Every lesson learned a line upon your beautiful face

The end is near

2009-03-19T15:30:00.002-04:00

After 7 years, the Body Shop at Home Americas division has decided to close its' doors. From what I have been told, we as a division have not been growing enough and have been losing money, so they decided to "cut off a foot to save the rest of the body" so to speak. To quote my favorite victorian pie maker "times is hard". Our stores are staying open and you can still order from our web site. You can still get all the products that you love, you just won't get my smiling face along with them.

I'm sad. I really liked my job. It was the best job I ever had. Much better than the bank, and much, much better than packing mouse traps. I'll miss my customers, and to my surprise, some of them are actually going to miss me too!

In true Body Shop style though, they are doing a lot for us consultants. They gave us 6 weeks notice, which from what I've read about other direct sales companies closing is a LOT of notice. They are giving us 25% more commission until April 30th (our last day). They are also giving a free love you body discount card to each of our customers for free. They are also continuing with all of the planned sales and host incentives until the very end.

They are handling the whole thing very well and with lots of class. I'm very proud to be a part of such an ethical company.

It's funny, I almost feel like I'm losing a part of myself with this. Being a Body Shop consultant is such a part of my life. It gives me a focus to my day and I'm going to miss that.

I have been approached by no less than 7 other direct sales companies. I loved working with The Body Shop and frankly, the reason I got into this in the first place is the Body Shop, and I love the company. I don't think I could be so passionate about my job if I was with another direct sales company.

Anyway, I am still working up until the very end, so if you want to have one last "farewell" GNO and stock up on your favorites for free, let me know. I am also offering 20% off any order (before tax and shipping) to all of my customers.

If you'd like to order, or book a party, let me know!

-Emily

Bingo time again

2009-02-05T16:17:00.002-05:00

I'm planning another Body Shop Bingo!
March 29th at the Neffsville fire hall at 2pm, doors open at 1:30

We were quite successful last time and raised over $200 for the Milagro house, as well as getting a bunch of "stuff" donations.

$10 to get in which includes 10 rounds of bingo, door prizes and drinks.
Get $1 off for each friend you bring. Bring 10 friends get in for free!

We will also be having grab bags for sale again. Get at least $25 worth of Body Shop products for $20.

I can't wait! we had such a fun time last time, I know that we'll have a great time again!

gym

2009-02-05T13:22:00.003-05:00

So, lots going on in the life of me right now. We just joined a gym. I was a little unsure of this decision at first. Would the boy have fun? Would I have fun? Would the husband enjoy it? Would I go enough to get my money's worth? Would skinny women in thongs make fun of me when my back was turned? Lots of "woulds". Well so far, the boy loves going, they have a kid's club with lots of room to run, lots of toys and a giant "habitrail". Their habitrail is about 10 times the size of chuck e. cheeses's, and it features 4 ball pits, and air bouncer and lots of slides. The best part is that it's big enough for adults to get into also.
The husband has been going every morning before work. He says it's a great way to start his day. He gets up, puts on his gym clothes and goes, he takes his shower at the gym and gets ready for work there.
And me? I'm actually enjoying it. I've never willingly exercised in my life and this is pretty cool. I have more energy, and I feel great. I've been there just about every day since we joined, and I've even lost a couple of pounds. I've tried 2 classes so far, a jazzercise class and a spinning class. And much to my dismay, the spinning class was not about how to make yarn.
The jazzercise class kicked my butt, but it felt good.
You know what the best thing is? So far, I haven't seen one thong clad woman. In fact, there are usually a few there who look like me.
So, here's to a healthier me!

lots of great sale stuff left, and I do love a sale!

2009-01-23T21:20:00.001-05:00

Hey-
If you are looking for a good deal, The Body Shop at Home has lots of things left in our "After-Christmas" sale. I have everything that's left listed here. The first price is the original price and the second is the sale price.
Also, we are starting our Feb. gift with purchase a little early, so if you spend $60 starting tomorrow, you get a gift bag filled with goodies for FREE!!!! ($70 value)

With the sale and the free gift bag, you can easily get almost $200 worth of products for only $60!!!!

Check out my web site for pics of everything, and let me know if you have any questions.

57221 MERRY AROMAS $32.00 $16.00
57226 JOYFUL AROMAS $32.00 $16.00
LIPBTR LIP BUTTER OFFER $24.00 $11.20
LIPBLM FESTIVE LIP BALM OFFER $24.00 $11.20
57346 CRANBERRY SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
57368 VANILLA SPICE SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
57388 RICH PLUM SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
57936 MINI COSMETIC POUCH $12.00 $4.00
57941 COMPACT MIRROR WITH BIRD $7.50 $3.00
57931 ATOMIZER BURGUNDY $10.00 $4.00
57827 FOR MEN MACA ROOT RITUALS $48.00 $20.00
57317 PEPPERMINT COOLING FOOT HEAVEN $20.00 $10.00
57603 SHOWER CASCADE $20.00 $10.00
62736 SHIMMER BODY BUTTER BONANZA $25.00 $12.50
57234 EXOTIC MANGO BODY TRIO $15.00 $8.00
57244 ZESTY SATSUMA TAKEAWAY $25.00 $12.50

57970 RICH PLUM CELEBRATIONS $15.00 $8.00
58389 CRANBERRY CELEBRATIONS $15.00 $8.00
62760 RICH PLUM JOYFUL TIMES $35.00 $16.00
57288 VANILLA SPICE CELEBRATIONS $15.00 $8.00
58529 WARM AMBER JOYFUL TIMES $35.00 $16.00
57835 WARM AMBER CELEBRATIONS $15.00 $8.00
58391 VANILLA SPICE JOYFUL TIMES $35.00 $16.00

57423 RICH PLUM SHOWER GEL $13.00 $5.20
57390 RICH PLUM BODY POLISH $20.00 $8.00
57385 RICH PLUM BODY LOTION $18.00 $7.20
57388 RICH PLUM SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
57426 RICH PLUM BATH BUBBLES $18.00 $7.20

57348 CRANBERRY BODY POLISH $20.00 $8.00
57346 CRANBERRY SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
57341 CRANBERRY SHIMMER LOTION $18.00 $7.20
58107 CRANBERRY BODY SHIMMER $20.00 $7.20

57862 WARM AMBER SHOWER GEL $13.00 $5.20
58314 WARM AMBER BODY SCRUB $20.00 $8.00
57868 WARM AMBER BATH OIL $18.00 $7.20
57850 WARM AMBER SHIMMER LOTION $18.00 $7.20
58316 WARM AMBER BATH CRYSTALS $18.00 $7.20

57932 TWO TONE BATH LILY $5.50 $2.00
57376 VANILLA SPICE SHOWER GEL $13.00 $5.20
57370 VANILLA SPICE BODY POLISH $20.00 $8.00
57368 VANILLA SPICE SHIMMER LIP BALM $8.00 $3.20
58771 VANILLA SPICE BATH INFUSIONS $12.00 $4.80
57364 VANILLA SPICE SHIMMER LOTION $18.00 $7.20
57379 VANILLA SPICE BATH MELT $18.00 $7.20

57540 FABRIC DRAWSTRING BAG $5.50 $2.75
58907 BOX POP UP SELF FILL RED XM08 $4.50 $2.25
58904 MINI ORANGE GIFT BAG $2.50 $1.25
58890 BAG CARRIER LRG SELF FILL RED $6.00 $3.00

Core Values

2009-01-06T09:53:00.002-05:00

As you may or may not know, The Body Shop focuses everything we do around a set of 5 core values. They include things like protecting our environment, not testing on animals and activating self esteem.
In the spirit of the core values, I will not tolerate anyone who feels it necessary to write self esteem hurting comments on this blog. Saying that my blog is "as boring as you are" is very much not in the spirit of The Body Shop and the core values. On a side note, I find it cowardly to post such comments and not even attach your name to it. There is something to be said about standing behind your actions.

If you find my blog boring, don't read it! Plain and simple. Subject closed.
-E

Yay! I'm going to Raleigh!

2009-01-05T21:04:00.002-05:00

I did it! As of the first of the year, I am now a coordinator with The Body Shop at Home! I am officially a leader! I am so thankful to everyone who helped me get here! Thank you to my incredible team! Thank you to my amazing upline, Jen Kurtas! And thank you to you, my loyal customers. With out you, I'd be nowhere.

Yay, now off to make arraingements to go to our leader retreat in Raleigh in March!

I love the new raspberry

2009-01-05T21:00:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness! I have our new limited edition Raspberry products (which, btw I earned for free) and let me tell you, they are awesome!
The raspberry body butter is the first one that I totally had to restrain myself from eating!
I love raspberries, so I was totally excited and a little leary when I heard that they were coming out with raspberry products. I knew they were either going to do an awesome job, or it would smell incredibly fake. Well, my friend, it doesn't smell fake! I absolutly love it. I'm sad that it's limited edition, so buy lots of it, and maybe they'll bring it back later :-)

new catalog

2009-01-05T20:59:00.001-05:00

I got my advance copy of our new spring catalog this weekend. It is frickin' awesome! All I have to say is I hope you like roses :-).

