Go Big or Go Home

I received a small promotion yesterday at work. I am very happy but feel a little funny about it in that it was long in coming. (Something I should have probably asked for coming in the door, but while I can negotiate for others, I am not that good at for myself.) Yesterday when I was living my boss's office he asked how I'd like to handle the announcement because he'd like to let the rest of the team know. My reply was can we keep it on the down low.

A little hard to keep it on the down low when Mister sent these flowers. And in true Mister style the flowers came with a box of candy, a teddy bear and a Congratulations balloon. I love that man!

How the heck I am getting these out the building without any questions?

Top Three Tuesday

Give me your top three places you love to vacation.

Mine:

1. Indiana - seems lame but there really is no place like home.

2. New Orleans, actually make that the French Quarter with a drink in my hand people watching.

3. I'd like to say Florence or Paris, but I've only been once. So I'll go with some place on the water - I am not particular, or in a particular hurry to get back to the water since putting on a swimsuit seems far from relaxing these days.

Man, I want a vacation!

Memorial Day

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

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Top Three Tuesday

What are your top three favorite ice cream flavors?

Mine:

Chocolate Chip (old school chocolate chip, not chocolate chip cookie dough)

Extreme Moose Tracks (Kroger Private Selection)

Strawberry (preferably with chunks of real strawberries)
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Small Message, Big Impact

I just finished reading Small Message, Big Impact by Terri Sjodin



I was interested in this book because it's about how to put the power of the elevator speech effect to work for you. You know the elevator speech - the three minute spiel to sell yourself, your services, your ideas, etc. The elevator speech makes me uncomfortable because selling anything makes me uncomfortable.


While I was interested in the book it took me a while to actually pick it up and start reading. I didn't have to read far into the book to realize I should have picked it up right away.


This book is full of valuable information and helpful tools, whether you are developing an elevator speech or a longer presentation. I can count at least three missed opportunities where I could have benefited from the information in this book the week before I started reading this book. From the basic of how to have structured a presentation I gave down to how to determine the amount of time spent of each area of the presentation to how to define my intention when presenting an idea to my boss for buy-in.

Good for anyone in sales, anyone who presents, and more importantly anyone who is not comfortable with either of those situations.

The day after

Top Three Tuesday

My top three movies (at this time) are....

You've Got Mail, Beautiful Girls, and Torch Song Trilogy

Now tell me what movies make your top three list.

The Beginning and The End

It started like this

and ended like this

more to come...

Warrior Dash

Next Saturday at 8:00am Lolly and I will be running the Warrior Dash in North Georgia with a dear friend and her daughter.

There's been no prep and I don't like to get dirty but I do believe I am mentally tough. I hope I am not proven wrong...

Good Riddance

Something tells me that there weren't any virgins waiting on him...











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Royal Wedding

The wedding, Will, Kate, they're all fabulous but what I want is more of him.Everything about him says "Let's get in some trouble". If I was young, single, and located in England I'd be crushin all over him.

Adele - Rolling In The Deep

Man, I wish I could belt out a song like Adele!

Quinze

Lolly turns 15 today. Which she told me means that she's half way to 30 and 5 years from 20.

I now need a slice of cake, or a drink...

Detroit Comes to the ATL

August 28 I want to be sittin on the lawn at Lakewood Amphitheatre watching Don't judge...I have a 20% chance of talking Mister into joining me.

First Thoughts

When I saw this at Walmart today my fisrt thought was "suck it SI" Not sure if it's the ice cream high I am coming down from or if its the picture of "beauty" their trying to sell us that pisses me off.

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Sent using my BlackBerry

Reading Instead of Writing

Lately when I am not working, I can be found sitting and reading, and re-reading. Books, magazines, blogs. Well maybe not enough blogs. See, I do my best blog reading at work. I've been busy at work so busy I haven't been able to stop by all my favorite blogs. I am not a slacker at work, really I promise. Whenever I need a brain dump, say after veiwing a couple hundred resumes, I will spend a few minutes catching up on my favorite blogs. It energizes me. Clears my head. Enough about me, I am off to read about you all...

