Recipe for super awesome fast silver cleaning!

Got some tarnished silver? Here is an AMAZING treatment.

• Line small pan with aluminum foil
• Place silver on aluminum foil
• Mix together 1/4 c. baking soda, dash of salt, and enough boiling water to cover silver
• Pour water mixture over silver and watch the magic!

How does it work? Basically, the aluminum is being corroded. According to J.L. Anderson, Professor of Chemistry at the University of Georgia, the tarnished silver accepts electrons from the aluminum, causing the aluminum to dissolve while the tarnish is turned back to metallic silver.

I use this cleaning technique on all of my silver jewelry. I don't have a lot of jewelry, so the stuff I have gets worn daily.

My favorite sterling silver bracelets

Did you know that baking soda by itself also removes tarnish? The pieces pictured here are hard to clean using baking soda. There are so many nooks and crannies, especially on the bead bracelet. So, I drop them into the water, foil, salt and soda treatment and voila! PERFECTION.

Detail showing that even the beaded bracelet chain is clean

If you try this technique, please send me a before/after picture.

Until next time...

My aqua house

I recently took a trip to celebrate my 15 year wedding anniversary (August, 2014). My husband Jason and I took a trip to the US and British Virgin Islands aboard an Island Packet sailboat (40' long with 13'2" beam).

Jason awaiting to set sail

The boat was sailed by my brother Andy and sister-in-law Christie. It was just the four of us on board for eight days. We spent most of our time sailing, snorkeling, and hiking.

Christie, me, and Jason in the surf. Aqua home in background.

The sailboat turned out to be a tidy little home for four people. We cooked all of our meals on board. The big challenge was conserving water. This is a partial view of the cabin. The boat had all of the comforts of a home on land, just smaller. The organizational philosophy was "a place for everything and everything in it's place."

The best part was ... everything! Live on a boat for 8 days! What an adventure!

Free to set a course on the open seas

Until next time!