He asked me to write a blog about

I've used this phrase a number of times in the past couple of days.  It's a numeric sequence basically saying "all the time".  The basis of our conversation were about our happiness.  That I want him to be happy 24/7/365.  It's not that I'm altruistic, it's that I'm entirely selfish.  My happiness is tied to his, all of my emotions are tied to his.  When he's upset or anxious, I'm unnerved.  When he's bothered by something, I don't feel right.  When he's happy, I feel like I've got the world by the tail.  Perhaps it's because we're so in tune with one another, we're almost empathic.  

But I doubt that it's really that interesting.

Its a matter of I like to see him happy.  He's an amazing person and when he's happy he glows, and that light shines on me.  Yes, perhaps it's corny, perhaps it's simply how I choose to visualize my manifestation of happy, but it's really true, when he gets excited about something, be it GenCon or Beer, or whatever else has him wound up I get swept up in the excitement and thrill at discovering something new.  And it's WONDERFUL.

So, my goal in life, is to make sure he's happy 24/7/365 and I'll do that by loving him, working hard at us and at life, making sure he feels loved, cherished and trusted.  By making sure he trusts me with any thought, feeling or idea, that I'll never judge, but rather thrill in the adventure with him.  He's my best friend, he's the love of my life, and I want him to be as happy as I am.

Because HAPPY

An open letter to Target Canada

Dear Target,

You need to hear this, but right now you pretty much suck.  I get it; you had a rough opening in Canada.  You say you’ve failed your Canadian guests, supply chain issues, empty shelves, but do you REALLY know what it’s going to take to fix this?  Honestly, it’s more than just putting product on the shelf, and if you think that’s your only problem, you’re doomed, and that makes me, as a Canadian consumer very sad.   Let’s look at what’s happened and what you can do to fix it.

Complaint – prices are higher than the US stores.  Of course they are, but you know what, so are they in Walmart Canada vs Walmart USA too, same as Home Depot, Lowe’s, the GAP, and just about ANY retailer with operations on both sides of the border.  When Walmart entered the Canadian market 20 years ago, there likely was the ardent cross boarder shopping, but there wasn’t the ability to “status update” “tweet” or “blog” about the price differences.  Stop trying to chase a pricing ideal that once consumers realize it’s the same with ALL retailers, they’ll stop barking.  How do you do this?  Give them a GREAT assortment (yes, you’ve failed in this) and a REASON to shop at Target.

Complaint – the assortment isn’t as good as the Target stores in the USA.  It’s true; I remember when I walked into my first Target Canada store.  There were shiny new carts with cup holders so I could enjoy my Triple Venti Skinny Vanilla Latte prepared to be WOWed by the product like I was in the USA.  My enthusiasm quickly dwindled when I saw racks upon racks of Cherokee merchandise.  Wait … this is just Zellers with some lipstick on it.   There weren’t the fabulous boutique like clothes and accessories like I’d find south of the boarder.  The housewares section looked a TON like the one at Walmart and even then, many shelves were bare.  You have a unique Canadian buying team, but really, did you just higher all the ex-Zellers buyers … because that’s what it really felt like.

Go out, take a chance on some more exciting home fashions at great prices.  Create a unique and stylish brand and SHOWCASE it for crying out loud.  Do pop-up stores, put your ad agency to work getting on local shows, have the young trendy folks WEAR IT.  Educate the Canadian Consumer on what your house brand is.  Walmart has George, Loblaws has Joe … I can’t even name yours. 

Complaint – the store shelves are empty.  Easy fix … BUY MORE to sell us!  I cannot for the life of me understand why you’ve had over a YEAR of inventory struggles.  If your supply chain is locking down the buyers ability to cut PO’s to fill the shelf STOP THAT!  I’ve dropped $3 million at a 4 day trade show, earning that employer healthy 71% average margins and value to the consumer.  It’s not rocket science, it’s CATEGORY MANAGEMENT.   Seriously, this is the EASIEST one to fix of all. 

You’re sorry, I get it, I’ve seen the YouTube video, but WHAT are you doing to fix the problem?  I keep hearing you’re working on it, but I don’t see the results.  I had the opportunity to pop into your Ajax store last week.  Staff weren’t excited to see me, I had to bother them to ask a question.  The store was a MESS, but I happened across a pair of Yoga pants that I FELL IN LOVE WITH.  WOW, I didn’t know Target had GREAT stuff like that.  Then, on my way out I spotted a purse that I HAD to HAVE.  Seriously Target, you’ve GOT so much right, don’t blow it with all you have going wrong.

