CRAVING local businesses!

Last night was the launch of CRAVE Portland guide. It is so inspiring to be part of a guide that has a group of such amazing women entrepreneurs who are all following their dreams and making it happen! This book is definitely something you need to check out as it is the ultimate guide to Portland women owned businesses.

Here is a sneak peak of some of my favorite quotes from the book!

What tip would you give women who are starting a business?

                “Bury all fears of failure in a bow, lock it up and throw away the key. Any passionate woman can nurture a business into success with focus and determination.”- Jasmine Tran of Essance

What tip would you give women who are starting a business?

                “Be exactly who you are. Clients will resonate with that and come back for more.”- Brandie Kajino of SOHO Solutionist

                “Remember your sisterhood! Reach out for help, and it will be there. Business is not about cutthroat competition anymore. We are most successful when we help each other thrive.”- Juniper Martin of Juniper Martin, MD

Oh and did I mention there are discounts offered from the businesses in the back of the book! : ) No matter what your CRAVING there is something for you. Available at Skin Zen, come pick one up and check out all the awesome women owned businesses!

My Sister! My Friend! My Business Partner….?

  When I tell people I have a business with my sister I hear everything from “That would be my dream to open a business like that with my sisters,” to “I don’t think I could do something like that with my sister!” But business wasn’t always something we did together. As a kid I started many businesses….The Babysitter’s Club, The We Love Kids Club, The Cleaning Club, the list goes on but I’m just now noticing that they always seemed to end with ‘Club!’ They made a decent profit, in fact we once made enough to take the entire company to see the Nutcracker. The ‘entire company’ was always the same: myself as President, my best friend Danielle as Treasurer, my other best friend Brittney as Secretary, and my younger sister Marcy…definitely not ever included! And I think she was totally fine with that, she didn’t seem too interested.

Fast forward about 15 years and here Marcy and I are running Skin Zen Acupuncture and Esthetics (She wouldn’t let me name it The Skin Zen Club J nor was I allowed to be designated ‘President’). How did this all come about? I was in the middle of acupuncture school and Marcy was trying to decide what career path to take. We wanted to find something she would like to do that would fit nicely with acupuncture so we could start a business together. Well, Marcy wasn’t up for Medical school J, insurance billing sounded boring to her, and I couldn’t talk her into massage school either, so finally we found an esthetician program that focused on natural skincare. I’ll admit it, I had to kind of talk her into it, but she jumped in with the vision of combining our skills for one awesome business. Luckily, it turned out she happened to absolutely love learning and practicing natural skincare. Plus, she ended up being completely amazing at the treatments too, if I do say so!

So here we are with our business and we both absolutely love our jobs and being able to make our own decisions, but what’s it really like starting a business with your sister? For us, our personalities and strengths are different enough from each other that it works to our advantage. While we are always respectful of each other and are really drama-free, we can say things to each other that some wouldn’t be able to say to a co-worker or business partner. For example, when I ask what she thinks of the advertising flyer I made, she can just cut right to it and say “That color is so ugly!” And I have no problem nagging her about posting the blog I wrote. Not that we don’t ever get on each other’s nerves, but we aren’t worried about offending each other.

As we continue to build our business together, we push ourselves and each other to provide the best possible care and service to our customers. We are just living our dream of loving our work, and we’re looking forward to adding another sister to the business once she’s old enough…we think we have our youngest sister talked into joining us as a massage therapist once she’s 18!

A sister is both your mirror and your opposite.

You can kid the world, but not your sister.

Why I Love Acupuncture

  Being an acupuncturist, people assume I love acupuncture, but people are constantly asking, “How in the world did you end up doing acupuncture?”  It seems even more unlikely to have happened since I grew up in a very small town that had never had an acupuncturist.  I knew about acupuncture and had even seen it done at a young age because my family had used it to heal a variety of things. But the thought of ever doing acupuncture as a career had never crossed my mind even once. It wasn’t until my second year of college when I wrote a paper about Chinese Medicine that I really became interested in what it had to offer. After three years of studying acupuncture at the Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, the things that intrigued me when I first learned about it are same reasons I still love the medicine today. Here are a just few of the things I love about Oriental Medicine:

·         Nature: Oriental Medicine uses nature to explain and diagnose things going on in the body. For example, a redness of the skin may be ‘heat’ or an involuntary shaking of the body is addressed as ‘wind.’

