At our house, we reduce, reuse, and recycle just about everything. I didn’t think we were that special. I thought EVERYONE did it.

Apparently, I was wrong.

Sometimes, when traveling, I’ll be at a cafe or airport or some other location having a bite to eat. I typically have water with my meals, so when I finish, I try to do what I always do, which is toss the empty water bottle into the recycle. I’ll look… and look… and look some more… but more often than I’m comfortable reporting, I won’t find a recycle bin. I’ll finally just ask someone where I can throw my plastic bottle, to which I receive a quizzical look and the wrong answer:

“In the trash.”

This always makes my crunchy side crumble into a sad panda face.

If I’m in a public place, I really don’t have much of a choice. I can either throw the bottle away or carry it in my bag. So after some trips, I’ll come home with a collection of water bottles at the bottom of my bag. If I’m at a friend’s house, though, I do two things. First, I question our friendship. Second (and really, they brought this on themselves), is to shame them until we find a secondary receptacle to place the plastic bottle in.

They love it when I shame them.

With the minimal experiences I’ve had in coming across bottles being tossed into the regular garbage bins, I was optimistic, thinking my experiences were random instances that were not indicative of a larger problem. I thought SURELY the percentage of plastic beverage bottles that were recycled was darn near close to “all of them”.

I was wrong.

The Problem with Recycling

Seriously?

In my super environmentally sound state, we threw away 2.8 BILLION plastic beverage bottles?

SAD PANDA GET ANGRY LIKE HULK!

YOU NO WANT TO SEE SUGAR SAD PANDA GET ANGRY!!!

IT LIKE HORRIBLE PMS BUT WAY BADDER!!!!

(((deep … cleansing … breathes)))

Okay, maybe people just don’t understand the impact plastics in our environment can have. Or maybe they don’t understand how beautiful recycling and sustainability efforts can be.

The ReBorn Bottle

Thankfully, Arrowhead launched their ReBorn bottle to spread the word.

On America Recycles Day/November 15th, Arrowhead launched the ReBorn bottle with a community event in San Francisco. Through a partnership with Keep California Beautiful, about 150 volunteers beautified the Fisherman’s Wharf area:

• Removing waste and recyclables from the Aquatic Park and several Golden Gate National Park locations
• Painting and varnishing at Hyde Street Pier
• Clearing marine debris using underwater robots with nonprofit Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean

To continue long-term community beautification, Arrowhead donated a recycled plastic park bench to the area and sponsored 4 solar-powered Smart Belly stations for recyclables, waste, and compostables, a first for US public spaces. They’re not just bins, but provide infrastructure and measurement tools on quantities collected.

Recycled plastic is simply a better source of plastic. It’s part of Arrowhead’s ongoing commitment to preserving our natural springs, and ensures that every bit of Arrowhead, both inside and out, is truly Born Better.

Better IS the new ReBorn Bottle – proof recycling works.

Want to help?

If you want to help spread the word about Arrowhead’s recycling and sustainability efforts with the ReBorn bottle, please visit their Facebook page, like, and share with your friends.

You can also pin the above infographic to Pinterest or share on your other channels by clicking the share buttons below!

