Just Thinking about my Blog

I cannot be the only one...who sometimes thinks about their blog and isn't really sure what it is. I question: is it informational, is it anecdotal, is it funny, or is it even relevant? I can't help but wonder sometimes, just what it is I am trying to accomplish here.

What exactly is my blog about?

I write about what goes on in this little life of mine. Sometimes I write about being a Mama and the trials and tribulations that come along with that title. I love to write about my yoga tales and jogging woes. I can't help but spill my guts about the moments of friendship that aren't the friendliest and, of course, I am obligated to share my reviews of the latest and greatest products I have found, but are any of these thoughts that I offer the world really necessary?

When I start down this rabbit hole of "what exactly is my blog about," I try to think of what it is that draws me back to certain blogs that I enjoy reading, and the list usually looks like this:

Pros:
-Honest
-Humorous
-Relatable
-Conversational
-Topical

When reviewing the reasons I keep coming back to read certain blogs, I generally come to the conclusion that those are also the reasons I feel compelled to write.

Ultimately, I write to let some of the thoughts that swirl around in my noggin' out and to hopefully connect with other people. Making that connection helps me to  realize, at last, I am NOT the only one who thinks and feels the way I do.

Is what I write here important? Nah, probably not, but if it makes one other person feel like they have stumbled upon a kindred spirit then I consider it a job well done.

Happy Blog Reading

Well....Hello Fall

St. Ives Even and Bright Facial Scrub Review

I cannot be the only one...who is always on the lookout for the next great skincare product that cost less than ten bucks...well, less than five is even better. When I find a product that is terrific and inexpensive I feel as though it is my DUTY to share my good news with the rest of you, so here is my latest bargain skincare LOVE.

I purchased this lovely tube of St. Ives Even and Bright Facial Scrub via my Amazon Prime account. I just couldn't get a trip to a mega store (think Target) to fit into my busy schedule, so I let my fingers do the shopping and ordered the St. Ives Scrub alongside some sunblock, facial lotion, and the necessary mala bead bracelet (a really cute one, actually).

My Amazon Prime box arrive as promised, in two days, and I was pretty excited to go through all the things that I had ordered (even though I knew exactly what was going to be the box, I guess I am still like a kid in that sense), and was even more excited when I saw the bright and fresh label on the St. Ives Facial Scrub.

I threw the scrub in the shower and didn't think twice about it. The next morning after my jog, sweaty and in need of some serious cleaning, I hopped in the shower and was pleasantly reminded about my new scrub waiting for me looking cheery on the shelf.

I flipped open the lid and gave the St. Ives Scrub a quick sniff, the scrub smelled fresh and citrusy, I squeezed a dime size dollop on my fingertip and loved the consistency of the white and pink scrubbers. So far really good.  I started to scrub the St. Ives across my forehead and I was very pleased at the not-to-rough scrubbing of it.  I took it one step further...I added my exfoliating brush and the citrus scrub took on a whole new level of wonderful.

I gave my face a thorough rinse (be sure to do a good rinse, you don't want any little scrubbers left on your face), I dried off, and took a glance at my skin in the mirror and was very happy to find that my skin tone did in fact look even and had a pretty nice glow to it to boot.

I LOVE this St. Ives Even and Bright Pink Lemon and Mandarin Orange Facial Scrub, it is the highlight of my shower. Not only does this St. Ives scrub smell and look great, it delivers on it's advertised promise, and it only cost $3.39, YES $3.39.

If you are in the market for a mild, inexpensive, effective facial scrub I recommend giving the St. Ives Even and Bright Pink Lemon and Mandarin Orange Facial Scrub a go.

P.S.: This review is completely unsolicited, also note I am not including an Amazon Affiliates link, I just truly love to share great affordable products with you!

The Verbal Sideswipe

I cannot be the only one...who has been having a perfectly fine day only to be verbally sideswiped by a friend (yes, a friend, not acquaintance) and was left wondering, "What just happened?!"

My day started like any other, brisk jog through the neighborhood, breakfast with the fam, and then off to school right on time. Things were going great and it was only 7:25 in the morning.

Then things took a turn.

