Summer is Here

So finally summer 2008 has officially shown up for the party. Fantastic!

What's In:

~Traveling! I started a new meetup group this week. NoVA Travelers. We've already got 45 people signed up the first week and growing. Our first two trips on our calendar are a Dewey Beach, DE weekend retreat Aug 15th and a NYC Culinary Tour I'll be leading Columbus Day weekend. Looking to put some more weekend trips on the fall calendar and a cruise in the winter. If you're local and interested you can sign up for the group at http://travel.meetup.com/1256/. It's nice because it allows me to travel frequently and brings in a little extra spending money each month. I think Jon is worried I'm going to quit the IT world and become a travel agent, but he has not nothing to fear- its no fun planning OTHER peoples' trips. I wanna go on them too or I don't want to do all the planning work.

~Traveling part deux: we're headed to Savannah, GA for labor day weekend this year. It was supposed to be a surprise but someone let the cat out of the bag early (Thanks Anna). As a side note, why would a cat be in a bag for a surprise anyway? Where does that expression come from? I'm really looking forward to touring all the squares in Savannah as neither Jon nor I have been there before.

~Sponsorship! A few weeks ago a gourmet food company (Roseda Beef) contacted me with regard to the Supper Club meetup I run to offer to sponsor a group supper by providing the main ingredient - sirloin burgers and buns. "What a great idea!", I said to myself and decided to not only accept but solicit sponsorship from other gourmet food companies. So I used our Supper Club letterhead and faxed about 50 gourmet food companies to offer them the opportunity to sponsor us. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive so far. The next supper event under sponsorship will be in Sept - Omaha Steak company is sending me 50 filet mignons and lobster ravioli, spices, and other goodies for our group. Its not often I have brilliant ideas, but when I do, watch out! :)

~Embracing our 30s. Jon and I are putting together a Thirtysomething group for our church. It looks to be a promising group and the best part is that its going to reach a lot of non-believers. Its an every-so-often-lets-get-together and hang out group versus a small group bible study. A lot of the women I've called so far told me they were thrilled to have a social group like this because their husbands are not believers and they could never get them to go to a bible study. This way they're going to meet and hopefully bond with Christians but in a low key no pressure situation. I gotta give props to Jon's parents and their In-Betweeners group they belong to at their church in NM because that's what we're patterning our group dynamic after.

What's Out:

~Working from the office is definitely out- coming down the road this fall at my main client/employer is a switch for all employees who normally work out of the office to working out of their homes and telecommuting. That will save the company on office lease space and the best part is we now get the tax deductions for the home office. Well actually the best part is getting to work from home everyday. :)

~Bad dreams. At least I wish I could push them out. I've been having the strangest nightmares lately. Last night I had a dream that I noticed a tiny hole in my face near the right side of my lips. I tugged on it and the tear spread all the way up to my eye like a broken seam on a cheaply made dress and my skin was falling off and I could see my muscles and bones underneath. It was pretty terrifying. Then there are the dreams I've been having frequently starring my best friend in which she is yelling at me and throwing things. Very very bizarre and disruptive to my sleep.

~HOAs. I never really had experience with HOA (homeowner association) groups in NM but now that we live in VA hardly anyone we know does not live in an HOA controlled subdivision. Frankly, its annoying. Especially when they send you warning notices about something silly or become heavy handed parking lot Nazis. Seems to totally fly in the face of private property rights if you ask me.

What's Up:

~Harry Winston Diamond Company and Hermes Stock (I recommend you take a look). I love these guys; solid performers.

~The price of gas. $4.00 a gallon now?? OUCH.

What's Going Down:

~my waistline (yay)

~our home value (still in freefall thanks to the housing crash)

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