Kelle's Kitchen

Congratulations, Rebecca!

2009-11-16T19:31:00.000-08:00

Big congratulations are in order for Rebecca, who won two bars of soap in my recent giveaway! Here were her choices:

Snozberry:

Anise Musk:

I still have these and other bars available in my Etsy shop for my 50% off clearance sale, they are almost sold out so get them while you can :)

Clearance Sale Giveaway!!

2009-11-07T12:56:00.001-08:00

I am celebrating my 50% off Clearance Sale with a fun giveaway! The winner will receive two bars of soap of THEIR choice! The giveaway will end at 11:59 pm on 11/14/09, I will then do a random drawing and notify the winner! Here are the ways you can enter:

1) Go to my Etsy shop: http://KellesKitchen.etsy.com and tell me which TWO bars of soap you want me to send if you win. You MUST leave me a way to get in touch with you so I can let you know if you win! (1 entry)
2) Make a purchase from my Etsy shop, then come back here and leave a comment letting me know you did! (3 entries)

Good luck!!

UPDATE:
My Clearance sale has been going much better than I could have ever anticipated! So much so that I've actually "sold out" of a few kinds of soap and there have been multiple times per day that you will find my shop rather bare until I can find the time to relist things. I did set aside one bar of every type of soap I had in stock at the beginning of the giveaway, though, so here are the available options from which to choose:

Damask Rose
Lavender and Vanilla
Valencia Musk
Sonoran Sunshine
Sweet Birch
Rosemary and Oatmeal
Neroli Lemon
Snozberry
Naked
Soothe-Me Chamomile Tea
Anise Musk

If you don't see those listed in my shop, please check out their descriptions in the sold area of my shop! Thanks and good luck to everyone!

I'm back for a limited time only for a 50% off Clearance!

2009-11-07T11:10:00.000-08:00

It has been a long time...but I have returned to selling soaps for a limited time only! Life has been busy, work has been busy! Of note, Collier and I are now married and we live in an awesome home that we purchased in July! We are loving Phoenix and are seriously considering staying here when I am done with my residency.

It is not humanly possible for Collier and I to use all of the soaps that I still have from when Kelle's Kitchen was in high force, so I am clearancing them out at 50% off! You can see my whole selection at my shop!

I still plan to restart my soap business under a new name that I have registered, but will wait at least until my intern year is done as I already feel like Collier and the pets get the short end of the stick with me being gone as much as I am. Collier's returning to school next semester so I will have to see how things are when that happens!

New Listings, a treasury, and the big MOVE!

2009-05-13T21:27:00.000-07:00

A big newsy update tonight...and then I will take a bit of time off as life will be very busy for the next week or so!

First off, I listed two new bars in the last week or so! I never formally introduced these bars (I promise...once life settles down a bit I will work on it!), but they are available for sale and they are WONDERFUL!

Lavender and Vanilla Soap Bar

Snozberry Soap Bar

My Naked Soap bar was also featured in an absolutely lovely (and rather sexy!) treasury this week:

ALL THIS ENTAILS by mooshoopork

And finally a general update - my Kelle's Kitchen Etsy Shop will be closing by Friday, May 15 at some point, and won't reopen for about a week while we move to Phoenix. I don't want to sacrifice customer service and need to focus on getting life settled again so I can come back full force.

My next update will come from sunny Phoenix :) I can't wait to get there!

Just Listed - Valencia Musk

2009-05-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! You can get your very own bar of Valencia Musk in my Etsy shop :)

Kelle's Kitchen on Vacation 5/14/09-5/20/09

2009-05-08T04:53:00.000-07:00

Our big move to Phoenix is rapidly approaching and during the busy time of graduation and packing/moving I will be temporarily closing my Etsy shop for a week! I will close it down sometime on 5/14/09 and will reopen once we arrive in Phoenix, likely on 5/20/09 or perhaps the 21st. Until the time I close my shop for vacation I will be shipping orders out the same or next day, so make sure to get those orders in soon for all your soapy needs! :)

Just Listed - Sonoran Sunshine

2009-05-07T20:05:00.001-07:00

It's finally here! If YOU need a little citrus in your life, you can now purchase Sonoran Sunshine in my Etsy shop!

Mom's Picks for Mother's Day

2009-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day is rapidly approaching and it's not too late to purchase her a bar of handmade, cold process, soap from my Etsy shop! I will be able to ship orders the next day this week, so orders placed today and possibly tomorrow should get there in time if you live in the U.S.!

Here are some of MY mom's favorites!

Strawberry Fields (Forever)

The Garden

Spa Clean (currently sold out but don't worry, I'll have more mid-June!)

Oatmeal, Milk, & 'Honey'

This week's Etsy Features!

2009-05-04T17:35:00.000-07:00

I have been lucky to have been featured in a few Etsy Treasuries this week, all very beautiful and inspiring!

Purple Passion by vbarton24

A Bit of Spring Color by littlecoastergnome

CHOCOLATE and... by voscoleccion

ROCKIN' BNR BNR BNR BNR by ErinJade

An update on Goals!

2009-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

I wrote this post on Friday about my goal of reaching 100 sales by the time I put my shop on vacation for our big move...and I am so proud (and AMAZED!) to day that it's happened already! I can't believe it. I must give credit to a fellow EtsyVeg team member who read my blog post and really got the ball rolling for me! She said the had been planning to try some of my soaps and now seemed the perfect time! It's funny how that works, I have been planning to buy an item from her as well..my perfect time is yet to come, though as we need to pinch every penny right now!

I am a lucky gal and so grateful to my first 100 customers!! May their skin be soft and smelling fabulous!!

Sneak Peek - Sweet Birch!

2009-05-02T21:22:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited to tell you about this bar as it is my absolute favorite! I am usually tolerant and like almost all scents to some degree which is great because we use each and every one...but this one really speaks to me.

I call this the soap of many colors, I created swirls in the soap with rosemary powder, the result was quite shocking to me, actually, as I anticipated dark green swirls but when the batch had gone through gel it came out with a lovely dark brown swirl on top! When I cut into the bar the inside swirl was green! It reminded me so much of a birch tree when you peel the bark back and the sweet woodsy scent of the bar make it my perfect birch bar - created as an ode to my home!

The bar has cured with a dark brown swirl which I think is so lovely! And, of course, it's a bar that I can't help but sniff when I walk by the curing rack...talk about addicting! It keeps me on my toes as well! I was cutting one of the bars into sample sizes the other day and the color inside was still green. It was so beautiful that I had to take a photo :) With time and proper ventilation the swirl will be a dark brown throughout, but until then I'll always know this bar has a green soul!

Sweet birch will be available in my Etsy shop starting the second week of May :)

A personal goal

2009-05-01T05:07:00.000-07:00

I gave myself a challenge last night. A few months back I was thinking about my goals and decided arbitrarily that I would like to make 100 sales by the time we leave for Phoenix. It seemed impossible at the time - I was making a sale a week if that and I believe I was close to 50 sales, but I have been doing my best!

Last night I was at 91 sales with two weeks to go until I put my shop on vacation for graduation/the move. 9 sales in 2 weeks didn't sound impossible but I knew it was going to be a stretch!! I started to think that it may not happen...but then thought, no, I still have to try! This morning I'm up to 92 sales! 8 more to go, with 13 days to do it...

On the EtsyVeg forum we have been discussing methods of advertising and hiring an ad vs. renewing as a strategy. We are blessed with having one of the top sellers in the knit category, Celeste of CricketsCreations, as a very active member of the team and she is a proponent for more active renewing, she said it has about a 90% return for her! I decided that for the next week I will renew more actively as a test to see the expense vs. return (which will be made easier, of course, because I just paid my Etsy Bill for last month!).

So I will combine more frequent renewing with time on the Etsy forums to reach my goal. I certainly think posting my 5 new bars the last week of my challenge will help if I am close by that point - they are terribly delicious! I will NOT put my soaps on sale as a whole...that would be an easy fix but I'm trying to see what promoting alone will do for me! I'll keep you posted :)

This Week's Etsy Features!

2009-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

I was lucky enough to have been featured in two treasuries this week, both were created by my fellow wonderful EtsyVeg members in order to promote our Earthly Riches Giveaway!

The first was created by Lisa of PandaWithCookie, featuring spring favorites!

The second was created by Julie of Julie Webb Photography + Design, it was a Hidden Treasure Treasury :)

The Earthly Riches giveaway is, sadly, now over. But now we get to the fun part of picking prizes - the grand prize winner will be notified tomorrow! I can't wait for them to find out!

Happy Birthday to Zazu!

2009-04-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

My Zazu kitty turned 8 yesterday! He had a great day, first off because he's at his Grandma and Grandpa's where he's always spoiled rotten! Secondly because he did have a few special birthday treats. I had to run errands yesterday and go to the post office so went to the pet store to find him a special toy/treat. And, once again, I realized how difficult it is to buy something for a cat that needs nothing! I did find the cute magenta chicken and got that for him, he thought it was quite fun! So did Shenzi. And like all of their other catnip toys, it will eventually go in the basket and be ignored :) He also had just a bit of cake to celebrate his day. And of course LOTS of snuggles with mama!

Zazu also wanted to remind you that it is the last day to enter the EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway! The contest ends at 11:59 PM tonight. If you don't have time today to search for all the hidden earth images you can also enter via the extra entries - a $25 purchase from a participating shop (mine included!) earns FIVE extra entries to the grand prize, and a $10 purchase earns FIVE extra entries into the first prize drawing.

Sneak Peek - Valencia Musk

2009-04-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Time for another sneak peek! Valencia Musk has a very peaceful, zen aroma - it's scented with a combination of Orange, Eucalyptus, Patchouli, and Ylang ylang. Now, before you Patchouli lovers get all excited (I know you're out there...), the patchouli note in this bar is not discernable and just offers a nice deep base to the scent. So, for those of you like me who don't care for the smell of patchouli, not to worry! The scent has got some high notes of citrus with a great musk aroma. It's just lovely!

I added some ground egyptian chamomile to this bar, the "in the mold" photo looks a bit yellow but that was due to the lighting (I made this batch on a rainy day with no nice natural light, sigh) - it's a creamy ivory color with flecks of brown from the chamomile now that it's had almost a week to cure. All in all I'm extremely pleased with the outcome!

Valencia Musk will make it's grand appearance on my Etsy site during the second week of May!

Happy Bunday!!

2009-04-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

"Hi, my name is Panda! My mama is Kelle from Kelle's Kitchen! I am taking over this blog for the day, I figured I was entitled it being Bunday and all."

"So, she's been telling me about this EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway. She said, 'Panda, you won't believe it! There are 8 prizes, and the grand prize is worth over $100!' I don't know what dollars are, but she told me it's a LOT of carrots."

"And I like carrots."

"Anyway, I thought I'd remind you that you should enter the giveaway! It's pretty fun - you get to go to all of these shops and find the hidden earths! Kind of like the game we play at home except I hide the little poopies and Mama gets to find them later! She doesn't like that game. I think she said the giveaway ends April 28 so you'd better hop to it and enter! Well, back to my hay!"

Sneak Peek - Sonoran Sunshine

2009-04-25T11:47:00.001-07:00

I've been a busy soaper this week - I made 5 new batches and another batch of my most popular creation, Spa Clean!! I'll have more sneak peeks coming this week, but for now here is the first new batch I created!

I used a lovely bergamot and grapefruit blend of essential oils that is perfect for summer! I also added calendula and orange peel powder into the soap for a bit of yellow-orange color! I was just going to call this one "Bergamot and Grapefruit" but when I poured it in the mold I thought it looked a bit like desert sands! So, I created more of a sand facade to the top of the bars and it earned the name Sonoran Sunshine as a tribute to where we're going :)

Look for this bar in my Etsy Shop the 2nd week of May!

Treasuries I created recently

2009-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts about vacation is that when I'm not halfway across the country house-hunting or frantically trying to unpack a few things in our sublet so it feels a teeny bit homey, I am pretty much always available when the Treasury opens on Etsy!

I made two treasuries last week, one this week, and yes, I've got another ready to go on Poster Sketch :)

Arizona, Here I Come!

This is the second treasury I created in excitement over moving to AZ :) Plus, it's not every day that you see a cactus treasury!!

Good House Karma

I created this treasury the day I found out that the primary offer for the house we have a back-up offer in on was going to the bank (where it would either be approved or denied). Nerves were skyrocketing and I felt the need to do something to create positive energy around the situation. Enter my "spanish style house" treasury.

Our Earthly Riches

This may be surprising (or not) but this one actually took me so much longer than a normal treasury does to create, even though I was pulling from a list of people! I wanted this treasury to be extra special as it was geared toward raising awareness of our EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway which started on Earth day 4/22/09 and runs through 4/28/09. It's a collection of items from sellers/team members that made donations. I wanted to showcase all the talent and amazing creations that people could win! I think it turned out rather nicely :)

Earth Day Fun!

2009-04-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

To celebrate Earth Day yesterday, Kermit and I took a walk in the woods across the street from my parents house. Well, I walked - Kermit bounded and leaped and sprinted! He was SO ecstatic to be in the woods, it was adorable.

I took my camera with me and snapped a lot of photos - some of places that have been special to me since I was quite young, some of interesting finds in the woods and some just of "nature". I was lucky enough to grow up immersed in the natural surroundings and "the woods" was one of our favorite places to be. We played there for hours every day. "The Stream" was a big draw, we had "Table rock" and we were always cautious to avoid "the ant hill" which is really a giant mound of rocks that red ants took over and built a fortress in. I will never forget the day that my brother and I went on the ant hill and ran back to the house with hundreds of ants crawling all over us and biting us...it was not pleasant.

One of our finds was a deer skull. Well, I found it - Kermit was lost in scent land and walked right by it! But after I found it, he found it. I posted more photos on my Flickr page, including the slightly disturbing, "Kermit discovers the skull" photos :)

EtsyVeg Earthly Riches Giveaway - April 22-April 28!!

2009-04-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

I am one of the shops participating in the EtsyVeg Earthly Riches giveaway! There are 20 prizes in 5 prize categories, with multiple chances to win. You will find one hidden Earth image in 20 shops, including mine - if you find them all you can earn an entry for the grand prize, worth over $100! You can also earn FIVE entries for the grand prize by spending $25 in this shop, and FIVE entries for the first prize for spending $10 (please see rules for details)!

For complete rules and details on how to enter, including a list of shops participating and prizes, please see the EtsyVeg blog. The giveaway runs from April 22-28.

Not sure you want to check it out? The prize I donated is FOUR bars of soap of the winner's choice!! And that's just ONE prize, the winner of the grand prize wins SIX prizes of their choice!! What are you waiting for?! Get over to the EtsyVeg blog :)

Waxing Nostalgic

2009-04-21T06:00:00.001-07:00

One of my jobs while I'm at my parents house is to go through several boxes of "my stuff" that has accrued from the time I was born. I must admit, it's been quite the trip down memory lane. One thing I've learned is that I will find a place to save some of my kids' artwork! It was the artwork I'd made and a few of the stories I'd written that got put in the save piles. I looked at some of the artwork I made in middle school and thought, "Hey, this isn't half bad!" so some of it may make appearances in our future home :) One of my favorite finds is my Furby! I bought him the first CRAZY retail Christmas he came out, I was lucky enough to work at a large retailer and snagged one the day we got an order in! To say that Kermit didn't like him would be an understatement.

