Owning a bottle of spearmint essential had long been a dream of mine. When I could afford it, either I didn’t think about it or my suppliers didn’t have it. When I couldn’t justify the expense… Well, there ya go. Finally, last month things aligned so that I could barely justify it when it was time to restock lavender oil, so I went ahead and splurged.
The bottles of oil came and… Ohhhhhhh!!! One whiff of the spearmint oil and I was blasted away in a zippedy-doo-dah moment of euphoria. The scent was pure, crisp mint that brings to mind amazing chewing gum and carried memories of my grandma’s out-of-control mint bed that wasted little time racing from its spot near their pool in the back up to the driveway. Suffice it to say, I was blissed out!
I’d been yearning for this spearmint oil for one simple reason: To make a spearmint-peppermint swirled soap. But how to design it? Then my Facebook memories reminded me of this stunning black and white mantra swirl I’d done ages ago and I thought, Why not? It’d been years since I’d done that particular design last, and it wasn’t particularly hard to do.
This is that swirl coming to be.
Sure, this soap is fabulous from the top side, but what about the slices? Unfortunately, you have to wait to see that as the soap is still a bit soft to unmould. The best places to check it out are my Facebook page and my Instagram feed; I’ll be showing off the slices around Friday of this week. It’s just two days away!
I hope you enjoyed this behind-the-scenes view of a swirl coming together. These beauties will be ready to add some zippedy to your doo-dah in less than 4 weeks. Be sure we’re landing in your inbox because email subscribers get first dibs on all new products. I just received a new fragrance today to try, so that’ll be one of my next soaps to show off to you.
*Note: For the sake of this article, “beach camp site” refers to a person’s or group’s spot on the beach. This might be towels and a beach bag, or it may be a 10×10 canopy, wet bar, lounge chairs, DJ, and separate play area for the kiddies.
Part of my brand is all about enjoying our gorgeous North Carolina beaches, and they are here for all people to enjoy, both tourists and locals. As the girls and I were spending a day at the beach today, I thought of how our beaches’ visitors, both local and touring, could make beach-going better for everyone.
A 30- second beach break
(1) Do not play music loudly on the beach. The beach has the best sounds: Crashing waves, cawing seagulls, and happily squealing children. Many of us go to the beach specifically to enjoy these sounds. Your loud music drowns those sounds out. You don’t actually have the right to play your music loudly enough to be disruptive to others. Sure, listen to your music; that’s what earbuds are for. Otherwise, if you wish to look at water while you blast music and get drunk, please do us a favor and do this in your bathtub or backyard pool. There was a group with a serious “let’s party” speaker on the beach today. I ended up moving our beach camp far down the beach until I couldn’t hear their music anymore. Never have I wanted to scatter bread crumbs around someone as much as I wanted to today. This brings me to my next point.
(2) Do not feed the seagulls (aka, beach rats). You may be thinking, Awww, how cute to see little Billy offering his fries to the seagulls! It’s so cool watching them flying around! It may be like you’re in a fun summer movie, but it’s not so fun for those of us around you. Do you know that stuff goes into seagulls, and stuff also comes out of them? Those in the 20-foot radius around you really don’t wish to get pooped on while you’re feeding the birds.
(3) Only smoke in designated smoking areas. Have you smelled the beach lately? It smells of wet salty air, ozone, and a glorious blend that can only be half a dozen different sunscreens. You may enjoy the pungent aroma of your nasty smelling imported cigarettes or cigars, but the rest of us? Not so much. And while we’re at it, please keep your butts off our beaches – your cigarette butts, that is.
(4) Do not litter. Do you love ocean life? Maybe you are big on ocean life because you’re a die-hard conservationist. That’s great! My younger daughter is, too. Maybe, you want to protect ocean life because – let’s face it – shrimp and fish make for good eatin’. Litter on the beaches eventually makes its way to the ocean where it harms and kills ocean life. No butts, no bottles, no cans, no plastic bags. Every beach access has trash cans available, and some also have recycling cans, too.