Sale

2008-12-21T19:56:00.002-05:00

Hi-
I'm going to keep this short and to the point because I'm tired and my head hurts a little. However, it's way too cool so I have to share.
The Body Shop at Home has a huge "after Christmas" sale going on right now. It's all on my web site. www.thebodyshopathome.com/web/ebowman

If there is any holiday stuff that you like or are interested in, get it now at 50-75% off before it's gone! My recomendations are the heatable wraps, the holiday makeup, and the star diffusers.

We had a good weekend, my friend Maebius and his family were supposed to come visit, but since they live in upstate NY, the weather prevented them from coming to visit. We did however get lots done around the house and got cookies ready for distribution.
Anyway, I am now beat like whole wheat and am going to veg while watching the husband play video games.

-E

real life Santas

2008-12-04T21:52:00.002-05:00

The Boy wrote a letter to Santa on Tuesday. Actually, he dictated and I wrote. We put it in an envelope, took it to the post office and gave it to our favorite postal worker, Miss Mary. The boy loves Miss Mary, she give him sticker and always has a conversation with him. Miss Mary said that she would make sure that Santa got his letter, she said that she'd put it in the "special box". Now I'm thinking that the "special box" is the trash can. Which would have been fine, the magic was in the act of writing the letter and handing it off, and knowing that a little boys Christmas wishes would somehow make it to a fat man at the top of the world.

Well, the special box didn't turn out to be the trash can, because Today, the boy recieved an answer to his letter in the mail from the fat man himself, or so it seems. When I opened it, I half expected a form letter, but it actually mentioned all the things that Teddy asked for and acknowledged all the "good deeds" that the boy mentioned that he had done in his letter. So, not only did "Santa" read his letter, but he wrote a special letter just for the boy. How cool is that?

I think tomorrow while the boy is at pre-school, I'm going to go into the post office and say thank you to "Santa", and let "him" know that this letter really made both of our days, and helped to make the magic a little more really to a little boy.

World AIDS day

2008-12-01T21:34:00.002-05:00

It's interesting. You can talk about something - a disease, a cause, - anything - and it doesn't really sink in until it hits someone close to you. We talk all the time about giving money for this or that or helping find a cure for this disease or that one, but they always seem like something that affects other people, not people that you actually know - just other people.

My husband recently, through a social networking site, caught up with an old friend. You know the type, you hang out with them for a while and then they get busy, you get busy and pretty soon it's a couple years since you've spoken to them. While catching up with S. online, my husband found out that since we've last seen him, S. has contracted HIV. This news totally shocked me. I mean this is the first person that I've known that has HIV. It's very surreal to me. S. is a young good looking guy, he's going to grad school, has his whole life in front of him, and HIV. This is the first time that this disease isn't "other people" to me, and I don't like it. It was so much easier to deal with (or not deal with) when I didn't have a face to put with the disease.
I mean, I can watch RENT and sing and dance around to La Vie Bohem, and think what a great story. But it never really got to me that just about everyone on there had HIV and is going to die (I like to fast forward through that part). Maybe it's the fact that S. is so "normal" and could be anyone on the street that's been getting to me.
I want to scream, I want to be mad, I want to yell at him for not being careful, I want to go in and rip the disease from him, I want to make him chicken soup and wrap a blanket around him, I want to stop the tears that are rolling down my cheeks as I write this.

But I can't do any of that. All I can do is support a long lost friend, enjoy his company and friendship and try to remember that these things don't always happen to "other people"

Happy World AIDS day.

December Specials!!!!!!

2008-12-01T19:18:00.000-05:00

December is Daring with The Body Shop at home!

I'm going to do something a little different this month, I'm going to start off with the sales first, because right now it's all about getting the most bang for your holiday shopping buck!

Ok, the December sales are as follows:
*From December 1-6 get a full sized warm amber body butter for only $5!
*From December 1-25 all holiday body products and holiday home fragrance products are buy one get one free, and you can mix and match to your hearts content!
*From December 1-25, all holiday gift sets and accessories are 30% off
*All month - spend $70 or more and get a free gift bag filled with mini sizes of some of most popular products
All of the holiday products are on a while they last basis, so if there is something that you have your eye on, get it now before it's gone!

Also in order to insure Christmas delivery all orders must be placed by December 15th at 3pm.

On to our hosts!
Host a party in December and get the total body shop hook up! Here is what my average host gets for having a party in December:
mini body butter ($10 value)
$60 worth of products of your choice
Exclusive Spa wisdom spa candles ($30 value)
Exclusive spa wisdom bath oil ($22 value)
Exclusive strawberry gift set ($45 value)

All this adds up to over $160 in free products. Not only that, but you also earn half priced shopping too!
Think about how cool it would be to be able to get your holiday shopping done for free, help your friends shop with some awesome sales, all while having a fabulous "night in" with the girls.

I still have a few dates open before the Christmas ordering deadline. Contact me to reserve your date today!

Become a consultant today and pay off you Christmas bills right away! Start your Body Shop business in December and start the new year debt free! You already love the products, so why not get a discount, earn some extra cash and free products too. Contact me for details!

So how's this for recycling?

2008-11-22T10:27:00.002-05:00

If you've gotten an order from The Body Shop within the last 6 months or so, you've proabably noticed something different about the packing material. After much deliberation about which is more environmentally sound, we've decided that brown paper is better than plastic air filled bubbles.
This is great since you can recycle the brown paper with your newspaper and with the bubbles all you can really do is throw them away.
I've been feeling bad about just recycling all this brown paper, I mean doesn't it deserve more from this karmic cycle than to be just packing material? So, I emailed Teddy's school and asked if they could use it, and of course, they are thrilled to have it. Yay! From packing material to precious works of art! How cool is that?

-E

Ever been to Raliegh, NC?

2008-11-19T14:23:00.002-05:00

Ever been to Raleigh? I haven't either. I want to go though.
This year our leadership retreat is in Raliegh, Wake Forrest to be precise. That's where the America's divison home office is. I mean really, how cool would it be to see the home office? Well, I think it would be cool. It's kind of like the Graceland of the Body Shop. And.... they have the world's only body shop scratch and dent store. Very exciting.

So I need to get there. And it's not just a matter of geography either. In order to go to leader retreat, I have to well, be a leader. I'm very close. In order to be a leader, I have to have 6 active consultants under me (active meaning that they have at least $400 in sales in for a rolling 6 mo. period) Right now I have 6 under me, however only 2 are active. And unfortunatly, 2 of the inactive consultants are only in it for personal use, so I really don't expect anything out of them. So I have 4 consultants, 2 need to get the $400 in and then I need 2 more to sign up and sell. Then I need all of us to have $3600 in sales next month and poof! I'm a leader.

Did I mention that in order to go to leader retreat I have to have this all worked out by the end of the year?

I know I can do it. I just have to keep visualizing how cool it will be to walk across the stage with my friend, Linda A. who also just became a coordinator.

So, cross your fingers and if you know anyone who is lookng for a job, let me know!

-E

product review - holiday amphora diffuser a.k.a. the gold star

2008-11-05T21:58:00.002-05:00

So I bought the holiday amphora diffuser, a.k.a. the gold star. From what the catalog and our training materials say, it is a star made of pourous clay, and when you put a few drops of home fragrance oil in the back it diffuses through the clay and scents your space without a candle.

Since so far everything is so much cooler in person than in the catalog, I figured that this on would be the same, and I should get one to show off. I was right, it is much cooler than in the catalog. First off, it's much bigger than in the catalog. Bigger is always better. It's also very shiny and gold. I really like it. It's one of those things that would be cool hanging from your christmas tree, but would also look good in your home all year round. I have not put oil in it yet, so I can not attest to how well it works, but the concept is simple enough, and it comes with directions on the tag.
Not only that, but at $12 it's a bargain. And, get this, it's part of the buy 2 get one free sale. So you can give some one a gold star (I'm sure you know someone who deserves a gold star) and 2 home fragrance oils for less than $20. For tha price, the boy's teachers might be getting gold stars this holiday.

I'm thinking I'm going to use an ornament holder that I got at a yard sale to display it. Other than hanging it, there's really no good way to display it. If you get a chance, take a look at my web site, there is a really good picture of it there under holdiay home fragrance.

are you on facebook?

2008-11-05T21:57:00.001-05:00

If you are on facebook, be sure to check out the app. that I created - send Body Shop products. It's pretty cool, and if there is a product that's not on there that you want to send, let me know.

product review- cranberry wrap

2008-11-04T14:28:00.002-05:00

Geez, it's been forever since I've reviewed a product. I hope I didn't forget how :-).
Ok, Today I'm reviewing our cranberry heatable wrap.
It's pretty cool, it's about 2 ft long and comes in it's own little mesh case. So, you're supposed to take the inner pillow out of the velour cover and heat it for a couple of minutes in the microwave and then put it back in the cover and wrap where ever you need heat, all while smelling fragrant cranberries.
So I heated it. It actually worked pretty well. The inner pillow has pockets sewn into it so that all the stuffing (beans? flax seed? ground rice?) doesn't flow to one end. The cranberry scent is nice, I thought it might be overwhelming, but it was just enough. It's a great size to wrap around your back for a sore back or around your stomach when you have cramps. It's like a heating pad, but you don't have to worry about a cord or it accidentally setting the house on fire. I've also found that it's great for putting at the foot of your bed when you go to sleep to help keep your feet warm. I used to just put them on Nate, buy I think he likes this method better :-).