After dropping off a few orders this afternoon, Kermit and I went for a walk at a local park that I LOVED exploring as a child. It's always so nice to go to a place filled with memories. One of my fondest from this park was when I was maybe 3 or 4 and it came time to leave the park and my brother refused. My mom threatened to drive away and when she actually started doing it I started sobbing hysterically and screaming, "No, you can't LEAVE him here, I LOVE him!!" As it turns out she was just going to drive around the parking lot to scare him. Eh, live and learn!

I have decided that the thing I'm going to miss most about Wisconsin's ecosystem is the trees. I LOVE the trees. I will not, however, miss the weather! The photo above looks wet because it was SNOWING today. It's almost May. And it's still snowing.

This Week's Etsy Features!

2009-04-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

My "The Garden" soap bar was featured this week in an EtsyVeg team treasury curated by fellow team member Yvonne! She's got three wonderful shops, her bath and body shop is Karramandi, she sells handmade journals at JuniperJournals, and she also sells awesome dog collars at CollarMeGorgeous. Be sure to check out her shops - amazing stuff, and all vegan :)

Lets Hear it for the Greens by JuniperJournals

Just Listed: Oatmeal, Milk, and 'Honey'

2009-04-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

I just listed my Oatmeal, Milk, and 'Honey' bar at my Etsy Shop, stop on over and check it out!

What's with the 'Honey'?
Traditional Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey soap is made with cow's milk and honey (and oatmeal, of course!) but I make completely vegan soaps and want to keep it that way! I've long wanted to make an Oatmeal, Milk, and Honey soap but thought, "What's the point," without the soothing milk and honey it would just be another scented oatmeal bar. Collier actually gave me the idea for this soap after I mentioned how I'd like to make an Horchata soap one evening over Mexican dinner - and he said, "Oh, yeah, that would be nice. You could put Rice Milk in it." He understands more about soap than he realizes I think! I asked around the soaping community and a few people had soaped with rice milk and/or soy milk and said it turned out fine, so I decided to go for it! I figured if I'm substituting the milk with a vegan alternative I may as well do the same for the honey so I used agave nectar instead!

This was a fun batch to make. I didn't get any great photos but after adding the rice milk and the agave nectar the batch turned blood red. I panicked thinking Oatmeal, Milk and Honey soap should NOT be red! It faded, shortly, to an orange color, then to a pleasant orange cream look. I figured I could deal with that and hoped it would cure to a tan, which, of course, it did!

We've been using this bar for the past week at our house and I LOVE it! The bar is super skin-loving and the scent is to die for. The only thing I don't like about this bar is that I can't stop using it in the shower - I will wash the same part several times before I can get myself to stop!

Happy THIRD birthday to my Kermit!!

2009-04-18T17:29:00.000-07:00

It's Kermit's third birthday and it's been fairly eventful as far as dog birthday's go! He's passed out cold on the floor right now so I think he would agree that it was a good one. We are staying at my parents' house for a week and a half and it's just heaven for our city dog. They live on an acre lot and he spends half the day outside (there are days at home where he only gets outside to go potty, so it's a BIG deal for him to spend a large quantity of time relaxing outside :)). They have also been taking him on their morning walks every morning - while I sleep in he's out exploring the world! Could it get any better?

Kermit's Big Day
Kermit's birthday (for me) started when I woke up on his exuberant entry into the room I'm staying in after getting back from his walk. I actually forgot it was his birthday and was going about normal business, getting a soap order ready when I bent over and felt something sharp "poke" me by my waistline on my back. I looked and saw something smallish and black and brushed it off. No biggie. Shenzi was on the bed and got the "hunt" look so I checked out the bed and there was a tick on it! Not just any tick...a deer tick (the kind that transmit lyme disease). So...normal morning became panicked morning. We forgot to put frontline on Kermit at the beginning of the month and the cats haven't had it for years as they're indoor only and we're (usually!) SO religious about keeping it on Kerm. And, of course, the Frontline we have is NOT here! So, I started calling all over trying to locate someplace local to get a month supply for Kermit, Zazu, and Shenzi.

I was able to find it at Petco but they were out of Kerm's size - LUCKILY, though, they had a Vet visiting for an immunization clinic and they were nice enough to sell me exactly what I was looking for (one 25-44 lb dog dose, two cat doses!). And, of course, as I was filling out the form and entering his birthday I realized, "Oh my gosh, that's today!" Then I realized, "Oh, crap! I'm in a pet store!" And then I had a sense of doom, ha ha. I have a hard enough time not buying EVERYTHING available for our pets to begin with. Combine that impulse with a birthday...and...well...my wallet took a bit of a hit :)

Kerm got all sorts of new treats and toys! I bought him a new Wubba - his all time favorite toy. He has a blue one that he chewed up that only has 2 "legs" left...he's got an outdoor floaty Wubba, too, that he loves. But the squeaky indoor one is a go-to must so he needed a new model! I LOVE the sock monkey - it squeaks as well and Kerm adores it. he loves running around with its "tail" in his mouth :) He also got a dental dingo and some treats from the treat bar to enjoy over the next week.

He spent much of the day outside and enjoyed a second walk with me later this afternoon. He will sleep well tonight :)

Want to win THREE bars of my soap?!?

2009-04-16T22:33:00.000-07:00

I am one of 4 members of the EtsyVeg team whose items have been included in this week's Weekly Wednesday Giveaway! You could win three bars of my soap (Anise Musk, Mom's Holiday Kitchen, and A Pineapple Under the Sea), along with a set of notecards from team member marywibis, a stoneware pendant from claynfiber, and an awesome light switch plate cover from SweetWolf!

To enter the giveaway go here.

EGCG Swag Bags are here!

2009-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

You've been waiting for them and they are here! Only a few bags will be available, so make sure to grab yours before they sell out.

What ARE EGCG Swag Bags?
The Swag bags are a collection of 18 generous sample-sized products from different Bath & Body shops - all members of EGCG ( Etsy Green & Clean Guild!) It's a great way to try different products from different shops at the same time. It's also a great Mother's Day gift idea!
Another awesome feature is that your EGCG Swag Bag is a special reusable, eco-friendly shopping bag! So make sure you put it to good use long after you use the products.

What's IN it?
This round, we have a variety of handmade bath soaps, lip balms, lotions, facial soaps, laundry soap, candles, bath fizzy, body mist, sugar cube scrub....wonderful goodies!

Where to get them?
Swag Bags will be available on April 15th on EGCG Etsy's shop.

Participating shops:
Morgan Street
Bunny Butt Apothecary
Spa Therapy Works
Right As Rain Creations
The Bath Project
DressGreen
Jadewicks
You Stink Soap
Shower Treat Soap
Sweet Creek Herbs
Farnham Soaps
Kelle's Kitchen
Mea Culpa Body and Bath
Inseine Creations
Rachel Rene
Grumpy Girl
SudzNThings
Mirasolfarm

(A big thanks to Shannon of The Bath Project who originally authored this post and allowed me to use it word for word on my blog :)).

Just Listed - Damask Rose

2009-04-09T12:53:00.001-07:00

My Damask Rose soap bar is now for sale in my Etsy Shop!

Going on Vacation!!

2009-04-01T08:00:00.000-07:00

I thought it only appropriate to warn any customers reading my blog (if any do? :)) that I will be putting my Etsy Shop on vacation from Friday 4/3/09 until Wednesday 4/8/09. It's not such a long time but it's necessary. Coll and I are relocating temporarily - we have a sublet in Milwaukee and I am heading home to my parents house for my month of vacation! But first I will fly to Phoenix to look at houses with our realtor and hopefully make an offer before all is said and done! First-time home buying is one of the most intimidating things I've ever done (and I go to Medical School, ha ha!). But it has turned out to be really fun as well. Now we'll just have to see how fun I think it is once we have counter offers and slow-moving banks to deal with!

The Battle of the Bulge (to be continued)

2009-03-31T03:07:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to alert anyone who is following my weight loss goals that I am going to take the next two weeks off of focusing on that. I will hopefully maintain what I've lost through these weeks if not lose more, but I'm not going to worry about it and keep close track right now! With our move and me traveling to Phoenix to look for a new home, I wish to focus on those things at this point! I will be back with an all new weigh in on 4/14/09!! Keep your fingers crossed for no gains at that point :)

Coming (really) Soon! Damask Rose

2009-03-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

While I usually post about new creations within a week of creating them, this time my busy day job and procrastination got the best of me. I will actually be posting this bar for sale in my Etsy shop later this week but still wanted to share photos of the awesome new kid with you :)

I love floral scents but not the "grandma" floral that is overpowering and...just plain gross. This bar is scented with an essential oil blend but its primary note is that of rose essential oil. When I first thought to make a rose scented bar I was wary, but it smells absolutely wonderful!

This batch seized but luckily I am well aware that floral essential oils, especially rose, are known for this and was prepared - I added my rose hip powder (natural colorant) in prior to the essential oils for maximum chance of success. What is "seize" you ask? Well usually you pour soap into a mold at trace which is kind of runny pudding consistency (and if you dip a spoon in to the liquid and then drip the liquid over the surface it leaves a "trace" along the top) - you can push batches a little farther to do things like peaks to the tops. When soap seizes it goes from this runny pudding to a non-chunky oatmeal consistency in a matter of minutes. It gets hard quickly! That makes it difficult to get into a mold or do anything "fun" with it as you have to work extremely quickly!

I managed to get this bar in the mold, though, and all is well with the world :) I wanted to talk a bit about rose hip powder, one of my favorite natural colorants. The powder, itself, is a mustard yellow color. I was quite shocked the first time I saw it, actually, because I was planning to use it to color a soap pink! But with soaping colors can be deceiving!

After you pour cold process soap containing rose hip powder into a mold it looks white (see photo above). In a few hours it will go through a "gel phase". This is an exothermic (heat producing) chemical reaction that makes the soap look more like a gel (more translucent) and this reaction is required to make soap! When the soap hits gel phase, the rose hip powder turns this fun blue color (see photo below)!

When you remove the bar from the mold once it has cooled and hardened enough for cutting, it is a light peachish color (see photo below).

As the bar cures, it turns progressively more pink. It's the soap of many colors :)

Just Listed - Minty Fresh

2009-03-29T16:26:00.000-07:00

You heard it here first, folks :) My Minty Fresh bar has just been listed for sale in my Etsy shop! Coll and I have been testing the bar for the past few days and its passed inspection with flying colors! This one even got a special, "Kell, I really LOVE this Minty Fresh bar!" comment from Collier. I knew he'd love it :)

An Ode to Phoenix

2009-03-29T13:32:00.001-07:00

I managed to get my Etsy-loving self together enough this week to make one treasury. I called it an Ode to Phoenix as I felt the need to do something to celebrate my move on Etsy! Sunshine and warmth here we come!

I'm here!

2009-03-28T21:13:00.000-07:00

I must apologize for the extremely scattered posts lately. But let me explain why I'm so busy and haven't been tending to my blog (or my shop) as I should!

Collier and I have both been incredibly busy since match day. Not only have I been working 10-12 hour days, but I've been trying to get everything in order for our move to Phoenix - at an extremely rapid pace! I am very pleased to announce that we obtained pre-approval for an FHA mortgage this week, and we also have a realtor who is busting her butt for us in Phoenix to find us a great place! I will be traveling down for 3 days in early April to check out the places we think are a possibility...so far we've got 10 homes on our short list, 4 of which we're really excited about!

Of course having a few things on ones plate is never enough, we're also planning for our short-term moves! I'm currently living amongst cardboard boxes...ugh.

I am amazed to notice how my lack of attention to my Etsy shop and all that goes with it have affected views to my shop and sales. It may just be a slow time but I really do think the time put into getting the word out there matters! I just haven't had time this week and things have slowed down quite a bit!

I was featured in one treasury on Etsy this week, a very delightful one I may add!

Clay Dirt by Ozetta

My 4 sampler size soap set was featured in this awesome treasury! I don't know if it was intentional but I chuckled for a second while I appreciated the irony of soap being in a treasury with "dirt" in the title! Everyone should check out Ozetta's Etsy shop, she's got some wonderfully posh scarves and cowls up for grabs!!

Speaking of scarves and cowls, it is currently snowing here. At the end of March. I give up, Arizona here we come!!

The Battle of the Bulge - week 7

2009-03-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, this is little delayed as I really did check in on Monday, but I thought my birthday post deserved a full day of glory at the top of the blog :)

My current weight: 170.4
My current BMI: 24.4 (normal!!!)
Pounds lost so far: 14.6
Days of Cardio this week: 3
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 2

So this week went well! I lost 3.6 lbs since last week, but like I said last week I think that weight was a bit elevated due to me eating too much at my niece's birthday pot-luck :) And for the first time in a few months (or several months?) my BMI is once again in the normal range!! Not only that but I feel more energetic, my clothes are fitting better and Collier commented this week that I am lookin good! I am not there yet, but I'm making good progress and I'm proud of that.

The thing I still need to work on is finding time to exercise. Now that the weather is nicer again we've been walking Kermit quite a bit. Of course living in Phoenix will help as the weather will be more temperate on average but we're going to have to figure out how to avoid the heat! In April one of my goals is to start to incorporate exercise back into my life more and more so it's more of a reflex than a chore.

Weight loss tip of the week:
Watch out for liquid calories!! So many processed beverages now are full of sugar, including those healthy flavored water beverages that are so popular right now. Full of sugar = full of calories! I had the great fortune to work with a wonderful bariatric surgeon during Medical School. Many of his tips have stuck with me the past two years. One of the things I will never forget is when he looked at me when I was telling him about a patient's diet and how I just didn't understand how she got so obese and he said dryly, "Did you ask her how much soda she drinks a day?" He said that he has patients who will drink multiple 2-liter bottles of soda a day. It doesn't feel the same as eating a giant piece of cheesecake but the effect is much the same. Moreover, processed sugars and caffeine really aren't great for your body!

If you crave flavored water why not buy a lemon and cucumber at the store and put a slice of each in your water. It's yummy, fresh, and calorie free! If you have to drink soda, drink diet. These little changes could have a huge impact on your weight loss!

Happy Birthday to ME!

2009-03-24T08:00:00.000-07:00

I was born 27 years ago today - thanks, Mom! Collier surprised me today with Tassimo T-discs to make my morning mocha's - I was actually thinking of buying some more, just enough to get through the next week and a half before we move! But he beat me to the punch. He also brought home a piece of chocolate cake from the grocery store with candles to make my day a little special...well, technically it was the day before my day but he asked and I said it would be better this way as I've got a test on Wednesday I'll need to cram for tomorrow, and he's not coming home between work and class! I'm not excited about my birthday this year...I'm feeling a bit run-down and tired...and have mortgages and home-buying on the brain!

I thought I'd share this group of photos of me and Kermit...he's a total pushover. Mostly he just wanted to snag some cake!

Just Listed - Neroli Lemon

2009-03-21T23:11:00.000-07:00

Neroli Lemon is back on my Etsy page!! I actually sold 10 bars of this batch prior to listing, so get them while they last :)

Destination: Phoenix, Arizona!!

