Sun, Wind & Rain would like you to join us in celebrating another successful year downtown!  We’re proud to announce our 3rd year anniversary!!!  Summer is in the air…so come help us kick start another prosperous season going into our 4th year of business!

~A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken.  ~James Dent

At Sun, Wind & Rain we have a unique variety of Gear Wear clothes. Each piece has an embroidered or printed design featuring Muskegon, MI and/or our store name.   Gear is incredibly comfortable and many of our pieces can be dressed up or dressed down, depending on the occasion.  We have Men’s, Women’s, Missy cut, and Junior cut sizes.  Come check out our new Gear merchandise arriving at the end of April 2010.

January has rolled around again, which means Sun Wind & Rain’s annual trip to the Atlanta’s Mart.   Another successful trip indeed!  New merchandise will be arriving between January and mid March.

Upon return, we brought back the latest, fashionable costume jewelry and several unique sterling silver rings.

Uttermost, one of our favorite companies for home decor was just shipped and put out on display this week!

A new company we are introducing into the store is called Kalalou, another home decor line, but with a more distinct country style twist.  We’re also getting in a few new delicious food products…divine olives, gourmet cookies, and thirst-quenching drink mixes.

Among other things, we’ll be featuring a new line of purses and scarves, picnic accessories, and a fresh, new fragrance from our Belle de Provence line.

We’re excited to display our amazing new merchandise for the store and look forward to you coming to visit us to see for yourself!

Now Featuring…Naia, a new fragrance from the Thymes Collection.  The Naia fragrance smoothes and softens, absorbing quickly, leaving hands moisturized with a light, crisp and clean fragrance.

Naia Fragrance:  Aromas of lily and cyclamen, balanced with hints of citrus and lychee.  Paraben free.

We are also carrying Naia hand wash; a gentle, glycerin-enhanced lather, keeping hands fresh and lightly scented.

New additions to the Naia line include:  Body Wash, Body Lotion, Hand Cream, and Cologne.

The vast majority of the jewelry in the store is handcrafted and designed by Filis.  Each piece is designed with care and special attention to detail.  Filis incorporates a heart of various sizes to each piece as her signature touch.  Only the finest stones, pearls, crystals and silver available are used in her pieces.  Sterling silver is most often used in many pieces as clasps and part of the design throughout a piece. 

Filis can custom make jewelry upon request.  Ranging from a variety of earing styles, including clip on earings, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, bookmarks; just a wide variety of one-of-a kind fashionable accessories. 

Each piece of jewelry includes a written description of the meaning of the stones.

Eliza B. sandals are another fashionable shoe found at market.  Eliza B. shoes are custom made, which makes ordering and delivery about an 8 week process.  The wait is worth it!!  We currently only carry the Eliza B. shoes in a cork wedge and small variety between patent leather straps or designer cloth straps.  Because cork is a renewable resource, the cork wedges are eco-friendly.  They are naturally water resistant!

The creator of the Eliza B. shoes is none other than a young women named Eliza B.  Her facinating story of how she created her own shoe line is an inspiration to all.

Featuring for the first time in Sun Wind and Rain…shoes!!  Filis discovered Onesole shoes at the Atlanta Market in January 2009 as she desperately needed a comfortable pair of shoes.  Between extensive walking, hilly terrain, and a broken toe, Filis was in need of a stylish, yet comfortable shoe.  Luckily for Filis and Sun Wind and Rain, she stumbled upon…”The Original Interchangeable Shoe” that is perfect for traveling and everyday use! 

Dominique McClain Barteet is the creator of Onesole Shoes.  She worked as a pharmacist standing 12 hours a day and needed a comfortable shoe that was fashionable.  She invented Onesoles with Soft-Step insoles and interchangeable tops, which also enables her luggage to be lighter through her extensive traveling.  She combined fashion, comfort, versatility, and convenience. 

Onesoles come in a variety of heel heights that will suit your style!  We also carry slap stoppers, which silent the shoe from the familiar “flip flop” sound sandals can make and insoles which add extra comfort and help keep your feet dry.  Come in and try on these unique shoes!

