You'd think writing a blog post about yourself would be easy. I mean who knows yourself better than you? It's not-- no matter how well you claim to know yourself and that is why this post has taken so long to put together.
Here ya go that's all she wrote all you need to know.
Ugh let's try that again.
Thats me. Meghan, Soap Mistress extraordinaire! Wearer of all hats and crowns of Dreaming Tree Soapworks. But if you're here, you know that. So let's talk about some things you may not know.
Basics: I'm old, well I feel old. A true lady (Hah! I'm no lady I curse like a sailor and run around with power tools.)never reveals her age but I am comfortably into my thirties.
I was born in raised in New Jersey, and fled the crowding, insane taxes, and hostile business regulations a few years ago. I don't miss the crowds but I do miss the beach at night.
I graduated high school and college early with honors, I have degrees in art and science and a whole bunch of probably outdated certifications in various things (nothing that pertains to my current career). I've had a lot of really varied and strange jobs in many different industries from tech, to design, to fashion, and pharmaceuticals and even though being an entrepreneur makes me crazy sometimes I love my small business and I love my side gig as a consulting cosmetic chemist. I like working alone and at my own schedule.
I have four fur babies all rescues: Salem, Merlin, Eris and Thor. They are awesome little personalities and spoiled rotten (never fear there's no kitties allowed in the workshop and office).
I also have an amazing supportive husband Tom, which if you've watched any of the videos you have heard and many of you have met at events. He is also fuzzy (picture redacted by request).
Well soap used to be a hobby but that's work now. I love making stuff if I'm not making something I'm thinking about making stuff or trying to figure out how to make it better. I'm pretty crafty all around. I sculpt, I paint, I sew, I make jewelry and wands, do some woodworking, some gardening, rock tumbling. I'm not happy unless I have a project. I do a bit of gaming, (table top games, rpgs and video games) I did way more when I was younger I think I've finally kicked that World of Warcraft addiction for once and for all. I am also super into makeup and nail polish.
Music: Progrock/metal, Metal, Classic Rock, Goth, Industrial I have music on all the time I can't concentrate without it. When making soap I typically listen to Prog and classic rock...only good vibes for soap.
Movies: Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Harry Potter, Original Transformers animated film, Dr Strange, Classic Disney (there's so many), Nightmare Before Christmas, Universal Monster Films, Classic Horror, Elvira, How to Train Your Dragon, 80's comedies, Studio Ghibli everything, Hocus Pocus, Practical Magic there are SO many you get the idea sci-fi, fantasy, mysteries, and animation.
I watch a lot of stuff because if I'm working and not listening to music...I'm watching something while I work.
Games (PC and Console): Legend of Zelda, Majesty, Child of Light, Dragon Age Inquisition, Witcher 3, Final Fantasy XV (the only FF game I like), Sims3, Mario Kart, Little Big Planet, Song of the Sea, Kingdom of Amalur, Oblivion, Wolf Among Us, Folk Tale and a billion retro games +pinball.
Foods: Sushi, fried chicken, Swedish meatballs, Swedish fish, most seafood, baked goods which nothing gluten free ever tastes as good as the real thing I'm not even going to lie to you there, mushrooms, and cheese.
Books: For work lots and lots of science I read and enormous amount of everything everyday. Like A LOT. When I was in fourth grade I got a book on how to speed read it's become an incredibly useful skill. Outside of science stuff, quite a bit on history, politics, theology, mythology and many many studies there's not a lot of favorites except for one book that I feel everyone should read "The Divine Proportion In Art, Nature, and Science". Which talks about how this ratio is found in everything in the world showing us that everything is connected, and that studying one branch (math, science, art, etc) will always lead you to the others. There's value in studying it all .
Tolkien, when I was little and often sick my dad would read to me The Hobbit, and then when my brothers were younger he read it again. It's one of my most loved books and I've evolved into some quite Hobbit like ways. My life goal at this point is to somehow save up enough to go to New Zealand and visit The Shire as well as get my house as hobbity looking as I can. So I it probably goes without saying I love the Lord of the Rings Trilogy as well.
His Dark Materials Trilogy is another one I very intensely love. Ignore the movie please just read the books. Sadly everything Pullman has written since is severely lacking.
Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman....just whatever these guys have written go read. They are wondrous and fantastical with a smart dry sense of humor. Growing up I was really into comic books, it's one of the ways I learned to draw, being into comics it was impossible to miss Neil Gaiman's Sandman and later Death. So then of course I started reading his short stories and novels and though the travels you come across a brilliant work he did with Terry Pratchett called Good Omens, Bad Omens. And then of course I started reading Pratchett. I just picked up Neil Gaiman's Norse Mythology, which I'm taking a break from Pratchett's Tiffany Aching series with. I suggest you read all those too.
I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention Anne Rice's The Mayfair Witches series, I do like the Vampire Chronicles too particularly when they collide but the Lasher tale is my favorite.
The ultimate you had to know is: Harry Potter.
There's so many more but I can literally talk about books and comic books all day and night and thus this post would never end.
Favorite Artist: Alan Lee, John Howe, Kat Von D, Rodin, Rene Magritte, Brian Froud, Medusa Dollmaker, Lisa Falzon, Frank Frazetta, lots of Disney artist, Hayao Miyazaki,Yoshitaka Amano, Mucha, it goes on and on.
Hero: My dad. Had you asked me ten or fifteen years ago would I have said that, probably not but as we get older, we get wiser and come to understand things we where either unable to comprehend or not ready to. From a really young age with Optimus Prime's death he taught me things like "good never really dies, evil doesn't win in the end", "being honest about a mistake is how you start to make it right", to things like being a living example: of doing the right thing not because it's right but because you are able to, and because he's human and has made mistakes too "it's not how we make mistakes but how we come back from them that defines us". These things are really the core of his person and carry through in his career choices, how he ran a business, how he lives his life. These are things that I try (sometimes more successfully than others) carry on with me.
So there you have it. The meeting of your maker. I think I covered everything that's been asked over the years that was non- soap related. Basically I'm a giant gothy nerd. If I have forgotten anything by all means comment below. I hope you enjoyed it!
Either later this week or early next week the topic will be: What does Cruelty Free mean?