2009-03-19T20:56:00.000-07:00

I found out where I matched for residency today and it's Phoenix, Arizona! Coll and I were both so thrilled, I have hated winter for the past several years and won't be one snitch upset about trading this winter:

for this one:

Match Day
Let me explain quickly what Match Day is and how it all works. As a 4th year medical student, you decide what field you want to specialize in (Pediatrics, Medicine, Plastic Surgery, Anesthesiology, etc.) then apply for residency programs in those fields. You can apply to whichever programs you want and for most specialties there is one application through the NRMP that you can submit via internet to all the programs you are interested in. Once your application is complete, programs will begin to invite you and you set up interview dates. I had 9 strewn about the country and did a few in November, local ones in December, and the rest in January. Once you are done interviewing you have to rank the programs you would be willing to go to in order of preference. The programs also sit down and rank everyone who interviewed with them in order of preference. After the rank lists are due, a computer uses an algorithm to match all of the medical students with the programs.

On Monday of this week I found out that I matched somewhere. I didn't know where but it was one of the 8 programs I'd ranked. If you find out that you didn't match on Monday, you then have to "scramble" on Tuesday which means you re-apply to any programs that have an opening and try to make a match. Today we had our Match Day ceremony which is different at every school. How we do it here is everyone from our class and significant others/family gather in an auditorium and our names are read one by one in random order to get the envelope which contains the paper saying where we matched. It was a bit chaotic with 200 people in the class - they call them off continuously until everyone has one! It was fun, though, people cheering and clapping - we are almost done! There were a lot of happy tears and some sad, but all in all it was quite the experience.

Collier and I are so excited to move to Phoenix! We came home after the after-party and Coll immediately started looking at houses via the MLS listings. It looks like the real estate market in Phoenix may have tanked a bit more than other places which is terrible for the economy of the city...but good for us right now. We can't wait to own our own home with a fenced yard to let Kermit out instead of leash him to go to the bathroom! After seeing the above photo I also realized that a little sun might do me some good, too :)

Panda, Panda, PANDA?! WHERE ARE YOU?!?

2009-03-18T16:20:00.000-07:00

A new pet story for you. To start with, a little background. Panda is our 2.5 lb bunny (to learn more about him, including his rescue story go here). He is a "house bunny" which means that he is litter box trained and is free to roam (most of) the house when we are home. When we are gone we have a 4 foot by 4 foot dog exercise pen that we've converted into a cage for him. Some people will let rabbits run all the time, but I have found with the 3 I have had that they become quite destructive if given the entire house as their "cage" and that it is safer for them (bunnies have a propensity to chew on power cords and despite the fact that I have always done my best to bunny proof, you just never know!) to have a "room" of their own. My buns have always loved their cage - it really is like their bedroom. They will "bun about" the apartment for a few hours then return to the cage to flop out/ lay down for a while.

Usually when Panda is out he's either in the office laying under the cat tree or between the tires of our bikes - these are his "spots". He has, however, put himself into tighter spots as he can fit behind the stove, refrigerator, etc. with his slight size! We've bunny proofed all things unforeseen by this point so when he "disappeared" the other day you can imagine my worry!

It started off with a "Hmm, where's Panda?" walk through the apartment. Then it was a "Hmm, he's not in his normal spots." Walk back through. After 4 or so laps I became worried, after 6 or so I started shouting for him and was just about to overturn furniture when I saw a flash of black in the office:

Panda had jumped up in the cat tree and was laying on the sleeper! The little devil!

He was very proud of himself. It was really adorable and actually such a relief to find him that I couldn't be mad. He gave me that "What's all the yelling about, I've been right here the whole time?" look. I wasn't sure that he'd be able to safely get down (bunnies don't have depth perception) so helped him down to the floor where he belongs!

Just Listed - Rosemary and Oatmeal

2009-03-17T20:54:00.000-07:00

I just listed the Rosemary and Oatmeal bar discussed here on my Etsy page!

The Battle of the Bulge - week 6

2009-03-17T20:36:00.001-07:00

My current weight: 174
My current BMI: 25 (overweight - but JUST BARELY!!)
Pounds lost so far: (11)
Days of Cardio this week: 3
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 2

I did ok this week :) I lost 3 lbs from last week's weight but I think they were both a bit artificially inflated! I was down to 172 or so mid-week, but the weekend tends to be the time when I allow myself to cheat a bit and it always seems to be the day before weigh in! :) Ahh, well, a loss is a loss! I'm still counting my time in the operating room as strength training - I think my biceps are actually getting bigger! With the sun still being out some days when I get home and the weather getting nicer (it was 70 today!), we have been out and about more with Kermit doing some great walks and hikes! I realized this week that the only time I can completely relax and shut down is when I'm in the forest - that's why camping is so rejuvenating for me. Collier and I are always amazed when we go camping how it seems like time slows and the weekend lasts FOREVER! There is really something to be said about not being so "connected" and leaving all the modern electronics at home! We need to schedule a few camping trips in this summer, or at least many many wonderful hikes!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week:
This week I've been thinking about convenience foods. I'm on a rotation where we start anywhere from 5:30-6:30 in the morning and usually finish anywhere from 5 and on in the evening. It doesn't leave much "me" time or home time, much less time to be concerned about what I'm eating! I have become a heavy user of frozen convenience meals - throwing them in my lunch bag prevents me from going down to the cafeteria and buying a pizza or a grilled cheese which would really ruin my healthy eating plan entirely! So, in that sense, they are wonderful!

There are a few things to watch out for in convenience foods, though - this includes non-frozen packaged dinner mix items - things you need to just add water/margarine to. The first major concern is that these meals tend to be quite high in sodium. This is fine for some people, but for someone with hypertension (high blood pressure) it could be deadly. These meals also tend to be more expensive than a meal you could make yourself - that is I exclusively reserve them for times when I actually NEED the convenience! If I have time to come home for lunch or I have the day off, I always make my food.

Overall, I do love convenience foods. I enjoy many of the Lean Cuisine and Smart Ones entrees. But always look at the labels and find out what you're really getting into!

Just Listed - Naked (Unscented)

2009-03-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

I just listed my Naked (Unscented) bar on Etsy! After shopping a fellow Etsy Green and Clean Guild Member's shop for lotions and creams and realizing that I really just wanted them unscented I thought hey, maybe there's something to this :) I like my soaps with personality, but I'm sure there are people out there who want the properties of handmade soap without the scent. So here it is! This bar will be $1 less than my other bars to account for the fact that I don't have to pay for essential/fragrance oils and botanicals! We've been using this bar for the past few days and are loving it :)

You can also see from this photo that I have (once again!) modified my photos a touch. I definitely liked my most recent photos more than my 2nd try and way more than my 1st, but there was still something about them that didn't look finished enough. I wanted something different. It hit me like a ton of bricks one day - one thing I love is wrapping each soap in its own unique color of handmade paper. So...why not use those papers as a backdrop? That way each listing has its own color identifier as well! I took photos of my 4 most recent batches this way last week (Naked is the first to be listed), and absolutely love it so far. I think I will stick with this method...but we shall see. I might just come up with something even better someday :)

Treasuries I created this week

2009-03-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

My schedule has been keeping me from creating treasuries like mad as I want to, but I managed to get one in this week where the opening happened to coincide with me being home!

I'm being F O L L O W E D...(by a Moonshadow)

I am pretty proud of this one! Inspired by Cat Stevens' whimsical song (Moonshadow of course!), I created this to be black/white/grey with just a HINT of blue. I used a lot of EtsyVeg members' items in this one. I tried to give it just a little creepy edge to it as I knew prior to putting it on Etsy that I was going to name it I'm being followed...

This Week's Etsy Features!

2009-03-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

It has been a CRAZY busy weekend, we also didn't have internet all of Saturday, so I didn't get this out on Saturday...but let's just pretend I did. I post-dated it so in a few weeks we won't ever know, it can be our little secret, right?

Clean Colors of Spring by StephanieK

This awesome B&B treasury was created by fellow EGCG member, StephanieK, and featured my Strawberry Fields (Forever) bar! She creates amazing perfumes, room sprays, bath salts, lip balms, etc. Definitely check her shop out by clicking on her name above - it soothes me just "walking in".

Etsyveg Team by LuluBugJewelry

This bright and cheery treasury was created by new EtsyVeg team member, LuluBugJewelry, and featured my The Golden Afternoon bar - immediately next to a delicious cupcake I might add. I was a BIT jealous ;-) I checked out LuluBugJewelry's shop and blog after she joined and she instantly went into my hearts - I couldn't resist after seeing this on her blog. I don't know if I will want custom Panda jewelry in the future but if I do I know where I'm getting it!

Found browsing through Etsy's Categories by Etsy Admin

Etsy Admin chose me for two front page features this week, I am incredibly honored by this! The first is above, and features my 4 bar pack. The second featured my 7 bar pack but the screen shot hasn't been uploaded onto Flickr so that's as much as I know. A fellow EtsyVeg team member alerted me to the feature and a customer who purchased that item said she saw me there - so I know it's real (I even pinched myself, ha ha), I just don't have any pretty visual proof :)

Another fabulous week! My shop 27% off sale went really well, I was able to share my birthday and engagement excitement with several people!

Flowers may die...

2009-03-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

I finally threw away the roses that Coll got me for Valentine's day. I couldn't help but snap this shot prior to tossing them, they were still rather pretty.

To me it symbolizes that while these little tokens of love or romance may die, real love endures. Alternatively it could be interpreted as, "Flowers die, but diamonds are forever." Ha ha.

Sneak Peek - Minty Fresh!

2009-03-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

I've got a brand new bar curing as we speak, I created this one this weekend (this was the batch that Coll picked for me to make the day we got engaged - I decided to delay it until Sunday night so that we could properly enjoy our engagement!). I also like to call it "Mean Green" as it is a gorgeous bright green! This bar is going to be part of my "All Natural" line of soaps, made with essential oils only. It's a combo of Spearmint and Eucalyptus essential oils, but the eucalyptus is rather indiscernable - it just smells like spearminty goodness! Coll adores this bar already, I love it too. It reminds me of my favorite gum. Just very fresh, clean, cheery. It gets it's awesome green color from natural parsley powder...no artificial stuff here :) I even added a bit of dried chamomile to add a touch of exfoliation.

This would have been a great bar to have available for St. Patty's day, ha ha. I always seem to be about a month behind with holidays. It's something I am working on and hope to have holiday appropriate soaps in the future. This bar is going to stay in my line, though...it's too good to give up!

Engagement/Birthday Sale - 27% off!!

2009-03-10T18:49:00.001-07:00

I was planning on having a sale at my Etsy Shop for my birthday (which is March 24th in case anyone wants to send me any presents ;-)), but we are moving in early April so it didn't seem practical. With the new engagement I realized there is no time better than the present so am offering 27% off all items in my shop! The prices are already discounted...and honestly as low as I will be likely to go this year!

Why 27%? Well, I turn 27 this year! It just seemed logical :)

The sale will run until Sunday, 3/15/09!

The Battle of the Bulge - week 5

2009-03-10T08:00:00.000-07:00

My current weight: 177
My current BMI: 25.4 (overweight)
Pounds lost so far: (9.6) - 1.6 lb gain this week
Days of Cardio this week: 1
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 2

Well, I am slightly embarrassed to admit that I gained weight this week! I was much less strict with myself this week, I am on a more time-consuming rotation and am finding it difficult to find time to make sure I am making healthy choices. It's no excuse, though! There are a few things I can point to as culprits for this week's weight gain. First of all, it is likely slightly artificially elevated as I spent the 2 days prior to my weigh in celebrating my engagement which included lots of yummy food. I ate whatever I wanted in larger quantities than I normally would because, really, it's a once in a lifetime thing! So, that didn't help and my weight may be a bit higher than it really is as all that food is still in my system :) Second of all, I haven't been drinking enough water lately - which has resulted in some slowing of my GI tract, if you know what I mean. I need to hydrate well so I can get that digested weight out of me! Third of all, the work I'm doing this month is more physically demanding (especially on my upper body!) and I have been gaining muscle day by day! Muscle is HEAVY!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week
I can't think of a better time to discuss this tip. If you are trying to lose weight and have a bad day or a bad week, forgive yourself and move on! So often people feel discouraged and just give up. "I can't do it!" is your worst enemy. If you lose 0.5 lbs when you wanted to lose 5 you may feel disappointed but you still LOST! It's a step in the right direction. If you maintain your weight instead of lose, congratulate yourself for not gaining! And if you gain, assess why that may have been (could it have been the engagement cupcake you had the night before weigh in? :)), and use that knowledge as you push forward to attain your goals. You may have to adjust your goals if you realize your progress is less than your initial ideal, but the ultimate goal is to lead a healthier lifestyle that you can maintain for your lifetime - and it takes time to figure out exactly what that is!

The second part to this tip is that you are ALLOWED to indulge once in a while! It is best to think of desserts as a once in a while treat rather than a course in the meal, yes, but if you feel like having that dessert or simply MUST have a cookie and nothing else will do and all you can think about is the cookie, then let yourself do it. When you indulge, try not to think, "Well, today is ruined!" as that will only lead to further bad choices in the day. You can compensate by exercising more that day or eating a bit less at dinner. Or you can just say ok, I indulged. Now I will eat healthier the rest of the day. What you don't want to end up doing is taking the attitude that the day is ruined because of the cookie, then eat french fries and two double whoppers for dinner.

In that vain, I am not going to beat myself up over my gain this week. I think I will need to adjust my goal of being down to 150 by graduation, however. I don't think that I can realistically (and healthily!) attain that goal in that amount of time. I think I will shoot for 155-160 as at one point I was under 160 but still fitting in that size 8 because I was all muscle :) That seems fair and reasonable! And now that it is still daylight when I get home from work I'd like to start walking/running with Kermit more after work. I hope I am done early enough to do so!

Product I LOVE #3 - Shenzi's Snuggle Bed

2009-03-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

I bought Shenzi a new snuggle bed for Christmas this year. She had a ratty old one that Panda had chewed/peed on that I put next to the radiator at some point and she adopted it as a favorite place to lay. She NEVER laid in it before, but it's all about location, location, location for these things, I suppose! She's a warmth-seeker so having a bed right next to a radiator = prime real estate. The thought of my princess sleeping half the day in a ratty bed didn't sit well with me so as soon as I saw these awesome beds by CraftSmith I knew I had to have one. Unfortunately for me, the beds made it in a few features around the holiday season and sold the instant she listed one...I was lucky enough to see this bed which is the PERFECT color combo for our brown and red living room and wanted to snatch it up immediately!

I wanted it to be as comfy as possible so convoed prior to purchase and asked about the possibility of adding a pillow in the bottom. So Shenzi has a handmade bed with a wonderful pillow - brown fleece on one side and that fluffy white fleece on the other!

I will admit, it took her a little while to warm up to the new bed. It is a bit more stiff than her old one (but very flexible if she lays into the sides...she just needed to realize that!), and a slightly different shape. She didn't use it much at first but over the past 2 months has totally adopted the bed as her own and can be found there at least half of any given day.

The bed is incredibly well-crafted, the pillow is as well. The little hand-made catnip toy was in the parcel with the bed on arrival - CraftSmith's name and URL were sewn on to it - an ingenious idea as many of the business cards I received during the holiday season have found their way into the recycling but the cats still love their catnip square so it's staying!

