Introducing..... Holiday Packs!

Hello.  Welcome to the holiday season.  Just wanted to introduce you to these cute little holiday packs.  They are in limited supply and are already selling like hotcakes!  Sometimes it can be hard to tell by a photograph, so I will tell you that each of the li'l soaps in the pack are what I like to call "hotel-size".  Perfect little sampler - stocking stuffer - mid-Hanukkah - for your hairstylist - chiropractor - massage therapist - neighbor - etc...

The Christmas Trio sells for $5.95 on etsy:

The Hanukkah Set sells for $3.95 on etsy:

Churnin' it out.

I'm here in Denver.  I made it.  I got my soap operation up and running about a month ago and have been trying to churn it out as often as I can.  It's late, I'm tired, but I wanted to share pictures with you.  So, I'm keeping it short and sweet and let the soap porn speak for itself.

Thanks for looking and thanks for your patience!

Black Raspberry

 Warm Autumn Spice (spiced apple)

 Moonlit Forest

 Fairy Floss

 Name TBD

 Love & Light (a Hanukkah soap)

 tops of Love & Light

 more Love & Light

Holiday Trio (packaging incomplete)

Hope you like!  Some of these are already available on my Etsy site, and the rest will become available in the next few weeks.

The season is upon us and Li'l Z.

The holiday season always sneaks up on me.  One minute it's August, the next, it's Halloween, the next Christmas lights are up all around town.  With my preferred six week cure time for my soap, by the time the weather starts feeling wintery, it's mid-November.

I really wanted to do the Avondale Estates Christmas Market this year and fortunately for me, they were full, but somehow found room for me.  So, I will officially be participating in the Holiday Market.  You can find Sudstress on Sunday December 11, from 12-6 p.m. in the clubhouse at Lake Avondale.

Here is a link to the site.

So, needless to say, I've been making soap like crazy as I also need to make a delivery to Young Blood Gallery & Boutique.  Here is some of the soap you'll be seeing at the show:

Yet to be named - smells like holiday spice & Christmas trees.

Pumpkin Spice soap with carrot juice and nutmeg.

Carrot & Shea facial soap with sustainable rosewood, patchouli & carrot seed essential oils.

French Green Clay men's shave soap with lavender, lime & petitgrain.

My favorite so far, Lemongrass - Eucalyptus pumice soap.  

Piece o' Cake - smells like chocolate cake, but yummier.

....and not to go unmentioned, my birthday was a couple of weeks ago and my great gift was a quick trip to see my niece who is now six months old.  I haven't seen her since she was only 5 weeks, and it's been tearing me up.  I finally got to see her in Boulder and I just love Li'l Z.  Her name is Zora and she's such a joy!

Exclusive... only sudstress appearance of 2010.

I did not plan on doing any shows this year, as 2010 has come to be called the year of sudsless priorities.  However, when I got the invite from Samantha of Talulah B., I had to say yes.  I don't have a ton of stock, as I would normally have at this time of year, but I'm going to bring everything I've got.  So....   even if you just come to see the gorgeous Pink Palace of Cabbagetown, come say hi and have some cookies.  I'd love to see you.

Just click on the picture below to see a larger version or visit the Facebook event page here.

last two shows of the season this weekend

Happy Holidays

Enjoy the Season

I have been thoroughly enjoying the twinkling lights scattered among the houses from one neighborhood to the next. From Avondale Estates to Cabbagetown to Virginia Highland; from simple, elegant, single color light displays to gaudy, over the top decorations a-la Clark Griswold, I love them all. I wish there were more opportunities throughout the year to decorate with light.

Coming up this weekend are your last two opportunities to check out Sudstress products in person. This Saturday I am excited to take part in Pink Saturday inside the cute Cabbagetown cottage of miss Talulah B. for Talulah's Annual Holiday Shopping Extravaganza. The first 30 attendees will receive a free gift bag which will each include a sudstress cutie pie slice among other goodies from all the vendors.

Please join us on Saturday, December 12, 2009 from 11 am to 4 pm at the Cabbagetown studio for some serious holiday shopping (for others or for yourself). Festive snacks and beverages will be served and swag bags will be given to the first 30 guests to arrive.

Talulah's Cabbagetown Studio
667 Gaskill Street SE Atlanta, GA 30316

Akola Bead Project
Concrete Lace
Emily G's - Jams of Love
Fiona Lottamore
Madame Mandala
Sudstress
Sweet Talkin' Lola ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Then on Sunday December 13, 2009 you can find me at the 17th Annual Avondale Holiday Market from noon - 6 pm. Several vendors will be set up in the clubhouse by the lake in the Avondale Estates neighborhood.

59 Lakeshore Drive
Avondale Estates, GA 30002

I hope to see you there!

I wish you a warm holiday season and time spent with loved ones. Happy Holidays from Sudstress!


You can sign up for the sudstress newsletter to receive special subscriber only secret sales that you won't find on my blog or website. There may even be one coming up soon...

Click here to subscribe.

gaH! ...tired

Delirious. I've been up for 15 hours already and it's just after 8 pm. I had a holiday show today and there is always an accompanying lack of sleep. I have one more weekend of shows before the big 2-5. You can swing by on Saturday or Sunday to whichever one floats your boat.

Also, I have resolved to be consistent in my newsletters now that I've joined Mail Chimp to make it easier to keep peeps up to date on new product news and offer subscriber only discounts, sales and special deals.

