networking

I am turning into networking girl. And I'm loving it. I've been running the Tampa chapter of The Heart Link Network for over a year and a half now, but until last month had never branched out into any other networking groups. And now I'm attending four. Woo. It's awesome to get together with a bunch of women (all my groups are women only) and help one another grow our businesses. Any Tampa area women in business that want to check out any of the groups, shoot me a line. =)

Heart Link

My Heart Link meeting was tonight. It was a much smaller group than usual, but that was actually something of a nice change. We didn't really worry about the timer, and everyone got a chance to chat even more so than usual. A couple new members this month, and they were an awesome addition to the group. I look forward to seeing everyone again next month, and hopefully welcoming some more new members. I adore being a part of Heart Link - not only is it nice to get some "girlie" time, but the women I get to connect with every month are just fabulous.

clean and fresh

Gretchen with Rover Done Over came over tonight in her kick ass dog grooming mobile. My doggies are freshly bathed, and nail trimmed, and Jasper is even de-fluffified (anti-shedding treatment). What a beautiful thing. I met Gretchen through my Heart Link meetings and she's a complete sweetie. Her boyfriend helps her out in the van, esp. when she's doing large dogs like mine that can be difficult to get into the tub, and he seemed like a very cool guy, too. So if you're ever in Tampa with a stinky dog, give Gretchen a call!

finally friday

Long week. SO glad it's the weekend. I came home from work, worked out, cleaned some, and worked on my Heart Link roster. We're at 19 people attending this month, which is awesome. I'm very pleased and I hope that everyone has a great time and makes some awesome connections. This weekend I need to make up the folders and name tags, and create the flyer for the October event.

Tomorrow is our fifth football game of the season. We're 3-1 right now - the kids are looking great. Tomorrow there will be a professional photographer out there getting action shots of the players. Not sure if he'll be getting the cheerleaders, too, or not. I'm very excited about that, because he got some awesome shots last season. One of these days maybe I'll even get around to scrapbooking them! lol.

The debate is on right now, but I'm not really paying that much attention to it. You know what I find so interesting, it seems like no matter which candidate you're for, you can find some website somewhere that makes them look awesome and makes the other guy look bad. It's very odd, because doesn't that by default have to mean that half of those things are untrue? Why can't we all just be presented with actual facts, and make intelligent decisions that way, based on fact and what is best for our own personal situation?

Heart Link

I just began planning my first Heart Link Networking event. For those that aren't familiar with The Heart Link Network, it's a national networking organization for women. I am so very excited to be the first Tampa Area Coordinator. I think when women get together they can accomplish anything, and I think this organization is going to serve as fantastic proof of that. Not only will we be networking with one another...caring, sharing and help one another grow our businesses, but we will also be supporting a very worthy cause in the process. Each month I will be featuring a different non-profit group that will be the recipient of the raffles that will take place during the meeting. This month I am thrilled to be featuring Florida Boxer Rescue. Anything that helps doggies is right up my alley. :)

Alright, let's get this party started

I am, apparently, the only person on the planet not blogging. I've tried to blog. I have. Way back before everyone was doing it, but inevitably I get distracted by life and forget about it, and then don't post for months and months. So I just abandon that blog and go without for a year or more until I get the blogging bug again and sign up somewhere new. So here we are. It would seem that blogger is the place to be, so we'll give this one a shot and (fingers crossed) maybe I'll get past the first few posts and not give up. :)

About me - I'm 33, married, mom to two, and live in Tampa, FL. My son Owen is almost seven, and is into sports. He's insanely smart and I'm sure that will somehow spell trouble for me down the road. My daughter Nicole is five and into cheerleading and gymnastics. Right now we're in football/cheerleading season so life is even more hectic than usual between all their practices and games. Busy but fun, and they both are loving it. My husband Perry will be 41 next week, and is working on getting his private pilot license (lessons were a gift from me for his last birthday). You can reach his main blog here, if you're interested.

I work full time as a user interface designer for a healthcare company, Gentiva, but my main passion is my side business, Once Upon a Family. You've likely not heard of us yet, but we sell traditions products, products to help teach family values (think responsibility, respect, courage, etc.) and heirloom quality memories products. I describe the products as "stuff that makes you want to be a better mom". lol. I've also recently launched a local chapter of a nationwide women's networking group, The Heart Link Network.

What else you should know about me - I'm an avid scrapbooker, though I don't have a lot of time for scrapbooking lately, with all of the other stuff above. I'm a huge animal person - I have two dogs, two cats, two turtles, and assorted fish. The dogs are Rico, a 1 year old Great Dane mix, and Jasper, an 11 year old German Shepherd/Chow mix. The cats are Sherbert and Lily. All four animals are rescues and I love them to bits.

Alright, so that's pretty much the basics on me. I guess I'll go figure out how to post this and I'll be back (soon?) with another post...