They retail for $26, and I think that it is well worth it.

November Body Shop speicals

2008-11-04T14:26:00.003-05:00

November is the biggest month of the year with The Body Shop at Home.
We've got a month full of free gifts for everyone this November!

Host a Girls' Night Out and get more free stuff than ever before!
I added it up, and our average November hostess has the chance to earn at least $180 in free products! This doesn't even include the half priced shopping that you will earn as well. That's enough to keep some products for you and give some for gifts! How cool would it be to get some of your holiday shopping done for free and have a night out with the girls at the same time? Our November host bonus is a set of 5 of our holiday warm amber and cranberry products. There is enough here to keep you sweet smelling and relaxed this holiday season as well as give some as a gift.
Want details as to what exactly you will get with our host reward program? Drop me a line and I'll spell it all out for you.

Free stuff for our customers too!
We still have the awesomely huge gift bag this month, $19 or free with a $70 purchase.
It gets better: All body collections (seasonal and regular) lifestyle fragrance collections (neroli jasmine, aqualily, etc.) home fragrance collections, hand collection, and foot collection are all 30%
off!
But wait, let me make this a little better yet, mabye you don't want to get a whole collection of one product line. So how about this: all body lines(seasonal and regular), almond hand, peppermint foot, hemp, and spa wisdom are buy 2 get 1 free! Mix and match to your heart's content!
Also, all home fragrance products are buy 2 get 1 free as well!

Here's some suggestions on some awesome gifts you can put together with this sale:
*3 holiday shimmer soaps for $10 (great for teachers)
*3 holiday handwashes for $20 (give them together or individually)
*warm amber bath crystals, van. spice bath infusions, and cranberry bubble bath (for the person in your life who likes to soak) for $36
*star amphora diffuser and 2 home fragrance oils for $19.50
*candle garden, star diffuser and 1 oil (makes 2 gifts) for $36
*3 body butters for $40
The possibilities are endless!

Remember, every time you give a fairly traded gift, like products from the body shop, you can feel good about helping people in poorer communities all over the world to be able to make a decent, honest living for their families!

Want to have a debt free holiday season this year?
Become a consultant with The Body Shop at Home. For $110 you get our deluxe business kit plus a bonus kit of products to help get a fabulous start. It was the most fabulous feeling for me last year to not have any holiday debt to pay off in the New Year. Want more info? Drop me a line, I'd love to take you out for a cup of coffee and share all the details!

ever see someone get excited over school supplies?

2008-10-24T10:46:00.002-04:00

I finally took my donations over to the Milagro House this morning.
I had school supplies from the back to school sales at staples and office max, personal care items from bingo, and baby clothes that my friend, Linda, had gotten from a friend.
I always put off taking things over there until I have a bunch of stuff. It's only about 5 miles from here, but it's not in the best part of the city and I'm always afraid that I'm going to have trouble finding a parking space or get mugged or something, you know the silly thoughts that you have that talk you out of doing things that you know are the right thing to do.

Well, I found it with no problem (that's another fear, that I'm going to get lost), and there was abundant parking in front.

I knocked on the door and one of the mothers answered. I told her that i had some donations and she came to help me get them. When we got to the back of the van I gave her the (huge) tub of baby clothes. She very excitedly asked if there were any girl clothes. I told her that I wasn't sure and she got this look on her face like I had just handed her a pirate chest and told her that it was all hers. Another mother came out to help and I handed her a bag and told her that it was school supplies, she got so excited and said that was exactly what she needed.

It took a few trips to bring everything in, and with the last trip I came in to get a reciept for everything. The girls showed me to the office where Ellen, the director, was holding the baby of one of the girls who was helping me. She told me that just before I had gotten there she said to one of the girls "I hope that Christmas comes soon because we're running out of everything". She asked me where everything came from, and I told her about getting things on sale at office max, and how I couldn't use 50 boxes of crayons for .01 each but they could. And then I told her about bingo and how we gave extra door prize tickets to everyone who brought something to donate (she thought that was a pretty clever idea) and then I told her about Linda's friend who after hearing that I was going over there gave Linda the big tub of baby clothes to bring over.

I got my reciept, and just as I was about to leave I remembered that I had a check for them too. I told them that there was an envelope with a check in one of the boxes. One of the girls got it and handed it to Ellen. I swear she was about to cry. They were so thankful for everything that I brought them.

This was the first time that I acutally got to interact with the mothers at the Milagro House. It was such a good feeling to be able to bring them everything and to actually see the girls there so appreciative of it all.

While I was there I asked if there was anything in particular that they needed more than anything else and was told that they need everything. However there is a greater need for larger size diapers, wipes and trashbags. If you have anything that you wish to donate in the future, I'll gladly take it over next time I go :-).

-E

FREE BODY BUTTER!!!!!!!

2008-10-23T14:03:00.002-04:00

Spontaneous sale allert!!!!!!

Now through Monday (10/28) order $20 or more and get a free large body butter (this doesn't include vitamin e or baby body butter), but it does include the body butter trio gift sets!

Every so often the Body Shop does unanounced sales like this and this one is the best one that they've ever done! I just wish I would have known sooner, I had 2 people order yesterday that weren't able to take advantage because they didn't tell us until today.

This offer is over on Monday so act soon if you want to take advantage! Start your Christmas shopping now and get an extra gift for free.

Want to hear something even cooler? I did a party on Tuesday, the host decided to hold it open to get some extra orders. I always advise against this because from time to time things go out of stock, and then your guests miss out on stuff that they wanted. However, this time it worked to her advantage because just about all of her guests are getting free body butter! How cool is that. I can't wait until she gets off of work so that I can suprise her with the news!

-E

Bingo was a success!!

2008-10-22T12:25:00.002-04:00

Body Shop Bingo was a success!

We had about 45 people there, raised over $200 for the Milagro House and got a ton of "stuff" donations as well!
How cool is that?! I'm glad it was so successful. I was concerned that we would lose money on it, and would have been excited to just break even, but to actually make some cash for them is awesome! And you should see the "stuff" donations we got for them: shampoo, razors, maxi pads, body wash, tissues, all the stuff that you use on a daily basis and don't give much thought to... unless you don't have the money for it.

Everyone had a great time!

One my favorite things that we did, (besides giving away stuff) was being able to re-use the packing material that the Body Shop uses in it's shippments. The Body Shop has recently switched from using those air filled bubbles to using brown paper as packing material in it's shippments. We took the brown paper, flattened it out and used it as the table covers. We put packs of crayons at each table and our guests got to write on the tables. So not only did we get to reuse something but we got our creative juices flowing too :-)

So far, I've gotten nothing but positive feedback on Bingo, so it looks like there'll be another one in the spring!

-E

October specials!

2008-10-02T16:06:00.002-04:00

October is outrageous with The Body Shop at Home!

Ok, first things first - BODY SHOP BINGO!!!!!!!! October 12th, at the Neffsville fire hall, Lititz PA. Doors open at 1:30, game starts at 2.
It's $10 a person to get in, with a $1 discount for each guest you bring. Bring 10 guests, get in for free!!Admission includes 10 rounds of bingo (playing for awesome Body Shop prizes), snacks provided by Tricia Myers and Beth McCorkel independent TASTEFULLY SIMPLE consultants and door prize drawings (bring personal care items to donate to the milagro house women's shelter for more tickets)
There will be a special 11th black out game for the grand prize (and it really is a GRAND prize. It's valued at over $150!!!)
There will also be grab bags available where you will get at least $25 worth of products for only $20And guess what, it gets even better, we will also be having a sneak preview of our new holdiay products!!!!!
You get to smell and try the new products before just about everyone else.
Body Shop Bingo is going to be a blast, you won't want to miss this!
Oh yeah, I almost forgot the most important part, all the profits are being donated to the Milagro House women's shelter (http://www.milagrohouse.org/)

Host a Girls' Night Out with The Body Shop at Home in October and earn a set of our award winning makeup brushes and a beautiful roll to keep them in. With their recycled plastic handle and super soft synthetic bristles, our brushes are not only great for applying makeup, but great for our planet too! This set coupled with our newly expanded host program gets our average hostess well over $100 worth of free products for hosting a Girls' Night Out. You invite your friends, I do everything else, it's really that simple!

October also has some fabulous deals for everyone!
*Buy any mineral makeup and get the brush for half off! You definitly need the brush to get the most out of the mineral makeup, and what better time to get it than when it's on sale!
*Gift with Purchase!!! Spend $70 or more and get an awesome makeup bag filled with mini sizes of some of our "new favorite" goodies for free!. There is a picture of this awesome bag in the "second" email that you'll be getting.
*30% off Men's collections! All of our men's collections are 30% off, which is a great excuse to introduce some new grooming products to the man in your life. The shaving cream is awesome, he'll love the close shave that it gives and you'll love how smooth it leaves him.

