back with raised liver “sed” (The sed rate can measure the amount of inflammation present. The test measures how fast red blood cells cling together, fall, and settle toward the bottom of a glass tube in an hour’s time, like sediment. The higher the sed rate, the greater the amount of inflammation.) rates and a white blood cell count that was too high. As a result she took more blood work and sent me for a sonagram, to see if anything could be detected that way. After another week of worry, I heard back, and the results were that the “sed” rate was still up, but not as much, and the white blood cell count was down, so I get to wait another month to go back for re-testing.

*****

I’ll be in Houston this weekend, my best friend Anne had her baby, Ida Ruth McArthur. I can’t wait to see her and spend some time with Anne!

I’ll post more later!

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Skin & Makeup

The worst of the redness is gone, thank god, but there is still enough ugly discoloration under my eyes that it’s embarrassing to go anywhere. The skin around my eyes is very itchy today, but I’m hoping it healing itching, instead of irritated itching. Hopefully, by tomorrow it will be even better; otherwise I have to fill that prescription for topical steroids, which I’m very wary about putting near my eyes.

Skincare, Toiletries and Makeup Used

• Previous night
  • Murad Energizing Pomegranate Cleanser
  • Murad Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer SPF 15
  • Frederic Fekkai Glossing Shampoo
  • Frederic Fekkai Glossing Conditioner
  • LUSH Flying Fox Body Wash (Honey, jasmine and ylang ylang a.k.a. sex in a bottle)
  • Shea Butter (to moisturize my eyelids)
  • Eucerin Calming Crème (on my legs)
• Morning
  • Murad Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer SPF 15
  • Neosporin LT Lip Treatment
  • Aquaphor Healing Ointment (around my eyes to moisturize)
  • Cortisone cream (for the insane itching)

*****

Health, Fitness & Diet

Yesterday’s weigh-in at the Dr’s office and posting my reflections yesterday inspired to keep a more balanced day. I think I did well, overall. Now, to get some exercise added in.

Today’s Diet

• Breakfast
  • 3oz Stonyfield Farm All Natural Fat Free Yogurt Black Cherry – 1pt
  • 3/4 cup Silk Vanilla Soymilk Plus Fiber – 1 pt
  • 1/2 cup blueberries – 0.5 pt
  • 1 cup pineapple -1 pt
  • 1/2 cup General Mills Fiber One – 0 pt
• Lunch
  • Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli – 7 pt
• Snack
  • 1 serving Fiber One Chewy Bar – Chocolate & Oat – 2 pt
  • 1/2 cup cauliflower – 0 pt
  • 1/2 cup celery – 0 pt
  • 1/2 cup broccoli – 0 pt
• Dinner
  • Taco Bueno Crispy Chicken Taco – 3 pt
  • Taco Bueno Chicken Crunchy Burrito without queso – 6 pt
  • 1 container Dole Peaches & crème parfait – 2 pt

Reflections on today’s meal: I think I balanced my meals very well today, I ate plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Even with eating out at Taco Bueno, I was able to stay on-plan, actually coming in 0.5pts under my daily target, by checking out the website and calculating what the points would be before ordering.

Food Finds:

· Silk Vanilla Soymilk plus Fiber is the first soymilk is the first soymilk I’ve ever liked, and the addition of fiber brings the point total down.

· General Mills Fiber One actually tastes pretty good and is filling, the ½ cup serving is 0 POINTS!

· Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli is one of my newest favorites when it comes to frozen dinners, the ravioli is amazingly good and it has 2 servings of vegetables per entrée

· Fiber One Chocolate & Oat Chewy Bar is very good, but I still prefer the peanut butter version

Notes for tomorrow’s meals: I need to take in the peaches I have here at home, but will still need to pick up some more fresh fruit soon, and some raw almonds.

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The book scene

www.PaperbackSwap.com Books Sent or Received Today:

• Received: Italian Chic, the Italian Approach to Affordable Elegance by Susan Summers
  • What can I say, I love to read about the fashion of different cultures
• Sent: Hot Pink by Susan Johnson
  • This came off of my bookshelf, without being read

Hello world!

