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It’s Christmas Eve!

Dec 24th, 2009 by admin

It’s Christmas Eve! Are you ready for the big day?  I can hardly wait!

The gifts are all bought, wrapped, shipped and delivered as required. The menu is planned. The grocery shopping completed yesterday.

Christmas Eve is my day for relaxing and reflecting. Grab a cup of tea and join me for a moment.

How has your year been?  Mine has been an interesting one. I’ve tried some new things – like an internet business (not for me right now), joyfully learned a few new things – blogging is fun, discovered a few things I’m not so good at just yet – something to work on next year.

I love that I found tea as a home-based business.  All my experiences up to now have lead me to it and that’s an interesting thing to contemplate. I’ve loved tea my whole life.  Somewhere along the way I started collecting teapots and a few teacups. Funny I can’t seem to remember my first cup of hot tea, but I’m sure I was young. Probably had it with lots of sugar. I grew up in the South. Tea always required lots of sugar, hot or cold. It was, and is, a comforting beverage, lovely to look at and a lighter and more complex flavor than coffee. Today I generally take my tea straight. I enjoy flavored teas as well as a nice cup of Darjeeling. It’s easy for me to get lost in a great cup of tea. Like now…

On this Christmas Eve, let me wish each of you a glorious and blessed Christmas and a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year, however you define that. I’ll be thinking of you over my cup of tea.

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Life changes quickly sometimes…

Dec 18th, 2009 by admin

I’m sure we’ve all had the experience. Our life is moving along at a predictable pace and, except for a few bumps along the way, things are working quite nicely. Then – surprise! Something major changes.

That’s just happened to me. If you’ve been following my journey over the past year, you know I’ve started a new direct sales venture, Let’s Do Tea, and tried an internet business, that I quickly gave up. The internet business attempt did give me the skills to start this blog, so I’m grateful for that. It’s allowed me to get to know you and you to get to know me.  The big “Surprise!” has come from my Let’s Do Tea business.

I thoroughly enjoy sharing the experience of drinking delicious and high quality loose leaf tea with my customers. Many have never had loose leaf teas and didn’t realize how much more flavor tea could have. I was starting to get the routine down and beginning to build a solid customer base.

Then I got the news in early December — Let’s Do Tea will be closing its doors as of December 31, 2009.

Oh, no! I have tea events already scheduled in 2010. I have customers who have fallen in love with loose leaf tea and are already reordering. And, Christmas is coming… Do I have to deal with this now?

Yes, now. And I made the most wonderful discovery — Tealightful Treasures. This direct sales company not only has great loose leaf teas, but many are organic.  My customers have been asking for that. We also have “healthy” and delicious scone mixes, made with yogurt rather than calorie-laden cream, and cookie mixes that complement our teas perfectly. Need a beautiful teapot or service? We have that too. Everything you need to create a beautiful and relaxing tea experience.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, making the transition and cultural shift. The company has been wonderful at helping me — answering endless questions on the phone and responding to emails. I couldn’t be happier with my new business.  I hope you will check it out.  Click here to visit my website. I know you’ll find something wonderful to order.

Grab yourself a great cup of tea and visit me often. I’m planning to spend more time here and I’d love the company. Here’s to your health and abundant happiness…

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SHE’s Coming. Better start cleaning!

Nov 19th, 2009 by admin

My mother is coming to visit for Christmas and I’m cleaning like crazy.

First, let me say that I’m not thirty-something anymore. And yet, it’s like I’m getting my house ready for inspection. I’ve rearranged my schedule so I have more time to clean out closets and drawers that I’ve been meaning to get to for awhile, but just haven’t. (Don’t we all have these?) And, seriously, is she going to look in them? Even my husband has been effected. He looks at the yard each time we drive in and says things like, “Really need to dig that up.  Really need to trim that shrub.” Is it just me or do all mothers have this effect on their children?

