Vanilla Coconut Sugar Scrub

We spent Sunday sun tanning in the backyard at my parent's house. That's what Mother's Day is all about, right? 


I bought my mom a super cute pocket mirror with a little tea bag on it (it runs in the family) from Scientific Culture, and some fleurs. 

I always find it so easy to shop for my Mom, but this year I wanted to add something a little creative to the mix. I found a recipe for Vanilla Coconut Scrub over at Gorgeously Green (a great book, by the way!). I tweaked the recipe a tiny bit, and I'll include my version here. I tried some on my hands, and it's super moisturizing. I found all of the ingredients at a local health food store. 


What You Need:
- A jar to put the finished product in
- 1 1/4 cups coconut palm sugar
- 3/4 cup coconut oil
- 3 tbsp unsweetened shredded coconut
- 2 tsp vanilla extract


Instructions:
Heat the coconut oil to liquify, and combine all ingredients in a bowl. Let the coconut oil cool and solidify. Your scrub will be fairly dry at this point. I added between 1/8 and 1/4 cup coconut oil to make the scrub less thick. If you add too much oil, just add some more coconut palm sugar and shredded coconut. When everything cools, add it to your jar. Voila! You're done. 

Happy Mother's Day! 

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here! 

Green pepper

I know this because I've planted my patio garden outside, and it hasn't died. I went to a local flowershop, Art Knapps, with Odie and my mom. We stocked up. I only plant in containers, and I love it!

Ode not so graciously sitting in a cart so I could be hands free

Our space is really limited, so I had to brainstorm new planter ideas. I was considering building some nifty holders for pots that I could drill into the wall, but instead I found these coco lined wire planters that just seemed easier. 

From top to bottom, left to right: catnip, white garlic,
peppermint, dill, basil, stevia, and chives

It took about 10 minutes to install them, and the best part is that they're fairly narrow and don't take up much room. I LOVE growing food! 

Green leaf lettuce and romaine

Strawberries in a hanging coco lined planter

Last year, I decided to plant a few things in a pot beside our front door. The plants didn't survive very long, because the space only gets first morning sun. This year, I'm trying again, but with new planters, and some plants that are full shade to part sun. Hopefully i'll have better luck this year.

Purple lobelia and white impatiens

I usually choose two colours of flowers and one colour of foliage to fill my planters, but this year I decided to go wild and choose more than one colour of foliage, and three colours of flowers. This year I got crazy. 

Purple Persian shield, silver spike, white petnuia, tukana scarlet star,
lemon licorice, and white asylum

I planted two planters with the above, and I can't wait for everything to fill out. I am not a very patient gardener. GROW ALREADY! That sphere you see is just a clear globe solar lantern. I may add some more lighting in the future. The patio still needs a couple finishing touches. We're going to attach mesh to the entire patio railing, so the cats can enjoy the sun and fresh air, without sneaking through the rails and jumping one storey to the cement below (it's happened twice now). Thank goodness cats land on their feet... most of the time. Once the mesh is up, Odie can fit some much needed sunbathing into her busy schedule. I am also on the lookout for a cute gardening tool box. 

Loki sniffing some sugar snap peas

Mickey looks 100% again after having his arm glued back on after
a horrific moving accident

Happy Spring, and Happy Gardening!

That's where you want to go, to get away from it all.

At the end of last month, we packed our things and flew to Fort Lauderdale to hop on a ship and cruise the Caribbean for our second honeymoon. Odie was on vacation too, at her grandparents house. We missed her so much, but she has a blast there, and loves to run in their yard. I'd love to say the whole trip was all slushy drinks and beaches, but the truth is that I was extremely sick for a couple of days. However, the rest of the trip was amazing! Mike has been on his fair share of cruises, but before this cruise, I had only been on one. I'm still pretty up in the air on whether or not it's a good way to travel. If I hadn't been infected with norovirus, my thoughts on the matter might be more favourable.

Anyway, the cruise we had been on before was with Royal Caribbean (to Mexico), so this time we decided to switch it up and try Princess. I had never been to anywhere in the Caribbean before, and was super excited. The thing that's great about cruises is that you get to see so many places in such a short period of time. I've never been to an all-inclusive resort, and it's mainly because when I travel, I like to get around. 

Our ship was the Emerald Princess, and we stayed in an inside cabin. We tried to get an upgrade, but the ship was totally full (darn!). Had I known that I would spend a considerable amount of time in the room being violently ill, I might have chosen a room with a balcony, or at least a window. My favourite feature of the ship was their "Movies Under the Stars" events. They have a large screen outside above one of the pools, and they setup the chairs with covers every night. There are flannel blankets to use, and even popcorn! The staff come around periodically during the movie with desserts, and cookies & milk. It's so nice to relax after an active day, under the stars, with the salt breeze cooling you off. It's just generally really cute! My least favourite part was the guests who weren't washing their hands after going to the washroom, touching everything, and causing an infectious outbreak. Thanks a lot, jerks. 

