Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Old Face is looking smoother.... and mom is happy

Approximately 10 days after my first Fraxel treatment at Pure Indulgence Skin Rejuvenation, I went back for a Vibraderm treatment.   In my real speak it basically a paddle vibrating on my face and sluffing off all the old skin that was still not exfoliated from the Fraxel treatment.   Well let me tell you, today my face feels soft as a babies ass!  I am so happy and pleased with the results of the treatments I can't express it properly.

I took a friend with me last night for her first IPL laser treatment, and I believe she was happy too.  She left a little red faced because of the treatment, but the end results are going to be awesome.  There is a laser club available at Pure Indulgence for a monthly club charge of $225 you can get 4 laser treatments of your choice.  THAT IS A HUMONGOUS SAVINGS.  4 Laser Hair Treatments alone would be about $400 - $500.

This laser thing is really making me happy.  My face felt and looked so bad  because of the last few stressful years that I feel like at least now my face looks a little perkier.  Lack of sleep, lack of good skin care, old sun damage, and menopause all working against me.  I feel like the laser has at least given me an army to fight aging.  Genetically, I don't have good odds.  If you ever saw or met my Nana, there was not a centimeter on her face that didn't have a wrinkle on it!  So I'm taking my chances with the laser and so far 1 week post treatment I am beyond thrilled.

I am making more of an effort to take better care of my skin and purchases some new hats for the summer, some sunscreen other than Coppertone Water Babies (they laugh at you at salons if you tell them you use that).  I am also washing my face with the Skin Again Products that I got, it's a 3 step process, that really takes no time.  So I am making a pledge to not use baby wipes to wash my face and take off what little make up I wear!  Loving the Skin Again Radiance products a lot.

So I highly recommend Pure Indulgence if you are in the Orange County area, hit it up for an affordable and nice way to treat yourself and give a knock out punch to that aging process.
 
Rebecca
10 days post Fraxel and 1 day post Vibraderm  Smooth and happy!

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

The Gunnar Challenge - Day 2 Week 1

I embarked on something to shake up the fitness routine a little bit. I am in a weight loss contest with other mom bloggers #iwillrockthis, and not having much success with weight loss and diet alone.  I joined in the Gunnar Challenge to help get me back on track and lose the last 20lbs that I have been trying to get off for awhile now.  But my nutrition hasn't been the best.  So the Gunnar Challenge is basically like having a trainer via social media.  I get my workouts emailed to me, and the nutrition plan is on their web portal, which I have to say is killer, very easy to use and pretty to look at.

So I check the website in the morning and it tells me what to eat for the day, and what to do in my workout!  And you get jabs from Gunnar Peterson during the day via Facebook and Twitter.   Every question I have had has been immediately answered.  It's a pretty cool deal.

The thing I didn't like was taking my photo in a bathing suit.  Seriously?!  I don't have the courage to post it here yet, but maybe at the end, I'll do the Before and the "In Progress" Reveal at the end of the 8 weeks.  Because I am going to look "Great in 8".  This will also be inconjunction with me training for the Disney half marathon Sept. 3rd, and the Long Beach Half October 7th.  YIKES.  I hope I didn't bite off more than I can chew.  But I have my friends and support, check out The Unnatural Mother, Deanna introduced me to the challenge, and I have been following her on twitter and reading her blog for over a year and she has really kept me motivated to stay fit, she blazed a bad ass trail in front of me as a fitness newbie to follow.  So we will push eachother, and laugh and I'm sure some tears will be shed about week 5 when I feel like I'm over it.  But we will pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and keep trudging the road to being the most bad ass fit moms on each coast.

Today was a weight and cardio workout, and I learned where I need to work on my strengths, and one of the goals I set for myself was to be able to do regular push ups by the end of this challenge, I want to be able to do 10 of them.  I can do 25 "girly" push ups now.  The first workout was hard, but doable, I enjoyed it, and it was a nice switch up from running, also it was totally cool to not feel lost in the gym, to have some direction and exercises to do, made me feel not like such as spaz out on the weight room floor.

So my start weight was 189lbs.  Maybe the pics will come later.
Finished with Workout 1 - CRUSH IT

Rebecca

Monday, May 21, 2012

New Face on the Old Head

I know, I know, I make fun of people with too much filler and plastic surgery.  Too much, not when it helps you feel better or look fresh.  We all know who the too much people are, Prisilla Presely, Suzanne Sommers, Joan VanArk, Joan Rivers.   My biggest fear is to look like them.  B

Well I succumbed today to help my skin and face get a little pick me up.  44 years of sun and fun, and the 5 years of sleepless nights and raising and autistic child, and the tears that have been shed over cancer, and just life and the happenings around me have made me look and feel a little older than I like.

