Imperfectly Green

I created Gorgeously Green for time and budget challenged women like me. I bet you anything that I face many of the same day-to-day struggles that you do – I’m just a regular kind of girl, who is simply trying to live a little more gorgeously. Don’t get put off by the whole “Green” thing because you think its too hard, or just for women who have the time and money to float around baking organic, vegan cupcakes, while deciding what to plant in their massive gardens.

I barely have enough sun in my yard to grow vegetables, so have them in odd containers, Earthboxes, old coffee tins and even growing up the side of my garage. I also have 3 unsightly compost bins, which I keep promising my husband I’ll move/deal with – between you and me, they’ve pretty much got to stay where they are because there’s no where else to put them. What else?

I’m always forgetting my reusable totes, even when I now have a gazillion of the teeny Chico bags that I should always keep in my purse no matter what. The other day, I found myself at the grocery store checkout with my daughter and her best friend and the cashier asked if I’d bought my own bags, which I hadn’t! I was so humiliated in front of the best friend, who has an fiercely green mom – so mortified that Miss Gorgeously Green had been caught with her pants down so to speak, that I made the girls help me carry all the groceries out in our arms – and yes things were dropping all over the Trader Joe’s parking lot  – my gallon of organic aloe vera juice slipping out of my arms, crashing onto the asphalt, narrowly missing a terrified toddler. I just couldn’t face the best friend telling her mom that Lola’s mom (Miss G.G. no less), did a big shop and bought back a mountain of plastic bags. So what I’m trying to tell you is that I am not perfect – far from it. I just try my best everyday to do what is right. As one of my greatest mentors always used to tell me, success is in the trying!

Gorgeously Green, however, was never supposed to be for the perfect eco-friendly type – those folks have already got it down. NO – Gorgeously Green is for the regular modern girl who doesn’t fancy living a life of extremes – we shop at Target for cheap bargains, we don’t always eat healthy, we’re perpetually rushing so forget the things we need to tote around to be green (reusable bottles etc), we grab 10 minutes on our yoga mat while our husbands, kids and even dogs are fighting for our attention. However, despite all that craziness, we can find a way to live some of our deeper values and all it takes is a baby step in the right direction.

So if you’re as insane as I am, if you often have trouble getting through your day with your head screwed on, never mind dignity (did anyone see me with the worms on Oprah – hello!) – then Gorgeously Green is for you. I invite you to simply pick one area in which you want to make a change. It might be in the way you raise your kids (a no-waste lunch box is a great place to start), or it might just be that you want to start using non-toxic flea products on your pets (mega important), and honestly.

The reason I wrote Do It Gorgeously, was because I wanted you to be able to have some of these great non-toxic products without having to re-mortgage your home. Granted, Rose essential oil is a bit of an investment, especially if you’ve got 4 kids to clothe and feed – but easy does it, this empowering way of life should be taken piecemeal. Moreover it all balances out because I also teach you how to make fantastic non-toxic cleaners for about 23 cents for a 32 ounce sprayer (which is better than anything you’ll find in a store.)  If we try to take on the whole eco-shebang, it becomes like some awfully frightening diet that we try for a few days and then abandon, as it’s just too hard.

I’d love to know if you have a sweet spot where you’ve made changes that you love, or more importantly what your trouble spots are – as boy oh boy we all have them!