The Flea Market

Ok, so today I experienced the flea market for the first time ever in my life. I have been to flea markets but never sold anything at one. It was...interesting. I had my own little table. I had a nice colorful sheet that matched my business cards. I had a cute little set up and a suggestion page and everything. The morning was slow...really slow. It seemed that this was not the kind of place to sell my stuff. I kind of gave up hope early on, but stuck it out anyway. The folks next to me looked like they were clearing out their garage. That's what this market was like. A giant community garage sale. People walked by and looked and said good morning, but no one seemed interested. I sat there for an hour or two before these two dudes walked by. By the way, I make soaps, lotions, scrubs and stuff. Not really things for dudes. So this long haired dude walks past with his scrubby zitty friend and he backtracks and says, "What you got, girl?" I explained to him everything I had on my table, let him smell the soaps. He then says, "I'll take this one." I was surprised but not really. In fact, I'm pretty sure that the only reason they stopped was because...well...I'm pretty cute. Well I try anyway. So that boosted my confidence as a seller a little bit, but I was still concerned. Scrubby teenage boys...is that it? As the morning went on, more people started paying attention to my table. I said good morning to every person that walked by in hopes they would stop. All of my samples of course taken. Then I finally made a sale! This woman came up to me and asked about my stuff. Is it natural? What's it made with? Did you make these? So I explained. She then asked how much they cost? I was excited. If I swing this the right way, I can persuade her to buy. She wanted two of the soaps. She didn't however want to pay $2 each for them. Is $2 too much for a bar of soap? She started asking about the lotions and if she could get one of the lotions. I showed her my pricing list and she then suggested I combine the products into one purchase. What a great idea! If you think about it, it was like giving a discount on the whole purchase. So I went with it. She bought 2 soaps and a lotion for $5. The lotion she bought was $3.50. So I made $5 on what would have been a $7.50 sale. I still wasn't completely convinced that was the way to do it, but then something interesting happened. More people responded to the combo thing. I sat there for the next hour thinking about how to combo all the products of different sizes. A man walked up to me and said, "Damn girl, why you sittin out here all cute, you waiting for a husband?" I told him I already have a husband but thank you. He asked about all the products. Asked if they were all for girls. I told him not necessarily. He picked out his combo. His phone rang and he said he'd be right back to buy. He left and of course did not come back. Figures. But that's ok because the stuff that he was going to buy I ended up selling anyway. I ended up making 2 more sales the same way. Then out of the blue a person told me about the farmer's market! There's a farmer's market? Tell me more, please. She said that many more people go to that market and more of them would be interested in my all natural stuff. What a fantastic idea. Today wasn't wasted but I still feel like I didn't get anything out of it. I want to be able to sell my stuff for what they are worth. Not haggle with someone over a bar of soap. But that's to be expected at a flea market right? At the end of the day, I sold 3 soaps, a face mask, 2 lotions, and 3 scrubs. Not bad for my first time. Next time, I will totally try to go to the farmer's market instead. Maybe I will have better luck there.

Scruba dub rub

So today I made a few things for my little business that I have, Scrubs and Rubs. Anyways, I made 2 salt scrubs, a lotion and a mask. I call one of the salt scrubs "Seaside Salt Scrub". Mainly because I can't think of anything else to name it. I'm sure someone out there would have a clever and creative suggestion, just not today. I love Dead sea salt. I get the fine ground because once your done making the scrub it tends to bulk up. I mean it looks kind of chunky. I added some coconut oil and some avocado oil. I of course added essential oils. Who doesn't love those. I'm not particularly picky about which oils I put in. Some brands are so much better than others but they're just so darn expensive, you know? When I first started out with oils, I got art naturals or plant guru. Much cheaper than the Young Living or DoTerro oils. I compared the two brands, however, and I gotta say the quality of Young Living is exponential compared to the other brands I've tried. Don't get me wrong they work nonetheless, but the potency and consistency of each oil is way different. Definitely better but as I said, not everyone can afford $48 for a tiny jar of oil. Anyways, I also made a rub which I call "Sugar Cookie Brulee". This one I made with 3 different kinds of butter, essential oils again, with coconut oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil, and grapeseed oil. These are my favorite carrier oils! Not just for me, but they are great for all skin types!! Some oils cater more to a certain type, but not these!! They're good for everyone, which is why I mainly use these ones. This lotion was whipped. So it wasn't made like all my other rubs. I normally add an emulsifier and water and some kind of thickener. This recipe, however, didn't need all of that. So it was super thick. But once it touched my skin it kind of melted. My skin is so soft and silky. I'm REALLY happy about how this one turned out!! I also made a Himalayan Salt Scrub. Himalayan salt can be expensive because it isn't all that popular. Did you know that Himalayan salt was discovered by Alexander the great and has been mined from the same place in Punjab Pakistan ever since?? The mine is 190 miles from the Himalayas. Hence the name. Fun Fact. But I love it and it is a crazy good exfoliator!! The same oils went in and not much to this one. Salt and oil basically. But I just love making these things! I also made an Activated Charcoal Mask!! THAT was fun! Of course anytime I moved the spatuala in any direction, I got black powder all over the place. It isn't hard to clean up or anything, just a lot of it!! I breathed it in too, that was not so fun. It was like inhaling a crumb into your wind pipe! Yuck! I was really surprised at how many things Activated charcoal are used for. I didn't know that it was not the same thing as charcoal you put on a grill! Amazing. I had a lot of fun learning about that. Of course, it is something I need to be doing. Researching the ingredients I put in my products. After all, how can I sell something I know nothing about!? Anyways, the mask worked so well. I think it is safe to say that it the best thing I have ever made! It cleans my skin so well and my skin is so soft after! The only problem I have with it is that it cleans all of the gunk out of my pores leaving them empty....big, huge, giant pores!! Ha, I suppose that is to be expected. You don't really know how deep the pool really is until it is empty. I had fun using it. One batch made so much. I was really surprised!! Zack saw it and was like um it isn't Halloween yet! Ha, silly Zack! I made a list of all the things I wanted to make. All I needed was the fragrance oils for them. I have four more things I wanna make. Then I can take a break for a while. That is until I find something else I want to make! If you want to learn more about these products, you can go to my etsy page. The web page is www.etsy.com/shop/ScrubsandRubsShop....I think. Enjoy!

