East of Enid Avenue...

Favourite DIY Body Scrubs...

I have battled with dry skin for as long as I can remember.  I've especially always had issues with keratosis pilaris - dry patches on the backs of the upper arms.  I've always found that if I keep my body well hydrated, the issues with dry skin seem to kept at a minimal and that the keratosis is managable.  Summer, of course, is always a much better season for lovely, softer and more hydrated skin, so I often refer to my dry skin issues as "winter skin".  Recently, I've become a huge fan of making my own body scrubs to help ease the winter skin and leave it feeling fresh and smooth.  Thanks to my travels online, I've found several wonderful do-it-yourself recipes for body scrubs.  They aren't difficult at all and feel just wonderful!  After making them, I try them on a small patch of skin on my forearm to see if I'll have any kind of reaction.  I find that's always a good practice and will save you from an all over rash if you do happen to have a reaction.  I just wanted to share with you the ones that I have tried (or am currently trying) and have really loved and enjoyed using so far! I know there are wonderful body scrubs out there available at brand name prices, but I have found I can make myself a wonderful supply of scrubs at a fraction of the cost, and also, when I make them myself, I know exactly what ingredients are being applied to my skin.  In today's world of chemicals and the like, that's a comforting thought, knowing exactly going onto and into my body.  If you do try any of these recipes or find any other ones that you enjoy, please be sure to let me know! I always enjoy hearing! 

 

Ginger and Coconut Oil Body Sugar Scrub

Tried this - love it.  You can find it {here}

 

Peppermint Sugar Scrub and Lavender Sugar Scrub

I have tried the Lavender and Peppermint - both were lovely {source}

 

Brown Sugar Scrub

Tried this one a little while back - beautiful scrub {source}

 

Lemon Sugar Scrub

This scrub looks good enough to eat! I'm just trying it today but with organic lavender liquid soap {here}

Fanciful Inspirations...

Being certain of crossing paths with inspiration on a daily basis would be idyllic.  It's most definitely possible, if a person is open to the opportunities that often times present themselves as being germane sources of inspiration.  My problem would seem that I'm always looking (almost frantically sometimes) for the most sensational path to motivation, when most times, precious inspirations present themselves so simply, discretely and beautifully, that I overlook them in my haste to locate what I believe to be some sort of genius awakening. I have, however, recently decided that needs to change.  I wish to be open to any form of inspiration that God, the universe, and anyone else might see fit to send my way.  That is the hope! In the attempt to keep myself in a constant arms-wide-open-to-all-inspiration state of being, I've printed off a few inspirational pretties I've found while perusing the world wide web, in particular, Pinterest (addict) and pinned them to my already way overcrowded but lovingly so bulletin cork board.  I look at them every single day and remind myself that it is so vital to stay open to everything and then to think on things accordingly.  I hope you find them as lovely as I do, and I hope you keep yourselves open to whatever inspirations and awakenings that come your way.  

 

Lovely quote and artwork - can be found at The Wheatfield {source}

 

Again, beautifully put together artwork and quote from Julia Child {source}

 

Love this!!! {source}

 

Wonderful combination of great font and good words {source}

 

Beautiful - one of my favourites. Love this layout as well {source}

 

One of my favourites due to the beauty orange shades from The Wheatfield {source}

 

Another great one from GemGoode at Deviantart {source}

 

Let's Do 52...

Here are my two latest entries into the Let's Do 52 Flickr photo project.  It's been such a fun time lately, I actually love making time to think about what kind of photos I want to take for each of the different themes.

Week 7:  Pretty Ugly (finding beauty in the unexpected)

This was a tea pot that I had found at the antique mall here in Edmonton a little while back.  It was sitting on a shelf in a corner and was completely covered in dust.  It looked liked it had been sitting there for a little while and was likely passed by often.  It is a seventies style ceramic green tea pot.  The green, by the by, is also seventies green.  Gaudy! However, that all being said, I thought the little green tea pot was lovely and had to make her mine.  And did.

