Inspiration

Happy Arbor Day from Soul Flower

Happy Arbor Day buds 🙂

Along with Earth Day, this is our favorite “nature holiday” of the year. You already know we’re a tree-hugging bunch at Soulflower, and we have a sneaky suspicion that most of you are too. Living in the upper Midwest, it’s a blessing to see the trees go through their seasonal changes. It’s an amazing thing to see mother earth go from winter brown to spring green in a matter of a few days. As this is being written, I’ve counted 10 new varieties of birds outside my window that have returned in the last few days from their winter homes. It’s a busy time of year for nature, and whether you are in the city or the country it’s a great time to get out and take notice of the bustling life that is blooming all around us.

Trees play a leading role in supporting the fragile eco-system we all live in. There is a photo from Japan that shows one lone pine tree standing where there were once thousands – a sad sight for sure; however, the Japanese people have adopted that lonely tree as a sign of hope for the future. Blog Image forest of trees - Happy Arbor Day from Soul FlowerAt Soulflower, we’re concerned about the future too, and we continue to grow our relationship with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant three trees for every one that is used in our catalog production. It’s a small gesture for sure, but if everyone planted just one tree this year there would be over 300 million new trees in just America alone! Grab those shovels and let’s put that tree-hugging, dirt worshipping power to work.

~Your Bud Mike

Photos courtesy of and © our bud Jenn

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Going forward

Hey buds! Thank you for being such great buds. 2010 was such a fun and exciting year for Soul Flower, and it’s all because of you. Like we often say, we are who we are because of YOU, & even though Soul Flower is online- and catalog-based, it’s still all about interacting with people.

It has always been our goal to seek out and welcome your feedback. It challenges us and helps us grow. So we thought it appropriate to create a spot right here for you to share your thoughts with us. No need to sign in or anything, just leave us a comment about…

How can we better help you shop and engage with Soul Flower?

How can the website or products be improved?

What types of subjects would you enjoy reading here on our blog?

What else should we do with our online media efforts (YouTube, blogging, Facebook, etc)?

What have your previous experiences with Soul Flower been like? And what would you change?

So please, leave your thoughts below: rant, rave, review, send ideas, gripe, groove, share the love … whatever it is you have to say to make us better, we want to hear it! Cheers to love, laughter & good times in 2011.

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Holiday playlist…

To help celebrate the season & keep our holiday spirits bright, us buds here at soul flower put our heads & music taste together to create this eclectically beautiful playlist of christmas tunes….

Holiday Music 2010 Playlist at MixPod.com

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For the Love of Trees….

Hi Buds…I think you all know how much we love trees (a quick search for tree on Soul-Flower.com brought back 43 different treehugging, branch-loving, leaf-hearting items…) And since today (April 30th) is officially Arbor Day, we thought it a good occasion to celebrate our love for trees & tell you a little bit about our efforts to help with reforestation here in the good old U. S. of A….

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Soul Flower has partnered with the Arbor Day foundation to help offset our paper use. We know we use it often in our business – invoices in packages, mailing supplies, and of course there is that one biggie -our catalog production. We always work hard to make sure we recycle & reuse paper. But specifically related to our catalog – we felt that since we were using so much paper, we should do something to offset that production. So starting in 2008, we began planting two (or more) trees for every one tree we use in catalog production. It just makes sense to replenish what has been taken – and the restoration of our natural forests is not just important, it is necessary.

In 2009, we continued our efforts with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant these “offset” trees by helping with an amazing project to plant 125,000 total longleaf pine trees in the Manchester State Forest in South Carolina. This longleaf restoration project is an effort to restore longleaf pine to its former natural range. Approximately 1/4 of the 258 acres was replanted in the winter of 2008-2009 & the remainder is scheduled to be replanted this year.

To find out more about the Arbor Day Foundation & its programs, go here. And have a happy tree day <3.

p.s. (added 5/6/10) Hi again buds! We just found out that our last contribution in 2009 went to Pine Plantings in the Okaloacoochee Slough State Forest, an awesome replanting effort in south central Florida…check out details here.

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Not all who wander are lost.

LouDog’s Cool Nomad Sandals….

Hey there Soul-Flower pal’s. It’s loudog reporting to you today on the great Two Tone Highland Sandals, made by Nomadic State of Mind. If you have been to any large music fest in the greater US of A you have probably encountered one or more of the nomadic state crew – they happily promote peace, love and good times. And they feel that if you insist on wearing shoes, you must try nomadic sandals.

So if you think they look cool, but wonder how they feel on your feet, they feel great! These shoes are very light weight. It’s literally like your walking on air or nothing at all. They are the best at festivals, the mall, walking the animals, around the house, right out of the shower or at the beach and in the water! Plus they float. How cool is that?

These shoes are made of the best poly pro rope material and made thoughtfully . Which makes them so soft and easy to care for. No matter how dirty you get playing in them, you can hand wash or machine wash them. I would suggest just setting them in the sun to dry. They are held together with glue, so no dryer. They run true to actual size, so if your a half size, you can round up to the next size. Anyplace I were mine I always get compliments. Remember as well, Nomadic means Wanderer so wander away. Thanks again Soul-Flower for bringing us another great product!

Your Bud Loudog

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A few of our favorite things…

We hope you can take part in finding your faves on soul-flower.com – we will even give away a favorite this week. Simply go to our facebook fan page (http://www.facebook.com/soulflower) and post a photo & link on our wall to your favorite fall product on our website. Be sure to include a little reason why it is a fave…then on November 4th we will pick a random person who will win their favorite item. So start checking out the site – in the meantime, here are a couple of our favorite fall things to inspire you.

 

Blog Image NME001 - A few of our favorite things...Our first fave is this mosaic reversible skirt.

 

This skirt is so versitile, it is hard to know where to start…

 

Is it that it can be worn on either side, mosaic or black? Or possibly that you can turn down the top waistband to give it a sweet lowwaist banded look? Or how about the fact that you can roll it into a ball, throw it in your backpack & still wear it that night without a wrinkle in site? No matter how you look at this one, it is a must have for this season & beyond.

 

Click here to check it out.

 

And now our second fave, the Big Easy Tie Top.

 

 

Blog Image SOL095 - A few of our favorite things...This top is soooo soft & fun to wear. The artwork is intricate and so beautiful…when we designed this one we really struggled to name it so that y’all could tell how cool the artwork is. There is so much to see in it, it has a graffiti quality to it with a big of hieroglyphic Egyptian coolness plus the N’Awlins voodoo funkiness…maybe it is just one of those you have to see (AND FEEL) in person. So number two is the big ez tie top.

 

Click here to check this one out.
Trying to pick just one is the hardest part, right? So just jump on soul-flower.com, do a little window shopping & let us know your fave. That’s it, then you will have a chance to win on 11.4.09.

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Blissful Pictures – Our Customers

Hey Hey Buds, We have received so many great entries for the blog contest, we just want to share a few of our favorites here. Thanks so much for the great stories & the fabulous pictures (especially those kiddles). We are here because of you & just love the vibe of all these photos. Our winner will be announced tomorrow. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures:

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Meet Lucy, the grandaughter of our bud Gloria. She is wearing her gauza dress, looking out “at all the wonderful sites that await her to discover”.

 

 

 

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This is Nolan, right after his mama voted for the 2009 election. He is sporting his not too young for peace shirt. (along with his I voted sticker).

 

Not all our pictures we received were of kids, some were of our buds too – here is on on Jam Cruise. Wearing the Kingston Roots tee.

 

 

 

 

Blog Image 30 - Blissful Pictures - Our CustomersFrom Glen –
“Here is a pic of me in your pants … hmm that didn’t come out right !!
Peace and Love
Glen”

 

 

Blog Image 42 - Blissful Pictures - Our CustomersAdorable Siena twirling in our twirler skirt. This was one of our favorite skirts we carried….and so cute on her.

 

 

And here is our bud Kim at Hueco Tanks State Park in El Paso, TX.
I will post more pictures & announce our blog winner tomorrow.

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Follow Your Bliss

Blog Image 28 - Follow Your Bliss Are you hitting the road for a festy or two this season? Do you have your soul flower threads packed & ready to go? We are so glad you are taking us along. But also be sure to bring your camera & join in our brand spanking new blog contest.

We want more of our buds’ smilin’ faces on our website. Wearing Soul Flower threads. So, email us a photo of you in your kindest of threads, along with a story of the photo, and you can win a $50 gift certificate. We will publish the winning story & photo right here on our blog in June. Be sure to get us those pics by June 18th & we will inform you via email if you win. We are going to add to our collage of customers using all the entries. Check out our current images here: http://www.soul-flower.com/feedback.htm. Now email your photos & stories to [email protected].
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Three Songs

Hi friends –
It’s 3:30am and it’s the crickets and me that appear to be the only ones up right now. I really don’t mind, it’s a great time to let the thoughts just pass through my head. However, there’s this one thought that just won’t let, go so here I am writing…

Being in an introspective mood, this idea came to mind to try and define myself via music. Specifically, if you could pick three songs that define who you are what would they be? I’d imagine that over the course of several years the songs would change as your circumstances in life change – but wouldn’t it be insightful if you could keep a list that from time to time you could go back and reflect on?

So, here I go – if you feel like sharing your list feel free – this is an exercise that hopefully will bring you closer to who you are – a reflection in the mirror type thing. Anyways, here’s my list:

Song #1 is Bruce Cockburn’s Wondering Where the Lions Are. This song has always puts me in a good mood and it’s always had this sort of spiritual, uplifting, the world can’t get me down kind of message that I think is great. This song has been on my list all along and I don’t really see that changing.
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Song #2 is John Lennon’s Watching the Wheels:
This song is a reminder to me to live my life the way I see fit, and not get caught up with what others are thinking. I need to be reminded from time to time – we’re not hamsters on a wheel or cogs in a machine. Jump off, reflect, take a break, blaze a trail, just be…

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The third song is Bob Dylan’s It’s Alright Ma (I’m only Bleeding). To me, this is probably the yang to Bruce Cocburn’s Wondering Where the Lions Are. There’s as much darkness as there is light (in this world) – it’s how we choose to deal with it that defines us. Not everything in this song I relate to – but to me it’s like Nirvana’s Teen Spirit. It’s angst, rage, cynicism – but it’s also saying hey, I’m going to be okay.
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So, there you have it – probably know more about me now than you care to but that’s where I’m at right now. ‘It’s alright ma – I can make it!’
Peace and positive vibes to you all. I can’t believe it – I just finished this at 4:20 – some things never change I guess.

-Mike

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