Spa Day - At Home

Photo from the Library of Congress Photostream, Photographer: William P. Gottlieb

If you read my last post, you'll remember I was feeling a bit on the shabby side. I'm slightly less horrified by my reflextion after a little TLC that really didn't end up taking as much time as I was thinking it would. Time is at a premium as a new mom and what you can't fit into the span of a nap, gets put off...for WAY too long, in this case.

Obviously the toning is going to take a while - I found this little vid from the always helpful Daily Candy that I think will be a nice addition to the middle of my yoga practice to help whip these abs into shape a bit more quickly. My hair must also wait, but an appointment for the end of next week has been made. I'm feeling a drastic change is needed. Hopefully my stylist is up to the challenge - she's pretty awesome, so I think she will be.

A couple of years ago I would have just scheduled a full day at the spa. But I'm much more practical now (read: married) and our money goes to other things - like my 9 month old and our down payment on a house savings account. So to make myself feel better immediately I plucked my brows, filed my nails and painted my toes. I did a little steam treatment on my face and used some of the expensive eye cream I keep in the back of the medicine cabinet for just such occasions.

To exfoliate my arms and legs I mixed about a cup of sugar with some oil, until it became a paste. You can use olive oil or whatever you have in your cabinet. I like veggie oil because it's cheap and scentless so I can add a few drops of scented oil to make it a bit more luxurious. Add a foot/shoulder rub from my gracious husband and voila! A mini spa day on the cheap. Lovely! Or at the least, lovelier.