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I think it’s commonly assumed that “going green” will cost more — in cleaning products, wooden toys, organic foods, bio-diesel for the car and alternative energy electric bills! I’ve even been told that to stay on a budget, I should skip organic produce for awhile. (Maybe I’m just being picky, but I just don’t have a keen interest in chemical laced foods…)

Well, there are a few ways to go green without dishing out the extra dough for specialty “green” products and services, including:

• cleaning the house the old fashioned way (hydrogen peroxide, vinegar, baking soda, borax, etc - with cleaning towels and an regular ol’ mop),
• using cloth napkins instead of paper towels,
• buying natural, wooden toys used (or on extreme sale)
• joining an organic farm co-op or grow some of them yourself
• use a car-sharing program, mass transit, carpool, or walk and bike when possible.

I shared last week how tight our budget has been and how my grocery bill tends to be a little higher than I’d like. Well a sweet friend brought my attention to these local workshops regarding living a sustainable life on a budget! This lady has managed to feed a family of 4 on only $65 a week and has eliminated her trip to the grocery store all together, which is really quite impressive when you add that she does so while feeding them all organic, natural, sustainable foods. I hope to take the introductory class with some girlfriends and begin to reduce my grocery bill. If I could manage to spend only $60 a week, it would be a savings of $150 a month, which could go towards debt/savings/health care. I also can’t wait to learn more about canning, since our yard last year was literally SQUISHY with cherries, figs and apples while we wondered what to do with it all! If I get to one of these workshops, I’ll definitely report back with any great tips I learn.

In the meantime, we have been a lot more cautious of where our money is going, particularly if we are out as a family for the day. For example, we normally go to lunch of some sort on Sundays after church, and often this bill is anywhere between $15-30 bucks! This week we went to Cha Cha Cha’s and split a huge grilled veggie burrito, and chips and salsa, and waters between the three of us, for a grand total bill of $5.50, and it was plenty to hold us over until we got home for snacks later in the afternoon. (I wonder just how much that annoyed our waiter, lol!).

And I’m out of creamer for my coffee as of yesterday, but instead of going out to get creamer, I’m just switching to tea for awhile, lol. Baby steps, baby steps…

Hubby forgot to wake me up at the butt crack of dawn today, so I enjoyed a little extra sleep and leisurely began my day (as usual). It’s not often I have to do anything at any certain time, and I think I function best that way. Working from home, and as an independent contractor, I do enjoy certain pleasures when it comes to flexibility. While 15 hour work days alternated between nothing to do for 2 days can be frustrating, I really can’t complain. I get to sleep in a bit if I want to, get up and make coffee, go let the chickens out and enjoy some fresh air for a few minutes in the morning. I can start my work day at 7am, or noon, or 8pm, whatever works best for me on that particular day. If I really wanted to, I could pull extra hours one week and the next only work a couple of days.

It’s a luxury that I can’t imagine living without, particularly as the primary caregiver for a 3 year old. My hope is that I’ll be able to work at least half-time for myself within 5 years, to be able to apply all that I am learning to advance other people and companies’ businesses to my own ventures. There’s really no work you can apply as much passion to as your own dreams.

Today’s morning coffee is from Trader Joe’s (can’t always afford Stumptown, darn it), a fair-trade organic whole bean from Nicaragua, ground this morning and brewed in my french press. Soy creamer and turbinado always top off my caffeine fix. Lil’ E and I both enjoy a bowl of Kashi cereal and rice milk for breakfast. He usually eats a lot more than me, devouring at least one fruit, a handful of baby carrots, etc etc by mid-morning. I, on the other hand, nibble on a few things I’m feeding him but don’t have another meal until dinner. I also usually eat after he goes to bed, a snack and maybe a glass of wine.

