Slacker and a Monumental Change

Oh my…I’m ashamed. I haven’t posted in months! I think of doing so all the time, however something (procrastination) always stops me. Honestly, I have come to the realization that if I could have somebody follow me around, take pictures, and then write my thoughts down, then I would have this blog a well oiled machine. Sadly, that is not the case…so for those of you waiting to see what I’m doing and hear my thoughts (Mom) I apologize.

Life has been busy. Well, I say that, but then I can’t come to think what I have been doing. Story of my life!

So, nearly three months have passed since my last post…I’m not sure if I even know what has all happened since then, but here are the things I do know…

• My wonderful parents made the trek north to visit us for Thanksgiving. They were able to come up to my classroom two days and meet the little darlings that I have. Dad also got to go out to L’s workplace and hang out with him, nerding it out. We all traveled down to L’s family for Thanksgiving with his family. That was a lot of people and a lot of fun. We had a great time having my parents here!
• The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are crazy for everyone, for a school teacher they are mayhem. I can’t recall anything from those three weeks, so my only prediction is that I blacked out.
• Then came Christmas, which was disappointingly fast! We traveled to the Mothership (Texas) to spend Christmas with my family. We had our 3rd Annual Christmas Eve Brunch. An event I look forward to every year. More so, the planning of it. I love planning things like that with my Mom. It turned out fabulous and we all had a lot of fun. We had to hurry back from Texas, so that L could get back to work and that was hard.
• New Year’s came and went. We got to hang out with some friends and their little girl. We had a nice, calm, uneventful evening. I’m okay with that. Although NYE is always the day that I miss living in the city the most. I love getting dressed up and I don’t do that much in the middle of nowhere Iowa.
• L has been trying to convince me for some time to start selling my kid’s shirts, so after much encouragement, I started by selling Valentine’s shirts. I got a lot of orders, so that was encouraging. Unfortunately, last week as I was finishing the shirts, I broke my sewing machine. So, a few of my orders cancelled. I was able to borrow another machine and completed orders today. I love how they turned out!
• I started getting out in the town more and have even been going to some of the University games with some friends. It’s nice to have a change of pace. It’s not nice to go back to the University and not have my besties with me. It makes me miss them horribly and miss all the hilarious that is the four of us.
• Speaking of my three favorites! We started planning our Girls’ Trip for this year. I cannot wait! That is one of the bigger things I am looking forward to in 2013.
• I have become OBSESSED with Trader Joe’s . I swear it is my new favorite place and I have been trying to convince everyone I know to shop there as well. I can’t get enough of it! If you haven’t been, you’re missing out.

That nearly sums up my highlights…my biggest one, I have saved for last…

In January I celebrated a HUGE milestone. Two and a half years ago, after tons and tons of tests and lots and lots of doctors and fighting not having insurance, I was diagnosed with  Ulcertive Colitis. If you want to Google that you can, but basically it’s a digestive disease that could be considered a mild form of Crohn’s. It is known to have no cure. There are meds that can help get you into remission, but not cure it and they are awful. For a year and a half I went along with the doctors. I had a terrible experience. There were so many mornings were I couldn’t stand up, couldn’t get out of bed, barely made it through a shower, couldn’t stand long enough to fix my hair, and LIVED on the toilet! Too much info? Sorry, but that’s the truth of it. The only thing they ever found to control it was predisone (aka Satan himself). I had to take them off and on for a year and a half, but soon realized the damage they were doing to my body. I was weak, always sick, swelling at a ridiculous rate, and so angry. I barely made it through my wedding last year and had a hell of a time on our Honeymoon. Oh! Did I forget to mention I had to forgo my dream honeymoon in St. Lucia, because I knew my body wouldn’t hold up after the wedding? Well, yup that happened. I also had to take a month off of work, because I knew I couldn’t handle that and the wedding. Life sucked. I wanted to die on a regular basis and thought of it frequently. The pain was unreal. Are you beginning to understand the awfulness that was?! The worst was the fact that I began to realize I wouldn’t be able to handle being pregnant much less having a baby if my life continued this way…and that’s when I said “I quit.”

