Kinoki Detox Foot Pads Update

Well, I made it through the night with my Kinoki Detox Foot Pads attached securely to the soles of my feet. It really felt weird and when I woke up the pads were really heavy and squishy. This is how the pads started:

And here is what they looked like this morning. Gross!

I'm not sure if I feel detoxified or anything, but you are supposed to use them for 2 weeks and this is only the first day. The pads are supposed to become lighter and lighter as you use them. I will say that my feet definitely feel tender and sore today, like I have just run 10 miles. Really strange. I need to do some more research to figure out the exact mechanism of action of these foot pads. Probably should have done that BEFORE trying them out, but oh well. Anyway, I'm going to use the rest of the pads and then write back with another update.

Kinoki Detox Foot Pads: The Answer to Ultimate Health?

I would like to think of myself as a pretty healthy person. I eat pretty healthily, try to exercise on a regular basis, drink a gallon of water everyday, take my vitamins, and I try to get a full night's rest every night. Yet I am always looking for that extra something that is going to catapult me into the realm of ultimate health.

It all started back when I was a little girl and I saw a lady raving about the wonders of Kombucha Tea on Oprah. For those who don't know, Kombucha is a type of mushroom and under the right conditions it can be brewed into a very healthy tea that is supposed to make you super healthy. Bless my parents, who often humored my crazy requests. My mom found a lady who grew Kombucha mushrooms and she was nice enough to meet this mysterious lady in a parking lot to pick the mushroom up for me. Kombucha has to be kept in very specific conditions or order for it to grow properly, so my dad rigged up a contraption to keep the mushroom at the right temperature. I'd say my Kombucha phase lasted about six weeks--probably less-- before I got bored with it and went searching for the next health craze. I'd say I was about 14 or 15 at the time and here we are 11 years later and I am still chasing that elusive dream of perfect health. I've done it all: cleansing fasts, detox drinks, vegetarianism, veganism, raw foodism (is this a word?), juicing, drinking shots of wheatgrass and ginger juice everyday, etc., etc., etc. You name it, I have probably tried it. You may ask, "Lydia, what's your problem? Do you think you are sick and that's why you are trying all these health fads?" No, I am aware that I am generally healthy, but for some reason I have always been obsessed with health and cleansing and detox and everything associated with it. I will probably always be that way, but I like it!

So now that folks have some background information and understand my addiction to all things healthy, we are now brought to the topic of this post: Kinoki Detox Foot Pads. A couple of months ago I was talking to my older sister Camille on the phone and she asked me if I had heard of these things. I had not, so of course I was excited because--whoo hoo!--I get to try something new and this just might be the thing that will get me to the pinnacle of good health.

The pads are supposed to work by sticking them to the bottom of your feet and during the night all of your toxins are supposed to be sucked out of you through the soles of your feet. In the morning the foot pads should be black from all of the nastiness that was extracted from you. So while I was on the phone with Camille I went online to look at the website: https://www.buykinoki.com/?page=index , and to my utter disappointment found they did not ship to the UK! I expressed my disappointment to Camille and then sort of forgot about it.

Fast forward three months: I am headed out to run some errands and I stop to check the mail. What is this I see? A box? For me? What could it be? I haven't ordered anything. Then I see it that it is from Camille. I tear open the box and guess what it is?? Yes, folks, my coveted Kinoki Foot Pads! And it was perfect timing because they arrived right before our Turkey and Greece trip. I called Camille and thanked her and told her I was going to try them after we got back from vacation. Well, the time is now!!! I have just applied my foot pads! I'm nervous! I told Victor to give me a kiss just in case the pads work too well and suck the life out of me during the night. In the same breath I asked him if he wanted to try it with me and of course he declined. I took a before picture of the pads and if I wake up in the morning, I will post the before and after pictures.

Camille, I blame YOU if this doesn't work out. :)

UPDATE: Oh my, I think I may be dying for real! I have had these pads on my feet for about two hours and there is definitely something going on down there. For about 30 minutes my feet were itchy and now they are tingly and hot. Could this just be a psychological reaction? Possibly, which is probably why they tell you to put them on right before bed, that way you won't have time to really think about what's going on. I was supposed to be in bed an hour ago, but I felt the need to get up and add this update.