This simply comes down to, love our beaches and be considerate of others at the same time. There are a lot of little beach etiquette rules; I grew up with them, and they’re pretty common-sense things. Things like, don’t shake your towel out where the sand will blow on other people. Don’t run by people, kicking sand up on them. Watch out when you’re boogie boarding so as not to run into people in the shallows (sometimes unavoidable).
We want everyone to enjoy our fabulous beaches. It would really suck if someone came to one of our beaches, had a horrible time because of inconsiderate beach-goers, and forever after vacationed in Virginia, South Carolina, or Florida. It’s real, folks. People judge beaches by the type of people that plant themselves on them. My parents will never again vacation at this one particular beach because of people that were there one time. I myself avoid a certain beach for a similar reason (that, and the beach is narrow and crowded).
What makes or breaks a beach experience for you? Drop your comments below.
If you’ve been following me on social media and through my blog and newsletter, you know I’ve recently started doing yoga. I go to a class once a week and do some exercises on my own throughout the week. At the beginning of each class, Beth, our instructor, tells us to “set your intention for this time.” My intention is rarely the same week to week. This week, I may want to stretch out. The next week I might be focusing on building strength. Two weeks ago, mindfulness may have been my goal. Those are really three very different foci, and it’s pretty impossible to set an intention for more than one at a time. Sure, I can do the flow with mindfulness as my goal and still build strength and stretch out, but I can only concentrate on one intention at a time.
Doing yoga has helped me learn how to set intentions for each day.
The same happens in business. My intention for my business is to serve my customers the best I can. Another day, my intention might be more growth-oriented. These don’t happen in isolation from each other or any other focus I might have for my business on any given day.
I am using the lesson from yoga to impact my business. Each day, I’m going to start out by stating an intention for that business day. Today’s intention was transitional. Transitional days see me moving from the last major task to the next one. I finished clearing out the remnants of the lip balm order I sent last week and prepared to restock some soap. This transitional day was also a day of preparation: When my new printer crosses the threshold tomorrow, I will be ready with stacks of labels to print off.
By stating an intention for my days, I am doing more than setting a goal. I am declaring what I will achieve that day. Doing this today has energized my day. I have felt super-charged to make things happen, but only if they work towards my intention. Wrapping soaps that need to be wrapped is not part of today’s intention, so they will only get done after everything else is complete. They are, however, a huge part of tomorrow’s intention.
Do you set intentions or goals for each day? I encourage you to set an intention for each day, and let me know how that changes how you’re able to do life or work in the comments below.
This week, I’m going to let video rule the post. A couple of weeks ago, I made and poured a batch of Outer Banks Beer Soap. I didn’t record the making of this soap, because no one wants to watch saturated fats melt (5 minutes of boredom) or my mixing the soap (30-60 seconds of noisy boredom). Here I’m showing the pouring of this soap followed by the slicing of it.
So, what do you think of this little sneak peek? I don’t do them often, but every now and then, it’s fun showing off how we make the magic that we do.
I shot this quick video last night when I got home from Dance2Fit. This is real, y’all – sweaty, no makeup, hair pushed back in one of my daughter’s soccer headwraps to keep the sweat from dripping into my face.
I’d gotten home after a 75-minute workout, during which time I’d downed about 20 ounces of water. I wasn’t perfect; I missed steps and kicked right when everyone else was kicking left. Two things happened last night, though, that really fired off some pride and humility in me. First, the instructor praised how low my squat was – right after praising this other lady who was also killing the held squat. The cool part is, I admire and respect that other lady’s fitness level and how she does the class. She’s been doing Dance2Fit for years and really has the routines down. The humbling part came after a grueling 3-4 minute arm workout. I was walking around my spot and stretching out my arms when I happened to notice a new lady to the class was copying my stretches. Just like I watch the lady I admire, this lady was watching me. You can bet I was a lot more attentive to how I moved after that!
Genetics and a life of not making the best choices both ensure that I’ll never be skinny – not without some really dangerous behaviors or extensive and expensive surgery. And that’s OK. I’m getting stronger with every workout, be it high-impact aerobics, weight-lifting, cardio, or yoga.
