Fan Mail

I've had a couple of questions from one of my fans.  I'd like to take a moment to provide answers.

Question 1:

She asked:  "What in the hell is an office space doing in caves?! Are they real caves, or excavations, or what? I need a whole post on this because...mind...blown."

That is a really fun question!  There are some mountains in the KC metro area that have been excavated to create caves that are used for office space, and storage.  Read more about it here.  They are most commonly known for storing archived media.  It's like another world in there.  Albeit a slightly dirty one.  It's where almost every company I ever worked for in the area always sent documents for archival "to the caves".

During the Groundhog Race, there are so many bodies conducting heat, that it feels like a sauna.  There is one turn on the course where you can breathe some cool, fresh air coming through the doors the trains enter into/exit out of the cave.  Other than that, you feel like a roasting chicken on a spit.

I ran this race in 2005, and it was stinky.  I literally ran the 5K as fast as I could to get out of the stench.  I believe it had been a very wet winter.  I didn't think I'd ever run it again, but I wanted to do a 10K around that time of year.  So I ran the 10K in 2006, and it was not stinky.  Relatively speaking, I mean, you're inside a mountain.  It's not going to smell like a beach.

Question 2:

She asked for my Lemon Sugar Body Scrub recipe.  You aren't going to believe how stupid simple this stuff is to make.  Seriously.  When you realize how easy it is, it will make the recipients of this gift think I fooled them or something.

I looked around at online recipes for homemade scrubs.  Then I saw a recipe in a magazine that I liked.  I reviewed my options then did my own thing.  I kept it really simple.  I think it turned out the best.  I experimented with more ingredients, but I like the short and sweet (pun intended) version. 

Lemon Sugar Body Scrub:
1.5 cups sugar (nothing special)
1/3 cup olive oil (use the cheap stuff)
2-4 drops essential oil (I used lemon)

Mix it up and enjoy.  It really can't get any easier than that.

Other ideas for variations:

• The printed recipe I consulted also had a version that I thought sounded interesting.  Add 2 tablespoons of cocoa and use peppermint, cinnamon, or orange essential oil.  The printed recipe also called for adding food coloring, but who needs to tint their skin?
• I'd like to try using salt (but the sugar is such a nice exfoliant). 
• I want to try:  sugar, olive oil, and vanilla or almond extract to use as a Sugar Lip Scrub.  It would be safe to eat!
• You could add lemon juice (just be sure to realize this makes you more sensitive to the sun).

So there you have it, enjoy!