Monthly Archives: January 2012

Jan30

Honey Won’t You Lemme(on) Scrub You

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So anyone who knows me also knows that I LOVE lemons.  I put lemon in my drinks, things I cook, and I may or may not have snagged some lemons off a tree on the side of the road in Southern Cali and declared it one of the best days of my life (I know so lame – but fresh fruit and CA, you can’t beat that combo).

Anyway – when I need a pick-me-up, I love to throw together this quick and easy scrub.  It smells AMAZING and you can use it on your face and body.

Honey & Lemon Scrub

The goods:

  • 1/2 cup of sea salt. (The sea salt will exfoliate dead skin cells and aid the lemon zest in brightening the skin.)
  • 3 tablespoons of honey. (The honey will help to refine your pores while reducing inflammation.  Also a great moisturizer!)
  • 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest.  (Mmm – LEMON!  The lemon zest is naturally high in vitamin C which will help to even out skin tone.)
  • 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.  (This really gives the skin an extra brightening boost.)

Now make it happen:

  • Stir all the ingredients until well-blended.
  • Rub the mixture over any dull or dry areas.
  • Rinse the mixture with lukewarm water.

***Bonus Tip – Try this scrub on your dry lips to make them soft, supple and oh, so kissable.

Jan27

Show You Mine, Show Me Yours

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Now I have floated around the blogosphere and been bombarded with tips and lists on how to be a better person and live my life to the fullest.  I suppose if everyone lived up to these lists the world would be a better place.  However some of the requests such as “Be like Jesus, not like his followers. (This applies to all of them.)” are a little lofty.  I have no problem trying to make myself and the world better one checklist at a time so–

This is my list.  What does yours look like?

1. Fight for what you believe in.  Your voice always matters.

2. Join a movement… better yet, lead one.

3. Coffee for LIFE!

4. Examine your jealousy, you’ll learn a lot about yourself.

5. It’s easy for people to talk big game – so watch what they do instead.  This is how you learn something new from and about every single person.

6.  Look people in the eye.

7. Commit to things that are far beyond your ability.  Why not push yourself?

8. Read often, including the things you disagree with.  Let’s face it, your ego is big enough already.

9. Apologize.

10. Find out if there will be food there.

11. Manners are more important than money.

12. Date someone out of your league (at least once!)

13. Bring a bottle of wine.

14. Write a bucket list.  Then actually do something on it.  You’ll feel amazing.

15. Travel, it’s worth it - trust me.

16. If you’ve never felt like a fool, you’ve never really lived.

17. Appreciate flaws as beauty – because they are.

18. If you find someone who makes you laugh until you cry, NEVER lose them.  Do this as much as possible.

19. Enjoy good music.  Rinse and repeat.

20. Be the person that will always be there.  Show up.

Jan26
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Close your eyes and imagine it with me?  Wait – don’t close your eye because you won’t be able to read this.  Okay, just picture it.

Sometimes, especially in the autumn, I like to go outside alone and find a place where it is absolutely quiet.  I close my eyes and let my senses wander.

I feel the sun on my skin.

I smell the leaves that have fallen to the ground.

I can hear the air moving.

This movement is different to me than wind.  It is just the circulation of the atmosphere and it becomes like a soothing melody.  You want to sway with it, as if to its melodic tones.  It wraps itself around you.  The longer you close your eyes, the farther you drift away – and it becomes nearly difficult to pull yourself back.  Your body must tear your eyelids apart allowing the bright sunshine to force its way into your retinas.

Back in my office,  I try to surrender to the inescapable isolation my desk in midtown Manhattan has to offer.  Try as I may I can never find solitude in air screaming out of the vents and the fluorescent lights.

I’ll always choose writing in a notebook in the grass over typing on my laptop  and my manicure never seems to last for more than one day.   Simply put — though I do love stilettos I will never be a city girl.

The Wind Beneath My Wings

Jan25

Riddle Me This

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I’d like to start out by saying that anger brought me to New York, but fear kept me here.  It cradled me really… like a soft security blanket.

Now let me explain.

I think all teenagers feel they have “issues”.  Families all weather their own trials and tribulations, and mine was, by far, no exception.  Divorce, latent anger…I couldn’t leave fast enough.  Destination: New York City.

