If y’all remember a few weeks back Tiff and I and our friend Amy over at Familiabencomo sponsored the first Serendipity Bake Off contest. What fun it was! And what creative people there are out there! And Tiff and I learned that the kitchen can be used to make something other than soap! (Our families thank you!)

We sent the winner a lovely You Go, Girl! travel kit in the Honey Almond & Oatmeal scent. So we just got this lovely email from our winner, Marie over at the blog Prouditaliancook:

” I have been using your products you sent me for about a month now, and can I tell you I love them all!!! My favorite is “Gimme some Sugar”, I love how my skin feels after I use it. OurChicago winter has been brutal on my skin and your products were a life savor! Thanks so much for the wonderful things your company produces. I have told my friends and family all about the both of you. When I run out I’ll be putting in my order.”

Such kind words from such a lovely lady. Thanks, Marie! And our 1st runner up, Deeba, had this to say about us:

“Am writing in to THANK YOU for the bars (TWO of them) of heavenly soaps you mailed & for the beautiful note too! THANKS A MILLION…….really really nice of you. Am really touched that you shipped them across 7 seas…& added a second one as well. I love ‘em soaps…they’re FAB!! The kids are on my case to use them soooooooooooon; Amy has forewarned me about the effect it would have on the DH!! Thanks for making my day…”

Here is Deeba’s very clever (and much appreciated!) posting about us:
http://passionateaboutbaking.blogspot.com/2008/04/chocolate-chip-pistachio-cookies.html

So folks, we really do love to shower (hardy-har) our contest winners with bubbly prizes! I’m sure that Tiff and I will cook up a new contest sometime soon, so keep this in mind. We told you our soaps are wildly lucky!

As I was catching up on my favorite blogs, I realized they all had one thing in common: books! Coincidentally, each lovely lady either is in the process of writing a book, or has finished one and is publicizing it. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a literary crowd, and I think it’s so great that dynamic women are making their mark doing things they love. So, while I’m occupied by getting ready to file taxes for last year (note to self: hire a tax attorney this year) I thought I would share a few of our favorites until we Soapchix can get back to dissecting commercial bath product labels.

In no particular order:

Amanda Soule over at Soulemama has a book ““The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections” that we have on preorder and can’t wait to get soon! You can take a sneak peak on Amazon if you click through the link. Ash and I both head over to her blog when we need a minute to see ‘mama-hood’ through gentle, appreciative eyes. Her pictures, stories, and activities are so fun and tender–we can’t wait to add a little of that magic into our own homes!

Betz White has written “Warm Fuzzies: 30 Sweet Felted Projects”. Ash and I met Betz at the Country Living Show in the Chicago Botanic Gardens 2 years ago, and fell in love with her felted cupcakes & Cup ‘o Joe pincushions. I bought one for my MIL…except it never made it to her. Instead I have it on my nightstand. And no, I don’t sew…but that’s how cute these little guys are!

Little did Ash and I know that one of our favorite bloggers, SafeMama (who is trying to keep the consumer world safe for babies everywhere) also has a book out: “The IT Girl’s Guide to Blogging with Moxie”. Luckily, my order for ‘The Creative Family’ hasn’t shipped yet, so I’m able to add this valuable book onto my order AND get free shipping! So, it’s good I ordered another book because I actually saved money! Blogging is relatively new to Ash and I, so we’re looking forward to getting tips from a pro. I wonder if there’s anything Kathy doesn’t do!

A mind-boggling thing happened to me. Brace yourself, people….I talked to a celebrity today! No, not Bono (THE great one as far as Tiff and I are concerned!), but one of the greatest makeup artists around. Why, you ask? We’ll get to that in a minute.

First, I have to set the scene. I was hauling it up a country road to get to my daughter’s pre-school in the next town over and I was running laaaaate. So my cell phone rings and I saw that it was a number that I did not recognize. Thinking it could be a customer, I answered it. Wham-O.

“Ashley, Hi, this is Scott Barnes“…pause…”I’m a makeup artist in NYC and have my own line of cosmetics.”

He went on. “My clients include Jennifer Lopez…” Wait a minute….did this dude just say something about J.Lo?…OK Ash, don’t miss your turn…watch your speed. “Yes?” I say. So he starts talking about his lines of products, his makeup, something about Barney’s in New York and pretty soon I realize that this wasn’t a joke. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out why a professional makeup artist was calling ME. But before I tell you that reason, let me say that he was the NICEST guy. He had been to our website…..a nugget of info that I just can’t seem to get over, and had some great advice about trademarking names. And he said that he thought our website was “cute.”

