Busy Bee Friday

Lots of tasks got done today...busy Friday!

Here's what I did:

*contacted a few apprentices (4 have been given
the first steps)
*submitted our Google MainPage Report for a $10K contest
*completed a personalized iGoogle.com page for a client
*downloaded more gifts and sent thank you notes to everyone

Lots going on but it's after 11pm and I'm tired. It's been a great week and I'm looking forward to more exciting progress next week! Stay tuned because I've got my first client phone call to make in the middle of the week.

Let's see what happens!

Create a nice day,

Lara

Making Progress

There are definitely days that test my strength and my persistance. For some reason today was a day like that. Perhaps it's the pressure of a looming deadline for payroll ($2K by May 30th) or maybe it's just the stress of having been on the road for the better part of the last month.

It's nice to work from anywhere but it can also be a test of patience. Have you ever tried to write an email with two teenagers fighting next to you? Or with toddlers underfoot?

As always, there are pluses and minuses to every situation and there are definite drawbacks to only spending 6 days in my own home. I miss my dog! I miss my bed! I miss having quality quiet time with myself.

So I am a bit stressed. This is the first real test I've put myself under as a business owner. The world won't stop turning if this doesn't happen but I would strongly prefer we reach our goal!

I battled through the doubt, anxiety and fear today along with herding my apprentices.

On the plus side, I made two sales! Yipee!!! I did a little happy dance. It's a nice pre-birthday gift for me. :) Tomorrow's the big day, my birthday. It would be so fun if my sales would double or triple tomorrow! :) A girl's gotta dream.

So stay tuned and see what happens in the next 26 hours. I'm excited!

Til then,


Lara

More Promotion

I spent the day sending out more thank you emails (got a sale!) and moving the apprentices forward.

It would've been much easier to give them an audio recording of their instructions but step by step emails will work just as well. As long as they get going I'll be happy. It's a lot of work to do this by myself.

That's my exciting news for the day - I hope tomorrow I'll have more sales and more apprentices to tell you about!!!

Til then,

Lara

Here We Go!

There are 6 apprentices ready to join me on our latest endeavor. I'm so thrilled to have more people on board! I enjoy the process we're going through so it's great to have more help. I'd much rather do this as a big team.

The more the merrier I always say!

I'm back in Wisconsin for the next 2 weeks and I'm so happy all of this great stuff is happening now. As much as I celebrated in Cozumel being able to share in my achievements is that much more special when I share with my family.

My family has been very supportive of me through the rough times so I'm incredibly appreciative of the chance to show them I can and do reach my goals. Woo hooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a busy weekend of weddings, visiting friends and family and Mother's Day activities so that's my update. :)

Til tomorrow...

Lara

Are You Willing to See Both Sides of The Coin?

Most of us think we want to be rich, famous, etc but very few are willing to accept both sides of those coins. If you want to be a millionaire, you must do what millionaires already do. You can't continue to act the way you are and expect different results.

A lot of people aren't aware of that fact however. I have become aware of this truth in recent months.

And being self-employed has had a lot to do with that. It has been a painful process for me at times, internally and externally. I have had to examine my internal beliefs, actions and thoughts around money specifically.

It took some reflection for me to see that my once low self-esteem led to a negative (almost perverse) relationship with money. I'm letting that go finally.

Money is merely a tool that makes life easier. And it most certainly is a reflection of how you value yourself...or at least it is for me. I am finding it much easier to create situations where money will flow from; it's much easier to develop these relationships because I believe in myself and because I love myself.

I don't think I ever really did before or at least not consistently and my results expressed that belief.

I still have miles to go in the financial arena but at least I see progress. Any sign of positive progress is beneficial because I can look back on it and draw from one growth experience; I can build on it to create more. Isn't that cool?!

I do see that money is beneficial for me and I can do so much good with it. It's merely a way I show myself how worthy I am. And I am so very worthy. :)

Money isn't the devil manifest or the root of all evil. The worship of money can be viewed as such I think. The only thing I want to worship from now on is love, joy and beauty in all things and in all people. And so I shall!

