marlafb2000’s Neighborhood

I call these the "whisper colors." Ginger Lime is a lovely clean and on that is Fresh Linen. The barely there peach is scented with a combination of coconut with citrus and spice notes that I just designed this week and I call it Caribbean Coconut. It's yummy! On that is a pale yellow honeysuckle, a lovely fresh clean Spring scent. The white/cream combination is Sweet Almond which is what you'd expect with a touch of nutmeg that really is marvelous, and there is oatmeal for exfoliation. Finally, Yellow Rose Mint is a lovely fresh floral/minty scent that I've worked on for some time. It has green tea and calendula petals in it for added skin pampering texture.

These are the "cool cats" of the collection: The pale green is Ginger Lime (pictured above also), the brighter green is Lime Basil with basil in the soap. There is a turquoise inspired soap in a sweet spicy scent and Robin's Egg which is a combination of evergreens and some exotic spices/floral notes and poppy seeds for exfoliation. The purple is Amethyst Lilac which is a lovely Spring floral. And finally a classic Lavender Vanilla with lavender buds in it. I'm lovin it!

Almond Blossom is the layered pink soap, Robin's Egg is the blue with a combination of evergreens and some exotic elements. The green one is Lemongrass Sage and has proven to be a favorite with my clients. And finally the classic Lavender Vanilla. 

Jasmine Clementine has calendula petals in it for a lovely golden amber color. The floral citrus in this one is especially nice. The lime basil is mentioned above. And finally the best selling Raspberry Black Pepper is my personal favorite. Raspberry is usualy a bit too sweet, but that unexpected hit of Black Pepper just makes this one sing. I sold out of this one at the show this morning. 

These two are for all the people who walk past my booth at a show and talk about eating the soap.  Mint Truffle is Chocolate, Cocoa and Crème de mint.  The other is Chocolate Cream Pie with oatmeal in the pie crust for extra skin pampering fun.  Yummmm!  All the treat with none of the calories.  A customer today told me that they had purchased chocolate soap (elsewhere) and left it on the kitchen table.  The teenaged son took a chomp out of that thing... which I imagine was rather disappointing.  They laughed and laughed.  Silly humans!   

And a client today thanked me that I wasn’t making those huge chunks of soap.  She just said that a friend had purchased a large bar and just wondered when it would EVER end.  Always leave them wanting more.

 

 

 

I’ve had a great week!  Early this week I woke at around 5:30 am as the sun rose to help roof the house that my husband grew up in.  It was hard work, but working in those early hours made it much more comfortable.  It quickly grew hot by 11:00 and by then my muscles were screaming and my back was hurting so I’d pass on the work to others.  Again after supper I was up with the rest of them on the roof laying shingles.  At about 7:00 pm the temperatures started to come to a more comfortable place, it was still hot and for a while the sun was in our eyes but I have a sense of accomplishment that there is a roof in Northern Indiana that I helped apply.  Now I don’t get to do that every day, nor would I want to.  But it was a welcome change of pace for me.

By Wednesday I had a pain places in my right shoulder and back from wielding the nail gun and pulling on the air hose.  We got up early once more to pack the van and get started on our journey back to Virginia.  I caught up on some missed sleep then and with some pain relievers and two of those 12 hour heat patches on my back, life became bearable once more.  Picking up our girls from the doggy hotel was a highlight, we were all glad to see each other!

 

 

Thursday and Friday are a blur.  I made and wrapped over 300 bars of soap.  I must have actually made about 500 bars, but only wrapped a portion of them.  It was two really long days but I came out with quite a few new fragrance/color combinations and I’m really happy with how they turned out.

Early this morning I set up my booth at the Farmer’s Market and sold soap for four hours straight.  I sold out of my favorite Raspberry Black Pepper and made a big dent in the other kinds as well.  It was my best market day yet and I came away very pleased with the week’s work.  And I heard from various visitors that they’ve seen my soap in a local shop and so I know that my wholesale account is enjoying success as well.  That was very nice to hear!

I did a little shopping at the Farmer’s Market today as well.  I bought green peppers, purple peppers, zucchini, yellow straightneck squash, yellow plums,  purple plums, red skinned potatoes, yellow tomatoes, and the biggest blackberries I’ve ever seen in my life!  Ohhhh, YUM!  I’ve never been a Farmer’s Market shopper but I’ve quickly grown to love it!  Oh, I almost forgot – I bought a couple chocolate whoopee pies from some Mennonite boys, oh they are so good.  And remind me so much of my youth though my mom didn’t make them often because they are so much work. 

 

 

Toward noon I had grown exceedingly hungry so I quickly stepped away from my booth for a moment to find something to eat.  I came across a Lindser Torte with raspberry filling and snapped it up.  No, it’s not what I’d consider a healthy meal but it was right there under my nose beckoning me.  And after the first bite into that thing I was in heaven!  Customer’s were walking by and I was ignoring them over the bliss that was that torte!  Heavenly days, I ate every single last crumb!  It was baked by a lady who used to be an investment banker in New York and thought she’d rather be baking.  I’m thinking that was an excellent career move for her, or at least one I’m grateful for. 

