Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab: Here's Your Chance for Some Deals!

I've had a minor obsession with Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab for years. They are very sneaky. All their descriptions and limited editions perfume oils make you want to buy them...really bad. It's finally gotten to the point where I have way more perfume oils than anyone could ever need, or wear. Of course, given my luck, my favorite blend (Ile de la Tortue) was discontinued and I haven't been able to get a hold of a few back up bottles yet, but I am definitely working on it.

Okay, that was a little ridiculous, this is suppose to be a post about how I'm selling a bunch of excess BPAL on ebay and instead I end up talking about bottles that I need to buy. YOU SEE HOW GOOD THEY ARE!?

Sniff Sniff

There were a couple bottles and imps (Black Cat, Bayou, and Jolly Roger) I wasn't able to give up in the end, but I forced myself to list over 60 imps - most of which are limited edition (and discontinued Gaiman/Stardust) - and a TON of bottles including Yule 2006, Halloween 2007 and 2008 and some general catalog bottles.

So if you're interested in any of these bottles, or want to see what all the hype is about, here's your chance to score some BPAL on the super cheap :)

The Cherry on Top of the...Oatmeal.

I got these amazing cherries at the From Scratch Club Swap a couple weeks ago. I wasn't sure what to do with them - they seemed too delicious to bake into a pie. So I added them to my breakfast. So good. In fact, as I write this post, I think I'm going to go make some more...

Oats boiled in coconut milk, cottage cheese, walnuts, sour cherries.

Trust me, it's amazing.

The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep?

this is my life.

 I probably only sleep through the night a few times a week. Most of the time I wake up after four or five hours, sometimes I fall back asleep right away and sometimes I'm up for an hour or so. A lot of the time I feel frustrated, or am in a half sleep half awake state. The same thing happens to Tony now and then, and if he can't immediately go back to sleep he might get up and do work for a few hours.

A few days ago Tony was telling me about this theory that humans aren't really suppose to sleep eight hours at a time, and I found it really intriguing so he went out and tracked down the original article for me -

The Myth of the Eight Hour Sleep

It is super interesting! Basically there is strong historical evidence that prior to the 17th century and the advent of widespread artificial lighting people had what was called a "first sleep" and a "second sleep." There was really no point in wasting money on burning candles or using artificial lighting after dark, so people would go to bed at dusk. Generally they would sleep for about four hours, then wake up for a few hours before "second sleep." During this interlude most people stayed in bed, would read, talk with their partner or meditate or just think,

In many historic accounts, Ekirch found that people used the time to meditate on their dreams. "Today we spend less time doing those things," says Dr Jacobs. "It's not a coincidence that, in modern life, the number of people who report anxiety, stress, depression, alcoholism and drug abuse has gone up."

Or maybe they would have sex, since there's documentation of a doctor recommending couples wait until second sleep to do the deed - but some would get up and go visit neighbors and have a chat. Why have I never heard of this before!? I think this is totally crazy awesome!

This seems so much more natural to my body than being dormant for eight whole hours at a time. Once I get the time I might look into it more and pick up the book At Day's Close: Night in Times Past.

I wonder if anyone practices segmented sleeping today? Like I said, it seems so much more natural for my body, but at the same time society is no longer structured in a way that would make acceptable, and certainly not easy. Maybe sleeping from 8 or 9pm until midnight and then again from 2 or 3am until 7am? I really want to give this a shot! Maybe I'll take a week and experiment.

What do you think? Am I alone here?

On a related note, the BBC also has this thing called the Sleep Profiler, which is really interesting. I got a 65%, so my sleep pattern is mostly optimized. It gives you tips for how you can get a better sleep, which I think is pretty nifty.

p.s. I also like this because Second Sleep reminds me of Second Breakfast, which is also another brilliant idea...

Got Some New Loot! LUSH Massage Bar Reviews

So I got some new LUSH loot the other day with a gift card my sister had given me for Christmas. It's literally been years since I ordered any LUSH offline and I was hoping they had changed their shipping policy, but nope. Even though there are many stores in the United States, including one a few hours away from me, my order was shipped literally across the continent from British Columbia to Upstate New York. That's literally as far apart from one another as you can get in North America. Not to mention it takes time to go through customs and such. The whole process took about 10 days and who knows how much oil. I'm definitely back to not ordering online.

My order consisted of a bunch of Mud Flats soap (love it, works wonders with KP), Alkmaar soap (also love it, but it goes super fast), Hottie massage bar, and Strawberry Feels Forever massage bar. Here are my reviews of those massage bars, as well as others that I've tried.

LUSH tins are nice, but a plastic baggie is more effective.

Bewitched -Okay, I really like this scent a lot and would definitely repurchase this bar. It does have a very lime scent, but I liked it, it's much more subtle than Each Peach. I thought it was nice for both a summer scent as well as for use before bed. I got it quite some time ago and I feel like it didn't melt and absorb as well as other massage bars, but at the same time, many of the other bars melt really fast. I think that an ex boyfriend swiped it, which I'm still peeved about, so I think I'll give it a try again when I run out of my current massage bars.

Each Peach (And Two's a Pair) - I have a mini bar of this from a gift set and I really like it..although I don't think it smells like a peach at all. It's super bright and citrus. It's excellent for waking you up from brain fog. I very much like the scent and moisturizing of this bar - also, the scent will stay with you the entire day, so if you wear perfume you might want to think about forgoing it for that day or choosing something that will go well with it. I am most inclined to use it in the mornings and/or in the summer. It's very crisp and fresh, and in the winter I'd prefer something that had some more warmth and musk to it, but it's great for the summer.