January 2012 came…and I decided I was done. I am a control freak. I know this, everyone knows this. I realized this disease was controlling my life and I was beyond sick of it. So, I dropped all meds I was having to take. Flushed them down the toilet where I sat so many days and hated life. I had been paying attention carefully to what foods I was eating and how they affected me. I paid attention to the amount of physical activities I could handle. I paid attention to how I felt every minute of every day and I burned it all into my brain. When I made the decision to change things for myself, I became obsessed with doing those things. I charted everything and anything in my head. I spent hours and hours studying information, studies, and cases online. The most important thing I did was tell myself that my life was not going to be like this. I was not going to let something else decide my destiny. I truly believed it with every ounce of everything in me.

I put more effort into this task than I ever have anything else. I fought. I struggled. I had failures. I had successes. I had set backs. In the end however, I won. I have lived over a year now without any meds, without seeing a single specialist, and without my life revolving around this God forsaken disease. In November, I sought out the advice and expertise of one of my students’ parents who works with vitamins and supplements. I have been taking them religiously and have seen a huge difference. My colon doesn’t declare war on me anymore, it functions normally.

After two months of taking the vitamins and getting my health back, I decided it was time to work on my body again. My muscles took a beating through all this and I was beginning to believe that they were non-existent. So, I have decided to not only get my muscles back and my body back to a healthy stature, but I am going to train for a half marathon later this year. A half marathon that is put on for my disease and raises money in order to find a cure. I am running this to tell Colitis that I won…that I kicked it’s ass…that I took control and fixed myself…and so that I can show myself that I can, because a year ago I wasn’t sure if I’d ever be able to handle having kids, because a year ago I couldn’t get up and go to work, and because a year ago I wanted to die and now I want to not only live…I want to rock life.

I start training this week. I am nervous and excited. More than anything, I am ready to let all the hard work pay off. I am ready to make my life what I want it to be and truly be past the hell that has been the past nearly three years. I want to look back in a year and have absolutely no signs of ever having been that skinny, unhealthy girl that couldn’t fix her own hair or shower without sitting down. I want to be truly excited when we decide to have kids and not worry that the baby and I won’t make it. I want to be free.

“I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.”
― William Ernest Henley

I hope I can encourage people to steer their own ships…because it’s the only way to live.

~S. Burke

 

Fall time…

Driveway at our farm

I love the fall time. I love doing fall activities, eating fall flavors, creating fall crafts, and filling my house/truck with scents of the fall. I share my love of fall with my wonderful mother. That being said, I miss her more during the fall and am anxiously counting down the days till I get to see her!

So far this fall, I have…

• Made a fall wreath
• Created fall treat bags for all my co-workers
• Carved a pumpkin
• Made caramelized pumpkin seeds
• Decorated my table
• Made gluten/dairy free caramel apple dip (for one of my students)
• Made a jack-o-lantern veggie tray (for same student)
• Baked an apple crisp from our apples on our farm
• Cut a skeleton shirt for Halloween
• Fixed “Momma’s Worst Nightmare” candy bark for my work’s Halloween Themed Progressive Dinner
• Peeled and cored tons of apples for future desserts
• Made my mom and myself fall garland

There are so many more projects that I want to work on, but am finding that fall is a very busy time to try and get them all done! Hopefully I’ll have time to post about some of the items I’ve made soon…
On another note…I have been keeping track of my daily thankfuls, but haven’t had time to post them. After the week I had, I wanted to think of all the goods! So here they are…

Nov. 1- Thankful for my health

Nov. 2- Thankful for my family

Nov. 3- Thankful for hunting season (which means some alone time to watch chick flicks or whatever else!)

Nov. 4- Thankful for how strong and amazing my brother is.

Nov. 5- Thankful for my new job

Nov. 6- Thankful for my coworkers and how wonderful they are.

Nov. 7- Thankful for how hard my husband has worked to provide more than I could’ve dreamed of for us.

Nov. 8- Thankful for my 3 best friends. They truly make me a better person and add so much color to my life!

Nov. 9- Thankful for my ability to cook. I owe my mom a lot for blessing me with this gift!

Nov. 10- Thankful that we can take vacations/trips together now.

Nov. 11- Thankful living in such a safe. small town.

Nov. 12- Thankful for my husband. We made it a year as of today!!

Nov. 13- Thankful for a very supportive and understanding boss.

Nov. 14- Thankful for my wonderful teammate and the fact that we get along so well.

Nov. 15- Thankful for a great group of students, such a nice change of pace.

Nov. 16- Thankful for the beautiful Fall weather we’ve been having.

Nov. 17- Thankful for my Damien. He’s my favorite “little” guy.

