Laura in the Motor City

Imagine that your alarm went off at 5:00 AM, you were in the car by 6:00 AM, and arrived at the airport by 6:30 AM.  Once you successfully checked your bag (which cost you $23.00) and made your way through the security line, it’s just after 7:00 AM and you are hungry.  Your options are not all that you hoped for and you find yourself eating fast food when vowing to avoid it for the weekend.  You head to the gate, your stomach a little upset from the greasy food, but you are ready to board and finally see NYC for the first time.  The pilot makes his final turn, revs the engines, and you are headed for the clouds, dreaming about what you are about to see…

Fast-forward about 2.5 hours.  You’ve made it through the taxi line and survived the ride to your hotel.  After waiting in the check-in line, you discover your room is not quite ready, so you leave your bags with the concierge and decide to find a little something to eat.  You walk out of the hotel and take a chance on your direction.  Making a random decision, you are headed down a street you don’t know and aren’t sure what you’ll find.  Now…if you are lucky, you will be traveling with Jackie, creator of FREEISMYLIFE.COM, who happens to have one of the best noses you’ve ever encountered for sniffing out good eats.  As you wander, Jackie suddenly stopped in her tracks and turned towards Pazza Notte, walking toward the menu board posted outside.  Reading over the menu, you can’t believe your eyes.  There is Express Prix Fixe menu with three scrumptious courses for only $19.00.  Skeptical, you walk into the glorious place with the wonderful smells, hoping for something special.

After you have been seated, you take in the coziness of Pazza Notte.  Your table has the perfect view of the street for people-watching while you enjoy your meal.  The bar is made of wonderful wood and the attentive waiters are already filling your water glass before you can inspect the menu.  As you gaze over the menu, you discover it’s going to be impossible to make a choice.  Market Greens with White Truffle Vinaigrette, Quattro Formaggi Bruchetta, Pollo Alla Cajun, Milanese Pizza…how does one decide between all of these wonderful sounding dishes?  Because your stomach growls at your inability to make a decision, you quickly ask for the Quattro Formaggi Bruchetta, Pollo Alla Cajun, and Panna Cotta for dessert, hoping you made the right decision.

Once your order is taken, your bread basket shows up and the bread is warm with different flavored butters and cheeses to try.  You take your first bite and realize that if the bread is this melt-in-your-mouth good, you are going to be in for quite a treat.  Soon, your first course shows up and you are confronted with the Quattro Formaggi Bruchetta, with smells of mozzarella, fontina, goat cheese, and parmesan wafting up to your nose.  The combination of the four different cheeses, hence the quattro, makes your mouth water just a little bit.  You bite into the Bruchetta and suddenly you close your eyes, wanting to savor the moment, wishing you could make something like this yourself.

Just as you are finishing off the Bruchetta, your waiter is ready with your perfectly timed second course.  The Polla Alla Cajun is presented in a lovely fashion.  The cajun seasoned chicken breast is pan seared, thinly sliced, and served with a white wine butter sauce.  Accompanying the Polla Alla Cajun are french fries in the perfect golden color with just the right crispness.  As you are enjoying your conversation with your lunch mate, you pick up your first piece of pan seared chicken and take a bite.  All conversation stops as you are amazed by the taste of the chicken.  The combination of the cajun seasoning and white wine butter sauce, with chicken that is so amazingly tender…it leaves you speechless.  You look across the table at your lunch mate and see the same look of shock on her face after taking her first bite.  There’s nothing more to say as you silently savor each bite of the chicken, hoping that the meal will never end.

As you are scraping off the last of the white wine butter sauce from your plate with the last piece of the bread from the bread basket (you have no shame at this point), your waiter asks if you are ready for your third and final course – the Panna Cotta.  This is the one dish you are nervous about because you aren’t sure what blueberry coulis is, but you are game to try it.  As the plate is placed in front of you, there is an almond cookie covered with the coulis, which appears to be a blueberry sauce.  You are surprised as you take your first bite, not expecting the richness of the coulis.  Combined with the almond cookie, you are reminded of the blueberry crisp your grandmother used to make and wish she were still alive so you could share this wonderful dessert with her.

Too quickly, your meal has come to an end.  You sadly hand over your money, knowing that you’ll have to vacate your table and head back out onto the busy streets, wishing you could linger in this enchanting restaurant all day long.  As you get up to leave, you look back wistfully, momentarily wishing that you lived in NYC so that you could enjoy this restaurant over and over again.  For now, the memory of the delectable meal will have to suffice.  With a sigh and a slight smile, you walk away, hoping your random travel will present you with another gem as lovely as the Pazza Notte.

