Want To Chat With Me Real-Time? A Invitation To Skype With Me...

Do you Skype?

If you'd asked me that a few months ago I would have probably replied "I beg your pardon!"

I get it now.

And it's great.

WAY better than Twitter.

Sorry Twitter-lovers...

I won't go there again, about all my reasons why I just don't get Twitter...

When my daughter was in China, we Skyped quite a bit and it was just like chatting with her here!

Basically, it's like texting -- but via computer. You sign up, create contacts with your friends/family (they have to be on Skype, too) and anytime you're online and they are online, you can chat them up -- even video chat with a friend or loved one across the country or across the world!

And it's FREE!

I just love it. You can Skype via your iPod Touch or your iPhone, too. It's just way cool and I'm so glad I added it to my communications options.

For a while now, my hubby has been pestering me to post my Skype info and an "invitation" to my blog readers to Skype me anytime you find me online (which is like... ALWAYS....).

Up until now, I haven't been totally on board with the idea, thinking "why in the world would someone want to Skype with me when they can read the blog or look at the shop online??"

He has a point -- again ...

(Yes, honey -- oh how you are always right...)

Say you're shopping on The Beautiful Life.com and want to know a detail about something or want to talk to "a human" about exactly how a candle smells before you buy it ... well, there I am, usually always online -- why not ask the owner?

If I'm online (and 9 times out of 10 I will be) and you have a quick question -- why not ask me right then and there?

Even if you don't have a question, but you just want to say "hi" -- go for it! :)

So... if you have a Skype account (and if you don't, you should!) Skype me sometime!

If I'm available, I'd love to say hi!

Now.... there's one little thing I want to make clear right off the bat, though, regarding this whole Skype thing....

I.

DO.

NOT.

VIDEO.

CHAT.

EVER.

Well, for now anyway...

I am painfully shy about cameras and don't even talk about video cameras!

So, that neat little feature on Skype where you can video chat??

Don't even bother pressing the "Call" button and ringing me up... ;)

I'm just saying...

I mean talk about the pressure, ladies!!

Think about it!

We'd ALWAYS have to make sure our hair was perfect, makeup and lipstick on, cute outfit picked out...

Oh the pressure! ;)

My hubby has visions of me video-Skyping with all my customers and blogging friends, even has visions of me launching a whole series of video "spots" showing the new products in the store and giving little demos of them all as they arrive here on site...

I guess kind of like "The Beautiful Life TV"...

Yeah....

Because it doesn't matter that it took every ounce of courage for me to snap these pics of me in my dining room:

Me, testing out how to snap a picture of myself while holding the camera off enough out of view...

Me, finally remembering to also SMILE while snapping the pic...

He always says things like

"You know that fancy Danish magazine -- whatever it's called -- (Jeanne d'Arc Livng, hon...) -- well, you should be videoing yourself holding up a copy of it, showing it to your blog friends. None of this just putting-pictures-up-on-your-blog stuff... you need to video yourself showing them the actual magazine!"

or

"You know those giant French bottle drying racks you have?? You need to be showing those on video so people can get an idea of how big they are in person! And you could demonstrate all the different ways you can use the rack for displaying mugs and for other things!"

or

"When you get new aprons in stock, you should be modeling them and wearing them on the videos so everyone can see how they fit and how great they look! Same goes for all the jewelry and handbags!"

The guy has some great ideas, girls --

if only:

#1) I had the time to implement them all,

and

#2) I had the guts for some of them -- like the videos...

So, for now or until somehow I overcome my camera-shyness, wanna chat with me during the day or even the evening?

(because truth-be-told, I never seem to stop working...)

Just keep in mind that I am on the east coast,

so if you're in Cali or Seattle and you're looking for me at 11PM or midnight YOUR time,

well... I do try and get some sleep...

:)

Well, If you don't have a Skype account and want to join the masses -- or just join me....

