Here Comes Santa Claus

Still looking for the right gift? I can help! 

This cute winter basket contains a super soft, moisturizing hand soap, a spray bottle of hand sanitizer, a travel size of Satin Hands shea lotion (fragrance free), and a travel pack of tissues. It's wrapped in a clear plastic bag tied with a red and white ribbon. $18

For a larger gift, there's the complete Satin Hands set, with hand sanitizer and a red-and-black wash cloth, packaged in a Santa bucket. $40

For softer, smoother feet, give Mint Bliss Energizing Lotion for Feet and Legs, with a bonus pair of socks for $11. It feels cooling and has a light mint scent. Here it is wrapped in an ice cream cup with a winter scene. I also have cups that are white with gold dots. 

It's also available packaged as a snow person! So adorable! 

Do you like to hang presents on the tree? The mini blending sponges ($12) come in a four-pack that's ready to hang! 

 

Smoother lips would be a great gift! Here's the Satin Lips Sugar Shea Scrub in an ornament with a snow person and snow. 

Still not sure? More ideas in the next post! 

Mary Kay Gift Ideas 2019

Want to save money on your purchases? Host a Christmas Coffee! You'll receive hostess credit, the same as for a pampering or makeover session. Contact me for more info (braveladyrobin [ a t ] gmail) 

Box for lotion (back left), box for Satin Hands lotion with gloves (back middle, $13), Clearproof Charcoal Mask with label reading "Santa Approved Coal" and washcloth (back right, $29), Mad about Masking Pods ($25), Cityscape silkening oil ($20)

Soothing eye gel with sleep mask in globe (left, $18)

Mint Bliss foot lotion with socks in cup (middle, $12)

Satin Lips in craft jar (right, $22)

Gift boxes that will hold lotions or sprays, etc. (free with purchase or $3)

Koala bear organizer with blending brush (19)

Extra Emolient Night Lotion wants to play in the snow with you! (16)

Mint Bliss foot and leg lotion with socks, wrapped as sock pops (12), in a coffee cup (12) or as a snowman (11).

Mint Bliss foot and leg lotion in slippers (15)

Lip gloss in a stemless wine glass that says, "Dear Santa, the Wine made me do it!" (16)

Satin Lips scrub in an ornament (13)

Makeup remover in acrylic organizer (19)

Several of the items can be swapped for others, and I can wrap things various ways--just let me know how you want it! 

Prices without packaging

Gifts Under $10

Beauty blotters 6 

eyeshadow 9

compact cheek brush 2

Gifts $10-20

Soothing eye gel 16

Satin Hands cream 12

Lip gloss 15

Mascara $15

Lipstick 18

Eye makeup remover 17

Cheek color $12

Blending sponge $12

Perfect palette, unfilled 18

Makeup Finishing spray 18

Satin body lotion 18

Brush cleaner 10

Mint bliss foot and leg lotion 11

Eyeliner 12

Gifts $20-30

Satin lips 22

Masking pods 25

Charcoal mask 24

          With washcloth 29

Pro palette (unfilled) 25

Cityscape Silkening Oil 20

Vitamin C squares 24

Moisture Gel Mask 22

Other Gifts

Shea body basket 55 (body wash, body scrub, body lotion, washcloth, body sponge)

Forever Diamonds perfume 40

Lip Lacquer 39

Eyeshadow mini-palette (filled with 4 eyeshadows) 36

$99 Everyday Escape Bundle (Mary Kay^® Travel Roll-Up Bag, White Tea & Citrus [or fragrance free]

Satin Hands^®Pampering Set, Satin Lips^® Set and the three Satin Body^® products: Indulgent Shea Wash, Revitalizing Shea Scrub, and Silkening Shea Lotion). Normal retail on this is $149, quite a deal! 

**The prices on this page are what I offer for the 2019 holiday season; they may differ from consultant to consultant. Packaging (coffee cups, ornaments, oven mitts, etc.) may add to the cost, as reflected in the photo captions.

Denial and deprivation

I would like to venture an unpopular opinion. 

After much experience, I have decided that losing weight means I must deny and deprive myself. 

Wait, for it—this isn’t a complaining post. 

You may be thinking, “I can eat anything I want on WW Freestyle!”  But can you really? Can you eat half a bag of Hershey’s kisses one day and a pint of Haagen-Dazs the next? Can you live on pizza? Can you have cake for breakfast? 

“But Robin, you’re being unreasonable. That’s so extreme. Plus, with fruit you won’t even miss the sweets!” 

I do sometimes prefer fruit to sweets, but usually I eat fruit for two reasons: healthy lifestyle recommendations and to stave off my sweet tooth. Without those two, I would have a candy bar for dessert several times a week. 

Choosing to live healthily means I am denying my unhealthy impulses. I deny myself certain pleasures. So I can stay alive longer.  So I can feel better.  So my palate is more awake. These are great reasons! Reasons to deny. Reasons to deprive. 

Why am I harping on those words that are so anathema? 

Because I need to remind myself that healthy living means not eating all the cheese and chocolate. Because I need to create firmer rules to keep me on the path. Because I need a curb to correct me when I’m going off-road. 

Focusing on what you CAN do is really helpful for some people. And I get it—denial brings out my inner rebel. But. 1: if I make the rule myself, it isn’t as bad. 2: occasional rebellion is better than anarchy. 

REBELLION IS BETTER THAN ANARCHY. 

And currently I’m living the latter. So it’s time to practice some denial every day, to wait before I eat a treat, to have just one treat per day.  To let myself be hungry occasionally. Because hunger is not an emergency. 

