Terrible weather and terrible decisions have been the main preoccupying themes of life since before Thanksgiving. My first whining post on instagram about the weather was in early December and I have just kept on whining about it.
(Edited to delete two long paragraphs about weather related problems because you are all going through the same things, and who needs reminding.)
Ok, I could go on forever, about the store. The space I rented is owned by an older couple, M and L. M is 93 and L is 80. They are adorable and sturdy and enthusiastic. They only say nice things, they are encouraging and excited about the women owned businesses on the ground floor. All women like me, older, empty nesters, entrepreneurs. They offer really affordable spaces that need some love. I was really bummed that the former tenant left the space in such ill repair.
I didn't think much about the odd fellow that helped L clean out the space I rented, all this abandoned restaurant equipment, and filth. I spent October and November working on the air bnb and wasn't there much to see what was happening. My goal was to open in December, but I had to grab this incredible deal of a space when I could. Late November was a grind and I worked at the space all hours. Which is when I found out that the odd guy who was helping the clean up in late September lived in the office space above mine, with a big variety of young men. Loud, filthy mouthed young men, who traipsed in and out. And who flooded their space regularly, which in turn, made the ceiling in my store rain. Rain filthy black water through the wood plank ceiling of my store.
By now M and L are in Hawaii for the winter, and there is no building manager. But another tenant calls the police regularly and collects the rent. Oh boy, the story goes on and on. Lots of police activity, a small fire! Shifty, intimidating, loud, rough men as my upstairs neighbors. I am unhappy of course, but carrying on.
Forward to April 1 when I inquire to my fello tenants downstairs, the other women who have their little passion projects, wondering if their utilities are as expensive as mine, adding a shocking $600-$700 a month (and more in January) to my expenses. Imagine my surprise when I was told that they don't pay utilities. And that they'd been instructed to leave the heat on 24 hours a day due to lack of thermometer access. Weird right? It turns out that I have been paying the bills for the entire building. Since September.
The drama and honestly, heartbreak that follows is a kinda too much to type and fresh (and also who cares, really). I won't be getting any money back unless I litigate. I am moving out the first week of May. I am an idiot I guess, to not have inquired further but it never occured to me I'd be paying all the utilities for an entire commercial building. I should never have signed a lease with this adorable ancient couple, who only spoke flowery, encouraging words. And needed me to fill out the paper lease from the 1980s because their handwriting is illegible because of their shaking hands. I'm struggling hard to not make assumptions in this situation. But I feel sick about how much money I just wasted. S I C K.
So I am back to online only, proud owner of a beautiful new commercial awning and handmade custom cash wrap. Those alone are $5000 of money I didn't really have to spend. That will now wait in my barn for my next big idea. Ug, tears as I type this. I'm going to have a huge moving sale starting nowish and all next week, so keep an eye on your emails.
More soon. 😩
💕lynn
]]>I started writing more familiarly to my customers, community, during Covid and have continued to off and on as time rolls on. This is my personal drivel, if you aren't interested I get it.
But if you are, here's my life update, and some teasers for the holiday.
This morning my BFF Laura and I discussed how obnoxious it is that both of our sons who are freshman in college and away from home for the first time, weren't interested in visits this past weekend, because it was Halloween weekend and I guess that's a big party weekend. I was less insulted than Laura who had her birthday this weekend and extended family was in the area, near where her son goes to college. I was strongly discouraged from coming into town to see my son for just one night to drop off a couch and a bike on Friday. But first thing this morning the text came in inquiring for my arrival now that the fun is over. 6 foot tall brats.
I was busy anyway, put the finishing touches on my old house to offer it as a vacation rental for now. The photographer came this morning. I had very much underestimated how much work we'd do to the house to make it a really cute comfortable rental. Add to that, without notice, my husband spent the majority of October out of town managing a family emergency.
I honestly thought we'd have my store open the first week of October, but I have done hardly anything to get it ready since September. I am writing this on Halloween and my husband is driving home, mostly done with his commitments now. He will start working on my concrete counters and finishing touches on the store in the next few days. I am eager to change gears to my store after being so buried in other stuff for months now.
My sister in law Leslie has started to make soap - I sent her a bunch of molds and supplies to get started as I headed into this phase of life and knew I would be taking the time for soap. Her soap is beautiful and she is really a perfectionist and artist on a whole other level. I am looking forward to selling her lovely things in my store and making more myself eventually. If you like my soap and have read this far, here is the current link to all my available soap AND A DISCOUNT CODE, for 25% off for a week, ending 11/7.
