I don’t need to tell you I’m obsessed with facial care.  I whip up homemade beauty recipes at least once a week: yogurt face masks, carrot facials, you name it I’ve tried it.  I’ve also tried practically every product on the market promising to make me 17 again. 

Hint: I’m not going to be 17 again. Ever.

For a few years now I’ve had the Clarisonic in my sights thinking it’s exactly what I need, the secret to amazing looking skin of women everywhere!  I’ve been coveting one of those whirring face brushes which is, I know, #10 on the list of no-no’s from on high, but it’s true.  I covet.  A lot.  Sometimes.

So a few months ago while wandering around Costco, as one does, loading up on 6-packs of deodorant and ginormous bottles of vitamin C, I ran across the more budget friendly version of the Clarisonic: a face brush by Olay.  Since I’m such a huge, huge fan of Olay I snatched one up for under $30 and took it home for a test drive.

This thing is a game changer. 

Seriously my skin is amazing when I use the face brush regularly.  It’s waterproof so I can use it in the bath or shower, either with the facial cleanser it came with or my favorite, favorite, favorite (favorite) luxurious facial scrub Strivectin.

Guys, the secret to amazing looking skin?  It isn’t so secret anymore.

I was a shy kid.  I still am really.  I’d rather sit in a quiet corner of a restaurant with 3 or 4 people I know than go to a huge party with hundreds of people – those make me hyperventilate.  I’m pretty shy at heart.  When I started preschool at B.Y.U. at the age of 3 it was a super hard for me to make eye contact with my teachers, even though they were perfectly lovely.

By Kindergarten I was fairly comfortable with a handful of close friends at my side, 20 of which remained with me all the way through the 7th grade.  Still, school was tricky.  I’m one of 8 kids and I got lost in the mix a lot, especially when it came to schoolwork.  My parents were just busy, period.  They both worked full-time jobs while managing a houseful of kids, and I never had help with homework.

My parents signed me up for Spanish immersion in the 1st grade and a lot of the kids had been with me in Kindergarten, so at the very least I had kids who made eye contact with me.

What I didn’t know until a handful of years ago actually, is that I started reading in Spanish just fine but it took until 3rd grade for me to read fluently in English.  In fact Spanish was a far more comfortable language for me to speak, period.  It felt a lot more natural to me, which makes sense to me now as an adult; I was in a classroom with my peers speaking nothing but Spanish all-day every day for 9 months out of the year 1st through 6th grade.

But I still needed a little TLC at school.  At the age of 9 she came to me in the form of an angel named Mrs. Hansen.  Mrs. Hansen, a young college graduate fluent in Spanish led my class on a magical journey that year.  She sat with her arm around me when I had difficulty with something, whispering encouragement in my ear.  A handful of times I arrived at school in tears; without fail Mrs. Hansen scuttled me into the hall with some tissues and a hug and a worried look in her eye, poised to listen and offer help.

She nurtured me, she believed in me, held me up, and completely changed my life.

I corresponded with Mrs. Hansen for years. YEARS.  I sent her a wedding announcement when Viktor and I were married and of course she sent a lovely gift with a note that made me cry.  When I ordered invitations for college graduation she was at the top of my list because when I struggled through college, holding on by the skin of my teeth it was Mrs. Hansen’s voice I heard in my ear telling me I could do it.  She loved me, she believed in me, She knew I could succeed.  She loved me, and never wasted an opportunity to tell me so.

My own children have been lucky enough to have a ‘Mrs. Hansen’ in their lives.  Precocious has already had two, Mrs. H and Mrs. P, both of whom made magic during their short tenures with her.

Charming was wrapped in love all through Kindergarten with Mrs. M, knowing every effort would be met with a cheer.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to all the educators out there putting your hearts and budgets, and free time on the line for the children you teach.  Teachers make a difference in kids lives.

I’m so grateful to be partnering with Hallmark again in 2012 as part of their “Life Is a Special Occasion” campaign.  Hallmark is a delightful company.  As always all stories and photos are my own.

I’m kind of dying for Summer to get here already, aren’t you?  Maybe not, some people even hate Summer.  Whaaaak?  Weird, I know.

• tickets are limited so you’ll want to grab some a to the sap
• tickets are only $6.99/person for Monday or Friday
• add some food on top of that for only $4 – dinner!
• it’s going to be in the 90′s next week – heat makes for whiny kids
• use promo code elefant to buy tickets for both Summer Preview nights

BUT WAIT, there’s more!  For a limited time only I have 2 packs of 5 water park tickets to give away!  If you act now the passes can be used any time this Summer at Cowabunga Bay.

Giveaway Details:

• to enter leave a comment on this post telling me how you feel about Summer, or what is also known as the greatest season of all the seasons of the seasonals
• one entry per household, multiple entries will be disqualified
• two winners will be chosen, each will receive a pack of 5 tickets
• ‘like’ Petit Elefant on Facebook to get an extra entry
• subscribe to Petit Elefant to get one extra entry
• giveaway ends next Friday May 25th, 2012 at midnight MDT, winner will be announced Monday May 28th at the top of this post

www.CowabungaBay.com

12047 South State

Draper, UT

This week’s What’s in Your Purse Series purse is from Gorett, thank you!

