Bicycling, bicycling...

Do you like to bicycle? I LOVE bicycling... always have!! I've had a lot of bikes in my life, several new ones stolen in high school, but somehow or other I always had a bicycle wherever I went in life. My Dad and I used to go on 20-30 mile rides around NJ... we'd tackle some rolling hills, passing huge estates and farms, have lunch at a country deli, and come home exhausted!! Nice memories... :-)

Have you ever seen the two guys who bicycle up and down the highway between Key Largo & Islamorada? One guy must ride in 1st or 2nd gear (the lowest gear, greatest workout), and he always shirtless and has a basket with a box that he hunches over on. I think he rides down to Islamorada somewhere & back up north -- EVERY DAY. So that's about 40 miles per day, at least! Note: Believe it or not, I've just learned who this guy is... "Box Man" is a retired special ed. teacher who rode with a box on his bicycle (usually of fruit he purchased @ MM103)... for 25 years he's been riding his bike like this -- definitely an eccentric! ONLY in the Keys!! Then there's the other guy who was featured in the paper a little while back... he wears a blue baseball helmet. He used to ride his bike from Key Largo to Plantation Key Convalescent center where his wife used to be, but after she passed away... I think he just rides to the Tavernier Post Office now. He says "hi" to everyone he sees, and just wears that distinctive blue helmet. He's a harmless sort of fellow... but here's another guy who does about 40 miles every day ... in the HEAT no less!!

I just rode around Old Town in Key West today... 20 miles believe it or not!! And I did it in the middle of the day just like those guys do! Gosh, if I did 40 miles/day every day... I would be pretty SVELTE!! :-D LOL But then I might have to be living under the bridge or somewhere similar since I wouldn't have a job. Come to think of it, maybe some advertising company should put a sign on either one of those guys' backs as they ride up and down the highway!! LOL

I had a really enjoyable day riding in and out & up and down the streets of Old Town. My favorite streets are Elizabeth and William Streets... I just LOVE LOVE LOVE the architecture of Key West! Since it didn't seem to work out to live there several months ago, I still enjoy going there and riding around... and dreaming of living there some day. :-) I must have lived in a similar house (gingerbread or Victorian) in a past life... because I really love staying in similar type B&B's whenever I'm away.

I was interested in eating at an Organic or Vegan restaurant for lunch. Not that I'm totally Vegan, but I do eat Organic food & feel so much better when I eat healthy like that. Happy Cow pointed me to (3) different places... but twice I seemed to end up at the same place, so I decided to eat there -- Help Yourself on the corner of Fleming & Margaret Streets. Everybody seemed to be enjoying the Smoothies... but since I was riding, I felt I needed something more substantial. So I ordered a chicken salad wrap... it was GREAT -- it has bits of apples with the chicken, sort of like a Waldorf Salad wrap. There's a great place in Key Largo that makes a great one of these... Eco Eats... they're in the Office Depot shopping plaza. I learned about Healthy Cow, which is a great reference site for Vegans/Organics, through a Green Lodging B&B on Big Pine Key... Deer Run B&B. They're great - Jen & Harry! They make the most wonderful Vegan/Organic breakfasts and it's truly a relaxing paradise... along with visiting Key Deer! Great place for couples and singles who need a break from the world.

Besides doing the East side of Old Town, I went over to the West side... found myself at the courthouse then wandered beyond that to the Truman Annex -- BORING!! I went a little further south and decided that area wasn't worth pursuing since I seemed to be riding through some run down areas. Not a good area for someone like me on a bicycle, so back over I went to the other side of Truman Ave. I must have circled the Cemetary at least 4 or 5x today... and I still got confused as to which direction I was going! Thank goodness for maps!!

A nice HOT Bath is looking really good tonight! LOL So... be sure to check out bicycling Key West! There's so much MORE to see than Duval Street! So many more options of places to eat and new people to meet! '-D

General Synopsis: The next time I decide to go to Key West and do that much bicycling, I'll stay overnight! I was SO EXHAUSTED making that drive home! A-a-a-CK! Thank goodness for a stop in Marathon & a high protein smoothie... only that got me back home!

Spring Cleaning...

I've been trying all kinds of "organic" and green cleaners around the house. Seventh Generation isn't bad in some instances... but I'm not fond of their dish soap; hardly suds', I don't feel like anything is getting clean, AND you have to use too much of it! I guess as a society of using things that "suds up"... if something doesn't suds up enough, then we don't feel like it's cleaning very well. All these "suds" come from using coconut in the ingredients. Coconut oil or coconut-based "surfactants" (used by most commercial cleansers). I've been using the laundry soap and softener; the softener especially after I learned Mrs. Meyer's Dryer Sheets weren't softening the laundry. I like the laundry soap & softener, but my towels aren't as soft (as using Shaklee's Get Clean Laundry Soap). I've been using the Seventh Generation laundry products as a less expensive alternative to another series of products that I really like (Shaklee Get Clean), and for the money and it's not a bad choice.

