Favourite Things

"Brown paper packages tied up with string
These are a few of my favourite things.."
- Julie Andrews

***


Google Search History

→Redken 01 Burlington

→Redken 01 Chatham

→Redken 01 Ontario
→Redken 01 USA ship to Burlington, Ontario
→Is Redken 01 discontinued?
→What product is like Redken 01?
→Why did L'Oreal discontinue Redken 01?

***

I like what I like - and I have absolutely no interest in subbing in another product in any aspect of my life for what I normally use, so I stockpile things and cross my fingers that never, ever, ever will they discontinue a product.

I am a complete Marketer's dream.

I live, eat and breathe by the brand names I want to be associated with and I do not want
No Name (unless it's 22L garbage bags for under the sink) or a copy cat, knock-off, "similar" but not- quite-right-equivalent.

Period.

I want the real thing.

So, Redken thoroughly irritated me when they discontinued the 01 Polishing Milk I use for my hair.

It prevents frizz in all kinds of weather including rain, humidity and Mexico (Mexico is it's own special category in a weather forecast for hair) and I'm not remotely impressed that I now have to start a search party for something new.

***

I can even tell you when it started to happen.  

A store that normally carried it said it was "on backorder" (bad sign), and then someone else told me to try something new (never going to happen) and then I KNEW I better start increasing the par stock levels in my closet to compensate for a potential future catastrophe.

…and then I heard those awful words.

"Aw, I'm so sorry Miss.  That item is discontinued."

At which point I went into complete denial and started Googling.

I mean, someone still has to have an inventory I can get a hold of.

It can't be totally sold out.

If it was, there SURELY there is enough demand to make some more?  

Isn't there?

What is wrong with L'Oreal? Ugh.

***

It is highly possible I spend more money on hair colour, hair serums, hair lotions, hair styling creams, hair spray and hair anything-else-I-can-pack-in-my-Mini items, than potentially my wardrobe.

Normal Toiletry Travel Bag

(note that it is in a medium sized Thirty One tote bag in camo.   Also note that if they would make a pink camo one, I would buy a second... can someone please recommend this?)

• Silver toning shampoo
• Silver toning conditioner (can't use them both on same day)
• Redken all soft shampoo
• Redken all soft conditioner (see, you must alternate one of the above Silver items with Redken items)
• Bath and Body Works shower gel - (must be Aromatherapy and not the hideous Sleep one)
• Bath and Body Works body lotion (see above and I was actually almost over Bath and Body Works, except the cost of my hair products makes me require their coupons - encouraging me to buy more and more of their stuff in bulk and there is no end to my supply).  I want the Dermalogica brand but its' $68 for body cream and even I feel like that's somewhat excessive.
• Milkshake silver hair mousse (we are getting to this)
• Redken 01 (DUH)
• Redken 01 back up in case I run out on the road
• Simple foaming face wash
• Redken waterwax 
• The list goes on substantially........

This is all super important information because if I'm excited about a new product, it obviously is well researched.  

So, first of all, I found 2 units of Redken 01 and of course, bought them both as the Store Clerk kindly reminded me that the product was discontinued.

(Thanks Einstein - why do you think I cleared you out of them?)

BUT .....

In my search for the last lone 01's around, I found a new, fantastic, amazing thing that sadly does not replace my 01 but yep, adds to it - and should be considered as a Christmas gift for any blonde (preferably 'assisted' blonde, not I'm 15 and actually born this way blonde) friend or family member.

I found another freaking product I must use on top of everything else.

And I was totally sold.  

I was wandering around... (which I do quite quickly now …. the search for the 01 is a mission.   Speed walking - scanning shelves...… come on …. come on ……. there has to be a couple left..... seriously, in effing Windsor, every person knows about this product and has bought it.... unbelievable... truly freaking unbelievable...)

But the girl stops me...
"Can I help you?"

Me, (defeated at this point.)
"No, it's discontinued.   Was worth a shot really.   That's all.   You know, the Redken 01 milk?"

She rebuttles.

"Have you seen the line from Milkshake?   All the Bloggers are raving about it."

