I was listening to one of Paula Begoun's radio talk shows where she spoke to the renowned dermatologist, Dr. Leslie Baumann about her NY Times best selling book, Skin Type Solutions as well as her website by the same name. Dr. Baumann spent 7 years developing a quiz that could accurately determine your skin type. Dr. Baumann discovered that woman fall into 1 out of 16 skin types. Dermatologist around the world are now using her skin type quiz on their patients to determine their skin type which would subsequently allow them to prescribe or recommend the right skin care products. Dr. Baumann made her quiz available through a website (see link below) where after taking the quiz, you will be routed to a page dedicated to your skin type. You will receive weekly information and tips related to your skin type as well as having access to look up product recommendations and blog with people with your same skin type and trade war stories.

If I haven't spoken to you about Paula Begoun in the past (I highly doubt that) she is the author of, Don't Go to the Cosmetics Store Without Me.  Paula has also developed her own Skin Care Products (which I use religiously), Paula's Choice. FYI, Dr. Baumann is a big fan of her products which are ALL fragrance free and affordable. Fragrance Free products are a must for those of you that have sensitive skin or skin issues such as eczema or rosacea. Here is her website that you might want to visit AFTER you have taken the Skin Type Quiz: http://www.cosmeticscop.com/

LINKS:
This link will direct you to Dr. Leslie Bauman's website:
http://www.derm.net/meet-the-doctors/doctor-bios/1-dr-leslie-baumann#!physicians/ckde

Visit the Skin Type Solutions website to take the Quiz: http://www.skintypesolutions.com/home

Note:  It is recommended that you wash your face and put NOTHING on your face and then look at your face in the mirror 1 hour after you've washed it to see if you are shiny anywhere. Take note of how your skin feels as well, do you feel tightness and if so, where.? This will help you answer some of the questions on the quiz.

Mommy Advice

My niece, Paula is having her first child this year and asked everyone to write out their advice for her so that she can put in a scrap book. Below is the advice I gave to her:



Dear Paula and Julio,


I’ve learned a couple of things being a mommy the last eight years that I hope can help you both. Firstly, don’t deny people the pleasure of doing something nice for you, ask for help or accept offers.


Hold your child as often as you like. Children need to feel secure and it’s not true that you’ll spoil them. The infant stage goes by in a blink of an eye and soon enough Xavier will be walking and not want to be held anyway so enjoy it while it lasts.


Children are born with a personality and the most you can do is influence them to be their best you can’t change who they are. Work with your child’s personality instead. You have to figure out how they learn best then change your teaching style to match their learning style.


Very importantly, know that children want the same things you do, kindness, love and respect. Your child will only say, please and thank you if you say please and thank you. Your child will learn to apologize if you learn that it is sometimes necessary for you to apologize to your child. Yes, children will wear you down because they have more energy than you can gather up in a life time; However, never lose sight of the fact that they are explorers in a new world and what drives them is curiosity not the intent to drive you crazy. When your child does something wrong, step away and think about how it feels when you kiss and hug your child and also try to remember how you felt as a child when you did something wrong. When you are calm enough to let your child know that for every action there’s a reaction go and talk to them with kindness, love and respect.


Start the day with I love you, say it a few more times throughout the day and put them to bed with an, I love you. Children learn through repetition so if you want them to be sure of your love, never stop telling them you love them. The bonus is that they start saying it back and there is nothing more beautiful than to hear you child tell you they love you.


Finally, and most importantly, don’t talk about anyone in front of your child. Children are sponges and they will repeat everything you say!!!



Love, Aunt Ary

Eddie Murphy's Ice Cream Skit

My friends and I decided to have Mr. Softee ice cream today after lunch and while we were eating our ice cream, a group of kids walked up to the ice cream truck screaming, ICE CREAAAAAM, ICE CREAAAAAAAM!!!!!!!! It immediately reminded me of this Eddie Murphy's ice cream skit from Delirious, his best comedy show ever!

How Sarah Convinced Me To Have Her Hair Cut

Sarah has been begging me ever since I had my hair cut short in October to take her to the salon for a short hair cut as well. I hated the idea of having her long locks cut short. I told her I liked her long hair too much to cut it. She kept telling me that if her hair wasn't cut soon, it would grow too long because her hair grows really fast. She never convinced me until last Wednesday.

She switched methods and presented me with a drawing that would convince me that her long hair should be cut short soon. I guess she figured she needed a drawing to go along with her argument so that I could truly understand the issue. Below is her drawing.

After that convincing, self portrait, I finally gave in and took her to the Salon yesterday. Below is a picture of Sarah with her new hairstyle:

Child Safe Scissors Are Not So Safe!!

