My first Chamber of Commerce Retreat!

What an experience! I had so much fun for my first Chamber of Commerce Retreat which was held Thursday April 29th - April 30th in St. Charles, Missouri. Kelley Marchbanks, Presient of Women's Network, and what a great time I had visiting with her this weekend! The theme for this year's retreat was "Removing The Barriers" Each year the Chamber of Commerce gets together to welcome new chairs and get their head around issues in our community so that everyone is on the same page and then leadership knows what direction to lead in. I was asked to be a guest speaker on Thursday evening about what barriers we face as a small business.... gosh I was nervous but public speaking is still very new to me and one that I am trying to work on. We then had dinner at Three Hills Winery in historic downtown St. Charles. What a great place! I had a lot of fun and learned so much during this retreat. Everyone was very nice and friendly and it was good to be around leaders that want to make a positive change for our community. I am very lucky to be a part of an amazing community that has a wonderful Chamber of Commerce. Thanks for the many laughs!

Happy Birthday Misty!

Today is my best friend's birthday! We have been best friends for 18 years now and I can't imagine life without her! She is someone I can always talk to which most usually ends in laughter! Her children mean the world to me and her husband is truly amazing! There is nothing I wouldn't do for her or her family and she is like a sister! You make me smile, you make me proud, you make my heart happy and you make my life complete! I love you Misty Lynn McKee and for just a few months you are older than me! :)

I won again!

Holy moly! I was so surprised to open the mail and had won a 1 night's stay in a King Spa Room with a buffet for 2 featuring made to order omelets from Courtyard by Marriott. Well as another ribbon cutting prize package turns up...The Chamber of Commerce Ambassador's did a ribbon cutting for Courtyard by Marriott's "Going Green" event.... I put my name in the pot and here's my certificate. Valued at $200.00! I will be stopping by a Power ball location and purchasing some tickets tonight! :)

I won a gift basket!

As a Chamber of Commerce Ambassador not only do we get to celebrate things with businesses throughout our community we also get to win prizes at some of the ribbon cuttings. I received a phone call for a ribbon cutting that I attended for Re/MAX Boone Realty (Trisha Lee) at Arbor Pointe for a open house on the model home. Amy Black called me today to tell me that I won.... what did I win you might ask??? Well I won a gift basket that Callaway Bank donated that had an orange travel mug, French Vanilla & Coconut Creme Supreme Arbuckle's Coffee, 2 honey sticks/suckers, chocolate, a $25 Visa Gift Card and 6 tickets to see Mizzou vs. Nebraska Baseball on May 16th! What is really cool is I just met Ryan Gabbert with Mizzou Baseball as a guest reader for our 1st Annual "My Community Cares" Read-a-thon at Midway Heights Elementary! Go Mizzou! :)

Golf anyone?

Well if you want to play a little golf in Midway you need to wait or bring a boat! We went driving around this evening to see what was flooded and drove down to the golf course to snap this picture. There were some guys wackin' some golf balls at the driving range across from this... the 200 yard sign was barely sticking out of the water. I think we are good on the rain for a little while!

Changing The Odds

I had the most wonderful day today.... I got to spend the day with my wonderful, caring, thoughtful, and loving Chaning The Odds committee members during my last seminar as a co-chair. I have been a co-chair since July 1, 2008 and will step down to allow another member to come in as a co-chair on July 1, 2010. It has been an amazing 2 years! Our mission for the past 12 years is to help women re-enter the work force. We give them the tools/resources to help them with finding a job/career. The Missouri Career Center donated their building and Janice Dawson-Threat was teaching a Career Development Activity. This was just enough to give a sample of what she does. We had a great ice-breaker activity similar to "Go Fish" with words that discribed yourself. We then had an Interview Skills lesson taught by Cheryl Edington and Rae Lee talked about Professionalism in the Workforce. We were lucky to have a guest speaker that attended our seminar in October 2009 and was blessed to find a job. She told us about her journey. Everyone did an AMAZING job today! I am the happiest when I am around women that enjoy helping other women and I love to see them smile! This is only a part of the women in our committee but they are truly amazing! I love the mission of this committee and all that it does... thank you (no certain order) Barb, Tami, Connie, Janice, Rae, Virna, Cheryl, Crystal, Denise, Karen, Cindy, Valerie, and Marilyn.... this has been a very memoriable day for me!

