Category Archives: Shopping

The Power of a Healing Touch

By Susan | June 11, 2010

Of all the human senses, the touch is the one that has the most profound impact on me. I have been a fan of massage for decades, relishing the whole experience of having my aches and pains kneaded away but also with the smell of the oils and the sound of the music or fountain [...]

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Listen

By Susan | January 21, 2010

“We are all taught to speak. Only 50% of our population is taught to listen.” ~ Marilyn Shannon
What’s that old saying? We are given two ears and one mouth, so we should listen twice as much as we speak? Too bad no one seems to practice that! I heard a very thought-provoking presentation by [...]

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Free Holiday Gift Ideas

By Susan | December 15, 2009

Giving gifts during the holiday can be a wonderful custom, full of fun and memories. But it can sometimes cause extreme stress due to lack of time and, in this economy, lack of money. But using a little imagination and maybe a little time, can turn this holiday tradition back into the thing it was [...]

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Guardian Angel

By Susan | December 14, 2009

He was tall with blond hair topped in a long crew cut, and he flashed the biggest grin I had ever seen. His drawl proclaimed “southern boy” before he could even finish 5 words.  When he first came (okay, swaggered) into my store last year, dressed in his Raleigh Fire Department uniform, my first thought [...]

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Liberty and Justice for All

By Susan | December 11, 2009

The baby smiles as the morning light hits her face, warming her skin, which smells sweet from her bath. She is picked up and cuddled; her coos bring smiles to her mother’s face.
The baby cries alone in her crib, her miserable wails ignored as her teenage mother, who dropped out of high school, watches [...]

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Same Time, Next Year

By Susan | December 2, 2009

One of my favorite movies is “Same Time Next Year”, a funny, touching moving about a couple who only see each other once a year for a weekend tryst. The movie chronicles the decades they spend together, 3 days at a time, and the changes their lives go through.
 
In a funny way, I live that [...]

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Shop Unchained

By Susan | November 10, 2009

As a new business owner competing in a challenging economic climate with big box stores with multi-million dollar advertising budgets, it is easy to feel a bit like David in a share of mind battle with Goliath. So I joined a local initiative called Shop Local Raleigh which is encouraging folks to support independent stores [...]

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You Have Won a Million Dollars!

By Susan | September 4, 2009

Ah, spam. What did we do for amusement in the days before emails that promised us a better body, a healthier love life, and money that we didn’t even have to work for? This might be a rhetorical question, but have we turned into a society that truly thinks you get something for nothing? A [...]

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It Matters to This One

By Susan | August 18, 2009

There is a parable that has been around in many forms and it goes like this:
A terrible storm brings great crashing waves to a seaside community. The day after the storm there was a beautiful, calm morning with the sun growing hotter as it rose in the sky. Starfish were washed up on the sand [...]

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Mountain Truths

By Susan | July 16, 2009

I recently went back to Southern California to visit friends after being gone almost a year. The timing of the trip coincided with a women’s retreat, organized every y ear by the church I had belonged to. It draws wonderful women who are seeking a weekend respite from families, jobs, and life. We come together [...]

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