Hottie Massage Bar - So I used this the other day...I wasn't a big fan of the scent, but the description said "Aromatherapists recommend black pepper oil for poor circulation and aching muscles. We use it in Hottie for the radiating warmth of the oil," so I thought I would give it a try since I have had some back pain lately. Personally, I didn't feel any benefits or "radiating warmth" from the black pepper oil. Not to mention the nubby parts melted most of the way off after one good use, so its not like you can really work any knots out with them. I'm also not yet convinced it's actually doing anything special for my sore muscles. However, it did work great for lubrication and skin moisturizing. That being said, since the only benefit of it is as a standard massage bar, in the future I won't repurchase and instead I'll go with a bar that has a scent I like more.

Sore Labours - So how weird is it that when I went to the website to get the link my official review for this massage bar was featured? BANANAS! Here's what I said " I love this! I used this the morning after my first workout of the season (the kind that leaves you unable to sit down or go up and down stairs), and felt SO much better. My only wish is that it was larger so that I could rub it all over my body! It is kind of little =/ It also made me smell like chai tea for the entire day."That's all true. I love this scent (chair tea), and I do find it soothing for my muscles. I would use it as a regular lotion as well, especially in the winter. My only complaint is that it is half the size of a regular massage bar but is just as expensive, if not more.

Neither looks nor smells like a strawberry.

Strawberry Feels Forever - This massage bar has excellent reviews, but I'm not convinced. I haven't used it yet but be warned, it doesn't really smell like real strawberries. At all. Instead it smells like fake strawberries from a scratch 'n sniff. A few of the reviews on the website mentioned this, but also gave it super high ratings - it's got a 4.4/5 and 190 reviews. I, on the other hand, find the scent to be kind of barfy. Tony is NOT a fan of the scent at all, so I don't think he would appreciate me (and our sheets) smelling like an '80s strawberry scented plastic toy. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Some reviews say it soothes itchy skin so I might try it out, or I might give it away.Oh, as a side note, the bar itself is kind of ugly, it's like a faded orangey pink, like something you left out in the sun too long, definitely not the pretty light pink on the website.

Therapy - This bar did not appeal to me at all. I'm not even sure how I ended up with it or why I would buy it. Now, I am typically not a lavender fan, so that is probably why. The main scent is the cocoa butter, which I generally like, but honestly you can get that scent in just about any cocoa butter lotion, which you'll probably get more of for less cost. I guess the moisturizing properties of this bar might outweigh the scent for most, but I have no desire to smell like that all day. I've heard that the new 100% organic version of this bar also has orange oil in it, so maybe it's improved the scent?



I am editing this to add that tonight we learned that Tony is extremely allergic to Each a Peach (he was giving me a foot massage because he is amazing). Good thing it was only on his hands!

Dinner at Fifty South (is Awesome and Bizarre)

Tony doing his best Downton Abbey impression. I loved their teacups <3

 As you may know, I am a bargain fiend. And I like food. Consequently I have become a Groupon Addict. I've had a groupon for Fifty South burning a hole in my account for a couple months, and since Tony and I were going to be in the Saratoga area picking up half a case of my favorite wine, I decided it would be a great time to grab dinner.

Fifty South's big claim to fame is the fact that the majority of the ingredients are local. In their own words,

We are dedicated to making good, wholesome food, affordable and tasty while using local and regional farmers, fair trade, organic and bio-dynamically farmed products wherever possible, while leaving as small an environmental footprint as possible

Unfortunately, I forgot my camera. After some cursing, I decided I could make do with my camera phone, so apologies for the craptastic photos. I just want you to know that I irritated several older, much wealthier couples, who were definitely not using groupons, in order to take these pictures for you.

When I first entered the restaurant I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that Fifty South was a fairly expensive, high end establishment, where entrees were going to run you anywhere from $20 to $40. Except the inside looked like some kind of bizarre dinner. Wood paneled walls, nick knacks on every inch of wall space, framed newspaper articles, paper table clothes. Weird to say the least. The poor hostess was being bombarded with people who didn't have reservations and asked us if we wanted the main dining area or the "Golden Room," explaining that the Golden Room was entrées only, so no burgers or sandwiches, and was child free. Wait, what child free you say? Yes, please!

The Golden Room was, in fact, a room painted gold, with a crystal chandelier on a drop ceiling. Go figure. The waitress was lovely, and Tony immediately liked her because she had a non-rhotic accent (and ended up, of course, being from New England as well...yeah, these things are important to him).

Olives FTW!

They started us off with homemade potato chips and a black olive tapenade that was addictive. We had finished the tapenade and still had half the potato chips left. Oops.

Fried things FTW!

For an appetizer we ordered the vegetable pan fried pot stickers ($10), which came with a sweet dipping sauce. They were delicious and the perfect portion size (6 pot stickers all together). We used the extra dipping sauce for the potato chips, because we were that ravenous.

Not my cup of tea, but to each their own - apparently it was delicious.

For our entrées, Tony got the Beef Wellington ($38), which was, of course, local grass fed beef, medium rare, baked in local paté (like how I'm keeping with the fanciness?) and served with, you guessed it, local vegetables. Tony says it was one of the most satisfying meals he's ever had, and since he's a bit of a foodie, I take that as a high compliment.

Getting so hungry looking at this :(

I had the Vegetable Napoleon ($22), layers of squash, peppers, portobello and greens, with chevre, mozzarella and a balsamic glaze. Extremely delicious. Quite frankly I was rather skeptical, since I'm not the biggest fan of mushrooms, but it was fantastic. It actually tasted like a pizza in a way, which I found rather surprising. I ate the entire thing and was delightedly full.

Like a brownie, only better.