My house is actually pretty clean. We do live in it, though. Junk mail accumulates on surfaces along with magazines that we’re going to get to one day soon. Dusting could probably get done a little more often. Clothes don’t always make it to their proper place the first time. Shoes seems to be mating around the house; I didn’t know we had so many. And where, exactly, did all these empty boxes and shipping “peanuts” come from?

I’m pretty sure this all falls into the “small stuff” category of life. Still, I’ve decided there are two questions I’d love answered. Will I ever outgrow the need to impress my mother with how great a housekeeper I am? And who am I really trying to convince – her or me?

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Florida in autumn

Nov 15th, 2009 by admin

This is my favorite time of the year. I love autumn.

And by autumn, I’m referring mostly to October, November and December – with December bordering on winter, depending on exactly where you live.

I’m still getting used to autumn in Florida. Growing up in wonderful North Carolina (my heart has never left the state), autumn meant beautifully colored tree leaves, mums in magnificent burgundys, reds and yellows, cool, crisp air, leaves rustling as you walked, light jackets and sweaters, bundling up for a Friday night football game. The memories can almost take me there even now.

Autumn is quite different in Florida. Autumn still has days with temperatures near or above 90 with considerable humidity. We do have some really beautiful days though. Like the past few – cool, clear mornings with temps in the low 50s and low humidity afternoons in the 70s. Thank God for those stronger cold fronts that actually make it this far south this time of year. This kind of weather is the reason people move to Florida. And although you’ve heard it before, if you can’t stand the summers here, you don’t deserve to be here in the autumn/winter.

I particularly love a good cool blast now – when it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving and Christmas.  After nearly 20 years in Florida, I still really don’t like wearing shorts for either of these holidays.  It just feels wrong to me.

Wherever you live, I wish you a blessed autumn. Breath deep and enjoy it while it lasts – winter is coming.

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Buying a new car – exciting, frustrating, both?

Aug 22nd, 2009 by admin

I’d say both.

And you know this is going to be a slightly longer story than my usual posts.

As you’ve probably guessed, we have a new vehicle at our house – a Honda CR-V. We’d been leasing for years, but the mileage restrictions were becoming a challenge. So, off to buy a car.

We went to the same Honda dealership we’ve been going to for at least 15 years. We love Hondas. We knew what we wanted, if the test drive was smooth. I’d already been online, checked the dealership inventory, and we had decided on a couple of colors, in case one was sold before we arrived. I’d worked with a car buying service and knew how much the car would cost. And I had already talked with our assigned salesman. He knew when we’d be in and was eager to serve us. Exciting, right?

Now, over the years we’ve generally had good experiences at this dealership.  Especially when compared to the horror stories we’ve heard from friends. We arrived; met our salesman; he went directly to the two colors we’d chosen and walked us through both the cars. We decided on a beige-gold color and were ready for our test-drive. It was a smooth ride. This is so exciting – this is actually going to be my new vehicle! Now we’re ready for the actually purchase.

I won’t bore you with all the details. Let me just say that somehow we ended up paying a negative equity “fee” on a vehicle we didn’t even own (the lease we turned in). I didn’t realize this until the middle of last night. I guess it had been niggling in the back of my mind all day. How can you have negative equity on something you don’t even own? We had met all our obligations on the lease – all payments, mileage, timeframe. So how did we get charged negative equity?

Yep, this would be the frustrating part. I don’t understand why car buying has to be so hard. Why can’t the dealer just tell you straight and in plain English what they are charging you for and how much they’re making on the sale? I think they deserve a fair profit, but I don’t think I deserve to feel like I’ve been taken advantage of when the deal is done.

I’m working on being excited about my new CR-V. In a few days, I know this will all pass and I’ll be happily driving around in my new CR-V with that new vehicle smell, pushing all kinds of buttons and trying to figure out how to turn on the front wipers and get the one on the back glass to stop. I’ll also be remembering all I’ve learned this time and be relieved that I don’t plan to do this again for a number of years.

Maybe I need a cup of tea…

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What was I thinking?

