There are two types of “Spring” going on in my life this week. First, my children are on Spring Break from school so we are fortunate to have a lot of family time. And second, today is the first day of Spring. It’s a great time to begin thinking about the seeds I will plant to grow and nurture myself, my family and my business.

Spring provides a perfect environment to grow something new and beautiful in your life. I hope that you will take some time this week to look out at “your garden” and make plans to grow something new.

Keep reading to hear more about a Rebel Woman making things happen in her life right now.

Be well,

Joy

Carolyn Howard

Last week, I wrote about the extraordinary women of our time being rebels. Well, I’ve got an extraordinary rebel woman story for you. Former Success Circle member, Carolyn Howard, had a strong desire to start her own business. She had a few challenges at the time. Carolyn had 2 sons, Nicholas and Noah, who were 4 and 18 months AND…she was pregnant with her third child!

I am proud to announce that today, Carolyn has given birth to both a new baby girl, Hannah Rose (now 5 months) and a new business that is experiencing early success, Carolyn Howard Knits. Carolyn designed these beautiful Priya wrapped sweaters. They are stunning, warm, comfortable and come in a variety of colors (I have a gorgeous one in the color lavender).

Carolyn truly is a “Rebel Woman.” She chose to follow her dream at a time that can be quite challenging for women. Oh, and the best part is that Carolyn is offering a 15% discount to any of the Smart Women “Reflection” readers, so check them out at www.CarolynHowardDesigns.com and view this truly “Rebel” sweater.

“Take a step, even a very small one, in the direction you want to go and then see how you feel.” ~Carolyn Howard

“The Circle gave us a safe environment to voice our feelings and feel we were being heard. Because of the structure and the tools I was able to grow and gain more self-awareness. I feel that I can also take these tools and use them to help live my life more attuned to my authentic purpose. I feel very honored to have been part of a group of such deep thinking women.” ~Carolyn Howard

The month of March is a very important month if you are a basketball fan.  It’s “March Madness” and there are games from every team around the country participating in playoffs and finals all month.  We are big basketball fans at our house.  I was watching a game this week with my children and a commercial came on for the NBA.  Their slogan this season is “NBA—Where Amazing Happens.”  They were highlighting their best players and talking about reaching dreams and goals.  It got me thinking about placing ourselves in the right environment so that “our amazing happens.”

I’m a big believer that women need the right environment to make their amazing happen.  I rarely come up with my big ideas unless the environment is right for me to be creative.  I like a quiet, reflective environment where I can see lots of nature—trees, flowers, grass, blue sky.  This is a big topic of discussion in my Women’s Success Circles.  I invite each woman to determine where her best environment might be to create her “amazing life.”  This is why I have all of my Success Circles at the Inn at Playa del Rey or work with women at the Channel Road Inn.  It’s a peaceful, reflective place where women can think about what they really want to happen next in their life.

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