Soapy Friday - Celebrations

There's much to celebrate this week! First, my trademark approval finally came in and Ravish Soap Company is legally legit from copyright infringement...

This alone has been a journey that has taken well over a year to finalize. I won't bore you with the legal details, but I'm very proud that I did this all on my own and have learned A LOT from it.

Secondly, all of my box designs are finalized and are ready to go to the printers. THIS I am very, very excited about and a bit nervous....it wasn't cheap to do what I did, but go big or go home, right? Some people have kids and spend the money to put them through college at my age...me?...I start a business. LOL! This is my child and I'm investing in its future. :-)

All the single ladies...almost ready for showtime! 

Have a few more tweaks yet...

Thirdly, I've started official production! I've made 50 lbs. of soap this week and put in my first "big soap" supply order. The UPS guy/girl is gonna hate me! Since I wan't to give my soap "at least" 6-8 weeks to cure, I need to start now. Each 25 lb. slab gives me about 80 bars of soap.

2 batches down, 7 more to go!

My "Taste of Honey" soap overheated, but I think it makes it look more authentic, yes?

Is it a real honey comb or soap?

My "original" goal was to launch by May 31st, but I don't see that happening. There's just too much to do graphic-wise yet and my graphic artist is taking sooooooo slooooooow to finish. I'm thinking of hiring a second one to help out in the meantime, but we'll see.

Lastly, I was recertified this week for a professional certification that I worked really hard to get 3 years ago. Something sparkling and alcoholic will be enjoyed tonight!

One Year Ago - What's Next?

It's hard to imagine it's been a year since we sold our house and began this odyssey of  "What's Next?".

Bittersweet...we miss the old place!

We are still very happy that we sold and moved. Still, it's hard for me not to think of all the things I would be preparing in the old gardens, what would be sprouting, getting excited for the upcoming season. Spring is the hardest because you're anxious to start moving and start warming-up. It's the season of renewal and growth.

Glory days in the old veggie garden

So, what's next? We are pretty sure that we do not want to stay in the D.C. area. No one moves to D.C. to kick back and relax or to retire. It's too hectic and expensive. And the traffic...don't get me started!

Retirement priorities!

We have our eyes set on Ohio - preferably the Columbus area. The area has a job market that will support us into retirement and it's pretty cheap to live there compared to here. Taxes are decent...not the best, but better than many. Retirement is decent there as well. We knew that we did NOT want to go back south (too hot) or even much further north where we would experience much of the same lifestyle - hectic and expensive.

The Buckeye State is lookin' pretty good to us!

Plus, when we went there last August, we really liked the "small town community" feel that many towns/neighborhoods had. We like the thought that our next house will be "our forever home" and we'll get to retire eventually...but more importantly, we'll be able to afford to do what we WANT to do versus what we HAVE to do as far as work. I want to make my soap company a legitimate business that would support us, and we couldn't do that if we stayed in the D.C. area.

We're going out to Ohio in May to do some scouting...if everything goes according to plans, we'll be looking into buying a home there later this year!