If you've read this far, you deserve it, lol. It's:
overshare
All lower case, one word. 25% off on soap only.
Over the weekend, I'm introducing Sweet Almond Oil, and starting to talk about some things I have purchased for my store, and will also offer here, exact formula dupes of designer fragrances that my production partner has perfected in clean ingredients formulas. More on that soon!
Thanks for reading this far, I will stay in touch and blab all over you about my store soon. xo~lynn
]]>Because I can't tolerate any super effective painkillers, and I am allergic to ibuprofen, I can take only tylenol.
My husband went to Bend last week to move our son Elias into his fairly awful apartment. Elias and his room mate are both 18 and have no credit, and because they are relocating, no jobs. So I co-signed and they got it. This is a short version of a long story. Bend, OR has an extremely competitive rental market, I spent untold hours and dollars applying, in competition with dozens of others (zillow shows you how many applications have been submitted for each unit). In the end, these two 18 year old boys got this apartment that no one else wanted, largely because it came furnished with the very most cheap and unattractive furniture ever from the 1980's. It's gross. But I wouldn't rent to two 18 year boys either so we are grateful. My husband, Pat, actually got permission and replaced the SHAG CARPET in the bathroom with linoleum.
I went up for a night on Thursday and did a bunch of errand running with Elias on Friday morning. He is very happy to have his own place, is applying for jobs now. He likes school fine, that's all he said about it. We got bath mats and light bulbs and cheap rugs to cover up the carpet in the kitchen he is very worried about staining. We went on a quick sight seeing tour, I know Bend a little better than he does because he only ever goes snowboarding or skateboarding there.
We ended our fun day at Smith Rock and it was breathtaking.
We didn't have time or really the desire to go on a long hike and explore this trip, but I wanted him to see it and know what was right there. I knew he'd be impressed and I was right. He took a photo of me soaking my hot feet (my feet are always hot) and then I even got posted on his instagram, for the very first time ever, so I feel special.
At his request, we went to Chick Fil A, I had never been. So we introduced each other to things we care about. I still prefer In and Out, but I am always happy when my kids share their lives with me, all things, big or small.
So, now I am home, with an empty nest, a store to get ready to open, and a toothache to deal with. I have to say, my dread of the changes of the summer were far worse than the actual events themselves. Now I am on my own to contend with all the consequences of leaning on into my anxiety. I'll get back to walking, do better with protecting my sleep schedule and clean out my cupboards. Hopefully I can wear any of my pants by the time it's time to appear professional at the store. No grand open date yet, but I am turning my full attention to it this week (aside from dentist appointments).
I hope you have a lovely autumn week. 🍁
xo~lynn
]]>I'm starting my first draft of this blog post from my bed in Portland, with a cup of coffee on June 17, 2022 - it is pouring. POURING. I came to garden with my daughter which we meant to do on my Mother's Day trip, but it's still not getting done. Though I am grateful for rain, wow we are getting a LOT.
My son, Elias graduated from high school a week ago today, and then drove away the next morning for his summer job as a camp counselor. His camp is about 45 minutes from my daughter's house in Portland, so I'll see him, and smell his socks today. He's coming here to do laundry and have dinner with us.
I have to say all my dramatic dread of his graduation came to not much. I really enjoyed the events surrounding the graduation and the ceremony itself. He was really happy, and though he really had the most ridiculous case of senioritis I've seen and barely attended the last semester of school, he was engaged and let us celebrate him. Elias was in this school district for 13 years and this is a small town, so watching these young adults we've known since kindergarten, graduate, was very sweet.
My husband (and I) and two of his siblings bought a house with an in-law unit to accommodate my brother-in-law, who I mentioned in the last blog will be living with us indefinitely. We live near a really great veterans center in Southern Oregon and after being a lifelong Californian, my brother-in-law is happy with the ease of getting services and adjusting to his new country life. This was not our plan, but as many families have experienced in these last few years, long time arrangements that been working, shifted. So here we are. I just signed a two year lease at my new office space and that is helping to ground me in the reality of the situation.
I would move to Portland full time tomorrow! All I need is my business and my kids to enjoy a full life. I love the things Portland has to offer, museums, events, restaurants, INSPIRATION.
