Mask of the Month: Traverse City Dreamin'

The "Winter Blues" are officially starting to set in. While I adore living in Michigan, the winters here are long and gray and from about mid-January to mid-March, you want to either 1) hop a direct flight to the tropics OR 2) ease the pain with a gallon of ice cream, a bottle of red wine and a bucket of macaroni and cheese OR 3) jump out a window.

It is about this time every year that I long for summer days spent in Traverse City, Michigan - the beauty of the northern Lower Peninsula known for its amazing cherries (and the Cherry Festival held each July). In my 20s, my mother and I would plan a mother-daughter trip to Traverse every summer. It was a long weekend full of quality time that I will hold dear for the rest of my life.

We would spend lazy days shopping under the warm Michigan summer sun at the local boutiques and art galleries, tasting wine at the several local Leelanau and Old Mission Peninsula wineries, munching on fresh baked bread from Stone House Bread slathered with local cherry preserves and sleeping in late at our favorite bed and breakfast by the water - The Omena Sunset Lodge.

After I had my two beautiful daughters, times changed, priorities shifted and these trips have come few and far between. It is on days like today that I think back to those carefree trips and the unmatched beauty of up-north Michigan summers. To take me back to those days and escape from the cold outside, I whipped up this month's simple, easy breezy mask - Traverse City Dreamin'.

The cherries in this mask are loaded with antioxidants to fight those nasty free radicals that age our skin. Their natural astringent action also help to tone and tighten skin tissues. The addition of honey hydrates and nourishes.

While a bottle of wine to accompany your mask experience is purely optional, may I recommend my fave for a summer's day - Chateau Grand Traverse Riesling!

Traverse City Dreamin'

10 fresh pitted sour cherries (or you can use thawed frozen ones)
1T raw honey

Blend the cherries and honey in a blender until smooth. Apply mask to freshly cleansed skin and leave on for 15 minutes. Kick back, close your eyes and imagine you are being bathed in sunlight. Remove mask gently with a warm, damp cloth. Follow with your favorite toner and moisturizer.

Where are you dreamin' to be right now???