Whole Beauty Part 2: Skin Revelations

A lot of women I know dislike their skin.  I'm right there with you. 

But I've recently started a new beauty journey, and I want to take you with me!

Those close to me know that I have struggled with problematic skin for over a decade.  Since the age of 13, I've battled oiliness, dryness (yes, both), redness, and seemingly endless breakouts.  So much skin sadness!

There's one refrain heard from anyone who struggles with similar skin issues - "I've tried everything."  When a person says this, I believe her, because I know that she really has tried everything.  Because I really really really have tried everything.

Over the counter products, like Neutrogena, Cetaphil, CeraVe...

Mid-range products, like Clinique, Murad, Philosophy...

TV infomercial products, like Proactiv, Exposed...

"Natural" products, like Burt's Bees, Say Yes, Alba...

Prestige products, like Somme, Dr. Hauschka, Clarisonic...

I have visited the naturopath and tried elimination diets, "liver-cleansing" supplements, herbs and tonics.

I have visited the dermatologist and taken antibiotics, hormone-altering medications, prescription topicals

I have tried benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, sea buckthorn, witch hazel, facials, steaming, retinols.  Endless cleansers, toners, moisturizers, masks, tonics, soaks, scrubs, exfoliators, bars, creams, and compresses.

I eat a healthy, balanced diet.  I exercise regularly, and cleanse after.  I drink 8 glasses of water.  I change my towels and pillow cases every other day.  I leave offerings for skin gods.

I have even tried total Acceptance.  Doing nothing - no cleansing, moisturizing, touching, or even thinking too hard about my skin.

Nothing works.

I was still oily or dry, still had excessive redness.  And years of using harsh products made me feel like I was torturing my face.  I knew I just hadn’t found The Key yet – my skin wanted to be healthy, I just didn’t know how to take care of it.

I think about this as a “dark side” to my otherwise very positive feelings about beauty and make up.  And because I love to apply, and read about, and research, and think about make up and beauty products, I’m frequently talking with friends (and strangers) about their beauty routines.  If I see a woman who has beautiful skin, or who has clearly put energy into doing lovely or artistic make up, I want to compliment her and find out her secrets. 

Sometimes a woman with beautiful skin will say something super annoying like, “I eat a lot of blueberries,” or “Ponds cold cream.”  And we both know that most of us average Janes could eat a flat of blueberries and bathe in Ponds and still not have the same genetically-blessed flawless finish.

And then sometimes you talk to someone who has battled all the same issues as you, who has also tried everything, and then found The Key, and come out on the other side with lovely, healthy, glowing skin.  And she wants to share all of her secrets!  And she starts a blog to tell other women about all the toxins in their beauty products, and how they can transform their skin, and help the environment, just by doing what’s natural.  And she’s so effing gorgeous you will do whatever she says.  That’s my friend, Lauren Evashenk, and her awesome blog Naked Truth Beauty.

Lauren’s Key, and my Skin Revelation, is the magic of oil.  In particular, for me, pure jojoba oil.  Get the full story in her post.  As she explains, oil is the most perfect skin nourishment.  Jojoba in particular is chemically identical to the oil our skin naturally produces (sebum).  Thus when we use it, our skin recognizes it as its own moisture – a friendly beast that need not be battled with inflammation.  Not only that, but oil can be used as a cleanser as well.  Jojoba oil removes excess oil from your skin (it makes sense, oil removes oil), and draws impurities out of your pores, without disrupting the chemical balance of your face.

I’ve learned that using common beauty products starts a vicious cycle.  Cleansers and toners remove our skin’s natural oils.  We moisturize with water-based, oil-free creams and lotions to counteract the dryness from the cleanser.  However, our skin still senses its been stripped of its own moisture, and starts to produce more sebum.  The excess sebum causes our pores to enlarge, and often become infected with acne.  We’ve cleansed and moisturized, but our skin is either dry or oily (or both).  Then we use more products to try to kill the acne bacteria.  We exfoliate to slough off the layers of dead skin that accumulate from all these harsh treatments.  It seems like no matter what we do, our skin is shiny, dull, lifeless, patchy, and broken out. 

