Last Wednesday, Dad and I traveled to Augusta, GA to meet with a good friend that owns a pest control company. I often say that I have learned more in my years after college than I ever learned in college… and I attribute that learning to relationships built and the giving and sharing of information and ideas between businesses. Jeff is a good example of a friend, great business person, creative genious… that has taught me a lot about how to grow a business and enjoy life at the same time.

On Friday, I left Dad in Augusta and traveled to Columbia, SC. I got to meet and spend the entire day with Clara. Spending the day with Dargan and Clara reminded me of what is important in life. The time you spend with others and relationships built are more important that anything else in this world. We had lunch with Ashley at the Gourmet Shop. A new spot for me (I can not believe I missed out on this place when I was in college). Dinner at Za’s with Raven, Dargan, and Ashley… one of my favorite spots from my college days. Afterwards we did a bit of star stalking around town with Holley. What a great day with friends!

The pic below is of Dargan and Jessica Biel. This is taken a couple days before my visit.

This Saturday is Nashville’s Earth Day at Centennial Park. I’m sad that I will be out of town and will not be able to partake in the festivities. I was happy to see that Cool Moms Care is on the schedule.

Go to NashvilleEarthDay.org

It’s from 11 am - 7pm and FREE!

I want to give some props to my co-workers who have taken on the challenge of being All-American’s Biggest Loser. Yep. 10 people signed up to participate. The contest began February 1st. Through this friendly competition, we have drastically changed… no longer do we bring donuts to the company meeting, rarely does anyone eat fast food for lunch, and we’re constantly hoping that the other is making progress! Beside the occasional time when you’ve found that someone has dropped a donut off at your desk… John Oakley

We weigh in on a scale in our filing room. It’s the first thing we do when we come in on Friday mornings.

Together we’ve lost a whopping 95 pounds! At an average of nearly 10 pounds per person… we’re all winners!

The final weigh in is April 30th. Wish us luck and continuing success!!!

Clara was born on December 11, 2007. Her parents are good friends of mine. Dargan is a sorority sister from college. The day after Clara was born she started having seizures. After several days in the hospital, the doctors let Dargan & Chris take Miss Clara home.

On March 4th… they learned that Clara suffered a stroke while she was in the womb, during labor, or right after she was born. She has now been diagnosed with periventricular leukomalacia. The areas of her brain that are invloved are the frontal and parietal lobes. Dargan has set up a website to keep friends and family informed of Clara’s progress. You can read about their story here.

I write about this to ask for prayers for Clara, Dargan, Chris, their families, their friends, and especially all the Doctors involved. I also write this knowing that others have been affected by this type of life changing diagnosis as well.

Our group of girlfriends from college have started a prayer vigil. Please join us in praying for Clara at 8 am and 6 pm each day!

I’m currently working on our first Direct Mail campaign. This is something new for me and our company. We have never really engaged in any type of traditional advertising. Our business has been built on word of mouth referrals and relationships with realtors. As of nearly 4 years ago, I can add relationships with builders as a growth tool to the mix. Our marketing budget just isn’t large enough to get results from ongoing radio or TV advertising. One baby step into traditional advertising is direct mail.

So, we’re jumping in and we’re going to try a full flegded direct mail campaign.

I’m still in the research & development stages, but ultimately our direct mail campaign will be developed to communicate these three things..

• What Make makes All-American different than our competitors
• Why you should choose green termite protection and pest control services for your home & family
• A Call to action!

What I’m pondering now… is there a greener way to effectively get the same results as a paper, junk mail piece? There are services like Green Dimes available to the public to help stop people like me from sending you this kind of advertisement. ummm.

Gavin and I have made commitments to make choices to live greener. And, we do our part at All-American to reuse & recycle along with provide environmentally friendly services. How much impact does a direct mail program like this have on the environment?

I was speaking with a friend at a printing and direct mail company. As we were discussing mail service procedures & protocols (a very engaging and inspiring conversation, I might add :)… he mentioned that some environmental groups are now trying to develop a “do not mail” list. This makes sense to me, but his hesitancy to all this (and remember this is he livelihood) is that it is all the junk mail that we get that offsets the cost of the U.S. Postal Service. Without junk mail… our postage rates could sky-rocket to a dollar or more- that would be a lot of money for a consumer and from a business perspective a raise in postal costs like this could be a nightmare.

So, I’m still pondering… pondering the message that we’ll give in our copy & visuals… and also the message we’ll send by sending an unsolicited paper piece.

We’re by no means a large corporate giant… we’re talking 8,000 peices max. So we’ll see…

Last night I was reminded that apologies are imperative to healing.

Last night I was reminded that a vision insists on a time of discernment.

Last night I was reminded that it’s hard to really truly deeply understand one another.

Last night I was reminded that it’s hard to really truly deeply love one another.

Last night I was reminded that God is at work within us and among us despite us.

some links from Jay to shed some light:

Can we talk? Can we listen? The possibility of reconciliation

Changing Cultures: Part 1

Petition

A Statement On Change: Deconstruction

Change is Hard. Communication is Harder.

My first post… ummmm. pause. I am still in discernment as to how I’m going to use this blog in my personal & professional life. But, I’ve commited to just starting and seeing where the writing and relationships lead me. I have watched my husband from the other couch on the opposite side of our den spend countless hours blogging, reading other blogs, building relationships, learning about himself, being challenge, forgetting to do things he wants to do, getting sucked in, and growing tremendously at the same time. As you may tell… I have mixed emotions about all this. But, either way, I’m giving it a try. With a prayerful heart- I write.