Today’s work agenda proves to be a typical Monday- one which begins around noon and ends around 11pm. I’ve got a newsletter html site to reformat, a portal page and recipe page to create, and a 100+ slides PowerPoint presentation to finish. I’ll take a break around the time Hubby comes home, hopefully take Lil’ E to the park for some good ol’ large-motor movement, likely Frisbee. Until then, Lil’ E will occupy himself with a DVD from the library, some free play with his toys while we listen to music, and an art project I’m going to set up for him with some tracing and cutting exercises. I have no idea, as usual, what I’ll cook for dinner until about 5pm, when I wander into the kitchen and see what I can come up with. After awhile the chickens will go back in their coop for the evening, Lil’ E will bathe and have stories and songs and then be tucked in around 7-7:30pm (probably Hubby’s job tonight, with my workload). I’ll continue to work and finish my day with a shower and crawl into bed, likely around midnight.

So, that’s it, a little snapshot into a very typical Monday for me. If I were to create a pie chart of how I divvy up my time, days like this are a little skewed towards work. But then some days I only work 2 hours, so it kinda all evens out in the end.

Things will be changing soon, when I begin child-swapping TWO days a week at the start of June. I hope that giving myself three days to get all my hours in for the entire week will help me consolidate my time and allow Lil’ E four days of more activities, and a playmate to boot. If I can reclaim most of my late evenings and my weekends in order to spend more quality time in relationships, it will be a huge blessing.

Muy interesante, si?

Dear Diary,

8:45am: I woke up later than I wanted to, for I had to be at work by 10 am which is like SO early for a WAHM to be decently dressed and walking 1/2 mile to pick up the #4 to downtown, ready to pull off my first ever Podcasting experience. It was all the windows fault. There was too much light coming in last night and I couldn’t sleep. So I did what all of us po’ folk do- I grab the nearest blanket I could live without and stuffed it up around the top of the mini-blinds so as to create makeshift drapes. That was about midnight or so, I suppose. So in the morning, when I normally get up by at least 7:30, it was nice and dark and quiet (just so happens Lil’ E ALSO slept in … thankyoujesus.)

9:15am: Catch the #6 instead so I can make a stop at the Starbucks for a quick po’ folk 8 oz. coffee, then catch the MAX from the convention center into downtown. Wait for the MAX for what felt like forever, coffee already cold, and a few sightings of snowflakes. It was a very rainy day and I was cute dumb enough to wear little gray ballet looking slip-ons. Real good, Viv, real good.

9:59am: Arrive to the office with one minute to spare, having bounded through the rain and puddles downtown with my purse and digital camcorder on my shoulders and my laptop case trailing behind me on wheels. Office is still dark and locked up- I’ve beat the boss! Dang I’m good.

10:20am: Call my boss. Realize I missed the e-mail that he wasn’t going to be in until after 11am.

10:45am: Finally get my STUPID VISTA OPERATING SYSTEM to connect to the unsecured network of the ground floor’s coffee shop to plug in to work and enjoy some HOT tea while I wait.

11:45am - 3:00pm: Podcasting 101.

3:00pm: Dismissed from work but its pouring. Sit down at the coffee shop once again and have my lunch- I’m told the “Stinky Hippie” is a soy chai latte. “Ah, that’s a wholesome po’ folk lunch”, I think. I order. I taste. Nope, this is a soy latte. No Chai. (You know, if you can’t get a drink right, how about try NOT naming it things like, oh I don’t know, STINKY HIPPIE, when all it is is a soy chai. Might that clear up some confusion? Just a thought.) But I am really a-okay with soy latte’s so I drink anyway. I forget about my problem of espresso on an empty stomach. (And no, I’m not referring to the BM’s… that is not to say this isn’t also a problem, but for now I simply mean the shaky hands and queasy stomach feeling.)

3:45pm: Waiting for MAX again. Once on, I must decide which way to turn my nose… to my right is a man in black leather with a long gray beard who smells something awful of cigarette’s, while periodically laughing at himself for no reason in particularly. To my left: a fairly normal looking, just-over-the-hill-aged man who must have a cat hoarding problem; he smells like PAH-IS! Naturally, I pick the powerfully odored urine man with the slightly less creepy disposition.

4:00pm: Getting more nauseous from the urine smell and praying I don’t pass out completely. Some one has got to guard my purse, digital camcorder and laptop.

4:15pm: Home again, home again, clickity clack.

5:00pm: We needs diapers, eggs and yogurt. What does a car-less family do in such circumstances? Layer up, walk the mile to the grocery store. Dark outside? Raining? Cold? Minor insignificant details. We are tough cookies, yes we are.