Peace and love,

Lara

Heat Exhaustion

As I do with most things, I overdid the last 2 days here in Mexico. Tuesday I spent the afternoon wandering around the town square and looking at different shops. Yesterday I spent my afternoon exploring the ruins of Chichenitza on a guided tour. The tour was pretty lame but the ruins are incredible. I highly recommend visiting the site, minus the tour guide.

But I spent too much time in the sun with too little water and too little rest so by last night, I was sick with exhaustion. I'm still wiped out today.

Not much to report in the way of copywriting news. We've got a few apprentices on task but since I'm on vacation things have slowed down a bit. I certainly needed the down time so I won't get worked up about it. That doesn't do much good anyway so I'll just roll with it. :)

I promise you'll have a terrific recap of my trip to Cozumel (complete with photos) very soon!

Til then, enjoy yourself and I'll see you soon.

Lara

A Three Hour Tour

Today we rented scooters and drove around the island to see something other than our resort and beachfront. What a gorgeous glorious place we're in! It's incredible, one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I feel so blessed to be here.

Yesterday I was retelling my scuba story to some of the people in my group when another group of folks joined us. They are from the Bellingham, Washington area and are professional divers (some are pros, some are recreational I should say). A few of the men were telling me they had similar experiences when they began diving and that I should definitely try again when I have more one on one attention so I can take my time getting accustomed to the underwater breathing thing.

Well one of the men and I began talking on our own and eventually we got to talking shop (business). It turns out his business is very much in need of some press releases (and more PR). He donates some of his work to charities and does great things for them. That is the absolute perfect story for a press release.

So of course we exchanged information and continued talking about other stuff. Eventually we made plans to meet up today and rent bicycles to check out the real Cozumel. We planned to meet in the lobby at 3pm.

Today I arranged my scootering around the 3pm bike ride. I arrived back at the hotel around 3:15pm, a few minutes late because we took a wrong turn on our mopeds. He was nowhere to be found and I have not seen him since.

I'm sure he'll pop up again before the week is over and if all else fails, I have his business card so I can be in touch.

I did find it fun to talk to him and get to know his business, his family, etc. It's so great meeting so many wonderful people and finding ways to help them! Whoever thought I'd get paid for it?! I love it!

Now I'm off to dinner. I'm feeling a little under the weather so this post is very brief.

See you soon!

Lara

Another Day By The Sea

Well not a lot to report in the way of copywriting news today...just spent the day hanging out by the water and relaxing under the sun.

We've got a few new apprentices who have come on board recently and one who has risen from the ashes. I thought she had fallen by the wayside but she emailed me yesterday and asked to join in again.

So we're well on our way to my goal of 10 world class copywriters. My goal was April 2008. I'm excited to see us create that, I believe it will happen.

You should definitely be here in Cozumel. Sand, sun and surf. It's amazing. I feel so incredibly at peace (well except for last night's drama but that's for my personal blog). I really needed this trip! I had no idea how tense I was. Well, that's not entirely true. I knew I was fairly tense and concerned about life but the more I unwind and decompress here, the more I see just how high strung I felt!

No photos from last night yet but they are floating around out there. I just have to make sure they're suitable before you see them! We've got some wild and crazy people in this group...I am not one of them. I just enjoy watching them do wacky things!

There are about 40 of us, almost half men and half women...I believe all but 4 of those 40 are single. Yeah, it's made for some interesting situations already!

So I'm off to snack before dinner and have a drink. And then more dancing, dancing, dancing! I have been voted the Dancing Queen of the group so it's time for me to uphold my title. It's salsa night so we'll see how that goes! Should be fun.

Til tomorrow...

Lara

Fate or Circumstance?

Well you've seen that I can create situations based on my desires. This week has been a virtual waterfall of experiences in that vein. Today was the same.

I woke up at 3:15am (yes, 3am) and prepared to leave for Mexico. We made our flight with time to spare, got settled and eventually we were in the air. I sat next to a woman named who is part of the social group I'm in Mexico with and on the other side of me was another woman. I actually never got her name. She was nice but quiet and clearly wanted to be alone. (Most of us had been awake since at least 4am so I can understand not being interested in conversation with a stranger).

