Back from the Holidays

Hi peeps — made it back from upstate New York (and visiting my in-laws) on Wednesday night. It was VERY cold there. I am coughing and resorting to all the tips for when one gets sick I posted a few weeks ago.

I also went through a lot of handcream while I was upstate. Somehow, even though I was inside more, my hands were drier than when I am in the city where, I confess, I often forget to put on my gloves. Anyways, I went through half a jar of one of my HGs, Burts Bees Almond Milk Beeswax Hand Creme, which, considering how wonderfully concentrated-a-little-goes-a-long-way this product is, is very impressive for four days of use.

I got several great beauty gifts (thank you wonderful husband and gal pals), an all-region DVD player from my husband (yay!), and also a lovely surprise gift from one of my husband’s co-workers, Angela. She reads the blog and we have chatted a few times, but not yet met. She got me a stack of lovely magazines — British InStyle, Italian Vogue, American Oprah and Saveur. It was such a perfect “lifestyle” gift — an international magazine is such a treat, and when part of a stack of magazines, it all comes together as an incredibly personal gift. As soon as I opened the gift, I knew I had to post about it as a lifestyle musing — I love buying books for people, but never know if they will share my tastes. A gift of magazines has the same feel, but with more variety and therefore not the need to know the person’s reading tastes too closely. It really was a very cool gift, which I will now copy — so friends that I know IRL, don’t be surprised if you get a stack of magazines sometime! There is something just so decadent about opening a stack of 4 magazines! Now, if you will excuse me, I am off to plot an Amazon.fr order of Region 2 DVDs for sometime in January.