Monday, December 20, 2010

Generous People

Well, it is Christmas week and I wanted to share a holiday story about the kindness of people. I received a holiday card on Friday from a couple from Houmha, Louisiana- enclosed was a check for $10 and a note on the card that wished us a happy holidays and "no more of that lady's "I didn't receive it" foolishness, which could have cost you $500." I was so touched by the card that it brought tears to my eyes. Things had been a little frustrating lately- between dealing with the woman and her credit card fraud which she is trying to get away with and trying to collect on money owed to us and dealing with some other unhelpful people- it had been a little trying. When I received her card, it was a reminder of all the good, kind people that there are in the world and how I've been lucky enough to be helped by a lot of supportive people. It was also a reminder that people do actually read my blog! Today, I mailed them a thank you card and a Project Smile calendar.

Brief update with the credit card issue- I mailed the letter, signed pre-arbitration form and another copy of the post office signed receipt to the cc company. Our board attorney reviewed the letter and made some edits to it before I sent it.

In other updates- the Santa and Stiletto event raised a total of $1,650 for Project Smile. I'm happy with that. Events like that are great because they raise money without us having to expend a lot of time and effort. It also kept Project Smile's name out there which is always good.

I'm trying to wrap up all the loose ends for this year and work on planning things in 2011. Tomorrow, I have to submit more December updates for our website and I want to send a holiday greeting email to our PS supporters- I might hold off on that until next week and do a happy new year email instead and include another calendar promotion. I also should do a December newsletter- I'm way behind on that- a very common problem this year. I also need to catch up on my emails- yet again. Those are two of the business things that I want to improve on next year- getting my newsletter out every month and promptly responding to emails. There are other things that I want to improve for next year. I want to take some time and focus nothing but planning for next year and working on ways to improve.

Well, that is the latest for tonight. I am going to watch Jay Leno's headlines, then read- I am really enjoying the mystery I've been reading- although it isn't necessarily the best bedtime reading! Until tomorrow friends...

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Credit Card Issue Returns

So much to write about! So, remember the issue about the girl who bought the airline tickets at our silent auction, lost them and then told her credit card company that she never received them- our credit card company took our $550 back, we sent a letter with a copy of the receipt from the post office showing she signed for the tickets and we got our money back. Well, her credit card company is still appealing and now it is headed to arbitration. The bad news is that if I continue to fight for our money and lose, we will be hit with a $500 charge in addition to losing our money. Obviously, we are in the right and we can prove it, but it is a little scary to have the idea of being hit with that big a charge if we didn't win. I am moving forward with the arbitration process.

Her credit card company wrote that our signature proof wasn't sufficient because it was dated before she said she called us to say she never received the tickets. Now, she never called to say she didn't get the tickets- she called to say that she did have them but lost them and was there anything I could do- there wasn't because the air line specifically wrote on the tickets that they weren't responsible for lost/stolen tickets. However, her cc company's reason doesn't make sense because even if they believed that she called me on 9/30 to say they didn't arrive (which she didn't), and my signature proof is dated 9/22- then that is what is supposed to happen. You can't call to say you didn't get something until after it should have been mailed. I don't understand where their logic is coming from. It also amazes me how she would just call up and pretend like she never received them- it really is a rotten thing to do. Hopefully, things will work out in our favor- since we did nothing wrong.

So what else is happening? Well, our 2nd Annual Santa and Stilettos was Saturday night. Reggie B Productions and the Hello Stiletto Shoe Club put the event together. It was a lot of fun and had a great turnout. Unfortunately, Kennedy was sick, so we had Miss Manchester NH step in and host the event- she did a great job, especially at the last minute. The fashion show was great- I even modeled in it! We raised $550 at the silent auction. We are getting a portion of the ticket proceeds, but I'm not sure what the final numbers are yet, so I will keep you posted. Santa Claus- one of the fire fighters that I know- did it again this year. He attended our holiday event last year. He does a great job mingling with everyone and posing for photos.

In other good news- we received the grant that I was getting a little worried about! It was for $3,000- the same amount as last year. I was quite relieved and happy when I opened the envelope. There probably wasn't any reason to be worried about getting it, but I never take anything for granted.

Well friends, I am off to bed. Actually, I am off to eat pizelles- the most delicious Italian cookies ever! I am slightly (very) addicted to them! Until tomorrow...

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Wednesday Wonders

Well, there aren't any wonders happening today, but I thought it was a good title for the blog! So what's new? Our boxes are officially ordered and should be arriving by the end of this month- which is a lot sooner than I had expected. I'm not sure yet where they are going to be stored, but I'm going to be working on that tomorrow. I'm just relieved that we are going to be having our own boxes again. According to the box company, our logo will be even more prominent on these boxes which is good. Of course, it is disappointing that we now have to pay for them, but there is nothing I can do about that right now. I'm just happy that we have the money to pay for them and we're not going back to the old unprofessional look. The cost was reasonable- it is higher the first time because they have to design the template, but once it is in place, we won't have that charge again.

It is disappointing that we lost the sponsor, especially the way it happened. I always try to look back and see what I could have done differently, but in this situation, there wasn't much that I could have reasonably done. I'm going to work on finding a new box sponsor that can help pay for the next load of boxes.

I'm a little worried about one grant that we applied for. We have received this grant for the past couple of years, I was invited to apply last month- which we did, but haven't heard anything yet. The grant usually arrives by now. I was pretty confident that we would be included, but now I'm getting concerned. They might just be delayed. Please keep your fingers crossed for us.

Today, I did another donation of stuffed animals, books and some really nice toys to the Department of Children and Families. I always like donating there. It makes me happy to know that we can have some impact on children who are in foster care. That must be such a terribly traumatic experience for a child to go through- it is good to know that we can help in some way to make it a little easier.

Well friends, that's it for today. I'm going back to catching up on emails. Until next time...

Monday, December 6, 2010

Downside

well, these have not been the best of days. The company that has been buying boxes for us for the past year abruptly ended their support and now we only have 6 empty boxes. I scrambled to contact local box companies that we can buy from, I got a good price from one company, so I think that is the one that we are going to go with. I'm waiting for them to get back to me with the cost to create the template. The boxes are important because they have our name and logo on them (they also used to have the logo of the company who bought them for us). I don't have a new box sponsor and I don't have time to find one. I need these boxes urgently. The other bad news is that I won't be getting the boxes until some time in January. I'm not going back to our days of using Poland Spring water gallon boxes with our logo taped to them. We're going to have to wait until the new ones come in. It was very disappointing to lose this company's support and it was especially bad to lose it suddenly- leaving me no time to make alternative arrangements. I appreciate what they did do for us and I wish that they didn't choose to end their support. The good thing is that I do have a lot of boxes of stuffed animals all ready to be donated in the mean time.

In good news, we received the $551 was credited back to our account from the woman who lost the airline tickets, then contacted her credit card company and pretended that she never received them. I was fairly confident that we would win, particularly since we had such strong proof, but it was still a relief to get the letter stating that our money was being returned.

Well, I think that's it for tonight. I'm off to read for a bit, I got a mystery novel from the library and I'm enjoying it- although I think it did contribute to the nightmare I had last night after reading! Until tomorrow friends...

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Winding Down November

Well, here we are- the last night of November 2010. Honestly, I don't know where it went. It has been a good month though. I can't remember if I already shared the good news: the Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation awarded us a $4,000 grant this month. We are doing the check presentation ceremony on Monday, we will do a photo with the giant check- that is always fun! We do our primary business banking with Rockland Trust. Tomorrow, I'm going to a local foundation grant awards dinner. I interviewed with them a couple of weeks ago and they invited us to their dinner- when you get invited, it is a good sign that you will be receiving a grant. It would be quite dreadful to be invited to the awards dinner and not get a grant! We're also waiting for the results from another grant- we have received this grant for the past couple of years, so hopefully that will continue too.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed- the year is almost over and there is still a lot that I wanted to get done before we start the new year- more police/fire departments to contact, more donations to request, calendars to sell, etc. It won't be long before I have to start working on our 2011 date auction and anniversary event.

Today, I had to take my car in for some work- I brought my laptop with me and spent 45 minutes catching up on email- it was great, I responded to a lot of emails. I didn't have the distractions of other work in front of me, so I focused on the emails. I wonder if that might be a solution- take my laptop into another room for 45 minutes every day and focus only on email.

What else is happening? Well, I am now going to be modeling in the fashion show at our Santa and Stilettos event next week. We had a girl who couldn't make it, so I offered to take her spot. I'm going to the dress store tomorrow to get fitted. That is one of the good things about being involved with an event- you can put yourself in the fashion show! It was a lot of fun modeling at the Hello Stiletto spring fashion and this is going to be a cool event, so I'm pretty excited to be strutting on the catwalk!

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I still haven't started my book, so I'm going to read for a few minutes and not eat anymore food. I stopped in Providence at my favorite Italian food store and bought delicious bread- I've been munching on crunchy bread, cheese and grapes for the past hour and need to stop! Until next time...