Eventually the no-named quiet woman got up and left. She switched seats with another man for some reason and he sat down quietly, absorbed in a book.

After about 2 hours of flying, we all got restless and started chatting and hanging out in the aisles. My friend interrupted the man next to me to apologize for our chattiness. He was cordial and we all began talking.

He runs a property management company based in Colorado but with rental properties in Cozumel (where we flew into today) and Playa del Carmen. We chatted a lot about what he does, how he got into it, what he loves about it (makes good money, travels, meets great people) and what he doesn't love (misses time with his kids and wife). After about 20 minutes of learning about him, he asked what I do. I told him I'm a copywriter and that I create content for web sites, press releases, ads, etc.

His interest perked up and he was curious to know more. He asked if I'd be willing to look at his web site and give him feedback in terms of what we could improve and what it would take for me to make those improvements (ie payment). I said it would be my pleasure to help him and that I'd be in touch when I got back from Mexico.

So we may have stumbled upon a client who has a terrific business (he gainfully employs 19 Mexican residents and provides them with significantly more income then they'd make elsewhere), terrific product and good cashflow.

And he's a terrific guy to boot! I had a great time chatting with him. We must've talked for at least an hour.

So what do you think...fate or circumstance?

I think neither. I think it was my intent and request to the Universe.

I must admit, I'm fairly impressed with myself. :) I'm even more excited to see what will happen. It's only the first day here - we could 7 new clients by the end of the week!

That's it for me though. I've now been awake for way too long and I'm simply exhausted. But it's a long night ahead - dinner, drinks and dancing!! Hopefully you'll see some crazy photos.

Til tomorrow...

Lara

Off To Mexico - Think You Can Fit Inside My Luggage?!

The countdown has begun...in about 9 hours I will be on a flight to gorgeous Cozumel. If you can fit inside my suitcase you're welcome to come! I'm just so excited.

Since I have to get up in about 5 hours, I'll quickly recap the day's activities and then sign off.

• 7am breakfast networking meeting...I met 3 fairly strong leads. Now I simply have to quote them a rate and see what they can do with that. I also picked up a man who is interested in the apprenticeship program. He has plenty of clients who need copy and he's tired of writing bad sales copy for them. Voila! We fill his need and as our apprentice, he learns how to write great copy. Cool huh?!
• Met with the other 2 folks til almost noon today. There's potential there, we'll see what happens.
• This afternoon I uploaded more keywords to MSN.
• I also made a few phone calls to friends who have leads for me.
• We sent our weekly status report and then I packed. :)

So now I'm off to bed so I can get at least a few hours of sleep. I have to admit the 5 hours of networking was pretty exhausting! It's wonderful to be a part of a business owner's vision and dreams...definitely energizing. It's also very easy to get caught up in their conversation.

Today I learned how to better keep someone on task when discussing their business. :) I'm improving, there is still plenty of room to for growth though!

Anyway, I'm off to bed. I'll see you in Mexico!

Look At Our Newest Apprentice!

I was so impressed with this young man's first copywriting assignment. I think you will be too. View it below:

http://edwardwrites.googlepages.com/lara.html

Pretty good huh?!! Boatloads better than my first solo ad was!! It's exciting stuff we've got going on.

Like I said, it's only going to get better and better...like starting Friday when I'll be writing to you from the sandy white beaches of Cozumel. Jealous aren't you?! :) I'd be if I weren't already going.

Wish me blue skies, happy fishes and wonderful new friends of all kinds.

Quick recap of the day and then I've got to get to sleep early tonight because I have a 7am networking breakfast. Frankly, I don't usually roll over til about 7am so this is going to be a stretch! Thank heavens someone invented coffee.

Today I met with a friend about copywriting projects for her. Things are picking up in her arena and we'll projects are coming in.

I did have to spend part of my afternoon reinstalling all of my information on my computer. The hard drive died on this laptop about 2 weeks ago and the new hard drive arrived. The essentials are installed and working properly.

Beyond that I did some more networking at the gym tonight, got my business cards ready for tomorrow and contacted a few other friends about working for them. Things are picking up and the energy is flowing. It feels good as I know I'm in control of the situation and its outcome. It is definitely time to put the grapes under some stress and create an exceptional wine.