My husband has a rich community and established work in Ashland, and now we've agreed to this family commitment that would be out of our reach financially in Portland, it looks like my dream of city life is postponed. I can (and love to) travel back and forth and will plan on doing so. My daughter will be in Portland for a while. My son plans on living in Bend, OR, three hours from Portland and Ashland but we'll see. He's 18 and has lived in a tiny town his whole life as the youngest child and grandchild, to both sets of grandparents. He has no idea what he wants. LOL, understatement.
I am working on a monthly subscription box, I am working on subscriptions for repeat buyers (at a discount) and excited to feature fragrances of the week. I have a big tech week next week, to try to get subscription software ready. I heard today that I might need to update my whole site first (😱) so be patient with me please. Talk soon!
]]>I had a big week, and signed a lease on a storefront here in Ashland, OR. I am nervous about it, but I just decided to give myself the experience for two years. That is the length of my lease. I am looking forward to being grounded here in Ashland, with the structure of the store and seeing how it feels. It's not forever. It will teach me a lot, who knows what it might turn into.
I think the days of the fragrance bar store are not over. I want to work in the store myself and have a fragrance bar available, either to sample what fragrances I already have, or create new ones.
I am excited about my cute space and will share more in the upcoming months. I hope to open in early September, I get the keys on August 20th.
I think I'm on the right path, I wake up in the morning with a feeling urgency and excitement, like I haven't really felt since Covid. We all need something to look forward to. Happy Birthday to me. 😍
xo~lynn
]]>I think the last time I sent out even the simplest email was a month ago, I was leaving for my last spring break ever with my son who is a senior, feeling some FEELINGS about this empty nest situation.
That was the last calm moment of my most recent history.
March/April highlights include:
1. Pulling up to our Bend airbnb to realize I had stayed in this airbnb before, and given it the only bad review I've ever given. 😩
2. Checking in to see that yes, the host did remember me, had no hard feelings, and was proud to show the issues had been addressed. 😃
3. Liking Bend much better than when I make this same college visit trip with my daughter 6 years ago. 🏔🗻
4. Very happy snowboarding kid, loves Bend and the school and the housing options (WTH) 🎉
5. Call from my husband saying his brother, a disabled vet, is staying with us for a few days. 😳
6. Lovely drive home, happy excited kid. LOVE OREGON, so pretty. 🌲
7. Realizing that my brother-in-law will be staying with us indefinitely. 😳😳
8. Looking for roomier housing. 🏠
9. Back to the office, phew, it's quiet here. Oh wait, no it's not. There are yelling men in the hallway. Is that also yelling in the parking lot? 🤬
10. Realizing that the yelling men are the new owners of this building (that was a peaceful, safe place during covid). 😱
11. Finding a new office space that checks all the boxes, and is kinda a dream come true. 🏙
12. Finding no rentals that have the right, sort of separate living areas for my new, larger household, calling the real estate agent. 🏠
13. Finding the perfect house 🏡, with an in-law unit, in a gorgeous neighborhood.
14. Getting our ducks in a row with three family members to try to buy this house for the best life for all parties. 💕
*** so that's where we stand now. I'm moving my office on the first of May, we hope to make an offer on this house this week.
If you follow these, you know my dad died in December, my mom has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and is living with my sister in Spokane. It's been a long, weird, hard year already. Lots of letting go of dreams I barely knew I had.
And also, time is flying as I get my last kid at home across the finish line of high school and that is exciting and fun (and hard). All the things, all the time, right?
I have made a commitment to myself to move away from the "eating my feelings" and being avoidant phase of all of these changes, to redeveloping more structure for myself. After years of parenting, I see how much I am the tail wagged by the dog of other people's needs. I love my family, so much. And now I see that the best way to care for everyone in this new phase of life is to keep myself on track, be as committed to myself and business (that I cherish so much), and let all of these adults look after their own needs.
Nothing is the way I want it to be in this second. Like at all. BUT I am, we are, taking steps to move to better, even if it's not ideal. What's that saying?
"we plan, God laughs"
I hope things are good for you in your world. I am complaining I know, but I also know I am blessed beyond measure.
Thanks for indulging me in reading my drivel, lol
xo~lynn
]]>If you open my emails regularly, you may have seen that my whole household got covid earlier in the month, with varying symptoms. We are all vaxxed and boosted.
My son who is likely the vector, was asymptomatic. My husband had fairly uncomfortable but not too worrisome cold symptoms. I felt not great a few times, vague, difficult to describe malaise, but WOW was I emotional and fairly tragically delusional, in a way I can only compare to PMS in my early 20s. It reminded me to be more sympathetic to my daughter who is 23.