Lauren points out how this cycle produces a reliance on commercial beauty products.  Those with “problem skin” need to use “oil free” products because, we’re told, oil is the enemy and will make you break out.  While its true that not all oils are appropriate for your face (read about that here), it can actually be the solution to many of the problems it purportedly causes.

And the best part?  A 4oz bottle of pure jojoba oil from Trader Joe’s is $8.  I’ve paid more money just to talk about skin care. 

So let’s get real, does this work? 

It may not be the solution to every single problem your skin presents.  I don’t (yet) believe that oil alone will alleviate the worst breakouts.  I recognize that acne is, at its core, a bacterial infection that may have to be treated medically.  I’m not saying fire your dermatologist. 

But I am saying that, given the best treatment, skin wants to be healthy, and healthy is beautiful.  When I use oil, my pores diminish, my skin is plump, and I’m neither shiny nor dry.  I don’t know if anyone is stopping me on the street yet to say, “Hey gorgeous, what’s your routine?”  But for the first time in about 15 years, I like my skin.  My new routine is using oil, accepting flaws, celebrating health, and taking care of myself.  Oh and mascara.  I really like mascara.

More to come on make up and beauty in my next post!

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XOXO

Craft: Jewelry Board

My latest craft project: Homemade Cork Jewelry Boards: 

A few posts ago, I paired up with Chelsea to create some fun bracelets we found on Pinterest (if you haven't read that, it's here).  Crafting some jewelry reminded me that I want to start wearing more of the jewelry I have.  If you're like me, you have hodge-podge piles of handmade craft jewelry and costume jewelry from Goodwill and Target lying around all over the place. It collects in the bathroom, in my clothes drawers, and my vanity.  I also have a small collection of "real" jewelry, all of which is meaningful - the necklace and earrings I wore at my wedding, trinkets brought home by my father from his international deployments, gifts over the years from Chris.  But somehow I always end up wearing the same small pieces of jewelry that collect in a little cup in my bathroom.  I know it's because I can't be bothered to go through this mess:

This is the top of Chris's dresser - otherwise known as my jewelry hoarding pile.  No, it's not even my own dresser.  Yes, that is an authentic aluminum Caboodle, straight from 7th grade, chock full of shiny trinkets that I've hidden away like a raccoon.  If I want to wear a particular piece of jewelry, I have to sort through all of this, and then I often don't put it away properly  Added peril comes from cats jumping onto this pile in the middle of the night, because they, like raccoons, like shiny things (and waking us up at 4am).  Something had to be done.

So I decided to make a jewelry board, inspired by some projects I pinned.  I traveled to Michael's to see what I could find, and wound up purchasing a set of 4 cork tiles, and rolls of burlap in 2 patterns, plus some sparkly push pins, and a box of jewelry display pins.  The glue gun I already had.

I went with the burlap because a) that's what they had at Michael's, b) the lace-covered burlap reminded me of my wedding, and c) the text-printed burlap goes perfectly with the upholstery on the chair to my vanity <theme joy>

I think purchasing fat quarters, using scrap fabric, or buying a yard or 2 of fabric to cover your cork tiles may be a little easier, but just go with what you like!

I knew that the burlap roll wasn't wide enough to cover the tile, so I just cut 3 strips per tile:

I started at the top, and laid out the fabric how I wanted it (this didn't matter so much with the lace burlap, since it was a consistent pattern, but it did matter with the text-print burlap)

Then I hot-glued the strip to the front, and then hot-glued the excess to the back, making sure it was snug (don't mind my goldfish snack).

I knew I would need 3 strips to cover the tile, so I elected to do the top and bottom strips first...

And end with the middle strip.  Make sure you're gluing the middle strip to the cork, and not just the other fabric, so everything remains snug.

I made 4 tiles, 2 in each pattern.  This whole project took about 15 minutes!

I decided to hang the boards on a wall that needed a little sprucing!  I love these 2 paintings by P. Buckley Moss - one of my mother's favorite artists - but they get swallowed by this giant empty wall, and I knew they'd be better somewhere else.  And obviously, my old Ikea full-length mirror covered in plastic beads, a non-functional lamp, and wedding mementos, had to go (just the mirror, not the mementos!).

It took a few tries to figure out how to hang these puppies!  I used some of those picture-hanging stickers, but quickly realized the cork tiles weren't sturdy enough to not warp with the weight of the jewelry unless each tile was secured at all 4 corners.  I had to go back later and do this since I'd initially only put one sticker on the top-middle.  You craft and you learn!