October also brings with it our new *Holiday/Winter* catalog!!!!!!The new catalog is fabulous! There are 4 limited edition holiday scents, sparkley makeup, heatable wraps, a ton of great gifts, new men's products, awesome holiday accessories and much more! Want to see the new catalog? Want to smell the new holiday scents? Come to Body Shop Bingo, book a Girls' Night Out or call me to arrainge a one on one sampler! I can't wait to share all of this new fabulousness with you

Need some extra Holiday cash?With the Holidays coming, now is a great time to become a consultant with The Body Shop at Home. Imagine not only getting to go a whole bunch of holiday parties, but getting paid to do it! Right now you can get our deluxe starter kit for just $220 (it's worth over $600!). Not only that, but when you sign up, you also get a bonus kit of holiday products worth $60 for free!!!!! Let me know if you'd like more information, I'll gladly answer any questions you have.

Thanks for reading and have a fabulous day!

-Emily

what to get, what to get....

2008-09-23T21:00:00.002-04:00

I'm looking at what to get for samples for my holiday parties and I'm looking for your input.

We have 4 limited edition fragrances coming out for the holidays: Warm Amber, Rich Plum, Vanilla Spice and Cranberry. Thanks to the generosity of The Body Shop, I have all of the Amber and Plum products that I could need. I also have cranberry shimmer lotion, so I don't need anything cranberry (cranberry is kind of self explanitory anyway). So now the big question is what do I get in Vanilla Spice? Do I get the shimmer lotion that people can try on and wear? Or do I get the new vanilla spice bath tea bags which are very new and very neat looking? Or maybe the wrapped soap? It's very pretty and you can smell it through it's pretty wrapper.

My next decision is the body wrap. I got one last year and it totally paid for itself with all of wraps that I sold because I had one to show. Do I get the cranberry, or the amber scented one? The amber is a new scent and people might want to know what it smells like, on the other hand, I can pretty much say that cranberry will be around next year so I won't have to buy another one next year. We may not see sweet amber ever again after December. What are your thoughts? By the way, if you're wondering what happened to last years wrap, I sold it. They were so popular that they sold out quickly and I sold my demo model to a customer. It was lavender anyway, which is a scent that we aren't carrying this year.

Next is makeup. It's all so pretty. I want to get one of each, especially the glitter eye liner. I might just end up spending all of my profits on glitter eye liner, it's truly fabulous. We also have 2 eyeshadow palettes: golds & greens and blues & pinks. They're really cool, you get 5 eye colors and a brush in a long compact with a mirror for $24.50, which is great since single eye colors are normally $12 each and here you are getting 5 for about the price of 2.
Of course there are 2 awesome looking sparkle lip glosses and a sparkle roller which will glitter you anywhere you want. I just want one of each, it's all so pretty, like sparkley candy. So, are you interested in holiday makeup at all? Would you be more inclined to buy it if I had it in hand to show you?

As far as oil burners go, I'm getting the climbing berries burner and the cranberry home fragrance oil thanks to The Body Shop and my products and perks discount :-).

I really can not wait to share everything with you guys. The holiday catalog really is awesome!
-E

B-I-N-G-O and bingo was his name-o!

2008-09-23T20:18:00.002-04:00

Body Shop Bingo, kinda just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

I'm (and some other consultants, but mostly me) putting together Body Shop Bingo in less than 3 weeks!
I've got it all planned out -
We've got a room that is only costing us $40 an hour, and has a small gaming license, which are our 2 qualifications, cheap and legal.
I got a bunch of prizes to give away, I have some things to sell as "grab bags"- at least $25 worth of stuff for only $20. It's mostly discontinued stuff that I got cheap and products that I got for free that I didn't need.
I've got stuff to give away as door prizes. I found a bingo cage to borrow. I got my local tastefully simple reps to provide food.
All I need now is to get the butts in the seats. That's the part that's going to get me. I can plan everything else out and have it all in place and ready to go, but I can't make people come.
By putting this together I am taking a risk, and I have never been a huge risk taker, I'm all about playing it safe. I could lose my shirt on this or I could make quite a bit of money on this venture, it all depends on if people like The Body Shop enough to come an play bingo to win the products.
On the up side, I'm not looking to make money from this. All profits taken in from this will be donated to the Milagro house. The point of this is basically to get people to a open house without knowing that they are going to an open house. Besides just having the prizes, I will have a display of some of our new holiday products, including October's host bonus (insert devious smiler here). My ultimate hope from this is to get some bookings and some sales from this shindig.

So cross your fingers and if you aren't busy on October 12th, come play bingo with me.

It's been too long!

2008-09-10T20:31:00.002-04:00

Oy- it's been way too long since I've posted to this blog!
To you the blog reader, I am sorry. It would be one thing if there was nothing blog worthy, but that's just it, there is much that is blog worthy!
So, let's start where I left you: right before I left for The Body Shop at Home national conference.

Let me just say, it was awesome. First off it was in Reno, NV. I have never been any further west than St. Louis, MO, the city of my birth. So venturing into the Pacific time zone was just the beginning of my adventure. I'm definitly glad that I had a window seat for the flight in. We flew over the great salt lake, which was really neat looking from the sky. And as we flew over the rocky mountains, one word immediately popped into my head - crinkely.
Anyway, did I tell you that Reno is in the middle of a desert? It's hot, like Africa hot. Not like hot here. When it's 98 here you feel like you are drowning in your own sweat. When it's 98 there it doesn't feel like it's 98, instead it feels like you are slowly drying out from the outside in. It's weird.
Fortunately there wasn't much reason for me to go outside. Our convention was held in a most excellent resort/hotel/casino. This resort was home to numerous restaurants, a casino, a wine tasting room, a mini mall, lots of conference rooms and of course, a starbucks.

So, after getting dinner at Johnny rockets, playing some penny slots, and getting a good night's sleep, I checked into conference.
Right from the get go there was free stuff! When you check in (and might I say, I was checked in by a very cute young man with a lovely English accent) you get a badge with your name and where you're from, a pile of ribbons to attach to your badge which let everyone know what you've accomplished in the past 8 months (I only had 4 ribbons lots of people had less, and a few had ribbons hanging down to the floor), a lanyard to hang your ribbons from, a "program" and a tote bag. And if that wasn't enough, when I opened my tote bag to put my program in, there were 2 brand new products staring up at me saying "I'm yours".

Conference primarily consisted of 2 main things, open session and training. During open session there was a lot of recoignition, (your's truly got to walk across the stage twice) lots of announcements, and lots of give aways! It was like the Oprah show, but bigger. It would usually go something like this: "blah, blah, blah and oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, you're getting it for free!" Then 750 women's worth of screaming would ensue and people would run out from backstage and drop bags of products at each table. It was as they say "controlled chaos".
It was awesome. The training was great, I got some great info about our new holiday products, I got some great new ideas, and got to put faces (and personalities ) to all the names that I keep hearing. Even though I had very little personally in common with most of the people there, we all shared the same passion for The Body Shop and its core values.

So I took a lot away from conference. I made lots of new friends, got lots of great ideas, got a ton of free products, got an awesome sneak peek of our holiday products and promotions, and feel totally refreshed and ready to spread body butter all over the world!

-E

Today, I am fabulous!

2008-08-08T15:21:00.002-04:00

Recently, I wrote about how I was having one of those days. Well, as not-so-great as that one was, this one is fabulous!

Today started with the boy sleeping until 8 am! This is almost unheard of in our house. If He sleeps until 7, I consider myself lucky.
After taking a shower and dressing a well rested boy, I decided to try on my new dress for The Body Shop at Home national convention. This isn't just any dress. I got this dress for $10 (originally $60) at NY and Co. It is a very cute dress. I normally wouldn't even look twice at the clothing at NY and Co., because they are an "average size" store, and I am definitly not an "average size" person. However, while on a trip to the mall, The Makeup Goddess let me in on a little known fact - NY and Co. started carrying plus sized clothing! You should have seen all the twiggy women I pushed out of the way to get to the sale rack! I was so excited when I found this dress on the sale rack for only $10, not only that but it fit! Just barely, but it fit. So imagine my pleasant suprise when I tried it on again today and it fit better than when I bought it! Oh happy day! I can't wait to wear it at the convention, I will look fabulous.

After breakfast, the boy and I took some donations over to the Milagro house. We were able to get a whole butt load of school supplies for less than $15 (thank you walmart and staples). I mean really, it's tough enough to be the homeless kid, but to also be the kid that had to come to school with out any school supplies? That sucks. So we took our donations over, and not only did we find our way there without a problem, but we also got a great parking space! Milagro house is in Lancaster City, a place that I am not only unfamiliar with, but not exactly comfortable driving in either.

