Happiness.

. Somehow I have stumbled on this topic a lot lately in the past couple of weeks. I recently read The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. It is pretty much about a woman who lives in New York with her family and she decides to dedicate a year to doing a  happiness project. She doesn't leave her New York life to travel or discover herself somewhere else. Which is great in Eat, Pray, Love. But, she chooses to just incorporate different themes to focus on in her life now. Each month has its own topic ranging from marriage, vitality, parenthood, work, and friendship to eternity, mindfulness, leisure, and attitude. I enjoyed it, and it made me think more about choosing to be happy and working on little things along the way.

I also randomly started watching a documentary about happiness. It was looking at people all over the world and trying to determine what made people happy. The thing that was so beautiful is that certain people who lived in little homes with plastic preventing the wind from coming in or people who had a job where they were literally pulling others around town in a buggy or had nothing but a little cloth covering their stuff were extremely happy. They had a village and family around them. It showed that focusing on relationships and helping others and even just trying new things brought happiness. It's called Happy if you want to check it out.

I guess it just got me thinking too that there really is a lot to be thankful for. Especially, if you have your needs of food, clothing, shelter, and even protection met....unlike a lot of people in the world. So, I'm just challenged to think about those things and to choose to work and focus on happiness in life. Keep that dopamine flowing. Seriously. You won't lose it in the end if you do.

"As the Spanish proverb says, 'He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies, must carry the wealth of the Indies with him'"-James Boswell

Homemade soap.

This January, I decided to sign up for a couple of classes at the Nashville Community Education Center. I'm taking Beginning Sewing and Homemade Soaps. My first class started last week. We made bath salts and body powder. Don't know how many people out there use body powder, but I may give it a try. The process was super easy! Here are the recipes:

Bath salts:
1 pound Epsom Salts
1 pound Baking Soda
1 pound Sea Salt
1 tablespoon Sweet Almond Oil
1 tablespoon Essential Oil
Combine and blend with hands until all ingredients are well blended and have an even mix. Let dry about one hour.

Body Powder
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 tablespoons rice flour
6 drops fragrance oil of choice
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. After all are mixed together, sift to break up any powder that may clump.


This week, we made soap. It was an extensive process, but I really enjoyed it and want to keep making my own. I didn't add any scents to my soap, but put some ground oatmeal into it for exfoliation. I need to wait about 2 weeks for it to harden completely and then I can start using it. Here it is!