Luscious Lavender...

Found a truly wonderful soap @ Whole Foods a few weeks ago, and even my friends agree that it's a wonderfully scented soap & very luxurious! While shopping I came upon a table with huge blocks of soap and little pieces cut off. I bought several scents to try & gave some to a Lavender-loving friend. Very aromatic & nicely priced, Hugo Naturals also has a nice variety of body products, baby hugo, & soy candles products available at their website! Go get a sample of this bar at your local Whole Foods... or just take my word for it & order it! '-D

Become a "Spa Goddess"!

My! It's been an awful long time since I've written... my apologies! My journeys up to NJ have taken up quite a bit of time in March & April. '-)

In the meantime, I DID receive this marvelous organic soap in the mail and the essential oils used are THE MOST aromatic I've ever encountered in a soap! Obviously, I LOVED my samples & refreshing bar, pictured below.
The smaller sampler sized bars lasted several days and you just wouldn't believe the intensity of the scents, but certainly not overpowering... very clean & natural scents of citrus & lavender, blood orange & bergamot, forest juniper berries, peppermint, and oatmeal & aromatic spices (the latter not your average oatmeal soap)! Personally, I will definitely try all of these scents in the larger bar similar to the "Refresh" (peppermint) bar pictured. The larger bars are somewhat larger than the average sized handmade bar soap.

There's also a nice variety of gift sets available so you can try a variety of these aromatherapy soaps or bath products all at the same time, or order the small bar soap sampler to try a variety of scents. This is a somewhat more economical way to try all the scents rather than ordering a large bar of each scent & not being sure you're going to like it.

Also featured on the Spa Goddess Etsy site are "shower steamers"... this is something I definitely would like to try! Essential oils are released into the shower steam and are absorbed into the body! We're always looking for ways to make our showers into more of a spa experience, and this could be it!

So... you can bet I'm not done trying the organic spa products of Spa Goddess/Angel Face Botanicals! Let us know how you like the products!

On the web, Spa Goddess is known as Angel Face Botanicals. You can order from either site.

Next I'll be sampling the products of Elegant Rose Boutique on Etsy...

Growin' Some Herbs...

In the late Spring, I took a class about growing herbs. It was given by a woman who owns Redlands Herb Farm with her husband and son. It was a very interesting class and she brought lots of herbs for us to grow in either pots or gardens. She said the herbs were very hard to grow in the heat of the Summer, not only in So. Florida but especially in the Keys. I remember reading that the Community Garden down in Key West had been harvested in late Spring/early Summer, and all will be replanting again in the Fall. But undaunted by this "impossibility", I purchased two herbs and two veggie plants, and repotted them in pretty clay pots and set them out on my front porch, which gets a bit of sun in the morning, then mostly shade by the afternoon.

What did I buy? Mint -- which has been doing rather well, believe it or not; I'll make some mint tea soon with those leaves. Another plant which is a cross between Parsley and Celery, but smells like Celery. I was fortunate to have some of this in my chicken salad one day... but that one has (just recently) unfortunately bit the dust. :-/ I thought it was "Borage", but I guess I got the name mixed up with another, 'cause borage tastes more like cucumber.

I also have some mini carrots -- they have to be the SWEETEST little carrots I have EVER tasted!! It's too bad their so tiny!! Perfect for a tiny person the size of an ant!! :-D LOL She said they should be potted in a deep pot so that they'd grow deep & long, but that hasn't happened. Maybe I'm supposed to do something else, I don't know. Maybe you know? :-)

...and English Lavender... she said this one was especially difficult to grow because of the Summer heat, but so far so good! It smells SO NICE when I run my hands through it! And believe it or not, it's holding up rather well!! I'm looking forward to drying & using in sachets maybe, or in my bath... or maybe in my food! '-D The woman who hosted the class made some sugar cookies with lavender sprinkled on top... how simple and how fun! :-D When I lived in IL back in the 90's, I had a HUGE garden full of lavender, right out in front of the house! It was wonderful... did I do anything with it, not then... just enjoyed the flowers and the scent mostly. NOW, I wish I had a garden full of lavender since I use it so much.

So, I've made it through a good part of this hot Summer with most of the plants! I'll take a picture to show... so you have a better idea! Coming real soon... '-)

Somebody recently gave me some pole bean seeds... but I'm not a bean person, so some lucky person may be receiving those from me. If you're interested, let me know! '-D