Staycation

Staycation

  Today is day 5 of the second 30 day blog challenge.

Remember that song by the Go-Go’s? "Vacation all I ever wanted.." are you humming along to it yet?

Since we are entrepreneurs we sing it as ‘STAYCATION all I ever wanted”.  Customers laugh when we say that we consider a trip to Costco a vacay.  We drive out, eat our way through the store with samples at every corner, try on clothes, wade through electronics and then so full we fill our shopping cart and drive home still humming.

This year, we’re thinking about a 48 hour staycation.  While fellow vendors at our farmer's market are already on their Mexican holidays or New York City adventures, we’re plotting the stay in your own city holiday.  This way, we can work around orders getting mailed out and still feel like we’ve gotten away from it all.

In fact today we were perusing online looking at various hotels a mere 5 hours away.  We live on an island, so 10 minutes down the road can look very different from where you live.  We watched videos of various rooms and suites, aerial shots of the hotel from the sky and absolutely swooned when we saw the ocean from a 5 hour away vantage point.

It's an idea but it may easily not work out.  So what to do in the meantime while you watch other people’s Instagram accounts of concierge valets and croissants delivered warm from the bakery.  We’ve discovered the joy in finding a coffee shop we haven’t been to before, finding the comfiest chairs and sitting down with a large latte.  Sometimes we’ll each bring notebooks or we’ll load up on magazines we’ve picked up at the library and bring them with us.  We while away the time sipping lattes, people watching, reading magazines and jotting down ideas.  It is amazing the power of 120 minutes away from your job.

Luxury vacations are wonderful and they have their place but sometimes we’ve discovered that 24 hour getaways are equally as relaxing.  You change your scenery and suddenly ideas wake up and you’re looking forward to heading home and working again.  Get creative, tell me what you would do with a staycation?

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Caron is one of the blooms of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. She is the dreamer, production manager and the social media wannabe. Caron is married to the word adventure and she will never stop dreaming.

Are You Taking Time For Yourself?

Photo Credit:  Pinterest

Are You Taking Time For Yourself

After an unexpected week I'm back to blogging. Our goal is to blog 2-3 times a week aiming for 3 times a week. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday are the planned days but that may change depending on the week. So continue to check in often.

I lay awake the other night and couldn’t fall asleep. I’d spent the last 5 days working hours on end to build up stock and didn’t leave the house and barely stopped for meals.  My list was a mile long and my mind was hyper focused on all the tiny details of what products had to be made, orders that needed to be filled and labels that had to printed, products that had to be wrapped and labeled, clean up and then the process would begin early each morning and go late into the night.

When I work up early on the 5th day I laid there and my body felt sore to the core and I felt I had worked to the bone. Yes I’m being dramatic here but that is how it felt. Every muscle was taxed and my mind was exhausted.  There was still so much to do that morning and the words my friend had asked me earlier in the week echoed through me again and again. His question: “Are you taking time for yourself?” The answer was a resounding no I wasn’t at all especially this time of year. Market season is in full swing, we are filling orders and so much stock has to be made.   I realized that next day how I enjoyed simple pleasures like taking a long shower and using one of our luxurious organic soaps. I stood in the shower and thought about the experience. It was quiet uninterrupted time before the day began and it was a calming time, the rich lather, the deliciously scented bubbles. This was the only time I was taking for
myself and I wondered how many of you are taking time for yourself these days?  This brings me back to an earlier post I did about “Being In The Moment.”

Once the dust begins to settle I realized I need to make more time for myself and spend time with loved ones, learn to savour each moment more then I have and force myself to get outdoors and experience more of life during these busy times.

So I’m challenging myself and you to do the same.

See our posts the moment we publish them.

Hi, I'm Michelle the artist, visionary, creator and designer of Two Blooms Design Studio. I moved from a big city to Vancouver Island and fell in love with the west coast. My world is surrounded by beautiful scents, on trend design and endless possibilities.

Back To The Beginning

Reflected Rainbow | Senja, Troms, Norway | by Seffis via deviantART

Back To The Beginning

It’s interesting the way life works. Years ago when we moved to Victoria, I had a group of friends who were all artists like me. I even started a “Dead Poet’s Society” gathering  (we had a different name but at this point in time I can’t remember what we called it) in our back yard complete with a tent and tiki torch where we would all get together to read poetry. There were many friends there that day and Randy came when he could. He was my age, very wise and I always appreciated his input.

Years went by and I didn’t see Randy anymore. I went off to university and moved through many different phases of my life. I always knew Randy was in Victoria but our paths didn’t really cross. Then about a year ago Randy came to one of the markets my sister and I were selling at and it was so nice to see him. I didn’t think anything of it at the time and wondered if our paths would cross again.

Then about 8 months ago my family and I had gone through a really difficult time. We were part of a group of people we really cared about and suddenly there was a dramatic change and everything became fractured and broken.
The story isn't that important now in hindsight. The point is we were all reeling from this experience and felt very isolated and alone.  It was Randy that came back into our lives and encouraged us, met us for coffee and offered wise words of wisdom.  He spoke into our lives and really breathed new life into me and helped me realize my potential. Now we are good friends again and I marvel at the fact that he knew me way back when and was a part of a special poetry group I started. Not many people know that side of me and it was wonderful to reconnect with an old friend.

Has life surprised you lately with it’s twists and turns?

See bloom worthy news right when it happens.

About Michelle
Michelle is one of the blooms and founder of Two Blooms Design Studio Est. 2002. She is in charge of production, designing all of our labels in house, photography, customer service, alchemist behind all of our scent blends, designer, creator and pretty much whatever else needs to be done.