August has always been my favourite time for summer vacation, and the words “accomplish” and “projects” and “revise website” aren’t in my vocabulary for this month, however, I plan to do alot of celebrating….



I plan to celebrate and enjoy the amazing natural beauty and surroundings of our local area and I plan to join my husband as we celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary on Aug 17th! I also plan to celebrate some exciting new developments for Hippy Grandma.



My plan is to kick back, read, write in my journal and move out of linear time for awhile. I intend to “be” not “do”.

I may bring the word “accomplish” back in September and I may not!

I think the world would be a happier place if we all focused less on “accomplishing” and more on “enjoying”.



Here is an excerpt from one of my favourite children’s books for summer (”The Squeeze More Inn”), by a local author Elizabeth Ferber and it describes a summer holiday beach day perfectly!


”We played there for hours, collecting shells, 
building a sandcastle, pretending we were mermaids, 
and sea monsters and movie stars.  We swam until we 
got wrinkles.  Then we had a picnic while the hot sun 
dried our salty skin.  In the afternoon we picked berries.  
We ate so many our tongues turned blue.  
There were just enough 
berries left for Maureen’s dad to bake us a big juicy pie.  At 
night we had a huge bonfire and roasted wieners.  The moon was 
gigantic and there were a million tiny stars.”

Enjoy your summer day!

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations!

Zoey ~ founding hippy of Hippy Grandma Eco-Boutique and life coach for women

Are you a heart-centered and “soul-filled shopper”? Know of a new baby arriving or looking for hippy baby clothes? Keep the heart, soul & hippy love flowing for generations with purchases from Hippy Grandma: an Eco-Boutique selling fair trade, one of a kind, earth friendly treasures.

Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support vulnerable mamas & babies. Please share the hippy love news widely and wildly with your soul brothers & sisters (copyright held by Hippy Grandma Ventures). www.hippygrandma.com

“The Enlightened Entrepreneur: A Spiritual Approach to Creating and Marketing A Company” by Grace Bulger

In this book, Grace Bulger, a marketing consultant specializing in corporate identity work and former VP of communications for GE Capital Rail Services, brings a strategic, values based process to designing a business.
While totally open to her wording the title with the word “spiritual”, I couldn’t actually find many references to spirituality and certainly few references to religion or a higher power. What I did find was a clearly laid out, easy to read primer for any socially responsible entrepreneur who wants their business to be an expression of their life purpose.

Not just for the pre-start up phase but for any entrepreneur wanting to re-energize their business, the author mixes real life business examples with practical and easy to follow exercises. You and your business will benefit!
In fact, I used many of the principles in this book when designing Hippy Grandma!

If you admire business women like Anita Roddick of the Body Shop or respect the social responsibility of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, then I think you will love this book!


peace, namaste & hippy love for generations!

Zoey ~ founding hippy of Hippy Grandma Eco-Boutique

Are you a heart-centered and “soul-filled shopper”? Know of a new baby arriving? Keep the heart, soul & hippy love flowing for generations with purchases from Hippy Grandma: an Eco-Boutique selling fair trade, one of a kind, earth friendly treasures.

Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support vulnerable mamas & babies. Please share the hippy love news widely and wildly with your soul brothers & sisters (copyright held by Hippy Grandma Ventures) .www.hippygrandma.com

This is a list that I compiled together with Pamela Chatry, (a Personal Business Manager) and my strategic business alliance partner for many years. We highly recommend all of these business books for women entrepreneurs and I have used the many of the wonderful ideas in creating Hippy Grandma

1. “Body and Soul” by Anita Roddick

2. “Make a Name for Yourself” by Robin Fisher Roffer

3. “Good to Great” by Jim Collins

4. “The 80% Minority” by Joanne Thomas Yaccato

5. “Finding Our Way” by Margaret Wheatley

6. “Attracting Perfect Customers” by Stacey Hall & Jan Brogniez

7. “9 Lies That Are Holding Your Business Back…and the Truth That Will Set It Free” by Steve Chandler & Sam Beckford

8. “Megatrends 2010″ by Patricia Aburdene

9. “The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth” by Steve S. Little

10. “She Wins, You Win” by Gail Evans.

I hope that you find this list helpful and in the words of Anita Roddick “To succeed you have to believe in something with such a passion that it becomes a reality“!