But before I get to the Shaklee products... I'd like to comment on Clorox Green Works. I've been using this cleaner around the house, on the walls, in the tub, and toilet. I like how effective it is... green as well as cleans (well), it's affordable, and has a nice scent too! (I've used the Original scent plus Tangerine.) It appears that other users, like the Sierra Club are also "pro" for this product, which is really a plus+. Their A-P (all purpose) Cleaner is a MAJOR PLUS in my book -- it cleans everything! The stove, the countertops, the walls... just about everywhere! A pet peeve I have about some of these "green" products is they don't list the ingredients on the label. But Green Works does! I like that; I want to know what's in something I'm using whether it be a cleanser for the home or my body (especially my body!)!

A lot of people want to "go green" but a lot of people feel that it's expensive to "go green"... and I feel Clorox Green Works is a nice, affordable way to achieve those green goals for many people. I hope they decide to come out with a Laundry Soap... '-)

Above I mentioned Shaklee's Get Clean products. They are a little pricier, but buying one bottle of Basic H2 (an A-P cleaner) and using a few DROPS mixed with a spray bottle of water to clean your house (a little more for windows), just goes to show you how LONG you will have that one bottle. I bought a bottle of it last year and I STILL haven't bought another bottle since! And the Laundry soap... I purchased the largest box which if you measure it out equally for each wash, you should get about 84 washings out of it... that box lasted 7 MONTHS!! I don't have any laundry soap that has EVER lasted 7 MONTHS! Have you?? They also have this wonderful little compound, Scour Off Heavy Duty Paste (made from pitted cherries I think)... I've cleaned boats with this product! It's SUPER on fiberglass... gets all kinds of stains out, especially rust, and it's o.k. for the water ... and works wonderfully on the tub & tile as well! If you'd like to try Shaklee products, contact me. Their products work GREAT for the home as well as the body!

Of course, if you're not into any of the store-bought green cleaners, you can always mix vinegar or baking soda with warm water and still have just as good a cleanser! This way is rather economical and eliminates all those various bottles under the sink!

So... DO Tell what your favorite cleaning product is! These products I've described are available here. Maybe there are others available that I'm not aware of! Please share with us your experiences!

Feel Free to Visit: Seventh Generation, Green Works, Shaklee

Trying some *New* Things...

I've been away... went up to NJ to visit family and had a really NICE time! Also enjoyed visiting my favorite shopping area: New Hope, PA... an artsy quaint town in Bucks County, PA, right on the Delaware, across the river from another favorite town, Lambertville, NJ. I met a friend in New Hope, besides having lunch, we perused the shops. I hadn't shopped there in 20 years!! LONG TIME!! LOL But... it was fun to see which shops had stood the test of time and which ones moved on or closed entirely. This was the type of town that had the quintessential bong shop (and I think I still saw part of it in the Vintage store on the corner!) amongst other artsy shops, eateries, and of course, the best ice cream shop in the valley!

A wonderful shop we stopped into was Strawberry Jam... the owners have been running this beautiful little shop in the same location for 35 years! It seemed like a quaint shop with lots of exotic cards, glass, vintage jewelry, and bath products (my kind of store!). Most of the bath products weren't organic or handmade, but they sure did smell good! They featured a soap from Portugal -- HUGE bars with very colorful wrappings and wonderful scents... but a little on the pricey side. One product from Stonewall Kitchen in Maine was Lavender Mint soap... had to bring a bar of this home to try. I just checked out their website... and they have SO MUCH MORE than just soap! :-D Lots of yummy looking pancake & waffle mixes (m-m-m-m-m!)... seems like they have lots of cooking/specialty foods, things for the kitchen/home, and I finally found the soap... under "Fine Home Keeping"... that's a New one (shown at right)! Lots of all natural products and essential oils in this soap plus Shea butter. They also have a nice selection of gifts for Mother's Day, which is right around the corner!

Another shop we stopped into called Heart of the Home had a lot of pottery from various U.S. artists, unique handmade purses w/rather exotic pictures, soap & body products (another +++ for me!), handmade jackets, 2 garden rooms with outdoor treasures, two floors of perusing -- I LOVED IT!! LOL My original reason for going into this shop was for a handmade mug I saw in another store (being used by the owner). Although I was interested in possibly purchasing this handmade mug, it was a little out of my budget. Instead of a handmade mug... I found this collection of organic soap that I found on the internet a few weeks prior called "Fraiche" (pronounced "fresh"). A little on the pricey side, but I figured this was my (only) opportunity to try it -- bite the bullet & buy it!! As soon as I do try it, I'll fill you in. But the Set of 3 soaps I purchased (similar to that shown above right): bare naked/lavender fields/soothe me smell really awesome, and are all finished off naturally on the top portion of the soap (Bare Naked bar at left). You'll see more when you visit the website! These are definitely organic soaps, and they promise "an unforgettable bathing experience"! I'll let you know... :-D LOL Another product I found that I did purchase for my Mom was a Lotion Bar made entirely of Shea butter from Footbridge. What a WONDERFUL bar this is (shown at right)! Just rub it right on to your dry skin and the shea butter sinks right in! She loved it and I can't wait to get one for myself! '-D LOVE the Dragonfly!! LOL

