Reception for Don Laird's Retirement

 Don Laird and his family

December 20, 2012 ~ Tonight was the reception for Don Laird's retirement. Don has been an instrumental piece to our Chamber of Commerce. He has dedicated 24 years to this organization and because of Don at the helm we have achieved many successes over the years. Although I have only known Don for the past 6 years I can say that my professional life is better because of him. Don has supported me in various decisions I have made with my involvement in the Chamber of Commerce and Women's Network. He has allowed me to make choices based on what I thought was the right thing and stood behind me without hesitation. I felt that I could step up to a leadership role and not think twice about it.

Taking on the role of Chair of the Chamber Ambassadors was a huge leap for me but one I was willing to try. There were a couple of interesting situations that the Ambassadors were put in and I dealt with it and then either called Don or went to the Chamber and sat down in his office to discuss what happened and how I dealt with it. Don was great at listening to my reasoning and my solution and supported the decision I made. It was nice to know that I wouldn't be in trouble or question my ability to run a group when a problem would arise. Now of course we laugh about those situations as they were a learning experience for us all!

I appreciate all that Don has done for me, the staff and our community over the years. I will miss him like crazy but I understand his family will love having him around more.... right Joey??? LOL! I am gonna miss seeing him around town but know that he will be a phone call away (and we can't talk about Chamber stuff if I call.... I got it!) and hopefully he will come out to Midway to visit every once in awhile! Good luck Don on your next chapter in life.... it's all unwritten and you have pen and paper to write your story!

December 21, 2012 ~ This morning there was a special dedication. The community room at the Chamber of Commerce was dedicated to Don Laird. What a perfect way to end his 24 years of leadership at the Chamber.

Of course nothing in this town is ever "official" until the Chamber Ambassadors cut a ribbon....

Columbia Star Dinner Train

December 8, 2012 ~ We decided to do something a little different for our company Christmas dinner and booked with the Columbia Star Dinner Train in Columbia, MO! We wanted to have a unique experience and thought with Christmas so close we would get to see lights from the houses that we passed on our way.

We met at the train yard at 6:30 pm, got our boarding passes and headed on the train shortly after. (There were a ton of people and later that evening we found that they were completely sold out and had 217 passengers on 4 train cars!)

It was fun and certainly an entertaining experience!

Everyone started with some shrimp cocktail
(not me... as you know I don't eat anything that stays in the water longer than I take a shower!
Which means no seafood!)

They then brought out this little number....
(As a picky eater you can imagine I wouldn't eat this goat cheese creation.)

Then they brought out this Tomato Bisque (I did try it!)

As you can imagine I was starving by the time they brought out the prime rib. No picture but it was AWESOME! Perfectly tender and a nice chunk of meat!

Then it was time for dessert! This was different but not bad. It's so tough being such a picky eater because you are limited to things you will try. It was fun and I encourage everyone to take at least one train ride with dinner to say you have done it!

Chamber Christmas Party

December 7, 2012 ~ The Chamber staff was going to have their Christmas party and for the past few years I have had the pleasure of crashing it to have a ribbon cutting! Well this year wasn't any different except this was Don Laird's last "official" Chamber Christmas party. Victoria was the host this year and it was good meeting the spouses of some of the staff!

I am thankful they let me stop by! Our Chamber is a unique place.... we have a strong membership with dedicated members and very caring, compassionate, dedicated and awesome staff! Each staff member is a great asset to our Chamber and they are ROCK STARS! 

Here's to a great 2012 year and hopefully an even stronger 2013!

Women's Netowrk Holiday Party!

December 4, 2012 ~ So I had the pleasure of taking pictures at the Women's Network Holiday Party last night and what a blast it was! I am in no way shape or form a professional so I wasn't nervous or worried at all that the pictures wouldn't turn out..... which made everything so relaxing and fun!

 A huge thank you to Ashley Furniture for being our presenting sponsor and bringing some beautiful furnishings! (You'll see that we all had fun with this group of furniture in a bit!) 