The desserts were unsurprisingly delicious. Tony and I have very different tastes when it comes to sweets, I like mine dense, and he likes his...not sweet. Naturally, I went with the Chocolate Decadence Cake, which was a flourless chocolate cake with raspberry sauce and whipped cream. I find that I'm not much of a fan of fluffy cakes and this one was very dense and fudge like, just how I like it. I think they were both around $8 maybe? I forgot to look at the bill and they weren't on the menu.

My picture does this cheesecake no justice.

Tony went for the Cheesecake with an Oreo Crust. Of course I tasted it and it was a perfect choice for him: not particularly sweet, with a tang from local sour cream. Overall they were both lovely and well suited to our individual tastes.

Saturday Morning

Healthy diner food? Yes!

I have this new obsession with cheese blintzes. Blintzes are pretty much my go to food at any diner, and I love me some sweet cheese crepes, and now that I've discovered Golden Cheese Blintzes (which are only 80 calories each) I am overjoyed. This morning I thought I would enjoy my blintzes (which I also had for dinner last night) with some strawberries I had frozen from last summer and a few slices of  Smart Bacon.

Big plate of cat treats.

I have never had Smart Bacon, aka Facon, before. And nor will I ever again. Actually I didn't even really have any today. Tony and I both took nibblets and determined that this is probably what cat treats taste like, and that Lux would love some. Mr. Baconpants wrote a very interesting review of this product, titled, "Smart Bacon, More like Dumb Bacon," which is harsh enough on his own, and he didn't even taste this crap. I'm actually kind of glad that we now know the truth, so that I won't be spending something like $5.99 a package on this stuff in the future. In the meantime I have a pile of Dumb Bacon sitting on my counter. Maybe if we put it in salad or grilled cheese it won't be as horrible?

Also, kitty cat paws. I keep telling Lux to pull up her stockings!

Sleeping kitty on sleeping boyfriend <3

30 Days of Yoga Challenge: Done!

Well, I'm done with me 30 Days of Yoga. I'll be honest, there were two days at the end where I did not actually practice yoga...and truly, I have no reason for not having done so! Aside from the fact that I just plain did not want to. I thought to myself, yoga is suppose to be enjoyable, I don't feel particularly well, I'm just not going to do it. And I was rather at peace with the situation.

What have I learned? First of all, given the fact that I wasn't in particularly good shape, this challenge was rather ambitious, so overall I'm pleased with how things turned out. Having finished, I think that for me in particular, it would be more beneficial to practice hot yoga several times a week, rather than everyday. HAVING to practice every day rather takes the wind and the motivation out of me. I still have a few more days left of my month long pass at E-studio, so I'll keep going there for a while, however, once that is completed I think I'll try out the other hot studios in the area.

On a more practical level, the consistent working out has obviously been beneficial to both my yoga practice and my body.

I've accomplished things I've never done before in yoga. If you follow me on twitter at all, then you might know that I've accomplished all sorts of yoga poses I've never been remotely close to before. Okay, I admit, I've only pulled these poses off a couple times each, and for about 3 seconds at a time, but nevertheless, I did them!

Bakasana aka Crow, I can hang out here for a while now.

Parsva Bakasana...yeah can't stay here long, but I can still do it on both sides, yay!

Flying Crow Pose - Eka Pada Galavasana. Yeah, I can do this (even if it's only on the right side!)!

Astavakrasana, Eight Angle Pose...unfortunately I keep falling on my face when I do it on the left side, but still!

Okay, so these are all things I can do, and am getting better at. Crow in particular - prior to my little challenge I couldn't really pull it off at all, so you can imagine that it's really nice to see that within a month I've managed to go from falling over after .5 seconds to being able to hang out for quite a while. I'd take pictures for you, but it takes me about 100 tries to get a decent self portrait, and quite frankly I can't keep any of the poses long enough. Except maybe crow. We'll see.

On a more practical level, I've also lost several pounds...I'd say somewhere from 3 to 5, but I've also toned up a bit because I've also managed to reclaim a couple pairs of pants that I couldn't fit into before. I mean, I fit into them, and many more, a year ago...but I suppose this is making some progress, right? Hopefully, since I plan on keeping up my workouts (at least in some way and on some level), I'll be able to fit into them even more comfortable, and hopefully be able to expand my wardrobe even more with pants that are currently cast out of my closet in disgrace.

What You Really Learn in Grad School

What you really learn in grad school is that you actually want to become a yoga instructor.

What really happens when you finish your PhD

In case you were ever wondering, the major thing you learn while getting your PhD is what you actually want to do with your life. More often than not this has nothing to do with your actual degree. On top of that, as you get closer and closer to your supposed graduation date, you really start to understand why it is that people drop out of school after investing years and years and maybe even a decade (read: ME). What's the point, if you no longer have love for it?

I truly enjoy teaching, but I have minimal interest in finishing my degree at this point. And by that I mean, "minimal interest in writing my dissertation." Teaching is more fun than writing Ivory Tower prose. My project has morphed into a topic that I still find interesting, but the direction I'm being told to take is of minimal interest to me, sorry, I'm just not that into theory. Most recently I was told my writing was "too pop. Anyone could understand it." I need to sound more academic, i.e. I need to be more confusing, use bigger words, dilute what I'm actually trying to say. I'm not into talking in circles. To me this seems ridiculous, I would much rather have my work understood by the masses than accepted by some journal that 2 people would read.

When I saw what Erin over at EPM was doing I pretty much re-evaluated my goals.

