This Summer

There are so many things that I am “interested in” right now. I’m not sure where to start. Unfortunately, some of those things involve money. For example, Tatyana brought up that she wants me to kayak with her this summer. I love that idea! We would take a class first to get the technique down (which would cost money) and then I guess rent kayaks from a place on the Hooch (also requiring money). I definitely think that is worth the money, and I will do some research on where to take a class.

I have also had a desire to take a pottery class since I took ceramics in high school. Drawing and painting was never a natural talent for me, but I LOVED ceramics, and according to my teacher I was actually pretty good at it. Check out this picture of me from high school, that's a mask I was working on in ceramics and it wasn't finished yet, but the picture is funny!

I loved working with clay, it’s so relaxing and fun to create with it. That would also cost money, but I think that would be worth it to me as well. I want to find a place where I could take a class and also just come in to use their tools. Again, I need to do some research to see if there is a place like that in Atlanta. All I know is kilns are expensive, so there is no way I will be working with clay at home.

After I get back into ceramics/pottery I think I would eventually like to learn how to work with metal as well. Welding has always been so interesting to me, I would love to be able to make my own jewelry. I don’t know if I would be any good at it, but I want to try.

Making cleaning solutions and beauty and health products at home is something I'm going to do this summer. I just bought Make Your Place (recommended by Kendra) which has tons of different recipes. I just need to go buy my materials and get started.

I would like to grow my own herbs to use for some of the recipes but I don’t think my place gets enough sun. That is something I need to do TOMORROW. I’ve been meaning to time how much sun different spots around the house get. I’ve been putting it off because I don’t feel like staring at the porch until it’s in the shade. Any suggestions on how to time it without having to sit and watch? If I can’t grow any here I’ve been told to look into different community gardens. I might be too lazy for that. If I can’t have my own garden at home then I will just try to buy those things locally. I just found a spot on the back porch that might work, the sun hasn’t hit it yet so I might be able to time it today. It is pretty small but I would at least be able to grow a couple herbs. I’ll have to wait to grow tomatoes till next year I guess :( .

Anyways, back to making things. I want to start with shampoo and body wash. This summer is the perfect time to experiment with this since Tom won’t be here to smell me in case they don’t work so well, HA. This book has a simple recipe for both, just castile soap and essential oils. I’m hoping that since I will use some essential oils that I will smell even better than with my nasty SLS containing shampoo that I’m using now. (I was going to link you to a page about SLS but I would rather recommend that you do your own research because there is so much information on the internet). Detergent to scrub my hair and body, no thank you! I have pretty sensitive skin so I’m excited to see how much better I’ll feel when I get rid of my harsh soaps! There are a couple shampoo recipes besides the basic one that I’ll try if I don’t like using just castile soap. There are also some recipes for a few facial cleansers that I want to try, and an apple cider vinegar conditioner. I don’t have any essential oils yet, and I’m going to have to start small since they can be a little pricey. I definitely need lavender and tea tree first. I’ll stop rambling about this. I’ll let you know how the first couple of recipes work! I have a bunch of “green” cleaning products right now so I’ll wait until I’m almost out of those before I start making cleaning solutions.

If I enjoy making these things and see good results I would like to look into making bar soap. There are so many shops on Etsy that sell awesome handmade bars of soap and I think I would have so much fun with that!

Another thing I want to focus on this summer is changing my eating habits. Notice how I didn’t use the word “diet?” I’m not interested in getting rid of carbs or chugging protein shakes, I just want to know where my food is from and how it was made and what makes it good for me. My eating habits aren’t “bad” now, I actually try really hard to buy organic products when I go grocery shopping and I stay away from sugar and processed foods. But I want to go further than that and try to buy mostly local produce and other products. Unfortunately that requires getting up early on a Saturday morning to make it to a local farmer’s market before all the produce sells out. My schedule is a little weird this summer and waking up that early is hard. Tom and I Skype at some point between 1:00 and 4:00 am every night. That is when he gets off work (in Alaska) and it is obviously important enough to me to stay up so we can talk. So getting up at 8:00 am is pretty hard if I’ve only gotten four hours of sleep. I guess I just need to make myself get up and then I can take a small nap before work. I need to make it a priority, we are talking about the food I’m putting into my body every day! No excuses!

Now that I’ve wrote a REALLY long post about things that I want to do this summer, the challenge is doing them. I will keep you updated, and wish me luck!