Latest and Greatest

Well, I had great plans for what I was going to accomplish when I got home tonight. This sentence is about all I have done. I went to my DWC Metro West networking group tonight- this was my first evening networking/speaker series as the chapter organizer. Jacki Rose did an awesome job with her public speaking skills presentation. I learned some ways that I can improve when I talk about Project Smile. I also need to work on speaking at other organizations. I haven't done much speaking about Project Smile lately. It is great when I can speak to groups about PS. I used to do quite a bit more of it.

I came home late and had dinner and that was about it. I was planning on getting back on the computer and responding to a lot of emails. I also was going to finish the big grant which is due early next week. I am almost done with it. It still needs some proofreading and tweaking and I have to write the cover letter and prepare the attachments that go with it. I'm not sure how I feel about this grant- they ask a lot of extensive questions and some of them don't necessarily apply to what we do. I need to get this grant wrapped up and start working on the three others that need attention.

I also started working on getting sponsors for our Anniversary Celebration. Another example of how I have an internal timing to repeat the same tasks at almost the same time- last night I thought how I needed to email a local company who usually sponsors our Anniversary event. This afternoon, I searched my emails to find the event sponsorship request email that I sent them last year- I had applied for a donation on February 24 of last year. I updated all our info and emailed the local company. Hopefully, in a couple of weeks, we will have good news to report.

I also lined up two donations for next week to DCF and the Newton Police. I also left messages with some of the area homeless shelters to make follow up donations. The shelter that used to be in Milford closed late last year. I'm going to work on more follow up donations tomorrow after I get our grant done.

Well friends, that's the latest for tonight. I was falling asleep earlier but didn't want to go to bed without blogging. I'm really making an effort to get back to blogging regularly. I'm still going to bed earlier tonight. Last night, I ended up going to sleep late again and I could really feel it this morning. No grapefruit eating tonight- I ate 4 cookies instead (but they were small!). Until next time friends..

List Power

Lists are wonderful! Over the last few months, I slipped with my list writing- I was keeping my mental lists, but not always writing them down. Yesterday, I recommitted to writing a daily list. So last night, before I fell asleep, I wrote my list for today. One of the funny thing is that even though my new list book is lined, the lines are pale yellow and even though I'm wearing my glasses I can't see them the lines very well, so my list is always crooked and not very neat. I woke up this morning and was not feeling particularly motivated, even though I went to bed rather early. I didn't exercise (big mistake!) and couldn't get myself going. I looked at my list and it inspired me- I started with one thing just so I could check it off, then moved on so I could check another thing off. Pretty soon, I was well on my way and getting results. If I didn't write my list, I would have struggled even longer this morning to get focused. I didn't get to everything on my list and I didn't get to work on that big grant, but that is OK, it was still a good day. I got some new sponsors on board to attend the date auction and give out samples and gift bag items. I also got some participants on board for the ladies night that we are working on with California Closets and Hello Stiletto Shoe Club in May.

So here is my business recommendation- write a daily list. When you have a million things to do, it really helps to write them down. When you run your own business, writing a list keeps you motivated and focused.

I went to a good networking event tonight with the United Regional Chamber's Young Professional group. I had heard about the group months ago from a couple of people, but this was the first event that I attended. I'm really happy with the new networking that I've been doing.

Well friends, that's it for tonight. I'm off to eat grapefruit, write my list and go to bed early. It does make a difference going to bed earlier. Until tomorrow...

Timing

I think I wrote about this before, but my sense of timing is rather funny- I'm like a homing pigeon. When I'm working on my annual things, I will end up doing the same things almost exactly a year later without even thinking about it. In fact, each time I get a little panicky- thinking that I am delayed and behind on things. This week, I was worried that I hadn't even started to apply for ticket donations for our events from various airlines. I opened up a file from last year and I did my application for two airlines- I applied for both donations almost exactly one year ago- only 2 days difference. I also started contacting other auction donors and when I looked at the date that I approached them last year, it was only 4 days difference. I guess I am definitely a creature of habit!

Good news, Yelp is back as an event sponsor for the date auction and we have our first bachelor signed up to be auctioned off. We also have a non alcoholic beverage company who is going to donate coupons for the date auction gift bags and give away bottles at the event, along with other promo items. We also got a commitment today from a food company who is going to donate samples for the gift bags and hopefully also do a tasting at the event. I need to order our new gift bags for the date auction. They will be the same tote bag as last year, but I want to do a new color. So far, we have had bright green and purple. I would like to do yellow this year or maybe blue. I would love to do a hot pink, but that might be too juvenile and not have mass appeal.

I have to finish that big grant I was working on. It is due March 1. I was struggling with it yesterday. I don't know why it is such a challenge- it is complicated, but it is doable. I would like to get it mostly finished tomorrow. I have another grant that I need to work on which is a lot simpler. There are also a few others that I need to start working on within the next month.

I am so glad that I blogged tonight. I wasn't going to blog because I was feeling so tired. I was watching TV and falling asleep, but I didn't want to skip blogging for another night, so I pushed myself to get my laptop and actually turn it on. It feels good to write and now I don't feel so tired. However, I will go to bed early- I have a lot of work that I want to get through tomorrow and I know it does help when I go to bed a little earlier (on those rare nights!). So until next time friends...