Monday, November 29, 2010

Latest and Greatest

Welcome to a new week. I hope everyone had a very happy Thanksgiving, I definitely did. Today was a busy day, but I'm still not sure how much I actually got accomplished. I was working on promoting our Santa and Stilettos holiday party which is coming up in less than 2 weeks (Saturday, December 11, 7pm, Hyatt Regency, Boston). I don't usually design our own email blasts in Constant Contact- I usually have Lisa, our designer, put the email together. It can get a little time consuming to do it myself. I wanted to save the money, so I went into Constant Contact and used one of their templates to do our invitation. It helped that I already have the graphic to use. The result came out really well. It did take a bit of time, but it was definitely worth it to do it myself. Reggie, who is organizing most of the event, was happy with it too. If you are on our mailing list, you should have received it today. I did get a couple of emails from people who saw it and are coming to the event. In other good events news, our Santa who participated in the event last year, is coming back! He was an awesome Santa Claus last year. He wears a Santa suit that was once in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade. Jim, the Santa Claus, is a fire fighter and he and a friend donate their time. I'm really glad we have Santa- it makes it an official holiday event!

What else is going on? Well, I have a million emails that I need to respond to. I responded to some of them already- the most urgent ones obviously, but there are still a lot that I haven't replied to. I know I keep talking about this, but I need to get a seriously better method of replying to email. I need to pick a system and stick to it.

There are lots of other things going on, but I can't remember- I'm pretty tired right now. I was actually about to go to bed without blogging, but I couldn't let myself do that- it had already been a week since my last fascinating blog entry! I have to be out of the office tomorrow morning because I have to have some work done on my car, but I am going to bring my laptop with me and catch up on emails- that should work well, because I will have a lot less distractions around me.

Well, I am off to bed. I'm sorry this is not exactly the most interesting blog posting- I can't think of much else right now. I picked up a mystery book from the library that I'm really excited to read, I was going to start it tonight, but now my little brain can't absorb anything. Until tomorrow friends...

Monday, November 22, 2010

Thanksgiving Week

Well friends, here we are- it is Thanksgiving week. I know that technically Thanksgiving is only a day, but all the build up to it makes it feel like a week long event! Of course, I use that a justification to bake and eat lots of cookies this week and lots of other food too!

So what's new? Well, things are chugging along. Calendar sales have been picking up lately which is a good thing. I've been catching up on work- I didn't get a lot done when I had my cold. I need to send stuffed animals and other items up to Leominster tomorrow for donation to an organization that helps battered women and their children. I also have to get together a lot of coloring books to send to Boston PD. We're running low on boxes, so I need to go to CT next week and pick up some new ones.

To the nice person who commented on our blog recently- about our Santa and Stilettos event- thank you! We do have an official Facebook event page- you can forward the link to invite friends, here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169849549710591&index=1

In good news, the silent auction that we did at wine fest raised $500. I'm happy about that because all we had to do was show up at the event and display at our items. Jeff, who runs Boston Event Guide, invites us to the auction which is really nice of him. It is funny because it took a while for some of the people who won the items to get back to me and I was getting a little concerned- but they called me today and I processed their credit card payments. I'm dropping off two of the items tomorrow in Boston. One guy bought two nice sports pictures.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm off to eat- possibly a grapefruit and possibly some more delicious Italian bread and cheese- one of my favorites! Until next time friends...

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Charge back

Well, today was a first- we had a credit card charge back- that is when someone disputes a credit card charge and the cc company removes the charge and takes the money back from us. However, this was a fraud- we did nothing wrong. Here's the story- at the date auction, we auctioned off a pair of round trip airline ticket vouchers. A woman bought the tickets with a winning bid of $551. I processed the credit card payment over the phone and mailed the tickets to her on Monday following the date auction. I sent them via express mail with the USPS. The woman called me a few weeks later and told me that she lost the ticket vouchers. She said she had them in her bedroom and wasn't sure if someone had stolen them from her room during a party- she had looked everywhere for them. She asked if we could contact the airline. I explained to her that the vouchers stated on them that the airline was not responsible for lost/stolen tickets. There was nothing we could do. She mentioned contacting her credit card company to remove the charges- I told her that would not be appropriate since we had mailed them to her and if she reversed the charges then Project Smile would lose $551 and we had done nothing wrong.

Today, I got a letter from the credit card processing company's charge back department stating that the charges had been reversed because she claimed she never received the tickets. The company gives us an opportunity to provide a rebuttal. I immediately went searching for the post office receipt- it took me a few minutes to find the receipt which had the tracking number on it. Thankfully, I found it- called the local post office and they promptly printed out a copy of the receipt showing her signature for the envelope. I wrote a letter and attached the USPS receipt with her signature. Hopefully, we will get the money back- I can't imagine why we wouldn't since I have proof that she received the tickets. I feel badly that she lost the tickets since she spent quite a bit of money, but it was not our fault and it is a really crappy thing to do to pretend that you never received them. She had the tickets and it was her responsibility to look after them- you can't do what she is trying to do and get her money back from us. I don't know how she thought she would get away with it- especially since she clearly signed for the envelope.

So that was the mini drama for today. It was annoying that I had to take time out of my work day to address the situation, but it was important to take care of it immediately- that is a lot of money to risk losing. In other news, I have a cold and didn't get a lot of work done yesterday and today. It isn't even that bad a cold, but it is making me take a lot longer to get work done- I'm working at less than half pace. Hopefully, tomorrow I will be feeling a lot better.

Well, I'm off to eat grapefruit- I'm also trying not to eat anymore sour patch kids candy- they are part of my cold remedy food plan- even though they really are not providing any real help! Until tomorrow friends...

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Latest and Greatest

Greetings! So what is the latest and greatest? Well, in very good news- we are receiving a $4,000 grant from the Rockland Trust Charitable Foundation and they are also donating 200 coloring books! Isn't that great? The Rockland Trust is where I do all my Project Smile banking. We had applied in the spring, but our application was held until the fall for review. This is our first donation from Rockland Trust. I am really happy- it is always such a relief to get a grant award. We will do a check presentation ceremony with them and photo later this month.

Tonight, I had an interview with a local Foundation that has supported us for the past couple of years. It is a very quick interview with their board, I think there were about 8 board members there. They already have our grant application, but they like to meet as well. I think it went really well. I enjoy talking about Project Smile- I feel like I could always go on forever. The board members seemed very receptive. Hopefully, they will choose to keep supporting our work. It really means a lot to have continued support like that.

I still haven't done our November newsletter- I haven't sent an official newsletter since September. I used to do them every month and I don't know what happened that I stopped doing that. I keep saying I'm going to get back to the monthly newsletter, but then I end up skipping months. There is always stuff to write about, so it isn't like there is a shortage of news. Tomorrow, I'm going to make sure to get our newsletter done. I don't want to send it out too close to Thanksgiving when people might not pay attention to it because they are wrapped up in holiday stuff.

Tomorrow, I also have to pick up sports auction items for our silent auction at Wine Fest on Saturday. I'm also planning on going to a networking event in the evening, then I have a fun masquerade party later that I'm going to with my boyfriend- really looking forward to it. I just found out about it today, it looks like a lot of fun.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. I'm feeling pretty tired. I don't think I've adjusted to the hour change yet. I've already been raiding left over Halloween candy tonight and I'm holding off the urge to get more- I'm also craving cheese- we have a ton of good cheese in the fridge. I should just go to bed though, don't really need to do anymore munching! Until next time friends...

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Welcome November

November is here! Well, it has been here for 3 days, but this is my first November posting. First of all, thank you to the person who left that nice comment on my blog- I really appreciate it. I've been blogging for almost 2 years and I still can't believe that I actually have readers!

So what's new? Well, our donation to Boston Police went great. It had been a while since we donated to them. They are very receptive and we got a great photo that I put on Facebook. It will be on our website too, but that takes a bit longer. We will be doing a lot more donations there in the near future since it is such a large department. I have to buy more coloring books and send them over next week, there was a community officer from one precinct that was particularly in need of them. I need to set up donations with some of the other departments that we haven't donated to in a while. It is hard to stay in touch with everyone when we work with 162 departments.

I was also working on the 2nd Annual Santa and Stilettos event that is coming up (Saturday, December 11). The Hello Stiletto Shoe Club and Reggie B productions are putting the event together and we are the benefiting charity. Melissa sent me some contacts of people who may like to donate for our silent auction at the event. It will be a really fun event- fashion show, complimentary Grey Goose cocktails, live music, performances- and only $20 in advance. I already contacted so many Boston businesses for the date auction, I didn't have too many more that I hadn't already reached out to, so I really needed Melissa's help with fresh contacts. This will be a small silent auction, but that is OK. We don't have to do a ton of work for this event which is great.

Calendar sales are slow- I need to work hard on moving them. Tomorrow, I seriously need to spend significant time responding to emails. I have had a lot of stuffed animal donation emails that I haven't responded to yet. I need to improve my email response system- I know this is an ongoing problem, but I have yet to find a system that works for me. It is a problem that I need to solve because it isn't professional to not respond in a timely manner. There are some emails that I do respond to quickly, but other ones that I look at and because they aren't urgent, I don't respond immediately- I intend to go back, but sometimes that doesn't happen.

Well friends, I am off to write my list for tomorrow- with email being #1. I also want to write our November newsletter- I intended to do that last week and submit a few more web updates. I will make sure and blog tomorrow just so I can report on my email success! I'm also off to eat another mini Snickers (Halloween left over candy- the 2nd best thing about Halloween! Costumes are the best). Until tomorrow friends...

Friday, October 29, 2010

Friday Updates

I'm blogging on a Friday- that usually doesn't happen! I didn't want the week to end without blogging at least once more. So here I am, just finished a late lunch and wrapping things up. I finished a grant today and have it sitting on my desk, ready to be mailed. I feel a little rusty with my grant writing. I haven't done as many lately and I feel like I'm working on them slower than I usually do. I have a lot more grants to work on, so I'm sure the pace will be picking up again.

