Off to the Mile High City

Next week I'm off to Denver for the International New Age Trade Show - http://www.inats.com/. I'm looking forward to the 8 days in the Mile High City, says the woman from below sea level. When we first arrive we'll give ourselves a day to acclimate and run some errands. Thursday night I'll be offering Angel Gemstone Oracle Sessions and Past Life Regressions at For Heaven's Sake.

Then Friday is the day to unpack the boxes, set up the booth and prepare to sell our merchandise to retailers. It's the first year that'll The Crystal Garden is represented at INATS West as a wholesaler. I made the decision to expand the wholesale division of the store when I saw how popular Smudge In Spray was becoming in my own store.

Friday is also a day of Pre-Show Seminars. I'll be leading the opening meditation at 9 am then co-facilitating a talk on Social Networking on the Internet at 10:45 with Caryn Colgan. Caryn and I have become friends through the Coalition of Visionary Resources of which I am now President. COVR is a national trade organization supporting vendors, retailers, publisher, authors, speakers, musicians and any business in the visionary industry. It's a very good organization providing many benefits.

Each year the COVR Visionary Awards are presented at the Saturday night evening banquet. Smudge in Spray is a finalist! I am so pleased.

Anyway, Saturday, June 27 - Monday, June 29 the show will go on at the Denver Merchandise Mart. I'll be wearing many hats. I'll be there as a wholesaler selling my Spoken Audio CDs, full line of Medical Grade Essential Oils and the wonderful aromatic Sprays. Chrissy and Vincent will be in the booth with me talking to retailers. We are giving retailers sample bottles of Lavender and have cool star shaped fans to put a drop of oil on for them to test a scent.

I'll also be a Retailer, there to buy, buy, buy in anticipation of the Holiday Season. I place a lot of orders at INATS. I've already pulled my purchase orders and I'll buy other merchandise that will be new to The Crystal Garden.

I'll also be there as a speaker because I'll be providing the pre-show seminar and introduce Loretta LaRoche at our COVR Opening Breakfast as well as provide Retailers with a seminar on Scent-sational Sales: Selling Aromatherapy on Sunday.

And, I'll be there as the President of COVR facilitating our Annual Convention Board Meeting bright and early on Monday. Whew!

I'm happy to be returning to For Heaven's Sake on Tuesday evening to offer my class on Crystal Consciousness.

It's a nice full schedule and it'll be good for me to step away from Florida for a little while. The stress of my dear Dad ailing in Hospice has been tearing me up. He's been my close friend as well as my Dad for my whole life. I'm going to miss him when he leaves the planet. At least he is resting peacefully with no pain. I feel grateful that my siblings will be nearby while I'm out of town.

So off to the Mile High City I go . . . my bags are packed!

Life has ups and downs

I'm sitting in Bethesda Hospital listening to Dad breathe, watching his every move and distracting myself with anything I can get done on the Internet/laptop. I've added Bach Flower Rescue Remedy to my water and used Euphoria Relaxing Spray on and around my body. I'm breathing deeply and reminding myself it's all part of life.

While I was in NYC, Dad had a mini stroke. When I returned he had an episode that has him staying in the Hospice of Palm Beach County unit in Bethesda. All my Facebook friends as well as many others having been sending love and light and prayers and blessings. This is very welcome and appreciated.

Did you know that Hospice isn't just about getting their care to die? It's meant to assist to maintain a better quality of life when someone has a serious illness or challenging episode. Well, that's my way of putting it. It doesn't seem that Dad is leaving the planet quite yet. He's healthy yet the age onset dementia is challenging him and those around him. He's peacefully sleeping now, but night time is another story which I won't tell here. Se la vie . . .

An amazing wonderful thing is when Dad is talking or comes out of his sleeping stupor he says things like, "Always do good." or "I'll love you forever. . . . forever and ever!" or "Thank you. You are the best." or " It's not just good, it's very very good." It's statements like these that confirm the title of the "Daddy Lama" for me. He is a wise and gentle man and I am honored that he is my father.

And even with all the positives, it still makes me so sad and tearful to observe the changes. It's not bad - just so so sad. I already miss him and he's still here.

I love the wonderful people here on this floor. Dad has already received a Reiki Aromatherapy treatment from an Integrative Therapist named Jennifer. I've brought in my Guardian Angel Spray, Smudge in Spray, Auntie M's Anti Disinfecting Spray and Euphoria Relaxing Spray to give to the nurses, aids and caregivers for their use here on this floor. They've stashed it in the medication room. I was having a good cry and through my blubbering I asked Cathy, who is also a good customer of The Crystal Garden and the charge nurse here, if I could borrow some of my spray back. She immediately brought me the Euphoria and we sprayed me down!

