How it all started....

So we're often asked, how did the two of you decide to do this? And the decision was much easier then one would expect......well lets go back to the beginning.

It all started one snowy morning a few winters back. I (Mia) woke up, looked outside and found that over the night there was a massive snow storm. It was one of those mornings where you just want to go tobogganing, or go for a walk in the winter wonderland, but then you realize that its the middle of the week and you need to get dressed and go to work!!! Well the thought of digging up my car from underneath 20cm of snow and then spending an hour and a half getting to work, when the trip should only take half an hour, made me ill. So I decided to opt out for the first option, to get my snow gear on and go enjoy the great outdoors. But then the guilt kicked in and so I called Joanna to see what she was going to do. Had she decided not to go in, it would have been fully justifiable for me not to go either. So I made the call to find out that Joanna was just getting ready to leave for work. Well much to my disappointment snow or no snow, she wasn't giving up on making the drive to the office. So after a couple of minutes of pondering my options I decided to stick to my guns about not driving, so I met Joanna at the subway station closest to her house and we went to work together, in her car:)

I still remember that ride which took close to two hours, although it didn't feel nearly as long. We sat in her car and talked about what it is that we really wanted to be doing in life. We had stable and challenging jobs. Jobs that would lead to lots of opportunities and growth down the road. But we dared to be one of those dreamers that believed that every morning you should wake up wanting to go to work......what a concept! So back to our drive, we were surrounded by a bunch of pissed off motorists, cutting each other off, impatiently trying to get to their final destination, but we were so immersed in our conversation that the chaos outside wasn't really effecting us at all. At one moment I turned around to her and said 'You know.....we should open up a business together, wanna do it?'. And after I blurted those words out in an almost knee jerk reaction sort of way, I realized that I just said it like it was no big deal, like I was asking her if she wanted milk or cream in her coffee. In an almost confused state I waited for her response. Very quickly with much enthusiasm she responded, 'What a great idea! Lets do it!'. Just like that I got my answer as if she was answering my milk vs cream question. At that moment life as we knew it was about to completely change, Green Lavender was born!

If you think I'm making this sound like an experience you would have when you realize you're going to have a baby.....well you're not far off, it kind of is like that. Whereas a child takes 9 months to come, Green Lavender took about 18. Minor differences aside, just like with a child, when one decides to open up their own business they need to be prepared to invest a large part of their life to that endeavor. So you better pick something you're passionate about, cause otherwise its going to feel like a drag really quickly.

What I'm really trying to get at is this: sometimes the best decisions in life are the ones that take mere seconds to arrive at. The ones where you throw all caution to the wind, plug your nose and just dive in without a single thought of reason. So, our dear readers, ask yourself what you're willing to give up in order to live a life of reason and comfort.

What I learned: Live as if your were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
--Gandhi