It's Been A Busy Summer!

I feel like such a bad blogger after neglecting it for months! I've had such a busy summer and no soap has been poured. Now that things have settled down and the cozy fall weather has set in, I am looking forward to creating some new scents and bringing back a couple old favorites.

What could have kept me so busy that I had no soaping time? Lots of vacation!

To begin the summer, I went on a road trip from Victoria BC down to Santa Cruz, CA. It took almost two weeks and was amazing! I saw many miles of beautiful ocean beaches, enormous Redwood trees in the Redwood Forest, and the larger-than-life beauty of Yosemite National Park.  There are too many things to list, but here are some pictures of the trip highlights.

Haystack Rock, Cannon Beach, Oregon

Redwood National Forest, California

Lower Falls, Yosemite National Park, California

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California

After returning from the road trip, I traveled to Poet's Cove Resort and Spa on Pender Island, British Columbia for the wedding celebrations of friends. It was my first visit to that particular island, and I highly recommend it. The setting is gorgeous, the staff are friendly and the accommodations were spectacular. 

Soon after, I visited Winnipeg, Manitoba for a week. While I was there, I was fortunate enough to spend time at Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg, and a few nights at an adorable cottage on Granite Lake, just outside of Kenora, Ontario. I wish I had photos of the two above events to share.

In between the previous events listed, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen and in the garden. Some of my plants were flukes, but I was fortunate enough to harvest a lot of vegetables! It was very satisfying to eat vegetables grown by myself in my backyard. I harvested two kinds of lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, red peppers, jalapeno peppers, and many, many tomatoes. I also have a producing apple tree and yellow plum tree in my backyard, and baked a couple pies with the apples and made jam from the plums and also from the blackberries that grow like wild weeds here. For my first summer canning, it was pretty successful with canned blackberry jam, plum jam and tomatoes.

Most recently, I traveled to Moncton, New Brunswick to attend my sister's wedding as Maid Of Honor. I had a wonderful time, met some wonderful and very special people, and spent some long-overdue quality time with family and friends.

Hopefully my wanderlust has been satisfied, and the chilly air and fallen leaves will convince me to stay inside and get back into soapmaking. I also have a resolution to knit an afghan this winter. My mother gave me a kit for one about two Christmas' ago now, so I really should get on that :)

How was your summer? Do you have any Christmas soap suggestions?