This Week: Careful Peach Boutique (Oak Park, IL)

I met Karen Morava last summer at former Open House stars Rick and Rachel‘s Oak Park bungalow, and I made it a point to visit her Oak Park business Careful Peach Boutique straightaway.

Speaking of peaches, my fraternity hell week nick name was Peaches, mostly because my best high school buddy and I pledged together, and they called him Cream.  It was pretty clever.  Peaches was supposed to be derogatory but I didn’t mind it all that much (it reminded me of summer), and my attitude took all the fun out of it for my would-be elder fraternity brothers.  In fact, hell week’s hyper hazing was not only my favorite fraternity experience, it was also my favorite college experience, probably because I just went with the flow.  I wonder what happened to that Peaches kid?

What Peaches had yet to realize is that choosing to not fight is often (but not always) the best way to deal with the bullies we encounter at some point  in our lives.  The cessation of struggle, Buddhists believe, is one of the keys to achieving nirvana, and I think they’re onto something.  As regular readers may suspect, this aside has nothing to do with Oak Park’s Careful Peach Boutique.

Or does it?

It does and continue reading to find out why . . .

These are awesome, and plaid is hot, hot, hot!

Owner Karen Morava travels the world in search of quality, unique merchandise for her smart little shop, and she offers something for everybody (even the guys): soaps and candles, tableware and linens, jewelry and more (much more).  I bought a scented candle (although no bubble baths for me yet), and Karen gave me a block of olive oil soap.  “Just try it,” she said.  “And if you like it, write about it.”  She didn’t try to convince me; she just wanted to see how I liked it.  Karen, I love it, so I’m writing about it.  And that block of soap (which is now smaller with smooth rounded corners that feel nice, real nice, on my body when I wash with it in the shower) makes me wonder why we purchase all these soaps with chemicals and plastic containers when we have the ingredients for the stuff in our kitchen cabinets.  Why I ask?

During my visit, a man and his teenage son wandered in looking for a gift for mom.  Karen introduced herself and asked a number of questions about the recipient, a sales approach that should be elementary; fulfilling needs rather than manufacturing needs is the most ethical form of selling and the most basic rule followed by successful sales people.  That’s Buddhist too; one of Buddhism’s steps on the path to nirvana is to respect our jobs and to pay attention to detail; another is to practice simplicity, to give up unnecessary complications that cloud our relationships with people, our work and our home.  I don’t know if Karen’s a Buddhist or not, but visiting Careful Peach Boutique sure feels a lot like nirvana.  Please drop by for a visit the next time you’re in the area.

Careful Beach Boutique.  128 Harrison Street, Oak Park, IL.  708.383.3066.  carefulpeach@sbcglobal.net