Shop small this year.

Although the U.S. may be negatively known for Black Friday, a day-after-Thanksgiving day of consumer excess, we also have Small Business Saturday,  sandwiched between Black Friday (in-store excess) and Cyber Monday (internet excess.) (There’s more than a little irony about the URL of the SBS website being prefaced by “American Express”, but…)  In England, Small Business Saturday is Dec. 2.  I’m not sure about elsewhere.

At any rate, on that day we’re encouraged to shop locally or at small businesses via the internet.  I love this idea.  Since I’m not very handy at making things, other than food, I have to fall back on shopping.  I can’t disclose gifts, as my family might be reading my blog (at least I hope so).  But so far, I’ve managed to avoid Amazon, Google, and the other big name giants.  I’ve gotten gifts at art shows, local shops, and from talented individuals.  I’ve also bought some things from bigger places such as Costco, but they don’t threaten to rule the world the way Amazon/Google/Apple do, at least in my eyes.

Of course, where you get things can depend on what you need to buy, but I’d encourage you to buy at least some things from small businesses or individuals this year.  When looking for a gift for someone who has everything, a donation to a charity is a wonderful choice.  And if we struggle with trying to come up with a gift list for those who want to get us something, we are indeed blessed, a priceless gift.

Here are some of my blogger friends or other small businesses (in no particular order) who have something to offer for holiday giving.  If I missed you, please forgive me and add your information and link in the comment section.  I hesitated to do this so that I wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by missing them, but I decided to go ahead, with apologies at the ready.

Wild Ozark

Located in Kingston, Arkansas, Madison and her husband, Rob, sell wild American ginseng (if you can pick it up; see website), shagbark hickory syrup, books, handmade notecards, and more as well as Rob’s gorgeous handmade wooden keepsake boxes.

Rochelle Wisoff-Fields

An accomplished artist and author, Rochelle has written a three-book series that takes her heroine from the pogroms of Eastern Europe to the difficulties faced by Jewish immigrants in 1908 Kansas City.  She also does portraits by commission.

Beth Carter

Beth left the corporate world to write books.  She’s written women’s fiction, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and children’s picture books.

Our French Lifestyle

If you’re in Europe, or France specifically, Susan offers a variety of vintage finds or you might like to contact her about escaping to their luxury cottage for a getaway.

Jan Morrill

Jan is an author and speaker.  Her novel, The Red Kimono, takes place in 1941 and is about the Japanese internment.  She also has several other books, including on of haiku in which I have one haiku.  (Couldn’t resist adding that!)  In addition to writing, she’s available for workshops about writing.

Claire Fuller

Claire’s first book, Our Endless Numbered Days, won the 2015 Desmond Elliott Prize.  She’s published a second and has a third coming out in 2019.  You can find links for buying her books on her website and, although can buy them from Amazon, in the spirit of Small Business Saturday, I’d encourage you to order through your local independent bookstore.

Isadora and Al De La Vega

A former New York policeman, Al makes whimsical copper and brass items, many with a distinctly nautical/ocean theme.  Besides blogging, Isadora makes beautiful jewelry.  Stop by both sites for a look.

Hannah of Bittersweet

Hannah is an amazing vegan cook and food photographer.  She has a new cookbook, Real Food, Really Fast: Delicious Plant-Based Recipes Ready in 10 Minutes or Less, coming out in January and you can preorder it by clicking on the link to her blog.

SereneTeaz

Full disclosure: I worked here for two year and don’t now only because the business is completely online now.  That makes me able to assure you that the commitment to quality and service can’t be bettered.  With close to 140 teas or tisanes (herbal or floral mixes that don’t contain actual tea) and the ability to ship to anywhere in the contiguous US, you can’t go wrong buying from SereneTeaz.

Le Chocolat du Bouchard

If you can’t make it to Paris and you’re anywhere near Naperville, Illinois, stop into Le Chocolat for French ambience, macarons (not macaroons), pastries and chocolate truffles of all sorts, drinks (wine, coffee drinks, or chocolate drinks), or lunch or dinner.  I currently work there, so maybe you’ll even meet me.  🙂

 

 

OK, as I said, if I missed you, I apologize and please leave your link in the comments, along with a short description of your product/book/art/whatever.  Thanks!

Any links that are just to blog posts or blogs and not relevant to Small Business Saturday will be deleted.

Tea time

In the mid-seventies, I took off between my junior and senior years of college and set out to backpack around Europe.  We started in Ireland, spending a week before heading across the water to England.  In both places, I was introduced for the first time to hot tea, tea so strong that if the pot had been broken and removed, I believe the tea would have stayed together in the shape of the pot.  In order to drink it, my cup had about half milk and half tea. After spending the better part of a year on the continent, I returned to England prior to finally flying regretfully home.  But now I drank my tea straight, something I still do today.

However, for much too long thereafter, the only “tea” I could get was Lipton and I couldn’t really get into that.  So when real tea finally began showing up in the stores, I was thrilled.  Later, when Starbucks pioneered the coffeehouse phenomenon, tea wasn’t far behind and the variety grew and grew.  I learned more and more about tea and began drinking it almost every day.

In the meantime, I finished college, had more adventures, began teaching, go married, had children, homeschooled them through high school, and ran a personal training business (among other work, paid or unpaid.)  Last year, with both our daughters no longer at home for some time, I began to think about looking for a part time job in some area of interest–writing, fitness, or tea.  Less than a month ago, our two daughters and I were in Wheaton, Illinois in a teashop, when I thought I’d ask the owner whether they needed any part time help.  They did and I came home with the now copious paperwork necessary to get a job.

Yesterday marks the end of my first two weeks. A number of you have asked how the job has gone, so here’s my report. My main concern was the register; in reality, a computer.  While there are plenty codes and things still to learn, it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it might be.  We sell over 100 teas and becoming familiar with them is one of the biggest things to learn.  Every day I work, I taste teas, looking at the appearance of the dry leaves as well testing the scent of the leaves before brewing, smelling the aroma of the brewed tea and, similar to wine tasting, trying to identify the various flavors, natural or added, tea itself.  Not that this is an onerous task, but as we all want to be on the same page as to what we tell customers, there’s a lot to learn and I’ll be working at this aspect for a long time.

We also sell lots of tea-related products: teapots, infusers, cups, kitchen items, jams, scone mixes, spoon rests (or places to put the infusers so they don’t drip on the counter or stove), and so forth.  Of course, we also sell baked goods to go with the teas as well as bagged tea.  And that’s just in the shop itself.  The back room is an entirely different story.

We have regulars and I’m learning their names and preferences, as well as the day-to-day procedures.  On Monday, I’ll be helping with inventory, always an interesting time.  🙂  It will be some time yet before I graduate to actually brewing the tea itself.  For now, I’m more of a go-fer, a tea-rista in training. But talk about brain stimulation! I love dealing with people, so being able to marry that with tea has really been fun so far.  And that’s at only two weeks.  I think that bodes well for the future. I have a long way to go before being an employee who can step in anywhere at any time, but I’m getting there as fast as I can!

Want to see where I’m working?  It’s called SereneTeaz and if you’re ever in Wheaton, it’s a lovely place to relax and enjoy some amazing tea.  Of course, if you stop by, be sure to say hello.

Happy Valentine’s Day and may your day be filled with love!