It’s our Tenth anniversary year and in internet years, that’s an aeon!

I certainly feel like I’ve gone through nine lives in the last ten years, :).

I mentioned at the beginning of the year that throughout the year, I’d be pulling out occasional bits and pieces of Aromaleigh history… I only have a few photos on my current system, so I’ll see if I can dig up anything interesting on old backup disks of old systems that I have (I think that I’ve had about ten different Macs for each of our ten years!).

Here’s some shots from our old loft in downtown Rochester, around 1999/2000, when we were still making primarily aromatherapy products! That is how Aromaleigh got started, hence the “aroma” in our name. Our first cosmetic product was Color Wash, introduced in 2001. From there, everything else followed!!!

In case you’re wondering why we stopped offering our pet and human aromatherapy products, here’s the short version! In September of 2001, I signed a contract with Findhorn Press to write a book about aromatherapy for pets. This book was published in September of the following year. It contains all of the recipes for my Aromaleigh pet products…

Here it is, a la amazon… with it’s new cover.

Our aromatherapy bath and body products were discontinued late 2002 into early 2003. My son was 6 months old when I finally was awarded custody and permission to relocate from Rochester to South Carolina in November of 2002. In New York state, single mothers don’t have custody of their children when they’re born. They have to file for it! This, along with my request to relocate to where my family was centered (South Carolina) set off a 6 month long custody battle. All during a time when Aromaleigh was it’s busiest.

We’d just been “discovered” for our mineral cosmetics, and a flurry of orders were storming in on a daily basis due to the hot press our products were getting on the QVC and HSN bulletin boards. (I literally woke up one morning and thought something had gone wrong with our website!) Then Delphi forums. Then we got a spin-off forum from HSN of our own. Then we got our very own Delphi fan forum, started by Amy Shelton. This forum would become our official corporate forum in 2003 and Amy would become an official member of the Aromaleigh family… but first, I had to pack up my entire life and business, throw Connor in the Baby Bjorn, and trek 1500 miles South to the low country of South Carolina, where we would be starting our entire life over. And leaving behind everything we’d known for the previous 15 years in Rochester, New York.

We arrived in South Carolina on December 25, 2002… and quickly got back to business. And that business was, as you all deemed it… mineral makeup! Sales of mineral cosmetics were our main draw, and streamlining our product line was necessary. 2002 and 2003 were tumultuous and exciting years for Aromaleigh, full of change and growth, but good change. Change is good.

We’re still changing and evolving, even ten years after accepting our first online order. I don’t think you ever stop that process.

Here’s some of those old shots:
Rochester Humane Society Barktoberfest- our table

Lots of pretty products!

My office, I do miss those 20 foot ceilings…

The other side of my office, a lot of my flower photographs from college, the purple velvet couch, and my puppies (this was a few years before Connor arrived!)

… to us here at Aromaleigh!

Thank you all so much for making it possible for us to be able to share some of our good fortune with others through our monthly donations to Heifer International.

We all have bad days and good days, but even on days that are bleaker than most, I think most of us can realize that we are really quite blessed.

Here are the projects that Aromaleigh has funded through Heifer International for the months of March, April and May. Click on the pictures to read about each project and link to them. Please join us at Heifer! They are an astounding organization…

Beauty… we all seek it, but for what reasons?

Some might claim it is for reasons of sheer vanity.

Others would claim that we primp and preen simply to please or attract others. (Namely, men we would be most accused of trying to please, of course…)

Still others say that we are actually practicing the art of deception… creating an illusion, and masking the truth!

Very few would say that it is because it makes one “happy”…

What do you think?

