Sources: 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 I received a few messages this week about how to decorate in January, through this “in-between” time after Christmas and before spring! A house can feel a little empty or barren once the tree and ornaments are put away. If your house […]
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Source: Decorating in January
It’s a match-a made in heaven… Three friends joining forces to bring their energy game into one of the most fun frontiers we’ve ever seen… Anyone for matcha gummies??
Adam, Ben and Jahangir have a cute story, maybe as cute as the gummy bears they’ve created.
One night, late at the office, Adam (an Aries) thought to himself, “wouldn’t it be great if I could have matcha in a gummy form?” So he contacted his friend from high school, Jahangir (a pharmacist and Leo), and they brainstormed a few possible ideas to bring to the public. Enter Ben (a Scorpio), and the men worked to bring their idea to the market as a daily supplement for people to gain the benefits of green tea in a new, easily accessible formulation.
That’s where the journey began. Matcha Bears was born the day after Adam’s revelation. Talk about acting on a good idea quickly.
What did the first Matcha Bear taste like? Was it immediate perfection?
The first matcha bear samples were very sweet and slightly grainier. We conducted multiple revisions and taste trials to make sure we had a perfect combination of flavor and strength.
The most important thing that we had ensure was that our proprietary blend didn’t contain gelatin. This was paramount to us.
For those of us who don’t know, what are the benefits of imbibing matcha?
Amongst its many health benefits:
Why bears?
We are a playful, fun, and approachable brand. The shape of our gummies as bears embodies this idea of being accessible by a wide variety of audiences. We want to bring Matcha to everyone. Bears are joyful, playful, and loving, and this is what our company’s core values represent. Also, we just love gummy bears! So, why not!
Best and worst advice you ever received:
The best advice we ever received was to stick to our original plan and idea of creating the first ever Matcha Green Tea gummy bears and not to give up on the company, despite the criticism and slow acceptance of a new green tea formulation.
The worst advice we ever received was to give up on the brand and close the company because the world is not ready for matcha green tea gummies, that they would just be another “fad.”
Is it easy being green?
It is not easy being green. In order to make a “green” product that is healthy for consumers, we refused add any harmful products, like gelatin, to the proprietary blend. It might have benefitted us in the sense of producing better imagery, vibrant-colored gummies, and better taste. However, if we went down this path we would lose our main focus and shift away from bringing a healthy and beneficial gummy to the market.
What’s in Matcha Bears’ future?
We are working on a few more flavors that will be released this year. Each of these new flavors will have health benefits for different indications and are currently being researched and developed by our highly-trained staff of scientist bears, and we can’t wait to share them with our consumers!
Empties: Skincare Edition, Part II
Our sweater buyer Kate tells us about five cruelty-free skincare products she loves until they’re empty…
I am always looking for a daily cleanser that leaves my skin feeling clean without drying it out. Mad Hippie’s does the trick. My skin is sensitive, but this cleanser is gentle enough for daily use. My skin feels fresh and moisturized after each wash.
Ready Steady Glow is great for helping to smooth and balance skin. I use this tonic a few times a week, and it leaves my skin feeling even and soft throughout the day.
I love this oil. Soaks into my skin, and makes it feel moisturized and balanced. Plus, it smells great!
This cream is magic for my dry skin. Philly winters can be rough on your skin, but I use this cream before bed so I can wake up glowy and fresh. It’s lightweight so it works as a daytime moisturizer, too.
I love to use this mask before I go to bed. If my skin is feeling extra dry, I sometimes mix in a little sunscreen or moisturizer to help bring it back to life.
+ Check out our Empties series here.
The only appropriate way to follow that title is this: Hell. Yes.
The last weeks of 2018 were nothing short of a gift. An incredible time when I had the time, the energy, and all the materials to spend all my evenings out in the shop, building all of the things…
Which basically amounts to a million cabinets.
Okay, not a million. But enough to drastically change the storage situation in my house, which feels like nothing short of a million-cabinet miracle. This house has been a disaster for the better part of a decade.
After the window seat and the back of the breakfast counter, I started on the laundry room (and only because my mom decided to start cleaning it out “just in case I wanted to do some work in there”… because moms know, you guys.)
Technically this is an old pic, but it looked basically like this:
In just two evenings and one Saturday, I built two pantry-style closets for this room, which required no shortage of wine and floor space…
Nothing like assembling cabs on an uneven garage floor, right?
Still. It worked.
Let me tell you, after The Great Cabinet Painting Month of 2016 I never thought I would have to dodge through an obstacle course of half-painted shelves to get through my kitchen ever again, but WELCOME TO 2019 GUYS.
