Contemporary Earth Mama

puddlestomping and other recent travels

Travels this week have taken me most recently down the street with my girls, water boots on our feet, rain gear on our limbs, to stomp through every puddle we could find.  To be outside in the rain is one of my favorite things to do...especially on a Saturday, when the rest of the day is spent curled up on our bed with a pile of books and reading requests, "No, Sun-beep (Fannie's new name for Sunny), not dat one, dis one!"

Last week I spent a few days in Sioux Falls preparing for the Sioux Falls Baby Expo, proudly sponsored by My Healthy Beginning.  It's been years since I've driven through southwestern Minnesota, and oh, the farm country was calling my name.  Beautiful rolling hills, rivers and chocolate milk cows kept my mind occupied ( as well as three hours of phone calls) during the drive.  I have to share with you, though, my Favorite Place of the Week...Falls Park in the middle of Sioux Falls.  It's this beautiful oasis in the middle of the city where the Big Sioux River cuts through town spraying its mist and winding through rocky outcroppings. Took a time out from long days to sit for a few minutes under the warm sun dipping my toes in the water, and then again to watch that sun go down, and the mallards come out for their evening flight.

I love stumbling across such treasures...where was the last treasure you came across?

exciting Earth Day news!

This news is especially for the community members of the Long Lake/Orono area:

Harvest Moon Natural Foods co-op is set to open on June 7, 2010!  With over 750 Founder Member Owners, they are on their way to the first 1,000.  To become one of the original FMO's, purchase your lifetime membership here.

This is exciting news for my family.  This means a co-op will be within in walking/biking distance from our home.  I will need to visit my two other favorite co-ops (Wedge and Lakewinds) just for old times sake, but, I'd rather support the one in my own community.  My girls love to shop the bulk aisle for grains, seeds, beans, nuts and dried fruit.

Share with me what you love about co-ops!

an image consultant?

I have to admit I had a date with an image consultant on Friday afternoon.  Though I was excited about it, I was also a little apprehensive...I mean, who wants to hear that their eyebrows need more of an arch?  Especially a busy mama with no disposable income and little time to shop.

BUT, let me tell you where my excitement came from.  A couple months ago I met Gretchen Ditto at an Awesome Women event.  I was instantly drawn to her.  She had on a great outfit ( something I could see myself in) and had a great personality to boot.  We were paired up for an exercise and because I felt so comfortable with her, I found myself interested in talking with her about image and media training.

Because my soon to be new business partner (news to come very, very soon-stay tuned!) and I need media training together, we thought a visit to her was in the cards. 

For my visit I was to bring a few outfits I might wear for a television interview.  Seriously, that would have meant a shopping trip, which was NOT in the cards.  So I brought a few favorite pieces for her to peek at.  Gretchen's office is out of her home, small, comfortable and quaint.  She, of course, is adorable.  I have always wanted curly hair and she is the epitome of curly hair.  She asked me questions about what I wanted to change about myself or know in regards to image.  If that isn't a loaded question!?

What do I want to know?

Question 1:  I don't like purses, how do I get around this? 

I poked around on Etsy tonight and fell in love with this.

Question 2: In any given hour, I go from mom to running clothes to meeting.  How do I get away with that and have a bag (s) that help me do that?

Question 3:  Shoes.  Ugh.  I hate heels, feel like a Neanderthal in them, not comfortable walking in them and certainly don't want to wear them all day.  Help?!

I am loving these. And these.  And, um, these.  Yes, in red.

Question 4:  What colors should I wear?  Why do I feel angry when I wear black?

I learned that my base colors are browns and charcoal grey ( yeah!!!!).  Colors to include are greens and blues, with a little pink and coral.  White also works for me.  Avoid cream and black.

Question 5:  How can I look professional while wearing clothing I am comfortable in?

She gave me lots of ideas here with an Anthropologie feel without the price.

We then talked through media training and walked through an exercise for how/when I'm interviewed, and how to stick to the key points in a succinct and concise manner.

Overall, super fun and so glad I did it.  Can't wait to go back. 

MN Baby Expo in review

What a weekend and what an experience.  You know me, I'm always up for a good learning opportunity, and boy, did I have my weekend cut out for me!

On the way home Sunday night ( at midnight) I looked at my husband and said, "I have learned at least 185,000 new things in the last three months and 100,000 of those were in the last five days!"

There is nothing like learning under the gun, and there it was, laying right there in front of me.  I learned to be even more flexible, to push my limits, to broaden my understanding for how things ( and people) work (or don't work).  I was able to watch my team endure, persevere and get extremely creative under pressure, pulling in people who have never worked with us before, only to watch them completely go above and beyond the call of duty.  The people who work with My Healthy Beginning are authentic, hard working, calm in the face of adversity and just totally committed to community...kind of can't write this without tearing up!

We know our strong points, where we'll make a difference in events to come and how we can create a cohesive and organized team within a pre-existing template. Fun, fun, fun.

As I wrote up press releases last night for the media that called in ( yeah!), I was able to reflect upon little things that have large impact upon change, and got goosebumps as I attached photos from the weekend.

The MN Baby Expo, despite the wrinkles of a first year in a new city where they don't yet have a following, was able to donate 1257 pounds of food to Second Harvest Heartland, which will feed ober 1,000 hungry Minnesotans.  That is something to be proud of, and thank you to all the attendees who found it in their hearts and cupboards to bring non perishables in for donation.

 
  

Also with the help of Planet Promotions, the MN Baby Expo was able to recycle over 66% of the waste from this event.  That is a significant amount of salvaged waste considering Planet Promotions studies which prove that "a single event, serving over 2,000 attendees at a time (the MN Baby Expo saw over 4,000), can produce as much waste in an hour as a family of four will produce in one year".  That again is something remarkable to celebrate.  Thank you to Tamara Taylor of Planet Promotions for that support.

 

I tell you what, there is nothing like seeing the My Healthy Beginning booth space with people milling around looking for information, using Eco-Kids Playdough with their kids, children making jumpropes, mamas looking for support and resources and our experts hanging out with us to do so.  We had several speakers within our space with mothers and families turning out for more information such as Gail Tully's Belly Mapping and Spinning Babies talks, and Lori Hendricksons craniosacral work and talks on the importance of belly sleeping babies.  I get another rush of adrenalin just thinking about it. 

 

Thank you to all who came out to support this event and for supporting My Healthy Beginning!

Thank you Marketing Mama...'nuff said!

We are so lucky to have great people in our lives!  Check out what the Marketing Mama has to say about My Healthy Beginning and this weekends event.

it's giveaway time...

I am sitting at Open Book with a warm apple cider, served to me with a froth on top and in a Sierra Nevada glass of all things.  So as I pretend that it's 1:30 and that I'm drinking a pale ale instead of an apple cider, I will remind you that it's expo week:  this weekend My Healthy Beginning is sponsoring the MN Baby Expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center.  This morning's tasks included pulling food licenses and meeting with the decorator to go over the floor plan yet again.

I'm taking a moment to catch up on emails and to proof the next issue of My Healthy Beginning:  All About Baby, and yes, it is a keeper.  From the sweetness on the front cover to the kind of content noone ever tells you about when you're in baby mode, you'll definitely want a copy for yourself.  How do you get that copy?  Be one of the first 5,000 people through the door of the MN Baby Expo or simply subscribe.

I just got done playing on the My Healthy Beginning facebook page, settting up giveaways for the week that include must-have items from the Mommy Posh Bags.  How do you get a hold of those, you might ask?  Be one of the first 50 moms through the door each morning for your chance to win a Mommy Posh Bag with a $2500 value.  Other giveaways this week include free MHB digital subscriptions, Baby Mum Mums and more!

Check the MHB Facebook page for more details!