The Doctor seems very enlightened as well as a good medical practitioner. I was happy to hear her tell me how healthy and beneficial it is for me to cry and emote. I have always believed that because I'm one to cry anywhere for any reason - or for no reason. I now have the added permission to cry from a medical doctor! Ha! So there!

It's all good. I'm so blessed with so many positive things in my life. I am so grateful for all my blessings.

New Label for Smudge in Spray

As promised, I'm posting a photo of the new label of Smudge in Spray. I've submitted it for a COVR Visionary Award. If it wins, I will receive the award at the banquet at the International New Age Trade Show (INATS) in Denver in June. COVR is the acronym for the Coalition of Visionary Resources. If you have a visionary business, this trade organization helps this trade find success through various programs and member benefits.

So, the new label is professional. It was created by a professional graphic artist, Victoria Rose Martin. I constantly sing her praises. The high gloss label will prevent fading or wash out. They look very nice. I am so pleased.

We are receiving a great response from retailers around the country. The spray sells well and retailers are re-ordering often. They also sell all day long at The Crystal Garden. It seems that most purchasers add on Smudge in Spray with their order. If you know of a store near you who might like to carry this spray, please have them contact me at The Crystal Garden. I've been working on developing the wholesale website. For right now, I'm using http://www.margaretannlembo.com/

Use this sacred blend to clear your space of negativity in place of smoking smudge products. Maintain clear thoughts of clearing any negativity thoughts, feelings or emotions that may be lingering from conversations, fights and thoughtforms of worry, doubt and fear. Spray and pray that it is replaced with Love, Light and Well-Being.

Ingredients: Water, sage, cedar, lavender, sweet marjoram, pine, Florida Water, Chalice Well Water from Glastonbury, England; Sacred Site Essences from Teotihuacán; church of St. Germaine in France, Lanzon in Chauvin, Peru; and water from the spring of the last home of the Virgin Mother Mary in Anatolia, Ephesus, Turkey.

Now I'm working on Guardian Angel Spray for Children. I'm working with a prototype and should have a blend soon. I'll share more on that as it develops.

Essential Oils - A Pretty Piicture

I like this picture of my essential oils and Smudge in Spray. Victoria Rose Martin is the artist, photographer and the bestest friend a girl can have. She does all my graphic art work. She also has the patience of a saint!

Recreating Yourself

Sometimes it takes a cosmic 2 x 4 to recreate yourself. In that re-creation you just may find your authentic self pursuing your Divine Purpose. I believe that is true for me. It took many years (20) to really create a well established business but the journey was worth every moment of challenge and lessons. There were definitely moments when I stood in the middle of my store and exclaim to God/Goddess/Great Spirit - "Hey! if you want me to do this work, you need to send me customers so I can pay the real estate taxes, the staff and my vendors! I also would like to get paid some day!"

It was interesting that every time I did my exclamation someone would come in and make a very large purchase on that same day. Usually within a few days, I would also receive a letter giving gratitude for all that The Crystal Garden provides. So I would say, "OK, I guess I'll keep doing this, but please help the store not to struggle to make ends meet." Now I am more proactive. I am blessed with a phenomenal staff. We are all good at holding a vision for meeting our daily sales goals. I am attracting more wholesale clients. And, I am also attracting larger events, like Dr. Eric Pearl with 150 people and the Crystal Skull event in Jan 2009 with 300 people, which definitely help us with our sales and making the rent and all that is due to everyone.

Yes, I did just mention wholesale. I've created a wholesale division over the last couple of years. It started as a publishing division and is expanding. I published my own guided meditation CDs in 2005 and I've added Smudge in Spray to the line. I recently realized that it's time to add my whole line of medical grade essential oils including my proprietary blends called Euphoria, Lift Me Up!, and Auntie M's Anti. I am in the process of creating a really amazing Oracle Deck which will be self-published. The graphic art and the photography is being done by Victoria Rose Martin. I love working with her. I also have a new CD coming out to use to instill positive thoughts into your consciousness. That should be out by Winter 2009.

The thing to remember here is all of this was birthed out of 20 years of being in this business. I started The Crystal Garden with Carol Lonsdale in 1988. She left in December 1996 and continued on to grow my business. But we had humble beginnings. We started with just one small room of merchandise, much of which was consignment. I had gemstones from Arkansas and one Brazilian dealer. We had a few books, some incense and a lot of enthusiasm. I still have extreme enthusiasm for my work. I am so grateful for my career and the many facets of it. I like running many companies (I handle my father's real estate companies as well.) It's all very rewarding. And I am never bored!