Three Year Survivor

On Monday, we celebrated Lauren's three-year anniversary at Liz Lovely! For every year an employee "survives," he or she gets a picture on the Wall of Glory (pictured above, taken from a karaoke party), a sweet trophy, a special gift, and a heartwarming speech from Liz or Dan.

Lauren is the first Liz Lovely employee to survive three years (the company has been in business for six). This year she got a hot pink trophy with a runner on top (she likes to run), extra chef coats with her name and the LL logo on them, and a gift certificate to a local spa for massages! Not a bad haul, right?

Lauren also happens to be my wife, so I was able to snag an exclusive interview without having to jump through too many hoops.

Do you remember your first day at Liz Lovely? It was exciting but a little nerve-racking. We made Ginger Snapdragons and I'm pretty sure I said about 20 words the whole day. [Note from Liz: "She was quiet for the first couple months. I told her she had to talk more in her first evalutation!"]

What is the biggest change in your job since you started? The packaging line. We used to have to hand tie every single pack of cookies but we have a fancy packaging machine now. We also have way more products now. We only made five cookies back when I started.

What is your favorite cookie to make? Macaroonies! It's fun to roll them in coconut. And eat them all day.

Favorite highlight? Developing the recipe for Goats a' Grazin'. I got to bring a ton of ingredients home with me.

The #1 song in the country when you started three years ago was "London Bridge" by Fergie. This week it’s "I Gotta Feeling" by the Black Eyed Peas. Which do you like better? "I Gotta Feeling," definitely. It's the first song on my running playlist right now.

Dog Days of Summer Cookie Giveaway Contest

The heat has finally made its way to the Green Mountains after weeks and weeks of cold and wet weather. Luckily for Bruiser and Bella (the Liz Lovely office dogs), the office is air-conditioned so they get to play hard outside and then cool down inside.

But both dogs are going on camping trips this weekend, so they'll need to find other ways to beat the heat. That's where y'all come in. Send us pictures or video of your dog chilling out in the summer heat. Lounging under a tree, rolling around in the mud, chowing down ice cream (like Bella to the right) – anything your pooch likes to do to keep cool. The "coolest" looking dog will win his or her owner a cookie sampler filled with our handmade organic and vegan cookies or gluten free cookies – your choice!

Send your pictures and video links to andy at lizlovely dot com by Monday, August 17th. We'll announce the winner next week. Don't have a dog? Just send us your ideas – the more creative, the better!

Good luck!

Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun

For an hour or two earlier this week, if you tried to shop our online bakery you would have seen this on your screen:
That's because we were switching our site over to a new web hosting company and we had to shut off all the shopping features. Big deal, right? Enough with the geek speak.

Actually, it is kind of a big deal. Our new web host's servers are completely solar-powered! The company is called AISO and is "the first and only 100 percent solar-powered web hosting company." Kind of like how we make the first and only certified vegan, organic, and gluten free cookies (as far as we can tell).

Also, their servers use 60% less energy and generate 50% less heat. So you could say their servers are "soft baked," just like our cookies.

One more similarity for you: AISO's CTO, Phil Nail, says "To stay ahead of the industry we have to act and look like rock stars." Liz tells us this every week in our staff meeting.

In fact, the only difference I can surmise is that they're located in Romoland, CA, "where the annual rainfall is minimal and the sun is out over 70 percent of the year." Liz Lovely is located in the Green Mountains of Vermont and judging by this summer so far, annual rainfall is maximal and the sun is out -15% of the year.

The site still looks and functions the same, it's just powered by the sun now! The REAL changes are coming this fall. Cue eerie, ominous music and stay tuned...

Have a Saucy Father's Day!

Liz's dad is still _______ (verb ending in -ing) after reading all of the Dad Libs Father's Day Contest submissions from our Fan Club. Close to 30 of you flexed your creative muscles and took a crack at winning a Chocoholic Cookie Sampler and made it really hard for Liz's dad to choose a winner.

After a lengthy review process, he finally settled on this entry from Brendan H. in MA:

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Dear Liz,

Your mother and I had a delightful (adjective) time visiting you in jail (place) last month. Only 3 (number) days until we move to the septic tank (place). We are so nauseated (adjective) to be closer to you!

We'll be stopping by the prison laundry (place of employment) every single day to help you make your delicious (adjective) cookies. Your mom is stoked (adjective) to show you her recipe for head cheese (type of food). She thinks it's the next frontier for Liz Lovely! All she asks is you give her the recipe for Ginger Snapdragons.

We also plan on plucking (verb ending in "ing") your turkey (type of animal) Bruiser every day and giving him lots of toes (nasty food), his favorite treats. Retirement is going to be so repulsive (adjective)!