All in all, this was a great purchase! Shenzi has a bed fit for the princess that she is, the transaction was seamless, shipping was fast (I got the bed before Christmas despite ordering outside the "safe" window AND having a pillow custom-made!), and I really enjoyed the whole thing. Now, does your kitty need a new bed?!

Engagement Celebration

2009-03-08T11:03:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful evening and morning celebrating our new engagement! We spent the hour or so after the proposal calling family. The comments were as expected - lots of congratulations and "Not like we didn't expect this...you guys are buying a house together in a few months." Oh, and few, "You aren't pregnant, are you?" comments :) The best was my nephew Brooks who said, "What's engaged?" My sister explained it to him and he said, "Aren't they already that?" "Almost-Uncle" Collier has been around for a long time, ha ha. Brooks understands what dating is and said that after you date someone for a while you kiss them and if you like how they kiss then you get engaged. Well, I guess I like how Collier kisses!

Our evening started out very normal. Screeched to a normal halt :) Kermit vomited in the dining room (he eats too quickly sometimes and promptly throws up, then returns to the bowl to fill his now-empty stomach, this happens a few times a week, ha ha!). So, Collier cleaned that up before we headed out to dinner.

Dinner at Roots

So, after cleaning up the puke, we headed to Roots, a locally owned restaurant in Milwaukee! They get their ingredients locally and their menu changes seasonally. They have a farm near Milwaukee where they sustainably grow their ingredients in the summer, they do their best in the Winter but I believe that some ingredients at that point are shipped in. It's an awesome gourmet restaurant and if you read my engagement story, it was where Coll had planned to propose. It was quite loud when we were there and busy so it was good that he did it how he did! We had a gorgeous table overlooking the Milwaukee skyline which was wonderful!

Coll had mentioned that it was a special night so they allowed us to bring a bottle of Lindemans' Framboise which is pretty much the only alcoholic beverage I enjoy! They do have it on the menu but only seasonally. Our meal was so wonderful! We started with a snack of popcorn dusted with a garlic/ranch type flavor, and a selection of vegetables that was marinated in some sort of acidic juice. We both had soup as an appetizer, mine was an absolutely amazing bean soup with avocado/pomegranate topping, Coll had a turkey tomato stew with coleslaw. They were way more complex than I am describing them :)

For his main course, Coll had amish chicken served on a bed of cornbread/pork belly stuffing with a side of brussels sprouts and topped with BBQ syrup. He said it was quite delicious!

I had Seitan "Meatballs"/spicy tomato stew served on a bed of basmati rice, topped with a carrot/date dressing. The dates were definitely my favorite, they were caramelized and so delicious!

Roots treated Coll and I to a free dessert to congratulate us and help us celebrate our special night which was so wonderful! We chose Creme Brulee as it's my favorite, but only from high-end restaurants where they make it right! It was creamy, delicious...and simply amazing.

A phenomenal evening. Sorry that the photos are so dark - there was a lot of "mood" lighting and I didn't want to use my flash :)

After Dinner

We headed home to watch "Step Brothers" for the 5th time in the last month, we are OBSESSED! Coll said he was pretty tired when we got home so went to lay on the love seat as he said he may fall asleep. I layed on the couch...where I woke up this morning! Coll had woken up in the middle of the night and transferred to the bed but didn't want to wake me. So, we spent our first night as an engaged couple not even sleeping in the same bed! Ha ha. I think that we each saw about 10 mins of the movie, too.

Morning at the Milwaukee Public Market

To further celebrate our engagement, we headed to the Milwaukee Public Market this morning. It's an indoor marketplace with locally owned business places. You can buy fresh fish, cheeses, wine, bread, as well as bakery items and lunch!

We started at the Alterra coffee stand and each got a caffeine fix :) We sampled some cheese curds at the cheese place and then needed to buy a bag of the ranch curds. They are yummy! We wandered a bit and stared at all the lovely items, then got lunch at the sandwich/salad/juice shop. It was so delish! We got the Kiss Me cookie featured at the top of this post as well as two Red Velvet Cupcakes to go. I'm not excited for my weigh-in tomorrow, ha ha. But you only get engaged once (well, hopefully!), so I splurged!

I'm engaged!

2009-03-07T13:17:00.001-08:00

Collier asked me to marry him at approximately 1:55 pm today...and of course I said YES!

The Engagement Story

I should probably start out by saying that I kind of knew this was coming. We have been talking about being engaged for over a year now, but the limiting factor was Coll saving up for a ring. Neither of us wanted him to go into debt to pay for a ring, I also didn't want something super expensive or large, but I am allergic to nickel so we had to do platinum or palladium which greatly adds to the cost.

We went ring shopping together at the end of January so he could get an idea on what I like. I don't wear jewelry very frequently so while he wanted to pick something out for me the traditional way, I felt it was really important for he and I to both see what I like first because I just didn't even know myself! He went home the following weekend to get the ring made and picked it up last weekend.

I knew that he had the ring after last weekend. He tried to make up a story about needing to go home for a cook-out at his Mom's (it was about 20 degrees out!), he said I wasn't invited because there would be too much meat there and his Mom didn't want me to be uncomfortable. This is the Mom who ALWAYS makes sure there are multiple vegetarian options at every meal for me and frets over making sure I have enough to eat. Yeah, right!

I got a convo on Etsy earlier this week from someone who said they are in Milwaukee and wanted to buy 2 bars of soap, but was wondering if I would be willing to drop it off at 7 pm on Saturday at Roots (my favorite restaurant in Milwaukee) because they work there and are busy. I immediately knew what was going on. I thought all day about whether or not to tell Collier, and after consulting with my best friend decided that he wants to surprise me and wouldn't want me to see it coming so told him I knew what was going on! He was disappointed that his big surprise fell through. And, after talking with 3 men at work, apparently they agreed that I should have just acted surprised! Oops! But I also was not super keen on being asked in a public place as I think it would be a bit embarrassing to have that much attention on us.

So, Collier had to come up with another plan. He decided to take me somewhere outdoors and ask me today, but it's raining cats and dogs outside so that plan was foiled. What he ended up doing is putting the ring in its open box next to my soaps in the back bedroom. He was sitting down to watch a movie and I was going through my soap inventory and thought, "Hmm, I don't think I took those 4 bars of Spa Clean that I sold out of here." So, I went in the back room to count them. I turned around to walk out and he was in the doorway. I jumped and he laughed having had scared me.

He asked, "What are you doing back here?" I said, "Counting my soap." He didn't budge from the doorway and wouldn't let me through. I said, "Excuse me, I need to go to my computer." He said, "I think you need to count your soap again." At this point I knew something was up and I said, "No, there are 14 bars, I don't need to count it again." He kept trying to convince me and finally I backed up into the room and kept staring at him. He said again, "I think you NEED to count your soap!" So, I finally turned around to humor him and as I walked toward the soap I noticed the ring sitting there. I had TOTALLY missed it when I went to count the first time! So, I grabbed it and turned around with tears already filling my eyes. He came in the room smiling, then got down on one knee and grabbed my right hand, ha ha...I told him "WRONG HAND!" but the box was in my left :) Then he asked if I would marry him. I was crying and said, "Yeah" in a weak voice. Then he put the ring on my finger! It's perfectly sized 6.25, so is a bit tight on the knuckle so was a little challenging. But that baby won't fall off my finger!

The Ring

I ended up deciding on a really simple band with one diamond. Coll had a diamond that he wished to use from his Mom's ring from her marriage to his dad, his wonderful Mother offered that to us. She had melted it into a pendant so he had the stone removed and put into this ring. It was actually his Grandma's stone at one point, and possibly his great grandma's so it has been in his family for quite some time and is a really meaningful and wonderful heirloom!

The band is platinum so I won't break out into a rash! It really is perfect. It is something I will be able to wear with gloves (though not the super tight-fitting surgical gloves, unfortunately, so I may not be able to wear it to work this month for fear of losing it!), and I absolutely love it! Coll loved the place where he had it made - BR Diamond Suite in Madison, WI. He would like to go there to get our wedding bands made as well!

I am also proud to say that Coll saved up more than enough for the ring so was able to pay for it all up front - so wonderful!

The Wedding Date
We are a little TBA on the actual wedding date. I find out on 3/19/09 where we are going to be moving for my residency. It will depend a bit on where we end up. We may have a very small wedding with just immediate family and a few friends where we are living, then have a dinner/reception in Wisconsin that will be bigger and invite extended family and more friends to that. We will have to see! The one thing I know is I'd love to use as many vintage and handmade items as possible in the wedding, so I will have to start my shopping on Etsy! Yay!

This Week's Etsy Features!

2009-03-07T08:00:00.000-08:00

Another great week around these parts! I was featured on Etsy a few times this week.

whisper into my eye by longwinterfarm

This lovely treasury took my breath away! It reminds me of a soft and beautiful wedding. Such a wonderful combination of items from a fellow cold-process soaper.

For the Love of...(friends and neighbours) by Aprilis

This lovely treasury is April's first! She is a friend on Twitter and we follow each other's blogs - we are both trying to lose weight currently and inspire each other! She made this treasury to feature items from some of her friends as well as local artists in Yorkshire.

Found using the search term "tea" by Etsy Admin
I got word from an Etsy Veg teammate that I made the front page this week, but the screen shot hasn't been uploaded to Flickr yet. So, sadly all you know is all I know at this point.

Soap Makeover - Neroli Lemon!

2009-03-06T08:00:00.000-08:00

I made a new batch of Neroli Lemon last week - this bar is an old fave of mine, and a new fave of others! I wasn't sure if I was going to make it again in these next 10 new bars I'm coming out with but then I had an order which consisted of 4 of my current bars and 5 of Neroli Lemon "when I make them". Well...that answered that dilemma!

(BEFORE)

The best thing about this bar is that the scent sticks on your skin for 2-3 times longer than my normal soaps. Soap really is meant to clean and be washed away, the scent going with it. Most of my bars will scent the skin somewhat but only for a few hours. My sister said it best when she said that with the Neroli Lemon she showers before work, and when she changes when she gets home she can still smell the lemon on her skin! You can tell when we have it on our shower as I will obsessively smell my arm all day :)

(AFTER)

Neroli Lemon is an essential oil/fragrance oil blend. Real Neroli essential oil is extremely expensive so the Neroli I use is blended with fragrance oils. The lemon is straight up lemon essential oil - fruity and citrusy without smelling like a bottle of Mr. Clean :)

For my new batch of Neroli Lemon I cut down a bit on the lemongrass and only put it in the green layer. With my sensitive skin some of the medium to high exfoliant level soaps that I make can be a bit too scratchy. Collier loves them with his rougher skin, but I have erred on the side of making my soaps smoother with a touch of exfoliant. This one should be a good mix. I decided to make layers with this bar instead of pressing lemongrass in the top - the green layer was colored with rosemary powder, the top was just left as is - the lemon essential oil gives it a bit of a yellowish tinge. I love the new look, and will forever love the scent. A friend on twitter said it sounds like sunshine in a bar and it really does :)

I will be posting this bar for sale in my Etsy Shop on or around 3/21/09 when fully cured!

A Gorgeous Afternoon Off!

2009-03-05T20:24:00.000-08:00

Collier and I were both lucky enough to get done with work early today so had a little family time. Well, Kermit time I suppose :) We took him down to our favorite park in Milwaukee - it is technically Grant Park but it's the Seven Bridges area that we love. It is a wooded area with seven bridges (big surprise there) over a small river and many hiking trails - a few of which lead to a beach on Lake Michigan! We take Kermit there a lot in the summer as he loves to swim and chase his water Wubba. We've never gone this close to winter though, and we were met with a surprise!

The beach has been replaced with a giant ice shelf. It was really immense. Kermit is so used to swimming at this beach that he just about jumped in - we saw and screamed at him so he learned pretty quickly that this is a no-no, but kept testing it...very nerve wracking!

The natural formations were so amazing.

It reminded me of a canyon, only it was carved in a matter of months, not years.

The Battle of the Bulge - week 4

2009-03-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

My current weight: 175.4
My current BMI: 25.2 (overweight)
Pounds lost so far: 9.6
Days of Cardio this week: 4
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 0

It's hard to believe a whole month has gone by already! And I've lost 9.6 lbs in that month! YAY! I am 27% on my way to my final goal of 35 lb weight loss :)

This week was pretty good, I had my energy back and was able to incorporate more exercise in my daily life. Of course when I say exercise I mean walking around the hospital, but the lot I park in is a 20 minute walk through the tunnels under the hospitals of the Medical Complex to where I was working last month so, it counts in my mind! I also returned to taking the stairs instead of elevator on my walk out which was 8 flights down, 2 up, 2 down! All in all I felt that I did a pretty good job of sticking with my plan, though I did splurge on ice cream a few nights...not part of the "plan" but I really wanted it and made better choices in getting small sizes and one was frozen yogurt!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week:
This week's tip may seem silly, but it is something that I think we frequently overlook. Occasionally I will have the chance to spend a month at a time essentially wearing pajamas - it's called a surgery rotation :) But for people that work at home, sweats can become the "office uniform". They are comfortable, yes, but can hide weight gain so easily due to their extreme stretchability.

The month prior to making my decision to lose the excess baggage I had a vacation month. This was primarily consumed by flying all over the country for residency interviews. I decided at the beginning of the month that I would completely "let go" and eat whatever I wanted while on the road. I bought my interview suit in October and it fit like a glove. In November it still fit great, very comfortable. In my December interviews I started noticing it was a bit snug - in fact, one of the clasps popped in one of my interviews, thank goodness it wasn't noticeable! By mid-January it was actually painful to wear my suit, to the point where I demanded Collier drive me back to the hotel immediately in Albuquerque because I was so uncomfortable when the day was done. But yet, none of this served as a warning sign for me - I just wore my comfy sweats whenever possible and let myself believe it wasn't such a huge deal. It wasn't until I returned home that I realized I'd gained 10 lbs in about 3 weeks.

So, this week's tip is to wear form fitting clothes at least a few times a week. And if those clothes start feeling a bit snug, listen to this feeling and take it to heart and work so that they feel comfortable again!

I know I'm not alone in this...Shannon from The Bath Project posted this great story on her blog about clothes no longer fitting yesterday. She is currently working toward a healthier lifestyle as well and we have been inspiring eachother! Her tale is humorous, but one that anyone who has struggled with their weight will identify with.

Goals for Next Week:
This week will be interesting - I'm on my last surgery rotation ever, and surgeons hours are not...kind. Aside from continuing healthy eating, I am unsure how much exercise I will be able to squeeze in outside of walking around the hospital due to leaving before the sun comes up and returning after it's down. I think my best bet is, instead, to focus on yoga/strengthening exercises which I have clearly been neglecting! I'll do my best!

Etsy Find - Glamarita Tie Me Up Tie me Down Ballgowns!

2009-03-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

I must admit - I have a new obsession. And it is Glamarita's line of Tie Me Up Tie Me Down ballgowns! I can't remember how or when I found these but I think it was sometime last week. It must have been a feature somewhere as I don't remember ever searching for a new dress...

Now that I have found them, though, I know that I must have one someday! I realized straight out that ordering one right now is not a wise decision as I still have about 25 lbs to go to my goal weight, now is NOT the time to order a custom-made dress. Then I had a fabulous idea - I will order one as a reward for getting back to my goal weight!! It can also double as my Med School graduation present to myself!