That’s all for now…I’ll add more after the craziness of this upcoming week. So excited for my parents to be in town on Monday!

~S. Burke

Wreath Love

This year, I have discovered a new love/obsession…wreaths. All kinds, shapes, and colors…I love them! I’m constantly amazed by how much I have turned into my mother and this is a big one! I never understood my mom’s love of wreaths. She likes all different kinds and even makes most of them (if not all). She always has one or a version of hanging from their front door. I’ve always thought they were nice and all, but didn’t see myself as a door hanging, wreath kind of person…till this year. Something in me shifted, and now…I love them! I’ve picked one out to make for every season of the year. I really think I could start a board on my Pinterest wall that only has wreaths! So needless to say, when my favorite season came rolling around, I knew I had to make a beautiful wreath for my door. It was a tedious project but I love the end result. I have to say, the hardest part was trying to pick which Fall wreath I wanted the most!

I had found this on Pinterest months ago and this is the one I decided to shoot from. I knew I wanted more dramatic flowers and that I didn’t want to make them out of yarn, but I loved the color scheme. I used it as inspiration and went to the craft store to see what I could find!
My trip to Jo-Ann’s was a bit crazy. Apparently the first day of Autumn is a very popular day to go to the craft stores! The place was packed and it was complete madness. I fought through the crowd and found the items I wanted. I had to literally dig for the beaded pieces I ended up buying, but they were worth it! I had to purchase a lot of other items for a present for my mom as well, so I ended up being there for quite awhile! I headed home to begin!
I knew going into this, that the wrapping was going to be a pain…not hard, but a pain…tedious. It was difficult to keep the yarn straight. My yarn started twisting much like the original above did. Me, being the OCD person that I am, could not settle for slanted yarn. So, this part took a me a long time! However, about three quarters of the way through I figured out a method! I left a space wide enough for the yarn in between each wrap around. I then went back on the second wrap around and put the yarn in between, where I had left space (if that makes sense). This method was way faster and kept me from having to pull and tug at the yarn, which caused it to fray up.

Wrap #1                                                                                Wrap #2

That made it a lot easier to manage. If you are planning on attempting a yarn wreath, I highly recommend doing this to start out with, not three fourths of the way finished with your project!

The rest was a piece of cake! I simply cut my flowers and arranged them where I wanted them and then hot glued them down. Easy peasy! I really loved how it turned out and am glad I went with the flowers I did!

I love the colors! I realized after I sat back and looked at it that if I would’ve saved my wedding bouquet, then I could’ve used the flowers from it. I think I would’ve loved that even more, but that’s ok! I’m still crazy about this one! It even worked out perfectly with the door of the rental house we were in and the new one we just moved to! Perfection!

I’m anxiously awaiting making a fantastic one for Christmas! I already have some ideas for it!

~S. Burke

Distracted

I have been so bad about keeping up with my blog lately. We moved to Iowa, started new jobs, and life got busy! We are now in the process of moving to a new rental house and I am very excited about it. I promise to post more soon!

 

~S. Burke

“Jaeger” AKA Negative Nancy

I am a “Jaeger”, not by marriage, but by blood. Therefore, I have unwillingly inherited a lot of Jaeger traits. Some excellent (ex: a witty sense of humor), some not so excellent (lack of motivation). One of the Jaeger traits I dislike the most is the “Negative Nancy”. I come from a long line of pessimists. We, Jaegers, are notorious for finding the bad in ANY, I mean ANY, situation. While I love my Jaeger family, they are sometimes extremely difficult to be around b/c of this. I too am difficult to be around in my Negative Nancy moods (my mother, brother, and husband can testify to that). Thankfully, my mother has an amazingly beautiful and infectious personality. She has an unbelievable outlook on life and fortunately for my brother, he received this wonderful trait from her. Unfortunately for me, I did not and have to constantly work on it. She has been shoving positive insights down my dad and I’s throats for years when we are too quick to find the bad in things. I love my mother for doing this, b/c I have now finally started thinking of what she would say in situations where the bad clearly outweighs the not-so-obvious good. It has been very difficult at times, but I am proud to say, I am getting exponentially better at this! My husband and I’s recent life changes have been the perfect “Mom’s Positive Thinking Learning Experience”. So, my dearest and most wonderful momma, this is dedicated to you…

Mom’s Positive Thinking Learning Experience:

This summer, my husband and I decided to move back to Iowa. We found new jobs here, quit our old jobs (that we both were very unhappy at), put our beautiful farm on the market, and moved to Iowa to a rental house. We stirred the pot big time! Oh…and have I mentioned we have been married less than a year?!

