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I LOVE Valentine’s Day. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that my birthday is the day before (if only my mom could have held on for four more hours, I’d be a Valentine’s baby). Still, it was fun growing up with heart-shaped birthday cakes and candy hearts and I usually never got shafted having a birthday so close to a holiday (my husband has learned that they are two very distinct and separate days!). This year, I’m getting a little wild for the event. I have decided to fly to Miami and get my first – and last – tattoo. It’s something I’ve wanted to do for years, and decided that now was the time to go under the knife – I mean, needle. What will my tattoo be? I’ll leave you guessing for now…

Considering I’ll be having such a memorable holiday, I was wondering what everyone else was doing. So I decided to hold a contest: what was your most memorable Valentine’s Day? And it could be anything – good, bad, crazy. Tell us! Did your boyfriend surprise you with a romantic engagement? Did your girlfriend say she was busy that night, but you later found her at a restaurant with someone else? Did a moose plow into your living room window while you were watching a romantic movie with your husband? We want to know! Share your stories with us, and the top five winners will receive a $25 gift certificate to honeybeegardens.com Email your tales to sales@honeybeegardens.com Winners will be decided the week of Valentine’s Day.

I hope everyone has gotten through the holidays, and managed to survive. I personally had my first warm-weather Christmas in Florida. I have to admit, it was weird seeing palm trees decorated with holiday lights, and walking on Daytona Beach while hearing “Walking in a Winter Wonderland” piped from the nearby shops. But I LOVED IT!
Anyway, I wanted to share a recent experience I’ve had with cleansers. A few months ago, I was shopping in a department store and wandered into the cosmetics aisle. I was approached by a rather aggressive sales lady who began to critique my appearance. “You know, your skin is a little dry on your cheeks…and a bit oily around your nose….we have a great cleanser that could correct that.” Maybe I was feeling vulnerable. I usually stand my ground. Depending on my mood, I sometimes consider slugging her for picking on my flaws. But I got suckered into taking along some samples of a cleanser and moisturizer (hey, there’s no way I was gonna spend $30 on something to wash my face!). When I got home I decided to use the products. They weren’t bad. Smelled nice too. But this seemingly innocent act turned into a destructive spiral that cost me my complexion. I used the samples until they were gone. And I noticed my skin was very hydrated, but I was also breaking out. Maybe I need a different cleanser? So I went to the drugstore and bought something else. It promised to reduce wrinkles, eliminate dryness AND fight blemishes. Yeah, right! My skin got even worse! I started breaking out like I was a teenager (wow, did that bring back some painful memories!). After a few weeks (okay, I can be a bit slow) I came to my senses and realized it wasn’t hormones, or stress from working too much or those french fries I had at lunch – I was putting too much junk on my skin. I finally went back to good old soap and water: wash my face before going to bed with our Honeybee Goat’s Milk Soap, splash with warm water in the shower the next morning and that’s it. I know from personal experience and reading lots of scientific studies, that the less you do to your skin, the better. Your body has a natural built-in system to balance itself, and too often we do things that knock it out of balance. Within a few days, my complexion starting getting back to normal. My point in all this is – find what works best for you and stick to it. Don’t be lured by fancy brands, tv ads showing models with airbrushed flawless skin, or sales people who prey on your vulnerabilities. It’s kind of like dating – you go out with a bunch of duds to find out what you don’t like, so when someone good does come along, you can recognize those traits and go with what works best for you. Is this analogy a bit of a stretch? Maybe I need to lay off the egg nog….

It seems like I’m always in a hurry. But this time of year, it’s even worse. Work is extra busy, there’s last minute holiday shopping, holiday parties, seemingly more housecleaning than ususal…it can all leave little time for you. On more than one occassion, I’ve woken up late with almost no time to get ready before work. My hair normally looks like a rat’s nest when I wake up (though I’ve never actually seen a rat’s nest…it might be more organized than my hair…but I digress…). So with no time to wash and style, I’ve found a little trick that works. I thoroughly brush my hair to get the knots out, then take our HydroSol Face & Body Mist and generously spray it all over my hair, scrunching as I go. The mist reactivates any natural curl I have in my hair, and the essential oils help to smooth the hair folicles, making my hair look less frizzy. The cool water base seals the hair shaft, making my hair appear more shiny. This quick fix also works great after work on days when you have had time to shampoo and style. The light mist will reactivate any hair products you’ve used. And since your hair – much like your skin – looses moisture throughout the day, adding that moisture back will revive your locks without adding any more styling products, which can weigh hair down. Keep a bottle in your purse for touch ups when you need them. At $0.99, this is a very affordable quick fix – my favorite kind!

Okay, I’m new to the whole “blog” thing, so you’ll have to bear with me. I just thought it was a great way to be able to connect with my customers, share ideas, voice comments and simply do some general gabbing. There are lots of times when I’ll be on the phone with a customer, and they’ll share some great product idea with me and I want to let my other customers know about it. Well now I can! And sometimes we get the same question many times over from different customers and this is also a great venue to post that information. Then there are times when I go off on some little rant for the day and that will probably make it’s way in here too. I apologize in advance for my anticipated various mental states.

So I guess the BIG news is our new web site. WHAT DO YOU THINK? Seriously, I want to here from you. Yeah, I know there are little things that need to be tweaked – the biggest being getting some new product shots, especially for the color swatches – and I plan on working on that. But I really want to hear YOUR comments. You can post them here, or email them to me at sales@honeybeegardens.com At some point within the next few days, we will randomly choose one of those comments (geez, I hope it’s a good comment!) and that person will win a $100 gift certificate to Honeybee Gardens (yeah, we can do gift certificates now!). Don’t hold back – let me know what YOU think!!