7 Ways to Save Time & Money this Christmas Season

1. Take care of yourself. You may be wondering how this could save you time or money. This is possibly the most important thing that you can do. A tired or sick body is an inefficient one, not to mention the medical costs. Try to get enough sleep so that you can reduce your stress level and make better decisions. Take vitamins to help combat sickness. The healthier you are, then the better you can enjoy the holidays!

2. Have retailers do your wrapping. Unless wrapping is one of your favorite things to do, save yourself the trouble. I offer free gift-wrapping for all of my clients. I also offer free delivery. Don’t be afraid to ask for these services from any retailer. My guess is that most recognize that these times call for high value. If they value you, then they will work to earn your business.

3. Create a home-cooked feel with half the effort. Do you have a few holiday parties to host or family gatherings? Decide which one or two things really have to be home-made (e.g. that traditional recipe that everyone looks forward to all year). Purchase or Pot-Luck the rest. If you must be in charge of the whole dinner, consider purchasing a few dishes. Simply put them on one of your fancy plates and no one will ever know that they weren’t home-made! Really!!! I do it all the time. If you can share the task, consider having family and friends each bring one dish. There is something special about a pot-luck meal anyway since everyone has invested time and talent.

4. Consider hiring someone to clean your house. It may sound like a luxury, but consider what the time could really be worth to you. You free yourself up to work or spend time with family. What is that worth to you? How do you really want to spend your time? Most professional cleaners are very efficient at their jobs. I have a wonderful friend who cleans my house in less than 1/4th the time that it takes me – and she does a better job! As a result, I don’t have the stress of getting my house ready for company. Many cleaning services will give you a special rate for the first cleaning in order to demonstrate their value. What a great time to test this service – when you are busiest with the holidays!

5. Find ways to give tangible tokens of love as holiday gifts. Try giving a heart-felt note with a small simple gift instead of spending hours hunting for trinkets for that person who is hard to buy for. Another idea is to print a photo from the past and write a special note on the back. These kinds of gifts are always remembered and treasured most. I still have a small box with a note in it that my mom wrote to me as a Christmas present one year; it was our last Christmas together. This box adorns my Christmas Tree as an ornament every year.

6. Utilize consultants. If you are strapped for time or money, talk to a local business that you trust. For example, I can help suggest, design, and gift-wrap presents for any budget. In fact, I have worked with several of my customers to develop gift plans that meet their needs. We determine how many gifts they need and which items are best. I then wrap them beautifully and get everything ready so my customer is worry-free. This is a completely free service that many businesses, including me, are able to offer clients for a hassle-free shopping experience.

7. Remember that Perfection is an ideal – it doesn’t exist, so stop stressing out! Things don’t have to be “perfect” to have a great holiday. What matters most is the time spent with loved ones and the reflections we make about the season. We can spend a lot of time rushing around trying to have the perfect décor, the perfect food, or the perfect greeting cards. At the end of the day, all people really want is a little bit of YOU. Isn’t that really what you want of them too?

Winter is on its way, protect your skin!

Winter is on its way! During the winter months, skin is more prone to dryness. Even people who have normal to combination skin in warmer months can experience dryer skin. This makes sense because the air outside and inside has less available moisture. The lack of moisture and cooler temperatures can also result in chapped skin.

What can you do to better care for your skin in the winter months? Moisturization and exfoliation are both critical. This is true for your face, your lips, your hands, your whole body!

Below are some tips to help keep your skin pretty this winter:

• Try using a cleanser with a mild exfoliant. Mary Kay’s TimeWise cleansers are perfect.

• Moisturize a least twice per day – once in the morning and once before bed. Moisture is best applied after cleansing while your skin is still slightly damp because it absorbs more easily.

• Consider boosting your hydration products “up a notch.” For example, you may consider switching to Mary Kay’s Intense Moisturizing Cream or Oil-Free Hydrating Gel for the winter.

• Perform a weekly exfoliation treatment. Keeping your skin exfoliated improves its ability to absorb moisture. Remember to allow at least 3 days between any microderm treatment. Also avoid scrubbing blemished skin. Mary Kay has products for your whole body:

• Face: Use MK’s Microderm Abrasion set weekly
• Lips: Use MK’s Satin lips set (mask exfoliates and balm deeply moisturizes)
• Hands: Use MK’s Satin Hands set to exfoliate and moisturize hands and cuticles.
• Body: Try MK’s Sugar Scrub and Lotion sets in four gorgeous scents.

