Reverb12: Day 7, Little Things

Little Things. What are the little things your employer does to show appreciation? 

Employees are overworked and under appreciated these days. In this economy people are laid off and those that remain are expected to pick up their workload for no extra pay. I've worked in places where the bosses did odd things. In one workplace my boss would lock the conference room door if we were even a minute late to an 8:30 staff meeting. Traffic on 495 due to an accident? *click* door locked, sorry. I had another boss that would micromanage to the point where you would feel like a little insect at the end of the day.

On the flip side, my current employer does a great job with employee appreciation. Around the holidays we get a gift (with company logo of course). It's usually well thought out and useful. Last year was a fluffy blanket. This year was a 16oz glass tumbler set (for hot and cold) with a lid. And they are made in the USA which is awesome (plastic glasses or food containers from China freak me out).

What do you do around this time of year for the people who work for you? What do you give to your boss? I give beer to mine (local craft brew). Even if you spend $10 or give your employee a gift card. It's the little things that go a long way. You can bet the boss that locked the conference room door gave nothing.

#Reverb12: Days 5 & 6

I was traveling for work yesterday so this is a double post.

Day 5: Independent. How have you supported an independent business this year. Small, family owned = beautiful.

I picked this prompt because I was on my way to my bookclub meeting. I go to a bookclub at a small local bookstore in Newton, MA called Newtonville books. I've been a member of that bookclub for years and when I finished grad school in 2009 my one promise to myself was to re-join bookclub. They have added a non-fiction book club as well so in February I'll be doing that one and reading 'Moby Duck'. I always like to mix a little non-fiction in my fiction so there you go.

Do you have an independent bookstore that you enjoy? Did you know that if every person bought 1 book for every 3 that they buy at an small bookstore (versus Amazon) that would help support that area bookstore? Just 1 out of 3. Come on now. You can do it. Buy a pair of socks on Amazon instead. Or some ice fishing gear.

Day 6: Invention. What invention were you grateful for this year?

I'm grateful for a handful of things I use daily. Heated seats, satellite radio, heated mirrors on my commute into work. Remote start for that 30F night where I'm leaving a warm yoga studio. Airplanes for saving me an 8 hour drive for a work trip. My iPhone for making it so I really don't have to tote my laptop around for work trips (hard to babysit a laptop when I'm by myself at a trade show). My TiVo for making me have no idea what is on when and what day of the week (a good thing, I'm out of town for a few days and everything is waiting for me).

What is an invention that would be nice to have?

Something to make all of the boutique hotels I stay in (often in buildings from the early 1900s) not have the rooms be 1000F. It makes it hard to sleep. Hard to get dressed up all fancy. And the dial on the wall to control the heat is all a sham. Thank goodness the windows open or else I'd be a big sweaty mess to each conference. LOVE this style of hotel and supporting an Independent business (there's that word again). I just hate the temperature thing. It's not very green of them to have the heat jacked up.

Another invention I would like is a bike path that goes along rte 9. Some days it would be nice to consider biking to work. There's no way to do it without getting killed, sadly.

That's it. I'm pretty content with all of my other devices and innovations. :)

#Reverb12. Day 4: Cycle

"Spring passes and one remembers one's innocence
Summer passes and one remembers one's exuberance
Autumn passes and one remembers one's reverence
Winter passes and one remembers one's perseverance."
-   Yoko Ono, Season of Glass

 Day 4: Cycle

Right now it is late autumn in New England. The leaves are in mushy piles and the trees are bare. Three very small snow storms have coated the land in a really tiny coating. For a moment it looked like Christmas and I remembered our actual chances of having a white Christmas are pretty low. 

I like each season for different reasons. If I lived in the desert somewhere I would have a really tough time. Right now it's  too cold to hike (we did a 33F hike recently in Maine) and there's no snow to snowshoe. The woods are bare and the critters are few and far between.

