Ahhh... Love.

Yep, cute pic, right?? This is my Dd with her fellow daycare mate M. They are 2 yrs old, and clearly already in trouble!!! But looking at this, I thought it would be a good pic for my random list of things I love today (no deep thoughts though):

1) I love my tretinoin creme (retin-a). Yep, I'll admit that at the age of 44, I'm a bit weary of more lines on my face, and my nurse told me that I'll look much younger than anyone else my age 10 years from now. Interesting, because it makes me sound vain, but most of the time I don't wear make-up on days off.

2) I love Creative Nail Design's new Shellac product. It is a polish that you have to have applied at a salon, and it has to be cured via a UV light. Base coat, 2 coats of color, and top coat, and THEN (drum roll please) it stays on for 2 weeks - with few if any chips! Love it. I have crap nails, and polish MAYBE lasts 12 hours without chipping. I used to have artificial nails, but I got a bit obsessive about them, and thought they were a bit cheesy from time to time. I will never have long natural nails, so making them look nice while short is a bonus. Love this product.

3) I love Fresh perfumes and products. I first came across these while living in NYC, and originally fell in love with the Cucumber Baie scent. Now I have probably 2/3rds of the scents! They are 'fresh' scented - cucumber, pomegranate, bergamot, tangerine, lemon, red current, basil, fig, apricot - well, you get the picture. They don't last long - they are more of a eau de toilette rather than a perfume, but I just love something that smells natural, fresh, and not artificial. I love the rose lip balm, because I hate sticky gloss and thick lipstick, and this gives me color, even more with a second coat, and it feels great on. Smells fantastic too!

4) I love watching pixiwoo videos on youtube. These two Brit sisters are make-up artists, formerly for Mac and now for Illamasqua. They are fun to watch, and my love of make-up is satisfied while watching these two. Some of the greatest make-up products I've found have been through the suggestions of these two, such as Laura Mercier's tinted moisturizer, which is the best I've ever found.

5) Given that I have a love for make-up (I was in the beauty industry for too long, driven by this love that should have remained a 'fun thing' rather than a career - long story), I also love Sephora stores. I actually worked at one for a short time just to get the discount! Then we moved to NYC, and the Herald Square and the Times Square locations were so huge and fun - it was like a kid in a candy store! Did you know that Sephora will give you samples of any product that you want to try? Did you know that you can have a limit of 3 each time you visit?? Did you know that my friend gets samples of Kinerase C* peptide (way expensive) every times she goes in, so she is slowly building a small bottle via free samples? She's a loser - but a smart one! lol.

6) I love the sound of the wind through the trees and my wind chime right now. It is a beautiful day with blue skies and bright sun, and the rays coming through the color of the leaves is so bright and crisp and green. I'm very content and happy today!

7) I love my band. Its been slow coming to be able to say that, but I do. My weight loss has been very slow compared to many, but it is still going! I feel more self confident than I have in years. I'm fitting into size 16 pants at Lane Bryant (probably the equivalent of a small 18 in other stores), and its been a while since I've been in that size. I feel that I'm finally beginning to regain the old me again, and the energy I feel and attitude change I feel is wonderful. What a great NSV.

Happy day everybody!