Monday, February 12, 2007

Goodbye, Gem Show 2007 :-(

Well, the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show is done for another year. Last week, I did manage to make it to the Holidome show, one of my favorites. My friend Warene was in town for the Gem Show; I took her along to this wholesale only show. There are showrooms inside of the Holiday Inn Holidome and in massive tents south of the hotel. We went to the tents. Primarily we were seeking findings, silver, leather, cording, wire and tools. We were somewhat conservative in our purchases, since this was our last stop for 2007. My major purchase was some sterling silver pendants and beads for new jewelry. I also purchased some less expensive stone and glass beads for wind dancers.

On Sunday (the last day of the show), NPR did a story about the Gem Show. Personally, I think the Gem Show should have been featured during the week. (I'm sure one of the many car-bombing stories could have been replaced with the tutorial from Tucson on how to buy gems.) Anyway, check out the NPR story link.

Dance, dance, dance!

Have you ever tried ballroom dancing? I don't mean learning the fox trot or square dancing in 6th grade. I'm talking about adult whirling, twirling, laughing, smiling, counting-- and sweating (sometimes).

I'm talkin': slow slow quick quick or slow quick quick slow or slow quick quick. If you've taken any ballroom dancing lessons, you know that those are code words for fox trot (or two step), rumba, and waltz.

I love to dance and have been dancing all of my life. My parents met on a blind date in the late 1940s. Their first date was ballroom dancing to big band music at Cedar Point Ballroom in Sandusky, Ohio. Some of my earliest memories are of the parties my parents gave--especially New Year's Eve. All of the parents (mine, aunts and uncles, neighbors) were in the basement drinking Kentucky burbon or beer and dancing. All of us kids were supposed t0 be upstairs sleeping (or at least trying to sleep). Instead we would peak down the stairs to watch everyone boogie--1950s style. For decades my parents danced. How cool is that?

Since I grew up in the 1960s, I learned to dance freestyle. In the 1990s, I became interested in ballroom dancing--particularly Latin dances (salsa, rumba, cha-cha) and swing. I have watched (and loved) just about every corny dance movie. In fact, this past fall, I watched about weeks of ballroom dance movies (primarily thanks to Net Flix): Dirty Dancing, Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights, and several quirky but fun B movies about ballroom dancing.

Anyway, after all of this exposure to whirling and twirling and sequined dresses, I decided to give myself a Christmas present of ballroom dancing lessons. I had had a few lessons here and there-- mostly the quicky lessons at local clubs. My skills were somewhere in between people who know nothing and people who have had lessons, but I have the beat. Since December, I've been taking lessons once a week at Arizona Ballroom Company here in Tucson. I love it! I'm gaining skills and self-confidence to go to the real dance clubs around here.

In addition to group and private lessons, ABC has open dances four evenings per week: West Coast swing on Wednesday, open dances on Friday and Saturday, and salsa on Sunday. It's a fun time. Everyone is there to dance, and everyone dances. You don't have to be a student at ABC to come on down and have fun whirling and twirling!

Friday, February 02, 2007

Shea Butter

Are you bothered by dry, itchy, cracked skin? Then I'll bet you haven't discovered the wonders of shea butter. About a year ago, I discovered a luxurious shea butter body cream at Bath and Body Works-- "Lay It On Thick". This is really great stuff. It's soft, and it makes my skin feel and smell good. The only drawbacks are: 1) the price--on sale for ~$10/6 oz tube and 2) you can't open doors for about an hour after application, due to extreme slipperiness.

Despite the minor drawbacks, I have been lovin' my shea butter body cream and hoping for another Bath and Body Works sale so I could afford to buy more!

Then came the Gem Show. (You're right. At least for now, all roads in this blog lead to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show.) In the African Art Village, a vendor from Ghana was selling tubs of pure shea butter. He used a large butcher knife to cut chunks off of what looked like a 10-inch in diameter butter stump. He was busily plopping bright yellow chunks into plastics tubs, slapping on labels touting the numerous uses and benefits of shea butter, and building an impressive mound of butter tubs for sale.

Initially, I was skeptical. How could this crude yellow stuff which looked like old Crisco be as good as my expensive body cream in the distinctively designed plastic tube? My daughter (always the early adopter), smeared some on my hand and said, "Try it!" I was sold. A picture of Lincoln bought an 8oz tub of shea butter.

Although raw shea butter doesn't smell as good as the expensive body cream and it's a little harder to spread, it works just as well or better on dry skin. Once it's rubbed it, the skin is very smooth (and not as greasy as with the cream). Another plus is if you drop a chunk during application, your dog will happily eat it! (My dog now has her ears perked for the sound of that butter tub opening at bedtime.)

True confessions here: My heels are perpetually dry and cracked, due to Arizona's dry weather and my love of sandals. NOTHING seems to really smooth and sooth the ultra dry skin on my feet (not even the shea butter body cream or other special, super-thick foot creams from Sally's Beauty Supply .)

Commercial pitch: I was amazed at the results of the raw shea butter after just a few days of nightly use. My heels are still cracked, but the shea butter is having an impact.

Out of curiousity, I compared the labels. The BBW cream has 30+ ingredients, the first two being water and petrolatum (yes, spelled correctly); shea butter is about number 12 or so. The tub from Ghana has only one ingredient--raw shea butter.

According to Wikipedia, "Shea butter is a slightly greenish natural fat extracted from fruit of the Shea tree by crushing and boiling. Shea butter is widely used in cosmetics as a moisturizer and an emollient. Shea butter is also edible. It is used as a cooking oil in West Africa, as well as sometimes being used in the chocolate industry as a substitute for cocoa butter."

According to the label on the tub, shea butter has a multitude of uses from the treatment of dry skin to use as sunscreen, anti-aging cream, stress-reducer (probably with a masseuse), or an arthritispain pain releaver. Give it a try. I highly recommend it!