Homemade Prickly Pear Soda Recipe

Do you ever have a hard time getting started on a long project?  Whenever I have a project that's going to take a couple hours of concentration, or involves a big setup like a photo shoot, I like to motivate myself with a tasty beverage.  Usually that's coffee, but lately when it's after 2pm I've been making myself a prickly pear soda.  To me, it tastes a little like hippie Sunkist.  

HOMEMADE PRICKLY PEAR SODA RECIPE

  • 2-3 T prickly pear syrup - My neighbors have a giant cactus that supplies plenty of prickly pears, so I usually have some prickly pear syrup in my fridge.  
  • 1t - 1T apple cider vinegar (it's good for you & adds tartness)
  • 3-4 squeezes of lime, up to half a lime depending on your taste buds
  • optional glug of maple syrup to sweeten
  • sparkling water to fill the rest of your glass
  • tiny ice cubes

Serve yourself, and get back to work.

SUPPORT SMALL BIZ: Bergamot Beauty

This is a full-circle "Support Small Biz" post!  A few weeks ago, I entered Honey Kennedy's contest to win $150 in credit to Bergamot Beauty.  Honey Kennedy is a blog written by Jen McCabe out of Portland.  She features indie businesses and designers, shops from Portland and beyond, and always shares dreamy photos that put me in a good mood.  I hadn't heard of Bergamot Beauty before, but she described them as a "natural and organic beauty haven" so I entered.  AND I WON!

I'm a one-person business, and I'm grateful that my art pays my bills, but I don't always have enough money left over for luxuries like new skin care products.  I'm a devotee of natural serums and organic beauty products and I do my best to eliminate chemicals from all aspects of my life.  Plus, the products work!  They feed and enhance my hair and skin, rather than strip it, correct it and pummel it.  Natural beauty products are worth every penny, but let's just say I haven't had extra pennies for them lately.  I was SO EXCITED to win the contest.

I spent a couple days looking through every item on Bergamot's website and researching all the lines I hadn't heard about.  Bergamot's owner Salwa was in touch via email, ready to answer any questions I had.  My package arrived today!

Everything arrived safe & sound. This tape is so cute.

Everything arrived safe & sound. This tape is so cute.

Here's what I selected:

Salwa threw in several bonus samples for me to check out - so generous!

All of these brands and products are new to me.  It is such a treat to get to try these out and I'm so grateful to Jen at Honey Kennedy and Salwa at Bergamot Beauty for running this contest.  Thank you, ladies!  

If anyone reading this would like me to follow up with my thoughts on any of these products, let me know.