Soap on a Hope

Well... July is on its way out. I'm a week into my seventh year. It's true you know... time really does fly. So, I've had a day of making products and filling the order boxes, and Jason has done the shipping lables for the evening. I'm whacked.

Those little Pamper Packs have really gotten to me. Like in a warm and fuzzy way, I mean. I'll post a pic of them once folk have recieved them. I love surprises myself, so I'll honor the intrigue and make a seperate post in a week or so, once everyone has opened their order boxes.

Years and years ago, I used to buy bath and body mail order from a company. I wanna say it was Yves Rocher... but I'm really not sure I've gotten that right. I'm going right back to the late 1980's here. Anyway, what I loved about ordering from them was the plotting and planning with their catalogue. I'd sit and read through it, and every single night after the kids were in bed, I'd grab my cuppa and open it again. I changed my mind almost each page turn. As the deadline for the orders came, I'd write out my order, and then pop the envelope in the post box. Then came the wait. It was a love/hate relationship as I counted the days down. Oh, how I would have jumped at the opportunity of the internet in those days. To be able to just go online and log into my account to check on the order status. My word... that would have been heaven and then some.

Then... the order box would arrive. And the best part of it all were the surprises inside. Mainly small samplings of stuff I'd never be able to afford to buy, but it gave me a night of pampering as I tried different things. I'd try the perfume vials, maybe a little bit of lotion, and a night cream I so desperately would have loved a lot of. And the icing on the cake? A new catalogue for the next month!

When I was planning my little soapy empire, I so wanted to create the same feeling for my order boxes. I wanted to give freebies right from the start, but I was someone who really did start with a bottle of olive oil bought at Wholefoods. The freebies would have to wait till I could afford to do it. And as my little website went live, I sat all night at the computer just looking at it... loving it... clicking and reading... and dreaming a little about how it might one day all be for my little Manor Hall.

Where would I be in a year? Would I make it to two years? I never even went as far as five years in my head. Who'd've thought.

I'm sharing with you tonight, the Home page as we went live on December 5th, 2005. Jason had spent months and months developing the site to give me the look I wanted. I still love it. I know time doesn't stand still, and I know that you have to move with the times. But, I've a real soft spot for those early days.

Thank you. Thank you to everyone who has ever ordered from me, who has ever emailed or asked a question, sent me a testimonial, told their friends, given my soap as gifts, written a personal note of gratitude, or even visited one of my soapy tables at a show... thank you all for making this possible.