That's why 1 out of every 5 PhD students becomes a yoga instructor. Okay, I made that statistic up, but I seriously have lost count as to how many people I know have dropped out of grad school to fix bikes or teach yoga, or massage, or any number of totally unrelated borderline crunchy granola hippie type occupations. In fact, I'll probably go meet up with a friend, while she did eventually finish her PhD, she also ended up becoming a yoga instructor and thai masseuse and maybe even a reiki practitioner along the way.

I have such a style crush on India Hicks and her Sugar Mill Boutique

Right now my ideal life consists of some mixture of teaching at a small liberal arts college where people are actually interested in teaching (as opposed to only caring about research), opening up a lifestyle boutique of beautiful things and teaching yoga retreats all over the world. We'll see how that goes. Oh, ideally this is all taking place in a warm location, hence rabid search for jobs below the Mason Dixon line. Hello, Charleston, Good-bye Upstate New York winters!

How I Healed My Interstitial Cystitis: Part 2 - Treatment

Following up on Part I of my IC story...After my interstitial cystitis diagnosis I found a doctor who not only believed that I had IC, but who was open to alternative treatments in addition to following conventional medical treatments.

For several years I used Elmiron. At the time that I used Elmiron I do not believe it was being marketed exclusively as a IC drug, although I believe it is now. As it was explained to me, the general idea of Elmiron was that it would coat the bladder wall, protecting the ulcers from being exacerbated by liquid in the bladder, and hopefully healing them in the meantime. Elmiron is a drug that requires some dedication. It must be taken 1 hour before meals and 2 hours after eating, 3 times a day. This is a rather difficult thing to ask a 20 year old college students. And let us not forget some of the most common side effects: sweating and hair loss. Great, so I can  be a bald, sweaty girl who has to pee all the time. That sounds like every girl (and man's) dream.

During this time, and I'm not sure if was because of the IC, although I'm positive that the two are linked, I had horrible IBS. So in addition to being bald and sweaty (ok, I'm exaggerating), I also had to run to the bathroom every time I ate something. This resulted in a rumor amongst my friends and in my dorm that I was also bulimic. Wunderbar.

Mostly I was miserable, the Elmiron didn't seem to be doing much and I was mostly subsiding off of salad, oatmeal and noodles with butter, since it seemed like everything else I ate either irritated my IC or my IBS. I ended up weighing around 100 lbs, not really the ideal weight for someone who is 5'4". On top of that I was so sensitive that I could not use any soaps, detergents or fabric softerners that had strong dyes or fragrance.

 Eventually I gave my bladder a long enough break from any acidic foods that I could start eating almost normal again. At first I followed the IC elimination diet. I was pretty strict: absolutely no caffeine, alcohol, coffee (even decaf), or artificial sweeteners. I cut way back on my fruit consumption, which was hard since I'm a vegetarian and love fruit, and I absolutely got rid of all fruit juices. I got tired of trying to deal with the Elmiron, which was expensive and difficult to manage. I started drinking aloe juice every day.

I had read quite a bit about aloe juice, and basically how it was explained to me is that just how aloe heals cuts and burns on your skin from the outside, consuming it would help heal your digestive tract. It was also a mild laxative, and helped to regulate my IBS. Most aloe juice tastes horrible, but I found a brand, George's Aloe Juice, which basically had no taste at all. I could drink it on its own if I wanted. Usually I'd mix in about 4 ounces of aloe juice into a water bottle or glass of kool-aid. Yes, I know, tons of sugar, but since I could drink juices any more it was pretty much the only thing aside from water and ginger ale that I was drinking. Seriously, if you're considering trying out aloe juice I highly suggest George's, you'll be doing yourself a big favor by not trying to choke down the other stuff.

George's is where it's at.

So, that's all I did. For about...3 years. A strict elimination diet combined with aloe juice, every day. I found that I would flare whenever I was sick and around my period. During my flares I would be extremely careful about what I ate, consuming only the most bland foods possible, and tons of water. I had every bathroom mapped out. I always drove myself to dinner in case I had to make a stop before or after. If I went on a road trip I didn't eat anything other than bread and I would maybe take a sip of water every couple hours. Overall,  I was paranoid.

Gradually I started to add foods back into my diet, I would eat fruit, I might have fruit juice now and then (watered down, though), I ate all sorts of vegetables, and had occasional soy as well (another food that is commonly problematic for ICers). Every now and then I would have a celebratory adult beverage, and while I could tolerate decaf coffee, it still made me feel kind of funny so I would generally opt for hot chocolate instead (hence the birth of my hot chocolate obsession).

Around year four I started to see a huge difference. I was no longer having flares. I started adding all foods back into my diet without having a reaction. I was still drinking the aloe juice at the time, but around the third or fourth year I stopped doing that as well. When I felt a flare, it generally ended up being an actual UTI (One theory is that IC results from a crazy auto immune response, I'm fairly certain my IC is a result of getting a UTI when I was 18, especially since my SED rate is borderline positive). Having a UTI sucks, but at least it's easily treatable!

jess' special tea

I have a number of antibiotic allergies and so there's really only one medication I can take for a UTI. I was concerned I was going to develop a resistance, so I tried really hard to eliminate my chances of getting one...but, I still probably got one once a year. Until a few years ago, when I discovered the best thing ever. Jean's Greens, in Castleton, NY. Jean's carries a large variety of herbs, herbal products, and herbal teas. I picked up Jean's P.P.T. Tea and mixed in 1 ounce of Buchu leaf, which I also got from Jean's. The P.P.T. is a tea that is designed to be soothing to the bladder and kidneys. Buchu leaf is an Arican herb that has been used to treat bladder and kidney issues for some time, this site has a little bit more info on the plant, including precautions. I would fill a tea ball with my tea and have a cup of it a day at first, and always a cup of it whenever I was traveling, since I was paranoid about getting sick while alone or abroad. Whenever I felt the tingling of a flare or a UTI I would have a cup or two for the next few days.

