Natural Beauty DIY: Make Your Own Deodorant

I've been waging an underarm battle for what seems like millennia, but it really it has only been a couple of years.  While underarm antiperspirants are still not well understood for their health risks, I've decided it's one worry that I can do without!  Natural deodorants have been de rigueur in the 'Teef household for quite some time now.

A little over 2 years ago, I did a Pit Juice Thunderdome where I tested a few popular "natural" deodorant brands.  I still stand by that review, but have to add a new favorite that I use regularly: Soapwalla Deodorant Cream.   At $14 a tub, it is on the more spendy side, but I've found it can tide me through about two months of daily use.  I like to use it on days where I know I won't even have time to eat lunch, muss less reapply my deodorant.

On days where I am not a stressy-sweaty-Betty (i.e. clinic days), I use a little homemade concoction.  It's inexpensive as can be, especially since you may have most of the ingredients already!  It's also almost mess-free to make.   

Click for the easiest recipe ever!

Netflix Instant Treasures: Take This Waltz

Netflix and I have a love and hate relationship.  This relationship has only grown more complicated with Netflix Instant Streaming.  There are so many choices right at my fingertips, but 99% of these choices are not really my cup of tea (ahem, like Dora the Explorer, episodes 1-2873918374 or Nude Nuns with Big Guns...it exists, trust).

But, every once in awhile, little gems of movies sneak their way onto the instant streaming menu and it is ever a nice surprise!  One movie that I loved was Take This Waltz by Sarah Polley. 

My love for Sarah Polley knows no bounds.  From our first meetings as Ramona Quimby and Sara Stanley in Avonlea to her heart-wrenching roles in My Life Without Me and The Secret Life of Words, I've grown to love what an amazing and powerful actress she has become.  When I realized she is now writing and directing movies (watch Away from Her, NOW...actually, watch everything I just talked about), I couldn't have felt more proud of little Ramona!

You know how the Instant Streaming nightmare starts...

Emerson Fry

 I have been a longtime fan of Emerson Fry, formerly EmersonMade.  What I love most about them is that they started out making these fabric flowers about 5 or 6 years ago that you could wear in your hair or on your belt.  From those simple flowers grew an entire ready-to-wear line AND shoe line.

I want to take a lesson from Emerson Fry and remember that big dreams can get started with the tiniest little seed of a dream.  Their fabric flowers that Emerson crafted with her own hands is now a booming business that sells out mere days after each season's launch!

I wonder what my fabric flowers will be?

Music Monday: Tamaryn

 

Hello!  

Did you all watch the Academy Awards last night?  I was elated Christoph Waltz and Jennifer Lawrence won!  I hated Anne Hathaway's dress...and Anne Hathaway, for that matter.  I'm also really disappointed that Joaquin Phoenix and The Master were so overlooked, as I feel it was one of the best performances and movies of 2012!  I had so much fun texting and tweeting with friends about the whole to-do!

Anyway, here's some music to help you get through the (hopefully) last snowstorm of winter!  Tamaryn has been on heavy rotation in the 'Teef household since it is the perfect reincarnation of shoegaze bands like My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive that I loved so much as a teenager.

Here's to spring!

Friday Link Love and Lovelies

Let's just talk about my outfit first to get THAT out of the way.  

Shug and I were invited to the annual Salt Lake Magazine Dining Awards on Tuesday evening.  Shug was going to help run the awards and my job was to drink champagne.  I had about seven minutes to get ready after I rushed home from a crazy clinic day.  Let me tell you something about putting a cute outfit together: it takes some thought. 

It is very clear that I did not have much thought to give to my belly-shirt-witchy-woman-poncho-disaster.  It's ok.  Really, it is.  But when bumped up against the likes of Supermodel, Ciel, and Capricieux, I look a little cray.

Sartorial choices aside, we had a fabulous evening!  It was filled with good conversation with some of our best friends.  It was so fun to have this experience with them!  We also have a list of restaurants to try in Salt Lake City this weekend!  Hope you have a good one...I'm getting to be less of a lump/grump now that I can feel spring just around the corner!

The Salt Lake Magazine Dining Awards 2013 winners! 

 

Mayyyybe going to attempt to knit one of these.

I know smoking is bad, but I am dying over these bobbies.

The new Emerson Fry comes out on February 25!  Can't wait!

So ridiculous.  And perfect in a weird way.

Should have styled my sweater like this!

Important read for all women.

xo.

In which the self-discovery continues.

You would think that after spending over three decades on this planet, I would have figured myself out by now.  I really should have a handle on my likes and dislikes, where I stand politically, and how I feel about men wearing capris.  I'll tell you that I'm still discovering there are SO many things about myself I hadn't realized!

This belly-button gazing session was brought about by my weekly red-eyes and runny nose situation that would occur about halfway through the day at one of the clinics I am rotating through.  After about the third week, I started bringing Visine for my itchy eyes and just racked it up to the dry air in the hospital.

This past week was the worst on me!  By 10am I was a drippy, fuzzy-eyed mess.  As I was sitting dabbing my eyes while trying to salvage the last of my brave mascara clumping to my lashes, I looked over and saw one of the clinicians coats that hang in the workroom.  I think the coat was black, but it was hard to tell through the layer of CAT HAIR felted onto the surface.

Wishes Wednesday: Workhorse Jewelry

 Hi, my name is Wren and I have a problem: I'm obsessed with arrows.  I understand the hipster implications of this confession, but I just don't care. 

Do or Don't: Leather Leggings

Did you all have a nice three-day weekend?  Ours was very relaxing.  Yesterday I made butternut squash enchiladas for 11's new baby and Bestest Best.  It was pretty much the nicest thing in the world to get to see them.  11 is the most beautiful new momma I've ever seen!  And her little bug ain't too bad either! (Read: He's perfect!)  I was only able to see Bestest for a moment, but just being around a good old friend can lift your spirits like nothing else!  It should have been the other way around seeing as Bestest was laid up with a skiing injury, but no, I took the liberty to make that visit all about meeeeeee!

Driving home I was thinking about what is really important in this world and, after family and friends, I settled on fashion.  No, not politics or the news, but frivolous, amazing fashion.  I think we all need a little fun and escape in our lives, so what better outlet than fashion?  You get a breath from "real life" and you look smashing, as well!

And with this, I present to you the leather legging issue.  How do you feel about leather, pleather, rubberish leggings?  Are they to be saved for a rock show?  Or maybe just for the under 30 set?  I have to tell you, after converting to the cult of jeggings, leather leggings are looking purty fine to me!

These little beauties would be worn with a smart button-up shirt and maybe some colorful oxfords.  I dare say I'd even rock these to the grocery store or *gasp* clinic!

What are your thoughts on this important issue?

Link Love and Lovelies

Did you have a nice Valentine's Day?  If you're like me, you're going to carry over the lovefest into the weekend!  A part of me kind of despises that we have to have a specific day that we let our loved ones know how important they are to us.  Shouldn't we be doing this on the daily?

Well, aside from smooching on Shug, I'm hoping to clean out my pantry and maybe get to eat a delicious meal with Sissyteef.  I'm not really looking forward to cleaning out the pantry, but I really am excited to hang out with my sister!  I haven't seen her since the holidays!

11, one of my dear friends from college and also the best chocolate chip cookie baker ever, had a little Valentine's baby late last night.  He was born 12 seconds before midnight!  I'm hoping to get to meet him and maybe make some butternut squash enchiladas for the new parents! 

Anyhoo, here's some loveliness to bouy you through your weekend.

Inspiring architecture.

Dying over this minimal cat-eye!

Maybe my bangs weren't such a bad idea, after all.

But, oh my, do I miss being able to do this look!

WANT.

Gonna try this eyebrow trick.

An OCD dream.

xo.

