Mama said there'd be days like this...

 On my Yogi Tea bag this morning:

"Be so happy that when others look at you they become happy too."

Normally a quote like that is sooooooooooooooo up my alley.

Just not at 8:15am when I'm wrestling my son out of bed for preschool and cleaning up the cup of milk that my toddler has painstakingly dolloped from one end of the kitchen floor to the other.

Think I'll save the Yogi inspiration for after preschool drop-off from now on.

Postscript: Oh yeah, the tea I opened later said, "Find happiness within yourself, then share yourself with others."

Ok, yes. NOW I can handle such audacious cheerfulness. The yogi has a point. 

Oompa Loompa!

"Little surprises around every corner, but nothing dangerous!" ~Willy Wonka

I heard it. I knew something was happening. The crinkle of paper gave it away, but I thought my 18-month old was just ripping up something trifling.  I didn't mind-- it's heavenly when she's occupied for more than 3 minutes at a time.

Momentarily I walk into the kitchen to investigate. I find Natalia has unwrapped 6 bars of my most expensive, organic dark chocolate and is chowing down for dear life. She looks like the little fat boy from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, covered head to toe in $18 worth of chocolate goo. Oompa loompa!

Maybe it's my just reward for being greedy and buying so much chocolate?  (But it was on sale!)

Smart dude

"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt." 

~William Shakespeare

Oh Happy Day, Earth!

 I am thrilled to see how mainstream Earth Day has become in the last few years. I imagine some of the first Earth Day events and their dedication and passion to take on such an enormous topic 40 years ago. (These are a few photos I found of the first Earth Day, courtesy of National Geographic.)

How proud am I that my company's flagship green cleaner was one of the first official Earth Day product way back in 1970! Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee was a man ahead of his time. His philosophy was that since we take from Nature to support our health, we should always give back to Nature in equal or greater measure.

We had our own adventures this weekend at the Durham Earth Day Festival. Our green cleaning table ended up being on the back end of nowhere down a street where no one was walking. We were jumping around trying to flag people down.Yes, those of us participating got grumpy and irritated with our lack of success. I asked the organizers if we could move our table, and was told no.

Grrrr. What to do? We'd paid a tidy little sum to have our space at Earth Day. I texted my coach and mentor, who wasn't the least bit sympathetic. Her advice? Something I'll never forget:

"Ok, so it's not working. Leadership, baby! Shift your circumstances to match your vision. Period."

Well, alright then. Ask forgiveness, not permission. I was chasing down my 4-year old when my teammates picked that table right up and plopped it down on a street corner where there was much more foot traffic. And we generated twice as many leads in that last hour as we had in the previous three.

Sure, we were there to grow our businesses. But more importantly,  we were there to get the word out about what a privilege it is to preserve our beautiful planet and protect our families by shifting our buying power and  purchasing safe, non-toxic, all natural cleaners.

Happy Earth Day....every day!

Earth Day photos: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/04/photogalleries/first-earth-day-1970-pictures/#teach-in-office_4471_600x450.jpg