Some like it HARD-Rolling on a PVC Pipe vs softer approaches

A recent conversation made me start thinking about whether all this rolling of muscles on foam rollers, yoga balls or PVC Pipe was creating burst veins/broken capillaries on rolled parts and whether the entire concept of fascia relief was just a bunch of BS.

Add to that-if releasing the fascia that formed to support injured areas was a good thing at all?

For those who exercise often or those who used to exercise often and never stretched before or afterwards, the concept of loosening up the connective fascia tissue offers an enticing belief that fascia is the evil maker of all aches and pains AND that it can be manipulated into submission by rolling with any apparatus hard or soft.

Hmmmm.

Or is fascia release just a trendy gym fad?

In talking to people who use their bodies for a living professionally, their knowledge of how to use or not use the various rolling and massage tools exceeds what the old fart gym rats would have or come to believe as taught by their instructors.

All they know is they feel better and they gladly offer testimonials for how rolling on hard PVC pipe rollers has changed their lives for the better.

Is that point of view really about that people want everything fast? That slow and steady doesn’t win the race and that the time-starved just want relief NOW?

About 10 years ago I popped my hamstring and was out of commission from doing anything that included jumping or running. So I started doing yoga.

I walked into the intermediate yoga class and the haughty instructor asked me if I had every taken yoga.

Uh, no.

But I am flex-y except for my busted hamstring. She let me stay and I took yoga faithfully for months after I regained use of my hamstring. She was a great teacher. I stopped yoga when it became the gym in-thing and the classes became a competition where people fought to be in the front on their certain mat and all the BS that is not truly yoga.

Anyway.

I nursed myself back to health slowly over 3 months-had a few acupuncture sessions.  This time in my life was before PT was my go-to answer for anything that hurt.

OK

I like to think of myself as knowledgeable enough to use an apparatus properly-so, couple that with the fact that the instructor is a self-promoting d*ck, so I’ve never been to class.

Obviously mostly because the person is a d*ck.

So I’ll speak to my own experience with attempting to dislodge my fascia via physical manipulation with a trainer instead of an inanimate object aka PVC pipe.

I tried FST or Fascia something something about a year ago. The concept of breaking up connective tissue that had scarred into place to help me function somehow made sense to me. That I could have increased flexibility was enticing.

I have to admit that the sessions felt good-stretching instead of mashing (the trainer has opinions about mashing via PVC pipe and rollers).  Working with a trainer, the client mainly is stretched to start breaking up the connective tissue (fascia) that has scarred into place.

After my second session I noticed that my knee started acting up. I’ve had IT band type issues that once one thing acts up, everything falls apart.

You know like the song- the ankle bone connected to the shin bone the shin bone connected to the…..

So at this point I went to my third session with trepidation. Instead of working on my legs which were in pain at this point, the trainer worked on my shoulders and neck.

I drew the line at my neck since I was already thinking the FST caused my issues with my knee.

Fast forward a year later-I had multiple sessions of PT to reset my left leg-once one old injury  was fixed another one flared up.  This time around I learned that if I stuck to GENTLE self-massage, ice, elevation and using my vibrating roller pretty much any injury will heal.

From my point of view-the fascia connective tissue had scarred into a place where my old injuries were supported and although not working perfectly, they worked properly.

Lesson learned?

Human beings were created to function and heal on their own meaning the fascia scars have a purpose.

And that PVC Pipe and destroying connective tissues is just a fad.

Seriously, where are the medical studies that support either approach-hard or physical manipulation? Some people may be helped with mashing themselves-but, could they have been helped anyway by another means?

Thought.

 

Advertisement

Too Much Goop-Super Goop Cream Eyeshadow Shimmers

They are very pretty in the package – when you smear it on your wrist the consistency is creamy and doesn’t feel like it has a lot of drag on your skin, so Super Goop’s eyeshadow shimmers with sunscreen seemed like a great product to try to protect the lids.

