Getting down to the wire! Soon you’ll be bombarded with gorgeous photos of Thailand, Cambodia, and Australia.

But for this post, I’m gonna switch the spotlight over to some amazing people in my life who are making some cool stuff. Y’all, it’s so important to support your friends who are making some cool stuff. Coming from someone who briefly had an Etsy shop, the support of friends and friends-of-friends is more touching and beautiful than I can accurately describe. This support creates a connection and a validation that is hard to find as a small business owner or artist, especially when we are constantly being bombarded with products and brands and ads and algorithms fueled by corporations who have more money, reach, and resources than small business owners have when they start out.

So here’s a few of my friends who are selling cool stuff. Buy their stuff. Share their stuff. Tell your friends about their stuff. Tell me about your friends who are doing cool stuff. Supporting small businesses and supporting your friends is one of the most powerful and wonderful ways that we can make a difference with our dollar. Want to keep seeing your friends succeed? Buy stuff from them.

Okay, so here we go!! 🙂

Vervain Ritual Care

I hope that every person in the universe gets the chance to meet Maurie. She’s hilarious and cool and unapologetically her, 24/7. I worked with Maurie at Lush and was so excited to hear that she was coming out with products of her own. If you know Maurie, you trust her with this kind of stuff.

Vervain has balms, bath soaks, and other products that allow you to indulge in self-care. (High priestess soak? Can you even get more magickal?) Anyone with chronic pain should head to her shop. I recently bought her cramp balm and I’m so excited to bring this on my trip! The smell is divine and wearing it helps me breathe easier when cramps flair up.

Start shopping by heading to vervainritual.com. You can also learn more by heading to Vervain’s Facebook or Instagram.

 

The Bee Good Candle Company

We all know bees are dying at alarming rates but it’s ok because we can do something to help! My friend Em is a badass and moved her (and her dog, Bubba) out to Denver to start this amazing company. Her site is super new, so I’ll let her explain the concept:

“The concept is you pick out a unique piece of pottery, you get a beeswax candle, and your purchase gives money back to saving the bees and educating the Denver community about the importance of bees and beekeeping. All the beeswax candles are handmade and the beeswax is supplied from a local bee keeper who is dedicated to not treating his hives with any chemicals.” 

Ah! I love it. I’m buying a mini vase for my mom as a very-late-but-I-still-love-her Mother’s Day gift. Yay for saving bees!

Start saving bees by heading to her website, thebeegoodlife.com. It’s launching very soon! More products and photos can also be found on her Instagram: @thebeegoodlife, and Facebook page.

 

The Exorstitch

Say hello to a fellow cross stitching lady! Marcela is so fantastic; she’s a friend from Austin and she can hook you up with all of your art needs. Not only does she do cross stitches (that are way more intricate and detailed than mine, btw,) but her prints are also spooky and weird and you want them in your home. Buy them. Hang them on your wall. Scare your roommates. Live your life. (She also takes commissions!)

Get spooky and check out more of Marcela’s work on her Instagram:  @the_exorstitch.

 

Beautiful Malas

Malas are amazing. They are kind of like if a fidget spinner and a rosary had a baby and did yoga. Stay with me. Malas are Buddhist prayer tools that contain 108 (or 54, or 27) beads on them. The 108 allow you to keep track of how often you repeat a mantra or prayer. Mala beads may have different beads on them to provide the wearer with different types of energy or healing properties.

I fell in love with mala beads when I started yoga teacher training, and was lucky to have a friend who makes them. Christine helped me select beads for my mala (obsidian, lava beads, turquoise, and a lovely moonstone) and string them. We also got sangria and pizza and it was a wonderful time.

Christine’s mala shop is absolutely beautiful, and also contains bracelets, earrings, and hair clips made out of stunning geodes.

 

Want to grab one for yourself? Christine’s Etsy shop is called BeautifulMalas. You can also find her on Instagram: @beautifulmalas

Many Voices – Convalescent EP

Oh look, it’s me, doing yoga. If you want to feel your legs burn and work on your headstands, check out my Prep for Headstand flow on YouTube (or accompanying blog posts.) If you just want the spacey beautiful music that’s in the background, let me introduce you to Many Voices.

His website explains it best: “Many Voices sings the folk songs of the post-suburban youth. With simple, penetrating lyrics, and powerful, nuanced textures, Many Voices explores that tension between our dreams, and the world from which we must carve them.”

Dope.

Elliot is extremely talented, and his music is breathtaking. Also, for my Austin folk, if anyone saw that Prince tribute at ABGB on Prince’s birthday, yeah, that was him.

His third album, Convalescent EP, is out on Bandcamp. As I’m writing this, the first song “Hammer” is stuck in my head. It’s beautiful!

Start listening to Many Voices on his website. Also, buy stuff. Learn more on his Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

 

Whoo! Buy all the stuff and support your friends and local business owners. If you have any friends or neighbors who you’d like to give a shout out to, leave it in the comments!