6:00pm: Eating a po’ man’s dinner for a family of 3 with no time to prepare a meal: Cheesy bread - $2.99 (an actual pizza is too expensive). Family dinner? Priceless.

6:45pm: Lil’ E to bed. I tried to think of something witty for this one but I’m at a loss.

7:30pm: Yoga night!

8:30pm: Ouch! The Scorpion. I point out to the yoga instructor, “this is the type of stuff they do on the magazine covers”; Little ol’ noobie Vivian cannot do this. But try, little engine, try. Does any one know about this stuff? Why is it that from this position on I have had some crazy lower back feelings of an almost maternal nature? Some powerful mothering feelings, almost like some deep seated tension from carrying a belly with a hyper-extended back for 9.5 months. Who knows.

9:30pm: My new hobby of skyping (and I’ll have to blog about that another time!) with my best friend for several hours, where I get to practice all of my comedic lines to blog about later. If they fly on her, they are in.

12:00am: Shower. Lay down in bed. The whole room is a-quiver with Hubby’s snoring- his body a 215 pound subwoofer.

12:20am: Up again. Grab some rice milk and cookie dough and start blogging.

12:30am: Dang this cookie dough is da bomb diggity. And 70% organic ingredients too!

Yep, that’s right ya’ll: Organic Fat. Only the best fat for this ass.

(Chat-practiced that line too. Might copyright it, whatcha think?)

For the record, no, this is not my typical diet!

That’s what life feels like for me lately. It seems I should be a little further along sometimes, having gotten my “edumacation”, being married for nearly 5 years, a mommy for 2+pregnancy, working, bla bla bla- those should surely qualify me for a self-titled “intermediate”, right? Instead I feel in so many ways as though life has just begun. As though my lungs are crushing with the weight of my first breath of oxygen: I know nothing.

Yep, the lovely twenties, full blown in effect.

One of my many humble philosophies on life is sort of a “mind over matter” one- with regards to vices, depression, stress, so forth. Though I must have a zillion crutches that I don’t even think about or consider them as such, the ones I recognize I typically do away with rather quickly. Example- if I notice I’m using wine to “relax” too often, I’ll begin to formulate a different way to relax that is healthier, no side effects, etc etc. Aromatherapy, massage, yoga, whatever. I even considered recently the homeopathic medicinal value of herbs such as St. John’s Wort or Kava, though in the end even those had side effects I’d rather not deal with, not to mention that you cannot be on them while pregnant or nursing and that chapter of my life isn’t exactly over yet, so might as well not even get started on the treatment.

Side note: I recently read an article in a parenting e-zine where the writer and mother of the story confessed that she turned her weekend vice of smoking a little weed while her son is not around into a “one hitter” commonality whenever she needed to “get through the day” with her son. I wanted to scream at such stupidity, especially as nearly every single comment (there were over 80) to the on-line article went back and forth between arguing about the legality of pot or the irresponsibility of the mom while she is the care-giver for a young child, etc etc. While all those arguments are interesting, I felt like they really missed the point. Why not get to the deeper issue (IMHO) and learn to deal with your stress and anxiety as a mother without “mother’s little helpers” at all? Perhaps such levels of annoyance indicate a major change needs to happen, as in, more sleep, better diet, a little exercising, prayer (yikes, touchy subject!) or even counseling. I also feel, (though this opinion might get me stoned), that too many (esp mothers) turn quickly to the latest prescription drug for helping them cope BEFORE giving the aforementioned suggestions a hearty attempt. (Okay, that’s all I’ll say now about my extreme skepticism of allopathic medicine! Another day, another post)

As for me, I “confess” that I can fall into mild feelings of lethargy, depression, anxiety or what have you, certain circumstances trigger it more than others of course. I can tell when I want to “hide” that the cloud is over me. Luckily, it rarely effects my ability to fulfill responsibilities, although it does make doing them more difficult. Anyhow, this all to say that I am sort of in one of these periods lately and have the foreboding feeling that it hasn’t even completely run its course yet (it’s only the beginning!)- with upcoming cold, sunless, rainy days of Portland’s winter ahead, the holidays without friends and family around, hubby working double shifts nearly every day, and my only “hey, let’s go chill” friend starting a full-time job and having her mom come live with her, all of this seems to be indicators to me lately that I’ve got to catch this mood at the beginning and prepare for the “dark night of the soul” that could be quite lonely if I don’t proceed carefully.