I love the fact the the "Scientifically Recommended Red and Black" ballgown above hits right about mid-shin, I think it's such a flattering line! Glamarita warns in the listing for that dress that the model is 6 feet tall thus it will be longer on most people - but being 5'10" it should fit me just perfect! I love the color of the "Wood Nymph" dress above. I am thinking of maybe browns...blues...greens for my dress? Any thoughts?!

Treasuries I created this week

2009-03-01T08:50:00.000-08:00

I haven't been taking screen shots/posting treasuries that I create, and really if they don't make the front page then I have no way to remember them. With all the "hard work" and thought that goes into each treasury I have decided to post them here :)

I made two treasuries this week, on on Treasury West and one on the plain ol' Treasury.

Baby, Baby, It's a Wild World

I didn't have a name for this one but I spent the morning listening to Cat Stevens and went with this last minute. This treasury has been in my mind for a few weeks now, after seeing CricketsCreations awesome photos of her Fringie photo props for professional photographers. I thought that, included with other colorful items, it could make for such a pretty and colorful treasury!

.....She Sells Sea Shells....

The story behind this Treasury is much less "inspired". I just hadn't seen or done a blue treasury for a while and decided to create a blue treasury from items of people in my EtsyVeg team!

This Week's Etsy Features!

2009-02-28T11:33:00.000-08:00

As predicted, I had a bit less exposure on Etsy this week, ha ha, but a week like last week is rare! I feel very blessed to have been featured in a gorgeous treasury this week.

........(one inch)........ by 5erg

The story about the title of this one was cute - she said she is always bad at coming up with titles so just wrote the last thing she heard before the treasury opened :) I always have trouble with titles myself, I totally understand!

Etsy Find - Pirate Bed by Barzilla Woods

2009-02-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon this amazing Pirate bed when creating my Pirate treasury a few weeks ago and just knew I would have to showcase it here at some point. I find it so amazing when people have a talent in working with wood, and Barzilla Woods certainly does!

Not only would any pirate-loving or sea-faring kid adore this awesome bed, but it's so practical with all the built in storage.

What a find!

Soap Makeover - Rosemary and Oatmeal!

2009-02-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

I recently created a new batch of Rosemary and Oatmeal. This was one of my original soaps which I created well before the idea of selling my soaps came about. It was also one of the original 6 batches that I listed on Etsy (see original photo below!), and it was lucky enough to make it prominently on my business card!

(BEFORE)

I have since modified my techniques a little bit. Prior to selling my soaps I wasn't very concerned about the appearance of my soap - it was all function. Myself and Collier were the main users of my soap, as well as friends and family who received it frequently as gifts. One of the best things selling my soaps has done for me is to really encourage me to work on improving my techniques and focusing on new and interesting ways to create. I am aiming eventually to have a line where you can look at a soap and know what it is without smelling it - which can be really tricky considering I don't use micas (artificial colorants) in my soaps so can't just make them hot pink, neon yellow, etc. I spent some time drawing out my ideas this past weekend and this is what I came up with for the new and improved version of Rosemary and Oatmeal:

(AFTER)

Instead of incorporating the dried rosemary and baby oatmeal throughout the bar, I put oatmeal in the bottom (white) layer, topped it with dried rosemary, and then topped that with a layer of soap infused with rosemary powder. It smells heavenly, just like the old bar. But I think it's a bit more pleasing to the eye than its predecessor.

The Battle of the Bulge - week 3

2009-02-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

My current weight: 177.6
My current BMI: 25.5 (overweight)
Pounds lost so far: 7.4
Days of Cardio this week: 1
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 0

I actually changed my goal this week to maintaining my weight but was surprised to see that I actually did lose 1.4 lbs. I have been sick and flew to Utah and back and realized that this week my body really needs the energy and it was not a time to diet. I'm on the mend now, finally getting some energy back, though Coll said I still sound horrible :)

Weight Loss Tip of the Week:
This one is easy, but something much overlooked by motivated dieters. A time of illness is NOT a time to deprive your body of calories. The goal of weight loss for many people entails a transition to a healthier lifestyle but when ones body is being attacked by a virus or bacteria (or fungus or prion for that matter!), it is time to give up the dieting temporarily until it gets its butt kicked by the immune system. Now, that doesn't mean take the opposite route and eat nothing but ice cream and oreos until you feel better, but aim for feeding your body healthy calories, full of vitamins and minerals. This may seem commonsensical and straightforward but I have had to sit down and discuss this with patients in the hospital who just had a major surgery. If you are going to heal quickly you need to give your body an easily accessible form of energy (and burning fat is not easily accessible). So, until you feel better focus on maintaining the weight you are at (and not gaining any weight back).

Goals for Next Week:
Despite the fact that I'm starting to feel better, I'm still going to go a bit easy on myself this week. I would like to aim for 2-3 days of cardio and a weight loss of 2.6 lbs (which would take me down to 175 lbs). Stay tuned!

Have you seen this? From National Treasure 2

2009-02-23T21:06:00.001-08:00

Coll and I were watching National Treasure 2 on my computer this weekend and I had to use the bathroom so paused it...right at this moment. I laughed and said, "He's looking at the camera!" Lesson 1 in acting school = don't look at the camera, no? Ha ha...

This week's Etsy Features!

2009-02-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

This was a grand week for Kelle's Kitchen on Etsy! I doubt I'll have another like this for a long time.

Cosa Que Dudo Treasury
This gorgeous treasury was created by Etsy user DoYouFeelTheScent

Category Search Etsy Front Page (2/16/09)
This awesome front page was created by Etsy Admin by searching through the categories!

Oatmeal Etsy Front Page (2/17/09)
I was lucky enough to have my 7 bar pack chosen for this front page feature by Etsy Admin!

Pampering...just add hot water Gift Guide
2/17/09 was a great day for my shop! My seven bar pack was also selected to be a part of the Pampering...just add hot water Gift Guide on Etsy! I am amongst some awesome items from fellow B&B creators, some of which are also a part of the Etsy Green and Clean Guild!

I was also lucky enough for a few hours to be the second item listed in the gift guide so would sporadically appear on the front page, it was great! Look in the top left corner :)

Artificial Light
This beauty was made by NYCrochet who is a fellow member of EtsyVeg! It was a team treasury and an absolute beauty!

The Battle of the Bulge - week 2

2009-02-17T08:00:00.000-08:00

My current weight: 179
My current BMI: 25.7 (overweight)
Pounds lost so far: 6
Days of Cardio this week: 3
Days of Yoga this week: 1
Days of Strength training this week: 0

Well, I did ok this week. I stuck with my lower calorie healthy diet aside from our Valentines day meal, I was proud of myself for that! I did manage to sneak yoga in one evening but that is something I need to work more on. Strength training was a bust this week. I'm trying to find a healthy routine for myself where I can incorporate enough of these things in to keep a healthy lifestyle but also have enough time in the day to do all the other things I need to without feeling overwhelmed. That will take time, I'm slowly but surely getting there! I have many weeks to go (my goal is to be at my goal weight with healthy lifestyle patterns in place by May 15!), and I realize that this doesn't all have to happen instantaneously!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week: I have had many a conversation with patients about weight loss (I spent a month in Med School working with a bariatric surgeon which I LOVED!), and one of the biggest misconceptions, I think, is what people need to do to "exercise". Jot down the first few things that come to your mind when you think of the word "exercise". For most people they imagine a slim, fit person at the gym with a towel and a water bottle spending hours on a treadmill - or possibly someone running 15 miles before work in the morning, etc. I have heard, "I just don't have time for that" more times than I can count. My next step with people is to have them think of ways they can incorporate more physical movement into their daily lives and this doesn't have to mean setting aside a 1/2 hour or hour a day to go for a walk. Simple things like parking further from the store entrance, taking the stairs rather than the elevator, going down every aisle at the grocery store (even the diaper aisle if you don't have a baby!), etc. So much of the time people get drawn into this lazy cycle where we just take the easy route because exercise is time-consuming and we don't have the time! Staying active is what's important, every little bit helps!

This week will be a bit challenging. I've caught the cold that's going around the office, so with being sick I will need to be a bit more sedentary...asthma + cold virus in the lungs can be challenging. I also will be traveling mid-week and won't be able to prepare my own meals so will have to make smart choices. We shall see how things turn out!

My Day of LOVE!

2009-02-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd share the gifts my honey and I shared with eachother this Valentine's Day. I should preface this by saying that he and I are rather anti-commercial holidays, and he made this statement last week, "I love you EVERY day!" :) Romance is nice every now and then but spending hundreds of dollars on a fancy evening is not romantic for me. We had dinner with friends on Vday evening, it was very nice and relaxing!

Collier's Surprise:
I told him not to get me anything but was surprised to hear the doorbell ring and Coll say "The UPS guy is here" on Saturday. First of all, they don't usually deliver on Saturday, second of all, I actually do receive quite a few packages with soap supplies, etsy purchases, and other things but really couldn't think of anything I was expecting at that time! Well, he came in with an FTD box and was busted! He bought me these gorgeous roses! He said he didn't know what color I like so got a mix. Then he asked and I said...hmm...white maybe? I'm not a big roses person, I like lilies, irises, orchids, all of the gorgeous exotic flowers :) But I have grown roses before and we had a rose bush with gorgeous white roses that were more fragrant than I could have ever imagined. So, I liked those roses but growing them yourself always makes them more special. And I love the roses Coll bought me because they are beautiful, fragrant, and most importantly from him!

My gift to Collier:
I came across this awesome "Peace Crane card" on Etsy and knew I had to get it for Coll. It is from the shop of Unique Art Pendants, she ships a handmade origami crane along with a print on paper to the recipient of your choice. Shipping was super fast and the gift was more unique and meaningful than a card would have been! Coll has it on display right now but said that he wanted to save the box as he plans to save the gift for the long haul - he's not a saver so that's a big deal!

All in all it was a great day. Just the right amount of romance without being too sickeningly sweet :)

This week's Etsy Features!

2009-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Check out the awesome ways my soaps were featured on Etsy this week! I am so humbled and flattered whenever anyone chooses my items to be a part of their collection, it is such an honor!

...Inspired by Scones
The first treasury I was featured in this week was created by Jenna Designs. She has an awesome shop full of travel tissue cozies, onesies/baby items, photography, and so much more! She also happens to live just north of Milwaukee and we are currently conspiring to send messages back and forth in bottles. It would certainly help with shipping costs!

The story behind this beauty is that Jenna made scones on Sunday morning, realized the treasury would be opening soon, and decided to make something. She saw the scones and thought hmm, ok. She chose my sampler pack to fit within the color scheme she was going for - how lucky for me?! She has been trying for 2 months to make a treasury that makes it onto the front page and this one did! Congrats Jenna :)

.....Heartstrings.....

This gorgeous treasury was curated by Monarchdancer who sells fabulous knit items! She was inspired by the painting featured in the middle of the second row called Heartstrings and decided to create a treasury based around it. It was my lucky day as she chose my Strawberry Fields (Forever) to be featured amongst the other gorgeous items.

What's for dinner? Zucchini Omelette with Rosemary!

2009-02-13T08:00:00.000-08:00

This is an AWESOME and quick meal that won't hurt your waistline! I like to serve this omelette over two pieces of toast. Along with a small side salad and a piece of fruit, I've got a well balanced delicious meal!

What you need:
1/2 cup liquid egg whites
1 small Zucchini
1 tsp fresh rosemary
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
cooking spray

1) Skin and thinly slice zucchini. Chop rosemary. Set aside.

2) Spray pan with cooking spray and place over low heat. Let heat for about a minute, then pour in egg whites. Immediately lay cut zucchini flat on half of the pan. Sprinkle entire omelette with rosemary. Cover pan. (Omelette secret - to avoid having to flip an omelette over to cook the top, simply cover the pan with the top from a saucepan while cooking over low heat. The top will cook with the bottom)

3) Once top is cooked and the bottom is starting to slightly brown, cover with parmesan cheese.

4) Fold the half without the zucchini over the other half. You can serve the omelette that way, or cut it in half and serve over toast!

Soap Giveaway Winner!!

2009-02-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tiff from Canada has won a bar of my Orange Mocha Love soap! Congratulations!

There ended up being 81 people who submitted entries in time, so I had Random.org generate a list of numerals between 1 and 81 and the first number was the one I used. It happened to be 65 in that case so the person who posted 65th won - and that was Tiff!

For those who didn't win this time, thank you for taking the time to look at my shop and enter, and please check back next month for another giveaway!!

Meet...Zazu!!

2009-02-11T08:00:00.000-08:00

Another pet introduction is definitely in order, I thought this time I would introduce my almost 8 year old cat Zazu!

I met Zazu on 4/30/01, 3 days after his birth on 4/27/01. I was interviewing for a job I ended up taking at a Vet Clinic in Verona, WI. His mama (we called her "Mama Kitty") was taken in for a rescue organization as a pregnant kitty by the clinic. This is done frequently by Vet. Clinics, they will help local rescue by taking in pregnant mamas and then adopt out the kittens. It's ethically a great decision and also good for business - most frequently the adopters are current clients or end up bringing their pets to the clinic.

I didn't start working at the clinic until about a month later so by that time Zazu and his 4 male littermates were all strapping young lads! They frequently had eye infections so I had to put antibiotic ointment in their eyes on a daily basis. I will never forget the moment that I realized I had a bond with Zazu that was a bit more special than that I had with the other kittens. I had them all in a cozy cup on a cat tree while medicating them when Zazu peered over the side of the cup, looked right at me and purred loud enough for me to hear from a few feet away. From that moment on it was love. He used to ride around work on my shoulder all day like a little parrot. But I had just finished my freshman year of college and had one more year in the dorms so knew I couldn't adopt him. I just hoped he was adopted into a great home.

Weeks passed and he wasn't adopted. It got to the point where his litter was almost 12 weeks, I was head over heels for him and trying to find a family member to adopt him (no one wanted a kitten!), and I began to realize that if I didn't adopt him I would never see him again and I didn't know if I could part with him. At that time I was living with my sister (a Veterinarian) for the summer and I worked up the guts to ask her if she would ever consider allowing him to live in her home while I finished up my last year in the dorms with the promise that I would find an apartment to sublet as soon as the spring semester was over.

She actually said yes (can you say awesome sister?!). I will never forget the first time they met. I was with Zazu in my basement room at their house and she came down to see him during our weekend trial period, and said, "You didn't tell me he is an ORANGE KITTY!!" I didn't know it would matter! He then proceeded to climb up to her shoulder (which was quite the feat as she was standing!) and purr in her ear - she ws instantly hooked! Zazu lived with my sister and her husband, her 2 cats and 3 dogs, for 9 months. He was a holy terror at times but my sister really grew to love and adore him.

Since then he's been with me! He's been through 5 apartments since he and I started moving about, and everywhere he goes he adjusts immediately. He's one of the most easygoing cats I've ever met, he gets along well with animals of any species and plays the role of the "glue" in our multi-species household. Everyone loves him, it's hard not to. He and I will always have an extra special bond - he's my best friend for sure.

Zazu Loves:
1) FOOD. We've gone through 4 automatic feeders for him, he was able to figure out how to break into the first 3 models (did I mention that he's extremely smart?), until I stumbled upon my current feeder. The new feeder chimes prior to the meal being dispensed and he charges through the apartment when he hears that bell! (Note: Photo is of him breaking into one of our former feeders)

2) Dairy! Like a true Wisconsin cat...Milk is his favorite but Cheese is great, too!