Wait, WHAT?
People are raving about a new product.
And I do not KNOW this?

"Go on ..." I tell her.

And in a sales pitch of less than 3 minutes, I have a Silver Foaming Mousse Leave In Conditioner, Milkshake "Incredible Milk" (Beauty Shortlist Awards Winner … obviously good + "find your perfect match for Valentine's day"), and Milkshake  "No Frizz Glistening Milk" (in case the Incredible Milk wasn't good enough).

I leave feeling quite satisfied that I now know something no one else on Planet Earth knows - which is about Silver Foaming Leave In conditioner that "all the Bloggers are raving about".

And you know what?

IT'S THAT GOOD!!!!!

It's the perfect add-on, 41st product I must pack with me weekly - and yet another reason I must get a cart at every hotel I stay in to bring all my hair products, shoes, wine, suitcase, coats, laptop, candles, books, journals, BBQ lighter (yes, correct - I drag one with me every week) and vitamins.  

I mean, doesn't everyone do this??


***

Sharing this background should help anyone understand why I spent $70 on a planner for next year - (The Happiness Planner) because it HAD to be the planner that I had this year and loved and wanted the next version of.

Or why, when I rave about Sophie Kinsella's latest funny as hell (totally copied her "google search history" idea here) book, (Christmas Shopohalic),  it's because I've read them all and man, this one is soooo funny - that if you have any female (or male for that matter - my nephew was reading it yesterday and was rather amused and he's 11), that fits the profile, it is SO worth giving.  

(He's 11, right?)

Anyways..... when I say that it is funny, it really is awesome and I would totally recommend buying it for anyone who loves shopping, humor or just a great light, fun read.

***

I was driving home from Chatham today and stopped at the ON Route in Dutton for breakfast at A&W.  (Yes, I'm owning up to this.)  I am a huge fan of the rebrand A&W has had and love the push to sustainability, the vegan friendly push with the Beyond Meat sandwiches (not that that's what I had … sorry),  and even Keto options with the plate of bacon and eggs.   (I'm totally being called out on this for sure by my smart Chef friends.)

Anyways, 20 years ago when I worked for McDonald's, we toasted every English muffin to order, made the eggs at each moment and seared the ham for each muffin.

A&W still does that now and I am a sucker.  I stop there whenever I feel it's morally acceptable for fast food because I know it will take some time but will be made from scratch every time.

My Bacon + Egg McMuffin (or whatever it is called there) and my hashbrown were spot on.   Just toasted, just cooked, hot-hot-hot and awesome.

The (probably somewhat disgruntled, but underneath it all really amazing) employee looked like she was barely surviving her Friday morning and I'd like to add that there was a bell (correct) on the counter that said "Please ring for service.  I'm in the back."

So, as I sat in the ON Route this morning, eating my top notch Egg McMuffin sandwich, I decided I was going to tell her how important my stop here was every Friday.

I walked up to her and said "I know you're busy and working hard between the back and here.   I want you to know that I stop here every Friday morning because the muffin is always toasted fresh, the food is made to order and it is always perfect, every time. It is one of the favourite parts of my week."

I smiled, but as I walked away I could hear her talking to the next person in line.

"Well now, didn't that sure turn my day around in a hurry."

Disgruntled became smitten in just a few sentences.

***

I got in the car and thought about how awesome my Breakfast was.

(Yes, McMuffins seriously can make my day if they don't screw them up and they aren't cold and soggy).

I started humming these are a few of my favourite things. (feel free to check me in to a local sanitarium.   I'm sure there is a very logical reason I started humming the Sound of Music.)

And I decided I was going to write it.

At first I thought - who am I to share my favourite things and why does what I have to say carry any value?  I'm not exactly Oprah. 

But a Blogger I don't know sold me Milkshake Silver Conditioning Mousse and it's SO cool.

So here are a few of my favourites - and maybe one solitary person out there will buy something, somewhere in the whole universe and I will become famous like the Silver Conditioning Mousse blogger.  (Well, she's seriously famous to me.)

***

Favourite Fast Food Restaurant - A&W (I cannot believe I just wrote that)

Favourite New Hair Product - Milkshake Conditioning Mousse (Silver if you're Blonde!)

