Summer in housewife mode

Yesterday I saw my first back to school ad and it hit me, “summer is almost over”! Where did the time go? I remember thinking “I’ll definitely be able to catch up on things in summer”. Days came and went and I haven’t even planted my flower pots and window boxes yet! Oh well, not this year, I guess. With my DH being out of town way more than usual, I have been with kids 24/7 doing things, going places, which put me in housewife mode that I still can’t snap out of. No matter how much I try to bribe myself to write new blog post or update my website, I get distracted by browsing Pinterest for new kids projects, kids fashion, garden ideas, new and exciting recipes, kefir, kvas and kombucha starters, places to go and even entertaining myself with thoughts of moving to a farm and raising my own bunnies and chickens! Yes, guilty as charged, and I apologize for the long delay. So here is what we have been doing with kids this summer:

after all the recitals and soccer tryouts were over we went on vacation to our favorite Lake Michigan in Grand Haven area. We had a great time, as always!

we had a lemonade stand where we also sold natural home-made doggie treats (recipe to come)

We made home-made playdough which turned out to be everything I’ve always heard about home-made playdough - store bought brands don’t even come close! (recipe to come). You probably saw how it came out if you follow me on Instagram. 

 Went to blueberry u-pick farm and baked blueberry muffins. Yum!

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that we survived 4 day power outage in 100F weather and 70% humidity. We spent a lot of time at the neighborhood beach, perfect thing to do in the summer, right? And I learned how to start generator! … I’m definitely a pro in it now.

On the business side, things have been moving along somehow, thanks to my dedicated sales gals who keep me on my toes and inspire me! We have added one more regional sales coordinator in Kentucky area, finished sales manuals, landed new accounts and had some publicity in local press. And today I’m happy to report the start of fall production! First 24 pounds of Pumpkin Cardamom Scrub were made, Body Oils, Body Lotions and Body washes in coordinating scent. Here is my to do list for this week, you can see that Pumpkin products are #1 priority. We are also adding new Pink Grapefruit products to our retail offerings (lotion and sugar scrub), as well as our ever-popular Chocolate Body Oil with infusion of pure cocoa butter and cocoa absolute (it used to be only available in professional sizes). I am still a little behind on things, which drives me crazy inside, but I do get to enjoy the kiddos. They are such good little people. They make it all worth it. THEY complete the circle.

Happy summer to all,
Liana.

Back to school!

After a very active last week of summer and fun Labor Day weekend kids were super excited to hop on their buses to go to school. I love my kids to pieces but I was ready to get back to normal work hours and kids’ normal bed-time schedule. With addition of many new activities for kids and new personal and business goals, I know that we have a VERY busy year ahead of us, which I am very much looking forward to.

Today is my first real work day in many months. It feels great to get up bright and early, have my coffee in the peaceful and quiet atmosphere and work in long stretches without constant interruptions. So lets start with tying up some loose ends. Here is what you can expect in the coming months: a) Look out for Fall newsletter in your mailboxes in a couple of weeks with our Holiday show schedule and list of new retail locations. b) Pre-Holiday SALE is in order as well, keep your eyes and ears peeled for this one, as it is going to be BIG! c) Launch of new amazing facial care products in a couple of days and a great introductory offer!

Now without further ado I would like to find out our winner of well overdue Green Breeze fair raffle that was held in July in downtown Birmingham, MI. Eight people have signed up for our raffle and newsletter in the following order: 1 - Patricia D, 2 - L. Rose, 3 - Luci P, 4 - Carrie C, 5 - Marianne S, 6 - Grace S, 7 - Vonna T, 8 - Justine S. As always I have used Random number generator and here is what I’ve got:


Congratulations Carrie! You are a winner of our raffle. Thanks so much for stopping by at our booth, please email me at liana {at} marmaladehills {dot} com to claim your prise and provide me with your shipping address. Carrie is getting a freshly whipped jar of our body butter of Carrie's choice! Just in time for cooler fall/winter months.

Till next time,
Liana.

4th of July

Today is the first real Monday after a relaxing couples of weeks.... Relaxation, actually, occurred only on the weekend of 4th of July, other 12 days we were fighting all kinds of summer bugs like herpangina - in my 2.5 year old, and tonsillitis - in my 7 year old. Phewwww, I’m glad it is finally over... I hope. I am way behind on my schedule and will need to step up our Holiday production. Such is life, no complains here.
Anyways, back to the post... I just wanted to share with you some of the beautiful pictures we took during our trip to Michigan’s west coast. We started going to the Grand Haven area a few years ago: conveniently located on beautiful, sandy beaches of Lake Michigan, this gem is only 3 hours away, which is a BIG plus when you travel with small children. We fell in love with it the minute we stepped on the beach. I never knew that lakes could have white sandy beaches! Lake Michigan has many beaches. The region is often referred to as the "Third Coast" of the United States, after those of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The sand is soft and off-white due to its high quartz content.
We have spent most of our time on the beach and browsing downtown Grand Haven. At night we set in our beach chairs and watched musical fountain and fireworks. Kids were ecstatic! As always, we had an amazing time as a family, surrounded by beautiful nature.

Hope your 4th of July break was great. Till next time,
Liana.

Recent update: little did I know, three days after our short vacation was over, my little guys picked up tonsillitis from his older sister. He was miserable for another 5 days. Crazy times!