We ran some other errands and then came home. The boy decided that he was hungry and ate 2 plates of leftovers! Yay! Then, miracle of miracles happened - The boy fell asleep at nap time! Will wonders ever cease? You know what that means? I was actually able to get things done! My list of things to do got shorter instead of longer! I was able to make my work phone calls (with much success I might add) without someone interrupting me every 10 seconds.

This has really been a fabulous day so far. I think I am going to continue in the fabulocity (is that a word) and go do some laundry.

-E

Ever have one of those days?

2008-08-06T20:52:00.003-04:00

Yesterday was one of those days.... You know the kind. Nothing goes right, nothing gets done and everything just all around sucks. I haven't had one of those days in a long time. I whole heartedly believe that you and your attitude bring on those days and you are solely responsible for keeping them from happening.
So, in the spirit of making it a mild one of those days, I decided to find positives in everything, and thus making it a less bad one of those days.
So, when Nate's car had to be in the shop, leaving Teddy and I without a vehicle I decided that we needed to go for a walk, thus getting us some much needed exercise :-).
When I had trouble finding a room for my best friend's sister's out of town wedding, I was thankful when I did find a room and at a cheaper rate than the group rate at the "prefered" hotel.
When Nate told me that his car repair was going to cost close to $1000, instead of getting upset, I was thankful that we have the money in savings to pay for it and decided to put it on the credit card for now so that at least we get the credit card points for it :-) .

When one of my team members called me and asked if she could buy my last pack of catalogs, I wasn't upset that I had to pay for 2 day shipping in order to get more here in time for my next party, I was happy that she called me. I haven't heard from her in a while and am quite happy that she asked me for help :-) .

When the propane ran out while I was grilling dinner, I didn't get upset I was happy that it ran out just as dinner was done cooking :-) .
I think honestly, the part of yesterday that was the worst was the fact that a certain little boy was begging for my attention every second of the day. He did get lots of mommy time, but I think he sensed the fact that I was a little more stressed than usual and therefore had to be right on me all day. But there are worse people to be on you all day :-) .

I guess I really didn't have one of those days, it was more like a "it didn't go as planned, but at least it went" day.

It's all about attitude. Take one of those days and make it a not quite as planned day. Do that enough and you'll find that there'll be a lot less of those days happening.

sneak peek of new things to come...

2008-07-10T16:12:00.003-04:00

I just got my first glimpse of the new things coming from The Body Shop at Home and all I can say is "wow!, I mean really, wow!"
I thought we would just be getting some new baby and well being products, boy was I wrong!
We've got some awesome baby accessories, core products, seasonal makeup, and some fabulous products that are exclusive to the Body Shop at Home!

*The baby accessories look awesome. There's a hooded towel, a wash cloth, hair brush, and a super soft sponge that's specially shaped to clean all those pudgy folds. I am so excited to experience the baby products and accessories first hand. I wish I knew someone who was pregnant, I am totally excited to give these products as a present!

*Almond is back and exclusive to the Body Shop at Home. Almond rocks, you asked for it back, you got it! Yay for The Body Shop at Home customers for knowing and speaking their mind!

*coconut shimmer body butter! It's thick, it's full of coconutey (is that a word?) goodness and it's shimmery. I have a few samples, let me know if you want to try it. It's really neat stuff.

*a new core shimmer cube, and a new seasonal shimmer cube. Have I told you how much I love shimmer cubes? Not only do the 4 shimmery colors appeal to my girly side, but getting 4 eye shadows for $22 totally appeals to my cheap side.

*eye, lip and cheek palette - this is an awesome compact which holds 2 lip colors, a mascara, 4 eye colors and a cheek color. It's great for travel or to keep in a gym bag or in your desk. You really have to see this to truly appreciate how cool and cute it is.

*a new french manicure set, which I'm sure you'll love.

*more free stuff for hosts - in addition to our already generous host program, there is new free stuff at the $300, $500 and $1000. I'm quite excited about this, because as you know, I'm all about free stuff :-)

*white musk intrigue - a new form of white musk (which is our biggest selling fragrance worldwide). I'm really looking forward to smelling this. I loved the white musk blush, I have high hopes for this.

*wise woman hand cream. I'm totally looking forward to trying this. The wise woman line is awesome, and I think this will be a great compliment to the line

*new Stop The Violence lip care stick. It's a new lip care stick, and it's packaged in a two pack - one for you, and one to share with a friend. The "sharing" aspect of this product is to help emphasize the importance of friendship for victims of domestic violence.

There is so much more in store for our August/September catalog, that I can't share it all with you here.
Want to experience the new products and catalog? Give me a call or shoot me an email, let's schedule a Girls' Night Out. I will be at our National conference from Aug 13th to 17th. Call me now to schedule a date for right after conference. I will be getting more than $200 in free products at conference and am so excited to share them with you.

hmm..... do you think I'm excited?

Free for me is good for you!

2008-07-01T15:23:00.002-04:00

If I haven't given you enough reasons why I love being a consultant for the Body Shop at Home, here's one more: Free new products.

This month, the Body Shop at Home is giving out free brand-new-never-sold-before-products to us consultants based on how much we sell this month. Free stuff starts at $350 in sales and maxes out a $2800.
Of course, my personal goal is to sell $2800 and get a butt load of free stuff.

If you've read the title of this blog, you're probably wondering why "free for me is good for you". Well, if I can get new products for free then I will a) be able to give you my honest opinion of them and b) I will be able to share them with you. And with over $200 in new products that I am able to earn, there's no way I could afford to buy them all.

I mean really, with names like total energy pulse point balm, deep sleep dreamy pillow and body mist and buriti baby body butter, it really makes you want to try them and see what their all about!

So, here's what I've got to help me out with getting $2800 in sales: July's hosts can pick either a set of our back-by-popular demand almond products, or our all about eyes collection when they host a Girls' Night Out with average sales.
Also in July, anyone who spends $40 or more can get our awesome orange beach bag with a full size peppermint foot lotion and peppermint foot soak for $10 (a $52 value!!!). I have one of these bags, and let me tell you, it's the perfect size for the pool. All of my and my son's stuff fits in it perfectly.

So, look at my web site, and contact me. Buy some stuff from me now and I will have new stuff to show you next month! Because free for me really is good for you!

What would you do with 7500 pounds sterling...

2008-06-30T15:36:00.003-04:00

Awhile back the body shop foundation sent an email out to all of us consultants asking for nominations for their '08 grants.

If you've never heard of the body shop foundation, they are the charity that was set up by the body shop to provide grants to non-profits that work in the areas of human and civil rights and environmental and animal protection.
It's the body shops way of consolidating all of their charitable donations and doing the most good with their money.

Every year they choose which specific areas that they would like to fund. This year they were looking for groups in the following areas:
• GREEN LIVING - Education & implementation of green living
• ANIMAL ABUSE
• EMPOWERING WOMEN AND CHILDREN – sustainable programs that provide skills training for disadvantaged women and young people.
When I saw this, the first thing that came to mind was "I bet the Milagro house would qualify for that grant".
So, I followed the link in the email that led to an online nomination form. I took 5 minutes out of my busy day and filled it out.
Unfortunately, it's more complicated than just fill out a form and they get mailed a check.
First they had to be nominated, 5 minutes and I had that done easy-peasy.
Next all the nominees had to be reviewed, and then a select few would be invited to apply for a grant. That part took a few weeks, but after it was said and done, they were one of the lucky few that was invited to apply!!!!
Then more waiting, a few months this time. Would they get it? Would there be a more worthy cause? Did they apply when invited? I was on pins and needles waiting. I mean really, this is a world wide organization with so many wonderful causes asking for money, what are the odds that a little local place that I nominated would get a grant?

All I have to say, is that it was worth the wait! I just found out that the Milagro House was one of the grant winners this year!!!!! They got 7,500 pounds sterling, which comes out to about 15 thousand dollars! How cool is that? Imagine what they can do with that money. They are always in need of "stuff" donations, but money is really what they can use the most, because unfortunately you can't pay the electric bill with used clothing donations :-).

I wanted to tell you about this not to get a pat on the back or your praise, but to show you how just a few minutes of your time can make a big difference to someone else. It literally took me 5 minutes to fill out the nomination form. That 5 minutes got some people in need some much needed funding. Did I have $15000 to give? No way. Did I have 5 minutes? Heck yeah!

"If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito"
-Dame Anita Roddick

2008-06-16T10:10:00.003-04:00

International orders

2008-06-15T21:17:00.004-04:00

I just got a comment from a customer who inquired about international ordering. If you would like to order and live outside of the U.S., please visit my web site and order through there with your credit card.

My web site is listed directly to the left of this posting. Click on "my web site" and you'll be taken there.

Thanks a bunch!

-E

Full list of sale items!