We have a very, very mild longish covid thing happening with my husband sleeping a lot more than usual and having low energy. I was shocked to walk into the house and see him watching TV on a sunny Saturday over the weekend, for maybe the first time in 27 years.
I am in the midst of a midlife crisis. Not really, but damn, things are challenging. The main issues related to the business are that my China Rain is sitting in the port of Los Angeles and I am still out. With no date or expectation of delivery. So although my new fragrances are exciting and doing well, I see that a business built on the foundation of a single product's popularity is maybe not so smart. I have learned a ton about advertising and have been successful as a result, but it feels silly to spend to advertise what I cannot sell, so I have turned all the ads off. As a result, things have slowed down a lot and that is very confidence shaking.
Also, I cannot smell well. I had no sense of smell at all when I was sick, but now that I am better, my sense of smell is very muted. I have a few lovely fragrances on deck from before covid and will offer them soon, but as for the ambitious plan I had to offer blends, well, that is also postponed indefinitely. Neither of these developments are good news for my business and also utterly out of my hands. Trying to keep this all in perspective, and I see that my own need to control and plan and predict has limitations.
The weird thing about getting sick on the 10th of January is I feel like I have been out of step since mid December, and am finding the return to normal evasive. Cue the melodramatic music *** what is normal these days anyway *** as the kids say. I am stupidly privileged and am annoying myself in this pity party. So, avoiding the news, trying to get outside into any moment of sun and carry on is the plan for now.
I made cold process soap for the first time ever this weekend after being interested and putting it off for years. Holy Crap that is a dangerous potential addiction. More to come on that pretty soon, it take a bit of time for it to cure, so patience continue to be the theme.
Thanks for reading this, and tolerating my pity party. Let's go 2022.
xo~lynn
]]>
My holiday in review list:
Ok, now here I am back in my office, in sweats because my cute clothes don't fit. Filling orders myself because my helper has covid. Avoiding being home because...I mean...enough of ya'll. 😵💫
I'm excited about the upcoming year. Gonna write some big impossible goals in a coaching session tomorrow! Thanks for reading this.
xo~lynn
]]>My need for my own thing, a business separate from my husband's and home life pushed on me internally for a long time before the opportunity I saw in continuing the Body Time products. Early on I felt excited and overwhelmed by the business idea, building a website, packaging etc. As this became a real business, I learned more about promoting online sales, social media, email. The biggest challenge for me, far and away, has been how to confidently talk to my people, mostly women, mostly my age or a little older.
I do like writing here.
I do like writing emails a little less, because I am always unsure how much people want to hear from me personally. I first started talking in my real person voice in emails right as the pandemic hit, to mixed reviews.
I really don't do a good job at social media. I have been consistent before with no real plan, right now I am consistently absent! I have hired help twice and not liked what happened. Room for improvement.
I have some plans for the new year and hope to improve on this challenging part of the business, but will continue to blog here, so if you like this, look for overshare links.
I am working on a catalog, I want to offer it too! I was hoping to get this done early in the year, but I'm now not sure. There are developments in my life that have made any new things feel uncertain and my priorities shifted.
A week ago today my father died. He was 84 and in not great health. He had been stable in his condition, his sudden passing was a surprise. There is a long, life-long, hard story of family estrangement in my family of origin and I had not had contact with my parents in close to a decade. My generation has been trained to not talk about this sort of personal thing, and so my heart beats quickly typing just this limited information. I won't say much more, but will share that the news has opened up a flood gate of things I didn't expect. It seems like there are opportunities here for reconnection and healing with my mother and some siblings that I honestly never, ever expected. It's all bittersweet.
I have shared a little about my personal experience with mental/emotional lows and can say with confidence that my tendency for these struggles are a genetic vulnerability. The vast majority of the rough times I've had are related to my familial situation. I never expected that to shift much, and I am a changed person today simply by seeing a pathway to reconnection to people I thought were lost forever to me.
The point is, heading into the new year, I am currently living through something that I had never allowed myself to imagine could be possible.
The photo is of my beautiful mom, who just lost her husband of 66 years.
xo~lynn
]]>Hello, and Happy Holiday Stress Season to you and yours!
I spent a few days in Portland, OR this week, nursing my daughter Ruby after she had her wisdom teeth pulled. I had the opportunity to do a little sight seeing there and was so charmed by big city stores and their decorations, I really got in the holiday mood. This year my daughter is having Thanksgiving at her house and I am looking forward to being a guest.