In the meantime, some classic quotes on beauty…

“Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it.”
~Confucius

“Heat cannot be separated from fire, or beauty from The Eternal.”
~Dante

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

“The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.”
~Albert Einstein

“Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy.”
~Anne Frank

“What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.”
~John Keats

“Develop an interest in life as you see it; the people, things, literature, music-the world is so rich, simply throbbing with rich treasures, beautiful souls and interesting people. Forget yourself.”
~Henry Miller

“There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.”
~Sir Francis Bacon

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.”
~Albert Einstein

“In every man’s heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibration of beauty.”
~Christopher Darlington Morley

I promised that I’d be doing a photographic comparison showing eyeshadow sample size with a reference object, the scoop size used to create our eyeshadow samples (1/16 teaspoon), that amount of product fluffed up in a 5 gram jar (a format available from other mineral makeup vendors, but we opt not to sell in this manner for both business/efficiency and eco-conscious reasons), and two sample bags showing the product spread out in the bag (psychologically perceived as a larger sample) and the product scoop not spread out in the bag (psychologically perceived as a small sample- especially when received in an order along with samples that are “spread out” in the baggie). However, we use the same size scoop to create all of our samples, regardless of what form they take once they are inside the baggie.

I’ve photographed, from L-R- a quarter, a scoop of Ruby Pure Hue created with our 1/16 teaspoon scoop and turned upside down onto a clear jar lid, a 1/16 teaspoon scoop of Ruby Pure Hue placed inside of a 5 gram clear jar, fluffed up (as it would be during shipment), and lid removed, and then the sample bags and the actual scoop itself.

The amount of product in the scoop and the 5 gram jar is deceivingly larger than that in the sample bags. Why is this?

AIR.

When we place product into sample bags, we are pressing the product flat, and mica particles themselves are flat. They very easily compact and align neatly into a much smaller space when flattened.

Ironically, we receive so much flack about the size of product in our sample baggies, but our samples really are very generous in size and it is doubtful that with even daily use, that a sample the size of the Ruby Pure Hue, above, would be used up in over a week even with very heavy application on both eyes. In most cases, it would last much longer. The amount that is actually needed to achieve saturated color on the eyes is extremely minimal with mineral cosmetics- in the case of the photograph above, one could achieve coloration with the fine dustings of powder seen around the scoop of Pure Hue!

I hope that this comparison is helpful, and eye-opening!

Next, cheek products and foundations… you might be surprised to find out that our foundation samples won’t even fit into a 5 gram jar!!! (so those foundation samples in 3 and 5 gram jars from other companies are actually s m a l l e r than ours! (You just perceive them to be larger, because they come in a jar!) The proof comes out when we lay it all out on the table…

xoxo

Miss K

Muchas gracias to the exquisitely talented Lili, who made my day yesterday with this adorable Miss K illustration, a sweet note, and some yummy Choclatea. Mmm Mmm! The way to a girl’s heart…

What a killer dress Lili chose for me… but I especially want a magical makeup brush… I would put it to excellent use! Very, very excellent use…

xoxo

Miss K

I’ve been caught in such a whirlwind lately that I’ve been having trouble with my daily blog posts. The thoughts are all there, floating about, but I just can’t seem to get them onto the screen.

Anyway, I decided to surf on over to Style.com to cure myself of my inspirational woes, and see if I could muster up some lovely summer looks and fashion to fill the screen until I have some time to sit down and pay proper attention to the vast amount of gorgeous looks waiting in my inbox to be added to the AL galleries… amongst other important things!

I’ve got some major things cookin’ and I promise you all that once I get the boil down to a simmer… (that’s a really bad metaphor, isn’t it… LOL) that I will clue you all in AND get to work!!! Uh, of course, not that I haven’t been working… I’ve just been behind the scenes lately.

xoxo

Miss K

A lovely vintage image from Vogue…

A breezy, easy look for Summer

Try Satin Petals in Campanula, Balsam or Verbena.
Gothic Lolita Eyes in Teddy Wisp, Burnt Roses or Angel Bouquet.
Eye Lustres in Arielle, Cosette or Circé
(swatches in order as above, L-R)

Ethereal summer (I think a la Gothic Lolita shadow collection, perhaps?)