My Head is Pounding

All day long my head has been killing me. I couldn't drink enough coffee to get the hurt to go away. I tried all day long. Finally it dawned on me, it's not a lack of caffeine. I am going through sugar withdrawls. I probably should have figured it out sooner but it's hard to think straight when you're strung out on sugar.

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Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras Y'all! Rest assure I will do my best to put the Fat in Fat Tuesday. Enjoy your day to the fullest!

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Sent using my BlackBerry

Signs from a Mall

I wanted to buy to buy all three but didn't think Mister would appreciate the sentiments...

Too Much of a Good Thing

A Menchies opened about 2 weeks ago about 3 minutes from the house. I am averaging a trip every other day.

I think I know at least one thing that needs to be given up for Lent

Crazy Charlie

I haven't been following all the Charlie Sheen drama but I did catch him on the Today Show this morning. The three things that struck me that he's gone over the edge are

1. the 2 "godesses" he lives with

2. although he says he's healthy he's got that skinny cracked out look

3. his whole attitude of how he's the reason Two and 1/2 Men is such a hit. Call me crazy but I think perhaps the writing has something to do with it.

It's hard to imagine this will end well...

Book Report

For Jan I had planned to read Social Nation by Barry Libert for development (because I told the agent I would read it and wirte a review) and Sliding into Home by Kendra Wilkinson.

Well I did read Social Nation. It was a quick read and easy to digest. Of course if you are reading this you already understand social media and how powerful the connection can be whether its personal or business. But lots of businesses don't get it. This a good book for them. The premise of the book is how to attract customers, motivate employees, and grow your business. I am handing it to my boss tomorrow as he has not embraced social media himself yet and while we talk about at work I don't believe he understands the power behind it. (Which really pisses me off because he cited an example of someone using LinkedIn to recruit for a position, as if it wasn't something I wouldn't think to do. To which I had to educate him that nobody in our department knew what LinkedIn was until I walked into the door over 3 yrs ago ~ ok so I am still a little bitter about the recent goings on at work) Anyways I think he'll find it enlighting.

I just couldn't bring myself to read Sliding into Home. Fail.

As to make up for falling short of my 2 book goal for January, I have already finished two books this month and am a good way into a 3rd.

So Long Insecurity by Beth Moore, Reshaping It All by Candace Cameron Bure, and The Rhythm of Life by Matthew Kelly. With all this "self help" reading this month, I have a good feeling I am going to March as an improved version of myself.

Say Cheese

I am in the market for a new camera.

The last camera I bought looked this...

Anybody have a camera they just love? Any camera buying tips?

Valentines For The Real World

Is it just me or did anyone else have trouble finding the right Valentine card this year. They were either too mushy, too corny, too religious, or too racey. What I really wanted was a card that said...

Happy Valentines Day. It is what it is.

Mister's a lucky man, right?!

Today We Feast

Today is Mister's 40th birthday. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said Arby's. Seriously.

Maybe it's because we are going out to a nice restaurant with his family on Saturday. Or maybe it's because everytime I want to grab something quick and he suggests Arby's I say "No, that crap's not good for you and I am not driving over to Arby's" (expect maybe I say sh*t instead of crap)

I guess we are a living example that refinement doesn't always come with age.

I work hard for the money

The review process at work is complete with the exception of learning what increase we receive. So my funk is about over. But let me ask you. Who gives a review without telling you your increase? According to my boss the experts say you should do them separate so that you focus on performance during the performance review. Well my research tells me that it's the money that gets people to get up in morning roll out bed and put their clothes on and come into work. ( I may or maynot have said as much)

This is my 3rd yr going through this review process. While I work for a great company with great people this process has been nothing short of disappointing. Part of the issue I think is that we went through a change in management and it really has been like starting over, maybe even worse than starting over. There has been a lot of talk of getting to the "next level" which has seemed to be a moving target. This year an example of wanting to see me using a industry tool was sited which was maddening since nobody in my department even used or knew about the tool until I walked in the door 3 yrs ago. When I get past the bitching I believe I am really being taught a lesson in humility and it's extremely painful.

While looking up my current salary today for something unrelated, I stumbled across my increase. I am beginning to think that pay isn't tied to performance or my boss total under estimates my awesomeness.