Pat and I love living in San Francisco, so much so that we talk about what it would be like to stay here forever. For me, the city has everything I’m looking for – great weather, an amazing children’s hospital, nature galore and a cosmopolitan feel. For Pat, some of the best biking in the country is just outside the city, the weather allows him to pursue the outdoorsy activities he loves year round and he has a great group of friends that are always doing something fun. We’ve made it a point to start exploring the neighborhoods of San Francisco on our days off to get a feel for the ideal place to live, and even buy a house, in the city.
Homemade Whipped Body Butter
Body butter isn’t a fancy enough name for this stuff – even homemade whipped body butter doesn’t do this stuff justice. I should have probably called it something else that is more descriptive, like bikini time body butter or time-to-get-your-legs-out-it’s-summer body butter. Or legs-for-days body butter. Or I’m-going-out-tonight-and-man-do-I-look-good body butter.
What I mean is this miraculous potion is body butter in the literal sense, unlike that store bought stuff that has all sorts of additives in it to make it more like a thick lotion. It’s solid in your hand but once you rub it on your skin it melts and gets oily – just like butter. That means it’s not the best all over body moisturizer for most people. If you’re going to put it all over, you need to cover yourself with something you don’t mind getting oily – or just plan on hanging out in the house naked for a while until it soaks in (or if you’re in San Francisco, plan a trip to Baker Beach or the Folsom Street Fair I suppose).
Get the DIY and read more after the jump!
Things I’m Loving / 07
I’m so excited for this weekend as Pat and I are off for a relaxing overnight in wine country. We’re spoiled with lots of fun plans this month and I’m on a light month at work which means lots of time to spend together. After four pretty brutal months I’m enjoying the later starts in the morning that give us time to drink our coffee in our backyard together before the rush of the day hits us. It’s such an important 20 minutes and really makes me feel connected to him. Ok, </mush>. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Here are some things I’m loving from around the web:
One of my food photography idols, V.K. Rees, does it again.
This video almost convinced me to start doing push ups!
Your toots may be a sign of gut health. (The comments at the bottom are the best part!)
Tips on making your laundry more eco-friendly.
Have you heard about powdered alcohol? As a pediatrician, this is definitely making me nervous.
And where to donate your running shoes to reduce your carbon footprint! (pun intended)
Someone should probably tell Pat.
Photo via My Instagram
Decide to Drive :: Choose to Stop Distracted Driving
One of the senior ICU physicians said something the other day that really resonated with me. “You may think you are a great multi-tasker, but brain imaging has proven that it is impossible for us to multi-task. Instead, we only have the ability to rapidly flip between two tasks. It’s literally impossible for us to focus on two things at once.”
Click through to read more!
Homemade Lip Balm in Vintage Pillboxes
I’ve been on a healthy beauty kick recently – it’s so easy to make many of the beauty products I use every day at home and often it’s cheaper than buying them in the store. It’s nice to be able to control what goes into them with ingredients like beeswax and coconut oil instead of isopropyl lanolate and octyldodecanol (for realz?).
I made lip balm for little impromptu presents for my girlfriends and to make them a bit fancier, I used vintage pillboxes that I collected from flea markets. With a bit of patience, I collected a huge assortment all for under $3 each! There’s also a huge variety of options on Etsy too.
DIY Homemade Lip Balm
Ingredients
6 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons beeswax (I used cosmetic-grade white beeswax pellets)
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon pure Vitamin E oil
Lipstick (optional)
Instructions
Place a few inches of water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Place a heatproof bowl over the water and melt the coconut oil, olive oil and beeswax together, stirring occasionally.
Add the honey, Vitamin E oil, and lipstick and stir until melted. Pour into your containers and let set. You can speed up the process by popping it in the fridge.
Note: To color this batch I used about a 1/2 inch slice of a deep burgundy lipstick and it produced the pretty pale pink color you see in the photos.
Pretty Painted Wall Art DIY
Today I have a simple DIY that is an easy way to create a customized piece of art. I have been carting around a blank canvas I got on clearance for months trying to figure out what to do with it. The inspiration just wouldn’t come.
See the DIY and behind the scenes after the jump!