Aug 20th, 2009 by admin

Have you ever made a decision that you thought, at the time, was fabulous and then find out it was more than you bargained for?  No, I’m probably the only one who’s ever done that. I’m kidding of course; we all do this; I think it’s called living.  Here’s my most recent story.

For any of you who have been following, I started with a great company who promised “easy” money using the internet. To be fair, if you have the internet skills, this company would probably work. My challenge was that I don’t have all the internet skills to be successful. And we all know what that means – it cost me money and not just a little money.

Fortunately, I came to this revelation sooner rather than later and gave up my internet millions (earning them and, more importantly, spending them). It’s hard to admit making a mistake. We like to believe we are intelligent and can make wise choices. What I continue to learn is this – we become wise through our mistakes and our willingness to admit them, accept them, move past them. I’ve already accepted this one and here’s my admission to the world that I made another boo-boo. Now, I’m ready to move past this and use what I learned to make my real business, my Let’s Do Tea business, better than it was before.

That’s really the important thing. Realize and know that you learned something through the experience and, for heaven sakes, use that knowledge to make your life, and the world, better.

Enough of philosophy, it’s time for tea. Will you join me in a cup?

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Customer service and organization

Jul 1st, 2009 by admin

I’ve been thinking about the best way to organize my office and my customer files. I’ve tried several different approaches and so far, haven’t found the one that lets me serve my customers the way I want to serve them.

Components of good customer service include:

  • Quality product
  • Contact
  • Personalization
  • Integrity
  • A little something extra.

Of course I have a quality product. I wouldn’t be selling it if it wasn’t a great product. For this post, let me talk tea and Let’s Do Tea.

Contact with present and future customers is vitally important. Now the questions begin. How is the best way to contact my customers? How often do I contact them? What information do I provide them to keep them satisfied? Some I’ve figured out for my Let’s Do Tea business; some I’m still working on.  If you were my customer, what would you suggest?

In today’s world, personalization of any service is one of the keys to making it stand out in a crowd. To personalize my service I want to know more than my customer’s name and contact information. I want to know about their lifestyles and food preferences. Then I can target any new tea launches to those customers who may enjoy them the most. How would you track or log this information so it’s available when you need it?

Integrity. What can I say here? Every day I strive to be a person of integrity – to do those things I’ve said I will do when I say I will do them. And, if for some legitimate reason I can’t, I let my customer know as soon as possible. I have not experienced this as a customer very often so it’s important to model this behavior. Integrity also means that I say “No” when I really can’t do something or really don’t want to do a thing – living in truth to myself.

A little something extra. Ahhh, here’s the part I love. What makes me tick is unexpected, spontaneous generosity and random acts of kindness. Most will understand random acts of kindness. Unexpected, spontaneous generosity is a little more difficult to grasp, but is very similar to random acts of kindness. An example of unexpected, spontaneous generosity would be paying for the food of the car behind you in a drive-thru line. It’s an unexpected, spontaneous act performed by a generous spirit. And the look on the other driver’s face is always priceless!

If you have suggestions in any of these areas – contact, personalization, integrity, a little something extra – that will help me get better organized, I’d appreciate your input and comments.

Wishing you an organized day, sprinkled with unexpected, spontaneous generosity.

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Do I hear music?

Jun 19th, 2009 by admin

Are you a singer?

I’m a singer. If there’s a song playing that I know, I can’t seem to keep myself from singing – out loud – no matter where I am. Fortunately I do have a rather pleasant singing voice, not professional, but pleasant. Some people can work with music in the background. Unless it’s instrumental and a song I don’t know all the words to, I find background music distracting. All I want to do is sing. I find I can’t sing and be a creative genius at the same time.

And I seem to know thousands of songs, some from as far back as the 1940s. Friends have asked me how I do this, remember all the words to so many songs. I don’t know. Perhaps it’s a gift. If so, and I like to think of it that way, it’s a gift I’m grateful to have. Song writers seem to have a way of expressing exactly how I feel sometimes when I can’t find the right words.