3) Catnip. He likes it a LOT.

4) Sitting in the most inopportune places at the most inopportune times to demand affection. A Zazu specialty.

The Battle of the Bulge - week 1

2009-02-10T08:00:00.000-08:00

My current weight: 182
My current BMI: 26.1 (overweight)
Days of Cardio this week: 4
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 0

Well, I met my goal this week and lost 3 lbs! Yay! Reverting back to my healthier diet was a bit difficult at first but ultimately I feel that I have more energy and am more optimistic about things in general which is great. Of course there is room to improve - I need to work on including more cardio in my life somehow, and also need to start including yoga/stretching and strength training somewhere. But I forgive myself for not meeting my lofty goals during the first week, and I also forgive myself for the 3 meals I ate this week that were higher in calorie than I should have eaten. Life happens and thus any lifestyle that is realistic to maintain in the long run must be flexible enough to allow me to live!

Weight Loss Tip of the Week:
Eating small amounts of many types of lower calorie foods (diverse meals) can help you feel more full. Try it for yourself. Pour a bowl of your favorite cereal (a big bowl) - enough cereal and milk to account for approximately 400 calories. The following day, try the following meal which is approximately 400 calories as well: 1 cup cereal, 3/4 cup milk, 2 tbsp walnuts, 1/2 cup cottage cheese, small fruit (banana, orange, apple, etc.) Which meal makes you feel more full? The second meal also offers a larger variety of vitamins and minerals than the first. Now that's healthy eating :)

Well, that's it for this week! I am looking forward to another great week of a healthier lifestyle. I plan to make a great vegetarian meal for Coll and I for Valentine's day. I'd rather avoid the restaurants on that day and a cozy night at home is just what we need :)

**Goal weight for next week: 179. I would also like to aim for at least 2 days of yoga and 1 day of strength training this week.**

Etsy Find: Rooin' in the Rain Coat for Dogs by AcmeCouture

2009-02-09T08:00:00.000-08:00

I found this awesome doggy rain-coat on Etsy a few months back and simply had to share! Kermit LOVES wearing coats (I know, he's bizarre) and there have been several times that I have wished we had something for him to wear that would make walks in the rain a bit more practical. I stumbled upon this seller's page, AcmeCouture, a few months ago while making my first treasury. I was looking for a really posh dog coat and found a listing she had for a gorgeous plaid coat which I included in that treasury (which ended up on the front page!). I also saw these rain coats and thought now that's a great idea. Not only will it keep your dog's body dry when you go for a rain-walk, but it has a hood to protect their ears! I intend to buy one for Kermit someday, maybe closer to spring :)

In the photo are Jasper and Lily, the sellers two gorgeous greyhounds who have been retired from racing! A portion of her proceeds go toward dog rescue and greyhound rescue organizations which I think is great! The best part of it all is that all of her coats are handmade to fit your dog's body with your dog's measurements! Which is perfect if you have a dog who's body doesn't quite fit the doggy mold. And in my opinion her prices are extremely reasonable for such a quality item. Check here out here: Acme Couture's Etsy Shop.

Recent Etsy Features

2009-02-08T00:29:00.000-08:00

I have been fortunate enough to have been chosen for two gorgeous treasuries curated by fellow EtsyVeg teamers this week! Check out the screenshots below, and check out their lovely shops as well! All items from EtsyVeg team members are cruelty-free and vegetarian :) Yay!

Winter Garden: A touch of Green to brighten the Grey by NYCrochet

Time for Yellow:A Few of my Sunny Favorites by pandawithcookie

A trip to the "Puppy Park"

2009-02-07T22:07:00.001-08:00

Well, spring sprung in Milwaukee today. Of course my pessimistic boyfriend kept reminding me that it's just temporary, it will get cold and snow again. But I prefer to remain optimistic! It only gets warmer from here :)

To celebrate our 50 degreeish day, we decided to take Kermy to the puppy park. There is a park near the airport that we usually take him to for some legal off-leash time. It's set back from the road, is fairly large (enough to take about a half hour to make a loop through), and completely fenced. To sum today's trip up in one word, I would say this: MUDDY!

On the way in to the park, a man looked at our white bodied dog and said, "Whoa, have fun washing him!" We planned to bathe him today anyway so went in with an open mind. Kerm had a ton of fun, but our white dog was brown on his underside when we left!

He is clean and smelling fresh again now, thank goodness! It was a beautiful day, though, I'm glad I was able to share it with those I love :)

What's for dinner? Homemade Pizza!

2009-02-06T22:19:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying that this meal is NOT diet friendly! Unless you are a person who is satisfied by eating one piece of pizza. But, this is a quick and easy meal to make for a family and is way more fun than driving to the local pizza place to pick one up :)

Here's what you will need:
1 loaf of frozen bread dough
Spaghetti sauce (or pizza sauce but spaghetti sauce is great and cheaper!)
Shredded Cheese (2-4 cups)- I like Mozzarella and Cheddar
Toppings of choice
2 tbsp butter, margarine, or cooking spray
Canola or Olive oil

1) The first thing you will need to do is thaw the bread dough and let it rise. To do this, just coat the dough lightly in oil (I like canola) and place it in a pan, covered with plastic wrap (ensure that the piece is large enough so the dough may expand without being exposed to air - if your dough is exposed to air while rising you will get large air bubbles in the dough!)

2) Prepare a round pizza pan by coating with melted butter (for a buttery crust) or spray with cooking spray.

3)The dough will rise in about 4-5 hours to be double the size it began. At this point you can begin to try to stretch the dough to cover the bottom of the pizza pan. This will take time, be patient! You will need to stretch the dough and give it time to relax between - just walk away for a minute and come back to it, stretch it, then walk away again!

4) Once stretched, cover the dough with sauce, then cheese, then any other toppings you wish. I have, in the past, coated the crust with dried herbs which is quite nice. Broccoli is one of my favorite pizza toppings, I would highly recommend it. If you do choose to make a broccoli pizza, put the broccoli under the cheese as if it is on top it will burn. This is a really fun activity for kids - they can dress up their part of the pizza as they want!

5) Once pizza is topped as you wish, place it in a 375 degree oven for approximately 20 minutes. Check back on it frequently once it nears the 20 minute point - you want it to be golden brown with a slight browning of the cheese.

6) Let the pizza set for about 5 minutes before cutting. Then cut and enjoy!

Giveaway: Win a bar of soap of your choice from Kelle's Kitchen!!

2009-02-04T18:33:00.001-08:00

It's my first giveaway! The rules are simple:

1) Go to my Etsy shop and choose the bar of soap you would like to win (if chosen).
2) Come back here and leave a comment on this post regarding which bar of soap you would like to win. Don't forget to leave your email address so I can get in touch with you if you win!

Contest ends on 2/11/09 at 5 pm CST. I will choose a winner with a random number generator and contact the winner that evening - you win the bar that YOU chose if selected! Yay!

The Battle of the Bulge Commences

2009-02-03T01:00:00.000-08:00

I am going to lose weight and I'm dragging you all along with me! I am a bit embarrassed to be doing this "publicly," normally I'm a bit shy about my personal struggles and only share them with people very close to me, but I want this weight loss to stick this time so I feel that the more people who know what's up the more accountable I will be!

Here's the deal, in a nutshell. In high school I weighed about 155 lbs, and of course since it was high school I could eat whatever I wanted and never gained a pound. I became a vegetarian when I was 15 as well and didn't take the time to figure out cooking so ate a lot of side dishes. When I went to college I was stuck with dorm food for 2 years and all of the vegetarian dishes (aside from the salad bar) were chock full of cheese (I went to the University of Wisconsin, so of course it was!). I gained about 30-40 pounds in those years.

Prior to starting Medical School I decided enough was enough and got my act together. I limited my caloric intake and started exercising more frequently and got my weight down to 150 lbs! I was doing yoga, pilates, cardio, I joined a gym, I was eating more healthy than I ever had before and I felt GREAT! It was one of the first times that I actually felt pretty comfortable in my own skin.

It was easy during the first two years of Med school, all I had to do was attend class and study all the time, I could work most everything around when I wanted to go to the gym and get groceries and cook! But once 3rd year started and I was in the hospital all the time and traveling to be with Coll every other weekend I found it hard to keep up with my healthy lifestyle. Slowly things started to slip. I did ok for a long while, even if I was eating unhealthy choices I would eat smaller amounts. But slowly my weight started creeping up again. By the beginning of 4th year I was probably in the low 170's, before the interview season started I was in the mid to upper 170's and with the combo of the holidays and traveling/being wined and dined for interviews I've finally hit the mid 180's. I have decided it needs to stop. This is me now (Collier took this tonight):

Obviously I am wearing a fairly unflattering form-fitting outfit but that is something I used to wear to the gym and I remember it not being very snug at all. I tried to get into a pair of pants that I bought only a month ago and couldn't even zip them. It's out of control! I'm not comfortable with my body as it is, I want to feel and look healthy. I want to live my life in a way that people will respect, and the fact that I am going to have an M.D. after my name in a few short months only makes a change in lifestyle all the more important. People look to docs to be an example of a healthy lifestyle and right now mine just is not that. Mainly, I need to do this for me. I am happier in my life than I've been in a long time, I like where things are going. I may as well be happy about myself as well!

So, here's what I plan to do. Since it worked last time I will do the very same thing! Prepare healthy low fat low calorie delicious meals (really, I've got some great recipes that I will share!) to keep my total calorie intake between 1200-1400 kcal per day. My goal is to start squeezing yoga back in at least a few times a week and to try to walk Kermit daily (good for both of us!). I will weigh in once a week on Monday and aim to post my results on Tuesday of every week.

My goal: To lose 35 lbs by my Med School Graduation. This would put me in a healthy BMI range and back at the 150 I felt comfortable at (BMI 21.5), and back in a size 8 (I'm at a size 12 or 14 now). This is also a healthy rate of weight loss for my body at 2-3 lbs per week, which is my secondary goal.

My current weight: 185
My current BMI: 26.5 (overweight)
Days of Cardio this week: 3
Days of Yoga this week: 0
Days of Strength training this week: 0

I invite you along with me on this journey, I hope to share with you my struggles and my victories!

Goal weight for next week: 182

How was YOUR Superbowl Party?

2009-02-02T11:07:00.000-08:00

This is how mine went:

And now, that wasn't post-festivities. Collier fell asleep during the 1st quarter and slept til after the local news. I finally woke him up at 11 to go to our actual bed to sleep. I managed to see the end of the game (which was super exciting!), and parts of The Office between running around to package orders. All in all a good night :)

Mom's Holiday Kitchen - 40% off Clearance

2009-02-01T21:56:00.001-08:00

I just marked this lovely down 40% - I decided it's time to remove the holiday scent from the store and I only have a few bars left! I may re-make this bar without the holly berry layer on the top as an almond/vanilla combo - the scent really is lovely and sticks on your skin for about half a day. As Coll said, "I think people will like this one, people like to smell like almonds." And people HAVE liked it :) But it's time to find homes for the last few bars and move on!

The bowls that just need a little mending

2009-02-01T21:06:00.000-08:00

Collier returned this afternoon with two gorgeous bamboo bowls that his Mom had found and gotten a good deal on as whatever they originally had glued to their handles had come off. I would love to figure out some way to cover the glue on the handles and make these bowls gorgeous for serving! Any ideas? It wouldn't have to be dishwasher safe as I think we would always hand wash these beauties.

HELP? :)

What's for dinner? Three Bean Chili with Cornbread Crumbles!

2009-01-30T23:53:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite recipes - I make a batch of this almost weekly. It makes about 4.5 meals, after I make it I pack it in smaller containers and just grab one to take to work with me! This recipe is low fat and fairly low calorie - you could have a bowl of chili, a small side salad, and a fruit for about 300 cals. The best thing about this recipe is it is really difficult to screw up. I should know, I have tried every way I can! One time I forgot the beans entirely - I cooked the vegetables for about an hour and then realized! Not to worry, though, I threw the beans in and cooked it for another half an hour and it was SO good!

What you will need:
1 large (29-30 oz) can of Tomato Sauce
1 15 oz can Black Beans
1 15 oz can dark kidney beans
1 15 oz can northern (white) beans
1 tbsp canola oil
2 green peppers
4 roma tomatoes (or 2 bigger ones!)
1 large yellow/white/sweet onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 tsp chili powder
Dried red chiles (optional)

1) Start by chopping the garlic - I use a garlic press because I'm lazy, I would really recommend investing in one if you use a lot of garlic, it saves a lot of time! Then chop the onion. I like to keep the vegetables all around the same size so if you want a really chunky chili chop bigger pieces!
2) Put a dutch oven over a low to medium heat. Add the canola oil just so that the bottom of the pot is covered. Add garlic and onion and simmer uncovered for about 5 mins (until starting to soften). You can also add dried red peppers at this time if you wish - I like my chili pretty spicy so usually add about 4 of them (these are the small red chiles that you will usually find in the mexican aisle of your grocery store)

3) While the garlic and onion are simmering, start cutting up the green pepper. Add that when done. Then chop the tomato and add that! Now let the whole combination simmer uncovered for another 5 minutes or so.

4) While the vegetables are stewing away, start washing the beans. I dump them all together into a strainer and wash them really well (the "sauce" around canned beans is really high in sodium and we want to wash all of that salt away and leave behind the beautiful beans!). Once they are all washed you can dump them into the pot as well.
5) Now add the tomato sauce into the dutch oven.
6) And finally, add the chili powder. I usually go with a very generous (heaping) 2 tsp. Note here that if you wanted to add spice you could buy hot chili powder rather than adding the red chiles. I buy chili powder in bulk because I make this recipe so frequently and can only find mild chili powder in large quantities so that's why I do dried chiles!

7) Cover pot and bring chili to a light boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer covered for at least 45 minutes (I prefer an hour to an hour and 15 mins), stirring occasionally.
8) I test the chili for "doneness" by sampling a green pepper - I prefer my veggies to be pretty soft and the pepper is always the last to soften! If you prefer a crunchier chili you may want to stop cooking closer to the 45 min point.

9) If you put red chiles in, now is the time to fish them out. I like to count the stems when I put them in as they usually fall off and I want to make sure I got them all!
10) Serve right away or refrigerate/freeze!

I made cornbread to go with this meal, I cheated and used a kit - It was a Chili's restaurant cornbread kit which was amazing, really - very moist (I'm not a huge fan of dry cornbread). I crumbled some over the chili and had a small piece to the side as well!

Obviously with all the beans in this awesome chili, it is great for vegetarian or vegan folks. If you wanted to make this meal a source of complete protein, you could add some rice to the chili itself or serve it on a bed of rice.

The chili will keep well in the refrigerator, if you won't eat it within the week I would recommend freezing it. Bon appetit and enjoy!

