The Ritual of Sakura Body Scrub

Review by Lisa VanWilliams

In Japan, they call cherry blossoms Sakura and it symbolizes fragility and beauty of life. The blossoms are almost over here in New England after a week of rain has pulled them off and blanketed the grounds with a calming pinkish white cover. Spring Break has come to and end and the tan is fading but, I am trying to keep that beach soft skin. Rituals was kind enough to send me this awesome body scrub that I have been using to get rid of the dry skin. It's a sugar based scrub and I have been using the organic rice and cherry blossom scent. I actually spilled it in my purse because I was carrying it around to photograph it and I have been catching whiffs of the oil fragrance. It smells great, even after dayyyys!

It's a high quality scrub and I would recommend trying out the brand. My chef hands feel great and leaves my skin feeling renewed, soft, and supple. The smell is not overpowering once rinsed away and it rinses off easily (some brands I feel like I have Cisco shortening on my hands after rinsing and you have to use really hot water to get it off). Plus, I'm a sucker for sweet almond oil in anything.

They recommend using the scrub 1-2x a week for soft fresh skin. The scrubs goes for $29 and you can find it at Barney's or a Ritual boutique (New York City has a few locations).

Rituals is a European brand that started out of Amsterdam in 2000. They offer over 400 home and body care products and they are all inspired by ancient Eastern tradition or philosophy.

You can find out more about the company and order here: https://www.rituals.com/en-us/home

Barney's also carries the line: http://www.barneys.com/designer/rituals/N-4128cq

Getting Lost

By Lisa VanWilliams

Karen Blixen said, "I know of a cure for everything: salt water...in one way or the other. Sweat, or tears, or the salt sea."

We took a spontaneous Spring Break trip just to get away from it all. My husband, the two kids, and myself. The kids were wiped out after day 1 of swimming and beach, so we rented a car and drove. We drove aimlessly and ended up on the best beach side road we've been on in a long time and it felt great. Tropical forests on the right, and beach shanties & blue water on the left. Both the kids slept peacefully exhausted in the back seat.

We drove to the top of the rain forest and back down to the beach to look for a place to explore and have lunch. We missed the main turn off for the beach and ended up on some side road that was obviously not the main attraction we were looking for. We ended up parking and walking on a little side beach only to go around the bend and see the most beautiful lava rock and beach oasis. My son hurriedly grabbed as many coconuts as he could carry and my daughter searched for tiny fish in the pools of water accumulated on the lava rocks. It's not where we intended to be, but it's where we ended up. We had the beach to ourselves and it was perfect. Sometimes, your not lost, but where you are suppose to be. We stayed and for an hour or so we pretended to be Moana on the island beach.

My husband always says life is made up of moments. Not the big picture, but tiny moments. Tiny moments that take your breath away, balance you, and reinspire you when you lose sight of what's important or get lost along the way.  It ended up being the perfect day and the prefect cure, and a moment in time I will always remember.

Hold onto your precious moments.