It Has Been Some Time

It has been three months since my last post. The winter was really hard on me and now when the weather is finally warmer, it is easier to breathe, walk, work, and do everything that makes life enjoyable. The wind has not stopped blowing but the temperature is close to 20 degrees C. Yet, the real reason for my keeping ilent was that I was feeling really tired because I was in the first trimester of a pregnancy. Fortunately, the results of the medical checks which the hospitals here recommend were ok. As I entered the fifth month, the tiredness disappeared and I feel fine again! Another good thing is that I can continue work after the baby is born. In my country continuing work after giving birth is taken for granted but in Japan it depends on the company you work for, the status of your work contract and other things.
I like my work and I was worried whether they would let me continue even with a small child so I am happy about this, too.
And so grateful to my husband, who endured all the mood swings I went through during the first four months of my pregnancy and continued showing his love and support.

As it is already late to show the pictures of the sakura season I have a couple of pictures of camellias – they are still in full bloom in Tokyo.

I am back to making soap and one of my first soaps this year is influenced by the colors of spring in Japan.

And one more picture as I have not forgotten Maja’s request

I hope that you all enjoy the colors and scents of spring!

Maya

Resurfaced

First of all, I would like to wish a Happy New Year to all of you who have become my long-distance friends and whom I hope to have a chance to meet some day not only in the cyber space but also in the real world.

I hope that this year will be full of joyful moments, shared love and happiness!

The holidays came and went and we are back on the track – to race towards whatever goals each of us has set and is trying to achieve.

Yet, in addition to work and family, I continue to make soap!

Today I will introduce a soap which I made for St. Valentine’s Day and named Royal Mint Chocolate. The name may sound a little too pretentious but I could not think of anything else after cutting it. So here it is.

And here we go with another picture!

However, I had to compromise with the colorants – though I used cocoa powder for the brown part, I could not find any natural colorants for the light emerald blue so I used a soap dye which is man-made. So this batch is really very small – a mere 300 grams of oils.

I guess sometimes we need to compromise not only in the everyday life but in soapmaking, too

I wish you a warm and sunny day!

Maya