Here are my quick tips on how to fix it FAST.

1.       Go to Staples Canada and hire their store staff.  They have THE BEST customer service of ANY retailer in Canada.  They live it, breathe it and reward it.  Get your staff on board with this.

2.       Let your buyers BUY!  Give them license to get creative with in store displays.   Make it bright, colourful and exciting to shop in. 

3.       Stay true to the “our pricing is in line with the Canadian market” mantra.  Make it WORTH it to shop at Target and people will.

4.       Tell people exactly WHAT you’re doing to fix the problems.  Stop with the empty sorrys and get to work FAST.

I’ve shopped at a few Targets to great disappointment.  You’re opening up in my home town on August 1^st.  I’ll be there that day; I’m really hoping to see changes.  I’ve waited a LONG time for Target to come to Canada and I don’t want to have to wait until my annual trip to the USA to shop at Target … but if you stay on the path you’re on right now, that’s how it’s going to be.

Sincerely,

A really busy working mother who wants Target to succeed!

Feeling the need for speed.

WOW, what a weekend.  I think I have a mild adrenalin hangover!   A coworker and I had the opportunity to hit a Grand Prix race as VIP guests.  WOW.  We spent the weekend, schmoozing with race car drivers, eating gourmet food, watching some really fast cars.  The ultimate was hanging out in the pit DURING the race.  Watching a Grand Prix Ferrari come to a stop in front of you, change its wheels, change its driver and get fueled up will make your hair stand on end when you’re only 8-10 feet away from the powerful machine.

I think I may have found the eldest gift’s calling, as he’s skinny enough to fit in with the race car driver set.  I’d never given it much thought before, but not only the weight component slowing the cars down, but being an absolute tooth pick so you can get IN and OUT of the race car is imperative.  I (not so gracefully) wedged myself into it and crawled back out. 

A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll leave it to those, and 2 videos!

VROOM VROOM!

Heroes

It’s a crazy world isn’t it?  We’re currently hanging out on this big beautiful marble in a world and time that moves at a ridiculously fast pace.  News headlines scream about Sports "Heros" fighting dogs, crashing cars or raping women.  TV and rock stars (and the Mayor of Toronto) are making asses out of themselves in and out of rehab.  Where do we look for our leaders, our role models, our heroes?  Well if you’re me, you look at the extraordinary group of Working Mothers you’re lucky enough to be a part of.  This cyber group came together over the past 10 years.  Meeting on a babycentric site, when it changed formats, we migrated to a private group on facebook.  These women are simply AWESOME.  American and Canadian moms with kids ranging in age from 1 to 20’s, we’ve stuck together, supported each other, been there for each other, laughed together, cried together … all on our fabulous little technology devices.  I’ve even had the luck of meeting 2 (there are 45 of us in the group) of these amazing women.  We’re from all walks of life, all levels of income, backgrounds, religion, careers, married, divorced, single, etc.  The one thing we have in common is that we’re all mothers.

One of these women, for me, truly stands out.  I’ve “known” Haley for about 7-8 years know.  She has fantastic names for her kids (all trademarked, so don’t go stealing them) and Agent Weaselburg is my favourite name.  She was courageous enough to follow her dream and start her own business, helping care for people https://www.facebook.com/pages/CarePatrol-of-The-Triangle/248254672007013 .  That, in itself, would make her heroic in my mind, but she’s far more than that.  She has two beautiful daughters, and writes a blog called http://leadershipgirl.com/  Wow, she’s writing to help empower women to become everything they can be.   Her posts are always thoughtful, brilliantly written and inspiring.  I’m a fan (can you tell).

Ok, if THAT wasn’t enough to make her a hero in my mind, then there’s Fifi.  She recently adopted 3 orange kittens (brothers).  Seriously, cuteness beyond belief!!!  Shortly after bringing them home, she noticed one was ill, that’s Fifi.  He had a blockage in his throat that prevented him from eating.  I honestly believe most people would have sadly let the kitten be put down, and enjoyed having the other two brothers … well not Haley.  She (and her family) went about caring for this little kitten with tube feedings until his surgery could be scheduled.  She not only rescued this little darling, but created a facebook page so everyone could watch and cheer on Fifi!  https://www.facebook.com/groups/808705185806267/?fref=ts

I think that if more people could see and admire heroes like Haley, the world would simply be a better place!  Thanks Haley, you’re my hero!