For ages, society has equated skinny with healthy, and in some cases, that is certainly true. However, skinny isn’t the only shape healthy takes. While far from skinny, I’m in the best health of my life, not just judging by strength, but also by the numbers – blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, and glucose. I celebrate my healthiness and my strength, even while I continue to slim down my silhouette.
How are you building strength, whatever stage in life you’re finding yourself? Drop your response in the comments below so we can celebrate and encourage you.
Dieting is anathema to healthy living. I’ve seen it too many times to count. Back in the 80s when NutriSystem was new and hot, someone I know jumped on it; she was a “chunky” size 10. (Funny what was “chunky” by today’s standards.) She followed the diet faithfully, lost a bunch of weight, and looked GOOD. As soon as she met her goal, she got off the diet and started eating as she wanted (a large bag of Doritos in a day, for example), and all those pounds came back and brought friends. They settled in and never left, and now this person has a number of weight-related health problems. Both our dads have done low-carb – Atkins and South Beach – and we’ve watched the pounds drop while they followed the diets and the pounds come back as they started eating carbs again. Even I’ve done that in my life – reduced calories to lose weight, only to gain them back and more once I met my goal. That life isn’t for me.
This yo-yo dieting isn’t healthy at all. It puts tremendous strain on every part of the body. It slows down the body’s metabolism, actually making it harder to lose weight, especially around the gut and internal organs. Yo-yo dieting also leads to increased cortisol levels, which makes us gain weight. It can further lead to Type 2 diabetes and high cholesterol, both of which can lead to life-threatening cardiovascular events. In short, yo-yo dieting can kill you.
I don’t diet. I hate diets. I think they’re intrinsically flawed and doomed to failure for reasons we’ve all experienced. You deprive yourself of something (in behavioral psych terms, that’s called punishment), and when the “punishment” is over (e.g., you’ve met the weight loss goal), we enjoy the forbidden foods again and all those pounds come back with reinforcements. I saw similar behavior with my younger daughter last week. She abused the boundaries we’d placed on her tablet use during the school year – a day after getting it back from a previous punishment. She’d lost her Fire through the end of the school year, and we gave it back to her when she returned from a mission retreat. For two straight days last week, all I saw was the top of her head while she played games or watched videos on it. Her punishment was over, and she glutted on the thing we’d taken away. As a result, I began placing limits on her use, turning it into a reward.
I like food. I like the tastes, the textures, and the experience of food. When I want the food, I eat the food. It doesn’t matter what it is. I am tending to skew to a higher protein percentage for muscle repair from working out. However, I’ll eat a cookie or a serving of ice cream or a serving of popcorn. I try to reduce my carb intake throughout the day, giving my body more time to burn them, but I don’t beat myself up if that doesn’t happen. For me, it’s about moderation and grace. Could I eat a quart of ice cream? Sure. Do I? Not in a sitting. I eat that ice cream a 1/2 cup at a time over weeks, if not months. (That’s moderation.) Some days, I eat more calories than I burn. I don’t give up; I just get back on track the next day, and maybe exercise a bit more throughout the week to keep myself on track overall. (That’s grace.) I’m not a failure because last Tuesday I blew my calorie count out of the water at our anniversary dinner.
My breakfasts tend to be carb-heavy, my lunches more protein- and fruit/vegetable-heavy, and our dinners feature lean protein, vegetables, and, when possible, carbs from veggies (jicama, carrots, peas, etc.) more than from grains, rice, etc. However, when someone else in the house plans and cooks dinner, I gratefully go with what they fix and don’t demand a special meal (there are quite a few social reasons behind that that I won’t get into here). To their credit, they run their menus by me ahead of time so I can eat accordingly throughout the day. I only snack on days when I’ll be eating a late dinner because of workouts and/or soccer practice, and it’s something high-protein, like cheese, a glass of milk, peanuts, a protein bar, or a snack serving of Kind Dark Chocolate granola clusters (low glycemic index, good protein – and that stuff is AWESOME!!! in vanilla Greek yogurt).