I had mixed feelings about the whole thing, but was really excited about my job. After the year I had last year, I was ready for a change! I student taught in the school where I got my new job and knew that I liked the small town aspect. Not to mention, this position would be FAR less stressful than my previous one. Before school started I began to feel very uneasy. Last year left a terrible taste in my mouth and the idea of teaching again made me very nervous, even though this is year 6 for me. Every day that I have been a teacher, I take time at the end of every day (typically on my drive home) to think of at least one good thing from the day. Anyone who is a teacher knows that this is not always an easy task. Last year I had an hour drive home…I typically didn’t come up with anything till I was in the driveway and they were terrible! “I survived.” “I only had two students escorted out.” “I only had half the class owing me recess.” “I only had to call one parent after school.” Awful! I hated it. This year, I only have a two and a half minute drive home…and I run out of time to list my goods. I often come up with them throughout the evening till I go to bed and I find myself randomly smiling b/c I can’t believe how lucky I am. I haven’t complained once since school started and to hear others complain is now a major annoyance. Yes, I hated my job last year…but the impact it had on my life and even more so, my OUTLOOK on life is easily one of the most amazing lessons I’ve ever learned. I feel so blessed…and b/c of that, I wanted to share my wonderfuls of my job, b/c “good” no longer cuts it…I have included my favorites b/c my post would go on forever otherwise.

The Wonderfuls of My New Job

My students, they are HILARIOUS and so sweet. My principal and superintendent come into my room to observe on a regular basis (this might be a negative to some, but I love that they care enough to know who is teaching their students). My co-workers, particularly the other Second grade teacher. The support of everyone in the school. My students’ parents. My students’ eagerness and excitement everyday. The amount of energy I still have at the end of the day. The fact that my teammate appreciates my ideas. How well my teammate and I work together. How kind my students are to one another. The fact that I have yet to tell any of the students (in any grade) to not hit, kick, bite, punch, or push each other. Recess duty is a breeze b/c the students know how to follow rules. I don’t work with people who complain constantly. The community is very involved in our school. Everyone is just so nice and welcoming. When I set off the alarm on a Sunday afternoon, my principal (who only lives 5 minutes away,  just laughs and comes to save me (yup, I added that one yesterday)! I am appreciated and everyone asks for my ideas and opinions. Even though it’s my first year in this school, my principal trusts me to start something new and head up projects. My students tell me things like “My favorite part of my week was going to Art and seeing you.”

I love, love, love my new job. I am so blessed and thankful. The journey getting here was so humbling, but also so very worth it!

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.”

~S. Burke

My Philosophy and a Birthday Wish

In the Fall of 2006, I sat in my bedroom fighting to write my Philosophy of Education for my Classroom Management class. I remember it vividly b/c I very rarely had a hard time writing papers, but this one was posing to be quite the time consuming task. I was stumped, b/c although I knew what I believed about education, it was difficult for me to find the words to explain it to someone else. I began looking around my tiny little shack of a rental house and saw a book that was given to me by the greatest teacher there ever was…Mrs. J (my brother and I’s 3rd grade teacher). I remembered reading a quote in that book that put into words everything that I knew I wanted to be as a teacher…

“Everyday millions of students arrive at American classrooms in search of more than reading and math skills. They are looking for a light in the darkness of their lives, a Good Samaritan who will stop and bandage a burned heart or ego.”

-Jim Trelease

I knew, as I reread that quote, that it summarized my Philosophy perfectly. I honestly could’ve simply typed that quote and called it a day, if it weren’t for the fact that this had to be a 10 page paper.

That quote has been the propeller that has pushed me during those hardest moments in the classroom or even while applying to find a job. It has changed so much of what I thought about teaching in the beginning and has been confirmed every year that passes. I have only taught in low-income schools and truth be told, that is home to me. I wouldn’t know what to do if I taught in a district where my students all came to school with their basic needs being met. I don’t think I would be needed, which is why God has never placed me in such a position.

