I’ve always been on the hippier side when it comes to medicine: I keep Sudafed in my cabinet during cold season, but most of my medicine comes in tincture or homeopathic form. The exception is Alleve and/or Ibuprofen which I swallow like candy when I’ve got headaches or menstrual cramps. After some scientific observation (noting that my stomach hurt when I took Alleve or Ibuprofen), I decided this was some straight up bullshit and I needed to get off the Western Medicine roller coaster as much as possible. Without compromising my sanity, of course, so I’m still taking Prozac. I’d like to work on natural alternatives to this as well in the next year, but I’m still recovering from feeling so bad so I don’t want to push it in the depression arena.

So here’s my new routine. I’m feeling pretty damned great. Much more energy, less feeling tired in the afternoons, and I’ve been sleeping really, really well.

Herbs & Vitamins

Daily vitamins (heavy duty Vitamin D, multivitamin)
Chyawanprash – Ayurvedic, sweet herbal honey stuff, 2x/day (Sky calls it my paste)
Triphalia – Ayurvedic, antioxidant/detox support, 3x/day
Detox herbal tea – (mine is from Rainbow Health, but you can find it everywhere)
Kava kava – when I’m feeling a headache coming (I use MigraProfen but you can also just drink it in tea)

I’ve been practicing Dry Brushing once a day. It feels amazing and I’m so energized yet relaxed when I’m done! My skin feels much softer and I noticed I’m much more aware of it, as I think about all of the things it does for me as I dry brush. Thank you skin!

Nutrition

I’m been eating less sugar, which has been SO HARD. But I’m doing better, and after a week, cravings for almond croissants have decreased by about 27%. [Editor's note: my birthday morning breakfast yesterday was an almond croissant. It was amazing, but it was also so sweet! I shared it with Sky and wasn't even a tad resentful about it]

I’m drinking more water, which I thought would be impossible because I drink a lot of it, but even more now and it’s feeling good. I’ve been eating my vegetables first, saving everything else for when I’ve finished them. I’ve noticed if I eat this order: 1) veggies 2) protein 3) starch or carbohydrate that I eat all of 1 and 2 and only have enough room for a bit of 3, which I think is healthy. My snacks tend to be more carbohydrate heavy because I LOVE saltines + cheddar in the afternoon.

Overall being more attentive to what I’m eating and when. Also I’ve been paying more attention to when I’m first getting hungry instead of waiting until I’m starving to eat. I get into a mode at work or when I’m focused on something and then I put off snacks until I’m past the point where they are useful.

The Great Declutter

I got around to going through ALL of my products and reading through their ingredients. That was difficult, because I’m a practical person and it was hard to get rid of stuff that was only half empty. What I found was that I had a lot of old, no longer usable stuff: old lotions that had separated, tons of eyeshadows I don’t wear, and some face powder and blush that was over 8 years old. I also went through my perfumes and found that most of them weren’t even good anymore – they’d been sitting, gathering dust, because I really only wear 2 of them.

One thing I found telling was how hesitant I was to throw away my nicer items. It made me realize that even though I like to think I’m not influenced by glossy magazines and the status of certain brands, I totally am. I balked at throwing out my Chanel foundation, mostly because it looked so nice on my dresser. My Phyto shampoo cost $26! Does costing $26 make something better? Sometimes. Not always.

So I got rid of all of it. Lots of money spent on stuff that was sometimes great, but oftentimes purchased because someone else said it was good. Don’t get me wrong, that Chanel foundation was beautiful, but it made me look far more made up than I’ve ever felt comfortable being — I used to mix it with moisturizer so I could use it. Same goes for a lot of the makeup I owned: stunning and well crafted, but things I wore very rarely, and all of them full of unpronounceable stuff.

Now I have a MUCH smaller set of products. I’ve bought each one because it fit what I want out of makeup and face care. They are all natural and good for me. So now that I’ve said my piece about the pitfalls of being influenced in what you purchase, I’m going to try to influence what you purchase! Or at least give you some good options if you are trying to clear out your cabinets and restock them with healthier alternatives.

