Ladybug Studio

Even better…

Just as a follow up to the last post - no, the weather didn't improve much for the holiday weekend. While the rain wasn't quite so constant, it still rained enough to foil some of my plans. I got up early on Saturday, drank coffee, read the newspaper, ate breakfast and was on my way to change into my tennis clothes when it started raining. Boo.

I did detail the interior of the Mazda though. That's one really good thing accomplished. But I didn't trim the bushes on the west side of the house. Oh well, there's always next weekend. Or the one after that.

* * *

So, I have this brown sun spot on my left cheekbone. It's been there for years. I've had it checked out with my dermatologist and it's not cancerous or pre-cancerous. (technically speaking it's a lentigo) But it's ugly and it's the first thing I see when I look in the mirror.

I've considered having a laser treatment to try and lighten it. Which is expensive, but not seeing that spot any longer would be worth quite a lot of money to me. However, I happened upon a less expensive solution that is helping my entire face as well:

Clinique Even Better Skin Tone Corrector - a light weight serum that gently creates a notably more even complexion with a brightness and clarity.

Combined with Even Better Makeup SPF 15 - naturally luminous minerals perfect, while Vitamin C helps restore a brighter tone over time, guarding against future damage.

I started using both products about five weeks ago. The info states that it can take four weeks before you see any difference, so I diligently applied my serum (1 or 2 times a day) and the foundation (most days, skipping here and there). Today it occurred to me that the spot is definitely lighter. It was a fairly dark spot, but there is really a difference now. Also, my skin tone is much more even overall.

I'm really thrilled with my results and plan to keep on using these two amazing products.

And yes, apparently when it comes to makeup, I show no loyalty. I'm currently using a combination of Lancome (cleansers & moisturizers, lipstick & liner, loose powder, blush), Clinique (serum & foundation, lipstick & liner), Mac (eyeshadow, blush), CoverGirl (mascara) and various interesting bits and pieces.

Possible clearing?…

I was feeling optimistic this morning. Even though the sopping wet roads and parking lots indicated a recent soaking, it wasn't currently raining so I decided to be daring. I took the time to put up the sun shade in the Mazda and I left my umbrella behind as I trudged in to work.

I know! How risky is that? I threw caution to the wind based on the lack of rain yesterday afternoon. It was amazing when I left work as I was able to roll down the windows and open the sunroof. I even put on sunglasses! My trip to Publix was unencumbered as well. Maybe the weather is finally making a change, just in time for the weekend.

A three-day weekend… ah… so looking forward to it.

Day three…

And so the rain continues.

The problem with this front is that it's not just a nice, all day soaker kind of rain. It's been coming in bands of hard, driving rain, with lightning and thunder. Reminds me of a hurricane, without the destructive winds. There have been reports of flooding in several areas and a possible tornado in the Orlando area. Everything is fine at our place though. The poor dried out grass and plants are rejoicing.

I don't know what's become of the baby birds. Hopefully the mama has herded them back into their nest or somewhere safe and dry. I didn't see any sign of them yesterday afternoon.

Since I had a pretty strong idea tennis drills would be canceled (call me psychic), I went to the fitness center after work yesterday and spent 30 minutes with my old buddy, Robocop. Since I started playing tennis again, I haven't spent as much time over there in the afternoon as I had been. The place was pretty crowded, I suspect because no one could be outside doing whatever it is they like to do. By the middle of my session, every cardio machine was being used, except the lame ones that never get used anyway. I could have gone on longer than 30 minutes, but by the time I realized it, the machine was already it the cool down phase and wouldn't let me add any time to it. Then I decided that I had done enough anyway and went home.

Strangely, I was particularly tired from the workout. By the time Tom got home after working extra to make up for lost time on Monday and Tuesday, I was just a puddle on the couch in the spare bedroom. I roused myself enough to make dinner and eat it. Then hit the bed early at 9:30. I'm even more tired than usual today.

