guys, i . am . so . excited.
I always get excited when the holidays roll around - but, this year is a little more special than the previous ones. you see, every year i start planning the holiday season about 6 months in advance. This year i had a theme in mind i was planning to go with, i had some bars and products planned... i started getting ingredients in to play around with and test. ..... and then maddi ( working on something totally different) asked me a question, which made me realize - -- -- -- ready for it? this is our TEN YEAR anniversary! how COOL IS THAT? i cant even believe its been 10 years. i mean, i believe it when i see the kids who came in as little tiny babies and are now nearly as tall as me, lol... but it doesnt necessarily hit me until those moments. normally, im just plugging away getting through each day doing business as it makes me do.
when i realized it was the 10 year holiday season... my mind nearly exploded from all the thoughts that came rushing into it all at once. even though i always get excited about holiday time, i think its just the secrets i get to keep, surprises i get to make, very limited product and working with ingredients i dont normally work with all year long.. but theres also part of me each year that dreads the long hours, the ordering, the testing, the b.i.t.t.e.r.c.o.l.d. mornings and late nights coming home.....the pressure to deliver new and fun things, the pressure to decide which limited bars to bring back without upsetting too many people lol, the accidents that happen during a crunch time and the whole batch of who knows what goes in the trash with all the new stuff i order that just comes in SO WRONG Lol like way too wrong to actually use in anything. but honestly this year... the holidays truly cant get here fast enough. because i cant wait for you guys to get this stuff!! i think this is my favorite holiday line up E.V.E.R.
i knew exactly what i was doing once i realized it was our anniversary year. so for those of you who have been with BG for all ten years..... there are going to be some bars making an appearance you havent seen in a really long time. There's also going to be a bar youve never seen ----- and its hands down the one im most excited about. Ive actually never made it other than the very first time i made it, which also happens to be the very first time i made soap. i still have it.... ive hung onto one little bar of the original batch for about 14 years now .... ...its not very pretty anymore, its a little discolored and a bit sticky lol but its up there with my other special soaps that have a place in my heart and on my shelf. and it SMELLS SO GOOD. it finally has a name. " anniversary bar".
ive already made the anniversary bar batch for this years holiday release.. no, i wont tell you what it is... but i will tell you -- it was so darn cool to remake something i made so long ago, hadnt made since, and to remake it in such a large amount was such a surreal experience for me! sitting there making it thinking wow ---- x many years ago i was making this in my kitchen at home not knowing really what the heck i was doing... and i made 9 whole bars ( 2 lbs) of it and thought it was the coolest thing in the world when i cut it the next day.... and now, here i am, making hundreds of pounds of it!
its so cool to have it made. its so cool to see it again. its cut like my original bars were cut, it looks and smells just like the very first soap i ever made. its so so amazing to smell it again. it literally takes me straight back to my kitchen in my old house. i remember bringing the bars to my moms house for xmas.... so excited to show my whole family what i made. hehe. its so cool for me to think back on all of that. its like it was yesterday... i cant believe its been this long! ....... this is most definitely the best holiday season ive had yet in production at bg. its making me so happy to jog down memory lane with soaps i havent seen in such a long time. reflecting on the last 10 years of my life as i do. everything is just falling right into place....... even my most top secret product of the year. nope, not telling ya.
btw, it may possibly, quite most definitely likely, be my most favorite things ive made yet for a holiday season..... and honestly, possibly ever. HA! no ...really, no kidding. ive been working on it for a while now, and i think ive finally got it to where i imagined it to be. so hopefully, over the next few weeks ill know for certain if they will be released, and if so - well, i hope you love them as much as i do! aaaaaaaand, if all goes well, its going to be taking place of some other product here at bg. which, leads me to the last part of this blog, which is also an intro to my next blog that i hope to have done here in the next few days....
packaging.
ugh. i hate even saying the word. leaving a footprint really bothers me. it always has and it always will. i try to talk myself into it not being SO bad... since at least the product im putting into things is good for the planet. at least that. *sigh*
but.... it still bothers me. and the bigger bg gets, the more packaging i am seeing come in and go out of the bg doors. back when things were a little smaller, we used to do re-fills on the solid lotions. you could come in and buy just the lotion without the tin, and re-use the tin you had at home. back in the day we didnt have so many products - period - so there were no whip containers, spray bottles or serum bottles. i slept better at night, knowing our packaging was so minimal. but im starting to lose sleep --- because of how much packaging we use, and because im busy brainstorming how to get rid of some of it ...... so you may see some changes coming soon ;)
thats all for now folks, ill be back hopefully soon with some follow up on the packaging, and some intro with a bit more in depth info on our B.A.S.E. serum ...... until next,
-heidi
from home to here - some photos of the 10 years :)