Facial care & Makeup

I have really sensitive skin that tends toward the congested yet dry side. I get a spot now and then around period time, but overall my skin is pretty clear.
(Almost) every evanhealy product I can get my hands on.
I first mentioned her products in May when I started looking for healthier products. Since then I’ve bought a lot more of her line: it’s amazing. The first week was the honeymoon — super moisturized skin, smelling good, feeling glowy, etc. The second week I hit a stage where I had broken out and my skin felt awful; I considered using less or going back to something different. Instead I read on Evan’s blog about purging and realized that my skin was just getting rid of all of the junk that previous products had packed in there. Now it’s been about 3 weeks and I’m feeling really good about all of these products – I can see that my pores are emptying out slowly and the overall health of my skin is so improved! I probably sound like an infomercial here. I’m just really happy to have found something that feels (and smells) so good!

RMS “Un”-Cover Up
In lieu of foundation, I’m wearing this. It comes in a little bitty pot and is very creamy/oily in texture. I dab on bits where my face is darker or uneven – not very much at all. It melts in super fast and looks like nothing! I’m pretty in love with this stuff, too.

Alima Finishing Powder
I don’t like to be too shiny, so I fluff some of this on top of the RMS. It’s not sparkly like other mineral powders I’ve seen, and it’s not pigmented much at all. It looks really natural and just makes everything look softer. Nice!

Lipstick – I have not yet found a good one yet. This is the hardest area for me because I’m really into the lipsticks I use now. They are highly pigmented and matte and I’m not sure I’ll be able to find a good alternative. I use NARS & Lipstick Queen. NARS is rated around a 4 or a 5 for lipsticks which isn’t good but isn’t HORRIBLE. Lipstick Queen ingredients don’t have anything that looks overly scary. But maybe I’m just justifying these because I love to wear hot pink lipstick.

Body & Hair

Acure Firming Lotion
This stuff is delicious smelling and it’s full of good ingredients that you can easily recognize. It smells lightly of lemongrass, which I like (not fakey at all) and is very thick and emollient. I’m not sure if it’s firmed anything as of yet, but my skin soaks it up and I’m liking it so far.

John Masters Zinc & Sage Shampoo
My hair is curly. I color it (more on that in a later post). I also have a terribly cranky scalp that itches with most shampoos I’ve tried. This was the hardest part for me: giving up the shampoo and conditioner that had become my favorite. But both of them were full to gills of bad stuff. So I tried a lot of samples and grilled a lot of salesfolk and here’s what I came up with: this shampoo and the Intensive Hair conditioner. I’ve not used the conditioner much yet, though I’m liking it so far. The shampoo is awesome: my color is bright, my scalp feels all cozy, and my curls are defined and not frizzy. Plus it smells like caramel.

Oh heavens not again!

Galloping consumption is also what I did yesterday, because I had the day off and spent it gallopingall over town buying stuff. It felt good, I have to admit. I haven’t been shopping in ages and having nothing to do but spend money on things I thought were pretty was happy making.

Kate Spade lovelies

Of course with new shoes I needed more tights, because it’s not enough that I have a drawer crammed full of them. I always want/need/desire new tights. I found some lovely discounted ones @ Nordstrom Rack – geometric! I was a sensible young lady and got them in brown instead of the hot pink. I wanted hot pink, but I reminded myself that I had 3 pairs of hot pink tights at home and didn’t need more. Not right at that moment.

Trink Turk for Hue tights - neat!

Party Line lipstick

Walking past the counter on my way to visit some bras,* I saw the pretty pretty lipsticks all in a row and just had to stop. I put this color on my lips and it was like little invisible angels drifted down to my shoulders and sang “aahhhhh!” in my ears. Seriously.