Before
So it was suggested to me to try out Laser Treatments for my face to help rejuvenate my looks.  I decided to go with Fraxel because I am crazy busy and do not have the time for a lot of maintenance and down time.  Fraxel works because there is no downtime.  I just look like I have a sunburn today, the skin will sluff off in the next 3 to 5 days and I just have to keep it moisturized.  Easy enough.

1 hour after Fraxel
So I went into Pure Indulgence Skin Rejuvenation in Laguna Niguel, CA and had the treatment.  I arrived and had to put numbing cream all over my face and chest and sit until it kicked in.  So my whole head felt like it was at the dentist.  Not really, but got numb, and I was ready for the laser.   As Gigi came in (the nurse who administers the procedure) the machine started beeping and off she went.  There is a big want that she will rub across your face and I'm not going to say it's painless, I'm glad there was numbing cream involved for sure.  It didn't hurt but it was a little uncomfortable.  But come on ladies, we have had babies for the love of God, that is pain, this not so much.

As we finished the treatment, Gigi gave me my care instructions, which are fairly basic and washing and moisturizing.  Now I am a pretty care free girl, and my skin care regimen - well I don't really have a skin care regimen - sometimes I wipe my eye makeup off with baby wipes, and maybe get some baby lotion on my face if it's feeling dry.  I KNOW that is terrible.  So I did get the Skin Again Radiance package.  A 3 step process before bed.  A cleanser, Lift & Hydrate serum, and Wrinkle Reduction cream.  It seems worth it to care for the treatment I just got.

Now I do look like I got a massive sunburn and my face is very hot but from my research and what everyone has told me that will be gone in a day or so.  But there is nothing I can not do today (except go in the sun and sweat).  Which for a real mom is the PERFECT treatment!

Thanks to Pure Indulgence, Gigi and Skin Again for bringing the life back to my face.

Rebecca

Monday, May 14, 2012

I better not be turning into a "Real Housewife" for the love of God

Today I had my 2 year MRI to check my tata's and make sure all is still good with them and I am still cancer free.   If you've had breast cancer you know that the MRI machine is something that you see frequently.

Well today my breast surgeon sent me to a new radiology center that I had not been to before.  I walked in it was nice and all, and I was full of anxiety as I am every time I get a scan, or go to any doctor that has to do with the dreaded Big C!

I think I have had about 8 - 10 MRI's in my life, and 6 have been in the last 2 years, so no big deal right? 

Well holy hell!  I met this sweet technician and this particular MRI, I was getting contrast, so she had to start an IV, and that was fine too.  We go into the machine room and I started to sweat and feel a little nauseous, good God really?! I am not turning into one of those sissy buffoons that is crying over nothing am I?  So I get on the table, face down with my tata's in the two holes and my face in this ring like on a massage table and then big earphones for music so you don't have to listen to the horrendous noise going on around you in the cylinder.

So I'm in the table, IV is started, and she pushes me into the tube and I flipping start hyperventilating.   I felt like I couldn't breath, I couldn't move my arms were against the cylinder and when I lifted my head it hit the top of the tube.  I started yelling "STOP, STOP, STOP", "I can't stand it, get me out, I'm suffocating."  Yeah, all that drama.   - NEVER have I done this before, and then I started CRYING in public, in front of strangers!!  Really?!!!! So I try to pull it together to get the test finished, and she puts me back in and I go through the first 5 - 7 minutes and holy hell the water works start again, and my face is in this hole, and the earphones are making it impossible to move my head and I feel like I am in a coffin and I start yelling.  "I can't do it!  Get me out! Get me out!".  Oh My Gawd.  What in the hell has happened to me???

So the half marathon running, cancer surviving, autism REAL mom of OC, lost her shit at radiology center and now I have to be put to sleep for the test.  All I could think of driving home was how one of the Real Nut Jobs (housewives) of Orange County would have acted, and it was probably exactly like I behaved in their.  Good God, someone kick me in the shins or something and snap me out of it.  I would rather behave like anything but one of those fruit loops.

Rebecca

Monday, May 7, 2012

Slow and Steady and Weepy and Sore

Well I did it!! Finally, I'm sure you're tired of hearing about it.  But I finished my first FRIGGIN' Half Marathon!  Huhlo, Mama is a runner!