Did you know that vineyards actually stress their grapes? There is a certain level to which grapes must be stressed in order to produce fantastic wine. Wine makers know this and they stress their grapes and bring out their very best.

Interesting when you think of that as a metaphor for life. I know I think of myself in that respective and it completely changes my perspective on things. I am thankful for the opportunity this challenge presents. It is yet again moving me out of my comfort zone which is wonderful! This is the very best thing that could happen to me.

I guess I didn't give you the details did I?! Currently I live rent-free in exchange for cooking and cleaning for my roommate. He has decided he needs to rent out my part of the house so he can buy a home in the mountains. Good for him and even better for me! No more cooking and cleaning, no more messy roommate! Although I will miss his dog a lot but for what he's asking in rent money, I can afford to get my own dog. :)

So now I'm in a situation where I would strongly prefer to increase my business profits and fully support myself. My goal had been to do this by August of 2007 but we'll just speed up the process. (There's a definite theme here...I move much slower than the Universe wants me to. How long do you think it's going to take me to figure that out???).

Although at times I am nervous as I don't know where I'll be living in June...wouldn't you be?! But then again, none of us really know anything beyond this moment do we?! We don't and if you think otherwise you're fooling yourself.

Anyway, we are now generating more revenue and moving right along. I'll have plenty of money by June...in fact, my business will be awash in green energy by then! It already is. :)

Now I'm off, time for my one lovely hour of Holosync and then sleep! What a busy bee kind of day...very fun.

Til tomorrow...

Lara

Weekend Wrap-up

It's Sunday night and I'm pretty tired again, my allergies kicked up again over the weekend so I've been dragging for a few days (hence the weekend-free posts here).

Very quickly I'll recap what I've been doing:

*wrote more ads for AdCenter campaign
*posted our copywriting services offer in the Rich Dad forums
*emailed two apprentices
*emailed our TA (no response)
*applied for more work at a couple of web sites

This week I'm gearing up for more of the same...networking, sending traffic to our copywriting services page and staying in touch with our apprentices.

It should be a fun week..busy too which I always enjoy. I leave for Mexico at 7am on Friday so I've got to prepare for that because I'll be out of touch for at least the entire morning. I'm looking forward to it though!

I promise tomorrow's post will be about a specific topic! I recently viewed a cool (read: FREE) technique to increase traffic to our site so I'll post that.

Til tomorrow...

My Top Five Daily Success Steps

This post was inspired by Joe Vitale's post which you can read here. Joe lists the top 10 things he does every day to be successful. And as you all know, I am a big big fan of Joe and his teachings. He asked his readers to post our top five and link back to him so here's my list.

1.) Gratitude
Every morning when I get up, I say thank you outloud. I thank the universe that I am alive and kicking that day! Each day is a new chance to learn, grow and create. Those are some of the best reasons to give thanks!

I also keep a gratitude journal and write a one page list of all the things I'm thankful for. My final line each day is the same: I'm so thankful for me, for the Universe (we are one and the same) and for the life I am creating. Gratitude is so powerful and it sets the tone for my day. It's a practice I learned from one of my other favorite teachers, James Ray.

2.) Write my goal and carry it with me.
Each morning before I start my work day, I write my goal on a post-it, tuck it in my pocket and keep it on my person all day. I take it out and review it at least twice a day (morning and evening)...usually more often. This is a tool I also picked up from James Ray (I think this may be a Stephen Covey technique..not sure).

I should add my goal and how I write it because that's important:

I'm so happy now that I'm creating $100,000 in profits for my business and am working with a team of 10 world class copywriters who also create the profits they desire.

You'll notice I write it in the current tense which is key. It puts me in a state of feeling the experience, not wishing or desiring it. That may sound like a slight distinction but it's very important.

3.) Get Outside!
This usually comes in the form of exercise whether training for my half-marathon or just walking the dog.

And I love the outdoors, it invigorates my soul and recharges my body. I live in the glorious state of Colorado where the sun shines over 300 days a year. I moved here roughly 3 years ago from the cold, overcast Midwest (Wisconsin to be exact) and the sun blesses me with her glory. And when I'm outside, I'm always thankful I had the courage to move across the country and settle in a place I love!!