After I bought the lipstick, I was headed for the Island of Spending Temptation that is Anthropologie when my phone rang. It was Sky, on his lunch break! He needed to go scout out some high end German custom kitchen stuff and was headed my way. I met him at the market and we had a nice little goofy romantic lunch together. Next we headed to shiny stores with not a lot in them staffed by very attractive girls – archictects get all of the perks! We saw lots of lovely furniture that I wish we could afford and some really overtly rich looking kitchen cabinetry. I’m always suprised by how some very expensive things can manage to look so cheap and tacky.

My chair husband, were the state of Washington ready to acknowledge human and inanimate object unions

Except that once we parted ways, I waited for the bus on Pike Street near the Ross Dress For Less standing next to a patron I’d had to kick out of the library for drinking in the bathroom. And a dude who kept stomping on the ground a few feet away from me. That didn’t feel so Ladies Who Lunch. That felt more like Girls Who Work and Take the Bus.

When I got home I took a lovely bath and did a facemasky thing and then slathered on my new favorite moisturizer which I swear is making my skin feel soft as a baby’s bottom.

* I never did buy any bras, which was my only mission for the day. Woops.

I had the day off yesterday due to working the weekend. I do love a Tuesday off. I can sleep in all by my lonesome, be leisurely in my coffee making, putz around in my jammies. I can do all of this with Sky home, of course, but there’s a deliciousness about doing it alone while EVERYONE ELSE IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD IS AT WORK!

After I’d taken full advantage of the empty apartmentness, I decided I needed more embroidery supplies. Half the fun of a hobby is the supplies, right? The stuff. The gear. The secret stash of thread I can keep on my person for any embroidery emergencies. Thus I ventured to the Pacific Fabrics Outlet in SODO (SOuth of DOwntown, because we want to be like a big, grownup city with snipped up names for neighborhoods). This place was amazing. I wandered in there for hours – they had things I didn’t know existed, like boobie inserts for homemade bathing suits, and weird little baby heads (for dollmaking) (I think). They had tons of strange, bright, and furry fabrics – if you ever want to make a gorilla suit or something out of the ordninary, I highly suggest this retail establishment. I half hoped and expected a group of “Project Runway” imitators to come crashing through the door with just 15 minutes to find everything they needed to recreate a costume from a Busby Berkeley set. Didn’t happen.

After I had my fill of textiles, I drove off in search of the elusive Big John’s PFI. It actually wasn’t elusive at all – I just made sure to keep my eyes peeled for the green, white and red canopy. That place was amazing. It had a whole WALL of cheese and tons and tons of spices and pastas and beans and other exciting things in bulk. I found tons of weird things I missed from living in London. I also found delicious Italian pastries and french candies. Delicious. It’s billed as a Mediterranean grocery but it’s got oodles of stuff from everywhere. The other people in the shop were either chefs in their little outfits or people speaking Greek. All of the people that worked there were kind of crazy about food which I loved because I am kind of crazy about food. A quote from their website says it all:

“Dodoni Goat Feta is in. It’s peppery, it’s crumbly and absolutely delicious. Get in here. Get you some.”

After all of the excitement I needed some quiet time so I went by our old place: it’s no longer a house, it’s now a coffee shop. I didn’t have any cash with me so I asked if I could just peek around a bit. The owner (who I know) wasn’t there, and the baristo dude totally thought I was a freak who was making up a story about having lived there in order to peer into the cabinets. But that’s cool. It was decorated in a cute way. It’s a very surreal experience, seeing strangers sitting in your house, with all of the wall colors different and things moved about.

I returned to my new cozy place and cuddled with the cats, then put all of my snazzy new thread on little cardboard cards to keep it organized. Sky came home and we had a tasty dinner and quietly crafted the night away. Tada.

She meant this kind of Sassy

I asked the proprietress to point me in the direction of the skirts, and she did a great exaggerated eye roll. “You were looking for skirts, AM I RIGHT?” she asked. I nodded. She got down from her ladder and put her hands on her hips and delivered a speech that I’m sure has been practiced numerous times in front of a mirror in the bathroom:

“You may be too young to know this missy, but “skirts” is a term people used to use for WOMEN. So this is a store that turns that UPSIDE DOWN! We only sell things made by girls FOR GIRLS. Everything in this store is F-U-N, Functional, and FAB-U-LOUS!”

