Awake at 7am on a Saturday to Unmould

It’s been a big week. A good week, filled with satisfying work, family, research and making soaps. So this morning was my ‘sleep until you wake’ morning. A morning where I could laze to my heart’s content, coming to the surface of consciousness and then sinking again, without regret, into the sweetness of well-earned sleep. With Andy and Sam leaving early to go to a football game, the penultimate one of the season, that left me and Zac at home to sleep to our heart’s content. Because Zacky is like a dormouse in the morning; soft and snuffly and snuggly and disinclined to leave his duvet. Perfect.

Yet, when they said goodbye at seven o’clock this morning, I didn’t pull the covers back up and nestle back into my warm bed. I got up and went to unmould my beautiful soaps. It feels like Christmas morning, to see what wonders the hours have wrought on them. I have to look at them, smell them, run fingertips along edges, and admire them. If I like them enough, and I do, I take photos.

Last night, I made two 1kg loaves, one using Calendula infused grapeseed oil and essential oils of Cedarwood and Orange, and the other, a gentle Lavender, with a whisper of Marjoram. They smell beautiful, their scents are natural and grounding and lovely, yet delicate and gentle. I totally love them both.

 

 

Lavender and Calendula Loaves

Calendula with Cedarwood and Orange

Lavender

 

Happy Saturday everyone 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day 2 at the Gym

…was great!

I went straight after work, did the couple of circuits and stretches and left feeling strong and good.

The best thing about that is that exercise really gets me in the right frame of mind for eating well and doing more exercise. Added to which, it has knock on effects for the way I feel about myself in general, the way I feel in my clothes. My breathing feels better, I shopped for gorgeous fresh foods, I just feel better and more positive.

Just two days of proper exercise has made the world of difference. Pretty amazing really.

So last week I put on a little weight, this week I took off 600g. Overall, I’m still down from where I left off in the last round and really, until now in this round, they’re just numbers. This is where it properly begins and hooray for that. 🙂

After work, my workout and some shopping, I took my lunch down to the beach and ate, watching the waves come in. It was sunshiny and lovely. When I’d finished eating, I took out the art kit my mother gave me last night. It’s a pink pencil case with a tiny set of watercolour paints, a fine point black felt-tip pen, a water brush and a small hardcover book with blank art pages inside. It’s ridiculously cute and as it turns out, very fun to play with.

This isn’t mine, it’s from http://www.lifeneedsart.com but I haven’t taken a pic of mine yet and this is about the right size 🙂

 

I’d already done two drawings in the book, one last night just after Mum gave me the kit and one this morning, while I was waiting to begin work. I got myself comfy and sketched what I was looking at out of my window, then coloured it with water colours. It wasn’t spectacular, or even very good but it was relaxing. 🙂