Favourite Funny Read - Christmas Shopaholic, Sophie Kinsella (actual tears of laughter reading this).

Favourite Olive Oil - Bahkouti Green Chili.   You know the tag line for Frank's Red Hot sauce?  I put that xxxx on everything.   This is my Frank's.   I seriously use it for everything I cook.

Favourite Bath And Body Works candle scent - Winter (I would put it in every room.   It smells like luxury and frankincense and is wonderful.)

Favourite Christmas Hand Soap - Arbonne's stuff last year - ?????? - (someone please tell me it isn't discontinued.   I can't handle it.)

Favourite Vintage Red Wine (for value) (and only this week... it changes regions and labels often) - Santa Carolina (in Vintages section in Chile) with all the fancy gold labels of 92,93, 91 scores for wine - $19.95 a bottle and big thumbs up.  

(Note that Burlington Longo's plaza is sold out and I can't imagine why)  
(Also note that it's not the screw top in the Chile section you get at your local fish and chip shop as "Red Wine" on the menu.)

Favourite Article of Clothing - Banana Republic Wax Jeans (if you work with me, also known as the "Sparkly Pants I've never worn").  I bought these pants because two awesome people I know had them and I wanted to look as good as they did in them.   In my relentless Google searching, I finally found them and when they arrived, I had absolutely nothing in my closet to go with them.  For a year they sat with the tags on in my closet and miraculously now - they are the best thing I've ever owned.  I now want them in navy blue and burgundy.  (hint, hint to my family.....good luck finding them)

Favourite Song - I've officially worn out Paper Rings by Taylor Swift and have moved onto I Think He Knows.   I think I will slowly abuse the whole album.   Cadillac 3's new song, heavily influenced from ZZ Top is also pretty cool though called Slow Rollin' that just came out yesterday and I love, love, love Long After Last Call.  

Favourite Facial - I'm not even sure how this is a category but I had a facial at Casino Rama (not a misprint) and I swear it was worth 2.5 times what I paid.   Neck massage, foot massage, 90 minute treatment... Without question, the best and I will find time for another when I go back in two weeks.

Favourite Hotel I Love and Have Never Stayed At - Be Tulum in Mexico.  (Do not crush my dreams and tell me someone was murdered there recently).  It's a cool $625 a night and as you enter the resort, expensive incense wafts gently through the entire place and it oozes a cross between Survivor (when the flame ceremony is) and daytime heaven on earth.  Oven roasted fish, white sand, copper sinks, smelly, amazing incense ….yes to all of it - and Bora, Bora on the way home.

Favourite Self Care Treat (I hate the word Self Care) - Kate Stewart's hot stone restorative yoga class that I'm absolutely counting down the hours to this Sunday.   She runs it at the 7th Wave yoga studio in Burlington and you basically lie blissfully still for 2 hours in the candlelight with soft music playing and a room full of essential oils that smell heavenly.   $60 and worth a million.

***

Google Search History

→ Images on Gratitude
→ Images on Favourite Things
→ Quotes on Favourite Things
→ Quotes on Being Thankful
→ Quotes on Happiness
→ Images from the Sound of Music
→ Images of Be Tulum hotel

What I love most about putting together a list of all my favourites, isn't about selling it to anyone else.

It is about taking time to give recognition and appreciation to all the things, big and small, that make my experience in this world what it is.

How amazing is it to stop and pause for a moment in time - and think of all the awesome, beautiful and silly things to treasure, and dream about a few more.

And if I close my eyes and take a deep breath, I can smell the incense that defines exquisite luxuty ot me.  I can picture the white sand on the beach and the pristine, turquoise water.   And if I squint and look real close, I can see myself walking that beach and I know that one day, I will do exactly that.

Sometimes I think about what an incredible privilege it is to be alive - to breathe, to live, to enjoy, to dream.

I mean, really, how very lucky are we all?

***

"When the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad
I simply remember my favourite things and then I don't feel soooo bad"

Paper Rings

"I like shiny things, but I'd marry you with paper rings

Uh huh, that's right

Darlin, You're the one I want"

- Taylor Swift

***

I don't usually post cryptic messages on Facebook.  