Halloween

I'm doing two posts today. I'm learning something new and this has everything to do with it. I'm gonna talk about Halloween for a minute. I just LOVE Halloween don't you! It is by far the best holiday. Festivals and pumpkin patches and beautiful foliage. Do you know what the origin of Halloween is? Like most holidays, yes even the christian ones, it used to be pagan. It is widely believed that many Halloween traditions originated from ancient Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the Gaelic festival Samhain. See, Pagan. Samhain itself was Christianized as Halloween by the early Church. Some believe that Halloween began solely as a Christian holiday, separate from ancient festivals like Samhain. Halloween activities include trick-or-treating, attending Halloween costume parties, carving pumpkins into jack-o'-lanterns, lighting bonfires, apple bobbing, divination games, playing pranks, visiting haunted places, telling scary stories and watching horror movies. In many parts of the world, the Christian religious observances of "All Hallows' Eve", including attending church services and lighting candles on the graves of the dead, are still popular. Some Christians historically abstained from meat on All Hallows' Eve, a tradition reflected in the eating of certain vegetarian foods on this vigil day, including apples, potato pancakes, and soul cakes. Where did the practice of trick or treating come from? In the early days, they believed that evil spirits roamed the earth. These said spirits would try to enter living bodies because they craved life. People dressed up to hide from the spirits. Kind of creepy, but interesting. Anyways, I love this holiday. Every year, we have a "movie night". This is after the trick or treating is over. We watch Hocus Pocus. A most amazing movie that will forever stay in the heart and soul of all late 80's and early 90's kids' hearts. My family also enjoys Practical Magic. Another timeless classic. We also like The Addams Family, which not oddly enough is acceptable any time of year really! And last but CERTAINLY not least Night before Christmas. Both Halloween and Christmas acceptable. We also watch, around this time of year, Corps bride, Frankeweinie, Coraline...etc. All those creepy yet delightful movies that our kids also love. We also have a "candy tole". The candy tole is where the children dump their buckets of candy and my husband and I get to go through and take whatever pieces we want. I'm sure some of you are very familiar with this practice. These practices and traditions will live on in my family. We did them when we were kids, and we do them when we are adults and will pass them onto our kids. Not to mention the fact that Halloween is the beginning of the "holiday season" in my book and everything is awesome!

A year gone.....

A year gone....

