my bookshelf

It's been some time since I shared some of the books I've been reading, but this past week I blew through two books and figured it was high time I share a list of books I've enjoyed lately.  I think if I flew on planes consistently I'd probably read a book every flight, for some reason I get on a plane and just want to power through a book.  All of these, I found, were really quick reads.  Pretty much all of them were read in a couple days to a week.  

Have you guys been reading any great books lately?  I've found that I'm much more into non-fiction than fiction, for some reason.  I just really enjoy reading true stories.  Not that fiction isn't great, but 9 times out of 10 I'm drawn to a non-fiction book.  In some ways I think real people are way more interesting than fictional ones, just because they aren't made up.  That being said, I've thought about reading the hunger games series, just because I've seen the movies and found them to be fun, and I've heard they're fast reads, so I might track those down at half price books someday.


Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness
I read more than half of this book at once on my flight home from Sitka and finished the rest in two evenings.  It's a quick read and rather fascinating.  It tells the story of Susannah Cahalan, a 24 year old gal who ended up with a mysterious disorder that sent her spiraling into complete psychosis before finally being diagnosed with a rare autoimmune encephalitis.  It's a great read.

If I Live to be 100:  Lessons from the Centenarians 
On my first day in Sitka I saw this book on the counter and picked it up.  It seemed appropriate to read, since I'd be spending time with my grandparents, who are 93.  It's the story of an NPR journalist who went around the country interviewing centenarians, those who've lived over a century, asking them about their lives and the major events of the 20th century.  In the few nights I was in Sitka, I blew through the book.  It's introspective and a relaxing read.


Hyperbole and a Half
Kristi gave me this book, and if you've ever read the Hyperbole and a Half blog, then you know exactly how hilarious this book is.  Actually I was a little surprised at how dark and serious it is in a lot of ways.  Allie shares a lot of her struggle with depression in the book, in her typical dark humor way, but it's still rather raw and real.  She's self deprecating and honest.  I think my favorite chapters were the ones about her dogs, simple dog, and helper dog, probably because I've always had dogs and it's just so spot on I couldn't help but laugh out loud at parts.

Wild
I read this one a while ago, last summer I think.  It's the story of Cheryl Strayed, who hiked part of the Pacific Crest Trail.  She wasn't an avid hiker, just a girl who needed to push the 'restart' button on life and just went for it.  I had a couple friends who'd hiked the PCT a few years ago, so it was interesting to read about the trail they hiked.  It was well written and captivating.



Take Good Care of the Garden and the Dogs
This book grabbed hold of me and held me hostage.  It's by Heather Lende, who lives in Haines, AK and has written for various newspapers and magazines, including a column in the Anchorage Daily News for years.  She's also written "If You Lived Here I'd Know Your Name," which I haven't read yet, but want to.  Anyway, I was given the book for Christmas when we were in Sitka, and, of course, every time I go to Sitka it makes me desperately want to move back to Alaska.  Reading Heather's book right after being there only heightened that desire to a fever pitch and I spent weeks searching real estate and jobs in Sitka online late at night.  The story follows an accident in which she had been run over by a truck while riding her bike, and her recovery.  Haines is a much smaller town than Sitka, I spent a few days there on my Winne trip back in 2010, but the feeling is the same.  She brings small town Alaska to life in a way that made my heart yearn for home more intensely than usual.  I think the next book I'm going to read is "If You Lived Here," just to keep my small town Alaska vibes going strong.

you'll like tacoma

It's been a while, in internet time, that is!  In real life it's only been a week, but it seems like time online moves much more quickly.  I was in Sitka over the weekend and got sick while I was up there so I've been in a bit of a haze lately.  After the plane landed, my right ear never popped and I still can't hear out of it, so it's felt like I'm hearing everything from inside a fishbowl.  I have newfound sympathy for my hard-of-hearing grandparents.  Not being able to hear well is obnoxious!  Also, I feel like I'm talking inappropriately loud all the time...
Today I've partnered up with BC Footwear for their Summer Roadtrip, to bring you an awesome giveaway and to show you a few of my favorite local spots around Tacoma.   Dan had the day off yesterday so we did a little bit of exploring downtown.  We stopped by an awesome locally owned clothing shop, Urban X Change, which is similar, in a way, to Buffalo Exchange.  I love it because the prices are awesome, so it's sort of like thrifting, but it's curated well so you don't have to dig through a ton of ugly stuff to find the good stuff.  I've been meaning to take a box of old clothes down there to sell, but of course every time I stop in, I forget to bring the box.  So it goes.  