Thanks!

~~~

Hey, just so you know, this post is sponsored by Arrowhead Water. I decided to participate in this campaign because I feel so strongly (STRONG LIKE HULK!) about reducing, reusing, and recycling.

Over a year ago, the Flower Hill Mall began going through a huge deconstruction process. There were lots of moans and groans when a movie theater closed, but once folks in the area found out that a new Whole Foods was going in, the moaning and groaning was quieted by the sounds of cheering.

And now…

Whole Foods Del Mar is finally open!

As with every Whole Foods market, the Del Mar location has infused elements from the surrounding area into the store design. Throughout the store are details of the San Diego coastline, as well as the famous Del Mar Racetrack. Some walls were textured to resemble the sandstone cliffs. Along one wall, bright yellow ropes represent the ropes jockeys hold during race season at Del Mar.

Healthy Eating Made Easy

Endcaps feature Health Starts Here, and throughout the store you’ll find Whole Foods’ Healthy Eating Principles, helping you make better food buying decisions for you and your family. Included in the wide variety of nutritive and organic foods that Whole Foods Del Mar offers are unique food items to delight any gourmand.

You will find all kinds of funky fungi!

What would a crunchy store be without plenty of granola to choose from?

And did you know you could crunch your own nuts??

Trifecta Tavern

One thing Whole Foods Del Mar has that I had yet to see at any Whole Foods until now is an in-store bar.

*cue the heavenly trumpets blaring*

The name of the bar is called the Trifecta Tavern. The name is a cheeky hat tip to horse racing just up the street. Craft beer has grown into a thriving industry in San Diego over the last decade, and Trifecta Tavern serves up many local favorites here. The casual bar/restaurant that serves many lovely wines will be serving a rotating selection of over 30 craft beers on tap, along with an extensive food menu.

According to the Trifecta Tavern manager, they are planning to do regular beer pairings and wine pairings. In between the special events, you can order food at the bar to go with whatever you’re tasting.

Prepared food options include:

• A sandwich bar that uses nearly all locally-sourced San Diego ingredients
• An in-store bakery
• An in-store kitchen serving up handcrafted pizza, chips and dips, and meals-on-the-go
• An Asian menu, featuring sushi, plus Chinese and Korean foods
• A 100% organic salad bar, as well as prepared salads

The store even has free wi-fi and indoor/outdoor seating. I may never leave.

 Whole Foods Gives Back

Part of Whole Foods company-wide commitment is to support local farms. On preview night, we watched as Archi’s Acres received a $100,000 loan so that they may continue provide organic, sustainable food to the community. Archi’s Acres has a program that provides training programs for transitioning veterans so that they may have careers in sustainable agriculture. One story we heard of was of a veteran that had, until recently, been sleeping out on the streets in Pt. Loma. After Archi’s Acres training, he is bottling his own organic sauces.

Whole Foods in Del Mar is located in the Flower Hill Shopping Center at 2600 Via de la Valle. FYI: Part of the deconstruction and reconstruction was the building of a multi-level parking lot, so it’ll be a breeze getting into and out of the previous crowded parking lot.

Happy shopping!

What would you do if you could start all over again?

Where would you wake up?

Where would you fall asleep?

What would your heart desire?

What are the things you would taste?

What are the aromas wafting in the air?

What does the sunset look like where you are?

Would you play more?

Would you laugh more?

Would you stay safe or take risks more?

Would you sit and listen to stories or go out and create your own?

Would you dare more?

Would you care less?

About what people think?

About who might judge you?

About failing?

If you could take away all that is keeping you anchored to the spot you exist in now, who would you be?

What would you do with a blank slate? Would you be afraid or would you grasp the opportunity to start over? Would you play it safe like you always have or would you decide that you’re bored of the boring and instead move into the magical?

Could you detach from the outcome? Could you just take a chance and live?

I wonder… I wonder if I could… do that.

If I have it in me.

Eventually, all conversations lead to the question, “What do you do?” It’s not an easy question for a blogger to answer when among the uninitiated. I always want to put another title out there so that I don’t get labeled in someone’s mind before they get to really know me. I want them to think that I’m fabulous, not that I live in my mom’s basement and wear sweats all day.

Well… I do wear sweats mostly all day, but that’s not the point!

It’s always a relief to be among other bloggers that don’t ask that question. But last week, when I attended a San Diego Blogger gathering where everyone in the group understands that we’re not writing a bunch of crap from a basement, I still found myself answering that question but on a deeper level. Since there were plenty of new bloggers at the meet up that were not yet aware of my fabulosity (said with only the slightest touch of sarcasm), I had to answer THIS question a lot:

What do you blog about?

It’s an awkward question for a lifestyle blogger to answer because we can blog about whatever we want. Sometimes, we’ll throw in the names of companies we’ve done campaigns for just for street cred (and to elicit ooohs and aaaahhhs), but they still want to know what we actually do to merit such campaigns.

Since bloggers love to take lots of pretty pictures, I thought I’d answer the question visually.

We share our food… on Facebook.

We go to awesome grocery store openings.

We get to play games.

We show off our shopping finds.

Some of us homeschool our kids at local cafes.

We share restaurants with fellow foodies.

We try to keep our kids entertained.

We eat cupcakes. LOTS and LOTS of cupcakes.

And every now and then, we actually blog.

 So yeah. That’s what a fabulous lifestyle blogger does.

