We are in full-blown “go” mode. It’s thrilling, but also really scary. Turns out, our retail partner’s clients LOVE BijaBody's anti-aging Body Care and Beauty Tea Blends, and it is moving so fast through their doors, that I just went through my first inventory freak-out. Luckily, our retail partners are also awesome. “It’s a partnership Melissa, We’ll figure it out”.

Some of our new partners include:

The Skin Cafe in Mesa, AZ (I love this! I'm a total desert fan)

Right Bank Babies in downtown LA.

Gene Juarez in Seattle (all 10 locations, with 48 back-bars! You can get a professional treatment using BijaBody)

Indulgence in Bozeman, Mt

Thee Salon Paia, Hawaii

So we’re back in production mode. Hence the non-existent blogging. Do you really want me to talk about labeling and freight logistics and how very fun they are? Umm, no.

How about instead, I remind you that the sun is here! If it’s here for us, in Montana, that means it’s totally out for those of you south of us. I’m not going to talk too much about sunscreen, because I have a weird relationship with sunscreen and until I figure it out, I’ll tip-toe around it rather than get myself in too much trouble. But here’s a few other tips to start now. It's not just about sunscreen:

Exfoliate Daily, Dry-Brush a few times a week: It’ll ensure a pretty glow, good circulation, and softness ready for slinkier, skin showing clothes. Our Daily Body Scrub is the perfect grit for daily exfoliation without causing damage. And it smells delicious.

Apply a nourishing product to your skin before you apply sunscreen: It’s nice to have a little barrier between your skin and the direct sunscreen ingredients.

Avoid Retinyl Palmitate: It’s a really hard ingredient to avoid in make-up, and worth sending the companies a quick email. Retinyl Palmitate is called (anti[aging” because it’s a Vitamin A derivative, but, it’s been shown to increase chances of skin-cancer significantly when exposed to sunshine.

Avoid Citrus Oils: They have been linked with increased hyper-pigmentation, and if it’s even remotely true, it’s too true. I curse a cream I used during a summer every day when I see the pigment spots I didn’t have before that summer, and which didn’t get dark once I quit a certain cream, which began my research and obsession with ingredients connected with hyper-pigmentation.

Lycopene rich foods + healthy fats = Natural skin protection! Carrots and Peanut Butter. Serving on Sun-dried tomatoes. Avocado and Carrot Cole Slaw. Eat up, buttercups.

We’ll keep the Sun Tips coming. Here’s a Mother’s Day Tip: Trae Bodge, Independent Beauty writer, featured is in her Mother’s Day Gift List! Check out the whole list, which includes a drink dispenser I’m seriously considering: http://theinsider.retailmenot.com/mothers-day-gift-guide.html

We’re prepping for the IECSC Trade Show in June. Vegas, Baby.  Our goal: Build a whole booth without having to buy a single new item. This includes our sign. Can we do it without printing it on plastic? Can we do it using materials we find, and make it gorgeous? Even paint needs to come from a building product re-use store, rather than purchased new. We’ll see. Pics coming soon.

xo, Melissa

Many years ago, I lived as a blissful hippie child. Yes, it was lovely. I wore long flowery dresses, had languid conversations about the virtues of alternative societies, and chased wildflowers amongst the Northern California hills. Spring Equinox was not taken lightly. Luckily, the best parts of those years are embedded in who I am and what I create in the world.

Right now is a way better time for resolutions than January. It’s not cold, the sun starts coming out, and skin is exposed again. It’s way easier to commit to things like daily exfoliation, Beauty Tea Drinking, exercise, clean eating, and all the other things we normally put on a resolution list right now than in dreary January (I once tried to say I wouldn’t drink wine in January. That was dumb. I live in Montana. January is our worst month.)

So here’s my modern, bit yuppiesh, still a bit hippiesh and a lot more balanced idea for a Spring Equinox Ritual:

Spring Clean the House: Good time to think about nooks and corners, under beds and behind furniture, and even emptying out closets and starting fresh. Keep a box open, and start filling it with stuff for your local thrift store or a clothes swap. Really go after it (I usually ask my guy to leave for the day). Women's Voice's for the Earth has a great Green Cleaning Kit

Spring Prep yourself: This week is a great week to eat mostly vegetables, clean protein and beauty tea. Include some lemon water, and maybe a few parsley/celery smoothies, and you’ve got a make-shift cleanse, without too much planning or worrying about it. Or spend just one day on veggie smoothies and juice. Spring Clean Day is a good one.

