Victoria Scanlan Stefanakos is a wife and mother, a homesteader, a writer. When she’s not gardening or cooking or picking up wooden toys, she writes stories for national magazines and Web sites about living simply, naturally and well. You can read several of late in Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple.
So Victoria and her family to live lightly and pitch in: growing, making, putting by, selling and sustaining themselves with whatever they can on seven rugged acres. You can follow her chronicle of their adventure at Project Homestead
Lauren Mangion is a writer, engaged citizen, and an eco-coach from Calgary, Canada. Lauren’s personal life and work are intimately intertwined, both being experiments in more sustainable, lower-footprint urban living.
Through Conscious Home, an eco-coaching service, Lauren educates and inspires her fellow Calgarians with tools and resources toward reducing the individual ecological footprint.
Denise founded, designed and manages a national childbirth education program and movement called BornClear — empowering scores of women and couples. Preparing them for the ‘new addition.’ Her work has been reviewed in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Vogue and NBC's Today Show to name a few. Her clients include: Google, Ogilvy&Mather, Conde Nast, Credit Suisse, Citibank, BBC, Tishman Speyers.
Her first book will be out in early 2009 with Wiley Publishing.
Latham is the founder of a boutique holistic lifestyle practice called- Tender Shoots Wellness. Specializing in maternal and child wellness, Latham served as Program coordinator for the Healthy Moms-Healthy Babies project for the B-Healthy organization. She has been featured on Fox 5 news as an expert on organic foods and kid’s health. She is the co-founder of Panela Productions, a company that educates parents and children about food, through cooking classes, and events.
Latham teaches plant-based culinary classes at Whole Foods Market and Natural Kitchen Cooking School, where she is a part of the guest faculty, and for a host of private clients. She gives lectures on plant based nutrition at Laughing Lotus Yoga Center, North American Vegetarian Society's Summer Fest, and Excellence Charter School, to name a few.
She currently teaches prenatal yoga classes at Om Factory, Golden Bridge Yoga, and Yoga Sutra.
Latham contributes to Working Mother Magazine, Naturally Savvy, and Yoga Mom Magazine.
A freelance writer specializing in environmental and health topics, Linda recently was part of a core team of writers who developed content for GreenYour, a website devoted to greener living.
She wrote an environmental column for five years for Good Housekeeping magazine called Green Watch. You can find her articles in Plenty Magazine’s online newsletter, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, Arthritis Today, Profiles (Continental Airline’s in-flight magazine), and Microsoft’s Encarta.
She served on her town’s environmental commission for 15 years and remains an active volunteer. Her personal essay column for the local newspaper offers her take on the natural world and on environmental topics in her neck of the woods.
Lynn Fantom’s commitment to eco-travel is in direct proportion to her passion for Acadia National Park in Maine, where she hikes, climbs, bikes, and kayaks with her daughter Luisa. Lynn is publisher of OUR ACADIA. a Web site devoted to exploring, eating, and relaxing on Mount Desert Island.
Lynn posts on www.mdislander.com range from where to find great lobster rolls to what to do with kids on rainy days.
When not in Maine, Lynn lives in New York City, where she is an executive in the media industry. In 2008 her company was named one of the Best Places to Work in New York City in Crain’s New York Business.
Loretta White is a writer, educator and scholar who gained huge diversity of experience within varied industries; energy, government, high tech and more. The last fifteen years she brokered deals with the top multinational companies globally, her Rainmaker skills are unsurpassed and she remains an authority on BD, BI, sustainability and the Global Marketplace.
Frugality was the voice of her elders who endured wars, rationing and Depression, raised to respect, love and to co-exist with nature through sustainability, self reliance, need and RRR practices. Loretta’s juxtaposition of ideas, deep love for the planet and her Yankee sensibilities are the foundation of a lifestyle that is in partnership with nature. Loretta indulges her passions for renewable energy, organics and being green on her 17.5 acre farm in central Massachusetts.
Recently Ms. White has lead an Assoc. of Caregivers providing support to those caring for parents, disabled, and others.
Loretta is invested in the community of our species and our planet and her diverse background in technology and green living gives her a unique perspective on how to live with nature and with our own gifts of technology.
Ms. White’s work has been published by Corporations, magazines, readers digest and many others.
Heather O'Neill is the founder of Eco to the People, a green living blog.
Before founding Eco to the People, Heather O’Neill wore so many hats in the field of journalism that even the Queen Mother would envy her collection. She has worked as the managing editor of a beauty trade magazine; as a copy editor for an online tech magazine; as the associate editor of a city magazine and as a newspaper reporter and columnist, and as the senior editor at the popular online newsletter ecofabulous.
