Happy summer to all my friends of the Featherstones Comfort Pad!
“Anticipation
Anticipation is making me late
Is keeping me waiting”
Cool news!
We can all hear Carly Simon singing her familiar refrain from “Anticipation.” We have been anticipating this news for months, and so happy to share!
We started to hint about this in February, when we said that the Featherstones Comfort Pad was being tested in a Boston hospital environment. Each month we’ve dropped a little more info as the process played out. So, drum roll, please!
We just shipped our first order of specially made Comfort Pads to a major Boston hospital for use in its MRI department. Woo hoo!!! 😊
The testing they did was amazing, deriving fantastic results from months of trying it in various applications. We were then invited to apply to become a formal hospital vendor. Once that process wrapped up, it was followed by a purchase order. Not only that – we’re told more orders are expected, and they want to discuss our possibly making some other products for them. This is beyond exciting!
We can’t say what hospital it is publicly, per the vendor agreement’s confidentiality clause. We are requesting permission to name the hospital publicly for marketing purposes. But at the least, privately the info should help as we knock on other institutional doors.
This has been part of our business plan – to develop institutional users of the Comfort Pad, from massage therapists and chiropractors to orthopedic discomfort and surgery recovery and MRI services, while also growing our consumer business. Lots of baby steps have become lots of longer strides. Hopefully that arm of the business will grow as we think it can – we’ll keep you abreast!
Does aging have to be a thing yet? No! No? Um, really?
Scott and I have been especially inspired by a neighbor, a lovely woman who just happens to be 90 years young. She is spry, sharp as a tack, reasonably mobile, charming, entertaining, engaging – a class act through and through. For those on this mail list who don’t know (and some do), Scott and I met in our 60s, surprised and delighted to meet someone special with whom to grow old, after being single for most of the previous couple of decades. We’ve been married four years and we both feel as spirited as ever – but while we’re still plenty active we will admit we’re not quite as nimble on our toes as we once were. As Scott says, his fast dancing still works, but he’d just as soon do a slow Twist. Which, he says, you can do to anything! lol!
Well, we know that A) we want to live long, healthy lives, and B) we can’t take our health for granted, even though neither of us has any conditions or takes any meds for anything. But the reality of aging says that more than ever, we have to be not just smarter about our health but also more active in managing it.
Here’s some tips from our friends at Johns Hopkins Medicine, those brilliant folks at the university’s medical school (whom we’ve cited often in our social posts). The following is from their website, from the “Aging Well” section of their “Wellness and Prevention” pages (Wellness and Prevention | Johns Hopkins Medicine).
4 Top Ways to Live Longer
A Johns Hopkins-led study of 6,200 men and women over eight years found that those who adopted four smart behaviors reduced the chance of death from all causes within that time frame by an astounding 80 percent.
How to live longer? Here are those four factors, all within your control.
1. Don’t smoke.
Although your best plan to live longer is to adopt all four lifestyle factors, if you had to choose one, the researchers say, this is it. Smoking affects coronary arteries and lungs, and smokers also have increased rates of cancer and risk of stroke.
2. Maintain a healthy weight.
The healthiest people in the study maintained a body mass index (BMI)—a ratio of height to weight that measures body mass—of less than 25.
To find out your BMI, try using a free BMI calculator. (Here’s one: Calculate Your BMI – Standard BMI Calculator (nih.gov) ) To reach (and maintain) a healthy BMI, get busy on lifestyle changes 3 and 4.
3. Get up and move.
Aim for about 30 minutes of activity a day most days of the week. Try breaking it into three 10-minute bouts of activity per day – a 10-minute walk in the morning, another at lunch and a stroll after dinner.
4. Make healthy food choices.
The study found that the healthiest people followed a Mediterranean-style diet. That means a diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables, tree nuts with healthy oils, fish (and less red meats), whole-grain carbs and olive oil for cooking.
Our nonagenarian neighbor is such an inspiration as to what life can be like come the time. Totally in charge, assertive, a sly grin. I haven’t asked her the secret to her graceful aging – a “proper constitution” I suspect. And I’m pretty sure we have that. But to help the cause we’re paying more attention to the obvious. Good nutrition (my sweet tooth notwithstanding), and stepping up the exercise. Scott loves his bike rides, and he’s getting out more during the week, hoofing it around the complex where his newsroom is located. I’m starting a new exercise class, I’ve been a gardening maniac, and my massage business keeps me physical. The giveaway, though, is the growing repertoire of sound effects as we move and stretch – right? lol!
Anyone have good health habits to share? Glad to pass them on here!
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And now for a fun favor – and one in return!
When we launched the Comfort Pad early last fall, we held a launch party for local supporters. It was a whole lot of fun – several massage clients and others who had been guinea pigs during development were there to cheer us on. We had made our initial inventory and had most of the Comfort Pads at our fulfillment center. We also had a bunch at home, and we took several to the party, thinking some of the attendees might like to purchase one at a really special price.
Scott took his laptop to process any orders, so I could mingle and gab and float around on my cloud. His plan was to keep an eye on the showcase table and trot over to zip an order through, as needed. Well, wouldn’t you know – he sat at his laptop processing orders from the beginning of the party right through to the end, nonstop! He was crazy busy, and we sold dozens! Here he is, grinding them out, such a ham!
Well, we are now dipping our toes into the early days of summer (thankfully!), when retail traditionally slows down, and we decided to do it all over again and offer a great deal to friends (and friends of friends), from our online store. We’re dropping our prices a huge amount for a Summer Super Sale, more or less to our launch party prices, for a limited time (at least through July). If you are interested in getting another Comfort Pad, please help yourself – and the shipping in the USA is still free! But here’s the favor.
Please, if you like your Comfort Pad and would like to recommend it to a friend or family member, we’d love it if you’d forward this newsletter with your recommendation. We know that folks who use the Comfort Pad totally get it and can say how they use it and why it’s so effective. There’s such a difference between hands-on experience and just seeing photos, so your recommendation would mean the world!
Here’s how the line will price out for the next few weeks at our online store: https://feathestonesinc.com/comfort-pad
Comfort Pad in Performance Fabric (four styles): normally $115, now $74
Comfort Pad in Pleather fabric (two colors): normally $95, now $59
Foliage fleece cover to fit any Comfort Pad: normally $55, now $39
Carry Bag to fit any Comfort Pad: normally $45, now $34
And here’s the favor in return! If you refer a friend who purchases a Comfort Pad, just email me the person’s name (leigh@featherstonesinc.com) and as soon as we confirm the completed purchase, we’ll send you a Comfort Pad Carry Bag for free! So, please feel free to send this offer to as many people as you want (but we have to limit the free Carry Bag to one per subscriber to this newsletter).
If this goes the way we think it could, we’ll grow our customer base, move summertime inventory, and reward our friends with some gifts with our heartfelt thanks! So, thank you!!!
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Awesome recipe time!
For this month’s fun recipe, I’m passing one along from a massage client who loves basil – and it’s fresh basil season right now. It’s a recipe for pesto – but pesto with a twist!
Pistachio Pesto
If you’re a fan of pesto (I am, but I usually let someone else make it), you’ll love this twist on the classic recipe – switching out pine nuts for pistachios! Pistachios pair perfectly in your traditional recipe. It is so good!
Ingredients
3 cups fresh basil leaves (pack lightly into the measuring cup)
1/3 cup shelled pistachios (get extra so you can eat some while shelling them!)
1/2 cup fresh, finely grated parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Here’s what you do
Pulse the dry ingredients together in a food processor or blender, everything except the olive oil. Pulse until it’s all finely chopped.
Drizzle in the olive oil slowly while processor or blender is running, until it’s all combined. Puree till smooth, and be sure to stop to scrape it down the sides to fully mix it. If the pesto seems too thick, just thin it with a little more olive oil.
It’s okay to season with more salt and pepper, to your taste. And add a little more of any of the ingredients to suit you – it’s totally flexible!
Enjoy!
Scott and I used it in a veggie stir fry the other night, and it was wonderful – the pistachios worked so well. Tell us if you try it and how you used it – we love trying new dishes!
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Well, friends – that’s it for now. Thank you so much for living our dream with us. Getting that hospital purchase order is hugely exciting for us! Now the institutional market beckons as we continue to serve our wonderful retail customers.
We are so very grateful for your business and your support as we grow the Featherstones Comfort Pad line. From our hearts to yours!
Love, Leigh
PS, For you social media fans, we post regularly online. You can follow the Featherstones Comfort Pad pages: @featherstones.comfort.pad on Instagram and @FeatherstonesComfortPad on Facebook. We post twice a day Monday through Friday.
Thank you!!!