They come in three shimmer shades-when I tried them on in Sephora the darker shades are very pretty but I rarely wear colors that dark at this point.

Unless you’re going to go full guns with a dark smoky eye, wearing a bunch of color on your lids is very aging and looks too heavy in the summertime.

Unless you’re just one of those flamboyant types who wears it well,

or not.

Anyway.

The point is, I use a light hand when it comes to color.  When I bought it I didn’t really think about how much product I would put on that delivered color payoff AND SUN PROTECTION.

That’s the question-how much of the product do you have to apply to get the promised sun protection?

The guideline for face sunscreen is a dime.

The guideline for the body is as much as you can possibly tolerate starting with a quarter cup per body part.

So how much of Super Goop’s eye shimmer to get the benefit?

Turns out for me, there’s no way that I would get the benefit unless I put enough product on AND all over my eye.

That’s the other thing-if the product were a more neutral skin tone shade, then it could be used on the entire eye area from the lid to the brow bone. I tried that one day and well, it was just too much.

Would be great if I was doing a gold disco retro eye.

But not for everyday.

The conclusion? Pretty but not practical until they come out with neutral shades without readable shimmer and sparkle.

K

PS

The only products with SPF that I have found that don’t sting or irritate are Clinique’s City Block, Clinique Mineral Fluid and Origin’s A Perfect World.  Most sunscreens have too much fragrance or otherwise sting.

Having A Moment

You have probably noticed that cosmetic retailers are battling it out for a piece of the beauty dollar pie. Used to be Sephora had a sale twice a year and the rest of the time I’d wait to buy stuff when there was a good gwp.

Nowadays once one retailer posts a sale or promo coupon than Macy’s or Nordstrom posts a price match. They even compete with company stores!

If you want to replenish a basic like Clinique sunscreen- should you it buy for 25% off at the company store, or hunt around for a gwp with free shipping?

If you can’t tell by now I’m of the “wait until I get a deal” crowd.  Sephora reduced their samples per order to two and the pickings are slim. Even if you’re rouge, you get nothing extra for the privilege of the upgraded plastic card.  Just the status of being amongst the crowd of the big spenders.

Or at least perceived as such.

One day I was in line and the cashier said to the woman, “You have 20000 points…..”

I was a bit shocked.

Previous to that I thought I bought a lot – mostly skincare but still a lot.

This past holiday was different.  I bought gifts and stuff for me and then said- step away from the credit card .

Nevertheless I bought MORE.

When it was all said and done I was in a drunken stupor of a makeup buying frenzy.

After recovery, I seriously had moments when walking into the cosmetic dept of any store and my eyes would glaze and I would get a buzzing in my ears.

Too soon.

I wasn’t safe from myself.

Only a few days ago when a pot called the kettle black, on the same day I dumped two eye palettes I stopped using, did I go shopping for makeup.

It was nice.

I felt calm.

I responded to salespeople, “I feel like buying today.”

I’m the type that in a nice store, I veer away from the manolo blaniks to stay in Stuart Weitzman Ville.

There’s just a price point where I refuse like a stubborn horse and avert my eyes.

Maybe I was just reacting to the pot, but I walked up to the Dior counter and bought a limited edition shadow palette.

I told myself it was to replace one of the two palettes I dumped.

The truth is-I was buying it to feel better.

Some people can face truth about themselves, and well, others just can’t, so the best thing to do is just let them look in the mirror and hope someday they will face themselves.

Now, what am I going to do with my Nordstrom  note?

Save it for something I really need instead of something I just want to feel better.

k

 

 

 

 

 

Siren Song aka I Need More Make up Like a Hole in My Head

My name is Kirsten.

I am a skincareandmakeupaholic.

Less than 2 months ago, a friend and I were getting caught up in the fervor of Black Friday, and pre Black Friday, and Purple Thursday, and Pink Saturday and Hangover Monday. My email promotion inbox was going crazy with special offers and super sales for more more more!

I was giddy!