I don't really deal with the food part anymore, after my husband mentioned casually about 20 years into this marriage, that he doesn't like turkey, I went on strike. I don't care at all about turkey or no, but because I had spent at least 80 days of my life up until that point completely preoccupied with menu, food prep, etc. for a meal he didn't enjoy, but never thought to mention that before... well I guess I feel like I'd done my time. Besides, we have all these kids, now adults, that can help him cook.
He has perfected his Ribeye Roast and the kids all have their favorites to make. My husband is on a keto kick and is in the kitchen as I type, trying recipes for keto bread to make keto stuffing with. I think it's very funny and charming that he is recipe researching and really enjoying being creative in the kitchen. I never found cooking to be a creative outlet, though I know many people do.
I am busily planning the catalog, and pre-planning a few social media ideas and events for early in the year. I have almost all my shopping done, because we are country dwellers, everything comes in the mail, so we need to plan ahead, as all shipping is unreliable to say the least.
I hope you have a really great holiday ❣️ 🍂
xo~lynn
]]>
We were lucky enough to buy this house, a neglected fixer upper in November of 2019 at a great price even pre-pandemic. It made sense for our daughter and her roommate to pay the same rent for a big roomy house with a yard, big old (really old) front porch and driveway instead of a two bedroom apartment. My husband and I want to move to the Portland area when our youngest child graduates from high school, June of 2022.
The girls were safely tucked in the house and thinking about their garden by the time the pandemic hit. Emma, Ruby's roommate works for Doc Martens and was able to work from home. Ruby got laid off from her job at Nordstrom and started building the original website for Remedy Botanicals.
The pandemic hit everyone really hard, but honestly, not us, in the way most people see on the news. I run this little business from a office space up the street from my house, no exposure to the public. My other business, taking care of retired show horses, is another solo job, on our land. My husband works from home, running construction jobs in the SF Bay area from his office in Ashland. Everything is online. My son's life was changed the most, he was doing online school for his junior year, and he hated it. The lucky thing for him, his hobby and passion is skateboarding, a naturally easily distanced sport. He and my husband built a half pipe in our garage and he was able to keep his sanity.
The pressure and uncertainty and drama of the year caught up with all of us. Of the 4 of us, 3 are now in therapy and the 4th enjoys zoom meetings 7 days a week with his 12 step community.
I haven't been in therapy in about 15 years until now. The push for me and eventually my husband with me, was looking for tools to deal with the overwhelming family issues we had raising a blended and complicated family back then. I married a man with three kids and two ex wives, and then we had two more kids together. The stress and uncertainty of being a young mother, with teenage step kids, babies, a huge cast of characters in my family, his family and his ex wives families! was too much for me to sort out on my own. Therapy became a highlight for me back then! And it is again now, even though I have never seen my therapist face to face.
My challenges 15 years later are much different. We have just one teenager at home, who is a delight. The adult kids are grown and gone, with kids of their own. I am blessed with a close relationship with my own kids and never take that for granted. I will have to learn how to have an empty nest soon, after what will be 28 years of raising kids by the time my son graduates. I was dreading this for a long time, but now as the time approaches and my life has changed little by little, I am feeling almost ready for it. At least I know I will be ok. I hear a lot from other women whose nests are empty that they love the freedom their lives now. It's a freedom I don't want! but since I'm getting it, I know I will learn to embrace it and look forward to that challenge. Sort of.
My husband and I will remodel this beautiful old house and make a new community in Portland. I might open a store here, I will definitely keep the websites. I am researching a subscription box idea. My kids will both be in school here (at least that is the current plan).
]]>When the shut downs first started, I had no idea (no one did) what to do to prepare, other than hunt for hand sanitizers and stock up on toilet paper. The business side was the same, I just took it a day at a time. My primary product suppliers are in the Bay Area in California (the founding family of Body Time) and about a year ago now, they sent out an email saying they were closed indefinitely. They gave no notice because they had none, they had to comply with local regulations. Luckily I had just stocked up a lot of fragrances, but quickly ran out of body products. I started to look for other resources in Oregon where my business is located, that had very different regulations.
I met with two women who owned and ran their own, wind powered production facility located in Portland. We rolled up our sleeves and got some formulas made. Skin Drench, Skin Savior, Lave Luxe, and Skin Vigor came out of those early days. This team has been a dream to work with, and I am excited about what's to come.
