Change Becomes Change

If you want to change the world, start with yourself

Put another way, by Mahatma Gandhi: Be the change you want to see.

Change has been on my mind a lot lately. The personal kind. Quite selfishly, I’ve been thinking about me. And the change I want to be before I can go change the world. I’ve reflected on who I was as a younger woman and decisions made that have led to who I am today. Good or bad. Right or wrong.

I’ve reflected on who I am today and whether I’m the person I want to be in order to make the change I want to make. I don’t have the answers. I’m not sure how I’ll get to the answers quite. So I keep thinking. And reflecting.

But during this reflective time, I'm reminded of one of our favorite books in my house: The Three Questions by John Muth which is based on the story by Leo Tolstoy. The tale is of a young Nikolai who wants to do good but has questions.

1. When is the best time to do things?
2. Who is the most important one?
3. What is the right thing to do?

I tend to read this to the kids in a very zen-like but fun tone. The story isn’t silly, funny or the typical children’s picture book, although there are talking animals and beautiful illustrations. But the children love the tale and request it often.

There's always good discussions after the book. We’ll revisit a situation from earlier that day and talk about their actions. They always feel good to know that they did the right thing, at the right time, with the most important people.

So, while I may not know if I am always the change I need to be to make the change I want to make, my hope is that I can always do the right thing, at the right time, for the most important people.

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It’s the little things. And they’re easier than we think.

I can’t begin to count the days where I feel like I’ve got too much going on in my own life to think about helping somebody else out. Throw in a full time job, a couple of kids and a husband (all that I love dearly!), and I’m over the edge some days. Caring capacity reached.

But I’m working on this.

Because I'm convinced that it doesn’t take much to do one small thing that makes a huge difference for someone else, the environment or just to help. It can be SO simple. Here’s a few ideas that I came up with to get us started but I want to hear yours too.

• A smile and hello to a stranger

• Holding the door open for someone else to go through first (remember when this was just common courtesy?)

• A warm, sincere greeting for co-workers, teachers or whoever you regularly see each day

• A hand-written note sent to a friend or loved one (remember mail? You probably have a box somewhere outside your house to receive this stuff.)

• A phone call to your mom (or dad or ??)

• A text message to a friend who’s too busy to chat on the phone

• Give someone a genuine compliment (key word: genuine)

 If we all made one other person feel good today, would we feel good too?

Share with us what you do to squeeze this into your day today in the comments section. Really. We want to hear from you.

Helping each other reach our dreams

Let’s face it, we’re a competitive society. We’re born into this world already being compared to other newborns on growth charts and it doesn’t stop there. We’re measured, graded, evaluated and tested against our peers. We compete on the playing field, on college applications and eventually against others in business.

We’re trained to win. To come out on top. To reach our goals and fulfill our dreams.

But can we all fulfill our dreams? Now, we can’t all be Olympic gold medalists or the President of the United States. If those are your dreams you had better start preparing for some tough competition!

What if your dream is to be the best parent for your children? To have a healthy family?  To inspire people to do great things? To cure disease? To make the world a little better than you found it? To simply be a good person?

As I head out to an event called BlogHer with fellow (mostly women) bloggers, I wonder how much competition will play a role at the conference. The kinds of conventions that I’ve attended in the past have put companies against each other in an effort to win new customers at any and all costs.

But this one is different. Sure, not every blogger will land an invite to Walmart’s 11 Moms or a fantastic gig like Jessica Smith. Not every blogger will reach enough followers to support their family with ad income.

If we all share a passion to reach out to our community and share ideas with our written words, then we can all succeed. There are enough people out there looking for enlightenment, education or entertainment to go around, right?

Yes, we can all fulfill our dreams. And think about how much easier it is when we help each other do so.

Share your dream with us in the comments below.

Kids eat free at Taco Del Mar in July

Taco Del Mar is one of our favorite “fast food” places – although, they really don’t compare to fast feeders. They’ve got fresh food prepared right in front of us, the kids love the fun environment, and they’re fast. So they’re like fresh, fun, fast food.

Well, Parents Magazine just put them on their “Top 10 Best Fast-Casual Family Restaurants” list that honors restaurants with a variety of healthy kids' menu items, family-friendly conveniences and value. Way to go, Taco Del Mar! To celebrate, their running a special promotion to let families know just how much they mean to them. It’s their Taco Del Mar Loves Kids Month promotion. 

Here's the scoop: Taco Del Mar is offering a FREE Kids Meal when parents spend $4 on themselves after 5pm the entire month of July.

We were out running errands last week and didn’t realize that dinner time was approaching so we stopped by Taco Del Mar for dinner with the kids. The bean and cheese burritos were just the right size for the kids to handle and they must have loved them because they were quickly devoured.

Not only do they love kids, but after spending a little time on their website, I learned that they care about the environment too.  About a year ago, they switched most of their packaging like utensils, take-out bags, and plates to ones that come from corn and vegetable starch which makes them biodegradable. Hooray for Taco Del Mar! Thanks for setting an example for the industry (lets hope others follow your lead).