Schedule a Spring Clean Bath (best after cleaning day): Give yourself the full luxury of it (even if you’re a guy!). Head to Toe upkeep.

Make a short, simple Spring/Summer list, and put it somewhere where you’ll sometimes see it. Just a few goals/aspirations/inspirations that will define the next few months of who you are and what you’re creating in the world. This can be done in conjunction with #2 or #5

Make a date with a blanket, a grassy park, and friends. Make a bunch healthy park food, wear something bright and comfortable, and be thankful things bloom!

It might still be snowing in Montana, but Spring is coming! Spring is coming! (and I’m in SoCal right now, and spring is here, so I’m a bit spoiled.)

ok, this was fun! I actually read through the rules and here we go. I was tagged by Lauren Felts of The Holy Kale, my favorite foodie blogger. Here are the rules:

RULES:

Post these rules.
Post 11 random things about yourself.
Answer the questions the person who tagged you set for you in their post.
Tag new bloggers to participate
Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer. (questions on bottom of post)

11 random facts about me:

I have a weakness for vintage, brown leather purses, particulalry old Coach bags (not new styles)

I do lunges while my tea water is boiling

I really don't like wearing color. Although I'm trying and am getting into magenta.

I don't like the way gardenia smells.

I'm thinking of getting a tattoo in the inside of my wrist b/c lately I've been feeling too grown up and the punk rock river rat in me is feeling left out.

I usually dye my own hair

I'm currently working through a heel fear. I now wear 2.5 inch relatively comfortably.

I'm 5'11. I lost an inch in a back injury.

I can't hear very well out of my left year due to a kayaking thing. And I don't mind. When the world is too loud, I can muffle it.

My game as I walk to my car is to add up the cost of my outfit. If I look awesome, and it all came together for under $100, I win. If it's more, I have to have a moment where I think about whether it was worth it.

I love clothes swaps, sales racks, TJMaxx and thrift stores. Not because I'm cheap (necessarily). Mostly because I like the hunt. I like to test my "eye" for something good.

Questions asked by Lauren:

1. Biggest Indulgence? Mornings and a pile of magazines. It is one of the times of the day when I am thankful to run my own show and my decision to not have children. I can sit on the couch, have a cup of great coffee, and read every word of Allure or Glamour (both on Sundays). I had a few years where I tried to pretend I was too “smart” for magazines, and should be reading dense books instead. I like a dense books, not first thing in the morning. Early morning, I want to know about magenta lipstick and other women’s beauty rituals.

2. Sweet or Savory. What food specifically? Both. Sweet: Dark, 70% chocolate, fair-trade, once a day. Savory: Ketchup. I love ketchup. It’s absurd. I know. But I love it. It’s part of being from Brazil. We love ketchup. 

3. Greatest Talent? Traveling. I am a really good traveler. It takes talent to be a really good traveler. There's a difference between a traveler and a tourist. A traveler is always at home, regardless of location. A tourist (which is a totally ok thing to be) feels far from home on a trip.

4. What would your Best Day Ever look like? Make-out session with my man, See #1 above, stretch/walk, open email to discover Allure’s beauty editor, Heather Muir, decided to do a big feature on us, get a phone call from a big account, write a great blogpost, feel like my outfit rocks all day without that feeling half-way through that it’s not really working, then have an afternoon on the river. Seriously lame, I know. My Best Day Ever involves emails and phone calls.

5. If you could do 1 thing everyday, what would it be? Eat buttered french bread dipped in coffee. Or dance. Either one would make me happy. I can't eat french bread, so maybe I'll start dancing.

6. What is your Life Calling? BijaBody and RootedinBeauty. No doubt about it. It took 31 years for it to be clear. But when it called, there were flourescent lights and sirens.

7. 2 Million Dollars, 3 Months Off, Where would you go and What would you do? (My lameness will continue). I don’t want 2 months off. I would be in Latin America, using the money to create women-owned agricultural projects, then come back with part of the cash, develop a bunch of sweet beauty products using some of the ingredients we just planted. Basically, I would do what I do now, but on steroids. Man, I would make really good use of money.

8. If you had an extra $1,000 a month (not for savings), what would you spend it on? Beauty Products and Clothes. Easy. 

9. Quality that people most admire about you? Tenacity? I can pull a good outfit together? Ability to text me a picture of their zit and I can ususally tell what caused it? Not sure.