Cheers,

Honoring My Skin

While exploring the Expo Center at BlogHer ’10, I was walking by the Eucerin booth when I noticed information on the “Pledge To Put Skin First”.  Eucerin had recently announced the Eucerin Skin First Council and the online Skin First Pledge.  The goal is to make Americans aware of how important their skin is and to make the health of their skin a top priority.  In addition to literature on the subject, I received three products to take home and test.

Face First

The first product I decided to try was the Eucerin Everyday Protection Face Lotion with SPF 30.  I’m a natural redhead with freckles and very fair skin, so I never leave the house without moisturizing my face.  My normal brand of moisturizer has an SPF of 15 and feels somewhat heavy on my face.  I had become accustomed to the feeling and didn’t think twice about it anymore.  The Eucerin Face Lotion was surprisingly lightweight and didn’t feel greasy at all.  I took it with me on a recent camping trip and it did a fantastic job of protecting my skin from the harmful UV rays.

Lotion Does A Body Good!

I’m the first to admit that I don’t do a good job of using lotion on my body to avoid dry skin.  I’ve tried every now and then and usually get tired of it after a few days.  When I decided to start using the Eucerin Everyday Protection Body Lotion with SPF 15, my first goal was to be able to use it consistently for at least a week.  I was surprised by how easy it became to add it to my morning routine.  I love that it includes SPF 15 so that my exposed arms and legs are protected from the harmful UV rays.  Also, I’m impressed with how quickly the lotion absorbs into my skin, without leaving a greasy feeling.  I’ve already noticed a significant difference in how my skin looks and how much smoother my dry elbows have become!

Pretty Hands

I’m very fussy about my hand lotion and keep a bottle of an expensive brand at my desk year-round.  I hate when my hands feel dry and the brand I normally use feels very thick when I put it on (which I like) and lasts for a long time.  The Eucerin Daily Skin Balance Skin-Fortifying Hand Creme was the only product I brought home that I didn’t really want to test.  I figured it would be a waste of my time because I’ve never encountered another lotion in its price bracket that could compete with the $18.00 version I normally buy.  I was shocked when I squirted some out and it had a similar thick consistency that my normal brand has.  I was even more shocked when it held up for the hours between various hand washings, etc.  I like how it gives my hands a slight glow and makes them feel very smooth.

Take The Pledge

For every person that takes the Eucerin Skin First Pledge, Eucerin will make a donation to HealthyWomen.org.  HealthyWomen is the nation’s leading independent health information source for women.  For more than 20 years, women have been coming to the HealthyWomen organization for answers to their most personal health care questions. You can take the pledge here and become one of the more than 50,000 people that have already taken the pledge.  The pledge is simple and straight-forward and by taking it, you pledge to:

• Protect and defend your skin as it does for you
• Make skincare a priority for yourself, your family, and your friends
• Treat your skincare more like health care

Knowledge Is Power

Eucerin has also provided a quiz to help us learn more about skincare.  I was surprised when I took it and only got 3 out of 8 correct.  You can take the quiz here to see how knowledgeable you are about maintaining healthy skin.  The more you learn, the healthier your skin will be!

Gift Bag GIVEAWAY!

Eucerin has provided Laura in the Motor City with three gift bags to giveaway to my readers.  If you win, you will receive products similar to the ones that I have reviewed above.  The retail value of the products listed above is approximately $30.00.

Rules:

• Fill out the form shown below to enter the contest.
• Three winners will be selected for the gift bags.
• Only one entry per person please.
• The contest ends on Monday, August 30th, at noon Eastern Time.
• The winners will be selected via random number generator.
• You will be notified by email if you win.  You will have 24 hours to respond so that I can forward your name to Eucerin.
• You can get one extra entry for following LAURAMOTORCITY on Twitter.
• You can get one extra entry by leaving me a comment telling me that you took the Skincare First Pledge or the SkinFirst Quiz.

Good Luck!

Not too long ago, I wrote a post that I thought was funny.  It was a review of a place I ate at in NYC, which I found terribly disappointing.  When I was writing the post, I was striving for humorous commentary to go along with my negative restaurant review.  I included what I thought were funny comments about someone that was with me.  In my mind, I thought they were funny comments because they were never meant to be taken seriously.  My characterizations were a bit outlandish, and I wrote it thinking everyone would realize it was supposed to be outlandish.  I published the post, without another thought, thinking it was pretty decent.  I have never been so wrong in my life.