I am so tempted to peel off a corner and take a peak at the pad, but I will wait until morning!

Victor's First Facial

I gave Victor his very first facial the other day! I was super excited because this is something I have wanted to do to him for years but he has always refused. He finally acquiesced. Victor was such a trooper throughout the whole process and he actually started to enjoy it! The end result was a healthy glowing face. I kept catching him looking at himself in the mirror afterwards. :) Anyway, here is what we did:

1. Oil of Olay Microdermabrasion and Mini Peel
2. 5-minute steam treatment
3. Mud Therapy Aloe Vera Deep Cleansing Mud Mask
4. Aveda Botanical Kinetics liquid exfoliant
5. Bare Vitamins multi-vitamin complex
6. PCA After Peel Soothing Balm

I really wish I had taken a before and after picture, but I guess everyone will have to settle for the above "during" picture.

Fun with the Girls

I forgot to mention that I met some nice girls and we all went out to TGIFriday's a couple of weeks ago. We actually all met online and it was everyone's first time meeting each other, so everyone was nervous. It turned out great and everyone got along. There was eleven of us in all. Next weekend we are going bowling and in May we are doing the Race for Life together.

Good times!

Greece, or what I now like to call 'Grease'

So we left Istanbul on March 19 and headed to Athens. Unfortunately, our experience in Greece was not as positive as it was in Turkey.

Wednesday, March 19

We enjoyed a quick one hour flight from Istanbul to Athens. We arrived at the Athens airport at around 11:15 am and caught a taxi to our hotel. When we got in the taxi the driver told us that the city was on strike and as a result some of the streets were not open and he would have to take us the long way to our hotel. What?? Since when does a strike close streets? But since we were not familiar with the city or where our hotel was located it was not like we were in any position to challenge him. So what should have been a €15-20 cab ride ended up costing €45! Then he had the nerve to say that the fare was €48, not €45.

So we made it to our hotel and we get settled in and while Victor was napping I decided to venture out to get us some lunch. Let me tell you, I guess these men thought I was free game since I was alone and almost every man I walked past whistled or made gestures or said something (I'm sure obscene) to me in Greek. And since everyone was on strike there were large groups of men on the corners and just sitting around. I definitely did not feel as safe as I did in Turkey.

Later in the evening, Victor and I decided to go walking around. It was at this point that we realized how dirty Athens was. There was graffiti all over everything, and since they had been on strike for two weeks, the garbage collectors had not been around to pick up the trash so all the dumpsters were overflowing with garbage and there was trash all in the streets. It was really quite disgusting.

Thursday, March 20

Today we planned to visit the National Museum and the Acropolis, but since Athens was still on strike a lot of the public transportation was not running. We ended up walking to the National Museum, which wasn't so bad since it wasn't too far from our hotel. When we arrived at the museum, we were surprised and disappointed to find graffiti all over the sign and the front sidewalk in front of the building. Don't the locals have enough respect for themselves and for their city not to deface property that is bringing in revenue for their town? I guess not.

The inside of the museum was disappointing as well. Victor was especially looking forward to visiting the National Museum because of all of the world-renowned treasures they hold. He likes to watch the History Channel a lot and they are always talking about how this and that can be found at the National Museum in Athens, so it was going to be quite a treat to see these gems up close and personal. We went in the museum and everything just seemed so dusty and thrown together and the captions under the statues and exhibits did not convey the significance of the artifacts. And the layout of the museum was poorly designed.

After we left the museum, we headed to the Acropolis. If the city had not been on strike, we could have easily taken the subway straight to the location, but nooooo...