Rainy weather…

After months of dry weather, we are finally getting some good steady rain. It's supposed to continue this way for the rest of the week. I just hope it lets up by the long holiday weekend though. That's very selfish of me, I'm sure, but so be it. I'm looking forward to Memorial Day Weekend and I have lots of things I want to do and accomplish that involve being outside.

There are bushes that need trimming and I allowed myself to slack last weekend, by promising that I would take care of it this weekend. The Mazda needs a thorough interior detailing. I don't know when it was last done, but it sure needs it now. Plus, I want to play tennis Saturday morning and go biking a couple of times. Can't do any of that if it's raining.

So the rain started on Monday. Since I had done my cardio workout at lunchtime, I was able to go straight home from work and enjoy the wet afternoon in a leisurely fashion. Even though it wasn't cold, it seemed like a hot chocolate sort of a day and I treated myself using my Bialetti hot chocolate machine that I bought from Williams-Sonoma at Christmas time last year. It's oh, so yummy and not the slightest bit low calorie.

Tuesday was nearly a repeat of Monday. Again with the rain and again with the hot chocolate. I hadn't put the machine away yet so why not? I enjoyed watching Tivo for a bit, but forced myself into the office to work on freelance, while trying not to worry too much about the baby birds.

Yes, we have baby mockingbirds again this spring. But not in the low topiary bush like last year (which turned out to be a tragedy). Matter of fact, I don't really know where the nest is located. But the babies are hanging out in the robellini palm in front of our dining room window. I don't quite know how there could be a nest in there, but I supposed it's possible.

Tom noticed a baby yesterday while he was home sick with tummy trouble. He told me that he saw a chubby, fluffy baby sitting on a palm branch. While he watched, the mother bird came along and stuffed a worm into it's gaping mouth. When I got home from work I peeked through the blinds and saw the baby too, sitting at the very top of the bush. While I was making my hot chocolate, it started to rain really hard. I checked on the bird and found it had moved to a lower branch. Poor little guy! What a tough way to start out life.

At one point in the afternoon, after a hard bit of rain, Tom and I both looked and couldn't find the baby bird at all. We saw the mama bird carrying a bright red berry, looking for her baby. But she flew away when she saw us watching. We left the window, not wanting to interfere. Later, with much more stealth, we peeked again and this time saw two baby birds!

For the rest of the evening we left the birds alone, but I worried about them every time the wind blew and it rained hard. The only good thing about the weather, in regards to the baby birds, is that it's keeping the neighborhood cats and foxes away.

Change is good…

Looks like Stephanie has lost herself a loyal client; the pedicure at Kai's Kottage was awesome!

Maybe I should do a comparison.

Old Place:
Not much of an atmosphere in the salon. Pedicure area has recently been painted a nice, soft blue. There are several stylists with their own clients. People are chatting and moving around.

New Place:
The space is beautiful and relaxing with wicker, plants and purple accents. Soft music plays while a waterfall splashes in the background. Kai owns the business and runs it by herself. I am the only client in the salon.

We started off with eyebrow waxing.

Old Experience:
I lean back into a wash station, with my head resting on the edge of a sink. Hot wax is applied, then strips of cloth/paper are stuck to the hot wax. Once the wax has cooled, the cloth is RIPPED from my face with great force. It stings. A lot. An ointment is applied to the bright red skin. The skin remains bright red for the rest of the evening.

New Experience:
I lie fully stretched out on a bed. Warm wax is applied. Once it has cooled, it is gently peeled off. Only a bit of discomfort is felt. Stray and leftover hairs are plucked. An essential oil is applied. within minutes my skin is back to its normal hue.

Next, we move on the the pedicure.

Old Pedicure:
I'm seated in an old barber chair that has been mounted to a raised, wooden platform. My feet soak in a generic foot bath, then the usual pedicure things happen. A scented lotion is rubbed into my feet and lower legs. Color is applied and I'm done.

New Pedicure:
Kai seats me in a super comfy chair, then does an assessment of my feet, making notes of a sheet, which she tucks into a notebook. A personal foot bath is brought over and it has the most wonderful, squishy bottom. After my feet have soaked, Kai takes one foot and dries it with a HEATED towel. All the usual pedicure things happen, including a lovely sugar scrub and several lotions rubbed into my feet and lower legs. Color is applied and I'm done.