Music is such an important part of my life that I can’t even begin to imagine a world without music. I love most kinds. My personal collection contains Sinatra and Gregorian chants, Latin rhythms and 1970s/80s rock ‘n roll, chamber music and new age pieces. Oh, there’s even some country and a little rap in there too. Some is just for listening. Lots of it is for dancing and, if there are English words, for singing.

Hey. Do I hear music? Gotta run. There’s a song to be sung! Have a musical day.

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Keeping in touch

Jun 17th, 2009 by admin

How have your relationships changed over the past 10 years? For that matter, how have they changed over the past 5 or even 2 years? How do you keep in touch with your family and friends in our new high tech world?

Consider all the options available now. Wasn’t it just yesterday when email was the greatest thing? I use it often. It’s quicker than a letter; short message or long, I can compose on the fly and send it on its way. And I get my reply as quickly. Would a phone call do? Perhaps. A phone call is more intrusive, though, and for me, it’s more noise in my already noisy environment. Email will sit quietly and wait to be retrieved, savored and stored or trashed, and responded to.

Though it has its place, email is so yesterday. Today it’s text messages and social media. I still can’t get into the whole texting thing, no children here. Social media – that I love. Twitter is my personal favorite. I love it because it’s quick, short, to the point, then move on. Not everyone’s style. Most of my family and friends are Facebook fans. So I joined Facebook. Then I linked all my Tweets from Twitter to show up here. No need to do extra typing. I’ve reconnected with friends from years ago through Facebook. Interesting to see how we’ve changed and how we haven’t.

What I love about Facebook is the Chat feature. My family and friends are all over the country and around the world. Chat allows me to catch up with them when we’re both online and share a few exchanges about what’s happening right now – like a snapshot of life. I’m growing through these snapshots. I chat several times a week with my brother on a schedule that suits us both better than phone calls. I’m becoming reacquainted with my cousins through Chat and I’m getting to know a couple of cousins and a niece and nephew I’ve rarely seen during their lives.

I’m sure things will continue to change and improve. One thing will not – relationships take time and effort. Find the best way for you to keep in touch or reconnect with family and friends and use it regularly. I believe, like me, you will be amazed at how enriching it can be.

Wishing you a fabulous “hump” day…may your week be all downhill from here!

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Let’s celebrate something grand!

Jun 2nd, 2009 by admin

On June 9th my husband and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. Wow, 30 years. Sometimes it seems longer, but most of the time it seems barely anytime has passed at all since we were making those wedding plans. And I love to plan parties and celebrations.

For our 25th anniversary, we had a big party, with dancing of course, and lots of our friends in attendance. We took a group of some of our closest out to dinner with us in limos and had delicious food, fine wine and great laughs. It’s interesting to realize we didn’t know any of these people when we got married. Our married journey together brought us to them.

And our journey has been like most others. We’ve had our share of good times and bad. I choose to remember mostly the good ones. We’ve been to Hawaii twice – once we took my parents along; it was my daddy’s favorite vacation. (Unfortunately, we’ve lost both our dads now.) We’ve spent weekends traveling to pick apples and oranges in season and visit massive gardens around historical homes. We’ve learned to grow beautiful roses and worked a small garden. We designed and had our current home built and would love to build another one someday. Although we have no children, we have two nieces and two nephews we love dearly. My husband has learned, over the years, the joy and amusement of owning cats.

We have much to celebrate. Once, when I expressed my concern over “how it looked” to have a big celebration for our anniversary, my hairdresser made an interesting observation. (Hairdressers, barbers, bartenders…they hear it all!) She said that not enough people make a big deal about celebrating anniversaries. In fact, perhaps more money deserved to be spent on anniversaries than weddings. After all, anyone can get married; it doesn’t take much to do that. Staying married is another thing entirely. That requires lots of work and dedication and really should be celebrated. A lasting marriage is so rare these days it deserves special recognition.

I like that.

May you discover something in your life today, no matter how small, that deserves a grand celebration.

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