·         Treating the unexplained: Since it was created thousands of years ago when there weren’t modern diagnoses, Chinese Medicine is designed to treat symptoms or patterns. This means that even if a person’s illness or symptoms can’t be labeled as a specific Western medicine diagnosis, a Chinese Medicine diagnosis can be given and treated with acupuncture, herbs, or other modalities.

·         Considers the entire body and a root cause: A Chinese Medicine diagnosis doesn’t just look at the one issue or symptom the patient is complaining about, but considers everything else going on in the body as well in order to look for a root cause to resolve. For example, if a person has neck pain it is a problem local to that area, but there may also be other internal causes that need to be treated as well.

·         Balance: Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine are all about balance- balance in the body, balance of yin and yang, and overall balance in life. This just makes sense to me because in general too much or too little of anything can be a problem.

·         It works!!: No matter what people may say about acupuncture and whether we know exactly how it works or not, the fact is it does work! While every person responds differently to any treatment, I watch it help and amaze people all the time!

And that is exactly why I love acupuncture and I love sharing it with people every day!

By: Jessica Tatieze, LAc, Skin Zen Acupuncture & Esthetics

The truth about Sun/Sunscreen

 Since we haven’t had much sun this summer, I feel like when it did finally arrive we all ran out to bask in the rays all day. (Including me!)  I myself needed a little reminder about the damages the sun causes when it does arrive. So I turned to The Complete Beauty Bible to remind me to stay in the shade for a little while. These are the top 6 sun truths on my list that remind me to be smart about my sun time.

Truth #1: There is no safe tan! I understand how good it feels to be tan…BUT it is not worth the risks! Either get a spray tan….OR embrace your white but healthy skin J

Truth #2: UVA rays are the sun’s silent killers. Yep that’s right! You cant feel them but they are the main cause of skin cancer and wrinkles! They also penetrate through glass windows.

Truth #3: Damage to your skin from the sun begins within the first minutes your exposed to sunlight…Not when you start feelin the burn!

Truth #4: Not wearing sunscreen because its cloudy or not very hot? Even on a cloudy day the suns rays are causing damage. (Those dang UVA rays)

Truth #5: According to the FDA, a products SPF tells you how long you can stay in the sun while wearing it without getting burned. Not a lot of people are aware of exactly how this works. If it normally takes you 20 minutes in the sun before turning pink, and SPF 15 product will let you stay in the sun for 5 hours without burning. The formula is 20(minutes) X (SPF number) = 300 (minutes). That only applies if you are not swimming or sweating. If you are getting wet, reapply every 60-90 minutes.

Truth #6: Waterproof sunscreens aren’t actually waterproof. The FDA is order manufactures to eliminate such a claim from sunscreen labels. Sunscreen can be water RESISTANT..but not waterproof. Water-resistant sunscreens need to be reapplied every 40-80 minutes if you are swimming.

So don’t let this scare you indoors for the rest of the summer…just remember to be smart…limit your time out in the sun…and apply/reapply your sunscreen!! J

Negative Ions=GOOD Positive ions= BAD NEWS

We are heading out to seaside today to soak up some negative ions! Don’t worry they aren’t really negative J

Positive ions surround us every day as pollutants. These positive ions are what ages our skin causing dark spots, sagging, wrinkling, and breakouts.

So how do we get negative ions to counteract the positive? From the ocean! Being near the ocean is a huge source of natural negative ions. Other ways of getting negative ions is from eating healthy and being out in nature…hiking…near waterfalls.

These negative ions don’t just give you glowing skin they also:

• enhance the immune system
• increase alertness
• increase work productivity and concentration
• reduce susceptibility to colds and flu
• relief from sinus, migraine headaches, allergies and hay fever
• reduce the severity of asthma attacks
• increase lung capacity
• stabilize alpha rhythms

So get out to the coast in this beautiful weather and soak up those negative ions. Don’t forget your physical block sunscreen J

What my summer salad has how many calories???