Eventually California reopened, but I got a lot of feedback about how much the businesses I started up this business with in 2018 had really suffered, and were still struggling. In January of 2021, the business (founding family of Body Time) that holds all the trademarks on the Body Time fragrances announced that their lease was up and that they had decided to retire. O M G.
To make a long story short, I have had the access to the products and ingredients that I have become known for in limbo one way or another FIVE TIMES in the past year. This month a huge order, I had actually used a line of credit for, to insure that I would have what I needed until the kinks had been worked out in the newly set up suppliers operation, was compromised in shipping and had to be disposed of! This is what led to my recent email informing my China Rain lovers that supplies could run out.
The bright side, many fragrances that had been unavailable from the previous supplier are now available again. So I am going to be able to continue the fragrances that we know and love, reintroduce some I've stopped selling and then also introduce more!
I have learned that I really do need more autonomy and not be 100% reliant on the goods someone else controls. There were some dark days when I thought the business I had spend so much energy and care on could just vanish because of someone else's decision. I felt like I'd built my dream home on quicksand.
So I am carrying all the fragrances I started with, but am also working on additional products that I will develop myself. So Viva China Rain! And there is so much more to come!
xo~lynn
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I spent my birthday in Portland. My son Elias needed to travel 3.5 hours to find a place in Oregon that could give him his driving test, (thank heaven he passed!) and we combined it with my birthday so I could have a little get away. My kids are old enough to execute birthday surprises and we have our traditions that are so comforting for me, and we did them all!
Social distancing is easy on a bridge late at night, so we walked and skateboarded in the cool evening air and enjoyed the view of the bridges. This is the Tilikum Crossing, a bridge in Portland for only the trains and pedestrians, bikes, scooters, etc. It is lit at night and has a a view of the bridges along the river in both directions.
This photo is lovely, but doesn't actually do it justice.
I was there 4 long, restful days. We gardened, went to a beach (on the river) and did a lot of front porch hangouts. We did have one lovely dinner out on my birthday which felt exciting. Just to be out was fun and made it a celebration. The restaurant had moved all their tables outside and spread apart, so this also felt safely distanced. This is us below, my daughter Ruby's roommate Emma, my son Elias, Ruby and me.
I go back to Portland for a quicker trip next weekend, it's Ruby's 22nd birthday, and for her gift she wants us to go to Sauvie Island with her for a picnic. I have been with her every birthday, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Mother's Day of her life so far. I know one day things will change, she'll be part of a couple, she'll want to travel, etc. But for now she is committed to being together, so I wouldn't miss it for the world. I am so very, very lucky.
So, in the store, I am excited to be re-releasing a few items, including improved Comfort and Joy Boxes. I have decided to offer bath bombs (formerly fizzies) in packages of four, and have greatly expanded the fragrance options to include some that are more neutral and earthy, not necessarily feminine. This is in response to many requests for gender neutral fragrances as many men like to use bath bombs too.
Also, I am going to be offering a gift box within the shipping box, pics next week. I really want to make the holidays easy, and having gifts boxes ready to go under the tree, or whatever your tradition is, feels like an improvement. In addition to bath bombs, I am offering all the items I carry in Comfort and Joy Boxes for the holidays. I am excited (and intimidated) but feel like this is the next logical step for the gift offering.
Keep your eye out for soap next week as well! I found a soap blend I love and have made some trial batches. I look forward to getting these in your hands and hearing what you think.
If you read this far, wow! Thanks!
I hope you have a really good week, I'll see you in your inbox next Saturday!
xo~lynn
]]>In your neck of the woods you might be experiencing shut downs, re-shutdowns or cautious reopening. While there is more activity here in town, the enthusiasm for reopening is cautious, and sadly a lot of our downtown storefronts are empty as businesses close forever here. Please, please, please wear mask! Keep yourself sanitized and stay home as much as you can.
I live in a beautiful place and am very lucky, but I am sick of being here. I want to travel, and want to see friends, I am at my wits end! I recently had a personal scare and got tested for Covid last Saturday after feeling terrible for over a week. I am fine, and by Wednesday was feeling back to normal. Having a moment of real concern for my health, I recommitted to my efforts to stay home, mask up ALWAYS (though that is now required here in Ashland) and suck it up. This is a bummer, but being sick would be terrible for my family and our whole life situation. So. I'm gonna stop whining and just spend this summer working hard to get my business where I want it, and my daughter up and confident. It's just one summer, and the discomfort will hopefully be over soon.
