As most of you know, my name is Randi Carr and I am a stay-at-home mother of two beautiful children (Samantha- 3 years old and Logan 3 months) and a stepmother of one (Taylor- 10 years). My husband is an industrial plumber that generally works in the Edmonton area, but once in awhile he travels the province for short periods of time. It is these times that it gets really chaotic around here and I need my customers patience and understanding. I must admit, I do have the best customers that anyone could ask for and I have never encountered a person that did not understand the trials of motherhood and the unpredictable events that can occur that comes with having small children and a family. For this I am grateful.

Okay, back to me... as you see, I have a tendency to stray from my original intentions often... this is actually how CfE was born. Originally the plan was to make my own natural bath and body products, get Certified as an Herbal Consultant and take the world by storm. Along the way, plans changed. I noticed that if I wanted to get the materials to make the products it was a long wait as the items had to be shipped. It bothered me, so I would order large quantities of product I figured I would use one day. Soon it occurred to me I had waaay too many ingredients and not enough time to make everything I had planned. So, I figured I would sell off some of my stock and save on the cost of the products. I built a website, and before you knew it I was receiving orders. It quickly became apparent that it was not only myself who needed materials readily available. I then began ordering items to see what they were and become familiar with it, then I would sell what I did not need. Before long I started to get busy and people started asking me where to find this and that. October 2008 Lynden House (my only competitor in Edmonton) decided to move to Saskatchewan and I had to make a serious decision... did I fill the void they were leaving? Or did I close up shop? At this point I was also pregnant with our son. As you can probably guess, I decided to keep it going and add to my inventory.

So from the initial $500 investment, a lot of hard work and with some help from friends and family, CfE is what it is now and growing rapidly. We are adding to our inventory every month and have met some wonderful people, both suppliers and customers along the way.

Aside from CfE I also have another company called R&I Bookkeeping Services (Get it? R&I= Randi lol) that was created shortly after CfE. I admit I wear many hats and sometimes these hats are overwhelming to say the least. This is where the understanding of my customers is crucial to my success. Once in awhile I do have to close up shop on short notice to catch up on life and clear my mind.

So a BIG Thank you to all of you for your understanding and helping us become what we are now. I promise to continue meeting your needs where I can and hope to continue this endeavour for as long as life will allow!

Happy Creating!

Randi Carr