What can I say? I actually like the automated title from WordPress, so I think I’ll keep it.Well, since it is the beginning of my blog, we will start with the beginning… Of today, that is.

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Skin & Makeup

Well, as I mentioned in my “About” section, I have recently been diagnosed with eczema, well I’ve started getting my first “flare up” on my face in the last two weeks and today I woke up with my eyes half swollen shut from the flare up getting so much worse in the last day and a half, so I went to the doctor’s office and she decided to give me a steroid shot, in an effort to get this to heal more quickly, so hopefully the worst of this will be gone in the next two days. One thing I’ve read about is keeping track of what I’m eating and what products I use on my skin and anywhere near my face, so I will be using this blog to log all of that, both as a record of that, but also to show what kinds of makeup the makeup junkie in me is using day in and day out.

Today is easy, since I wasn’t able to use much of anything

• Murad Energizing Pomegranate Moisturizer SPF 15
• Neosporin LT Lip Treatment

*****

Health, Fitness & Diet

Since I went to the Dr, I had to get on the scale (don’t you hate that) and the result… 187lbs. Luckily, I learned last time I was there that the Dr’s scale is a few pounds more than the scale at Weight Watchers, so I haven’t regained too much, hopefully.

Today’s Diet

• Breakfast
  • Stonyfield Farm Lowfat Yogurt Blueberry, 6 oz -0 points
  • Regular Coffee, 1 cup (8 fl oz) – 0 points
  • Tea, brewed, 8 fl oz – 0 points
  • Sucralose (like Splenda), 1 tsp – 0 points
  • Silk Vanilla Soymilk Plus Fiber, 0.25 cup – 0.5 Points
  • Nature Made Multi For Her with Calcium & Iron, 1 serving – vitamin
• Lunch
  • Lean Cuisine Roasted Garlic Chicken Pizza, 1 serving – 7 points
  • Weight Watchers Sweet and Salty 2 Point Bar, 1 serving – 2 points
• Dinner
  • Grilled Chicken Capri, 1 serving – 11 points
  • Vitalicious VitaBrownie, 1 serving – 1 point

Reflections on today’s meal: Breakfast could have used some fruit added to it, or added as a morning snack, preferably with some healthy fats, such as almonds. Lunch could have definitely used some fruits and/or vegetables. Dinner, while delicious, again could have used some fruits and/or vegetables and the VitaBrownie, while ok, was not the best brownie I’ve ever had, but did satisfy my sweets craving for only 1 point. Overall, while an ok day, only going 0.5 points over my daily target, was seriously lacking in fruits and vegetables. Notes for tomorrow’s meals: Take in mixed fruits and veggies, pick up some almonds for when I need some fats and proteins to add to a snack.

*****

The book scene

• Current Read: Radical Cure by Olivia Gates from the Silhouette Bombshell series
• Synopsis: Working in war zones while treating the sick and wounded, Dr. Calista St. James is used to being under siege. But now, her team has been deliberately infected with a seemingly incurable and mysterious agent that simulates both chemcial and biological afflictions — and all signs point to it being an inside job.
  Before Calista can expose the traitor, or the truth, she has to travel worlds away with her former mentor, maybe lover and definitely uncertain quantity black-ops agent Damian De Luna — a man she loves, trusts with her life but doesn’t trust to ever tell her the truth — to find the cure.
  Radical steps are needed to stop this deadly outbreak, but can Calista stop the breakdown of everything she’s dedicated her life to building and fighting for?
• Review: This is a medical suspense novel, second in a series. While the base storyline is interesting, the author doesn’t segue well between scenes, which can be very jarring and tends to ruin the overall read.

www.PaperbackSwap.com Books Sent or Received Today:

• Received: The Dark One by Ronda Thompson, Book 2 in the Wild Wulfs of London series