 So while I was waiting for everyone to arrive I started playing around with my camera to get a feel for lighting, cool shots and just random artsy fartsy stuff....

As others started to arrive we thought it would be fun to capture a few pictures on the beautiful furniture as a way to kick off the night! 

And then it happened.... We went from a nice social event to laughing like crazy! 

Then there was this!

 (I love my wild and crazy friends whom we wouldn't have found each other if it hadn't been for Women's Network!)

Huge kudos to the co-chairs of the Special Events Committee, Nellie Symm-Gruender & Tennille Dorsey for all of their hard work and dedication to make this event successful! Awesome job ladies!

Also a huge thank you to Clay Cumbie who was our entertainment for the evening! He was awesome! He did a great job singing a mix of music which everyone seemed to enjoy!

As you can see everyone was having a great time! 

There were groups networking....

One-on-one networking....

People bidding on silent auction items.....

and more people bidding on silent auction items....

and even more people bidding!

(A special thank you to the many people that donated items for the silent auction!)

 We had people trying to eat...

People trying to explain how important Women's Network can be to your business (or palm reading... not sure which one...Ha!)

All in all the best gift of the night was that all money raised from the silent auction would go directly to Changing The Odds committee to help women re-enter the workforce. The total amount raised was $1,130.00 which is huge!!!! Just think of what we can do to help women get back to work! Truly amazing night! Special thank you to our other sponsors for making this event possible: Gold Sponsor was Columbia Daily Tribune, Location Sponsor: Stevens College & Printing Sponsor: AAA Mailing Service, Inc.

The cherry on top is that Women's Network is under guidance of our Director, Elizabeth Tate! Because of her dedication, support and guidance it has allowed the wonderful volunteers that support all aspects of Women's Network to be an amazing organization! We are lucky to have the great members we have that jump in and get their hands all over what Women's Network has to offer... Y'all are rock stars!

2012 Winter Card Contest ~ Midway Heights Elementary

December 4, 2012 ~ On of the best parts of being a Partner in Education is the adorable little faces of the students as you walk into the building! Those little smiles sure know how to brighten my day! I am super lucky to have an amazing Partner in Education co-pilot, Tanya Alberty with D&H Drugstore to have fun with on this super fun journey!

This year marks our 3rd year for the Winter Card Contest. So what does that mean? Well each year we have all the students participate in art class (huge thank you to our awesome art teacher) by submitting a winter card. The rules are they have to complete the artwork in school and not allowed to take it home and they have to get creative! The students all had a lot of fun as there were so many great winter cards it was hard to choose from!

There is a winner from each grade level and then one over-all winner for the school. Each of the winners get to have a pizza party with the Partners in Education at the school which we did this afternoon! The winners also received an awesome bag with art supplies and the over-all winner received some additional art supplies as well as their card was featured on our holiday cards for our respective businesses!

We are so lucky to have some amazingly talented students at Midway Heights and each one of these kiddos deserve a huge high five for participating! Midway Heights Elementary is a great little school and one I am proud to be involved in!

Adopt-A-Soldier!

December 3, 2012 ~ About a week ago I got an e-mail from Clear 99 (a local country music radio station here in Columbia, MO) to adopt and active military soldier serving overseas. After thinking about this for a couple minutes I knew this is something I wanted to do! Most of you know that everything I do is purpose driven and I wanted to do something for someone this year for Christmas that would make a positive impact in the lives of others.

I have participated in local Christmas programs where you are given a list of items for a family and deliver them to a location before the holidays a couple times in the past which makes your heart happy but have seen first hand people returning items to get a gift card to purchase other items they want instead of what they may need. (Sadly this does happen and it is not something the organization can control nor do I hold hard feelings towards anyone for this and do encourage others to support the wonderful organizations here in Columbia, MO) I have also purchased Christmas for children of people I have worked with at previous jobs because I saw how hard the single mom has worked throughout the year to provide for her family and felt I could take the burden of Christmas off their hands. (What a wonderful experience and each one of these families will hold special memories of how that impacted them) This year I wanted to do something different and I felt strongly about supporting the men and women that are currently serving our country. These men and women will spend the holidays away from their families to protect our country and although they knew this when enrolling in the military it doesn't make it any easier.

