Order Now for Mother’s Day (It’s This Weekend!)
Spring is finally really starting to spring here in Northern California. We have oak trees putting out bright green leaves, the lilacs and redbud bushes are beautifuly in full bloom, and all the new seedlings are starting to push up in our gardens. 
Amidst all this growing and flowering, it seems a perfect time of year to celebrate all the strong and beautiful women in our lives: the mothers of all kinds who nurture and support us.
Mother’s Day is this weekend, and there is still time to order decadent vegan chocolates, melt-in-her-mouth vegan fudge and 
our luscious new Salted Lavender and Chocolate Rose Caramels in time for Sunday. Order before 9am on Wednesday and choose 2-day air shipping to guarantee on-time delivery.
What are your Mother’s Day plans? Any wildflower walks or sunny meadow picnics in the works? We’d love to hear your ideas and recipes!
New: Special Caramel Flavors for Mother’s Day!
Allison’s mind is often in a whirl of fun ideas for new products and more. Several months ago, when she first told me her idea to use Lavender and Rose flavors in our caramels for Mother’s Day, I’ll admit I was a little skeptical. After the first test batch, I got to do one of my favorite tasks of my job description – taste-testing – and I was an instant convert! Eating these caramels is like eating the rich yet delicate scent of lavender and rose flowers (covered in caramel, of course!). The floral accents are well-rounded and dynamic, without overpowering the caramel’s perfection. To tell you the truth, they’re absolute heaven.
Allison created two glorious flavors in honor of moms in all forms:
Salted Lavender Caramels - Combining organic lavender with our already to-live-for Salted Vanilla Caramels creates these sweet, luxuriously chewy and brightly lavender flavored delights. Enjoy them sitting in your garden with the sun on your face listening to the bees buzzing in the flowers. 
Chocolate Rose Caramels - Most of us know that chocolate and roses are natural complements. Allison built on this classic pairing by adding just the right touch of Bulgarian rose to our oh-so-elegant Chocolate Caramels, creating a confection that is both flowers and chocolates in one ideal gift.
Mother’s Day is quickly coming up – in just under two weeks – and there are probably a bazillion moms out there who will be clamoring for these unbelievably delicious and unique caramels as soon as word gets out. So, get ahead of the game and surprise all the super-women in your life with life-changing caramels (and maybe breakfast in bed, too)! You can place your order today and request a delayed delivery date (in the order process) for timely arrival.
For more Mother’s Day gift ideas, check out our special Mother’s Day page.
Mother’s Day is Just Around the Corner!
Well, it’s almost May, which means that hopefully it will actually start feeling like a spring around here and we might even get some flowers blooming for Mother’s Day, which is in (gasp) just two weeks! Yep, that’s right, Easter came late this year, so while many of us will be celebrating bunnies and eggs this weekend, 
Mother’s Day is on May 8th which is already fast approaching.
Since there’s such a short window to order your Mother’s Day gifts this year, we’re making is easy with an exquisite collection of Mother’s Day gift ideas for moms of all tastes. 
Whether it’s tea and cookies or a gourmet coffee gift basket, every mom is sure to love our superbly delicious and compassionate treats.
Although Mother’s Day completely sneaked up on me this year, Allison has been hard at work for the past few weeks developing two exciting new products just for moms. They’re in the final testing stages and will be unveiled on Monday… so come on back and check them out!
What Mothering Means to Me
My journey to Motherhood has been by far the most enriching, stretching, humbling experience thus far. I often joke that I was the “Perfect Mother” before my daughter was born because I knew it all. Now that I have unwittingly invited my guru to live with me 24/7, I realize how little I do know and it’s so much easier to let go of judgments I once had. Each child is different and requires subtly different types of parenting. Before I had my daughter, I thought all children needed exactly the same thing. Yes, there are similar basic needs, but there is no simple formula to perfect mothering. Oh how well Olivia has taught me that!
For me, Mothering is a Spiritual endeavor like no other. I continuously have to set aside my own needs to tend to the needs of Olivia. The important part is remembering to return to my needs and tend to them. This is where my self-healing practices come in.
- I begin my day by nourishing my body with vibrant, vegan, organic, whole foods, and fresh veggie juices. When I have the nourishment I need, all things come more easily.