 10. What is your biggest Political, Social, Environmental or Religious Concern at the moment? Women’s social economic situations in really poor parts of the world. I know women are poor here too, but once you’ve seen a Trash Dump based community, and hear the stories, you know it’s different. When women are empowered with work, a lot of other things change like sexual abuse, environmental degradation and children’s lack of education. I spent some time in a tiny LAtin town where the locals were poor, but the women had banded together to create a recycling program. It took ridiculous effort, was disgusting work, and they didn’t get paid, but it was worth it to them.

 11. Thing in your life that makes you smile or feel grateful everyday? My dog, Lua.

Questions for other bloggers:

1. Silver or Gold?

2. Favorite percentage of chocolate?

3. Go-to gift under $30?

4. Favorite time of day for a cup of tea?

5. Favorite scent?

6. Biggest time-waster in your day?

7. Book that affected your life?

8. Go to outfit, day or night?

9. Things that make you nervous?

 10. What is your biggest Political, Social, Environmental or Religious Concern at the moment?

11. The healthiest ritual you have every day?

The last week of February, first week of March has historically been a challenging one for this girl. There’s been a string of mishaps, and every year I vow to stay indoors for that full week and avoid the dire occurrences which include  life altering injuries, ridiculously difficult break-ups, death of of beloved dogs (two in the same week, 5 years apart), and a host of other smaller things like car scuffles. Needless to say, I looked at a calendar last week and just about shut life down for a bit.

But, it might be true, that once you’re doing exactly what you want to be doing in and for the world, there’s some kind of mystical alignment. I won’t think too much into it, other than to have a moment of dear and sacred gratitude.

Because so far, this week rocks!!

Sweet happenings, in order of appearance:

Full-Access Passes to Big Sky Documentary Film Fest, which happened a week late this year, falling right in my danger zone. I love this festival, love the week-long evening parties and reasons to wear my great shoes, and of course, I am always moved by a few of the films (Chasing the Ice). And the filmmakers loved having our Beauty Tea in the Lounge! (the guys particulalry liked the Man Tea)

Best of Body Care by The Holy Kale: This blog is great. Being a busy lady recently, a lot of my healthier habits have taken a bit of a slide (even though my idea of unhealthy is putting a bunch of cheese on a bowlful of steamed veggies and having a whole bar of dark chocolate and too many galsses of wine. Not exactly drive-through bad). She straightened me up! I'm now on day 3 of clean, lotsa-veggie eating again, and I'm sure when I slide into too much cheese, I'll be right back on her site, looking for ideas. Anyways She loves Us! And it makes me so proud.

Indulgence Montana: This little shop is a wonderfully curated skincare boutique, a mini Nordstroms in Bozeman, MT (like Sage & Cedar, PreenApothecary and EssenzaSeattle). Great skincare. No clothes, no shoes, no massages. Just the products. I could sit in there reading labels and getting packaging inspiration all day. Well, they now carry BijaBody's anti-aging body care and beauty tea. I am so proud. Our shelf will be right there by Laura Mercier, one of my favorite make-up brands evah, evah. And Deirdre is the first make-up artists who has ever made me up, rather than make me clown looking.

Gene Juarez Salons + Spas: That’s right, our first Mac-Daddy account. The first account with an office building several stories high, designated “visual merchandising” person, and at least a hundred treatment rooms. BijaBody will be in 48 of them! 48 back-bars (the products beauty therapists use during treatments) will be stocked with BijaBody’s Anti-Aginng Body Treatment and the Daily Body Serum. And we’ll be sitting in ten retail locations. Yup, you can imagine it was not a relaxing weekend setting up for that shipment! They're in Seattle, along with the Sweet Spot Sugaring Studio who was the first place to stock us in Back-Bar! Several estheticians with BijaBody. Makes me happy just thinking of it.