Taco Del Mar gets our vote too – fresh, wholesome ingredients, great tasting food (I love their fish tacos!), fun atmosphere, biodegradable forks – and free food for kids this month!

What more could you want…convenience? Ok, find your nearest Taco Del Mar right here. Enjoy!

Surprising things you can recycle (and some you can't)

Just last week I learned something new about recycling: we can recycle plastic straws! Thanks to Alicia Voorhies from The Soft Landing site (she has wonderful site with BPA-fee products), we have already started doing our part at home to keep those fun bubble-making tubes out of the landfill.

So, with my new recycling knowledge in action at home, I thought I'd see if I could find a few other items that might surprise us about recycling...and share them with you. So, here's what I came up with.

Yes...you can recycle these!

• Plastic Straws

• Paper Gum Wrappers (without the gum, of course)

• Plastic Yogurt Cups

• Egg Cartons (not the styrofoam ones)

• Empty Vitamin Bottles

• Envelopes with plastic windows

• Foil Paper (as long as it doesn't have food on it)

Nope...these go in the trash (or maybe compost if they're compostable, no meat, etc>)

• Used pizza boxes

• Paper plates

• Napkins

• Tissues

Did anything surprise you? Have something to add? Tell us in the comments section below or send me an email.

It's pretty important that we don't try to recycle something that can't truly by recycled since food or the wrong type of plastics can make an entire batch unusable. That just seems like such a waste.

Now I don't feel so bad when the kids want to use straws for cotton ball races.

Vote for (real) food

One of the key messages that came through in the movie Food, Inc is that we, the  American Consumers, have the power to change the food industry. I know, it’s hard to believe, but we can do this by demanding local, organic, grass-fed and free-range by voicing our needs and desires each day at the market and in restaurants.

Sound impossible?

Just a few years ago, I wouldn't have believed a prediction that Walmart would be offering hormone-fee milk in 2009 but, guess what? They do. And the dairy buyers from Walmart who were featured in Food, Inc said it best, "...our customers told us they want this milk". Where there's a demand, they'll fill it. And every gallon of organic or rBST hormone-free milk purchased means that a gallon of the other stuff isn't.

And that's a step in the right direction. So, here's how we vote with the dollars we have to spend on food these days...

1. Visit your local farmer's market for fresh, local food. It's not just produce, either. You'll likely find local meats, eggs, bread and other items from growers near you. Not all local farms use sustainable practices so make sure to ask.

2. At your market, ask the produce manager, meat and seafood counter folks, and the store management about what they're carrying that's local, organic or sustainable. The more questions they hear and interest they see, the more likely they are to start carrying more of these items.

3. Be aware of green washing and other marketing tactics that some food companies use. Become familiar enough with ingredients so that you can recognize something that doesn't naturally occur in nature. A good tip is that it's probably questionable (at best) if you can't pronounce it. Also know that a lot of products that are positioned as natural aren’t necessarily worth a premium price since this label isn’t as strictly guarded as organic. Visit the websites, ask questions and do what you can.

What really matters? That we do what we can to make a difference towards a healthier food system, which leads to a healthier America. Small steps totally count. If you need some help or new ideas, feel free to send me an email - I'd love to help you get there.

BPA-free food containers by Rubbermaid

I usually take my lunch to work in a glass Pyrex container which is a bit of a risk considering I ride the train and have almost a mile walk to my office. Well, a few weeks ago my lunch bag ripped at the handle which sent my glass bowl to the ground. Luckily it withstood the impact by falling on the grass or this could have been an ugly mess with lunch remnants and glass everywhere.

My husband went online to find some alternatives. We needed a variety of shapes and sizes, containers that are durable and commute-safe, and BPA-free. There were all kinds of lovely containers but we didn’t want to spend a lot of money since they sometimes don't make their way home.

 After not too much time, he found a great set from Rubbermaid that contains 24 pieces - 12 total containers - for less than $15 on Amazon! Low risk - we'll try them!

I like that the same lid fits a few different containers since we have a hard time keeping pairs together. There’s a super small size that I wasn’t sure we’d ever use but it’s perfect for nuts and dried fruit snacks, or taking peanut butter to work.

They can go in the dishwasher and microwave, and they just seem really durable. But the best thing is that they are BPA-free. Since I warm up my lunch at work, I don’t have to dirty another bowl to do so anymore - I can warm it up right in my Rubbermaid container. Safe, toxin-free containers that are inexpensive!

With my son’s newly diagnosed food sensitivities, we’ll be packing a lot more than sandwiches when school starts and I’m glad to know that we can use these Durables containers. They seem to do a good job keeping the liquid in and I think he’ll be able to open and close them without help.

One lunch issue down. Now off to find some new recipes so that we can have some variety at lunch. Any suggestions beyond peanut butter and jelly?

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Here's that Rubbermaid 24-Piece Set we bought. We're still loving it after two months of daily use. They're tolerating the dishwasher and microwave like a champ.

