Supernatural Botanicals

The fresh aroma of citrus is an ideal mood booster and energizer.  “It stimulates the area of the brain that makes us feel alert” says Dr. Alan Hirsch, M.D. the neurological director of the Smell and Taste Treatment Research Foundation in Chicago.  For a jolt without the jitters, mist your body with grapefruit.  (ed note:  Look for Supernatural Botanicals new body sprays and lotions in grapefruit in October!)

By now, surely you know that the eco-awareness movement isn’t just for wacked-out enviormentalist nut-jobs.  For those of us who have been eco-aware for years, we’re glad the masses are catching up.  It’s not a job we can leave for someone else to do; we all have to take part in saving the planet.   Here are five ideas that can get you proactively moving in the right direction. 

1.  Use you slow cooker (crock pot) to save on energy costs. 

2.  Group errands together to not only save on gas, but produce less polution.

3.  Don’t automatically turn on the air conditioning in the summer.  First, start with the windows open.  It airs out your house and puts you in a happy mood because you are a bit closer to nature.  If it’s miserable out, go ahead and turn the air on to breathe better.  I’ve noticed that when I don’t automatically turn the central air on, it forces me to turn my “auto-pilot” off and think about whether or not I really need to turn the air conditioning on. 

4.  Don’t use disposable plates and cups, use real plates and cups.  It saves them from eventually being dumped in landfills.  Beyond the practical, think esthetics.  Who wants to eat off of plastic when you can eat off of a beautiful plate? 

5.  Grow a garden.  Trees and plants oxygenate the air, helping you to breathe better, and you’ll save a ton of money in the produce department by growing your own veggies.  The taste is superior when freshly picked and the veggies’ natural sugars are flowing.

Unplug your blow dryer after using it. Appliances like this suck up energy even when they’re off, so you’ll save energy and money by unplugging.  It’s the little changes like this that’s going to change the world.  Watch and see!

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road. And the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that by replacing regular light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs at the same minimal rate, Americans would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year.

     Barbara Turf is the first woman CEO of Crate and Barrel.  In an economic time when Linens n’ Things filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and other high end cookware retailers, like Williams-Sonoma, has revised its revenue guidance downward, Crate and Barrel seems to be forging straight ahead, largely due to Turf’s leadership.

Turf’s career has certainly been a Cinderella story, or sorts.  After all, she went from walking through Crate and Barrel’s doors in Chicago 40 years ago to interview for a part-time sales clerk position, and landed the job.   Today, she is their first women CEO.

Although women in business leadership were a rarity at that time, Turf displayed incredible courage when she found she was making less money than one of her colleagues.  She brought it to the owner’s attention, and got a raise on the spot.  (We hope to see less and less of this thanks to the Fair Pay Bill that President Obama just passed.)

Via Pink Magazine, Turf shares with us 5 Success Secrets:

1. Work a little harder, get a little tougher, and you’ll reap rewards. Women are such a powerful and important group of decision-makers and consumers, and it’s more important than ever that we make our voices heard as leaders.

2. Life/Work balance can be achieved, but you must have the desire and be very energetic, because you have to put a lot of effort into work and also have energy left over.

3. As leaders and business owners, it’s always a good time to look to the future. We at Crate and Barrel believe that the best ideas often come from the next generation.

4. Success isn’t about money or the power you have. It’s about staying true to who you are, to your gut, and being happy.

5. Do what you love and the successes you achieve will just be the icing on the cake.

Mondays are a perfect time to reconnect with your inner positive self, and to look at your goals.  Instead of typical Monday Mayhem, perhaps we should look Monday straight in the eye and feel confident because (A) we are learning to be fearless leaders and (B) creating a plan for your life and career makes the walk through the corporate lipstick jungle far less fearful.   Be inspired by women like Barbara Turf.  Learn from their trial and tribulations.  One of my favorite quotes, by another fearless woman leader is, “When you know better, you do better.”  Maya Angelou.