Dear "Sonic" People,

You have changed my life. First, you brought me this. I've gone through two of them over the years and am now on my third. I could never possibly use a regular toothbrush, because they don't actually clean your teeth!!! The Sonicare Toothbrush defuzzes my pearlies, and makes them sparkling white.

About 6 months ago, Mister Man and I went on a "white trash weekend" with a couple of friends. We went to the Tulalip Casino and Spa. And while the casino wasn't particularly interesting (I've never been much of a gambler.... though I was enamoured of a slot-like machine called the CASH CANOE. In fact, Lara and I were convinced we were going to win the jackpot! As you guessed, it was not to be.) And the casino has possibly one of the WORST ventilation systems in the universe, so you have to give in to smelling like an ashtray.

On the sunny side, the rooms were deluxe, the beds unforgettable, the restaurants delicious, our friends were WONDERFUL and the spa was OUTSTANDING. I've never been much of a spa person (never really having the resources or the time), but our weekend dealio INCLUDED a spa treatment, and I booked in for a facial. And I have to say, it changed my life. My spa-gal Jaye used lotions and potions and exfoliants and THIS:

This dear reader, is made by the people who made my beloved toothbrush: the "Sonic" people. It is called [sound of trumpets] The Clarisonic. And I cannot tell you have FANTASTIC my skin was after that facial. It was soft, and smooth, and devoid of rough bits. It was GLOWING!!!!

And so I began my strategy to get me a Clarisonic for my very own. They're hard to come by in Canada, so I was going to get one by mail order. And they're not cheap. But really, what is the value of good skin care? And if I were going to go for facials on a regular basis, wouldn't that be FAR more expensive than owning my very own Clarisonic? And I know I might be a bit of a late bloomer, but it's never too late to begin a good skin care regime, is it?

So I asked my family if they might all chip in on one for my birthday. Mister Man was convinced I was going to sand my nose off with such a device, and suggested I might be better off buying a belt sander from Canadian Tire. Michele told me she'd read some bad reviews online. (Though one could argue you can find a bad review on ANYTHING here in cyberspace. Hell, I'm sure people even grouse about marvels like Trader Joe's, or chocolate chip cookies, or cute cuddly puppies!!)

Clearly, it wasn't meant to be.

But I dreamed about squirreling away my shekels and saving up to buy one.

Recently, here's what opened in Vancouver. Though I'm not much of a girlie girl, I had heard that they had wonderful lotions and potions. And when I checked, I discovered that they even had my Clarisonic! And a line of cleansers called Philosophy! Who doesn't love to ponder a little Hegel and Nietzsche as they wash their face?????

And THEN, I did a little extra work on the side and ended up with a teeny tiny bit of extra money that wasn't spoken for or laid out in the budget. As the mums says, it was just burning a hole in my pocket..... So I scraped together a small pile of filthy lucre and headed to Sephora where I purchased my very own skin care system and embraced a new Philosophy.

I have been using My Clarisonic for a week now and might I say that this is really the nicest thing I have ever done for myself?

My best maid, Mariette and I agreed that we would check in every day to make sure that we had done some excellent self care. I am happy to report that for the last 7 days, I have cared for my skin like never before. This is worth a month of "here's what I did for myself today" entries, because it is truly, truly a marvel.

Dear "Sonic" people, You are geniuses. My skin has never felt finer and I'm pretty sure that the compliment I received last night was in DIRECT relation to the state of my glowing skin. I love you. I really, really love you and your smart sonic brains.

Love,

Your BFF with the new skin (AKA Sugarlove Girl)