Latest and Greatest

I haven't blogged in a week! I can't believe it has been that long. So what's new? Well, a lot of things have been going on. First of all, I just wanted to share that I spoke with such a nice person today, it really made my afternoon. We have a luxury car rental company that is donating for the date auction and they wanted to park one of their cars outside Gypsy Bar. I called Gypsy today to find out about that and the manager referred me to the valet company who handles all the parking on that block. I left a message at the company- it was a general mailbox and even though I asked for a specific person, I was a little doubtful that they would actually get the message. Within an hour, I received a phone call from the person I had asked to speak with. He was so easy going and pleasant- it was totally refreshing. He even offered to help get some auction items for us. I wish everyone could be as helpful and friendly as he was. It was also great how he called me back so quickly. I make a lot of phone calls during the day and frequently it takes a long time to hear back from people, so when I do hear back promptly, it is great.

We may have a guest speaker for our Anniversary Celebration! It isn't confirmed yet, but hopefully I will know tomorrow, but it does look good. I'll let you know when I hear back. It would be such a relief to have that taken care of. In other good Anniversary news, we have a returning platinum sponsor. Their support brings us 60% towards our sponsorship goal. I have to get back to work on new auction items though, I haven't contacted as many places recently.

We still need more date auction sponsors and unfortunately, I haven't had any new financial commitments, although there are some good leads. I never heard back from the financial services company that I met with weeks ago. I left voicemails and sent emails and haven't heard anything. I'm not sure what happened.

It looks like we will be participating in a singles event in May and getting the proceeds from the ticket sales. I don't have all the details yet, I just got the email this morning. We also have the silent auction coming up at the end of May at Boston Event Guide's wine fest. I would love to get PS involved with other events going on, but that's all we have planned so far.

I can't believe it is almost May- I feel like I'm really behind on things, but I always have that feeling, even when I'm actually well on track. I am so tired right now, I do have lots more to write about, but my eyes are hurting and totally ready to close. I need to write my list, I've been slipping with my list writing lately and I need to get back on track. Until tomorrow friends...

New Week

Hello, Happy Patriots Day! So it is the start of a new week- what's happening? Well, tonight I spoke with a womens group about Project Smile. They are choosing their state charity to support and we are one of the two charities being considered. I spoke at the state meeting a couple of months ago. Then last week, I met one of the ladies at a networking event who had heard me speak at the state meeting. She asked me to speak to the local group tonight because they were going to vote on which charity they wanted to support tonight. I think it went well, I made the important points and I hope they choose to support it. The seemed really interested in PS. Each chapter has to vote, so I'm not sure what is going to happen. Hopefully, speaking tonight made a difference. Even if it doesn't, at least I got the word out to more people.

I'm still working on getting a speaker for our Anniversary Celebration. I know it took me until July last year to get a speaker, but I really do want to get it nailed down soon. I also need to work on getting more grants. I'm going to apply for a grant that we got turned down from a few years ago. The bank has expanded in our area recently and I think they might be more willing now to support us. I was also recently introduced to a website that lists lots of different grants and makes it a lot easier to apply for them. It costs a couple of hundred dollars to participate, but I think it would really be worthwhile.

I still haven't heard back from the potential date auction sponsors. They were going to get back to me a week ago last Friday. I called and emailed last week, but haven't heard anything, so I'm not sure what is happening. They said they definitely wanted to do something, so maybe they just need more time. I wish I would hear something from them though- even if it is only to say they need more time. There was a good thing that happened today- I had emailed one of the ladies from the date auction a couple of months ago to see if she could help us out again with getting gift certificates donated for the date auction. I never heard back from her- I figured she was busy, but I was also a little worried that maybe she wasn't interested in helping us again. But today, I chatted with her on Facebook and she was so nice and said she would definitely help again. I was really relieved about that.

Well, I think that's it for tonight. I'm really tired and need to sleep. It is barely midnight. I'm going to go have a grapefruit and then make it an early night. I have a lot of work to get through tomorrow. I can't believe I haven't even started with getting calendar sponsors. We're already past the middle of April, so I need to get that moving immediately.
Until tomorrow friends...

New Week

So what's new? Well, it was an interesting day. Things got off to a good start- Michelle, one of our board members, has done a great job recruiting single ladies and guys for the date auction. I opened my email this morning to find quite a few new date auction candidates. I emailed the bachelors/ettes, then I did some following up with other people- then I decided I was going to update my Facebook status to "it's going to be a good day." Within five minutes, I got a really disappointing email from a potential guest speaker who won't be participating, then a few minutes after that, I accidentally walked into a door. I thought of my FB update and figured I jinxed myself. However, things got better. The check from the Saver's Bank arrived and I also got a $300 donation that I wasn't expecting and a bunch of auction items arrived today too. On a personal level, there were some nice things that happened too. I made a coloring book/crayons donation to Millbury Fire today and followed up with some other departments. I have another donation to DCF scheduled for Wednesday.

I am a little worried- I haven't heard back from the potential date auction sponsors that I met with 2 weeks ago. They said they would get back to me by last Friday. I left one of them a message this morning, following up, but I didn't hear back. Hopefully, I will hear back from them soon. Our event would be a great fit for them and it would really mean a lot to us. I will keep you posted when I hear back.