On Monday morning, we will be donating to Boston police again. It has been a while since our last donation, so I'm happy about donating there again. We will be doing the usual items- stuffed animals, reading books, coloring books/crayons. Next week, there are a lot of other departments that I'm going to be contacting. I had to spend a lot of time working on the events in August and September (and before), so I'm trying to catch up on everything that I didn't get to.

Well, that's the latest for today. I did post some great photos from the Anniversary Celebration on our Project Smile Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Project-Smile/50833009535 courtesy of David Fox and Michael Merline. So be sure to check them out when you have a chance. Next month, they will be on our website. Until next time friends..Happy Halloween weekend!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Tuesday News

We are in the last week of October- can you imagine it? It seems like yesterday that I was getting ready for the Anniversary event on October 1, now it is almost a month later! I still have some auction items that I'm trying to get to people too! So what's new? Well, on Friday, we dropped off our donation of stuffed animals, books, toys and crayons for the Morgan Memorial Goodwill childrens holiday party. We're also going to be doing an extra donation for the Department of Children and Families holiday efforts for children. I wish we could do more for kids at Christmas time.

Today, I had a meeting with Melissa who runs the Hello Stiletto Shoe Club and Reggie from Reggie B productions. They are working together on a really cool Santa and Stilettos holiday party which will benefit Project Smile. We will be getting a portion of the ticket proceeds and having a silent auction at the event. We will promote the event to our network too. The party will be on Saturday, December 11 at the Hyatt Regency, Boston (save the date!). There will be a fashion show, complimentary cocktails, appetizers, musicians and other cool things- some of the details are still being worked out. The tickets will be $20 in advance or $25 at the door- definitely an affordable event. I am excited to be involved and I'm glad that they are supporting our efforts. I don't have a lot of time to plan many more events, so it is perfect to be able to participate in events like this- we really need to do more of that.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I have been really tired lately- so tired that this morning- my cell phone, which I keep on the floor next to my bed, was ringing and I didn't even hear it! Tomorrow evening, I will be going to a networking event in the Framingham area. I also need to finish a grant which is due in a couple of weeks. Until next tomorrow friends...

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thursday Updates

Well, I'm still slacking with my blogging- I need to get on a better blogging schedule. I was intending to blog last night, but closed my eyes for a few minutes at 11:30 and the next thing I knew it was 2am! So what's happening? Tomorrow, I am dropping off our annual donation to the Morgan Memorial Goodwill children's holiday party. This will be our 3rd year donating for the holiday party. I really enjoy supporting their event, it is a really great event. We don't do a children's holiday event, so it is really good that we can support other big events. Some day, we will have our own kids Christmas event, but I don't have the resources for that now. I'm not sure when we will because I have a long list of other events that I would like to do before that. We are dropping of our donation earlier this year, it makes things a little easier for me to do things early. I always appreciate getting donations well in advance of our events, so I think Goodwill appreciates the earliness too.

Calendar sales are moving slowly- I need to work harder on getting them sold. We used up our web update time this month, so I would have had to pay extra to get the 2011 calendars promoted on our website. I decided to hold off the extra 2 weeks and wait until November 1 to do the update. I hate having things out dated on our site, but I also need to keep costs down, so if it isn't super urgent, I would rather save the money.

I finished one grant application today and mailed it off. We have received grants from this Foundation for the past 2 years, so hopefully they will be able to keep supporting our work. I also have 3 other grants that I need to work on. It always feels so good to send the grant in- of course it feels even better when we actually get awarded the grant!

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I was going to go back and do some more work, but I think I will catch up on my magazine reading- I have a stack of good magazines that I haven't had time to read and I'm going to have another slice of the cranberry walnut bread that I made today- so good! I also have to write my list. Until next time friends...

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Updates

It has been over a week since my last blog- dreadful! I'm sorry for slacking so much with my blogging lately, I need to rework my schedule and set aside more time for blogging. So what's new? Well, I finally feel back to my usual energy level. Since the Anniversary Celebration, I had been so tired, I kept working on things, but it felt like it was taking me much longer than normal to get things done. I don't know what changed, but yesterday I felt so much better and now I'm back to my usual work. I'm still behind on a lot of things that I didn't get to because of all the attention that was paid to the events for the last almost 2 months, but I'm working on getting up to date with things. The good news is that the date auction raised $18,000- even more money than I originally calculated. Between the two events, it was was a huge success. I'm so glad that things went well- I know I've already blogged about this, but it is such a relief you can't imagine.

In some more good date auction news- we have another love connection! One of the ladies that was auctioned off bid on one of the guys and he also bid on her- they have been inseparable since the event and they just changed their Facebook status to "In a relationship"- which is of course, huge! She actually emailed me this morning about the date auction and said how happy she was to have met the guy and how well things are going. I am so happy for them. It is about time we had another marriage, so I am keeping my fingers crossed! I love to hear happy stories like that. Maybe there have been other love connections too that I don't know about.

In less than positive news, I am still trying to get auction items to people from both events. They are not a lot of items thankfully, but it does get frustrating when you call people and they don't get back to you. I don't know why someone would bid on an item that they didn't want. I did hear back from someone today who bought a gift certificate. He is actually working in an island west of Hawaii and called me so I could process his credit card payment over the phone- if he can call me from the Pacific islands, then there is no excuse for anyone else! I am also still waiting on quite a few payments from calendar sponsors. I know that the sponsors will pay, but it is time consuming to keep following up with people. It also gets frustrating when people commit to something and don't follow through in a timely manner.

So what else is going on? We will be donating again to the Morgan Memorial Goodwill children's holiday party. We've been donating to their holiday party for the past few years, it is such a nice event to be a part of.

I have a lot of grants that I need to work on. Tomorrow, I need to spend time working on grants and I need to work on contacting more police and fire departments to donate to. Well friends, that is the latest. I promise I won't be such a blog slacker- I actually really enjoy writing my blog and sharing the latest news. I am going to read for a bit- I have a few new books from a book swap tonight and from my sister that I want to read and a stack of magazines AND I want to watch the re-run of the Real Housewives of DC reunion show- my favorite guilty pleasure! Until next time friends...

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Success!

Well friends, our 7th Anniversary Celebration was a success! We raised almost $8,000. It was a little less than last year, but there was also a rainstorm on Friday which affected attendance a bit. It was a great night! Pam Cross, our speaker, was excellent, Miss Massachusetts was so nice- she even spoke as well. I had no idea that she had donated stuffed animals to Project Smile in the past and was already familiar with our work. Almost all of our silent auction items sold and most people stayed to the end and took their items with them, which makes it a lot easier for me. I don't have too many people that I have to get items to and collect money for. I am really relieved. It was a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it. Everything went well- the food was delicious, the cake was excellent, the hotel did a great job making everything look good, balloons looked really pretty and I got a lot of great feedback from the people that attended. I'm so happy that both events went well. I am also glad that they are over. I love working on events, but will be good to have a break before I start working on the next ones. I know that I will need to plan a spring event at some point in time, but right now, working on 2 big events is enough.

I would like to say thank you to everyone who helped make last night and the date auction such a success- without the people that sponsored, who donated items, volunteered their time, attended the events, bought items- everyone who helped make these events a success- thank you! I truly appreciate your help.

Well, I am going back to work- I have emails to send, bills to pay, things to mail and I need to submit quite a few website updates. I know it is Sunday night, but there is still a lot to get done. Since I am home tonight, I might as well work.
Until next time friends...

Thursday, September 30, 2010

The Night Before

Well, here we are again- the night before another big event. Our Anniversary Celebration is very different from our date auction, but the feelings are still the same- nervous and excited. I feel like I've done everything that I could do to ensure a good event, I've put the word out, I've asked other people to help promote and share the event with their connections. If we can match last year's attendance, that would be awesome. We have over 115 silent auction items, which is fabulous. I finally got all the bid sheets done. I was up until 3am the night before last to get almost all of them done. It takes a lot of time because you have to describe the item and then list an opening bid- that takes a little time because you don't want to start the bids too high or go too low. I still have to work on my speech for tomorrow, but everything else is looking good. I've confirmed with our special guests, musicians, balloon company, friend who is bringing the projector so I can play a calendar photo slide show, credit card machine is all ready to go. I hope there is nothing that I've missed. I am nervous, I've worked so hard on this event, spent so many hours- it needs to be a success to justify all this time and effort. I ordered some extra food, because the food did run out last year and I got a bigger cake. It was a very nice surprise today when I went to pick up the cake, Konditor Meister, the awesome bakery in Braintree, donated the cake! I had faxed over a letter asking for a discount on the cake, I wasn't actually expecting that they would donate the cake.

Well, I am off to work on my speech for tomorrow and check- for the umpteenth time, that I have everything for tomorrow. One of the good things is that the event is only a ten minute drive from home, so I can always dash back home for something- but I want to avoid that. I've never had to do that before. I'm going to get to the Doubltree super early, 2pm tomorrow. The event doesn't start until 6:30, but I like to set everything up and relax. I will bring my book with me and if I have down time and no one else is around, I will read for a while. Please wish me luck! I hope we have a great turn out and everyone has a good time and wants to come back next year and bring their friends and of course, I hope that we raise a lot of money- those are the two goals for tomorrow. The financial aspect is the biggest priority. I will let you know how it goes- I know I've been a lousy blogger lately and I'm sorry for not updating the way I should be. I need to fix that.