Healthy snacks at work

Since my first job out of college, I've found myself faced with a variety of office vices - my first cup of coffee ever, homemade cookies, client lunch leftovers, chips + guacamole, holiday treats, cocktails (yes, I spent many years at ad agencies), and the most recent: peanut M&M's. I am known to plan out errands that are near the candy bowl, convincing myself that I'm surely burning off enough calories going up and down the stairs to be rewarded.

But let's come back to reality.

The reality is that a whole bunch of us find our workplace to sometimes be the demise of our best intentions. In fact, there's a new report out by online grocer, Peapod indicating that 47% of us believe that the abundance of less-than-wholesome snack options at the workplace attribute to our dieting challenges. I won’t go into all the research out there on the upward snacking trend due to the economy (stress!) and the direct relation to weight gain.

I recently started running again to shed my not-so-new-job 10lb gain and have found that the candy bowl is putting on more than my legs are taking off. So, for the rest of this week, I planned my snacks with the goal of fulfilling my eating-as-an-oral-addiction need (yes, this hand-to-mouth distraction helps me concentrate on projects). Instead of relying on sugary treats at the office I've got these healthier snacks ready to go:

• Lite Popcorn (100 calorie bag)

• Baby Carrots (the crunchy goodness is really filling and energizing)

• Bing Cherries (from Oregon, of course)

• Celery with Chunky Almond Butter (365 chunky style is better than peanut butter!)

• Almonds + Dried Cranberries

• Cliff Bars (for days that I run and need more calories)

• Water...lots and lots and lots of water

Other than the cherries, all of these should last more than a week in the fridge so I can't use the excuse that I've run out. For me, I'll need to make sure that I always have at least one of these in my arsenal to fight the snack urge. Having some sweet, some salty, some crunchy alternatives will help satisfy different cravings.

So, how do you snack smart at work? What are your favorite healthy snacks? Let’s buck that trend and snack smart.

Walmart's Summer Feeding Programs

While the summer bounty of fruits and vegetables are abundant right now and it appears that there is more than we could simply enjoy, our country continues to have a serious hunger problem. There are still over 36 million Americans that don't know what their next meal will look like, where it will come from or when it will come. As a family, this is an area we have decided to get behind and help. We've bought and donated food to our local Oregon Food Bank monthly, we will help those on the street with energy bars, and I co-planned a food-raiser last month that raised two tons of food. But it's still not enough. And as much as we and other families want to help, the biggest impact comes from big organizations - those with the market influence, voice and deeper pockets. 

And the big guys are really stepping up. Just today I read about the $7.8 million donation that Walmart is making to national and local hunger relief programs. The efforts will help:

• Purchase healthy meals for 93,000 children through our Boys and Girls Clubs across the country - With more than 12 million children living in homes that are struggling with hunger, the meals they get at these after-school or summer programs may be the only (or healthiest) meal they get all day

• Deliver over 30 new refrigerated trucks to food banks - this means that central food banks can safely deliver fresh foods where they're needed in communities at soup kitchens, shelters or food pantries

• Provide 90 million pounds of foods to our food banks - if we're going to meet President Obama's pledge to end childhood hunger by 2015, we're going to need every company in our food system to do all they can to raise dollars and food like Walmart is

This is what happens when big organizations see a need in their community and step up as corporate citizens to help their neighbors. If you want to see what Walmart is doing to make a different in your state, you can visit this link to their site and choose your state.

Now, some of my readers who know me well might be surprised to read this post. I've not been shy over the years about my feelings towards Walmart. I won't go into details other than to say I've not been their biggest fan. But since the inception of these feelings, I've worked with big corporations and have seen how it can be a challenge to always do the right thing, even with the best intentions.

That said, I'm sincerely glad to see Walmart making such a serious impact to feed the hungry.

Clean parks for everyone

If you’re like our family, I bet you’re going to be at a lot of parks this summer. We have little ones at home who love everything about going to the park - swings, slides, bouncy bridges,climbing,  running, screaming and playing “chase the martian“ around the play structure. If there’s nothing going on, that’s an easy go-to for energy-busting summer fun.

But, have you ever noticed soda cans, fast food bags or other trash left behind at your park? I know we have - sometimes a lot of it. And while I’m doing so much better with my fear of germs, I’d really rather not touch other people’s trash in the park. But I don’t want it sitting there as a potential harm for animals or small children either.

Since we still have a lot of those plastic grocery bags from pre-reusable bag days, we keep some in the cars for just that situation. We use one to cover our hand with as we pick up trash, and one to collect it. Since the kids haven’t mastered the art of using a bag as a glove, I ask them to hold the collection bag and be the lookout guy.

For them, it’s a little adventure to scout out the trash. And a great lesson about not littering, helping keep our parks beautiful, and cleaning up - even when it’s not our mess (that’s a tough one for us at home!).

A simple idea that’s easy to plan for and makes an impact in many ways. Have an idea of your own? Tell us about it.