I'm hosting a Lavande de Bois giveaway

Massage Bar Three Pack

This month I'm giving away a Massage Bar Three Pack. I know the recipient will just love these Moisture and Massage Bars made with Cocoa Butter and Extra Virgin Coconut Oil to soothe and moisturize dry skin with essential oils added for inspiring aroma. A wonderful aromatic treat for winter parched skin.

Enter the giveaway drawing by giving me your feedback on the following topic:

What does the term natural mean to you? This is not a regulated term and it seems to float around there on the web and on product labels with varied meanings. I'd love to know what you think natural means and what you would like a manufacturer to mean when they use the term. Read Lavande de Bois's natural page if you're interested in knowing how we handle the term.

Post your comments here. I'll announce the winner on January 26th so be sure to check back then.

New year, new beginnings, Part II

Becoming a Willow House design consultant is just another way for me to do something I absolutely love, that is, to redecorate! I've talked to more girlfriends this month who have the redecorating itch. I think it just comes with the territory of being January. We've all taken down Christmas and it left some empty spaces that need to be filled up again. Who knows what was there before Christmas, but the itch to redecorate, reorganize, clean out cupboards, redesign our universe, has arrived. I have so enjoyed using Willow House's high quality and innovative products to reinvigorate my living spaces and entertain my friends and business associates; I think it will be loads of fun sharing their products with others.

The new spring inspiration guide is here! And loaded with new products and ideas that are true to Willow House's reputation for bringing fun, beautiful, versatile, and design savvy merchandise to our fingertips. Whether you need an organizational lift in your home office, or a new motif in a corner of your house, or just some fashionable pieces to make entertaining a simply elegant event: Willow House as some seriously good ideas.

I invite you to experiment with a whole new world of innovative decorating and entertaining ideas. For more information visit my new Willow House website at www.boiselavender.willowhouse.com.

New year, new beginnings, Part I

The new year seems to bring a mental readiness for me to try new things. It's also a time for reflection about how the past year has been and what I might consider changing. Last November I celebrated the third anniversary of my business. I've had three awesome years of learning and growing, both personally and professionally. It's been a sweet roller coaster of discovery. I say roller coaster because time spent in the lows of business development tend to produce more productive highs. These three years have been full of learning so many things. How to build a website, how to promote my business in a changing e-commerce marketplace, how to make new products, experimenting with aromas as often as I can, etc. etc. It's been so amazing and fun. Full of everything ... except a paycheck.

I started Lavande de Bois in the fall of my oldest son's junior year. Anticipating college ahead I figured I'd have two years to experiment, and learn, and then return a profit, just in time to pay the looming cost of college. After two years, it wasn't quite there but I thought I'd give it another year. And really, 2010 was amazing. It was sort of a break out year in terms of building my customer base. Things just seemed to grow exponentially as my loyal customer base gave my naturally good soaps and bathing essentials to friends and relatives and then recommended me to the same. I am so grateful for the tremendous support and encouragement I've receive from my customers who continue to love and share my products!

So it begs the question, why is it not this huge success? There's still more to analyze for me to fully answer that questions but here's where I've discovered the most success: direct sales. The people who meet me and listen to me talk about my products for a few minutes or read about them hear my passion and open their mind to trying something that seems in their mind expensive, after all, it's just a bar of soap. But when they discover that it's more than just soap, it's a beautiful package of aromatic and natural goodness that uplifts your spirits and nourishes and cleans your skin, then they appreciate the value of this premium labor intensive handcrafted product. Appreciation translates into sales.

The other area of success and intrigue is in creating custom soaps that are just the right expression for someone else. Whether the soap is for a wedding or an adjunct to a businesses marketing plan or private label soap I love creating custom soaps.

Where I haven't been successful is in retail outlets. My soap just tends to sit on the shelf. It gets dropped, it collects dust. A retailer doesn't have the passion and care that I do for my soap. So they tend to end up with older product that doesn't look so good. And the truth is it takes a lot of time for me to service these accounts and my wholesale pricing leaves little room for profit opportunity, especially when the volume is not there.

So for now I'm going to keep networking and sharing my naturally good handcrafted soaps and bathing essentials with you all and I'm going to be more selective about my retail outlets. In addition to creating new soaps and bathing essentials throughout the year, I've decided to start another new thing! I've decided to become a Willow House Design Consultant. And I can't wait to tell you more about it in Part II of this post.

My tips for feeding your gluten free family

Originally posted on spirochicks, I thought the new year would be a great time to "reshare" my tips for feeding your gluten free family:

It seems that one of the hallmarks of Lyme sufferers is having to struggle with multiple food sensitivities and chief among them is gluten. I've eaten a gluten free diet for well over ten years. But in the past several years I've discovered that my sons are gluten intolerant as well. While feeding myself had been challenging enough, feeding my kids gluten free was even more challenging. With school lunches, birthday parties, and social events, somehow I've had to figure out how to provide options for them that free them up to choose what their body needs while still engaging in everyday social activities. It's been hard! Here I share a few tips that have made this endeavor a little easier.

Breakfast on the go:

This Multi-grain waffle recipe from Ali of Whole Life Nutrition has made on the fly breakfasts possible. On Sunday mornings my husband and I make this recipe for our family. Today I made them while my husband went out and picked our blackberries. So we had waffles with fresh organic blackberries. Yum! And then there's always plenty left over to pop in the freezer for on the fly breakfasts throughout the week.

A sweet treat:

My gluten-free brownie recipe has way too much sugar but it's decadent and way too good for those glutenous eaters to turn their noses up. I make these and wrap them individually and put them in the freezer at school. Next time the birthday treats roll through the classroom there's a super yummy scrumptious treat in the freezer for the teacher to pull out for my son. He doesn't feel quite as deprived, after all their his favorite!

Pizza Pizza:

I think the hardest food for my boys to give up is pizza. Thankfully I found this super easy pizza crust mix from Namaste Foods that tastes soooooo good. For tips and pizza sauce recipe see my pizza blog post. I haven't taken the boys off dairy ... yet. So for now they get Mozarella cheese and I get goat cheese which tastes delightful by the way. But maybe we can get Kim to share her "cheese" recipe made from cashews, another great alternative to make this a dairy free treat as well. I make this usually once per week so I can tuck a pizza in my son's lunch for a little change from the usual.

Super packed on the fly nutrition for mom:

Green smoothies are the best invention ever. I feel so good when I drink these! I use it as a meal replacement or midday snack. It's a super fabulous way to load up on greens without having to eat a salad loaded with dressing.

My favorite green smoothie:

2 cups water

3 large handfuls spinach

1 apple or pear

dash of cinnamon

blend to smooth consistency with blender

Blender tip: after breaking two blenders in the first four months of smoothy making I broke down and purchased a Vitamix. Smoothies made with the Vitimix taste so much better than the ones made with others. It's now a necessity in my kitchen.

Another staple I can't live without:

I shared the recipe for Maple Granola in this blog post about Progurt. But it's worth mentioning again as it's a staple in my home. I make Maple granola usually once per week. It's fabulous to add on top of yogurt or eat for breakfast. I buy the gluten free oatmeal from Bob's Red Mill and get organic coconut shred in large pieces. Super crunchy and good for you too.

I highly recommend this cookbook from Whole Life Nutrition. It is packed with useful information and tried and true recipes. Also Ali's recipe blog is an invaluable resource.

I know we'd all love to hear what other tips you all have for living a gluten free life. So please share.