Another Slow Update

I realize that I go through these cycles on my blogging... I'll go a long time being quiet, stack up a bunch of topics I want to write on, and then spew out a bunch of entries in a short time and often don't even get to all the topics on my list. For this I do apologize, and here is a small recap on the month so far.

It has been a very busy month as far as business goes, though more on the building side and less on the profits. I've recently joined a business networking group called BNI that has been absolutely phenomenal. BNI is an international organization with local chapters all over the US and other countries; these chapters are career exclusive, meaning only one member of any particular profession or specialty may be represented in a chapter (for example, only one accident trial attorney, one family law practitioner, one life insurance rep, one florist, one auto repair shop, etc). This allows for each individual to operate within the group without competition, and essentially builds a large sales force for each person. We're all there supporting each other and sending business referrals to one another.

I have also been very impressed with the encouragement and even mentorship I've been able to find in BNI. Everyone there is either an entrepreneur or involved in a small business (often the owner), and as a new startup in the business world, their feedback and encouragement has been absolutely invaluable to me. We have weekly meetings at 7am every Wednesday where we get together, everyone gives a 30-second sales pitch (great practice for delivering my services in a quick, succinct message), and we discuss how to grow as individual businesses and as a group all together. We also have individual meetings throughout the week to get to know each others' jobs, as well, what we all do and how we can help each other. These meetings have also been incredibly beneficial in helping me to understand what points to address when marketing myself, and how to bring in new clients, not to mention giving my insatiable curiosity an outlet to learn about so many other professions out there.

So January has been very busy with settling in to this group. I was officially inducted into the chapter on Jan 6 and have been busy busy getting to know everyone in the group and outlining my own business to them, while also forming a more solid foundation for myself and my own practices. I have also started volunteering at the Shea Therapeutic Riding Center and have been enjoying working around horses again and helping a wide variety of individuals work through various conditions. I've done work with similar centers in Colorado and New York, but the Shea Center is certainly the largest and most diverse of these centers. It's been an interesting new experience, to be sure.

On another topic, the weather has been absolutely insane here over the last week. I haven't seen the sun since Sunday (I thought I left Rochester to get away from that...), and don't think I will again until Sat at the earliest. It has been raining to the point of serious flooding (closing down roads and damaging a lot of homes) all week, in addition to insane winds. Tuesday there were even tornado warnings in both northern and southern Orange County, and at least one of those developed into a tornado that touched down, destroying a good portion of a little league baseball field. One of my mentors in Huntington Beach actually had her daughter's school go into lockdown as parents were arriving to pick kids up, and the parents were ushered into their media center until their tornado passed. So, it has been crazy crazy lately.

With all of that said, that is a pretty solid recap of my new year so far! I hope you're all still enjoying following along, and as always, comments and feedback are appreciated!

A New Year to Remember

They say you should spend New Year's Eve (and we'll extend this to New Year's Day) in the company and way you want to spend the rest of the year. If that's true, I couldn't have asked for a better New Year. Long story short, Anthony proposed, and now WE'RE ENGAGED!!

So, after wanting to see the ring, the first question is usually, "How'd he do it?" So here's the story, with as many details as I can remember (perhaps more for my sake than anyone else's):

Since Anthony picked up skiing last year in Rochester, he has been dying to go in Colorado, so that was among our top priorities during his visit this year. So we left early Friday morning and drove up to the mountains for a half-day at Arapahoe Basin, with a reservation in Frisco at the Alpine Inn so we could enjoy the evening and not kill ourselves driving up and back in the same day.

Skiing itself didn't go quite as well as we'd hoped, as I had a miserable time with my rental boots and only made a single run (even with just one run, I'm still dealing with the pain from the boots 3 days later). But I made myself comfy at the lodge with a Dillon Dam Brown beer while Ant got a solid 4 or 5 runs amid the incredibly picturesque views of the highest altitude ski resort in Colorado. After the slopes and trading a car battery jump for a beer and some chat in the parking lot, it was off to Breckenridge for dinner.

For those of you who have never been to Breckenridge, it is in my mind the most perfect, quaint ski town. The main street has a little bit of an old-west mountain feel, and is always well lit and decorated around Christmas. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures of the town, but the image above is a pretty good summary of how it looked. We stopped to eat at Kenosha Steakhouse. It was very busy, so we enjoyed drinks at the upstairs bar while waiting for a table. For dinner, we shared their artichoke dip, an appetizer we always enjoy, followed by a chicken caesar salad for me and chicken-fried steak with beef gravy for him.

Unfortunately they were out of chocolate cake, so we got a good recommendation from the waiter and walked to The Crown Cafe just down the street for some tasty coffee and dessert. We sat and enjoyed the atmosphere for a while before heading out again to enjoy the lights, snow, and a little window shopping.

Once most of the stores had closed, we started back toward the car, which was parked on the other side of a cute little park right next to Kenosha. I don't know the name of the park , but it had a small playground, a creek nearby with a bridge across, and a big decorated Christmas tree. It was here that Anthony got down on one knee and asked me to marry him. And of course I said yes!

So now we're engaged, and I still can't believe I have such a beautiful diamond ring all for myself. There is still a lot to be considered before we pick a date, or even a location, since his family is in NYC, my parents are in CO, and we live in CA, but I will certainly be keeping family and friends in the loop during the process. We do want a summer wedding, and 2010 is already filling up with others' weddings, including my brother's. So... now it's on to the planning!