Monthly Archives: March 2011

My Monthly Treat

By

I realize that the title of this post isn’t the greatest. But, I’m too lazy to change it.

Last month, my law school wifey/bff Katie, suggested we have a girls’ day of shopping, mani’s, and eating out. It was actually the day that I had tried hot yoga (Bikram) for the first time. In all my dried up sweat fabulousness – I met her up at our local outdoor mall, Partridge Creek. (Yea, we have 2 outdoor malls in the Metro-Detroit area that get snowed out 5 months out of 12; makes complete sense, no?)

I’m not really a fan of nail salon manicures as I tend to chip my nails on my way out the door. (It most definitely happened on my pre-wedding day manicured nails.) I’m also not a huge fan of acrylics anymore because they make my nails un-breathable and itchy.

When, Katie mentioned a “guaranteed” manicure, I had to give it a try. I’m sure a lot of you have heard about it and/or already are avid fans. I tend to be late on the “trends” wagon. It’s a salon line called “Axxium” by the ever renowned nail company, OPI.

In my simple version of what an “Axxium” manicure entails is as follows:

  1. Special nail polish (limited colors available) is painted on layer by layer.
  2. Usually 2-3 coats are applied.
  3. In between each coat, you dry them under a UV light.
  4. Top coat is applied at the end.
  5. UV light dries nails for a final round.
  6. Spray cleaner is applied to remove excess.
  7. Hand massage.
  8. Voila, instant dry nails!

I took the photos above about a week after my first manicure. And honestly, they looked exactly like that two weeks later. The only difference being the length of my growing nails.

The “Axxium” is definitely a thicker feel and texture than a regular manicure, but for the 3 week+ no-chip polish. I’m a huge fan. There was no “drying time” after the 25-30 min. nail salon session and I still washed dishes and went about my usual house chores that had no effect on the manicure.

This past weekend, I went back to the nail salon, not because of chips, but because my nails had grown so long. This time – the nail tech suggested I try “gel-in”s (shellac), which are a bit thinner than the OPI Axxium line. I wanted to get the french manicure this time and the white in the shellac line was “brighter” than the OPI Axxium one, so I paid the extra $5 to try the shellac.

 

I am a huge fan of both the OPI Axxium and Shellac manicures.

I really like the OPI line of colors and the shellac for the french.

Some notes:

  • most salons will charge you to remove the old manicure (as you need to soak your nails in straight acetone). (Though, my friend has “peeled” it off at home with no damage to her nails).
  • It is kind of tedious compared to a quick, regular manicure.
  • They don’t concentrate as much on your cuticles as they do during a regular manicure.
  • The hand massage at the end is always TO DIE FOR!!!!!
  • If you’re like me, this is the answer to keeping your nails long throughout wintertime.
  • For $25-30 a session, it is well worth my “me-time” & monthly treat!

–Have you tried either manicures? What do you think?

March Madness

By

If you haven’t figured out by now, Mr.DJW and I are homebodies. We’ve both gone through our young days of “party-ing” & “clubbing” and prefer to spend time at home when we have any left over from our work and class schedules.

This past week was a crazy one for me at work, so even though neither one of us had class on Thursday, we didn’t have energy to barhop or even head to a local pub for St.Patrick’s Day. It’s pretty much the norm in our world and honestly, we prefer it that way.

But, hey, who says you can’t celebrate and have a lil’ holiday cheer at home? After running a few errands, I stopped over our local Nino Salvaggio’s to pick up a cabbage and some corned beef. Mr.DJW had already stocked our fridge with beer last weekend, so as soon as I got home, I started cooking our SPD dinner and made a jug of green beer!

–How do you celebrate St. Patty’s Day? How’s your bracket looking?

(Syracuse totally effed my bracket up and I’m out for the season!)

P.S. I’m back on the blogging wagon and will have too many posts going up this week!

confession time.

By

So, back at the start of the new year, I posted this entry, to keep myself accountable to the new health/diet/workout regiment that I had promised myself to keep for the 2011 year and in my life (for good).

Now that the first quarter of the year is drawing its end, I have a confession. About a few weeks into January, I stopped everything. I stopped eating healthier, I stopped working out. I let life’s hustle and bustle be the excuse for my laziness and lack of motivation. I gained 6 more pounds, instead of losing the first ten that I had vowed to lose to get back to “my normal weight.”