2008-06-10T21:49:00.003-04:00

Hi-
For your convenience, I am listing a full list of the items that are on sale for the month of June!
Let me know if you have any questions! This is a list of products only, feel free to check out my web site or contact me for prices.
www.thebodyshopathome.com/web/ebowman

-E
Apple Blossom EDT
Pomegranate:
-Body Butter
-Body Polish
-Body Lotion
-shower gel
-body spray
Ginger
-bath cream
-shower gel
-scrub
-body souffle
Green tea shower gel
Jasmine tea shower gel
Chamomile and white tea shower cream
Blueberry body butter
Hemp Hand scrub (one of my personal favs!!)
Satsuma foaming bath
Strawberry foaming bath
Mango shower gel (in the BIG size)
Coconut shower cream (in the BIG size)
The whole moisture white line
The whole grapeseed line

The following product collections:
Aqua lily
Casis Rose
Neroli Jasmine
White Musk
Peppermint foot
Almond Hand
All Hair collections
Home fragrance haven collection
summer scents home fragrance collection

Everything on this list is 30% off of it's original price!!!!! This means that you can get some awesome limited edition body butters for less than $15!
If you like grapeseed or moisture white, now's the time to stock up!
Want to try our shampoos? Now's a great time to do so!

Questions? Let me know, I have many answers, most of them are correct too!

They really do listen!

2008-06-10T14:27:00.002-04:00

Ever give up on complaining about something because you think no one listens? We'll I just found out that the Body Shop really does listen to what it's customers think!

Let me take you back a couple of months.... It was February, spring was starting to spring, birds were starting to sing, and The Body Shop at Home had just put out a new catalog. It was a great catalog, it had new makeup, new home fragrances, and a new fragrance. But something was missing... Almond! In order to make room for the new Moringa,(which btw is fabulous) The Body Shop decided to discontinue it's Almond body line, much to the dismay of many.

Well you, the loyal body shop customers (and almond lovers) spoke up! And you were heard. The body shop is bringing Almond back! Starting in August, we will have Almond back for good.
Kudos to you for being heard!

2 host bonuses?!? and a sale??? How cool is that?

2008-06-09T16:31:00.002-04:00

Ok, so The Body Shop, in it's continued effort to make us beg for more and give it to us, has a double host bonus this month as well as a sale!

First, the host bonus- have a $350 party, (which is average and totally attainable) and get a shower gel in either satsuma or strawberry and a lotion in either satsuma or strawberry AND and electric oil burner AND a home fragrance oil of your choice. Cool host bonus, great products, very summery. They could have left it at this and all would have been right with the world, but being The Body Shop and being awesome, they took it a step further.

Have a $400 party and get all of the $350 stuff, plus a peppermint foot lotion, a peppermint foot soak, and an awesome beach/pool tote bag. Earn both, and you've gotten $115 worth of stuff for FREE! How cool is that?

What could make this deal even better? How about a sale for your customers? We've got grapeseed, moisture white, limited edition and select product collections all for 30% off.

Can they make this month any better? Actually, they can!

Sign up to become a consultant and not only is your start up kit only $150, but you have the opportunity to earn part or all of that money back plus brand new free products that you can't even buy yet! This is on top of our usual consultant promotions and any money that you would normally earn by being a consultant.
I really wish that they had this promotion when I signed up. I would have totally gotten the hook up!

-E

Mother's day a.k.a do I really need a present?

2008-05-09T15:02:00.003-04:00

As he usually does for any gift giving occasion, my husband recently asked me what I wanted for Mother's day. For once in my life, I really couldn't think of any material thing that I "wanted". I honestly couldn't think of anything that I "needed" either. Then I got to thinking how awesome this was. I don't want or need for anything! I have everything I need and am perfectly content with everything I have. I have a loving husband and son, a great network of supporting friends and family, a house, a reliable vehicle, I have a part time that I LOVE, what more could a girl ask for?

Knowing that my husband would not be satisfied with getting me "nothing", I started thinking about what he could do with my mother's day money. It took a few minutes, but I thought of something. I asked him to make a donation to www.love146.org in my name.

If you've never heard of www.love146.org don't feel bad, not many have and for the simple reason that not many want to. Love146 is an organization that works to protect future and former child sex slaves. Yes, this is a real issue. In the time you've taken to read this blog, 2 more little girls have started new lives in a brothel, servicing as many as 40 customers a day.
You have proabably never heard of love 146 because we don't want to. We don't want to look at our children and think that somewhere else in the world other mother's children, much like our own, are living and working in brothels.

Please don't read this blog and think that I'm putting myself on a pedestal and saying "look how great I am, I gave my mother's day gift to charity". That's not my point, my whole point is, be thankful for what you have. Be thankful that your children are safe and loved. Be thankful for your mother's day gifts, whether it be a day at the spa or a macaroni necklace. Be thankful if you don't want or need for anything. Be thankful if you are able to give away your mother's day gift.

If you would like to know more about love 146, check out www.love146.org , or watch this movie:

reflections on quarter auctions

2008-04-29T14:44:00.002-04:00

So, I participated in my first quarter auction on Friday. I think it went pretty well. I'm very excited about the next one which is this coming Saturday. I did learn a few things from the first quarter auction which I will gladly share with you!

1. You have to get people to come. We only had about 80 people show up, which isn't bad since this is a new thing in this area, but we need to work harder to get the butts in the seats next time.

2. People like my stuff better than some other cosmetic companies products :-). There were two other cosmetic companies there and there were a lot more "no bids" on their products than on mine

3. have designated "door people" lined up before the auction.

4. quarter auctions can run long, schedule them for a weekend instead of a week night

5. guests of other cosmetic company reps. usually don't want to sign up for my drawing

6. make sure to keep your guest filled with quarters, if they have quarters, they will bid.

All in all though, it was a lot of fun and I'd gladly do it again! And I am, this coming Saturday! I have some awesome gift sets up for auction, and I'm the only "bath and body" person there!

-E

Music thingy, yes or no?

2008-04-29T14:36:00.002-04:00

So, as I'm sure you've noticed by now, I added a music playlist to this blog. What do you think? I think it adds something, don't you?
I put some of my personal favorite "empowerment" songs on here. These are songs that make me feel good about being me, and that remind me that I'm "not alone" in the things that I feel and experience.
The title of this blog actually came from one of these songs. Check out "get out the map" by the indigo girls, it's a good one.

If you know of a song that you think is missing from my play list, I'm totally open to suggestions :-)

Until next time remember "my worth is not determined by the price of my clothes"

-E

Anyway

2008-04-22T18:56:00.002-04:00

I was talking to a an aquantance the other day, and our conversation reminded me of this poem.
Mother Teresa had written this poem on the wall of her home. Whenever I encounter this type of negativity, I read this poem and it helps me to feel better. I hope in times of insecurity it helps you too.

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

Another for a mother

2008-04-03T16:14:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, long time no blog, don't worry, everything is under control here, just a little more hectic than usual. Nothing that I can't handle :-).

Any way, I'm sure by now you know about all of the awesome things that The body shop does for women world wide. We help women in developing countries to make a fair honest living through our community trade programs, we help victems of domestic violence in the US through our stop the violence in the home campaign, and in the UK we help survivors of sex trafficking through our trafficking is tourture program.
Well, now it's time to help some local women! We are running a promotion for the month of April called "Another for a mother". We have reduced the price of 6 of our bars of soap to $2 each (normally $3.50) provided that you buy them to donate to a womens shelter. I'm taking this one step further and am offering 20% off of anything else that you want to buy to donate. I will be collecting orders all month for products to be donated and in the beginning of May will be taking the products to the Milagro house in Lancaster just in time for Mother's day. www.milagrohouse.org .
If you aren't familiar with The Milagro House, check out the web site. It's a shelter for homeless women and their children, but it's much more than just a shelter. Milagro house is not a "hand out" or just a place to sleep. These women have to work to make a better life for themselves and their children while living there. They work towards getting a GED or job skills, they take parenting classes, and their children learn what it's like to have a stable, "normal" home environment. That's why I chose to donate the products that I collect to the milagro house.

Think about a time when you had very little money. Think about a time when you bought something for your child instead of buying for yourself because you only had money to pay for something they need and not something that you want. Think about how nice it would feel to give another mother experiencing that exact situation a little something nice just for her. For only $2 you can do just that.

So, don't be suprized this month when I ask you to add a bar of soap for a stranger to your order.

-Emily

Sister, can you spare a quarter?

2008-03-18T15:21:00.002-04:00

Ever been to a quarter auction? Want to go to one? Want to know what the heck I'm talking about?
A quarter auction is kind of like a mix between bingo and an auction.
You are "bidding" on items like an auction, but it is sheer luck whether you win or not, like bingo.

A bunch of other direct sales consultants and myself and I are putting together a quarter auction, and we are having some fabulous prizes up for bid. As of right now, at least 15 of our items will be worth at least $50! How awesome would it be to win $50 of TBS stuff for .75? Or Tastefully simple, or pampered chef? As of right now, we have about 15 vendors, and are looking to have 20 total.

It's on April 25th at the Elizabethtown Moose lodge. Tickets are $15, but you get $10 in quarters at the door, and $2 goes to the Milagro house in Lancaster, www.milagrohouse.org

The local boy scout troop will be selling refreshments and some of the vendors will have cash and carry items available as well.

Let me know if you want to come or would like more details. Space is limited, first come first served.

-E

Things that make me feel good.

