Taking Your Temperature

May 12, 2020 michelle golddust

{Written while watching Indian Summers on PBS. I stumbled on this series a few years ago and I finally have the time to sit down and watch it!} Hello, friends. What a time we are living in, right? I am sitting here, wondering how you are all doing. I thought I would come check in and just see how everyone was faring. Taking our temperature, so to speak (which we will soon be doing literally once we all go back to work) It’s hard, what we are all going through right now. Not too hard to continue and not hard like some people have it, but challenging nonetheless. Lately, I am finding it more and more difficult to stay in a routine. At the beginning of all of this, I made charts and activities and I felt pretty good. The kids were in a routine, I was in a pretty good routine and the days ticked by. The longer this has gone on, however, the more out of whack I’ve become. Our routines kind of went out the window because I am trying to give everyone a little grace- my kids miss their friends and school and activities and while they sort of get what we as a collective world are doing, they are antsy and emotional. Their bedtime has slipped from 8:15 until 9:30 or 10:00 PM, their screen time use is higher than it’s ever been, but I just have to be okay with this, because right now, the rule is whatever it takes. I am awake most nights until 1:00 or 2:00 am (and I know this isn’t good, especially for my skin!), I am loungewearing all day every day, and it is all beginning to feel monotonous. We (my hubby and my kids) are completely isolating. I haven’t seen my friends or family since the end of February. We (cough me cough) are cooking most every meal at home, and I do love it, but the constant dishes and cleaning and overall mess caused by four people who aren’t leaving the house is not for the faint of heart! My family is no different from anyone else in this almost week 8 of this quarantine. If you can, I want you to tune out all the noise around you and focus on the simplicity of life. Whatever makes you feel happy and safe and satisfied now is all you need to worry about. Don’t watch what anyone else is doing and feel like you have to do the same or more. Nobody is measuring up to any standards right now- we are all doing the best we can. I included some photos below of the things I am doing right now with my family to give you some ideas and I would love to hear your ideas in the comments. We have been playing outside, have chalk art walks with our neighbors, painting and crafting and generally, being together! As always, thank you so much for stopping by and I am sending all of my love to you and yours- Sweetly, Michelle

A Galentine Get Together

March 14, 2020 michelle golddust

This is one of the least flattering pictures I can imagine taking but it is not filtered at all and it shows the consistency of the mini peel.

You simply wipe off the peel and the voila! The transformation is complete!

Immediately after the peel- no filter, no redness, only beautiful skin!

A Becky hug. We love her! (also…me… no make up and the redness you see is about the worst it got!)

Sitting under some of my favorite works with my favorite people.

Can I just tell you how much I adore Ms. Amanda? K, because I do!

Post peel, no makeup and sandwiched between these beauties who are even MORE enchanting on the inside!

I love these two. The brightest, most refreshingly pure energy and serious friendship #goals.

Galentines celebrations are my favorite!

Celebrate life, as often and as hard as you can!

{Written with a heavy heart while quarantining} It is only one sleep past the email we expected to get (but were shocked nonetheless) last night that our children’s schools were closed. I am all for it. I don’t know that any of us knows a thing about this virus for sure but it does seem certain that we can stop the spread/flatten the curve by staying away from each other right now - and this may save lives. I don’t think this has anything to do with us thinking that it’s ok to “just live your life” or “refuse to live in fear” and thus, carry on with business as usual. The world is in uncharted waters here my friends, and we need to dig down past the uncertainty and inconvenience and do our part. We are trying to protect those folks who need it- our seniors and immunocompromised. I am praying that our collective efforts will be enough.

