Shop to Benefit Ronald McDonald House

So excited to  be helping the Texas Hill Country / North Austin ADPi Alumnae group with another fundraiser to benefit Ronald McDonald House (RMH) in Austin.

We've made it both a physical even and a virtual event.

If you're in the Austin area we'd love for you to stop by, but if not you can shop ONLINE NOW by clicking the pic above!

Not familiar with RMH? Check out this great video: 

Lilly Pulitzer Shop & Share to Benefit The Ronald McDonald House

I pledged Alpha Delta Pi (fondly known as ADPi) back in 1988 at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos, Texas. My mom was an ADPi in 1964 at Sam Houston State University in Humble, Texas.

I loved that I was going to share this bond with her for the rest of our lives.

I loved the ladies that I met and the instant friendships that started from day one. Now with Facebook I've been able to find sisters that I had lost throughout the years and enjoy watching their families grow from afar.

In 2010 I received a notification about an newly forming Alumnae association in the Texas Hill Country North Austin area and decided to attend the meeting about it. I ended up taking the role of VP of Membership. As a recruiter thought that would be a great role for me.

Three years later it's been such a joy getting to know women that also share the love of my sorority and working with these women in philanthropic ventures and just enjoying their company. Our main philanthropy is The Ronald McDonald House.

For those not familiar with The Ronald McDonald House program they provide a “home-away-from-home” for families so they can stay close by their hospitalized child at little or no cost. If you or one or a loved one has ever had a critically ill child you understand how uncomfortable hospitals can be for extended stays. Most of The Ronald McDonald Houses - there are 300 of them in 56 countries - are near hospitals so families are close to their children as they receive treatments and necessary medical care.

Today another great organization is stepping up to the plate to help The Ronald McDonald House. The Lilly Pulitzer store at The Domain in Austin is donating 10% of their proceeds to the House.

This is where you come in. If you live in Austin, we'd love for you to stop by from 6 - 9 pm and shop. Be sure to tell them your shopping with ADPi.

Not in Austin - not to worry - call them anytime today at 512-835-8200 and tell them you'd like to place an order from items you've found at www.lillypulitzer.com and have the proceeds benefit the ADPi Shop and Share.

We're excited to see the results of income this brings to help many, many more people take care of their kiddos! Thanks for being a part with us.

Remembering Gizzy

This morning Charles and I said goodbye to our sweet, eldest dog, Gizzy. She died peacefully in her sleep after battling kidney failure over the last few months. She was a handful and the epitome of an alpha dog in our family. We are happy knowing she is no longer suffering.

Charles adopted Gizzy from an abusive home. She was the runt of a litter and the children of the family were happy to tease her in unkind ways. In 2006, Charles and Gizzy moved from Baton Rouge, Louisiana to join me and my two cats, Belay and Zambezi. In 2007 General our Shih Tzu joined us and in 2010 we added what is now the last dog our our clan, Colonel. Before adding Colonel to our brood, Gizzy and General were best buds. Although, in this video you might beg to differ. Once Colonel came along, Gizzy had a new puppy to boss around. Actually, all of our animals did whatever Gizzy told them to do. She was our alpha dog and made certain that everyone knew it. We will miss her snotty, snorting, joyous, bossy self! Thanks to Banfield Pet Hospital at Louis Henna and I35 in Round Rock and The Heart of Texas Veterinary Specialty Center.

Yummy Quick Dinner - Tomato Basil Squares

I was probably introduced to Pampered Chef's Tomato Basil Squares in 2002. They quickly became one of my all time favorite go-to recipes and I don't have many of those. They're super easy to make with minimal ingredients and it gives me a reason to grow basil! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Ingredients

• 1 (10 ounce) can pizza crust (you can find them by the biscuits)
  
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided in half
  
• 1/4 cup fresh parmesan cheese, grated
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil or 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves
• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
  
• 1 garlic clove, pressed (sometimes I add a second, just because I LOVE garlic!)
  