~~~

All images captured and shared with the new Samsung Galaxy Camera, connected on Verizon Wireless.

I received a complimentary Samsung Galaxy Camera as part of a Verizon Wireless campaign.

It’s what I do.

Is “Learn to Ride a Motorcycle” on your Life List? Something you wanted to do before you were too old, or conservative, or boring? It was on mine and I definitely wanted to do it before too much more of my life passed me by or before I settled into a life lacking adventure.

Last summer, I had the great opportunity to visit Harley-Davidson headquarters. During that visit, I took an intro to motorcycle riding. The instructors called it a “Toe Dip” class. The Toe Dip was just that… a testing of the waters of Learning to Ride. Was this really something I wanted to do in reality? Or would I have to just imagine a romantic ideal of a life lived on the open road.

We were split into groups, rotating activities. Some of our group would be visiting the Harley-Davidson museum, others would be getting a massage. Our group was first up for the intro class.

The Toe Dip class was a great way to have all the nagging questions answered. Will I be able to balance the big machine beneath me? Will I be able to get the bike in gear? Will I freak out as I begin moving forward?

We began by getting familiar with the parts of the bike. This is the clutch. This is the break. This is the kickstand. Very simple and straight forward. We moved on to learning to mount the bike, kicking up the kickstand, putting it in neutral, lowering the kickstand again, and properly dismounting. We learned to walk it and turn it while it was in neutral, legs and tummy muscles straining to make the machine move. Riding was proving to be quite the workout!

The sticky Milwaukee air and record hot temperatures were the only down side of this class. We were laden down with all of our protective clothes and gear: jacket, jeans, gloves, headband, helmet, and boots. I could feel the sweat dripping down my my back, pooling at the base of my spine. It was hot and sticky and the bike was heavy. But even with all of that, I could not stop smiling! Our instructors told us this wasn’t always how it was, but it was something you had to deal with when going on long rides in hot weather. I was confident that this discomfort wasn’t enough to deter me from the riding lifestyle.

We eventually got into first gear. The butterflies of excitement in my stomach were having a party when we first learned to get the bike moving forward by letting the clutch out just a bit. It was so exciting to feel that momentum and I immediately pictured myself on a road filled with other bikers, smiling in the sun.

Unfortunately, that was it for the Toe Dip. There would not be a chance to ride around the parking lot. We would have to take a class back at home, if we decided that riding was for us.

When I got the email weeks later asking if I indeed wanted to take Rider’s Edge, I couldn’t type YESSSS fast enough. I was given three dates to choose from. I decided to take the next available class. I received a certificate in the mail and registered for my class.

Next up… Rider’s Edge begins.

For the first time ever, Knott’s will be getting into the swing of spring with a special celebration!

Knott’s Spring Fling – March 23, 2012

Be the first to experience the fun! From Ghost Town to the Boardwalk the park will be alive with new activities and décor for the entire family, creating a park-wide experience that welcomes the new season and cures spring fever. The park will be filled with giant interactive displays that scream SPRING!

Where’s Snoopy?

The Search for the Easter Beagle will have kids (3-11) scurrying across the park to find images of the famous beagle. Warmer weather means enjoying the great outdoors, which is just what the Peanuts characters are doing in “Peanut’s Party in the Park,” a new interactive live show located in Charleston Circle. This musical revue includes some of today’s Top Ten tunes that the whole family will singing along with.

Looking for a little friendly competition?

Then head over to Knott’s Boardwalk area for the big game, the Big Boardwalk Board Games that is. It’s family game night to the extreme as everyone becomes oversized game pieces in some of their favorite board games. You can bet that we’ll be spending some time there, trouncing… I mean, playing with the little ones. From dominoes to tick-tack-toe – it will be game on!

Create!

For the artists and creative types, Knott’s invites you to the Grande 3-D Art Show at the Silver Bullet midway. Guests will be able to step into life-size drawings of some of nature’s most beautiful spring scenery for priceless photo opportunities.

Wanna go?

Enter to Win Tickets!

***UPDATE: WINNER CHOSEN!! KIA WARNER OF VISTA, CA***

California amusement park tickets don’t always fall into the monthly budget. Some amusement part tickets don’t even fall into the annual budget! So because I love to share, I’m giving you a chance to win two tickets for Knott’s Spring Fling.