I perused a few of the shops on my own after my friend left to go back to the Philadelphia area. I lingered as long as possible, enjoying the cool air and the warmth of being in an area of which many past fond memories were created... always wanted to live there, one never knows what the future holds! '-) But I hope it doesn't take me 20 years to get back there again! LOL

Conclusion(s): The Fraiche soap: Bare Naked. Very nice soap, no grittiness, nice scent... great on my dry skin. If the cost of it doesn't kill you, try it! Actually, the best way to try it is to buy the "Trilogy". Then you get (3) 1/2 bars and you pay roughly $6.25/bar. Each bar lasts approx. 5 days on the average person. :-)

Note: I also found the Fraiche soap at The Gallery at Morada Bay in Islamorada.

Visit: Strawberry Jam, Stonewall Kitchen, Fraiche, Footbridge, and Heart of the Home

Show & Tell...

When one talks about their art or expertise and uses names of techniques (like glass casting, glass powders, hot mosaics, etc.), others have no clue as to what we're talking about! So, today I'll tell you about "Frit"... and glass powders. What is Frit? Frit is/are little pieces of glass. There are (3) different types available: Powder/Fine, Medium, & Course. I've used medium & course Frit in my jewelry, some sprinkled here or there, but I've hardly used powders. Here's an example (upper right) of the kinds of "frit" available.

One of the classes I took at the Glass Expo explored the use of glass powders (or fine frit) on different bases: black glass, white glass, clear glass -- this can be an extensive process, as there are different types of glass Frit available in the (3) sizes of Frit, and there are a variety of colors available as well! Once the design is created on the base glass, then it needs to be fired in the kiln. So, just for starters... here are 6 samples I created that explore the use of powders & frit, as well as certain papers, and faux techniques. Completing these samples allows me to see how certain colors show up (or not) on various bases, how the colored powder is layered (how much should be applied), what effects I can create, what happens when I mix various colors together. Notes are also kept with each of these. On to more testing...

Visit: Starry Night Creations

New Creative Directions...

Just came back from the Glass Craft & Bead Expo out in Las Vegas!! What a wonderfully creative trip it was!! So much information to digest between the classes and the exhibits. I took a few classes in hot mosaics as well as exploring glass powders and its use in glass fusing. I also learned more about glass casting and it's application to the ideas I have floating around in my head!!

There's certainly some experimenting of all to be done '-D ... but above is something I created entirely out of glass which combines the craft of mosaic and the art of fused glass, in addition to a textural highlight or two! This is entitled "Lighthouse Shore". It's certainly more beneficial to view this in person, especially the "water" that the sailboat is sailing on. I had a lot of fun designing & creating this... but it was certainly quite a bit of work at the same time... my fingers can attest to that! LOL

The artist who taught the above project (Christine Stewart) was actually a fused glass dichroic jewelry creator also, then she moved into glass mosaics. I'd LOVE to show you her beautiful work but unfortunately she doesn't have a website. But she HAS authored 5 books relating to the subject!! I hope to create things myself in such a powerful yet subtle way that allows the Universe to introduce many more exciting possibilities!

Stay tuned for more *new* creations...

Visit: Starry Night Creations

Think & Live GREEN...

It's really great to see so many people turning to use more Green living in their lives! Today I visited the FL Keys GLEE Expo in Marathon! GLEE = Green Living and Energy Education What a wonderful day it was too! Windy, but mostly sunny... definitely a day for my SPF 50 Baby Blanket lotion (but sometimes I feel like I only have SPF 30 on with THIS sun)! Incidentally, according to Safe Cosmetics.org this is one of the BEST suntan lotions you can use that doesn't have harmful ingredients... for baby AND you! :-D I'm really careful about what I put on my skin... oh! I was talking about GREEN Living!! LOL

There were so many exhibitors with great ways to save energy in our homes and all around us, free workshops with all kinds of great tips (eating & living well, recycling, creating a healthy home/office, solar energy in living, etc.), the food court featured organic food and I especially loved the farmer's market with all kinds of delicious organic fruits and vegetables (some home grown or community garden grown)! I LOVE organic pink grapefruit... and made several of them mine! LOL Then there were also a few artists with recycled art, and... oh! I LOVED the electric scooters! I could see myself riding around on one of those! Or how about the little truck with 3 wheels! :-D One wheel in front and two in the back, in bright colors... how cute! LOL I've always loved electric vehicles. I also contributed to the local Upper Keys Girl Scouts by buying a recycled bracelet! '-)

It was a fun day... definitely worth doing if you're into Living Green (whether you live in the Keys or anywhere else) and eating & using organic products; happens once a year. It's by far the most healthiest way to go.

Visit: FL Keys GLEE

Get Happier!!

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Let's face it... being positive brings a lot more GOOD into our lives than being negative! Get Happier!!

Check it Out: Get Happier.com