In fact, it drives me absolutely crazy when I see posts like that because I am an open book.   

I am such an open book that I write about it and share it with everyone else around me, so we can all learn together from my mistakes, successes and heartaches.

It's what I do.

I write.   

I speak.   

I tell stories.

So, it's super weird that I've just done this whole sorta cryptic thing lately because it's totally not me.

The coolest thing ever, though, is that I always underestimate the power of sharing, and the number of people who have reached out to me privately has blown my mind yet again - from friends who I haven't connected with in a really long time to some I don't even know very well.

***

I published my first post in almost nine months on Friday night.   

9 minutes later, I deleted it.

In that 9 minutes, 19 people read what I had to say and I received one private message I will always remember within minutes of it being published.

If you are one of those lucky 19, then you have secretly seen into one of my most personal and painful posts I've ever written - and who knows, maybe one day I will republish it and I will keep it stored away for now, like a Collectors item or something.

The reality is that while it was healing for me to write it, we don't all heal the same way and I needed to be respectful of that so I removed it.

The post was called Death By A Thousand Cuts (sounds like you missed a fun read, doesn't it?) and it began with lyrics by Taylor Swift where she is in such a state over a breakup that she asks the traffic lights if it'll be okay and they reply "I don't know".

I didn't write it for attention, I didn't write it for anyone to take sides, I didn't write it for any other reason than it's all I know in how to process where I'm at in life.

My fingers hit the keys and everything in my mind and heart comes tumbling out onto the pages and sometimes, many times, it resonates with other people too.

***

So this cryptic thing is because I feel somewhat paralyzed.

I've made a choice that was really, really difficult to end my relationship and I'm not really sure how to handle it at this stage in my life.

I feel tremendous guilt and I feel like I can't post anything funny or witty or fun for fear I will be judged as callous and cold and cruel.

I am sensitive to the pain this has caused as we grieve differently through it.    

I have questioned if I should unfriend half my world because what would everyone think to see me living my life?  But maybe it is actually realized that behind every strong post, there are tears and pain being fought in the background, sometimes only moments before.

***

This morning, I received a message, (many of them actually that I have yet to respond to), but one, which is the reason for this post.

The message said this - 

Love your post!

Love your share!

Love your courage! 

This life and this journey is not easy.

I connected to a friends share yesterday and one of the many takeaways is that "the only constant is change".

So important for us to share.

xo

***

What hit me from this is that we easily forget there is so much power in connection and sharing our stories with others.  When we have the courage to express our struggles to those around us, there is a healing surge that comes through from all those we interact with.

So I decided today to share what I felt I could without compromising the privacy of what needs to be kept personal at this time.

Ultimately, only we can choose what we feel is aligned for each stage of our life and sometimes what we choose is not easy or understood.

***

I named this post Paper Rings for a reason.

I received a poem once from a girlfriend of mine when I was in my teens.   For years, I read it everyday in the frame beside my bed.

It claimed that we need rain for rainbows and that behind every failure, there is a potential for triumph just waiting to be brought forth by each of us.

Paper Rings is opposite to Death By A Thousand Cuts and I wanted the tone of this post to be opposite to what I wrote Friday.

It is the catchiest, cheekiest, silliest song by Taylor Swift and if I'm in the worst mood ever, it can cheer me up and make me dance.  (If you do not dance to this song, there is something very, very wrong with you.)  

I have wiped my tears and started dancing, drying my hair to this song in the morning, getting ready for my day.   It is my antidepressant that I sometimes need on repeat.

(Dancing while drying your hair is an artform, by the way, that can only be perfected with practice).

***

We never know what awaits around the corner in this crazy ride of life, although experiencing all the ranges of emotions from love to despair is somewhat inevitable along the way.

We are brought together at baptisms and funerals, weddings and divorce, graduations and job losses.

In times of struggle; the combined strength of friendships, family and community are what help us through.

And sometimes, when in doubt - we can always pour a stiff drink, turn the music up a little louder and dance.