Not only did I buy for myself, I bought for my clients and my friends, saying, with my eyes bulging out of my head like a crazy person, “I can save this for their birthday…..next year”.

LOL

And as Christmas grew closer, I said with steely resolve, “Stop the madness!”

And then yet, another unpassable deal came in my inbox.

I was among the group of shoppers who did not set foot in a mall, except to purchase two of the same shirt for someones on my list.

Even then, they both did not fit.

Anyway.

I am trying really hard to think of what the last deal was that I bought that I just couldn’t not have.  I think it must have been some sephora deal because I have 2 tubes of City Defense and 2 bottles of sunscreen and I am not a hoarder.

And what do I have to show for it?

Nothing that I can easily recall.

A pity story.

A sad story.

Perhaps a state of madness.

And yet, I found myself a week ago watching “reveals” on youtube for the Too Faced Cosmetics mystery bag and feeling non-buyers’ remorse for not jumping at it with my credit card memorized in my head, poised for the next deal.

I feel like I am in my withdrawal state.

Actually looking for something.

I’m even stocked up on hair care. I bought a round blow dry brush.

When I wander the store post holiday-I actually take a mental inventory of everything I have searching for something that I might need.

I read recently that Toys R Us had to temper their online sales promos with their in store promos. The year before, they had such monstrous online shopping that they had to take inventory from their brick stores.

Is this perhaps what happened to sephora? The first days after the holiday, my inbox was void of sephora deals.  Only in the last few days have they started up.

But then, brands like Kiehls and Fresh must have been holiday wanna bees cuz right up to and a little while after, they were still letting me know that there were products to be bought and samples to have.

Even gwpaddict.com wrote last week that there were lots of coupons but no big gwps yet.

Wanting for nothing and yet still searching.

That’s gotta be so wrong.

k

 

 

 

 

Little Joys-aka Items You Buy To Make the GWP Threshold

Or when you live in Hawaii, the extra item(s) that you buy when you need to buy something more to make the free shipping threshold.

Sometimes I’ll go ahead and buy more than one of the same product at the same time, but it’s a rarity when I like something that much, or plan to give it to a friend because I highly endorse the product.

It’s like when I’m in Nords and I see the Clinique rep and she points out the Early Access giant Dramatically Different Cream that comes with another regular sized cream of the same.

It’s a siren call.

I have to stand there and take a mental inventory of my beauty supply products cabinet(s). Yes, I said cabinet(s)-which actually is three shelves in the medicine cabinet, the top portion of the vanity, one full drawer of the vanity, underneath bf’s vanity (but only a small area for larger items like shampoo and travel stuff) and finally the catch all closet in the hallway for stuff like body wash.

As it turns out, after that mental gyration, I don’t need another of the same cream – though I really do like the cream version of Dramatically Different.  I use the lotion formula samples all the time, and use the cream version over my serum and under my sunscreen. I just use a small 2-pea sized dab smoothed between two fingers and pressed on-the moisture lasts the entire day.

So, anyway.

One of the products that I bought to make the threshold is Benefits’ Dandelion box o powder blush travel sized mini for $15 bucks.

When I received it-I took one look and thought-hmm rip off, hardly any product and doesn’t look saturated.  I watched a net video of how to use the product and promptly didn’t try it for a couple of weeks.

Time makes for a desirous heart.

On a day I was planning to stay home and work, I still put some sort of a “face” on, so I took out the Benefit product. The little flat sweeping brush that comes with is rough and cheapy but it fits in the box and does a good job of getting the product on. Smooth it out with a real brush tho so you don’t look like you have two pink racing stripes on. 

I like to use the product on the very tops of my cheek ‘bones”. The light peachy pink with no shimmer gives me a little boost of color that I like and when blended out a bit looks a little fake healthy-but better than without.

Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but the retailer always wins with the threshold game.

k

PS

I hate Clinique’s pricing structure–their PepStart Eye is $26.50 and their GWP threshold is $27, so unless you want yet another sharpener…..

 

Hair Like A Wet Horse-L’Oreal

I have my Mom’s hair.