And then I used jewelry display pins to hang up all of the jewelry I want to wear more often.  

And the best part is that, even when I'm not wearing it, my jewelry is now art on my wall!

The dresser still has some stuff on it... I'm hoping to line a little wooden tray with some soft fabric so I can have a place to put heavy bangles and boxes.  Next craft project!

Crafting is all about making beautiful things useful, and useful things beautiful.  What are your favorite ideas for storing and displaying your jewelry?

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love love love

Recipe: Favorite Tortellini Soup

Not only is this my favorite soup recipe, it's also one of my very favorite suppers of all!  I will eat this soup even if it's 80 degrees outside.  I will eat this soup cold if I'm too ravenous to microwave.  I will eat this soup in a box, with socks, and in other Dr. Suess related circumstances.  

I found the original recipe here, and this blogger says she found it in Bon Appetit, so you know it's trustworthy.  I always omit the spinach - I don't like greens in my soups.  Over the years I've tried adding in other vegetables, but the only thing I really loved is celery.  After many rounds of scientific testing, I can say this soup is perfection (p <. 001).  

Here are my assembled ingredients (with a handsome husband in the background).  I always choose low sodium chicken stock, and I prefer Kitchen Basics.  I also always try to get low sodium cannellini beans - you'd be amazed how much unnecessary sodium is in canned beans.  I also prefer the Jennie-O turkey kielbasa for this recipe.

The first step is to sweat your minced whole onion and 2 stalks of celery in about 2 tbs of olive oil.  

Then I add 4 cloves of minced garlic.  I know that sounds like a lot of garlic for soup, but trust me, it's just the right amount.  Also fresh garlic is best, the jarred minced garlic is okay sometimes but not in this recipe.  I also add about a tbs of dry thyme, and a tsp of red pepper flake at this stage.  When using dried herbs, adding them at this stage allows them to toast, and draws the oils out, making the flavor brighter and fresher.

Then I add in the kielbasa, which I've diced in little quarters.  I allow this to come together in the pan for a few minutes.  The kielbasa doesn't really need to develop color, but I like the flavors mixing in each stage.  At this point, your house should be starting to smell like glorious herbaceous meat... I imagine a cozy pub after a long, cold journey when they serve you up a big pot of stew... That's never happened to me, but I imagine that's what it smells like!  

Then I pour in the whole box of chicken stock, the rinsed beans, and the package of cheese tortellini and bring it up to a boil.  I use a "family size" package of tortellini because I want a lot of leftovers, but if you want a brothier soup you could use a regular size package.  I boil it for as long as the tortellini needs to cook. 

Technically you could eat it right away.  But I learned the best tip ever from my idol, the Pioneer Woman: always let your soup rest off the heat for 15 minutes before serving.  Not only is it then the perfect hot-but-not-scalding temperature, but the flavors mellow and it really becomes soup.  

Then eat it!  Eat a whole bowl!  Eat another!  Sip the rich, herby, delicious, savory broth.  Each tortellini is saturated with it, like soup dumplings.  

And then, overnight, something magical happens.  When you take the leftovers out for lunch, you discover the broth has become even thicker and richer, and you're consuming some sort of soup/pasta/stew revelation!  I've considered making a huge pot of this and then just refrigerating it so I can skip to the leftover phase... But it's usually too good to wait.

Favorite Tortellini Soup

32 oz (4 cups) low-sodium chicken stock

Cheese tortellini

Turkey kielbasa

1 can low-sodium cannellini beans

2 stalks celery

1 onion

4 cloves garlic

1 tbs thyme

1 tsp red pepper flake

2 tbs olive oil

1. Mince onion, garlic, and celery.  Dice kielbasa

2. Sweat onion and celery in 2 tbs of olive oil, in a soup pot

3. Add herbs and garlic, sauté for a minute

4. Add kielbasa, sauté for a minute

6. Add chicken stock, beans, and tortellini, bring to a boil

7. Boil according to package directions for tortellini

8. Let soup rest off heat 15 minutes prior to serving

I hope you enjoy this soup as much as I do!

