HOLIDAZE is your discount code through December
BLACKFRIDAY2016 in your discount code the day after Thanksgiving through Monday
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM NATURE'S EMPORIUM CHEROKEE SOAP CO!!
I have had a hard time blogging through these elections! A wise one explained I should never discuss politics as it would hurt my business. lol I'm not wise. I'm a Woman, a Mother, I am Native American, I have best of friends and family from every race there is. My boys are half Black... and I love the gays! I love love love and I have a dream of a President who loves the world as much as I do. Some of my friends call me a flaming Liberal. ha! and most of the friends who call me that are the most conservative Republicans I know, and they giggle while they say that and hug me... I have a really good life! and boy do I love to vote but this year was the wildest ride I've ever seen.
I just keep praying and supporting Standing Rock. Please call Barrack Obama and ask him to stop the pipeline from going through sacred land to the Standing Rock Sioux. Also tell him you would appreciate clean water going through your land as it is sacred too! We are donating weekly to Standing Rock ~ Thank you for supporting our cause!
Our Feliz Navidad is flying off the shelf, we have made over 200 products in the past 2 weeks. It is a rich Vanilla Bean with a twist of Navidad. The scent makes me feel good, and it must be the feel good scent for many.
I'm not gonna lie, I get excited to take a shower this time of year just because of Cookies For Santa... that stuff turns me into a big ol happy kid again!
Our Iced Pine candles are so delicious! I am burning one now, I don't think I'm going to need a Christmas Tree... it smells so real, we may just put our gifts around a candle! lol No but really, it's good!
I have great hope for all people ~ I pray for a holiday season that inspires us to love and forgive one another and to have the realization that it's not anything that makes this world go round but living a life of integrity, love, prayer and supporting one another. and WATER IS LIFE! It is the season for miracles ~ I believe we can still get them ~ So, make bridges and extend your hand to all people. Let's make America great for the first time, it's up to us, the majority. and please, if you see a bully, speak up, find your voice, stop them in their tracks, let's PROTECT and SUPPORT one another. Surely, we have evolved enough to at the very least do that. Right?
Our slogan is TAKE A BATH ~ we believe that is the most healing ceremony one can do for themselves and the world. The Cherokee go to water to cleanse their body & souls. To wash away the day and negativity to go about the day in a new body and mind. Take a shower, dance in the rain, wash all those horrible feelings down the drain... and LIVE!
We truly appreciate you ~ I feel so connected to so many of you and think of you as good friends. I am so thrilled with the exchanges we get to have between one another and yes, many of you have become my very good friend whom I have the privilege of knowing and being your personal soap maker.
One more thing! K2 and Josh took this year to work on their creativity. So, in exchange, K2 has to make a whole lot of soap and Josh has to cut a whole lot of soap, but we are all very happy. You are noticing our old style soap that takes a football player to make is popping up more and more! That's because stirring a 5 gallon bucket full of soap is like making cake for K2... lol. We love his soap and are thrilled to have him dancing around the soap pot again a few days a week. (So is my arthritis.. lol) Maya and Kalia stroll through the shop to help daily, still. and our very good friend/intern Maddy is hands on deck also. We all rejoice when you help us pay our rent! lol and THANK YOU FOR THAT! SO MUCH LOVE!
May your Holidays be full of appreciation for that which is important, may you have the blessings of family, friends and love... and don't forget to set your scales back 10 lbs!
With sincerity and love,
Your Cherokee soap makers
April showers bring May flowers in Taos, NM!
My Mom always had these great sayings along the way... and April showers bring May flowers is one that rings through my head this time of year. She was right, after all.
Spring in Taos means dirt, blowing dirt, shooting pollen up your nose at 60 mph...lol. We get 40 drops of rain and we still manage to get flowers!
I think of my Grandmas' Kansas flower garden ~ she never did a thing to it and it was like a big secret garden amidst lilacs and honeysuckle. One of my favorite places to hide and read.
Indiana Spring was always confusing ~ it would rain, hail, snow and show sun all in a few hours. It never seemed to get warm in the Spring. but along came June and it was a humid heat box guaranteed to make your skin glisten and be plump and beautiful!
Most of my floral soaps were thought of in Spring...yearning for the lilacs, honeysuckle, roses, and geraniums. Excited for the euphoric feeling one gets when it appears everything is just a whole lot brighter and better. Sowing the seeds for the new cycle... working towards harvest. The cycle of the day, the month, the season, the year, the life... so precious. I have harvest this year as Josh graduates from High School. My boys are all grown up. Josh plans to stay in Taos, study at UNM and throw pots next door ~ during his first year... I was thinking about them both being MEN and what will I do with my life. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR LIFE WHEN YOUR CHILDREN HAVE BEEN YOUR WHOLE LIFE!?! Trust me I'll figure this out. Like everything else... lol
May your garden be full of bounty, your hands be rich with soil and may you have a good bar of soap near by after you are done!