So maybe you can see where this is going. Apparently Tiff and I were about to get a “Cease and Desist” letter from Mr. Barnes’ attorney because the of use of the name Body Bling. So, as nice as he was, he was calling to give me a good ole fashioned ass whuppin’. I thought I might wreck my car as I was listening to him say, “so I have a product called Body Bling..it’s a body lotion ….it was featured on Oprah….” Dah-yum…..you know that sinking feeling in your belly when your husband gets to the credit card statement before you do? My belly had dropped out of the bottom of my feet and was heading for the border. I knew where this was going. Scott Barnes wasn’t calling me to invite Tiff and I to his new TV show, which he told me he is working on for Bravo, by the way. He was calling me in a very polite manner to let me know that we had been infringing on his trademarked product name. And I completely understand that there is an issue. And I respect the fact that he called me first and was so friendly on the phone…we actually chatted briefly about Project Runway! But still, that is not a phone call that I really wanted to get at 11:30 on a Wednesday….while I’m driving….and late….and well, I really wish Tiff had taken this call!

So, I got schooled by Scott Barnes. You simply must check out his websites: www.scottbarnes.com and www.scottbarnes.tv. I couldn’t have chosen a nicer person to receive a “Cease and Desist” letter from (again, except maybe Bono…maybe that can be a goal for 2009). But I am kicking myself a bit right now: I really should have asked him to dish about all the celebrities that he has worked on before we got off the phone….Oh, well.

Tiff and I have decided to frame our very first piece of litigation in honor of this, well, dis-honor. And as far as Body Bling, goes…buh-bye cute name. We’ll continue to make our fabulous whipped shea butter, but we’ll be doing some serious “google-ing” before we put a name on it!

Remember, a few weeks ago, when Soapchix Ash met Elvis? Yeah, well, I was really jealous!

However, this past Christmas season, my kids and I had the chance to meet a couple cool people…our all time favorite was Teddy Roosevelt. My kids loved him in ‘Night at the Museum’ (both the book and the movie) and have since checked out bunches of Teddy Roosevelt books at the library.

Down in Denver, the Molly Brown house had a tour/tea with Teddy, so I signed us up. Sure enough, when we got there, Teddy was hanging out with everyone and getting ready to read ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’. First, he talked about his life…and being homeschoolers ourselves, the kids thought it was pretty cool that he didn’t attend elementary or high school before going to Harvard college. Then he read the poem, and then he ended with a message about conservationism.

On our way home late that night, the kids and I stopped by Starbucks for a hot chocolate each. It was a special treat to finish off a special night…you never think, as a mom with babies, that one day the babies will be old enough to sit and drink a sophisticated cup of hot chocolate with you at 10 pm all the while talking about sophisticated things that they know more than you about!

Back in 2006, when Ash and I packed up and headed out to the Country Living Fair in Chicago, we met a lovely lady named Janie. She had an adorable booth in which she sold her lovely poundcakes. Appropriately enough, she called them Janie’s Cakes. They are the most amazing poundcakes us Soapchix had ever tasted.

It’s hard to describe how and why something tastes good…but I’ll try. Janie uses only fresh ingredients, and it is apparent from the first bite. This poundcake is divine. A bit crunchy on the outside, but rich, dense (but not too dense!), and heavenly on the inside. It’s just what a combination of flour, butter, sugar and eggs are meant to be.

As you can imagine, Ash and I frequented their booth for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They were serving up the ‘Plain Jane’, which is simply a cut of poundcake on which you can place a dollop of their different flavored curds or just eat it plain. Usually I like to smother my food with available sugary toppings, but this cake is so good I usually inhaled it before I got to the toppings.

At the end of the show, Janie offered free poundcakes to all the rest of us vendors, and I’ll admit that Ash and I were a bit greedy and snatched up 3 cakes a piece (Southern manners be damned…those cakes were ours!!!). And then, once I got home, I promptly ordered 2 more of her fancy cakes (The Saucy Jane and The Italian Jane) for my birthday and the upcoming holidays.

They arrived looking adorable:

And unwrapped they’re even cuter (and very easily frozen in their packaging):

And I don’t have a picture of an actual slice because I inhaled it too quickly to snap a picture.

In one final note, I will share something. Somehow, the Italian Jane ended up getting buried in my freezer, under some meat, Eggo Waffles, chicken stock, and some peach slices. It sat, undisturbed, for a little over a year before I finally unearthed it looking for some spare frozen Egg Nog during Thanksgiving. “Hmmm” I thought to myself. “I wonder if it’s OK to serve a year old poundcake to my Dinner guests?” I unwrapped it, thawed it out, served it up (I know! Ashley would never do that!) and it tasted just as good as the one I had the day it arrived the year before.