I was thinking about cycles this morning. How this time of year I can see the river from my kitchen window (no leaves blocking). How the new leaves of spring show up at my home in MA before the one in Maine. How I'm actually wearing socks to work versus getting away with flipflops late March- early October. Cycles are important. If you skip on part of a cycle things just don't work out. If there's not enough snow, there's not enough maple syrup. If there's not enough snow my shallow well freezes and the cottage does not have water during the winter. If we have 80 degree days in March (as we did last year) the bug population is fierce. If we have the hottest August *ever* in Boston that equals no fresh cucumbers (darn powdery mildew). 

What sort of cycles do you depend on?

"Gardeners , like everyone else, live second by second and minute by minute.  What we see at one particular moment is then and there before us.  But there is a second way of seeing.  Seeing with the eye of memory, not the eye of our anatomy, calls up days and seasons past and years gone by."  
-  Allen Lacy, The Gardener's Eye, 1992, p. 16    

#Reverb12, Day 3: Flavor

Day 3:

What flavor did you try in 2012 that you enjoyed? Perhaps a new type of food or a new recipe that came out well. What do you intend to try in 2013?

In 2012 I had many memorable meals both at home and in my travels. In terms of the more simple food, in the fall I had two good pretzel experiences. One was at Hannah's Bretzel in Chicago. It was a small sub roll shaped bretzel and the contents were all organic (ham from Spain...so good!). The other was while on a mini vacation prior to a business trip in upstate NY we went to wineries and one brewpub. The brewpub had a great lunch menu and served their own beer on tap. For an appetizer we got homemade pretzel bites to dip in hot cheese. It was similar to fondue except made with beer instead of wine.

We got to walk along the shores of Lake Erie (a first for us) and talk to independent winemakers. One in particular is working hard to had wind and solar to her winery Arrowhead Springs. That was very neat speaking with the owner because she was in high tech in her past life and now she's living a very hands-on challenging farm life.

As for what flavors I intend to try in 2013 I hope to make focaccia bread at some point. I read a book about Tuscany and there's some recipes I'd like to try. I'm also going to try Matcha green tea. I don't know if I'll like it to drink but maybe in smoothies. I also plan on visiting more small wineries...hopefully while on a trip to California next summer (we went to Napa and Sonoma in 2009 and it was so much fun). 

#Reverb12: Day 2, One Word

I just decided to take part in Reverb again this year. It's where you do a blog post for every day in December.

I'll do day 1 & 2 in one post.

Day 1: New Thing? (prompt taken from this blog)

What new thing did you do in 2012? For me that would be trying a new yoga studio and as a result a new class called Ballet Barre (the Barre Method). Actually, I not only tried 1 new yoga studio I tried a new one during my travels to Philly and NY. While in Chicago I took my first barre method class and I was not only challenged but inspired. I pushed through the pain and as my yoga teacher Paulina taught us this year I'm learning to "love the things you hate." Paulina often asks us at the start of our yoga class to say one pose we love and one that we hate. She works both of those poses into our hour of class. This approach is new to me and through this practice I've been able to do things I never thought possible (balanced half moon pose).

I hope to keep taking Ballet Barre on a weekly basis. It's got a little bit of yoga, pilates, weights, and ballet. And depending on where you take it maybe a little bit of kickboxing.

We can all learn from Paulina's example. Learn to love the things we hate.


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Day 2: One Word (prompt taken from this blog)

What one word would you use to describe 2012?

My word is "balance." I really got my rhythm in 2012 work-wise. In April I was at my job 2 years (still there) and it was my first year planning and attending all of the events that I'm responsible for. This was events in 10 states including some regional and national events. I figured out that sticking to my plan of flying in the day before an event is very important. There can be weather delays (Hurricane Sandy). There can be flight delays (got stranded in the middle of the night in DC and had to drive all night to make a morning meeting with a stranger in the car--we all pooled together from my flight and took what car rentals we could find).