Natural Beauty: Lavender Oil

One thing I missed most about Goldteef was getting to dish about my favorite natural beauty discoveries and disasters (don't worry, more to come on that!).  One little epiphany I had was while dealing with my post-finals stress face...which means yicky cystic acne that takes weeks to resolve.  I'm sure my steady intake of treats and sweets didn't help matters much, but I can count on a really stressful time in my life manifesting itself on my face!

Enter soothing and serene essential lavender oil.  I've been using it for years to scent my sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil I use as a body moisturizer, I even have gone so far as to put it in my humidifier at night when I have a cold or need to relax.  I've never thought about putting it on my face!

One evening, after washing my sad and broken-out face, I thought I'd give lavender oil a whirl applied directly to my craters.  Now, before you go slathering essential oils all over your face willy-nilly, be warned that some essential oils are much too strong for direct application (I'm looking at you, tea tree oil!) and must be "cut" with a carrier oil, such as jojoba or coconut oil.  This means I was literally a skin-care-Columbus, applying straight lavender oil directly to my face.

I OOZE adventure, people.

Wishes Wednesday

Everyone who know me knows I have an Isabel Marant problem.  I have yet to become an owner of a single article of clothing she has made, but I am always in search of a nice dupe.  I don't know about you, but spending $640 on a pair of sneakers seems more than a little insane.

What else is a little insane is how much I am into the wedge-sneaker look!  I tried to fight it, I really really did, but LOOK at how cute the sneaks look with skinny jeans!  I'm not that into the light on light look here, but with some dark skinnies and a slouchy tee...?  Hel-lo, spring!

But back to this $640 issue.

The Ghost on Sunday Morning

I've been going to Barre class as a way to excercise for almost two years now.  I love that it is a way to turn my brain off, dance a little, and combat the hours I spend each day sitting at a desk hunched over my laptop.  In the two years I've been going to Barre, I've never been jolted out of my hourly reverie in the way I was last Sunday.

As I was stretching before class, the typical soft Sunday morning chatter was filling the studio: grumblings about the fresh snow, who had stayed out a little too late the night before, and the best remedies for this infernal cold that has been going around.   All of this conversation dropped of a cliff of awkward, chilling silence when a new Barre attendee padded into the room.

To say this woman was ill would be an understatement.  Her hands and feet mimicked that of a marionette, too large and heavy to be on such frail and spindly appendages.  An ankle was wrapped tightly in athletic tape, nearly double the size of the other ankle.  Her sunken cheeks were emphasized by her swollen salivary glands and puffy eyes.  When she removed her baggy sweatshirt, the silence in the class turned over on itself...there was a collective need, wish, hope of health and healing for this ghost of a woman.

The entire hour after class began was spent strategically casting my gaze in directions away from this woman.  Nobody wants to stare.  Nobody wants to be rude.  Nobody wants to talk about the ghost in the room.

Music Monday and No Big Deal

 

I know, I know it been, like, too long and stuff.  LOTS has happened in the past 6-7 months in 'Teefland.  I'm sure many of you have also had the holidays, a new year, crazy winter weather, and birthdays to celebrate. 

In all honesty, all I've been up to is plugging away at this graduate school malarkey for what seems like juuuuust a little too long.  I guess that's what I get for going back for round 2.  I could bore you with all of the details that come with thesis-writing, research, clinical rotations.....*snore*, but I won't.  I hope to be back here a little more than twice a year to escape that grown-up snoozefest!

SO to start off another Music Monday, here's a band that I'd discovered a few years ago, forgot about, and rediscovered.  Kind of like watching a movie you liked that didn't make it to your "favorites of all time" list, forgetting the ending and watching again 10 years later and really liking it all over again!  (Side note: THIS happened just the other day when I watched Fried Green Tomatoes and cried like a baby! P.S.  Idgie is so cool.)

So, to sum it all up, hi, missed you, and hope to be back real soon.

xo.