We were going to try to take a bus to the Acropolis, so we found a bus stop and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...and waited for the bus. While we were waiting for the bus, this nasty little old woman walked behind Victor and pushed him in the back for no reason!! I thought maybe she needed something but when Victor turned around she just looked at him and kept on walking. Rude! So finally a bus came and we hopped on. Three minutes later we hopped off because the bus driver decided to stop permanently and everyone had to get off. We walked a couple of blocks to find another bus. We found a bus and Victor was trying to ask the bus driver a question and the bus driver closed the door in his face and drove off!! Rude! We decided to just walk to the Acropolis. The people on the street were so rude, bumping into us and not saying excuse me and just looking trifling in general. When we were getting closer to the Acropolis, we decided to hail a taxi since there was a big hill we would have to walk up. Of course, every taxi that passed either already had passengers or just wouldn't stop. I finally flagged down a cab and asked, "Do you go to the Acropolis?" to which he nodded "Yes", so I turned to Victor and called, "Come on, honey!" and when I turned back around to open the door the taxi driver had locked the door!! So I asked him through the window to unlock the door and he said something to me in Greek, rolled up the window, and drove off!! Rude! So we started walking up the hill towards the Acropolis and on the way we found a shuttle thingy that would take us up the hill for €5, so we hopped on and off we went. Finally!

Visiting the Acropolis and Parthenon was probably the only thing that was not disappointing during our visit to Athens. It was so neat to be able to see these historical monuments up close. Check out the pictures! We stayed at the Acropolis for about 90 minutes and then headed back down to town.

Later on we decided that we would visit the mall. Whenever we go somewhere new, Victor likes to visit the mall to see what kind of stores they have. The mall was actually really nice and they had a lot of nice stores.

Friday, March 21

Today we left the city of Athens to stay at Voulos Beach for a few days. Voulos Beach was located about an hour from our hotel in Athens. Yay! Away from the dirty city! It will be much better by the beach. We didn't want to take a taxi, so to get to the new hotel we had to take the subway to the tram station and then take the tram to Voulos.

A brief word regarding etiquette on the subway: The citizens of Athens do not have any!! It was like a zoo on the subway. Proper upbringing, manners, etiquette, and plain ol' common sense would tell you that if you are standing on a subway and someone needs to get off, you could do one of two things:

1. Politely move out of the way so that the person can get around you and get off; or
2. Politely step off of the subway so that the person can get off and then step back on.
   
   Well, they used a third option:
   
   

3. Rudely stand right in front of the door without doing options 1 or 2 so that the person trying to get off has to push and shove to get around you to get off the subway.

I've never seen anything like it! It was a pure animal house trying to get off the subway! There were little old people pushing and getting pushed and no one would budge for anybody. It was terrible, especially since we had our luggage with us. It was like a stampede and we almost didn't make it off the subway before the doors closed on us.

We made it to the tram station and were on our way to Voulos. After we made it to Voulos, we decided that we were going to take a taxi to the hotel since we didn't know exactly where it was located. We go to the taxi station to catch a taxi and of course no one stopped. I was mad at first, but then I looked around and there was a little old lady and a man with a child and the taxis wouldn't stop for them either, so I didn't feel so bad. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was cold and raining pretty steadily, so we were outside with our luggage in the rain trying in vain to get a taxi. Finally, we just decided to start walking. In the rain. In the freezing rain. With all our luggage. Luckily, Victor had had the foresight to call the hotel the night before to see where it was located, so we started walking in that general direction. Thank goodness the hotel was not that far away and we made it there in about 15 minutes.

So we got to the hotel and Disappointment #459 stood before us. The hotel looked absolutely nothing like it did on the website!! It looked like something straight out of 1977. At least the hotel staff were nice. We got to our room and by then we were tired and wet and hungry, so I went back downstairs to ask the hotel clerk for the restaurant menu. Her exact words were, "I'm sorry, our restaurant will be closed for a few weeks, but I can make you a ham sandwich if you want."

Umm... no, thanks.

There ended up being some nice restaurants not too far from our hotel, so we ate there. One thing that I will say about Greece is that the food was very good.

Saturday, March 22

It was nice and sunny today, so we decided to go across the street to the beach. Disappointment #842. The water was very clear and pretty, but the beach itself was full of glass and trash. Not what it looked like on the website!!