4.) Read
Joe and I share this common daily tactic. I'm a voracious reader and am often reading 4 or 5 books at the same time (another trait Joe and I share). I've steered away from fiction of late and read most anything I can get my hands on in the realms of spirituality, psychology, copywriting, marketing and personal development. There's simply so much knowledge to be gained and explored. I honestly wish everyone read more! Go to the library people - it's good for you!! :)

5.) Holosync Daily Meditation
You can review my earlier posts about Holosync. I simply LOVE it. There aren't enough words in the English language for me to express my gratitude, joy and love for Bill Harris' amazing technology.

I have always enjoyed meditation but wasn't as disciplined as I could've been. It can be hard to sit still for an hour...especially if you don't see the results. That is not the case with Holosync. I feel so amazingly alive and vibrant. My world is clearer and more intense. Anyone who has ever had an incredible meditative or yoga session can understand what I'm expressing. Holosync is the only thing I have found that helps me create this same feeling every single day.

Not only that, it allows me to be clearer about my thoughts, feelings and intentions. I have a better grasp of me! How wonderful is that?!

And I'm only on the first level. Woo hooo!!!

I'm excited for the adventures, explorations and discoveries I'll uncover in next 11 levels!

6.) Top Six List
Yes I said I was only going to list five but I remembered a sixth step I take every day. I write down my top six items to accomplish the next day that will move me towards my goal. This was something I heard James Ray, Dan Kennedy and a few others say they do on a daily basis.

After I write the top six, I circle the one thing I fear the most and decide to conquer it first every day! That's a Robert Allen trick. Good one right?!

So there you have it, my top six daily tips.

What are yours? Link back to me and to Joe's blog..share your secrets!

Til tomorrow....

Lara

P.S. I'm also adding a 7th technique: to say I love you every single day and feel it!

Make Money With Your Blog

As promised, I'm delivering a few quick and easy ways to make money with your blog. These are just two ways I've discovered...AdSense and Amazon.com. They are both simple, quick and free (three things I like a lot!!!).

As far as AdSense goes, it's the easiest when you sign up for a Blogger.com account. Just sign in and Blogger.com automatically creates an AdSense account for you.

Then all you have to do is go under your template link, click on the page layout buttons and Blogger.com walks you through adding AdSense ads!!

It's quite simple. I don't know a great deal about web site creation and I could do this in just a few minutes.

So those are the AdSense pros..I see two basic downsides to AdSense. They are lack of control on your part. You don't choose which ads they run on your site. They simply pick up certain words in your entries and run corresponding ads.

Also, you can't call attention to your ads. You'll notice I haven't ever talked about my AdSense account before this post. I can't ask you to check them out or cl.ick on them for me. So again you don't have much control in determining your earnings from AdSense.

Amazon.com is just one example of an affiliate program. Many, many web sites are running similar offerings.

Basically you sign up as an affiliate and agree to their terms (similar to the AdSense terms I listed above in the cons section of my paragraph on AdSense). After filling out your information (ie where to send the checks! WOO HOO!!!), you can choose a few different types of graphics and links to add to your site.

You'll notice I have some Amazon ads flying about.

Again, it takes just a few minutes and between Amazon.com and Blogger.com you are literally led by the hand throughout the ad installation process.

It's so easy I swear a monkey could do it..and I say that because I often feel like a monkey when trying to discern online promotion. :)

So affiliate programs are pretty hot right now and most are free, easy and painless.

The downsides to Amazon.com are the same as AdSense...you don't have a lot of control over what is displayed on your blog.

I did get to choose the gift certificates ad but the other ads are based on categories I chose. So there is more specification than in AdSense but your ads are in broad categories. Again, a crapshoot.

Those are just two ways I'm making money with my blog. Stay tuned and I'll tell you about plenty more in the upcoming days! Til then, take a peek at my ads. :)

Til tomorrow...

