Sunny Side Up!

 "I believe in God, only I spell it Nature"  - Frank Lloyd Wright. I truly am blessed to live where I do. I live a stones throw from our city's river valley, and with that, beautiful nature and walking trails. As Frank Lloyd Wright suggests, I feel closer to God when I am among the trees, and grass, and flowers. Nature is so awe inspiring, and being in it reminds me that I am simply one little piece of a giant whole; It puts my little problems into better perspective. It is a peace that I cannot find any where else, but when I sit quietly with my face to the sun, taking in its warmth and grandeur while smelling the sweet aroma of the lilac bushes and cherry blossoms. Where do you find God/peace?

  Image Courtesy of Sustainable Fashion Forum on Instagram In a previous post I discussed Fast Fashion . Now let's talk about it's opposite, Slow Fashion. According to the Sustainable Fashion Forum,  it consists of: "Multiple approaches to ethically consuming fashion such as buying second hand, vintage or thrifting, buying ethically made and/or locally made garments, buying fewer high-quality items, upcycling, DIYing fashion and rejecting mass-produced fast fashion." As much as Fast Fashion is mainly a business model, Slow Fashion is truly a mindset and a movement. What if you can't afford higher priced quality items and do not like the idea of wearing clothes worn by other people? You can buy the best quality you can afford, and take care of it for as long as possible.  Some people cannot afford to pay higher prices for clothes and out of necessity purchase from companies considered to be Fast Fashion retailers. There are others, namely social media influencers, ...

When it came to using scent in the house, my earlier go-to options were incense and Glade Plug-ins! I eventually added scented candles and then last summer, through a friend's suggestion, I entered the world of scented wax. The old warming bases were ceramic and used small candles to warm the wax or essential oil from underneath. Now, the array of modern electric warming lamps is vast as is the selection of scents and brands that produce them. Granted, I still like my incense sticks and cones, the odd scented candle or essential oils. But now that I have been introduced to the scented wax world, I am a convert!! One of the first ones I tried was this ScentSationals scented wax in Island Melon Coconut and it was love at first sniff!! I instantly felt like I was in the tropics...didn't hurt that we had a heat wave here in Edmonton last summer either. The scent throw was better than any candle I have tried (I have not tried Nest or Dyptique candles at this point, so theres that). ...

If you are wondering what the heck a Project Pan is, it is predominantly a project to use up your makeup before it expires, particularly those makeup items that are liquid or cream based. However, you can also add items from skincare, body care and hair care categories. Project panning can take on several forms as well. The main one is the "Rolling Year-long Project Pan" which consists of selecting a certain number of products, usually 5 -10, at one time then adding in new ones as you reach your goal on others. Other projects include seasonal, cream, palette and "Deck of Panning" projects. Currently I am working on a blend of the rolling year-long and seasonal projects. My goal is use up as many as I can, but certain items I roll in and out seasonally. Shown below are the makeup and skincare items I am panning/using up this year: As I mentioned above I am doing a blend of rolling year-long and seasonal project pans. Most of my makeup items such as primers, foundatio...

Image courtesy of Google Images. I cry for many reasons; Anger, sadness, and when feeling overwhelmed by the world events. Crying is a release that is not always respected by others, except during a traumatic time in our lives.  Why is that? Why are we as a society still uncomfortable with depression and sadness? Why are we as a society still uncomfortable seeing people cry, or ostracizing boys and men for showing emotion?  We need to change how we deal with emotions in our society. We need to be more accepting of mental illness and be quicker to lend a hand to get help. We have made good strides but more needs to be done to keep mental illness from being swept under the proverbial rug, and to see the light of day. Swallowing our emotions and shoving family mental illness under the rug is no longer how we deal with problems. This behaviour is killing us as a society. Anger is killing us as a society.  If you are suffering from sadness, depression or any other mental healt...

  Image courtesy of the Sustainable Fashion Forum on Instagram According to the Sustainable Fashion Forum, fast fashion is  "Inexpensive, cheaply made clothing that is rapidly produced by mass-market retailers in response to the latest and hottest trends and is designed to fall apart after a few wears." But fast fashion is not just a business model...it is also a mindset. Unfortunately, Instagram is used as a platform to share the latest outfit and that perpetuates this mindset...Once an outfit was featured on Instagram once, it would not be repeated.  Furthermore, fast fashion retailers took advantage of this by sponsoring fashion influencers to share their goods, which would be obsolete by the time they featured the item!!  Fashion trends used to come around each new season. Now they are shoved down consumers throats every one to two weeks!! However, if someone shops at thrift stores, which are more sustainable, but still disposes of the items after two or three we...

This is a mini bottle of Versace Bright Crystal Perfume. It is a soft floral scent with notes of Yuzu, Pomegranate, Lotus, Peony and Raspberry. It was released in 2013 and is one of three Versace minis I pruchased online from Sephora. Like I did with my last mini perfume, Yellow Diamond , I mixed this one with some essential oils and isopropyl alcohol. The oils I used were AOA Studio Jojoba Oil as a carrier oil and filler, AOA Studio Orange Oil to accentuate the Yuzu scent, and Gardenia Oil to add to the Lotus and Peony fragrance. All of these oils were purchased online on the Shop Miss A website. Mixing these fragrances helps to make them last a bit longer, and make them more custom to my taste.  Stay tuned to see what fragrance I customize next!