• 4 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
  

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
2. Roll out pizza crust onto a rectangle baking stone (or cookie sheet if you don't have a stone). 
3. Sprinkle crust with one cup Mozzarella cheese. 
4. In a bowl, combine remaining Mozzarella cheese, basil, garlic and mayonnaise. 
5. Mix well. 
6. Place sliced tomatoes on top of pizza crust. 
7. Spread mayonnaise mixture on top of tomatoes (I actually use a small melon baller and drop heaping balls on top and smash it down a bit). 
8. Top with grated Parmesan cheese. 
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbly

My sister, my friend

Lori and me in one of our first day of school photos (Circa 1978)

She's only three years, 352 days younger than me. So there were a few years before she was born that I was the only child. I'm pretty sure I didn't take as much advantage as I could of that situation, but I can't really blame my former four year old self.

By the time she was born I had lived in both Texas and Michigan, but when my sister, Lori, came into the picture, Michigan was a distant spot in my families rear view mirror. Neither of my parents had ever lived that far north and I think the stark cold winter made my mom long for the Texas sun and sky.

How is That Nine to Five Family Working for You?

Hours on end. I mean day-in, day-out conversing, speaking via phone, video conference, email and in person. Yet, we rarely fight. There's no screaming matches.

Oh there are misunderstandings and we disappoint each other. But honestly I'm super lucky because we shower each other with lots of verbal appreciation. You know, virtual high fives and such.

For the most part I didn't pick these people. In fact, none of these people picked me, yet here I am in this work family and I've come to love these 9-5 relatives.

Most of us who work outside the home spend more time with our work relatives than with our true families, so it's super important to like those that you work with everyday.

In the last few years with mass layoffs and record unemployment numbers, many people desperately dove head first into getting any job, sometimes sacrificing their past experiences and work related knowledge for dumbed down tasks simply to bring home a paycheck. But were tradeoffs worth it?

Have you traded in the comforts of enjoying your work relatives to simply make ends meet?

How do you deal with the fact that you go to work and aren't excited to develop relationships with people whom you spend the most time with everyday?

Pinterest Rocks Social Media's Hottest Trends List

Back in 2007, I joined an online social networked called Twitter. You've heard of it, right? But back then I heard people giggle about me Tweeting. My husband would make fun of me chatting with my Twitter friends - ahem Tweeps. Many around me thought that it was certainly a passing fad and that it would have no bearing on their life whatsoever.

Who's giggling now?

I would guess that most of us hear the word or see the word Twitter on an almost daily basis. It's not uncommon any longer and it's obviously not as much of a passing fad like so many had predicted.

Last summer I was introduced to Pinterest. Is that new to you?

Thanks to The Organised Housewife on www.pinterest.com. See all her pins here: http://pinterest.com/organised_house/

After returning from our missions trip in Botswana last June, I was watching some of the more crafty (as in they make things by hand - not that they're mean!) and socially media savvy women post interesting projects and such to their Facebook wall. It intrigued me and soon enough I joined Pinterest and began to pin away.

There Has To Be More

Special thanks to www.savagechickens.com.

 

Over the last couple of months I've come to realize that there definitely is more to life and that I have been stuck in this monotonous cycle of doing the same thing every week day. And let me tell you, it gets old.

So without a big hoop-la of New Year's Resolutions, I've simply made sure that I'm making an effort to spice things up a bit. Although it's not all that exciting, in the first week of 2012, I've accomplished a lot. It feels good.

And in January alone I've already committed to some fun get-togethers with ladies that are impactful in their lives and I'm going to be gleaning lessons from them on how they get so much done.

I've made a pact with myself to change up steps four and six in the Savage Chickens cartoon above. I'm getting offline more and turning off the television. Most of the the time the television has simply been on in the background as I wandered around the internet anyway.

I'll let you know what kind of progress I make and ideally there will be some great things coming out of this new found freedom from electronics. I'm jazzed about it!

Highlights From Recent Blog Posts

Another year seems to have run its course. It's hard to believe that December's already here and I'm amazed by the number of Christmas gifts I've already purchased.

And tonight I spent the time going through my blog, which is something I've wanted to do for some time. I knew it needed to be updated and cleaned up and gosh, well, it's much more fun to sit here with baby puppy in my lap and dawdle away on the computer then . . . straightened other things in my home. That's what tomorrow's for, right?

I'd love to get your feedback on the new look. If it's your first time here I'd love to get your thoughts too.