Quick Post

I seem to have attracted some little bug...I think it's a cold so I've been out cold on my couch most of the afternoon and am heading off to bed soon so I can recover and be healthy tomorrow.
And I can tell you this ridiculous Colorado weather isn't helping!! We've fluctuated between freezing rain and cold temps to 70 degrees within a few days. Tonight we're under a winter storm watch til 6pm tomorrow. We may have 6" of snow when I wake up tomorrow. At least my dog loves it!

One day I'm going to have a home in Hawaii or southern California and I will spend February, March and April there. The rest of the year I love Colorado but by April I'm ready for summer.
April teases and hints at summer but consistent warmth never fully arrives til May.

Anyway, there's my weather tangent!

I'll fill you in on where we're at and where we're going on Friday.

Til tomorrow...

I Believe It and So It Is

Today was one of my favorite days! I found the perfect mix of the work, play and learning. I think all 3 elements are important to every single day. Some days we have to work a lot more than others and that's fine, it goes with the territory but it's important to tip the scales in favor of play and learning when work slows down then. I'm tempted to say "balance" but I recently heard that balance is basically stagnation. When you see a perfectly balanced scale nothing is happening. And what does that mean as a human being? If you're balanced, you're dead. I like it when things are happening and moving.

The real highlight of the day has been the apprentices. Well just one apprentice actually. She's clipping along at a great speed and I'm doing everything I can to encourage that! She is definitely where I was when I began my apprenticeship and truthfully I'd never want to go back to the woman I was before. In fact, I don't think I could go back to being her if I tried. And if you've read any of my previous entries you know my mind has certainly tried to take me back there every chance it's had!!! But I won't let it and so we simply move forward.

But back to my apprentices...it's exciting!!! I want a team of 10 great copywriters and they'll be wonderful to work with. How cool will that be? I know it will present challenges as well but I like a challenge. I feel accomplished and fulfilled when I overcome an obstacle. It reflects onto my perception that I can do whatever I set out to do.

The only thing we seem to be having difficulty overcoming is the money part of things. But I think my inability to allow money into my life is being turned around. Soon it will be like the floodgates of Niagara Falls opened up!!! I will only be able to create more and more.

So I envision that and I also envision our May 1st goal. I picture myself on the beach in Cozumel (which is where I will be on May 1st) and I'm telling myself how happy I am and how proud I am of me for allowing that money into my business. Sometimes it doesn't quite feel real but I continue to do it and let Holosync do it's thing. I allow myself to feel as though I've already created it.

Did I mention I moved on to the next section of my first level of Holosync? The 2nd track is actually my favorite part. Everything gets really slow and quiet in my mind. It's so soothing.

In many of Bill Harris' interviews he talks about how he had an addictive personality before creating Holosync so throughout the process he would take his listening to extremes. There were times he would listen for an entire day!

Based on the fantastic feelings I get from using Holosync, I can see where he could get addicted to it. I practiced meditation before but I wasn't always disciplined about it so my results reflected that. Anyway, I love my meditation hour every night ! No more lack of discipline on my part...it is so calming that I will continue doing it!

That's enough from me...I'm getting up early to run tomorrow morning. I'm excited to see what my apprentices have for me tomorrow!

Til tomorrow...

Busy Busy Promoting

This week I'm learning about the wonderful world of online promotion..something I know nothing about! Well not "nothing" ... let's just say I'm discovering a relatively unknown world!

And as you can imagine, at times I have struggled with the learning process. It feels like a lot of work and a lot of hard work at that. Of course because it feels that way, it is. So I'm practicing the art of letting go. I just shut off my brain and I do it. Things work a lot better when I'm in that mode!

Today I spent most of the morning on a conference call getting up to speed on the status of our projects. After that, I fixed up a couple of web pages, sent some emails, compiled more keywords for AdCenter and joined the Warriors Forum (which is a fun place by the way!)

The best part of my day was my new apprentice!!! Woo hoo!!!!! I'm doing a happy dance!

Overall it was a great day but I'm a bit tired so I'm off to relax and watch "What the Bleep Do We Know?!" I've seen it before but repetition is a good teacher.

Til tomorrow...

Busy Busy Monday

It was a busy day! There were lots of tasks to finish up and some new projects to tackle. I didn't finish everything but I did put a big dent in my To Do list. I feel pretty good about that!