2008-03-07T20:36:00.004-05:00

Things that inspire me and remind me that I am fabulous and can do anything:

1. The movie "what the bleep, down the rabbit hole"
2. my poster of "ruby"
3. being secure in the fact that I can make my son giggle like a fiend with just one finger
4. all of the awesome ladies that I have met in the last year
5. all the free stuff that TBS keeps giving me
6. my wonderful husband
7. the web site www.youarenotcrazy.com
8. the poem "anyway" by mother Teresa
9. the people who run www.love146.org
10. Anita Roddick
11. Towanda!
12. This video -

It's here, it's free, and it's all mine....

2008-03-05T15:45:00.002-05:00

I just got my $100 in free stuff from the 6 month 2-4-8 challenge, and I have a few comments to make.
1. the mosaic oil burner- it's off white, and it's actually metal. I wasn't sure from the picture. It's very pretty, and it would go really well in my friend Tere's mom's house. It almost has a bit of a victorian feel to it.

2. the sail boat home fragrance oil does NOT smell like a sail boat. It's a very clean smell, similar to oceanus but different. I would call sailboat and oceanus cousins.

3. Aqua lily (one of our new summer fragrances) is *very* reminisicent of marinis. Only it's a little softer. Does anyone besides me remember marinis? I loved marinis, I think I'm going to love aqua lily too.

4. White petals home fragrance oil smells like leap. Does anyone remember leap either? I liked leap, I wish they would bring it back. I think that everyone should buy lots of white petals and then suggest that they make a whole line of white petals products and not just the home fragrance oil.

You may be wondering what I'm going to do with this assortment of brand spankin' new body shop products. I have 2 words for you: quarter auction.

-E

I just flew in from Millersville...and boy are my arms tired!

2008-02-28T14:35:00.003-05:00

Last night my buddy, Linda and I participated in a Spa Night at Millersville University.
Basically what it was, was the Women's empowerment group sponsored a free spa night for the students in the student center.
They had refreshments, a make your own facial mask station where you could make a face mask to take home with a banana, honey, and a few other ingredients, a manicure station where they had nail polish and other cool stuff set up, a massage therapist there giving chair massages, *another direct sales cosmetic company* doing makeup, and (in my opinion the best part) two fabulous consultants from the Body Shop at home doing hand massages.
I had a really great time. I met so many awesome young women (and a couple of young men). Besides the hand massages, we also had some products for sale, and we held a free drawing for a very cute gift set.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any sales last night, and I have a very sore back and shoulders from rubbing over 100 hands. But, I did get some great leads from the drawing slips, and I met a very lovely senior from NJ who is interested in becoming a consultant.
I had a lot of fun, and I would definilty do this again. I will file this experience under my "seeds" file. I did not get immediate benefit like you do by going to the produce stand, but I will get some delayed benefit like you do by planting a seed. I like planting seeds, they always bloom when you least expect it.

I also want to publicly thank Kristin for giving me this lead, Blaire Spooner for contacting The Body Shop at Home about participating and Linda Eckman for coming with me and being my partner in crime.

If I had a hundred dollars.....

2008-02-26T21:45:00.002-05:00

Have I told you lately how much I love The Body Shop?
This company is so awesome, they give us consultants so much, and they still think that they haven't done enough for us.
Case in point: the 6 month 2-4-8 challenge.
If we as consultants averaged $700, $1400, or $2800 in sales over the past 6 months, they promised us $100, $250, or $500 in FREE new products.
Yours truly averaged $700 (actually, it was closer to $1100, but there was no $1100 level)
So, after much waiting, and anticipating and salivating (it's free stuff, I get a little excited), the Body Shop gave us some good and bad news. We would get to PICK which free products we wanted, BUT it would be from a list of old products, many of which are not in this catalog.
I was upset, I was dissapointed, and yet, I could empathize.
It seems that The Body Shop has been having some supplier issues, and in order to be able to have enough products for us to sell, they had to offer us "old" products. So, totally not their fault, I was annoyed, but things happen. I am not one to take free stuff for granted. I'm happy for any product for free, old or new.
However, the Body Shop, in their continued efforts to do as much as they can for us consultants, came out with an additional list of free products to chose from!
They scrounged, but they came up with some awesome products for us to chose from. They offered us some awesome business tools, as well as some new products from the SUMMER catalog! Very exciting! I can't wait to smell "aqua lily", it's one of the new for summer products that I am getting for free!
I love the Body Shop, even when they mess up it's still all good!
-Emily

Moringa, is there anything it can't do?

2008-02-20T09:37:00.002-05:00

With the new catalog came new products. One of them being a new line of core products called Moringa. What? You've never heard of a moringa? Don't feel bad, I had never heard of it before either. So, being the intelligent, curious person that I am, I went to google, and found out what moringa is.
The short answer is: the moringa is a tree with fragrant flowers.
The long answer is: the moringa is a tree with fragrant flowers that will save the world.
Let me 'splain. The moringa tree is native to India, but can be grown anywhere there is a tropical climate, is drought resistant, and grows quickly.
Every part of the moringa tree can be eaten. Why would you want to eat a moringa tree you ask? Because it's good for you! Really good for you.
Moringa leaves have
7x the vitamin c as oranges
4x the calcium in milk
4x the vitamin a as carrots
2x the protein in milk
3x the potassium in bananas
All of these things are essential to healthy human beings.
For us it's easy to get enough essential vitamins, minerals and protein, but for people in developing countries, it can be very expensive.
Moringa has also been found to help nursing mothers increase their milk supply, and has shown to greatly benefit children suffering from malnutrition. Moringa is also used in africa as a nutritional supplement for HIV/AIDS patients.
The seeds can be pressed to make an oil that is used in cooking, lubrication, and cosmetics.
And if all that wasn't a good enough reason to like moringa, the "leftovers" from pressing the oil out of the seeds can be used in water purification! The moringa replaces much more expensive chemicals used in the purification process, which makes purifying water much more affordable to poorer countries.
So, because of the Body Shop, you can have a bit of this wonder tree for yourself. We have a whole line of moringa products: body butter, scrub, lotion, soap, etc. I like it, it's a light floral scent, similar to honeysuckle. And, moringa is now on the list of mini body butter that you can get for free for hosting a Girls' nite out with the body shop at home!

-Emily

trafficking is torture

2008-02-12T15:18:00.001-05:00

I found this video online today. If you are looking for a good reason to buy more body shop products, watch this video and you'll see one heck of one. Emma Thompson stars in this video, and it helps put a face to "defend human rights". This is just one of the many causes that we support 365 days a year.
*warning this video is graphic and is not suitable for all viewers*

If you think that this video is difficult to watch, keep this in mind: This same thing also happens to thousands of little girls every day.
By doing simple things like buying Body Shop products, you are helping to prevent things like human trafficking from happening.

-Emily

What are you ( and your vagina) doing this weekend?

2008-02-11T17:06:00.000-05:00

This Friday and Saturday evenings the momentum theater project are putting on a production of the Vagina Monologues. You should go see it. Not only is it a very cool play, but it's being put on for a good cause.
All the money from the ticket sales and the silent auction (yes, there will be cool things to buy) will be donated to the domestic violence intervention of lebanon county.
Not only that, but your favorite body shop at home consultant will be there on saturday night giving hand massages for donations. The donations of course going to the DVIOLC.

Check out their web site for all the details.
http://momentumtheatreproject.googlepages.com/

I'd love to see you there!
-Emily

product review: cherry pie home fragrance oil

2008-02-06T07:45:00.000-05:00

On Monday I went to our monthly regional sales meeting. This is the first meeting that we've had since the leaders got back from the leader retreat, so of course there was lots of great new things to be shared. One of the leaders was gracious enough to bring with her all of the free products that she got at leader retreat to show us. On a side note, they really hooked them up with the freebies.

Anyway, one of the new products that she brought with her was the cherry pie home fragrance oil. Upon seeing the name, my first thought is that it would just smell like cherries, and they just came up with a cutsie name like "cherry pie". Boy was I wrong! It actually smells like cherry pie. I don't know how they did it, but they got the smell of crust in there as well as cherries. Now, I only smelled it in the bottle. I can only imagine how great it'll smell warmed up.
Definitly a must have for those who love the smell of something baking in the oven.

-Emily

You know the old axom...

2008-02-01T10:21:00.000-05:00

My poor husband. Sometimes, the nice guy doesn't always win.
Nate has an axom. It's like a PDA, but better. According to my husband (and the Dell website) It's a handheld computer. Sounds snooty, doesn't it?
Anyway, a few years back Nate saved his birthday and Christmas money, and after much debating, bought himself this almost $400 hand held computer. When he got it, it was like he was in love all over again. It went everywhere with him. He played music on it, he kept track of his daily appointments on it, he even put the grocery list on it. It was like his own personal secretary that fit in the palm of his hand.

Until Sunday. On Sunday, while pulling it out of his pocket at Giant to look at his grocery list, he fumbled and it fell to the floor. Thunk! His poor baby had 2 cracks running the entire length of the touch screen rendering it useless. You would have thought that someone had just cut off Nate's arm. The rest of the day he was in mourning.