Thick strands and dense follicles.

Many people describe this type of Japanese hair as “horse” hair.

That is how I described it too until I actually felt a horse’s mane and tail for the first time.

I’ve always liked horses from afar-you know, little girl grows up dreaming of Black Beauty and reading The Black Stallion-drawing pictures or horses with long flow-y gossamer manes and tails.

The reality is very different on the silkiness of those manes and tails.

Which makes me wonder why would that shampoo company name their product “Manes and Tails”?

Anyway.

In reality, a horse’s mane and tail hair is almost rope-ish-like cords instead of strands.

It’s not stuff you can run your fingers through.

But never the less, when I struggle with drying my hair at h-club…

Yes, my hair is thick, long and shiny, but boy is it a pain in the rear to dry.

So, when I was searching for a dry shampoo, I also remembered reading about a L’Oreal product that protected your hair from heat drying AND also made the blow dry faster.

I found Advanced BLOW IT DRY Quick Primer Spray among the many many many L’Oreal products hogging up the shelves at Longs Kahala.

I was skeptical, but for $4.99 why not?

The product is easy to use- towel dry hair and spray some in and tousle through your hair.

I take a few more minutes to put on my make up, and by the time I blow dry, this product already has made my hair feel a little drier.  Any other time, my hair would still be sopping wet.

I don’t know yet about its heat protecting qualities, but this product definitely speeds up dry time. My hair is done in a jiffy.

I worry a little about putting another product on top of everything else, but at the end of the day, it’s just hair.

Horse or otherwise.

K

 

Hair Deodorizer-SG Invisible Dry Shampoo

I, like many women, have a very sensitive sense of smell–leave it to me to be the person in the room who makes a comment about smelling something funky-or otherwise shy away from the person or thing being funky.

All my life, men have told me this, and lamented the loss of the use of their cologne around me. Course that’s only if they want to be near me.

So,when it comes to my own fragrance, I am paranoid about how I smell.

In ballet class, most of us wear canvas ballet slippers because we can throw them in the wash and be fresh like a daisy-or at least the option is better than wearing leather slippers that, well, you know- bare feet and leather aren’t a good combo.

Or Sunday mornings at Longs.

Seriously, I don’t expect people to fall out of bed on the weekend and jump into the shower and suds up-and I don’t think other people think everyone else expects them to.

However, with my super smelling nose…

So, I wash my hair everyday because I can’t stand the smell of my scalp.

I always thought I was one of the few people who actually noticed until I walked into BOSS Beauty Supply on Nimitz to pick up my Neuma Smoothing Cream (smells like an orange dreamsicle) when the salesperson volunteered that she also was had the same self-awareness of her scalp.

I’ve tried dry shampoos before-like Paul Mitchell’s-and though it did the job of freshening, I didn’t like the fragrance.

I was thinking of trying Living Proof’s version-but I already anticipated I wouldn’t like the fragrance so I’ve been putting off trying it.

My client mentioned that hair loss can be attributed to bacteria on the scalp, so he highly recommends thoroughly drying the scalp every time I shampooed.

So, it makes it kind of like a catch-22- you have to wash your scalp to get rid of the bacteria, but washing your hair everyday is not recommended for color treated hair.

So…

Kahala Longs (on a non-Sunday) has a pretty good selection of hair products so it was just me and a 60-ish looking guy in the hair care aisle.

The array of product is pretty overwhelming–L’Oreal must have a 5-foot wide berth, and 3 shelves high, all by themselves.

Even so, L’Oreal did not have a dry shampoo.

But because, each store manager has discretion on what they buy for their branch, Kahala carries “Salon Grafix” “Professional” line. Only had shampoo, conditioner and “Invisible Dry Spray Shampoo” in the “line”- I decided the price was right at $2.99.

When i t comes to trying new stuff, don’t you just hate it when you buy something expensive and it’s a product fail-or otherwise?

 

Turns out, my “professional” invisible dry spray shampoo works like a dream.