- Although I have fought it at times throughout my life, I am mindful of my need for regular exercise. I studied yoga for many years and throughout my pregnancy, yet Mothering has taught me that I need a more vigorous outlet. Now that I’ve found Nia, I get the release I need and it’s much more fun to literally ‘Dance through Life’ and get my exercise at the same time.
- Before I became vegan in 1997, there were extra 10-15 pounds that didn’t seem to want to leave my body, so I used to put forth a lot of effort to find fat-free treats. Through self-inquiry and exploration, I discovered that eating consciously is a necessity. One of the ways I do this is to remove distractions and focus while I’m eating, especially goodies. Additionally, choosing only the highest quality sweets allows me to be more deeply satisfied with less quantity, so even though it may be more expensive and higher in fat, I am ultimately saving money and calories by choosing premium foods. Now that we are transitioning our brownies to be wheat-free, Tessa (my assistant extraordinaire!) jokes that it’s “Brownie o’clock.”
- Doing work I am passionate about inspires me to strive toward my greatness. Sharing that joy is one of the best parts of my life and knowing that I’m doing so without harming other beings makes it even better. This is a wonderful side-effect of being vegan.
- Living in a rural area and being surrounded by Nature feeds my soul. Whenever I need a moment to regroup or get grounded, I need only look out my window or step out my door to be renewed.
- Nurturing friendships with a few close people helps me to know that even when I feel like an insane mother, I’m actually doing ok.
Embracing my role as a Mother has been a most awesome process and certainly the biggest endeavor I have ever embarked on. To temper my feelings of overwhelm at the vastness of it all, I try to remember that at the base of parenting, one of the primary gifts I can share with my daughter is how to accept and cope when things don’t go her way in the world. If she has that tool, she’ll be far better off than most adults I know! 
Here’s to Mothering and the fullness of it all. How lucky we are to have the choice to live our lives consciously, compassionately, and with deep love toward our little ones and all beings.
Looking for Vegan Mother’s Day Gifts? Try These…
All the moms I know do a lot of nurturing every day, even when their children aren’t children any more. So it’s always a great pleasure for me to take one day every year to honor them (although is often seems like one day isn’t nearly enough).
Allison is one of the amazing mamas in my life, and, in honor of other mamas everywhere, she’s made sure that we’re offering a scrumptious selection of vegan Mother’s Day gift ideas. Does the mom you love want to sit down in a quiet space with a box of chocolates or an aromatic assortment of teas and tisanes (herbal teas)? For a more personal gift, you might select a special assortment of all her favorite cookie flavors and/or confections; add gift wrap and our hand-written gift card for an extra sweet touch. Our gift sets and gift baskets offer even more decadent and elegant Mother’s Day gift ideas. Go ahead, give her a treat, she deserves it!
Place your order before Monday, May 3rd for delivery in time for Mother’s Day, May 9th.
Enter to Win Mother’s Day Sweets!
Mother’s Day is coming up on Sunday, May 9th. In honor of the amazing moms in our lives (whether it be your mom, grandmother, or even yourself), Allison is giving one lucky winner a hand-selected assortment of Allison’s Gourmet treats!
Here’s how to enter the contest:
Go to our Facebook fan page and post your story of amazing mothering on our wall. Feel free to simply write it, or get more creative by uploading a video, pictures, or even an original song. The more inspired the better! The most heart-warming entry wins!
Enter by 5pm Pacific on Thursday, April 29th.
The winner will be announced the following day on our blog and Facebook fan page.
Sweet Treats for Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day is coming up on May 9th, and since we love crossing things off our to-d0 lists, our Mother’s Day gift ideas page is already up. We know it’s early, and we don’t expect everyone to order right away, but for those of you who like to plan ahead, we’ve got you covered. 
You can order something for her now, choose May 6th as your preferred delivery date, and leave the rest to us. We have lots of Mother’s Day gift ideas to make any mama smile, from superb Gift-Boxed Vegan Chocolate (with special red-foil-wrapped cherry truffle hearts to show your love), to Peppermint Bark, Cherry Chocolate Brownies, and elegant Gift Baskets. Have fun!