And, while I'm asking for your thoughts, tell me what your favorite places are to visit on the web lately.

For me? It has to be Pinterest! I'm an addict. In fact, just this week I made two Christmas decorations from inspiration that started on Pinterest. If you're a fan and hang out there too, please add me. You can find my schmancy new Pinterest button over there on the top left column.

Time To Grow That Mo

Okay, honestly, the only Mo (mustache) that I'll be sporting around this month is one that's fake and probably propped up by a stick or something.

But for you guys out there . . . consider sporting one for this great cause!

Movember, formally known as November, is now in full swing for the 2011 season.

Thank you, Steve Jobs

Last night just before 7 pm CST I learned of the death of Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, visionary and former CEO of Apple. A man who was in the prime of his life at 56 years old whom I'd never met changed the life of just about everyone I know.

My first exposure to computers was in eighth grade (1981) in Mrs. Strain's math class on an Apple II. We did a little bit of programming and from what I can best recall we created mosaics. Big stuff for a girl from a tiny Texas town (West Columbia). In fact that computer may have been the ONLY computer in our junior high school at that time.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for being a part of that first exposure.

So as I was driving home tonight after speaking at Social Media Club Texas State, I thought about what I'd done in my life that wouldn't have been possible without Job's innovations. Yes, I know he was the end all be all to Apple and there were many hundreds of people who helped their products, but he was the face of Apple to me. And while I have a strong sense of who my savior is and who my God is, I'd have to think that if I leaned toward believing in demi-gods then Jobs would be right up there in my top 10 list.

Engaging with the Smallest in Botswana

During our time with Love Botswana Outreach Mission (LBOM), our team was able to assist with the Lorato House of Love - The Baby House. This is one of LBOM's community outreach programs.

Normally the house is run by two women during the day and two women during the night. Our team took over the house from Sunday evening until Tuesday evening. The house at capacity houses 10 babies and over the 10 days were onsite the 10th baby arrived. Our team rallied to the challenge and fed babies, loved on babies, bathed babies and played with babies. Whew. We had a tired group of folks - six babies and four toddlers is work for sure.

Lorato House is a rescue center and orphanage for abandoned babies and children in need. The Northwest and Okavango Districts of Botswana have among the highest levels of orphaned children and children affected by HIV/AIDS in the country. This is the first rescue center of its type in Botswana.

The goal of Lorato House of Love is to place these babies into loving families in Botswana that the children will grow up to be contributing members of society. Lorato House educates and empowers the extended families, guiding them to raise healthy, well-balanced children.

Our Missionary Adventure

Charles and I just returned yesterday after spending the last two weeks in Maun, Botswana with Love Botswana Outreach Mission. It had been 10 years since I last visited LBOM and I was so excited to share the experience with Charles.

We're both attracted to adventure so I knew it would be a relatively easy trip for us both. Having been there before I had some pretty easy expectations. Charles, in typical form, arrived well prepared and with lots and lots of tools and medicines in his two bags of luggage.

One of the things he may not have realized that would prove useful was his knowledge of working on 4x4s or his Texas State Guard medic training. Read more about 3/4 down on Sarah Witt's blog post Kev's Version Of the Moremi Adventure.

My Movember 2010 Story

Movember Austin Growing By Leaps and Bounds

Movember, movember the second movember . . . there's a quote that goes something like that.

This is my second year to participate in the Movember movement. See my post from last year here.

If you aren't familiar with Movember it's a movement that started down under in Australia in 2003 to both be a silly way to bring back the mustache (Mo) and in turn as a way to raise awareness and funds to fight cancers that affect men's lives.

'Cmon. When you see pink what do you think? Breast cancer awareness, right? When you think about what cause is talked about the most during October it's what? Cancers that affect women.

But did you know that in 2010 tragically more than 32,000 men will die as a direct result of prostate cancer?

My husband, Charles was diagnosed with prostate cancer and subsequently underwent a radical prostatectomy last October. I blogged about it as "Our Life After Three Words."

In the last week he's had a one of many followup appointments with his urologist and he's completely cancer free and has NO PSA level.

Men, it's so important to talk about PSA levels with your physician. Women, it's so important to encourage the men in your lives to get consistent checkups that can catch things like cancer.