So what else is happening? Well, I'm still not finished with the grant that I was working on last week. I don't know why it is turning into such a production, it's not even particularly difficult. It is almost completed, but there are a couple of small things that I am stuck on and I also want to take more time to keep proofing it. The plan is to have it in the mail on Thursday.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning out lately of both personal items and work related things. Tonight, I was sorting through some old papers and found a little note from my grandfather. I have only a couple of notes that he wrote. It is such strange timing because his birthday is coming up in a couple of days, April 15 and I have been thinking about him quite a bit lately. He would have been 104 years old! He died when I was 14 and I miss him just as much today as I did then. I know they say that time heals and it does heal certain things, but nothing heals the loss of someone you adore. He didn't live long enough to see all his grandchildren grow up- my sister Eve doesn't remember him, but my brother does and Cordelia too. He used to be afraid that we would forget him, I told him that I never would, but I wish there was a way to let him know that now, as a 30 year old woman, he is still a part of my life and I'll never forget him. He was the best grandpa a little girl could have ever wanted.

Anyways friends, that's it for tonight. I'm off to have a grapefruit, then write my list. I want to start working earlier tomorrow morning because the Yankees home opener is on TV tomorrow afternoon and a certain Yankees fan is going to be taking quite a few work breaks to watch the game! I really wish they wouldn't have baseball games in the middle of the work day, but the Yanks are getting their rings and I will be watching! Until tomorrow....

Tuesday Happenings

It's a new week and what's happening? Well, today got off to a rocky start. I had intended to work on a foundation grant, but I just couldn't get into it. I don't even know what the problem was. It isn't even that difficult a grant, but I was struggling tremendously. After almost an hour, I stopped. Sometimes, when things are not happening, it is a good idea to step away and change focus. I have been doing less grant work and sometimes it can be hard to get back to grant writing. I have to do a follow up donation to Sutton PD tomorrow, but I am intending to get some serious grant work done too. I did spend a lot of time working on auction items, particularly for our anniversary event. I hadn't intended to spend some much time, but once I started, I couldn't stop. We did get some great auction items lately- Daily Show with Jon Stewart tickets, whale watching, restaurant certificates, children's activities and a couple of others. I spoke to some people who were really helpful today and hopefully we will be getting some more really nice items soon.

There is a lot of other stuff going on too, but I'm so tired. I came home tonight with glorious plans about what I was going to do- catch up on emails, some grant writing, interesting blog posting- and I haven't done any of it. It is only midnight, but I feel like it is much later. I'm sorry, I wish I was more interesting tonight- there really is a lot to talk about, but I just need to sleep- I think an early night is needed. Until tomorrow friends..

Thursday Updates

So what's new? Well, the meeting this morning with the potential date auction sponsor went well. They haven't committed to anything yet, but they did say they would be doing something. They said they will be getting back to me at the end of next week. I think we made a good connection. I would really like to have their involvement in the date auction, I think it would work out well for both sides. They were really interested in Project Smile and asked a lot of questions, I love talking about Project Smile, so that was fun. I'll keep you posted when I hear back from them- hopefully with good news!

There was a funny thing that happened today- a couple of weeks ago, I had called an organization that had donated a gift certificate for our silent auction last year. The woman who I spoke to last year was very nice and helpful. She donated a certificate and I had thanked her when I got it. I left her a message asking about a donation for this year's event and I faxed over a letter since most places need an official written request for their records. She called me back the next day and was very different than the nice woman that I spoke with the year before. She said she had looked up our request from last year and they had donated in October, so they wouldn't be donating again now. I explained to her that our event was in October of this year- that I was just trying to get an early start and she had sent the passes in the summer for last year's event. She said they wouldn't be donating this year and that I didn't need to fax anything over. By that time though, I had already sent the letter. I was pretty disappointed, but I was pleasant of course and thanked her for getting back to me. I didn't understand why she was so abrupt on the phone, especially since she was so pleasant last year. Anyways, I picked up my mail today and guess what I saw- a thick envelope from the same organization. I opened the envelope and inside was a gift certificate for our auction, along with a letter signed by the same woman. Needless to say, I was pretty surprised, especially since she was so adamant about not donating. I don't know what happened- maybe she changed her mind and decided to help us, maybe she made a mistake and sent them to us by accident (although the enclosed letter specified our event) or maybe an assistant was doing them for her and sent them out. All I know is that I'm glad we got them- it is a nice auction item. This was a first though- I've never had someone say no and then send an auction item. It is usually the other way around- say yes and never send it!

I did get a commitment for a new auction item donation today- it will be from a RI brewery. Brewery stuff is always a popular item. I'm going to be working on getting a lot of new items- I don't want our auction to get stale with a lot of the same items every year.

Anyways, that's it for tonight. I already ate my grapefruit while I watched one of my favorite shows- Real Housewives of NYC- love that show! I'm off to write my list and then bed. I went to bed earlier last night and it definitely made a difference today- I'm aiming for another one tonight. Until next time friends...