Your Award Worthy Skin & A Tribute to Mom (All Kinds of Moms)
Celebrating Mom
Definition: Mother. /məT͟Hər/ ~ v. Bringing up a (insert your noun here) with care and affection.
Children, pets, plants... caring for and spending quality time with either a little one that walks and talks, a critter that sits and speaks (and hopefully knows where to piddle), or a garden that lovingly shares its treasure for the table... there are many ways we 'mother' the things we care for around us.
Ask a Mom with a child, "Who do you think of first?" The kid(s) usually come first. Date night conversation? Kids. Stepping away from the kids for a little mental shift, and what's on your mind? The family. Yes, it's just what we do... the kiddos, or the pets, or our beautiful garden that we've enjoyed putting time into. We focus our energy on what is important to us. This isn't a bad thing, right?!
The daily cycle of a mother with kids ends up becoming a cycle where everyone else in the household gets what they need. We, the Moms, get the leftovers, and occasionally there is no leftover time for what we need. Sometimes the friend get-togethers, the doctor appointment, or even the hair appointment (say it isn't so!!) goes on the back burner.
We say... "Stop the madness!" We have two minutes at the end and at the beginning of the day ~ yes, we do. And guess what... it makes, and it continues to make, a big difference for many.
A Beautiful Routine
We have two minutes to spare, don't we?
We can tell you that many, many, many of our Qet friends have become pleasantly surprised by a little self-care routine in their lives. Many have made a point in telling us that once they've gotten into the habit of taking care of themselves at the end, and at the beginning, of each day, it has become a beautiful, meaningful, and enlightening ritual that time had forgotten. We become accustomed to the natural aromas, the beautiful feeling of the products, and the end results of using our hand crafted treatments. Then, happily, we rely on these cherished moments to become beautiful bookends to every day.
Adding just that little 'me time' has profound benefits. Here is a quick review on how we love to spend these two minutes. Why should we spend the time on ourselves? Improved circulation, improved gratification, improved skin repair and healing - all from spending time to care for your self, and your skin. It can positively affect your circulation, nerve endings, your heartbeat, your thoughts, and it can even affect the ends of your mouth - which then are turned up nicely to form a genuine smile.
"Happiness is the secret to all beauty. There is no beauty without happiness." Christian Dior
Winner: Best Body Serum
That's right! Our Ultra Garden Serum for Body has been awarded a 2016 Earth Day Beauty Award by Healing Lifestyles & Spas. If you haven't already, click on their link. In it you'll find a wonderful resource for all things to help us live mindfully, eat joyfully, and travel consciously. In their words, this is what it's like to judge the mountains of green beauty they review, "We've lathered and slathered, brushed and scrubbed, puckered and blotted, applied and removed, exfoliated and washed, toned and cleansed and committed just about every possible act that a green, 'safe beauty & body' enthusiast requires. We are presenting these outstanding products as the heroes in all-natural skin, hair and beauty care from all over the globe."
If you haven't met our previous Earth Day Beauty Award winners, here they are: Balancing Cleansing Oil with Thyme; Nutri-Pomade & Mask with Shea & Coconut - for hair; and our Lavish Serum Salve.
So ~ to celebrate this new award, we all benefit! In the entire month of May, no matter what kind of noun you 'mother,' we're all deserving, darn it! We're offering a special on this award-winning body serum. Enter the code AWARDMYSKIN and SAVE 10% on this concentrated, purely nourishing and wholesome skin moisturizer.
Say Something Beautiful
While thumbing through a recent People magazine, an article with these comments happily jumped off of the page. There is a common thread here, and it's wonderful.
Question. "What's the most beautiful thing anyone has ever said to you?"
Answers:
"When my own mother said I had become an incredible parent." Julia Roberts
"The best compliment I've gotten is when I've been on plane rides and, at the end, the flight attendants say to me, 'You have the most well-behaved children of anyone on my plane.' Gwyneth Paltrow
"The first time my mom told me that she thought I was a good mother." Kerry Washington
"If someone tells me there is something special about my kids, that is the nicest thing they can say to me." Jennifer Garner
"The best compliment I've ever received that wasn't work related was, 'You have really happy children... well done!'" Melissa McCarthy
"Every time people compliment me about my son, Manolo, it is very rewarding. I was really young when I divorced his father, so I raised him by trying to set the best example and give him the best that I could. When people say how charming, funny and well-behaved he is, it makes all the sacrifices worthwhile." Sofia Vergara
"When my mom told me, 'You are a great mom.'"Charlize Theron
"I'm always really touched when my mother tells me that I'm a good mother. She knows that I really value her opinion and that a big part of my self worth comes from how I feel as a parent on any given day." Reese Witherspoon
Most Popular Gifts for Mom
Just in case you need a little nudge ~ from $5 and up.
Getting Started Facial Kit (Restoring or Hydrating). $25. We get asked this often, "What is the one facial item that I should start with?" The kit! Why start with one premium, pampering experience when you can have the whole kit and kaboodle, and travel with it, too.
Ultra Garden Serum for Body $34. (save 10% this month). Coveted by many women, and taken to the other side of the bathroom counter by men. A little goes a long way.
Scent Suite of Botanical Nectars ~ Lavender ($30), Jasmine ($50), and Rosewood ($50), or the Scent Suite for $115. After developing the aromatic notes since last summer, we've recently revealed them. We all deserve to enjoy fresh, beautiful, and aromatic petals any time and any where we feel the need for an therapeutic lift or a beautiful feeling... safely, and without anything artificial or toxic.
