Honey! I’m turning 40!!!

Dearest Family, Friends, Lovers & Honey Pies!

Welcome.

I'm so honored you're here.

So as it turns out...

The year, on the 27th of February, I am turning 40!!

And to celebrate, I would love to invite you to Mexico to hug, dance and be merry together!

However...

I don't know if you've heard but apparently there's a whole "global pandemic thing" that's making that idea a little tricky, especially for those honey pies and lovers and friends and family in my homeland of Australia.

So instead of buying expensive flights, new bikinis and car rentals, why don't we create something together?

For my birthday this year, instead of presence, I'm asking for presents in the form of donations, however big or small, to go towards putting the final touches on a project that has been brewing since I was 19 years old.

Honey & Ritual

Guest House & Healing Studio

What is Honey & Ritual Guest House & Healing Studio?

Honey & Ritual Guest House & Healing Studio is a place where travelers can come to rest their heads and hearts for a moment in a beachside town. It offers the space and resources to create, rest and explore. For those who are fellow travelers, you know that traveling often proffers a sense of clarity and enthusiasm that, in turn, ignites the creative spark. Honey & Ritual is a space where one can bring those ideas into the world.

Music, poetry, visual art, or theatre all have a space to be realized at Honey & Ritual. If your creativity comes in the form of singing in the shower, cooking, meditating, teaching online, impermanent altar-making, and solitude, all are welcome and all already have home at Honey & Ritual. It's a quiet respite where creativity, connection and community are nurtured, fostered and celebrated.

The Story...

When I was 19 years old, I travelled up the east coast of Australia and found myself managing a hostel in Brisbane, Queensland. It was a big, old Queenslander house with wide verandas and weatherboard exterior, that a backpacker hostel had been pressed into. It was packed full with rickety bunk beds and a grimy, communal kitchen. Despite this, my Scottish co-manager and I could feel a potential idea being born within it's walls, and often spoke of one day owning and operating a place of our own.

At the time, she was a painter and I was writer, and we wanted to create a hostel where backpackers could come and have the resources and the space, to express whatever it was that traveling had inspired in them. There would be a music room, an easel and canvas, dance workshops in the basement and play readings in the patio. And rooms that allowed for some solace, comfort and well-needed solitude.

Many years, TV gigs and theatre performances later, I found myself still harboring this idea of a space in which to commune and create. My Scottish co-manager, amongst many other things, fell in love and eventually immigrated to Australia. I fell in love with Mexico and as I lived, grew and evolved here, in my adopted home, so too did the plan.

And here is where I find myself, currently living by the Oaxacan Coast in Mexico, in a small beachside city called Puerto Escondido (hidden port). I am living in a former kindergarten (pictured above) in the center of town. The property is a refreshing oasis from the hot streets and is resplendent with a beloved 30 year old mango tree. It a space that, after a little work, now has two guest bedrooms, a massage studio, a communal workspace/rehearsal room/gallery/living room and an outdoor terrace, for yoga, dance and honey tastings (but of course!).

Slowly (ooooh so slowly!), I am lovingly converting the property into a unique and restorative boutique bed & breakfast. I am, already, renovating and operating Honey & Ritual. Guests stay at low cost rates that cover basic running costs and we have had some small events like shared community dinners, private yoga classes and poetry readings. I give my Transpersonal Massage Therapy and Healing Sessions here also.

But the whole "global pandemic" thing put a bit of a dampener on things and it has been difficult to get momentum and capital going since it began. (I know you know what I mean! I know, that this is certainly a shared moment of projects unrealized).

Puerto Escondido's tourist trade suffered during the lock downs and dwindling tourism over the past two years. Now, however, things are opening up. Tourists are returning in droves and new businesses are popping up around town to meet the demand. During high season, however, the demand certainly outweighs the availability of affordable and cozy places to stay.

Additionally, there is a new highway set to be finished in June which will make it much easier and cheaper to arrive to Puerto from the larger cities like Oaxaca City and Mexico City. So, the mysterious "they" predict that things are about to boom. And if property prices are any indication, there's certainly an impending boom in the not so distance future to be sure!

I would so dearly love to be part of this transition in the city by offering a soulful and homely place for anyone who feels the call to write in a journal, dream of the stars or play a ukulele in honor of the sunset.

Honey & Ritual is the dream and it has almost become a reality!

That's why for my 40th Birthday, I am asking for donations to gather the capital for the final push so I can open Honey & Ritual as the space it longs to be in time for the next high season! (September, 2022).

With your help, Honey & Ritual will be a place that is beautiful, comfortable and down to earth, as well as a place that will generate a sustainable and vibrant income for myself and my community.

So! What is needed?

In order to bring this space to life, Honey & Ritual needs one last push of capital to finish it's transformation from cool, but slightly weird pagoda shaped building to a welcoming and creatively inspiring guest house.

Enter = a gift for my 40th birthday.

Instead of coming to my 40th birthday party (as I would so prefer you do!), or my wedding (chances of this happening are highly unlikely at this stage!), or the baptism of my first child (a strange addition to this list for many reasons!), I'm asking for donations to go towards the final touches to get Honey & Ritual up and running good and proper.

These things include:

BEDROOMS:

• Furniture - We have beautiful bed bases and really comfortable mattresses (not pictured) but that's about it. Specially designed to use the space effectively, clothes racks, shelves, drawers and side tables will create an ease and order to the rooms, as well as charm and beauty! And, you know, will make it a bedroom!!
• Paint! - The paint color in the rooms can only be described as 'stark white', but the paint was mixed with water when the last tenants left, so you can still faintly see the decorations from the kindergarten through it which is a little... unsettling.

KITCHEN:

• There wasn't one when I arrived so at least there is one now! But, still, our kitchen sink is concreted to the wall and the tap is a spigot! So, you know, something other than that!

(Kitchen before)

(Kitchen now)

(The kitchen sink!)

• Shelving to store crockery for events such as shared dinners.
• Tiled splashback to easily wipe the splattered cacao from the kitchen walls.

BATHROOM:

• The toilet and the bathroom are the most "finished" in some ways. Lighting, paint and all furnishing were installed by myself. But there is still a need for retiling the shower and a vanity unit.

EXTERIOR:

• The space is called Honey & Ritual but the colour palette at the moment is dirty, stained white. I'd love a paint colour and type that was easy to maintain and gave a sweet, welcoming honey flavour to all who arrive.

LIVING AREA:

• It's a unique, strange yet endearing, uneven, 6 sided area that needs a lick of paint, clever lighting and some floor sofas to get the creative energy flowing through!

Doing it together!

If you make a donation, however big or small, you are entitled to 2 free nights at Honey & Ritual, whenever we get to hug, dance and be merry together again.

However, if you do donate, I want you to feel (Mexico trip pending) that you are a part of this project. So, as a 'thank you', your name will be inscribed on a plaque in the courtyard where you will be remembered daily as someone who helped bring this project to life!

IF, it tickles your fancy, you can choose to donate to a specific part of the space (bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom, exterior, or living area) and your name will written on a tile, or an exterior wall or, a kitchen bench, a bathroom vanity (what an honor right?), and you'll forever be woven into the fabric of the space.

When it's time to say goodbye...

I know it's tough, weird and strange times. If you care to and can contribute, you have my deepest gratitude. Any amount is greatly appreciated!

This fundraiser is a celebration and an online party for my 40th. Think of it as a(n eco) glitter cannon of capital to fast track this project so we can one day live out our dreams and hug and dance and be merry, some day soon, together.

So much love from your friend,

Sarah x