Since I found this tea, I have not had a UTI. I cannot recommend it more highly. There's really no reason not to try it, the tea, plus the buchu leaf costs less than $10 all together and lasts me for almost a year. Plus, you're not over exposing yourself to antibiotics.

Right now I lead a pretty much normal life. My IC has not returned, although I have not changed another hydrodistention, as I've heard that has aggravated previously healed cases of IC. I eat and drink whatever I want, although I still avoid coffee (even decaf seems to irritate me) and NutraSweet, the only artificial sweetener that really bothered me. Aside from that, I'm a normal person. My IBS is in no way problematic anymore, and in fact I think I would call that cured as well. I drink alcohol now and then. I've put on all the weight I lost (and more!). I'm not constantly miserable, or running to the bathroom.

So to summarize, this is how I went from being a girl crying on the bathroom floor to leading a normal life:

1. Strict elimination diet
2. Omitting all caffeine and acidic beverages
3. Avoiding products with strong dyes or fragrance/essential oils
4. Drinking 2-4 ounces of aloe juice every day
5. Drinking a cup of herbal tea whenever I felt a flare or symptoms of a UTI

Unfortunately there is no magical cure for IC. But I feel that if you are strict with your diet that you can achieve a very manageable condition, and perhaps even heal, like myself and lead a perfectly normal life.

I know there are some IC issues here that I have not address, just because they tend to be on the very personal side of things. If you have any question on my own healing process, or on IC or UTIs please don't hesitate to comment here or contact me!

Why It's Okay to Buy a $5 Bar of Soap: My Thoughts on Villainess Soaps

So, it turns out that I know a lot about soap. Or, perhaps I should say, I buy a lot of soap. As I was soaping myself up in the shower I thought to myself, "Hm, why do I love soap so much?" And I determined the answer was that soap provides a very nice and inexpensive pick me up. What does $5 get you these days? A small popcorn at the movies? A McDonald's Happy Meal? I small ice cream sundae from Friendly's? None of these things are going to brighten my day for more than the 30 minutes it takes to eat one. Actually my every other day Peppermint Hot Chocolate that I get in the winter costs somewhere around $3.50, except more often than not I feel fat and guilty for getting it (which is why I get no whip, somehow this makes it better). Instead, when I think about all the empty calories I've just consumed, they will likely me feel worse.

However, for $5 you can buy a really freaking nice bar of soap. Like, top of the line, fancy pants soap. And it will last for more than 30 minutes. In fact, if you use it every day, it will probably last you for a month of showers. It's a pick me up. It's a way to treat yourself. It doesn't make you feel gross or fat afterwards, it doesn't cost a lot, not really when you think about it. Because, unfortunately, there's just not a lot you can get in this world for $5.

So yeah, I like soap. I like fancy bath products. When I'm having a crappy day or feeling down in the dumps I like to sit in my bathtub or take a shower with my really nice smelling soap and then I like to put some really nice smelling lotion on. For about 20 cents you can start your day off with a pick me up, and that, I think, is worth it. Not to mention, if you're rubbing nice stuff into your skin, there's the potential for long term benefits (like how I just justified that?). Oh, and if you happen to have IC, like me, you might also have a horrible problem with extreme dyes and fragrance, and not be able to tolerate good old fashioned Irish Spring (trust me, horrible things would happen).

LUSH is definitely the top contender in mainstream fancy pants soap these days, but they're not the only show in town. A few years ago I found Villainess Soaps...I can't remember how, but I think it had something to do with my Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab obsession (don't worry, I'm sure I'll get into that later), because it seems like all the BPAL girls happen to love Villainess as well.

I got my first bar of Villainess Soap on a Makeup Alley swap. It was Pearl Diver and I loved it. It's still one of my favorites. The scent is beautiful and light and the soap itself is exfoliating, which I love. I don't know why, but I just love scrapping off dead skin cells. I derive a bizarre amount of satisfaction from exfoliating. From then on I was hooked, and since I HATE having to pay $10 in shipping for 2 bars of soap, I would just make large bi-annual orders. Hm, I want a new bar of Grundy soap? I shall justify this purchase by also buying my sister, whose birthday is in a month some soap as well! 2 birds, 1 stone.

I think I shall buy myself some soap as a birthday present and add it to my extensive collection of smelly nice things. Oh, and I rotate my soaps. I know, this sounds weird, but I like to mix it up -      some days I like floral and some days I like musk. So what I do is slice up a bar in to 1/4" chunks and store it in a plastic baggy in my magical soap drawer. This makes the bar last longer and also means I don't have to use the same soap every day. I highly suggest everyone who likes to indulge in anything beyond your typical Dove soap do this.

Before: So pretty!

After: Convenient mini bars!

As for Villainess, I'm going to order my favorites today (Grundy, Pearl Diver, Byzantine, Krakatoa and/or Embargo). They're a mix of exfoliating soaps and creamy soaps, since I'm one of those weirdos who likes to shave their legs with a bar of soap (I know, crazy right!?). Although I'm a little torn, because it might also be nice to try something new...or should I stick with what I know I like? Dilemmas!

Jade sounds absolutely lovely -

Distinguishing Features: Absolutely smooth, sheer, silken lather loaded with creamy French Green Clay. 

Characteristic Scent: Sparkling citrus, galbanum and bergamot, with a substantial heart of jasmine, cyclamen and roses, peaches and berries. A very earthy denoument of olibanum, patchouli, sandalwood, cedarwood and rich dark musk.