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XOXO

Craft Day with Chelsea

Chelsea and I finally had our long-awaited craft circle yesterday!  Crafting is normally a solitary activity - usually it's just you and your cats at home, thinking to yourself, "I wonder if my friends will think this potted plant cozy is the coolest?" and "Does Ryan Gosling really like girls who craft, or are all those 'Hey Girl' memes totally made up?"  Etc.

But I do have a few crafty friends, and sometimes it's fun to get together and make something beautiful with each other.

The most epic craft event of my life was going to my BFF, Aimee's, beach house to create all of the decorations for my wedding.  This weekend became known as "Crafty Sweatshop/Sweaty Craftshop," because it was around 100 degrees in that beach house, but we managed to make EVERYTHING for my wedding in 2 days.  All of the table settings, flower vases, candle holders, and decor were crafted by hand by just the two of us.

We cut pages out of love stories and made them into lace-edged table runners.  We covered mason jars in burlap and hand-painted buttons.  We frosted and spray-painted jam jars for candle holders.  We cut endless pennants out of scrapbook paper.  We filled tiny chiffon bags with Hershey kisses.

We stenciled and cut till our fingers were sore.

But seriously, we cut out THOUSANDS of pennants, and then strung those triangles onto twine to hang up all over the venue.  It took an unbelievably long amount of time.

Aimee never faltered, never said "maybe we should just buy a pennant banner," or "I never want to see you again."  Because Aimee knows, as a fellow crafter, that the point of making something yourself is that you remember the love each time you see it.  And when I walked into my decorated wedding venue, I knew that each item inside was created and filled with love, by hand, by me and a wonderful bridesmaid.  What could be more magical?

The same can be said for making jewelry.  Yes, you could buy a professionally made item, which will look quite perfect and be worn forever.  But you could also make some jewelry with a dear friend, and then think of each other each time you wear it.  Isn't that nice?

This was also a little Pinterest experiment!  Both of us had pinned several handmade jewelry items, and wanted to actually make something off our endless craft boards.  We selected these two to start:

(for the first one, I was unable to find the original source!  It linked to a simple wordpress photo, so if any of you know where this came from that would be great.  The second is from yesmissy.com.  A link to my Pinterest is on the right side of this blog!) 

I found a place called  Fusion Beads in Wallingford where I will now proceed to spend $1,000,000.  Long tables covered in glittering beads and baubles of all shapes and sizes, walls covered in strings of pearls and spools of silky ribbon, and the nicest, most helpful staff you could ever hope to meet.  I spent too much money.

But with the right supplies, we started our craft day!

Wait, that doesn't look right...

Oh there we go, that's better.

It may have been the extra large mimosas, but it took me a few tries to get the chain bracelet right.  Chelsea was a craft superstar, and helped me figure it out.  She also showed me how to macrame-knot for the other bracelet - apparently I missed a huge part of adolescence by not learning how to make hemp necklaces!  

About 4 hours and 3 mimosas later, we had this:

But even better:

How cute is that??  I would consider this a Pinterest success!

Round 2 next week?

Recipe: Chicken with Mushroom Pan Sauce

I like to have the Food Network on the in the background while I'm working on the computer at home - it's soothing to have people cooking delicious food while I'm trying to figure out what exactly I wrote in my dissertation again...

This show came on (I won't name names) in which this lady, I guess, makes typically high-fat foods into "diet" food.  Now, I am definitely a proponent of making healthy food choices.  I'm not an over-the-top organic nut, and I enjoy my wine and pizza as much as the next girl, but when cooking at home I do make efforts to create "balanced" meals.  Nicolai and I try to eat lots of greens, and to not go overboard with portion sizes.  I've even been known to occasionally substitute lower-fat or lower-sodium ingredients in recipes.  But overall I believe it's better to cook with food in its natural state, and just eat less of it if it's truly THAT bad for you.  Butter is better.