         It has been an entire year since I have written a blog. So much has been happening. So many new things come and gone. A big move, my kid starting school, trying to start a new business, a new car. I'll just go through month by month.
        August 16: We made the big move from Hawaii to South Carolina. It was a struggle. I had to leave poor Diesal in Hawaii with my neighbor because it was too hot to fly him the day of. Which I was so graciously informed by the airline 4 hours BEFORE my flight. Giving me 2 hours to run around like crazy trying to figure out what to do. All the while, Zack being on the east coast already. I found a dog hotel in Seattle who flew him to St. Louis and my most excellent mother took him in. Once we got to Beaufort, I had to set up all of our utilities and get Mara ready to go to school. She turned 3 at the end of the month....ridiculous! Kids grow so fast!
        September 16: She started going to pre-school at Hobbit Hill Preschool. She loves it there! They are kind of expensive, but Zack felt that her education foundation was of most importance. The school has a baby room and a toddler room for families with younger children. That is convenient! So while she technically wasn't quite old enough for pre-school, the toddler room definitely prepared her for that! 
My parents came to visit for Labor day weekend. They were only here for a few days, but they got to see where I live and sleep on air mattresses because all of our furniture wasn't here yet. My sister Michelle surprised me! That was awesome. Zack was a drill instructor so he wasn't around at all. They had him running around from 4 in the morning to 10 at night! We hardly saw him at all that first few months.
        October: Mid month our stuff got here the day the governor of the state issued a coast wide evacuation for the hurricane that was about to hit. Matthew I think it was. We headed up to Charlotte North Carolina to stay with Aunt Julie. She was nice to take us in. We were there for 6 days. When we got back to Beaufort, the power was still out and I had a house full of boxes to unpack in the dark. A lot of those boxes had random things and just got shoved into closets. A week or so later, Aunt Julie ran her first Iron Man. So we drove up and stayed with Aunt Deanne. Grandma was there too! That was cool. Julie did really well!! At the end of the month, my dad came to visit for just a few days on his way to visit another friend of his. Still it was nice because he got to spend Maddox's first birthday with him, which I thought was nice! The kids were pirates for Halloween.
        November-July: Zack's first platton graduated and we were able to go home to visit my mom. We were home for 3 weeks. I was happy to see my pooch, Diesal. He had been staying with mom until we had a chance to come and get him. It was so cold! Our first winter with actual cold weather in 3 or 4 years. Thanksgiving was nice. As usual, food and family. Saw uncle Bruce. Haven't seen him in a long time. I must have been like 15 last time I saw him! On the way back to SC, we stopped in Nashville and stayed with my friend Michelle whom I've known for 10 years. She is the cutest first generation Irish girl you ever did meet! Anyways, that was nice. Zack started up his second platoon mid December. I hate the drill instructor thing! It is so horrible. Kids never get to see Dad and I'm doing a lot by myself. But nevertheless, I try as hard as I can to be that supportive wife and do as much as I can to help him out. When he works 19 hour days, the less he has to do when he gets home the better! About half way through his second cycle, he bumped into the coach of the shooting team he was on out in Hawaii....WHICH HE LOVED!....That guy put in a word to his command to help him go on quota and be on the shooting team. Again, that's what he wants to do. Christmas they gave him off as long as he worked 2 duty nights in a row. That was nice. Getting to spend Christmas with him. The kids sure loved it! So after that cycle graduated, he was able to check into the weapons battalion and do that. He left in April for the summer competitions. Easter we went to a friend of mine's house. He came home for 2 days in May and got to spend Mother's Day with me. We went to a restaurant out here that has super awesome tacos! For 4th of July, we drove up to Quantico Virginia to stay with him for a few days! That was so nice! We met some of his friends and got to see where he had been staying. A week or so after that he came home.
       August: Ok, an entire year has happened here. As you have read, lots going on. Now that we've come full circle here. Mara is actually in official pre-school. She is learning and growing and becoming her own little girl. It's crazy! She is so nice and beautiful. I just love how she is growing. We visited Missouri for about 2 and a half weeks. A good friend of mine got married and I ran a 5k! I don't run I hate running! But my mother assured me that we wouldn't actually run on account of the fact that it was inflatable. An entire 5k of bouncy house type obstacles....THAT WAS SO FUN! I'm totally gonna try to do it again next year! As usual we visited WildWood and mom's many friends. Seriously, that woman has more friends than I do! She is amazing that one! We had Mara's 4th!!!! birthday party there! Seriously! What is going on! It was troll themed and she was so happy! 
      September-Now: Well the weather is finally starting to cool off. Gotta love that! I got to whip out my boots! That's exciting! Well to me anyway. Zack's mom moved to Missouri to inevitably be closer to us when Zack gets out of the military. Which is cool because that's where we plan to go! They bought a house and they are officially moved! I'm way excited for them! My mom and sister helped her out so much and I am so grateful that my mom and mother in law get a long so well! Maddox will be 2 this Friday! We are gonna try to do a truck theme. He really likes cars, trucks, and pretty much anything with wheels. I just can't believe it.
     Okay, now that you're all caught up. Let's talk about what I've gotten into. For this past year, I have been trying really hard to break into the internet marketing world. It is hard, and I'm not entirely sure what I need to do. I have tried a bunch of programs free and not free that just don't seem to work. I understand the gyst, but it's the details that get me. Anyways, a year gone and I'm still working on it. A YEAR! I have had no luck. As I said, I've tried the affiliate marketing, running links through my own website, nothing seems to work. I'm not entirely worried about it, but I do need to get something accomplished. 
         I heard from a friend of mine that Amazon offers an affiliate program! That is absolutely perfect for me because Amazon and I are good buddies! I get everything off of there! I already have an established re pore with them. Over the last year, I have tried to start my own business called Scrubs and Rubs. I make lotions(rubs) and scrubs and all things skin care. It is really fun and I enjoy it a lot! I work with natural butters and essential oils. My mom says that I might have trouble considering I'm competing against companies like bath and body works. Well while that is true, I didn't stop. I went onto Etsy and got myself a little shop.  

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ScrubsandRubsShop

I have several admirers and a lot of people interested to learn more, but no one taking that extra step to buy. When I came across this affiliate program, I was quite excited. I thought it would be a good way to monetize my blog, promote my business, and help amazon sell some of things I myself have bought to build this business.  The next step is to figure out how it all works, and I'm all set. 
So as you can see I've been on a long journey but I still see the light at the end of the tunnel and I will continue to try my hardest to succeed at what I love.