Alice.com

I was so excited to get my Alice.com boxes yesterday! I love this website! I have a hard time finding the Downy Total Care Fabric Softener that I like (Walmart doesn't sell it and Target is always out of it) so I found this way cool site. It saves me a ton of money! How you might ask... well how many times do you go to Walmart or Target for let's say 3 things and come out with $100 worth of products? Well I simply do my shopping on their super easy site and if there is coupons for a product (they let you know with a little coupon next to the item) they use it. I ordered some Cheer, Downy, Caress Body Wash, and some razors and they ship right to my door.... for free (shipping that is). So nice not having to run to the store just for one or two items. They have almost everything you can imagine.... set up a free account today at Alice.com

Midway bridge construction

Well we are at Day 3 of the Midway bridge construction and they have torn it apart. All of the decking is gone and they are working through the night. It will be nice to get the bridge open again and not take a 7 mile detour to get to Columiba. But on the bright side... it forces us to take a different route and see something new... something you don't get to do when you take the same old route everyday!

"My Community Cares" Read-A-Thon

We are a Partner In Education, along with D&H Pharmacy,  for Midway Heights Elementary School and today started our week long read-a-thon. What a blast! Our theme for today was "Our Businesses" which included businesses in our Midway community as well as Columbia. We had some great people and their businesses represented today and many great laughs! Kids will say some funny things! I am very proud that we have created such a fun activity to include our amazing community to show support of our school and boost morale for everyone! I love our community and the little town of Midway! Thanks Tanya for being a great partner in crime...er... Partner in Education! :)

A little cabin

 Every time we drive back from the Lake of the Ozarks we pass this little cabin in Eldon and I just love it! It is only a model cabin and no one lives in it. We have a little land in Midway and when we are ready to build our final home I think it's going to be something like this... It's just perfect for just the two of us (and our dogs of course)! I always smile when I see it because it just reminds me of our life... simple. Our home wouldn't be much to some people but the hospatality would be top notch.... we would grab a glass of sweet tea and go sit on the front porch.... to me life wouldn't get much better!  :)

Today's Garage Sale

Yesterday and today we had a huge garage sale. It was not your normal garage sale because this sale was to sell the rest of Grandma Ruby's things. It was bitter sweet.... I was sad to have to put her remaining things out for sale yet at the same time I could see how excited people were to purchase them. I know she would have been proud to know that her things would go to a good home. I would randomly ask what they might do with some of the items... one woman said she wanted grandma's old chair to put around a farm table she recently purchased. She wanted mis-matched chairs as a conversation piece. Another woman wanted a red wagon to put in her yard to put flowers in (just like grandma had done). Another woman was purchasing some of the glassware for gifts... when a special birthday came up she was going to fill a dish with homemade goodies and give as a gift. I know this would have pleased grandma knowing that everything wasn't just taken to the Goodwill and dumped off and that her "junk", as she often called it, would mean something to others. We may sell material things in life but we can never sell the memories.....

Changing The Odds Radio Spot

Today I had the honor of being on the Women's Show (KFRU 1400 AM) which is ran by Lynda Baumgartner, Melody Parry and Kim Stonecipher-Fisher. They had me down to talk about an upcoming seminar for a Women's Network committee, Changing The Odds,  that I currently co-chair with Barb King. Our committee helps women re-enter the work force. It's always a good time with those girls! Thank you for allowing me to talk about this committee and my wonderful committee members... I love CTO!

The 150 year old tree in Midway (+/-)

Today a tree was cut down in Midway. This tree is on our rental property and once down we counted the rings and believe it to be right around 150 years old (+/-). This property belonged to Clydeus & Frances Nichols and as a little girl I would hang out with my Grandma and Grandpa Crews when they would go to visit or when my Grandma would get her hair done by Frances. I believe this might be one of the oldest, if not the oldest tree,  in Midway. Boone Electric had to remove this tree because of the power lines and once down it had a metal t-post grown inside... never seen that before! It's a shame that it had to go but the crew did a great job. They said it was the biggest tree they have taken down before. Just another neat piece of history here in Midway.

My first tattoo

Well yesterday I went and got my first tattoo... no it wasn't your traditional tattoo it was permanent eyeliner! After having Lasik eye surgery 5 years ago my eyes water when I am out in the sun and my eye make-up is smeared everywhere so I decided to give this permanent make-up a try. My eyes are still swollen and tender (I won't lie... it hurt like heck!) and once the remaining ink comes off it should be a nice soft thin eyeliner. (You can't wash your eye area with soap and water for 3 days so in a few days it will be really nice!) No I am not crying in the picture... you have to keep A&D ointment on the tattoo so that it doesn't scab or get crusty and will help with the healing process... thank goodness for the allergies right now... everyone asks if the allergies are getting to me.. LOL! It was a strange process (2 hours long) to go through but I think I will like it! If you are interested in eyeliner call Natural Nail Care and talk to Jessica!