Until next time friends... here's hoping that it will all pay off and we will have a wonderful night!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Date Auction Success!

Well, we had an awesome night on Friday with the date auction! We raised a record amount of over $16,000. I am so happy and relieved. Everything went smoothly, we had a great turn out and lots of really positive feedback from people who attended. Our hosts, Karson and Kennedy were absolutely awesome. They were really energetic and did a great job. I invited them to come back last year. They talked about the date auction on-air yesterday morning, they said some very nice things about the event. Karson sent me a clip of their chat and I'm going to have our web host add it to our event page soon. I've uploaded a bunch of photos on our Project Smile Facebook page, so please check them out. We had one bachelor go for $3,200 and another bachelor, an ER doctor, went for $3,500! That was so exciting- I couldn't quite believe what I was watching as the bids got higher and higher. We had a great group of volunteers helping out as well to make sure everything went smoothly. There was one funny thing that happened about 2 hours before event time- I had finished setting up and the staff that a local temp agency had sent to help during the event had just arrived, when all of a sudden the fire alarm went off! My first thought was- I didn't have an anxiety dream about this happening! Everything was fine though, we were back to normal after a brief time. Can you imagine if that had happened during the event!

I've been doing a lot of work wrapping things up from the date auction, I've been following up with getting silent auctions to the winners, I just have about 5 more items that need to be paid for and delivered. I also need to send in the Sofft shoes order forms and return the shoe samples and wrap up a few other things. Sofft was so awesome, they even gave me a pair of shoes- gorgeous purple strappy shoes- they are quite comfy too. Having their support is such a huge part of the event. They gave a pair for Kennedy to wear during the event too.

The major focus now is the anniversary event next week, particularly getting people to the event. Tomorrow, I am going to spend a ton of time following up with everyone that I have invited. I also need more volunteers to help that night. I also need to pick up some other auction items that have been promised. I can't believe it is only 10 days away!

I picked up our 2011 calendars today and they look awesome! I think this is my favorite calendar. The photos really look great. I'm actually really excited for it to be debuted at our event. The printer likes this calendar the best too. I can't believe this is my 7th calendar already- it goes by so amazingly quickly.

Well, I wish I had more energy- I have so much to do. I have been so tired- leading up to the date auction I didn't get a lot of sleep and I feel like I haven't caught up yet. I am now so wrapped up with getting things ready for next week. I also need to start on the bid sheets for the silent auction- we have 100 to do! I hope everything goes well next week too- I feel like we are half way there with the success of the date auction- we just have to get to keep the momentum going for the Anniversary event- that is so important.

I am off to bed, I was going to work, but I think I need to sleep. Last night, I was going to blog, but I fell asleep at 11:30- crazy early for me. Saturday night was kind of funny, I got home and was in bed at 1am, I turned on my bedside lamp because I was going to put on hand lotion- I fell asleep before I even reached for the hand cream. I woke up hours later, wondering why there was such a bright light by my head! Until next time friends... wish my luck- hopefully I will get some good response tomorrow and our guest list will grow!

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Date Auction is Tomorrow!

Well, it is almost here! Just 24 hours until the date auction! I can't really believe it- all these hours, all the work, all the things that had to come together and now it is here. It is a little surreal. I've done everything that I can do- I've promoted the event as much as I can, I think I've covered every detail for things to run smoothly- no matter what happens tomorrow night, I am proud of the effort I made. Hopefully, things will go well tomorrow- people will show up, there won't be any big issues that get in the way and everyone will have a good time and we will raise lots of money! The weather is supposed to be good tomorrow night, so that helps too. It is hard to describe my mood right now- I'm excited, nervous, tired and sort of calm all at the same time. I didn't know it was possible to be a mixture of all those things! I have to pack my lamp and get out my clothes for tomorrow. In the morning, I will print out the guest list, load up the cars- a friend of mine is coming over and loading up his car too with gift bags, then off to Gypsy Bar we go. I'm planning on getting there for 1:30, it is super early, but I like to relax and not have to rush. I hate that panicked rushed feeling and do as much as possible to avoid it.

Well friends, I think that is it. I am going to catch up on some emails and double check that I've packed everything that we need. Please wish me luck for tomorrow! The Boston Globe is supposed to be featuring our Date Auction in their Names section tomorrow- look out for it! Until next time- hopefully, I will have lots of happy news to report on!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

3 Days

Well, here we are- nine months of work is coming down to 2 1/2 hours on Friday. It is funny to think of how all the countless hours of work comes down to such a brief period of time- so much pressure packed into such a tiny thing. So how are things looking for the date auction? Looking good. Our program is at the printers, Marie, a graphic designer I met through my DWC networking group generously donated her time to do the program and did a lovely job, the advertising is all looking good, gift bags are stuffed, silent auction bid sheets are done, volunteer duties all printed out, credit card machine tested and ready go, volunteers confirmed, bachelors/ettes are hopefully ready to flaunt, hosts are all set, rental items confirmed, ticket sales are steadily increasing- things are on the right track. The Yelp newsletter which features the date auction should be coming out tomorrow and it looks like we are going to be in Thursday's Boston Globe which is pretty awesome! There are still some little things that need to be done- I need to get batteries for the table lamps, another extension cord and power strip, put some more gift certificates into envelopes for the couples, get small bills (very important since we have so many door sales), buy a few read heart balloons, pick up the programs tomorrow and pick up 4 gift certificates in Boston. I also have to choose my outfit too!

I am feeling good about things, I think I made good decisions with my event planning and I've been paying attention to the details, outside of the little things that all need done, there isn't much else I can do. I also have to keep working on the Anniversary event and getting people to come to that one. I am also super nervous and have been having crazy anxiety dreams about the date auction. This morning, I dreamed that my boyfriend and I decided to go to Market Basket in Chelsea on Friday morning (my favorite supermarket) and we got caught up buying all this food- I looked at the time and it was 12:45, I was supposed to be home at 1pm in order to load up my car and my friend's who was helping me and putting stuff in his car. I leave my bf at the store, jump into my car and end up driving the wrong way on the Mass Pike. I pull over in Framingham, trying to find a faster way and end up driving in circles. I woke up in panic. That was just one dream- there have been many wild ones about the event!

Anyways friends, it is midnight and I am off to bed. I got a new book from the library that I haven't even started and I'm excited to read it- Sarah's Keys. I could go back and work some more, but I need to stop and relax. Things have been going non stop and I think I can slow it down a little bit for the rest of the night at least. Until tomorrow friends..

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Non Stop

Well, it's crunch time- I've been working almost straight through since 9am this morning and I still have a million things to do. I mailed the majority of our Anniversary event invitations today and Lisa finalized the email invitation- both of which are big things. It takes a long time to send the invitations because I add a personal note with each one, I always like to get personalized invitations, I think it really makes a difference. The invitation looks really smart.

I have been having so many anxiety dreams about the date auction, it is dreadful. The other night, I dreamed that I switched the venue last minute and didn't even look at the place before I booked it. I turned up on date auction night and the venue was dreadful, totally inappropriate for what we needed. I've also been dreaming that I keep forgetting things- I turn up without table cloths, without small change, the credit card machine doesn't work, the resounding theme is that I'm horribly unprepared for the date auction in my dreams. Tonight, I went down to IParty to buy table covers, so hopefully now I can stop dreaming about them!

The ad in Stuff Magazine came out yesterday and it looks great- we have awesome positioning in the middle of the magazine and top of the page. I'm glad that I bought the ad. The mass email from Boston Event Guide also went out today. The Yelp feature is next week. I need to email the lady at the Globe again, hopefully she can write about us again, that was awesome last year. One of the girls being auctioned off has a friend who is the executive producer at Maddy in the Morning on KISS, she got her friend to write about the date auction in her work blog- nice exposure there. It is such a big help when the people being auctioned promote the event to their network, that is the best marketing.

Well, it is midnight and I'm going back to work. I have a lot of emails to send, particularly to people who have promised auction items for both events. I also need to email updates to our hosts, but that might have to wait until morning. I'm getting tired and I don't want to work crazy late. Wish me luck friends- there is so much to get done! Until tomorrow...

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Chugging Along

Do you ever have one of those days were you worked really hard, but by the time midnight rolls around, you can't remember what you did? Well, that's how I feel right now. I was just thinking about what I did today and my mind is blank- I know I did a lot of things, but can really think of exactly what it was. The primary focus was the date auction, I was also working on the anniversary event. I emailed Lisa all the info for the invitation, she sent me back a draft tonight. The invite is very similar to last year's, which was beautiful. We did a red color theme and I kind of wanted to change the color, but we might go back to red because it really pops and looks beautiful. Lisa sent me the invitation in purple which I thought would look good, but it doesn't quite work. The purple looks a little deadly.

I am super stressed about date auction ticket sales. I know it must be very boring to hearing me harp on about tix sales, but there is a lot of anxiety going on. We're doing promotions in so many places, I don't know what else we can do. I know that I go through this every year and it always works out fine, but it is hard to keep that in mind. Search Boston just featured us in their newsletter that went out today and we are in Professionals in the City newsletter and Boston Event Guide this week too. I emailed the lady at the Boston Globe, she did a nice promo about our date auction last year and it would be awesome to have that again.

I didn't get all the bachelor/ettes profiles organized today, I ran out of time. We do finally have everyone's profiles complete, so I need to get cracking on getting everything to the designer so she can work her magic. I am still waiting on 2 more program ads.