In all fairness, this only lasted a day. And then, this…
Listen, it’s not finished, okay? (And honestly, when in the history of this fifteen– fifteen?!?!– year website have you ever seen me legit finish a project? Never? Okay. Well let’s not go crazy and get our hopes up now.)
There will be uppers on top of these, shelves between them on the bottom for the laundry baskets, and a bar between them at the top for hangers. Plus, paint. But mostly its not finished because that very pink floor tile is on the brink of being evicted once and for all. (I know, I know, I’ve said that before. I really do mean it this time thought.) So no crown molding or final finishes because everything is going to have to be moved out of this room at some point this year. But I wanted the cabs to be functional in the meantime. And they are.
On one side I gained a functional cleaning storage closet (which holds the rarely-used vacuum, never-used steam mop, and other assorted cleaning supplies that I like to buy on those rare occasions that I want to feel like a grown up) and on the other side an even more functional pantry for canned goods, egg cartons, and other kitchen items that aren’t used on a daily basis (I’m looking at you, eleven cans of black beans, because WHY.)
Also, since I was on a role with the “let’s build cabinets to hide all my shit” theme, we really need to talk about the mudroom, which most recently looked like this…
The mudroom has been a constant source of “what the shit is going on in here?” because, seriously, what the shit has been going on in here… for the last seven years?
I just can’t with this room. I mean, I can… for like 2 weeks. And then a project happens (or I build a gym in my house) and then all of the shit just ends up in the mudroom again.
So I finally gave up and built a bigass cabinet. Because in my world right now, you can solve any problem at all by building a cabinet. (Need more storage? Cabinet. Insomnia? Cabinet. Procrastinating a workout? Cabinet. Cat died? Build a million fucking cabinets.)
For real. This thing is so big I had to assemble it in the room because even with my mom’s help we didn’t think we’d be able to carry it assembled from the garage.
Hello, beautiful.
For days after we cleaned this room out my mom would walk into the house and say, “I just can’t believe this.” Because you could walk through it without tripping. You know where you’ve set the bar in your life when that’s what impresses your mother.
Also, two things:
1.) I also built upper cabs for all of these, so they’re floor-to-ceiling storage.
2.) There will be doors on all of these beasts eventually. Probably because I’m going to buy them from somewhere since I do not have the patience for door-building right now.
AND SPEAKING OF DOORS.
Hey, here’s another thing I did.
Remember back when I built this cabinet? (When it was almost a retro-curved-wraparound-shelf-thing?) Yeah.
Well, here’s what it looked like a few days ago…
And here’s what it looks like now.
Also, while I was at it, I painted every-damn-thing, including the new breakfast bar area…
And the window seat.
You guys, this window seat is weirdly (but officially) my favorite spot in the house. It doesn’t have a cushion on it yet so my ass hurts all the time, but I still sit there every morning, some evenings when I’m still working on my computer, and basically any time I just need a break in the house. I have no idea why this space that I’ve decidedly ignored for the last seven years is now my favorite, but I’m just going to roll with it.
While I’m sitting here typing this from my window-seat, let’s just take a minute and reflect on this kitchen seven-ish years ago…
And today…
I mean.
It’s not finished. But if you look at it in the right light, and squint your eyes a little bit, it almost feels like a real house and not a construction zone (for the moment.) Seven years, you guys. And a solid three with this room under construction.
So, yeah, I built some motherfucking cabinets. And I feel great about it. Sometimes I feel like if I’m not telling a good “before and after” story (you know, one with all those pretty before and after shots we’re so used to seeing these days) that I don’t have a story to tell at all. But you know what? This is my life. My amazing, messy, beautiful, perpetually unfinished life. And, lets be honest, for girl who spends a lot of time by herself in a garage with a bottle of wine and a bunch of old power tools? I have a lot more fun than I probably should.
And if you’re here reading this, cheering a little inside for pictures of a kitchen that actually looks like a kitchen again (uh, with plywood floors), it’s because you’ve been in this with me for the long-haul. Getting invested in projects and stories that may take years (or decades? please god, not decades) to come to a satisfying conclusion.
Seriously? Thanks for that. And for all the support when things get tough, or when I just can’t quite figure out how to tell the stories that need to be told.
2019 is shaping up to be a pretty epic year.
P.S. Oh, sorry, did you think I was done building cabinets? Because I also totally started on the built-ins over at the Lake House…
I’m not done being the crazy-cabinet lady (who can create makeshift sawhorses out of patio chairs) yet, you guys.