Oh yeah, the reason I mention the guy in the aisle…

Any other time I would take the cap off and spritz some product into the air to check if it would pass the fragrance test, but somehow this old guy made me stop myself.

So, when I tried the product at home, I sprayed it into the air and took a whiff. Didn’t smell bad. Not sweet, not chemically-just smelled like not much.

But it works great.

I few sprays along the hair line and a swish into the hair and I’m done and smell free.

And the plus is, the product gives a good amount of oomph into my hair giving it a just out of bed look.

Well, at least it looks like I was just in bed.

Is that good or bad?

K

 

 

 

Life on the Ranch-Canyon Ranch, Tucson

I live in Hawaii so it’s realllllyyy hard to leave to go on vacation,  As a former military brat, I travelled for the first 26 years of my life, so I don’t feel a strong urge to pack up my stuff and go anywhere that’s not on my wish list of St Petersburg to see the Kirov Ballet. Or take a short jaunt to see Alonso King or Complexions, or maybe travel to a city where a favorite band is performing.

So, kicking and screaming I went to Canyon Ranch in Tucson, AZ.

For weeks preceding my departure I made snarky remarks about going to the fat farm or rehab, because when you look at their online brochure, the ranch is all about metaphysical blah blahs, 12 steps, and health.

Ick. So not my cup of tea. Been there done that 20 years ago when it was in style to spout off, “me in relation to the universe” speak.

From my point of view, I have room to cut down on my glass of wine, chips, chocolate or candy-if I really wanted to, but I wouldn’t feel any desire to take myself to a locale where I would never have a desire to visit anyway.

Add to that the bf’s preference to take the 630AM flight.

I hate that because unless I’m going to a neighbor island, with the time difference, flying the AM flight takes up an entire day of my life just going to LA or SFO.

The 3 hour layover was actually a bright spot. Had a nice beet salad and last man’s meal at Wolfgang Puck’s airport location.

The glasses of wine helped me sleep the entire flight from LA to downtown Tucson. It was a night flight so we saw nothing.(The flight back my seatmate was a larger person and he leaned into the window while we flew over the scenics).

Tucson is a land of cactus and dryness as far as the eye can see. Imagine those cowboy westerns with Clint Eastwood in his poncho and flinty eyed gaze, as he squints into the horizon and takes a sip from a dried up leather water pouch.

That’s how I felt.

No humidity whatsoever. I had to carry around a water bottle and take a sip every 50 feet or so.

Checking in was pleasant enough. I’m sure reception is used to dealing with people who have a chip on their shoulder from facing the impending desert of less food and less drink, and more exercise. In the desert.

I admit, I was one of those people. The first morning we walked down to have our health assessment (aka opportunity to sell more spa services and special paid classes) I was grouchy.  At the same time I checked in and got my locker.

One thing I will say about CR is the staff is ginormous. Attendants in the locker room constantly put out fresh towels and neaten up the place after people shower, picking up bath mats and replenishing the towels at each station. There are icy towels by the steam/sauna room, and fruit waters by the jacuzzi in about 4 flavors. The goody drawer is stocked full of toothpaste, tooth brushes, razors, aspirin, bandaids, dental floss, ear plugs, reading glasses–all meant to be taken freely.

Heck even the shaving cream was a brand name.

I was issued a spa robe and slippers- I think I might have gotten some athlete’s foot, as after CR my foot is a little itchy. The lockers are digital. I’m not sure if the locker I received was on the bottom level cuz the attendant thought I was an old fart and it would be better if I sat to access my locker or not. CR was about 70% capacity, yet many of us were squished into the same area-so if someone was changing or getting into their locker there was a traffic jam.

The next day I had a portioned breakfast of 1/2 cup of granola, 1/2 cup of greek yogurt (the real unsweetened version) and a scrambled egg. Everything on the menu has calorie and fat counts. At CR you can eat as much as you want, all day every day. But everything is portioned out in what is the real suggested serving. For example, the pumpkin cheesecake, and peanut butter chocolate cake were about the size of a 2.5 stacked oreo cookie serving.

