Beautification. Oly Style.

Brittany and Mariah at The Yellow
House selecting their herbs.

My sisters, Brittany and Mariah, came to Olympia to hang out for the weekend. My parents drove them from their home in Kennewick on Saturday morning, they drove back Sunday afternoon. It was a short but sweet visit. I always feel refreshed after spending time with my family. 

The girls and I spent Saturday creating shampoo. As an added bonus, we made some lip balm too. The actual creation process took less than an hour for both products (not including cool down time), but we made a day of hunting for the perfect supplies and devising the perfect recipes. 

We started by perusing a customizable shampoo recipe we found at TheModernHerbal.com. The site offers a generic recipe as a base, and then lists herbs, essential oils, and other additives that can be used for specific hair types and colors.

Our Radiance loot. Everything needed for an evening
of shampoo making. 3/31/12

After each determining a recipe for our hair, and one for our momma's, we set out for Radiance Herbs & Massage downtown on 5th Ave. Before beginning our shopping though, we made a pit stop at Quality Burrito. I took my family there last August when they came for my wedding. It's one of those places I take people when they're visiting Olympia and sightseeing is in order. This time, they requested it. The service is a little slow, but the food is more than worth the wait. If you live in or near Olympia and haven't checked this place out, please let me know and we can go together. Seriously. 


Ok so, back to Radiance. I love going to Radiance because not only is it chock-full of natural, organic, planet conscious products, but of people seeking light in their lives as well. We spent at least an hour there, scooping bulk herbs into paper baggies, sniffing for essential oils, reading soap labels and otherwise enjoying the shop. "This is fun," Brittany said. "It's like a scavenger hunt." Without the friendly ladies on staff who helped us on our hunt, we could have been there at least another hour. Like I said, the place is chock-full. Of everything we were looking for, and plenty that was just intriguing.  


My parents, who patiently chauffeured us throughout the day, breathed a sigh of relief when we were finally satisfied with our goods and made for the check out counter. After realizing we forgot a few things, and being guided to them by the woman at the register, we checked out and made our way to the Artesian Well to collect water for our shampoo. "It's the water" seems to be a slogan Olympia adheres to with reverence. From what I understand, it originated with Olympia Beer. I found this commercial for Olympia Beer made in 1979, which seems to confirm the slogan's roots. 

Regardless, if Olympians believe it's the water, so do I. So we filled some bottles at the Artesian Well (which has received a "facelift," since I visited it last) to use in our shampoo instead of yucky, chlorine and fluoride contaminated city water. I've been to the well before, and there's been a line of folks every time. I wasn't surprised to see four or five people there waiting to fill several gallons of water to take home, or to work, or wherever. My family was a little surprised though, until they drank some of the water. "This is good," my Mom said enthusiastically. 

The folks with large amounts of water to collect let us sneak into the queue to fill our bottles, which took a matter of seconds under the heavy, cool flowing well. From there we left downtown for Joann Fabrics, where we gathered craft supplies to decorate our jars and bottles. Due to indecision over glitter (Glitter or none? Glitter glue pens, or loose glitter and glue? And other important questions such as these...), our Joann trip took at least another hour. 

Step 3: Strain herbs. 

Decorative supplies in hand (sans glitter), we returned to The Yellow House and got started. Following the recipe linked above, we poured our Artesian Well water into a tea kettle and brought it to a boil. In four separate jars, one for each of us, we added our chosen herbs. I used chamomile with yarrow, Brittany and Mariah used peppermint, raspberry leaves, and chamomile, and we used yarrow with sage for Mom.  


While waiting for our hair tea to cool, we went to I.talia, a pizzeria on West Side Oly. Owned by the folks who also own Ramblin Jacks and Mercato, the restaurant definitely lives up to their "fresh, organic, fast" motto. We shared pepperoni pineapple on a gluten free crust (which Mom says was the best of the gluten free crusts she's sampled), and a pizza off the chef's special board which I forget the name of. Afterward, we all tried gelato from Olympic Mountain Creamery. I didn't hear a single complain. 

Jars labeled with our personalized shampoo recipes. 

When we got back home, we strained out our herbs and mixed in the rest of our ingredients. Everyone used lavender Dr. Bronner's liquid castile soap, a dab of sweet almond oil, and Elysian Avatar Jasmine IPA (for volume, of course). From there we added either bergamot, tea tree, eucalyptus, or rose germanium essential oils, white or apple cider vinegar, and/or honey, depending on hair type and color.


While we decorated our shampoo jars, we watched The Jungle Book on VHS, on Meghan's tiny TV with a built-in VCR. What a time warp. We also added some flair to the tiny jars that would contain our lip balm. Our decorating took most of the movie, since we were sharing supplies. Singing along to The Jungle Book definitely made time fly. Once finished, we started the lip balm. 