This upcoming year, I would highly recommend ordering one at some point. Make it, like, a fun New Year’s Resolution! Because everyone should taste a cake this good and pure and delicious!

Give this a shot…all you need to do is send her a quick comment in an email to be put in a drawing for a cupcake pincushion. (link is to her Etsy shop, which is all out of cupcake pincushions, which makes it so much cooler to win one!!!)

Ash and I met Betz and her adorable hubby while selling soap at the Country Living show in Chicago. As cute and sweet as they both were, they were nothing compared to her amazing hand felted and stitched whimsical projects. I have a cupcake pincushion sitting on my bedside table right now (that was supposed to be a gift for my MIL but it mysteriously never made it..shhhhh!) and it makes me happy to look at it. Which is why I haven’t moved it from my bedside table yet.

Betz is amazing and so are her totally unique products. Check her out and enter the contest so you can have a happy cupcake pincushion sitting beside YOUR bed!

Like everyone else this time of year, we are participating in the holiday ritual of the office party. In this case, it isn’t a party for the Soap Chix, which would be replete with chocolate fountains and well, that’s all we’d really need to celebrate the season, but whatever. The party that I just experienced was my beloved Soap Dude’s geeky office Christmas party on Thursday night. So I’ll explain the geeky part:  about 50 scientists that are actively involved in creating new life forms (well, sorta) all hopped-up on holiday libations doing the Samba (yes, there was even dancing!) to…….drum roll, please……an Elvis impersonator. Yes, that’s right! Elvis is alive right here in Colorado! And I met him! Here is the proof!

If you are in Colorado and looking for an Elvis impersonator, (and really, who isn’t?) check out The Velvet Elvis. I have to recommend them. Any musicians that can get 50 pocket-protector-wearing scientists up on the dance floor deserve a little respect, don’t you think?

Happy Holidays!

While on the road at our soap shows, Ashley and I ran into The Big Guy himself….Santa Claus! Believe it or not, he’s a HUGE fan of Serendipity Bath Co., and rumor has it that he treats all his elves to a package of “You Da (Bath) Bomb!” after the hectic holiday season is over. Imagine that! Apparently Ash and I aren’t the only ones that like to soak our stress away in a bathtub.

Being a soapchix, I asked him if he wore gloves all the time because his poor hands chapped horribly after riding on a sleigh at 24,000 feet in the air. He sheepishly agreed and showed me his dry, wind chapped hands. “You’re in luck!” I shouted as I slathered our “Body Bling” Whipped Shea Butter over his peeling cuticles and cracked skin. It was nice to be able to give something back to a guy who runs around doing so much for so many. He wondered if it was too late to order some stuff for Mrs. Claus, and we told him that we’re accepting orders until December 16th. I think the elves might be getting some Body Bling this year!

We just got back from the Family Christmas show in Salt Lake City last night and are so glad to be home. We will be gathering our thoughts and pictures of our adventures in Utah over the next few days and will write about all of our fun moments (but not the embarassing ones) soon. During our trip to Utah, we realized that we actually had one great thing going for us at the Colorado Craptacular show…..our booth neighbors. One in particular really requires quite a bit written about him. First of all, he is a really Big Time Illustrator and writer of children’s books….at least that is what his business card says! 

His name is Tim Raglin, and we are in awe of his books and just adore him. Seriously, we just can’t say enough about how wonderful his children’s books are! His illustrations are so charming and delightfully detailed.  My girls came by to visit us on Sunday and I took them over to meet our new buddy and to see his books. They were enraptured and my oldest instantly wanted “all of them.” Go see his website…www.timraglin.com. Right now my girls want me to read The Wolf Who Cried Boy and The Case of Catunkhamen over and over again.

We knew that we had a friend in Tim during the Show when he laughed at our sarcastic signs and even helped us come up with a few. Even though we were disappointed in the way the show went, we were really happy to see all of the customers flock to Tim’s booth to check out his books. He was like a rock star signing books and smiling at his adoring crowd! OK, so we did get a bit annoyed one time when one lady left her grandmother in our booth so that she could have Tim autograph a copy of one of his books. Well, not that annoyed really…she was such a sweet lady that Tiff and I just smiled and offered her some shea butter. 

So now we are waiting for our new friend to come back to visit us. We promise you, Tim that when you visit we’ll take you someplace other than Burger King!