In the meantime, I am looking back on the beautiful evening we spent at Dr. Anzaldo’s office a few short weeks ago, never realizing at the time that it would be the last such gathering for a while. I was thrilled to host, along with @amandanhammond (with photos by @bleudogfotography), we nibbled on sweet Valentine treats while being taught all about Skin Better Science and Dysport (which is similar to Botox).
Skin Better Science is medical grade skin care and while we all likely know it, medical grade means the good stuff. And as the name implies, Skin Better is backed by scientific studies and tests to assure us that its products do what they claim to do. Brilliant! I had tried this amazing product and these before our event but was actually excited to try this too. In what might not have been the best decision in terms of timing (considering there were photos taken all night!), I stripped off my makeup at the start of the evening and had a mini chem peel. This peel was AMAZING. It was on and off in under 5 minutes, which doesn’t seem nearly enough to produce results but I was glowing. This mini peel doesn’t cause the sheeting and peeling of skin like a deeper peel does, but it’s incredible nonetheless. It felt a bit tingly going on, kind of akin to a cinnamon type facial (if you’ve ever had one of those) but that was the extent of any discomfort. The next day, my face had red spots here or there but they faded shortly and my face looked clear and amazing. I believe these are recommended roughly every month and they are so worth it. Once the world rights itself again, I am adding this to my skin routine!

The night was also a celebration of friendship (both old and new) and the magic that happens when good people (here, a group of wonderful women) come together. If you know me even a little, you know that nothing makes me happier than seeing a fellow woman succeed. Becky and her staff at Dr. Anzaldo’s office are experts at making their patients feel comfortable and well taken care of. {I had an IPL treatment that I will write about in my next post and it was a game changer}

As I try to figure out how to navigate this new normal, I am also trying to consider how to support folks that may be hardest hit- we are ordering from local restaurants (but eating at home), from coffee shops (but not sitting inside to linger) and since the Skin Better products are available on line, it’s a quarantine acceptable way to stock up!

Stay safe my friends, check in with your family members that might be alone and know in your heart that together, we will get through this. Sweetly, Michelle

My Skin Care Journey, Part 1

August 30, 2019 michelle golddust

{Blogged while skimming Labor Day sales and HOW IS It ALREADY LABOR DAY?!} I am so excited to share this post, because I believe it will resonate with everyone, especially mamas. Today, I am going to talk to you about skin, and more specifically, YOUR skin. Beautiful, clear, blemish-free skin is something we all aspire to have. We know that to achieve this requires at least some work on our part- as much hydration as possible, the least amount of sunscreen-less exposure as possible, healthy eating, and plenty of sleep. It also needs the right skin care products and the right skin treatments. For me (and I have written about this before), the past two years since I started this law firm have passed in a blur. To say my 24 hour days are stretched to capacity is an understatement. I simply don’t have the time for skin care treatments- or so I thought. Last Friday, I finally did something for myself- I put the to-do list away, the out-of-office on, I carved out 90 minutes or so in the late afternoon and I went to Dr. Anzaldo’s office. When I walked in the door, I was immediately welcomed into an inviting Gray-Malin-photo covered oasis. The decor is fabulous, but the people are even better. This is not a place where you are hustled in and out as fast as possible. This is a place where you are listened to and heard. Like all of us, I have been to a ton of spas and doctor’s offices and I can honestly say that this place feels different. Dr. Anzaldo’s office is different. On my first visit, I felt like the people there were family, and wanted to help me achieve my skin care goals.

For me, I have always shied away from make-up (except for lipgloss and mascara) and instead, focused on good skin care. I try to use quality serums and treatments pretty much religiously. Even so, my face has those little patches of sun damage that even good skin care and sunscreen can’t reverse. Fortunately, Dr. Anzaldo’s office has the cure— an IPL laser (or Intense Pulsed Light). This is a light therapy procedure designed to reduce the look of sun damage and restore your skin’s lost radiance. IPL has been proven to provide a dramatic improvement in the appearance by lightening freckles, fading age spots, reducing areas of sun damage, and redness. Plus, it retextures your skin...WOW! I have never had one of these before (truthfully, I’ve only ever had facials) and I was a little (ok, a little more than a little) apprehensive but guess what? Its a breeze. The laser is performed in a 3 part process with each process utilizing a different laser attachment and getting progressively warmer. None of it actually hurts (and in full disclosure, I only left the numbing cream on for maybe 15 minutes because I cant stand to just sit still, but I bet if I left it on for the full 30 minutes I wouldn’t have felt a thing!)

I am seven days out and you cant even tell I’ve had it. The whole process from start to finish was around an hour and 45 minutes but that included a little numbing cream to start and a little shot of Dysport to end. I will do two more treatments spaced 30 days apart and voila- that’s it! I will come back and repeat it every 6 months or as needed.