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moving forward

I've had enough adrenaline and cortisol production for one week, so I'd like to move on and change the subject. Not sure if any of you have followed the story of me and Peter, but if you have, the last you heard, we had broken up. The thing is, we still were talking every day and not really doing any of the things you do in a break up to move past the person you've broken up with. It didn't feel like the solution we were looking for and neither of us were satisfied leaving it at that. It took me some time, but it actually was the step back I needed to take in order to move forward. That initial hormone laden, idealistic fairy tale, sparkles and fireworks period had worn off and I was left with the same great person, but in human form. This was a barrier I'd not yet been able to break through.

At the same time I was feeling this, he was about to move in with me from across the country and so I freaked. I think anyone with a history of retreating in the face of sustained intimacy would've had the same reaction. However, as we continued to talk and I continued to work on my fears and challenge myself, I turned a corner from the perspective of fear and flight to one of looking forward to an exciting challenge that brings with it amazing rewards that I have yet to experience in this lifetime and would certainly regret missing out on.

So, we decided to take another camping trip and see where that would lead us. Western North Carolina is beginning to become a tradition for us and it's one of my favorite places. Unfortunately we couldn't hike much because my knee was still swollen. Hence, the knee brace and mini-trampoline.






Aside from one major point of contention regarding bear safety during a period of 24 hours of rain, it was a great trip. Not only that, but the time we spent at home living daily life was completely different than last time when I was having my freak out. I didn't feel crowded or that my personal space was being invaded, but rather, I felt content and excited to come home to him after my daily errands. Coming home with him here was like a exhaling after a deep, satisfying breath of clean air.

After all of those days and nights struggling with whether I was ready for this kind of relationship, waffling between moving forward and moving on, wishing the decision could just be taken out of my hands, only after I'd found resolution, it was. Ironically, after I felt that indeed I was ready, still a bit scared, but able and willing to take on this new and exciting challenge, the fairy tale wore off for Peter and he was left with the same great person adorned in all of her humanity.

The dilemma was that Peter has dreamed of working in major motion pictures since he was a kid. He even went to school for it and worked in several aspects of production. For his whole life, the story in his head began in Los Angeles. All of the sudden, he was faced with the same feeling that I had not too long ago, that time was running out for him to get a start and if he made the "wrong" choice, that he'd always be looking over his shoulder wondering how things might have been. He was torn between me and L.A. with the idea that his career and a relationship with me were mutually exclusive.

I spent about a year (one week in real time) giving him space to figure out what the right decision was for him. I was in limbo. I let him know that I wanted to move forward with our relationship, but that I wanted even more for him to make a decision that he felt good about. It was important to me that he could feel as though he would be moving forward rather than like he was sacrificing something so important. If his decision meant that we really break up for good, I told him I'd be sad but I was sure that we would both be okay no matter what. The difficult part for me was that I couldn't start the difficult process of mourning the relationship, nor could I fantasize about our future together because both were a possibility and all I could do was wait. How long I could stay sane doing this was to be determined. Fortunately for me, after about a week and some conversations between him and his friends in L.A. who are in the business, he decided to commit to Atlanta for a year and re-evaluate then. Neither he nor I see ourselves in Atlanta permanently, but with my soap business growing locally, I feel I need to stay here for a while and cultivate it before transplanting it someplace else.

His thought was to be here permanently in time for Christmas, however my mom will be visiting for a couple of weeks and that would definitely be a full house. I haven't seen my mom in about three years, an amount of time that I feel is shameful and I'm thoroughly looking forward to spending time with her. So, it may be that Peter moves here after the first of the year. I am by no means suggesting that my mom's visit will foil my plans, please don't read it that way. My whole relationship with Peter has been a constant lesson in patience. You could say I have my yellow belt in patience. Besides the fact that time is flying by as my soap flies out the door during the holiday season, I enjoy the anticipation of exciting events and it's really not that far away. I'm looking forward to ringing in the new year with my mom and my man.

Thanksgiving Forecast: Mostly Happy With A 20% Chance of Loneliness.

Usually Thanksgiving and Christmas come and go without me feeling sad or lonely.  This year, however, having seen my brother for just one day last week, the sum total of our annual time together, my mom off to Utah and out of cell phone service for a special Thanksgiving and everyone's updates on Facebook surrounding the topic of being home and around family, I feel a certain void.  Granted, I am going to be spending the evening with wonderful people that I don't get to see as often as I'd like, I am still feeling homesick for people, as I have no "back home", really.  My mom lives in Albuquerque, my brother and his wife live in Boston, my boyfriend lives in California with no next visit planned and things feel a little empty.

Don't be mistaken, I have been feeling positive and productive about life in general, it's just that sometimes when things slow down and everyone takes a break for quality time that I made no effort to do myself, it gets quiet and quiet leads to contemplation.  It's really no time for me to be buying a plane ticket, quite honestly, but I'd still jump online to do just that the second I knew when I could see Peter again.  Video chats can only do so much for a person.

Tomorrow, I will be thankful to be around several friends who always make me laugh, in a warm, beautiful home with great food, wine and several rounds of Rock Band.  I will feel happy and fulfilled, and there will also be a part of me that wants so badly to be sharing that with Peter. 

Two years ago, I met up with my mom, brother and sister in law in Boulder, CO for Thanksgiving.  We went hiking and saw the most amazing sky I've ever seen.  It's amazing how things have changed and stayed the same since then.