2018 was a big year for Simply Scented Candles. And for our family. A transitional year. Our business grew by leaps and bounds and as it grew, we began to travel to different areas of the country for markets and festivals, bringing the candles (and many times also the kids) to places like Kansas City, Pasadena, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Richmond, just to name a few. In 2019 we have plans to continue to travel. But this time- I want to bring y’all along. To share some of the experiences we have along the way.
Last week began our first big trip of the new year. We journeyed to Scottsdale, Arizona to participate in the Arizona Vegetarian Food Festival. This was a 2 day festival featuring all Vegan cuisine as well as vegan and cruelty free products. We brought along all of our new Spring line scents, flew into Los Angeles, rented a car, and road tripped through the desert to Scottsdale. One of the highlights of the trip for me was stopping off in Joshua Tree National Park. The park is incredibly vast and expansive. The rock formations and Joshua Trees standing tall in the desert conditions were so powerful. To me it felt like sacred ground. What we didn’t realize when we drove in is that to drive through the entire park is 70 miles at 35mph throughout. So our quick detour turned out to add over 3 hours to our trip. Overall-so worth it. If y’all ever have a chance to stop there, stop. One of the most beautiful and visually expressive places I’ve seen.
After the park, we drove on to Scottsdale to set up for the festival. Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful. We were surrounded by so many other amazing business owners with natural hand crafted products. Wild Clover Botanticals on one side making natural soaps and bath bombs, and Lulu’s Sorbetto on the other side, with delicious flavors of sorbet (I MAY have tasted the chocolate, mango, and the lemon). We were able to meet so many people, sell tons of candles, as well as spread awareness about the need to detoxify our homes of the chemicals hiding in many household products, such as commercial candles.
On the flight home to Florida I thought a lot about my vision for our little family business in the coming year. How we plan to continue to grow, what our goals are, what places we will see in 2019, and how to share some of those experiences with you. I also thought about gratitude. About what a privilege it is to be able to create for a living and to see parts of the world I’ve never seen before. Our family is granted that privilege because of your continued support of our products. As we move through this year we want to use the
blog to bring y’all along for the ride. To share stories and photos of the people we meet and experiences we have. And also to say thank you. Thank you for buying Simply Scented Candles every day, for spreading the word about our scents and our vision. For allowing us the privilege to follow our dreams. To wander.