Soap nuts

I'm a wanna be hippy. Total wanna be. My best friend in high school was a hippy and I loved that about her. I loved how she made her own pillows, was a vegetarian, made friends with random homeless teenagers and weird grassroots organizations. I was glad her patchouli faze was a quick one.

But I will never be a hippy. Used clothing stores drive my allergies crazy. I don't make friends with randoms. And I can't list any songs by the Grateful Dead. So when I find anything that remotely appeals to my inner flower child I am all over it. And that's what brings me to my love of soap nuts.

I came across an ad for them last year on kijiji. There are a couple of Canadian websites that sell them. I also found some at Plovers in Halifax and on ebay. Online companies give a ton of info on their websites about them.

Soap nuts are the seed from a tree called Sapindus and people have been using their shells to clean for thousands of years. I've been using them to do my laundry for about 9 months now, and while removing stains isn't their strong suit, they make everything smell fresh and clean and wonderful. And they disinfect. Apparently they're really good for cloth diapers. The big plus is you put a handful of shells into a wash bag and you can use it 5-10 times. Makes laundry easy when I'm in the mood to do any. :)

I think they rock and everyone should use them so I thought I would spread the word. They are cheap, have no phosphates, and come from a renewable resource. Therefore everyone should use them.

Yes, this may be my only hippy tendency. But I always worried my dad would yell at me if I got dreads. He's big and scary. However, I am testing out vegan-ism again, starting tomorrow. That so counts.

August 28, 2010

Happy Wedding Day, Marcelle & Chris!!!!

XO

Wedding Rings

My friend Jonathan Corey of Masterworks Jewelry made both my engagement ring and my wedding band. Chris helped design the engagement ring and I designed the wedding band. And they are both gorgeous. But the setting of the diamond ring is really high and I do a little physical labour at work. Plus I'm super clumsy and run into things. Anyway I decided the setting wasn't appropriate for my office. I didn't want it to get scratched or chipped.

When I designed my wedding band it was with a flat setting in mind. I had browsed Etsy looking for ideas and settled on something from My Heart Monster. Using those ideas Jon designed a ring with 4 aquamarines in a low profile setting. The aquamarines are Chris's birth stone which is super cheesy and awesome. :)

Anyway the rings were never designed to match, which they don't. And I tried wearing them together but the clashing really bothered me. So I put the engagement ring in a box. But I missed it.

About 3 weeks ago I decided that I would buy another wedding band. One to wear whenever I'm in the mood for a sparkly diamond ring. Crazy, I know. But it arrived today and it's perfect. Yay!

I can't wear it yet until Chris see it. But that should be in less than an hour. And then it will be 'the more rings the merrier'. I wonder if this means I'll have to do another Ring Warming Ceremony?

Our Traditional weekend trip

This weekend is a super huge weekend that I look forward to every year. Our annual trip to Grand Manan!!!! We're at the Hole in the Wall Campsite at Whale Cove Site 1. Yes, this site number is important. There's a huge bench on the campsite, next to the fire pit where you can look over the Bay of Fundy and watch seals eat herring. It's a good time.

The view from our campsite.

Friends Lacey and Jason having supper on the huge bench.

This is the first time Chris and I are going by ourselves since we started going 7 years ago. Which is weird. And so we're doing something different on Saturday night. We're going out to dinner. I know, not really different. But on the island we always eat at the campsite and this time we're going to a fancy restaurant. I think it's just down the street but I'm not 100% certain. They post their menu daily and right now I'm sorry I'll be missing tonight's haddock stuffed with crab and cheese sauce. Mmmm.

I can't believe it's only Wednesday!!!

Teamwork

Chris and I are normally an excellent team. We have very similar tastes and preferences which made wedding planning really easy. However we don't work well together on house projects. I don't like the professor voice he uses when he's telling me how to do things. It bugs me to no end. My first experience with this was 4 years ago when we moved in to our house together and started to redo the kitchen. Chris was lecturing me on how to put in the new flooring. I think we got about 4 pieces in before I gave up to save the relationship. Yes Chris, I stopped helping you for the greater good. :) Aren't I sweet?

Luckily most of our projects aren't so big that he needs help. At least that's what I told myself when he gutted the bathroom to the studs and rebuilt it. I said, "The bathroom is too small for 2 people to work in there at once."

However, we have been living in this blue house for a long enough time. It's a very ugly blue. I have always hated it. And when I realized that we had been living there for 4 years this month I decided that was far too long to live with a color you hate. And so we agreed to paint the house. A project much too big for Chris to do by himself, so we had to work as a functioning team. (My friend told me it would go much smoother if I didn't disagree with him and just handed him tools as he required. That is so not me.)

However, much to my surprise, we worked together really well. We were super productive and painted one coat on the whole house this past weekend. Crazy. No more ugly blue!!!! And we're still talking to each other. And nice to each other. And we even had a little bit of fun! Yay! Maybe afterwards we can take on redoing the living room???

This picture was taken after all the prep work had been started...and 2 of 4 sides painted. But really, this is the before picture. The fascia boards still need to be fixed, but the front window was stripped and repainted. Thank goodness Chris has no problem with heights!

Tada! Midway point. This is with one coat on the house. So one more coat to be put on. And then on will go the new mail box, new numbers, and new light fixture. Plus we're painting the door red when we (I?) get a chance. Awesome!

Home

I am really glad our wedding reception was at my parents house. I lived there until I was 25, I am the only person with a key to the front door, and I spend about 4 nights there a month. Not surprisingly it's still pretty much home. And it was perfect and comfortable for the wedding.

But I had dinner there on Saturday night, sitting at the kitchen table that displayed all of the food at the reception. And since then all I can think about are the cupcakes that looked so pretty and tasted so yummy. I only have 2 left in the freezer and they are waiting in the freezer until our two month anniversary.

What a shame. Maybe I'll have to place another order.

Wedding Recap

On June 22,2010 my day started with a cup of coffee and drive out to Rothesay with my sister and friend Robyn. We spent the morning getting pampered with hair, make up and manicures. I have no idea what Chris did all morning except he and my aunt hung pom poms from the trees at my parents house where the reception took place. They did a really good job.

When we arrived back to the house we quickly got dressed and met Chris, his best man and best lady, and our photographer outside at 12:30. We went uptown to make spectacles of ourselves. It was awesome. We had a tour bus full of people cheer for us while we took pictures in King Square. It was a fabulous way to hang out and wait for your 3 o'clock wedding.

We were uptown for over an hour and took pictures in 3 locations. This was fabulous and there were tons of pictures taken. My only regret is that we only bought the 5 hour package and I wish we had of bought the 7 hour package. We have a million bridal party pictures but are lacking on the reception. I wonder what I missed as I flitted from room to room, from lobster rolls to smoked salmon and back again.

* all photos by Julie A. Whitlock