There's also Jai Mahal -

Characteristic Scent: A lesser palace infused with the sweet scent of victory. 4 rich vanillas and tonka, Mysore sandalwood, bourbon and coconut. Expensive woods, incense and imported spices - cedar, amber, myrrh, cardamom and nutmeg.

And Paradise Misplaced -

Characteristic Scent: Sweetly creamed coconut with touches of mango offset by crisp green tea.

So many lovely scents to chose from! Maybe I'll buy them all and give whatever doesn't strike my fancy out as birthday presents, cause I'm a jerk like that...although I can't imagine anyone wouldn't be happy to get fancy pants soap for their birthday.

Villainess also makes body lotions, but I can't say they're my favorite. They are SUPER think though and spread nicely, but for some reason I never fell in love with them. Although I've only tried a couple, I think the formula is the same between them and the only change is the scent. I think they might not moisturize deeply enough for my ridiculously dry skin and I had to use quite a bit in order to get satisfaction. Also, the lotion jars are about $10.50 for 6 ounces, and at the rate that I go through lotion I'd be spending a fortune. Oh, and not that this really matters, but lotions I've bought and never really gotten around to using will lose their scent after a time - granted, a long time, but still.

Over the years the Villainess line has expanded to include face masks, foaming scrubs, moisturizing scrubs, and perfumes. In general I prefer soaps over scrubs so I never order them, but my sister is a fan. Villainess offers a sampler for their face masks that's very reasonably priced ($18 for the set), so perhaps I might give that a try in the future.

Pretty Sparkles! OPI Be a Dahlia Won't You & Servin' Up Sparkle

Love!

I've been dying for a gel manicure, but my nails were pretty much destroy by a horrible manicure in January and I haven't been able to grow them all out to the same length yet. Poop. Also, for some reason I've been very adverse to spending money lately. Not sure why, but apparently cold weather makes me into a cheap bastard. Thus I've been relying on good 'ol OPI (which I will only buy on sale - and by the way if you're in the area the least expensive place is the something something Unisex Salon in Wilton Mall, where they're all $5.50). I refuse to pay for a regular manicure because my nails will chip in about 2 days, but if I've done it myself then I don't really care.

Oh, and I have a glitter obsession. For the most part I only own pink, red and glitter polishes. So girlie. Here are my birthday nails. I haven't mastered the high fashion nail self portrait yet. But they're so sparkly and pink!

 Be a Dahlia Won't You & Servin' Up Sparkle

Be a Dahlia Won't You is hard to photograph (or, as is more likely, hard for me to photograph).

Thia is a better photo of the bottle than of the nails, pretty sparkles!

Recipe: Vegetable Lentil Stew - Won't Make You Fat or Sick!

Please ignore the 5,000 water marks on my shitty coffee table.

 When I write a post about a recipe I feel like I'm suppose to say something insightful, like, "Oh, my mother use to make this all the time when I was a child and a single spoonful was able to stop all family feuds." or "Once when I ate this soup there was a shooting star and I found my soul mate." Except none of that ever happens, I just like food, soups especially. Bread and butter even more so. Most of the food I talk about on this blog (ok, maybe not "most" but at least a good deal of it) is just healthy food that you can eat and then feel good about.

Ah, yes, food you don't have to feel guilty about - how often does that happen? Unless you have a personal chef or are dedicated to the crunchy granola lifestyle, probably not all that often. Actually, forget food you don't have to be guilty about. I just like food that doesn't make me feel sick. I'm not even joking, it seems like the majority of the food out there makes me feel ill. I'm sick (ha!) and tired of it, I don't know what the hell they (both pre-made and the majority of restaurants) are putting into food these days, but it's making me want to barf.

Who doesn't love soup on a rainy day?

This is suppose to be "Winter Lentil Vegetable Soup" but when I made it was more like a "Whatever You Have Lentil Vegetable Stew." I saw it on Oh, Mishka, and since I had all the ingredients in my pantry I decided to go for it. Needless to say I think it turned out quite tasty, even more so if you add some shredded cheese and some brown bread (or crusty bread with butter, nom nom nom). When I made the recipe I doubled it so I had some extra to take to the From Scratch Swap, my comments are in italics, obviously.

Winter Lentil Vegetable Soup

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup red or green lentils
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• 2 cups shredded cabbage (I just went with an entire head)
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped (I used 2 smaller cans of fire roasted tomatoes and 2 smaller cans of diced tomatoes)
• 2 cups chicken broth (I used a 32 ounces box of vegetable broth, which made it more stew that soup)
• 3 carrots, chopped (or more if you're me)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 teaspoon salt (I think you could go with less salt, most broths have salt in them already and I found this to be a little too much)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder (I didn't have any of these spices so I just added a little salt, pepper, sugar and a sprinkle cumin)

Directions

1. Place the lentils into a stockpot or a Dutch oven and add water to twice the depth of the lentils. Bring to a boil, then lower heat and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse lentils; return them to the pot.
2. Add onion, celery, cabbage, tomatoes, broth, carrots and garlic to the pot and season with salt, pepper, sugar, basil, thyme and curry. Cook, simmering for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until desired tenderness is achieved.

Grown Up Girl Scouts Make Cake Stands (!)

I learned how to make roses! They're made from Raspberry White Chocolate Buttercream. Die.

My friend Lindsey has started the Cookies & Crafts Club, aka Grown-up Girl Scouts. It is a collection of adult women who like to make crafty things and eat cookies. And cakes. And pies. And anything else dessert like. Our first meeting was last weekend and we made cake stands. Then we decorated cakes and put them on said cake stands. Then we ate them (best part, obvi). Ta da!

