Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Mall-Free Christmas

I haven't set foot inside a shopping mall this Christmas season; I've done virtually all of my shopping on  line.  For the first time.  And it feels great, not to have to deal with finding parking and coping with crowds.  Not to mention trying to find something I think my husband and son will like, that will fit.  At the same time it feels weird, like I'm cheating by not having to put up with crowded malls.

Okay, I've been in a mall once since Thanksgiving, because we went to a movie there.  So I stopped by Macy's to buy a couple of boxes of Christmas cards.  They're getting harder and harder to find.  But I like getting them--I tape them around the archway to our family room--so I'll keep sending them.

I didn't plan to do everything on line.  I did buy the main items from Amazon right after Thanksgiving; I was planning to do the rest of the shopping at a local mall.   I was going to go to Nordstrom on my way home from teaching yoga last Monday, but started looking at Nordstrom's web site and realized I could get exactly what I wanted for my husband.  Shipped for free.  I knew the brand and the size, based on prior purchases I've made, and it was so much easier than hunting through the men's store.  I also relied on the LLBean website--again, because I'd bought items for them in the past, and knew what types and sizes to get.  OK, I'm taking a risk with my son, hoping he'll like the latest purchases.  I even bought the chocolate santas from Godiva on line; I couldn't bear the thought of going to the mall just to get a couple of things at Godiva.  Everything was free shipping except the Godiva.  But the Godiva website had a couple of offers that reduced the price of the items and of the shipping.

I did buy a couple of things for my cat the old-fashioned way, but I got them from pet stores.  In strip malls, which don't count malls, at least by my definition. My cat, Pooh, was named "pet of the week" in a local e-newspaper, and I received a $25 gift certificate from one specialty store.  So I bought Pooh a fancy waterfall-style (electric) water dish.  It was virtually the only cat item in the store, which otherwise is for dogs.  It was pricey; when I got home I checked the Amazon website and found I could have gotten it for about $25 cheaper if I'd bought it on line.  So the gift certificate was a wash.  And if history is any gauge, Pooh will hate the waterfall fountain and refuse to use it.  But he'll love the box.




Monday, December 16, 2013

Ashtanga Not for Me?

I attended an interesting yoga workshop yesterday on something called Mysore Yoga.  Based on Ashtanga (more about that later), Mysore classes are not instructor-led.  Instead, the student arrives any time during the hours the practice is available, and does his or her yoga.  A lead instructor and some assistants are available to guide students individually.

This practice just became available in the studio where I take yoga classes (and where I received my 200-hour yoga teacher training).  I've been wondering if it's something that would work for me, with its flexible arrangement (it's open from 5:30-8am M-F, and a little later on Sunday.  You pay by the month, rather than by the class,  so if you go several times a week you get the most for your money.

But I'd been reluctant to go, not knowing how it operated.  The instructor asks that new students contact her first, so she can guide them when they get there.  But I still wanted to know more in advance--how do students know what to do?

Some of my takeaways from yesterday's workshop:

- You do the yoga in a prescribed sequence, which builds up over time.  But it always starts with 10 Sun Salutations--5 A, 5 B.  Right there, that's a problem for someone with low bone density--that means you're doing 20 deep forward folds just to start, putting pressure on the spinal discs.  I can do this, I say to myself.  But should I.  And every day?  What if I don't want to start that way?

- The room is heated to between 78 and 80 degrees, and they don't want you to drink water during the practice.  There's a philosophy behind this, and it's also a tenet of Bikram and other types of hot yoga.  The idea being that you want to build up your body heat, and water will dissipate that.  Is this really medically sound?  Add in the ups and downs of Sun Salutation, and I may end up getting dizzy.  I've found that water helps keep me from getting nauseous.  They say they will let you drink water (as in "leave the room to get water") if you have a medical reason for doing so.  But I'm still skeptical of this whole approach.  Why do they want me to work up a sweat?  How is this supposed to help with Enlightenment?

- YOU DO THE SAME THING EVERY DAY.  I know the practitioners would chafe at that description, but it's so different from the classes I teach and take, where the idea is to be creative and come up with new movements and combinations.  To keep things interesting, and so you're not working the exact same muscles in the exact same sequence every time.  What if I don't want to do revolved triangle?  Ever, as a matter of fact, since I heard that someone dislocated her hip trying to do the prescribed Iyengar alignment.  Is it medically sound to do the same sequence every day?

So while there is flexibility in terms of when you do your practice (within the prescribed morning hours), and you go at your own pace--appealing to those of us who are tired of the same class times and instructors--the practice itself is prescribed.  An alternative is the open session, where everyone shows up and does whatever they want.  But then why pay for that?

So there are some good reasons why I shouldn't do this sort of practice, but it still has an appeal--because I like to think I COULD do it.  Even though it's probably not a good idea.  I'll do some research ("google") to see what I can find out from relatively objective sources.




Thursday, December 12, 2013

Get Up Off Your Butt...

That's what I said to myself during a flute duet last night.  I wasn't playing well, and had to tough my way through it.