The point is, you can sit there and eat the entire menu ten times over if you want to.

While I was there I tried to take classes I would normally not do at HonClub. My first class was a core conditioning class which because I have no cardio stamina any more was challenging because it was fast. I also got a little nauseous from the smell of some sunscreen I tried. We used a “Vyper” apparatus while standing on a Bosu. Kind of fun. I like balance challenges anyway.

I also took a world beat dance class which turned out to be fun. A tall woman who I will always describe as a biker chick from a biker bar walked in with a scarf tied on her head at first. Seriously I was surprised she did not have any visible tats.

But the class was quite wonderful.  Looking at her she was not the picture of health but she could shake all her parts. The class turned out to be afro cuban with a live percussion trio.

I also tried the drum class where one of the trio taught us how to pound out beats using an African drum-very good instruction.

Boxing was fun-but I don’t think I want to try taking the class here where a guy teaches a small group at HC. I also tried aerial yoga-I liked it but the laundry detergent they used made me nauseous.

I only took one class with the bf (who fully utilized the facility. He meditated, breathed, sat out at the pool, stretched, rolled and steamed). The class was Tai Chi Sword-which I thought might be a style of tai chi. In fact, it was interesting in that the instructor taught us how a wood pole could be used to fend off attackers and how the tai chi “choreography” related to those defense moves. He brought out a large axe on a long pole for all of us to try. Everyone tried except me-there’s something about martial arts classes that stirs my aggression juices-so I thought it would be better to not take the axe out for a spin.

A couple of days in, I realized that people first arrive at CR kind of in a grouchy state of mind like myself. At first I just thought they were unfriendly, grouchy. But I realized that after a few days of the CR culture, you either gave in or didn’t. Some people that I would pass by on the walkways day after day, like myself loosened up. Others did not.

I did do some spa services. The most beneficial was the Connective Tissue “massage”. It was really a treatment where the attendant used a device to gently palpate my muscles and fascia. He theorized that all of my left side issues with my knee, foot, shoulder were related to a car accident where I was hit from the right side(driver on the right in Japan). That the 30 years since, my left over compensated. The gentle treatment eased the stiffness in my neck, as well as untwisted my torso which usually pulls to the left.

I also had an oxygen facial which highly moisturized my skin. CR uses top flight products from Switzerland and other skincare meccas (interesting not from Japan or Korea).

Our room was really nice-though housekeeping came while I was there so, the stories are true about whether the glasses are washed or not. Frankly I prefer to use a paper cup.

So, would I go again? I guess so.

k

Expectations-Motels v Resorts

I’m the kind of person that although I like a nice bed with super soft sheets and fluffy comforters, I still go kicking and screaming when I go on “vacation”.

No, I don’t like to work all the time, and

No, I’m not a workaholic, but

Yes, I’m picky and have some germ-phobe tendencies, where

I think of a hotel room as a germ-plagued breeding ground for infection.

I believe the 20/20 investigative reports-

So I do what I can so I can feel a little better, no

matter what I bring flip flops to wear around the room, because although

I live in Hawaii and take off my shoes in the “house”, other

people do not, and wear their shoes in hotel rooms and shared spaces.

I once stayed in SFO at the Hotel Monaco- the web photos had cute cupid, all-set for romance rooms- even the hotel entrance had flying cherubs on the ceiling. But

getting into the room was another story.

I could not stop thinking about how many people did you know what on that divan, or that chair

You get the picture.

Anyway

Back to the subject

Last month we went to a wedding in California in a small college town, as we drove up, I said oh, it’s a motel, kind of like Holiday Inn.

Staying in a wedding spirit, I found that the room tho plain, was presentable. The sheets were a little “crisp” but it did have a Keurig.

According to the wedding coordinator, tho there was a major chain hotel nearby, this place was “the” place to stay.

