Review

I have struggled for years to get the smile I wanted. I have tried teeth whitening at a clinic, every type of toothpaste imaginable including $20 a tube whitening paste, I finally expressed my concern to my dentist. I was fully expecting him to try and sell me on Zoom whitening as he just recently brought this service to his office. I was pleasantly surprised. He suggested trying Crest White Strips. He mentioned they were available at Costco for much less than most drugstores, so after months of going and checking the prices out I finally decided to take the plunge. At a price tag of almost $70 for a box of 20 plus a box of 40 I decided it really was not that much.
I started seeing results almost right away. It has now been almost 2 weeks and my smile is so much whiter and nice that i could have imagined. I highly recommend Crest White Strips! Two pictures about 4 weeks apart. Extremely happy with the results!

makeup makeover

I recently had a day off with nothing to really focus on but myself. I decided that after getting my nails done I was going to get a Sephora make over. I actually booked it online weeks in advance but was debating up until the last minute about going or not. As I was driving there I was talking myself out of purchasing whatever they were going to try and sell me.
When I sat down I said good-bye to "me" in the mirror as I expected I'd look somewhat clownish once they were done. I am happy to say I was very pleasantly surprised, I told the makeup artist I wanted something natural and easy to do myself as I was going to a function a few days afterwards and wanted to recreate the look if I liked it.
She was a true artist. I looked like me but just a younger, healthier more wrinkle free me. I ended up actually buying some of the products she used as I really loved them.
I never knew a little eyebrow pencil and the right blush could make such a difference!
I LOVED the results except.... the eye cream was a bit much and along with the concealer my eyes started watering immediately after leaving the store and didn't stop until I went to bed many hours later!!
this a no make up pic and the done up one... next make up lesson is going to be the NO make-up makeup..can't wait to see how that goes!!!

Decluttering

I am on a mission. My plan is to work feverishly to declutter my life. Not only getting rid of things and unnecessary objects but also to  cleanse my soul. It is so easy to get caught up in the mundane and the drama of gossip and other peoples worries but honestly how does that help one live the life they need to live??? to be the best person I can be!
Getting rid of stuff is easy, I have recently made a promise to myself not to buy anything new and not absolutely necessary. I realized that most people don't notice when you are wearing something new nor does buying "things" make me a happier person. I would prefer to save my purchases for things for my family, nobody cares if I wear the same dress to 3 or 4 different bat or bat mitzvah parties, nor do they judge me if they do notice (and honestly if a person is the type to notice and judge they aren't the type of person I care to associate with anyway!!)
Part of my personal challenge is to actually wear each piece of clothing in my closet at least once before wearing something again. (easier to do this tops but I have to work out the kinks in my challenge anyway)
I have also committed to get rid of 7 items from around the house every day. It's amazing how easy it is to throw things away when I have a goal to declutter .
as for declutting my soul that is a whole other story. Not the easiest task. Firstly it really takes a lot of inner searching to determine what type of person I want to be. I can say that of course I want to be a happy, and easy going but sometimes those things don't come easily and need to be aspired to slowly. First part of doing this is to really decide what makes me happy. I personally love things around me to be clean and fluid. Not cluttered and full of trash, being in this clean environment really helps make and keep me happy. Doing simple and fun things with my family makes me happy, walks in the park, relaxing family vacations and just watching my family enjoy one another without fighting and clutter!
Easy going is a hard one, I would like to think that I just let things slide easily but this isn't always the case. Sometimes the actions of others really bother me but most times I won't bother to say a thing. I want to just enjoy my children while they still want me around and not be bothered when they get embarrassed. I know the time is coming when they won't even want me to walk them to school, never mind kiss me good-bye in front of their friends! (my son is already there but will still walk to school with me part way) I find it very hard to be easy going about mess and because I want my house to be a certain standard of clean I have to work hard to get it there when things get in the way of keeping up my standards I have to try and relax about it.- will look for methods of doing this with a  little more success!
Overall I have been working very hard at reaching my goal. I have started on my house and also my personal relationships things seems to be going well so far... can't wait to see where things go from here.