 

To top off my marvelous day, I happened to be in a new location this week and I really liked it very much.  There were some shade trees though the temperature in my booth (in the shade) still made it to 91 degrees.  But the amazing part was the lady next to me selling orchids.  Oh my goodness, they were amazing!  So I treated myself to the most beautiful vibrant fuchsia orchid I’ve ever seen.  Her product and mine were hitting the same demographic so we hope to be side by side again. 

I came home, washed off some of the sweat and headed for bed.  I’m going to take it easy this evening.  I’m really pleased with my week!

Cars and Football (soccer, if you're perverse and convinced that football is a sport with helmets and padding and frequent stoppages)

I used to work at a bakery here in town, and one day a camera crew from Rosetta Stone came through and photographed a cake in different stages of being decorated.  They got shots of me with the cake as well as some models they brought along and staged a variety of situations.  As it turned out, they offered my boss a copy of the software if she was interested.  I found out a few days ago that a copy of the Rosetta Stone Spanish course – the Latin America version was waiting at the bakery to be picked up.  I just dropped by there today after the farmer’s market and picked up the box.  This is level one and retails at $219.  There is also an online option for immersion language training.  Shane has got the box out and is already into the software and I guess I’m waiting my turn.  But so far we are both very impressed with the gift!  So a huge “THANK YOU!” to Boss Lady at the Bakery for my brand new copy of Rosetta Stone software!  And thank you Rosetta Stone!  We are very grateful and I’m looking forward to learning the language that my children speak. 

http://www.rosettastone.com/

 

"There's only one way to succeed in anything
and that is to give everything."
- Vince Lombardi

Finally home!  Yes, it was a marvelous trip, though completely exhausting!  So I’m here with my girls curled up in their usual places, they seem none the worse for their week at the doggy hotel.  The lady that kept them said they were "bossy."  LOL!  We've got two bossy bitches!  We are all in our usual places tonight and all is well with the world.  It is good to be home.  I am soooo tired!  I have had some serious back pain today from helping with putting on the shingles (yes, I love me some nail gun power tool!)  but hopefully that will fade away soon enough and I’ll be back to normal. 

I sold a tremendous amount of soap over the last while.  There was a huge wholesale order, followed by sales at the fund raiser.  Then there were a few private sales from friends of family and family and now I’m down to the bottom of the box and I’m going to be scrambling this week to get enough product together to even do the show this weekend.  I've been out of town so making more wasn't an option.  Now that I'm home, my "to do list" is set!  It’s going to be a busy week!

So I read this book,

 and it was lovely.  It continues the trend of me reading the Terry Pratchett's Discworld series in order.  This was the story of what happens when DEATH (who only speaks in capital letters) finds out that he's about to die. So he decides to really live for a change, and chaos ensues...due to all the left over life force that isn't ferried away from the world.  This has turned out to be the most endearing of the Discworld books I've read so far.  Reading it so soon after my uncles death was odd, and yet this book really touched me.  It explored how important accomplishing something, no matter how small, with your life is, and also the satisfaction of doing what you're meant to well.  I enjoyed it, chuckled quite a bit, was delighted to experience an un-dead Wendall Poons, and the anthropomorphizing of   the shopping trolley's.  I'm very amazed that Pratchett can do so many different stories without repeating himself, or sounding redundant.

Then I watched this movie: 

and was pleasantly moved.  The previews set it up to be this somewhat raunchy story of a blind man trying to get laid, but it really wasn't (thank goodness).  Instead of being sophomoric, it was an endearing look at the hidden struggles of life, if you're a little different then the people around you.  It was a precious, albeit too neat, love story, and a meaningful discussion of what is real beauty.

Then I went to the theater and saw this:

  I had wanted to see it for some time, because the previews (early ones where he's just doing his job, then sees stars) made me teary-eyed.  I have to say that for the first time in a VERY LONG TIME I have seen an animated feature that has such depth, such grace, such beauty, and conveys such complex emotions. (Sorry for the over use of such).  I also liked the message behind the story, of taking care of our own messes and, again, take pride in doing what you're meant to, well.  I laughed, and I was deeply moved, and surprised that I walked out of the theater with much to ponder.  Also I should note that I was expecting to think of Johnny #5 (geek points if you get the reference) frequently throughout this movie, but I didn't, not once.
Then I came home, and as I was getting ready for bed I watched this:
Can I just say...Joss Whedon is my hero.  I loved it.  It was well done.  I can't wait for the other episodes.  AND I love the way he's challenging entertainment industry status quo.  Plus there's singing.  Nathan Fillion Singing.  Suit Up Dr. Horrible, this is going to be.....wait for it.....Legendary!

 

This is my beautiful grandson Kylen. He will be two in October. I got to see him this week and it was wonderful! I'm pretty sure this trip solidified our decision to move back south. While I refuse to move to Mississippi where he and my daughter and parents live, I have agreed to move back to Montgomery, Alabama where we also vacationed (if you can call it that) last week. My daughter will soon be moving to South Carolina anyway, which will only be a 4 hour drive from us in Montgomery.

So the other day I got home the there was mist rising from the lake.