This post has taken a slight detour from its original “I might finally know that I don’t know anything” but trust me, its all related!

So I’m open to anything, bar substance abuse, traditional Western medicine, lol, and perhaps some others things I haven’t thought of, to help me trudge along this phase with a deeply joyful heart. I have absolute assurance that this won’t happen without a much greater awareness of the daily conversation God is having with me, and perhaps I could even try responding more often in prayer instead of avoidance. From there, I’ve got to start reading some good books, doing my yoga again, and making sure my oil burner is always going with lavender, chamomile, and clary sage. Another tip: avoid too much refined sugars, alcohol and caffeine (yes, even here at “mama NEED java” we can all agree on the “too much of a good thing” factor )

If any one else can relate to what I’ve just shared, here’s a toast to your journey onward. To the other’s, I apologize for wasting your time on a very Vivian-centered subject (esp since my last post was one too!) and promise to upload a great movie tomorrow of Ethan singing songs.

This video is the coolest thing I have come across in awhile. Please check it out, and take it to heart.

That film is just one example of the organic and whole grains trends in supermarkets lately. Publix has its Greenwise sections, (even opened a Greenwise Store!), Wal-Mart joins the bandwagon last year with Organics. Wild Oats and Whole Foods stores are popping up every where (everywhere EXCEPT Lakeland, that is!!!), not to mention of course the many small independent or chain health food stores that have held their own when it wasn’t so popular to eat healthy.

going organic:

An article at realmama.org spells out exactly what ORGANIC means and why pesticides are so harmful for kids and adults. If you aren’t sure which foods are especially important to buy organic, use the following guide:

“Produce with most pesticide residue:

• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• cherries
• imported grapes
• nectarines
• peaches
• pears
• potatoes
• red raspberries
• spinach
• strawberries

Buy organic produce for those fruits and vegetables most often eaten by your child.

Produce with least pesticide residue

• asparagus
• avocados
• bananas
• broccoli
• cauliflower
• sweet corn
• kiwis
• mangoes
• onions
• papayas
• pineapples
• sweet peas”

I’ve read that if the produce has a thick skin that you peel, its less necessary to buy organic. If you eat the skin, or if it is something grown in the ground like root vegetables, go organic. 

coffee beans: always go organic?

Here at MamaNeedJava, all roads lead to coffee. A friend of mine read in a magazine that coffee beans can be bought non-organic because the roasting process burns away the chemicals. I would still say its best to buy at least fairly-traded grounds (farmers are paid fair market wages) and beans from environmentally friendly growing practices, such as Starbucks’ Shade Grown Serena.

unrefined foods:

Um, do the words”enriched” or “bleached” sound like nutritious adjectivesto you? What’s the point of eating empty calories and leaving your body with a 10% of the nutrients and then replacing it with additives- food dye, hormones, genetic enhancers, radiation, and so on. Take in calories that are life giving instead of life depleting!

And, for goodness sake’s, don’t follow all the marketing hype by thinking that Gold Fish and Chips Ahoy “made with whole grains” is some how a truly healthy alternative to junk food. It’s still junk food. They just through some oatmeal or something into the ingredients. What’s worse, I’ve heard several moms struggling to lose baby pounds eating these types of “healthy” snack foods rather than cutting the sugar and junk and eating REAL whole grains. Sadly, most people don’t even know what whole grains are. That’s another blog for another day, but for now I’ll insert this little thinking piece from an internet article by Bonnie Liebmann for “The Whole Grain Guide“:

“If whole grains are so healthy, why do an estimated 80 percent of us eat them less than once a day? It doesn’t help that many people don’t even know what whole grains are.