There was a nice shopping area up the street from us, so we went there for a couple of hours. I like to refer to this area as "Little America" because it was full of American restaurants like Starbucks, TGIFriday's, Applebee's, Dunkin Donuts, and Ruby Tuesday, and stores like Nautica, Tommy Hilfiger, Nine West, etc. We decided to go to TGIFriday's for lunch. Disappointment #931. We had three different waitresses and the food was not good at all. I think my burger had freezer burn. I guess that's what we get for trying to eat American food in Greece.

The rest of the day was nice though and we spent it walking around and such.

Sunday, March 23

Today we are headed back to the UK! Relief! We took a taxi to the airport and this time the fare was only €12.45, but the crafty little cab driver told us it was €15. I wish people would realize that when you add your own gratuity to the tab you are really just short-changing yourself because most people usually tip more when it is left up to them to decide what they want to give. Victor and I are very good tippers and the driver would have gotten much more than the €2.55 he added himself if he had let us decide how much we wanted to give him, but it was his loss.

True to form, the check-in lady was rude and impatient with us but we didn't care because we were going home!!

Needless to say, we will NOT be visiting Athens again. I would like to visit the Greek Isles, like Crete or Santorini because I hear the islands are pretty, but the people in Athens were so rude and abrasive that I can't ever see myself willingly going there again. It was so bad that the day after we got back to the UK I went to the grocery store and I was really edgy and defensive because I was expecting someone to cut in front of me or steal the last box of cereal from between my fingers, but to my surprise everyone was courteous and saying excuse me when bumping my cart and making way for me if I needed to squeeze my cart through a tight area. In other words, they were CIVILIZED. The British tend to be impersonal and keep to themselves, but they are not outright RUDE, which I now appreciate.

Even though our Athens trip was not what we expected, Victor and I still managed to have a good time because we were with each other. It's always fun when you travel with your best friend. We had so much fun talking about what we didn't like and complaining to each other. It actually became funny whenever something disappointing happened. It was also nice getting to spend time together and we talked a lot about our future and our hopes and wants and dreams.

I think that was my favorite part of the whole trip.

Fun in Turkey

Victor and I went to Turkey March 15-19. Overall, I would say that it was a very positive experience.

Saturday, March 15

Today we are leaving for Turkey. Woo-hoo! Victor and I have been so busy with work that our trip sort of snuck up on us, but now that the day is here we are excited! This is also a special day because March 15 marks our 7-year anniversary of when we first met each other.

Anyway, off to Heathrow Airport we go! Luckily, our train station has a bus shuttle that will take us straight to Heathrow in 30 minutes, so that is nice. We get to the airport at around 7:30 AM because our flight leaves at 9:30. Heathrow is a zoo and quite disorganized, but we made it through check-in and security will minimal issues. The flight to Istanbul is 3.5 hours, and since we got up pretty early we sleep through most of the flight.

When we arrive in Istanbul, we go to the Tourism Department to find a hotel. While we are being helped, Victor goes to make a phone call and I am left alone in the reception area with these Turkish men. Then they start talking to each other in Turkish and I know they are talking about me because they are standing right in front of me and staring and pointing, then talking some more and pointing to Victor and then staring back at me again. Then one of them says, "Can we see your teeth?" What? Okay...so I smiled at them and then they say, "Oh, you have wonderful teeth! Your teeth are not yellow like ours! Do you smoke?" And I was like, "No". Then they asked, "Do you drink alot of milk?" and I said, "Not really, but I do brush my teeth everyday." Then they left me alone after that. Anyway, we book our hotel and then head out.

Whenever I visit somewhere new, I always enjoy the trip from the airport to the hotel because it gives me a chance to see the city. In Istanbul, we noticed that there were lots of car dealerships and alot of people driving really nice cars. The landscaping in general was also really nice, with lots and lots of flowers. We make it to our hotel and take a load off for a little while, then we decide to walk around for a little bit and get something to eat.