My daughter's new site, if you aren't on the email list https://remedy-botanicals.com/- features the botanical skin care formerly at Body Time.
The NAACP fundraiser is completed and I will have totals and news about that in next week's blog.
Now to my business!
My offer this week is a free full sized Assurance Spray with any $100 purchase, AND 20% off everything in the store with the code:
4th
Fragrance always ships free!! Offer ends Wednesday, July 8th.
I am waiting on a shipment of ADE lotion, it should arrive early in the week. If you need ADE lotion you can order it now and take advantage of the weekend offer and it'll ship on Thursday at the latest.
Check out this link for the website I share previously, https://www.theshopforward.com/collections/all. This site has adorable, timely t-shirts that share proceeds with charities. Please check them out, now they have masks! and donate to PPE for healthcare worker with each purchase. I got my (controversial) Fauci Fan Club T-shirt there and have a few others on order, I can't wait.
This site https://amplifier.org/#downloads has been around for a while, I first saw these prints during the Women's March Events in 2016. There are hundred of incredible downloadable posters you can print about different causes. I had this printed at my favorite print shop from last weeks blog. The shop printed an 18 x 24 poster for me for $15.00. I printed one as an experiment and it came out so cute, I'm going to print a bunch and frame them for my office. They are bright and colorful and BEAUTIFUL. I'm so excited to hang them in my office and have another layer of reminder of the positive feelings I get from being focused on the promotion and support of women and POC and healthcare heros. I'm going to share a few here, but please look at the site, it's inspiring!
There are items that can be purchased on this site in addition to the free downloads.
I do not get any compensation for promoting anything here, I just love the sharing!!
I am always available for suggestions, feedback and ideas @ lynn@remedynorthwest.com
xo~ have a really good week ~ lynn
]]>If you need a mask refresh as our self protection continues, this link will show you super cute masks that are inspired by works of art. The Barnes Foundation benefits the Barnes Museum in Philadelphia.
https://shop.barnesfoundation.org/collections/accessories-apparel
These masks are very fun, the premade designs are cute, but you can custom design your masks as well. I love this store, they adorably did their best to stay on top of my work. They printed every Comfort and Joy box sticker and delivered them to my car in the parking lot, to support my staying projects when everything was shut down.
https://gopronto.com/pre-designed-face-masks/
This is my t-shirt of the week company. I just ordered this shirt, in honor of pride month, which seems to not have happened this summer. https://thespark.company This is another woman owned business in the UK, I know terrible photo. So CUTE to me!
This upcoming week is a big one for my daughter, she's launching her website for the botanical skin care line we used to sell on this website. I am so excited for her! I'll share the site with you next week.
I hope you have a really good week!
xo~lynn
]]>When the pandemic started coming into view and the world was going into hibernation, I send a few emails to offer some comfort, as much as an email from a stranger could, and a discount code. My sharing our situation and indulging in some self soothing "I'm OK, we are ok" over and over, plus me sending some surprise gifts boxes to long time repeats customers unexpectedly, I came to see that some people might want to hear from a middle aged housewife turned entrepreneur.
Maybe you don't want to hear from me, and that's totally fine. I'm planning on doing my over share here, in a blog post with a link from my Saturday emails. I am getting a little more confidence about saying what is true for me, for my family and now, a few years into this project, I really want to. Funny that I just came here for China Rain, as did everyone. But now it's grown into a little baby community and I love it. I get emails back every weekend that I write from the heart and it makes me giddy to share.
I wrote a post last weekend and then last minute, actually at 4:00 am I chickened out about sharing it. I was raised by people who were fiercely private and socially polite. I am not really like that naturally, but when pushing myself a little I hear my Mom's voice, her hushing my loud mouth and it makes me stop and doubt myself. But here I am again with something to say and I must need to say it, because it feel compelled to. I can live with the consequences of someone being turned off by my loud mouth.
I emailed a little update a few weeks back about wanting to understand more of the social unrest after the George Floyd's death. I pledged to donate 25% of fragrance sales in June to the NAACP. I got a lot of responses that were positive and a few that were vitriolic. And a few more that did that same sort of Mom style shaming, to hush my loud mouth. I'm not gonna hush, and I hope you'll still stay here, but if you can't that's ok. My mom would unsubscribe from my emails I'm sure and she was my biggest fan!