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations,

Zoey – founding hippy & ceo (chief enthusiasm officer) at hippy grandma

Are you a heart centered and soul filled shopper? Hippy Grandma eco-tique features unique, handmade treasures and gifts for hippie babies and their mamas. Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support vulnerable women and children. Please share Hippy Grandma widely and wildly with your soul brothers & sisters.
www.hippygrandma.com

Our wonderful suppliers, Lorraine Pond and Robyn Hardy (Bobs & Lolo) have received a Juno nomination for their wonderful ‘Action Packed’ CD! Far out and Groovy!

“Bobs & Lolo are dedicated to connecting kids to the natural world with music, movement and make-believe. Sharing musical stories that engage, inspire and educate, they teach kids to care about themselves, their neighbours and the planet.

Robyn Hardy – Bobs
With a background in teaching and linguistics, Robyn is an enthusiastic and caring individual with a passion for conservation education. On stage she loves to sing, dance, clap, snap and tap!

Lorraine Pond – Lolo
As an environmental educator and kinesiology major, Lorraine is an energetic performer with a flare for creating connections between young audiences and the natural world. On stage she loves to sing, dance, wiggle, slide and glide!

Growing up on Vancouver Island, Robyn and Lorraine have always shared a love of the natural world and a passion for working with children. Creating the dynamic duo Bobs & Lolo has allowed them to combine their diverse academic backgrounds with a mutual love of teaching and the creative arts.”

(from www.bobsandlolo.com)

Lorraine & Robyn, we want to send you a big green & groovy shout out on your nomination! Send a Bobs & Lolo CD to your fav hippy kid from our on-line store!

peace, namaste & hippy love for generations,

Zoey – founding hippy ceo (chief enthusiasm officer) at hippy grandma & life & biz coach for women

Are you a heart centered and soul filled shopper? Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support vulnerable mamas & babies. Please share Hippy Grandma widely and wildly with your soul brothers & sisters.
www.hippygrandma.com

Canada’s national newspaper, The Globe and Mail, has been doing a series of articles this year on different book clubs from around the country. The articles show up periodically in the Focus and Books section of Saturday’s paper and have profiled clubs from Moncton to Victoria.

As the series has unfolded, one of the most interesting aspects of it has been that every book club profiled has been so different from every other one. What they have in common is that the members love books and reading, after that the commonalities stop.

The latest article features a club in Ontario that meets just three times a year, rather than the more common once-a-month. This group of retirees has created a club schedule that fits into their busy lives.

Another club that we were fascinated to read about was a mother-daughter club, also in Ontario. Founder Karen von Jagow came home from her adult book club a few years ago to find herself peppered with questions from her then-11-year-old daughter. Von Jagow realized that her daughter had observed how important her mother’s club was to her and was, in her own way, expressing a desire to be involved with a group in a similar way.

The idea for a mother-daughter club was born and they’ve been meeting now for three years. One beautiful thing the mothers have noticed is that their girls have transformed from being a bit shy about talking about the books to being more confident about hosting, leading a discussion and creating provocative questions for the group to discuss. The added bonus of keeping conversational doors open between parent and child during the teenage years is one we’re sure these mothers are happy about too!

Do you belong to a book group?
If not, would you like to create one?
Who would you invite to join you on the reading journey?

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan

founding hippy at hippy grandma
life
business & leadership coach for women

inspiration * clarity * wisdom * enchantment

604-323-3700

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

Are you a heart-centered and “soulful shopper”? Know of a new baby arriving? Keep the heart, soul & hippy love flowing for generations with purchases from Hippy Grandma: an Eco-Boutique selling fair trade, earth friendly treasures.

Through your purchases, you help local artisans, hand-crafting grandmas on a pension, women’s fair trade co-ops and programs designed to support high risk mamas & babies. Please share Hippy Grandma widely and wildly with your soul sisters. www.hippygrandma.com

Holistic Health Information provided by Victoria Pawlowski, RD, MEd of Springwell Nutrition Group: Springwell provides nutritional assessment, counselling,consulting and psycho-nutritional therapy.  We are passionate about supporting you to transform your health with quality whole foods, optimal nutrition and mindful eating.