Anyway! Let me take you on a short photo tour of our travels. 
Our first stop was at Princess Cays, in the Bahamas. The ship anchors, which means having to wait to get on shore, but who cares... you're in the Bahamas. Not great if you like to get off the beaten path, as it's obviously owned by Princess and is pretty secluded. Great if you want to do some easy snorkeling, and relax on the beach and get an intense sunburn (because you think that SPF 15 will cut it in the Caribbean sun, even though you're from Canada and your pale skin hasn't seen the sun for months). 

It looks like it's crowded, but there's actually quite a bit of space. There are a ton of outdoor bars, and of course there's bar service right to where you're tanning if you just don't want to move. The cays wouldn't scream CRUISE unless there was food, and we didn't take advantage of the "BBQ", but it looked pretty delish. The snorkeling was pretty decent, but I would probably say that it wasn't worth renting snorkel equipment. We brought our own, excluding fins, but everything is so close to the shore that fins really aren't necessary. Personally, I don't like wearing fins while snorkeling anyway. I prefer just my bare feet, so I know where they are when I'm around coral (for the coral's sake, not mine). 

When we got to the point where it felt like our skin was on fire, we took a walk around, and found the super cute bungalows that you can rent. They're air conditioned, but I don't know why anyone would want to go to the Bahamas and sit inside... or outside the door in the tiny fenced yard. 

Next up was St. Thomas, which is part of the US Virgin Islands. This is shopper's paradise, if you're after jewellery. The cruise port was infested with iguanas, which was naturally my favourite part of the whole day. Who doesn't love an iguana?!

With Odie always on our mind, we had to take a snapshot of this store's little guardian. 

Odie hasn't never been to St. Thomas, but I'm sure she'd like it.

After St. Thomas was supposed to be Dominica, but this is the part of the cruise that I was super sick and not loving life. We missed out on our excursion we had scheduled, which was a river to ocean kayaking adventure. Mike stayed on the ship with me, and I slept on and off for 27 hours, trying to recover, anticipating our next destination. Unfortunately I couldn't drink water and was becoming dehydrated, and we decided it would be best for me to get some medical attention, so we phoned medical services. We were told that a nurse would be with us "shortly". We never heard from them again, which made me question their reliability in a serious emergency. Thankfully the next day I could drink a bit of water, so I wasn't worried. At this point of the cruise, it was well known that there was a norovirus outbreak on board (every state room received a letter saying so), and some preventative measures were being taken. The most noticeable difference was the changes in the buffet. No touching ANYTHING, except for your own plate and silverware, which was handed to you by a crew member wearing latex gloves. Oh well. I lived to see another day! And that day was an insanely hot one in Grenada. 

Grenada is known as the "spice" of the Caribbean, because they export a crazy amount of spices. They were hit hard by hurricane Ivan in 2004, devastating their spice and tourism industry, and are still having trouble recovering. 

The next day we were in Bonaire, and I was feeling a LOT better. I love Bonaire. We were already planning our next trip to the island while we were still there. The snorkeling was amazing, the food was great, and the people were lovely. 

We went on the Siamese Junk Cruise excursion, which we booked through Princess, which took us to snorkel off the shore of Klein Bonaire (or Little Bonaire). The snorkeling was so good, that I could have spent the entire day there. It didn't hurt that at one point I looked over my shoulder to see a sea turtle!

The waters around Bonaire have been protected for a long time, so the sea life is pretty spectacular. I can only imagine what you would see during a dive trip. Bonaire has been coined as a "divers paradise", and I believe it. Just standing on the dock at the cruise port, and looking into maybe 10 feet of water, we saw huge parrot and puffer fish, among others. 
I would have been happy just staying there for the rest of the trip. But alas, we had to move on to Aruba (poor us). 

If we hadn't been to Bonaire, Aruba would have been my favourite island we visited. However, we liked the less busy feel of Bonaire. One of my favourite memories was listening to a large group of guys in a waterfront pub getting a little rowdy and singing whatever song they could come up with that everyone could sing along to (including the happy birthday song). Okay! Enough of my Bonaire love affair. Aruba honestly seems like a great vacation destination, especially if you want to party. We're too laid back to appreciate it. It's like a little Las Vegas, except in the Caribbean. We went on a "pirate schooner" snorkeling cruise for a few hours, and then did some shopping. They have some pretty serious shopping in a mall right by the cruise port, and it's not limited to jewellery. Dangerous. 

The trip would have been better if I hadn't been sick, and I'm pretty disappointed in the way Princess handled the situation. Since norovirus really seems to be making its rounds on cruise ships, it might be a good idea to just run the ship according to the red level standards they put into place in case of an outbreak. Regardless of being sick, it was a great vacation. After all, it's the Caribbean. We had two days at sea on our way back to Fort Lauderdale, and enjoyed laying in the sun, being super lazy, and eating a lot of food (as you do). 