Choices for Gothic Lolita Eyes: Wonderland, Plush Romantic, Elegant Reverie and Violet Ruffle.

Love the organza flower dress contrasted with the strong liner.

Definitely try Indelible Gel liner, in Blackout!

Pearl green and smoky eyes, like a summer fairy.

Try Indelible Creme Eyeshadow in Green Tea:

Also lovely choices in Mineral Eyeshadow:

Verdant WIsp, Sage, Coriander, Basil

Definitely pretty in pink, love the bob!

Lovely pink lipsticks:

Sweet and Rosebud Color Infusion Botanical Lipsticks

Gorgeous for a hot summer night…

Get this silvery glamour eye:

Elemental Lustres Eyeshadow in “Fume”

Love this barely there look…

Finishing Powders to try:

Metamorphosis:

Divine Radiance:

I love these shoes, and look… they’re my size!

I do wear heels every day (oh let me tell you the virtues of high heels!), but not THIS high…

The sample baggie. Some of you flinch. Some of you love them and collect them and put them in notebooks. Some of you are neutral like Switzerland. Some of you are saying, “huh?”

Brief history: A common complaint about Aromaleigh, as well as some other mineral makeup companies, is our packaging our samples in small ziploc baggies.

Aromaleigh is celebrating our ten year anniversary this year and we’ve been selling mineral cosmetics on the internet for a very long time. In that time, we’ve seen lots of companies come and go, and we’ve seen lots of trends take shape. One trend that we’ve seen is that of companies starting to package “samples” in jars as opposed to baggies. We’ve also seen companies start selling samples that are so large, that they aren’t samples at all…

A sample’s purpose is to give the consumer a chance to try the product out prior to committing to a full size. To see the color and touch and sample the formula to see if it is right for them. The purpose of a sample is not to provide months or even weeks of use- but several uses, or several days.

There are numerous other reasons why the “baggie” is the best way to package mineral makeup samples.

I’d like to point out that the small amount of polyethyelene plastic used in a sample baggie, the minimal packing material it takes to ship an order containing sample baggies, and the lighter weight of an order containing sample baggies… all make sample baggies a more environmentally friendly, greener way to sample mineral cosmetics.

I’m a “big picture” kind of girl… and I’d like to share with you an example of the impact that sample baggies versus sample jars has. If you only think about it in relation to your individual orders, it seems inconsequential. However, if you look at the big picture, you’ll realize that the fact that Aromaleigh’s using sample baggies, shipping sample orders in flat envelopes and using first class mail to ship them to you is VERY impactful. And that’s one of the things that we aim to do at Aromaleigh, when it comes to going green, or making green choices. Taking small steps that together can add up to a big difference. And we hope that by sharing our example, that you can take steps in your lives as well.

We sell a LOT of samples each week at Aromaleigh. We also give away a lot of free samples (4 with each order that we ship). Sampling of our products is a favorite activity for our customers, and we thoroughly encourage customers to sample as much and as often as they wish. We don’t limit sampling, and we even offer free shipping on sample-only orders to encourage sampling.

We keep an inventory of all of our products in sample baggies, organized in envelopes, ready to be pulled from our inventory and ready to ship, quick as a flash- to you. Sample baggies make this possible! We could never keep an inventory of our magnitude organized and prepared in this manner with jars.

But here’s where the green part comes in. Plastic is a petroleum product. While I don’t like the fact that we package our products in plastic, it really is the most durable and feasible way to package cosmetics. And in the end, plastic IS recyclable (and I hope that you all DO recycle your jars when they are empty!). Please note, that we are looking into a refill bag option for our foundations and we hope to put this in place once we are settled in to our new headquarters. The most eco way to package cosmetics is actually recycleable cardboard paper, but these types of packaging are hardly quickly available, nor are they durable. Or leakproof!