Well, I am tired and I'm off to bed. There is lots more to write about, but I can't remember too much. Until tomorrow friends..

Monday, August 30, 2010

Back to Blogging!

I have been such a dreadful blogger lately- I am so sorry! We are getting back on track this week. I don't even have a legitimate excuse for not blogging, I wasn't sick, I wasn't on vacation. Anyways, so what's happening? Well, this is crunch time- the date auction is only 2 1/2 weeks away and the anniversary event is a month and a day- nine months of work and we are just a few weeks away. I have been getting really anxious about date auction tix sales- it gets very stressful to wait for sales to come in. The good news is that we had good sales yesterday and today, so we are on track- I need to keep reminding myself of that fact. The majority of our promotion comes out after Labor Day, but the word is definitely spreading in advance. Tomorrow, I'm going to send another email to the auction participants and ask them to encourage their friends/coworkers to attend the event and get their tickets in advance. Word of mouth marketing is one of the best ways to get people to attend. There are a million little things that need to be done for the date auction- the major priority is to get the program finished. I'm still waiting for some of the bachelors to send me their info and I'm waiting for one more bachelorette to send her info. I need to finalize the order for all the bachelors/ettes- it is actually quite a process, then I need to organize all the profiles/photos and send them to the graphic designer who is donating her time to put the program together. I'm really grateful for her help because I need to keep the events costs down and it is time consuming to do our date auction program.

In other news- our 2011 calendar is somewhere between Maryland and Rockland, MA- Maryland is where our primary designer lives and Rockland is home to our printer. I am so excited to see the final version. The printer usually takes about ten days, but I get to see a blue line proof within a few days. This will be our 8th Project Smile calendar- isn't that amazing? It seems like yesterday that I was taking our first photos and struggling like heck to get calendar sponsors.

My office is looking like a bomb hit it- it needs to get organized, but it is also home to a sea of beautiful purple PS tote bags- our date auction gift bags. Today was our first day with stuffing the bags. I'm still waiting for a couple of other gift bags items, but I needed to get the stuffing started.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I should go back to work, but I am really tired. I also really want to finish the book that I started reading in FL, I'm really enjoying the book, but it is hard to find the time to read. Anyways friends, until tomorrow...

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Busy Day

Today was a good day- I had a million small things that needed attention and I got a lot accomplished. I worked on our date auction program, followed up with gift bag donors, reached out to sponsors to get their ads for the program, followed up with auction items, sent in website updates, contacted more potential bachelors for the date auction and did some more marketing work. In other good news, one of the guys that is in the police academy that I recruited bachelors from sent me an email asking if he and a friend could participate in the date auction. Of course! I've been working hard to get the remaining few guys that we need, so it is excellent when bachelors sign up on their own. I also spoke with a fire fighter who participated in another date auction last month and he seems interested in participating in ours, he needs to check his schedule. Our Pop Chips donation also arrived for the date auction gift bags. I need to contact Fed Ex tomorrow though- we are missing 3 boxes. I never would have counted the cases on my own, but the delivery man told me that label said there were supposed to be 18 cases, but he only had 15.

It is such a great feeling when things come together- the date auction is less than a month away, but I'm feeling confident. I'm anxious as always, but the good thing is that all the ground work has been done and things are coming together the way they need to. We've been selling tickets already which is a great sign.

Calendar proofing is ongoing. Lisa sent me a new version but it needs an adjustment to the new cover photo. I also need to spend more time proofing all the months and looking at the photos some more. That is a priority for tomorrow.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I went to sleep a half hour earlier today and I think it really made a difference, I'm going to try that again tonight. I also had an extra cup of tea and ate lunch earlier and I think that helped with energy level today- it was really up there. I need every day to be like this! I'm going to read for a bit, eat some cherries and then bed. Until next time...

Monday, August 16, 2010

Goals

It is midnight and our date auction is now officially only a month away- can you believe it? I can't, it seems like yesterday I was calling Gypsy Bar to choose the date. How are we doing with it? Things are moving along- we still need more bachelors and more gift certs and auction items, but a lot of things are in place- lovely ladies signed up, 14 bachelors, awesome hosts, Sofft Shoes on board, some gift bag items already in hand, marketing is gearing up, we have gift certificates, although we do need more. I am feeling good about things, but nervous of course. There is a lot of pressure to have a successful event and this next month is crucial time for the date auction and our anniversary event.

Lisa sent me a draft of our 2011 calendar. It looks really cute, there are a lot of adorable photos in there. There are always changes that need to be made- I sent my revisions to Lisa. There will probably be more changes after she sends the new version over. I usually need to look at things for a while because it can take me a bit of time to identify things that need to be changed.

My goals for the week are to find more bachelors, work on event marketing, follow up with gift bag donors to get more items in hand and with sponsors to get their program ads, get more gift certificates for the couples and more auction items. For the anniversary event, I need to get in touch with Lisa about the invitation and work on getting more auction items. I also need to do our August newsletter and website updates. There are more things that I need to work on, but I can't remember right now.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I was going to read for a bit, but my eyes are hurting. I'm going to write my list and then bed, until tomorrow...

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Updates

Well, first of all- I'm sorry for not blogging since last Wednesday- I haven't been a very good blogger lately. So what's happening? In good news- calendar photos have been finished and Lisa, our designer, has them all. We received our last ad copy that we were waiting for today and the last half month ad spot was taken care of because one of our sponsors ended up taking a full month ad instead of a half month- good news all around. The next step is proofing the month pages that Lisa sent me today, checking the ads and then waiting for Lisa to send a final version, then send it back to her with revisions- it is always fun to do that part.

I had to send my digital camera back to Canon for repairs last week. I have been really happy with Canon's customer service. I had an older digital camera which they fixed for free a couple of years ago and paid the shipping. The camera that I got last year after my 35mm broke has been great, but then right when I started doing this year's photos, it had trouble with the focusing and a message would appear saying there was a lens error. The 1 year warranty was up on July 29, but I wasn't done with photos, so I couldn't send it in. I called Canon and they said they give a 2 month warranty grace period. I was really impressed with that. I mailed it on Friday and got an email today saying they inspected it and should be sending it back within 7 days fixed. I would definitely recommend Canon for their excellent customer service.

So what else is going on? We lost one of our date auction bachelorettes today- she is going to be out of town, but the good news is that I have a wait list of ladies who want to sign up, so I contacted one of them and she is more than happy to participate. I wish it was as easier on the bachelor side of things. I seriously need more fire fighters and I'm not sure where they are going to come from. We do have some signed up already, so that is good and we have a bunch of police and some other handsome guys, but I'm looking for 8 more bachelors. We'll get there, but it is a long process.

I've been working on getting auction items that people have promised, but we haven't received yet. It always happens that people promise donations for our silent auctions and never deliver- that is one of the worst things. A lot of times, I have to make 5 or 6 phone calls/emails to keep following up to actually get the auction item. I spend a ton of time each day just following up with people. I know that everyone is busy, but it gets frustrating to have to spend so much of my day trying to follow up, particularly with people who already said they would donate. It does boggle my mind when people say they will donate and never actually do it. I've been trying to many times to reach one of the bachelors who said he was going to be auctioned off and also donate a helicopter tour ride of Boston for our silent auction- a really cool item. He hasn't responded to any of my calls/emails. I'm not going to contact him anymore- even I have reached my limit with that one.

Well friends, there is much more to write about, but I'm getting tired. I need to get back on track with my blogging because there is a lot to update everyone on. I'm going to catch up on emails now, I have a lot of stuffed animal donation inquiries that I need to respond to. Until next time friends...

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Wednesday Happenings

We are half way through the first week of August- our events are getting closer by the minute! I committed to taking out a 1/4 page ad in a Boston magazine for the date auction. They gave a discounted rate and will promote it on their Twitter and Facebook feeds and they're donating a gift certificate as well. It is still pricey and I'm a little concerned about spending the money. They used to donate an ad every year, but weren't able to donate this year. Since we've always promoted it with them, I was worried about the negative impact of not having an ad in their again. I think I've made the right decision to advertise, but a little part of me also wonders if we could get by without it and still have an awesome turn out. It is also good marketing to get the Project Smile name out there as well, so that is another positive thing about advertising. It is also important that people see the date auction in as many places as possible. Now, I need to get Lisa to send over an ad which fits their dimensions. We have to cut some of the info from the flier in order to make the ad stand out as much as possible.

The calendar photos are wrapping up. I did Uxbridge photos yesterday which came out really well. We had the most people participate than we've had from that department before. Tomorrow morning, I'm in Seekonk (it got rescheduled from last week), then another photo shoot here in the afternoon. Worcester photos are on Friday and then we are done. I'm still waiting for the ad copy from one of our sponsors and I have another ad that I'm not sure what is happening with. I can't wait to get the calendar to the printer, it is always such a relief to have it done.

I scheduled another donation next week to the Department of Children and Families, it has been a couple of months since we donated there. I need to keep reaching more departments, but it has been hard because I have to spend a lot of time working on the calendar and our two big events. Those events are so important for us financially that they deserve all the time that is put into them.

Well, that is it for tonight. I have a lot of emails that I need to catch up on, but I feel like spending a bit of time reading my book. I should probably go and work, that is more important that reading. Until tomorrow friends...

Monday, August 2, 2010

It's August!