The following is an excerpt from Victoria’s upcoming book on “Mindful Feeding for Babies”.   Victoria also offers “Mindful Feeding for Babies” seminars each month through Capers Whole Foods Markets in Vancouver.

“Each time we sit down with our baby and share food, we are building a feeding relationship – a nurturing relationship that goes very deep and secures attachment – the root of healthy emotional and psychological development.  The way we offer food, each meal and snack, has the potential to convey the following messages: 

- I love you enough to provide only the healthiest foods

- I love you enough to create boundaries around our meals together

- I love you enough to take care of myself and model good eating

- I love you enough to practice mindfulness so that I can parent most effectively

- I trust you to know how much you need to eat

- I trust you to learn to grow into a good eater 

The payoff is a healthy feeding relationship.  A child who is open to trying new foods, flexible about managing food in different situations, knows when they are hungry and full, knows that they can count on you for nourishment, knows that meal times are a safe and connected time of the day.  Knows that you trust them to figure it out.  Knows that you won’t control their eating.  This feeding relationship is a blueprint for the parenting for years to come. Mindfully feeding our babies offers the promise of more secure attachment in all areas of relationship.  This is a place to practice the essence of healthy parenting.  Knowing what is your job as parents and knowing what is your child’s job.  Respecting that boundary. Figuring out how to manage your own triggers around that.  Trusting.  Relaxing. Letting go and staying present. All the work of healthy parenting.  And it starts right from the beginning”.

We, the hippies at Hippy Grandma, hope that you have appreciated this information.  We are committed to supporting good health and mindfulness for all!

namaste,

Zoey

Zoey Ryan

founding hippy at hippy grandma

coach . catalyst . shakti sage

life & business coach for women

“Coaching for your heart & soul and the heart & soul of your business”

www.positivelyoutrageouswomen.com

604-323-3700

Keep the love flowing and support fair trade gifting at Hippy Grandma – an online eco-boutique selling earth friendly treasures for your grandbabies, their mamas and you!   Hippy love for generations! www.hippygrandma.com

“The Secret Life of Babies: How decoding the cultures of birth, love, and violence begins with recovering the people we once were” by Dr. Mia Kalef

This book is a must read for any new mom or grandma.  As we read from the book, this book is “based on years of clinical and scientific research into health, and explores the roots of society’s challenges around birth, love, and violence.”

Some of the questions this book explores are:

- What are babies telling us about who we are today?

- Are our brains shaped by our experiences in the womb and at birth?

Some of the solutions this book offers are:

- Suggestions on how cultivating peaceful, compassionate people begins with the way children are conceived.

“Dr. Mia Kalef is involved in researching the roots of emotional and physical well-being, including how the unique nature of the period between conception and the first year of life dramatically shapes individual health and cultural behavioural tendencies.”

You can purchase this book at Hippy Grandma: earth friendly treasures.

namaste,

Zoey

Founding Hippy

For the past 7 years, I have been following some wonderful marketing gurus like Seth Godin and Michael Port.  What I love about these two is that they are “renegades”, blast open conventional thinking about marketing and are tech savvy, understanding the dynamic of social networking to tap into niche marketing success.  I also love the book “Attracting Your Perfect Customer: the power of strategic synchronicity” by Stacey Hall and Jan Brogniez (Stringer).  I have been further educated by my friend, Pamela Chatry “A Personal Business Manager” about the power of customer driven processes and plans.

Hippy Grandma , an “on-line eco-boutique selling fair trade and earth frendly treasures” is all about niche marketing and shared success!  Our niche market is “the woman over 50 online” who feels she is a “hippie at heart” who will make purchases from her heart on the basis of the “eco, fair trade and green quotient” of that product.  This woman may consider herself a “cultural creative”, practices yoga & meditation, loves reading, is interested in the difference between religion and spirituality and may feel compelled to participate in social action especially around issues to do with women and children.

We also tap into a secondary niche market, one of the “quirky collector ones” and that is the market of vintage chenille bedspread collectors and lovers!  We sell exquisite baby jackets made out of vintage chenille, similar to that being modeled above by Sophia!

I would love your help in identifying further characteristics of our “perfect customer”.  Please add your feedback and comments below.

namaste,

Zoey, a happy hippy and hippy grandma founder

photo by Meg & Jess of Co.lektiv Images – Photography for jewelry, fashion and luscious products.