CPSIA law

2009-01-28T16:09:00.000-08:00

So, I realize that many people may not have heard anything about the CPSIA law, but there is a blog-in about it today and I feel it is important for me to contribute. This law will obliterate any small business that was catered toward making things for children, especially if each item is unique. Though the law won't directly effect me, it will shut down many wonderful businesses on Etsy. I honestly hate to think about raising children in a time where the only things I could dress them in or they could play with are mass produced to the extent that the folks making it would be able to afford testing everything. Now, don't get me wrong, there is a problem with lead in the environment and I think it's great to try to decrease exposure but this is not the way to do it. I have attached a blurb created by two etsy sellers: Chichiboulie and WinklePots. This goes through how the law will effect our country as a whole as well as individuals. Currently there are many handmade supporters who are trying to get this law amended, if you are interested in doing something to help, check out the link to Etsy's Action Guide at the bottom of this posting.

"As parents and concerned citizens I’m sure most of us at one time or another have been confronted with the question of lead poisoning. But have you asked yourself what your government is doing to protect your children from lead contained in toys? The answer? They're banning toys, taking books from schools and libraries, hurting low income families, killing entrepreneurial spirit and risking putting the economy in an even greater depression than we've seen in decades. I'd like to introduce you to their solution: the CPSIA.

Do you know about the CPSIA? No? Then I ask you to take a few minutes to find out about it.

The CPSIA stands for Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, a new set of laws that will come into effect on 10 February, 2009 and will impact many, many people in a negative way. Make no mistake, this is very real. View it for yourself. If Forbes, the American Library Association and numerous other media are paying attention, perhaps you should too.

How will these new laws affect you? Well, here are a few examples:

To the Parents of Young Students:
Due to the new law, expect to see the cost of school supplies sky rocket. While those paper clips weren't originally intended for your student to use, they will need to be tested now that your 11-year-old needs them for his school project. This law applies to any and all school supplies (textbooks, pencils, crayons, paper, etc.) being used by children under 12.

To the Avid Reader:
Due to the new law, all children's books will be pulled from library and school shelves, as there is no exemption for them. That’s okay though, there's always television. Our children don’t need to learn the love of reading after all.
Article from the American Library Association http://www.wo.ala.org/districtdispatch/?p=1322

To the Lover of All Things Handmade:
Due to the new law, you will now be given a cotton ball and an instruction manual so you can make it yourself since that blanket you originally had your eye on for $50 will now cost you around $1,000 after it's passed testing. It won't even be the one-of-a-kind blanket you were hoping for. Items are destroyed in the testing process making one-of-a-kind items virtually impossible. So that gorgeous hand-knit hat you bought your child this past winter won’t be available next winter.

To the Environmentalist:
Due to the new law, all items in non-compliance will now be dumped into our already overflowing landfills. Imagine not just products from the small business owners, but the Big Box Stores as well. You can't sell it so you must toss it. Or be potentially sued for selling it. You can't even give them away. If you are caught, it is still a violation.

To the Second-Hand Shopper:
Due to the new law, you will now need to spend $20 for that brand new pair of jeans for your 2-year old, rather than shop at the Goodwill for second hand. Many resale shops are eliminating children's items all together to avoid future lawsuits.

To the Entrepreneur:
Due to this new law, you will be forced to adhere to strict testing of your unique products or discontinue to make and/or sell them. Small businesses will be likely to be unable to afford the cost of testing and be forced to close up shop. Due to the current economic state, you'll have to hope for the best when it comes to finding a new job in Corporate America.

To the Antique Toy Collector:
Due to the new law, you'd better start buying now because it's all going to private collection and will no longer be available to purchase. “Because the new rules apply retroactively, toys and clothes already on the shelf will have to be thrown out if they aren't certified as safe.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123189645948879745.html

To the American Economy:
Already struggling under an economy that hasn’t been this weak in decades, the American economy will be hit harder with the inevitable loss of jobs and revenues from suppliers, small businesses and consumers. The required testing is far too costly and restrictive for small businesses or individuals to undertake.

To the Worldwide Economy:
Due to this new law, many foreign manufacturers have already pulled out of the US market. You can imagine the impact of this on their businesses.

If you think this is exaggerating, here is a recent article from Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/16/cpsia-safety-toys-oped-cx_wo_0116olson.html

And for those of you prepared to be stupefied and boggled, The New Law
http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html

Did you know? If this upsets or alarms you, please react."

If you want to do something about this, please check out Etsy's Action Kit. It is full of links and numerous ways to make your voice heard and get involved.

Sorry about the Blog-cation!

2009-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

I've been bad - very bad. I said on my Etsy page that I would continue to update my blog while on vacation. But I didn't! Honestly traveling took more time and effort than I thought it would and I decided against updating on the road. In the past few weeks I've been to Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, Norfolk Virginia, and Charlotte. Along with home to pick up the cats and Panda. I'm now back in Milwaukee and ready to delve into this blog thing headfirst again :)

I still have one week of vacation left which I'm thoroughly enjoying! Trying to get my life organized - from taking things we no longer want/need (and thus aren't likely to want to move with us in May!) to charity, to getting my finances in order, to working on the Etsy store and this blog and opening a Flickr account.

Speaking of my Etsy store, I re-opened shop as a "soft opening" on Friday as I didn't have the time or energy that day to list new items. I started listing items on Sunday and have a few new things to offer:

The Garden

This newbie is probably one of my favourites. Its scent is complex but smells mostly like a sweet melon (and so much more!). We took a bar of this on vacation with us and I loved every minute of every shower I took :) It was made to honor my Dad's vegetable garden...but honestly smells nothing like it which I'm ok with! Love it.

Anise Musk

So I decided to go with Anise Musk for this one instead of "Panda-Man's Anise Musk". I figured it was more straightforward. The bar itself carries a fairly strong black licorice scent (our apartment has smelled of anise for the past few weeks!), but in the shower it smells a bit more musk-y which I think is nice. This is definitely a niche bar - Coll doesn't care for the smell of anise but put it best when he said that it's something someone will be crazy about and buy 5 bars at a time. It's not something for everyone, but I like it.

7 bar pack

And finally the newest way to save money on my soaps - the 7 bar pack. I wanted to make sure this was my best deal so have offered free shipping on this item to US customers, and discounted all international shipping by $5 ($6 to Canada, $8 internationally!). I chose 7 bars because that's what I can fit in a flat rate envelope and it made sense to make a separate listing for it so customers can get the most bang for their buck :)

Sneak Peek - Spa Clean (?)

2009-01-09T23:17:00.000-08:00

I just took this beauty out of the mold. Much like the other two batches of soap I have made recently, I have no idea what to name this one. I'm currently liking "Spa Clean" as it doesn't smell like anything in particular but reminds me of a nice clean but slightly exotic scent that you might find at a spa! The bar has a really clean soapy smell with deeper notes of ginger and orange. I added lavender to the bar in a light amount. I LOVE this one, but it is right there with The Garden (?) and Anise Musk (?) in that I really have to work on creative names and accurate scent descriptions!

Luckily for me, I have 2 full weeks to do so! Not only because all of the bars need time to cure, but I am leaving for more interviews and have a line of one-way flights all around the country eventually leading back to Wisconsin in the next week and a half. After that I will spend a few days at my parents house as they are watching the cats and Panda so I need to pick them up anyway and I will look for any "excuse" to spend a bit of time at home :)

I plan to spend some time during the coming weeks on the soap business. I need to order supplies (watch out Bramble Berry, here I come!), and work out a more firm business plan in the process. I have been reading suggestions from Anne-Marie Faiola's blog (founder of Bramble Berry which is my absolute favorite soap making supplier!) as far as business planning and vision and plan to use some of the tools she provides in thinking of where I want to go with my new business. I love her blog and think that her tips would benefit anyone who runs their own business (large or small!). Check her out here: http://soap-queen.blogspot.com/ .

Sneak Peek - Panda-Man's Anise Musk

2009-01-08T22:09:00.000-08:00

I have been absolutely terrible about blogging this week! I returned from Phoenix very very early Tuesday morning (read 12:30 am or so!), and just haven't found the time. I have some photos of Phoenix to share, but otherwise have been getting things together around the apartment in preparation for taking Kermit to my sister's house as they will be watching him while we are gone (my parents are watching the cats and Panda!), and my two upcoming weeks of travel.

I found time last night to make a batch of soap, and am planning to make another tonight - it's already midnight and I just want to go to bed, but I'm kind of committed at this point - if I don't make it tonight I won't be around to take it out of the mold! It's ok though - certainly not the first late or all nighter I've pulled in my lifetime!

The batch I made last night is tentatively called Panda-Man's Anise Musk. I might just go with Anise Musk, but we shall see!

It is a rather boring looking bar with a complex scent. The only extra I added other than fragrance is oatmeal. The scent is a combination of Anise, ginger/amber, and musk. I am interested to see what Collier thinks when he gets his nose on it tomorrow - I think it's probably the most man friendly bar I've made since Eucalyptus and Wasabi. My goal was to make a no-fuss no-muss kind of bar for a real tough guy.

Oooh, what a perfect time to officially introduce the inspiration! Since I'm waiting for lye to come down in temp anyway...

Panda

Panda is my 2.5 pound bunny - he's a true mutt of the bunny land, we think he's mixed somewhat with netherland dwarf, silver marten, and dutch. Maybe. I adopted him from the Wisconsin House Rabbit Society in 2004 as a roomie for Kiara. He was actually on loan from the WI HRS until Kiara decided he would be ok, it took about 4 months for me to finally convince them that living together wouldn't be so bad. It took maybe a year of living together before they finally fell in love. When Panda first moved in was also about the same time that Kiara was developing cataracts which subsequently turned into glaucoma. She was able to do ok with two eye drops and lots of love, but I think Panda really made her days something special. She passed away in May and I miss her terribly. Panda adapted well to not having her, I'm not entirely convinced that he was as bonded to her as she was him.

At any rate, prior to living here, Panda spent about a year at the WI HRS. He was there when I adopted my first bunny, and I thought he was the cutest thing! So little and SO curious. He was rescued from my hometown, the story as I understand it is that a woman living there opened her doors and set her home on fire. Apparently there were many animals, including bunnies, in the house - so the WI HRS went to the neighborhood and spent hours collecting the bunnies. Panda was a baby then so needed to be hand-fed, my understanding is that baby bunnies need to be fed at least once an hour if not sooner - so as you can imagine it was a lot of work! The Vet kept saying that Panda was so small that he wouldn't make it but he did. If they knew him as an adult they would never have doubted him. He's the most stubborn and demanding pet in the house. His favourite place is the loft on his cage - he spends half the day up there and will grunt and lunge at anyone who comes near. Very charming, ha ha. I wouldn't have him any other way.

One question I always get is how do the animals all do together? Aka "don't the cats eat the bunny?" Well, no, actually our household hierarchy is quite the opposite. Panda's the head honcho around these parts. When he is lonely he will go to Zazu as he knows Zazu will stay near him. When he wants to play he runs toward Shenzi then turns and darts away as he knows she will chase him. And he doesn't seem to care for Kermit much, but also has no fear. Our multi-species household is not much of a challenge anymore. The pets all figured out how to interact with each other and we just have to be half-alert for the very very occasional break in that order. But that is usually a cat (always Shenzi) out for dog blood situation, never to do with Panda. He's really scary for a little guy.

A bag o' fur

2009-01-03T11:10:00.000-08:00

I thought I would update from Midway airport in Chicago as I have a half an hour or so before my flight takes off. I've had quite the morning - missing my flight in Milwaukee due to my misunderstanding of the whole 3 oz product container rules (I haven't flown for a while!). I missed my flight by 2 minutes...so my options were to take a flight later in the morning to Atlanta and then wait stand-by for flights to Phoenix (which were all over-sold through tomorrow), or to check with other airlines and find if there were other alternatives that would still get me there today. SO, I ended up going with a flight out of Chicago with a layover in Denver. Collier came to pick up my larger bottles and transfer some of the product to smaller 3 oz bottles, we had breakfast, and I took the bus later in the morning. I'm hoping the rest of the day goes off without a hitch. I was going to go hiking today in Phoenix but I will have to delay that until tomorrow. Live and learn, and now I will be well-prepared for my other flights this month!

I got a parcel in the mail yesterday from Uniquely Yours! She is a fiber supplier on Etsy based in Michigan. She is the nearest fiber supplier I could find to Milwaukee who obtains her fibers locally and has them all processed locally. I ordered 4 oz of Alpaca from her as I am testing felted soap as a potential addition to my line. I like the idea of soap with a built-in washcloth that shrinks with use. I made my first bar last night - it's drying right now and Coll and I will begin testing when I get back. It's SO soft, I love it. I'm not sure Alpaca will be the right fiber to use, I see it done mostly with sheep wool but we shall see. I've also ordered some sheep fiber to try that as well. Eventually my friends/family members will receive a bar in the mail to try, ha ha...hopefully if I'm going to add these to my line they will be available in late spring/early summer once I perfect the method, find a consistent supplier, etc. Yay!

I had to laugh, though, yesterday. With 4 pets in the house we deal with a LOT of fur on a daily basis and I opened the package and realized that it was a bag of fur...and had to laugh. Granted it was shipped fast and in super cute packaging, but I am ordering something that is in ABUNDANCE in our home! Unfortunately I don't think people would be too excited about a Kermit felted soap....not quite the same idea.

Products I LOVE #2 - Ring from JenXCreations

2008-12-29T15:19:00.000-08:00

Time for another product I love! I actually traded soap for this gorgeous ring on Etsy from JenXCreations.

I will be the first to admit that I'm not a huge jewelry wearer - I forget to put anything on other than the necessary clothing most days, but this ring spoke to me. Its natural colors and slight sparkle will match many outfits that I wear. And it goes great with the beautiful necklace Coll bought me for Christmas!

The ring is made with the wire wrapping technique (that's about the most I can say on that as I really have no idea how to even BEGIN making jewelry and feel my lack of knowledge would be glaring if I tried to say any more!). It is called "The Best of Both Worlds ring". The beads are Opalite and Peridot and it is wrapped with sterling silver and gold wire. I was surprised by how sturdy the ring felt - I have never worn a wire-wrap ring and was concerned it wouldn't be very tough and prone to bending out of shape but that's not the case at all!

The ring came in a cute handmade box and was packed very securely. Shipping was fast and I was pleasantly surprised that day to open my mailbox to see a package made of Christmas wrapping paper inside! How cute! She also sent along some free peppermint tea which I have since consumed...yum. JenXCreations is an asset to Etsy. I love my beautiful ring!!

Better late than never!

2008-12-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post this Treasury that was on the Front Page on 12/26/08 with my 4 bar pack in it! What a beauty. It is called "Oh My!" and was created by LeelaBijou.

Just listed - Soothe-Me Chamomile Tea

2008-12-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

I just listed my Soothe-Me Chamomile Tea bar! It's a luscious combo of Chamomile/Green Tea chock full of Baby Oatmeal. This will be the last new bar I will post prior to my little necessary vacation in January for my interviews. Everything else will be posted after January 23 when I return! That vacation is going to do wonders for my shop - it's going to come back super strong and full of variety! Check it out here.

Sneak Peek: The Garden (?)