Take A Bath ~ Plant something ~ Love one another ~ Do what makes you HAPPY
Love,
Michelle
Ahhhh, good old January, start, stop, start, stop.....the dance between turtle & bear medicine....slow and sleepy...lol
Am I the only person who goes flying into the new year with hope and motivation to be AMAZING, only to be met with the reminder of, "Oh yeah, it's January...I'll just sit here and watch it snow" ? Our suppliers took time off, the kids were out of school, then come the snow storms, oh oh oh, the snow storms, and then out comes the sun...I AM SO MOTIVATED!! Another snow storm...Oh, we have Martin Luther King, Jr. day ~ and I always close to celebrate the life of our great civil rights leader, with pride...oh, another snow storm, oh, school is closing early, oh my Indin truck has bald back tires more than an inch is a detriment to my driving, oh it's a 2 hour delay...WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DON'T HAVE ANY WATER!?! Grooooaaaan, the pipes froze...lol...I feel like I have done nothing but slide through January accomplishing little! I had to have done something, the lights are still on!
I did have the privilege of meeting the most adorable hippy couple, one evening in our shop! They were in their early 20s, had bought a giant bus and were making their way across the country to seek adventure. I loved them, I envied them, I gave them soap, told them how to find the hot springs that were in the movie Easy Rider, bid them good bye and wished them luck on their future. They both had degrees, I reminded them that while the life of being free has it's romance and fantasy, being poor isn't that fun...seek balance. lol I have so many people I hardly know who call me, MOM. It's an illness, I have. ha ha
Our greatest news coming into the new year is the fact that Taos News did a wonderful story about our company ~ I am so very pleased with the very sweet article that Theresa wrote about us! You can read it here, if you would like! Article about Nature's Emporium Soap Co. & CherokeeSoap.com
I have been developing new products for 2015 ~ Cocoa Flower and Vetiver Vanilla are in the works ~ This takes a lot of smelling and development ~ I am such a nosey gal ~ once the fragrance is developed, it then has to pass several tests, do I cold process it? hot process? will it hold up in candles? How does it feel on my skin? Each new product costs me about $500...lol ~ It may be a little while...I am thinking of making some detox soaps ~ Charcoal soap is great for pulling impurities out of the skin ~ Matcha Green Tea could do nothing but good for the skin...should I combine them? Hrmmm
The favorite soap of January was The Cold Bar ~ Eucalyptus, Mint, Tea Tree, Rosemary...I think a lot of people couldn't breathe, I hope it helped.
My New Years resolution is always the same, to just do better than I did the year before ~ we are put on this Earth to learn, that's all we can do is learn some more, love some more, laugh some more & cook better...lol
I wish you all a wonderful day, tolerance for snow and cold, to feel loved & respected, motivation to reach for your dreams and clear thoughts to do it with. I feel like 2015 is going to be a REALLY good year ~ Thank you for making our 2014 so grand!
There ya go, Bob ~ I updated my blog so you aren't still reading about Christmas. SMILES!
Christmas is here! It's like the Season just crept upon us and now it's in full swing! We love all the magic of the Season, rather it be Santa, the Lights, the Snow, the Love ~ oh the Love!
Our America is in crisis ~ riots, protests and anger ~ and I try to always see the upside of everything ~ and what I do see, while there is hatred ~ there are thousands of us who wish for a better world for our children and great grandchildren ~ and we believe in equality, love & happiness ~ and we are together as one to understand each other, understand our past and how that affects our future ~ we want happiness for all. K2 and Josh are Black, Anglo & Cherokee ~ I have to walk a very sacred line of the high road always ~ for they are several races combined in one. It is my responsibility to give these boys (men) pride in themselves as a whole ~ to not be prejudiced towards anyone, as my Sons encompass us all. and I want them to love every single drop of DNA in themselves as they also turn that Love towards the World. We are open to all people, rich or poor, crazy or sane (still looking for the sane. lol) homeless or owns several houses, hate and love, ~ for we are all related ~ I urge you to open your hearts to all people in your Life, seek to understand their path or at least understand ~ you have no I idea how you would react to life if you had walked in their path.... we just don't know ~ but with understanding and an open heart, I do believe we can all feel the magic of Christmas, The Holidays, The Season.......
Above all this is The Season for Loving ~ spread that stuff everywhere!
