Bittersweet and the little soap company

summer soul...

The Mercantile sale was a huge success! I can safely say that past sales didn't hold a candle to the Merc sale. Thankful. I still have a few items left, but I'm contacting the Veterans association to come and pick it up. They will be thrilled to receive quality new clothing and tables, chairs. I'm thrilled to have empty spots at both my home and shop. It's hard to organize and create a Zen space when there's no room to roam! Beginning to fill the love...

My tape measure has been my best friend the past few days. I've been measuring windows, hallways, table heights, among other things. 

The little country bouquet came from my garden. Cone flower, chocolate mint, Gerber daisy, and even flowering cilantro. Snippets of summer greens and goodness to admire and share.

Peaches, peaches, fuzzy skinned ripe and juicy. The Missouri Peaches are ready for consumption! They're a bit pricey at our local farmers' market, but I indulged, and picked up a couple of baskets. They're ripe and ready!

We're gearing up for this event! 

I'll be working the apothecary shop, but how nice it will be to lend an ear to live music playing on the shop porch. Fun day for all. 

We'll remove the porch swing, and that will be the stage area. It it's hot I'll place a fan on the porch and we'll be ready to rock and roll. 

Kate Rose, is such a talented artist! Love it when she plays the Ukulele! Kate performed last year at Bittersweet and she's returning again. Yippee!

Just because I love home grown flowers, here's some more garden pics. 

Don't forget to stop and smell the flowers. 

Officially, the first day of summer arrives on Tuesday. It's kind of confusing on when the day actually arrives because of time zones. Here's how they determine that. 

So I guess if you reside on the East coast, the first day of summer falls on Wednesday over Tuesday. No matter, it's a grand day and a reason to celebrate!

Summer well wishes, 

Jill 

Related articles

little town summer

Simple Ways to Carve Out Special Moments with Your Kids

Blood Orange Marmalade | Put 'Em Up! Fruit Recipe | Daily Dish Recipes

Best Treatment For Healing A Stressful Life

hot topic

Edging Part II: Gathering your resources - LawnMowerPros Blog

Malaga nightlife

downtown and around

Downtown Liberty is the place to be this summer!

https://www.facebook.com/Bittersweetsoapco/videos/vb.255884860298/10154932503765299/?type=2&theater

The shop is my summer happy place.

It's passing by so very quickly. Summer, that is...

This apothecary girl is breaking every now and then to stop and smell the flowers.

Excited to bring a special Jill & Jules show today. Amazing guests lined up for today's show. It will be a full house in that little studio!

Rachel will be filling in at the shop. She's a whiz at most everything! Thank you Rachel for reserving Thursdays from your super busy schedule. It is much appreciated. I hope you will encounter some sweet memories. I know you will.

It's hotter than a fire cracker and July hasn't even arrived yet!

Anxious for the new frozen yogurt shop to open. I have a feeling I'll be spending some time there. Especially since it's a hop, skip, and jump from the apothecary shop.

Slow down, don't move so fast, you have to make the summer last, now.

Feeling Groovy...

Remember to treat others the way you wish to be treated.

Jill 00

 

Related articles

S is for Shop

beautiful fall liberty

Photos Compliments of Chris Harris of Zebrina Photography

How about some pretty fall pictures of our sweet land of Liberty? My friend Chris captured the stunning fall images. The bottom picture is the old Liberty High School. Now a middle school since Liberty has grown into a much larger town. The school sits just down the street from our home. I have fond memories wrapped up in this town. Across from the school sits a buckeye tree. Every fall about this time the buckeyes fall from the old tree onto the leaf covered ground. You have to be careful when you pick them up because they have little prickly shells surrounding the buckeye. Usually the shell is cracked because the buckeye is trying to hatch from its shell. Don't you just love nature? It's pretty darn amazing! I would say Liberty trees are at there peak, if not peaking, only days away. The fall season seems to fly away with the north wind. Soon those north winds will be blowing strong and with them, that white stuff referred to as snow! If you frequent my blog, you must know already how we've lived on large hill and every first snow I did my old blade sled from under the porch and take a couple, several swipes down the hill. It's tradition around here.

I took this picture a long time and it continues to be one of my favorites. I'm not a professional photographer, but rather a "hands on" type girl so it's learn as I go. Over the years I've managed to figure out some interesting photography tid-bits. I enjoy learning new techniques and methods of picture taking.

Another favorite picture. Little Lily was the best dog ever! She would chase me down the hill on the sled. A fun winter game. Girl and dog. Living simply and treasuring the simple blessings each day at a time.  

This holiday season it's all about the wooden trees and pretend deer. They're taking center stage.

We have a big pot of ravioli soup on the stove and I'm getting ready to prepare some crusty garlic bread. Thinking about making this... Pumpkin on my mind.  

In between shipping out holiday orders and the finishing touches on soap production. We're winding down with manufacturing on soap. Soon, manufacturing will turn to scrubs and lip balms, crèmes and stockings, hand made @ the hand made shop that sits on water street.

I hope you're enjoying a peaceful & joyful Autumn.

With all good wishes,

Jill 00

Related articles

falling

summer haze

Summer to Fall

little town summer

Our  downtown hosts a number of events throughout the year. This past Saturday both Lennis and I, Tom & Jules, had the pleasure of attending a special event. Let's go back a bit.