 


After doing a bit of browsing at UXC, we headed a bit further down Pacific Ave and popped into Tacoma Cabana for a drink.  It's been open for quite a while, but we'd never found the time to go down.  They do craft tiki cocktails, and I'm all about that situation, so I was glad we finally made it over there!  I need to go back for a lady date at some point because fruity cocktails.  I'm usually not big into the fruity booze, but I feel like most times fruity cocktails aren't mixed well, or are concocted with a heavy hand and too much sugar, but the Tacoma Cabana cocktails don't seem to be of that ilk whatsoever.  Plus, they play episodes of Gilligan's Island on the tv, and there's a grass shack roof over the bar.  And a fish tank behind the bar.  I rest my case.
 

dress(similar)/swapped :: top/courtesy of ruche :: purse/courtesy of minnetonka shoes/courtesy of bc footwear :: flower crown + long necklace/handmade short necklace/courtesy of adorn by sarah lewis :: photos by Dan + me

 
Another favorite local haunt is Hilltop Kitchen.  Owned by one of the most innovative and accomplished cocktail bartenders in the northwest, they have seasonal menus that will blow your mind and taste buds.  And if that doesn't convince you, the spring cocktail menu was filled with drinks with Beyonce themed names (Surfboard, To The Left,  XOXO, The Beat Got Sicker... etc).  They're coming out with the summer menu soon, though, so I think we might have to say farewell to the Beyonce drinks.  If you're not too into cocktails or booze in general, HK also has amazing food.  The bar is south/latin american inspired in their drinks and fare, so they've got tons of tacos and other south american inspired, northwest influenced food.  They do their best to source their ingredients locally, so there are often specials based on what's currently available locally, and their seasonal menus are also constructed with that in mind. Some other local favorites: Bluebeard Coffee Metronome Coffee Over the Moon Cafe Asado Dorky's Barcade Stink Marrow Masa's sundeck on a sunny day Retrospect Vintage Satori Vanity Vintage Annette B


 
And now to the giveaway!  BC Footwear is doing a huge giveaway, giving one lucky winner 6 pairs of shoes!  The giveaway is being hosted by a few different bloggers, so we'll all separately draw winners and then send those winners to BC Footwear, then on June 27, the BC Footwear team will compile all of the winners and draw one who will win all six pairs of shoes!  The chance to enter here at Delightfully Tacky will be open for entries for a week, and there are multiple ways to enter.  You can also enter at the other bloggers' giveaways, just search #bcsummerroadtrip on twitter and you can see the links to the other giveaways! The giveaway is open to US residents only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

diy laundry detergent

Yesterday Kristi and I were hanging out in the kitchen making dinner and pie, talking about making household and body products and we were amazed at how many things you can make yourself.  We felt silly being amazed because of course you can make them yourself, at some point, before the big companies fed us the lie that we need them to make all our products, people all over were hand making their soaps, deodorants, detergents, make up, and more!  And the cool part is that you don't have to wonder what's in your products when you make them yourself, you just made it!  While I haven't personally dealt with allergies from store bought soaps and detergents, I know that plenty of people have had problems with skin irritation and allergies due to chemicals in home products.  Commercially made detergents contain many synthetic chemicals such as chlorine bleach and EDTA that are harmful.