Now…

Take a look at a sample baggie. Take a look at a jar that your eyeshadow comes in. Feel and see the difference in weight and mass, of the amount of plastic that it takes to create each of these items. Then, multiply each of these by 4,000-5,000. This is the average number of sample baggies that we sell in the course of a week. This does not include the number of sample baggies that we give away at no charge.

That number of sample baggies would fit in 2-3 shoeboxes, while the same number of 5 gram eyeshadow jars would maybe fill the back of my station wagon with the back seats down (not including the ones we give away, however!)

The sample baggies can be shipped in flat envelopes that require no bubble wrap (i.e. additional plastic and postage). The jars require a bubble wrap envelope and additional postage, and they weigh more.

In short, jar samples require infinitely more resources. They are even more costly for us to receive, as the cost of having sample baggies shipped to us is far less costly than the rates for having jars shipped to us.

That’s the big picture. You may not like your sample baggie, and it may annoy you that Aromaleigh offers sample baggies when company XYZ offers jars ( but hey, does Aromaleigh offer other great things or offers or free stuff that company XYZ does not? Come on, admit it… we do… ) But those sample baggies are a much more eco-conscious, green choice than sample jars.

And when you’re shipping thousands of them a week… that really adds up and makes a BIG difference.

After all, a sample is a sample. A specific amount of product, depending on product type (eyeshadow, blush, foundation….) for you to try before you buy. It’s just wasteful, in my opinion, to be shipping samples in jars.

xoxo

Miss K

Coming soon… I will show you a comparison of what different sizes of Aromaleigh samples look like in their bags, next to the scoops used to create them, next to a reference object (such as a coin), loose next to the reference object, and loose inside those same wonderful sample jars that other companies offer. It is very easy and misleading to think that samples that you receive in a jar, fluffed up and jostled from shipment are very full and much larger than a sample shipped in a baggie, flattened to remove excess air, and stored in tight quarters in an envelope filing system to take up as little space as possible. Some samples are full of a lot of “hot air”… LOL. Remove the air, and we’ve got sample equality, ladies…

Ladies…

I’m so sorry that so much time has passed between my first post about the No!No! and my first review of it… it’s been a tremendously busy time here at aromaleigh.com! While I have had time to keep my legs smooth for our 90 degree weather, I just haven’t had time to actually write about it…

In case you’re coming to the blog fresh on this topic, here’s my first post on the subject…

Gadget Crazy: Testing out Sephora’s new No!No! Hair Removal System

As I mentioned last time, it took me a while to cozy up to the No!No! concept… but a painful experience with having my underarms subjected to the searing pain of laser hair removal (I think that having my underarms tattooed would be less painful!!!) – made me rethink my desire for the No!No! several times, and ultimately led to my late night impulse purchase.

With the understanding that the use of the No!No! would be a gradual process that might take 6 or more months to yield results, I decided to commit myself to see if this cute little gadget actually delivers… and to share the news!

I am happy to report that you will on the majority of occasions receive any package that you order from Aromaleigh.com much faster than you will receive it from Sephora. (Sheesh, and I am a patient person!!!).

OK… if you’re pro-body hair, or anti-hair removal, or you’re plotting a secret hardcore feminist email campaign to set me straight about the glories of accepting one’s body hair and how I should stop with the silly hair removal essay this very second… Well, please refrain. I simply don’t like body hair. Lots of us don’t. It has nothing to do with what I personally do grooming-wise to primp and pamper myself in relation to my political or societal views. And it certainly has nothing to do with any woman’s rights to remove or to not remove. I am all for the empowerment, equality, betterment, beautifying and advancement of women. I just prefer to do it without labeling, pigeon-holing and excuses. So get your razors, epilators, wax, and No!No!s out and read on, girls…

My lovely little black No!No! arrived carefully packed in a box containing everything I would need to get started. An instructional DVD is included, but I chose not to watch it. Firstly, because I hate instructionals. Second, because I was too excited to just read the brief printed instructions and get started on my stubbly legs. Sorry if that is “too much information” (TMI). No, I won’t be providing any pictures of my stark-white legs. That’s definitely TMI.

