Wedding Favors

Summer and weddings are a match made in cupid heaven. I ran into interesting ideas for wedding favors for your guests on Martha Stewart.com and my favorite idea are these cute ways of dressing up a gift box. It can make your gift oh-so-special while it won't break the budget. If you don't have the time to make your own special boxes, pick up a bag from Molberi and let us customize wedding tags to hang on them for you. One of my good friends bought Molberi tall bags to use for her wedding favor which was a special ordered wine with the couple's names and wedding date on its label. What a great idea!

Molberi at Wichman's Flowers and Gifts

In a series of places that Molberi products are available at. Here is the first installation. Wichman's Flowers and Gifts in Webster Groves (60a N Gore, Webster Groves, MO‎ - 314 962-2255‎) This beautiful flower shop puts together gorgeous and well chosen flowers to offer very special arrangements for all occasions. But Therese Carver, owner of Wichman's, has more than an eye for beauty, she also has a big heart. That's why Molberi products can be found at her store. Grab a bouquet or flowers and couple it with a gift from Molberi - 5% of Molberi sales are given to artisans in Ban Ton Pai village who crafted Molberi products with lots of heart.


View Molberi Retailers in a larger map

Molberi Fund for Sustainable Development

In May, I made another visit to Molberi artisans in Ban Ton Pao in Chiang Mai. With the sales over the holiday season and the contribution of one of our Molberi Champions - Linda Cottler - we bought new sieves for our artisans. Sieves are esential to paper making. When they are old or damaged, the paper that artisans can make from them are not consistent and some can't be sold.

Earth Day Festival

This past Sunday was St. Louis's Earth Day Festival at Forest Park. This was the event that debuted Molberi products to St. Louis a year ago. Of course we had to be there again this year. Just for fun if nothing else! And we did have fun and made some good sales as well :)

Our booth was in the Art section and that was actually a bit far from where the 'center' of the festival was. But we were near the Pet section, the Port-a-Potty and the small live stage so we got foot traffic. The morning was off to a bit of a rough start because it was extremely windy and everything we set up on the table kept blowing away. We also had many more products than last year and our table was too small! Finally in the afternoon things fell in place and product display looked great and people stopped by to check them out, buy something, grabbed a brochure and joined our raffle.

It was so much fun because we received a lot of attention and also due to our great volunteers who are our friends and the significant others. They came to give a helping hand and manned the table with us. Thank you everyone for your kind support!

Mr.Noodles - the unofficial Molberi mascot

Meet Mr. Noodles - my puppy. I've grown up with pets all my life but never had one that was truly mine. Mr. Nooldles is a Schnoodle that my boyfriend, Ryo, and I gave each other as our Christmas presents last year. Mr. Noodles wakes up at 4 am and my life now evolves around this little puppy. But he's been a real joy. Playing with him is the most relaxing thing ever and I think my best friend and Molberi CFO, Arvan, would agree. We went to a party at a friend's house and brought Mr. Noodles along. He was so excited and happy and played wayyy too much. When the night was coming to a close, Mr. Noodles started falling asleep on Arvan's lap. I guess we might have been able to let Arvan take Mr. Noodles home and I could get a sleep in the next morning. Oh, well :)

Pets can teach us a lot about happiness. First of all, they make us happy because they see the world in a much different way than humans do. The simplicity of their world reminds us that life doesn't have to be so complex and difficult. Happiness is just about napping, enjoying good food, biting your humans when you want to go out, run really really fast on the grass and roll around on the carpet. Simple happiness = full tummy, a good run, sleep and friends to play with.

Earth Hour is Tonight!

Earth Hour is at 8:30 pm where ever you live. For an hour, turn off the lights in your home to conserve energy and make a real statement about the importance of preserving our planet.

How to be healthy

Being healthy is the first precondition to be happy, I think. One of Bhuddha's dharma says that "to not have illness is the greatest treasure". That's my rough, layperson translation. Today it seems to be so difficult to be happy when all day we hear and read about the most depressing economic news. We have to step back and ask "what is the real important thing in my life?". Relationships are important. Good health is important. So, I want to share some tips on a healthy life. This is a selection from "12 Foundations for Good Health" promoted by "100 Years, Happy Life" club in Thailand. I really like the first one and last one.

(1) Do things on your own, work hard and spend little
(2) Eat brown rice
(3) Eat less meat
(4) Eat more veggies and fruits
(5) Don't eat junk. Don't drink or smoke.
(6) Exercise and rest
(7) Relax. Live life with compassion and understanding.

What did you give?

Valentine's Day is a day to show love and a day to celebrate your relationship. My mom and dad's relationship has always been an inspiration to me. They were best friends and remain to be each other's favorite people. I don't know that many couples that can say that after 30 years of marriage. They met at work (how cliche).

Out of thousands who applied for the positions at the Tourism Authority of Thailand, four were accepted. Two of those were my mom and dad. My mom received the highest score for the female applicants and my dad got the highest scores for male applicants. Isn't that cute? They became best friends traveling together for work. It was a time before emails or cellphones. My dad called my mom from a pay phone every day after having spent the whole day together at work. He's never done that for anyone else and never did again. When they were apart (my dad went to Austria) for 8 months, they sent each other a letter everyday. So, though it takes a week for mail to arrive from Europe, each of them would get something in the mail everyday because they sent something everyday. They were together for 7 years before getting married and moved to Australia together and they've been around the world together. The rest is history. They are now enjoying their empty nest with two dogs and my dad got my mom a bunch of red roses for Valentine's Day.

I got my boyfriend a chocolate cake from Dessert Delivery in New York City and had it delivered to our hotel. We had a lovely dinner together at Kittichai in SOHO. He gave me earrings. Gorgeous. I love them. Three hours later we walked out and ate a real Thai dinner at 11 pm. Kittichai was good but it didn't last in our stomaches past 3 hours. I hope that if we can make it to where my parents are today, someday 30 years from now.

The most important thing about gifts is that it has to be thoughtful. Good gifts show that you were listening to your partner; that you know what he/she wants or needs. Good gifts can also show what you see in your partner. I believe in putting thought in your gift. Take time in looking for gifts but I still think that when you find the right one, you know it right away. Like you know it when you meet that special someone in your life. Happy Valientines Day!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is this Saturday. Wow! I will be going to NYC for the weekend. My favorite place in the world ... tied with Bangkok, of course :)

Molberi is planning our events for Mother's Day which we know is coming up since I am making plans for Valentine's. We are going to have some new products to make Mother's Day extra special. So keep your eyes out for our updates on the site. I can't tell you what they will be yet (trade secret) but it will definitely make your mom know how much you love her by the thoughtfulness you put in your gifts!

Before that though, don't forget about Earth Day. Molberi will be at Forest Park again for the annual St. Louis Earth Day Festival. So, mark your calendars on April 26th come visit our booth and buy some awesome gifts for your mom or friend or just anyone you love in your life.

Molberi 2009

A new year is here. My new year's resolution will be to keep posting and keep Molberi blog alive and fun with updates and interesting stories.

I just returned from my trip to Thailand. On this trip I met 2 Molberi artisans that I have not met before - Khun Wan and Khun Sa. In Thai, "Khun" is a prefix used similar to "Mr." or "Ms."

Today, Molberi's featured artisan is Khun Wan (Wilawan Thippala). She makes paper for Molberi. She has one daughter, Nong View, who is 11. Above is a picture of me giving her Molberi Fund give back money. Khun Wan works at Khun Air's work shop in Ban Ton Pao village. She comes to work early in the morning and leaves at 3 pm to pick up her daughter from school.