1. Which breads are usually all or mostly whole grain? (a) whole wheat, (b) multi-grain, (c) rye, (d) pumpernickel

2. Which grains are whole? (a) bulgur, (b) quinoa, (c) couscous, (d) oatmeal

3. Which cereals are whole grain? (a) Total, (b) Product 19, (c) Special K, (d) corn flakes, (e)shredded wheat, (f) cream of wheat

The answers:

1. a. In theory, multi-grain, rye, and pumpernickel breads can be all or mostly whole grain. In most of the U.S. and Canada, however, only whole wheat bread is (see “The Bread & Cracker Box”).

2. b, d. Quinoa and oatmeal are whole grains. Bulgur and couscous sometimes are and sometimes aren’t.

3. a, e. Total, Product 19, and Special K have healthy reputations. Of the three, only Total is whole grain (see “Cereal Numbers”).

It’s not easy to separate the whole wheat from the refined chaff nowadays. Shoppers may understand that a refined grain has had most of its bran and germ removed (see “Meet the Kernel”).

But they may still be stumped when it comes to guessing whether, say, pearled barley is refined (yes), or if cornmeal is whole grain (rarely), or whether unbleached wheat flour is white flour (always).

“Consumers can’t figure out what’s whole grain and what isn’t,” says University of Minnesota researcher Joanne Slavin. “The bagel store sells ‘whole grain’ bagels, but are they really whole grain? It’s a big mess.’”

I’m not any kind of expert on these subjects, but I truly think its important to consider what you are putting in your body as harmful toxins that later result in all kinds of allergies, diseases or disorders. Even more so when considering your children’s health.  Say “YUCK” to MacDonald’s, Chefoyardee, Doritos, soda, candy, milk, on and on- start eating what is cultivated from good ol’ water, soil, and sun!!!

The attendance at the Polk Blogger Meet-up is probably a great sample cluster of the blogosphere; throw in some techies, a consultant, a reporter integrating blogging as a news forum, and an online operations director for the local paper- and then there’s me, representing the “mommy blog” genre rather humbly! Great conversation- what a wonderful way to collaborate, share ideas and knowledge, and just plain get to know other people who have a similar interest in blogging. As I’m sure there will be other mentions of this on their blogs, along with possible photos, I will link here when it becomes available.

If my blog starts to get a little better, you can all thank Chuck and Josh! Those guys are like a well of wisdom when it comes to that stuff, and to think, I got to sit in on it! You ever think, “Hey, I wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall for [such and such]”? That’s what tonight was for me. Like I got to hang out in the stall of the boys locker room and hear what they really talk about — except not exactly. Although I was the only girl!

No drinking games, and Chuck did not come in his tie-died skirt and colorful platform shoes. Good job, Chuck!

So thanks, guys! We gotta do it again sometime! Maybe even start a real meet-up?

UPDATE: Here is Chuck’s rendition. Gawd I hate candid photos- that’s me flinching oh so cooly. HERE is Billy’s “scoop”- at least there are no photos!

Lakeland Local’s Chuck, Empirical Polk’s Josh and I are going to be meeting at Starbucks at Lakeside Village on Thursday, Jan. 18th at 8:00 PM. Bloggers in Polk County welcome!

Look for The Hulk behind the laptop (that would be what is called an inside joke). If you don’t see him, look for me and my books. Maybe I’ll leave the books.

 Don’t look for this guy.

If he’s there, something has gone terribly wrong. Get back in your car.

Ok, grab some coffee. Then get back in your car. Do this quickly.

Ya’ll, I am so exausted! (and YES I say ya’ll- unlike some other Floridians I am ACTUALLY southern!)

After working about 11-12 hours total on Wednesday, I barely touched the first item on my “to-do” list for today before the hours zipped by without warning and before I knew it I was hauling off to downtown Lakeland’s annual Christmas parade. It was great weather and lots of fun, but I kept wishing I had just gotten work done instead. I am some what of a perfectionist, especially when it comes to hard work. If I feel like things are hanging over my head it is really hard to enjoy myself. This is yet another facet of “work at home” life: your work ALWAYS goes home with you! It squeezes into the five minutes Lil’ E is engrossed in “Dora the Explorer”, follows me into the bathroom while I oversee him taking a bath, and stays up late with me until wee hours of the morning while my dog snores at my feet. It is very rare to find “stopping points” or to take a breath in between projects, so there’s that constant tick in the back of my mind, always telling me to steal away another hour for some work.

