We're leaving today to spend a week hanging out with those guys up there.

!!!!!!!

I'm a little unsure what the Internet situation is at our hotel - the fact that I haven't been able to get a response to my email queries re: wireless connections doesn't exactly instill a great deal of confidence - but I'm sure I'll manage to do some posting from down south. In the meantime, though, I have some fun stuff queued up for you in the coming week, including some fantastic guest posters.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to mention this company - I've literally been meaning to tell you guys about it since last November, when my Dad and I stopped into the store near Rockefeller Center looking for Christmas presents for my mother and pretty much bought the place out.

Rain Africa produces beautiful, highly gift-able bath and home products using indigenous African flowers and medicinal plants. Everything is hand-made in a small, rural factory with the hopes of providing employment opportunities and decreasing poverty in Southern Africa...and everything is something that you'll want (or will want to give to someone).

I wish I could ship these products to all of you myself; they just smell...and feel...and look that incredible. My favorites are those little round balls that you see in the above image: called "Earth Eggs," they're basically tiny bath bombs filled with cocoa butter and coated with herbs and seeds (the company also sells little muslin pouches to collect the herbs in in case you don't want them floating about your bathtub).

A very cool service they offer: you can bring in your own jar (or buy a reusable one in the store) and customize a scrub using the company's range of oils, "actives" (things like green tea, ginger, lavender, and rosehip), essences, and bases. Gorgeous, fun, and eco-friendly.

Me: You know what I would really like for lunch? Some scrambled eggs. An english muffin with half avocado and lemon, half peanut butter. Really cold cantaloupe. And like six blackberries.

My Kitchen: I think I can make that happen for you.