I was told by an editor that NYC was my ticket to a publishing career (my dream job) and I had my parents foot firmly up my ass pushing me out the door – “college was nonnegotiable“.  I had to get my act together after the few months I had spent scuffing my shoes in the dirt and working a dead-end, minimum wage job (I had graduated high school early – it really wasn’t for me).

Fast-forward: I’m still working (barely above minimum wage, UGH) but with tons of debt from college tuition tying me to the ocean floor. Glub glub, cut to an image of me drowning in my own debt and self-pity.   When you really figure out, that your parents aren’t just “parents” but are just people who make mistakes… it’s hard to accept the blame and responsibility that your decisions are actually your own and you could have made different choices.  You can’t blame everything on your parents – your current unhappiness included.  

For instance, using my impeccable 20/20 hindsight I now feel I was not ready for college at the ripe age of 18.  So now let’s piece together the puzzle shall we?  I could have said… wait for it…no.  I could have said no, I don’t want to go to college – not yet.

College is a huge financial responsibility.  One that also dictates the rest of your life.  Employers look at not only which institution you attended, but your major, your grades – and most importantly – did you learn anything?  This was my moment of hubris.  I had outstanding grades, graduated in the top of my class, went to a private university in New York City, but 95% of that information I paid (am still paying) top dollar for went in one ear and out the other.  Why didn’t I realize that I was only hurting myself?  I wasn’t ready, I wasn’t mature.

I wish someone would have just pointed out the obvious to me – because I was standing in my own way.  I couldn’t see it.  How do you ever know you’re doing damage – not until you see the bruise, or do you know right away?

Alas, I’m back to my parents – this is how I truly came to realize their flaws.  Amidst their divorce (prime college time for me) they were so wrapped up in their own anger and personal issues they were unable to be parents to me.  By this I mean they couldn’t help me when I was struggling for the first time in my life.  One could argue that I was 18 and an adult, but I’ll tell you I sure didn’t feel like one, I know I wasn’t acting like one, and in their 40′s – neither were my parents.  I suppose everyone has their “moments”.

So you may be wondering, is she going somewhere with this?  Well, I came to New York because of the allure.  The lights, the glamour, the potential job – the life that I thought I could make for myself.  I was running away from the anger in my family in hope of a fresh start.  Nearly 8 years later and did I find it?  The older wiser “me” knows better now – running never gets you anywhere.    What I did find is that my history is everywhere I go because it’s what has made me who I am today, the good and the bad.

Contemplating moving out of the city in a way feels like admitting defeat.  I came for a job in publishing and never got one.  I hoped to find love here, and that is TBD.  So my current feeling is that as long as I’m still working on myself and continuing to at least TRY to make progress – I am not failing.  Life is a work in progress my friend.  I can’t stay living in a city that holds nothing for me because I am scared.  Fear has had me for 8 years – I think that’s long enough.

Jan24

Got a Light?

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Okay – so, I admit, my committment level has been lackluster.  However I vow in 2012 to change this, among other things in my life.  Enough said, and moving forward.

So what does it mean to give 100%?  How about 110%?  What if your best just isn’t quite enough?  Well lately that seems to be happening a lot.  At work.  In relationships.  In my life in general.  I know boo-hoo, am I done with my pity party yet?  All is not lost though.  Failure, though it seemed to come at me like a tsunami, taught me something.  I wasn’t being – and in some ways I am still not being an active participant in my own life.  Being happy sometimes takes more work than you may realize.  If you want it, you have to go out there and make it happen for yourself.

If you don’t like your job, than you have to find a new one – YOU have to find it.  No one else is going to find you one.  If you are stuck waist deep in a rut of a relationship, than it is your job to dig your way out.  It was a hard lesson to learn, but I wanted to stop waking up wondering “why am I so unhappy?” and I needed answers.  Even without all my problems fixed, just taking back that little bit of control, realizing that it IS really up to me is empowering.

So what now?

Well I know I’m not alone in this.  After years of being lost in other people’s interest, lives, hobbies… it is easy to forget what you want to do.  If I could choose to do anything at all – anything – with my Saturday, and I didn’t have to answer to anybody, what would I do?  Would I go shopping?  Maybe but I don’t have a lot of cash.  Would I volunteer?  That sounds fun (time to do some research, thank you Google).  I was just given a new camera for Christmas, maybe start taking some photos for a couple of hours every Saturday or Sunday morning?  Would I start going to the gym again?  Hahaha, that was a joke.

It’s hard to see the light when someone else is smothering your teeny-tiny little candle, so grab it back people.