Now that things have settled back to a normal roar, I thought I’d take the time to update everyone on our weekend. We had a very busy, productive, and fun time this past weekend. Our first stop was to volunteer at the 3rd Annual Brewgrass Festival in downtown Wilmington. It was held Saturday afternoon and featured 10 breweries from North and South Carolina. Each brewery brought 3 of their brews and gave unlimited tasting plus great conversation. The representatives from each brewery were knowledgeable and personable. We were able to talk with all of them about the opportunity to make soap using their unique brews. We pointed them toward the Front Street Brewery tent where they had our soaps made with their very popular Scottish Ale available for people to purchase. They all seemed very interested, and two breweries sent us home with samples (one is a peach beer and the other is a pale ale). We are excited to see how the soaps turn out. Another brewery was unable to give us a sample, but we are still excited about the opportunity to work with them. They make a blueberry beer that was my personal favorite. I think it will make a great soap as well. Sunday afternoon we headed to a festival called “Kids Summer Stock”. It was a fundraiser to support the local food bank. They had all sorts of fun things for kids to do, like three inflatables (bounce houses), free popcorn and ice cream, a clown doing face painting and making balloon animals and kid friendly entertainment (a kid’s singer and story reading). They allowed us to set up as one of the vendors for free so we could sell our soaps and also talk with kids and their parents about buying all natural products because they are safer for them and also for the environment. Wrigley, our sales manager, went with us and he was a big hit. He loves it when people pet him and comment on how soft he is. Then he points them toward the all natural soap he uses. (That’s why he is the sales manger!) We did have a great time talking with a variety of people, and even sold some soap as a bonus. Continuing in to the week, Monday morning we met for coffee with Kimberly to talk about face and body care and essential oils. She works at a local salon performing facials and body wraps and is very knowledgeable about the healing benefits of essential oils. She had some great ideas and information and was just fun to spend time with. Kimberly told us that coffee and coffee grounds are a great natural way to fight cellulite. I'll be using the coffee soap on my thighs from now on ;) In the middle of all this, we are also in negotiations with someone who wants to place a very large order. It has us very excited about all the future possibilities, but scrambling to get all our ducks in a row so we can fulfill his needs. Take some time from your busy summers to show around our website. We have all natural soaps for dogs and their human companions in many different varieties. Our “Bug Off” soap is getting rave reviews for it’s ability to ward off the flying insects with it’s non toxic, good for the environment blend of essential oils. Jenn soapmaker@glynnesoaps.com