Local is the New Black

Spend your dollars wisely.  Skip the lines at Walmart and Best Buy, and shop at small businesses in your community instead.  Our family has never been big on Black Friday shopping, but this year, we decided to head to downtown Asheville for some serious shopping.  Asheville has its own campaign to promote local, independent businesses called

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Today on Asheville Grown's facebook page, I saw this breakdown of where your dollars go when you shop at a local business versus a chain.  I like the idea of thinking local first - I definitely shop at chain stores and with online retailers, but I try to shop locally when I can.

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With this spirit of local shopping in mind, we headed to downtown Asheville.  We ended up only making it up and down Lexington, and it took us about two and a half hours with a brief stop for some delicious Indian fare at Mela - recommended by the New York Times and voted best Indian restaurant in Western North Carolina 6 years running.


I picked up all sorts of things, including some new sunglasses at Hip Replacements.
...and how lovely is this coat (also from Hip Replacements) - she reminds me of a modernized Red Riding Hood.

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I picked up several goodies at Virtue, including a handknitted head wrap, knit leggings, a basic long sleeve shirt, and a hot pink flutter dress (also available in teal and black).  They had some great sales going on, and the store was packed.  

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warm knit leggings from Virtue $12.95

Knitted Flower Head Wrap from Virtue $10.36 (on sale)

I found this burgandy faux leather bag from a thrift store for $6 (on sale).  It's the perfect size for my MacBook.  It came from ReinVintage in the Biltmore Square Mall.  

Thrifted Faux Leather Bag $6

We also found a big barrel full of head scarves for $3 each at Instant Karma on Lexington.  Lovely!

In honor of Small Business Saturday,  we're offering a coupon code to our site, ajoeynamedroo.  Use code SMBIZDAYYAY for 15% off your entire order!  As you can see, the money will go right back into our community.  Happy shopping!

.love.

Rachel

Spring Giveaway!

Spring breaaaaaaaak! One of the perks of teaching is that you do get a (much much much needed) break from the kiddies. The week leading up to vacation was incredibly long: Wednesday felt like Friday, Thursday felt like I wasn't going to make it, and Friday was numbness from such a long week. And then there was nothing but relaxation (finally!). Having a break from teaching school has given me time to think about what's going on at ajoeynamedroo. I am going to be phasing out some of the more "wintery" products, as well as those that don't get as much love, in favor of brighter, more spring appropriate picks like the Lemon Meringue Pie Body Butter.

Many of the balms in the black recycled tubes will be going on sale. They are especially wonderful for boys with chapped lips; toting around a manly black lip balm tube is very cool, trust me. My favorite of these flavors is definitely the Root Beer balm. I'm also thinking of discontinuing the Wild Mint & Ivy scented scrubs. I love the fragrance, but it doesn't sell as well as some of the other scrubs, most notably the Strawberry Shortcake and the Cafe Mocha scrub. Between these two, Strawberry Shortcake is my favorite (though I did read somewhere that coffee can help reduce cellulite. I don't know if it's true, but it smells great anyway!).

So - things to look forward to. I'm going to start making VEGAN pigmented balms using mica. You've got to watch out for colored lip products: many of them contain carmine, a pigment made of crushed up beetles. Yuck! Anyway, mine will of course be free of all animal product, including beetle bodies. I'm also going to add watermelon to my lip balm flavors. I've also got all the ingredients for a lemon poppyseed sugar scrub. It's going to have real poppyseeds in it for exfoliation, in addition to the sugar. I'm a little obsessed with lemon fragrance right now - I think it's the weather. Until the scrub is ready, you can always grab the deliciously scented Lemon Sugar cuticle cream. It's one of my favorites.

And that brings us to the giveaway! To celebrate new beginnings and new products, you can enter to win a $20 gift certificate to ajoeynamedroo.  You may leave a separate comment for each entry.  Please make sure we have a way of getting in contact with you if you're the winner.

1. Mandatory entry: follow our blog and leave a comment telling us your favorite item from ajoeynamedroo.

Additional entries:
2. Fan us on Facebook
3. Follow us on twitter

4. Tweet about this giveaway and mention @ajoeynamedroo for one entry
5. Post about this giveaway on your blog and link back to it here
6. Heart ajoeynamedroo on etsy

7. Comment on any of the other posts on this blog, then come back here and tell us which one.

The contest is open internationally and will end May 2nd.  We will choose the winner via random.org.  Thank you for supporting ajoeynamedroo. While our giveaway is active, you can also use the coupon code SPRINGCLEAN for a whopping 20% off everything at ajoeynamedroo. Happy shopping!