Anyway, I should probably get back to burning (verb ending in "ing") up the house. And remember, I want a Chocoholic Cookie Sampler (type of Liz Lovely cookie sampler) for Father's Day!

Love,
Scrooge McDuck (Disney character)

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Congratulations Brendan! Look for the cookies later this week!

The most interesting tidbit for us was the part about the next frontier for Liz Lovely. Liz has a few ideas in the hopper, but she may have to reconsider after some of the ideas you guys sent in:

Blueberries, Hot sauce, Godly Eggs (instead of deviled eggs), Strawberry shortcake, Haggis, Granola, Coquilles Saint-Jacques, Collard greens, Stromboli, Roasted Brussels sprouts, Spinach, Head cheese, German chocolate cookies (regular, not gluten free), Carob sushi, Chicken paprikash, Marmite, Tea cakes, Vegan cupcakes, Pizza, Catnip crackers, Chocolate covered guano, Tapioca pudding cookies, Tiramisu, Corn dogs, Liver, Gluten free pierogies and ham loaf

Liz Lovely Hot Sauce, coming soon to a natural foods store near you!

Thanks to everyone for entering and giving us all a good laugh. If you haven't yet, stop by the online bakery and order a little something for your pops. Father's Day is this Sunday, so today is the last day to get orders in for on-time delivery.

The Dad Libs Contest

Hey Kids!

It's your uncle Andy from the Liz Lovely Fan Club. We're going to try something a little different for our 2nd Annual Father's Day contest. You've done "Mad Libs" before, right? Well this here's called "Dad Libs" (emphasis on the "Dad"). I took the liberty of writing a letter to Liz from her Dad for Father's Day. I left out some key words in the juiciest spots for you. And, if you've ever partaken in the enjoyment of a Mad Lib, you know that the more outrageous the better!

I'm gonna send all of the entries to Liz's Dad, Frank, so keep it clean! He is a pastor, after all. The one that makes him laugh the most is going to win a Chocoholic Cookie Sampler. And hey, even if you don't win it's still a nice break in your day, right?

Contest Directions: Copy and paste the letter below into an email. Fill in your words where the blanks are and send it to andy at lizlovely dot com by Sunday (June 14th). I'll forward them to Liz's dad and he'll let me know who the winner is next week. And when you're done, head over to our online bakery and pick up something for your pops! Maybe he'll forgive you for all the bad ties you've been foisting on him over the years.

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Dear Liz,

Your mother and I had a(n) _______ (adjective) time visiting you in _______ (place) last month. Only _______ (number) days until we move to _______ (place). We are so _______ (adjective) to be closer to you!

We'll be stopping by the _______ (place of employment) every single day to help you make your _______ (adjective) cookies. Your mom is _______ (adjective) to show you her recipe for _______ (type of food). She thinks it's the next frontier for Liz Lovely! All she asks is you give her the recipe for Ginger Snapdragons.

We also plan on _______ (verb ending in "ing") your _______ (type of animal) Bruiser every day and giving him lots of _______ (nasty food), his favorite treats. Retirement is going to be so _______ (adjective)!

Anyway, I should probably get back to _______ (verb ending in "ing") up the house. And remember, I want a _______ (type of Liz Lovely cookie sampler) for Father's Day!

Love,
_______ (Disney character)

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The Chocoholic Cookie Sampler

From Vermont to Hawaii and back

Lauren and I endured a looong journey from the mountains of Vermont to the sandy shores of Hawaii for our honeymoon, but it was worth every second. We arrived at Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore of Oahu in the mid-afternoon and this was the first thing we saw when we flipped on the TV while we unpacked:



Transfixing, I know. And probably stuck in your head for the rest of the day. I'm still humming it.

We quickly got to work on the list of your suggestions from the Honeymoon Contest, and boy was it a long list! Collectively, you guys have done a lifetime of stuff in Hawaii! We only had time for a handful of your ideas so we did our best to choose a few that looked really fun/interesting. The suggestion that brought us the most joy is going to win either the Lovely Bunch or the Gluten Free Sampler (winner's choice). But if we merely had fun doing your idea we'll still send you a pack of cookies.

First, the runner-ups (if more than one person suggested it, the first person to send it in won):

Matsumato Shave Ice – Karen H. from Prescott Valley, AZ
The rainbow was really good (lemon, pineapple, strawberry), but Lauren's concoction of sour apple, raspberry, and mango was out of this world. Also where we saw the dog pictured to the right (ridiculous).

Hiking in Volcanoes National Park – Noah B. from Hastings on Hudson, NY
We flew to the Big Island for a day and hit Volcanoes National Park for some hiking. One path took us 400' down into a steaming crater and through a lava tube. Incredible landscape. We then drove across the island to Kona for a brewery tour of Kona Brewing Company. Incredible beer.

