I’m not wearing any makeup in this pic.

First, a little background… My face got really bad in November 2012. I was having terrible-terrible breakouts, probably due to me being an old & crusty hormonal woman on the verge of geriatric splendor. Then I started doing my natural face care routine and the breakouts calmed down dramatically.

But wait! What remained was a ton of dark spots & scarring from where I had been picking at my face like a battle rat clawing at its prey. I had to resort to wearing makeup every day to cover those spots & scars — something I never had to do before in all my life. The breakouts stopped, thanks to good face care, but my skin still looked terrible.

Then I started juicing and my face began to clear up at an accelerated rate. It happened very, very quickly. Less than 2 months after the start of juicing, I’m back to wearing NO make up again. Sure, I still wear it on occasion, but not everyday and only when I feel like it.

I’m grateful to be juicing!

Sidenote about my morning meal planning: I drink my Shakeology in the morning and slurp on my juiced greens in the afternoon (about 4X per week). When I was previously drinking the juiced greens in the morning immediately following my workout, I noticed that my post-workout recovery was horrible (ravenous morning hunger & prolonged muscle soreness). I need protein in the morning for adequate fueling and recovery, which is why I re-introduced Shakeology as my morning meal and pushed back the juice-drinking until the afternoon. This is working out wonderfully for me.

Do what works for you and be awesome.

I hope you’re having a Good Memorial Day. I wrote this post while in a food coma (you impressed?), although I was not as greedy as anticipated. Darn.

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Om wearing BLAKE BRODY yoga shoes…

and I like it.

For those of you playing along at home I AM still in the mode of saying ‘no thank you‘ to most offers for product reviews.

As a reader it isnt what I like to typically see on blogs (Im nosy. I want your thoughts, feelings and navel-gazings) and I always assume you’re precisely as I am.

So Ive decided to say no to reviews.

Until I change my mind…as every misfit reserves the right to.

I opened the email from Blake Brody on a day where my back throbbed, my allergies raged and quite frankly I wanted nothing more than a surprise in the mail I didnt have to pay for.

And the fact said surprise would be something Id HAVE to wear to yoga in order to review (hello free motivation!!) was more than a little bonus.

You see, the Blake Brody shoes have no SOLE:

Oh. Did I mention I was a SUCKER for the HEART?

They are designed to be worn DURING yoga and, since they have no bottom beyond the gripper, misfits like I cant get em, wear em around, & never use em for yoga (greetings 99.9% of my running shoes).

The grips offer traction, ENHANCE our feets sense of the ground & allow for complete pointing and flexing freedom.

The arch of the sole-free shoe is designed based on foot mapping and helps protect against cramping while NOT hindering movement.

It’s pretty cool technology.

And did I mention I was smitten with how they looked and felt?

They were like a pretty foot-glove covered in hearts.

The Tornado as foot model. When did she get so big?!

While I loved the look & feel of the Blake Brody studio shoes my hesitation was two-fold:

Would wearing them practically announce to the class I was NOT a yogi?Would wearing them to class inhibit my ability to feel GROUNDED?  The feeling I most seek from yoga…

My answers were NO and NO.

I should know myself better than to think I would care what other people thought (*cough* misfit *cough*).  I brought the shoes.  I slipped em on.  No one said a word (till after class when a few women asked where Id gotten them).

I also found they did NOT inhibit my ability to feel as though yoga was grounding me.  I didnt feel the sense of having ‘shoes on’ and more than anything wasnt distracted by the studio shoes either.**

I adored them.

What didn’t I love?

My first inclination was to say the price (they arent cheap) yet the fact Ive perused the online boutique over and over and DROOLED is an indication —at least for me—-they’re not too overpriced.

Are they necessary?

Heck no.  That said, Im all in for anything which helps me look forward to yoga in a way I dont normally.  Some of you may not need props and prod’ings—-I do. Im not there yet.

Would I recommend them?

I really would. They’d make a fantastic gift —-to a woman in your life or to me to yourself.

**I havent done hot yoga in the studio shoes yet. Im a sweater.  I wonder if I shall drown my poor lovely heart topped shoes during the 90 minutes of poses? Ill keep you posted.  The shoes are treated with anti-microbial & anti-odor so there’s that BIG saving grace…

FTC the shoes were free and a kindasorta early birthday present to me!  The yammerings of love, allergies and back owies are all my own.

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True Balance Toning Shoes By New Balance: Should You Really Be Wearing These?

Why the hell is Frankie wearing women’s sports shoes? Emmm, because I forced it on his foot. He didn’t take too well to modeling feminine footwear, but at least he’s got himself a (living-breathing?) girlfriend.

I’ve never worn a pair of those unattractive, platform-ish, Frankenstein-looking toning shoes. I don’t care what they promised to tone. If they’re ugly with no style, I ain’t wearing. Then there’s that lady I saw with the Frankenstien toning shoes, shoving excess sammiches down her food trap at high speed. What’s the point of the shoes then?

So anyway, New Balance threw me a pair of their True Balance toning shoes to take for a spin. At first glance and even upon closer inspection, there’s really no way to tell these are toning shoes. True Balance is sleek and sexy looking with no platform. They’ve got style, people.