Charles' doctor told him that his cancer probably grew over a period of about five years. Yikes. That's a long time. There were definitely symptoms that were disregarded and thank God that he decided to get a check up and be completely honest with his physician when he did.

If you'd like to get involved with Movember please visit www.movember.com. If you're in the Austin area we're hoping to have 250 members by the end of November and as of tonight we're at about 150. Join us - Team AUS!

If you aren't in the Austin area, see if you can find a team near you or consider making a donation.

And tell me about your stories either here on this post or on my Movember page. We'd love to have you share!

Time to Post

I think about it often. I know I haven't posted in a long time. Okay - six months. How did that happen?

Since my last post I've been busy working, working, working.

I launched The Talent Sleuth almost immediately after I found out I was going to be affected by a lay off in March. I use the site to post positions I'm recruiting for in the Austin, Texas area and beyond.

I've also been doing some Human Resource consulting.

Immediately after I left Kershner Trading Group I went to work onsite in both an HR and recruiting and front desk capacity at Hall Plastic Surgery and Rejuvenation Center. Tricia Hall and her husband Jeff own the company and even though I've been a client of hers for almost a decade, working in the beauty industry again was fun and enlightening. While there I consulted on HR practiced and located and hired a new front desk person.

As that position was wrapping up I came across my next position - a contract HR Manager at CSIdentity. An amazing group of people and amazing technology. This organization works to fend of identity theft. Sadly, it's also an industry that I don't think is going to go away anytime soon as there will always be horrible criminals out there.

In between both of those positions I was also recruiting for a few various positions at Convio here in Austin. I was able to locate and Convio hired a new PMO Director. This organization went public early in 2010 and helps non-profits with their fundraising efforts.

After CSIdentity I went to work on a full-time contract basis at PayPal's Austin office where I'm still working as a Sourcer in their Talent Acquisition group. I've always been a PayPal (owned by eBay) admirer, so the work I do in finding top talent for them is very rewarding.

I'm continuing to pick up extra work on the side as well including a position I start recruiting for this week for Illuminas' New York City office. I flew up there about a week ago to get to know the staff a bit better and had a great, albeit quick trip in NYC. Hmmm . . . how do I get back there and Jane Quigley, can we go back to The Cafeteria? Okay, I'm sure there are plenty of breakfast places we can try!

I've also, via The Talent Sleuth, met and career counseled a number of people in person and over the phone. I'm always amazed when we wrap up our sessions at how they tell me how much they get out of our conversations.

The last six months have been a whirlwind of possibilities and fun, intriguing, insipiring and challenging work. I'm so glad to be so busy and thankful for the opportunities that continue to open up in front of me.

As much as I joke that I need to learn to say no, I think I'm not quite to that point yet . . . bring it on. All of it!

Free Agent in the House

About a year ago I started a website - Help I Was Laid Off (and on Twitter as @HelpIWasLaidOff).

As a recruiter I was often approached by people who had been laid off, those thinking about leaving their jobs and others keeping an eye out for friends and loved ones. They'd ask if I could help with their job search or review their resume. I was getting invited to coffee and breakfast and lunch left and right. My dance card was filled.


Then it dawned on me. I was repeating much of the same information time and time again.

Lightbulb - Hey, why don't I create a place where I can dispense all of this information at once?!

Thus the site began. But I also didn't want it to just be me. I, by no means have all of the information where job searching is concerned. Don't get me wrong - I think I have a lot to offer and having been laid off in September of '01, but I also thought it would be interesting to also have others' vantage points.

I solicited a few friends and acquaintances that I'd met along the way from various places and asked that they write about what they'd like where job searching was concerned and it's been a pretty successful endeavor. Great information and lots of folks reading the information and telling me how helpful it's been for them.

So . . . when I received news a couple of weeks ago about my impending lay off - my last day is tomorrow . . . I wasn't nearly as frightened as I might have been.

The site was preparing me for a day in which I might hear those words.

And you know what I did? I followed the suggestions that I've made to hundred of other folks and the suggestions that my writers dispensed.

I immediately reached out to my network! I received my notification before it was officially announced to anyone else, so I made sure that the people I reached out to in the first 24-hours would honor my request for confidentiality.