My performance image is of the figure skater who falls, then gets back up and continues her routine.  Especially the skater who nails a difficult jump after the fall.  Not the skater who doesn't fall.  Because much as I would like to be, I'm not someone who performs flawlessly.  Do any of those skaters just want to stay seated on the ice, call it quits while they're behind (literally as well as figuratively)?  I came close to doing that last night.  But I finished, not without more mistakes, though.  Hopefully my next performance will be better.  I'd like just once not to have to get up off my butt.
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Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Latest Gadget (Conair Infiniti Pro heated hairbrush)

Who says I don't buy things?  I'm always looking for products to deal with my aging hair--and I'm sure I'm not alone.  I'm trying to keep it medium length (as opposed to really short the way a lot of older women have their hair), but my hair texture is much different than it was.  With the wrong (as in most) hair products, my hair will be coarse and frizzy.  I learned some time ago that the best way to dry my hair is with a heated brush--that way I can style it while it's drying.  As recommended, I use a regular blow dryer to dry my hair about 80 percent, then use the heated brush to dry the ends and style them in the process.  I was using a John Frieda brush, which works well.

If you look at how hair stylists dry hair, they have a blow dryer in one hand and a round brush in the other, and control the hair with the brush as they dry it.  But I find that too difficult to do; hence the heated round brush.

I read about the Infiniti in the Wall Street Journal a few days ago; an article about some of the latest hair stying gadgets, and what was popular in different parts of the country.  What caught my attention about the Infiniti is that you can press a lever that makes the brush spin as you're using it to dry and style your hair.  I don't know of another heated brush that does that (my John Frieda doesn't).  Without a spinner, you have to try to spin the brush yourself, which I can't do very well.  The WSJ article said the Infiniti is popular among Hispanic women in Miami--to deal with thick wavy hair.  Sounds like my hair, I thought.

So of course I had to get myself an Infiniti, even though I have a perfectly fine brush now.  I planned to order it from Amazon, but they happened to have it at CVS, and I had a 20 percent off coupon, so I bought it there the same day I read about it.

I've used the brush once--the spinner is cool, but takes some getting used to.  Depending on how you're holding your hair in the brush, you have to spin it either clockwise or counterclockwise.  If you pick the wrong direction the hair flies away from the brush.  I had a little trouble picking the correct spin, but did it correctly most of the time.  The spinner (and fairly large brush) make the hair puffier, but also easier to keep straight.  My hand did get tired from holding the spinner lever, though.  The brush doesn't really work unless it's spinning.

It's been 2 days since I used the brush; my hair isn't as full, but does still look straight--the waviness hasn't reemerged, as it usually does.  So I will definitely continue to use this product.  Until a newer gadget comes along...

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

They Deserted Me

The conventional wisdom is that clothing retailers target people 25-45 years old (or so) because they're the spenders.  But I (barely into my 60s) would spend more on clothes if I could find ones I like.  But over the years, almost as soon as I find a brand, or a store, or an item of clothing, that I really like, the item or brand disappear, and the store changes its fashion line and moves away from styles I like.

Take Episode, for example.  I loved their clothes--very plush silks, long flowing designs.  I still wear items I bought at their DC store about 25 years ago.  Around the same time, stores like Saks Fifth Avenue also carried the Episode brand.  But then Episode disappeared--the brand as well as the store--and I had to regroup.  For a while I really liked Talbots--well made, reasonably priced clothes--but I won't shop there any more.  The styles look like they're trying to compete with ATL, but not at ATL prices.  If you're going for trendy, then price the clothes at a point where a customer won't get upset if it only lasts a year or two.

I really liked Sigrid Olsen clothes--one of her sweaters is still my favorite.  A small boutique near my house used to sell her clothes; so did Nordstrom.  Then the clothes started to disappear.  She was bought out by Liz Claiborne and then at some point dumped.  (I once bought a pair of Liz Claiborne pants; the button fell off as I put them on.  I never bought another Liz Claiborne item--I figured they had poor quality control.)

I've already mentioned that the pair of Cambio jeans I bought at Nordstrom some years ago is (are) the best pair I've ever had.  But Nordstrom no longer carries the Cambio brand.   NYDJ jeans are good, but more iffy in terms of fit (there are so many options--some are much longer than others).

And a few days ago I tried to buy some more fleece turtleneck pullovers from L.L. Bean, only to find that LLB no longer sells them.

I'm the same size I was 25 years ago--actually, I'm the same, but the clothing sizes keep getting larger, so I wear a smaller and smaller size.   In some cases I'm down to a size 0; maybe in a few years I'll be in negative numbers.  The first and only time I tried Chico's, I was told I'd be a size 0 in their store, and they didn't have many of those--I'd have to look around.   Apparently "mature" in retail clothing lingo means "fat".

So clothing retailers have created a self-fulfilling prophecy--designing trendy (short, tight, low-cut, often flimsy) clothes that someone like me finds less appealing.   And assuming that everyone over 50 is overweight and will enjoy wearing large colorful tent-like outfits.   Thus I spend less than I otherwise might if I could find more that I liked.  Clothing makers and retailers they were right not to target me as a customer.  And instead I divert my dollars into yoga clothes, yoga workshops, spa treatments, travel, music lessons.  Well, maybe I'd still do those things, too.

Sunday, December 1, 2013

One Month Later

I think my facial scar looks a little less raised after using ScarAway for 1 month; it's hard to tell from the photos.  The one on the left is from a month ago; the one on the right is from today.  OK, so they're blurry and I look yellow, but when I looked at the two photos on my phone, I thought to scar in today's photo look slightly less pronounced.  Of course, we don't know what the scar would look like if I weren't using the silicone strips--one assumes there would be some healing, but maybe more of a ridge. Good thing I decided to only take photos once a month.