Take a Shower, Smell Good

I ordered some handmade soap and I must say, I smell fantastic. Usually I just smell like deodorant. These aren't just any soaps, they were made by Chandra's wife Theresa which makes them special. I ordered a couple of the more male oriented Woodsblend and Sandalwood. On the scale of nice scents, these soaps rank right up there with the smell of fresh brewed coffee.

Angelic Soap-the photos in their Etsy shop are much nicer.

Theresea sent a couple of samples, the one on the left is Herb Garden and the other is Winter Forest. She also scent a sample of Lemon Sugar but my youngest daughter grabbed it and ran off to the shower before I could get a photo.

Chandra-purveyor of fine soaps, cyclist, snazzy dresser, and all-around good guy.

Everyday, give yourself a present. Not really about soap but kind of along the same lines.

Fenders and Used Clothing

Yesterday evening I figured that I would install a pair of SKS fenders on my bike. They've been sitting in my garage for a while. It didn't take long to realize that the rear supports on my rack are spaced very close together and aren't compatible with the front support stays on the fenders. After alot of frustrating and fruitless effort, I decided that I would just replace the rack. I was going to do it anyway. I'm sure I could modify the fender in some way, but to be honest, I just wasn't up to it.

It seemed like such a simple job.

I stopped by a clothing resale shop the other day with the hope of finding vintage wool sweaters for winter riding, or even a couple of items for an upcoming tweed ride. Unfortunately they hadn't put out their winter clothing yet. I didn't find any tweed either. I did find this Columbia fishing vest. With all the pockets and storage, I thought this might be a useful item of clothing to wear on my next bike camping trip. I can keep all of my frequently used small items in the pockets and free up some space in my panniers. It was under $10 so I snatched it up.

There is a large single pocket on the back of the vest that should be very useful.

I also picked up this practically new Filson hunting shirt for under $10. I learned about this company through Archival Clothing.

Might as well have the best.

Speaking of bike camping, Chandra (GreenCommotion) and Chris (Pondero) have hit the road for a multi-day tour. Check out their photo at Trinity Bicycles blog. The weather has taken a turn for the worse, I hope they stay dry.

Some Interesting News

Ashley left this message for me the other day in the comments section of one of my posts:

Hi,

I am a fellow Fort Worthian and met you once at an Etsy Dallas show. I am writing to tell you about a friend of mine who is on a bike tour of the U.S. and will be passing through Fort Worth soon. Their blog, if you are interested, is http://pathlesspedaled.com. I am not a bike person, but know Laura through jewelry making and am planning to host them while they are here. They occasionally put on presentations of their trip and I have asked her if that is something they would want to do in Fort Worth. Anyways, I thought you might be interested in their blog at least.
I hope you enjoy it!
Ashley Akers

After a few emails back and forth with Ashley, I received an email from Laura. She and Russ, you may know him as Russ Rocca The Epicurian Cyclist, are now in west Texas. Laura says that they expect to be in Austin in a couple of weeks. They will be staying in Austin for about two weeks before pushing north to Fort Worth. I'm guessing that they'll arrive in our area at the end of March or early April. Laura says that they would like to get together with some of the local bike community. I was excited to hear that they are also wanting to do a presentation. I'm going to help them out by finding an interesting venue. I was thinking that it might be cool to have the presentation coincide with another BABBLE group ride. I'm open to suggestions.

You can keep track of their progress on The Path Less Pedaled.

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Since all this is coming about due to Etsy, I figured I would promote a few of the related Etsy shops.

Tangerine Treehouse is Laura's Etsy shop. She is creating her items while she's out riding across the country.

Ashley Akers Jewelry is of course Ashley's Etsy shop. She creates her jewelry using sterling silver and gemstones. She is one of the few people on Etsy that offers free worldwide shipping.

I need to put a good word in for my friend Chandra (Green Commotion) and his wife Teresa. They sell hand crafted soaps which can be purchased from their Etsy shop or their blog. I recently purchased a bar of Rose Quartz for my daughter, and a bar of Emerald Gem Stone soap with patchouli and rosemary for myself. These soaps not only smell fantastic, they are little works of art. I will be trying a bar of their Coffee Haus next.