And the kicker? Kai charges less. I think it's safe to say that I will become a loyal client at Kai's Kottage.

Pedi problem…

The fatigue I was feeling on Tuesday has continued through the week. Right now all I can think about is getting home and being able to close my eyes for an extended period of time. But first, I have a pedicure scheduled after work today.

At a new place, this time. I'm not sure what's going on with Stephanie, but I'm quite disappointed in her right now. I had a pedicure scheduled for last Friday. When I got to the salon, she wasn't there. Her mother, who owns the salon, told me that she had me down for last week and that she had told Stephanie to call me. Well, she didn't.

The whole thing doesn't make sense. I've been going to her for pedicures for a number of years now. I have never not shown up for my appointment. So, I would expert her to be a little concerned last Friday when I didn't arrive as scheduled. I would expert her to call to find out what had happened. But, I haven't heard a peep all week.

Now my toenails look atrocious and the polish is chipping away. But I just don't feel like beautifying my own feet. It takes so long, is difficult to do and quite frankly, would never look as good as a professional job. A coworker recommended Kai, and I made an appointment with her right away. I hope she does as nice of a job as Stephanie.

The rest of the weekend is pretty casual. I'm going to attend the Saturday round robin for the first time since my hand surgery. It will be nice to see everyone, though I've seen most of my favorite players during drills clinic these past two weeks. The only plan I have for Sunday is to sleep late. After that, it's anyone's guess.

Mid-century modern weekend…

Wow. This week has started off really busy and there's been no time to update. So let's see…

Last night was doubles tennis. Not a great night, as it turned out. I started off playing pretty well and my partner and I were beating up on our opponents. Then things turned around on us, as they tend to do, and we ended up losing the set 3-6. My partner for the second set isn't a very strong player and combined with my mistakes, we were taken down 2-6. I don't know what happened in the third set. We really should have won that one, but didn't come close. I was really fatigued by that point and felt that I had just hit a wall. (maybe the lunchtime exercise class was more intense than I'd realized)

I guess I'm still shaking off the dust and trying to get back to my game. Not that it was that wonderful to begin with, but I am definitely making more errors right now. It's frustrating to say the least, but I'll persevere.

The weekend is worth mentioning as I actually went somewhere and did something! My friend Jenn, whom many of you know, invited me to a Mid-Century Modern Architecture Tour in Sarasota. She's really into it, is a member of a MCM group in Orlando, enjoys taking photos and posting her favorites on Flickr. (you can see her photos here)

We headed across the state to Sarasota on Saturday morning and met the tour group at the gorgeous Indigo Hotel. We didn't stay there though - too pricey - Jenn snagged us a great room at the Hyatt though by bidding on Priceline. ($200 room for $55!)

But anyway, back to the tour. Without the itinerary, I can't possible tell you were we went or whose houses we saw. But we were able to go inside about six homes. There were around 25 attendees on the tour bus. Jenn graciously let me have the window seat. The tour guide was great, very happy and animated without being annoying. She also was extremely knowledgeable, as were most of the people on the tour. I didn't mind only having a small clue what was going on. I just kept my ears open and my mouth shut and that worked out well.

I brought along my Nikon, but didn't take many photos of the architecture. Flowers are more to my liking as subjects, anyhow.

As I said, we stayed overnight at the Hyatt. Our room on the 9th floor was really nice and had a great view of the pool. We took our time leaving on Sunday morning, went to the downtown area and had breakfast, then visited a Life is Good store. Before we left town, Jenn wanted to take photos at two MCM high schools in the area. One is slated to be demolished, which has the enthusiasts up in arms, signing petitions and such. Personally, I think a high school is a pretty big thing to keep around, just because it represents the architecture of a particular era. It's just not doing the job anymore, isn't energy efficient and its time has come and gone. The new school is being built right next to it and at least it's being designed in a similar modern style.

