Butter Paddle - Los Gatos

Butter Paddle, voted the #1 Gift Shop in Los Gatos, is modest in it's societal impact. If, like me, you've walked past this shop many times while strolling on North Santa Cruz avenue - it will soon on the top of your favorite one stop shops for all your gift giving needs from the first time you step foot inside.

A few awesome things about Butter Paddle:

• 100% of profits go to the EMQ FamiliesFirst foundation helping children and families in crisis. You read that right - 100%!!
• The shop is run completely by trained volunteers - from the sales clerks, accountants, and web support. Having a volunteer run business ensures more money goes directly to the families who need it.
• The impact can be felt locally, EMQ FamiliesFirst has helped over 6,000 children and families in Santa Clara County with Mental Health, Social Services, and an occasional holiday party or outing for the children.
• They've got an amazing assortment of gifts - anything from bridal or baby shower to housewarming gifts or jewelry for a loved one, the Butter Paddle has got you covered! 

The best thing about Butter Paddle is that you can purchase absolutely any item in store and know that your purchase is helping others in your community.

A Mindful Consumer

It’s been a few months since my last post but the conversations around being a Mindful Consumer haven’t stopped. It’s been exciting to get questions about good places to shop or on product recommendations. The most enjoyable thing to talk about though has been about bringing mindfulness into my consumer behaviors and all new venues and products I’ve learned about through the process.

Recently, I came across the below video from HopeLab about Resilience and Happiness, specifically the happiness that comes from Doing Good. This brought me back to thinking about the small decisions we can make on a daily basis. Purchasing and donating mindfully helps me feel engaged in a much larger effort. Like most of us, I often feel overwhelmed by all the problems that affect the world and constantly feel as if I can’t do ‘enough’. 

In the past, I felt somewhat fulfilled giving to charities and purchasing fundraising items whenever approached, however the high from giving in this way never lasted too long. Additionally,  I never gave much thought to the stories behind my purchases or the effects that my purchases were having on decision making after POS. However, after hearing about which businesses were committing to better practices after 2013 Bangladesh clothing factory collapse, I vowed to live more consciously and spend to support businesses that supported ethical practices, purchase sustainable and eco-friendly goods, and a personal passion – promote organizations that have social responsibility built into the core of their business model.

This has meant I could proactively live in a way that supports something meaningful. By changing my consumer behaviors, I’ve found that I feel happier knowing that my dollars will go to a business or cause I believe in.

I hope you’ll enjoy the HopeLab video and revisit this blog as I spend the next few weeks covering various socially responsible businesses that make it easy and enjoyable to be a Mindful Consumer.

Want to shop Mindfully - just Follow the Frog!

Dr. Suess Knows Good Customer Service

Even Dr. Suess knew the value of good customer service. Think he was perhaps a mindful consumer?

5 Customer Service Lessons From Dr. Seuss

Everlane.com - Radical Transparency

Simple, Authentic, & the way business should be done: E-Commerce company Everlane.com provides full transparency to their factories, methods, as well as mark-up. "Know your factories. Know your Costs. Always ask Why".


There is so much with Everlane.com for a mindful consumer to love. First and foremost, they are hands on with their factories to ensure integrity.  Click on any item and it will not only tell you which factory it came from, but provide stats, history, and some information about the factory owner as well. How cool is that! It's obvious that they want to build a sustainable and ethical business.

They keep their business online and pass savings directly to the consumer. Everlane is even upfront about their true cost and markup. As a consumer, the transparency is so valuable. There are so many items being manufactured in factories with horrible conditions with markups over 10x true cost. Here you know exactly where  your dollars are going for the purchase and can trust in the manufacturing conditions. Below is the transparent pricing for the beautiful Burgandy Card Case:

And for some icing on the cake: No minimal dollar amount needed for free shipping. Simply buy 2 of their items to qualify for free shipping.  Go on the site, shop around and feel good about your purchase!

The Melt: Grilled Cheese & Outstanding Service

As a consumer it's so important to support businesses that go above & beyond in their customer service.  THE MELT in Saratoga nearly had me streaming tears of joy today with their amazing service.

I was running errands in the area and my little guy had finally fallen asleep after much fussing. I didn't want to wake him so I kept driving around so he'd get a longer nap. That is until hunger struck and I just didn't have it in me to go through a fast-food drive through. I decided to try out the Melt because my sister has been raving about their menu. I parked right outside their front doors and was dreading waking the baby up to simply run in and pick up some takeout. I thought about how California Pizza Kitchen brings you your meal curbside and I thought I would ask Melt if they could do the same. Keep in mind, I was fully prepared to receive an annoyed  response to this request.

I got transferred to a manager and  was so shocked that they'd honor my request and even took care of my meal for me as a kind gesture - asking that I'd simply come in and try the restaurant another time. Talk about a random act of kindness. Completely made me day!

The manager brought me my meal  & nice cold bottle of Cuipo water (more to follow on this socially responsible company) without boast & with complete graciousness. THE MELT is a mindful consumer's dream come true. Not only do they provide exceptional service and stock products such as Cuipo, which helps save the rainforest but they support the FeelGood.org program dedicated to promoting social entrepreneurship to end world hunger and are 100% recyclable and 100% compostable.

Thank you THE MELT! You've got a new loyal customer on your hands.
If you haven't tried them out already, why not stop in this weekend for a delicous lunch. Local Melt's listed below but be sure to check their site for other locations.

Eat Mindfully, GMOs

Entheos has a free webseries talk on "GMOs: What You Need to Know". It started yesterday but there are still 3 days worth of talks remaining. I've enjoyed many series on the Ethneos site and I'm continuously amazed that they post talks from knowledgable leaders for free

For those interested in learning more about Genetically Engineered Foods, check out the series below:
http://www.entheos.com/GMOs-What-You-Need-to-Know/entheos