Major Dog Love Overload!

Last month in my 6 Things About Me post, I talked about how dogs are my favorite animals. Over the past couple of weeks, I've come across some links of dogs that have just filled my heart with so much happiness and joy- it's ridiculous! And I wanted to share some of my happiness with you all.

Here are some links that my fellow dog-lovers may want to check out (and yes- I am partial to Pugs and French Bulldogs!):

28 Dogs Having A Way Worse Day Than You

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26 Costumes That Prove Pugs Always Win At Halloween

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35 Most Adorable Moments in Pug History

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The 70 Best Costumes at New York City's Most Important Dog Costume Competition

The cutest video ever: Cats Stealing Dogs Beds

If you're on Instagram, I highly recommend following these cute four-legged friends:

Loki the Corgi

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Manny the Frenchie

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Frank the Funny Frenchie

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Pugs

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I hope looking at all this cuteness made you as happy as it made me!

Any other cute dog links to share with me? Anyone else I should follow on Instagram? What's your favorite breed? 

DIY: Homemade Laundry Detergent

I became a Pinterestaholic early last year when we were living in South Korea. I saw one pin for homemade laundry detergent and I got excited. I thought it was a really cool idea. I wanted to try it so bad, but never got to doing it. Then we moved to the Philippines and I knew I wouldn't be able to make it for a while longer. During all this time, I would see pin after pin for homemade detergent, each one slightly different from the next. Now I have quite a few different pins on my Pinterest for homemade laundry detergent. If you're a fellow pinner, I'm sure you have one, or maybe even a few pins for some DIY detergent too, right? Well- after almost a year and a half from seeing my first DIY laundry detergent pin on Pinterest, I finally got around to making it last weekend.

There are tons of recipes for homemade detergent. I took 3 recipes and made a chart to layout what each recipe had so I could figure out what I wanted to do.

Please excuse the horrid handwriting. I made this quickly.

Here is what I decided to use (I took a few things from each of the 3 recipes) for my recipe:

1 box Borax (4 lbs.)
1 box Super Washing Soda (3 lbs. 7 oz)
1 box Pure Baking Soda (4 lbs.)
2 bars Fels-Naptha laundry bars
1 container Oxi-Clean (1.3 lbs.)
1 bottle Purex Crystals

For a couple of the recipes, they said the Oxi-Clean is optional. It just gives the wash some extra stain-fighting power. The small container of Oxi-Clean was about $4, so I just threw it in. The Purex Crystals are definitely optional- they're just for scent. I like some extra scent-  so I decided to get them.

First order of business for me though was to set everything up and make it look pretty so I could post a picture on Instagram, because I was that excited about this.


Then I got to it:

First, grate the Fels-Naptha bars:

Then put all the ingredients in a large bucket, mix it all up, but the lid on the bucket and give it some good shakes:

And that's it! You can store the extra detergent in a different container, or do what I did- keep it in the bucket! I just put some in the empty Oxi-Clean container to take with me when I go do laundry. You only need to use 2 Tablespoons per load (and just f.y.i- the scoop that comes in the Oxi-Clean is 2 Tablespoons, so I just use that for measuring!).

I used it today for the first time and it worked really well. Our clothes were clean and smelled great!

Here is a cost breakdown of what I paid for everything:

Quantity        Size                       Item                                                Price
    1             5 Gallon                 Bucket + Lid                                   $3.88
    1             4 Lbs. box             Borax                                              $3.38
    1             3lbs.7oz. box         Super Washing Soda                       $3.24
    1             4 lbs. box              Pure Baking Soda                            $2.24
    2              bars                     Fels-Naptha Laundry bars                $1.94 (.97/each)
    1             1.3 lbs. container   Oxi-Clean                                        $3.86
    1             container               Purex Crystals                                  $4.76
                                                                                            Total:  $23.30



This bucket-full of detergent I'm sure will last us a year, probably even longer. One blogger I came across said it lasted her a year with her family of four. So this will definitely be more cost-effective and economical-- always a good thing!

{**Update 11-3-13: I pinned this on Pinterest and a pinner commented the following: "Totally made this last September and am just now having to make it again! $30 for a years worth of detergent is AMAZING!"**}

These laundry detergent recipes are really forgiving and you can customize them any way you want to. You can choose whatever soaps and scent crystals you want and/or need. For example, some recipes use Zote or Ivory soap instead of Fels-Naptha. Some recipes use the Downy Unstopables Laundry Scent Boosters instead of the Purex Crystals. This is what I made and works really well!

Homemade Laundry Detergent
{printable recipe}

Ingredients:
- 1    large bucket with lid (5 gallons)
- 1   4 lbs. box Borax
- 1   3 lbs. 7 oz. box Super Washing Soda
- 1   4 lbs. box Pure Baking Soda
- 2   bars Fels-Naptha laundry bars
- 1   1.3 lbs. container Oxi-Clean (optional)
- 1   bottle Purex Crystals (optional)

Instructions:
- Grate the bars of Fels-Naptha
- Put all ingredients into bucket
- Mix/shake ingredients together well.
- Use 2 Tablespoons per load


Let me know if you have made or plan on making some laundry detergent-- I'd love to hear from you. Any more tips or recommendations?

Other DIY-ness from Latitude Adjustment:
- DIY Self-Watering Seed Starter Pots (made from plastic bottles)
- Homemade Deoderant
- Recipes

Photo Friday: Lake Havasu

Lake Havasu, Arizona

Some close friends of mine from back home in California have parents who own a vacation home at Lake Havasu. Every so often, they'd invite me to come along during one of their trips. We always had a ton of fun being out on the lake all day.  This photo was taken the last time I went with them quite a few years ago.

Check out other Photo Fridays here.

Tuesday Tunes: Mayer Hawthorne- Royals

Boy, do I love me some Mayer Hawthorne! He posted his cover of Lorde's "Royals" on Facebook last week and I immediately pushed play- no hesitation. I was instantly hooked! This song has been on heavy rotation for me (this version and the original). I'm actually listening to it right now as I type this! I am so in love with this version though. I love Mayer Hawthorne's music. His voice is so smooth.

Here's the audio:


And the video!


What do you think??

The Boy Behind the Blog IV

Yup- you already know what time it is! My fave day of the month in blogland!

Here are my husband's answer's to this month's The Boys Behind the Blog link-up!

1. Describe yourself in 5 words.
All up in dat booty.

2. What is your biggest fear?
Anacondas giving live birth.

3. What is your favorite candy?
That Mexican pulpo tamarindo stuff.  Or maybe the Filipino version that's half tamarind half mango.

4. What was the best Halloween costume you've ever worn?
This one's pretty good:

5. Who is your favorite football team?
FC Barcelona


Ha! I just love my cray cray hubby!

Check out past questions & answers here:
July
August
September

Come link up, too!

Colorful Cities Around the World {Wanderlust Wednesday}

It's no secret that I have a vast list of places I want need to visit. Today, I want to share some photos of places I want to visit that are filled with vibrant colors. I hope these pictures don't make your wanderlust flare up even more like they did to mine!

Naples, Italy:

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Juzcar, Spain:

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Berlin, Germany:

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Cinque Terre, Italy:

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Valparaiso, Chile:

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La Boca, Buenos Aires, Argentina:

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Bo-Kaap, Cape Town, South Africa:

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Copenhagen, Denmark:

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Istanbul, Turkey:

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Have you been to any of these places? What colorful cities are on your list?

Linking up today at:

Snail Mail Collective: part 2

I received my second package from my other partner, Michelle, from September's Snail Mail Collective. Like I mentioned in the other post, I was in a special three-way partnering with Michelle and Franka. You can read about my awesome package from Franka here. You can also check out what I sent her by clicking here.

 Anyways- last night J came in with another package for me. This time it was from Michelle all the way in Australia. Michelle doesn't have a blog, but joined the Snail Mail Collective anyways! (Which is totally okay- click here if you want to join, too!). She is a very nice gal and into fitness-- she's currently training for a marathon in New York! She is a total fitness inspiration!

When I opened the cardboard envelope and took out the package- I immediately fell in love with the little paper bag-- I'm a total sucker for anything and everything maps!

Inside were some special little goodies. First were some stickers that matched the paper bag, which I will definitely use in my scrapbooking.

Then she sent me a little notebook. You can't really tell from the picture- but the cover is silver and is that scratch-off stuff! I've never seen a notebook like that and I think it's pretty darn cool. Now I just have to think of some kind of design or something I can scratch into it!

Then she sent me a nice card that had a lovely Dalai Lama quote and beautiful picture on the front. She also wrote a nice letter to me on the inside.

Thank you so much for everything, Michelle! Loved it all!

The Snail Mail Collective happens every month. The sign-ups just ended for October, but November's is coming up soon! It's hosted by two really great bloggers: Chelsea and Melyssa. And, just like Michelle, you don't have to be a blogger to participate! I can't wait to join again!

Part 1 of my experience with the Snail Mail Collective can be found here.

Photo Friday: Jaco, Costa Rica

This is a pano shot J took of a sunset in Costa Rica. To be honest, I wasn't sure which town we took this in. I know it was on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica somewhere. We're thinking it's most likely Jaco, but another possibility is that it's Quepos.

This was from our first trip to Costa Rica over 7 years ago (!!!), which you can read about here: Costa Rica- the First Trip.

Check out my other Photo Friday pictures by clicking here.



I'm participating in Photo Friday via Aryn at Driftwood & Daydreams.

First Snail Mail Collective = Super Success!

I joined the Snail Mail Collective for the very first time last month. And I must say- I am very happy I finally decided to join the fun!

I was in a special three-way partnering with two lovely ladies- Franka and Michelle. I really lucked out because my partners are really great gals. We were originally supposed to send to just one other person, but we all decided to send packages to the two other ladies-- so we each can receive TWO packages! Fun fun!

Well yesterday, my package from Franka arrived. My husband came through the door holding a package and I rushed him to see what it was and was so excited it was something for me!

Franka lives in the Netherlands and she blogs over at Mme nosenose loves mail. And when you go to her blog for the first time you will immediately notice that yes- she does indeed love mail! She does this type of snail mail exchange all the time with people all over the world! She is a very creative person and it's something I really admire about her. I like seeing all the different mail she gets from people and all the stuff she sends to others!

For the package she sent me- she drew something pretty on the outside:

Little did I know that it was a reflection of sorts of what was inside!! So awesome and so creative! I loved it!! A nice felt tablet case. I don't own a tablet (yet) but I knew immediately what I wanted to use it for-- to store photos!

I would have been happy with just this beautiful case, but nope- there were even more goodies inside!

Some cute polka dot paper, the blue striped envelopes were the cutest I've ever seen, stickers, a ball point pen (which is one of Franka's favorite types of pens), a good luck Miffy (which I will definitely be using on my keyring!), some cute name cards, a very sweet letter she wrote, washi tape, and a little notebook she hand-carved my name into herself! I will definitely be using that for my random thoughts and note-taking!

Thank you, Franka, for such a wonderful package and putting so much thought and effort into everything!

 

Check out Franka's blog here: Mme nosenose loves mail

I am looking forward to getting Michelle's package next! This Snail Mail Collective has been a great experience. SMC is hosted by two amazing bloggers: Chelsea at Lost in Travels and Melyssa at The Nectar Collective. For more information about SMC, you can check out their blogs. The sign ups for October just ended, but the next sign up will be held November 1st so be on the look out! And you can participate any month you can/want to. I did it last month, but I didn't sign up for this next one. But I think I'll do it next month or the one after-- when I have a little more extra funds in the bank. You DON'T have to be a blogger to participate- like our other partner Michelle- but she's thinking of maybe starting one ;) . I highly recommend participating if you can- it's a lot of fun making friends from around the world AND receiving some snail mail at the same time!