• For a deep moisture treatment while you sleep, try Mary Kay’s Extra Emollient Cream. Just smooth over your hands, elbows, and rough spots before you go to bed. Leave on over night.
With just a few minor tweaks to your skin care routine, you can keep a healthy glow all winter! If you would like a free individual skin consultation, simply call! A quick 15 minute appointment can make a big difference for the months to come!

How do I Select Eye Shadow Colors?

I am often asked how to select eye shadow to compliment a person’s eye color. While there are no “laws” about how to do make-up, there are some simple things that you can do to make your eyes “pop.”

Selecting color is made easier by referring to the color wheel. The color wheel has been around for centuries. It is credited to Sir Isaac Newton in 1706. Even though women did not wear eye shadow in Newton’s day, the tool was used for Scientific and Artistic purposes.

Colors that are directly opposite each other are called complimentary colors. Colors that are next to each other, or located close to each other, are called analogous colors. Complimentary colors accentuate each other and cause each color to really stand out and look brighter. Analogous colors are harmonious when placed next to each other or blended.

Accenting the natural color of our eyes can be done many ways. I am a firm believer in experimenting, so these are just a few suggestions. There is no wrong way – experiment!

Here are a few tricks:

• Find your eye color on the color wheel. (Brown is in the orange area.)

• Use complimentary colors to create a look that brightens the color of your eyes. For example, for green eyes, you might choose bronze or a purple. For brown eyes, you might choose a blue hue. For blue eyes, you might choose a brown or rust color. If you are blending 2 or 3 colors on your lids, choose colors that are analogous to the complimentary color you just selected. Blend, placing darker colors closer to your lashes and lighter colors near your brows or in the inner corners of your eyes.

• Go wild with liners! Try using a color that is different from your eye shadow. For example blue liners look nice with purples. Taupes look nice with pink shadows. Experiment!

• Consider variations on the smoky look. By simply combining dark liners and shadows near the upper and lower lashes, then smudging, you can create a nice smoky look. Blend light shades with dark colors on your lids until you get the look you want.

• Blend! This is one of the most important elements to having a polished look.

• Have fun and don’t be afraid to try something new!

For a free color consultation, contact me!

The Best Thing You Can Give is Yourself

One of the things I have always known about myself is that I must feel as though the time I spend is contributing to the world. That was one of the reasons I chose the Mary Kay opportunity. There are so many ways to give through our business. Mary Kay has a term for a giving spirit. It is “Go-Give.” Our founder often spoke of the importance of this attitude. In fact, we have Go-Give Award that is still the company’s most honorable award.

To Go-Give means to give without the intention of receiving anything for yourself. It is a bit ironic because, even though we may not expect anything for ourselves, we always receive when we give. I experienced this recently while volunteering at an Adult Day Center. One of my customers works there and suggested that I offer a pampering session sometime. I did. And WOW!

The center is a joyful place that offers caregivers and routine for people who need assistance during the work day. This enables families to stay together instead of placing loved ones in the care of a long-term facility like a nursing home. What a blessing for a family!

We had so much fun at the pampering session! Guests participated at all different levels. I was very impressed that even those with Alzheimer’s or Dementia still knew the Mary Kay name and products! What a testimony to the company! We did facials, make-up, satin hand treatments, and painted fingernails. Everyone looked gorgeous and had a lot of fun in the process!

Don’t ever underestimate the power of feeling pretty – just think about the last time you ran into the grocery store un-showered and in sweats – how many people did you talk to? Or were you more interested in getting out of there before someone saw you? Now compare that to the last time you “dolled up!” See?! ☺

The very best part of the day was when I was about to leave. A woman who had a facial and make-up session ran up to me. She hugged me and thanked me with a gigantic smile on her face! She even did a little dance when the Activities Coordinator took her picture! This is the same woman who was a little reluctant to participate at first.