Allure Called, They’d like to meet us: Well, actually, I emailed them. But they emailed me back! And they didn't ask to meet us, just our products. All 6ft of me pranced around the house, trying to act all  cool. It's Allure! It's like my version of a holy book. Carrie's Vogue. My go-to gift. Linda Wells and Charlie Rose hung out for an interview once, and I almost couldn't watch. It's my two favorite media peeps. Too cool. Thank goodness for email and the facade of non-chalance and appreciation. I was freakin’ stoked and giddy! Anyways, they get their package today. At some point, there will be BijaBody in the Allure office and and it’ll get passed around. And it's basically like a vision unfurling, products I spent years working on, getting passed around a hectic beauty magazine office. Oh dear, I may be goofy today.

sororiTea Sisters: I’ve followed these ladies for a long time. I found them on Steepster, which is like Facebook for tea geeks and I wish I had way more time to spend there. They’re awesome. They're sisters. They love tea. And they think a cuppa Nightly Beauty Tea is awesome. They blogged about it! Coming from these two, who I bet under their general niceness, can be tea snobs (like me), that means a lot!

So it’s the 29th, I’m feeling alright. One more week to go. putting ju-ju in the air that packages will arrive safely, Allure will see what we're creating and life will be generally mellow for the next week! 3 years ago, I injured my back this week of March. For the following 9 months I could barely walk to the bathroom, or wash my face without being in flat on my back position. What a blessing in disguise. I had always wished I had time to write a business plan.

{I think} You can plan everything down to a T, work your butt off, get everything lined up, and then you hope a piece of magic touches it. If Magic touches you and you haven't done the work, it's usually wasted. If you do all the work, and Magic doesn't quite find you, cool things will still happen, I believe, but the ultimate Vision, the Big Plan, takes both. Work your ass off, and set yourself up so Magic sees it. I've got the work part down pat. And I've got butterflies fluttering!

xoxoxo, Melissa

I know. I might be ahead of myself. But I am ready. I adore sunshine, I crave the feeling of sunshine on my skin, and really don't like wearing jackets and coats. (yet, I live in Misosula, Mt. A great community with $h*t weather)

This blog is totally just my opinion, based on research and obsession, but still just my opinion. Big sunscreen companies, sorry if I offend you.

I don't buy the whole safe sunscreen thing. Not your general, drug store sunscreen thing anyways. I think it's questionable stuff, and wouldn't be totally susrprised if down the road we realize it is part of the reason for lots of skin issues. According to Dr. Loren Pickart. "...over the past decade, many scientists studying cancer have come to virtually the opposite conclusion; that is, the use of sunscreen chemicals may be increasing the incidence of cancer and that sunlight exposure may actually decrease human cancer rates and improve your health.

It now appears that many heavily-used chemical sunscreens may actually increase cancers by virtue of their free radical generating properties. And more insidiously, many commonly used sunscreen chemicals have strong estrogenic actions that may cause serious problems in sexual development and adult sexual function, and may further increase cancer risks."

Another Quote: "Drs. Cedric and Frank Garland of the University of California have pointed out that while sunscreens do protect against sunburn, there is no scientific proof that they protect against melanoma or basal cell carcinoma in humans (Garland, C.F., et al. "Could sunscreens increase melanoma risk?"

Personally, I don't think we, as mere humans, are intelligent enough to "screen" the sun's rays by using a layer of nasty little molecules. It just seems preposterous. I trust Zinc and Titanium Dioxide, which are technically just crushed up rocks and reflect sun back out (sunblock, vs screen), and when I really want sun protection, like on a full river day, I wear an awesome (aka dorky) hat, a great button up and might add some zinc powder to regular body care. Otherwise, after a few years as a daily sunscreen wearing girl who ended up with a nasty pigment issues, I have some different methods.

I prefer the idea of making the relationship between our cells and the sun a healtheir one, using high-grade, properly formulated antioxidants, increasing the body's natural "spf" from the inside out, and using a little common sense(light layers, stylish hats).

And that's the whole point of this slightly scattered blog. It's time to start amping up our Lycopene! It takes about 12 weeks for carotenoid levels in the body to be at the correct levels to support your skin's natural sun protection. That means 12 weeks of 5 servings of lycopene/carotenoids rich foods a day: Tomato Sauce (in glass jars), carrots, red cabbage, asparagus (odd, I know, but a good one), chili powder, and rosehips (our Beauty Tea!). I aim for 2-3 carrots during the day, and my slightly childish obsession with ketchup and nightly red cabbage salad helps fill in the gaps.

With good lycopene levels, a layer of BijaBody's Daily Body Serum (which utilizes 4 botanical solar protectors and 3 high-potency antioxidants), and the common sense to wear the right outfit for the right time of day, you might get to skip the "Value-Sized Tub of SPF 99 for $4.95" I'll get more into this later in the year. For now, start eating your carrots!

xo, Melissa