We thank you so much for a successful 2014 and your support as I raised these boys (men, I keep forgetting) by making soap for the past 15 years, in turn ~ I have done my best to turn two beautiful men towards society, with hope to make this world a better place. They really didn't need me for that ~ they were just born with beautiful hearts. I know, I'm sappy today....lol
So! Candy Cane, Cookies For Santa, Decadence, Lavender Honey Elixir, Gift of The Magi and A Christmas Soap have been wildly popular, right along with the candles and lotions ~ Your Discount Code is: Christmas and we are putting Christmas rubber duckies in all of the orders!
We will be able to get your package to any place in America ~ by Christmas ~ we appreciate you ~ we love you and we are grateful for whomever reads this as you care ~ and we care right back.
Now, get that Hot Cocoa, pile it full of Whipped Cream and throw the family in the car and drive around and look at Christmas lights while you all get that warm glow of the Season ~ and don't forget to TAKE A BATH!
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays
This Is The Season For Loving,
Michelle
There has been a lot of talk in the last decade of Gratitude & Abundance, and we bought the talk and try to be positive and speak and behave in a manner that draws what we need to us. We are so grateful for our company and the life it has given us, now if some of you saw our house or car, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be impressed ~ but we are abundant with good friends and clients we have met throughout the years. We are grateful that we work hard and while making your products we walk out after work smelling better than anyone else in town! We are grateful for the people we haven't met but have a beautiful relationship with them because of soap. I've always said the soap isn't our purpose in life, but it has very much been the vehicle to self healing and hopefully healing others. It's not just soap, it's a philosophy for us. Do good every day in hopes that our soap picks up on our genuine love for life and goes like ripples into the world and spreads a little happiness and love. What I have seen in these past few years of insane economy, is we survived, because we are abundant with beautiful people, who happen to use our soaps!
I have many well meaning business people tell me how I should run the business ~ and I should only present a professional front. We should be here from 8am to 8pm if we are ever going to be anything in life. We just kinda smile at them and try hard to be polite, as they don't see how rich we are....and probably have never taken a patched innertube down the Rio Grande river, or gone camping to sing around the campfire and gorge on marshmellows, or walked a long a shady trail up a mountain listening to nature. We are pretty sure they have never been to a Dave Matthews Band concert or sit with people like My Graveyard Jaw (a New Orleans band we picked up like puppys several years ago and took home with us) and listened to them play their incredible ballads on a cello & guitar & violin in the yard while the sound wraps us in a hug and goes out over the cows. THAT'S THE RICH PART OF OUR LIVES!! I'm pretty sure real business people have not had the pleasure of lovingly making a product while listening to music and smiling and laughing and dancing when it hits them. Abundance............ We are blessed.
My latest EPIC FAIL was to turn down one more corporate offer. Don't get me wrong, we could use the money! However, it is our friends who own very small businesses who have built this company. They have grown right along with us, some of them have lost their business because corporate businesses like theirs have moved in and put them out of business. Our commitment is to people like us. Who are grateful for their life and grateful for a good honest product. Our commitment in wholesale is to the small businesses of America, for I believe we are the backbone, the strong and the mighty. WE CARE!
My Grandparents on their Kansas farm grew every vegetable, fruit, herb & nut they could. They had a huge farm they worked with their own two hands. They had a little shop on their drive way that many surrounding neighbors come to trade goods. They would spend hot afternoons sitting in those metal chairs that rock, surrounded by friends and family, just sitting in the shade, sometimes talking sometimes just looking at the day.....with the smell of Grandma's flowers always drifting on the breeze. They were the richest people I've ever known. They taught me how to seize the day. Grandpa would suddenly say, "Let's go to Dairy King and get some ice cream!" and Grandma would run to get her purse ~ and we would ride in a 1950s pick up truck and shake to town. I am grateful for them, for they taught me The Good Life!
Anyway, I ramble a lot ~ but I wanted to tell each and every one of you ~ We are so very grateful for the friendship and abundance you bring to our lives. I hope it comes back to you ten fold and more. As long as somebody is taking a bath, we are here to be your personal soap makers! When you tell others about your beautiful skin, you have my permission to tell them, you have a personal soap maker and who I am!
May your day be filled with Gratitude & Abundance and may you feel how rich you are!
Our Feliz Navidad is flying off the shelf, we have made over 200 products in the past 2 weeks. It is a rich Vanilla Bean with a twist of Navidad. The scent makes me feel good, and it must be the feel good scent for many. 
I'm not gonna lie, I get excited to take a shower this time of year just because of Cookies For Santa... that stuff turns me into a big ol happy kid again!
Our Iced Pine candles are so delicious! I am burning one now, I don't think I'm going to need a Christmas Tree... it smells so real, we may just put our gifts around a candle! lol No but really, it's good!
