Love your skin, but don't forget theirs'!

Flea sprays for Cats & Dogs; Horses too

All animals find a variety of insects to be annoying. The bites from these insects can also be unhealthy. Fortunately there are natural solutions that are mild, but effective. Even people can benefit from these easy to make pest control sprays. Mosquitoes and black flies can be chased away using these sprays too.

Since these products are considered pesticides, they are regulated by the EPA, not the FDA. These minimal risk pesticides are governed by these rules. .Only ingredients on the active list may be used to chase pests away. These active ingredients may only be carried in materials that appear on the inerts list Fortunately many of the ingredients that we use to formulate natural body care products are on the list. This includes all of the edible veggie oils as well as the common emulsifiers. Both Neem and Karanja oil are very useful edible oils in these applications since they act against a wide variety of pests. Neem oil is safe for use on cats.

While the active ingredients list may appear somewhat restrictive for essential oil use, mint oils can be used. The mint plant family is quite large and contains mint, rosemary, lavender, pennyroyal as well as catnip and many other common EOs. Many of these EOs can be used to repel insects.

Dogs, horses and humans are quite tolerant of many of these essential oils and creating pest control products for them is easy. But since cats lack an essential enzyme that detoxifies many compounds, extra care must be taken in formulation products for them. Citral containing materials like citronella and lemongrass are definitely out for them, but can be used effectively in all other applications. Catnip aka Catmint is a good choice for them.

The following formula is specifically designed for cats, but can be used in other applications too. It can be modified for other applications by substituting other pest control EOs for the catnip.
You should spray the animals lightly and use a heavier application on bedding areas to send the lurkers packing. Regular Light applications will defeat the pests much better than single heavy applications..

Catnip Flea Spray

This recipe makes about 32 oz of flea spray or insect repellant.

32 oz Water

2 tablespoons Polysorbate 20

2 teaspoons Catnip essential oil or Essential oil blend

1 teaspoon Neem oil

Combine the essential oil blend and Neem oil with the Polysorbate 20. Slowly begin to work the water into the Polysorbate 20 / oil blend. It may appear cloudy, but it will not separate. Package in Plastic or aluminum bottles equipped with spray misters.

Enjoy a pest free day!

http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/form_petfleas.html

Easy to Make Oatmeal & Avocado Oil Sugar Scrub....

This nourishing all organic oatmeal and sugar scrub is rich in essential nutrients and contains clarifying ingredients to help exfoliate and protect the skin from free radicals, harmful UVA/B rays, pollution, and poor nutrition that we expose ourselves to daily.

Combined with the Oatmeal &Avocado Oil bath gel and body lotion with SPF 100+, your skin will thank you for a lifetime.

¾ cup organic raw sugar (see recommended brands below)
½ cup steel cut oatmeal
¾ cup cold pressed organic avocado oil
¾ to 1 cup (or to total saturation) fixed oil of choice (recommended :Babassu, Karanja and Sweet Almond)
1/4 tsp Essential or Fragrance oil of choice (optional) Jasmine or Lavender absolutes work nicely (see recommended brads).

Mix the sugar and oatmeal together in a large bowl. Slowly combine the oil in with the dry mixture. Mix well. When all dry ingredients are saturated and sink to the bottom of the bowl, add the essential oil and/or fragrance oil to the emulsion. The mixture is now ready to be bottled and stored for use.

Poor mixture in to your container of choice (a six or eight ounce wide-mouthed jar works nicely).

Recommended Use: For optimum results, use up to three times per week.

Recommended Brands:

Raw Organic Sugar: Sugar in the Raw http://www.sugarintheraw.com/

Essential Oils (Lavender): English Lavender http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/english_lavender_eo.html

Essential Oils (Jasmine): Jasmin graniflorum (India) http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/essentialoils_2.html

Essential Oils: Avocado, Babassu, Karanja, and Sweet Almond http://www.snowdriftfarm.com/fixedoils.html

*May be stored for 24 months at a temperature not exceeding 77°F (25°C ) from the date of manufacture.

It has been a while...

It has been a while...

Since we last spoke… So much has happened that I really don’t even know where to begin!

My business partner left without even so much as a goodbye… Lance stopped all contact with me for about three weeks, this last may. He called me while I was visiting family and working on finding investors –in Memphis. He told me that he decided to take on another opportunity and that he would stay on “the team” as a consultant. He promised to complete the work he started, as well as make sure the art work that my branding agent (his college friend) had done, was returned to me. Well, lets just say for the sake of keeping it short and moving on, that was our last and final contact! Of course I tried for months to reach him, but got nothing! I am not too worried though, as I am a huge believer in karma!

So much has happened since May and what I like to call the “Dark Era”. I am back in school, busting my ass trying to pass this semester I started 5 weeks behind. I found a new job working for a certain State Chamber that does not wish to be recognized as such. Personally, I feel like we would get more respect and make more money if we did call ourselves “The State Chamber”, but what the hell do I know…I am just a lonely MBA student trying to make her way!