My JWRP experience

I have been trying to put into words all the experiences I had on my recent trip to Israel with the JWRP. As the weeks pass by since my return it has been become clearer to me what the trip has done for me. When I first applied to the JWRP in 2012 it was more about taking a trip on my own, without my family. A "break" if you will. I didn't know exactly why I wanted to go on a woman's trip to Israel but I did know I wanted to experience Israel again, through adult eyes. It had been many years, almost half my life since I'd last visited the Holy Land. As time passed and I had the opportunity to speak with many women who had gone on the trip I learned more about it. They all said the same thing - the trip was amazing and had significantly change their lives. I knew I had to go. My first application was rejected and again my second application was rejected, both for reason's beyond my control. I was becoming increasingly discouraged and started doubting my desire to go on this trip. Then something happened that shook me to the core and solidified my need to visit Israel again. A long time "friend" began posting an array of anti-Israel, free-Gaza and BDS (BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS) propaganda on her Facebook page. I was shocked and disgusted that someone I had been good friends for many years, someone whom I had invited to my Passover Seder, someone who lived and worked with Jews would believe and spread those lies. I confronted her and asked what she was thinking posting such rhetoric. She began spewing all sorts of ill conceived "facts" about Israel, things she had obviously read in propaganda. She had clearly been brainwashed. When I expressed my utter disgust at her being so blatantly antisemitic she replied with the old adage that she didn't hate Jews she just hated Zionists. My attempts to explain that antisemitism and anti-Zionism is one and the same fell on deaf ears. She did not want to hear or read the factually accurate rebuttal I carefully constructed for her. She immediately dismissed me with the statement "you're too invested in being Jewish to see the truth" With that statement I knew beyond any doubt that I had to experience Israel again. Of course I was invested in being Jewish. It is a major part of who I am, how I was raised and how I want my family to live on a daily basis. I needed to learn more ways to bring Jewish values and ethics into my home for the long run. It was more than just lighting Shabbat candles weekly or forcing the kids to go to shul on the high holidays. I needed to be pro-active. Educating my family about Israel was to become a regular occurrence in my home. My kids would learn about the importance of having a home land for all Jews to return to. While the trip definitely helped renew my love of Israel it also did so much more. Adrienne Gold our trip leader was so inspirational. She spoke about so many relevant topics including "don't blame and don't complain" which essentially made us think about how important it is to take responsibility for ourselves. Be thankful for what we have and take the time to appreciate those around us. (Baruch Hashem, I am so lucky to have a wonderful husband, so what if he doesn't always close the drawers or cupboards or occasionally leaves his socks on the floor. OR So I feel a sense of boredom on occasion with the life I've been living- make the effort to change things for myself instead of waiting for change to come to me!) I was really challenged to look deep into myself and decide who I am, who I want to be and what kind of kids I want to raise. The trip definitely brought laughter and many tears (especially for me!!!) and overall I would highly recommend this experience to almost any Jewish mother I know. Along with all the learning and self-reflecting we did I was extremely fortunate to have made some amazing friends on this trip. Our group really gelled well. Everyone got along beautifully and I think that many of us feel as if we have made "sisters" for life. Most of these women I would have never had the chance to meet if it weren't for the JWRP.

New Year's a comin'

Every year I debate the resolution thing... this year I decided I'm not going to resolve for anything since overall I am happy with what I have and where I'm at. I have realized that although I am not the big powerful executive or corporate lawyer I had wanted to be I am in a job that is well suited for who I am. My husband is a teacher and is income is fair. He doesn't earn huge money but he is a very hands on father and an awesome husband. He is so supportive and understanding. He brings rational and balance at times when I don't! So I don't live in the big fancy house, nor do I drive expensive cars but I have everything I could really need. Of course more money would come in handy but I know that if we continue on the path we are on we will be fine in the long run. I will however make small changes in my life that hopefully will have a positive effect on all those around me. I will surround myself with positivity. I find that negativity is not healthy for me. It makes me feel sad and angry, while these feelings are normal on occasion there is no need to immerse myself in it.

