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“Smile; sharing a smile with a stranger, simply making impressions on lives everywhere, & paying forward philanthropy: the river of life.”

I really do not even know where to begin; if interested in knowing all “about me” head on over to “About Me & This Blog” tab. As for how S.M.I.L.E. came about; I guess I will go back to the VERY beginning, I grew up with a very creative and talented; “Suzy-homemaker;” “Martha Stewart;” seamstress as a mother who made all my sister and I’s clothes and all our dolls always had dresses to match ours. As kids my sister and I loved it, then as teenagers, it was “SO not cool!”

My dad was, and still is in the Army so he worked all the time and was often sent overseas so my sister and I were lucky enough to have my mom stay at home with us. We never went to daycare and we sat down for a family dinner every night. With my dad being in the Army, we moved every 3-4 years. It was an experience needless to say. I hated it at times, having to leave friends, make new friends, learn how to get around new towns, etc, but I will say I miss it like crazy now. I would give anything (and am actually in the process of) trying to move back to a military post. The military has grown to be a part of me, I love it, it’s who I am, and I miss it!

I never thought I would become someone who painted, someone who sewed, a “junk shop hunter/digger,” a gardener, a self-imposed electrician, a self-imposed plumber, a flat-out “DIY-er.” Although, after a near death automobile accident nearly claimed my life, and DID CHANGE my life forever, any plans I once thought I had or even ever imagined went out the window. I am unable to work any longer due to progressively worsening medical issues, so being at home resulted in me realizing that I had a niche for “DIY-ing” and creating handmade gifts. I am not a huge fan of where I now live so I knew I had to find something to keep me busy and keep my mind off all the stress from medical issues and all my general unhappiness about not having very good chances of selling my house and moving any time soon. That is when I found an unknown talent and niche for “DIY-ing” and crafting.

I also have found that it’s more often than not the simple things in life that make me happy, that make my day better, that keep me going. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed becoming close friends with the usual employees at the places I frequent the most, (Lowe’s, Wal-Mart, Tuesday Morning, the local Junk store, and the local thrift store). When you take time out of your “busy/hectic/crazy” day that we too often get too wrapped up in and you actually speak to these employees and to get to know these people and let them know a little about you, they genuinely care. Then when you are there as much as I am they become interested in what you do, and ask where you’ve been when they have not seen you in a while. They “adopt” you, as one of them told me the other day. I soon realized that I had become friends with these people and found myself going to visit even when I did not need any products just simply because I genuinely missed the laughter, goofing off, and conversation.

I have always wanted to start some sort of business, just never really knew what I wanted to do. Then Blake Mycoskie released his book Start Something That Matters. Since I was already a huge supporter of TOMS and LOVED the principle I knew I had to have the book! I waited for its release and actually went and bought it the day it came out! Now, I am not a big reader, I cannot stay focused long enough, but I FLEW through this book! It was SO enlightening and was somewhat the fire beneath me, telling ME to do something that mattered, whether it was successful or not I had to at least try. I felt as if this was my chance; I had found something that I was good at, I could no longer work, I enjoyed making gifts, and in today’s rushed/high-tech/on-the-go society nothing is handmade anymore, and no one seems to hand writes cards anymore, so no item I made would be exactly the same. They would be unique, like me! I wanted to figure out a way to help people through my small business though, so I kept thinking.

I had written a blog on my old personal WordPress; “Making Random People Smile,” which you can now read on here. It talks about how gratifying to me it is to just make random people smile and to do good deeds for people. It’s along the same lines as going to see my favorite employees at the local stores, and all the laughter and smiles that we share. Knowing that I had a huge passion for the Wounded Warrior Project and for Operation Homefront already gave me an idea, I would just donate any profits I made to those amazing foundations. Who knows, maybe one day S.M.I.L.E. will become a million dollar company! Dream big right?!?!

Later, with my medical issues on a continual decline, and thinking who knows how much longer I will be on this earth I started really thinking about how I wanted to try to turn S.M.I.L.E. into a community foundation. To teach/make the community I live in and/or move to more aware of traumatic brain injuries, PTSD and all the not-so-fun stuff that comes along with it. I know the military has been doing some amazing things to make people more aware, but in a community such as mine (that is not a military community) there is almost NO awareness WHATSOEVER. I will get much more gratification when my time comes, whenever it may be, knowing that I did something to impact this world and to help people, then sitting here doing nothing, feeling sorry for myself.

I am planning on still crafting and selling my gifts through the process of trying to form S.M.I.L.E. into a community foundation. My handmade crafts are now on Etsy, a website which is all handmade items. Though they are now on this webpage also! So, jump on over to the Shop tab!

Just how did the name come about?! This is what I am most proud of! I somehow wanted to incorporate the idea of making people smile and sharing smiles into a business name. With the help of a great friend who has stood by me through the thick and thin, good and bad, amazing highs and down-right depressing lows; and a couple of days of tossing around words and synonyms; then out came Simply Making Impressions on Lives Everywhere, S.M.I.L.E!

Please enjoy and do not forget to share a smile with a stranger <3