Saved from its sad life at Salval!

My cake stand started life as a beat up 1.99 plate from Salvation Army plate with some peeling silver finish. But with the addition of some sandpaper, mirror paint, hot glue and an ice cream sundae holder it would complete its metamorphosis into a beautiful stand.

Lindsey's husband made the table! Craft on craft action?

Hot glue guns are god's gift to crafters.

Concentration and a steady hand are required.

My completed cake stand and cake!

Why Can't Google Answer All My Life Questions?

 

Oh internet, let me tell you my woes. Actually this isn't really a tale of woe, it's just a tale of indecision.

A few months ago an old college friend who had recently quit her job to work as a Mary Kay consultant full time asked me to try some samples and take a survey. So I did, and surprisingly I really like some of them. A lot. The last time I had seen effects like that I was using Creme de la Mer, and if you're not aware, La Mer is insanely expensive (side note: I'm not rich, I was just working for Estee Lauder so I was getting a significant discount). But, if I could get the same results and save myself $150, well, hell yeah!

Given my past work for various cosmetics companies, as well as my experience doing freelance work, Su suggested that I might be interested in working for Mary Kay. I had a teleconference and went through the sales pitch, at let me tell you - they really sell it well! And by that I mean it isn't a pyramid scheme, they aren't constantly screwing you over and it actually seems like a worthwhile venture.

I don't know, it doesn't seem like a big risk (financially), but I'm not sure if I want to go through the effort of putting myself out there. I kind of like being anti social and hanging out at home with me cat. Not only that, but what if it doesn't go anyway? Tony says I should consider putting it off until I graduate so that I don't use it as an excuse to avoid doing my work (which I have minimal desire to do). At the same time, you make your own hours.

Also...I'm kind of a snob. They're looking to take a new direction with the company and really bring in new people, but still, all I can think of is omg, I'll be a "Mary Kay Lady" ha! Come on, there's totally a Mary Kay stigma, you know exactly what it is. When I think of Mary Kay I think of the woman who use to come to the house when I was a kid, with her pastel pant suits and super frosty to the max eyeshadow.

Tell me what to do internet!

By the way, if you become one of my customers I promise to give you a ride in my pimped out pink Caddy. You know you want to.

Vegan Carrot and Rice Soup - Perfect for Cold Days

It's so orange! Doesn't this soup make you happy?

This soup is delicious. I love it. I'm not a vegan. Tony loves it. He's not even a vegetarian. It's super tasty, healthy and filling. It's wonderfully complimented by some crusty bread and butter, and combined the two make a great lunch or dinner on a cold or rainy day. If you're in New York right now, it's probably both cold and rainy, but no worries, this soup will definitely brighten your day :)

As usual, I don't really use measurements, so these are approximates, feel free to change them as you see fit. Also, adding some ginger might be tasty, too.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of carrots, peeled and sliced
• 2 Stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 1 Clove of garlic, minced
• 2-3 T of olive oil or vegan margarine, or butter if you don't care
• 2 48 Ounce cans of vegetable broth
• 1 Cup of brown rice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Combine all vegetables into a large soup pot with olive oil/butter/margarine/whatever it is that you want to use. Simmer until carrots are tender.
2. Add broth and rice, bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and simmer until rice is tender.
3. Remove pot from heat and let cool.
4. Use either an immersion blender to combine, or a regular blender to blend coarsely.
5. EAT. NOM NOM NOM.

Review: Calmia Luxury Pilates and Yoga Mat

My mat - it's just so pretty!

I really needed a new yoga mat. Not because my old mat was falling apart, because even though I've had it for 2 years, it wasn't, but because my knees were falling apart. My old mat worked fine in my hot yoga studio, which had a slightly cushioned floor, but at my new studio, which had wood floors, it was just too thin for all the knee work we did.

When I popped over to my local Marshall's one night (as Tony kicked me out of the house so he could sneak Valentine's Day presents from his car into the apartment) I was excited to see that they had a pretty extensive selection of yoga mats available, a number of them with extra padding. Instead of getting the Ecowise all natural yoga mat I got the Calmia Luxury Pilates and Yoga Mat. Why? Because it was pretty. Yes, I'm a bad yogini. Anyway, I was also pretty happy with my Calmia Super Grip Yoga Towel, so I figured I might as well try the mat as well.

Now the world knows of my secret love for pink.

The first thing I noticed is the smell. Whooeeeee! This mat stinks to high heaven! The PVC plasticy smell was so bad at first that I was getting nauseated in downward dog. It's been a week or so and the mat still smells, although not as strongly. Placing a towel over the mat also helps a lot with reducing the smell. I am hoping that it will be aired out enough in the next week to be completely gone. If not, I think I might stick it in the washing machine (which is how I clean my old mat as well).

The other thing that bugs me a bit is the that the mat is ever so slightly shorter than my last mat. The new mat is by no means short - it is 68" by 24", exactly the same measurements as my YogiToes towel. Not a big deal, it's still standard size, but it's something I'm adjusting to. Is it weird, that a mat that's only a few inches shorter is distracting to me and throwing my game off a bit? Clearly I've become settled in my ways.

Aside from those two things, I love the mat. In addition to being ever so pretty, the extra cushioning is just what I needed. The mat is quite thick, around 1/4", I have no pain in my knees, and poses on my back are also very comfortable. It's very comfortable, and I find that unless I'm dripping sweat, the grip is quite good and my hands and feet do not slide around. The mat also adheres well to the wood floors, and doesn't slide at all. None of my towels have slide around on top of the mat either.

