Glaedelig Jul

I'm not particularly good at painting my own nails, but I'm trying! What better way to celebrate a Danish Christmas lunch tomorrow than with red and silver nails. Right?

15 Easy Fitness Tips for 2015

15 Easy Fitness Tips for 2015

My New Year resolutions always include fitness. I start strong, keep up exercise during the summer when it’s easy, but by the time I get to the end of the year, I’ve stopped altogether. So, the New Year comes, and it’s time for me to get myself up and moving!


Beauty starts with being healthy. Here are 15 Fitness Tips to get you moving in 2015.

1. 15 minutes a day. Move for at least 15 minutes every day. Walk, run, bike, do yoga, whatever it is you like best. Do it for at least 15 minutes every single day.
2. Focus on aerobic exercise for the best workouts. Increasing your heart rate can be done through running, bicycling, dancing or swimming.
3. Find your max heart rate. 220 – (your age)
4. 15 jumping jacks can get your heart pumping!
5. Stretchingcan help you become more flexible.
6. 15 Sun Salutations every day will help you feel amazing! TRUST ME ON THIS ONE! It will not be easy but it is so worth it. *Basic Sun Salutation steps below*
7. Park far away from work, school or the store. That extra walk will give you more exercise.
8. Take the stairs, not the elevator.
9. Cut out soda, sugar and carb heavy snacks.
10. Don’t connect fitness goals to weight loss. For example, don’t say “I want to lose 10 pounds.” Instead, make your goal something you enjoy, like “I want to hike my local state park.” Or “I want to run a 5K in June.”
11. Make it routine. Do the same thing every day for a short burst of time.
12. Skip the gym. You can exercise at home, or outside. And it’s free!
13. Or try the gym, if you want to.  See myspecial Curves/AVON offer.
14. Dress for comfort. Wear sneakers that fit, and loose clothing that lets you move.
15. Keep it fun! If you are not enjoying the exercise, find something you like because if you aren’t having fun you won’t want to keep doing it.

Basic Sun Salutation

1.       Stand straight, roll your shoulders back and let your hands fall naturally at your sides.

2.       Lift your hands over your head and place your palms together.

3.       Gently bend backward.

4.       Gently and slowly bend forward and try to touch the floor.

5.       Slowly roll your spine up and return to a standing position.

Oooh, Shiny!

I am not very good at painting my own nails. It's unfortunate, really, because I do love wearing nail polish! I'm just not very skilled at it.

So I tried the AVON Metallic Effects nail enamel and decided to top the tips with AVON Dazzlers (available soon) sparkly shiny glittery goodness. The Metallic Effects are super smooth, easy to apply and looked really cool!

And now begins the epic struggle of trying to keep my nail polish ON my nails for longer than 24 hours.

Find the Beauty in Your Looking Glass!

Can you imagine how much better we could feel about ourselves when we looked in the mirror and recognized the beauty in our lives?

Post by 95.5 the ROCK.

Healing Winter Hands

Winter is here. Well, not technically, as the winter solstice isn't until December 21st. BUT here in New Hampshire, we had a Nor'easter hit over Thanksgiving weekend. Several inches of wet, heavy snow. Great for making a snowman but otherwise miserable.

My hands hurt.

Cold winter air makes my hands red, dry, cracked and chapped. It's painful.

I have tried many things to help soothe my winter hands. Aveeno works but isn't intensive enough.St. Ives Intensive Healing lotion has worked ok for me. Strangely enough, natural goat milk healing lotion has actually made my skin feel like it is on fire. Vaseline is just gross.

AVON Moisture Therapy Intensive Healing hand cream is wonderful. The lotion helps alleviate the burning and dryness without being too greasy. It also has emollients like jojoba to help skin regain oil lost through exposure to dry cold air. I seriously struggle with this dry hands issue. I also wash my hands a lot which doesn't help.

So, I'm curious. What does everyone else do to quench the burn of dry skin during the winter?!

Hang Nails

I have awful cuticles.

Terrible, painful cuticles that catch on things. It's frustrating. They rip, they bleed. And they do not look beautiful. I have tried so many things to heal my cuticles: cuticle cutter, cuticle pusher, lanolin, solar oil, cuticle cream...I even use my teeth to try to solve hang nails. I long for something that will help ease my cuticle drama!

Don't Cut!
Apparently, you aren't supposed to cut your cuticles. The cuticles protect the nail bed and help keep bacteria out. Cutting them can increase the chance of infection. So the better choice is to use an orange stick and gently push the cuticle back.

More Moisture
Cuticles are still skin, and skin needs to be moisturized. Greasy creams on my fingernails annoy me, so I do a treatment with oil and then I use my hand lotion and work some into the nails and cuticles.

Skip The Polish
I love nail polish, BUT after I treat my nails and cuticles, there is no way I am getting that nail polish to stick. I wait a bit before attempting to apply nail polish because all that oil and cream just kicks the polish right off!

Some products that help my cuticle issues:
https://www.avon.com/product/30661/nail-experts-instant-gel-cuticle-remover/?_PDP&repId=16309386
https://www.avon.com/product/47653/nail-experts-cuticle-conditioner/?_PDP&repId=16309386