My new love - The Green Wagon

My little neighborhood in Nashville is incredibly charming. Most likely you have heard me rave about the little produce market that is two blocks away, or the best bagel sandwiches in the world, or how I love hearing the train in the background. I loooove Sylvan Park. But another reason has entered into this blissful neighborhood, and that reason is The Green Wagon.

The Green Wagon is an eco-friendly general store. Imagine the cosmetics and beauty section of your pharmacy, but where everything is incredibly eco-conscious and affordable. Sam and I had the chance to walk down to the store Friday night and we were both blown away at the variety of things that they have. There are soap nuts (just go see them for yourself!!), all natural cleaners, shampoos, conditioners, body lotions, make up and then my two purchases, soap and nail polish!

This soap has this creamy soft lather and smells wonderfully of grapefruits. I bought it for Sam and he has even been using it to wash his hair. Plus the message constantly reminds you to make that shower just a little quicker. Enclosed are several steps you can take to help conserve your water consumption...

This is the nailpolish I bought. I have searched high and low for a nail polish that is the color of milk chocolate (it is incredibly flattering and makes me want chocolate). Not only does The Green Wagon carry a chocolate brown nail polish, it is also, water-based without any solvents that can evaporate and smell bad. It also stays on really well. Usually, I have to touch up my toes on a daily basis, even with a top coat. This polish has resisted chipping very well. It is by Honey Bee Cosmetics. The most amazing thing, you literally cannot use acetone based nail polish remover to get it off, you have to use either rubbing alcohol or their no-odor remover available at The Green Wagon. Oh, and get this, you can get it for about the same cost as OPI, maybe even less.

If you live in Nashville, go support this little gem in Sylvan Park! Make sure to follow them on twitter as well!

South Dakota

South Dakota was a magnificent trip. I always listen intently to the stories that Sam has to tell about growing up and living in South Dakota because it was so different from my childhood in Longview, Texas. He had these amazing stories of camping, hiking, old mining buildings, waterfalls, canyons, etc. Meanwhile Longview offered little outside of boring suburbia.

Entrance to the Ingersoll Mine

One of the places we hiked was up to the Ingersoll Mine in Keystone, SD. Off of Old Hill City Rd, you pulled into a cleared driveway that used to be the entrance to the old mining road. The hike was incredibly steep, made even more treacherous because Sam and I were planning to camp out in the cave that night. We walked through the old mining building in order to get to the cave. We did not get any pictures inside or outside the building but you can find some through a search on flickr.

Unfortunately the cave had been trashed by misuse of proceeding generations and graduated classes. Sam was incredibly disappointed to find the cave in disarray and completely ruined. Needless to say it was not suitable for camping, we did however get the chance to take even more pictures outside the cave though.



The next day we drove through Spearfish Canyon. Again, even more beautiful mountains, hills, and pine trees. Words cannot express the beauty of this place. Sam took some amazing pictures of the falls as we hiked back to the base of it.


I loved standing at the base of the waterfall, the spray splashing my bare arms. Shortly after taking this picture, Sam hopped up on the rock with me and kissed me. He said, "Now you have been kissed under a waterfall." It was a very sweet moment.

Our last day in South Dakota, we hiked down to hippie hole. Hippie hole is a mine shaft that miner's dug to see if they could find any minerals. After not finding anything the reverted the stream back, and the mine shaft filled with water to create hippie hole.
Here I am standing in front of the cliff that I jumped off of. The water was ice cold, especially with the sun going down. Also, I should note that this was not just a mere hike to get here, you drive for a few miles on forest service roads, and then literally climb into the canyon. Yes, climb. I only jumped once because it took a little bit of courage to jump once, and all the strength I had to climb back out and up the side of the cliff from which I had leaped.
A view of the beautiful canyon and the swimming hole beneath us. Our time here was too short, as the sun was going down and the water would only be getting colder.

I know, I am leaving out an important part of our trip. We did go to Mount Rushmore for the fireworks display. However, a fog rolled in about an hour before the fire works were supposed to go off, and so the display was disappointing.

The last few weeks...

The last few weeks have been incredibly interesting and hard. I feel as though I am just now recovering from being on vacation, literally coming back with so much to do. My trip from South Dakota ended with a big plate of life being handed to me, when I was not hungry for it at all. I now have just one more nibble left on that plate, my giant pile of laundry for me to fold over in the corner.

Back from the Mid West

My body is currently in a constant state of adjustment. There is a multitude of difference in how much a single hour of sleep can make. While I was in South Dakota, I went to bed a lot later and slept a lot later.

All of the pictures are on Sam's camera. As soon as we get them on a computer, I will post about my trip.

Overall, I really had a wonderful time.

Look for more posts later this week!

Small break

I will be taking a small break from Blogging while I am out of town on vacation in South Dakota! I will update once I get back, with PLENTY of pictures!