I would certainly suggest this towel, especially if you find it on sale, but I would highly recommend that you air it outside for an afternoon or two if you are able to before using it for practice. However, next time I need a mat I might go for one of the more eco friendly ones, which perhaps might not smell as bad? Or maybe there's no winning, they're all stinky!?

It's Official

Quick!

After several years, I finally have business cards. Many thanks to Christine at Unspeakable Visions, who introduced me to MOO, who prints these adorable and very affordable business cards. Although I made my own design (because I'm a rebel like that), they have lots of super cute designs pre-made. The whole process takes about 2 minutes. Maybe less.

Please ignore the very dirty window sill, it is impervious to all bleach.

On top of being wicked cute, they arrived very quickly, a week before they were scheduled to! I was extremely excited to see them sitting in my mailbox, and even more excited to see their cute little box. Next time I'll have to order a cute little carrying case to go along with them.

BOOM!

Quick Honey Wheat Bread Recipe, a Yeasty Tale

Love me some carbs.

The other day I was going through the usual scramble, trying to figure out what to bring to the From Scratch Club Swap. I had come across a 1 Hour Bread recipe that made three loves; It seemed promising and I thought I'd give it a shot. Ha. After running around for a couple hours collecting ingredients from various stores (it's not that there's anything complicated, it's just that my local stores are not particularly well stocked) I got to work.

What ensued was probably the biggest kitchen disaster I have ever been involved in.

Potential Disaster No. 1 consisted of the fact that I had gotten "super duper active yeast," thinking it was just more likely to work than regular yeast. What I didn't know is that it didn't activate like regular yeast. With regular yeast, you mix the yeast with the sugar and water, made sure it activated, and then added it to the dry ingredients. With super active yeast, you add the yeast directly to the dry ingredients, then heat all the wet ingredients to 120-130 degrees and mixed the liquid in. I was using a triple load recipe, so I had 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of powdered buttermilk in the mixer, meaning if it didn't activate, I had just wasted a whole lot of flour and milk. Oh, and also the recipe directions were not moot, since they were for regular yeast. So, it was a gamble.

I had all of my dry ingredients together and was using Tony's mixer to stir in the yeast. I generally loathe his mixer, but I thought I had finally gotten the hang of it (god, I miss my Kitchen Aid!). Wrong. WRONG WRONG WRONG. Oh my god. I would show you pictures of the aftermath, but I had so much flour on my glass I couldn't see when taking photos and they all came out blurry. You see, the bread hook had caught a hold of a plastic spoon and started whipping it around the bowl, sending flour all over. I quickly reached out and threw the switch to off, BUT! Tony's mixer allows you to go beyond "0" and instead hitting a catch and turning off, it goes to Super Turbo. There was flour everywhere. No joke, every.where. In my bra, in my belly button, in the coffee maker, all over the floor, all over my glasses, all over my Sodastream, the blender, the food. EVERY thing. Biggest cooking disaster EVER.

So at this point I am peeved. I clean up as best as I can. I guess at how much flour, powdered milk and yeast have been thrown out of the blender and just kind of...guess and throw some more of each in. Surely there is no way this bread will rise.

Miracle upon miracle it did!

I now fancy myself a bread maker

The main difference with Super Active Yeast and Active Yeast is that Super Active Yeast only rises once. I'm not sure if it's because of the recipe or because I used Super Active Yeast instead of Active Yeast, or if because I just did one rise, but the bread came out quite dense. I actually like this, as it goes in my upright toaster without falling apart and works great for sandwiches. In the future I might experiment with different types of yeast, and maybe add some more honey, since I like sweat breads.

Here's the recipe for anyone who is interested. You can experiment with what type of flour you used. The original recipe called for white, but I did wheat, you could also try half and half.

I think it kind of looks like a bread brain.

Honey Wheat Bread
~ Makes 3 loaves


Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients

• 3 cups warm water
• 4 Tbs yeast
• 1/4 Cup honey
• 1/2 Cup very soft or melted butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup dry milk powder (regular or buttermilk, again, your choice)
• 8 cups flour

Directions for Regular Yeast:

1. Mix water, yeast and honey together, let stand for a few minutes.
2. Combine all other ingredients in mixer.
3. Add yeast mixture.
4. Combine until the mixture resembles bread dough.
5. Remove mixture from bowl and set aside for a few minutes while you butter bread pans.
6. Separate dough into 3 loaves and continue to knead to remove bubbles.
7. Shape dough and lay in pans. 
8. Cover with a towel and place in a warm, dry area. Allow dough to rise 30-45 minutes, or longer if you like. Dough should at least rise to the level of the pan.
9. Bake at 350 for about 30 to 35 minutes.
10. To check if the bread is done, turn it out of the pan and tap the bottom, if it makes a hollow drum sound then the bread is done. Set loaves to cool, a cookie rack is ideal.

Directions for Super Active Yeast:

1. Mix all dry ingredients (including yeast)
2. Combine water, honey and butter - heat to 120 to 130 degrees.
3. Temper eggs using the heated water/honey/butter mixture.
4. Add eggs to the rest of the liquid ingredients, and then follow steps 4 and on from above -
5. Remove mixture from bowl and set aside for a few minutes while you butter bread pans.
6. Separate dough into 3 loaves and continue to knead to remove bubbles.
7. Shape dough and lay in pans. 
8. Cover with a towel and place in a warm, dry area. Allow dough to rise 30-45 minutes, or longer if you like. Dough should at least rise to the level of the pan.
9. Bake at 350 for about 30 to 35 minutes.
10. To check if the bread is done, turn it out of the pan and tap the bottom, if it makes a hollow drum sound then the bread is done. Set loaves to cool, a cookie rack is ideal.