 

The Gaudy Green Tea Pot:

 

Week 8: Simplicity

This past Monday, February 20th, was Family Day here in Alberta.  A wonderful holiday to break up our long Canadian winter.  A brilliant idea in my opinion!  The husband and I decided that it was the perfect day (literally) to spend with our folks.  We gathered everyone up and went for dim sum in the morning.  After dim sum, my father-in-law recalled this wonderful place for coffee and pie and, basically,  he had us all at pie.  We travelled to a little town outside of Edmonton known as Stony Plain.  There is a little old school house there that has been transformed into a museum/diner.  Genius.  We walked around the museum for settling in to have our delicious homemade pie at the Homesteader's Diner.  During the walk around the museum, I spied this little display.  It reminded me immediately of a simpler time and so there was my shot.

 

Yesteryear's Tools: 

 

Top Five...

Johnny Depp Movies:

Sometimes movies are worth revisiting...over and over and over again.  Johnny Depp movies, for the most part, would fit this bill, especially for me - happily a huge Johnny Depp fan.  These are my absolute favourites from him so far:

 

Number 5: Edward Scissorhands 

 

Number 4: What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Number 3: Chocolat {love}

 

Number 2: Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl

 

Number 1: Finding Neverland.  I could watch this movie a thousand times over (and have)

 

Sweet Etsy Finds...

Here are some of my favourite recent finds on Etsy.  Love that site! 

 

Charcoal military style legwarmers by RunSystem 63 {here}

 

 

Sweet earrings from SigalitAlcalai

 

Lovely and perfectly sized grey canvas bag from nottoc {here}

 

Lovely orange chevron cushion from Whitlock & Co. {here}

 

Let's Do 52...

This photo project has been so much fun and I'm only four weeks into it! A whole forty-six more photo projects to go! If you're not sure which photo project I'm talking about, you can read my original post on it here.  It is as I said in my first post, it is such a fun way of getting the creative juices flowing. Here are my latest two photos for weeks five and six.

 

Week 5: The theme for this week was Self-Portrait with a Loved One (the alternate theme was Liquid). I decided I would put a bit of a different spin on it and pose with a painting of my grandmother, Enid, who passed away nearly 5 years ago.  This past week she would have celebrated her 80th birthday.  I miss her dearly and was thrilled with how this photo turned out.

My Heart: 

 

Week 6: The theme for week six took me a few days to wrap my head around any kind of idea.  The theme is Linear (the alternate theme is Chaos).  My friend Marta J. and her two children came over to visit me just this morning.  I know Marta J. through my current place of work and her children are a simply sweet. I was trying to find things for them to do while visiting and spied my crayon box full of fresh new crayons.  Lightbulb.  We decided we would set them up along my sewing desk like they were beautifully coloured wax soldiers standing at attention. Below is the shot I got.  After that, the crayons went down like a helpless line of dominos.  The kiddies couldn't resist, nor could I.  It was a great knockdown! 

 

The Colourful Soldiers:

In The Process Of...

Renovating. Design. Layout. Finessing. Learning.  I'm in love with the idea of most ardently pursuing these ideas for the purpose of daily living, but last night I was pursuing all of these ideas for the purpose of streamlining my blog. The blog world, for all of its custom CSS and HTMLs and RSS stuff, is a lot to take in and, more to the point, a lot to learn. I am giving it a whirl, though. Last night, I worked on my banner.  My goal in renovating my blog was to simplify with a nice, clean, streamlined design. I'm actually really loving it so far! There's lots more to learn and still do, linking and such, to get my blog just how I want it. I've ordered a book from the library that I hope will give notions on how to fully and successfully work and operate in blog lingo. For now, this is direction the "renovation" is taking.

Whaddya think!?

 

Time For Change...

This will be a short post to say that I'll be "renovating" my blog site.  It will look like this for a wee bit longer but then it will look brand spanking new! I'm not a creature of habit by any stretch of the imagination, and so I often feel the need for change.  This time around, the change will occur right here, on me blog.  It's overhaul and redesign time!  The address and basic lunacy of the blog will stay the same, just the look of it will be different and more functional I hope!  Stay tuned!