Click over to the SKYPE website

and download the software, create a screen name and password and in just a minute or two we can be chatting online!!

We'd have to accept each other's invite to be each other's "contact" first, but after that -- easy street!

Chat-o-rama!

Skype-heaven!

Okay, my Skype screen name is (and this was really creative on my part...) -- you ready? --

TheBeautifulLife.com

Wow. Can you imagine the amount of time I put into coming up with that??

I amaze myself sometimes... ;)

I just created my biz screen name a few minutes ago (I've had my personal one for a few months now, but I think I'll keep that screen name to myself....).

Come on -- I'd love it if YOU were my first contact added!! :)

It could be fun -- I hope you'll join me!

If you have any trouble getting started, let me know and I'll try to help you -- but trust me.... If I can do it.... YOU can do it. Truly.

;)

~Ruth~

READY? SET? PRE-ORDER! (The new English version of Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine #5)

ARE YOU SEEING THIS??

Text in English! This is the new English cover of the coming issue #5!

Below...

just two beautiful images from inside the pages of issue #5....

Well, after many emails from you after my last post, I decided "Why wait?"

The new, all-English Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine (issue #5) is now up on the site for pre-ordering!!

To go straight there -- CLICK HERE!

I'm estimating that we will begin shipping the magazines out sometime around Sept. 25 or so, and if my "ESP" is correct on this, I'm expecting our supply of this issue to sell out quickly, so.... I'm just saying... :)

This will be the Fall issue and it promises to be another beauty. In fact, as in just about every issue of the magazine, I know of several things already that will appear on it's pages that we'll already have in stock by then!!

Should I tell you what they are??

Hmm...

Should I? Shouldn't I?

Well, you may have already seen the FABBY metal chalk board in a previous post,

it will be in stock in just a couple of weeks...

Oh! And we'll have those GREAT "Olives" text potholders, that match the apron in the picture above, they'll be back in stock, too!

Then there is the GORGEOUS zinc two-story display/serving piece...its coming in a couple of weeks. Can't wait!

Oh, and the INCREDIBLE mercury glass finished cheese domes (now in two sizes) will be hitting the website along with the other new/restocked items.

Just thought you'd like to be among the first to know!

Gotta run -- more pics to take of new items... it's a good life...

No...

it's a BEAUTIFUL LIFE!!

~RUTH~

"English Spoken Here!" We give you....Jeanne d'Arc Living Magazine #5 in ENGLISH!

Well, it is official.

Beginning with the very next issue -- issue #5, the Fall issue -- we will begin carrying Jeanne d'Arc Living magazine

in it's

English version!

How 'bout THAT?

Now I ask you... is that not the epitome of "ask and you shall receive?"

I honestly didn't think it would happen THIS quickly!

But that's okay! The magazine will be 100% in English -- no Danish text now.

We already have our order in for that issue and we'll have the magazine up on the site soon for pre-orders (I'll let you know when it goes up) and I fully expect it to go quickly --

1.) because it is their Fall issue and we all want to see how the Danes do Fall ...

and

2.) since it is now going to be in English, it will appeal to many who previously held back on ordering the magazine because of it being in Danish.

I'm SO excited about this and just wanted to let you in on it...

Have a great day!

~Ruth~

East Meets West .... Olivia's Trip To China!

She's baaaack....

A "taste" of Olivia's big China trip...

So many of you sweet blog friends have asked and asked about Olivia (while she was gone and now that she's back) and about her trip to China -- wanting to hear about it.

You guys are amazing!!!

It is truly like having the world's largest "extended family" when you blog.... 

Suffice to say, she had a blast but at the same time she had an experience that will stay with her forever.

This photo is of the landscape carved out with stepped rice patties...

She saw things in person that most of us only hear about or read about in our history books.

Below... Tiananmen Square

She had her sensibilities "stretched" as she learned what it was like to be up at the crack of dawn and go non-stop all day -- in extreme heat and sometimes not the greatest of conditions (but really, in so many ways, China was a lot more Westernized than I realized).

