Scala Bio-Fir Anti-Cellulite Shaper Wear

Okay Ladies, pull up a chair, grab a drink and listen closely. I am going to tell you about a product that I discovered recently and it's A-MAZING.

First off, I have no affiliation with this product or the company who sells it - I am merely a believer (can I get an AMEN?) This product is Scala Bio-Fir Slimming/Shaper Wear and it reduces cellulite. Did you hear that? REDUCES CELLULITE. Not only does it make you look terrific while you are wearing it, but it does a job for you at the same time!

I had passed by this little gem of a store in my neighbourhood many times and had noticed the sandwich board outside advertising this great product. I have purchased over the years a number of slimming garments only to be disappointed by them. They're too tight in the leg, or they roll funny or they are too hot. Everything Scala is not.

Here's how it works. Hot off the knitting machines in Brazil, the fabric these garments are made with contains tiny crystals (called Active Bio Crystals or Far Infrared Rays) that continuously massages your skin. The massaging action causes friction, stimulating blood flow at the skin level. The increased blood flow stimulates the body's lymphatic system which then melts away the subcutaneous fat layer and the toxins responsible for cellulite and the liquified fat is then disposed of by either the kidneys or liver. I am sure drinking extra water during this time would only help to flush away the waste faster.

Sandra Kesselman, who owns Noir Fashions - the sole distributor for Scala in Canada - waited for three months to get a Medical Device Establishment License from Health Canada to sell the shaper wear. To me, their approval was an indicator that it worked, but I had to try it for myself.



Approximately 6 weeks ago I purchased both the High Waisted Knee Length Slimming Panty (above) and the Slimming Legging. I began wearing the knee length one daily. Scala promises results in 30 days but I am here to tell you that I saw changes in the cellulite on my thighs in about two weeks! After one month of wear there is a definite difference. The dimpling and lumpiness is much reduced, in fact almost completely gone! In addition to that, the garment is extremely comfortable, breathable and there is no tightness or rolling in the leg. All versions have the rubberized waist band to prevent slippage and rolling.

I had given myself the goal of one year to exercise and get toned again and the plan was to get liposuction for the cellulite if my efforts hadn't helped in that regard. Scala has saved me the trouble and expense.

Considering what these garments do, you would expect to pay a premium for them but they cost about the same as regular girdles and shaper wear at department stores, with the prices running between $50-65 depending on the garment. To care for these garments, machine wash them but hang them to dry to preserve the lycra content. The crystals are unaffected by regular washing.

Currently at Noir Fashions, Sandra is carrying 6 products in this line, one of them for men.

I had to opportunity to ask Sandra a couple of questions about her involvement with Scala.

Heather:
How did you come to learn of the Scala Bio Promise Line?

Sandra:
I’ve being representing SCALA in Canada for almost 5 years now. I import and distribute the brand collection all over the country. We started with the outerwear and the traditional shapewear lines. In February 2009, they launched this new amazing line. It took us about 3 months to get the Medical Device Establishment License from Health Canada to distribute the product in the country.

Heather:
What benefits have you noticed from using these garments?

Sandra:
I'm wearing mainly the black legging as my uniform since I delivered my baby girl 4 month ago, and I can really testify that the product is amazing on improving circulation. I’ve got bad varicose veins from the pregnancy and they were very painful, after using the product for 2/3 weeks, I got much better, no pain and the appearance of the veins are much lighter. My legs were also very swollen from the pregnancy, I retained lots of liquid, I took my measurements and I lost one inch on my calf muscle area and 2 inches on my thighs after a month of wearing the product.

Heather:
What future products can we expect in this line?

Sandra:
I’m about to receive the posture bra and some pantyhose made with the same material.



Right now there is limited information on the internet about these awesome cellulite-busting undergarments and I just had to share my success and happiness with what they have done for me!

These fine products, along with many more fashionable Scala items can be purchased at:

Noir Fashion
3950 Main Street
Vancouver, BC
Phone: 604-628-9561
Fax: 778-737-1591

To contact Sandra either call her at the above number or email her at sandra@noirfashion.ca. She is very friendly and willing to answer any and all of your questions!

Go on, GIVE THEM A TRY!

Knit the Season, a Review

It's appropriate that the third installation in this series by Kate Jacobs would come to me now, when the weather is turning cold and holidays abound.

In August of 2008 I read the first novel, The Friday Night Knitting Club. Besides the fact that I am a knitting maniac, the characters just enraptured me and the ending left me quite bereft, to be honest.