Horseback ride at Kualoa Ranch – Ash and Josh
We did the 2-hour tour and got to see Hurley's golf course from Lost and where a bunch of movies were filmed, including Godzilla and Jurassic Park. We felt like a couple of regular Cowboys and Cowgirls!

The grand prize winner:

Surf lesson at Surf N Sea in Haleiwa – Erin H.
We both caught a few waves, just like the Don (our warehouse supervisor) who was super jealous when we told him. Our instructor was great, too. We told him how lucky he was to do that for a living and his response was "You should see my house. It's just not fair. Right on the beach." He's been teaching for 40 years! Technically, my sister should have won since she was the first to suggest surf lessons, but she gets cookies all the time so I ignored her (just like I used to when she would bang on my door if I slept in late back in high school. Ha!)

Thanks to everyone for sending in your ideas and kind words. We wish we had more time so we could do all of them! Check back next week for our Father's Day contest - make sure the creative juices are flowing...

The Honeymoon Contest

It seems like Lauren and I have been waiting for months (hey, I guess we have), but it's finally almost here: our honeymoon to Hawaii! We're staying at Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu (the same place they filmed Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and we couldn't be more excited!

Problem is, there are too many activities to choose from. We want to make sure to maximize our fun, so we thought we'd take your suggestions. If you've ever been to Hawaii or have heard of any cool things to do (besides lay on the beach all day), let us know. Whoever sends us the suggestion that we have the most fun doing will win the Lovely Bunch, our most popular cookie sampler. We'll also send a pack of cookies of your choice to a few runner-ups if we decide to do your suggestion.

You can let us know what we should do in a few ways:

- Follow us on twitter and send your idea to @lizlovely
- Join the discussion on facebook
- Email Andy

We leave next Friday, May 22nd, so get us your ideas by then! We'll let the winners know when we get back on June 1st. Mahalo!

The Mother's Day Caption Contest Winner

Now that Liz’s parents are moving to Vermont, Liz’s mom can just come to the bakery for a Ginger Snapdragon (her all-time favorite) whenever she wants instead of trying to wheedle the recipe out of Liz (like I tried last year). And they’ll probably have more time for conversations like the one that Brooke B. came up with for our Mother’s Day Caption Contest:

[click to enlarge]

Congratulations, Brooke, your cookies are on the way!

Luckily, the rest of us still have 10 days until Mother’s Day. Head on over to our online bakery and send your mom some of our organic and vegan cookies and chocolates. The shipping’s on us if you order over $30 - just use the promo code LOVEMAMA when you order.

The Ladder of Success... Fix It!

Here's the latest installment in my fix it series. We've got a short step ladder that the lovely ladies of the bakery use to scoop dough into our cookie cutting machine. It's just a 4-step ladder with the obligatory fold-out paint bucket shelf.

Except, they balance an enormously heavy bucket of dough on it, way heavier than a gallon of paint. Needless to say, this ladder gets a lot of abuse. In fact, this is our second ladder. So, Liz tells me that the shelf is buckling and need some kind of "kick stand" or the dough's gonna end up on the floor.

When forced to rig something up, simpler is always better. But don't let that stop you from doing it with a little style.

Here's how I executed my new & improved design. (Quick note, this ladder had already been "improved" with a plywood platform over the plastic shelf to better hold the buckets.)

1) Borrow some wood from our floor rack product display project. Just #2 pine 1x4 from the lumber store, already stained by "the Don".

2) Held up to ladder at appropriate angle, and made pencil marks. Turned out to be 45 degrees on one side, and 30 on the other, more or less. Probably could have guessed that...

3) Used table-top miter saw to cut first length.

4) Used cut board to make pencil marks on uncut board, the once again... miter saw.

5) Corrected 2nd board with a quick skim-trim on the miter saw.

6) Used heavy-metal drill bit to put a couple holes in the ladder.

7) A few drywall screws all around and... whalla!

Not rocket science, I admit. But it was cheap, fast, effective, and attractive. And, it saved us $50 on a new ladder. Now, if I could just find some time to work on my house...

The Mother's Day Caption Contest

Liz's parents are visiting for the week, so we thought this would make for a fitting contest, especially with Mother's Day coming up.

click to enlarge

All you have to do is tell us what Liz and her mom are talking about in this picture. Send an email to andy at lizlovely dot com using this format:

Liz's mom: ...

Liz: ...

We'll show the entries to Liz's mom and the winner will be chosen based on which one makes her laugh the loudest.

Get your entries in by next Monday (4/27) at midnight. Liz's mom will pick the winner on Tuesday to receive the Mother's Day Sampler, put together by – you guessed it – Liz's mom. Good luck, and keep it clean!

And don't forget to use the promo code LOVEMAMA at our online bakery to get free shipping on all orders over $30 for Mother’s Day!