But yesterday, I watched with mounting horror as this unnamed Food Network woman created a "mock"-potato-salad with microwaved cauliflower, fat-free mayonnaise (what is that even made of?!), something called "dijonnaise," which appeared to be some sort of viscous fat-free mayo and mustard blend that squirts out of a tube, dairy-free creamer (WHAT?), sugar-substitute, and boiled egg whites.  I just threw up in my mouth reliving that.  She was praising this salad, saying that 2/3 of a cup had "only 90 calories" and "a few" grams of fat.  As opposed to Satan's candy, real potato salad, which has "HUNDREDS" of calories per cup and will make you fat and ugly.  I was so upset by this.  Why are we demonizing food?!  Potato salad is meant to be consumed occasionally, at BBQs, you have a scoop with your burger.  I cannot imagine living in a world where I brought that radioactive mess to a party and expected everyone to eat non-dairy creamer and sucralose-coated vegetables, all so I could fool myself into thinking I'm eating something sort of like evil, bad potato salad.  Food is not evil.  And you can't trick me with that cauliflower!

All of this gave me so much anxiety, I had to cook a Julia Child recipe for dinner.  Yes, there is butter in it.  No, I don't call this a "cheat" meal.  Nourishing my body and soul with a variety of rich, light, wholesome, and sometimes even entirely healthy meals is not cheating on anything.  

I believe Julia called this recipe "Chicken with Mushrooms and White Wine Cream Sauce."  I call it, "the shit."  I've modified it somewhat from her recipe to make it a little easier in my kitchen and with my cooking style.  I've made variations on this recipe dozens of times - one of Nicolai's very favorite things to eat is chicken with some sort of pan sauce.  There are endless possibilities.  

I chopped up a shallot, sliced some baby bella mushrooms, and got my lemon ready for squeezing!  I also preheated my oven to 350.

Then I placed two chicken breast between two layers of plastic wrap...

And beat them into submission.  Don't let those chicken breasts talk back to you.  You're the boss of the kitchen!  (you should probably use a rolling pin and not a mason jar, but I live on the edge).

I do this so that my chicken cooks a little quicker (and more surface area for tasty browning)

Then I melted about 4 tablespoons of butter in a pan, and added the shallot.

After the shallots absorbed some of the butter (only about 30 seconds), I laid the chicken breasts in the pan, salt-and-peppered them, and then gave them a healthy squeeze of lemon.

After the chicken has developed some color on both sides (for me, about 5 minutes on the first side, and 3 on the 2nd), I put the chicken in the oven to finish cooking.

Next I added the sliced mushrooms, about a half cup of white wine, a half cup of chicken stock, and another pat of butter (because I do what I want).

This is one of the bottles of wine I got on my birthday trip to Leavenworth!  Nicolai and I were drunk when we bought this, but luckily it ended up tasting okay!

After the wine, stock, mushroom mixture had simmered and reduced about half, I added about 1/4 cup of heavy cream.  At this stage, I added some thyme because it's Nicolai's favorite herb and I forgot to put it in before, but I would recommend adding them with the mushrooms.  You can see Nicolai dipping a spoon in to taste on the right hand side of this picture...  

Add more cream, butter, herbs, or lemon to taste.

I made some brown rice, and a nice fresh arugala, carrot, and celery salad with sweet onion dressing on the side.  I think this would be equally good served over spinach, or with asparagus!

**As a note, I typically use unsalted chicken stock when I cook.  I didn't this time, and, of course, the dish ended up tasting too salty.  I would say it's always better to buy unsalted stock and control your own seasoning.

Chicken with Mushroom Pan Sauce

2 chicken breasts

1 shallot, chopped

1/2 lemon

1/2 tsp thyme

1 1/2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

4-5 tbs butter

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup unsalted chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream

1.  Prep your food, and preheat your oven to 350

2. Melt 4 tbs of butter in a pan, and add chopped shallot

3. After the shallot has absorbed some of the butter 

(about 30 seconds), add the chicken breasts

4. Squeeze the lemon on the chicken, 

allow the chicken breasts to brown on both sides, 

then place them in the oven to finish cooking

5. To the butter and shallot mixture in the pan, 

add mushrooms, thyme, and 1 more tb of butter

6. Add chicken stock and wine, and allow this to reduce to about half

7. Add cream

8. Serve chicken with pan sauce poured over.

Et viola!  No non-dairy creamer in this recipe.  I think Julia would approve.

Whole Beauty, Part 1: We do what we want

I was asked recently by a client whether I am a feminist.

For those of you who don't know what I do, I'm currently in year 5 of 6 working towards my clinical psychology Ph.D.  I work as a counselor at an all-girls high school.  