Purse: Guess – got in on sale for $50!

Contents:

• - Guess wallet
• - Danier change purse
• - Bath and Body Works spray hand sanitizer
• - waterproof Fuji camera
• - Excel gum
• - life brand tissue
• - pen
• - fold up shopping bag
• - prescription sunglasses (handy tip: buy cheap sunglasses, take them to your eye-guy and ask him to put your prescription in – cheap!)

Make-up bag (made from recycled seat-belts)

• - Revlon nail file
• - Sephora lip gloss
• - five MAC lip glosses
• - Nars lip gloss
• - Bobbi Brown lip tick
• - Covergirl lip gloss
• - Laura Mercier tinted lip balm
• - lip brush
• - Bath and Body Works lip shine
• - container of my favourite and discontinued Smashbox lip gloss
• - Neutrogena moisturizer
• - band-aids
• - toothpaste
• - travel toothbrush
• - Trucco compact
• - nail clippers
• - cuticle trimmer (see band-aids)
• - hair elastic

Now i know why my purse is so heavy!

Parenting doesn’t come with a handbook.  Not really anyway, and you should trust me because I’ve totally looked. (High and low)

The car seat comes with a manual rivaling most graduate school textbooks and assembling the stroller takes NASA’s best, but the actual baby?  Nope, no manual for that little human.

You’re kind of, well, it.

Which is why you really should snatch up this palm sized how-to parenting book written by two of the smartest women I know, Rookie Moms Heather and Whitney.  These two rocket-smart rookie mamas assembled the basics any mom needs to know to make it out alive through the first few years of motherhood.

Stuff Every Mom Should Know is smart, funny, relatable, and true.  Grab a few; stash one in your purse and give the rest to all the new mamas you want to see on the other side of the crazy.

It’s Spring.  Summer is only a hop, skip and a jump away.  I mean, there are days where I can almost taste it.  Summer you’re not hiding from me, I’ll find you sooner or later so you might as well come out from behind the bushes.

Here are 2 Spring fashion outfits for you to prime the closets for Summer.

I want to go to there.

A handful of weeks ago I mentioned my family trip to Costa Rica where I enjoyed what can only be called a ‘spiritual experience’.  If you need a dose of life affirmation in your life, a little yes-you should-be-on-the-planet-and-the-world-is-good, Costa Rica is your girl.

I think of countries as genders, don’t you?  Germany is totally a dude.

Right after we showed up in San Jose (the nation’s capital) we were escorted by minibus to a tour of a coffee plantation in the rainforest.

I need a minute to process that statement.

A coffee plantation in the middle of the rainforest you guys.  That business doesn’t happen to me every day.  Or any day, actually.  I live in Utah, one of the most arid states in the U.S. – it took some time for my little family to absorb all the green.  The greeeeeeeen!  And the humid (oh so humid) air in Costa Rica is like chewing gum, so thick you can roll it around on your tongue for awhile before you continue swimming.  By the time we happened upon this little waterfall off the side of the road we were all pretty *moist*, which is the polite society way of saying soaking wet without the actual dripping of moisture.

In other words, don’t wear cotton in Costa Rica unless you really like wearing *moist* clothing.  And rashes from moist clothing.  And the smell of that moist-cotton-jungle-clothing banned to the garage 4 weeks after you get home.

But you’d better take a camera because there’s something gorgeous every time you blink.

• Did you know coffee beans are red when they’re picked ripe?  I didn’t.
• Coffee beans turn brown after they have time to dry out a little.  (a lot)  These babies haven’t been roasted yet; they’re still a light brown when they’re bagged and sent to other countries (primarily the U.S. and Europe). It helps them last longer.  Once the actual roasting of coffee beans happens it’s a race to the finish line before they expire.
• When you buy Fair Trade coffee it helps sustain small community run coffee plantations.  Entire villages all over the world (but especially in Costa Rica) depend on the income made from fairly priced coffee beans sold to other countries.

Oh Costa Rica, you’re my best girl.

– Costa Rica I love you Forever part I is the first part in a series of posts about my travel to Costa Rica, a trip I experienced thanks to the Costa Rica board of tourism. –

A few weeks ago I wandered into the kitchen to make breakfast for the short people in my life, as one does, only to discover we were low on groceries.  But I gots some skillz you guys.  I sniffed around the kitchen for a bit and what, WHAT? I found just enough ingredients to whip up some insanely delicious + easy German pancakes.

When was the last time you had German pancakes?  Last night for dinner?  I hope so, I really do.  These things are ridiculously easy to make and only need a few ingredients, a blender (or child slave labor) and a hot oven.  Anyone can make German pancakes and they pop out of the oven bubbly and beautiful and ready to snarf.

That’s totally a word, yo.

German pancakes are a modern day miracle, a product of perfect German engineering and years of discipline.  Maybe.  Probably.