Midway Electric, Inc. as well as Brandon and I personally wanted to make this Christmas special for our adopted solider and decided to gather items to send to him. We purchased items in mass quantities such as beef jerky, turkey jerky, gum, candies such as Kit-Kats, Snickers, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups, and Hershey's Kisses, Special K breakfast bars, Cashews, Pistachios, Sunflower seeds, BBQ Sauces, BBQ wood chips, Toothpaste, Toothbrushes, Deodorant, Razors, Shaving Cream, Shower Gel, Mouthwash, Movies, Homemade Oatmeal Raisin cookies, Snacks such as Peanut Butter crackers, Oreo cookies, Nutter Butters and more! Then I decided to do a special pack with a Willow Tree "Hero" figurine, 2 Missouri Tigers t-shirts and 2 Missouri Tigers hats along with a Christmas card and a letter from us.

As I was buying all of these items (at several different stores) I was asked what I was making or was I stocking up for winter. I smiled and said that these items weren't for me and all of this would be going overseas to a soldier we adopted for Christmas. It was interesting to hear their responses and you could see that they were thinking about this. I told them it wasn't too late to log onto Clear 99 http://www.clear99.com/adopt-a-soldier/ and support our troops! I was in line at one of the stores and one of the employees over heard me talking and she said you don't know how much even a card would be appreciated during Christmas as it's really hard to be there away from your family and friends. (She served last Christmas overseas and was extremely thankful for the stuff her employer sent to her) That reassured what we were doing this year and how grateful I am for our troops.

I took all the boxes, packed full to the downtown post office to mail them off. I was excited knowing that this soldier (from the Bunceton area and a MU graduate) would be receiving the 8 boxes for Christmas! It makes my heart happy knowing that he knows people from Columbia, MO love and appreciate him and what he is doing. (The post office staff was very patient and friendly as I forgot to fill out labels along with the additional paperwork as this was my first time sending something to the military so thank you to the post office staff!)

No matter what organization you will support this holiday season live your life paying it forward when you can. It can cost as little or as much as you want. Remember it's the thought that counts and more importantly it makes your life full, your heart happy and creates memories for others to cherish! Thank you for making a positive difference in the lives of others.... you are appreciated!

Women's Network Photo Shoot!

November 29, 2012 ~ When I came full time to our business in September 2006 one of the first checks I wrote was to the Chamber of Commerce and Women's Network. Both of these organizations have shown me leadership, dedication and building lasting friendships along the way. I was shy and scared to death when I went to my first Women's Network luncheon not knowing what to expect. I would change clothes to what I felt was more appropriate to go to the various luncheons or committee meetings but soon found that I didn't want to change who I was. Both organizations have been very supportive of me and our business and have allowed me to be.... well... me! I have given respect to fellow members along the way and built lasting friendships with many. I am pretty sure that they don't even think of my blue jeans and cowboy boots when I walk into the room rather they see me as a genuine person and for that I am grateful!

After our photo shoot they wanted to do "Jazz Hands".... I do love a little silly-ness so why not after all these men and women where such good sports! I really had a lot of fun and believe it or not there were a few new faces that I haven't met yet! (Guess we'll have to fix that won't we!) 

I love these smiles! Women's Network is such a great organization. It allows you to be a part of some amazing committees and even step into leadership positions to encourage you to do something you may have never done before! They encourage, empower, embrace and engage all members!

If you work for a business that is not a part of the Chamber of Commerce / Women's Network then ask them if you can become their representative... the opportunities you will get will make it worth while but remember... it's like anything else... you get out of it what you put into it. I am so glad I took a chance 6 years ago because it's been great to help me in my professional (and personal) life become a better person!