About a week after I hit the publish button, I discovered that the person who was mentioned in my post was not happy with me…and with good reason.  I was initially surprised because I thought that I had attempted to write something that was funny.  I immediately went back to analyze my work, thinking that perhaps the post had been misinterpreted.  After reading it over and over again, an unsettling feeling came over me.  It wasn’t as funny as I remembered and it was downright mean in a few places.  What was meant to be a funny story ended up being a story that made fun of somebody.  And God knows that was never my intent.  After re-reading it for the millionth time, I rewrote it, removing every hurtful word about the person that was originally included.  I was ashamed of myself because I knew that I had hurt someone with my words and hadn’t realized that I had done so until it was pointed out to me.  That concerned me, because I like to think I’m pretty smart and I had completely missed what I had done.

I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the last few days and I realized that there is a VERY fine line between trying to be funny and ending up being mean.  As bloggers, we have to be cognizant of that difference, especially those of us that like to use humor or tend to have a sarcastic tone.  We have to remember that our words are being read by anyone that happens upon our post, not just by an English professor who asked for 1,000 words on some topic that no one else will ever read.  There are some bloggers in the world who don’t care what they say or if they hurt other people with their words.  I am not one of those people and hope to never be lumped into that category again.  In the future, I will be much more careful about my words and remember the type of power that they have.

To the person I hurt:  I am so very sorry about what I did and hope that you believe me when I say I didn’t mean to do it.  I know how idiotic that sounds, but it’s true. And I know that only time heals some wounds and I hope this apology will help with the healing.

Godspeed,

So it’s finally time for me to fess up about my fear of flying.  I HATE AIRPLANES.  There is nothing about them that I like.  Once I get within a mile of Detroit Metropolitan Airport, I start to get nervous because I know what is about to happen to me.  I’m going to have to board the aircraft with a few hundred people, squished into a seat that is NOT comfortable.  Once in there, I’m going to get locked in and hurled down the runway, hoping to go fast enough to get enough lift without crashing into a burning pile of rubble at the end of the runway.  It sounds a bit dramatic.  Trust me, I know this.  But we are not talking logic here.  If we were, then I would be fine.  The logical side of my brain knows the statistics.  The ones that tell me that my odds of dying on an airplane are much lower than driving my own car.  And if my brain consisted of only logical neurons, we’d be all set.  But the other 1/2…that pesky part that controls emotion.  That part does NOT LIKE AIRPLANES.

I’ve had much time to think about this over the years, as I’ve cowered in my seat, waiting for the plane to fall out of the sky.  At the end of the day, it comes down to control.  I am the first to admit I’m a bit of a control freak…okay…a HUGE control freak.  And being at the mercy of someone else while I’m sitting 30,000 feet in the air…that doesn’t make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.  It makes me feel downright panicked.  When I was young and stupid (in my 20′s) the only way you could get me on an airplane was with booze.  Now keep in mind that I’m not much of a drinker.  Two drinks hit me hard and I’ve never liked how being drunk makes me feel, so I tend to avoid alcohol unless I’m really, really in the mood.  So while I didn’t like doing it, I would get to the airport a little early and drink a few drinks and then I’d be able to walk on that airplane.

This little system worked for me until one night when I was flying to San Francisco in 2002.  Due to a comedy of errors and wind gusts up to 60 miles per hour, our airplane left the gate with only booze and no food.  I traveled a lot back then for my job, so my elite status on Northwest Airlines pretty much guaranteed me a first class upgrade.  The flight attendants quickly informed us of the food situation and were happy to keep our drink glasses full so we wouldn’t whine about the lack of food for our 4.5 hour trip.  The logical part of my brain would have really been helpful during this flight, but the emotional part, terrified of the airplane and the large wind gusts, told me to keep drinking.  It was all fine until we started our approach into San Francisco.  Because of the wind, the pilots had to perform some maneuvers that made my stomach yell STOP.  By the time they lined up for the final approach, I knew this wasn’t going to end well.  I managed to hold it together until we were done taxiing to the gate, but as soon as that fasten seat belt sign went off, I bolted out of my seat, ran for the bathroom and…well…you know what I did.  After that trip, I realized I’d need to find a better way to deal with my fear.

When I got back to Detroit, I went to talk to my doctor about options.  She thought I should try meditation, but I had to snort a little at the suggestion.  See…I’ve tried Yoga type things before.  This is so not me.  When everyone else is deep breathing and clearing their mind, I’m looking around to see how stupid I look and mentally making fun of the fool next to me trying to hold the downward dog pose.  I can’t clear my mind.  It’s not how I’m wired, so I told the doc she’d have to come up with something better.

Next on the list was a pill called Xanax.  Now…I’m not big on pill taking.  Won’t take a Tylenol unless my head is killing me or cramps are threatening to disable me enough where I would consider taking a sick day.  But this little pill in a bottle…in all its .5 mg glory…I quickly became a disciple.  The good doctor didn’t want me getting addicted to the things, so I have to visit her before each plane trip.  I get two for the ride out and two for the ride home. I can’t say it works miracles. I still get nervous during takeoff, but during final approach for landing I can now bring myself to look out the window to see if I can spot familiar landmarks. This is progress and I’m willing to take it.

