the most amazing soap in the world

A year ago I took this amazing trip to Pemba island for work. It was a work trip, a photo shoot for a customer, but that didn't stop me from enjoying the beautiful views, and soft soft sands on the island. To this day it is the most amazing place I have ever been in. So beautiful, soft beaches, no one around. I hope I get to visit it again some day soon.

The lodge we stayed in is an eco lodge, and among other things they also provide the rooms with locally made clove soap. This soap changed my life.  Luckily after knowing the owner for years he stocked me up and gave me contacts to find it in Dar. I use it to wash my face, hair and body. I've shared it with my friends and family and everyone loves it. Since it is handmade natural soap it does not dry your skin, and the properties in clove clear up even the most troublesome skin. Clove has been said to help with aches and it is anti bacterial and anti inflammatory. Either way it clears up any heat rash, sun allergy and whatever you can think of. All at the whopping cost of 600 shillings = 30 euro cents per bar. Of course this is my personal experience and I am no scientist. But hey, I've struggled with my skin for Y-E-A-R-S.

I'll be loading up my luggage with it when we come spend Christmas in Finland, so please let me know if you want to try this amazing bar of natural skincare.

wardrobe update

I have read. And re-read. And Pinned and googled, anything and everything about minimalist wardrobe. There several main stream solutions for this. There is project 333 where you choose 33 pieces of clothes to use for three months. Emphasis is mainly on finding items that match that you can keep combining and changing outfits all the time. And then there is 10 item wardrobe by the Daily connoisseur, who two times a year creates a 10 item wardrobe of beautiful outfits and then sticks to those until the next season. None of these seem to fit perfectly. But I think I am finding my path to my minimalist closet.

I don't need to have everything match. 10 items seem a bit extreme, but what attracts me in that one is that she focuses on rather having 10 perfect, high quality outfits that hundreds of H&M pieces that unravel within months. A good example is underwear. I have been struggling to find good underwear in Tanzania. Firstly all except one set from Finland has lived its life. Sadly last time I was in Finland I didn't focus on quality, and living in 30+ degrees with uncomfortable underwear is not fun. Learned that lesson. The one pair that remains was a gift from the hubby in 2010. It is still like new, and crazy comfortable. So good quality items definitely are the key.

So is it 33 or 10 items that I will go with. Actually I think it will be close to 30, excluding (as the "rules" state) lounge wear, underwear, workout gear: that I currently need several because of the daily coaching sessions. And a couple of nicer dresses that I keep around for the weddings, embassy events etc that seem to be somewhat frequent.

This step took me a lot longer than I assumed it would. Actually identifying the clothes that I want and need. I actually had to think about the weather, and my life style as well as the style I want to portray. I think I am somewhere between fun and chic. I want to look like an adult: put together and polished to a certain extent but I also want to look 32 (soon 33) instead of 52. So finding the balance between fun, young, energetic and chic, polished, poised has been my challenge. BUT I finally feel like I have been able to identify the list of clothes that don't overwhelm me in quantity and options but also offer me enough variety to work with my different roles.

So without further rambling here you go, my updated minimalist wardrobe plan:

If you would go through your closet and choose just the clothes that you love, really truly love, how many would that amount up to? Could you live with just those? Do you think it would make you life easier or harder? 

I love the fact I can get dressed in seconds every morning, that everything (except those jeans) are super comfortable, and fit me perfectly. More variety? Maybe at some point, but for now I'm happy with my selection - or will be once it is complete.

our minimalist life - chemicals: the health factor

Sorry this is going to be a long one.

Two years ago I had a wake up call.

They say things happen for a reason and looking back now it seems that there was always a plan. For some reason on our first family trip to Tanzania I happened to find Jessica Alba's book the Honest Life. I was not looking for anything in the category, I don't even remember how I found it on Amazon. Now the fact that it was written by Jessica Alba was crucial. I don't know if I would've noticed it otherwise, and beyond that the message in that book was simple enough for me to understand and to start applying to my life. She wrote about all the aspects of honest life, living in sustainable way, as chemically free as possible. And she did it nicely, no guilt, no pressure, no "throwoutallyouhaveandbuyallnewstuff".

So when little J over night woke up with a HORRIBLE rash all over his body I already had some data to help me through that chaos. I believe that had I not read that book, I would've just rushed him to the hospital, gotten a load of meds, cortisone, antibiotics etc that might have fixed that situation but I would've still been treating the effect, not the cause. I spent one night with google. I figured out that we had been in Tanzania for about a week and that means our clothes had been washed. With OMO. Now I have nothing against it, except that it makes us all sick, but with J it became pretty much life threatening. You can imagine that in the morning when I announced that ALL of our clothes and sheets and towel have to be washed at least 5 times with REAL soap and vinegar. There is no washing machine at my in-laws. They had to do it by hand. Pole sana. But within two days J was doing ok. He is massively allergic to detergents.

I still struggled with this in Finland, because by the way detergents are everywhere. Our own soaps and bed sheets and towels to day care. Cleaning the house, with soap, but hey you can't use soap for laminate floors, or that there is no detergent free dish soap available in Finland... Trying to visit the best allergy doctors I could get my hands on, only to discover that most lotions have a from of detergent in them. I hate chemistry, and I guess I should've paid attention at school, but all those words in the INCI lists just make my head hurt. He was not feeling better and we tried everything. By the way, after re-introducing the foods, he is not allergic to them at all.