That following Autumn, I had the privilege of reading and reviewing Knit Two, the second novel. Picking up the story five years later, Kate Jacobs wove a wonderful story of a group of characters, all attempting to "let go" in some way. My previous review is here. I also had the chance to see Kate Jacobs in person in January of this year at an event at a local knitting store, Urban Yarns, which was most thrilling to me!

And then we get to Knit the Season. Fast forwarding another few years, there are many exciting events and opportunities afoot and this time each character is now struggling with togetherness, with both family and friends. As with the previous two books, I did not want the story to end as these women have become friends to me.

I will venture to say that I found this book more painful to read than the last two. And by painful, I mean emotionally. Georgia Walker, a character who was lost to us in book one, was remembered in small vignettes in a variety of voices, some new to us. I found it very hard to read these flashbacks and not cry. In The Friday Night Knitting Club, Georgia was known to us, but we only got necessary snippets of her past. Kate Jacobs went one step further with Knit the Season and opened up some of the finer intimacies of Georgia's life. It was entirely fitting that she should still be the centrepiece of the story.

Put this book on your list for the upcoming holidays, either for yourself or friends and family. I'd love to think that this series could go on, but we shall see. Kate Jacobs has created some other great characters in her other novel, Comfort Food. Maybe we'll see what's happened to them next!

Sunday Scribblings #180

The thing with the tattoo was that it never stayed in the same place. Always roaming around on her body, surprising her with new locations and sometimes, new shapes. Often people would look at her in surprise and say "I didn't know you had a tattoo!" and she would have to try and pretend it wasn't real because she knew in a day or two it would be somewhere else, probably somewhere hidden, and explaining was just too hard.

One day something new happened. She arose at her usual hour and wandered to the bathroom to freshen up. Today the tattoo was plainly in sight on her left forearm and was in the form of a very lovely butterfly. As she inspected it lightly she felt a tingling in her arm around the outside of the tattoo. The tingling became more intense and warm as the skin began to pucker and then rise slightly as an actual butterfly took shape from her arm. The wings were so delicate and translucent in glorious colours. She searched her brain for what genus it might be but was at a loss. After some time, the tingling began to subside as the butterfly completely emerged from her arm, leaving only a faint imprint where it once was. It flapped its wings once and then lifted from her and headed for the open bathroom window. Something in her wanted to cry "don't go!" and she almost reached out her hand to it, but she thought better of it because she had noticed something new about herself.

She felt free.

******************************
Just a little short story for Sunday Scribblings. The theme was "Tattoo". I guess you can figure out that the tattoo wasn't a tattoo at all. I wonder who can guess what it really was?

Daniel X - Watch the Skies

I have had the privilege of reading the second Daniel X (Watch the Skies) book in a new series by James Patterson. I read and reviewed the first book almost exactly one year ago and I can honestly say the sequel does not disappoint.

If you are looking for a lively, fun, action-packed, gore-filled series for your 8 to 10 year old son to read, then get these books. I promise he won't put them down. I'm a 41 year old Mom and I was mesmerized by this young adult novel!

Daniel is a 15 year old Alien Hunter and boy, is he ever good at what he does! With the help of a team of conjured experts, he is able to track down, outwit and overpower the featured alien in each book. I can hardly wait to read the next one!

In this particular edition, Daniel goes up against his toughest alien yet and is almost defeated many times in some nail-biting scenes. It makes me worried for what's to come!

As with Mr. Patterson's Maximum Ride series, there is no urgent need to read the first novel as he artfully catches you up without repeating too much from the previous novel. This is one thing I appreciate very much about his writing.

The chapters are very short, so as to keep the attention of even the most disinterested reader and what an accomplishment for a non reader to say they've read a 90 chapter book! There's a definite "squick" factor when it comes to the battle scenes as Mr. Patterson very vividly describes them which had me wishing my imagination wasn't so active at times, tee hee!

If you are looking for an interesting and exciting read for your child, not just your son, then this is the series to get them started on. There are some words which may be difficult for earlier readers, so a parent might want to follow along, but other than that, hang on to your hats because it's one heckuva ride!

So. Excited.

Tomorrow I get to meet this lady. I am bursting at the seams with excitement! There will be more about this after the weekend. I promise.

The Graduate

I didn't expect to get so emotional at Hannah's high school graduation ceremony last night, but when they presented the Class of 2009, my eyes welled up and my face got all wobbly as I tried to contain myself. It really hit me. This beautiful creature that I seemingly just birthed yesterday is now on the cusp of adulthood. Striding across the stage in her four inch heels, towering above most of her classmates, I felt a strange mixture of emotions; sadness, pride, appreciation that I have had the privilege of getting her this far (not without the help of others) and honour in knowing her at all.