There are many reasons why I put up with this, reasons which are not uncommon to any one who holds a job. First of all, I need the income. When I say that, I mean it. My money doesn’t support eating out or excessive car payments, it supports electricity! I also know that my work wanes in and out in volume. If I get no projects in January, I will be kicking myself for not taking all I could get in December to hold us over the lull. (This is why there’s no point bragging about all the hours/money I get this week, for they might be split three ways to spread into lagging weeks.) Secondly, I put up with the nagging feeling of always having more work to do because it is my job. There are a few things in life which deserve your attention. I miss lunch dates, I forget a conversation I had yesterday, I admit that. When it comes to commitments to family its a whole different matter, and to me, the same goes for work. If I say I want the work, and I tell my boss or a client I will get it done by a certain time, then gosh darn it, that’s my word on the line. I wish I were better at this in all areas of life, but some things gotta give in order to keep priorities straight. I feel badly when I have to put a friend off for hang out plans or re-schedule a million times, but then again if I hung out each week with every person who asked, I would literally be out of hours in which to do work. Lastly, I enjoy working to an extent. I would love to soley focus on personal writing, but of course THAT doesn’t pay bills, so who am I to complain that I get to keep one small foot in the door to the corporate world, to own a pair of closed toe shoes and wheel around a laptop from time to time while hoping for a small raise or promotion within the companies I do, basically, virtual or out-sourced administrative/clerical work for? All this while almost exclusively telecommuting from home, I mean, it is exactly what I desire: to be able to wake up and cuddle with my son, to be the one to prepare his meals and put him to sleep allllll day loooooong. I always felt like it was the most ridiculous thing in the world to have a child but not raise that child - ridiculous as in unnatural - to not have a parent or close family member be the sole providor for the child the family brought into the world. (Disclaimer: Of course, this is a personal conviction and one I DO NOT wish to impose on any one else!)

Long story shorter, to “squeeze” hours into my life in which I have honest to goodness “work” to do (aside from the full-time job of child rearing and home keeping) is a blessing and I have nothing to complain about. I simply wish there were more hours in the day, is that so much to ask for? Sheesh.

I know so many people feel like this. I hear every day people say how busy they are, and I can imagine! Between family, friends, holidays, work, church activities, physical exercise, meal planning, house cleaning, bill paying, pet responsibilities, travel plans, college classes - how are we even meant to have time for it all? I recall a time when, after just having the baby, my to-do list for the day was literally one or two points long: “Sweep and check the mail.” Seriously. The rest of my brain was taken up with memorizing when to nurse, when to diaper, when to bathe (MYSELF!), and how in hades to get myself and the baby dressed and ready to get out of the house on time for a doctor’s appointment!!!

It’s amazing how quickly we fill up our schedules again and complicate life with more DOING after brief pauses such as births, wedding, deaths, natural disasters or vacations.

Currently, my alarm clock is scheduled for 6 hours from now, so I can go meet up with some great ladies in my church and get “discipled by grace” (aka bible study, which I actually am “leading” tomorrow so I can’t skip this time!). I plan to stop at Starbucks on the way and suck down a triple tall cap for liquid energy. I have spent 15 minutes trying to work and re-work my agenda for the day to include all that needs to be done, but I finally gave up and will just have to trust that I will do my best and if things don’t get finished the sun will still come up on Saturday.

G’night! 

I finally joined a playgroup, or rather, a Stay at Home Moms Meetup. I went to my first “event” last night, which was a “coffee break” at Starbucks (yeah, you know why I joined this group! My motives are revealed!). No, but really, it was interesting. Of course, I gave both of my new mommy friends my blog address, so I can’t say anything bad about them, HA! I wish there was something to say, it might make this little post a lot juicier, but in reality they were both very friendly, welcoming gals. I, on the otherhand, am convinced that I am socially inept. And I don’t think I can spell because that word looks wrong.

Here’s me all last night:

ME (uneasy stare out the window rather than at some one’s face): “Soooo,… what do your husband’s do?”

I MEAN, DID I ACTUALLY ASK THAT!?? I know, I know, it’s as though I’ve read the manuals on making mommy friends and was on step 4 or something. (Seriously though, does anyone have such a manual? How much you want for it?)

