. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Today, I bring you a giveaway from SouleMama Sponsor, Imagine Childhood. In their words:
"... a little nature... a little imagination... a lot of play. Toys, tools and activities for growing minds. Imagine Childhood is a family owned and operated company offering high quality environmentally conscious toys and activities that encourage exploration, creativity, and open-ended unstructured play."
Follow along with Imagine Childhood on their blog!
SouleMama: What's the product or offering that you're most excited about right now?
Sarah: What I’m most excited about now is our new holiday gift guide! When I was a kid my mother had a toy store and every year she would shut down for a day or two in order to transform the entire shop into a magical wonderland. There were real Christmas trees and stockings. Santa’s boots could be seen sneaking up the chimney... and the scent of cinnamon and pine was in the air. It was warm, enchanting and beautiful. Yet, even though I loved being inside, my favorite parts of the holiday decorations were the windows. Each evening at five, when we shut the doors for the night (often I would come to the shop after school and stay until we closed), we’d drive past the front of the store on our way home and stop to look at the glowing windows. There in the twilight they transformed into magical portals full of twinkling lights and dancing teddy bears. I would stare at them for those few moments and imagine the adventures that would happen in the night while we were away, how the toys would come to life and what they might do. The windows would give just enough information to stir my curiosity, but not so much as to limit my imagination. Anything could happen in the hours before the sun came up again.
This year we’ve designed our holiday gift guide around the same idea. It’s full of “windows”, or vignettes, of our favorite product groupings that will hopefully stir a few imaginations to dream of adventures the way those store windows did for me so many years ago.
SouleMama: How do you keep yourself motivated and avoid burnout?
Sarah: To keep motivated and avoid burnout I usually have a few different projects going on at any given point that are all very different from one another. Right now I’ve been playing a lot of music and working on the final stages our book (which I’m really excited about... due out next year with Roost Books!), so every once in a while during the day I stop what I’m doing and pick up the guitar for a few minutes, or do a little writing/editing. By the time I come back to my regular work I feel refreshed, having switched gears for a while. Also, I can’t say enough about the benefits of a walk outside. Even just ten minutes of fresh air can change my perspective for the better.
SouleMama: Is there a special place that inspires you?
Sarah: For the past couple of months I’ve been living in a cabin in the woods, a pit-stop on the way to a new home. I’ve always loved being in nature, but I’ve never had the fortune to live right in the middle of it for any long stretch of time before this. Near the cabin where I’m staying, there is a hill that I like to walk to in the morning before the sun has come up completely. It’s not a far trek, but just long enough to get my blood moving, to feel the cold morning air in my lungs. I’m not sure whether it’s the way the light moves at that time of day or whether it’s just my brain slowly waking up, but the landscape always seems to come in and out of focus, drifting from the soft shapes of morning to the crisp lines of the day and back again. As I walk to the top, the landscape slowly becomes clear, to the point where I can see every crack and crag of the distant mountains. Lately this space has been a source of inspiration, a place where my unfocused thoughts and ideas can find clarity and definition, right along with the landscape.
SouleMama: Do you have a favorite inspirational quote?
Sarah: In this moment it’s ~
“between the wish and the thing, the world lies waiting”
~ Cormac McCarthy
For today's giveaway, Imagine Childhood is generously offering the following to ONE winner:
~ a $100 gift certificate to Imagine Childhood!
In addition, Imagine Childhood is offering SouleMama readers 10% off all orders placed between now and December 8, 2011. The offer also includes free shipping over $100. Use code "soulemama" at checkout.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Thank you to Imagine Childhood!
To enter today's giveaway, please leave a comment (one entry per person, please) in today's post. I'll close comments by 8am EST on Sunday, and announce the winner(s), chosen via Random Number Generator, shortly after.
Comments closed!
The winner is...
oh man, what a blessing this would be!
Posted by: Sara