You never know what your employment, projects--or even your volunteer work--is going to throw at you. Building in a buffer (my travel day) and making sure to build in time to take care of myself (trying new places to workout or hangout along the way) actually makes for better performance once you are there. Balance continues to be an important part of my life and a little painting "balance" hangs in my dining room to this day (a gift from my Mother-In-Law).

What I'm Thankful For

I've really been enjoying the posts from friend's about what they are thankful for. Some are daily posts. Others are blog posts.

After a wonderful family Thanksgiving I figured I'd post what I'm thankful for during this time of year. No matter how big or small the things on your own list are, each are important in their own way.

• Snowdays. I just read a post from a friend that took around 2 hours to drive to work in the snow this morning. Not only was that dangerous but she had no choice (she's the only one at work who does her job). My work closes when the weather is bad (the recent hurricane is one example). They put employee safety first.
  
• I'm done with my holiday shopping. I did it online and supported small businesses with my purchases. I also got a handful of stuff made right here in the USA. I also did not step foot in a mall to complete my shopping (could not find a parking spot if you want to know the truth there). So this list item now equals more time to bake, spend with friends, and go to holiday parties.  

• I'm grateful to live in a place where I have a backyard and free parking. After spending time this fall in Philly, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, NYC, and Chicago I will say this is a pretty big list item. I learned a lot about urban living this fall too. For example, in places like Detroit there is a whole urban farm movement to create jobs and provide fresh food for areas that are declared food deserts. In Chicago it is super clean and there's a culture where ideas are put in motion and EVERYONE works. Even kids graduate college and go to work (not move back to their parent's house to 'find themselves'). I also observed that my own downtown (a pretty shabby often criticized downtown Framingham) is cleaner than New York City. Wayyyyy cleaner.

• My health. This is a huge one since I had several friends be diagnosed with cancer this year. I learned to try new things (ballet barre, joined a new yoga studio) and also had to keep reminding myself that good health is not to be taken for granted. 

What about you? Do you have a little bullet point list of your own? I'd love to hear it.

What is growing in the veggie garden?

This year I did something different. I normally order seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I won a $20 gift certificate for FedCo (a Maine-based seed company). I commented on a blog post by Margaret Roach and won the gift certificate.

I was excited because this was a paper certificate and it required me to order seeds the old fashioned way (by mail). I was able to take the time and place an order not do a rush-job online order. [Here's information on Margaret in case you are interested: "Called "the best garden blog" by NY Times, ex-Martha Stewart exec Margaret Roach's horticultural how-to and woo-woo. Newsletter: http://tinyurl.com/ykk9gf4"]

As usual we started some seeds inside (with a heated mat and florescent bulbs on a timer (one warm, one cool). I find that starting seeds indoors in March gives hope of warmer weather to come. However, it just creates really leggy seedlings and not the strongest of plants (sadly). This is what we have growing right now:

• Green beans (we hope to make dilly beans again this year)

• Cranberry beans for drying

• Heirloom tomatoes (these I do not do from seed, because I like to plant 6 different types). One of the tomatoes is called 'Watermelon' which pleases me greatly (it's green and red on the inside)

• potatoes (not from seed, I just put 4 organic potatoes in the ground and we have 2' tall plants at this point)
• Butternut squash  
• Sugar pumpkins (for beer-making in the fall)
• 2 types of cucumbers, both heirloom (sadly not doing all that well, the seedlings got eaten by bugs and we're starting over from seed outdoors)
• Bell peppers (from seed)
• Asparagus (this will take 2-3 years, but at least we have them planted in root form)
• Spinach and lettuce (from seed, we've never had luck with lettuce and spinach--I'm so ready to buy them in plant form next spring and just throw up my hands in defeat)
• Basil from seed (best quality basil from seed ever, thank you FedCo!). I grow this on my kitchen windowsill because I'm too lazy at 8pm to walk down the hill to harvest basil!

What are you growing in your garden this year? I'd love to hear from you! Container garden, bucket, backyard garden...all count!

Cranberry bean: