If Lovin' Square Is Wrong, I Don't Wanna Be Right.

Tease.

Since my family is scattered about the country, I spent the day with the one I love; soap.  I took pictures and edited them, but alas now I have to get ready to go to stupid work instead of relax and enjoy the silence of today, so I only have time to post one picture of all the soap I've been making this past week or so....

Oh yeah, and Neko is scared of, yet curious about hair dryers.  

Dreams, Dreams the Musical Fruit.

I've been remembering my dreams quite a bit lately.  This comes as no surprise as I have a lot going on both in my daily life and brewing inside my head.  So, when I have a dream about being 9 months pregnant with no warning and in a panic that there's no way out of this and I'm going to have to be responsible for another being, I know it's not about literally having a baby.  It's about a new life, but it's about the new life of my soap business and my new identity as I transition.  I'd like to state that I generally don't believe in stock analyses from websites, but this quote actually fits what I'm trying to say:

"To dream that you are pregnant, symbolizes an aspect of yourself or some aspect of your personal life that is growing and developing. You may not be ready to talk about it or act on it. This may also represent the birth of a new idea, direction, project or goal."

That about sums it up.  The fact that in the dream, the incubation period is almost over and birth is near makes me feel like I'm on the cusp of something great.  I have been hobbying around with soap for about five years and recently my focus has narrowed and my drive to make this into a viable way to earn a living has come to the forefront.  As you may or may not know, I'm working on branding my product to bring the quality of the package up to the same level as what's inside of it.  

My project with Rik Ducar specific to the wedding industry has me really excited and I believe it's full of potential (pictures soon, I swear).  I must have some good karma what with falling into the hands of both Erin and Rik who are both extremely knowledgeable in their field, very talented and want to help me!  Sure enough, as soon as my intentions shifted, these people seem to have serendipitously fallen into my lap.  Not only do they believe in both me and my product, but they have already done so much to help me believe that my goals are completely within my reach.  I am fully aware that it's going to be a lot of hard work, but fun hard work and I'm ready for it.

Along with this hard work comes missing out on one of my favorite traditions with my neighbors and that is Trash TV night.  Usually this consists of Rock of Love - although we've had to make do with Rock of Love Charm School for the time being.  During Trash TV, we all get together, adorned with some sort of ridiculous head piece in honor of Bret Michaels's hair plug disguises and drink canned beer of some sort, while making snarky comments about all the skankiness.  We've been no strangers to High Life Light in a can as it suits the theme.  So I've had to make do with trash reruns on in the background as I'm making or trimming soap.  In this process I, somewhat ironically, became addicted to Celebrity Rehab.  I believe it is my recent viewing of this show that provoked the super hot sex dreams, yes, dreams that I've recently had about Drew Pinsky a.k.a. Dr. Drew.  I wasn't going to try to analyze this one since I probably don't need to share the details of it and also to selfishly preserve the hotness of the dream.  I couldn't help myself and I looked it up on the very site I take no stock in and lo and behold:

"To dream that you are having sex with a celebrity, indicates your drive to be successful. Consider what movies your associate this celebrity with for clues as to where and what you want to achieve success in."

Believe it or not, this actually resonates with me.  I still think Dr. Drew is super sexy.

Soap, Soap, Soap and Christmas.

I just put another bad ass soap to bed.  I've been working round the clock when I'm not working or taking a measly two or three days a week (lately) for the gym.  I'm working hard to get a sample groomsmen gift set together by January 1.  Apparently wedding planning season is January.  This gift set includes six different soaps all in a custom box with a custom insert.  I am meeting with the people who can help me make this happen on Monday with Erin.  Oh yeah, I met with Erin on Tuesday and she gave me some new possible logos.  They. were. fan. tastic!  In fact, there is one that is exactly what I had envisioned, just with no means to translate it onto paper.  It's like she and her husband used some weird device like they'd have in some Sci-Fi B-movie to create an image based on my thoughts.  

So, for this gift set, I've been using the new square, 9 soaps at a time molds that I recently bought for the sample sized soaps to give to the racers of the Southern Cross Cyclocross Endurance Race and the larger squares of dirt soap for the winners swag bags.  Last night I made a batch of Blue Sugar and created a navy blue and a super stark white glopped together to make a random cow-like pattern.  It looks bad ass.  Then tonight, I made a batch of Sandalwood and incorporated a stark white swirl and a bronzy, rich brown mica swirl.  It looks like a slab of onyx marble... seriously bad ass.  I know I keep describing my soaps with the same adjective, but it's so accurate.

Next week I have to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas night at the bar, which originally I thought I wasn't going to have to because I'd seen that somebody requested to work those shifts.  Recently that person was taken off the schedule and since everybody else requested off for at least one of those nights, that leaves me.  It's not like I'll have family in town or anything, but it's just kinda depressing.  The one day and night that everybody in the country gets to have off or at least gets paid extra to work regardless of whether they celebrate or not and I get neither.  It actually used to be a good night to work because there would only be one or two places open, but over the years, everybody caught on and now all the bars in the neighborhood are open, so I'm fairly sure it won't be any more money than a regular weeknight shift, sadly.  I hope I'm wrong.  Can you feel the air of self pity running through this paragraph?  Meh.  Who wouldn't feel this way?  It's not going to ruin my week or anything, especially with all the positive things I've been doing lately, but it is going to suck.  No doubt about it. 

more animals

So, here are cute kitteh xmas pictures to make everyone feel better. 

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Holy Canoli!

So I was cruisin' my regular blogs and on one of my favorite blogs I could not resist checking out soap porn.  I'm an addict, I admit.  I love soap, I love my soap, I love making soap, I love looking at other people's soap, I love using other people's soap, I love sniffing other handmade soap, I love everything about handmade soap.  Now that that's out of the way, one of the pictures in the soap porn had me dumbfounded.  Soap carvings.  If I thought I had problems with some people not wanting to use my soap because it's "too pretty to use", I can only imagine that these peeps will never get anyone to use their soap.  Here's why:

I'm sure you'll want to check out the rest here.

Also, in my "morning" computer routine, I clicked on etsy and low and behold there's my Healing Waters Spa Bar in a treasury right there on the front page!  Woo Hoo!  I took a web archive of it, but it doesn't save in jpeg format, so I don't think it'll post, but I'm about to try.

Also, I'm working on a couple of projects and have been using a Ginger Lime fragrance and am absolutely in love with it.  I made another Chocolate Raspberry Soap Torte, but I did the regular cold process for the bottom and whipped soap for the top.  Normally I think this would've worked out quite fine, however I made the layers on different days and now the top doesn't stick to the bottom.  It's beautiful but very delicate.  Pictures coming soon....

Mineral Bath Soak.

I swear I'm not slacking, I just can't believe how full every second of the day has been.  Since the week before my holiday market, I've been going non-stop.  In fact, I have to hop in the shower in a second to go meet Rik Ducar, who is opening a tuxedo/high end groom/menswear shop in the Virginia Highland neighborhood to talk about private label possibilities for his shop.  Rik has been a stylist in Hollywood and NYC for several celebrities and TV shows, and has made a name for himself as the best in his field and is now opening his first retail location.  So, no more time for the jibber jabber (thanks for the phrase, Mr. T!) let's get straight to the point:  Mineral Bath Soak.

Dear Santa

Usually I don't care about getting anything for Christmas and have a pretty puny circle of gift exchangers.  This year I am not afraid to say that I want a couple of things.  Not necessarily to be wrapped up and handed to me, since only one of them is boxable and really, I will just buy it myself.

This year I would like to be able to generate enough product sales, both wholesale and retail to account for 50% of my income, thus bringing me half way to my goal of being able to quit my "day" job inside of two years.

I would also like Peter, wrapped up in a big ol' bow and dropped onto my doorstep.

A sewing machine, too.  Nothing fancy.

I also plan to take up making my own recycled paper this year with my packaging scraps and other stuff.  I already made my own screen mold thing.

You Only Get One Shot. (Mom's Spaghetti)

I've been meaning to write all week, but have been going balls out preparing for this upcoming holiday show on Saturday.  I've finally put together some bath salts which I've been toying with for a few months.  They're gorgeous and smell delicious.  Alas, I slack.  I have yet to label them and only took a picture with my cell phone so far, but as one might imagine, December is my busiest month, so it's not so much slacking as it is prioritizing.  You'll get a picture next week.

Also, I keep having all these "great" ideas of "interesting" things to write about.  The problem is that I think of them in semi-consciousness either while drifting off to sleep or between snooze button segments.  I remembered finding high fiving to be analogous to boyfriends in a way.  Interesting?  I'll let you be the judge.  

A few days ago, this guy came up to me with a classy opener of "Hey, sexy" and then proceeded to give me a high five.  If you are going to give me a high five, you can probably get away with an opener like that because I love to high five.  I told him as much and he proceeds with "how about low fives?"  I say I'll pass on the low five because my first thought is the ol' down low, too slow move, but he keeps his hand out for an uncomfortable period of time, so I oblige only to be met with him yanking his hand away.  Didn't see that one coming...   So then he tries with all his might to get me to high five him again, but when it comes to high fives - and apparently low fives  - once a cheater, always a cheater and you'll never get me to high five you again.  

I give no second chances when someone breaks my trust, whether it be a cheating boyfriend or a cheating high fiver.  I also think that the hand retraction mid high five is a clear indication that the person is obviously a douche bag.  Who else would get their kicks from a direct action on their part in an effort to make someone else look or feel foolish?  Only one other person I've known has done that to me and not only did he spend months trying to trick me into high fiving him to no avail, but his nickname was also "The Douche".  

In math class, we learned that it takes three events to form a pattern.  One more unattractive guy with lame opposite sex interaction skills coupled with over inflated self confidence about such skills who asks me for a high five and then pulls his hand away and I've got me a pattern.