Visit the Onesole website for a look into all the varieties in their interchangeable tops and soles. 

We are getting ready for a season of music!  Of music that takes us to a higher place, a place of hope and beauty and reasons to believe that the power of the human spirit, as expressed through the art of music, is a vitally healing, elevating gift that invites us to partake.   We’ll keep these videos coming and please suggest ones of your own that have inspired you.

Freddie Mercury Last Performance (Barcelona)

Freddie Mercury Pavarotti Queen Too Much Love Will Kill You

Seal – A Change Is Gonna Come

When the truck whipped around into the Bicentennial Park parking lot and headed in my direction my curiosity piqued. I was finishing off the last remnants of my lunch, topping off a peanut butter, honey and banana wrap with a few handfuls of granola. Nothing special, just enjoying the green and the trees of an area park while on break as I am prone to do.

It was September 11, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the Two Towers, The Pentagon and the American way of life. Thoughts of the all “big things” in the world were jostling for position in my mind. So many were affixed with negative connotations:
– The increasingly ugly tug of war between Republicans and Democrats as the presidential race heats up.
– The ongoing wars on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan.
– The pervasive fear and closed-mindedness running rampant in our society as home loans and financial institutions fail, jobs are lost and the cost of a trip to the grocery store cuts deep.
– And, why, oh why, is the threat level always orange at the airport?
These weren’t new thoughts or all that original thoughts for that matter. They were just varied musing to munch on mentally as I fed my face physically. It was like my brain was on random mode, stuck on the heading “big things.” I wasn’t paying these thoughts much mind, actually, but I was starting to get a little overwhelmed. It is inevitable when the “big things” in life bombard you all at once. And truth be told, I was getting a bit depressed on that cold, gray-day lunch hour.
This wasn’t relaxing at all.
So when a man in a red truck drew near I welcomed the change. My mind quickly dropped all those “big things” and began working through the possible reasons for this new development. I didn’t recognize the truck or the man behind the wheel so this probably wasn’t a social meeting. He wasn’t wearing a uniform so I figured I was safe for taking up two spaces in an otherwise empty parking lot. By the time his ride saddled up alongside mine facing opposite directions, I was fully prepared to say, “Sorry, I don’t know where such-n-such road is.”

We rolled down our windows, he offered a polite greeting and proceeded to ask if I owned a green chair.
This was an unexpected turn. I must have look puzzled so he continued. Getting out and walking to the back of his truck he explained that he had noticed me sitting in a green chair reading at Cam-plex Park last week.
When I left that day, I had forgotten my green chair — a little fold-up number with mesh cup holders in the arm rests and a canvas bag for easy toting. The man in the red truck scooped it up lest someone else swipe it for their own.

“I figured I’d see you again someday,” the Good Samaritan said. “And if I didn’t I would have a nice green chair.” The stranger kept my green chair in the back of his truck for a week, keeping a watchful eye for my small SUV with an out-of-state license plate. And when he spotted mine, situated at an angle made perfect for spotting from Warlow Drive, he shifted into gear. He smiled as I professed my thanks after he handed me my green chair. He shook my hand and drove away leaving me nearly as puzzled as I was when he first posed his query.
The difference was an uplifting levity to my thoughts. With all the “big things” in the world to worry about, it was a “little thing” that made everything seem alright. My green chair. I bought it for $9 on sale at KMart. It is utterly replaceable. Yet, as a symbol of human decency it becomes priceless. At least to me.
The stranger in the red truck. He could have been any one of us, really. Yet, as an agent of kindness he becomes a shining example of the inherent goodness of humankind. And at that moment, the “big things” didn’t seem so big and the “little things” didn’t seem so little. I smiled then as I realized I didn’t even catch his name. I’ll remember him every time I unfold that green chair, though. Such a little thing, a random act of kindness. But its the “little things” that make this life worthwhile and help put all those “big things” in their place.