just throw your hands in the air.

Most artists I know work with their hands, often involving direct manual contact with substances that can damage or dry the skin. Sometimes when I leave the studio my hands feel like they belong to a dried up old lady.

I had been listening to the audioversion of Augusten Burroughs' Possible Side Effects, which tells the story of how Augusten befriended a deformed dermatologist when he had a problem with crackly dry skin on his hands, and how he got this special hand cream that cured his problem.

So I thought, "A-ha! Enough of this bottled lotion nonsense. I need some hand cream in a jar!" And I visualized a blue jar of Nivea. But I kept procrastinating on actually buying the product, because it meant I'd have to go to CVS, my most dreaded shopping destination.

I am fortunate to have a day job in which nobody notices if I take a 3 hour lunch. Part of my ritual when I'm killing time at Whole Foods is to go to the Whole Body department and help myself to the tester tube of Dr. Hauschka hand cream. I really want my very own tube one day, but it costs $22.

I walked away from the $22 tubes of hand cream and saw some jars, and I got that feeling. That "YES" feeling, you know that you get sometimes when you're shopping. I never know when the feeling will come. Sometimes I lie to myself when I want something that doesn't fit, or when I want to try something just because its new and it has a pretty package. Those are fake yes feelings. It's hard to distinguish between fake yes feelings and real ones, but sometimes you just know.

And I knew. Even though technically it says "body cream" and not "hand cream" I still knew this was going to be my new best friend. It cost either $11 or $13, I can't remember. But it doesn't matter because even if this stuff cost $22, I'd buy it again. Its the alba botanicals kukui nut body cream (warning: it is heavy duty. I only use it at night right before I go to bed because it takes a long time for my skin to soak it all up).

Artist hands are beautiful no matter what, so I know we don't need fancy hand cream. I just like having it around.

Happy Birthday, Sophie! CCGW Member Tania Julian gave birth to beautiful Sophie last summer, pictured above.