Then, a few weeks ago on a random Saturday morning, I read through my accountability post, looked at myself in the mirror and made myself get back on track. As you can read from my lent post below, it’s helped a TON that hubby is also on a new workout regiment and both of us have given up ‘eating out, take out, fast food’ for lent.

On that random Saturday morning, I googled and finally found a bikram yoga studio in Troy (where I work), and drove myself to a class that started one hour later. I bought the $25/2weeks pass and ended up going 4 times that first week! Since then, I’ve been eating better and working out intermittently when I can find the time and I haven’t felt this good in FOREVER. I am back down to the weight at the start of the year, 128 pounds, as of this evening and I couldn’t be more thrilled. Moreso than the number on my scale, I feel great. Even different than the 128 pounds in January, the bloat is gone, the sodium is gone, the feeling addicted to food when I’m not hungry is gone.

I hope to keep this going and hopefully get my bikini body back in time for our end of April vacation! :) But, even if I never get the “ideal” figure, I love the pattern Mr.DJW and I have been able to upkeep to maintain our ‘youthful’ health for the long run. We eat everything that we want, but in moderation. We try to cook a lot at home (by default – since we can’t rely on take-out!) and eat lots of fruits and veggies.

I’ll try to do a weekly check-in with my renewed new year’s resolution! :)

–Have you kept up on your NYR? What’s your healthy eating/workout habits?

Layla Love

By

So I’m sure you guys have seen the recent blog/twitter splurge of “#operationlayla.” And if you haven’t, please take a minute to read this entry.

Layla & her hubby Josh

(Source: Layla’s Personal Photo)

Please do not use without permission.

Layla is one of my really good and bestest ”friends in the computer.” We run in the same “twitter/fb/blog” circle of a group of wonderful women who share a bond over all things food, clothing, internet, furbabies, relationships, LIFE! The ladies have shown me love and support through all barriers (hello – we’ve never even met in person!) and at a time when she needs us, I am more than happy to help in any small way I can.

Here is Layla’s story:

One month after her 30th birthday, Layla was diagnosed with early stage cervical cancer (1A Adenocarcinoma). She was extraordinarily lucky that it was caught early, and was able to have a simple surgery to remove the cancerous cells. Three years later, Layla had been in horrible pain that affected nearly every aspect of her life. Temporarily uninsured due to a job change, she paid out of pocket last October to go to the doctor and make sure that the cancer had not returned. Thankfully, it had not. However, her doctor believes that she has pelvic adhesions and Endometriosis due to the previous surgery, but it can not be diagnosed until an additional surgery (laparoscopy) is performed.

The doctor also found out that Layla has cervical stenosis, which basically means her cervix has completely shut due to the scar tissue from the previous surgery. These issues make her miserable most of the time, making simple things like going to the bathroom and menstruation horribly painful, and sexual intercourse impossible. He stated that if she did want to have children one day, even sperm could not pass through her cervix, and she would have to have intrauterine insemination. The doctor wanted to schedule surgery as soon as the insurance at her new job went into effect. Her company fired her the day her insurance became valid, ten days before Christmas, plainly stating that it was because of her health issues.

Fortunately, she was able to get on her husband’s insurance, which went into effect on February 1st. As soon as she could, Layla scheduled surgery for March 22nd. Then her insurance company dropped a bomb: because she had gone to the doctor (even as a self pay patient) within a three month period prior to her enrollment date, they were considering her health issues to be a pre-existing condition, and would not insure any doctor visits, medication, or surgery for them for 388 days.

388 days is a long time to wait when you are in near constant pain and can’t work. The sooner Layla can have this surgery, the sooner she can return to work (hopefully with a nicer company!) and start living her life again. Her doctor has been nice enough to work out a deal with her, decreasing the amount of her surgery to $4,000, with additional fees for biopsies of removed tissue to be determined, if Layla can pay as a cash patient.

The problem is, Layla is unemployed due to this, has used her savings to pay for living expenses and medical bills, and has been denied loans for the surgery because of her unemployment status. She does not have a close family, so she can’t ask them for help. Surgery is scheduled for March 22nd, and Layla and her husband are still trying to secure a loan through several banks.

———

We are holding an upcoming online bake sale, using our personal ebay accounts for aunction proceeds, and there is also a paypal donation account setup (just check out my sidebar to the right!). We are reaching out for any help that you can provide, every penny counts! for Layla’s upcoming March 22nd surgery. We have no time to waste! If you have even a $1 or $5 to spare, please click the donate button to your right and help an amazing woman get back to her healthy self!

Your time and understanding is so greatly appreciated by all of us.