Five Things That Will Make Your Life Better Today

OK, I’ll admit…the title is a bit dramatic. But these five things have changed my life recently and I had to pass them on.

1. Cheapie mani/pedis at the local beauty school.

I’ve been going to beauty schools for everything from haircuts to highlights for years — since my 8th birthday and my mom introduced me to the magic of a discounted rate.

But for some reason, I never considered spa and beauty treatments…until this weekend.

I got (at the Aveda School in Orlando) a gorgeous manicure for $10 and a pedicure for $15. Both were very well done, with hand/leg massages, AND I got to take both the tools and the nail polish home. Aveda also uses vegan, formaldehyde-free polish, so that’s a bonus.

(I have pictures of my fingers and toes but found them a bit too gnarly to post on the blog. Close-ups of toes are just gross.)

(Also, for those who are in the Orlando area…I just found out that

2. Beauty school and salon models.

While sitting in the pedicure chair, I learned that all of the students at the school and most stylists at salons are on the constant lookout for models for specific hair treatments like cuts, perms, color, keratin, etc., whether it’s for a grade or for a portfolio. Sure, you have to be a bit open to whatever the stylist wants to do, but the treatments are FREE and you can opt in or out of things, depending on what your comfort level is.

For example — the student doing my toes needs a model to pratctice a specific type of layers. Since it’s done at a school, everything is watched over by an instructor, so your chances of disaster are minimal (and you often get a super high end salon cut on the cheap!).

After my treatment, I went to the Facebook pages of two of my favorite salons in Orlando and they *both* had calls for models on their walls. So take a look at your local school/salon and let them know you’re interested! (In Orlando, we have two schools that I go to: Aveda and Paul Mitchell. Both are great.)

*****BREAKING NEWS: I also just learned that at my local school — Aveda Orlando — there is now a complimentary style bar, where you can get a shampoo and blowdry for FREE.*****

3. Choice of cheese at the sandwich bar.

I have expressed my love for the Publix sub here before — if only they would toast their bread, they’d be the #1 place in town. But they definitely earned bonus points this weekend when the sandwich builder (artist?) told me that I had my choice of cheese. From the entire deli.

I normally get double provolone, since otherwise my veggie sub would be veggies and bread. But when presented with the entire cheese case, I nearly teared up. The guy making my sandwich even offered me three slices of different products so I could make my choice! SWOON.

If you get subs at your local grocery store, consider asking (nicely!) if they can slice some cheese fresh for you — it made a huge difference for me (I got some really swiss-like provolone on my latest sub).

4. Makeup tutorials on YouTube.

I have been known to lose hours of my life watching hair and makeup tutorials on YouTube. But I’ve always searched very broad and general terms — “smoky eyes” or “how to do a side braid.”

Then this weekend, it dawned on me…I have two eyeshadow palettes that I love and could probably last me through the rest of my makeup-wearing years (the Naked and Naked 2 palettes from Urban Decay). But I often default to just a few colors. Why not see what others have done?

That led to a new awakening about the power of YouTube. And a few fun hours of playing around with my makeup.

5. Genre stations on Pandora.

Pandora has changed my life — I keep it on at work, stream through the iPhone app and more. But I’ve always just used a song or artist to jumpstart a playlist.

Then I learned about the genre stations…WOW.

My favorites:

• Yoga
• Spa Suite
• Today’s Hits
• ’80s Pop
• Pop Fitness