Happy 4th Birthday Ayden!!

Whew!  It's been a crazy couple of weeks, but I made it through to the other side and I still have a smile on my face (and a few pictures to share)!

First, have I mentioned yet how incredibly blessed I am to have such a supportive family?  Because I am...I really am.  I'm a stay-at-home-mom who recently decided to learn how to make soap, and with no questions asked, both of my children's grandmothers agreed to help with the kids while I was off learning this new craft.  Then my neck went out and the grandmothers/heroines stepped up their game BIG TIME, taking shifts and coordinating schedules so that I wouldn't re-injure myself caring for and picking up the littles.

I tried to take it easy...I really did.  But it's taking so long for my neck to heal and I was anxious to do something productive and I just so happened to have a bunch of soap-making ingredients nearby and a lovely husband who was willing to do the heavy lifting for me.  (That bordered on a run-on sentence but you get a picture of the frantic voices in my head).  Anyway I had a great excuse...one of my best friend's son was turning 4 (adorable Ayden) and I was doing the party favors!  Take a moment to soak in the adorableness that is this little boy...

I know...those eyes, that smile.  He's too cute for words!  The kids had so much fun at the party.  There was a petting zoo...

...and a bouncy house...

...and did I mention that Ayden's 10-year-old cousin made his birthday cake??  

Now the party favors...each child received a bag with one bar of soap with little farm animals embedded inside, and three miniature bath bombs with water-soluble images melted on the front wrapped up in a pretty little package.

Ninety miniature bath bombs with water-soluble images melted on.  And I really did have fun doing it!  

 Here's a close up of the soap...the kids love them!!

Happy birthday, Ayden!!

My Inspiration for Lucy Kat Soaps

I will be 34 soon - still young, but older than I have ever been before.  (It's all relative, right?)  I have been inspired by many different types of people in those years; most of them (not all) were women.  They inspired and continue to inspire in many ways.  They inspire me to care for the sick; to feed the birds and have a garden; to travel and see the world; to believe in my ability to create; to use my troubles as stepping stones to higher ground; to always try to be kind; to not be always trying to be kind at the expense of my self-respect.

I just had a long conversation with one such woman.  She is strong and fierce and wonderful.  She knows who she is and she tells you and then she doesn't apologize for it, and it inspired me to tell you who I am and why I am starting Lucy Kat Soaps.

Kicking and screaming...Auntie Heather doesn't mess around

I am a wife, daughter, sister, niece, proud auntie, friend and stay-at-home-mom to two of the most awe-inspiring creatures to ever walk my way.  I am also a University of Texas alumna (Hook 'em Horns!).  I have a Master of Social Work and before becoming a mom, I worked on public policy at various levels of government in New York City and Austin.  

I love many things.  I really love my family and my friends.  I love to travel and cook and watch really suspenseful and traumatizing crime dramas. I like to read and write.  I love New York City and I love to practice yoga in a heated room on a cold day with the window open.  I really love going to the theater (Broadway plays and musicals).  I love to eat really delicious food and talk about how good it was for a week after, and I love red wine.  

I also really love spa smells and fancy baths.  As a child, I was known for my love of all things Lucille Ball.  I loved Lucy for a long time in the same way that you loved Michael Jackson or The Cure or, em, Wilson Phillips.  (What?  Who said that?).  

I may have even dressed up as Lucy for Halloween one year.  

I was a fan of the belted tunic with leggings underneath.  (I still kind of love that look).

Yes, my loyalty to Lucy went with me to junior high and high school...

.

My "I Love Lucy" t-shirts did amazing things for my social status

...and even made its way into my college dorm.

You have to look past the adorable flying nun to see that Lucy still had a prominent place in my life.

So what inspired me to create Lucy Kat Soaps?  I honestly think it is the perfect conglomeration of who I am, who I used to be and who I hope to be.   It combines my love for fun and fancy bath and body products; my growing interest in making more of my family's consumables from scratch; and my desire to stay home with my kids, have an outlet from that, and if I'm lucky maybe even pay for a ballet class or a soccer lesson.

So now that I've shared, it's your turn. What are your favorite bath and body products?  I really want to know!  

Lucy Kat Soaps

Howdy!  Thanks for stopping by my blog!  As many of you know, I am starting a business selling homemade bath and body products called Lucy Kat Soaps.  La La Lucy Kat will be ground zero for said business; there is so much that I probably should have accomplished before setting up an online presence, but I found it hard to move forward until this was done.  I am so excited!

As I type, Madeline (3.5 years) and Danny Sam (15 months) happily chase a rubber ball up and down the foyer, Mike sits in the Lazy Boy surfing Reddit, Pandora's classical music station plays something from the Pirates of Penzance, while I sip my coffee (still hot without having been reheated in the microwave - unheard of!).  This is the definition of a fantastical family morning; the kind that my pre-motherhood brain imagined would be the rule but is the exception.

So it seems this is the perfect day to "go public" with my plans.  

Lucy Kat Soaps is still an infant...a newborn actually, more like a preemie.  I have yet to register for a Tax ID, yet to make a single dollar, though I have been commissioned to make some adorable soapy party favors for one of my favorite little 4-year olds at the end of the month!  Oh yes, there will be pictures and posts.  

So there is much to do, much to learn.  I have a short-term vision and I have a long-term vision.  I have supplies.  But most importantly, SO importantly, I have a support structure.  My husband didn't even blink when I told him that I had already spent over a thousand dollars on supplies, equipment and learning; my amazing mom and mother-in-law have tirelessly donated hours and hours of babysitting time while I attend my apprenticeship with the generous owner of a local handmade soap business in Austin.  My daughter is always happy to test out my latest bath fizzies...

Halloween bath fizzies and cupcake bath fizzies turn bathtime into a spooky and swampy experience

...or lip balm...

Beeswax, shea butter, coconut and sweet almond oils and tinted with dusty rose mica

...and my little boy only cries a little when I tell him he cannot eat the petit four soap...

The Tangerine Cupcake fragrance from Bramble Berry is my absolute favorite!

...and bath truffle that smells like a cross between marzipan and a box of chocolate...

Decadent combination of cocoa and shea butters and Himalayan Pink Sea Salt

...gratuitous picture of lavender bath truffles...

Cocoa and shea butter, lavender essential oil and kaolin clay...over.the.top.

I am the luckiest woman in the world.  

Coffee is now cold and Pandora is playing ads; the dog is barking and the kids are eerily quiet.  Follow me, won't ya?