We made some interesting observations about the Turkish while were walking around:

• There are ALOT of men. We hardly saw any women out and about. We also noticed that alot of men were walking arm in arm. We were thinking that maybe this was just the custom there, but in some instances it was obvious that it was not just a friendly thing...so we got to thinking, Is there a large homosexual population in Istanbul? Seems unlikely since Turkey is a muslim country, but when we got back home I did a little research and it turns out that Istanbul has a very open gay scene with over 20 bars and clubs catered toward homosexuals. Very interesting.
• The air was surprisingly clean! Alot of times in the big cities the air is full of exhaust and you always get unpleasant whiffs of rotten garbage while walking down the street, but Istanbul's air was nice and refreshing.
• The Turkish are pretty nice dressers. It was Saturday when we arrived to Istanbul, but alot of the men walking in the streets were nicely dressed with suit jackets and ties, and it was like this the whole time we were there. Some of the women wore the hair coverings and long skirts, but most of them dressed regularly in jeans, etc.
• Turkey is not a poor country. We saw very few beggars in the streets and as I stated earlier most people were nicely dressed and there were lots and lots of nice cars on the road. Also, the Turkish like to eat out for most meals, and let me tell you that it is not cheap! Their currency is the Yeni Turkish Lira (YTL) and it is equivalent to the US Dollar. I'd say we spent about 40-50 YTL on food everyday, not including breakfast.
• Istanbul is a nice mixture of old and modern. Istanbul is divided into Old Istanbul and New Istanbul. Old Istanbul is where the mosques, hippodrome and museums are located. New Istanbul has skyscrapers and office buildings.
• There are SO MANY cats in Istanbul!! It's crazy! They are everywhere. I am terrbily allergic to cats and anytime there was one around I would itch. And alot of times you would see 4 or 5 of them at a time, which grossed me out for some reason. Large numbers of cats or pigeons together really freaks me out and I felt like screaming everytime I would see a group of them.

Sunday, March 16

Today we visit the Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, located in the historic heart of Old Istanbul. Here, we visited the Blue Mosque. I might be wrong, but I think the Blue Mosque is supposed to be the second largest mosque in the world. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. Anyway, the Blue Mosque is named as such because of the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built between 1609 and 1616 during the rule of Ahmed I. Like many other mosques, it also comprises a tomb of the founder, a school and a hospice. We got to go inside of the mosque and it was quite nice. Everyone had to take off their shoes and the women had to cover their heads, so they were giving out pieces of cloth for women to cover up with. We have a few pictures of us in the mosque.

After we left the mosque, we were headed to the next destination but we were sidetracked by a man that wanted to show us his leather shop. He was quite crafty and we were duped into following him to his shop. He was actually very nice and gave us tea and talked to us first before trying to sell his goods. The Turkish mainly drink Turkish tea and Apple tea. The Turkish tea is quite strong, and after Victor and I had a cup we felt a little sick. Anyway, the man showed us his leather goods and we tried on a few jackets to be friendly, but then he wanted to show us his carpet shop and his jewelry shop. We said we did not want to see the carpets but agreed to go to his jewelry shop. Here, he tried to offer us more tea but we politely declined. The jewelry was okay, but we did not buy anything. We left there and then the man led us to his carpet shop, which was on the way back to Sultanahmet. So now we are at the carpet shop and he offers us more tea and we said no but he brought it anyway. We looked at a few carpets and then we left (without drinking the tea). So now that was an hour out of our day and by the time we make it back to Sultanahmet it is crowded with tourists and locals with their children. Victor bought me some ice cream to make up for it, so it was okay. :)

So now we go to Haya Sofia, which is right across from the Blue Mosque. Haya Sofia is a former patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum. There was an interesting attraction in the Haya Sofia called "The Weeping Column". The Weeping Column is a pillar with a worn copper facing pierced by a hole. Legend has it that the pillar is that of St. Gregory the Miracle Worker and that putting one's finger in the hole can lead to ailments being healed if the finger comes out moist. Most people know that curiousity is the essence of my being, so of course I stuck my thumb in the hole to see what would happen. It didn't come out moist (which I was sort of relieved about because who wants mysterious moistness on their finger?), so I guess I wasn't healed from anything that day. Victor did not try it and he got mad at me when I tried to wipe my thumb on his jacket. Hee hee. There is a picture in the album with my finger in the hole.

