New Jewelry!

How cute is this watch? Adorable, right? When I put it in the case on Thursday, it took only a few minutes for it to catch Caley's eye! In fact, when I asked her to put it on so that I could take a picture of it, she never took it back off, she just paid for it and wore it out the door!

I have ordered jewelry and accessories off and on for Castaways, and recently I have backed off, because we had been taking SO much jewelry on consignment. Yet, when we recently cleaned out our display cases, we realized that not much of it was selling and very little of it was actually the on~trend stuff that you guys are REALLY looking for. 

So.... with all the other awesome changes at Castaways, I have decided to buy new jewelry so that you are able to find the perfect piece to set off the amazing outfit you're sure to find at our store! I will always be searching the magazines and of course Pinterest to stay on top of the very most current jewelry. Our find of the moment is this amazing wrap watch. Out of our shipment from last week, we have three neutral colors remaining. Tomorrow I will be placing another order, and this one will be all about color! Purple, coral, navy, tangerine, and of course, the super cute turquoise shown above!

So, what would YOU like to see us selling, as far as jewelry goes? Big statement necklaces? Sunglasses? Cross bracelets/necklaces? I will be placing another order within the next week and since you are going to be the ones BUYING it, who better to offer me input on ordering? We want to keep our selection fabulous just for you! (We will continue taking Lia Sophia, Silpada, and Stella & Dot jewelry on consignment as well, so if you've got anything you aren't wearing, by all means, bring it in!)

Have a fabulous Monday!

Cindy

The Story Behind Yesterday's Makeover

A few weeks ago, my friend Angie had a great idea. (One of MANY!) :) She sells Mary Kay and she has worked with Castaways and another one of our friends, Kellie Felmey, who owns a salon called The Bird's Nest on occasion doing Ladies Nights Out at the shop. These events have been so successful for us, that Angie wondered what would happen if the three of us put our resources together to do a makeover for someone in the community who needed a little pick-me-up. And that very day a BRILLIANT idea was put into action.

We immediately created an email address and got articles posted in newspaper, ads up on Facebook, and even did a spot on television promoting our makeover contest. Chevie Ruder, Director of the Washington Chamber of Commerce, graciously agreed to take on the extremely difficult task of deciding which nomination was going to be the winner.

Here is the email that she finally decided on:

"Kendra Mueller is a local single mom of two whose house burned last month.  Her family has been displaced for 4-6 months while her home is repaired.   Throughout the loss of their house and possessions, Kendra remained strong and positive. Within a week of the house fire, her kids' paternal grandma passed away.  I think she deserves to be pampered.  She works at LGS as an aide.  please consider her for your pampering.  Thanks."

Once that decision was made, we contacted Amy Blankenship, the nominator, and arranged through her to meet with Kendra.  The ONLY problem with Kendra was that she was already SO cute!  Check out her BEFORE PICTURE:

So cute, right? Well, at least we knew it would be super easy to make her look amazing!  We got her sizes and some ideas of what she would feel comfortable with for her transformation and made arrangements for Saturday!

Kendra's first stop on Saturday morning was The Bird's Nest, owned by Kellie Felmey to get a cut and style. 

She really wanted angled bangs, and Kellie also trimmed and styled her thick, pretty hair~

Next up? Makeup!!!

Angie Kisch was at the ready to help Kendra choose colors from her Mary Kay selection and to offer guidance on how to apply it. She also graciously gifted Kendra with some amazing product!  They had a blast!

Doesn't she look AWESOME? Now that her hair and makeup were complete, it was up to us at Castaways to choose her outfit! Fortunately, that is what we do best, and employee Haley Herrmann is exceptionally good at it! She chose the perfect outfit for Kendra, and we headed over to the GORGEOUS setting at our neighbors', All In Bloom, to take Kendra's AFTER PICTURE:

Stunning, no?

So pretty!

Her pretty, kind, and funny friend Amy Blankenship, who nominated her for the contest, also showed up to enjoy the fun!

The gorgeous flower arrangement was provided for Kendra by All In Bloom! Did we all pamper her properly, or what???

The whole crew L-R: Angie Kisch of Mary Kay, Cindy Keller of Castaways, Kendra Mueller, and Kellie Felmey of the Bird's Nest!

We had so much fun doing Kendra's makeover! She was super easygoing and genuinely a delight to be around! The whole experience was fantastic and all day long, people kept making suggestions that the three of us should band together to do this kind of thing more often. We decided that we definitely will! What do you think? We'd love to hear what YOU would like us to do next, we like nothing better than a great idea!!!

Cindy 

10 Reasons Why We Love Kathy!

1. Yesterday was her birthday! Look at these gorgeous flowers she got! (Our awesome neighbors at All In Bloom created them for her!) We also took her out for delicious Mexican food and MARGARITAS at our OTHER awesome neighbors, Sol. Best salsa EVER.
2. Kathy has been with us since the beginning of Castaways in Washington! She has always been an amazing worker and it has been fun to watch her grow right along with my business.
3. She can rock a belt like no other!
4. She is HILAROUS! Her one~liners from the back room throw me into knee~buckling hysterics! Once, when completely overloaded with tagging intake, she held up a sign to our little window that said "Help Me". So FUNNY!
5. Speaking of tagging, she is a MACHINE! She can tag approximately 84,00 pieces of clothing per day!
6. When she's not at work, she is STILL crazy busy. She volunteers for WCBU and Wildlife Prairie Park and she plays frisbee golf and regular golf and sometimes hikes with her hubby. She also helps her family out with things they need and still manages to squeeze in time to travel a little. And shop!
7. She is an excellent role model on how to incorporate trends in a way that is completely age appropriate.
8. However she still manages to have her own little personal boho twist to her style.
9. She is almost always EARLY to work!
10. Did I mention that aside from being an absolutely fabulous employee, she is also a great friend? Yep, she's pretty great! :)

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! Hope to see you at our Open House tomorrow!

Cindy

Spring Changes at Castaways

Don't you associate "Spring" with beginnings? The flowers begin to bloom, the grass turns a brilliant shade of green, and there is such a sense of fresh and NEW! That's kind of how we feel at Castaways right now. We've got so many new and exciting things in the works, we are buzzing with a fabulous energy that we can't wait to share with you!

Our intake room is up and running! Now you can bring your items to consign to the door right next door to Castaways! It is a room specially designed to process and tag your items to get them on the floor quickly and efficiently! If you have adult items, you may walk in with your items any time we are open! If you are a new consignor or you have children's clothing, please call 309-886-2424 for an appointment (please limit children's items to one tote per visit). We LOVE how smoothly things have been going since we started our intake room and we are STUNNED by how many items we are receiving! Keep 'em coming, we LOVE IT!

We have a new sales counter at Castaways and it is GORGEOUS, but we are going to make it even BETTER this Saturday, because we are going to fill it up with current fashion jewelry that is on trend and inexpensive! You will be able to find the PERFECT accent piece to make an already amazing outfit completely jaw~dropping!

Finally, we are gutting our current fitting rooms and rebuilding them at the end of the month! Now we will have four roomy fitting rooms painted a flattering color with plenty of light! No more lines! :)

We are moving in a wonderful new direction after seven years in Washington, and we could NEVER do it without you.... in fact, the renewal of this blog is yet another new beginning! Show your support and check in often! We will be sharing updates, interesting fashion advice, our favorite pins from Pinterest, and great photos of new arrivals and fun things that are happening in the store. We are always on a mission to make Castaways even BETTER for our FABULOUS customers!

Have a WONDERFUL day!

Cindy