Her work has appeared in many publications, including Parenting, Alternative Medicine, Natural Solutions, Marin Magazine, Greenwich Magazine and HOME.
Heather earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from California College of the Arts. She lives and works in San Francisco.
Marie Oser is a best-selling author, columnist, and host/producer of VEG TV. A vegan lifestyle expert, and environmental advocate with a focus on nutrition and its role in disease prevention, Oser specializes in creating original gourmet recipes with a solid nutritional bottom line.
Many prominent medical and nutrition professionals endorse her work, including Dr. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and principal researcher of the groundbreaking CHINA STUDY, and Neal Barnard, M.D. founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC.
Marie is president of VEGTV, Inc., a video production company producing content for TV and new media. VEGTV streams hundreds of lifestyle videos to more than 1,000 sites globally. In her role as Director of Product Development at Smart Planet Kitchen, she has created, Marie Oser’s Lean & Green, a new line of vegan and Fair Trade Certified products. Marie has appeared on CNN, ABC, National Public Radio, QVC, WUSA, WNBC, KCAL, KOVR, Home & Garden Television (HGTV), FINE LIVING, TECH TV, and Discovery Channel.
Vegetarian since 1971; vegan since 1990, Marie left a career in TV advertising to pursue her interest in food, health, and nutrition. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, she studied psychology at St. Joseph’s University. Marie is a gourmet cook and organic gardener living in California, writing her 5th book and hiking every day with Travis, her Yellow Lab companion.
Ted is always looking for ways to minimize his ecological footprint. Professionally, Ted is working to gain the skills necessary to turn his passion for sustainable development into action, as an entrepreneur or financing sustainable businesses.
Ted studied economics and international business at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was honored as the Distinguished Student in International Business for his class. As the founder and president of the SLU Madrid Business Club, Ted focused the club’s activities on sustainability.
While working for commercial real estate multi-national Jones Lang LaSalle’s Madrid office, Ted strove to implement sustainable practices both within the firm and for its clients. He proposed and designed an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan for JLL Spain. Green Building and Environmentally Sustainable Development remain a passion for Ted: he believes that the intersection of sustainable infrastructure and sustainable attitude is where we’ll find a sustainable society.
Ted currently works for a private equity firm in Madrid, learning skills that he hopes to apply to finance Environmentally Sustainable Development in the United States and around the world.
I’m staring at the full moon from the 42nd floor of a green building in downtown Austin, Texas, my new home away from home. But this view of the moon- and the fact that I’m here in Austin with my 3-year-old daughter, reminds me of my baby moon.
I remember reading that trendy term when I was about 6 months preggers: “Baby moon,” as if it was an age-old, mandatory rite of passage…I wonder if Hallmark was involved in this one.
My husband, my sex-unknown baby-to-be, and I took what would be our last trip where we could stay up late, use bad words and at least one of us could drink as much as we chose. We went to Quebec and it really was a great trip. In hindsight, it was the last trip of our couple-hood, but the “baby moon” was a well-conceived idea…no pun intended.
So flash forward almost four years and I recently came across an old journal entry, I’m guessing it was from high school. Apparently I was thinking of the days ahead and my future success and I wrote something to the effect of “may I never be one of those moms…with a full-time nanny, who doesn’t have time for her own kid,” blah, blah, blah…
So here I am, a former editor for a national magazine, whose work did require me to have a full-time nanny for a while. And although I left the position to have more time with my daughter, I immediately started a business and continue to work as a freelance writer.
So it made me think… “Am I one of those career-workaholic, nanny-raises-her-kids, types?” Sure I take trips all the time with my little girl, but dedicated, one-on-one time for more than a weekend? Okay, not a lot, I realized. So I decided to have what I’m calling a “toddler moon” with my little girl.
A toddler moon… Fortunately, I am in a position to do such things, since my work goes with me, but it’s summer and I’ve carved out almost 4 weeks to spend with my daughter in Austin.
Why Austin? Sure it’s the birthplace of Whole Foods, and it has a great music scene, awesome Tex-Mex food and great day trips like tubing the Guadalupe, not to mention a bizarre bat colony living under a bridge downtown, but according to Grist and Treehugger, Austin is also one of the greenest cities in the world.
This trip isn’t about touring a green city; although we are having our share of nature outings, duck tours and museum visits. Of course we are not in exile either, as there are daddy visits and extended family get-togethers for the 4th of July. But this toddler moon, mommy-daughter trip is about getting back to what’s important, dedicated one-on-one bonding time… away from work, away from the routine of every day.