I’ve often thought that I’ve only traded one vice (booze) for another (pills) in coping with my fear, but I realized, at least for me, there was no other way that I would ever be able to fly. Since I love to travel, letting my fear of flying stop me from exploring the world just wasn’t an option. So this is how I decided to cope. And I’d make the same decision again, because life is too short to regret that I can’t retrain my brain to allow breathing exercises to help me. I know that there are some schools of thought that would call me weak. That’s okay and I can live with that. Because decisions like these…they are what show our humanity. Show our flaws and our attempts to deal with them.

If you have a life-altering fear, whether it’s flying or leaving the house or talking to a complete stranger, I want you to know that you have options. There are ways to find help and try to move past the obstacle that is impeding your life. You owe it to yourself to give yourself a chance. And you should never feel ashamed for asking for help. Life is hard and we can rarely accomplish it all on our own. People that say that they don’t need help from anyone are, in my humble opinion, big, fat liars. Trust in yourself and take the first step. It could be the beginning of a whole new life.

God Speed,

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been home from NYC for about a week.  The amount of things we packed into that 4 day trip still boggles my mind.  Between the parties, expo, training sessions, meeting fellow bloggers, and exploring NYC, I would swear that I was there for 10 days.  It feels like I should have been there for 10 days to do all the stuff I did!

Heavenly Spa

The first night we were in NYC, we had invitations to two very swanky parties.  The first party was the Avery SocialLuxe Lounge, hosted by Avery.  Other sponsors were on-site, including Ghirardelli, with their yummy new chocolate squares that kept tempting me!  This party featured spa services by Aveda.  You could get a chair massage, hair services, makeup consultations, or manicures.  I took my free glass of champagne and made my way to the chair massage first.  It was WONDERFUL.  He massaged my back, my arms, my hands, and even my scalp.  After messing up my hair, he used some serum to smooth everything back in place and I felt like a million bucks.  Next I headed over to the manicure station to see what kind of trouble I could find.  To my friend Jackie’s surprise, I let that lady paint my nails blue.  It was a totally rocking OPI color and looked great on my nails.

While the spa services were great, I should mention the bag of swag they gave us.  When we checked in, they pulled out this huge bag of stuff.  I was slight shocked to start digging through it and finding things like SkullCandy headphones, etc.  I knew there would be some swag at these events, but I didn’t expect expensive swag.  I was starting to feel like a princess and I was only at my first ball!

Glamour Girls

Jackie and Laura posing for fun!

After we were done at the SocialLuxe Lounge, we jumped into a cab for our next party.  This one was sponsored by AOL.  I wasn’t expecting to be shocked, but this party had a whole different vibe.  We were escorted upstairs in a private elevator to the event.  The lights were dimmed and the floors were dark and sleek.  There were numerous couches to lounge on and I was able to talk with many fellow bloggers by hanging out on the couch.  But the high point here was the service.  There were many fine looking men walking around that party, with trays of cocktails and food in hand.  They descended on us and made sure our glasses were never empty and our plates were always full.  I later found out that the fine looking men were models and I must say, from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU AOL.  Well done…Well done!

Beside the food and drink, AOL had some other cool stuff going on.  Former Top Chef contestant Marcus Samuelsson was on hand to demonstrate how our dinner was prepared.  Honestly, by the time they got to dinner, I was so stuffed from all the drinks and appetizers, I couldn’t really enjoy the chicken he prepared.  It looked wonderful, but my tummy said no way!  Another cool thing was the chance to have our pictures taken by a professional photographer.  They had a box of props and let us put on swanky accessories to compliment the outfits we had worn that evening.  You can see Jackie and I hamming it up in the photo above.

As we were getting ready to leave, we noticed free AOL bags.  They were lovely bags and had some free goodies in them, like shampoo and lotion from Aveda.  Aveda products are always a big hit with me and the bag is really pretty.  I can see myself using it for something in the future.  At about this point, we also noticed what looked like one of those machine in the mall where you step inside with a friend and take your picture.  We were close, but this machine actually let us record a 30 second video.  There were instructions inside and we had fun working on our interview skills.  You can see us being goofy in the clip below:

Only the Beginning

Believe it or not, these parties were only the beginning of our awesome adventure.  BlogHer ’10 didn’t actually start until the next day, and we had already been pampered beyond belief.  I’ll have more tales soon about what we encountered over the next two days.  And along the way, I’ll have a give-a-way or two, so make sure you stay tuned for your chance to hear about the rest of the trip and win some prizes too!

Cheers,