Summer is drawing to a close and I'm finally going to get a day at the beach!  Well a week actually. The beach is my happy place, my sanctuary, my true mental yoga.  As an infant, my parents would take a nightly drive to the beach to lull me to sleep and to this day, my best night's sleep occurs anywhere that I can hear the waves of the ocean singing to me.  It's actually a wonder it took me so long to come up with this beautiful soap aptly named A Day at the Beach!  Don't know why I didn't think of it before!

       With summer in full swing and Dandelion Honey Tea Soap still curing, I felt an urgent need to fill the gap and create a few more summer inspired bars. Inspired by the Sangria Festival, I got to work imagining a Strawberry Mojito Sangria soap.  Sounds too delicioso to be soap, doesn't it? 
         Relaxing with a real glass of Strawberry Mojito Sangria in hand, and sipping slowly to appreciate the flavor and the aroma; I wanted to try to conjure up some suds that invoked a Summer Sangria and the feeling of relaxing and enjoying the Summer sun.  Songs started popping into my head and with them, two new sudsy ideas as well!  Do you like Piña Coladas?  I love that song!  And then, who knows why but my mind's radio switched to Put the lime in the coconut and drink it all up.  Bet one of those songs is going to stick in your head for a while now! Oops! Sorry!

     I must have spent hours in the back yard and in my neighbors' yards over the course of a week gathering up dandelions to make dandelion infusions for dandelion soap.  I've been waiting with baited breath to make this soap since I read about it in an article last Fall.  And since we don't use pesticides in our yard, I figured my own flowers would be safe to use.  So when the dandelions started popping up in the yard, out I went.  I filled a large bowl and figured that would be enough to fill a large jar for a nice infusion.  I was so excited.  I set the flowers to dry on a paper towel and a few days later noticed that they had considerably reduced in size.  I mean they really shrank a lot!  It wasn't even enough to fill 1/4 of a jar.  No bueno. 

And now for the Bath Salts!
 
     I love, love, love relaxing in a hot bath surrounding myself with candles and creating my own spa-like environment.  That’s why I just adore bath salts.  And truthfully, these are the easiest DIY ever!
    You can increase this recipe by simply doubling, tripling etc. to make several gifts at a time. You can also add dried organic flowers, buds, leaves or peels or a few drops of soap colorant or 1/2 tsp -1 tsp natural clays for color if you want pretty color.  But color is optional.  Mix all in a glass or metal bowl or pour all into a mason jar and shake, shake until everything is mixed.   Easy as 1. 2. 3. 4