The answer to this question was important to my client because she considers herself a feminist, and had received some negative feedback from her friends about this.  She'd essentially received the message that to consider yourself a feminist is outdated, and conjures up images of "hairy armpits" - this is what a few teen girls had said.  It sort of boiled down to the idea that being a feminist is un-feminine.  That it means you eschew "womanly" things like make up and motherhood.  That you hate men, and think they're all out to get you.  

I asked my client what it means to her to be a feminist, and she said, "It means I like being a girl...and I think girls should be free to do what they want."

I thought this was a perfect explanation.  Yes, I am a feminist.  I like being a girl, too.  And I will continue to be a feminist until girls really can do what they want.  Whether they have hairy armpits or not.  

That's what inspired me to write this next blog series on women I know who do what they want.  Each of these women is a strong, cool, smart, sexy, fun, boss-lady, and I wanted to talk to each of them and share my conversations about some of my favorite topics, namely beauty and wellness.  Basically talking to broads about being broads.  Lady on lady conversing.  Chick shit.  All girls allowed.  (Boys can read, too).

I wanted to start off this series by rapping about my female friends and family.  (not literally rapping, I can't rap, though I rhyme sometimes for funsies).  

I hear all the time that women find it hard to have close relationships with other women.  My [feminist] take on that is that it's pretty hard to establish yourself as a powerful, smart, assertive, boss-lady and still seem accessible.  I think women are often intimidated by other women, and/or competitive with them.  Or maybe you were just a shy late-bloomer and didn't get to have fun female friendships until adulthood (who is that??  oh me, haha).  

These challenges to female friendship are exactly what makes me so grateful, on the daily, to be included in the friendships I've found here in Seattle, and to be inspired by women who celebrate themselves and each other.  

Namely, Smash Club, friends from college, and my sisters and Mama

SMASH CLUB

I can't believe how lucky I am to have been adopted by this crew... I've truly never encountered a group of women who are as genuinely supportive, positive, and kind to each other as these ladies.  I look around at them and see how much happiness we take in each others' wellbeing and accomplishments.  To me, they are the model of modern female friendship.

We're also really good at making human pyramids

College friends

My sisters and these women I met in college (and before) became my bridesmaids, along with some Smash Club beauties you see in there.  I lived with Kim for 4 years and I consider that my first marriage.  She is an inspiration for powerful women everywhere.  She works ridiculously long hours in D.C. for the awesome Shot@Life campaign, and does it all in amazing fashion.  And Meghan, who's a bride this year (!!!!), has constantly amazed me with her loyalty and kind friendship.  We survived years of working for bad pay at [un-named coffee corporation].  Julia is my oldest friend.  That deserves a blog post of its own (and will have it).

Sisters

Chelsea is StewDrew's girlfriend, and quickly became my closest confidante.  She's hung out with my family for years now and doesn't even think we're crazy!  She's genuinely one of the most un-selfish people I know.  I admire her so much.

Katie is Jake's wife.  She bring so much joy every place she goes...she lights up a room, and has the most contagious laugh.  And she should serve as an inspiration for all women through her toughness, brilliance, sweetness, and strength.

Little B is my darling baby sister.  I think, within minutes of meeting her, everyone knows she is something special.  She loves fully and is never afraid to laugh at herself - I think this is the epitome of grace.  I want to be like her when I grow up.

And finally,

Mama

This is the woman who taught me everything I know about being a woman.  She mothered 4 children as a Navy wife and created a beautiful, healthy, love-filled home for all of us.  I've never heard her complain.  She taught me how to be a listener.  She is gentle.  She is beautiful.  She taught me to dress with class, even if you're just going to the grocery store, and to wash my face every night before I go to sleep.  She is patient.  She is affectionate.  She taught me that Wife and Mother are two jobs with capital letters.  She taught me to love and respect my body.  She taught me to be kind to other women.  And to be kind to myself.  She taught me all those things on purpose, but even if she hadn't, I would have learned them from watching her.  So really she is the queen of boss-ladies, and the inspiration for all these posts to follow.

If you're still reading now after all that gushing prose about the women of my life, I thank you, and ask you to stay tuned for more posts in the Whole Beauty series (which, I promise, will be shorter, dirtier, and more useful).

Now go hug some woman you love!