Hannah and I had a rough start to her life. I was not much older than she is now when I gave birth to her. Without beleaguering the point, her biological donor and I split up when I was 8 months pregnant. It was one of the most stressful times in my life and I do believe she saved my life. At night, when my emotions would get the better of me, she'd move around in my belly as though to say "it's okay mom, I'm here" and then she'd grow very still, calm. She was, is and always will be the first true love of my life. This is not the same love you feel for your own parents, or your siblings or your spouse. It goes so much deeper because she is a part of me. She shares half the same chromosomes as me (well, so does my twin but that's different!) Without the unconditional support of my parents and siblings, I would not have made it through the first year of Hannah's life on my own. I am forever grateful to them. She shares very special bonds with her grandparents and her aunts and uncles.



As Hannah began to change and grow, I vowed to myself that she would be an independent person and be self-reliant. She has more than exceeded my expectations. She became a sweet personality, eager to please and fun to be around. She shares my quirky sense of humour and sometimes only a phrase ("Razzle Dazzle") will set us to giggles. I can recall her being about two or three and holding a flashlight under her chin, saying "I'm the lepterchaun" in her most menacing voice. That memory will always make me smile!



I could not have asked for a better child to raise for the first time. Everyone she touches tells me how much they love her and how kind and sweet she is. People loved having her for sleepovers because she was well-behaved and respectful. She is playful, energetic and fun. She has a compassionate heart and a strong mind. She has always acted much older than her age and while I think that may be because of her early circumstances, it is not a bad trait to have.



She will be attending University on the other side of the country come September. I don't know how I will endure her being that far away, not able to rush to her side for any perceived crisis or thing, or just to hang out. My heart scrinches up whenever I think about it. I think I'll wait until that time before I get too freaked out.

For now, brimming with pride, I'll just sit back and admire the woman she is becoming and envision what the future holds for her.

Hannah, I love you my baby, my beautiful girl. I'll always be here for you.

Makin' Changes

For a good six weeks at least, probably since I last made a post here, I've been doing my very best to exercise at least five times a week. It all started when quite inadvertently I discovered I had some residual diastasis in my abdomen (the separation of muscles that occurs during pregnancy). I had been cuddling in bed with Hayden and went to sit up. As I did so, I had put my hand on my stomach and was horrified when my fingers sank into my middle. Shudder.

After some research, it became evident to me why any exercise I had done over the last few years had really had no impact whatsoever on my midriff. Any abdominal exercise I had done had only served to maintain the diastasis. Yuck.

I found a fabulous book, Lose Your Mummy Tummy, by Julie Tupler. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is pregnant, post-partum or has a diastasis. Julie's exercises are easy to do and all it takes it a little stick-to-itiveness to get back on track. Of course, be sure to consult your doctor ahead of time.

While it took a little less than the six weeks Julie recommends to repair it (mine was pretty minor as it turns out), I kept at it and have just now begun to reintegrate abdominal exercises into my workout routine. The nicest thing about this is that it got the ball rolling and I am now in a place where I enjoy my workout and look forward to it. In fact, I rarely am able to exercise on the weekend and I find I quite miss it.

I started with just fat burning on the elliptical machine. I had decided that since music did nothing to motivate me to exercise that I would try something different. I carted out my Buffy Season Seven and watched those on the portable DVD player while I worked out. And like magic the time flies by and I barely notice the agony of working out, as long as I am watching something high action. From a year ago when we purchaed the elliptical to now (with huge lapses in between because of my cosmetic surgery), where I could only do about 3 minutes on it, I can now easily do 30 and sometimes more. I am not at a super high level but I am proud of myself for doing this much.

Recently in an effort to head off batwing arms at the pass, I have started doing some arm exercises on the BowFlex. Thanks to Laura, who is my go-to person for all sorts of things, she has helped suggest some good ones for me and I hope they work.

I have done some serious self-talk and convinced myself that this will take time, results will not be immediate. I have set a year deadline before I start to freak out. I want to point out that it has been suggested to me in the past by various fitness trainers that once a woman crosses thiry-five, it "becomes twice as hard" to lose weight/tone up, etc. I feel fitness trainers do women a disservice everywhere by sending them this message, because personally I had the "why bother then?" attitude. If it's going to be that much harder, why even start? But the fact that I can do my entire workout without taking Ventolin, have a lot more energy and generally feel healthier speaks in volumes to me. I have also incorporated my own high fibre/high protein style of eating into this and have significantly cut out refined white sugar (candy and pop) and carbs (chips and other starches). That is not to say that I don't eat them ever. A person has to enjoy their life at the same time. But I am cautious to not overdo it and usually I find I don't enjoy the treat as much because of the guilt that goes along with it.