I also left with new products from Skin Better, which I will review in my next post. All in all, my take away from my initial treatment was this:

I don’t make the time that I should for myself and this was the perfect way to jump start my self-care;
Investing in our skin is such a wise thing to do and this IPL Laser is amazing;
Finding a place like Dr. Anzaldo’s office— a place that focuses on women’s well being, from the outside in— has been the biggest blessing.

I cant wait to take this journey with you! Thank you for following along! Sweetly, Michelle

PS- These photos are courtesy of @bleudogfotography

PSS- Give @dranzaldo a peek on Instagram. I promise you won’t regret it.

This is one of the cute treatment rooms!

See the cute art work and yes, indeed. You. Look. Good.

These are the Befores! Stay tuned for the Afters!

Let me give you some sage advice— listen to your aesthetician, especially if she is manning a laser. Leave the numbing cream on for the ENTIRE recommended time!!

Me, the numbing cream and some cute flamingos!

Dr. Anzaldo’s office is so thorough; carefully documenting each skin condition and concern, answering every question patiently and thoughtfully before we started. Also, these photos are courtesy of the wonderful Shawna Henrie @bleudogfotography

This was after one pass of the laser- you can see some red spots kind of jumping out but it really wasn’t bad at all.

Okay, this is me in the elevator, immediately after all 3 lasers, no makeup, no filter, and only aloe-vera on my face because it feels like a slight sunburn. I was pink but only slightly and within a few hours, the hotness on my face went away!!

County Fair Fabulousness

August 2, 2019 michelle golddust

I had a few signs made that I distributed around the party on little easels...

{Blogged while trial prepping, and planning Hudson’s third birthday!} I had this post written within a few weeks of Hudson’s first birthday party and I cant even remember why I never pushed post on this. (This is a standard occurrence in my world. For every blog post that actually goes live, there are dozens that sit in draft as I hum and haw over them). Let me tell you a new mantra I’ve adopted- good enough is #goodenough. Whatever I wanted to tweak with this thing is staying as is. If a few more years of being a mom has impressed anything upon me, its that the extra time we need for whatever we think we need it for is never going to materialize. After this, I will post about his second birthday (cowboy giddy up!) and his party that I am holding near the end of August (choo choo trains). And remember- I love to party plan-its my (rare) creative release. But you don’t need anything besides a big hug to let the people in your life know what they mean to you I loved this party so much that I wanted to post about it, especially if it can inspire any other mamas who are party planning!!! So, without further ado, here we go!

A very big deal occurred in our little family...Hudson had his first birthday! If you are a parent, you know how this milestone feels. It's the culmination of a years worth of sleepless nights and worry and hope and pride and pure shining joy, all rolled up into one celebration! I want my family and friends around me whenever I can and so for Huds party, I knew the guest list would be long. I start thinking about parties around six-months in advance and since Huds is a summer baby (my daughter's birthday is in February, completely precluding outside parties) - I knew I wanted to take full advantage of our beautiful weather. I wanted a BBQ type feeling and that led me to a County Fair theme. Please know that I KNOW I am a lunatic about birthday parties. Does any child need all of this hoopla or over-the-top celebration? Of course not. And my husband and I spend a lot of time as parents trying to teach humility and graciousness and gratitude all throughout the year. But dang it, if I can turn any event into a party, I sure as heck will and there is no better excuse than a first birthday, amiright?

At the time I was planning this party, there were other REALLY big things going on in my life that took up pretty much all of my time (i.e., I was opening my own law firm!) and I knew I wouldn't be able to give this party my usual care and attention. My mom is my party-planning side-kick and so she jumped in to help! We also used an AMAZING party crafter who will basically listen to your ideas and help execute them. I don't know why but party planning is really a passion of mine and it's fun! For months, my mom and I work together on the details and then the day of the party, my (kind, super understanding, indulgent to my whim) friends and family come to help set it all up and it becomes just a really fun time. When I am thinking about any kind of get together, I really want to create an amazing experience for our guests-- little details and treats and fun. Hudson's first birthday was an absolute joy for us and I hope it was for everyone who attended!