Melting beeswax, soon to be
combined with bergamot and rose
germanium EOs, and jojoba oil

We found the lip balm recipe we used at Radiance about mid checkout. After quickly deciding we needed to make it, we hastily snagged a two ounce baggie of beeswax and assumed we had the rest of the needed ingredients. The recipe yielded at least five times more product than we had the capacity to contain, which happened to be lucky for us because I had far less jojoba oil than I'd thought. We used 1/4 the ingredients called for and made just enough to fill our tiny jars and half a shot glass (for lack of a better container). 

Overall, I enjoyed our scavenger 
hunt downtown more than actually making our beauty products. There's a vibe downtown that makes me feel at home. People are either ultra friendly, or rather standoffish, but they seem genuine either way. Any time I feel like having a conversation with a stranger that goes beyond surface level pleasantries, I need only linger near a coffee shop for five minutes or so. Amazing food is always less than a block away. Unique supplies and ingredients you can't find at your average mega-chain-store can always be found at one shop or another. And the people watching. It never gets old. Showing my family around is always an adventure. There's a stark contrast between downtown Olympia and downtown Kennewick. They say Olympia has made me weird. They're probably right, but I think they enjoyed being weird with me while they were here. 

Customized shampoo in customized
bottles. That's hair love. 

Our finished "Love Your Lips Balm".

Jeremiah Steele: Fire Crafter Extraordinaire

Since moving into The Yellow House, we've had our oil furnace in working order for a total of two weeks. Needless to say, our house has been cold. See-your-breath, huddle-over-food-on-the-stove, bust-out-gamer-mittens,  hover-over-the-toilet-seat, cold.

Jeremiah stoking a small
fire in our living room.

In our rooms, though, we each have space heaters. Our rooms are warm and cozy, thanks to the heaters. It seems that when we aren't cooking, warming our fingers over the stove, or playing video games, bundled with mittens and a pile of blankets, we are cozied up in our rooms. Don't get me wrong, I love my room. I get a lot done in it. It's strange though, to live in a house of five people that feels empty.

The first fire Jeremiah built was in our fireplace. That's right, The Yellow House has a fireplace. It is wondrous. We started moving our stuff from Moon Base the day before the big snow storm in January. We had all our kitchen supplies in the house by the time power got killed, but our clothes and bed were still at Moon Base. So, we drove back and forth; sleeping at Moon Base, cooking at The Yellow House.

Two days before Moon Base powered back up, we had electricity at The Yellow House. Kaylin, Jeremiah, and I, going stir crazy, decided a heatless house was preferable to a powerless apartment. We bundled up, gathered some food and supplies, and prepared to spend some time around a fire. It took Jeremiah an hour or so, but our wood finally dried out enough to really light up. Kaylin and I kept the coals stoked while Jeremiah was at work. We taped a fork to a stick and roasted weenies, and otherwise enjoyed our time until his shift was over.

The fire pit in our back yard at
The Yellow House.

Since this first fire, Jeremiah has built several more. Each time, he hones his technique finer. His first couple efforts, the fire would grow and appear healthy but suddenly die. This occurred several times before the fire was established. This happens rarely if ever, now. He's become well practiced at using the ashes from previous fires to direct the airflow beneath the one he's building. He's gotten more efficient at drying damp wood near the fire then cycling through to keep it burning. I watch him do all this, and I can see that it makes sense to him. But if my description is poor, it's because it doesn't make sense to me. When I watch him at work, I can see that he's got a plan and ideas and he's learning. But I only scratch the surface. I just don't get it. It's awesome.

Michaela and Josiah sun soaking
and jamming on our roof.

Jeremiah carrying a pilfered pallet
toward it's demise in our fire.

Last week, the sun showed up for a day. The sky was blue, the mountains were out, and we were finally rid of our winter coats. It was a happy dose of vitamin D before the six straight days of downpour we've experienced since.


The Yellow House crew took full advantage of that glorious day. We ate outside, took walks, played with Somewhere, and otherwise made excuses to be outside. On a whim, we decided to use the fire pit in our backyard for the first time. We used most of the wood stockpiled out back for fires inside, so Jeremiah and I went scavenging for pallets to break down. It took two trips to get four pallets home, but it was definitely worth the effort.

Miah and I testing our
mallow toasting skills.

Jeremiah smashed up a pallet with the axe that came with the house. We piled the wood near the fire pit for easy access, then made a quick run to the grocery store for sweets to roast. We realized then, that we didn't have any roasting sticks. Procuring them was another excuse to remain outside, which we appreciated. From trees that had fallen during January's storm, we gathered six or seven branches. We sharpened them with scissors and a pocket knife. Once finished, we were ready to start the fire.

J and K's roasting
sticks. Also useful for
vampire slaying. 

Before anyone else came home, we had the fire going strong. We wanted it started before it was dark. The pallets burned easy and incredibly hot. We spent about an hour together, keeping the fire alive and toasting marshmallows while we waited for our friends. We were worried that we'd run out of wood, but the pallet lasted even after everyone had come and left.