Not all of this has been terrific. As I have fought to strengthen my abdominal muscles, the layer of fat over my stomach has gotten jigglier. This is because my muscles aren't pooching out as much any more (I consciously activate them whenever I can), so nothing is supporting the fat. I was quite dismayed at this until I figured it out, which is why I am still intensely trying to fat burn as much as possible.

Anyway, I'll try and mark my progress here when I think of it, but I have also been limiting my computer and television time. I have been really struggling with a lot of sciatic pain in my right side (chiropractic has done nothing for it) and sitting for extended periods of time only aggravates it.

In other news, Hayden is now able to spell and I believe is just starting to write letters...and he's not even four yet! I went for parent observation at his preschool the other day and he spelled 16 three letter words as I watched! I was mightily impressed and really hope he will be just as avid a reader as the rest of the family. Boys don't always have the same amount of interest in reading as girls do. By the next day, the teachers informed me he was beginning to spell four letter words. Yes!

My beautiful Hannah is graduating from high school and will be off to Concordia University in Montreal in the fall! Gulp! I don't know quite what to think of it. She did get accepted into three universities here as well, so we'll see what happens, but right now Concordia is pretty high on her list. And, um, who doesn't want to go to Montreal? I love it there, so I don't blame her!

Miss Kestrel is reading like a house on fire now. Once she got the basics there was no stopping her! She reads well above her age level and I am so happy abou that. She also has flow when she reads and is not stilted, which indicates to me that she is mastering reading ahead. Yay Kes!

The weather here is fantastic, so I am going to go and enjoy it now!

Wait!

My Google obsession comes to fruition!!

Phoenix

So this was going to be a blog post about the band Phoenix and how great they are (and it still will be), but now I have to have a bit of rant.

A nice man named Pascal kindly forwarded me the html for the Phoenix SNL videos that I mentioned yesterday. Alas, they were still inoperable. How is it possible that the actual band can't put their own performance on to their own website without NBC screwing them over?

Correct me if I am wrong, but I paid my cable bill to see the very crappy SNL show that was put on, with the only saving grace being Phoenix. I'm pretty sure that the network got paid its bajillion dollars to put on said disappointing show. If this is a matter of music copyright, then why would NBC care if Phoenix wanted to show the world their performance?

I'm starting to get very confused about these copyright laws. Does this mean that if I buy an album for my own listening pleasure, I'm not allowed to let anyone else listen to it? Is there some way that Big Brother can monitor every wedding, high school graduation and retirement so that the music companies (not the artists, mind you) get their 12 cents per play? (Why yes, yes there is!) I don't get it. Are music stores not supposed to play the music in their stores? Like, where does it end?

I'd really like to see some numbers on how record sales have been affected since the beginning of the MP3. I don't believe the invention of the cassette tape killed the music industry, did it? Are people not still buying concert tickets? I can't tell you how big of a collection of CDs I have where I have only ever listened to one song. I believe the music mucky mucks got their pound of flesh for those. Thanks for producing crap, by the way.

Anyway, Phoenix is the opposite of merde and I hope that somehow, some way you can see them or hear them perform. They have a fresh sound that is danceable and fun. Next thing we have to do it get them to Vancouver. My inner francophile is anxiously awaiting their arrival!

Acceptance

Well, in true Hamster Boy fashion, acceptance comes easy to him. The second night of bracing was back to how it had always been. He called me early in the evening to take him to the bathroom and I took him again later. He did wake up at some point and call me, so I stumbled in there and ended up crashing with him, squeezed beside him on a tiny flat pillow with a blanket over my feet. Awesome. We're back to that, are we? Ah well, the more I deal with this, the more I just need to find my Zen about it. We're talking about his future here and his ability to walk. Nothing will stop me from making it go as smoothly for him as possible and I will fight tooth and nail to avoid surgery on this kid's feet.

I did end up sending an email to RCH commending them for their super emergency department and got three responses and a request to reprint the email in their newsletter with my name! Hopefully this will help keep this system going!

In the meantime, I am really grooving on this group that played on Saturday Night Live this weekend, called Phoenix. The show itself tanked miserably in my opinion. It was possibly the unfunniest SNL I've ever seen. BUT, surprisingly the band was great and I rarely listen to the music portion as it is always some group I can't stand. Of course, once I found out these guys are Parisian, so much the better. Their upcoming new album is due out on May 25 or 26th, depending where you read the date and is called Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix. I can't wait! (Sorry, I wanted to link to a video but NBC already took them all down - BOOOOOOOO!)

One last thing. Who looks completely adorable pregnant? SHE DOES (my favourite lady with the pink hair!):