I’ve heard the toning shoe concept in general get a bad rap for causing soreness and stuff – even pain in some cases, so that made me a little skeptical. My feet, legs and ass are precious to me and I don’t want them screwed with. I also got feedback from some Yum Yucky peeps who have the actual True Balance shoes. Some loved them. Some couldn’t keep them on for too long because certain prior injuries made the shoes not good for their wearing.

Okay then. Now it’s my turn to try them on and formulate my thoughts to maybe recommend them (or not).

This is my foot in True Balance.

I gave myself a full month to test these out. My first wearing was on July 5th. I wore them several times per week, sometimes for up to 10 hours. I worked in them and shopped in them. The very first thing I noticed was the comfort. Ahhhh. The fabric is thick with a little bit of stretch. It hugs your foot, yet is not tight. They also fit true to size. I tend to have a semi-wide front part of the foot, but they still felt really good.

When you start walking, there’s a little extra squish and give in the heel compared to regular sneakers. This creates an environment of “controlled in-stability” (yes, I made up that scientific term). Over the first few days, the shoes made me very aware with almost every walking moment that this controlled in-stability was going on, but after those initial days it was a gravy train. My brain caught up to my feet and I got used to the shoe without thinking about it. It was fancy walking as usual.

This controlled in-stability caused me to feel my calf muscles working, I’d say, maybe 15-20% more.  So for me, yes, I felt some toning going on. Yet I didn’t feel any difference in my upper legs or booty muscles. I did notice, however that after about 9 hours of wearing, my feet would get a little more tired than usual. Not sore or in pain – just fatigued. But this could be a plus considering what True Balance is meant to do? I don’t really know, but I just stopped wearing them for longer than 9 hours and that fixed the tired problem.

I’ve come to this conclusion about True Balance toning shoes: If you have any type of foot, leg or hip problems, these probably aren’t for you. If you’re just starting out with fitness and have absolutely no prior lower body strength, toning or conditioning experience, you may need to get your body developed in those areas before walking in these long term. But! If you have generally healthy lower body parts and desire EXTREME comfort while giving your body a little extra challenge throughout the day, go snag yourself a pair or at least try them on in the store at the very minimum. They’re FREAKING COMFORTABLE!! The shoes retail for $89.99. I think they’re worth the price.

True Balance toning shoes are meant for walking. NOT running, skipping, slip-sliding, hiking, disco-dancing, tree climbing, mixed martial arts, break-dancing or any other extremer activities. But you could wear them while couch-azzing or just trying to look cute. Okay?

Read about True Balance toning technology here. And if you desire to eat sammiches while wearing the toning shoes, please limit yourself to one sammich. Sheesh.

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Im wearing a loose, around the waist, scarf of pain…

and, People, I’m celebrating.

Allow me to back up.

Ive been yammering for a while now about my random, spontaneous injury.

The same owie which caused me to pull out of this race & then yammer about piriformis syndrome.

A boo-boo I’ve no business having as it typically hits hardcorebadassrunners (Im not proud, but I was averaging about a mile a month when it hit).

Why I got it, and more importantly, *what* specifically it is still remains a mini-mystery.

I tennis ball rolled.

I clam-shelled.

I was in more pain than ever.

Not only couldnt I play with the Tornado, I wasnt sleeping  and basically ambled through life thisclose to grumpy.

When I slept, sat, walked for too long, sneezed, coughed. All the time.

(How this amazing amazing woman does it I have no idea. none.)

This pain was so distracting I feel confident in saying if you met me at TypeAMom or Blissdom you did not meet the real me.

I was an exhausted, owie-distracted version of my misfit-self.

It all got to the point I tried things I might otherwise have mocked.

It took me months, but I checked out Airrosti.

While they were a bit baffled by my booboo tootoo, we tried some things and my pain is less.

Im foam rolling more aggressively, I’ve upgraded to a lacrosse ball, Im pigeon-posing, & Im planking like a motherfucker frequently.

All things I either didnt do enough of or not at all.

(which brings me in a rather circuitous way back to my blog post’s title)

One day this fall my super-supporter &  friend Shauna asked how my back felt.

Without hesitation I answered:

It feels like Im wearing a low-slung belt of pain.

It hit me last night.

Suddenly.

As I was going through my regular routine.

I feel almost belt-free & as if Im getting my spark back.**

It was an odd realization.

Back when I had no pain (hello first 40 years of life!) I would have lamented the constant piriformis ache I felt last night.

Now, in comparison, it’s a very welcome achethrob.

I truly believe, in my quirky misfit’y way, there’s a reason behind my experience & it has been bestowed upon me to give me more empathy.

And indeed it has.

I’d thought I was empathic before—-and I was wrong.

All of you who wrestle with chronic pain on a daily basis?

I take my bandanna of to you and pray for your loose, around the waist scarf to come soon, too.

very soon.

xo

**Interestingly, when I made the ‘Ive got more spark!’ remark to my Airrosti doc he said he wasnt surprised.  When we are in constant unrelenting pain so much of our energy is focused on THAT/keeping it at bay we do have less energy (AKA spark) for other things in our lives.  I’d say “who knew?!” but Im sure many of you did.

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