did you know? part III

A couple of days ago, I read an essay in which the writer said that he “hates green” and will stop patronizing stores if he finds out that their products are green. He said that green products are too expensive, “too “trendy,” and “not as good as the usual stuff.” In this day and age, when clean tech and green economy are the new buzzwords that seem to be invading the entrepreneurial sector (not to mention policy), how common is this writer’s sentiment, investigative minds (at least mine) wanted to know. This is what I found out.

According to a recent survey of 1000 American adults, conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, 82 percent of consumers prefer to buy “green” (even in the current economic climate). Another survey, of 9000 adult consumers in 9 countries, conducted by the Boston Consulting Group, suggests that not only are consumers concerned about environmental protection (two-thirds of respondents believed that the environment was in trouble, only 12 percent were skeptical about environmental concerns and in the U.S., consumers ranked their concern over the environment just below concern over the recent economic decline). Furthermore, people’s concern for environmental quality directly affected their purchasing decisions. Eighty-two percent of U.S. consumers said that they were willing to pay at least a 5 percent premium on green goods, and 42 percent believed that green products were of higher quality than conventional alternatives (compared with 5 percent who believed that green products were of lower quality).

The writer who inspired this is clearly in a minor league.

- Mina

you get what you deserve

The strongest single factor that affects your life's outcome is self-esteem: believing in yourself, believing you can do it, believing you deserve it, believing you will get it. ... believing you are worth every bit of it. (HELLS YEA!)

Yes, you get what you deserve. You get what you put into "it" - and how you deal with the challenges that come along life's way - that's character.

Here's me. 24 hours or so after my last post last night. It's ok to fall, I felt safe to do that. It's ok to not to fall, I feel safe today. Mochi got my back. Katya's got my back. Mina's got my back. Roy's got my back. Randy's got my back. That list could go on and on - and I feel very blessed to be surrounded with the people I consider to have hearts of gold. Know who's truly on your team.

People with hearts of gold. Strength of character. Honorable. Respectable. Respectful.
Tonight, you inspire me. Inspire me to shake it off and march on forward.

Bring it!

~Arry

is it okay now for me to fall?

Read 2 books this weekend. I had been resisting this book for so long but finally broke down and read it (after cleverly loading onto my delightfully naked Kindle) the yesterday after my catchup phone call with Kate. She said I had to read it. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

I agree. Definite must read. I had no idea it would be so insightful. Mina mentioned it cleverly yesterday too. She is so wise.

24 hours later, I spent today pretty upbeat and optimistic about the world around me. My usual routine involves regular pep-talks with Mochi (yes, my dog) and my imaginary BFF whom I have inner monologues with. I read blogs now. I find words of wisdom, quotes, write down thoughts that give me that "umph" of emotional caffeine to get me up and going - I tweet them. I do. I put on a happy face, I put on an air of Miss Tough Independent Super Cool Fun Go Getter Chick - I go about my day. Today, that did not happen quite according to plan.

6AM - Woke. Energized. Threw in a couple blog entries. Felt proud. Yea!!
830AM - Walked Mochi. Started eyes down tho. Reminded myself, hold your head up. It's ok.
9AM - Back in bed. Reading. Semi energized and optimistic (from the Mochi-walk pep talk)
10AM - Sinking and my mind is vacillating between an emotional blank stare and sleep
11AM - force myself to get up and clean
Noon - Work meeting. Met with Matt to go over piles of financials and PnLs.
2PM - Grab brother and go to dear Sonja's place for an amazing meal. Stuffed my face for the first time in weeks. Food actually stayed in - and is still in.
530PM - Back home. Pangs of regret and realizations of relief start hitting me.
630PM - Advil. Advil. Advil. My body hurts. My head hurts. My heart hurts.
730PM - Distracting myself via emails, business plans, BRDs
800PM - In bed. "Darkness" is setting. My body still hurts. My head hurts. My heart hurts.
10PM - Another realization: I haven't allowed myself any time in the "dark" side in months.
1030PM - Writing about it so I can share it with someone other than my inner BFF.

It's been a rough past few months. When the stress gets loaded on, I tend to try and load on more because that forces me to go into "survival" mode - I get more done, I put on a stoic can-do attitude, I'm here for you. Work stress, my family in town, brother moving to Seattle, relationship, businesses, projects, friends in hospital, people to meet, things to do, smiles to wear, money to raise, people to help, smiles to share.

I haven't let myself just be in a few months (Result: on the verge of tears always. A passive aggressive happy yet bitter attitude - commentary made on this the other week by colleagues). It hit me today - I think I'm actually finally allowed to be right now. I'm going to allow myself to be - to not worry about being strong for someone else. They are okay - they will be okay - I trust that. I'm going to fall now and deal with all the negative emotions, the hurt, the tiredness, the loneliness, the pain, the fear of letting someone down, fear of being fat, fear of looking ugly, ... and just be. Falling hard.

