Billy Crystal's immortal Saturday Night Live character, Fernando, said it best: "Dahling, it's better to looook good than to feel good." I would amend his philosophy a bit, and say that it's sometimes easier to looook good than to feel good.
This week, the shortcut of choice to your Happy Place just might be a new lipstick.
Generally the domain of those of us lucky enough to have two X chromosomes, cosmetics can work wonders to lift spirits when you don't feel your best. (Gentlemen, a little undereye concealer or some bronzer this week might not be a bad idea at all.)
Ladies, I'm as guilty as you of trying to get away with my Beach Face in autumn. It's tempting to stay in easy summer makeup habits (slathering on tinted sunscreen, lip gloss) long after it's time to bust out the lip liner and Big Girl eye shadow.
Clients suffering from Summer Makeup Syndrome are complaining this month of looking "faded" and "tired." In response, I whip out real lipstick. Yes. Stuff you actually have to use a mirror to apply. Maybe even...red.
If you're flashing back to your Madonna Wannabe past, relax. This season's red is reassuringly lovely. It's rich, it's well-bred, it's extremely flattering. It won't make you look like Joan Crawford. But a good red lipstick takes some lip liner and a lip brush and little more focus than the ADD-friendly lip gloss in the bottom of your purse. If you're over 35, you'll want a little Lip Keep to prevent "feathering." (Such a nice word for such an unpleasant phenomenon.)
We make it painless at PW to figure out what to wear on your face. Call us. Come in and get a free makeup consultation. You'll leave feeling like a million bucks.
And even in today's dollars, that's still a lot!
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Stress SOS! Self care skills for scary times
What a week. What a month. Like you, I'm feeling the stress that goes along with so much uncertainty. Operating a business that sells something as "discretionary" as spa treatments has always been, as the Chinese would say, interesting during recessions and slowdowns.
We are in the de-stressing business, which means that people need us now more than ever. But we all respond to stress differently.
Following the Loma Prieta earthquake, which impacted many of our clients, I received these phone calls within five minutes of one another:
Caller #1: Oh my gosh, the earthquake! I need to cancel my appointment!
Caller #2: Oh my gosh, the earthquake! I need a massage!
Self care is critical during scary times. While we may convince ourselves that remaining "alert" or "vigilant" is helpful, it's actually not. Now is the time to work out, eat well, meditate. In short, it's the most important time to nurture yourself.
This isn't about denial, it's about diet. Just like "you are what you eat" you also "are what you see and hear." What you put into your brain profoundly affects your well-being. You actually do have a choice.
Avoiding excessive amounts of negative "input" keeps you better prepared to respond rationally, if indeed a response or decision is necessary. Our choice, when confronted with a slow motion train wreck on TV? Turn it off.
One of the temptations during a time like this is to believe the line the media uses to get us to tune in to their 24/7 "anxiety feed": "information is power." Subsisting on a steady diet of doom and gloom doesn't prepare us to be more effective. You will rapidly encounter the diminishing returns of this sort of "information."
Here are some ways to keep yourself healthy during a scary news cycle:
1. Limit the amount of news you consume. Set a time limit of 20-30 minutes per day to catch up on breaking news. Listening to pundits argue for two hours will not benefit you (ever.) Don't constantly peek at headlines online throughout the day.
2. Choose the news delivery system that has the least hype and programs on TV with the fewest split screens, and those godawful "tickers." One of the most stressful things you can do is overload your brain with too many different ideas and thoughts. Avoiding TV news altogether and sticking with newspapers or online news sites can be helpful.
3. If you want to be "informed", choose programs that delve into the subject in more depth, rather than headline-driven hysteria and panic-punditry.
4. Navigate with care through the blogosphere. There's lots of rumor, conjecture and inaccurate information out here on the wild frontier.
There are few emotions more powerful than gratitude for creating health and happiness. It may be challenging, but the best strategy during scary times is regularly expressing gratitude for what we have, and what is going well in our lives.
In the coming weeks, we'll be expressing our gratitude for you, our Preston Wynne guests and friends, more than ever. We know that to keep our business healthy we must rise to the occasion when times are tough, and deliver even more value to you. As your designated de-stressers, we're busy cooking up new ways to make that as easy and affordable as possible.
Watch out. We have ways of making you relax!
We are in the de-stressing business, which means that people need us now more than ever. But we all respond to stress differently.