Rejuvenation

Yes, it is almost 2 weeks since my last blog posting, but I was away! Not for the entire 2 weeks, but I went away to San Diego for 5 days. This was my first time on the west coast and it was wonderful. My sister was there for work, but we did have time to do fun stuff together and I went sightseeing on my own too. I took about a million photographs, added to my magnet collection and had a great time. So why am I writing about this in my work blog? Because I came back feeling rejuvenated. The only problem was that my rejuvenation was put on hold temporarily because I got a cold as soon as I returned home and was not very productive for quite a few days. I was back at full work mode today and feeling a lot better. I don't go away very often and this was my furthest trip, so I never really appreciated the benefits of getting away and having a complete change of scenery. While I was away, taking in all the new sights and sounds, I thought about the changes that I want to make with work, the things that need my attention and plans for the rest of the year. I walked along a cliff path in La Jolla (one of the most beautiful places I've seen) and sat on a bench and stared at the expansive Pacific Ocean and all the beautiful natural landscape around me. I thought about how much beauty there is in the world and how glad I was to be able to be sitting right there at that moment, taking it all in. I felt inspired to go home, back to the beauty in my own world and get back to work. When you see how lovely the world is, it inspires you to create the very best for yourself.

Well friends, that's my latest for tonight. There is lots of other things to write about, but I'm getting tired and I want to go eat my grapefruit, watch Jay Leno, then go to bed rather early. I am trying to make my bedtime 1/2 hour earlier- wish me luck! Until tomorrow friends..

Growing

Well friends, this is my first blog posting as a 31 year old! I feel like I should suddenly become suddenly enlightened and write some fascinating post based on my maturing age- that will not be happening! I don't feel any different. I have been thinking about growing older. I was so young when I started Project Smile- only 23 when I first got the idea and started doing it, 24 when I started doing it full time 8 months later. I have learned so much in the last 8 years and really grown as a person. I have learned a lot both personally and professionally and I feel like I'm in a really good place. It will be ten years this spring that I graduated from college. If someone had told me then where I would be ten years later, I never would have imagined it, but that is OK. The most unimaginable things can be the most wonderful. My life is not perfect (is anyone's?), at the beginning of this month, I had to deal with some shocking news, but regardless of the many stresses that I have to deal with, things are quite wonderful. I'm an awfully happy 31 year old- happy that I have my family, my good friends, a job that I love which gives me so many opportunities to grow as a person, I'm also grateful for all the fun things that I get to do in life.

Over the last couple of years, I have been making an effort to seek out newness- try new things, go to new places- experience things. So of my experiences are limited because of financial constraints, but I still have made things happen. It is wonderful to try new things and be constantly growing- it is the same for Project Smile. We have to constantly grow- expand our program, expand our network of support and expand our fundraising. You can't allow yourself to become stagnate- either personally or with a business. Growth can be slow, but it is important to keep moving forward- keep learning how to do things better and improving.

Well friends, that's all I have for tonight. I think this might actually be a rather early night. Until next time..

Grant Writing

Ah, grant writing. It is so easy to fall out of the swing of writing grants. I haven't worked on any difficult grants in a little while. The ones that I did in the fall were rather straight forward and simple, so they weren't a ton of work. I did a few brief grant applications already this year, but now I'm working on "the big one". These ones come along on a fairly regular basis, so I should know how to handle it, but I felt so out of it today. This grant asks a lot of detailed questions and will require quite a lot of time. The good thing is that it isn't due until early March. I did quite a lot of it today, but there is still a lot left. I'm also not exactly sure how much I like what I wrote. It might need to be revised. I'm going to keep working on it tomorrow. Since I hadn't worked on these types of grants in a while, it felt like I was working at a much slower pace.

So what else is going on besides my grant doldrums? Quite a bit, except that I am tired and can't remember anything. We got another 16 inches of snow overnight and I ended up spending over an hour shoveling- it was very heavy snow too. By the time I came back in, I was tired and a little sore and it took me a rather long time to get back in the work mode!

Well friends, I am off to eat grapefruit, keep reading my book that I determined to finish before my birthday (next Tuesday) and go to sleep. Until next time..

Phone Call

I wanted to share a story- yesterday afternoon, I received a phone call from a man inquiring about donating stuffed animals. We don't get many phone calls from men regarding stuffed animal donations- the vast majority are from moms donating their children's stuffed animals or helping organize collections. When I picked up the phone, I was totally unprepared for what I would hear. The man explained that he had a collection of Vermont teddy bears that belonged to his wife. She died and he wanted the stuffed animals to go to a good cause. He had researched online and found Project Smile and wanted to send them to us. The pain in his voice was unmistakable, he even started to cry as he talked. His wife had died shortly before Thanksgiving- barely two months ago. She had been diagnosed 3 years ago with advanced breast cancer and it spread to her bones. She was so sick that she ended up in a nursing home at the end of her life. He told me about how someone had nicknamed her a bear and she started collecting teddy bears because of it. It was so heart wrenching to listen to him talk. They had only been married for 6 years- it was his second marriage, her first and he said that he was so lucky to have found her. He told me how he was donated her clothes to an organization helping people in Haiti and he wanted the teddy bears to go to good use. I had tears in my eyes as I listened to him talk- his grief was so raw. We ended up on the phone for a half hour as he talked about her, about the bankruptcy that he is being forced to file because of all the outstanding medical bills and the pain of losing his wife.

It was such a sad phone call, but it was also inspiring in a way- it is a reminder to appreciate the ones that are in our life because it is so easy to lose them. It is also such a sign of support for Project Smile- how people can still be generous even when experiencing such pain and loss. It reminded me of Maureen, the mother who lost her two children to cystic fibrosis. Her daughter had been collecting stuffed animals for Project Smile before she died. After she died, her mom donated the stuffed animals and organized a larger collection for us- such an amazing display of kindness.

Well, that's the latest for tonight. It has been a relatively quiet week so far, but there is always stuff going on- I'm just getting tired and want to read my book some more. I can't renew it anymore at the library and it is now overdue, but I really want to finish it. It is just hard to find the time to read some times. Until tomorrow friends...