What I received that day was priceless and reminds me that what I am doing is very important…one face at a time. We all have something to offer others. You know the saying, “To give is better than to receive.” I’d like to add to that saying: Some gifts can only be received through the gift of yourself! Isn’t that true? Most people just want a little of us. Now, Go Give!

That Sound

You know that sound you hear in September in the Midwest – the one that gently buzzes from the grass?! When you hear it, you know it is familiar; you instinctively know that this sound is ancient. It’s the grasshoppers and the crickets and all the late Summer insects singing their last hoorah.

I love that sound. It reminds me that the Earth is alive, all over, every bit of it. I think it is because that sound is so constant. It goes on without interruption and even carries on into the night with more crickets and katydids. It is as if the Midwestern land is saying, “Summer may be coming to an end, but I won’t waste a single precious moment!”

And isn’t that just how we feel too? As Summer comes to an end, we get one last chance to relish the warm weather, sunshine, and peaceful breeze. I’ve always said that September is my favorite month in Indiana. The weather is absolutely perfect. The light casts gorgeous rays of warmth and color. Gardens and fields are over-flowing with bounty. Yet it is bitter-sweet because we know that in a mere 60 days, everything will be different.

The long days of Summer can trick us. We get so used to having sunlight until 9 or 10 at night; It seems those carefree days just go on forever. September reminds us so gently that change is coming.

So…get out there and enjoy those last rays; spend every minute you can outside. You’ll be glad you did come November. And listen to the trills of the crickets throughout the month – they sound different day by day.

Legends of Pterodactyls

One dream that my husband and I shared was to visit Angel Falls in Venezuela. We like to travel, and this was in our top ten list. A few years ago, we made the journey and it was so worth it!

Getting to Angels Falls is no easy task. You must take a small plane to a tar-mat in Canaima National Forest, then stay at one of the lodges or camps overnight. After spending a day hiking in Canaima we set out early one morning to visit Angel Falls. We first hiked an hour or so to a put-in at the river. We hopped in a dug-out canoe (with a motor on back) assisted by two guides of the Pemon tribe who live in Canaima. We traversed the river system for half a day, soon to be surrounded by another world.

Over 65% of Canaima is covered with table mountains called tepuis. These are giant and gorgeous mountains that have flat-tops and they are a real site to see. One can’t help but think they’ve stepped back into the Jurassic time. Are there dinosaurs just around the corner?

Off in a distance, a very special and majestic mountain appears. You can’t miss it! It is Angel Falls – the highest waterfall in the world! Water plunges from this massive tepui over 2600 feet to a river below that disappears into the rainforest. We get closer and the canoe stops. It’s time to hike up that mountain!

The rainforest along the hike was beautiful and pristine. Finally, we get over half way up and find a ledge to sit and enjoy this magical place. I will never forget sitting there next to my husband and feeling the mist of Angel Falls on my face. It was a dream come true. We hiked some more, but without rock-climbing gear, we could not go all the way t the top of the falls. We headed back to camp.

That night we found a camp site across from the river, directly looking at the falls. The power of the water was immense and the most dominant noise in the forest. As we ate dinner, our Pemon friends began telling us about the legends of Angel Falls, called Kerepakupai merú (waterfall of the deepest place). In the legends, there are giant birds that next on the top of Kerepakupai merú. You see, the tepuis are mystical places to the Pemon and home of God. They went on to describe the large birds and animals that lived on the mountain and the influence that they had over the people. Our guides were very clear that it was not a place for humans to go, even forbidden.

It was time for sleep. We slept that night in hammocks in the open rainforest. It is pitch-black dark in the rainforest at night. You can’t even see your hand in front of your face! Even though the falls were still the loudest noise, I managed to hear everything else too. Was that a jaguar?! There were very busy animals that night. As I drifted off, I imagined the creatures that lived at the top of Angel Falls. I knew that plenty of people have been to the top and that there were no documented cases of giant birds. Nonetheless, I chose to believe that there was another world there, unseen by humans. This world indeed had giant birds, Pterodactyls, who made their nests and enjoyed this untouched place. That night, I dreamed of them and even heard them among the other animals.

Early the next morning we awake to the most beautiful sight, Angel Falls was sunlit and drenched in rainbows. The Pterodactyls were probably just lifting off to forage their first meal for the day.