WPIG of Seattle

Earlier this month, I wrote about volunteering and giving back. I love volunteering, and I've recently joined the Women's Philanthropic Investment Group (WPIG), a group of talented, capable, and generally bad-ass women. I'm so proud to be part of this organization. Every two years, we pick an organization to support both financially and with volunteer hours. Every organization we choose has to meet the qualification of taking women and children from places of need to self sufficiency. Our 2011 partner was Ryther, a truly amazing Seattle organization that provides support to some of our region's most vulnerable children.

Additionally, each year, we do a fun event called PIGture Perfect, an art show and auction. Our most recent event was a few months ago, and we raised over $29,000. And, we got the amazing video made that introduces you to our organization. Please take a couple minutes to watch this video and learn more about WPIG.


WPIG of Seattle 2011 Pigture Perfect from Campfire Creative on Vimeo.

If you want to know more about WPIG, friend us on Facebook here. Or follow us on Twitter @wpigseattle. (Can you tell I chair WPIG's marketing committee?)

While Working at 11:30 p.m....

It's 11:30 p.m. on a snowy Tuesday night. I can't sleep and have so much work to finish up this week, I need to get some of it done! Sometimes, being a small business owner feels a lot like this:

Trader Joe's: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

I first started stopping at Trader Joe's when I lived in San Diego. The Pacific Beach Trader Joe's is HUGE (especially in relation to the Queen Anne one in Seattle...shoebox!). Trader Joe's has so much going for it - great wine, affordable food, tasty appetizers, great quick meal options, and much more.

But, there are a few "room for improvement" areas at Trader Joe's, meaning that, unfortunately, you always have to go to two stores if you're doing massive grocery shopping to get everything you need.

Over the years, I've introduced many people to the wonderful world of Trader Joe's, so here is my unofficial, highly biased guide to shopping at Trader Joe's:

Snag It:

• Frozen appetizers: pick up frozen pot stickers, mini-tacos, spinach dip, edamame, and shrimp to have in the freezer for when you need something to take to a party, or you have last minute guests.
• Fresh pizza dough: for about two bucks, you can find fresh, ready-to-toss pizza dough in a couple different flavors (whole wheat, herb, sourdough).
• Wine: it's well known that TJ's has a huge selection of wine at really great prices.
• Frozen rice: I love brown rice, but it takes forever to make. TJ's frozen rice comes with three packets that you throw in the microwave for three minutes. 
• Vegetarian items: you'll find that garden burgers, veggie sausage patties, and the like are significantly cheaper than the grocery store. 
• Cheese: whether it's shredded cheese, nicer cheeses for making a cheese plate, or string cheese to put in lunches, there's always a good selection and it's affordable (no Tillamook cheese though). 
• The List Goes On... in the interest of brevity, also buy these items at TJ's instead of somewhere else (just trust me!) frozen berries, oatmeal, fresh/refrigerated pasta, frozen waffles, yogurt, nuts, dried fruit, protein powder, imported beer, easy lunch items, frozen crab cakes)

Skip It:

• Fresh produce: it's more expensive than at other grocery stores, and sometimes it comes packaged oddly (for example, you can't buy one zucchini, but you can buy six in one package!)
• Fresh herbs:Trader Joe's never has fresh cilantro, and they don't have as large of an herb section as other stores.
• Bread: I'm just generally not impressed with the selection. 
• Canned goods: The selection is pretty limited, and you'll find better prices at larger stores. 

I love a lot of things about Trader Joe's, including the fact that the employees are always friendly, they have a lot of organic choices, and that they don't have any gimmicky sales or little plastic membership cards I have to keep on my keychain. 

Oh, and there are a bunch of Trader Joe's Cookbooks that are on my wish list. Love it! 

Shopping for a Good Cause!

Because of all the design work I do on invitations and other party materials in my other endeavor (Vivid City Marketing & Events), I was contacted by a good friend to pitch in on another project, Hope for Jess. It's an Etsy site in honor of Jessica Oldwyn. Jess is a friend of a friend (who I actually had the pleasure of meeting a couple weekends ago) who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2010.

Jess is an inspiring young woman who has grace, perseverance, and an amazingly positive attitude. Because of this, her friends have donated money, time, and materials to set up an Etsy shop to help raise money to cover some of Jess' mounting medical costs.

Etsy banner, designed by me

And what's the best part? They are selling prints and unstretched giclee canvas prints that are Jess' own creation, called "Hope".

The prints are available in their Etsy Shop. Learn more about Jess and her journey on the Etsy site, and on her blog, which is a really great read.

Traveling in 2012

It's no secret that I LOVE to travel. And, over the last couple years I've gotten the Mr. pretty hooked too (Turks & Caicos and Italy will do that to a person!). We love to take one big trip a year, and then sprinkle in some smaller trips - San Diego, road trips, lying on the beach in Kauai, etc - in between.

2011 took us (sometimes together and sometimes separate) to many interesting places: Mexico and Chile (for work), Vancouver BC, Lake Chelan, St. Louis, San Diego (twice), Port Townsend, Kauai, and Italy. Phew!

Now I'm looking at a wide-open 2012 and wondering where we should go next. I love to have a big trip on the horizon so that we can start planning (and saving!) with plenty of time. But I'm not sure where! Luckily, I came across the New York Times' list of 45 Places to Go in 2012. Head over to their website for the full descriptions, but here's a list of all 45. I've commented on places I've already been (to make me feel accomplished!) and noted those that I'm dying to visit. Places I've visited are in italics, dream destinations are in bold.