Lavish Serum Salve $59. This 2015 award winner has WOW'd many dry hands, necks, and faces. A daily treatment or a weekly hydrating mask.
Lip Balm with Green Tea & Vitamins $5. Described as being "the bomb" of lip care - that doesn't melt in your pocket and happy under or over any lip color.
Hydra-Rose Eye Serum $59. In each tiny drop, the benefit of thousands of rose petals and their oils tone, hydrate, and soften eyes, upper lip, neck, and even backs of hands.
Honey Cream Mask with Active Manuka UMF 16+ $49. The magic healing properties of active Manuka honey, applied as a honey veil on the complexion ~ purifies, softens, and beautifies.
Fresh Vanilla Dry Deodorant Putty $5. Many skeptical-of-natural-deodorants-actually-working customers have tried, and have loved.
In the News
A Fave to Rave About
In case you missed it, Qet received a wonderful endorsement by actress, NY Times best selling mother, and green beauty advocate, who also happens to be a mom ~ Alicia Silverstone. 
~ In a Fox News Magazine interview, Alicia Silverstone Shares her Green Beauty Secrets for Glowing, Ageless Skin, and her love of Qet!
~ On May 7th, we're hosting our first Open House. We're pulling this together to honor our friendships, our love of springtime, and our new awards. We'll be having a drawing for free lovelies at the top of every hour starting at 11. Lavender Earl Grey Tea Flourless Chocolate Tart (yes, it IS delicious!) will be served with a side of radiant skin and laughter. We can already tell it's going to be a beautiful day. Follow us on any of our social media outlets for the details.
"Mum-ma"
Two Cute Little Catalysts
"Mum-ma." That cute little word that dribbled off of our first child's lips changed everything for me. Then, when our second was born and there were two little birds chirping their "Mum-ma" songs... love!! This, with a side of a happy marriage, (which is still happy!), is enough to change the world.
It's wonderful (and necessary) to take care of our selves. When the pitter-patter of little feet entered my world, it all changed for me. Nothing was good/safe/healthy enough. How I cleaned the house, how I chose the food that I made ~ it was like a tiny seed had started to grow and I knew that everything around us needed to be safe(er), clean(er), and family-friendly(er) for that seed to blossom. This was in the mid 90s, even before many were making the change. Some people thought I was crazy, and some were already on that crazy train.
While sharing a little crunchy treat from my fingers to our little one's mouths after doing dishes and putting on lotion to prevent dry hands from happening, it hit me. "Wait! Our kids are eating what I'm putting on my hands!" Blech. Rolling around on the floor after mopping it clean.... hmmmm, it better be clean! When our kids happily moved from the tub to the grown up shower, our glass shower doors suddenly became a place to make smudge marks with lips, tongues, and noses. (Do all kids do that?! ) Well, ours did, and there went the commercial cleaners out of the house. For good. Good riddins.
Since that first little 'Mum-ma' word, it's now been more than twenty years that we've been using our own safe, homemade formulas to clean, tidy-up, and sanitize our home. During these same years, as a CEO of the household and Queen of the pantry, my mind has been clean and free of the worry of toxic chemicals. Whew. I sometimes wish it hadn't taken this long to launch the Qet Botanicals treatments that we have, but there is a time and a place for everything. Cross Plains, as the starting place from where all of our products are developed and shared from, is the perfect place in the best time. We're so happy to be here, and we love our community and our Skin Studio in the middle of it.
"Everybody wants to save the Earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes."-P.J. O'Rourke
A Vintage Look at Mom ~ Mine
Hazel Jane
Our moms mean different things to us. Sadly my parents have both been long gone. Before my mom lost her battle with cancer, she was really something! My mom was funny, loving, artistic, and hardly did the four of us siblings hear loud words come from her. Maybe our dad did, but we didn't.
But yes, she was loud when she shared her beautiful voice in the church choir. Her piano playing was also loud and lively, and as she stirred and cooked up goods in the kitchen with those big band records playing, she could really sing along with the best of 'em. Her passion for the simple things, and her love of her garden and flowers, was a passion that blossoms inside of me. I almost brought that to fruition by starting a flower boutique, rightly called "Hazel Jane's Garden," and then a fresh produce boutique. Unfortunately, or rather fortunately, my change in health, hair, skin, and thyroid/hormones directed me to the path that I'm on. However(!), all of those years of mom's nurturing, giving advice, and quietly hugging have left an indelible place in our hearts that were closest to her. Developing and sharing my love of plants and how they heal is more deeply rooted than I could imagine. With Qet, I am the gardener of these beautiful, botanical treatments that we share. And it is wonderful.
Here is an image of my Mom, Hazel, when she graduated high school in 1947. Those were the days - no photo shop - touched up and painted by hand.
Just for fun, and for the love of old photographs and old-fashioned romance, here is a captured moment in time of my mom and dad as High School Seniors, from the Class of 1947, relaxing on the lawn of the high school. It looks like the buddies that were playing football with my dad didn't have much patience as they stand in the background waiting. It was before the war, before their marriage, and before the four of us were born. Memories are meant to be cherished. Sometimes they're meant to be shared, too.
~ Love your mother.
~ Be a mother.
~ Care and give intensely.
~ The rewards are beyond measure.
~ Every once in a while, make sure you step in and do the dishes for mom, or for your someone.
Peace and Plants,
~ Lisa