Some of those not-so-great conditions you'll see pics of below... (hint, hint: we have NO IDEA how good we have it here in the U.S. in the area of modern "facilities"! )

Some surprising "factoids" about her time in China:

• The architecture is ASTOUNDING! In many ways it is way more "futuristic" (Olivia's words) than the U.S.

• Mc Donald's, KFC, and Starbucks (and other such places) were not hard to find in the big cities (Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an) and in many cases they were EVEN NICER AND BIGGER THAN OURS!!

• Most of the hotels they stayed in were top-notch and lacked no "Western" amenities (though they did have one hotel that was not so "cosmopolitan" but was full of character and beauty all it's own).

No shabby airport here!

• The airports were great and in all ways, and in general, the society was extremely kind (enamoured, in fact, with anyone from the U.S.), polite, and very clean!

• Watermelon is HUGE in China! It is like their "chocolate" or candy... everywhere they went, it was the "sweet" that was offered. She said they don't really have dessert like we do here -- mainly watermelon!

• Which makes me think of the night Olivia and some of the other girls on her trip invited some of the local teenage girls up to their hotel room(s) to just chat and visit...Olivia shared some Pop Tarts (she packed a bunch of snack foods -- just in case) and fruit snacks with the Chinese teens -- they must have never tasted anything quite like it if watermelon is what they consider dessert! Haha --leave it to my daughter to corrupt the youth of China with her junk food habits (learned from moi....). You make your mother proud, hon! My work here is done... :)

• Things stay open late at night and people are all out and about doing things -- case in point: one night she decided on the spur of the moment to GET HER HAIR CUT! So she's there in this really nice salon, still open at close to mid-night, getting a haircut! FUNNY THING: she said everyone in the salon began to crowd around her to view what to them as a true amazement ... her curly hair!!! She said the guy cutting it barely knew what to do with it since curly hair is not something they are used to working with! By the way... she got one of the BEST HAIRCUTS ever there in that salon that evening!

I had to kid her about that though.... I mean a lot of times, your kid goes off to a foreign country and if they choose to do something "spontaneous" it's more like getting a tattoo or something -- not my kid. She got A HAIRCUT! :)

Oh, and one bit of advice from her to you -- if you EVER go to China and decide to walk the Great Wall --- TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE CABLE CARS!!!! They're there for a reason! :)

So, thanks so, so much to each of you who so sweetly remembered her while she was gone and have asked and asked about her since her return.

Her body has gotten back on U.S. time schedules and her tummy has gotten back to U.S. "food schedules" -- if ya know what I mean... ;)

Much of the time, things got "lost in translation" when it came to public signage...

This sign was stuck on the front of the cable tv box in one of the hotel rooms, proudly declaring that they offered 50 t.v. channels - all in order! :)

This must just mean "Keep off the grass".

:)

This was a sign somewhere at the Great Wall.... "ticked tourist" was actually meaning "ticketed tourist"...

I supposed they've encountered their share of true "ticked" tourists, too, though! :)

Thanks for looking and thanks for asking about her!!

Love you guys!!!

~RUTH~

New Shipment Of "Jul" Christmas book and "French Atmospheres In The Nordic Way" books just arrived...

Just a real quick post to say that our latest re-stocking of these two books arrived today and we've already shipped out a bunch of them from the pre-orders we took from the site.

I will say...

after today's round of shipments from the pre-orders that were filled,

the Jul Christmas book looks like it may be gone (AGAIN!) very soon.

I didn't take an exact count, but I think there may be only about 3 or 4 left

(and only a few more than that of the French Atmospheres book).

Hope you're all having a great day! It's another busy one here -- but I love it! :)

By the way! Thank you all so much for your comments on the last post -- the English vs. Danish query for future Jeanne d'Arc Living magazines.

I passed your comments on to them an they thank you!

Your friend,

Ruth