Here's what I did:

• changed contact information on our Copywriting Creative Services pages

http://www.zerotoprofitasap.com/copywriting/

• emailed Traffic Assistant contact
• Sent welcome email to apprentices
• Received one response (YAY!)
• Opened AdCenter account
• Uploaded ads and keywords for two campaigns
• Rewrote two emails (two more to go!)
• Secured a fax number for myself
• added my tasks to Central Desktop
• uploaded 3 web pages to CD

And that's about it. I was working on tasks til about 7pm tonight so I decided to take a break.

Tomorrow I've got a JV partnership to delve into deeper in the morning along with a report on where we stand on all of our tasks. It's quite a bit but we can manage. And the faster we manage everything, the faster we'll generate profits. Wooo hooooo!!!!!

I'll keep you updated. :)

Til tomorrow...

Have You Ever Forgotten On Purpose?

Not much in the way of news today as far as work goes. I wrote some AdCenter ads and then went about my day. I was gone most of the day doing Easter-type things. I went to church and to brunch with a friend. Brunch turned into a very long conversation about life, religion, spirituality and the cosmos. We spent almost the entire afternoon sharing thoughts and ideas. It was a lot of fun.

Something interesting did happen after church. My friend wanted to pick up a copy of the day's service. This church is so large they record and telecast the services...being smart marketers they also sell DVDs, CDs and tapes of the services. My friend offered to buy a copy of the service for me but I declined (I'm not sure why...she was trying to give me something why would I turn away from that??). So she bought her own copy and we left to go out for brunch.

After brunch I dropped her off at home. As I drove around the block to head back to my house, I realized she had left her CD in my car. Clearly she wanted me to listen to the service again! So I emailed her and will return it this week. But before I do, I'll be burning it to my iTunes software!

The universe sent me a message so it's time to tune in and listen!

Til tomorrow...

Weekend Update

I used to love Kevin Neilen's Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live. Just thought I'd share that!

There were a number of items I wanted to tackle today and I got to most of them. My goal was to wrap up as many of the highest priority tasks today as possible. Even if I couldn't complete them I would finish as much of the work as I could accomplish by myself. At least then the tasks would be ready when I received assistance. The only thing I didn't do today was my AdCenter ads. I'll have to finish them up tomorrow so we're ready to roll on Monday.

I set my goal today with the thought that tomorrow is Easter and I plan to spend as much of that in celebration. Easter and other non-Christmas holidays are sometimes a little sad for me. My family is back in Wisconsin and although I have friends here, it's still not the same as being with my family. My sister and brother will be with my mom and dad but I'll be here.

So on holidays when I'm in Colorado I make sure I enjoy the day as fully as I can! Typically I visit a friend in Fort Collins and spend the day with her family. We've known each other for almost 25 years I think so we have very close ties.

I haven't spoken to her so instead I'm going to church with a friend and then out for lunch. This is a new church. It's her spiritual home so I'm intrigued to see what it's like and how it feels for me. We've talked about having church & brunch together for the past 5 months and now we're finally making it happen!

She's a wonderful person and I very much enjoy talking with her. We share similar interests in the metaphysical/spiritual realm. In fact, she encouraged me to watch The Secret. It only took about 2 other signals from The Universe before I finally got the message and picked up my own copy. ;) She was the first beacon for me and several others followed until the light bulb finally lit up and I recognized this was a movie I was supposed to see.

That's another tangent I could continue on but I won't because I'm sure you're dying to hear all about my girls night out! It was a lot of fun. We had some of our male friends serve us drinks and appetizers for a few hours. After they left, we all put on our PJs and painted our nails and told dating stories (some good, some not so good).

It was so nice to spend time with a group of women and just generally enjoy the company!
I can tell I'm getting old though...we were all asleep by 1am!!!! Not that I mind. I always hated going to sleepovers because I would get tired but could never fall asleep if other people were awake and talking. So there are definite advantages to spending time with married women/women who are mothers!

Anyway, that's it for me. I'm quite sleepy for some reason. We've had awful weather for the past 48 hours and I've done some treacherous mountain driving today. It was quite scary and I think it took a lot out of me!

Til tomorrow...