A typical orchard salad is 895 calories!!! Ouch! I know we have all had our moments at a restaurant eating an 895 cal salad feeling really healthy right?!?? So here is an orchard salad I found with 533 cal (much better!) and it is full of powerful antioxidants!

1 ounce walnuts

¼ teaspoon agave nectar

Pinch of kosher salt

3onces mixed baby greens

2 ounces grapes, halved

1 ounce celery

1 ounce red onion

2 ounce English cucumber, diced

¼ cup fresh strawberries, sliced

¼ cup fresh blueberries

1 ounce dried cranberries

1 teaspoon fresh mint leaves

2 teaspoons pomegranate juice

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil

Combine all ingredients and toss with pomegranate juice, lemon juice, and olive oil. 

Enjoy immediately.

YUMM! Perfect summer salad!

Are you battling cellulite this summer??

These are our top 5 tips for winning the battle!

1.    Acupuncture- Acupuncture is a safe, natural way to help eliminate cellulite. Even though cellulite affects your outward appearance, it appears in the deeper layer of your skin. That’s why external treatments like topical creams cannot effectively deal with the problem. Acupuncture deals with cellulite at its source, by nourishing connective skin tissues from within. This is an intensive treatment designed to cleanse and improve circulation, as well as, firm and improve skin tone focusing on problem areas. With the help of acupuncture you will notice smoother feeling legs and a firmer looking appearance in your skin.

According to the Chinese medical theory, cellulite is related to a condition of excess dampness or mucous in the body. Also, deficient spleen energy, causing poor digestive function, is often the root cause of both over-weight and cellulite. The Chinese medical approach to this problem involves strengthening spleen energy with acupuncture and herbs, although the treatment must be individually tailored since each person will require a different balancing of energies. Cellulite deposits are locked away and cannot be readily used for fuel. This is why acupuncture is such an important solution in fighting against cellulite.

Benefits of Cellulite Acupuncture:

Helps to eliminate orange peel appearance of the skin Smoothes, firms and tightens the skin Targets problem areas of the hips, buttocks and thighs Promotes elimination of fat and cellulite Prevents further accumulation of fat deposits Increases circulation to improve texture and muscle tone It is non-surgical and non-invasive Provides re-oxygenation of the skin Detoxifies tissues Activates fluid circulation

  

2.    Exercise- Yes this is an obvious one but very important!  The best exercises to lose cellulite combine cardiovascular exercise – walking, jogging, swimming, aerobics – with strength training, such as weight lifting using dumbbells or circuit training machines.

3.    Believe it or not, you can rub warm coffee grounds on you’re the areas that you want to treat for cellulite. Simply take warm coffee grounds and massage them onto your problem areas with your hands or a loofah mitt for 10 to 15 minutes. You may want to put newspaper on the floor of your bathroom before beginning, as this natural cure can be quite messy.

Coffee works on cellulite by decreasing the amount of water stored in your fat cells. While this is an effective natural technique for cellulite reduction, it is a temporary treatment and not a “cure.”Seaweed works similarly to coffee in reducing cellulite.

4.    Another great method to pamper your skin and help with cellulite is to dry brush it. Do this by using a natural bristle brush, and brush the skin in circular motions. Dry brushing works well, because it increases circulation flow, which helps break up the fat deposits. It also promotes new skin growth by removing dead skin cells. After about a week of dry brushing you should see a difference in your skin, it will feel smoother and look healthier.

5.    Massage Treatments- Massage is an extremely powerful way to spark cellulite reduction. The pressure gets down really deep into the skin and helps to break apart deposits of celulite. Second, circulation and bloodflow within the massaged improves significantly. Lastly, lymphatic drainage -- which is what carries toxins and waste away from the skin and out of the body -- is repaired and enhanced dramatically. These 3 effects aren't going to instantly get rid of cellulite deposits, but they will have tremendous effects in the weeks to come; so long as you continue the massage treatments of course.

Use all these tips together, combined with drinking plenty of water and you will be struttin' your stuff cellulite free on the beach in no time! ;)