The Happy Woman Store

For a recent meeting with a life coach, I was asked to bring a notebook to use for assignments. Hmm……I had a lot of choices ahead of me, but this particular choice — my notebook — felt kind of important to me. After reviewing a plethora of styles, I settled on the Breathe, Believe, Receive Journal. These words kind of set the tone for what I wanted to accomplish and the format of the journal features lined pages, interspersed with blank ones, perfect for drawings or vision pages. Journals are definitely a personal choice and are often situation specific. I’m showing you a few of my favorites here:

1. The Breathe, Believe, Receive Journal that I was talking about.
2. The Bloom Journal is a guided journal which means that it asks you some pretty thought-provoking questions and asks you to fill in the blanks. This journal’s theme is “blooming” in your relationships, your work life, and in your personal growth path. Guided journals are great for asking you to think outside of your “normal” thinking box.
3. The Jasmine Journal is a great little list keeper. The plastic cover keeps the shape intact and the lined pages are perfect for jotting a grocery list, your daily or weekly goals, or those ideas that you keep having but forgetting. Write them down!
4. My Listography is similar to the guided journal in that it prompts you for feedback, but the emphasis is on creating an autobiography by making lists: your favorite movies, foods, and books.
5. Are you a constant journaler? If so, these Jill Bliss Mini Journals might be just the thing. Four mini journals are included (with beautiful wildflower prints) so you can stow one at home, at work, in the car — you never know when you’ll have a thought you need to write down!
6. I love this journal because it’s cute and funny –and encourages creativity with the addition of 4 colored pencils.
7. And, finally the Buttons Journal. In addition to recording your thoughts, this would make an excellent guest book for a cottage or cabin or sorority house.

I’ve been practicing Bikram Yoga for the past seven months and I always, always, always look forward to that post yoga shower. After spending 90 minutes in a 105 degree room with sweaty bodies, the prospect of a cleansing rinse is just about all I can think of. Lately, I’ve been treating myself to a special soap — it’s the little things, you know? And my current favorite is this Thai Lemongrass Soap by Pacifica. It has a yummy lemongrass fragrance, but there’s something else, too and they’re not telling what it is, but it gives the soap an earthy and warm edge, unlike the sharpness of most lemongrass products that I’ve had experience with. And, if you’re the practical type, this hand made glycerin soap lasts for a lot of showers.

When I was about ten years old, my dad bought me a book for Christmas. It was called The Mystery of the Stuttering Parrot. I can’t remember the details, but the basic plot was that a group of kids (ala The Hardy Boys) went around looking for trouble and when they found it, they figured it out. The biggest clue for the kids happened to be this parrot, who, yes, stuttered. Over and over it said “To To Be or Not To To Be”. Of course, the kids immediately thought Shakespeare, but only met up with deadends. Turns out the bird was uttering a house number ‘222B’ and not a phrase. So, yesterday I was looking at these beautiful new ‘Be’ necklaces that we just got in and this book that I received 40 years ago came to mind. I’m still trying to figure out what ‘being’ means, but I think I’m on to part of it. Just sitting with no agenda, no whirring mind, no to-do list, no progress on any goals, and just generally doing the opposite of what most of us grew up thinking we should be doing with a free minute or two. Of the 3 necklaces pictured below, it’s the ‘Just Be’ that speaks to me the most. Which one speaks to you?

As the buyer for our store, I see a lot of funny stuff. And, more and more, I’m seeing some of those funny phrases copied and recopied which has caused me to wonder — has everything funny already been said? Thank goodness, it hasn’t. Thanks to the genius of Anne Taintor and some other funsters, there’s still some original funny out there. Here are a couple of my new favorite magnets:

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A chakra is thought to be an energy center within the body. The word itself comes from the Sanskrit, cakra, which means wheel or circle and many believe that each energy center within the body spins like a wheel, thus the name. There are seven of these energy centers within the body, each associated with parts of the physical body, as well as with emotions. Chakras run from the base of the spine (called the root chakra) to the top of the head (the crown chakra). Each chakra is associated with a color and a gemstone. Some believe that chakras that are closed or too open can cause imbalances in life i.e. - happy chakras = happy, healthy lives.

With that very basic introduction, I now give you our Negativity Erasing Chakra Necklace, a brand new necklace designed by Darla Grubb, the uber creative jewelry artist who makes all of the ever popular birthday bracelets that we sell on our site.

Darla has hand hammered a U structure along which she has strung tiny gemstones representing each chakra. Now, here’s the super interesting part: on the bottom hangs a small moonstone which is know for its negativity erasing properties. In essence, she has created a way to keep your chakras in balance — and it doesn’t hurt that it’s darn gorgeous, too.