GladRags Gab

I have always thought of myself a pretty eco-conscious person, but when I started working at GladRags, I realized that I hardly do anything GREEN aside from taking 5 minutes showers, turning the heat off at night, opening windows and doors in the summer instead of using an air conditioner, letting the rain fall wash my car, eating local and when I can afford it, organic. I got to thinking, and researching other ways I could live a more green, eco-friendly life… and this is what I came up with:

Change out your BULBS!

By switching your standard bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, you will be using less wattage, therefore saving money as well! These bulbs last about 2-8 years, are fairly cheap at most local building centers, and just switching out 5 of your household bulbs is like taking 1,000 cars of the road!  

Don't Eat Fast Food!

I know it's so easy, but most fast food chains use way too much packaging, do not use local meats, fish, fowl, or veggies, therefore not helping local farmers. Eat Local, Buy Local!

Drive Less!

I have made the commitment of walking or biking to work now that I live closer. Gas prices are out of control, and the emissions of our little fun toys are the single biggest cause of pollution. Get out of your car and bike, ride public transport, skateboard, roller-skate, run, or walk!

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My last few weeks have been full of getting together with powerful and successful women. 

Over a Mediterranean food lunch, I got to catch up with my friend Sharon MacFarland who is the President of Emerita a company that makes great products for women. Even though we both live here in Portland, we mostly seem to see each other in other cities while we're at the same tradeshows. She gave me samples of their new skin care line for women over 40 - I love them but I'm having trouble keeping my teenager's hands off them so I guess they are great for all ages! Sharon is a true entrepreneur in the sense that she runs a great business and just as effectively takes care of herself physically and spiritually because she believes in balance.

Tuesday I met Julia Stoops of BlueMouseMonkey for a quick dinner. Julia was one of my favorite instructors when I was in art school. She wanted to change career paths a while back from teaching to working fulltime as a web developer and was a bit nervous about making the leap. Well, she leapt and now she's busy all the time and she's making some amazingly creative sites. And writing a novel, and preparing for a new exhibit of her paintings… wow, she must have a clone!

Friday I had a lunch at a great little Mexican restaurant, ¿Por Qué No? in our neighborhood with my friend Rebecca Pearcy who owns Queen Bee Creations , makers of the hippest handbags around.  Over great big margaritas (hey it was Friday!) we discussed the challenges and rewards of being artists and business owners at the same time. Rebecca is a musician as well as the creative force at Queen Bee. She's inspiring and fun and generously open to sharing her business experience.

Tomorrow night my friend and artist extraordinaire, Marie Watt, has asked me to go a dinner/lecture to hear Wilma Mankiller , first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation.  I'll report more about that next week but I'm excited to hear her.

And this was back in March, but I'm still remembering the great experience of sharing time with Madeleine Shaw of LunaPads at our tradeshow in California. She is a quickthinking bundle of energy who is full of passion and good ideas. We got together with the DivaCup team and had some great fun - I'll bet you can guess the topic of conversation!

So it sounds like all I do is socialize, but I think all these experiences are valuable. I work here in the office everyday with inspiring women and I just think it's part of my job now to be with great women.

Brenda