expectations…
Monthly Archives: April 2012
friendships that echo…
The past two years I have spent getting to know friends from the old days, ( I didn’t want to say old friends), and I have found that each friend has changed in so many unexpected ways and yet there is an echo or a bedrock of their personality that I knew way back when, that has remained unchanged.
In some ways it’s like meeting someone you know well and yet, a stranger at the same time, and if each of you has grown, then it’s like finding a misplaced jewel in the back of your jewelry box, a real treasure. I know the value of history and friendship in a way I had not known when I was younger and I am grateful, happier, and a better person because of the friends that I have had along the way and more fortunate than I can express that I know them as great friends again today.
The best part about getting to reconnect with friends from the past is that I found the kernel of me, the echo of me, in my friends, and it reminded me of who I was in sixth grade and who I wanted to be when I grew up. My dear friends help to remind me of when we had nothing better to do but play kickball, four square, ride our bikes and make plans, and dream. We would talk about the people who inspired us and who we would fashion our lives after, ahh our imagination was endless, our creativity at work in everything we did.
To my delight, my dear friends have become most of what they dreamed of when we were making plans for being grown ups, and some dreams have fallen by the wayside, as sometimes happens too. The part of the dream we had about growing old together, we get to do that as planned and we get to live out our dreams with the friends who would always challenge us by saying, “I dare you!”.
silver linings…
The silver lining in my life, is that I notice opportunities, serendipity, magic, and creativity everywhere I go and I see them in HD and full technicolor.
The amazing part of writing this blog, is that everyone I know and “meet,” (on line and off), has shown me their own brand of bravery and courage in revealing their own creativity and imaginative spirits.
Now, for the first time in a long time, I notice life, experience life, and have ceased sleepwalking through each day, hoping something will be different. It’s great to hope but if you don’t step out on faith at some point, hope’s light diminishes and you find you are lost.
The saying, “when you move, Providence moves with you,” is absolutely true. Now that I have actively sought to create and fulfill my purpose, find and manifest the life I want while continuing to help, support and learn from the highlighted artists in my midst, opportunities have found me.
Perhaps these opportunities were there all along and I just didn’t notice them. Once I plugged back into the world, I was amazed at the plethora of choices open to me and everyone around me, fear just had to take a backseat and let me drive now.
I am humbled by the imaginative souls in my midst and grateful that we travel this artistic path together, wherever it may lead.
I hope to open every door with my name on it and I can’t wait to see which doors are waiting for all of you to throw open with a flourish!
simply samplers..
Two more delectable creations from my friend Beth of www.Simplysoapsmv.com. The simply soap sampler is a fantastic way to pamper yourself with luxurious scents and soaps, however, I should caution that it is difficult to use them because they are so beautiful to look at, display and give as gifts.
The Margarita Scrub is sublime, you are sloughing away dry skin while soaking up the intoxicating aroma of a tropical island, it’s a great way to pamper yourself without breaking the bank.
Once again Beth incorporates all natural ingredients and emollients to create a balm and refuge from everyday grit and grim. Toiling away, Beth seeks to create the best soaps available, soaps she can be proud of, and as her friend (and a happy tester of her soaps), I would say she is well on her way to mastering the world of soaps and bath products far and wide.
Simply Soaps A Vineyard Bath Collection…www.simplysoapsmv.com
I just came back from my friend Beth’s Grand Opening of her soap and bath products store, Simply Soaps, A Vineyard Bath Collection on Martha’s Vineyard and I am in awe of my friend’s hardwork, creative vision and boundless energy.
On March 30 Beth opened her store to the public and cast her fate to the wind, she had been making soaps and other tantalizing bath products from her home and lugging them to craft fair after craft fair marketing and selling her heart out. Now she is launching herself in a new forum, a place she had a vision about from the start, the opening of her very own store, Simply Soaps, A Vineyard Bath Collection.
I love soaps, lotions, candles, bath salts, etc., and I enjoy sampling them in national chains and in malls everywhere. So when Beth first introduced me to her Simply Soaps, I felt that I had experience trying lots of products and so I was excited to see how Simply Soaps compared. I started with her lotion Vineyard Mistletoe and promptly fell in love with it’s scent of evergreen and holly, and the texture was creamy and light, a balm for my dry skin, I was hooked. Next I tried Cape Pogue Peppermint Bath Gel and it was beyond invigorating and smelled exactly like a candy cane, then my family tried Island Guy Bath Gel and the fresh clean scent was loved by the boys too, although their enthusiasm was not equal to mine. Then there’s Gay Head Ginger Lime Lotion, and Edgartown Lilac Lotion, which allows me to the unique smell of Lilacs year round, and each smells better than the next and the delightful tongue in cheek naming of her bath products; using locations and landmarks from her beloved Martha’s Vineyard is clever marketing indeed.
I am in awe of the spectrum of Beth’s creativity and passion and I revel in her quest to bring soaps and bath products to the marketplace that are parabin free and have all natural ingredients, ingredients I might add, that you can actually prononce. The soaps, and other products are tantalizing to your nose and a delight to your senses, and are priced so that they are affordable as well.
There is more here and Beth is just getting started, so I will be discussing some of her techniques for making her bath products, how she created her business plan, how she makes her candles with cotton wicks and why that’s important, what she plans to do next and of course following the progress of her new store, Simply Soaps A Vineyard Bath Collection on Martha’s Vineyard and at www.simplysoapsmv.com.
I will also continue to volunteer to test every product in her bath collection both in the store and any new creations she has yet to debut, after all, it’s for research….right?