Well, August is here. I can't quite believe it. We are only 6 weeks away from the date auction and two months from our anniversary celebration and just a couple of weeks from sending our 2011 calendar to the printers. It is a little overwhelming about how much needs to be done. I like to work well ahead of time- partly because it takes a lot of the stress out of the situation and also because logistically it is impossible to run a business by yourself and leave things to the last minute. The problem is that in order for me to get things done- our ad copy finalized, event program put together, etc., I need a lot of information from other people and some of those people are not very responsive. Their slowness makes my job even more difficult. I spend so much of time simply following up with people. This morning, I was feeling really frustrated- particularly with trying to get our last load of calendar photos done. The good thing was that I did connect with a bunch of people and got three more photo shoots scheduled for this Friday. I'm going to end the calendar photos this week. There are some departments that usually participate that I haven't heard back from, but I can't keep following up anymore. It would be nice to have them involved again, but there does come a point when I need to move on. We have a lot of lovely photos for the calendar, so that isn't an issue. It is always good to have more people participate, but this is a time issue. I need to get the calendar put to bed so I can focus more time on the date auction and anniversary event and the other things that need to be done.

I've been working on getting the date auction gift bag items in hand. The 400 bottles of Skinny Water were delivered last week. I've been joking that I've been losing weight just by staring at the bottles! That was a really nice donation for the bags. We've also received 3 different gift certificates. Yelp and Princeton Review are going to be sending their items this week. I'm waiting for donations from at least 3 other businesses. I know that one of them won't be arriving until September, but it will be good to get the everything else here and ready to go.

Our quarterly check arrived from the AidMatrix foundation today- that is the organization that runs the Virtual Aid Drive on our website- where people make financial donations using our shopping cart. I found the site by accident 3 years ago when searching for relief organizations who could handle our donations for the children who were victims of the CA wildfires. As soon as I saw their site, I loved the page- it made me want to donate money. I know immediately that we had to use it on our site. It has worked perfectly. Our online financial donations increased dramatically since we launched our Virtual Aid Drive. It was one of the best online choices that I made and I'm really proud of it.

Well, that's it for tonight. Tomorrow, I have another calendar photo shoot scheduled, then I'm back at work on getting gift certificates for the date auction couples, auction items, more fire fighters and marketing work for the date auction. There are probably other things that I'm forgetting which need attention too. Until tomorrow friends...

Monday, July 26, 2010

So Much to Do

Well, here we are- the start of the last week of July. How am I doing? There is so much to get done and I'm feeling rather overwhelmed. I need a lot of ad info from our date auction sponsors, I urgently need more fire fighters for the date auction, I need more of our gift bag items in hand and I need to follow up with people who we are working with to promote the date auction. I also need to wrap up calendar photos so I can move on to other things. We have 5 more shoots that need to be scheduled- these last ones are always the hardest- that's why they haven't been done yet. I still have that half month spot that needs to be taken care of. We are also way short on gift certificates for the date auction couples. I did pick up a restaurant gift certificate that can be given to two couples from No Name Restaurant in Boston- they have been very supportive for the past couple of years. They've donated two certificates for a complete dinner at the restaurant for two people each- quite a nice item.

It is really hard when people take a long time to get back to you- I spend so much of my day making follow up calls. I know that I am not perfect in getting back to people, but it is very frustrating. I've been trying to get in touch with some people who have said they will participate in the date auction, but haven't heard back from them. It really slows down things on my end when I spend so much time trying to get people to respond.

Anyways, enough griping. There is so no magic remedy for the unresponsive person problem, so I just have to deal with it. In better news, we received an unexpected $1,500 donation from an organization in Colorado today, which was excellent. There is nothing better than receiving an unsolicited donation! We also have a local bank back as an anniversary event sponsor- they sponsored two years ago, but weren't able to be a financial donor last year. They did donate an item for last year's silent auction instead.

Well, I am going to bed- it is super early, only 11:35, but I have a headache- I think that is contributing to my overwhelmed feeling tonight. I've had a headache every morning for almost a week, I think it has to do with the cold that I had- it hasn't completely gone away, but it is a lot better. I'm going to write my extensive list for tomorrow- until tomorrow friends... wish me luck for a very productive day please!

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Back on Track

Ah, what a week- I can't believe it is almost over. I started getting sick on Sunday night and I was sick for the next few days. I did get a little done, but not enough by a long shot. It is so hard to get anything done when your sick. At least I have the luxury of being able to take a sick day when I need it, but it is also hard to know that there is no one else that can help get stuff done. I was back to work yesterday, so that was good. Today was a calendar photo day- I did photos in Quincy. We had a really good turn out as usual, they are a very supportive department. The photos came out great. Then I was in Marlboro doing photos there, they came out really good too. There are twins in Marlboro who have been in the calendar for quite a few years, this was the best photo shoot with them. I got some really cute photos of the girls sitting on top of the police cruiser.

This morning, I was at the police academy recruiting single police officers for the date auction. That is always a fun time! It is very formal there- the recruits stand up when you enter and everything is 'yes ma'am', etc. A friend, who is a police Lt., organizes it for me- he comes with me and speaks to the recruits about his experiences with giving stuffed animals to children, then I speak about PS and then talk about the date auction and recruit! They are usually a receptive group. I also did a group photo of them for the calendar- some of them held stuffed animals for the photo. The photos came out really well.

So what else is going on? The major focus is wrapping up calendar photos- I have 2 photo shoots scheduled for tomorrow, then I have 4 more that still need to be scheduled. Tomorrow, I'm going to be choosing calendar photos. Leni, our volunteer, usually helps with that. It really helps to have someone else to give feedback on the photos. Choosing the pics is one of my favorite parts. Sometimes, I like it even better than taking the photos- which I love. I really enjoy looking through all the photos and choosing the best ones.

I also need to keep working on auction items- we still have a long way to go. I've been following up with people who promised items, but haven't delivered yet and I've been reaching out to those who I haven't heard back from and I'm still contacting new places. It is a long, slow process to get items donated. It is amazing how much follow up it takes.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I was going to get some more work done, but I'm getting kind of tired and I think I will just write my list and go to bed. Until next time...

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Photos

Well, things are better since my last blog. My anxiety has eased about getting firefighters for our date auction, the firefighter who is helping is working hard and I've asked the guys who have signed up to recruit a friend to participate too- we will get there. It may be slow going, but we will get there- before Sept. 17!

Calendar photos are coming along well. I did 2 good photo shoots today. The first one was with the nieces/nephew of a friend of mine, their dad is a police officer. The photos came out really cute. This afternoon, I was at the Ashland MOMS club doing photos of the little kids. I just looked at them and we have some adorable ones. I did have photos scheduled yesterday, but we had to reschedule because it rained. I have another shoot scheduled for Sunday. We have approximately 6 more photo shoots to do, so that is not too bad. I have to get on with selling that last half month. I haven't made any progress with that.

So what else is going on? Tomorrow, I need to catch up on a lot of things- I have a number of things that have been on my to-do list every day this week and I am determined that they will not be on Monday's list- they will be done tomorrow! I don't have any reason to leave my office tomorrow, so that will be a help. I also need to clean my office- it looks like a hurricane touched down- minus the water.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I'm off to write my lengthy list, then bed. I was going to read for a bit, but my eyes are starting to hurt. Until next time friends...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Slowness

Well, today was not the most productive of days. I worked really hard, but don't have much to show for it. That is hardly anything new- there are plenty of dates where I work hard but don't see any results. My biggest concern right now is that I need more fire fighters for our date auction. We only have a few so far and I need 12. The fire fighter who has been helping is still working on it and we do have plenty of times, but I get very anxious. The fire fighters are such an important part of our event. It is always slow getting the guys signed up, I go through this every year, but it is still nerve wracking. I like to have things all set up and ready to go well in advance. I asked one of the FF who signed up to help recruit as well, he said that he would. I've also placed more calls to the FF who did it last year, but haven't heard back from anyone today.

I'm still trying to set up the remaining photo shoots for our calendar- that gets a little frustrating too when you have to keep following up with people to set up photo shoots. I also need to find that last half month sponsor as well and follow up with sponsors who still need to send checks.

I was working on auction items too, I did get through to some people today and got more commitments for auction items for the anniversary event, so that was good. Barefoot Wines is on board as the liquor sponsor for the anniversary event. Each guest will receive a complimentary glass of wine with admission. I'm happy to have them on board, it is a really nice addition to the event.

I've sent our date auction flier updates to Lisa, so we should have our event flier ready to go in a few days. I have to decide what I'm going to do about advertising in one of the Boston magazines, I don't want to spend the money, but I'm concerned about losing that marketing. I have another few weeks to make up my mind.

The date auction is only 2 months and 3 days away now, I can't believe it is coming up that quickly. There is still so much that needs to come together- most importantly getting the rest of our bachelors lined up, a lot of marketing work that needs done, gift bag items that need to be received, more auction items needed and certificates for the couples, program designed, ads on the website. Then there is the anniversary event just two weeks after that and our calendar- we still have quite a few photo shoots left to do. It is a lot to get done in a short period of time. The good thing is that a lot has been done already and we are on track, I need to keep remembering that when I want to lose my little mind!

There are a lot of other things that need my attention too, but the most important thing right now is our calendar and two big events. I wish I had more time to work on other things, but since I can't delegate to anyone, I need to focus on these 3 big things for the time being.

Well friends, I am off to write my list for tomorrow and keep reading the book that I'm loving. I should go back to work for a bit, maybe I will. Until tomorrow...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Progress

Well, today was a good day for the most part. We have another date auction financial sponsor on board! It is a returning sponsor from last year, they are matching the same level they did last year. We are now almost at our sponsorship goal, which is a relief. It is always such a good feeling to get financial commitments.

I did calendar photos of the cutest babies today- a Hopedale officer and his 3 month old identical twin daughters. They were absolutely adorable. They were really easy to photograph too, no tears or fussing. Later, I did photos with the daughter of a lady who helps with Project Smile things. She was 8 years old and a cutie too. It is a lot of fun doing calendar photos. Tomorrow morning, I am down in Rhode Island doing photos with the state police and then to Mendon for more photos. I still have a lot more to do, but we're making progress.

On the downside, one of our new calendar sponsors has dropped out. He said business wasn't doing well and he couldn't afford to sponsor. I had a bad feeling about it already, so I wasn't that surprised, but I didn't have a back up and I need to find someone to fill that half month spot.

I spoke with our calendar printer today and we are all set to repeat what we did last year- I wasn't expecting any changes, but it is important to touch base and make sure things are all set. I also spoke with our graphic designer to give her a heads up about all the things that I'll be sending her way soon.

I've updated our date auction participant list- we technically have filled our bachelorette quota. I like to have extra ladies though in case we have some people drop out. Last year, we had 2 girls drop out. I'm still waiting for a lot of the guys, but it is always that way.

Tomorrow, I need to work on date auction marketing, updates to our website, contacting the rental place for our stage/table rental, work on more auction items and I should also start our newsletter. I slipped with my newsletter way too much this year and I need to get back to the way things were- for years I always did a monthly newsletter, but this year it has been more sporadic- not cool.

Well friends, that's the latest and greatest for tonight. I'm off to read my book (I didn't end up reading last night, just conked out early), write my list for tomorrow (I've been slipping with that too) and then bed. Lots more progress to be made tomorrow. I feel like eating some blueberries too- already had watermelon and cherries tonight- I'm having a bit of a fruit craving. Until next time friends...

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Back to Work

Well, I'm back to work. I was on vacation in Florida all last week- I had an awesome time. I came home on Monday evening, I was working yesterday, but by the time evening rolled around, I was too tired to blog. I did do a little work last while I was away, but not too much. I have a ton of work to get done now- calendar photos, date auction and anniversary celebration are the priorities. I did have 2 photo shoots scheduled for yesterday, but they were both rescheduled. I did photos in Burlington today and they came out great. The mom put the kids in a low lying tree and their dad (the police officer) stood next to them- I got some really cute photos. It was something that I never would have thought of doing. That is one of my favorite things with the digital camera, being able to look at the photos immediately. My camera, which is only a year old, has been having some issues lately, so I need to bring it into the store and have them take a look at it.

So what else is happening? The lady who is interested in sponsoring the date auction is coming over tomorrow- this is the appointment that got rescheduled from last month. Hopefully, I will have some good news tomorrow to report. We are still a little short on date auction financial sponsors. I did reach out to another potential date auction sponsor who was involved last year. I had already contacted them, but they wanted to wait until the summer before making a decision.

I did get some good anniversary auction items today- WEEI is donating another "Producer for a Day" certificate. That is always a popular item. Whole Foods is going to donate a gift basket which is another good item- they have lots of really nice products, so I'm sure it will be a popular item.

Tomorrow, I'm back to work on more auction items. There are quite a few smaller date auction things that I need to work on too. I also have two photo shoots scheduled- they are both local, so at least I don't have to drive very far.

Anyways friends, that is it for tonight. I think it will be another early night- my eyes are starting to hurt. I picked up a good book while I was away, "The Girl Who Played with Fire" by Stieg Larsson (it is really good), so I was going to read before going to sleep, but that might not be happening. Until tomorrow friends, please wish me good luck with my sponsor meeting in the morning!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Wednesday Happenings

So what's new? Well, we've been doing more calendar photo shoots. Yesterday's photos came out really cute. I have 2 more photos scheduled for tomorrow, there was another one scheduled but they had to change. There are still a lot more that I need to schedule. It is working out well expanding to include other children.

I've been trying to wrap things up- I'm going away for a couple of days and I want to come back to an almost clean slate. I've been cleaning up and organizing my desk and catching up on things. We're about to start a new month too, so that is an extra reason to get organized before the new month starts.

There are a lot of other things going on, but I'm awfully tired and starting to forget. One of our event partners helped get a number of cool gift bag items for our date auction- a number of them are hair related, one is a coupon for a hair cut at a Boston salon and a complimentary manicure. We have some pretty cool gift bags donations so far.

I'm sorry this is a boring blog post- I've gone to sleep really late for the last couple of nights and I'm really dragging right now. I don't mean to be so dull though. There is so much going on with the calendar, anniversary event, date auction and all the regular things, there is no reason to have a boring blog- but my eyes are getting tired and I can't focus anymore. I need to finish packing, get some more things cleaned up and head to bed. Until next time friends- when I promise I will be more interesting!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Photo Day

Today was a photo day, I did 2 photo shoots today. This morning I was in Franklin taking photos with a group of children from a moms club. The children were really young, but they did a great job. I always try to move as fast as possible when dealing with little kids. The photos came out really cute. This afternoon, I was doing photos at a local fire department. I have 3 photos scheduled for tomorrow, then one on Thursday. We still have a lot more photo shoots to schedule, but we're making progress. I still have that last calendar month to fill, I need to get working on that more.

I think I forgot to mention, we got a pair of round trip airline tickets donated for our date auction, so that will be great. We've been getting some really good auction items in lately. The Marriott hotel donated an overnight stay at any of their hotels- I love it when the hotels donate gift certificates that can be used at any of their locations.

So what else is happening? I need to keep working on date auction marketing. One of the magazines that used to donate an ad space isn't able to donate anymore. I can purchase an ad for a good discount, but it is still a little pricey. Some people have told me not to do it- people whose opinions I value. My instinct is that I should take out the ad though. I'm not sure what I'm going to do- obviously I don't want to spend the money, but I do want to reach as many people as possible. I read this magazine all the time and I know it is popular. I still have other a month to decide. We're working with a new website to help promote our date auction as well, so that is good. I've been reaching out to other places as well to add to our marketing- there is no such thing as too much event marketing.

Well, I'm going back to work. I have a lot of emails to send and I need to clean up my office. Until tomorrow friends..

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Wednesday Happenings

Did you ever have a day where you worked hard, but don't remember a single thing you did? I had that kind of day. Before I started blogging, I was thinking about my day and realized I didn't really remember very much. I did contact two anniversary event sponsors that I hadn't yet reached out to. In good calendar news, another sponsor is back on board, so now we are only 1 1/2 months short, so that isn't too bad. I haven't scheduled anymore calendar shoots yet- I have quite a few for next week and I spoke with a number of people, but there are still a lot more to schedule. The scheduling part is always the hardest- doing the photos is easy. It gets frustrating sometimes trying to get them all scheduled and constantly following up with people.

We're moving along with gift certificates for the date auction- we're still short on the 40 that we need, but quite a bit of progress has been made lately. I need 8 more ladies to be auctioned and a lot of men. We're way short on fire fighters and police- it always takes a while to get them signed up, so that is hardly new. I always hate it though- in my perfect world, I would have all the bachelors signed up by now, photos and profile info in hand and ready to go. Of course, in my perfect world, I would have a few million dollars in the bank too!

I did mail stuffed animals to a Cape Cod police department today, I have a box of coloring books/crayons and reading books to send them tomorrow as well. I was supposed to drop them off a while ago, but wasn't able to. I would have liked to have done a photograph with them, but it is simpler to just mail the items. I have so much work here that needs done, it is hard to take all the time to drive down there. There is another department that I need to mail stuffed animals to as well.

Well friends, I think that's it for tonight. I know this was not exactly the most fascinating blog. Quick update- the meeting with the potential date auction sponsor was canceled. We have a tentative reschedule date in July, so I'll let you know. I also used LinkedIn yesterday to help get an auction item donor on board. I was on my account for another reason and I saw the list of potential connections that I may know- i shared quite a few connections with this one lady, so I clicked on her profile to find out more about her. It turns out, she was pretty interesting, she started her own biscotti making company in RI. I decided to call her and see if she would be interested in donating a gift basket for our anniversary event. She was so nice on the phone and agreed to donate. I'm going to put more effort into using LinkedIn. I've had my account on there for ages, but outside of adding connections, I don't really utilize it. I'm going to change that.

Anyways. I'm off to eat a few more cherries and some more delicious cheese and crackers. I bought a phenomenal cheese on Sunday and can't get enough of it. I can't even pronounce the name of it or remember how to spell it, I've never had it before- I need to write it down, so the next time I go to my favorite Italian food store in Providence, I will see if they have it there. Ah, delicious food- how wonderful it is! Until tomorrow friends...

Monday, June 14, 2010

Calendar Photos

Calendar photos officially started today. I always forget how much fun it is until I start doing them again. It really is a blast. It is so much fun to meet the families, take photos and then go back to work, load the photos in and find the perfect one- I love it. I did two photo shoots in Upton today of local families. I'm broadening the calendar more to include other families besides police and fire fighters. There is a long way to go to get the calendar photos done, it feels great to be started.

Another calendar sponsor is back on board today, so that was good news. I still have two months unsold, which isn't too bad. I also got some new cool auction items. I'm way short on gift certificates for the date auction couples though, that has been really slow. I'm going to start contacting restaurants outside of Boston now- ones in Cambridge, Newton, etc. Maybe it will be a little easier than Boston places.

The mom who called me last week to thank us after her daughter received our stuffed animal did email us her story- it is an awesome email. We will definitely include it in our grants. It is really important to have letters like that. The only other one that I have was from 2007, so it is great that we can circulate a new one.

I have a meeting tomorrow morning with a potential date auction sponsor, so wish me luck! Our event would be a great fit for her business, so hopefully it will go well. I will keep you posted. We're still short on our date auction sponsorship goal, so it will be a big help to have this sponsor on board.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I'm going to clean my office- I was home early tonight and already got started. Then I'm going to write my list, I've been slipping a lot with my list writing and need to get back on track. Until tomorrow...

Friday, June 11, 2010

So Much News!

I have been such a dreadful blogger lately- I am so sorry! It is 1am now, but I couldn't go to bed without blogging. I wanted to share a call that I got yesterday afternoon. I was working and was not in the best of moods. The phone rang and it was a mom from Worcester, she was calling to thank us for our work. Her 3 year old daughter was recently having trouble breathing and the mother had to call 911. The Worcester fire fighters arrived and assisted the little girl, then one of them gave the girl a stuffed animal. The mom said that it immediately changed things for her daughter- the little girl calmed down and it brought a smile to her face. The mom was so happy about the effect the stuffed animal had on her girl that she looked us up online and called. How awesome is that? I was so happy to hear her story and glad that her daughter was fine. I asked her if she could email us her story so we could include it with our grants. She said she would, but hasn't done it yet. I don't have her phone number, so I really hope that she does email us. It is very rare that I actually hear from families who receive our items, so this was really special.

In other good news, we have a speaker for our Anniversary Celebration- so there will be no more blog posts lamenting that I don't have a speaker. It was kind of funny how it happened. Last Wednesday morning, one of our volunteers was here and I was griping to her about how we still don't have a speaker (forgetting that it took me until July last year to get one), when the phone rang- I was still complaining as I picked up the phone. It was Pam Cross, reporter and anchor from Channel 5, Boston, saying that she would like to be involved and speak at our event. I was so happy. She has a cool background and I think she will do a great job. It is awesome to have that taken care of.

Calendar photos are starting next week. I've been expanding our scope a bit to include children that are not related to police/fire fighters. I think it is good to reach out to new supporters by broadening the calendar. We're still doing the children wit their police/fire fighter parents from departments that participate, but now we'll have other kids too. I did get some more commitments for calendar sponsorship, but we're still short.

Well, there is a lot more to talk about, but I think that is it for tonight. I slept for almost an hour and have an energy rush, so I'm going to get back to work for a bit. I lost a piece of paper that I need to work, so I also need to spend some time looking for that. Until next time friends...

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Welcome June

I can't believe we are already in June, the half way point of the year. It is a little overwhelming because the pace really picks up for what we need to get done- calendar photo shoots need to be scheduled, the rest of the calendar ads sold and a ton of date auction and anniversary celebration work. We're not particularly behind on things right now, but there is so much more that needs to be done. I go through this every year and it works out fine in the end, one would think that I would be calm by now- but I'm not. Just because it worked out before, doesn't guarantee it will work out this time. I need to stop thinking about the big picture and focus on all the smaller, immediate tasks that need to get done- then the bigger picture falls into place.

Anyways, so what's new? Well, we are getting some good auction items coming lately- golf outings, theater tickets, restaurant certificates and others. We still don't have a guest speaker for our anniversary event. I made some follow up phone calls today, so hopefully we will get some good news soon. I really want to get this taken care of as soon as possible, so I can move onto other things.

I did get our June newsletter finished today, Lisa formatted it and our web host has it now, so it should go out soon. I used to do a monthly newsletter, but I've missed quite a few months recently. I need to get back to our monthly news. There really is no excuse not to get it done. I know that I get caught up with other tasks and the newsletter slips down the totem pole, but that isn't acceptable. We need to have a consistent monthly newsletter- our mailing list is the largest it has ever been and we need to stay in touch with our supporters. No more missing months!

Well, I am getting energized and I'm going to head back to work, I have a million things to catch up on and now is a good time to do it. Until next time friends..

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Tuesday Progress

A whole week since I blogged- yikes! I was planning on blogging last night, but fell asleep at 11pm instead. So what's new? Well, today was a pretty good day- we have a new date auction sponsor that I'm pretty excited about, Newbury Comics. We are moving slowly towards our sponsorship goal. We also got a commitment from another calendar sponsor, I was worried about their support because I had been leaving messages and sending emails without getting any response, but I manage to get through to them today and they are back on board. I was stressed about trying to find a replacement sponsor for their calendar month, so I'm glad that is taken care of. I still have a long way to go though. I also need to start reaching the police/fire departments to start organizing photo shoots for the calendar.

I have so many things to catch up on, it is getting a little overwhelming. Besides all the emails and letters that need sent out, donors to contact, I have a bunch of grants that I need to work on that are due next week. I was planning on working tonight, but I'm so tired I don't think I can get much done. Everyday, I've been planning on having as a catch up day, but there are so many things that need to get done, I don't get to half of them. I need to get better with organizing time for certain tasks. I've also been slipping with my list writing lately and that makes things harder for me to stay focused during the day without a list. I've been stressed about some personal things lately and that has affected some of my focus on work. I can't believe that we are almost in June- there is so much to get done with the calendar and our big fall events.

Anyways friends, I know this is a short posting, but I'm going to bed. It is only midnite, but it feels so much later. Maybe I'm getting old and can't stay up late anymore! I will be sure to write my list for tomorrow- I need help staying focused on my tasks. Until next time friends...

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Upside

Well, I'm happy to report that day was the opposite of yesterday- it was back on the upside of the roller coaster- the best place to be. It wasn't a phenomenal day by any means, but progress was definitely happening. To make things even better, I received a $1,000 donation from a company in South Dakota. They donated the same amount last year. I totally wasn't expecting their donation, so that was a very pleasant surprise when I went to the post office this morning.

The singles event tonight was terrific- they had a really good crowd, about approximately 130 people. I'm really happy that they Project Smile to benefit. Jeff at Boston Event Guide is so supportive of our work, it is great. The new dating service that hosted the event seems really good too, I would definitely like to do more events with them. I'll keep you posted as to how much money was raised tonight. Events like this are perfect, basically all we have to do is show up- it doesn't get much easier than that.

I reached out to some new potential date auction sponsors today- they sounded really interested. I also got some more ladies signed up for the date auction and another guy- he did it last year and is so handsome, so I'm happy to have him back on board. I also got some tentative gift certificate commitments for the date auction. We're behind on gift certificates, so that was good to make progress.

Well friends, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, I have to pick up auction items for our silent auction on Saturday, then I have a networking event in Boston in the evening. Before the networking, I have to pick up a gift certificate in Watertown and then 2 others in Boston. It's not that I enjoy running around picking up certificates, but sometimes people have said they mailed things and I never receive them. At least if I pick them up, I know we have them.

So that's it for tonight- tomorrow will be another day of progress, I'm going to make sure of that. Until next time friends..

Monday, May 17, 2010

Downside of the Roller Coaster

Well, today was not the best of days. It started of badly and only made a bit of a recovery. I opened my emails this morning to find out that Project Smile was not chosen as the charity for a particular womens organization to support for the next 3 years. I had spoken at the state meeting for this organization a few months ago and then last month at a local chapter. They had supported a large non profit for the past 3 years and instead of choosing to go with us, they are continuing with the other charity. That was very disappointing. Then less than an hour later, I get a phone call from one of our board members who said she is no longer going to be on the board and won't be able to sponsor a month in our calendar. There's nothing I can do about either one of those things- and each one separately is not that big a deal, but together is was upsetting. It sucks to lose a board member, but you can't force someone to do something they don't want to do and there is nothing worse than people making false promises. It just amazes me sometimes how easily people walk away from things.

I still haven't found a guest speaker for our Anniversary Celebration. I'm running out of people to ask. It took me until July last year to get a speaker, so it's not like I'm behind. I have approached some interesting people that I'm still waiting to hear from, so please keep your fingers crossed for me! Hopefully, we will be getting some good news really soon.

So what else is going on? I know I sound like a Debbie Downer- things are not all bad, it's just today was rough. I was making other calls, but not really getting anywhere. I did sign up with an organization that helps identify grants, it was highly recommended to me and from what I've seen, I think it will be really helpful. In other good news, we are on track with our sponsorship goal for the Anniversary event and we're getting cool auction items donated at a decent rate. On the downside, I'm way short on gift certificates for the date auction and I still haven't reached our sponsor goal. I also need some more ladies to be auctioned, 8 more ladies to be exact and we still need quite a lot of men, but it always takes a while to get the guys signed up.

I know I need to relax about things- everything that I'm stressed about now is the same stuff that I deal with every year, it isn't anything new. Things have always worked out in the past, so I shouldn't get so anxious. However, just because things have worked out before, it doesn't necessarily mean it is going to work out this time. When I get stressed, I need to go back to baby steps- break down the big tasks into small manageable pieces and gradually the bigger things fall into place. That has always been how I get things done.

Anyways friends, I'm off to eat some more watermelon (my favorite fruit), then write my list, I've been slipping with my list writing lately, then bed. Tomorrow will be a much better day. We also have the singles event organized by BEG at Splash- we are getting the $10 ticket proceeds. They already have 100 people signed up, so that will be great. Events like this are perfect- all we have to do is help promote and show up- we need to get more events like that.
Until tomorrow friends..