So welcome to the Overshare! I'm gonna be here, being myself, loud, long winded, liberal mom and step mom and step-grandmother to POC (people of color) trans, gay straight kids, wife of a recovered (32 years) alcoholic. I have a colorful past and pretty privileged today life. I have too many business ideas and I constantly get in my own way. I'll talk about that some. Last week I was scared to post anything, and now I'm not.
I'm gonna share two things today that I love, and actually bought!
This artist is in the UK and her pricing is in pounds, (I don't know how to type that symbol) it's $43.22 and shipping is free. All of the proceeds from this print go to charity, including the NAACP. She has more details on her page if you are interested.
https://www.dianehill.co.uk/charity-art-prints
I love t-shirt and buy cute ones regularly, it's my favorite indulgence and doesn't break the bank. I just bought these shirts.
https://www.theshopforward.com/products/be-the-change-adult-unisex-t-shirt-desert-pink
and this one!
Terrible photo quality, I know, I had take a screenshot because I couldn't figure out how to grab the image.
From their website "All proceeds from each 'BE THE CHANGE' tee support our TSF Ally Fund, which will donate to organizations fighting racial injustice in all forms. These are a few of the organizations we have either already donated to, or will be donating to: The Conscious Kid, Be The Bridge, George Floyd Memorial Fund, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The Loveland Foundation. We have learned, as Angela Davis said, "it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be antiracist." We will continue to listen, learn, and stand up against systemic racism. We need to be the change."
I love these fundraiser products, you might too.
Last, but not least, I had geared up to do some Pride month offerings, but it seems like this isn't the right time. I do love this image though and I'm going to restart social media posting today with this image, which embraces Black Lives Matter imagery with Pride imagery.
I don't know who to credit for this image. I love it and I hope you do too.
I'll talk to you next week. I hope you have a really good week, you deserve one! Phew, this time! "It's been, a time." as my daughter would say. Saying nothing and everything at once.
xo~lynn
Another shirt from https://www.theshopforward.com/search?q=tell+me+something+good
]]>When I took the leap in September 2018 and got started with my little online business, I knew I didn't really know what I was doing. I had a little time and a little money a lot of foolish ambition. Sourcing the products that I wanted to carry was not a challenge, or honestly I probably would not have started the business. I am forever grateful to the founding family of Body Time for their help. The longer I do this, the more I realize how valuable what they gave me is. Having products that people have years of experience using and loving AND ARE LOOKING FOR! has been truly the ingredient that has made this work at all.
I launched my little baby site with handwritten labels and iphone photos taken in my backyard. I had very few products and knew nothing about cosmetics packaging, website anything, marketing, shipping. I had to learn everything the hard way, which I now would argue is the best way for a founder to learn. I was lucky and got my website link posted in a few good places and the momentum started. I will say that whoever posted my site on the yelp page of now defunct Body Time, I owe you a lot. I hear again and again that people found my store link there.
I have struggled my whole life with my personality trait of leaping before I look. I did jump right into this business and now that I have it, I have to constantly fight myself to stay focussed. What I really need to be doing is blogging, improving the photos and product descriptions and upping my packaging game-I want branded boxes for my most popular products by the holidays. I need more beautiful photos so I can launch a little Pinterest channel.
I spent months and months obsessing over the skin care labels design, starting over 4 times. I 90% love the labels now, but have come to understand that I am so much my own worst critic that I have to move forward even when things aren't perfect.
My adult daughter shipped her very nice graduation present camera to me to get better photos, not subtle hint! I sourced a local printer who can do color lazer labels as I continue to experiment. I went through three different models, but I finally found the shipping label printer that does exactly what I want it to do. I got my box needs figured out and found nice quality white boxes and envelopes that are perfect for my products. I have a mile long list of things to do, but I am happy with my progress so far.
Here is the little miracle to me. The store has fans! I have women who regularly respond to photos, products, information that I send out into the world, what the heck! That is the best thing ever! I see names on Facebook, Instagram and on my daily orders list that I recognize! I have repeat customers, I see their names and know where they live-all over the country!!
I work from home, alone. While this is perfect for me in a million ways, I do need some interaction, some encouragement sometimes about what I create, what I offer. My husband says everything looks great, and that's nice, but when YOU DO on social media, I get inspired! So thank you to my new online friends/fans. I am so grateful that I took this chance and it's working!!
I always want to hear from you, please email me at lynn@remedynorthwest.com if you have anything to suggest or respond to.
xo ~ lynn
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