Just two weeks ago, while driving from New York City to central Texas en route to our new home, my husband and I kept spotting signs directing us to cities with European names: Dublin, Virginia; Scotland, Virginia; Moscow, Tennessee; Paris, Tennessee; Hamburg, Arkansas; Florence, Texas; and so on.
During college, when you’re studying for final exams or perhaps writing a thesis, you clock in such few hours of sleep that when you finally come home for the holidays, spring break, or summer, parents examine you and, with a concerned tone, remark, “You look tired, honey.” Later, when you join the workforce and have to tackle seemingly insane deadlines, it becomes friends, colleagues, and significant others — in addition to parents — who feel compelled to observe, “You look tired.” And then, of course, come the kids, at which point the phrase, “You look tired” almost seems redundant.
Because of our complex brains and our constant multi-tasking throughout the day (which requires accessing different parts of the brain), women need more sleep than men in order to feel refreshed — a theory I’ve always had but which was scientifically proven by a team of researchers at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England.
DISCLOSURE: This post is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Neutrogena and Latina Bloggers Connect as part of Neutrogena’s #UnReady campaign.
There are moments when life takes such a ridiculous turn, that it seems like fiction — except, of course, that it’s next to impossible to concoct tales so absurd, so far-fetched, so ludicrous.
Over the last few years, Western beauty companies have finally started to embrace and adopt some of the skin care practices that have long been a mainstay in Korea, where women are known to approach facial cleansing and hydration with meticulous care and a near ritualistic solemnity.
If you watched The Sound of Music a lot as a kid — and had a dad who, for reasons unknown, owned both the soundtrack and a special CD with the Vienna Boys’ Choir singing “Edelweiss” and “The Hills Are Alive” (along with marching band music tapes he’d pop in as a mild torture device whenever we weren’t getting out of bed quickly enough!) — then you might just be my life twin but, aside from that, you probably have a treasure trove of songs that pop into your head at random intervals (and in Julie Andrews’ voice of course).
For years, I’ve heard women with blemish-prone skin praise turmeric for its uncanny ability to eliminate breakouts, heal acne scars, and reduce the sebaceous glands’ oil secretion, thereby leading to clearer, non-greasy skin and less visible pores.
When Clarins releases a new skincare product, I tend to perk up eagerly, an almost Pavlovian response developed after years of primarily positive experiences with brightening, soothing, anti-aging, and radiance-boosting formulas.
The poet William Goldsmith Brown once wrote, “The sweetest sounds to mortals given are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.” This Sunday, remind your mom of how sweet you think she is and how thankful you are for her being an endless source of encouragement, love, forgiveness, understanding, and inspiration.