Here’s what you need to make your own Insanely delicious + easy German pancakes:

• 6 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

And if you want to eat the pancakes with buttermilk syrup:

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• powdered sugar

Whip it up:

1. Toss your eggs and milk into a blender (I use my Blendtec, but a child with a whisk and a bowl is totally legal), add flour and salt and blend until you have no chunks.  Chunks are gross.
2. Pour melted butter into an un-greased 9×13 dish, pour the batter on top, and bake uncovered at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes.
3. If you’re making buttermilk syrup, now’s the time to get on that business.  In a saucepan mix together the sugar, buttermilk, butter, corn syrup and baking soda until it comes to a boil, stirring the whole time.  After about 5-7 minutes remove the syrup from heat and add the vanilla.

Top the pancakes with whatever you like.  We eat ours with syrup, strawberries and bananas, or preserves.  Whatever fits your fancy.  Once the pancakes come out of the oven and cool for a few minutes, dust with powdered sugar and drizzle buttermilk syrup on top and serve.  OH MY, WHAT?  I just died a little.

Go make some pancakes already.

pancakes recipe via: Renae Moncur via allrecipes.com

Did you know it’s teacher’s appreciation week?  Even if you don’t have kids in school, I’m sure there’s a teacher in your life who could use a little thank you gift.  My mother is a retired 1st grade teacher, my brother-in-law teaches Junior High, and my sister teaches special education.  It can be a rough job with low pay and thankless struggles, so let’s all do something awesome for the teachers we know.  They deserve a standing ovation. 

And probably a gift card or two.

I’ve rounded up four easy teacher’s appreciation week gift ideas from some clever bloggers I love, in case you need a little help getting started (like me).

Teacher gift by Angeli via Living Locurto

DIY bookplates by Lavender’s Blue via Tip Junkie

Paper Lollie via No Biggie

Summer relaxation kit by The Lovely Cupboard via Skip to My Lou

I love the idea of plant-able flowers,  cold hard cash, a gift card to: amazon, a local movie theater, a favorite local restaurant, Office Max, a local mall, or Costco.  A little chocolate never hurt anyone either.  If you happen to be a teacher, please know how much I love and respect you.

Happy Teacher’s Appreciation Week teachers, I am so grateful for everything you do.

One of the earliest memories of my childhood, from the wee baby age of two, is that of my parents and grandparents leaving for a trip to Hawaii.  Without me.  It was 1979 and the memory is still crystal clear: on my parent’s old gravel driveway under the carport, I wove in and out of all the adult legs I could find, pleading my case for a tropical vacation while the grown-ups loaded suitcases into the old Volkswagen.

I was two.

They left me of course, even though I promised I could be super quiet on the plane, that I would sit completely still on my grandfather’s lap the whole way there.  I promised I wouldn’t eat very much food, and proffered my deep love for the mysterious unseen land of Hawaii.  I tearfully explained to my grandfather that if my little sister, my non-stop-screaming-brand-new-infant-sister was going to Hawaii with the grown-ups, I should be going too.  I quietly vowed to him that I wouldn’t even cry at all.

My grandfather locked sad eyes with me as the car backed out of the long driveway, waving and honking as he and my grandmother, my parents and my screeching newborn sister headed for the Salt Lake City airport to catch their flight to Hawaii.

My grandfather never got over it.  He and my grandmother spent the next 20 years telling me how much they regretted not taking me with them to Hawaii in 1979, how it broke their hearts the whole trip thinking about me and that, yes in fact, my baby sister did cry wail screech like a howler monkey the entire vacation.

I never got over it.  In fact, I spent the intervening 32 years of my life dreaming about Hawaii.  Literally, dreaming about it at night.  Imagining what it’s like in Hawaii.  What the air tastes like, how the flowers smell, what the sand would feel like between my toes next to that beautiful ocean.

In fact in my last year of college, I took an anthropology class about all the Polynesian islands which only aided and abetted my obsession with that mysterious, fantastical, mythical place called Hawaii.  It deepened my resolve to make it to Hawaii before I die:

Life List #6: Visit Hawaii. Stay in a hotel close enough to the ocean to hear the waves crash.

Mission accomplished. 

Last week I spent a brief 72 hours in Hawaii and my time there was made of magic and fairy dust and breathtaking sunsets over the ocean.  The photo above is the view I had from the balcony of my hotel room at Turtle Bay.  For realsies.  I slept with my window open every night and was lulled to sleep by the sound of the crashing waves.  Hawaii is actually there you guys!  It’s an actual place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean!  And it smells of gardenia mixed with green and ocean and beautiful.

Hawaii is exactly, EXACTLY the ethereal land of magic I’ve been dreaming of for 32 years, and that is no small feat.

The Hans Hedemann surf school helped me surf my first big wave, I snorkeled with sea turtles, kayaked above a coral reef, and learned to hula at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  That’s not even all of it, but we can talk about the rest later when I’ve recovered from the fact that I’m still a white girl from Orem, Utah.

*sigh*

Hawaii please be my best friend.  I’ll make you a bracelet and everything.