Faceplant BLOG

We started working from home last week and I missed my Faceplant Family by Tuesday. Although there isn’t much shipping happening, we are all keeping ourselves busy with items from the ‘projects we’ll get to later’, only we’re getting to them now, which is quite satisfying actually!

 

Today, Rachel organized a Zoom call for all of us to ‘meet’. Truth be told, there were no urgent issues we needed to address, but it sure was awesome to see everyone! One of those not-so-pressing projects was some new pillowcase and footsie designs. We all agreed that in these trying times, it might be a good idea to revisit our roots of inspiring and spiritual messages. All of us can use a little inspiration right now, right?

 We made it a priority to keep Jen at home when this virus started because her granny lives with her. Granny Carol is one of the most inspiring people I know. At 80 years old she’s funny, interesting, intelligent, magical and has Alzheimer’s. Jen does everything she can to ensure Carol stays active, engaged and healthy. (and lest I forget, stylish too!) As Jen got off our Zoom call today, she recognized that granny was feeling a little left out, which can be a struggle with ALZ patients. Well anything that Carol puts her energy into is magical, so in an effort to engage granny’s heart and soul, Jen asked if she could help us come up with some new inspiring messages to include on our products. When she returned 5 minutes later, she found granny at the table with a copy of our scan book in one hand, and an open bible in the other.  Not a bad place to find inspirational and motivational quotes right now. 

We can’t wait to see what beautiful words of inspiration granny finds ❤

Sweet Dreams Always,

Life is precious and I’m all for celebrating every last minute of it, but did you know today is “National Puppy Day”? Who dreams up all these random ‘days’ we celebrate? Well I could wonder no longer so 10 seconds of research told me that an author named Colleen Paige dreamed it up…. Along with National Dog Day, National Cat Day, National Wildlife Day and many more. Apparently, she has used her writing ability and love of animals along with social media to create a life of doing what she loves, which is really amazing! Kudos Colleen! But why celebrate puppies?

Just thinking about puppies makes me happy. Puppy breath makes me giddy. And research validates the preponderance of support dogs. But what else does National Puppy Day do for us? This seemingly mundane day, coupled with social media enthusiasm and support, inspires oodles of adoptions of otherwise unwanted puppies. Honestly, it hurt me just to write those words. I mean, how COULD a puppy be unwanted?  But it’s true. And Colleen’s mission and love come full circle with such tangible results.

 Does this mean we should all adopt a puppy today? (I hope you know that was rhetorical. And will presume you already know the answer.) So, if our life or situation simply won’t permit a puppy adoption right now, how CAN we celebrate today? I say channel your inner puppy… you know, the part of you that feels so much joy when your family or friend walks in the door that your tail wags you, and you’re carrying their slipper in your mouth because it smells soooo good! The part that wants to jump up and lick their faces (but don’t, because that would be a bad dog). But channel that enthusiasm, that love, for your own life today and everyone in it. Maybe you’re having a rough day. Maybe you didn’t get your walk this morning because your dog mom was too cozy in bed. Maybe nobody dropped any bacon. But you can still share all your puppy love with enthusiasm.

If we can choose to share the unbridled love and enthusiasm of a puppy today, then National Puppy Day can do a whole lot more than our friend Colleen Paige even dreamed of.  We can bring joy to someone who may not be feeling so joyful. And like flying fur from a puppy, that love sticks to everyone that comes near us, and they in turn spread the fur… urrrrr… love throughout their day. And love begets love. And with a simple sharing of joy, a gesture of kindness, we can change with world with Puppy Love.

Sweet Dreams and puppy kisses,

My son was born in September of 2008. I had arranged for 5 months of maternity leave from the company where I’d worked for 14 years and was looking forward to relaxing and being a Mom. I was working on starting Faceplant as a fun side-gig and figured I might have a little time for that while my new baby slept in the coming months. I was in my early 40’s. I was elated and blessed to have born a healthy, happy baby, so nothing else mattered. I felt invincible!

September 29, 2008. The stock market crashed. I lost most of my life’s savings and all of the equity in my home. Within a couple of weeks, I also lost my job. (Well technically, I wasn’t laid off until the day I returned from maternity leave, but that was little solace at the time.)

The bottom line is, I felt like the rug of life had been pulled out from under me. One day I was on top of the world, and the next day I felt like I was falling from that same height… plummeting toward the hard ground beneath with no idea where I might land. I felt the isolation of being a new mom, away from the busy corporate environment I’d always know, and with no idea how I was ever going to support myself and my baby boy. I cried for a week, which seemed like a reasonable mourning period for the predictable life I thought I’d earned.