I drink a LOT of water. Lately I’ve been averaging 9 cups a day. I have 2-3 alcoholic drinks a year, no more than 2 sodas a year, and maybe 5 glasses of sweet tea a year. Juice is rare, milk is less a drink and more a calcium and protein source, and my one mug of coffee a day is the source of my personality. I can’t stand artificial sweeteners and avoid them at all costs. It’s pure cane sugar or I go without, and since I don’t want to take in tons of sugar, I’ll opt for “without.” Besides, water is cheap; I got into that when I was in Div school and broke but we still wanted to go out occasionally without spending $2 on a glass of tea that costs the restaurant about $.08. (Plus, water keeps our urinary tracts functioning at their best, doesn’t destroy tooth enamel, and keeps the rest of our organs functioning at their peaks.)
The result of all this? Mentally, I know I’m not depriving myself, so I don’t feel like I’m being punished for being overweight, which is basically what weight-loss diets do; they’re punishment. Eating is necessary, but how and what I eat becomes a choice with consequences. If I eat too many carbs in a day, I really don’t feel good in my body. If I want a little sweet bite after dinner and eat 3 Kisses, then I have the pleasure of the chocolate and the “yay, me!” of knowing I’ve exercised will-power. I’ve lost about half the weight I want by combining eating well with a variety of exercises. It hasn’t been fast, but it’s been steady, and I’d rather be healthy for life than just lighter for a few months.
And even better? I’ve met my final health goal. Last week, I was able to wear my favorite black velvet choker to our anniversary dinner. Check it out!
My honey and me
And I’m still so excited about those shoulders! Woot!
Have you started living the healthy coastal lifestyle, yet? You don’t have to live at the beach to make the magic happen. And remember, the slow walker is doing far better than the couch potato. What steps have you taken to improve your health? Tell us in the comments below.
In this video, I share with you tips for living life more mindfully to reduce stress, lose weight, and increase creativity. Whether you think of mindfulness as a habit or a discipline, practice truly does make perfect. You’re not going to get it completely right the first time, and that’s OK. Give yourself the grace to mess up and to embrace the fresh opportunity to start over with the next day. Start with one minute and go from there. Remember, we’re flowing like water.
If you have questions about the effects of our emotions on our bodies’ chemicals and what that has to do with health, feel free to ask them in the comments.
Did you try it? How was it? I still have to work to bring my mind back to the now or to keep it from straying to the then. How do you feel after practicing this mindfulness exercise for a few minutes? Please let me know in the comments below.
When things get stressful, we all need a bit of time to chill out and relax. When you can’t escape town or get away to a spa, it’s nice to have options for relaxing at home. I’m sharing with you three simple formulations for easy bath treats you can whip up yourself in just a few minutes. Check out the video, then scroll down for the ratios.
Fizzy Bath Salts
1 T. corn starch
2T. baking soda
2 T. citric acid
3 drops essential oil
Mix all together, stirring to get out clumps. Pour into bath.
Bath Salts
2 T. epsom salts
2 T. coarse sea salt
3 drops essential oil
Mix all together.
Chamomile Oatmeal Tub Tea
2 T. dried chamomile blossoms
2 T. colloidal oatmeal (or regular oatmeal)
Mix together and place in a cloth bag or empty tea bag. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil. Place filled bag into pot. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 20 minutes. Dump into bath water, being careful to adjust water temperature to allow for the temperature of the tea. Discard contents of bag (if using cloth) after bath.
Which one of these sounds the best to you? Comment below to let me know which treat you made and how you liked it.
Spring means fresh fruits and the beginning whispers of fresh vegetables (asparagus, anyone?). As the temperatures warm up, we’re outside more which means different dinner menus. Our fare has gone from hearty and filling to lighter and filling.
Last weekend, our family went to a dinner party at a friend’s house. Our contribution was a large, fabulous salad that was a huge hit. It was fancy by our standards, and I guess it was a fantasy salad by everyone else’s standards, too. Maybe they also grab a bag of greens and toss salad dressing on them?
This salad was so refreshing and delicious that I just knew I had to share it with you. Best yet, it is super-easy to make.