Here is what you receive in your all-inclusive No!No! Hair Removal System box:

-3 short blades
-2 long blades
-No!No! device in blue, black or pink
-a storage bag
-small brush to clean the no!no! device
-adapter/cord
-Instructional DVD
-1 buffer

Now let’s go through the list. The first two items on the list are the short blades and long blades. These aren’t actually “blades” at all, but rather ceramic inserts that you place into the end of the No!No!. They house the Thermicon wire technology that the No!No! is based on. Your hair comes in contact with the wire, and the heat signal is passed to your hair shaft. The metal strip within the “blade” then lifts away the singed stubble.

Hot blades come in two types, short blades for stubble, and long blades for hair over 1mm in length. It is very important to use the right hot blade for the length of hair you are trying to remove, or else your results will be affected. In my experience, I found the long hot blades to be useless… and instead, worked only on hair of 1mm or less, making sure that I was always working with stubble. This definitely produces the best results, but more on that later!!!

This is what hot blades look like. Kind of scary, but they are not sharp, really…

You also receive a buffer in your No!No! box. What exactly are you going to be buffing? Well, remember, the No!No! is not a razor. It does not provide a close, smooth razor shave. This is a common misconception and reason for returning the product in other reviews that I have read. So as long as you’re not expecting a razor-close shave and you understand that using the No!No! is a process and not magic… you should be fine! Once the hair is zapped by the Thermicon wire and singed by the hot blade, it is crystallized and turns into a powder that collects on your hot blades surface and inside of your No!No!. That’s what the little brush is for- to brush away this dust. Keeping your hot blades clean increases their life span.

The buffer, on the other hand… is for making things as smooth as you are used to them being with a razor shave. Your legs or arms will not be left perfectly smooth after using the No!No!. You will still feel a tiny bit of stubble (and if you have very dark or thick hair, I wager that you might even be able to see this stubble). This is remaining singed hair left in your hair follicle after treatment. The buffer’s job is to buff this away and leave you with a totally smooth surface. This is, of course a matter of personal preference. You don’t need to buff. But you may LIKE to buff. I personally don’t buff. I found it to be a pain. Because 2 days later, I am going to be No!No!-ing again, anyway… But you may like the buffer. If I wanted a baby smooth shave, I’d razor it. I’m happy enough with no visual hair and not being perfectly smooth. Good enough for me!

I began No!No!-ing 8 weeks ago and I have been very faithful to the process, keeping my legs and arms clear of stubble approximately every 3 days. The goal of the product is a gradual reduction in hair density, meaning that your individual hairs will grow back thinner and sparser over time and eventually, not at all. That every-3-day schedule may sound daunting, but it is actually much easier for me than shaving. I usually do either my arms or legs in the morning after my workout, and then the next day, I will do arms or legs in the evening before my night-time shower. Either way, I don’t do it all at once, so it doesn’t take me forever.

The system promises no mess, no cuts, no burns, no irritation and no noise- and all of these things are true.

My first attempt with the No!No!, was, as recommended, on my leg. The square shape of the device, and the fact that the entire head of it must be flat and flush with your skin in order to work properly- makes it ideal for areas of the body that are not curved. In other words, legs and arms are very easy to do. Elbows and knees are quite challenging, even for a seasoned user. Underarms would be almost impossible to do. The bikini area is not recommended. The face is not recommended. (And I can’t figure out how anyone could possibly fanangle the No!No! to work in these last two mentioned areas!) The dimensions of the No!No! are a little surprising. It is by no means large, but it is thicker than you’d think it to be from the photos on the Sephora site. I’d estimate the No!No! to be about 4″ long, 2″ wide and 1.5″ thick. I thought it would be thin, as in thin- like a cell phone is thin. It’s not. It’s boxy compared to a cell phone, such as my Motorola Razr. This is why curved areas are tricky!