This is the stuff memories are made of; after all, I remember bits and pieces of my age 3 with a mom who worked, and I’m determined to make this trip filled with memories– or maybe just glimpses– that my daughter will return to in her years ahead.
So before summer and toddlerhood are over, consider a toddler moon of your own and get to know your kid– and yourself again. It doesn’t matter which city you choose– at home or abroad- there are tons of ways to enjoy the time together. Check out our suggestions for Austin, which can be easily adapted to almost any city. But of course, don’t forget the tried and true, like flying kites, playing board games, or wandering aimlessly through the city’s best toy store. And don’t forget the three summer fun basics, or the “three Bs:”
Bubbles- always bring bubbles. They make the most boring moments fun again.
Balloons. When in doubt, find a balloon. Kiddo will be happy as a lark.
Balls. Remember the old adage… “Take time to stop by Target and bounce balls with your bambino.” Here in Texas, I swear there is a Target every 20 miles.
On tap for our Toddler Moon in Austin this summer:
A tour of Austin… We’ll play tourist, riding around town in a boat-like car with Austin Duck Adventures before we plunge into Town Lake just like the character in our latest favorite storybook, If I Built A Car by Chris Van Dusen.
A few visits to the local Austin Children’s Museum
Train rides at Zilker Park with a grape snow cone in hand
CaveExploring…We’ll beat the 102 degree Texas heat by touring some unusual “dry” cave I discovered on the Austin area map.
Perhaps a fancy, manners teaching opportunity during afternoon tea for two at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Car Culture Catch-Up… I’m excited to simply drive again! Aside from the occasional car share trips to our local wholesale club, this carless NYC family member welcomes the rare opportunity to drive around town in a rental hybrid Prius with kiddo in tow.
A Car Wash- Sometimes fun is right in front of you, disguised as a chore. The highlight of our driving experience includes a simple gas station drive-through car wash. Truth be told, I get as excited as my daughter.
A Sweet Treat. Cool off with a snow cone or a frozen yogurt, or better, a lemon meringue cupcake with lemon filling and a graham cracker crust from Delish.
Food You Can’t Get Everyday–Southern comfort food and Salt Lick bar-b-que…need I say more?
A pedicab or horse drawn carriage ride down Sixth Street to hear the music and see the sights.
An unusual store the size of a Walmart, called Cabela’s. It has an aquarium, a shooting arcade, stuffed animals, and I don’t mean fluffy kitty cats and teddy bears; I mean a taxidermist’s dream with real stuffed wild cats and bears. This place was the perfect opportunity to teach my daughter my stance on hunting and killing animals. Oh, and despite the content for which I have some issues, this place has the best customer service I have ever experienced.
The Austin City-Wide Garage Sale, where we found a vintage accordion-style organ, now my daughter’s newest instrument.
A rare late night treat. Consider a movie, or better, July 4th Fireworks!
A multi-part history lesson while celebrating our nation’s birthday: decorating a cake to look like the US flag, with strawberries for stripes and blueberries for stars, and pointing out every Texas and US flag as we drive around the proudest state in the union.
The Austin Zoo, mostly an animal sanctuary, and a good place to talk more about animals and that crazy store we went to earlier!
A local oddball or lesser-known museum. I like historical museums, so I’m thinking the George Washington Carver Museum.
Get to know the locals, insects, that is…My daughter’s going through an “I hate bugs” period, so I take every opportunity to change the experience by saying, “You’re in the bug’s house now,” or “look at that amazing dead bug that can’t hurt you.” But the weird dead insect collections we keep finding at flea markets, antique stores and roadside booths are great too. Take the time to investigate and learn about them when they can’t bug ya.
Try A New Food Together. This one I have to work on…so far venison jerky is on the maybe, but doubtful list.
When in Rome… We don’t get to swim much living in NYC, but Texas heat almost requires a daily dose of water. We’ve scoped out the constant 68-degree, spring-fed Barton Springs, as well as a skinny-dipper’s dream, Hamilton Pool and the water fountain at Butler Park, next to the Palmer Events Center.
Buy local. Support the local merchants, whether it’s fresh food from farmer’s markets, local restaurants, or clothing stores. Austin is big on their local flavor and many merchants accept the Go Local card which offer patrons great discounts.
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PianoDraft…
Megacool Blog indeed!… if anyone else has anything it would be much appreciated. Great website Enjoy!…