My parents are very frugal and resourceful. I grew up hearing “Oh we can make that” on a regular basis and now I find myself saying this weekly. When it comes to my classroom, this is what has gotten me through the five years I’ve taught without asking for very much and making do with what I have. This year however, is a little different…A lot of my students are struggling readers. The reasoning behind this being that a lot of them don’t have books or any kind of reading material at home. It’s such a sad thought to me, considering my mother sat in bed and read to my brother and I every night and my father always bought us books at Walden’s Books in the mall. Anyhow, that is the basis at which I ask for your help…I am trying to provide my little kiddos with every possible reading experience I can while they’re at school. I have a lot of resources that I use already, but am in need of a few more, the biggest of those being a listening center. My students need to hear fluent readers as often as possible and this will enable that to happen. So here is my birthday wish…

I came across the website DonorsChoose.org a few years back, but have never used it before. I can’t make my listening center, so I decided to try it out this year. I have put a project on their website to help fund my listening center and new books/cds to go with it. I posted it two hours ago and thanks to my wonderful family members and friends I’m already over halfway to my goal amount. Since I am a new member the website will match any donation I receive until Sept. 3rd if you input the match code “INSPIRE” when you checkout. This is an amazing opportunity to help out in a very small but big way! Even if you can only donate $1 or 2, I will be so thankful. The best part of your donation? You’ll get wonderful thank you notes from my little darlings once our project has been funded! Everyone loves cards from kids!

The name of my project is Fluency Focus. Please at least take a look at it! If nothing else, the website is such an amazing idea and maybe you’ll find a project to fund near you!

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and possibly donate, it means so much more than you could know…

~S. Burke

ABC’s

A little over a month ago I went antiquing with a friend. I love antiquing, despite my parents’ need to drag us into every single antique shop in the lower half of the US when we were younger! Typically I just browse around looking for unique items and trashed pieces, that my mother would know without skipping a beat, are gold. However, this time, I knew what I was looking for and was determined to find it.

I love lots of things, but I have a slight obsession with letters. Not numbers, I don’t have near the same likeness for those, but man, do I adore letters. I was on a hunt for a unique “B”. I just wanted a “B”. After hours of walking around and searching in a few stores, I came to the realization that I wasn’t going to find my treasured “B”. What I did find though, was even better!

I have no intention of having children soon, but I do know that when I do have them, I want their nursery to be decorated in letters and books. I have known this for quite awhile now. So I am always on the lookout for really interesting and unique alphabet pieces. Seeing as how I’m a teacher, I’ve justified buying these items and simply use them in my classroom for the time being. I love a good loophole! 😉

At the last store, we found these massive white metal letters. The only ones they had were 2 “a”s, a “b”, and an “e”. I stood trying to decide whether or not I wanted the “b” for quite some time. It was near the end of a 15 minute saga of pacing that I looked at the letters again, but through my mother’s eyes, and saw that the “e” could easily become a “c”. I called my husband who is very handy, to verify that it would be easy to cut the “e”. He confirmed and so the deal making was on! I ended up getting all three letters for $75…which may seem a bit pricey, but if you’ve seen the antique letter market, you know quite the opposite.

I knew exactly where I would take the “e” to get it cut and was hoping it wouldn’t cost very much. L and I took it a few weeks ago to a local business that works with metal. I had to talk to four different men in order to get an answer, but they finally decided they could cut it into an “c”. The cost? A $5 gift card to the gas station up the road, so that they could buy ice for their drinks. SOLD! Upon leaving, L said “I love doing business in small towns!” It’s true…we live in a wonderful community where you can do business in such a wonderful way. These men did an awesome job and they even sanded down the edges so that I wouldn’t cut myself. I ran to the store, bought 3 different colors of spray paint and went to work. I really like how they turned out…I’m unsure of the colors, but I can easily change them! I love the fact that they are over-sized and since they are metal…magnetic. They will be awesome in a future nursery, but for have a new home in my classroom. The kids think they’re amazing but can’t understand what we will be using them for. They are one of my favorite decorations in my room now.

What do you think about the colors? I don’t like primary colors together, so red was out. I think I would’ve liked to have used green somehow. I’m not sure. They might start being painted different depending on seasons! 🙂 Whatever the case, I am really glad I bought them! Great buy!
~S. Burke

Simple Jars Turned Bad

I love school supplies (nerd, I know)! I love bright colors! I love mason jars! I love organization (in my classroom)!

When I first came across a picture that included a project with all four of these things, I knew I had to make it.

At first you see this project and  think “That will be so simple!”. Think again friends…it took a lot of trial and error to accomplish this project. Now thinking back, perhaps it is my unbelievable ability to complicate any and everything, especially those more simple. I’m not really sure, but this project was a disaster for me. If it hadn’t been for my wonderful husband, who simplifies everything, I might not have finished this project nor would it have looked so great in the end!

When I first went to buy the jars, I purchased the Ball brand jars. Upon taking them home and opening them, I realized they had stupid glass printing on all sides of the jars. Fail. I finally, weeks later, came across a battered box of Wal-Mart brand jars on the very bottom shelf. Thankfully it was only $8 for a case of 12. I checked before taking them home and the sides of the jars were perfectly clear!

I assumed I had passed the hard part. Surely all I would need to do now is paint the black rectangles on and then write the words. Simple, right? Wrong. As I went to paint, I realized I am far too OCD to have rough painted edges. I knew I’d have to make templates and use contact paper. Having worked with contact paper before, I assumed it would be the easiest option. Yet again, wrong. Applying sticky contact paper to a round object and doing so in order to make it level, was quite the task. Thankfully, my husband offered to help. The best part? The only person more OCD then my mom and I would my EXTREMELY precise husband.

Once L was helping, this went a lot more smoothly. Actually its, pathetic how smoothly things sailed once he came into this project. He traced and cut templates as I stuck on contact paper and painted. I applied two coats of regular black paint (I didn’t use chalkboard paint, b/c I hate the look of wiped off chalk) and then used a white paint pen to write the words. Here are kind of the steps we took after things were going more smoothly…

It got easier the more we did. I ended up making only eight of them. I figured that if I saw a need later, I could always add a few more. So far this has worked perfectly.

Last week, I finally was able to fill all the jars and set them up in my classroom. I am loving them! They make things a lot easier. If I need the students to grab something for me, they know exactly what jar to get now, plus I know where they are at all times. I have always been bad about misplacing my poster and expo markers in the past. This saves me!

LOVE!

~S. Burke

Opportunities

“All stories, even the ones we love, must eventually come to an end and when they do, it’s only an opportunity for another story to begin.”

-Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium

There are days when I am reminded of a piece of my past. A piece that I either decided to let go of or that I simply just passed by. Today was one of those days. A day were I count my blessings and see my life for what it has become. I’ve made plenty of bad decisions in my life, but days like today remind me that I eventually made the right choices and those led me right into the life I now have…the life I never imagined, but somehow always wanted and I am so very thankful. Doors somehow always open, you just gotta have faith and the sense to jump right through them when they do.

~S. Burke

My Newest Obsession

While on my month long vacation in Texas last month, I found a new jewelry line that I instantly fell in love with!

Lenny & Eva.

**I wish I could share their link, however their website apparently expired three days ago. You can still search their products though!

Their products included three of my absolute most favorite things: leather, metal, and quotes. Not just any quotes either, some of my absolute favorites!  I found their wonderful products in a little boutique and knew I was going to have to buy them! They were pricey there and I figured I could see where else they sell L&E.

About a week or so ago, I remembered that I had wanted to search for this product online. So, I hopped on Google and looked around. A company called Lulu Luxuries popped up and I ventured onto their site. They not only carried the line I wanted, but they also carry a lot of other really great lines. The prices were perfect and so I decided to treat my self to a new bracelet! What I ended up receiving was not only a fantastic piece of jewelry, but an amazing amount of customer service and renewed my hope in businesses.

I find myself constantly disappointed by companies and their lack of customer service these days. My bestie, Michelle and I discuss this on what seems to be a more frequent and regular basis. I am a big advocate of writing companies and speaking my mind, whether that means bad, good, or ugly. One way or another, they hear it! My favorite though is writing companies, especially small businesses, and telling them how much I enjoyed their product, service, or communication skills. Lulu Luxuries knocked all three of these out of the park!

When I placed my order, my payment would not go through. When my order finally went through, I was emailed directly by a…wait for it…actual person, not a computer letting me know of the update so I wouldn’t have to place my order again. I emailed her back with a question about a coupon I received and guess what?! She emailed me back immediately. Not only was this company’s communication stellar, but I also received my product in less than five days! I was so in love with not only the product, but with the company as well, that when I received a 40% coupon, I jumped at the chance to use it! So, only a mere 2 days after receiving my first purchase, I had already ordered yet another. That purchase arrived in less than five days as well (actually it might of been in about four)!

I honestly don’t have enough great things to say about this company and not only their wonderful customer service, but their ability and knowledge of how to run a business! Thank you, Lulu!

~S. Burke