With Sonny Boy safely tucked away in his second grade classroom, I started making my way to my car with my Mama friends walking by my side discussing the usual mundane weekday topics (you know, tooth brushing trauma, too much homework, or hectic schedule complaints). This is when it happened, this is one of my friends tattled on my son on behalf of her son.

The details are pretty typical kid drama, it was more of a sticks-and-stones-may-break-my-bones-but-words-will-never-hurt-me type of misbehavior,  but instead of only dealing with the infraction made by my kiddo, my blood was boiling from the tattling on him by my friend.

I returned home to get myself ready for work, still reeling over the discussion with my "friend" outside of the school. I tried to put on a brave face and focus on the details of my day, but it just wasn't working. The conversation played over and over, on a constant loop, in my head.

I left the house in a daze.

I was feeling like a bad mother whose child doesn't know how to behave when I am not around, I felt like a bad friend for being so defensive when the other mom told me about my son's wrong doing, and I was probably not the greatest wife, daughter, runner, or yogi while I was listing my shortcomings.

Things were piling up and I was in a state. I had to do something about it.

I decided what I needed to do was confront my friend about the tattling and let her know what it had done to my day. I was hoping that she had also thought about it and was in the same frame of mind that I was, that there was nothing that could have been done and that the information could have been kept to herself...boy was I wrong. She was NOT in the same frame of mind and when I confronted her...she cried.

Here I am, a full-grown adult making people cry outside of our children's elementary school, I didn't even know who I was anymore.

This day was a loss. I needed to go home, stay inside, avoid phone calls and text messages and hope that when the sun came up the next morning I would wake with a new state of mind. This verbal sideswiping in the form of tattling on my son by a friend was something I was not prepared for. I truthfully don't exactly know how I feel about it. Have you ever experienced this, if so please share with us your way of handling a similar situation...please, because I am still not sure how I was supposed to handle it.

Yoga: It Just Seems to Click

I cannot be the only one...who has found themselves surprisingly enjoying something that didn't really click with them when they tried it before. I don't know if it is a change of environment, my dire need for some serious "me" time, or my extensive Mama patience, but I have recently found myself enamored by my new yoga practice.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I ventured into a Vinyasa Flow yoga class with a friend a couple months ago and have been hooked ever since. While this particular Vinyasa Flow class was new to me, I wasn't exactly a stranger to yoga. I had taken a smattering of classes here and there in my twenties, but it wasn't until now, in my late thirties, that the practice of yoga really spoke to me.

Besides the obvious challenges that yoga presents to me; the postures, the balance, the shaky and sore muscles, there is something else that calls me back to the mat each time.

I noticed this magnetic pull to the yoga studio at the end of class late one Friday afternoon. This particular yoga class had me sweating my way through many a chaturanga and I was feeling well deserving of the impending savasana. As I lay on my back in corpse pose, the instructor, in her soothing cadence, asked her students to surrender to gravity and only focus on being in that moment.

I did.

I surrendered and I let the stresses of Mamahood go, even if just for that moment. In that moment I felt fantastic and when I stepped outside the studio, into the gym where sweaty guys wearing tank tops were grunting while lifting absurdly giant weights, I felt lifted, I felt refreshed, and I felt ready to do the rest of my Mama chores with a smile on my face.

That was it for me, I was a yoga-goner. From that day on, as soon as I said namaste at the end of practice, my mind went right into planning mode. I needed to know when I would be able to find my sitting bones back on that mat. I would stop at the posted yoga schedule at the front desk of the gym, iPhone in hand pulling up my calendar to plan my next drishti gaze before I even had time to put my flip flops all the way on.

I think that finding a place as a Mama that you can focus on doing something good for your mind, body, and spirit without dodging Legos, thinking about the lunches that need to be made for the morning, or the dryer reminding you with it's ridiculously obnoxious buzz that there is laundry that needs to be folded, is rare. My brain is stretched pretty close to it's limit on a regular basis, maybe that's why the sweet relief of yoga has cozied itself up to the limbic lobe in my brain and keeps me coming back for more.

Be it the relief of the days stresses, the physical challenges of balance, or even the community of those who step into that studio to work on being a better version of themselves all while smiling and supporting each other, yoga has me smitten and it just seems to click with me.