Fan Your Feet

This image is a collage of foot pics I found with an image search (if one is yours and you want credit just leave me a note in the comments). Notice the shape, how it's more triangular than oval. The bones of the foot are meant to spread out, like our hands do. 

Now consider these women's shoes from Zappo's.

I took screen shots of shoes from $50-300, from heels to comfort boots. Notice anything about the shape? That's right, mostly oval. If you review the foot shape in the top image, you can see how come of the feet start to narrow again at the toes. Is this nature, or because we're wearing these shoes? 

If shoes were really meant to fit the natural shape of the foot, they would have narrower heels and would spread out until the metatarsal joint. If any narrowing occurs after that point, it would be minimal. 

I wore pumps as a teenager. Pumps with sharp, pointed toes. My toes naturally curl under, and I've developed bunions. I'm convinced it's from these artificially-shaped shoes! 

When I wear my Birks, my toes spread out naturally, just like when I'm barefoot. Same with my Boggs. But all my other shoes still compress, even the comfort brands like Clark's. Isn't it time we re-evaluate shoe shape? 

That won't happen as long as there are these kind of statements: 

Known as the dreaded “summer spread,” the foot condition involves the widening, flattening and collapse of feet when they aren’t securely bound and supported properly by shoes, explains New York City-based podiatrist Dr. Dennis Shavelson. Flat sandals and strappy shoes prompt feet to splay, and provide little-to-no arch support. That places the body in an abnormal walking position that can cause long-term medical issues, including toe, knee, hip and back problems. (Huffpost)

What's this foolishness? "Bound and supported properly"? Okay, I concede that arch support prevents a lot of problems with gait and pain. But why is spreading so bad?? How much of it is vanity? This page from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons identifies five foot problems that can be prevented by wearing shoes with wide toe boxes: bunions, corns, hammer toes, crossover toe, and ingrown toenail. You see? Splay is good!

the cost of weight loss

Last year I was doing incredibly well managing my money, but now debt is accruing. I'll need every penny of the bonus pay I'll get this semester to get out of it.

The culprit? Weight loss.

I don't mean the $20/month I give to Weight Watchers for my online-only membership. That's minor and totally worth it. No, I mean the amount of money I'm spending on clothes and shoes. Yes, I also need smaller shoes. My credit card statements for this month show I spent $644 on clothes, and last month I spent $424! That's almost more than I spent on food, which was $732 this month and $640 last month.

Healthy food is expensive. So are new clothes.

Plan: reduce money spent at Starbucks ($75 last month!!). Waste less food. Only buy clothes that are absolutely necessary to get me through the rest of the semester. Which should be nothing. I think I'm prepared now until I drop another size.

Loving the program!

How great is it that I can eat 7-cheese ravioli from Boston Pizza and still lose weight! I left 1/4 on the plate, and I have very few weeklies left, but I'm working it! 

Travel this time has been more of a challenge than in January or May or July. I think the difference is that I'm traveling alone and it makes me less self-aware. J was with me the other times. For example, today I stopped at a convenience store to use the washroom. I always buy something when I do that; I chose a Diet Dr Pepper, then looked for food. It seemed so natural to have a candy bar! I fought the temptation and bought cashews instead. And I counted them. Because I want to be in control of my health. 

Tonight in the hotel room was hard too. In the past, J and I would have cookies or some cake. I had a Fibre 1 cookie brownie. It wasn't what I wanted but I told myself that's what I could have. A bit later I had microwave popcorn. 

Good choices I made this trip: 

🍎 Bought lots of fruit at the grocery as well as veg to roast and the Fibre 1 brownies. 

🥕 Roasted the vegetables and made quinoa to share with my hosts. 

📋 Tracked everything. 

🚶🏻‍♀️Walked 2 miles on 2 different days. 

🍝 Left yummy ravioli on the plate. 

🛌 Got plenty of sleep. 

🌲 Enjoyed nature. 

Struggles: 

🙊 I didn't do my physical therapy at all. 

🍕 I ate half a slice more of homemade pizza than I meant to. I was tempted and succumbed. 

🍪 I had a muffin at the coffee shop. This wasn't a terrible choice, since it was made in-house and wasn't giant. 

💦 I had trouble getting my water. I was drinking far too much soda. I bought a pack of water bottles (sorry earth 🌏) and that helped a lot. 

Tomorrow I fly home and I dread hanging out in the airport in my weaker-willed condition. I'll look up some restaurants at the airport so I'll have a plan. 

Thanks for reading.

Reflection on my summer

Activity from the #weeklyfocus

My first goal for the summer was just to stay within my points and drink lots of water. I succeeded at this. I didn't have a particular weight goal in mind, but I lost 25 pounds. ✅

I made it happen by tracking everything every day. I learned ... not much new. The program works when you work it. 

My activity goal was to go swimming 15 times, since I paid $150 for the membership. I failed at this goal. The water was always too cold! We had a mild summer in Tennessee, and I was out of the country for the hottest parts. I won't be getting a membership there again. ❌

What got in the way was mostly weather, but it didn't help that my friend who was going to go with me was never available. I learned that I shouldn't pay money for exercise. 💰I also got more evidence that it's hard to exercise when I don't set a time. 

I was planning to walk more, but the weather was bad or I had a cold or I hurt my foot, I learned I need to have back-up exercises lined up. 

This week's eating goals will be to stay within my point range (including weeklies and fitpoints). 

My activity goal for this week will be to complete my physical therapy exercises (for back and feet) at least 4 times, and to schedule it before breakfast. #babysteps