2008-12-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

I just took another new soap out of the mold. I am EXTREMELY excited about this one - it smells so amazing! This one is probably going to be called The Garden, but I'm not 100% on that yet. Initially I was thinking Dad's Garden but the scent is not extremely masculine and I don't want people to think it's a guy bar! I created this one with my Dad's backyard vegetable garden in mind - he grows an amazing variety of things and has always provided my family with a ton of fresh produce in the summer. The tomatoes and rhubarb were always my favorites, not necessarily for taste as a kid, but because the tomatoes were SO time consuming and had their own little cages. The Rhubarb was a family joke as it grew like a weed and my Mom was constantly going to neighbors houses to drop off bags at a time. So, this one is a combo of a Tomato Leaf and Rhubarb scent which ended up smelling a little melon-y? Kind of sweet, kind of fruity, kind of...indescribable. I'm going to have to think about this one and wait to see what the final scent is once the fragrance oils have time to settle.

This is already a fave of mine, though. I can't wait til it cures so we can try it!!

Just listed - Strawberry Fields (Forever)

2008-12-27T09:47:00.001-08:00

I just listed my Strawberry Fields (Forever) soap bar on my Etsy site!

I am really happy with how this bar turned out - the color from the rose hip powder is so berry rich, and it smells divine. I can't wait to hear what others think of it.

The best gift I gave this Christmas...

2008-12-26T14:45:00.000-08:00

As promised, here is the gift I gave Collier this season! I did sign a handmade pledge saying I would buy handmade this holiday season and most of my gifts are or were, but this one was something that I just couldn't GET handmade! So I did my best to make the wrapping as do-it-yourself as possible.

I bought him tickets to come with me to Albuquerque, NM and Salt Lake City, UT next month when I am going there for interviews. He originally was thinking of coming with me for those two, but his alternator on his car clonked out last month and he could no longer afford to without draining his savings. So, I thought about it long and hard and realized that finding a place to move where he will be happy is so important to me so I decided to bite the bullet and pay for his plane tickets. I have to pay for some of the hotel stays myself anyway, so it would be a fairly inexpensive trip for him.

Instead of just giving him a card with the tickets, I decided to tie things to a ribbon to pull out of a box. First, I put some of my books at the bottom of the box so Coll would think it's something heavy since the box was too big for me to hide in our apartment. I bought a few handmade cards from the shop next door and wrote on the outside of them with cut-out construction paper (which was probably the most time-consuming thing I could have ever chosen to do!). I made a "cover" of construction paper with a slot in the middle so that when he opened up the box he would see the first card on the top with a ribbon going into the slot. The first card is above.

This is one of the other cards - it was the first he would have opened that actually told him what was going on. Prior to this I had construction paper backed photos of the kitties, just to build the suspense! This one said "And Finally..." on the outside and inside I made a ticket out of construction paper that said Admit One to Albuquerque. I gave him the Salt Lake city one after this and said "And That's Not All!" on the outside. I told him prior to opening the gift that there are two rules - go slowly and you can't ask any questions until you are done. So, after opening the Salt Lake city one he looked at me and said, "But I still have to ask off work...you do realize that..." to which he received a blank stare and said, "Oh, right, no questions."

So, then he opened his itineraries - I had each one wrapped with a nice bow and made an envelope to put them in (again out of construction paper). After that was a card that read, "I know what you're thinking..." and inside that was his ticket for his return trip to Milwaukee, and an explanation - I actually called his boss and asked for him to have the days off as I knew Coll couldn't go otherwise!

All in all it was a fun thing to open and though he was really tired he was excited :) I'm so glad he will be coming with me, too, as traveling alone for a week and a half would really not be fun. What he needs more than anything is a vacation, so I'm glad I could give him that!

That's all for now! I'm about to start making another batch of soap...more details to follow :)

A great Christmas!

2008-12-25T17:24:00.001-08:00

We had a wonderful time with Collier's family this weekend. We laughed and were merry and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful time! The only thing missing was MY family, but luckily for us we get to see them next week for a belated Christmas at my parents on New Years day.

I got more wonderful gifts than I could have asked for, and had a special surprise when I returned home - the Christmas treasury I made was on the front page today! Hooray!

Some of the wonderful people I featured in the treasury are people I've purchased from this year (I'm wearing that awesome cranberry glove/scarflette set as I type this!), in the next few weeks I'll be posting about them. Others are people I plan to buy from in the future. I want to buy one of those awesome terrariums when we move to our new place.

Well, that's all for now. I'm going to enjoy what's left of Christmas day with my wonderful Collier and our little furry family. Well...Kermit's passed/partied out and the kitties are napping as well so maybe mostly Collier :)

Merry Christmas to anyone who reads this!

Three things I love on this Christmas Eve!

2008-12-24T09:55:00.000-08:00

1) The USPS

Those are presents for our mail carrier and the once a week sub. Why? Because they are AWESOME! We actually had a parcel stolen from our mailbox earlier this year (a sound conditioner aka noise machine I'd purchased from Amazon.com) and the manager of the local post office called me to discuss. Luckily, it was covered under Amazon's guarantee so they sent us another at no charge to us. Unfortunately we live along a highly traveled road just down the street from a middle school so we have a lot of local adolescents walking by - most of whom are very well-behaved, but whoever took the package obviously was not! At any rate, since that time they don't leave anything that would impede the mailbox from being completely closed (meaning anything larger than a flat envelope) and will always ring the doorbell with anything larger.

The second part to why I love the USPS and why I chose them to ship my parcels is that they ACTUALLY DELIVER when they say they will! Collier ordered a gift for his Dad that is to be delivered by FedEx Home Delivery and it has been rescheduled now for FOUR DAYS due to weather. I understand that they can't move as quickly with the snow, but it's a gift and if we don't get it today it's kind of pointless. Of course we can give it late, but the fun of Christmas is everyone opening their gifts with loved ones! The USPS, on the other hand, delivered two parcels for me yesterday. With a smile! I love them.

2) My awesome customers!

This is a new one for me this year as I've never really had my OWN customers before!

This is a photo attached to feedback from my first ever international customer! She contacted me after receiving her order and let me know that I checked the incorrect box on the customs form (which I greatly appreciated as I really didn't know which to choose!) and to check "other", and left wonderful feedback today including that awesome photo. It is people like her who make those hours stirring oils and lye together worthwhile. Everyone has been so receptive and kind about my new soap business, I just appreciate that so much.

3) My Family!!
Last but certainly not least, I adore my family (along with Collier's who are not technically "mine" yet but I think they and I would all say that the legal documentation doesn't really matter!) We are seeing Collier's family over the next two days, and we will see mine on New Years. I am SO excited to have time to relax with everyone. This is my third Christmas with Coll and his family, the first one was 2004, now 2007 and 2008! I am also so grateful for our wonderful pets and the fact that they have acclimated to all living together so well.

And finally, I am SO in love with my wonderful Collier. He makes my world go round some days - lately he's been carting me around after work to do all of my errands as my car is SO terrible in snow. Last night he took me to the paper store so I could buy paper for my new soaps, and then helped me dig out my car so I could move it to the other side of the street. He is very good to me, I couldn't have ever imagined or wished for someone this special. I got him a very very special gift this year, I think I am more excited about him opening it than he is (mostly because he has no idea what it is!). It took me a solid 4-5 hours to put together and wrap on Sunday. I will take photos and hopefully post them in the next few days. YAY!

Just like in Kitchens across the country...

2008-12-23T19:23:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I realize that having pets is not SO drastically different from having human children. Every time I make anything in the kitchen (aside from soap - the pets know they have to STAY OUT when I'm soaping!), they whole crew aside from Panda is right there. Watching my every move, waiting for me to give them something or maybe even if they're lucky, LICK THE BOWL!!

Today was no exception. I made Peppermint Bark this morning and Kermit followed me like a hawk. Once it was out of the bowl they were ALL begging for a lick.

Kermit even walked on his back feet for about 6 feet trying to get to the elusive bowl.

So, really - not so different from human children?

It continues to snow here. We got a few more inches today, and are supposed to get 3-6 more inches tonight into tomorrow. Yuck. Collier and I are still planning to go to his family's Christmases which are about an hour and a half away - the first of which will be tomorrow evening. I hope we are able to make it. Enough is enough with the snow! I need spring!!

Kermit bundles up

2008-12-22T13:57:00.000-08:00

It's been really cold in Milwaukee - on my way to work this morning they said it was 0 degrees and with the wind chill a whopping -25. From what I understand this cold front is sweeping the nation.

Because of the cold, I haven't taken Kermit for a walk since our trip to the puppy park on Saturday. Even taking him out to go poop on Sunday, he actually layed down on the sidewalk because he was too cold to move. This from the dog that can not get enough of snow and winter!

So, when I was at work today, I was talking with the doctor I'm working with this month about Kermit's anti-wind chill attitude and he said his dogs were faring about the same. I told him I'd considered buying him little boots to wear but know we are hoping to move somewhere warmer and don't want to spend a lot of money on something that he won't get any use of in the future, and he told me that they used to just put socks on their dogs! I figured it was worth a shot if only to see if he tolerated wearing footwear.

So I did it.

I put socks on each leg with a headband to hold them on. Unfortunately, the front ones came off in a giant snowbank (which was fun for me as I was the lucky victim who had to dig through and try to find them!), but the back ones stayed on! We ended up going for a 20 minute or so walk (see first photo) and Kermit was SO happy! No laying down this time - with his coat and his gloves he was fine!

A great last minute gift idea for the Animal-lover in your life!

2008-12-21T06:00:00.000-08:00

The humane society in Milwaukee has a program where you can sponsor an animal that is in their shelter by sending a donation. They then post on their "Angels" page that you sponsored the cat/dog with your message. This is one of the things Collier got me for Christmas this year! I knew about it a week or so ago as he put my name for the contact info and an email receipt was immediately sent to me. Oops! I actually almost called the humane society telling them I didn't make a donation and that they must be mistaken, but then saw Coll's sweet note :)

What a great gift idea for the animal lover who doesn't really need or want anything, though! The cat they assigned to Coll's donation is "Buttons". He was adopted well before I figured out the angels page thing, otherwise I was thinking of taking him some special toys for his stay! But he will have a holiday in a new home which is SO much better.

Oh, and I don't really want 20 cats. I promise. I just love them.

A soapy update

2008-12-20T07:35:00.000-08:00

It's about time I talked about what is new in my soapy world! I actually haven't had much going on, to be honest. I am lucky in that my boyfriend braved the weather to drive me to the post office yesterday to ship my last order for the holiday season out. He also drove me to pick up new packaging supplies and to get my prescriptions! He likes to drive in the snow - and my car was stuck where I'd parked it...so it worked out well! Things in the Etsy shop have been pretty slow, I think most people (like myself) are kind of shopped out! Since this is my first year selling, I'm not sure if I will see a resurgence in orders for the post-holiday times, but I am likely going to put my shop on vacation for at least a week and a half while I'm traveling the country for interviews, so my guess is I won't have my shop open enough to really know!

Treasury
I am currently featured in another Treasury! This one is called Simple Style and was created by Caitlin Plein. It's a gorgeous mix of magenta/gold/rich purples, I love it and am very honored to be a part of it:

Clearance Sale!
One little tidbit of news is that I am clearancing out my Neroli Lemon and Eucalyptus and Wasabi bars. The prices as marked are 25% off their former price (from $4 to $3!). These are my 3 oz bars that I was making prior to selling my soap and after deciding to sell I bought a new mold and have a new system that makes my current 4 oz bars. I also developed a new wrapping and labeling system that incorporates my shop theme and ingredients on the back. My sister just wrote me yesterday saying she likes the new soaps so much more because of all those things and I have to agree! I might continue to make Neroli Lemon in the future, but first I need to get these 3 oz bars out of my storage area!

Ideas for the Future
I am thinking it would be beneficial for me to have a "line" of certain soaps that I always keep in stock. I didn't want to do this initially because mixing scents and botanicals and natural colorants is my favorite thing about soaping! But, each batch only makes 25 bars and I think it is scary for people to buy a bar they've not smelled before! I am thinking of having 5-10 constant soaps that I continually re-make and then do a few limited editions at all times so I can continue to be creative! Right now I've got 4 more completely new soaps to make, then I might have to take a poll as to what other people would like to see me continue to make! I pretty much know Mom's Holiday Kitchen is out as that's not an all year round bar, but people really seem to love that bar so perhaps it will become a holiday limited edition on a yearly basis! So much to think about :)

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

2008-12-20T00:06:00.000-08:00

I haven't heard the official totals but we got about a foot of snow in Milwaukee today. Luckily for me, I didn't have to work today to begin with - I don't think I would have been able to make it in if I did! Honda Civics and deep snow do NOT mix well. Instead, I slept in a bit, then got up and shoveled our walk.

After work time is play time! I took our dog (Kermit) in the back yard and threw (snow)balls for him - he LOVES to leap through the snow and swim through it. Then I decided to try one of our cats, Zazu, out in the snow. Both of our cats are exclusively indoor only, but I have taken him out on a harness a few times and in the summer he seemed to like it quite a bit when I took him out with Kermit. Plus, he will lay in front of drafty doors and on cold flooring so he seems to like a chill. So, I took him out, put him down, and he sat and looked around. For a while it seemed as though he was kind of intrigued and enjoying himself. Then a big gust of wind came and Zazu was pelted in the face with snow. He freaked out, gave me a pathetic look, and said, "MeROOOOW?" So, I picked him up and held him and he was shivering so it was time to go inside. I did get a few nice photos of him, so I thought I would share them here. Zazu and Kermit can also be seen featured in my photos for Orange Mocha Love, the bar that was designed for them (Zazu is the Orange, Kermit is the Mocha)!

Sneak Peek - Soothe-Me Chamomile Tea

2008-12-15T18:52:00.001-08:00

There is another new kid in town! This one is called Soothe-Me Chamomile Tea. It's a wondeful blend of chamomile and green tea fragrances with just a touch of ginger/amber. The bar is also filled with baby oatmeal (aka the really flaky gentle kind that isn't scratchy!), and topped with Chamomile flowers. One of the more gentle bars I've made. Currently these bars are in the process of curing, they should be available for sale on my Etsy site at the end of December. Yum!

Sneak Peek- Strawberry Fields (Forever)

2008-12-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

I have a brand new batch of soap curing right now, I'm planning to call it "Strawberry Fields (Forever)". The full story will come on my Etsy page in a few weeks. It turned out gorgeous - a berry scent with grassy undertones to keep it earthy. I put strawberry seeds in the soap as well as on top, and rose hip powder to give it the gorgeous reddish color. It reminds me a bit of Red Velvet Cake!! It smells great, though - I can't wait to see how it turns out once completely cured! Here's a sneak peek unofficial photo:

Aaaaaand I've finally figured it out.

2008-12-12T16:31:00.000-08:00

So, for the past week I've been loving soap life - I've had an order almost every day, it's been "easy" for once...I'm not spending hours every day promoting, I was in a treasury, people seem to be finding me somehow without me really trying.

I was just in Etsy Forums and found this helpful post. It turned me on to a new tool called Featsy which will search etsy to see if you are featured anywhere (meaning gift guides and front page I believe...I think it's only if administrators choose you and doesn't search treasuries). Well, I found out that not only was I on the front page this week, but I have spent the week in the Gift guides!! I am so honored, seriously. And if finally gives me my answer as to why things have been suddenly different. I went a month without a sale...I know changing my photos helped a little, but I just couldn't understand how all of these people were FINDING me?! I suppose, really, changing my photos helped a LOT and posting the sampler pack was a good idea as likely the combo of those those two things are what got me on the gift guides.

Here is the gift guide I am in, Stocking Stuffers: