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Showing posts from 2016

Who is Shoogie Mama?

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I AM SHOOGIE COMPANY!  When you call the number on the bottom of my website, you don't get transferred to a call center in India to talk with a representative who has no idea who you are.  I put my number on the bottom of my bags, business cards and anything else I can get my product logo on, because I want to share a better smelling, natural and healthier way of living with you, that I have created for my friends and family.    When you buy Shoogie Company products for yourself or someone else, know that I have tested and cooked every recipe...on my stove...at my house.  Then, I lovingly pour, label, and pack every item by hand...even those tubes of lip balm everyone loves.  My hands have gotten more steady, and each time I pour one, I get better at it.  The greatest compliment you could give me is to tell a story to your friends and family about how one of my products has either changed your life, or at the very least, your purchasing power to me, a local Ocala girl who has

December Shoogie Workshop Recipes

I n my first ever attempt at doing a workshop with two other fantastic businesses that I support in our Ocala community, The Florida Grub Hub and art teacher Sheila Ramos, I somehow got myself wrangled into holding a workshop before the holidays to show people how easy and great it is to eat healthier and change your buying habits to local, natural and organic things...I am always throwing around the mantra of "wanting to live like a hippie but not smell like one" which is why the Shoogie Company products I make smell like baked goods rather than that granola toting hippie scent that happens in your nasal passages when you get a good whiff of the other stuff...you know what I am talking about...patchouli...the Darth Vader of the essential oil galaxy, used to be good, but turned bad.   As appealing as my mother would have you believing that patchouli smells sensual and divine, the scent has always burned my nostrils and I can sniff someone wearing it a mile away.  Now don&#

Trail Shenanigan's Part 4 (The Search Party)

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D ay three on the trail began much like our other mornings with the exception of a little less soreness and us trying to scarf down a breakfast worthy of a king to reduce our pack weight.  When you are camping like this, you pack stuff for breakfast that seems like it would be a good breakfast and sometimes realize that, what-the-heck, you are going to have some lunch food too so you don't have to trek it that last 13 miles today.   Trust me when I say, we did not have a shortage of food on this trail.  They say you should pack emergency supplies for an extra day in case you get stranded or lost out on the trail for longer than you anticipated.  Tony and I had done this trail last year, so this year we decided to leave behind our 10,000 calorie survival food ration brick, and that is really what it is called.  Apparently you cut off slivers of the thing with your pocket knife and it is loaded with enough calories and minerals to sustain you for quite a while.  However, I, being

Trail Shenanigan's Part 3 (Trail Names & Hornets)

I hate hornets!  I never knew that I hated them before, but I now HATE them!  They are mean, thankless creatures that have a taste for blood and vengeance...I am not kidding on this one...they are vengeful. It was day two on the trail and we had been happily trudging along all morning, with the exception of Sarah, my friend who popped her ankle on the trail the first day in.  The Appalachian Trail that we have been on so far is a twisting, winding, dirty patch of gnarled roots, rocks, mountain, blood and tears, and some random animal's proud poop piles smack in the middle of the trail, like land mines, waiting for you to depress with your unsuspecting boots.   However, the fantastic views once one breaks out of the trees and beholds the majestic splendor of something bigger than themselves, and higher than the sea level state we call home, is what keeps us pressing on .  (That and the promise of the best stone oven pizza and wings ever at this treasure of a restaurant we found i

Trail Shenanigan's Part 2 (Naked and Busted)

M y friend, Dana, thinks it is a strange and twisted way to celebrate, being out in the woods with no modern conveniences, but her idea of camping and roughing it is, in a hotel room, with no room service or a pool.  At a party at one of our houses recently, my husband and I recanted the tale of last year's adventure involving the rape whistle and a bear, and an Appalachian Trail hiker that approached me and proceeded to hold a semi-lengthy conversation with me as I was bathing stark naked in a very cold mountain stream. What you should know about this particular day was that it was very sunny and a bit humid, and that entire day, we had not run into a single other soul.  After being on the trail for two days already, with no places to bathe or wash the funk of the trail off, we came upon a waterfall slash stream combo that already had a perfect spot smack in the middle where you could sit on the flat rock and let the water crash over your smelly, exhausted body (I feel sorry f

Trail Shenanigan's Part 1 (Poop Trowel Battle)

I t has been four weeks since my last post...(I feel like I am in a confession booth) and for a good reason.  I have been preparing my body and mind for the daunting task of tackling the Appalachian Trail for a second year in a row with my husband on our anniversary.  We get wild ideas like this for 'fun' every once in a while and then we subject ourselves to the task of carrying the ideas out.  Last year we hiked the Appalachian trail in Georgia with hopes of putting in on the approach trail before Springer Mountain.  Once we arrived in Georgia, a treacherous storm with massive flooding and trail washout put a stop to that idea, so we spent the first 3 days of our trip drinking a lot of Georgia wine, which is horrid, and eating a lot of southern comfort food which is divine.  After far too much bad wine, we finally had the bright idea to scrap the approach trail idea and went in favor of climbing the highest peak on the AT in Georgia instead, Blood Mountain.  Until I meet

Elixir Of Youth

P reviously, I was spending $89.00 plus shipping on 1.75 ounces of a face lotion that promised results it never delivered. It was a dermatologist recommended face lotion that was supposed to fix my problem skin, but it was making it worse. I broke out the first day after applying it and I had mini acne breakouts after two weeks of use. I remember waking up one morning and freaking out when I saw my high school acne face staring back at me in the mirror. Hello puberty...again! I had almost forgotten what those dreaded giant red bumps looked like, and of course, there is a giant one on the tip of my nose, proudly getting bigger by the minute with every pump of blood from my freaking out heart. The new lotion that was supposed to be my savior, was making my skin oily and then dry, and my smile lines, fine lines, and wrinkles seemed to be getting worse instead of better. However, the real reason I stopped using it, was when I turned it over and read the list of chemicals in it. I had had

Sweating It!

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A fter visiting the Florida Grub Hub this week, Laura, the shop owner told me the funniest story of a mutual friend. Laura said that our friend came into the store and told Laura that she loved the way the Shoogie smelled but was concerned that it wasn't working because, she was still sweating... Laura laughed and informed her that Shoogie is a deodorant, not an antiperspirant...and that got me thinking that I should do a post on this.  One should know the benefits of sweating...and for goodness sake, put on some Shoogie so you can smell good when you do. But First...The Difference Between Deodorants and Antiperspirants Deodorants and antiperspirants are not one and the same.  Deodorants don't do much to actually stop you from sweating, they instead target the bacteria that feed on your sweat. They often contain ingredients that make your underarms inhospitable to these colonies or include antibacterial chemicals like triclosan to kill off the bacteria before t