Airplanes, New York, and the Authors

On Tuesday, May 8, 2012 I had never been on a plane in my life. Frankly, I didn't want that to change. However, on Wednesday, May 9, 2012 I boarded my first plane to take the trip of a lifetime with my best friend, Abbi Glines. We were bound for New York as NYC virgins sure that we were going to see all the magnificent sights of New York in four days (ha ha) and come home with the exciting tales of our adventure....... including me throwing up and/or passing out on the planes.

I got my wings!

Fortunately, I made it through all the flying with flying colors! No throwing up or passing out.... just the sensation to do so. New York was even more amazing than I thought it would be and we have some great stories to share (and some that only make sense to us). One of my favorite things about this trip is that Abbi and I laughed for four days straight. We laughed because we went to the 2nd floor of our hotel looking for our room that was on the 25th floor, at the crazy cab drivers, the poor little boy who had to pedal us uphill in a pedicab through Central Park, Abbi's concern that we would be abducted, and the Chinese man in a Chinatown restaurant yelling on the phone for someone to "GET DOWN HERE NOW!". I am still laughing at these stories and more. The city was great, Broadway was amazing, and I had the best time with my best friend.

Abbi & Me - Last pic of the trip

I have to tell you though, in all that excitement, my other favorite part of the trip was meeting Abbi's author friends and listening to their conversation. This amazing group of women are as diverse as they come, from different parts of the country and different parts of the world yet they are brought together by their love for story telling, reading, and writing. I am so proud of Abbi for all she has accomplished and I love that I have been privileged to be there as her dreams continue to come true. In New York I met a whole group of women who are doing the same thing. In the midst of their normal lives, they are chasing their dreams. Two of the ladies were recognized by fans at the book signing we went to for E.L. James. I was so excited and happy for them as they relished the moment in amazement and pure joy. Even E.L. James is stunned by the outpouring of love for her and her body of works. It was such an honor for me to be welcomed into their private group for this trip. I'm not a fiction reader (I usually only read Abbi's books) but after meeting all these beautiful and inspiring women who are chasing their dreams daily, I have a new list of books to read. I've shared the list in the link below.

NY Ladies' Books I Want to Read

Left to right: Tina Reber, Colleen Hoover, Elizabeth Reyes, Tracy Garvis-Graves, Me (not a writer), Abbi Glines, Liz Reinhardt, Nichole Chase, and Tammara Webber. We are on our way to meet E.L. James at her book signing in NY.

I hope you will add these books to your reading list as well. Several of the ladies are finishing up books to be published soon, so I will update the list as the new editions become available. Happy reading! :)

This is How it Started..... Pinterest

Once upon a time there was a girl from NOLA who bought everything from Wal-mart like the rest of the world...... until she found Pinterest.

Now I am making lots of homemade stuff that I intend to tell you all about but this is where it started. I found this blog about making homemade laundry detergent with claims that it only costs $.03 - $.05 a load. WHAT!?!?!?! Are you serious? THREE to FIVE CENTS a load? I have to try this because I HATE (do you hear me? I said HATE) buying laundry detergent. It's ridiculously expensive, even for the cheapest stuff and it's one of those things that just ruins my budget when I have to buy it. I hate buying laundry detergent.

So, now that we are sufficiently versed on how I feel about buying this crap, let's move on to making it. I followed the recipe for the liquid detergent found on this blog: One Good Thing by Jillee. I also followed her update and make three gallons instead of two.

For those of you who are concerned about having to be Suzie Homemaker or Martha Stewart, please, fear not. Here is a picture of my laundry detergent:

You are now looking into a 5 gallon bucket. Fancy, right? :) I've taken the picture inside so that you cannot see the grout stains that were left on the outside of the bucket after my husband so kindly cleaned this out for me to use for my laundry detergent. We are uptown, I'm tellin' ya!

Seriously, I love this stuff but, truth be told, I'm still not 100% sure I'm making it right because it's still very thick. A beautiful young lady that I go to church with also makes her own laundry detergent. (Shout out to Amy & check out her blog here: Instrument Ink) She was not sure about why it was so thick because she makes the dry detergent. She also said that she only uses the Fels soap & Borax because the Washing Soda was irritating their skin.

Since we can all see that I'm almost to the bottom of my bucket of detergent, I think I'm going to try the dry version next time. This will not only be easier and avoid the thickness that I've been battling but I will also be able to upgrade my container from said fancy bucket to a more in vogue coffee tin or mayo jar. :-D