Friday, 07 December 2007
Saturday, 08 December 2007
Christmas comes at an awkward time for the Newbanks-Soell household
this year. 2007 has seen a lot of change. We bought a house, moved, I
started grad school, Andy phased out A.M. Soell Development and took a
fancy new job in D.C. where he gets to work on websites for people who
sue the government, I started a photography business...the list goes on
for a while but those are the highlights.
We decided this year we would try to be a little more creative with the gift giving to avoid stressing out the bank account. So far I've had a million ideas but very little follow through as I've been spending every waking hour these last few weeks chained to my computer self-reflecting myself to death. They're big on that self-reflecting business in the counseling program. Me? Not so much. I digress.
This weekend the first pocket of free time opened up and I decided to spend it perfecting my homemade sugar scrub recipe so maybe, just maybe, our friends and family will have some gifts under the tree when the calendar turns December 25. This scrub is great. I found the recipe on the internets some time ago but I haven't made it in a while. It's super quick and easy. Here goes.
Recipe:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Turbinado
1/2 (or so) Safflower oil with vitamin E
15-20 drops scented essential oil (I used sweet orange)
Several of these ingredients are just a matter of preference. I use dark brown sugar for winter scrubs because it has a nice warm smell and safflower oil because it's lighter than olive oil and absorbs quickly. I picked up my essential oils from Whole Foods, but they are available at most natural food stores. I chose these particular jars because they have a wide mouth and a seal (much like the origins jars). They were $2.99 at Hobby Lobby for large and $1.33 for small.
Step Three: Test it! (Those are Andy's hands...my arms aren't that hairy)
Step 5: Spoon into jars.
We decided this year we would try to be a little more creative with the gift giving to avoid stressing out the bank account. So far I've had a million ideas but very little follow through as I've been spending every waking hour these last few weeks chained to my computer self-reflecting myself to death. They're big on that self-reflecting business in the counseling program. Me? Not so much. I digress.
This weekend the first pocket of free time opened up and I decided to spend it perfecting my homemade sugar scrub recipe so maybe, just maybe, our friends and family will have some gifts under the tree when the calendar turns December 25. This scrub is great. I found the recipe on the internets some time ago but I haven't made it in a while. It's super quick and easy. Here goes.
Recipe:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup Turbinado
1/2 (or so) Safflower oil with vitamin E
15-20 drops scented essential oil (I used sweet orange)
Several of these ingredients are just a matter of preference. I use dark brown sugar for winter scrubs because it has a nice warm smell and safflower oil because it's lighter than olive oil and absorbs quickly. I picked up my essential oils from Whole Foods, but they are available at most natural food stores. I chose these particular jars because they have a wide mouth and a seal (much like the origins jars). They were $2.99 at Hobby Lobby for large and $1.33 for small.
Step
One: Combine the brown sugar and the turbinado (you can omit the
turbinado--I like to add it because it is not as fine as regular brown
sugar so it gives a little extra exfoliation). Mix the two
sugars together until the lumps of brown sugar go away.
Step
Two: Add the oil and essential oil drops to the sugar and stir until
the oil is absorbed. You can add more or less oil depending on your
personal preference. I don't like my scrubs to be super oily so I keep
it to a half a cup.
Step Three: Test it! (Those are Andy's hands...my arms aren't that hairy)
Step 5: Spoon into jars.
From here it's all you. I usually decorate the jar with some pretty paper that corresponds to the scent and make tags.
The finished product: I'll probably add a stir before I give them away because the oil tends to settle.
Saturday, 08 December 2007
since we decided to banish all sugary drinks from the house as a new years' resolution in 2006, andy and I have become addicted to sugar-free kool-aid. much to our horror, we arrived at the kool-aid isle last night only to find out the fine people of kraft foods have decided to discontinue the sugar free flavors. some people may have resigned themselves to mixing in their own splenda into the regular packets. not us. we bought every single box the store had left. we're dedicated.
Sunday, 09 December 2007
This one almost made the cut for the Card...it probably would have if it weren't so technically poor. I still really like it, though :).