Friday's are kind of my favorite because it's one of my few, consistent days off. So far it's been full of green tea, yoga, a shower.. and now some leftover roasted potatoes from last night. God I love potatoes.
Anyway, much more exciting things happened this week besides me eating potatoes. In fact, on Tuesday, I went to this fun little class hosted by Living Social called "Make Your Own Vegan Skincare" at their event space in downtown DC. (Side note: I'm still not sure why you have to throw the word vegan in there - I really wasn't planning on putting milk or steak on my face, thank you. Well, maybe milk. Except I don't really do milk unless it's in cheese form. But.. no cheese on my face, please.)
By the way, if you live in the DC area - I highly recommend you go to one of Living Social's classes or events in that space.. it's pretty awesome. And they have a bar!
So: after work on Tuesday, I headed downtown to attend this class solo. My über natural-yoga-bff (here-to-for referred to as Bunny Love) was originally supposed to come along as well, but she realized rather last minute that she double booked and the start date of her new yoga class was the same night as the skin care class. After much anguish of whether I should still attend the class or not, I sucked it up and went. I mean, this is the 21st century right? Going somewhere alone is totally normal, not weird, and even empowering.
At least that's what I told myself.
So I left work promptly at 5, used the metro for the first time in who knows how many months (ugh I've gotten way too suburban for life), got to the event, and headed straight to the bar for a glass of vino.
Well ok.. maybe two.
The class was a bit late getting started, but once it did, it was pretty fascinating! It also seemed like several folks (lets be honest: all of us were women) were flying solo, as well. Ah, all for the love of natural skin care!
We were seated at two long tables - maybe 40 of us in all - with four people assigned per burner and ingredients. The class was led by Jill of evoLve skin - a woman who started her own line of natural, ethical skin care not too long ago and is slowly expanding her business in the DC area.
Once we were all paired up and settled, we started off making some lip balm...
then a facial toner...
and lastly, a salt scrub.
Now while we did some of the most basic versions of each product, it was still pretty cool to see how relatively easy it is to make natural, mostly organic skin care. The best rule of thumb? Get your skin care from your kitchen. We used things like coconut oil, green tea, epsom salt, and olive oil - you could literally eat all this stuff and be perfectly fine. It probably wouldn't taste super amazing, but it's good for you!
One of the best parts of this class was the connection I made with the instructor afterwards - it turns out she also has a background in dance (yay dancers!), is looking to expand her natural skin care line, and lives across the street from my massage therapy job. So, naturally, I networked away and have a meeting set up with her for early next week to possibly partner with her and feature her products at work. All of it is actually turning into a very exciting prospect!
So, my lesson learned here? (Aside from the fact that I now want to start MY own skin care line..) Going at it alone can still be pretty fun. I used to be terrified of going anywhere or doing anything by myself, but as I've gotten older, I've realized that I really kind of love to thrive in my independence. Is it still scary sometimes? Sure. But it's also empowering and, in a way, confidence-boosting. It also apparently gives me a great opportunity to network (which is a feat in and of itself). Huzzah!
How are you with going out on your own? Does it or has it always come easy, or is it more of a challenge?
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