Among my list of mommy friend manual questions: “How long have you lived here?” “How many kids do you have?” OH, I am SO cliche.

I’m ashamed to admit that just days into membership, I have already extended an RSVP to “craft day”, to which I cancelled in the same day when I realized how much work I have to get done tomorrow!

I wonder if mommy groups have some sort of sorority hazing practices or something… like perhaps to be in the group you have to host a tupperware party or wear a Christmas vest or something. Gawd, I hope not! I’d rather we all just have to fart in front of eachother- express membership for me!

Based on some feedback I’ve recieved on the msn article on a Starbucks on every corner, I thought it might be enlightening to share a little more about my thoughts on the coffee giant.

I’m not a complete expert on the subject, but I do like to call myself some what of a coffee shop guru. I have worked at mom and pop shops, as well as large chains, including Starbucks, as a barista (fancy term for the coffee bartender) for about 7 years. Though I believe that the local individually owned shops are charming, unique and personal, I think Starbucks deserves a full profile before we throw it in with MacDonald’s.

Since Starbucks’ humble beginnings on Pike’s Place Market in Seattle in 1971, Starbucks has, according to Fortune magazine, “changed everything … from our tastes to our language to the face of Main Street.” Starbucks has certianly taken its place in corporate America’s “big business”: the store boasts over 8,000 stores world wide, with  an average of 25 new locations every week. Don’t forget that these figures do NOT include locations such as Barnes and Nobles or Target, which proudly SERVE Starbucks coffee. According to Business Week, Starbucks averages 30 million customers a week!

So what do I make of this companies record growth and sustainability? As a patron and past employee, I have a perspective that would argue against all those who view it as the evil empire, trampling all the local shops and displaying its green and white siren logo as the very symbol of big business.

Why is Starbucks in a different league than MacDonalds? They have a practice of legendary service, of going above and beyond the customers basic need for java in order to provide meaningful experiences that enrich their daily lives. Employees are rewarded and encouraged for focusing on the people, not the sales. Cards that read, “Exceed expectations. Look for ways, both big and small, to let customers know they are valued” and “Make a friend. Make a difference. Make someone’s day” are passed around employees pockets and pinned to employee bulletin boards to remind them that thier job goes beyond espresso, milk and syrup. The motto, “develop enthusiastically satisfied customers all the time” resonates in thier minds. They ask for the names of customers when taking drink orders, not just to label the mug, but to label the face. Often repeat customers find that their name and drink are memorized within a few subsequent visits.

When was the last time MacDonald’s new YOUR name and order?

Starbucks as a corporation also stands apart because of the emphasis they put on giving back to the community. Through programs like The Starbucks Foundation, Make Your Mark program, Urban Coffee Opportunities and annual Holiday Angels Joy Drive, Starbucks rigorously seeks to employ a standard of corporate social responsibility. They take part in environmentally sound practices like the eco-friendly coffee growing techniques and “Fairly Traded Coffee”, as well as little things such as recycling all used coffee grounds and bagging them up for free for customers to take and fertilize their garden with. Businessethics.com said this about the company:

The company’s presence in 33 international markets has sometimes made it an easy target for anti-globalization activists. Yet Starbucks is winning kudoes from those in the know for its treatment of coffee farmers, commitment to its nearly 75,000 employees [this number has since been blown away], and the diversity of communities where it conducts business. Starbucks can be looked to as a model of how to institutional social values in a company.

Going one step further, not only would I toot Starbucks’ horn any day of the week, I would also like to point out that with a little research, it is not hard to find studies that reflect the BENEFITS Starbucks has to the local coffee shop market. By educationing customers on their drinks and setting a standard of quality across the board, local communities become increasingly interested in the coffee shop scene, which expands to increased business for mom and pop as well!

And one last thought: If you think there is no difference between Folgers and Starbucks coffee, you are brewing your coffee wrong and wasting precious java moments on less than par counterfeits! Do yourself a favor: on your Christmas list this year, add a coffee grinder and a French Press coffee maker, along with a bag of Starbucks coffee (try Verona, my personal fav). Follow directions and sip down that quality caffiene!

Just a little word from your friendly neighborhood mama.