Salad dressing to taste (I used 2 ounces of Balsamic with Honey Dressing)
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
*To make the candied pecans… Melt a tablespoon of butter in a small pan. Add a tablespoon of light brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Mix together. Toss in 1/3 cup chopped pecans and stir to coat. Let cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from pan and set on wax paper until cool.
We served this salad as a side, but it is also wonderful with chicken for a main course.
Throw this together for a mid-week dinner and let me know in the comments what you think.
Want to know the secret to my success as a businesswoman?
I’ve been in business for almost sixteen years. I’ve read scores of books on business and soapmaking, watched hours of webinars, sat in seminars, and spent time with my mentors, both in soapmaking and business. Business isn’t a one-and-done proposition; it must be a continuing journey towards growth and improvement.
Being a home educator, I obviously love teaching. Being a business owner, soapmaker, and cosmetic manufacturer, I love sharing that passion with others, teaching what I’ve learned through the years. Whenever someone comes to me with a true desire to invest themselves in learning, I’m happy to take time to teach them. I’ve even thought about offering classes in beginning soapmaking and setting up a small business.
One of the things that I’ve experienced many times is requests from newbies wanting my success. If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, “Can I have your best selling soap recipe? I want to sell them at the flea market this weekend,” I’d have my dream beach house and be comfortable for life. I thought those days were behind me. Then Sunday happened.
A local lady I know messaged me on Facebook: “Can you give me a crash course on making soap?” I explained to her that there is no “crash course” to soapmaking. I further shared that I spent six months learning how to make cold processed soap, and that’s the average. I have books on techniques, formulation, oil analysis, soapmaking chemistry, and labeling. This isn’t a quick and easy knowledge set; it takes time, dedication, and work. I quickly got the feeling that the lady wasn’t interested in spending time learning the craft; she wanted my best soap formulation so she could make soaps to sell in our local area. She wanted my 10+ years of knowledge and experience fast and free! I gave her what she needed, though not what she wanted. The lady wasn’t happy with this. She wanted the shortcut.
The “shortcut” to success
Just as there are no shortcuts in soapmaking, there are no shortcuts in life. If you want to be successful in any endeavor, you absolutely must invest the time to do it and do it well.
Business: Those of us with successful businesses are enviable, I’m sure. We have wholesale accounts, websites, active social media accounts, and a customer following. We make it look easy, because no one sees the work we put in after hours (like right now it’s after 10:30 p.m. as I type this). My friend and I put it, “It takes a lot of time and hard work to become an ‘overnight success.'” Some people seem to have that one magical idea that nets them a small fortune seemingly overnight, but those people are few and far between. The rest of us put in a lot of work, sweat, and tears into making our dreams profitable.
Fitness: You’ve probably seen the great, awesome boiled egg diet that kept popping up all over social media a few weeks ago. Lose 24 pounds in 2 weeks with the boiled egg diet! This diet has nothing to do with eggs, though they’re great sources of low-fat protein. The diet is very close to keto and extremely low calorie. A quick estimate of calories indicates maybe 1000 calories a day and very few carbohydrates with this diet, so losing weight will be quick – and temporary. Those pounds won’t stay off once the diet is over. If you want lasting weight loss, deprivation isn’t the way to go. You’ve got to make lasting life changes, not temporary weight changes, if health is your goal.
Peace of Mind: Who doesn’t love a trip to the beach or the mountains? We breathe in the fresh air and the change of scenery helps us unwind. When we get home, though, it’s like all the stress and pressures quickly envelop us again. That’s why I developed my beach-inspired soaps, so you can bring the beach home. If you want to de-stress and stay calm, relaxing needs to be a daily goal. Yoga, meditation, or just getting off by yourself to chill for a bit will help lower the stress, which will, in turn, improve other areas of your life.
So what’s the secret to my success? Hard work. Studying. Learning from others. Making material investments in my improvement. Years of experience. And years of mistakes. Part of the joy of rebranding was starting fresh with all my years of experience as well as the lessons learned from my mistakes – lessons I happily pass along to others. And underscoring it all, I work with integrity. A business owner can have vast amounts of knowledge and experience, but if they lack in basic integrity, then their business lacks in other ways, too.
What are some of the secrets of your success? Please share them below.