Sunday afternoon

What a perfect day! Brandon and I spent some time in downtown Columbia today and then decided to take Bailey (our beagle) for a walk. She did really good considering there were so many things to look at (dogs, birds, etc). Behind our shop is a cemetary.... my grandma and grandpa Crews is buried there (they died the same exact day 6 years apart... kind of crazy yet cool I suppose) and there was a couple of these beautiful trees that were still in bloom.... I love their color and they smell really good! Hard to believe the weekend is already over but I am ready for the week ahead... it's going to be a good one I can tell!

Budweiser Clydesdale....

Today Brandon and I went to a grand opening for the Columbia's Second Chance Adoption Center. What a great crowd of people showed up on a beautiful day! The Budweiser Clydesdale's farm is just down the road in Boonville, MO (Wooldridge/Overton exit) and they wanted to help celebrate too! They were taking pictures with the clydesdale to help raise money for Second Chance. You just don't realize how beautiful these animals are until you see them in person.... amazing!  Midway Electric, Inc. donated all the labor for the new cat house as a way we give back to our community! What a great day to have an event and I wish the best of luck to Columbia's Second Chance with their new location for the adoption center!
Columbia Second Chance 24687 Hwy 179 Boonville, MO 65233

Happy Birthday Mom!

I just want to wish my momma a very Happy Birthday! She is an amazing woman and I am so glad to have her in my life. She's my rock and I truly enjoy spending time with her! Thank you for making me into the woman I am today... your direction and determination (yes I was a normal teenager who tried just about anything to see if I could get away with it... I always got caught!) showed me right from wrong. You taught me the value of love, the value of friendship and the value of family. Thanks mom.... I love you! :)

A Country kind of day!

You know I love my country music.... well today at our Leadership Columbia I got to meet Scotty & Carissa from Clear 99 at one of our stops at Zimmer Radio. They are great people and do so much in our amazing community.... Thank you!

The Mighty Moose!

Every time I drive over by Stoney Creek Inn I see this moose I can't help but think of Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation where Clark and Eddie drink egg nog out of the moose mugs and National Lampoon's Vacation where they travel to Walley World to see Marty Moose...."It's a quest! I'm on a pilgrimage to see a moose! Praise Marty Moose".... I can't help but laugh when I see those movies!

A Chamber kind of day!

Today was a great day! We started out the day at the Chamber of Commerce Quarterly Membership Breakfast and then had the Business Showcase! This is something our wonderful Chamber of Commerce puts on each year and is a great way to network with 100 other businesses and many people from our community. We had lunch with the founder of craigslist.com (Craig Newmark, pictured above with me). He has so much amazing information stored in his head and I wish he was more of a "people person" and could give us better insight on who he is and how he got to where he is today.... The Business Showcase ended with a mixer and announced the 3 finalist for the Athena and Athena Young Professional Award as well as the 5 finalists for the 2010 Small Business of the Year.... a very eventful day! Thank you to all of the hard workers that helped make this day so successful!

Happy Birthday Ashley!

Today is my baby sisters 29th birthday! I am so proud of her and the woman she's became... She's married to a wonderful guy and has a beautiful home. It's so hard to imagine 29 years ago she came into my life and I couldn't imagine life without her in it.... Love you sis and I hope you have had a great birthday! :)

Easter Sunday ride in the country....

This is our beagle/mix Bailey! She was left on the main road in Fulton, Missouri and a friend of ours picked her up and brought her home with him. She was barely 2 or 3 months old and when I saw her and couldn't resist! She made a great addition to our min pins, Max and Mattie. She is about 8 years old and is a smart dog. Every morning Brandon takes her for a quick ride in his truck. She gets so excited to take a ride and was disappointed this morning when she couldn't go with us so this afternoon we took her for a ride in the country and she loved it! She sits up front with Brandon in her own seat and I sit in the back! It's the little things in life that make you smile! Happy Easter everyone!

I'm going out with my boots on....

I just picked up a new pair of Justin cowboy boots...When I shop for shoes/boots I go for comfort.  I wanted something that felt good on my feet and something a little crazy... I think I found them and yes they are pink! These are 3 of my most comfortable pairs of boots out of the 9 I own. I found these boots at Larry's Boots right here in Midway! Better watch out....these things will be out and about soon and who knows.... you may want a pair too!

I think his tractor's sexy!

Well just as I said before... when the weather is nice my hubby feels the need to get out all of his toys and act just like a kid in a sand box! This little John Deere isn't much but it's his and I can't help but sing "She thinks my tractor's sexy" when I see him on his tractor! He was fertilizing the yard (what country folks call their lawn) and putting out some more grass seed while the gettin' is good! With the temps reaching near 90 degrees you can't help to get on the tractor and feel the wind in your hair.... think I just may take me a little tractor ride later :)