 Missouri typically serves up a number of hot & sultry summer days! Planning an outdoor event this time of year and those hot thoughts are always on folks minds. Especially the folks that are behind the scenes working hard to make it happen.  Each and every one of our downtown events rally for one significant reason, volunteers.  This event, a "farm to table" picnic was held in the parking lot of my shop. As I gazed out my shop window, midday, in the heat of the moment, (no pun intended), the volunteers, were hard at it assembling tents and tables, place settings. The heat goes on, but the beat was consistent and soldier like as I watched those volunteers fulfill their duties. Kudos to each of you! I have an enormous appreciation for all that you do to help make our downtown a magical place.  The tables comfortably and strategically sit sixty guests. The farm to table, farmers market menu was delivered by the same volunteers that worked to set up the event. Each volunteer wore little black aprons when serving the most delicious foods. Our chef introduced himself to the crowd and detailed the menu. Anticipation was on high level. We were not disappointed. We were seated among friends and chatted between entree's. Little was spoken though, as we were served new savory summer dishes. A more than occasional, hum and yum echoed through the outdoor setting.
Enjoy caring and sharing summer days, downtown!






With all good wishes,

Jill 00

 

 

 

 

Related articles

L is for Lavender & S is for Style

Mostly Summer, Happy Independence Day!

The original seminary log cabin

cool down, bloom...

#Downtown Liberty

bundles of blessing

Featured Piece of the Day by Charlene Bodero

Prowling The Web: Jacksonville Jaguars get the Deadspin treatment

I'm down with that!

So much going on and coming up at the soap shop on water street. Farmers market is in full summer speed offering fresh melons, tomatoes, corn, Peg's organic gourmet garlic. Grab a cuppa of that fresh ground coffee from the coffee shop below Bittersweet. Stock up on some natural, good for your skin soap. I also made fresh lavender laundry soap for you this morning. At three o'clock you can indulge your taste-buds with a variety of beers. We're having a beer crawl. Why the heck do they call it that? Bad wording, I believe. How about beer tasting adventure! Tonight the fun continues with a Samantha Fish performance. The shop won't be open because we'll be at the concert!

The shop is taking on some autumn hues. Adding new things for fall. 

Hope to see you on this beautiful day. 

Enjoy caring and sharing days. 

Warmly,

Jill 00

turn around...

There's a quick turn around at the soap shop on water street. Fresh Marula Smoothie in the house stamped with a compound date, love that...really do... You know, so you'll know when the stuff was made and doesn't that make sense?

I thought you might enjoy watching this little video about my sweet Star Hollows like town. 

 

kind of like Stars Hollow

We ran down to the square to watch the parade. An old fashioned patriotic parade it was. This is the fourth year we've had a fourth of july parade. I could smell the barbecue smoking every now and then when the wind blew my way. Our little town resembles a tv town most of the time. If you drop by Ginger Sue's you'll get a feel for what I'm referring to. A spin-off of Luke's for sure. I often wonder if the producers of the show visited Liberty before creating the once popular series. They must have...

It feels like Saturday only it's Friday, h'm. The shop is busy. Summer thoughts of getaways and autumn designs already in the works. Flights booked. A summer trip with a dear friend to visit a dear friend. Something so good and feelings of sweetness wrapped into this summer. Birthday celebrations coming up soon after.

Happy Summer!

Enjoy caring and sharing summer days.

Warmly,

Jill 00 

Spring on the Square

I'm fortunate to live in a town that appreciates and values arts and crafts. We are also blessed to have a great group of folks that generate events for the heart of our fine city. I salute you!

In addition to the museums, boutique shopping and eatery's we have a top rate farmers market and monthly events.

So if you haven't been downtown in awhile you're missing out on some fun. You can find out more here. Note: They're working on the web site so you may have to come back to the site for an update on some of the upcoming events and happenings. 

Don't forget to drop by the shops on water street when you come. 

Enjoy caring and sharing days. 

Warmly,

Jill 00

 

blending

It's hard for me to believe that Bittersweets soap shop on water has been open for almost three months. Julie and I are cohabiting wonderfully. When customers step in the century old home they tell us that our shops blend well. It's nice to hear that. I in turn reply, that's because we're such great friends. 

You see...

Kind of like a summer breeze.

Enjoy caring and sharing days.

Warmly,

Jill 00

how lovely

Last Thursday night Lennis and I were invited over for a get together hosted by our neighbors children. You may recall me talking about Mrs. P before. That's a picture I took several years ago of the lovely estate. I remember when the image was captured. It was early morning and the snow had fallen overnight. The snow was sticking to the trees like icing and the overcast lighting was perfect. I had copies of the picture made and gave it to Mrs. P. She in turn shared the picture with her children. 

Last Thursday night while visiting with one of Mrs. P's daughters she began telling me how there used to be a peony and daffodil farm adjacent to Mrs. P's property. I'm guessing the flower farms were there during the 1930's or 40's. Back then my neighborhood would have been filled with layers of walnut trees and hack-berries and woods. It was considered rural land. The area also housed a boy scout camp. The woodsy land had not been built up yet. Our home was built in 1921 so it might have possibly been before that time. I plan to visit our archives to find out simply because I'm quite interested. Visiting the archives is like rummaging through an old photo album. The place is stuffed with plenty of rich history at your fingertips. The flower farm would have been directly across the street from our home. Oh how happy I would be to open my shutters each spring morning and see layers of golden yellow blooms from my dining room windows!

Can you imagine? I can! Then after the daffodils bloomed in early spring by the end of May the colorful peonies would fill the landscape. Spring beauty at its best! Skip the intermission. The blooms would have received a curtain call.  I haven't even mentioned the many red bud trees that flourish throughout our neighborhood in the spring.  

Even though winter just began, I'm dreaming of spring already. 

Enjoy caring and sharing winter days. 

Warmly,

Jill 00