Oddly, enough the Body Shop is coming to the rescue. How odd is that? They started a promotion today where if you can get 3 recruits by the end of April you get an ipod, for 6 you get a palm, and for 9 you get a GPS.

I really want to get that palm for Nate. He's such a good guy.
I already have one recruit in, just 5 more to go.
want a part time job?

-E

product review: shimmer buds

2008-01-31T13:31:00.000-05:00

I just got my kit builder makeup today*. One of the things that I got was the brand new shimmer buds eyeshadow, shade water lily/ silver maple. This is a neat looking product, and I was quite anxious to see it in person. It's an eyeshadow, but it's two colors in one. One half is one color, and the other half is a totally different color. It also has a neat looking flower design embossed on it as well. So, needless to say, it looks really cool in the pictures in the catalog, but is it as cool in person as it looks in the picture?

Yeah, actually it is. The colors are shimmery, alot like our eye shimmers, but they come in a darker color pallatte than the eye shimmers. Each shimmer bud also has 2 colors in each one so for us of limited means it's economical. Another advantage to the 2 colors in one package is that for those who have advanced makeup skills (you know who you are) and like to use more than one color at a time the colors look great together. The one that I got has a shimmery green (water lily) and a silver blue (silver maple).
I definitly rate this product as a good buy.

-Emily

*kit builder is our half price program for consultants to help "build your kit". Because of this I have been able to bring you lots of cool new products.

Don't get your panties in a bunch

2008-01-29T07:49:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what kind of life your underwear led before it was yours? I don't mean this in a "dirty" way. I mean this in a who-made-your-underwear kind of way. When you see a tag that says "made in pakistan" or made in "Jordan" do you really know what that means? Do you ever wonder about these people? Who they are? do they like their jobs? (do you ever think about these things, or is it just me)

According to the National labor comittee, the people who make Vicki's secret's panties, proabably don't enjoy sewing high priced panties for a living. But I guess if I had to work 14-15 hours per day with only one day off every 3 or 4 months, I wouldn't like my job either. Imagine having only 3.3 minutes to sew each panty, and getting only .04 to do so (these panties retail for $14 each). And if for some reason, you can't keep up with the pace of 18 panties an hour, your supervisor has the right to slap and beat you. Could be worse right, at least they get to go home at night, right? Wrong! These are imported workers who are being housed in dorms. Dorms with only irregular water, and no heat in the winter. So there's no respite for these people outside of work either.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking "why don't these workers protest their working conditions?" They did, and it did get them somewhere. Prison. The workers protested and asked to speak to management about how the production goals were too high, and the management's response was to imprison 6 of the workers. The 6 imprisoned workers have since been forcibly deported. And since they were only part way through their work contract, these workers are now owe money instead of having made money.

So, my point, and I do have one is this: Next time you are in Vicki's Secret and reach for that new cute pair of "pink" panties with the "made in Jordan" tag, think about where those panties have been, and the lives behind them.

-E

Product review: White Musk Blush body mist

2008-01-27T21:13:00.001-05:00

I did something I normally don't do today. I bought something at The Body Shop store at the mall. Not only do I not get my discount when I do this, but I don't get sales credit for this item. And when there is free product to be earned (see 2-4-8 blog) sales credit is important.

I did however have a good reason for buying something at the store, You!

We just came out with a new scent, White Musk Blush, and I can't order it until the 1st of the month. Well, since I have an open house on the 3rd, waiting until the first just won't do. I had to have it NOW. So today I packed up the boys and we went to Park City. We fought our way through the smokers at the mall entrance, who coincidentally were smoking right under a no smoking sign. We battled our way past hoards of emo teenagers. I quickly found my intended bottle of body mist, whipped out my coupon (like I would shop with out a coupon, come on.) handed Mary Kate (the store manager) my credit card and we were off.
Was a body mist worth all of this?
Yes, yes it was.

So, after much ado, my review of White Musk Blush:
I like it. A little background, white musk is our highest selling fragrance world wide. It's even popular with the men, hence the recent addition of white musk for men. Personally, I think white musk is a nice smell, just not for me. I have always found it to be more of a mature scent. Defineitly not something that I'd recommend for my 16 year old niece.
I would define White Musk blush as White Musk's younger sister. It's a much lighter more youthful scent. It's still musky, and it's still clean smelling. Think loves baby soft mixed with white musk. I think you'll like it. I will definilty be wearing it as often as I can. I will also add that even though it comes in just about every form of scent that we make (shower gel, lotion, EDT, etc.) I like the body mist form. The scent stays with you, but isn't over powering like an EDT can be. One thing to remember though, it is limited edition, so if you like it, get it NOW. They did tell us though, if it goes over well, it may come back. Another reason to get it now.

So, for what it's worth that's my opinion on White Musk Blush.

Tune in for my next product review where I try to explain what a Moringa is :-).

2-4-8, who do we appreciate?

2008-01-26T23:29:00.000-05:00

We have a really cool promotion going on for TBS consultants. It's called the 2-4-8 challenge. Basically, what it is is you earn FREE, yes I said FREE, products based on how many GNOs you hold a month (either 2, 4, or 8 hence the name). Well, they've been running this promotion for 6 months now, and since it went over so well, they are going to run it indefineitly now. Yay! Free stuff!!
Those of you who came to any of my "holiday" themed GNOs were able to reap the benefits of said free stuff.
Unfortunately for January, it looks like I'll only be achieving the "2" level. That's ok though, I worked hard for that "2" and I'm proud of what I've done. I'm just happy to have new stuff to show my customers ( and not having to pay for it makes it so much better)
So, wanna hear what I'm getting? I know you do! I'll be getting 2 products from the moisture white line and an invent your scent collection. I can't wait to invent some scents!

Oh geez, look at the time, it's way past my bed time!
Time to get some sleep, I've got a 2 year old that will need me to be awake and alert in a few hours :-).

-E

Product review: Japanes Cherry Blossom

2008-01-26T23:14:00.000-05:00

Hi-
So, I got a bottle of the new Japanese Cherry Blossom puree lotion as part of last month's kit builder.
Kit builder is our half price program that helps us consultants "build our kit" for cheap. If I as a consultant can sell $500 by the 21st of the month, I can purchase products from a selected list for half price, and not have to pay shipping on them. Quite a deal I think.
Anyway, I got some JCB lotion, so I of course I had to try it. It's not bad. It's not my taste, but it's not bad. The lotion is a "puree" so it's a very thin lotion. It goes on very smoothly and if you are looking for a body moisturizer that's not too heavy a puree is perfect for you.
The scent is a very light floral. It is definitly a "pretty" scent. You will defineitly feel girly when wearing it.
My overall opinion on this product is that it is not a scent that I would wear but something that I have no problem recommending to others.
I'd love to hear your opinion if you've tried it, or if you have any questions for me about it.

-E

A new catalog, a fresh start!

2008-01-26T22:58:00.000-05:00

So, I just got the new Spring Catalogs!
They are very pretty, so springey!
They are also very different than past catalogs. This has it's good points and bad points as I see it.

GOOD - .05 cheaper for catalog, it's not much but it adds up.
GOOD - catalogs are quarterly now, so much more seasonal items included, and less of those annoying little suppliment flyers.
BAD - catalogs are quartely, so I have to buy new ones more often
GOOD - more emphasis on the GNO (girls night out) hopefully it will make more peole want to book GNOs
GOOD - catalogs are smaller, so less overwhelming for new customers.
GOOD - better pics of the makeup, and bigger "paint chips" of the colors

So, all in all the good definitly out weighs the bad. And if I plan right, there shouldn't be too many left over catalogs at the end of each run. I really do like them. They are very bright and cheerful dose of spring which is absolutly what we need right now.
But to truly appreciate the new catalog, you really have to see it next to the old one. I think you'll like the new look.
-E

Welcome to my blog, pull up a chair, stay a while.

2008-01-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

Hi and welcome to my blog.
I decided to start a blog as a bit of an experiment.
Let me 'splain. I am an independent consultant for The Body Shop at Home, a job that I truly love. The Body Shop is an awesome company. In the (over) 30 years that they have been around, the have totally revolutionized the cosmetic industry. They have set the standard in cruelty free products, broken the old ideals of what is defined as "beauty", and made sure that thousands of people in marginalized communities were paid a living wage in the process. Anita Roddick, the founder of the Body Shop has been my idol and role model for quite a while.
Anyway, I want to use this blog as an outlet for my "passions", one of which being the body shop. Often I've found it difficult to talk to others about this. I feel, and I might be totally unsubstantiated in this, that when I talk directly to people about TBS they just think that I am just trying to make a buck off of them. And yes, I do like making money, but TBS is much more to me than just a source of income.

Anyway, this blog is a place for me to talk about TBS, review new products, and ask you the blog readers out there, your opinion on things.

I do have an email list that I could post some of these things to, but in th e interest of no overwhelming my email list (and losing all of my contacts in the process). I decided to post it here instead.

Anyway, thank you for reading. Please visit often, as I hope to update as often as life allows.

-Emily