Let me get all the things that pissed me off about the race out first.  I was so aggravated that I couldn't sleep the night before, I literally just LAID there until 3:30am and got up got my PB&J sandwich and headed out the door.  The bus driver that took us from the finish line to the starting line was competing to be a ride operator on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride in the most rickety school bus that was barely even road worthy. I was mad at myself for believing the voices in my head that I couldn't do it all morning, I said just go home, no one will even know.  The hill at Mile 11.5 YOU SUCK!!!  The pain in my feet I hated and the fact that I hit the wall at mile 10 and couldn't get anymore juice to keep my momentum up.

Enough with the negativity, now!  I ran 13.1 miles, granted I ran it slow, 3:12, stopping for pee breaks, hamming it up with the spectators and taking pictures didn't add to the craptastic time I had!   I learned a lot, and will be able to carry forward into another half marathon better ways to train, eat, and pace myself and concentrate on the race not just the dang finish line.

What a beautiful race course, we were fortunate enough to run through the beautiful cities of Newport Beach, Corona Del Mar, and Costa Mesa.  A view of some body of water be it the Pacific Ocean or the Bay was visible for the majority of the race. The homes were magnificent and I loved the smell of fresh Jasmine on my run. The weather was spectacular, the spectators were plentiful and the signs were HILARIOUS.  "You trained longer than Kim Kardashian was married", "Run Faster, I just farted", "Make this Mile your Bitch", "Don't stop to walk people will Judge you", and my personal favorite "Stop Obama".

At mile 9 my pain started, my feet, then my hips, and I stopped to stretch, and got some water, and started up again at mile 10.5 I wanted to quit, and the only thing that kept me going was this stupid shirt I was wearing "Train 4 Autism".  Who in the hell did I think I was to think I was going to quit? These kids don't get to quit Autism when it gets tough.  So I told myself to SUCK IT UP, don't be a baby.   Your kids run a damn marathon DAILY (metaphorically of course).  Then the hill at mile 11, I want to know who thought that was a good idea?  JACK ASS!  No other way you could have gotten us to the fairgrounds but up that STUPID piece of shit hill?

I crossed the finish line to one of my very good friends to greet me.  I was crying like a little girl, it was very emotional for me, so much to be grateful for, the race was much bigger than I expected it to be.   Everyone else I ran with left my ass in the dust, and left me a little jealous.  But I finished.  I am a runner.  I now know I can do it.  I did this race for kids with Autism, to help the families whose lives are a marathon everyday.  I ran this race because 2 years ago I couldn't run five feet and had just kicked cancers ass and needed to get healthy and stay healthy for my little kids.  Running was the most therapeutic thing I could have done for all of us.  When I wanted to scream because autism hijacks my kids, I would run.  When I want to whack my husband because he doesn't help me when I'm begging for it, I would run.  When the pain and the fear I have about what Autism is too much, I would run and take it all out on the pavement.  Those $90 running shoes were the cheapest therapy I could have ever asked for.




I made a vow last year to get and stay healthy for my family.  I started running last year, and after a year of going back and forth I decided to do this.  I know what I could have done better, how I could have trained harder or different.  I need to get a better nutrition plan in place to get slim my ass down those last 20 lbs, and it will probably alleviate a lot of the pain that I was having.  So now I'm in the I Will Rock This Weightloss Challenge with some other bloggers and moms and I have a challenge to finish, and since I can finish half marathons

So Disneyland Half Marathon in September, be ready, I'll be back better, and stronger and ready to take you on.
 
Rebecca

Tuesday, May 1, 2012

New Race Wear!

I am gearing up for my first half marathon this Sunday May 6th, and I thought to celebrate the event I would sport some new workout clothes and a sporty new outfit for the race. 

It was so hard to decide so I looked at many many running websites and photos looking for what would be the for race day.   I scoured the internet looking for activewear for women runners and found the perfect outfit.

Just like I would at any party or celebration I would always find something classic and black and dress it up with accessories.  I found a perfect pair of Champion compression capris and a Nike Dri Fit running bra.    I will be running in brand new womens activewear and the compression is tight but not constricting or uncomfortable and I swear there will be no jiggling of my jiggly parts during this whole race.  The clothes are really well made the seams don't rub me wrong and they feel like they are going to be completely comfortable for the whole 13.1 miles.

I am looking forward to crossing the finish line and looking like a cute runner.  Just crossing the finish line is my goal, the cute part is a bonus.  Happy Trails to you all :)

 
Rebecca