Dry Brushing -- try it!

Dry Skin Brushing is a body care technique that supports lymphatic health, boosts circulation, softens skin and boasts bonus benefits like smoothing the appearance of cellulite, reducing stress and supporting digestive health and kidney function. A must try, my friend!

Dry Brushing = lymphatic health and smoother skin--I'm in.

One of my hypothyroid symptoms is edema in my lower extremities. So the idea that body brushing supports lymph health piqued my interest. I started body brushing last year. But is was only after I got a new brush (so much better) that I seem to have found my rhythm with this self-care habit.

Although I found it invigorating, my first brush seemed to be a bit too harsh. Now I have one that is Goldilocks approved--just right!

These two brushes from Amazon are working really well for me: Body Brush and Face Brush.

To brush or not to brush? Appreciated this balanced review of dry-brushing from Alex over at D.I.G Primal where she traces her evolving thoughts about body brushing: "A while ago, I put dry brushing in the same unicorn-based category as oil pulling."

What benefits have you found from brushing? If you haven't yet wielded a body brush, are you tempted to test it out? If you do, let me know how it goes.

"Here's your change"

It's nice when some things don't change. Or at least not too much.
Returned to Carl's with a small group of friends this week at the prompting of a chap who hadn't visited for 19.5 years. Perhaps the prices have gone up slightly, but in the bright spring sunshine it's nice that hanging out in front of the custard shop has some of the same magic from my first visit as a Mary Wash Freshman.
Carl's Ice Cream, Fredericksburg, VA

nos·tal·gia.

[näˈstaljə, nəˈstaljə]

NOUN 1.a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations: "I was overcome with acute nostalgia for my days in college"

Varied brightness

"Sweet geraniums' varied brightness"
from Christina Rossetti's Summer

Contrast of petals and concrete, teach me.

Apple tea

Apple tea, a photo by antiquerain on Flickr.

"When peace, like a river, attendeth my way..."
Horatio Spafford

Sippin' and suppin' tea, especially from beautiful cups, melts troubles and seals solid moments of friendship.

The most peaceful parts of my Sabbath

The most peaceful parts of my Sabbath, a photo by antiquerain on Flickr.

And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man... Mark 2:27

“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein

Egg-cellent surprise

Egg-cellent surprise, a photo by antiquerain on Flickr.

Eggs are glorious things. As for messangers with little notes, even better.

"Oblique oddity, an egg is the most beautiful of all
beautiful forms, a box without corners
in which anything
can be contained, anything except Time, that old jeweler who laughed
when he set me ticking."
- excerpt from Elizabeth Spires's poem Fabergé's Egg

Daffodil days

Daffodil days, a photo by antiquerain on Flickr.

Early mornings are much better when a bouquet of daffodils send a smile upward to share a cheery greeting.

"For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils."
-William Wordsworth, "Daffodils