The hot blades are very easy to pop in and out of the end of the No!No!. You just match up the product logo on the front of the hot blade with the product logo on the front of the device, and evenly pop in the hot blade until it snaps in. Easy as pie. Plug in your adapter cord first, and then plug the cord in to your device. Of course, don’t No!No! near a tub full of water, or any water, for that matter. (Uh, had to say that…)

The No!No! lights up steady green when you are drawing the device slow and steady across your skin, and this steady green light also means that the device is working. Uneven or quick motion produces a flickering light and causes the device to “jump” around in what can be rather unnerving to a new user. It takes a while to develop that slow and steady “pull” across your skin and at first, when you place the No!No! on your leg, you will surely end up with a flickering, pulsating and jumping device that will scare you. I personally thought that I had unleashed some sort of strange slashing blade on myself and that the green flashing lights and bouncing motion was a precursor to a subtle electrocution. Kind of like the feeling I got when I was 6 and I took the light bulb out of my Lite Brite and stuck my finger in the socket. Hey, my mother never told me not to do it, and I was curious. You only do something that stupid once.

Emergency averted however… I just had to develop the right “touch” and slow glide. Once I mastered this (within a few minutes), I was a No!No!-ing fool, and my entire bathroom stunk of burnt popcorn (yes, this is what your singed hair smells like, and this means that the device is working!). I did my lower legs and my forearms. All that you feel is the slight sensation of warmth. Sometimes it may feel a little hotter on certain areas, such as ankles, around the knee, elbows- anywhere there is less fat to absorb the heat, I believe! My forearms were done in a matter of minutes, as lighter, finer hair is a dream to No!No!. I keep my forearms hair-free because in my work, I like to swatch colors on my arms. Having fuzzy arms is an impediment to this, other than the fact that I just don’t like having fuzzy arms!

My lower legs took longer, as the No!No! may require a few passes with darker, coarser hair. Yes, you may have to repeat certain areas with a few slow strokes to get all of your hair singed. While this may seem like a pain, it’s just necessary. You will find that as your hot blade ages, they will not work as well. I have not yet replaced mine, but I will be, soon. You can get a set of new hot blades (3 short and 2 long) from Sephora for $21. I wish you could purchase just the short hot blades by themselves, because I don’t use the long ones. Unfortunately, they come as a set.

I think that if you have very dark, coarse hair, that the No!No! system might prove to be frustrating for you. I am not a particularly hairy person, and I don’t have dark, coarse hair. I have fine-medium hair on my arms, and what I would consider medium brown and blonde hair on my lower legs that is only noticeable once it is quite, well- hairy! A system such as this is quite bearable for me to use, because I do feel that I will achieve results within the reasonable amount of time promised. I already have noticed results in two months.

What have I noticed? The hair on my arms is growing back in extremely fine and thin. Very easy to No!No! again and takes just a few minutes to quickly get the job done. The hair on my legs is not growing any slower, but I do feel that it is thinner in texture and there seems to be less of it. However, it probably isn’t helping my hair growth to be slowed when I am taking hair growth vitamins, fish oil caps and Imedeen Time Perfection vitamins for my skin. I’m quite sure that these all are making my hair grow like crazy (I know that my hair on my head and my nails are growing like a jungle!) However,  I will definitely continue my protocol throughout the summer and with the new hot blade set.

I’ve got 6 months of 90 degree heat and bare legs to inspire me…

The No!No! is definitely not a miracle device, but I sure do prefer it to razor shaving (I always cut myself, even with the Venus or Quattro Razors), and I’ll take it anyday over waxing or laser hair removal.

Did I miss anything? Any questions, just ask me! I’ve got an appointment with my No!No! later tonight!

xoxo

Miss K

Just wanted you all to know that the Rocks! Sonic Eyes pages are now totally complete and updated with the brand new swatches… and it is de-lightful.

