We're getting some warm and rainy spring this week. I fertilized the yard and started cleaning out my flower beds just so I'll have a jump on things. This week is also a busy week of soap manufacturing. What the heck, every week is a busy week of soap manufacturing! I call it the American Dream. That dream is wrapped in blood, sweat, and tears along with smiles and passion.
I took a drive through my old country stomping grounds last week when it was sunny and warm and drove down country roads that I hadn't been on in years. A train stop forced me to slow down even more, and I embraced the moment only to realize that I need to slow down more often.
We have the prettiest soap wrapping this spring! I'm always on the search for beautiful paper. After all, we love pretty inside and outside. Not all of our soap is wrapped in special wrapping, but we offer both simple and gift-giving packaging.
Do you know what that large oval thistle-looking thingy is on our dining room table? I'm proud to tell you that it's a tumbleweed! Ever since I was a small girl and we'd travel to Las Vegas to visit my grandmother Christine I've had a fascination for this blowin' in the wind plant. As we drove through the desert, we'd see them scoot across the desert floor jumping up and then bouncing with the direction of the wind. I know what you're probably thinking, Jill, it's a weed! Not to me. I also remember asking my parents to stop the car so that I could capture one, but they never did. Same thing with wheat. We'd drive in the countryside where the wheat grows tall in the Kansas and Missouri fields. I always wanted to stop and pick some when I was a kid and make bread! You see, I've always been like this! Anyway, back to the tumbleweed. When I ordered it online there was the option of getting a small, medium, or large. I went for the large, not realizing just how large it was in a tumbleweed person. Now I have this huge tumbleweed sitting on my dining room table because it's sharp and prickly and I don't have room to store it. The whole tumbleweed story gets even better. The tumbleweed inspired me in many ways. I'm going to style the desert dried mound and launch a summer line in which I'm naming, you guessed it, TUMBLEWEED! Always remember that inspiration can come from unexpected places. I'm often inspired by nature.
Since Bittersweet has been around for twenty-four, almost twenty-five years I've explored a number of skincare recipes and formulations. I began to ponder the ingredient list and oodles of times I'd experiment and try different techniques and explore ingredients. All, of course, were pure and natural, and most of the time I'd read books on the subject, but not necessarily new books but old ones that used timeless ingredients like bee's wax and lanolin. Honestly, skincare has a vast collection of ingredients nowadays, but I have found that some of these days gone by ingredients cannot be beat nor match. Having said all that, I'd like to introduce you to Bittersweets Iconic Recipes. A new line that's coming late summer, early fall. All of the skin essentials that we offer to fall under this clean ingredient criteria today, but we'd like to expand on the notion. We love expanding our horizons! The possibilities are endless and the sky is the limit when it comes to designing a new skincare product.
Our popular Shampoo Bars are back in stock! Well kind of. I noticed on Saturday that the pile that I put out was almost gone already. I'll try to get some wrapped and back out next week.
We also released a lovely new soap, Magnolia. It's wrapped in stunning paper and contains notes of magnolia, white flowers, and tuberose.
We're also planning our May Day Celebration. I've decided to combine both May Day and our Birthday all in one event. After all, we're coming up on our number twenty-five! In my next post, I'll share some of those early days. It was an exciting time and filled with lots of learning.
The cookbook...
I can't remember how long ago it was when I published a cookbook. Many years it seems. I rushed through it all and was disappointed in the end. It's a cookbook filled with typos. Not a good thing, a cookbook with typos. However, I use the recipes all of the time, and when I open it up and read that little intro with a picture of my mom, the typos seem to disappear. In other words, I'm grateful for that cookbook, and the memories that it holds. It also is a reminder that when I complete the book that I'm currently writing, to not get in a hurry, and find a good editor! I don't work well under schedules and deadlines.
Blessings of love,
Jill