That's the realization. While men need to retreat into caves to deal with solving problems/ overwhelming stress, be selfish and find their inner "mojo"... women need time and a safe place to just be, to be weak and vulnerable, to release sadness/anger/pain/tiredness - that's how women find our inner goddess. Don't judge her while she's at the bottom of the well.

~Arry
PS. Fail - blog post greater than 500 words. Oh well.

update: i made yelp elite last week!

I'm sorry, so sorry, I was going to give you an update earlier. If you follow me on Twitter (@ArryinSeattle), you know already.

I made Yelp Elite! http://arry.yelp.com

Let me share with you the funny and quirky beginning to the Yelp Elite invitation:

"You clearly rock! Because those fingers of yours have been on a real roll with all of the super detailed, funny, tip givin' and informative reviews you've been writing lately! Seriously, your reviews have been some of the best we've read from the Seattle area and that's why we come to your inbox today, to make ya an offer ya can't refuse. Well we guess you can, but where's the fun in that!?! So here goes...
We'd officially like to invite you to join the Yelp Seattle Elite Squad!

*insert crowd roar here*

And then, the beginning to my Yelp Elite acceptance letter:

WELL LOOK AT YOU LUCKY LOO!

You are now part of the official Seattle Yelp Elite squad! You can go ahead and take a moment if you need to as we know this is probably one of THE best days of your life! ;)

~*~*~

Clearly an excited and quirky group I belong to now. I now have one of those little red boxes that say "Elite '10" in my yelp profile. Yippee. I'll report back to you when I learn more. Thanks again to my Yelp mentors Eugene and Henry for introducing me to this interesting world. Let's see if I stick with it.

~Arry

flowers - are they in your tool bag for your woman?

Yesterday, as we lounged side-by-side watching Korean dramas, I asked Mina, "do you like receiving flowers"? She replied, "Yes. I love the life of the flowers. I hate cleaning up dead flowers afterwards."

Hmm... I guess I sort of agree. I'd put way more weight on the I love... flowers part. :)

Flowers - they're still one of the best and most simple ways to bring a smile to a woman's face. Traditional. Old school. Romantic. You ask a guy about his thoughts on this ... and very often it's one of those overlooked, under-appreciated tools in a guy's bag of courtship/relationship tricks. Why? Flowers are just soooooo impractical, frivolous, and ... old school. No. Flowers are a timeless symbol of love and affection, and every woman deserves to be adored. Men, bring it back to the top of your tool bag. Flowers are in.

Did you know that back in the day (and I mean back in the day to the age of the togas, robes, and gladiators) that flowers had special meaning and powers? Yes. Powers.

Did you know that back in the day when a man wanted to officially start courting the woman (of his dreams), he presented her with a bouquet of flowers to begin the courtship?

Did you know that different flowers and colors have special meanings? You know something about this if you're Asian. Lilacs - first love. Red roses - passionate love (red roses are in!). Pink roses - friendship. Stargazer - ambition (one of my favs). Magnolia - dignity (def one of my favs - I go look at Magnolia trees in the Arboretum every year. So majestic.).

For a woman, a bouquet of flowers is a gift that moves many of our senses. Think... "bang for the buck". They're pretty to our eyes (just like a woman should be to a man's eyes - ah ha! How symbolic.) They smell awesome as they bloom (smells are important to a relationship - I say, I tend to fall in love via smell. Many women would agree). Flowers are soft to touch (just like a woman's hands, face and skin). Flowers help a woman take a moment during the day to stop and literally "smell the roses" (or whatever flowers she has in her lovely possession). She'll stop and think about her man, the relationship, ... and smile.

You get it?

And for women: women need to appreciate that the act of buying flowers is uncomfortable for a man. It takes him out of his comfort zone. It's not natural (like buying car parts is...). When a man buys flowers for a woman - he's gone out of his comfort zone. A man buys flowers for a woman that he adores because the act is worth it to him to make her happy. Knowing that her man put in effort makes a woman happy. If your man gets you flowers, show some delightful appreciation. Seriously. Your man deserves to know that he is your hero.

~Arry

USA Today to follow 5 entrepreneurs for 6 months

Five entrepreneurs were chosen among 1800 candidates by USA Today to be followed for six months as they attempt to start/grow their businesses. Their businesses cover a range of products: wine, botox, peanuts, home inspection and vacation rentals. Can't wait to follow their ups and downs. Here is the story.