 As many of us did in 2008, I picked myself up by my bootstraps (as they say in Texas, I guess?) and started looking for a job, but simultaneously poured energy and resources into starting Faceplant. After all, it was my dream to start Faceplant, I liked the idea of working from home and loved being with my son. The economy had tanked, there were no jobs, nobody had disposable income, and building a successful company seemed like a long shot. But I pragmatically reasoned, it was better than no shot at all. And for me, failure was simply not an option. 

Fast forward to March 2020. Faceplant is flourishing with 10 full time employees, 45 independent reps, a local school that relies on our donations, 1,500 retail stores as our partners and friends, and thousands of online customers who return to purchase our products again and again.  We started with pillowcases in my garage and now we have slippers, comfy pajamas, and so much more.

Who would guess we’d find ourselves here just a few weeks later? Most of our employees are working from home, our schools are closed, our partner stores are forced to close for everyone’s safety and the stock market has once again plummeted. The ripples and waves of this virus will be washing over us for a long time in ways we can’t yet imagine. We’re so grateful for the continued loyalty of our online supporters, but a significant portion of our business is effectively shut down for the foreseeable future. Despite this, we still have the responsibility of supporting not only our nuclear family but also our Faceplant family.

 It would be easy to be fearful, to question whether we all can weather the storm of this virus and it’s resulting economic and emotional trials. We have challenges ahead of us. I don’t know what the coming weeks and months hold for any of us.  What I do know, however, is that failure is simply not an option, and when you know that, the only option is to keep going.

We need not be fearless, but we must be brave.  For now, we must stay home and love ourselves, our families and our neighbors in the best way we can. Some of us will find new ways to work from home. We will communicate and keep our world and our lives moving forward, while we protect ourselves and those who are most vulnerable. We’ll control the spread of the virus in our cities and our communities. And when the dust clears, and it will, we will once again pick ourselves up by our bootstraps and persevere.

 

Be strong my friends. Stay kind.

Every Thursday our friend Elaine comes to Faceplant to host our staff yoga class. It’s a gentle stretching class with a lot of laughter, a few of our four-legged staff demonstrating their version of “downward dog” or “paw-asana”, and a good amount of relaxation for all of us. Elaine always closes class with a group “Om”.

 

The simple chanting of Om is an ancient mantra used in many faiths and the sound is said to contain the entire universe. A 2018 study evaluated the effects of chanting Om by taking MRI brain scans of participants as they chanted, and they found measurable beneficial effects on the autonomic nervous system…but I don’t need scientific proof. When we chant, I can feel the benefits immediately.

The sound of Om is basically chanted in 4 parts

• Ahhh
• Ooooo
• Mmm
• (inhale)

It sounds like Ah-oooo-mmmm (inhale), Ah-oooo-mmmm (inhale)… If you’re not into yoga, chanting may seem a bit nuts and I think a few of our staff felt self-conscious at first. But together, we’ve all discovered the magic of the OM! 

First, you feel the vibrational resonance in the back of your throat with the “Ahhh”, then the “Oooo” moves the vibration deeper to your chest and as the vibration resonates throughout your body, you realize that it’s gone beyond your body. The vibration in the room becomes so strong that it’s difficult to hear or feel the space between your Om and that coming from your neighbor and you find your Oms harmonizing without effort. This is when chanting Om becomes the experience of Om. It’s where we find a true spiritual connection with one another and with the energy of the Universe. I’m not sure I understand the science behind it, but I’m sure I understand the peace. And the effort we make for a few brief moments at the end of our yoga class each Thursday is one that leaves us all in a deeper place of peace.

That’s why we Om at Faceplant. We hope our Om energy carries on through our week and through our communications when we speak with you, our friends.

Namaste.

On Valentine’s Day we celebrate romantic love, and if we’re lucky enough to have someone in that space in our lives, we honor their love with flowers and presents. But love goes deeper and further than Valentine’s Day and is defined by much more than romantic gestures and gifts. Luckier among us are those with friends and family, partners and coworkers, who fill our every day with loving moments. The trick is remaining conscious enough to receive and share love in its’ more subtle forms…

Love is shown by the yoga instructor who makes an adjustment to your posture, a co-worker who calls to check on you when you’re home sick, a neighbor who pops by because they noticed your garage was left open, a child who sneaks into your room for a morning snuggle or a fervently wagging tail as you unlock the front door at the end of a long day. And there are more simple gestures that are easier to miss; the barrista who remembers your order before you order, the ‘just saying hello’ text from your distant cousin, the stranger in the car who smiles and waves as you cross the street.

Love in any form is a gift worth honoring and celebrating and showing gratitude for that love is the greatest gift you can share. Love begets love. Gratitude begets gratitude.

This Valentine’s Day, we invite you to share love in it’s most subtle forms… a smile, a wave, a gentle loving thought of someone who needs you most.