ECO baby + kids

This morning I have been contemplating the past year and what a year 2008 turned out to be. This time last year I was all bundled up in Yellowstone National park with Jeremy and my mom and dreaming of snowshoeing. New Years Eve day we departed Grandma’s in Laurel, Montana and drove a couple of hours to Yellowstone. We had plans of taking the snow coach from Mammoth to the Old faithful Snow Lodge, but we arrived at the park early and the roads were clear enough to make it from Mammoth to Cooke City which is the most beautiful drive through the park so we decided to stay the night in Mammoth and make it back to Laurel and spend more time with Grandma. Speaking of Yellowstone and nice drives make sure to take the Bear Tooth Highway from Cooke City to Red Lodge, but you must plan wisely as the Bear Tooth Highway is closed until late spring. Here is a photo taken along the Bear Tooth Highway in August.

This time last year the idea of a store was arising in conversation from time to time, but it was more of a day dream than anything. I was excited about preparing for pregnancy: detoxing my body and the house and growing a list of eco friendly baby gear. I stocked up on glass and stainless containers to replace the plastic we had in the house and have learned to live with less plastic. I still struggle to always bring a container with me when dining out and stopping for tea or coffee. I completely failed to follow the Body Ecology diet for 1 year, actually I don’t think I even technically made it through the first week. I have, however, drastically reduced the gluten I intake and have incorporated Body Ecology - like dishes into my cooking repertoire. We removed the wall to wall carpeting and have bamboo in the living room, stained concrete in the dining room and hallway, and bamboo in one of the bedrooms, the other two bedrooms are painted concrete and will eventually have some bamboo.

We live 4.6 miles form the store and 3.3 miles from Jeremy’s office. I would like to bike to work, but my path down 36th seems a bit treacherous for my uncoordinated biking not to mention my hippie deodorant that does not hold up to vigorous exercise and the lack of a shower at the store. I suppose I could wash up in the sink, but the point is that the goal of biking to work is a little too far off at this point. So for months now I have thought about riding the bus and have decided to make my new year’s resolution to take the bus to work at least one day a week. Tulsa, admittedly, is lacking in the public transportation department, but the more we use it the better it will get so Get On the Bus! Another resolution of mine is to do the Lemonade Master Cleanse again and I plan to blog about my Journey both on the cleanse and the bus.

Well the ecologically responsible living store turned into reality, except that our purchasing budget did not let us get past baby, except for the Earth Weave Carpet and Rugs. The Lundeby’s Eco Baby website is functional and Jeremy is hard at work trying to get the registry basket coded correctly so that store registries can be accessed online. The store is now 9 months old and I am finally getting the hang of riding the retail roller-coaster (I think). A few months ago I was not sure that I was going to make it and thankfully mom came to the rescue. For a moment I felt as though I had completely lost my freedom and that I was being suffocated by the store. I was exhausted by the time I got home and started to resent the store for taking all my time and energy. Since then I have come to the realization that freedom is a state of mind and have gotten back to focusing on the positive; consequentially I have much more energy and am able to take care of the store and the house and enjoy life. My new perspective also includes me viewing myself as an employee of Lundeby’s Eco Baby rather than combining our identities.

Lundeby's Eco Baby

In 2008 we also added two dogs to our family, Oliver and Tea so it is now Jeremy, me, Fatso, Oliver, Tea and Lundeby’s Eco Baby. In my wildest imaginations, I would have never imagined myself sitting in a beautiful organic baby and toddler store that Jeremy and I helped to create, blogging, working on Pandora stations that are store appropriate, sipping tea while two dogs tore up the back yard and Fatso lazed around the house (well I did expect Fatso to still be a lazy rabbit) on December 31st 2008.

Oliver the Dog

Tea the Dog and Fatso the Rabbit

So here is to another year full of surprises, growth, love, friendship and health (both personal and planetary)!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Fatso the Rabbit

It is a cold, rainy day and I walked into a store that was a chilling 58 degrees. After listening to Jeremy complain about the frigid store on Saturday I decided the heat must go on. A few years ago I would not have thought twice about it; if I am cold the heat goes on and if I get hot switch back to the air conditioner. Now almost everything I do seems to be a battle between comfort and conscious and running a green baby store adds a whole other dimension. I have images of selling clothing and toys by candle light and warning people to come bundled up and serving hot cocoa (warmed by an open fire of course). I don’t think it is such a bad image but the reality of it does not work so well. No matter how much I torture myself at home, I expect comfort when I am out and about and find myself complaining when I am in a store that is too cold or too hot. So the heat is on, it is set at 67 and that is where I can find moderation; at least until I see someone uncomfortable in the store and the people pleaser in me pops out and adjusts it up a notch. At least the heat is natural gas which is the cleanest burning fossil fuel and produces less CO2 and we do purchase carbon offsets. But lets not just stop at that we all need to challenge ourselves to keep up the fight and do what we can to change the world for the better.