Next we had lunch and then we walked to a nice park that was by the water. According to our map, we were by the Marmara Sea. The park was very nice with wonderful landscaping. The weather was clear and sunny and about 60 degrees, so lots of people were out with their families and children barbequing and having picnics and playing soccer. Of course we also saw large groups of men having picnics together cuddled up on blankets. The Marmara Sea was pretty. The water was really dark and if you get close enough to the edge you can see all these jellyfish-looking creatures floating in the water. We have a few pictures of them. We also saw a man standing on the end of the pier and going to the bathroom into the water. We have a picture of this as well. Please note that Victor took this picture and not me. :)

Monday, March 17

Today we visited Topkapı Palace, or what Victor liked to call Topeka Palace. Topkapı Palace was the official and primary residence in the city of the Ottoman Sultans from 1465 to 1853. The palace was a setting for state occasions and royal entertainment. The palace and its grounds were beautiful with wonderful landscaping. It was a huge compound and we didn't get to see everything in it, but the parts that we did see were very nice.

Part of Istanbul is in Europe and part is in Asia, so we took a ferry to the Asia side of Istanbul. This was exciting because neither of us had been to Asia before.

Tuesday, March 18

Today is our last full day in Istanbul, and we visit the Istanbul Archaelogical Museum. It was interesting and Victor took lots of pictures.

We also visited the Egyptian Spice Bazaar. This bazaar is one of the oldest bazaars in the city and is also the second largest covered shopping complex after the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. The bazaar was full of shops selling herbs, spices, herbal remedies, jewelry, ceramics, candy, and Turkish Delights. I was excited to see the Turkish Delights because I always wanted to taste one ever since I saw that little wayward boy in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe eat them with the Ice Queen. Turkish Delights are soft, sugary, jelly-like candies mixed with nuts and rolled in powdered sugar. They were pretty to look at but when Victor and I tasted one they didn't taste that good. They actually probably weren't that bad but they were really sweet and I'm not a huge fan of really sweet stuff. They sort of tasted like marshmallow with nuts in them. They also sold Turkish Viagra at the bazaar, which looked to be some type of root or something. I would not feel safe taking that!

After we left the Bazaar we were going to take a ferry to New Istanbul, but the ferry didn't take us that way so we just rode the ferry for a while and took pictures. It was nice.

Wednesday, March 19

This morning we get up and leave for Athens, Greece. Istanbul was a very nice city, the food was good, and the people were extremely friendly . They would always refer to us as "brother" and "sister", which was nice.

There were only a few things that I did not care for in Istanbul:

• Everyone smokes heavily. You can't get away from it. Since the UK is smoke-free now like most of the US, Victor and I had gotten used to not being around cigarette smoke, so the high concentration of smoke in Istanbul often gave us headaches or made us feel sick.
• The men stared at me alot. I don't know if it was because I looked different or they just weren't used to seeing women (remember I said that there were mostly men out and about), but they stared alot and didn't even try to hide it. It made me uncomfortable but Victor was there so I felt protected. :)
• Food was really expensive, even outside of the tourist areas. There was a Burger King at the airport and a Whopper Value Meal was 19.75 YTL!! Granted, it was for a Triple Whopper but still! And a regular sandwich was 10.00 YTL.

Other than that, Istanbul gets an A in my book! Now, off to Greece!

Eyebrow Threading

This morning I went to get my eyebrows threaded for the first time ever. Let me tell you, it was PAINFUL! I was quite surprised because I had always heard that threading was painless. Liars! Unlike waxing--where all the hair is ripped off in one yank-- threading pulls out each hair individually. It hurt so much that I started sweating! But the end product made it totally worth it! I can't remember the last time my eyebrows looked this good! They are very clean and perfect looking and I love them. I was going to take a picture to post but the batteries are dead in my camera.



Has anyone else tried threading?