Green Diva Lisa and I had a great time yesterday making our little Green Diva Quickie video about this year’s Mother’s Day. We had some laughs as we memorialized our wonderful mom who has been gone for 17 years now. If I have any talent at all, I’d like to think it came from mom, who was a gorgeous professional model and talented actress and way too smart for me to get away with ANYTHING growing up. She was a very funny woman with a sophisticated sense of humor and this only added to her ability to be a wonderful communicator. Some days, I feel like I can claim some of these attributes, but mostly I just sigh and admire her natural grace and beauty and do my best to find my own assets (still looking sometimes!).

One thing Lisa and I concluded was that we don’t want to get involved in a big consumer gig for Mother’s Day. Hopefully we’ve trained our kids well. I’ve discouraged my kids from spending money on stuff. This year, my daughters and grand babies are planning to cook a special vegan brunch – psyched!

Here are some of the fun eco-friendly things I’ve done with my kids over the years:

Playing in the Garden – Mother’s Day usually falls around May 10, which is generally a safe time to get plants in the ground where we live in the northeast. I started this when they were fairly young. They used to grumble, but when I offered the alternative of cleaning their rooms for me, they grabbed their garden gloves and followed me like little reluctant ducklings. I tried to teach them what I knew about planting and gardening during these Mother’s Day episodes. Their glazed eyes and disinterested grunts left me feeling like they probably wouldn’t be enthusiastic gardeners. Oh well. BUT, to my amazement, my daughter was planting seeds with my grandson a month ago!

Crafty Visions – One year we came in from the garden and decided to make vision boards. What a wonderful experience for all of us to chatter about our dreams while we cut, paste and giggle at ourselves. The pic at the top of this post is my original vision board from that Mother’s Day several years ago.

Foodie Fun – When the kids were little, I’d get them in the kitchen to help me prepare a fun meal – again, none of them seemed particularly interested in the beginning, but I’m proud to say that I’ve spawned three beautiful little foodie women, who love to play in the kitchen now! My baby (who is now 19) sends me yummy recipes while she is at school and looks forward to every visit home so we can experiment in the kitchen together. Nice.

Outdoor Discoveries – We have done some fun outdoor adventures like hikes through bird sanctuaries and visiting our favorite public gardens for inspiration. My girls weren’t always so rugged outdoors, but I think they all have a good appreciation for nature and the beauty of our amazing eco-system.

Bonus:

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Images via Shutterstock

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