Here’s what you need to do in order to win:

• ‘Like’ Knotts Berry Farm on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/VbRDjr
• Follow on Twitter: http://bit.ly/VQEYzy
• Use #KnottsSpring on any social posts if they share the contest.
• Follow on Instagram: http://bit.ly/VbRKeL
• Follow on Pinterest: http://bit.ly/VbRVqk

Leave me a comment to let me know that you entered by doing the above.

Good luck and hope to see you at Knott’s!

Back when I was a LOT younger, I used to ride my mountain bike everywhere. It was a Diamond Back that I bought after saving up a week’s worth of tips. I used to make mad cash as a hot 20-something waitress.

Those were the days…

When I moved into working in sales in hotels, I didn’t have a functioning car. That job, although more respectable according to my parents, didn’t pay as well as serving drinks. I took a bus for a while, but then OCTD decided to knock out half of the buses on the busiest line in Orange County, so rather than squeeze myself between the masses, I began riding my bike to work. It was a mostly picturesque seven miles each way, going along the Newport Coast and then through beautiful Back Bay. The ride was a great way to decompress after work.

Between rides to work, I would ride the coast on Saturday mornings. Newport, Laguna, Dana Point… the more I rode, the stronger I got, and the healthier I felt, mentally and physically. It was great feeling the wind and the sun on my skin. Whatever was happening in my life, good or bad, I always had a ride to look forward to.

Fast forward to my forties.

I still have the same Diamond Back and I still love it just as much. Unfortunately, I don’t take it out nearly enough. In fact, until this morning, I hadn’t taken my mountain bike out for about two years. So when I planned a ride with my husband for this morning, I checked out the local trails that would ease me back into riding. I found a trail that was perfect for getting back into shape, with just enough texture to the trail to make it fun.

When we got to the parking lot, we weren’t really sure which trail head to enter. My husband, being a man and not one to ask for directions, lead us down a narrow trail and quickly landed on his ass. I’m not really sure how I was able to turn my bike back around, but I was soon back out of that trail and pulling out my Nokia Lumia 822 to look up the notes on Yelp to find the right trailhead.

Apparently, we were on the wrong side of the lake.

Once we crossed a bridge and got to the other side of the lake, we knew to take the trail to the left, and where we’d find some turns, rocky terrain, areas where there were some deep ruts from recent rains, and a stream that we were going to enjoy checking out. After about an hour, we had to turn back to go back and pick up the kids. We had just enough time to drive around to the way other side of the lake.

Hubs and I love taking drives and getting lost, but I don’t quite love it so much when we have to be somewhere on time. Still, I was enjoying being beyond the boundaries of our regular day, so I didn’t resist. Eventually, we came up on a small cantina that we recognized. We had been to it on a poker run once about ten years ago, so we sort of knew where we were.

We figured we had just enough time to go in to split a machaca plate before heading back out to pick up The Boy. Since we were going to need to be efficient with our time to get to my son on time, I pulled out my Nokia Lumia 822 to find the quickest way home. I opened up my favorite driving app, Nokia Drive… only to find that we were outside of cell coverage.

Okay, for real… that almost NEVER happens!

We rarely venture out to any places that don’t have coverage. So after my initial irrational panic, I thought maybe we could ask the waitress how to get back fastest. But before she even came back, I remembered that I could pull up my downloaded maps from Nokia Maps. We were able to pull that up just to refresh our memories as to where we were and to plan our route for the quickest drive back. That route took us past an old reservoir that I’d been wanting to ride around, so I pulled up Nokia Lens to see information on the different trails. Hubs and I made a plan to return later in the week, weather permitting.

After all the getting lost in the back roads of San Diego, we eventually got back to the real world just in time to get The Boy. I thought about how different life is now. There’s so much more to deal with in life, but thankfully, there are lots of ways to simplify it in order to get back to the things that we put to the side when life gets too busy.

