The Battle of the Bulge (to be continued)

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

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!