Tidying Up

Well, this is going to be a quick post since it is already after 1am! I don't have anything incredibly exciting to share, but I didn't want to go another night without blogging. Things are moving along on the date auction front, even though I get moments of panic when I think that no one will ever come to the event- it will just be me and 40 bachelor/ettes that I will be forced to bid on! Of course, that won't happen, but there is always the fear of having a disaster on your hands. In order to prevent such a disaster from ever happening, I've been working on lining up the marketing for the event. I'm copying pretty much everything that I did last year for marketing and I'm trying to expand. The good news is that through a sponsorship trade, I got a much better deal on a magazine ad that we are doing (we did the same ad last year). I'm still short of our sponsorship goal, but the good news is that I've been able to make some significant cost savings which helps a lot.

It is rather amazing how the date auction ever comes together. There are so many pieces that have to fit together in order to have a successful event- sponsors, marketing, vendors, hosts, venue, gift certificate donations, auction items, bachelors/ettes, volunteers. Speaking of volunteers, I need to get a volunteer coordinator who can come with me earlier in the day to help set up and then manage the volunteers as they come in. That is such an important job and I need someone to do it because I get bogged down with all the other things that are happening at the event. I do a volunteer responsibilities list that I print out for the volunteers, but I still need a person to make sure everything runs smoothly. There is one person that I have in mind who might be interested. The difficult part is that it is during the work day for most people.

Today, I did calendar photos at Worcester PD and I also made another donation of stuffed animals, coloring books/crayons and reading books. The photos came out well. Then I headed up to Westminster to pick up an auction item donation at Wachusett Brewery and stopped at the Olive Garden in Marlborough to pick up a $50 gift card donation. That was the most they have ever donated, so that was a nice surprise. There is a restaurant that has donated a gift certificate for the past few years for our event- every year the donation gets smaller. It used to be a $75 gift certificate, then it went to a $50 one last year and now it is a $40 one. I don't know if maybe business hasn't been as good for them and that's why they are cutting back. It is a popular place though. Every donation is appreciated, but I naturally wish they could match what they used to do!

Tomorrow, I'm taking a half a vacation day. I have some emails to send in the morning, then I am heading out. I have a fancy event to attend tomorrow night which I am really looking forward to. I spent this evening tidying up- I was cleaning my office, but it still needs more work. I was also tidying up some loose ends that needed to get taken care of- paying bills, organizing some documents, writing thank you letters, updating the new Smiling Stiletto website- that type of thing. There is a lot more that I need to do, but I'm getting tired now and my eyes are starting to hurt.

It is almost 1:30, so I am off to bed. No list writing tonight! Until next time friends..