Salvaged Day

Well, today was salvaged. It started out pretty badly this morning- actually it started badly last night and continued this morning. I don't know remember what set things off last night- but I went to bed worrying about things- mostly financial and also about Project Smile growth, then I had trouble sleeping which hardly ever happens. This morning, things were still off track and I started work feeling anxious. Then our volunteer came and was working on tallying our revenue/expenses for last year- she did the numbers and they came out that we finished last year losing approx. $5,000. Now, when you're already upset about things, hearing that you took in 5k less than you raised is pretty sucky news. Obviously, we are a non profit and our mission isn't about showing how much money we can bring in, but money management 101 dictates that one needs to bring in more than they expend. It's a simple concept and when you don't get there it is a failure. The idea that we could lose money hurt- it physically hurt to think that I didn't manage things well enough. Anyways, for some reason I decided to recount the expenses, but I didn't recount the revenue. The expenses came out the same. At the back of my mind, I knew something wasn't adding up- I knew we ended the year with more money in the bank than we started with in January 2008- so it didn't seem right that we lost 5k along the way. Finally, I recounted the revenue and this time it was a different story- we brought in $6k more than we spent. It's not a huge margin, but things were the way they should be. Immediately, I felt better- a lot better. Focusing on the positive aspect of our finances made me relax. I hardly ever think about the positive things in terms of our financial situation.

Anyways, what else is new? Well, our valentines event is Thursday. I am really nervous for it. It is a terrific event- I'm just worried about getting enough people there. I was getting those nervous stomach knots this afternoon when I was thinking about it. I haven't had that feeling since before our date auction. I know the date auction turned out great and all the worry was for nothing, but this is a new event and things are different.

In other news, our date auction has a host. One of the ladies who hosted last year is back on board. I will need to find another cohost to share the duties. The other host isn't able to participate this time. I'm happy that Kim is back- she did a great job. I need to get moving on finding sponsors for the event. Hello Stiletto Shoe Club is going to support the event again as well which is good news. Hopefully, we will be able to offer the shoes again with each bachelor. That was such an awesome feature of last year's event.

I think part of the thing that is bothering me is that I feel like I'm not spending enough time on grant work and reaching a lot of new departments. I've been preoccupied with thinking about the Valentines event this week and I also have our event with the Sharks that I'm promoting. I just need to be smarter with my time management and not get bogged down working on one or two things. I posted the Sharks event on a bunch of Worcester websites, so that should help spread the word. Tomorrow, I'm going to contact the radio and papers and keep reaching out to my contacts to get people to the game. It will be a really fun night. I don't have any appointments tomorrow, so I'm going to spend a lot of time on grant work and reaching new departments.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. This is an early blog- it's almost midnite. I even finished eating my grapefruit already! I'm holding off the urge to go and eat crackers and cheese. I am addicted to Trader Joe's crackers- they have so many delicious ones! I shouldn't get started writing about food- once I start rambling on that topic, I can't stop. I haven't exercised these last few days either and that doesn't help- I feel so much better when I exercise every morning, it really puts me in a good mood and helps me focus in the morning. Tomorrow, I will be sure to blast and burn with Jillian Michaels.
Until tomorrow...