On my own…

I went to drills clinic again last night. I'm planning to go every week. It's great exercise, it's fun, and it's good practice for my tennis skills. Though I hate getting home so late two nights in a row. Tuesday doubles generally ends any time between 7 and 7:30. With the drive, that gets me home around 8, give or take a few minutes. Clinic is supposed to end at 7:45, but usually runs over. So I end up getting home close to 8:30. By the time I shower, fix and eat dinner, it's after 9 and time to start getting ready for bed.

At least on Wednesdays I can go home first and I have about an hour before I need to leave the house. On Tuesdays there isn't time to go home, so I either head straight to the courts or when it gets summertime hot, hang around in my office for a half hour or so.

At any rate, I just feel like I haven't been home much lately. So tonight will be a nice change. Though I will probably go to the gym after work, I'll still get home at a decent time, around 5:30. Tom has a baseball game tonight so I will be on my own. I'll have something for dinner that he would hate, like fish, rice and vegetables, and I'll watch Survivor by myself. While I'll miss having someone to comment with, at least I won't have to listen to him complain about the contestants he doesn't like.

Little Red Corvette…

Last Friday, Ann came into town for a short weekend. She and a friend from her area rode down together in Ann's vehicle. Ann dropped off the friend in Jacksonville, then continued on to my house. Then on Sunday morning she went back north, picked her friend up again and headed home. Hopefully, by sharing the drive, the two will be able to make trips to Florida fairly often.

So Ann was at my house when I got home from work on Friday. Joy came over too and the three of us went to Miracle Photo to see about having some copies made of some old photos that Joy had. I also dropped off a CD of about 125 photos to print. It's been years since I've worked on my photo albums. For me, that's one problem with digital photos. It's so easy to let them accumulate on the computer without getting around to having prints made. There's a photo printer that I'm interested in that might eliminate this backlog. It's on my wish list and someday I'll get to it. (maybe after I get the bill for these prints)

On Saturday, Joy was involved in a Kentucky Derby party and couldn't join us, but Ann and I went to Florida Mall for some shopping. We had quite a good day, too. One of the first stores we visited was the jewelry store where I got my diamond earrings. Guess what? Yes, I'm apparently allergic to white gold. Even after having the posts changed to yellow gold, I was still having a reaction. On either side of my earlobe, where the earring setting touched my ear, was red, itchy and horrible. I found out that changing to a platinum setting would be way too expensive ($650!!!) so I will probably end up with yellow gold. As much as I prefer a silver look, I figure that you don't really see that much of the earring setting. But Laura is going to talk to her jeweler to see if actual silver is an option. If it is, I'll go with that.

After the jewelry store we made our usual stops: Coach, Sephora, Williams-Sonoma, Godiva, Jay's Watches, Dillards, Nordstrom. We didn't buy much, but had fun looking at stuff. In Nordstrom, my favorite MAC makeup girl, Christina, was working and she gave Ann a makeover. Ann just wanted to know how to bring out her eyes and Christina did a fantastic job. We both ended up buying a bunch of stuff. Ann got all of the eye makeup items that were used and I got two eye shadows and some makeup brushes. Watching the makeover helped me understand how to use the various brushes to apply the makeup. When I'm the one having the makeover, I just try to concentrate on what I am feeling to try and replicate the effect.

When we finally made it back to my house, we got to see Tom's new toy: a red 2006 Z06 Corvette. I know! What does he need that for? Wasn't he totally in love with his GTO? Apparently not.

Tom has wanted a Corvette for a long time. But recently, in the past six months or so, he has really started to research the market. With the current economy and the mess with GM, he had determined that the time to strike was now. For the past month he has been completely obsessed with Corvettes and has spent a gazillion hours searching eBay Motors, Auto Trader Online and everywhere else, looking for a car that met his specifications, but was also within his budget. He finally found his car at a dealership in Naples.

So while Ann and I were skipping around the mall, Tom and Carl took a long trip to Naples to purchase his latest dream car. It's quite beautiful, I have to agree. Why anyone needs 505 hp I do not understand, but whatever. Tom is thrilled and is spending a lot of time in the garage, tinkering and detailing. Works for me.