And it was pretty cool–when we checked in we got a coupon for a free drink in the motel cocktail lounge, which served a pretty good glass of their own house wine, from an area vineyard.

They also gave us coupons for a free breakfast with an up to $8 value for each night we stayed.

The cafe is a bustling place and altho the wedding party and a few sports teams were in the house and overflowed to the cocktail lounge, the scrambled eggs and kale were out of this world.

Maybe I’ve just gotten used to getting one flat scrambled egg, a skinny piece of toast and an oily piece of sausage for double the price, but I ate the same breakfast all 3 mornings.

So, my expectations were over the moon exceeded for what I thought would be a passable experience, into one where fluffy scrambled eggs subbed in for the fluffy bed and soft sheets.

Interestingly enough, soon, I will be heading out to a 5-star resort, where, so far my expectations were high, but the customer experience has been pretty well, “motel-like”.

More later upon my return,

k

FIT FASHION-The Case For Crunches

I have a client who is a little younger than me, yet she is a LOT fitter than me.

I’ve known her about 10 years or so, and she has always maintained a fit shape because she runs, surfs, and probably everything else to be in triathlon level shape.

For me, it was American Ninja Warrior that inspired me.

I know, so far off the beaten path of tv watching of The Good Wife, So You Think You Can Dance and Netflix’ House of Cards.

But as I lay there on the couch in my urban comfort pod, with my happy belly pouching out, and my flabby arms wrapped around my doggie, I thought…

maybe if I got in shape I wouldn’t have to buy new clothes.

I was crediting it to old age that I have to wear sleeves instead of sleeveless, that I have to be conscious of armpit cleavage (nay spillage), and that baggy was starting to become the norm.

Me, only a few short years ago, walked away from the displays of blousy-blousson-flowy offerings to select the body-con, fitted and sleek choices.

Sans Sphanx girdles or any other means to smash it all in.

Heck, I was even thinking about wearing a sphanx type garment under my leotard for ballet.

What, seriously, is wrong with this picture?

Anyway.

I started small doing popsugar’s 10 minute videos for the arms and abs-because I rationalized that was all I had time to fit in.

Me, I used to be the girl who ran 4 miles, lifted weights, took aerobics, took yoga and a jazz dance class all in the one morning.

Compare the two.

I also thought about-do I eat differently than 3 years ago?

I now eat a lot more organic vs an unlimited bag of crispy whatevers and 2 glasses of wine that would be my “dinner”.

During the day 3 years ago, I wouldn’t say my nutrition wasn’t any better. Probably eating some chemical filled energy bar.

Yet, I was easily more in shape, without exercising any more.

No it’s not the M word.

I would call it fat and happy metabolism.

I seriously believe that the state of happy has slowed my metabolism and magnetized my butt to the couch.

The state of no-stress burns less calories too.

In any case.

My client dresses in simple lines, nothing too flashy, just put together without trying too hard.

So what’s the secret?

When you’re fit, you look good in a paper sack.

When you’re fit, you look good in anything in any price range from any store.

To add to that, I went to the Kit and Ace opening with a gf, and the store staff were wearing the clothes which are technical washable cashmere in simple silhouettes and very t-shirt dressing based.

One girl was wearing a dress that I would have worn 3 years ago. A simple, slightly racer back, tank dress that was all about the fit.

I was sad, that 3 years later, although I loved the dress, there was no way I would walk around town in it.

Even with a jacket on.

Or a scarf tied around the hips like I used to-as instructed by Anthony from Chocolates For Breakfast/Villa Roma/Audrey Fu.

So many months later, speeding back to the present, I do my Barre Abs by Jake Dupree and a variety of arm videos by pop sugar at least 5 times a week.

If I don’t do them before ballet, I come home and do them.

I attend a muscle fitness class once a week which is egregiously too infrequent.

And I am dedicating myself to a minimum of 10 minutes on the elliptical at 130 beats per minute heart rate, 3 times a week.

Hey,

I want to do the minimum,

to get the maximum results,

to be able to wear the

minimum.

K