It's awesome how easy it is to make your own detergent, and another bonus?  It's cheap!  If you make a large batch it comes out to about 19 cups of detergent, and since you use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load, that means you get over 300 loads of laundry out of your detergent!  After researching different price per load break downs comparing homemade vs. store bought I was pretty happy about saving money on top of everything else:

Arm & Hammer® liquid 100 ounce detergent – $6.79 = $0.21 per load

Ultra Tide powder 143 oz. detergent = $17.97 = $0.12 per load

Tide with Bleach powder 267 ounce detergent – $20.32  = $0.21 per load

Homemade powder 32 ounce detergent – $2.98 = $0.05 per load



Ingredients:
2.5 cups Borax
2.5 cups Super Washing Soda
1 5.5oz bar Fels Naptha, grated
30 drops essential oils (I get mine here)

Using a cheese grater, grate the Fels Naptha bar.  Once you grate the Fels Naptha, you can either mix all the ingredients together, or if you want a finer texture, throw it in a food processor.  I only have a small food processor so I did mine in batches.

Once everything was processed and mixed I put in my essential oils.  I wanted a zesty, fresh scent so I used Lemon and Orange, and then Purification (an essential oil blend of citronella, lemongrass, rosemary, melaleuca, lavandin, and myrtle.  It helps remove odors and freshen your clothes).  You could also use other oils depending on the scents you enjoy, such as lavender, cedar, pine, geranium, jasmine, or peppermint.  I'm not big into floral scents, but I do love woodsy scents so for my next batch I might try using some cedar, pine, and spruce oils!

Use 1 Tbsp per load (or 2 -3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads).

This recipe makes about 6-ish cups, but you could also make a large batch using the entire box of borax and super washing soda and a few bars of Fels Naptha.  I want to try some different scents, though, so I just made a small batch for this first time.  I tested it on a load of laundry and it seemed to work great!  I haven't tried it on a load of really dirty laundry yet, but after reading other people's reviews of their homemade laundry soap, I'm pretty confident I'll have no desire to go back to the store bought stuff.

Since this soap is a low-suds type of detergent it can also work in HE front loading washers, so you don't need to buy fancy soap for those washers either!

It's really easy to make your own detergent (and if you prefer liquid detergent there are plenty of recipes for that as well, if you do a quick google search), but if you're not up to it, you can always buy an unscented organic, non-toxic detergent and add your own essential oils for a personalized scent!

a delightful giveaway from chandler smith photography

Hi guys!  Today I'm partnering up with Chandler Smith Photography to give all you engaged ladies a chance at an awesome prize!  Chandler is an amazing photographer and she's offering a chance for not one but THREE lucky gals to win a wedding photography package from her!  I've shared a few of my favorite images of hers here in this post, but if you're not already convinced that she's got an incredible eye and skill behind a lens (or, you know, if you just want more eye-candy), you can definitely check out her portfolio.  Chandler's located in Jacksonville, FL, so if you're further than 30miles from Jacksonville you'll need to pay for her travel expenses, but that's still a crazy great deal when you're getting the whole wedding photography package free!
To enter, head over to Chandler Smith Photography's facebook and click "like," then follow the directions below to email your entry to chandlersmithphotography@gmail.com!



 

cleaning up

This past week has flown by.  I seriously can't believe it's Monday again.  I've been working like crazy to get the Winne ready for Kristi to move into, and finally got (most) everything done yesterday just before she had to move out of her apartment.  I've got a few more repairs/updates to finish up, but it's livable!  Once I finish everything up and all of Kristi's stuff is organized (moving in always makes a place look like a mini hurricane blew through) I'll have to share the updates!  In the midst of the week, in which I was mostly wearing dirty jeans and a sawdust covered hoodie, I was invited to be a part of a fun mother/daughter event that a photographer friend was putting on at her studio.  I figured I should probably not look like I just walked off the set of This Old House, so I threw on a maxi dress and disguised my not-washed hair with a giant succulent crown and called it good.  Later that day I had a wedding rehearsal dinner to go to, so it worked well as a double duty outfit.  After being dirty and unkempt for days it was nice to get fancy and clean up a bit.

 
dress/courtesy of lulu's :: necklace + succulent crown/handmade