What Makes Our Hearts Beat Fast?

What makes our hearts beat fast? Well that’s a big question, isn’t it?    But first, things first...our entire team wishes each of you a very Happy Valentine’s Day.

We all have our own emotional journey with this particular holiday.    From our memories as a kid passing out and receiving cards and candy from schoolmates to the first date with someone we actually were excited to celebrate this pressure-ridden day.   Or even the lonely ones that we hid as to not shine a light on our status of being (dun dun dun) single. 

Married or single, Valentines Day can be a mixed bag.  Our solution?    A Galentine’s Day of course!   Who doesn’t like to hang with some of their besties and have a night of entertainment and fun, right?

So we decided to throw together our own Galentine Party (just in time for this blog)  to show you just how easy it is to pull together a fun and festive gathering!  And here is how it's done.

Step One:  Decide How to Make Your Gathering Different and Fun

We knew we wanted some girly activities for the night.   What would be better than facials and makeup?    A friend of mine owns and operates CryoSpa Mind & Body Wellness (www.cryospaiowa.com)in Urbandale, Iowa.  

And they have an invigorating Cool Facial treatment.    We had discussed last year bringing a mobile facial unit to the store for a demonstration.   This event was perfect for it!

And if we were going to take off make-up for facials, we had to put it back on, right?    One of my favorite make-up artists in Des Moines, Ivy Boyd, happened to be available for our soiree'.    

Our activity theme became “Take it off and put it on!”

Step Two:  Find A Decor Inspiration

With every event that we do, we like to have a design inspiration.   In this case, we settled on a pink and gold piece of artwork whose color story was perfecto for our Galentine gathering!

Step Three:  Pick a Theme

Our soft pink and gold art inspiration called for our gathering to be elegant, feminine, extravagant and fun!   Think blush flowers, gold details, bling and sweet treats.   

Step Four:   What Will We Serve?

Our Galentine event was all about decadence.   And what better drink to serve than Rose'... all day?  

And then we decided to serve practical and healthy food.   Not.   

Instead, we ordered gold dipped macaroons from Creme Cupcakes and mini cupcakes and Petit Fores from The Bake Shoppe.

Although our theme was about extravagance, it didn’t mean it had to be expensive.

Step Five: Make it Work

We repurposed many things we already at home (or at least mine.)   Our homes are full of goodies that can easily be transformed for an event.  Things like...

• Blingy jewelry
• Wine glasses
• Gold trays, boxes, and vases
• Console or furniture pieces that can be used for service
• Perfume bottles

And then we purchased:

• Oversized XOXO gold balloons
• A Rose' All Day Sign (which can be changed and used again)
• Flowers
• Galentine Plates
• Napkins
• Decorative tassels and other balloons

So cute!!!  So inexpensive.   

Our evening was relaxing but a blast.   The gals enjoyed a glass of Rose' and a sweet treat while they waited for their facial appointment.   

The cool facial is known to tighten skin and reduce pore size as well as minimize fine lines and wrinkles.    And the cool air feels great!

Once the facial was done, most of the women decided to take advantage of the talented Ivy Boyd by getting their make up done and getting a few tips along the way.

Ivy supports many of the best photographers in town as their go-to makeup artist and writes an informativea makeup blog, Wake Up For Makeup.

Feeling glamorous once again, our guests enjoyed shopping and conversation for the rest of the evening! At the end of the night, each guest got a K. Renee Valentine, a gift bag from Cryospa and a bouquet of flowers!

It was easy breezy to pull together and such a great way to put the fun back into a sometimes difficult holiday (depending on where you are in your life) and share a little love.

Earlier I started this blog with “what makes our hearts beat fast?”   Sharing the love...that’s what!   

As a matter of fact, K. Renee kicked off 2018 with a theme:  Share the Love Project 2018. 

What does that really mean?     

When we added K. Renee Home to the K. Renee business five years ago, our big hairy audacious goal (BHAG) was to create a socially responsible 50/50 business model.  In other words, to be able to give away 50% of our profits annually. After covering our costs, paying fair wages, and re-investing in our growth, we wanted to be able to donate the rest and use our skills in a way that benefited those with need in our community.

It’s why we do our home holiday transformations every year, support a variety of causes that are important to our team and our loyal customers, and give clothing away to organizations that support women trying to get back on their feet.

In 2017, the impossible became possible when we achieved our BHAG.  

I can’t tell you how proud we are as an organization to have realized our dream and we want to make sure we continue to thrive and grow so we can do more. For us, it is what makes our heart beat fast.   

Team members sadly missing from this picture:  
Lana Jones Gould, Wendi Williams, Kasey Schulz and Jackson Ross!    

And for you, its assurance that you not only get amazing service and beautiful products - all locally - but your financial support of our business helps us do more for this amazing community that we all call home.   We could not have achieved this goal without all of YOU, our beautiful customers.   

The K. Renee team thanks you from the bottom of our hearts for helping us SHARE THE LOVE.

Have a wonderful Valentines Day - however, you will be spending it.

Xoxo,

Julie