resolutions

2015 came and went and I didn't blog even once... Not that I didn't have anything to say but only because I had too many things going on I put my blog on hold. I hope that 2016 will resurrect my love of writing and get me back to the keyboard! I will start off with an old favourite in blog-postings... my new years resolutions! I have tried for several years not to set impossible goals and to keep them to myself, not making them public makes it much easier to break them though. SO here I go... 1) I resolve to make my own fun. I have noticed for quite some time that I find myself often bored or distracted, wishing I were somewhere else or hoping that something "fun" would happen. This year instead of waiting for the fun to come to me, I am going to try and make my own. This means that when I'm sitting at a get together and things are super mellow/quiet maybe put on music and try to get others to dance, read more and stay more in touch with what is going on in the world, that way I can contribute more the conversation and actually know what I'm talking about. - essentially forming opinions based on my own knowledge/understanding rather than just nodding my head and agreeing without actually having any clue. Finding more interests. Photography, knitting, dancing...whatever. 2) I want to keep positive people in my life. I met a wonderful group of women on my Israel trip and we really bonded so well. Some of them have become like sisters to me and their presence in my life is so amazingly inspirational. I can only learn from them and want to try hard (well not too hard) to see them often as their friendships are really important to me. We just seem share such similar values and interests I can't believe our paths had not crossed earlier! Feels like we've known each other for ever! 3) This is a hard one. I hope to yell less. I get frustrated with my family often and just didn't seem to possess the coping skills to deal with them without yelling. I am trying very hard to keep my cool, not scream and talk to them with love but firmness. I promised them that each time I do lapse I will put a dollar in a jar. I hope to have no money in that jar but reality is I am sure that I will have to really work hard on this one. 4) FACEBOOK. I am taking a break from Facebook. I am not making a big announcement and exiting with drama, just quietly sitting back and posting less, privatizing more and removing myself from many conversations. I can't delete my account as I belong to some groups that I need access to but overall I think i'm pretty much done with social media (of course it has it's positives and has been a great resource for a lot of things and can be very helpful but there are a number of negatives which can't outweigh the positives.)

DIY

I have never really been a Do It Yourself kind of gal. I do enjoy cooking and baking along with other "domestic" type activities but I would never consider making a cake for my kids birthday parties or decorating the house myself with my own homemade creations- only because I prefer professionally decorated cakes (and mine always look like a 2 year old did it) and I don't have a crafty bone in my body for making things that look nice enough to display in my home. BUT I have recently decided that although I'm not crafty I can still do some things around my home myself. So recently I decided that I would change the burnt out headlight in my car myself. I just looked up a Youtube video on how to change it and viola it took me less than 10 minutes to change both sides! Another attempt I made at doing something that looked hard myself went really well. I wanted to butterfly a whole chicken for the BBQ. I had been buying them pre-butterflied myself but they cost considerably more to buy them pre-cut. Again with the help of youtube I was able to find perfect instructions for butterflying a chicken- which significantly reduces the time needed to BBQ! My next attempt at a DIY project is going to be restoring our old bicycles. We bought 2 old bikes at a garage sale several years ago but we hardly ever use them because they are really rusty. They look terrible! I just looked up several websites on how to paint/restore rusty bikes. The process looks fairly straight forward but quite time consuming. I am doing to re-read how to do it several more times before attempting the process.I hope that I don't completely mess up but honestly I don't have much to lose in trying!

continuing the journey

I have committed to getting my house in somewhat liveable order. Last night I battled the linen closet. It was such a mess, towels just shoved in , sheets bunched up and not folded properly, no order or reason for item placement... after emptying out the entire closet I sorted every towel, sheet and pillow case etc.. I also came across crib sheets, receiving blankets and baby towels that we have not used in years! All those items went into the donation bag- no need for nostalgia here! I have files and files of pictures for that! Now my linen closet is something to be proud of! Everything is organized so nicely! I hope that I can keep it up!!!