Being the lip balm lover I am, I was overly excited to get my hands on Horst Rechelbacher’s balm from his newly launched Intelligent Nutrients™ line. He’s pushing the organic envelope and I love it. The new line consists of hair care products, a body cleanser, 7 fragrances, and nutritional supplements, with more products on the way. My first purchase included a Multi-Functional Aromatic in Seductive®, and a tube of Lip Delivery Nutrition®.

A few years ago, I battled severe acne, and in desperation, I tried Accutane. Never again.™® For those who don’t know, this acne medication wreaks havoc on the moisture balance of your skin while you are taking it. I had chronic chapped and bleeding lips, and amassed a overwhelming collection of balms trying to find a healing cure all. I have tried what feels like every non-petroleum based lip balm under the sun. My trusty standby from that period, Badger Balm, has met it’s match.

Lip Delivery Nutrition® is what you get when a lip balm and a vitamin supplement have a baby. Since you consume whatever you put on your lips, it is so important to make sure you aren’t eating nasty chemicals and preservatives. This balm takes it a step farther. While leaving out the bad stuff, they add Intellimune™ Seed Oil Complex, also available by itself as a supplement. This nutrient dense oil packs an anti-aging punch, as well as deeply hydrating and healing everything it touches. Did I mention that all Intelligent Nutrients™ products are both USDA Organic and UK Soil Association certified. I am in love.

The consistency of the balm is creamy and smooth. It glides on and sinks in while leaving a protective layer on your lips. A base of beeswax, coconut, sunflower, castor seed, and palm kernel seed oil means this balm has excellent slip and hydrating properties, in addition to its nutritional enhancement. I lasted several hours during the day without the need to reapply, and overnight it turned my lips buttery soft. It has a very light mint flavor. After carrying it around in my pocket all day, it still retained its shape and applied just like it did right out of the box. No melting goopy mess to be found here.

All in all, I give this balm a 10 out of 10. Excellent ingredients, consistency, wear time, and fragrance. Amazing job, Horst. Please keep the mission alive. Organic is the way to go!

It is a rainy November today. The weather had been beautiful for the past few days. Breezy and warm and almost like spring. Except for the crunching of leaves underfoot and the literal smell of fall in the air. Those things I love. I am relishing these last few days spent outside without snow.

I’m stalling the drive to work in the hopes that the UPS man will deliver a package from Saffron Rouge. I’ve been anxiously awaiting. Horst Rechelbacher of Aveda fame has launched a new line called Intelligent Nutrients that I’ve been waiting to try since June when they announced it’s creation. I feel like trying my hand at product reviewing, so these two new products will be the testing ground. Needless to say I am really excited. I love to see progress in organic product formulation and new packaging that makes preservatives a thing of the past.

I keep promising myself that I’m going to settle on what this blog is “really” about and update more regularly. Maybe someday I’ll make good on that promise. Until then, I think I’ll have another cup of tea and watch the rain fall a bit before really starting my day.

During the school year I spend a large amount of time reading. I enjoy literature and love books, and often I find that the texts I read for classes I keep and add to my collection once the class is over. Only three weeks into the quarter, and I already know I’ll be keeping at least three of the books I have read thus far.

I keep things organized through Good Reads and I really enjoy seeing what other people think about works I have in my collection or ones I would like to add. Someday I’ll have ample space to dedicate to books in my home, but for now I will settle for the original built in next to my fireplace, and various other stashing spots for my library.

I feel as if summer passed me swiftly by, and I’m left wondering where the past 3 months went. I’ve been working full time at the tea shop, and loving almost every minute of it. I had to drop my summer classes, but I feel like I made the right move. I’ve come away with a renewed appreciation for my current college enrollment and am more than thrilled to return to school at the end of September. I’ve learned more about tea than I ever thought there was to know, and I haven’t even gotten past the tip of the iceberg. My personal favorite tea of the moment is a variety of oolong. A lovely orchid top note and a smooth, sweet finish. It’s divine.

My body and brain are itching for fall to make it’s first appearance. I’m looking forward to my classes and to cooler weather. Sweaters, wool socks, crunchy leaves underfoot, pumpkin, squash, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and the unmistakable scent of autumn. I can’t wait.

I plan on working more on my crafty projects this fall. Time to bead, work with wire, and maybe explore some deconstruction and creation with old watches, skeleton keys, and cameos. Steampunk literature, Victorian mourning jewelry, and a few varieties of feldspar are my current inspirations.

I accepted a new job with a tea company that is opening a store in my city. Training and team building has been fun so far, and I think I’m really going to enjoy working for this company. I’m a huge tea nerd so the chance to learn more about it and have fun with customers while doing so is awesome.

