bar soap dilemma

I want to like bar soap; I really do. And not just any bar soap: natural bar soap. I had bought some a while back when I had a coupon code to get a percentage off from purchasing from Apple Valley Natural Soap...and subsequently got into a buying frenzy of Groupon and Heartsy to obtain other kinds of bar soap as well. Not only did I want a product that was healthy for the environment, but also did not use containers to store itself in (like the shampoo and conditioner I was using previously).

Finally, I ran out of my old shampoo (Nature's Gate Tea Tree Oil Shampoo, which I do recommend and has been my favorite) and was excited to delve into my bars of natural soap. The first was a tea tree oil one, which I thought would be similar to the liquid shampoo I had previously. After using it the first time, I felt like it left a residue on my hair that I could not get rid of. My hair wasn't as soft and would tangle more easily. However, I did like the bar on my skin. It left it soft, smooth and I didn't need to apply lotion after the shower. Nevertheless, I persevered and continued to use the bar soap as shampoo.

After going home this previous weekend, I used what was available to me at my parents' house. This included Lever 2000 bar soap and Aussie Volumizing Shampoo. As hard as it was to admit, I liked using those products. My hair was soft and full of volume. The bar soap did a good job cleaning as well, although left my skin a little drier.

Today I pulled out the tea tree oil bar and tried it again; same result as before. Tonight I decided to pull out a different one, chamomile and orange blossom. Again, it was nice on the body; lathered nicely, and left my skin soft and clean. In the morning I will be washing my hair and then I will see if I like it better for my hair. I don't want to write off bar soap completely and will try the others I have purchased. If it leaves me feeling gross like the tea tree bar, though, I am going to have to switch back to liquid shampoo.

home for Easter

A reason to come home. Sure, there were other people to see, too, but my cousin and her husband had their first baby in February and I wanted to meet her! Isn't she sweet?



Here is the happy couple.

I also was able to have drinks with my cousin and his girlfriend on Friday night, as well as see neighborhood folk, Ursula and church friends. All in all, a very relaxing four days away from work.

spring is here

Besides the longer days of light, we found some buds on the trees today. We wandered through Mine Falls Park in New Hampshire.

Today there will be no posts about new things bought (although I bought something a while ago and am still waiting for it to come in the mail). Why is that? Well, I got the car towed again. Yes, again. Yes, from the lot where we live. I had spent the whole day in Taunton on Friday and was very preoccupied by the time I got home. I took all of my stuff out of the car and then headed back inside. A few hours later, after working out and eating dinner, I realized I left a few more things in the car and went out to get them. Then I realized I may not have put the parking tag back on the car. And I was right. I called the towing company and they did indeed have my car. Ryan was wonderful and walked with me to the towing company to pick up the car.

You would think that after it had already been towed once that I would have learned my lesson. I thought I had.

In addition to what happened on Friday, it was not a good week. It was full of stress and discouraging events. We tried to change how that went by making yesterday (Saturday) a good day. It seemed to work! I slept in and Ryan brought me breakfast in bed. I spent time around the home, picking up, vacuuming and working on the dishes. One of Ryan's friends texted him and asked if we wanted to meet for drinks. It sounded like fun, so we met at Garcia Brogan's around 10:30. There was a live band that night and they were good. However, it was very loud and we found ourselves shouting at each other to be heard. In addition to great drink prices, it is a very nice bar complete with Lowell Police and burly bouncers to keep the masses subdued. After a couple hours, we called it a night. We will be seeing them again.

saturday

I received my bowl this morning after a brisk knock on the door. I love the ridges on the bottom, like a scallop, as well as the copper blue glaze on the inside. When I hold it up to the light, it shines through in the thin parts, too. Thank you, Element Clay Studio!


Following grocery shopping and a cleaning of the apartment, we went to Western Ave Studios where there was an open house of the artist's studios there. Ryan's friend Anne was there and we came home with cake pops. It's fun to walk through the halls of an old building full of people making art. We were both sleepy when we came home, so we made some coffee. It went quite well with the cake pops.