We also really enjoyed our short excursion in Fort Lauderdale. We booked this last minute, when we realized our flight didn't leave until the late afternoon. We went on a paddle wheel boat, around the canals of Fort Lauderdale to Port Everglades, to gawk at all the million dollar properties. 

 

We brought back a few souvenirs, and we didn't forget about our little Ode. We picked out a sea turtle, and a donkey stuffed animal for her. Did you know that Bonaire has wild donkeys?! They also have flamingoes, but we didn't see either when we were there. Next time. 

Pet Shopping

I'm back home after a long day of shopping around town with my Mom. Most of the shopping was pet related (as usual), although some was also for myself. It's ridiculous how excited I get when I find something new and improved for my pets. Remember how excited I was when I bought the automatic self-cleaning litter box? Today was almost as exciting. What I bought today:

Photo: Walmart

1. Bamboo Eco Potty Pads, with adhesive strips! When Odie is at my parent's house, where they have an easily accessible yard, she is 100% housetrained, no doubt about it. She whines at the door to be let out, and does her business quickly. At home, it's a bit of a different story. We don't have an easily accessible yard. In fact, we have no yard. A trip outside means getting a harness and leash on, and wearing "real" clothes so the neighbours don't think we're weirdos. We are weirdos, but they don't need to know that. We have a covered patio, and we've started to put a house training pad out there. It's still technically outside, and she has to go through a door to use it, so we're hoping it will catch on. We're almost there. We've tried the fake grass system, which Odie loved, but we hated. I would love to grow real grass in a garden box for her, but unfortunately the patio is so well covered that it doesn't get any sun. Because it's outside, and sometimes it gets windy, the adhesive strips are going to come in handy. I also like that the pads are made out of bamboo. 


2. Puppy Love small elk antler chew. I can't wait to give this to Odie! There's some debate on whether or not antler chews are safe for dogs. After some research, i've decided that it sounds safe enough to try. Obviously, I will be supervising her chewing, and I won't leave her alone with it. We recently bought her a bully stick that she LOVES. What exactly is a bully stick? Literally, it's bull penis. Not joking. Apparently they are amazing for a dog's teeth. Even if they weren't, they're incredible enrichment, and keep her busy for hours. 

Photo: HeartyPet

3. Zuke's Clean Apple Crisp Z-Bones. They're pricey, but Ode loves them. One of the things I like about this company, is that a percentage of their sales is donated to The Dog and Cat Cancer Fund yearly. These bones are grain free, and are supposed to "freshen doggy breath". We had a miniature schnauzer, Fritz, that had arthritis. To give him a dose of glucosamine and chondroitin (as well as a treat), we would give him their hip action treats daily. I really feel that they made a difference. Which leads me to my next purchase...

Photo: Zuke's

4. Don't think that I left the cats out! I bought them a new kong toy, and some Zuke's Cat Hip Action soft treats. These are basically the same as their hip action treats for dogs, except for cats. Our cats are definitely not old, but they're approaching what could be considered middle age. We don't give them a lot of treats, but I hope that this one will become a daily ritual to ease them into their retirement. 


And there you have it. I also bought a million (not literally) cans of cat food that I've found that the cats love! In case anyone is wondering, they're now eating B.F.F. and Go! canned cat food, with some Grasslands Acana kibble thrown in to beef it up a little. I chose the Acana kibble, and canned food because of the low ash content, which I'm told is related to bladder crystals, which we would like Lance to NEVER HAVE AGAIN! So far, so good. 

Arts & Crafts

This week I made a pillowcase for a cat. I'll tell you why. Our cat Lance is a bit of a weirdo--a recluse, if you will. He spends most of his time in our bathroom shelf. 

Please excuse our ugly shelves

When we moved in, we kept towels in there. When it was down to one towel, Lance made himself at home. Since he wouldn't stop going in there, and no one enjoys cat hair on their towel, we decided that shelf would be his. We had a regular pillow that I was going to just throw out, but instead, I decided to make him a pillow case so he could sleep on something a little more comfy than an old Harry Potter towel. I had some paw print fabric that I never used, and after some quick measuring and what seemed like an entire day of sewing by hand, I turned it into a pillow case. 

Hand sewn

The finished product!

After vacuuming a serious amount of cat hair out of the shelf, I put the pillow in. It fits pretty good, and I'm glad it's a little plump, since it will have a 10 lb. cat on it for approximately 18-20 hours a day. 

The final step was to see if Lance likes it. He was pretty mad at me for having the vacuum out, so don't judge by the look on his face. I put the pillow in about an hour ago, and he's still in there. 

Lance's bedroom

Complete with curtain