1. Panama - yes please! Central America is my fave part of the world.
2. Helsinki, Finland
3. Myanmar - my brother got to visit, and I'm jealous!
4. London - check! One of my favorite cities.
5. Oakland, California - check!
6. Tokyo, Japan - check! Well, I've been to Japan, but not Tokyo.
7. Tanzania - big check! Going on a safari was a big dream, accomplished in 2003.
8. Chilean Patagonia
9. Lhasa, Tibet
10. Havana, Cuba - check! I'm eternally grateful to Semester at Sea for getting to visit Cuba.
11. Moscow
12. Glasgow
13. Puebla, Mexico
14. San Diego - major check. Lived there for 4 years.
15. Halong Bay, Vietnam - semi-check. Been to Vietnam, but not Halong Bay. I've heard it's beautiful.
16. Florence, Italy - check. Love.
17. St. Vincent
18. Moganshan, China
19. Birmingham, England
20. Space
21. Kerala, India - semi-check, again.
22. Paraty, Brazil - semi-check.
23. Koh Rong, Cambodia - I would love a trip to Cambodia. Southeast Asia is amazing.
24. Vienna
25. Chattanooga, Tennesee
26. Dakhla, Morocco - Oh, Morocco, you've been calling me for years.
27. Maldives - this is my rich-person fantasy.
28. Malacca, Malaysia
29. The Algarve, Portugal
30. Lake Tahoe - check
31. Wales
32. Antarctica
33. Uganda
34. Ukraine
35. Samana Peninsula, Dominican Republic - unspoiled beaches and sunny weather? Count me in.
36. Dubrovnik, Croatia - TOP of my list! Can I super-bold this?
37. Chiloe Island, Chile
38. Jordan
39. Crans-Montana, Switzerland
40. Montpellier, France
41. Nosara, Costa Rica - been to CR, not Nosara
42. South Korea
43. Lodz, Poland
44. Dalarna, Sweden
45. Portovenere, Italy

What locations are on the top of your list?

Digital Coupons

I really admire couponers (except when they're in the checkout line in front of me), but I don't have the patience for it, for myriad reasons: our printer is perpetually out of paper, we don't get the newspaper, whenever I cut out coupons I promtly leave them at home (along with my grocery list), and I don't buy that much name brand or junk food, which is what coupons tend to be for, in my opinion.

But, yesterday I was doing some research on new dinner ideas. The Mr. and I are getting a little tired of the same dishes we make over and over again. I found some great recipes on Cooking Light. While I was browsing, I swung by my local grocery store's website (Fred Meyer).

I discovered that, once logging in with your rewards card number, you can download digital manufacturer's coupons automatically to your rewards card! So, I spent 5 minutes or so comparing my list with what which coupons were on sale, loaded them to my card, and headed out to the store.

My biggest win: Crest toothpaste was on sale at 2 for $3.00. I bought one ($1.50), plus my digital coupon for $.75 off, and I got my big tube of toothpaste for just $.75!

Another big win? No coupons to cut, no slowing down the line, no leaving them on the table at home. I saved $8 with only 5 minutes of work. Not bad!

Oh, and I'm testing out these three recipes. I'll let you know how they turn out: Barley and Beef Soup, Asian Green Bean Salad, and  Southwestern Chicken Pasta Salad.

Giving Back: Volunteering and Money

I've always been a big fan of volunteering, probably starting as a kid with my church. Since then, I've done a lot of volunteer projects, both short- and long-term. I've built houses in Mexico, moved to Nicaragua to teach school in a rural village with La Esperanza Granada, spent almost 4 years tutoring in an after school program with YTP Seattle, am a volunteer advisor at University of Washington's Kappa Alpha Theta house, and am a member of the Seattle Women's Philanthropic Investment Group (WPIG).

But, perhaps since I volunteer so much, I've sort of done that in lieu of donating cold hard cash to my favorite organizations. An organization can have all the volunteers in the world, but without money, they'll be out of business in no time.

Perhaps I'm a little leery of how organizations spend donated money, or I feel more connected when I'm the one actually doing the pavement. But either way, the bottom line is that I haven't been good about ponying up some cash on anything more than a sporadic, infrequent basis.

I think now's the time. I'm going to chat with the Mr. today and come up with a monthly amount that we're comfortable donating, and let him pick where he'd like half of it donated, and I'll pick where the other half goes. (Too bad I didn't think of this plan in time to apply it towards our 2011 taxes, but oh well!)

What do you think, readers? Volunteering or donating money? Certain organizations? I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this one.

A New Year's Resolution

Sigh. I'm not really a huge proponent of New Year's resolutions, but this year I'm making one that will hopefully be productive and not impossible--updating my blogs more regularly.

It's been since August that I've posted on this blog. I have plenty of things to write about, I just get carried away with regular life-- holidays, getting my business off the ground, catching up with friends and family, and traveling for the Mr.'s crazy work schedule.

My other blog (shameless plug: vividcity.blogspot.com) is painfully in need of some attention as well.

I'm not going to set a specific goal, like blogging 3 times a week, but instead, I'm just going to push myself to blog whenever I feel inspired.

What do you think about resolutions? Did you make any?