You can now see the entire collection in it’s glory by clicking on the swatch chart to enlarge it, or you can click on the “color descriptions” tab to see small swatches arranged with text descriptions of the shades in table form. OR, you can get crazy and click on my favorite tab… the “Express Purchase” tab, where a world of possibilities are made available to you…

On this page, you can type in the quantity you desire for any full size or sample and add ALL of your items to your shopping cart all at once (talk about making shopping easy!!!). You can also click on the text description of any color and you’ll see a super-size sample swatch of that color… like these below. Pretty! (Velvetgoldmine and Purplerain pictured…)

Rocks! Sonic Eyes are also on sale through the 28th… Full sizes are just $4.88 and samples are .90!!!

Stock up and have fun!!!

xoxo

Miss K

PS- The Rocks! colors will soon be added to the “Shop by Color” pages, as well. If you haven’t visited this handy section, definitely click here!

There’s no doubt that regular exercise adds a healthy glow to your skin, makes you feel better mentally and physically and helps to keep your body in tip-top shape.

I, unfortunately, have let my routine seriously slip in the last year. My Aromaleigh duties, a flood of new products, family responsibilities and mommy time have completely engulfed my schedule and left me making excuses.

For a long while, those excuses were alright… because working at Aromaleigh everyday is very physical and I am constantly on the move, lifting and reaching, bending and blending, shaking and stirring. But a few weeks ago, I just started to realize that I feel just plain “icky” (yes, that is a technical term) and I must get back into my routine. But that isn’t going to be easy… because starting from scratch is always hard.

If you’re in this very same position, or just starting to work out again… I feel your pain! Ouch, ouch and ouch! How did I ever take ten hours of grueling ballet classes a week, or walk 30 miles a week in MBT sneakers? I wish I had appreciated my body’s capabilities more when I did those things.

So now, I’m taking baby steps. Very small baby steps.

I’ve taken a lot of Yoga classes in the past, so I thought that getting out some of my old Yoga videos would be a great way to start by increasing my strength, stamina and flexibility. Because believe me, if I throw myself back onto the ballet barre, I’ll be a dancing fool and I’ll just hurt myself…

I highly recommend this trio of Gaiam Yoga videos, which are great for those with a stiff schedule. I am able to do a video every morning while the kids eat breakfast! These are 26 minutes each and focus on strength, flexibility or stamina. I’ve been doing these every day for the last two weeks and I’m finally over the “ouchies” and adjusted to begin step two…

What’s step two?

Back to my beloved MBT sneakers. If you are an avid Aromaleigh Aficionadas reader, you may recall that MBT sneaks are a topic that pops up now and then. These sneakers are my “chiropractor in a box”, as they do wonders for the lower back pain which has plagued me since my pregnancy. Unfortunately, as I have found in the last year… you DO have to wear them in order for them to work.

These are my MBT’s (sadly, they did not have the ones with the pink trim in stock when I ordered this replacement pair). My first pair of MBT’s had seen hundreds of miles of walking, and were a higher platform (more challenging shoe). The M-Walk, which I opted for this time around, had a lower platform and a more gender-specific fit for women.

MBT’s are a pretty penny, but they are worth every penny. There are a lot of brands alternate to MBT’s coming out these days. Bliss Spa has a whole page of them! I am sure that a lot of these are worth the try for similar beneficial effects that MBT’s provide!

Today, I donned the M-Walks for their first mile, and it was a painful one. I had forgotten the first time I wore MBT’s, how you discover muscles you never thought you had. Well, I became reacquainted with those little muscles this morning after I did my Yoga video. Yikes.

I will be working up slowly but surely, to the 5 mile MBT walks I used to take 5-6 times a week… how I miss that time, and I sure know my body misses it too!!!

And then, maybe eventually I can dust my barre off (it is a fabulous clothes dryer right now, by the way…) and get out some of my ballet videos and really, truly be back to normal… whatever normal is!

Because we all know that working out is the next best anti-aging weapon in your arsenal next to sunscreen!!!

What do you do to keep your blood flowing?

xoxo

Miss K