Following the Loma Prieta earthquake, which impacted many of our clients, I received these phone calls within five minutes of one another:
Caller #1: Oh my gosh, the earthquake! I need to cancel my appointment!
Caller #2: Oh my gosh, the earthquake! I need a massage!
Self care is critical during scary times. While we may convince ourselves that remaining "alert" or "vigilant" is helpful, it's actually not. Now is the time to work out, eat well, meditate. In short, it's the most important time to nurture yourself.
This isn't about denial, it's about diet. Just like "you are what you eat" you also "are what you see and hear." What you put into your brain profoundly affects your well-being. You actually do have a choice.
Avoiding excessive amounts of negative "input" keeps you better prepared to respond rationally, if indeed a response or decision is necessary. Our choice, when confronted with a slow motion train wreck on TV? Turn it off.
One of the temptations during a time like this is to believe the line the media uses to get us to tune in to their 24/7 "anxiety feed": "information is power." Subsisting on a steady diet of doom and gloom doesn't prepare us to be more effective. You will rapidly encounter the diminishing returns of this sort of "information."
Here are some ways to keep yourself healthy during a scary news cycle:
1. Limit the amount of news you consume. Set a time limit of 20-30 minutes per day to catch up on breaking news. Listening to pundits argue for two hours will not benefit you (ever.) Don't constantly peek at headlines online throughout the day.
2. Choose the news delivery system that has the least hype and programs on TV with the fewest split screens, and those godawful "tickers." One of the most stressful things you can do is overload your brain with too many different ideas and thoughts. Avoiding TV news altogether and sticking with newspapers or online news sites can be helpful.
3. If you want to be "informed", choose programs that delve into the subject in more depth, rather than headline-driven hysteria and panic-punditry.
4. Navigate with care through the blogosphere. There's lots of rumor, conjecture and inaccurate information out here on the wild frontier.
There are few emotions more powerful than gratitude for creating health and happiness. It may be challenging, but the best strategy during scary times is regularly expressing gratitude for what we have, and what is going well in our lives.
In the coming weeks, we'll be expressing our gratitude for you, our Preston Wynne guests and friends, more than ever. We know that to keep our business healthy we must rise to the occasion when times are tough, and deliver even more value to you. As your designated de-stressers, we're busy cooking up new ways to make that as easy and affordable as possible.
Watch out. We have ways of making you relax!
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Staycation Nation!
When you skipped the trip to Paris or Maui this summer, whether you knew it or not, you were on the vanguard of the latest trend in travel: the Staycation.
Staycationing is a fine art, and while intrepid globetrotters might dispute this, one not without a significant element of challenge. Instead of deciphering a Costa Rican road map, clambering up a glacier in Patagonia, or communicating your drink order to a sullen waiter in Prague, your challenges are not answering e mail, not heading to PetSmart for cat litter, and not returning phone calls from those people you foolishly told you were “just sticking around town.”
The joy of the staycation is discovering great new places and activities, close to home, that are as satisfying and horizon-stretching as ones you find in distant lands. (Caution: staycationing can make you unbearably smug, as you listen without a drop of empathy to tales of airport delays and hacking toddlers in adjacent seats.)
For future reference, here are some helpful guidelines I’ve amassed from my staycations this summer:
1. Have a plan. Like any good vacation, it’s important to stake out some key activities. Some marquee activities or events form the armature of a good vacation. Danger awaits those who don’t plan. Before your staycation, do some research, just as you would if you were heading to a new destination. In the weeks and months prior to your next staycation, keep a file of articles you run across on day-trip destinations. Encourage your family to make contributions.
2. Don’t have too many plans. An overly full schedule will make your staycation feel like a forced march. Alternate structured and unstructured days. A trip to the De Young museum and lunch at the Ferry Building in San Francisco one day, followed by a refreshing palate cleanser of hammock-and-novel time the next.
3. Completely alter your daily routine. The danger on a staycation is that you will lapse into (or never venture out of) familiar routines. Even if it’s as small as going to a different coffee place for your morning double-half caf-mocha-latte-ya-ya, your brain will be refreshed. And while you’re at it, you might get a little crazy and try the acai-soy-chai-latte.