I’m taking a French course this summer to catch back up and finish my GEC requirements for my undergraduate degree. I feel a bit overwhelmed by the teaching style, but I think it is helping my comprehension. C’est trés difficile, mais bon pour moi.

I’m trying to be more diligent about keeping up with schoolwork and house work and balancing out the various areas of my life that seem to feel overwhelming at times. The more I stress out the more I seem to wreck my life, so I’m really trying to keep myself in line.

It has been a few weeks since I started following my Naturopath’s suggestions. I’m excited at my progress and the changes in my body.

I joined a gym and started cardio and strength training 3-4 days a week, with a goal of 5 in mind. That had been something I’d talked about doing but never followed through with until now. My body is still adjusting, and I’m pretty sore, but I’m also very out of shape, so I know it will get better in the coming weeks.

I’ve been taking extra magnesium and zinc. Both of these vitamins seem to be helping with my premenstrual symptoms, well, at least the physical ones. I’m also having fewer migraines, and when I do have them they are less severe than before. I’ve also been keeping a food diary so I know exactly what I am eating and

I’m trying to incorporate more stress releaving activities in my life as well. I’m trying to be more organized with planning and follow through on school work during the summer, so I can build better habits for fall quarter.

Overall I am pleased with my progress and can’t wait to take a look after a few months and see the changes.

I’m on the look out for a new job again, and within this week I’ve applied for 2 positions at a new tea bar/tea emporium that is opening up in my city, and received a pseudo job offer to help out at my Naturopath’s office. I would be thrilled with both.

The tea company seems like a good bet with flexible scheduling, and it’s still a privately owned company, which pleases me. I’d get to learn even more about tea and put my(if I do say so myself) excellent customer service skills to use for a company that actually appreciates them.

My Naturopath’s office is set back in a wooded section with beautiful landscaping and tons of wildlife. That would make me so happy. It’s such a calming and beautiful facility. The thing that struck me the most during the informal interview I had with the clinic’s owner, was that she said being committed to constantly improving your health was a job requirement. Who wouldn’t want that?!

I’m excited about moving on from where I am now. I’m just not as passionate about the position anymore, and feel overworked, underpaid, and unappreciated by the company. I know I know, join the club, right? I suppose it’s the curse of being Generation Y. I expect far to much out of my employer. I know how far I’m willing to go if an employer will support me and encourage growth, and it is pretty far. I’d like to see some reciprocal growth, both mine and the company’s.

Next week I will be embarking on a new adventure. No, I won’t be scaling Mount Everest, or swimming the Amazon River, though at times it feels as big as those tasks. I will be entering the world of health care with active hands. In an effort to become more involved in my own health and wellness, I will be going off the grid of the American Health Care System, and into the world of Integrative Medicine.

I have an appointment with a Naturopathic Doctor on Friday. Unfortunately, in the State of Ohio, Naturopathic Physicians are not licensed, so I will continue to keep a primary physician licensed by the state for blood work and other tests that my ND won’t be able to request. The MD I will be keeping works with an Integrative Medicine center, so they won’t be prone to looking at me like I am crazy when I say I’m taking herbs as part of my treatment.

I’m really excited. I feel like I can really take control of my own health and provide good care for myself in times of sickness. Through the process of research, I feel I have been able to locate a very competent ND, and I really hope this will be a positive process. I have also learned quite a lot about health insurance and HSA’s(Health Savings Account) and the medical system in the US as a whole.

I’ve been studying herbalism in my spare time for over a year now, and I love the learning process, so I see this as just another step in the right direction. I’ll be posting about my experiences and what works and doesn’t work for me, as well as my impressions of  Alternative Medicine as a whole.

Who’s that girl in the bottom of my teacup
Her wet reflection breaking over
The cracks in the glaze
She blinks, wavers, and is eclipsed as
The last amber drops slide down my throat

The neighborhood is green, the trees are green, my eyes are green. Having woken up to realize that it’s the middle of June and I’ve yet to unpack many boxes all over the house, I attempted to put away random assorted things. I was distracted by the offer of swimming and dinner with friends. The swimming won.

Today I discovered that my new neighborhood offers curbside recycling. It’s a subscription program, but at under ten dollars a month, you can’t beat someone hauling away your bottles, bags, and cans for you.

I’ve been trying to implement little changes in the way I keep up the house. I started washing every load in cold water to help with energy consumption, and only do one or two loads a week, when I absolutely need too. I am in the process of switching all the bulbs that burn out with compact fluorescent lights. I’ve been trying to unplug appliances when they’re not in use and utilize the surplus of natural light so I don’t need to have the lights on.

Classes start again for summer quarter tomorrow. I am excited about the prospect of learning new things in a more laid back environment. I’m really looking forward to my History of Design lecture. I want to see just how interested and enthused I am about design, in a practical sense. All in all this is starting to be a brilliant summer.