too many choices...

I spent an hour at Target the other day...

This is what I came home with. 

I can't believe how many choices there are... and new brands even!

I thought for sure I'd sidle up to the Pantene section and find some intensive restorative type conditioner... which my hair needs, and they're selection was almost non-existent. When I stopped buying things last year I could have sworn they were the ones with all the selection in that category, but I couldn't find anything...

Then I went to the lotion section and of course my main requirement is smell. Well the one I love the most Aveeno with the purple accents is $8 for a medium sized bottle!
So I settled for the next best smell at a reasonable price.

I got that whole St. Ives one for $4. 

I didn't run out of lotion during my year and after the sticker shock of my trip I'm ready to suck it up even more. Maybe I should have taken a few more trips to the stores just to make myself feel better! ha

I gotta tell you, buying new things isn't exactly what I thought it was going to be...

:) 

The grass is always greener.

On the other hand...  I did get my Victoria's Secret Swimsuit! and it's pretty awesome

elongating the essentials

The other day I was pleasantly surprised to have a visit from one of my cousins. We were reminiscing about her kids and when I had visited their family as a kid myself and was introduced to the idea of watered down juice. 

At 11 or so I was at that prime age of wanting to take care of little kids, so while I was at her house I was eager to help her feed them, and play with them, etc. When she showed me how she gave them watered down juice on day... I was a bit puzzled. She explained that, not only did it help decrease the amount of sugar they were getting, it also made the juice last a lot longer, and juice isn't cheap when you're pouring out 4 glasses at a time. They call that stretching a dollar... I call it elongating the essentials... and Genius.

Like most lightbulb moments - it all came together standing in my bathroom the next morning.

  I've mentioned that of all my face lotions, I'm particularly keen on my Aveeno which is tinted, provides SPF protection and promises to keep me looking younger. I mainly like the fact that the tinted component helps me prolong the life of my makeup... since the days I wear the tinted kind it's really not necessary. Well... as you know the stuff won't last forever, or in my case 6 months. Sooo... the other day I tried mixing another (non tinted) face lotion with the tinted kind... and it worked... ok. I'm not going to lie and say it worked great, but it will definitely help keep the stuff alive a smidge longer. It's kind of like mixing the conditioners! 

Watering down your juices, mixing up your lotions and your lampshades, digging in the yard for buried furniture... I think the Holiday funk is over!

toiletries strung from here to RAGBRAI

So I'm headed to Iowa to ride my bicycle across the state for  a week, camping in people's yards, eating pie in small towns along the way, pulling off to slide down a makeshift slip 'n slide in a ditch, listening to music pumping from the most amazing devices you've seen strapped to the back of bikes.

Surprisingly enough, I'm not alone. 30,000 people do this every year, including Lance Armstrong. Not sure if you've heard of him but he's a really big deal... and he likes to drink beer on RAGBRAI.

Hope that's a Michelob Ultra! ha


As we speak I'm halfway there. I arrived at Peters parents house late last night after some trial and error on the landing by our pilot. The good news is that my toiletry hoarding has proved itself with one redeeming quality as of now. Under the sink was an almost full bottle of Proactiv and my very favorite Aveeno body lotion (which they don't make anymore).

Thankfully... because in packing ahead of time for a weekend triathlon in Seattle, a week of bike riding and camping in Iowa and then a road trip back to California, I managed to NOT pack my Proactiv. And yet... here it is, like a message from the heavens that stressing about toiletries really isn't necessary. This year will work out. At least that's how I'm interpreting it.

I'm lucky if you're still reading this. probably stopped up top when i told you we were riding our bikes across iowa, in july, with Lance.

Hey Lance, Juan Pelota, lucky 7, whatever, we're Team THOR and we know you have one of those extra long school buses for your LIVESTRONG team, but if you wanna come by and check out some custom seating inside a short bus with a wheelchair lift... that'd be cool.

Prioritizing.

Is today worth using the good conditioner?

 If I'm just going to shower again later, should I wait to put on lotion?

That's when you really start to appreciate those products that do three things in one. 

 For example...
I have one face lotion that is supposed to be a super hydrator. 

Then, there's the lotion that's a moisturizer and has a bit of a tint in it - for days you need a little color.

And one time... I bought some sort of under eye moisturizer that has gold flecks in it... I'm confessing... let's not add insult to injury - I'm sure it was a gimmick and I bit... hook line and sinker.

But then... there is the Aveeno moisturizer, tinted, SPF 30 that does it all. 

After buying all the others of course I found the one I prefer... too bad. Already got suckered into all those other products and now more lessons learned. Each and every time I put on face lotion that doesn't do it all, I will become more and more loyal to the ones who do, and well aware of those that come up short.

Or how about shampoo and conditioner? I love, love, love the smell of Salon Selectives. 

I know! I was as surprised as you are that they still make the stuff! I bought a very large bottle of it for fear it might never be seen again. 

Yep - that's a 32 ouncer. 

It's not the best product on the market, but i love the smell (we've had this discussion)... therefore, I've decided not to use it on days my hair needs to look good. 

Do you see how much thought has to go into all this??

 I was hoping the stock would slowly diminish but I'm afraid I'm going to have half used bottles of all different kinds of stuff, because they're all needed for different reasons.... uggh. 

"It's all about priorities" - my dad always says. I'm sure he's rolling his eyes over prioritizing my toiletries, but welcome to the confusing world of being a girl :)

In the end - I'm learning that I should stick with the stuff that works. Prioritize my purchases and I wouldn't have this problem. Be strong and don't get sucked into purchase I don't really need. 

And I'm learning that there is always a full stock of body soap in the dispenser at the gym - so if I do run out completely of body wash - which is likely... I guess that's a good reason to visit my friends over at the good ol' YMCA. And they sell Xenergy!!! that's "a whole nother" post. (click on that link and you'll learn something today)