Take that, stinky face!

So the stinky AcneFree Redness Solutions stuff I've been using was a major waste of money. I know it's only been a few days, but my mild redness has gotten MORE red and that blemish that popped up due to feminine housekeeping, yeah, it hasn't been touched by the stuff. On my way home I made a stop at Sephora and with the help of the sales woman, picked up some Murad Redness Therapy cleansing gel and a jar of Ole Henriksen's Nurture Me moisturizer, which I LOVE. It smells good and made my face really soft and the burning I was feeling during the day has lessened as well with just two applications. Note, I had been using a moisturizer with the AcneFree system too because it did dry my already dry skin out even more. I think after I finish the Murad cleanser, I might stick with all Ole Henriksen products. At least now I'm not walking around smelling like sulphur! Anyone want a free AcneFree kit to try? :)

On different note, last night I made another recipe from Relish Magazine. Chicken Saltimbocca to be exact, which is a fancier, slightly lower calorie version of chicken cordon bleu. Although this recipe wasn't quite as "light" as I would have liked it (around 420 calories per serving), it was still fun to try, albeit a little expensive to make due to high quality ingredients. Hubby found a good sale on chicken breasts at the store at least. If you haven't checked out Relish before (namely because you aren't a Richmond local), then take a look at their website:  http://www.relishmag.com/. If you are local, you'll find it in the Times Dispatch on the first of every month.

I hope that Jeff has been enjoying my new recipes lately because once I start the Master Cleanse, I'll be back to fixing the boys crap, like Hamburger Helper and tacos...things that I can easily turn my head to and not be tempted. The hardest part will be weekends. That's when we go out. Guess I'll be staying home for a weekend and working on the house. I have a tentative start date for Monday. My friend at work encouraged me to get it done and over with before Jan 22nd as we're having a girls night out at James River Cellars that night. Something tells me it would not be good to break the cleanse with a bottle of wine! Why have I not started it already? Because I felt it was necessary to cut down from the massive quantities of rich foods that were consumed over the holidays by eating lighter and fresher foods this week so as not to upset my system too badly. It's the pre-detox detoxing I guess you could say. Hey it's helping, I lost 2 lbs already! (Don't laugh, it's still something.)

Out with the old and in with the new

As my holiday vacation comes to an end, I have had a chance to reflect just a little. The year 2009 wasn't spectacular, but did have a few high points. The biggest being, Jeff and I finally got married. It was a lot of work planning a wedding on a budget, but it was beautiful and our honeymoon in Florida was the highlight of my entire year. Loved every minute of it and wish we could go back. I also started taking classes at VCU and was accepted into their M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education program. I hope that 2010 will be even better. I don't typically do resolutions...okay well I have, and I always fail. This year I just want to focus on getting healthier, being happy, and face new challenges with a positive outlook.

I always feel like the new year gives me a clean slate to work with so after reading a friend's blog, I was inspired to try the Master Cleanse. I am planning to start next weekend after I've pulled back on all the junk I've been consuming over the holidays. We took a trip to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's yesterday and I stocked up on some healthy kitchen staples. I'm even going to try my hand at making my own gluten free sandwich bread. If it works out, we can stop buying store bought stuff. Jeff isn't a big fan of healthy foods or dieting, but I figure if I can make just one healthy meal a day for my family, that's better than nothing. I personally have no problem eating salad multiple times a day, so the only real challenge is when I have to cook for both of us at dinner.

I'm also trying to get myself on a better routine. It's always important to take care of ourselves on the outside as well as the inside, and for me, that's been challenging as well because I'm always rushed or at work or in class. I don't do much with makeup very often and even though I don't have horrible skin, it's not great either. I have mild Rosacea and haven't really found anything over the counter that does much for it. My mother-in-law bought me a redness relief kit from Clinique, but it made my skin feel really oily. Yesterday I went out and bought the AcneFree Redness Relief kit. I used it this morning for the first time and it made my skin feel really smooth, but it has a horrible sulfur smell due to it being an ingredient in the facial cleanser that lingered with me all day. I had Jeff come close to my face to see if he could smell it and he could if he was REALLY close to my face, but I've been smelling it all day. I guess I'll try to stick it out for a week and see if it really does anything for my skin, but if I don't see any improvement, I'm not going to continue walking around smelling like a natural gas leak!

Speaking of smells, I picked up a bottle of DKNY Be Delicious Fresh Blossom perfume yesterday too at Ulta. I got a sample of it with their catalog in the mail and fell in love with it. It smells SO GOOD. I had been looking for a new perfume for a while too, so it worked out great. I'll make sure to spray it good on my neck tomorrow morning so no one will notice my sulfur face!