Its not just another day. Its the one day that is given to you today. It is given to you--it is a gift.  Its the only gift that you have right now. And the only appropriate response, is gratefulness.  If you do nothing else but to cultivate that response, to the great gift that this unique day is, if you learn to respond as if it were the first day in your life and the very last day--then you will have spent this day very well. 

Think that just about sums it up.

As a fully hosted system we were at first reluctant for fear of Shopify limiting our agility--plus, the higher monthly costs were enough to make us think twice. However, as we near our second year on the Shopify platform I can proudly say it has been one of the greatest catalysts for our business.

Using Shopify has allowed us to focus on our design and our business without ever needing to have a technology support to make sure our servers are running and scaling. The community and dedicated Shopify support team are always quick to respond and open to innovate.

There are of course some features we'd love to see that other custom solutions would have offered that we have not yet seen on Shopify. And now, thanks to their App Store, we have decided to go ahead and make them ourselves.

A few weeks ago we quietly launched Simple Apps--a small side project where we create the apps we needed as a growing eCommerce startup. We are thilled to announce that via the Shopify App Store have made them widely accessible to other store owners. Our first application, Bulk Fulfillment, enables owners to fulfill multipple orders at once, a feature which has quickly been saving our team hours a week.

It is both empowering and exciting to launch products that are not only useful interally but help other businesses grow as well! Stay tuned for more from Simple Apps! :)

Our most recent collaboration with emiLime Handcrafted, The Holstee Alpaca Hat, takes the Brooklyn Bridge by storm. With a hat that warm, who needs anything else? Get it here.

Many thanks to the bold & brave Barry Pousman. New York City tourists who happened to be walking the bridge that day, we hope we made your visit. 

I love this list of great tips to stay creative and find it so helpful to come back to it on a regular basis. My favorites are: Surround Yourself with Creative People, Get Away from the Computer, and, of course, Drink Coffee (don't have to tell me twice!). What do you think? Is there anything you would add?

When we saw our friends were leading the cause to rethink Valentine's Day, we couldn't help but jump for joy. I mean, Valentine's Day can be great and all, don't get me wrong, but I do think there is something to be done with a day that celebrates love beyond candy hearts and pricey flowers. Enter Generosity Day:

We're rebooting Valentine's Day as Generosity Day: one day of sharing love with everyone, of being generous to everyone, to see how it feels and to practice saying “Yes.” Let’s make the day about love, action and human connection – because we can do better than smarmy greeting cards, overpriced roses, and stressed-out couples trying to create romantic meals on the fly.

How can we celebrate? Take a second to think of an act of kindness you can do for someone around you. Buy a coffee for a stranger. Pay the toll for the car behind you. Bake bread for your neighbor. Let's celebrate love for everyone around us and keep an open eye for opportunities to be generous. It's amazing how one small act of kindness can make someone's whole day. And, you never know, your one action could cause a ripple effect (remember this commerical? it may be a bit cheesy but it always got me!).

Visit the Generosity Day site and join the movement to reboot Valentine's Day.

Let no one ever come to you without leaving better and happier. Be the living expression of kindness... -Mother Teresa

Photo by infomatique

One of the things I often encourage to people writing in about the Holstee Manifesto is to write your own! What's stopping you? Putting life goals and dreams--be they specific or general--down on paper is a great way of holding yourself accountable to making them a reality and living consciously. That's what the Manifesto has been for us, a way of keeping us in check for the lives we want to live. A daily kick-in-the-pants, if you will. Do you have a Manifesto that you've written for yourself? We'd love to see it! Here is one of my favorites, from Frederic Terral of Right Brain Terrain:

Still today, over 13 million people are in emergency need in the Horn of Africa due to drought, conflict, and famine. Hundreds of people are dying every day, majority of which are children. See World Vision's quick guide to the crisis and see how you can make a difference (DC Entertainment is matching donations 100%).

I stumbled upon this post from 'No Impact Man' Colin Beaven in response to the NASA report and it has become a topic for conversation over at Holstee for the past week. Regardless of the political stance on the issue, I think these questions get to the heart of the matter: 

Why were we born? What is really important in life? Are we living in line with that? Or are we distracted from the point of our existence? Is there a way to get people to wake up and ask these crucial questions?

Is there a way to get governments to do so? Because if we are wrecking the place in fulfillment of our human purpose, then so be it. But if we are wrecking the place while sleepwalking our way from birth to death? Living unconsciously and wrecking the place in that process? That seems like such a terrible tragedy. How can we wake up? -Colin Beaven

It basically gets down to something that we want to be the common thread through everything we do at Holstee and the lifestyles we live day-to-day. We want to live consciously, being aware of how each and every decision we make affects the world and those around us and doing something about it. It calls for waking up and realizing our ability to decide to leave the world better or worse than we found it.

Wendell Berry is quoted saying, "We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it." 

Indeed. 

See the full article from NASA here. Visit 350.org to find ways to act.

This timelapse of Yosemite just blew me away. The world is such a beautiful place, isn't it? Especially when you slow down and pay attention to the details. Cheers to Sheldon Neill and Colin Delehanty of Project, Yosemite for bringing this stunning piece to life. 

If the sight of blue skies fills you with joy, if a blade of grass springing up in the fields has power to move you, if the simple things of nature have a message that you understand, rejoice, for your soul is alive. -Eleonora Duse