Fast forward we move to Tanzania and lo and behold: he is healthy here. And my hair is curly and my skin (that I have struggle my whole life with) is clearing up. I actually started to wonder that maybe he just grew out of it until my mom came to visit and we took a trip to Zanzibar. I didn't even think to bring our own bedding or towels, that is how healthy he has been. But after a couple of days, his face started to swell, and skin got itchy and then the coughing started again. I am glad that we have been able to reduce the chemicals from his life so well here that he can be healthy, and none of us is exposed to those nasty chemicals.

This has made our life very simple too:
We have laundry soap: a very basic olive oil based soap that we use for laundry, cleaning, dishes etc. I costs about 10 cents a bar. Then we have some beautiful handmade soaps (mainly clove, but some variations) that we use in the shower and I clean my face with. They cost about 30 cents/bar. Then we have vinegar and baking soda, to be used as hair conditioner, or to disinfect or to clean or to shine or to scrub. And then we have coconut oil to moisturize, shave, treat hair, cook etc with. And that's it. All of these can be eaten so what is safer than that.

At the same time we have been slowly turning our closets into more sustainable ones, which is not always easy, living here. My next step is my make up. This is something I can't do here. Organic cosmetics just don't exist here yet, but I am anxiously waiting to our Christmas trip to Finland to replace my make up with non-toxic versions. While at the same time I am terrified to see how J will manage in the land of chemicals :(

I would recommend anyone with constant runny noses, rashes or itchiness or even asthma to take a look and see if it could be caused by detergents. By the way neither T or I can even walk into the detergent section in the shop without sneezing or getting an itchy nose.

It is a headache in the beginning but hey, what wouldn't you do for your child???

from sick, always in pain with the torment of itchiness he turned into a happy healthy kiddo!!!

Inspiration board

I've stumbled (in my endless blog reading) several times on the internet into Inspiration boards. These are not new years resolutions, but thought to inspire you and keep you on track, as well as give the room for your mind to travel to new extremes instead of going the adult route of why CAN'T this idea or a goal work.

I loved how Christy (as if I know her :P) wrote on the meaningfulmeandering.com about inspiration boards:

First of all, if you are rolling your eyes and thinking this is just another “time-wasting touchy-feely hippy-dippy” exercise, I challenge you to hang in there with me and read on. This is not about giving self-hugs and visualizing a trust fall with yourself. This is a truly effective way to unstick your overly programmed thoughts and perceptions and discover or rediscover pieces to a larger picture that realistically illustrate your true nature, desires, creativity, and even fears.

I'm going to have a very heavy couple of months of work up until our holiday trip to Finland. I can't wait, and I want to keep my eyes on the price but also enjoy the ride. So I wanted to try to make one. Instead of printing one out and figuring a place for it, I've put it as my desktop background, something that I am bound to look at several times per day. I did it over the weekend, and every time I close my browser and see a glimpse my spirits are uplifted. It contains motivation to work out, quotes to work hard and believe in myself. Something that provides focus on my work in the world of social media and my gymnastics business. But it also contains picture of winter, to uplift me when I'm tired and need a reason to work hard (Christmas in Finland) but there is also a silly one of perfect nude manicured nails to remind me not to stress out and bite my nails :). It is not the end of the world, but it's a piece of my world.

Try to sit down and think - what would keep you inspired and motivated without rules and boundaries that limit us in life. What would you put on your inspiration board?

my minimalistic life

If someone who read my list of 32 random things noticed, I have found a new passion :). Minimalist life. I have come to the realization, that having more does not make me happy. Having more in fact just creates trouble. More things to organize, wash, clean etc. In the modern society "having things" seems to be associated with success. Status. Definitely not with need. We all aquire things: more clothes (that probably don't fit), more kitchen stuff (just because, you know, IKEA), toys (to stay with the it thing), cars, electronics, games etc etc. The list is endless. And no I have not gone insane, but living now almost 11 months with whatever fit the luggages, has made me realize that we don't NEED so much. We will still have stuff, but only necessary ones. "minimalism is not the lack of something, it's the perfect amount of somethig". That coins it perfectly.

resolution #1, start with myself

Have you ever been on a holiday, and thought how easy it is to get dressed because everything you have fits you? or matches? So howcome we keep filling the closets with things that don't fit or match? The research says that most people use 20% of their clothes 80% of the time. My first goal is to have enough clothes to last two weeks (laundry cycle without a machine is sooo slow) but they should all fit. I've purged my closet several times, but I know there's still some stuff that "maybe will fit me if I just...". Now it is just going to be what I wear and a couple of fancy party dresses (the Tanzanian's love love love their fancy parties). Don't worry, the good thing is that there is plenty of people willing to take the clothes that I don't wear anymore off my hands, so they won't be wasted. 

I will also start my pinterest board of creating that perfect wardrobe, so I won't be swayed from my mission by some sweet sales on things that are never worn. No shopping for now. Just clearing. Then time will tell me what do I really need to add to the mix. Those moments I will save for Finland visits to buy  good quallity, or to visits to a tailor (a dress made to match costs about 7 euros here). 

How is your closet? Does the statistic apply to you?