I knew she wanted a smile, in fact she probably needed one, but the fumes from a nearby poodle shaped perfume bottle-slash-princess wand were making my nose twitch angrily. I knew what “skirts” meant and I didn’t like being called a girl, not like that. My inner feminist was whipping about in all directions, and I feel bad about it now, but I just nodded and walked quickly from the store. I should have maybe given her some Amen Sister type validation, but really all I wanted was a sale rack of polka dotted skirts. Plus she was way freaky with her speech patterns, which I’ve tried faithfully to emulate.

I remember a pivotal moment in my growing up-ness: one day when I put on my mom’s clogs to shlump around in – shuffling, because they were always too big – they fit! I think I felt like I became a grown up on that day. In truth they were still a bit too large, my mom is to this day a 1/2 a size bigger than I am. My sister outgrew us, in feet size and feet height, long ago.

Sometimes hard, wood bottomed clogs can be hard on the balls of your feet, especially if you’re walking long distances and you don’t have any padding (socks). That’s why my favorite pair of shoes this summer, and last, are these lovely numbers from Dansko. I bought them in red last year and now I have them in this nice dark brown. The soles are cheaty – they aren’t hard wood but foamy stuff that’s made to look wood. This makes them bendy and light. I feel all sassy frass 1982 in these.

I found some cute Victorian button pendants that could work (as the necklace, not as a phone) but they were a tad too big.

I also found a nice heavy black phone at some overpriced ‘Vintage & Collectables’ place in Russian Hill but it was $45 and I’m feeling cheap.

My right arm aches in a funny way and I’m convinced I’ve got a blood clot or I’m having a heart attack. I love being on birth control pills – it expands my hypochondriac landscape.

I’m reading The Red Tent right now – a gift from my grandmother last Christmas. I’m shocked and impressed that she enjoyed this book so much. It’s got a lot of WOMAN and SEX in it. Not in any unwholesome way, just in a hippie Lilith Fair way. But then, my grandmother was a nurse and did leave a copy of Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Sex But Were Afraid To Ask conspiciously in the middle of the guest room bookshelf the summer I spent my 13th birthday with them.

Today I braved Oxford Circus to buy some yoga clothes @ NikeWorld (or NikeLand, or something to that effect). I got some comfy stuff. Came home, ate some yummy hummous.

About an hour ago Jason sent me an SMS message that said “REM are playing a free show @ Trafalgar Sqaure! Come now!’ which got me pretty excited until he called back and said that tickets were actually needed and that scalpers were selling them and also that REM didn’t come on until 5 other bands had played. Since I’ve reached my people-qoutient for the weekend I decided to not go. Instead I’m sitting in the nice empty flat and listening to the rain. Maybe I’ll have some ice cream.

Tomorrow morning I look @ a studio (ground floor – could get broken into a lot) with a garden (oooohhh) that’s just a few blocks from the Islington Sainsbury’s and the Angel tube station (yessssss). Which means it’s also a 10 minute walk to work. Tasty. I will be on my best most impressive behavior come 9:30am tomorrow.

Also – I think a guy might have flirted with me while I was @ Reckless Records yesterday – I just didn’t understand him very well. He looked at my CDs (he worked there) and then took out a piece of paper and starting scribbling about some club that plays good music. It was very loud in the store and when he asked me if I knew certain bands from SF (I think?) I couldn’t hear very well so I just sort of looked confused but smiled a lot. Then he looked confused back and so I left. 4 blocks later I looked down and saw he’d written his email and name next to the club dates and location. He was an Anjie-type boy and I couldn’t understand a word he was saying – his East End-y accent was so strong. Still, a nice thing. And gosh can I be lame.