I stopped working on Siren, and I guess it was a mourning period for me, but I am back and determined (more than ever) to make this dream a reality!

In short, things are great! Life or the “Universe”, as I like to refer to it, has shown me yet another reason why I need to fully pursue my passion for entrepreneurship. And my educational aspirations!

Siren is back on track and so am I. Keep those requests for informative discussions coming!

Love you, Dolls!

The Main Event – My battle with Weight and Finding My Inner Goddess!

Round Four: Freeing You!

Well, I want to apologize to my readers for posting this nearly two months after I said I would. As some of you already know I was in Memphis for about a month and it is hard to stick to your normal routine while on vacation.

I will make this short and to the point. As woman we typically are our biggest critics and no one can punish us more than we punish ourselves. We berate ourselves for every imperfection when in fact we should be celebrating them. It is what makes us unique and if we can learn to appreciate and even love our bodies we might find that it is the best relationship we have ever had.

I have a wonderful relationship with food –we laugh, we cry, and we sometimes over indulge. I have learned a few tricks along the way, some healthy and some not. The best advice I can give is don’t starve yourself and don’t deny yourself anything, but do watch how much you eat. I read a book called Naturally Thin written by my favorite NYC Housewife, Bethenny Frankel. In her words, “treat your diet like a bank account”. If you overindulge at one meal then balance that out with the next meal or two. And as they do in the old country, taste everything and eat nothing. Meaning, you have little bites of everything instead of gorging yourself on one meal, that way you feel as though you have had a wonderful meal, you have tasted everything, and you can still fit into you cloths. You can also keep yourself from overeating by remembering this one very simple fact; the food isn’t going to get any better than it was during the first few bites… You don’t have to force yourself to finish everything on your plate as if you were a 4 year old all over again. Your mother isn’t going to scold you and you’re not getting grounded, so stop eating so much. Remember 7^th grade science, it takes about 10 minutes for satiation to begin. Why do think in other countries, like France for instance, a meal is more of an event rather than the instant gratification we indulge in as busy and overworked American’s. Every bite of French food is decadent, buttery, creamy, and typically all the things we are told to stay away from, but the difference is the French know how to eat to enjoy and not eat to the point of a food coma. There is also something to be said about the people of the Mediterranean and the fact that they have a longer life expectancy than we do. They drink wine with every meal and everything is fresh, nothing processed, and they eat a ton of fresh fish.

To conclude this chapter, food is a form of art in many cultures; ergo people tend to have a healthier relationship with food. You can be healthy and thin and yet still enjoy all the wonderful things food has to offer. Remember these few simple tricks and you can enjoy yourself without all the guilt associated with too much of a good thing… Moderation is the key to happiness or at least that is what I believe.

Hope this helps and thanks for taking the time to read my posts!

Works’ Cited: Frankel, Bethenny, and Eve Adamson. Naturally Thin: Unleash Your Skinnygirl and Free Yourself from a Lifetime of Dieting. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. Print

The Main Event – My battle with Weight and Finding My Inner Goddess!

Round Three: Overcoming Demons

I was in a dark place and decided that the best course of action was to act like everyone else my age and hide behind drinking and partying. I lost sight of who I was and what I wanted out of life. I was acting in a negative way and therefore negative things happened in my life. I got involved with the wrong crowds, stayed out late, worried my poor mother almost to an early grave, and did not pursue my goals I had set as a young child to become a doctor. I was wasting my life and then… I finally snapped out of it and not a moment too soon. A lot of the people that I was hanging around with got involved in illegal activity and most of them ended up in and out of jail.

That was my wake up call and so I decided to get serious about my life. I was twenty and started dating this guy who seemed sweet and sincere. He had great eyes and an infectious smile which was almost the end of me. I had this idea to start a line of fragrances’ and he was quick to jump on board with the idea. We started out small and then became somewhat successful. He was the biggest mistake of my life- long story short, he stole money and left me homeless, and then he took his own life. After that, I gained a huge amount of weight due to stress and depression so I moved to Cleveland to live with my Aunt and get my life back on track once again. I tried everything from walking to running in order to lose the 60 pounds I gained, but there was one thing that eluded me and that was the concept of eating right. I was working out and not losing a pound, in fact I was gaining weight. I continued to walk to work every day and had all but given up until I met Joe.

Joe had the body of a Greek God! Some say that he looks like an anatomy chart and it is kind of true. He was gorgeous and I thought I had a less than zero chance. I just stared at him from a far every time he would come into the store I was working at. Then one day I noticed he was coming in for no apparent reason. He would just come up to the counter and talk to me for hours and my boss finally had to tell him to ask me out or buy something and so he asked me out. We hit it off and unofficially dated for a few months before I moved back to Colorado. Once I got settled back home he came for a visit and one thing led to another and he moved out to Denver.

He was what I like to call the” Fitness Nazi” and it was exactly what I needed. He taught me about eating well and working out regularly and it wasn’t long until I was back in great shape and feeling good about myself. This time it was different, I finally started to accept myself for who I was. I started to embrace my curves and love my body for everything it was and wasn't. I had finally gotten to a place where I was truly happy with the way I looked and I had decided that I looked pretty damn amazing despite what "mainstream" deemed as sexy!