I was cleaning up my e-mail at work and found the e-mail posted below, which I sent to family and friends on July 27, 2007. Sarah was 5 and 1/2 when she did this. I can't believe how quickly time passes. This seems like just yesterday to me:

Sarah decided to take her "child-safe" scissors last night and redo her hairstyle. In doing so, she went around the house cutting pieces of her hair and leaving the evidence underneath several pieces of furniture throughout the house as if no one would ever notice her newly serrated, lopsided hairstyle.

When Papi walked into the bathroom, to his shock and horror he caught Sarah red-handed cutting away her hair that was halfway down her back in angles. Papi told Sarah that Mami would be upset and that he had to send Mami a picture. As you can imagine, she was very reluctant to pose for her mug shot:

Haircut Phenomenon

After years of going from medium length hair to long hair, I decided I was tired of the same old thing and wanted to do something different. So I went to my brother about a 1 week before Halloween and I told him I wanted to cut it short damn it!
He took a step back and repeated, "short?"
Losing my confidence after seeing my brother's shock, I responded, "well maybe just to my shoulders."
The girls in the salon yelled in unison, "just cut all off!. If you want a different look, cut it real short!!" So below is the result of my sudden break from the norm:

No big deal right? WRONG!!!

I didn't know a simple haircut would cause such a buzz. Everyone in the office stops me to tell me how much they love it. Even people who generally ignore me at the office all of sudden notice me and talk to me about my haircut for five minutes tops. One lady even cut her hair like me two days after I cut my hair cause she said I inspired her. I also had to endure a 10 minute conversation with the mailman about my hair!! What the heck it's just hair!! It's been two months since the haircut and I still get stopped. One guy in particular, let's call him Steve (I have to blog some day about my Steve story) tells me he loves my hair EVERY time he sees me! Okay so it feels nice but I still don't get it and by now I'm truly missing my long hair.

My friend, Norris (the work wife) was asked by the mailman if she was going to cut her hair like her me, since apparently he thinks that 30 something year old friends do that all the time. Norris starts teasing that I should have a fan club for my haircut and then sends me the following picture:

The other funny friend in the picture is Alison. They think it's all really funny.

Then Norris goes out for a haircut on Christmas day and ends up looking just like the picture above! So I now need to do something drastic. I'm thinking maybe I have to go red or blond, maybe some bangs or just let it grow and go blond.

I've realized that this type of attention is fun at first, then funny, then creepy, then again a bit funnier and then in the end you'd had enough and just want to go back to your old self. Below Is a picture of me as a blond, which Carlos hates. His actual words were, " I think you look disgusting as a blond!"

Thanks for letting me down easy honey. I love you! xoxoxo

Kotex Wars!

Kotex Dispenser Wars

My friend, Alison lent me a quarter so that I could retrieve a pad from the Kotex dispenser and I got NOTHING again! I immediately had flashbacks to 8 months ago when I was working late one night. . .

I put a quarter in the Kotex dispenser and nothing came out of the stupid machine. I pulled the stupid lever again and again and nothing. I figured maybe something was stuck so I put my hand inside the open slot and was able to get my hand in all the way past my wrist but to no avail. I couldn’t get a damn thing. Frustrated with my hatred for the damn dispenser that has stolen yet another quarter from me; I pulled my hand back and realized my hand was stuck.

Now I was angry and scared. It was Friday night and everyone was gone except for the Director of my department and I started thinking about how embarrassing it would be to have your boss walk in on you while your hand is stuck inside the Kotex dispenser. While jiggling my hand, I started to sweat, panic and cry from the pain I was feeling in my hand. My mind went on to debate what situation would be worse. Would my boss walking in on me and calling the fire department to have the Jaws of Life remove my hand be worse than no one walking in so that I would stay stuck all weekend, starving, tired just so that my boss will walk in on me on Monday morning and call the fire department to have the Jaws of Life remove my hand and finally be rushed to the ER to have my hand amputated?

I realized no matter how this went down, I wasn’t safe from experiencing humiliation and pain. At this point a good minute or so had passed and my hand was now numb. I started praying to God to forgive my stupidity and spare me from the degradation of being discovered for being an idiot. Mercifully, God listened and my hand miraculously came out.

I was wet from the sweat; my hand was red and numb. I was in pain but I was never exposed for being an idiot that was willing to stick her hand into a small slot to retrieve a 25¢ Kotex! I’m sure I would have made the National news with that one.

The lesson learned: The Kotex dispenser is mightier than you. If it steals your quarter let it be. Just accept defeat and walk away!