A little after dark, our friends and roomies started to arrive. There's something about sitting in a circle around a fire that makes conversation flow. From my experience, gatherings centered around conversation are rare. We didn't have TV, or even music, but I had an amazing time in the company of my pals.

Though technology wasn't present, we did have food - if you can call marshmallows food - which seems also contribute to the flow of conversation. In my opinion, only one thing beats a toasted marshmallow. Turns out, my husband is a pro mallow-roaster. He demonstrated this several times by forcing me to eat more marshmallows that anyone should ever eat in one sitting. Can't say I didn't enjoy it though. They were as brown as possible without turning black, evenly toasted on all sides, and hot to the center. Yum.

When Meghan (of the De La Rosa variety) got home, she opened our eyes to the one treat that beats toasted marshmallows: Banana Boats. She's described theses to me on several occasions, and I was beyond curious to try them. In our kitchen, she schooled me on their preparation. Once we'd made seven or eight and wrapped them all in foil, we gathered paper plates and plastic forks, and carted it all out to the fire. The foil-wrapped bananas, stuffed with bits of Milky Ways and marshmallows, were placed in the fire's coals and left for several minutes to cook. When Meghan deemed them ready, she removed them from the coals and set them aside to cool. Then we passed them around and dug in. We heard only sighs and chewing until they were devoured.

I'm fascinated by Jeremiah's proficiency at building fires. I almost feel bad that the task is mostly delegated to him. I try to help by gathering kindling and carrying wood, but I've learned the rest of the job is best left to him. He is officially the expert. Even more than I love the fires though, I love the people the fires bring together. When there's a fire in the living room, our roommates emerge from the cozy confines of their rooms. We get to hang out. Our big house feels full. When there's a fire in our yard, we get to ignore all the technology that distracts and entertains us, and focus instead on each other. My friends are really quite awesome. They're family, and more than worth my focus. As my husband has grown proficient at building fires, he's also grown proficient at gathering together people we love. How great is that?

Our friends, sitting around the first fire in our back yard. A sure sign of
a successful fire is when it ends with "Let's do this again."

The Year Long Scat

"So what do you call that," I asked Kendal Calquhoun. "A hat-scarf, a harf, a scaharfat, what?"

Kendal shrugged. "A scat I guess."

"Why aren't you wearing it right now?" I asked him.

From behind the counter at Mud Bay Coffee, between drink orders, Kendal patiently answered, "It's ultra warm, it's really heavy and just bulky. It's hard to be doing things while you're wearing it. It's more of a sitting in the cold type of hat."

Kendal knitting his hat at Moon Base about a few
days before completing the project.
photo by: Kaylani, Oct 26, 2011

In October last year, under the instruction of our community's knitting guru Claire, Kendal learned how to knit. His first effort, a small gray test-swatch, is still attached to his key chain as a token of remembrance. After that, he began his hat. One year and nine skeins of yarn later, it is finished. "I wanted a wizard's hat. I wanted it to be a little over the top," says Kendal. "I knew it was done when it was dragging on the ground. It had taken so long I was ready to be finished. I just wanted to wear it."

The red and grey portions of Kendal's hat are knit with an alpaca and wool blend. The green at the end was knit with extremely soft baby alpaca. His yarns were purchased at Canvas Works downtown. "If you're gonna start knitting one, you'd better know your a patient person," Kendal recommends. "I knew I'd be able to finish it... I had an idea how long it would take, I didn't think it would be an entire year."

As a friend of Kendal's, I can confirm the patience he speaks of. I can't say I've encountered more patience in my life. But the man is not a machine. There were times during the project where boredom set in. "I got to the point where I had to take a break. There was a couple of times where I just didn't knit it for like a month." Learning new techniques helped keep the project interesting, though. "There was a lot of experimenting with knit patterns and ways of knitting where I took my rights as the person making it to go ahead and try."

Kendal learned from his experiments, though they didn't always go as planned. "In one of my experiments doing different knit patterns I ended up adding 40-plus stitches," He says. "After I screwed that part up I probably spent a good four hours fixing it."

Kendal also kept busy while he knit, exercising his multitasking muscles. "I listened to music, watched movies, rode in cars, came to Bible Study, sat by the fireplace [at Mud Bay]." When the hat was long enough to wear while knitting, he took full licence to knit wherever he wanted. "I walked around downtown, went to the Co-op, antique shopping."

During his walks downtown, he encountered a couple very curious folks. "I'd have the tail end and yarn in my bag and the part I was working on out in front of me," he explains. "People who didn't necessarily look like they understood I was knitting, but saw I had seven sticks in front of me, would come up like 'Whoa! What are you doing?'"

Next on Kendal's knitting agenda? Mittens. With a twist, of course. "I want the sleeves to be long, long," he says. With one hand outstretched as though a mitten coveres it, he draws his other hand up his arm and out past his head to demonstrate. "I'll have to fold them over my arm in order to wear them."