After two and a half years we ended our relationship, but we still remain the best of friends. I kept my body in shape and worked out regularly for a while until I lost that drive and became complacent with where I was at. We all do it because it is easier to accept what is there rather than striving for what is better. We get lazy and fall back in to old habits or whatever the excuse that makes us sleep better. If I had known that I would gain back half of that 60 pounds in less than a year, you bet your ass I would’ve continued to work out and eat right. It is so much harder to gain back that momentum once you have let it go!

To be continued.....

Newly Single and Dating Again!

There is something to be said about the grieving period of a dead relationship. I, however consistently make bad decisions in that arena and so , true to character, I decided to dive head first back into the proverbial dating pool. I am not sure what was worse, spending the entire evening comparing the sweet new guy to the old “not so sweet” but oh so desirable ex, or the burnt turkey burger he (sweet new guy) served me on an over-processed generic white sesame seed bun…!

While my head is still in compare and contrast mode…. Shall we?

Guy A: Sharp shooter who is defiantly into breaking hearts and thinks the world revolves around him. A self-serving hunter with a sleazy one-track-mind! Often, there was little space left for me after he and his ego entered the room. Defiantly has a chip on the shoulder, but when we were alone he was the sweetest man you could ever hope to share the company of. Driven and ambitious with a heart of gold that I often said was surrounded by the great wall. Which was appropriate since the majority of our relationship was spent with him living in China! Tender, kind, and sincere until he got hungry or something else pissed in his Fruit Loops!

Guy B: Not the one, but a nice break from all the bullshit. He is nice on the eyes, cute smile, and salt & pepper George Clooney hair, which I am a big fan of. If Chris Daughtry and Timothy Olyphant had a baby…! He really is yummy, but seemingly lacks ambition, direction, and goals. On the plus side he is adventurous, but he also said he was good in bed. And any self-promoting “sex God” usually isn’t… ugh! He invited me on a camping trip in Napa Valley, but….. Wait for it…..with his parents! OY VEY!

Guy B scored major points with me when he asked me if I wanted to go on a walk through the park… cute, right! Short lived because when I got there he nixed the walk and decided we would hang at his place and drink wine (we all know what that means)! He might have had a chance if he played is cards right, I’m just sayin’! I decided that since I got all dolled up I would indulge him. If I had known that I would be served a burnt turkey burger on over-processed white sesame seed bun with generic cheese and a side of spinach with stale tortilla chips I would have stayed home. Hell, I have four pounds of turkey burger and a fabulous salad chillin’ right here! He was filled with great conversation though and again, easy on the eyes, which almost made up for the lack of originality on our first and probably only date!

My conclusion, this dating thing is overrated, until I meet that man who shakes me to the core, if he is out there… back to the drawing board.

Goodnight and sweet dreams!

So How Important is Sex?

Sex is that space where you go to be intimate, loving, and connected, so when you've been dating someone for a while how important is the sex? Does that connection and the intimacy take a backseat to a stronger emotional connection? Or do we just get lazy and complacent?

Sex, Relationships, and Beauty Products....

Let me first introduce myself, My name is Serene and I am the President and CEO of Siren of Serenity. I will be your host and I would like to welcome you! Siren of Serenity (or SOS as we'll refer to it from here on out) is unique in the sense that we strive to seek out real issues for all women, their skin, and their lives. SOS is an organic based and sustainable bath and body company which provides quality organic ingredients in all our products. While maintaining a deep focus on energy conservation and sustainability, we are constantly striving for innovative ways to minimize our carbon footprint and raise awareness within the beauty industry.

Siren of Serenity isn't setting out to be just your average beauty products line... We are here seeking real questions and answers to all of life's little situations. Real women have real issues and we need real answers from other real women (and the occasional guy) who are going through the same things... We need to know we are not alone! We have skin issues, relationship issues, life issues, and we certainly have something to say!

I am starting this company from the ground up and lemme tell ya... it ain't easy! It has been a whirlwind of excitement, bumps in the road, the glamorous and the not so glamorous! Starting your own business at the age of 29 in a economy such as this is well..... crazy! You're not the first person to think so and you certainly won't be the last! Hell even I think so, at times. When I set out to create my company I realized that there is more to life for a woman than quality, organic beauty products. We have questions and we are defiantly seeking answers and not all questions are skin deep!

Ladies and the occasional guy, I have a couple questions to set the tone and kick things off!

Beauty Products: With all that we know about the harsh chemicals used in cosmetics and their negative effects on your body, quality of life, and the environment why isn't more being done to eliminate them?

Sex and Relationships: In a day and age where sex is easily obtainable, everywhere we look, and over-exposed are we still allowed to believe that it is special…? Are we still allowed to save ourselves for the right guy and be selective or are we going to be passed up for what comes easy? Just because we are being selective does it mean we are conventional or are we allowed to have a life, a career, and the relationship that we want and deserve?

The forum is now open!