4. Don’t discount “touristy” activities. Many of us have never visited the key attractions of our area, fearing the crowds of, uh, tourists. Oh, get over yourself! Has a line ever stopped you from visiting the Louvre, or caused you to leave Disneyland in a fit of pique? When you’re on “vacation” your sense of time and perception of inconvenience undergoes a radical shift. Instead of watching precious minutes of your much-too-brief weekend tick away in a queue for theatre tickets, you’ll view the inconvenience in a different context when you’re staycationing.
5. Take enough time off. For some reason, staycationers often cheat themselves of a full vacation (cutting a full week down to five days, say), citing excuses like “well, I would have spent that time on a plane, anyhow.” No ma’am. Spend that day glorying in all the things you can do when not imprisoned in an 18” wide seat, legs pinned by the reclined seat in front of you (Yes, I’m writing this on a plane.)
6. Avoid the news. On staycation, news-avoidance is an essential brain detox. I increasingly think this is a good practice for daily life, too.
7. Make sure all members of your staycationing family are on the same page. Set groundrules, but keep them playful. Are we allowed to pick up voice mail, call the office? How long should these tasks take? Institute fines for running over time on “real world” activities, with punishments like foot massages or a freshly prepared batch of Mojitos served by the perp. The Wii may make a curious and untimely disappearance. More than a coincidence?
I’d love to hear staycation stories from you. What was your staycation discovery this year? Please share!
Staycationing is a fine art, and while intrepid globetrotters might dispute this, one not without a significant element of challenge. Instead of deciphering a Costa Rican road map, clambering up a glacier in Patagonia, or communicating your drink order to a sullen waiter in Prague, your challenges are not answering e mail, not heading to PetSmart for cat litter, and not returning phone calls from those people you foolishly told you were “just sticking around town.”
The joy of the staycation is discovering great new places and activities, close to home, that are as satisfying and horizon-stretching as ones you find in distant lands. (Caution: staycationing can make you unbearably smug, as you listen without a drop of empathy to tales of airport delays and hacking toddlers in adjacent seats.)
For future reference, here are some helpful guidelines I’ve amassed from my staycations this summer:
1. Have a plan. Like any good vacation, it’s important to stake out some key activities. Some marquee activities or events form the armature of a good vacation. Danger awaits those who don’t plan. Before your staycation, do some research, just as you would if you were heading to a new destination. In the weeks and months prior to your next staycation, keep a file of articles you run across on day-trip destinations. Encourage your family to make contributions.
2. Don’t have too many plans. An overly full schedule will make your staycation feel like a forced march. Alternate structured and unstructured days. A trip to the De Young museum and lunch at the Ferry Building in San Francisco one day, followed by a refreshing palate cleanser of hammock-and-novel time the next.
3. Completely alter your daily routine. The danger on a staycation is that you will lapse into (or never venture out of) familiar routines. Even if it’s as small as going to a different coffee place for your morning double-half caf-mocha-latte-ya-ya, your brain will be refreshed. And while you’re at it, you might get a little crazy and try the acai-soy-chai-latte.
4. Don’t discount “touristy” activities. Many of us have never visited the key attractions of our area, fearing the crowds of, uh, tourists. Oh, get over yourself! Has a line ever stopped you from visiting the Louvre, or caused you to leave Disneyland in a fit of pique? When you’re on “vacation” your sense of time and perception of inconvenience undergoes a radical shift. Instead of watching precious minutes of your much-too-brief weekend tick away in a queue for theatre tickets, you’ll view the inconvenience in a different context when you’re staycationing.
5. Take enough time off. For some reason, staycationers often cheat themselves of a full vacation (cutting a full week down to five days, say), citing excuses like “well, I would have spent that time on a plane, anyhow.” No ma’am. Spend that day glorying in all the things you can do when not imprisoned in an 18” wide seat, legs pinned by the reclined seat in front of you (Yes, I’m writing this on a plane.)
6. Avoid the news. On staycation, news-avoidance is an essential brain detox. I increasingly think this is a good practice for daily life, too.
7. Make sure all members of your staycationing family are on the same page. Set groundrules, but keep them playful. Are we allowed to pick up voice mail, call the office? How long should these tasks take? Institute fines for running over time on “real world” activities, with punishments like foot massages or a freshly prepared batch of Mojitos served by the perp. The Wii may make a curious and untimely disappearance. More than a coincidence?
I’d love to hear staycation stories from you. What was your staycation discovery this year? Please share!
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