DRY SKIN EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS

don't I look not at all like myself in this photo?

Wiiiiith Vaseline Lip Tins! 

A COUPLE OF THINGS FOR YOU TODAY:

First, a glowing memory, from our first day back in Moscow, Round Two. 

Actually, we were in Pullman at the time. 

Ready?

There I was, sitting on a hotel bed, in Pullman, Washington. An assortment of souvenirs from our trip to New Orleans were scattered all around me, including a plastic alligator that is supposed to grow larger when left in water overnight. Chompers The Gator, we were calling him. He was hanging out in some very dirty water in a smudgy glass on the side table next to me. (Huck had figured that stirring it with his fingers would help . . . somehow. Maybe it did! Who knows.) In my lap I held a list of all the local restaurants (most of which I remembered being not-that-great), and in my hand, my cell phone, which I was using to knock out one at a time all of the potential delivery options in the area. Because NOBODY delivers NOTHING in Pullman. Except the Pita Pit. Which was CLOSED! BECAUSE THE STUDENTS HADN'T COME BACK YET OR SOMETHING? 

It was all so incredibly depressing. And not just because I was hungry and didn't feel like putting on pants. And not just because my only delivery option was Pizza Perfection (and I've never been a huge fan, sorry). Not even because we were back in this dumb part of the country that I swore I'd never have to see again so long as I lived, and not even because I had just left the city of my dreams where I could get my morning coffee delivered to me by my favorite bodega guy Rico! (Rico I miss you! And your bran muffins!!) 

No, my primary cause of depression in that moment was that, just the day before, somewhere mid fly-over states in an airplane taking me to my doom, I had literally watched as all of the moisture in my body that New York and New Orleans had so kindly provided via gumbo- and garbage-smelling humidity was sucked straight out of my body, and here I was, parched. I was PARCHED! Chapped, thirsty, dry, wasted, and Pullman tap water tastes disgusting, and we had nothing in the hotel room to drink--no water bottles, Holiday Inn??--and by now even the GATOR WATER was starting to look pretty good to me, and so I decided (quite rationally, I'd like to add), that my best bet was a dip in the indoor pool down the hall -- water, right?? -- and clearly that would solve all my problems, except that water was FREEZING, and also, chlorine has a way of not hydrating much? If you'll recall from chemistry class or whatever.

(You know, I know I actually took a chemistry class at some point in my educational career, I just don't actually remember a bleeding second of it. Or even where the classroom was! Was it at BYU? In high school? Seriously my brain has blocked all my scientific learning from age 10 through 22 and isn't that depressing?)

The point of all this is to say, one legitimately needs to moisturize out here in ways one never truly needed to moisturize out east. If one is me. 

And now, to continue with this week's theme of epidermal moisturization, I am going to talk to you about Vaseline!

I have loved Vaseline like a sister for as long as I can remember. Vaseline is partly responsible for bringing my sad, chapped lips back to life every time I've moved out west. (Don't forget to drink lots of water!) 

In fact! In 2011 I wrote an article for Babble called "14 Beauty-full uses for Vaseline," but now I can't seem to find it. 

In an exciting twist on my love of Vaseline, they've now come out with a new line of Lip Therapy Tins. Tins! So portable! In Original, Aloe, Cocoa Butter, and Rosy Lips. You can get them at most drugstores, including online at Vaseline.US and Target.com.

Now! Go forth and moisturize!