Travel along with us to some gorgeous beaches with sparkling blue water and powdery sand. Relax in a hammock under gracefully bowing palm trees. Watch a summer storm rolling over the beach, clouds building and seagrasses swaying. Hunt for seashells and build sandcastles.
Love mermaids? You’ll find those here, too. Maybe looking at mermaids isn’t your thing. You’re awesome and fabulous! YOU are a mermaid! Find mermaid seashell bras and tricks for the latest in mermaid-inspired makeup. Create your gorgeous tail and top off your whole ensemble with a fanciful seashell tiara.
There is but one place to find such amazing treasures, and that’s on myPinterest boards. That’s not all you’ll find! I feature our incredible soaps with some on-location product pictures. (Those are soooo much fun to take!) You’ll also be able to grab some inspiration for living our healthy coastal lifestyle with yummy recipes and workout tips.
Coming soon, I’ll be adding recipes that are quick, easy, healthy, and family-friendly. We’re busy people, and no way do we want healthy, delicious meals to rob us of precious family time. (Hint: The first one is for an absolutely delicious slow cooker tomato soup that’s welcome after a late soccer practice or a long day at work.)
Cruise on over to my Pinterest boards and follow us to get the latest updates on all sorts of fun, creative, yummy, and inspirational ideas. Got a board you’re proud of? Share your link below in the comments so we can check it out!
I didn’t want to do it. Despite knowing I must get some much-needed exercise today, it was a struggle getting out there. My legs were still feeling remnants of the abuse from earlier in the week, it’s less-than-warm outside, and I have some business-related computer-based matters that need my attention in addition to planning tomorrow evening’s soccer practice. Yeah, I put it off. Even after my older daughter “helped” me out by grabbing my sneakers and workout clothes for me (without my asking her to), I still found another ten minutes’ worth of reasons not to strike out.
But finally, I could put it off no more. Though the sun was out and the sky was a vibrant, cloudless blue, the wind stabbed through my top like knives and stung my cheeks. The muscles in my legs were still a bit tight. I was cold. All I wanted was to be inside in my warm, fleecy bumwear in front of my computer with a mug of hot chocolate getting work done. For about fifteen seconds, I gave serious consideration to turning around and going back home. But sheer determination and nothing short of stubbornness kept me going.
I did it. I did it for 47 minutes and almost 3 miles. I did it despite the bitter wind and my desire to be warm inside. I warmed up and kicked my heart rate up to my perfect target rate. Best yet, I had that time for my brain to be free of distractions, which gave it room to plan my soccer practice, formulate a new direction in my business, and mentally draft this blog post.
Business requires us to push through sometimes, too. I’m facing hours of website work this weekend, which is my absolute least favorite thing to do for my business. It has to get done, though. Other business owners may love that type of stuff but hate dealing with the public (my favorite). Regardless of what your least favorite task is or how much you may not be feeling one of your more enjoyable ones, as business owners, we have to push through and get things done.
The past month has stymied my drive and creativity, and in the evolution of my business, especially over against changing technologies, I have to push through yet again with a new angle and a new way of connecting with my customers. I love my customers, talking to them and hearing their stories, but that is one thing I really miss about not doing as many events – I just don’t get to connect with them like I used to. Sure, blog posts and emails are great, but it all too often feels like a one-sided conversation.
To that end, I am going to be launching a brand new Facebook group just for Coastal Carolina Soap Company’s customers, whether you have bought from us or you just love our brand story and want to stay connected. The link will be going out very soon, so be on the lookout for that. Maybe my blog posts come right to your inbox, or perhaps you see them on Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media outlet. You can find out about this incredible new group by subscribing to this blog or also by signing up to receive our emails (one of which handily contains links to each blog post for the month).
We hope you will join us, and we look forward to connecting with you in new and exciting ways beginning next week!
I love my tech, as I’m sure you do, too. And I use it all the time, every day, for something or other. I rely on my computers for work, and we’re currently using YouTube for our study of World War II. I print worksheets for my younger off homeschooling sites online, and all that is just my computers. My phone enables me to keep up with social media, including posting pictures to Instagram and instantly shooting pictures to customers.
Last Wednesday morning, I followed my usual morning ritual – drinking two cups of water while checking email and my social media feeds. It wasn’t long at all before I realized my text messages on my phone weren’t going through. Then I noticed that none of my sites were coming up on my computer. Brief analysis – no internet. I went outside to find a second bar of reception and to call my provider. Joy. An area-wide outage had taken out our internet and crews were “working hard to restore service.”
Thursday morning rolls around, and at 9 a.m., my phone rings. It’s our internet provider informing me that the outage had been cleared up. Woohoo! I zip downstairs and had internet coverage for… two minutes. Another call to our provider informed me that half our neighborhood was still affected and our internet should be restored later that afternoon or by noon the next day at the latest. Yea! Hope!
Thursday night… No internet. Friday morning… No internet. Friday noon… No internet. The great service techs helped me go through all the possible steps to reboot our modem, but in the end, there was no recourse left but to wait for the cable guys on Saturday. Saturday our service was winking in and out, but the fellas came, got me back online, then discovered that there was an issue with the box by the road.
Things flowed smoothly from there. In fact, things were better, because our internet was faster. I had my website access, my social media outlets, my email, YouTube for school, math worksheets for the Wee One, everything I’d been missing.
English: New Mobile Cell Phone Technology (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Let me take a break from the narrative here to say, I decided last week that I needed to take some time away from Facebook, because the hatemongering; injustice-in-the-name-of-Jesus; and horrid, fearmongered comments about a segment of the population were having a very negative effect on my psyche. Truly, the comments were hurting my heart. However, with my internet down, I couldn’t log off completely as I wanted. Alright. Back to the story.
Monday morning, I followed my usual routine, but this time with a twist. I dropped a post on Facebook to let people know I was taking a break, why, and how to reach me. Then I logged off and closed down the tab. To prevent further temptation, I uninstalled the Facebook app from my phone. Yet, my phone was still saying I had low memory, even after uninstalling that and deleting a bunch of pictures. Sometimes, my phone requires a hard boot to register that I’ve freed up memory. So, I disassembled my phone, let it meditate, put it back together, then pushed the power button. No. Power. I tried again. And again. Then I called T-Mobile. Shout out to them for getting me a phone to me the next day!
In the last seven days, technology has hardly been my friend. Well, it’s been perfectly friendly when it’s been working, but when it isn’t, my life nearly comes to a halt. These days have certainly tried my patience! Joy of joy, though, I have a newer model S5 that has cool, new features that weren’t on my two-year-old one, and I don’t have to go phone shopping any time soon, thank goodness!