It’s ironic how much I use technology to enjoy unplugging for a while.

~~~

Images captured with my Verizon Nokia Lumia 822.

Warning… going deep today!

We all have things that we’re good at… things that comes naturally to us. We call those our strengths.

One of my favorite things about being a Certified YCG Practitioner is revealing people’s strengths. I say “revealing” because we’re not always taught to talk about our strengths, so we tend to bury them. We might have been told once that talking about strengths is impolite or bragging. And maybe, just to make sure we got the message, we were quickly instructed on our shortcomings.

While it’s socially more acceptable to discuss how we can improve our weaknesses, we do ourselves a huge disservice. It’s not bragging to talk about the things you’re good at. When we identify our strengths, we’re finding the optimal direction that our path in life can take us. It’s a direction where our heart resonates, where our natural talents shine.

But we’re too busy trying to fix our weaknesses to shine.

What we don’t always realize is that our supposed weaknesses may be identifying things that are simply not authentic to our true nature. The weaknesses may not even be in our wheel house, yet we beat ourselves up trying to make it a strength! In our education and our work, we’re often taught to force ourselves into assignments, evaluations, and job descriptions. We’re graded on these “weaknesses” and taught to struggle to gain skills that are not authentically ours.

And then, we’re even rewarded for the struggle… until we can’t “overcome” it, at which time we’re labeled a failure. It’s crazy making!

But how can we have failed if we were doing something we’re not even supposed to be doing?

One of the five elements I talk about with clients at Live the Sweet Life are Strengths and Weaknesses, but not in a way that you might be familiar with. The human assessment test, Y.O.U. (Your Own Understanding) reveals several inherent traits in each of us. Those traits can appear as a strength or a weakness, depending on the state of the person. Are they experiencing some toxicity? The trait will appear as a weakness. Are they feeding the areas of life that they naturally need fed? Their traits will appear as strengths.

If we understood ourselves and our natural traits better, we’d be able to not only identify what is authentic to us, but equally as important, what is NOT. We can focus on the activities where we shine, and we can learn to lead with those traits from a place of strength. Knowing how that trait shows up as a weakness (the opposite state of your strength), you can identify when things aren’t quite lining up in your life and then go about fixing that, instead of focusing on activities that will drain you of your energy, taking you away from your true calling.

On Live the Sweet Life, I share a few examples of Strengths and Weaknesses and explain how they are really two sides of the same coin. I also offer a few examples of activities to get you out of that weakness funk.

And, as always, I invite you to take The Test for yourself.

I’ve always wanted to paint an entire wall as a chalk board. I never have. But after watching this video of Brooklyn artist and graphic designer, Dana Tanamachi and her whimsical creations, I think I will be running out to Home Depot this weekend for a large bucket of chalk paint.

If you’re reading this in email, go to the blog to watch. Enjoy!

It’s LIVE!

My new site. My labor of love. My offering to the world.

Live the Sweet Life

What’s it all about?

Live the Sweet Life is a site that promotes my Y.O.U. Consultation practice. For the past two years, I’ve been busy getting certified in a human assessment technology, The Ultimate Life Tool. It’s like a personality test, but not really. This test is based on “The Knowledge of Y.O.U.” and goes deeper than any other personality test you might have taken. It’s objective, rather than subjective, because it’s rooted in science.

Y.O.U.

Y.O.U. is an acronym for Your Own Understanding. Understanding what motivates you, what feeds you, what you need to get back into alignment, and what your energetic boundaries are, you will be able to navigate more efficiently, reserving your energy for the things that matter most in your life.

The Test

People that take the assessment can choose to simply receive their personalized report (“Life Map”), or get the Life Map PLUS a 45 minute one-on-one consultation where we go deeper into your results and your unique design, as well as getting some practical application of the results for immediate results.

There is a third option that includes the personalized Life Map, the initial 45 minute consultation, plus a two hour portal discussing the wisdom and technology behind Y.O.U., a personalized life mapping session, and a follow up session.

There’s a blog, too!

In the blog, Notes from the Trail, I’ll be sharing inspirational stories, guest posts from experts of all areas of life, testimonials from people that have taken the test and applied what they’ve learned to their lives, and insights into the knowledge behind Y.O.U. and The Ultimate Life Tool.

So come on by… check it out… tell me what you think… share with your friends… all that jazz.

And if you want to know more about what makes you tick and how to navigate more efficiently in this world by taking the test, email me and I’ll send you a special discount code.