Then my network went to work.

I'd recently given a talk to the Austin Women in Communications Association and reminded the 70 or so in attendance to get to work on building their network before they needed it. If you start building your network once you need it, it will simply take longer to get to your desired destination.

What does my network look like?

• I run Help I Was Laid Off's site and Twitter account (over 400 followers combined)
• I run AustinTXJobs on Twitter (over 400 followers)
• I run the Out of Work Austin group on LinkedIn (currently over 800 members)
• I have over 1700 followers on my personal Twitter account
• I have over 900 direct connections on LinkedIn
• I belong to over 40 groups on LinkedIn
• I belong to a confidential group of HR professionals in the Austin area comprised of over 60 companies and I manage their social network
• I serve as the communications chairperson for our home owners association.
• I've attended the same church and been involved in various areas for over 10 years

Within 24-hours of my news, a contact in Atlanta put me in contact with a recruiter in New York looking for a sourcer (someone to search for candidates) and within 48-hours I had a signed contract to work with her on a project basis as her sourcer.

It's now been two weeks since I knew I'd be joining the intervewing circuit. I have had a well networked recruiter calling me a couple of times a week about opportunities. I've been on two face-to-face interviews, turned down one opportunity and have calls on schedule with a couple of others about specific positions.

It's nice being a free agent. Not something I necessarily wished for or hoped for, but I'm looking at it in a very positive light and feel good about the possibilities of where I'll land next and how I'll spread my wings.

Why A Vigil To Remember A Tragedy?

Vigil according to Wikipedia is an outdoor assembly of people, held after sunset. The definition continues with it can be held in protest or in memory of lives lost to tragedy.

After the horrific plane crash that occured in Austin, Texas last week, a few of us decided to host a vigil tomorrow evening. Our goal is to remember those who lost their lives as well as to show those left behind and those affected by the event that we are here to support them.

It's both a sad and controversial disaster and the opinions abound on all sides.

I called Lani and Benn Rosales the day after the crash and told them how I thought that we as a social networking community should be the ones to step up and hold the vigil. Omar Gallaga, of the Austin American Statesman, is the one who put the idea in my head with his article titled, "Social media speeds up news-gathering in plane crash aftermath." (Steve Buttry posted a similar article dissecting how Twitter played a part in the event @statesman : A case study in using Twitter on breaking news)

For many people in Austin area, it was the first time since they'd joined the social networking community to experience the lightening fast speed that occurs when news travels via microblogging.

In January of 2008, when Twitter was a much smaller community many of us were affected by the death Ashley Spencer in Louisiana. People were chatting with her within the same hour that she died in a car wreck. Her Twitter stream went from vibrant and very alive to listless and dormant. Those of us who had become her virtual friends knew that Ashley was a new mom and looking forward to her military husband returning from overseas.

We grieved together online. Several people even traveled to her memorial service. It was shocking and sad and it moved us. An account where we could make monetary contributions was set up to be distributed to her surviving family.

This has obviously happened more than once over the years.

As a physical community it's easy to join together and grieve and be supportive of one another.

For those that are still new to online communities whether it's on Facebook or Twitter or other online sites it may seem weird at first to meet in person with the people that you only know in an online world.

For those of us who have been on Facebook or Twitter for a while it's actually quite normal. We love to get together for over coffee, to learn about new ideas over breakfast (Social Media Breakfast), to hang out in the evening over pizza (Social Media Club), to learn how how teachers teach in unconventional ways (Ignite Austin) or to come out and have a drink at a happy hour (Big Ass Twitter Happy Hour).

Attending those events are networking opportunities, fun times, and often times silliness abounds.

A vigil though? A vigil for a tragedy steeped in controversy started by a man who burned down his families home and killed another person, hospitalized people and traumitized countless others?

Yes. Sometimes we come together in a physical sense, take our relationships offline and share a quiet moment together. Tomorrow night we will do just that.

• If you Tweeted about the event
• If you sent an e-mail to others about the event
• If you cross-posted a story about the event on your Facebook page
• If you took a photo of the building and posted it to an online site

Then tomorrow's vigil is for you.

Join us and remember the tragedy of a husband lost, a family's home destroyed, a son who will never hear his military veteran father's laugh again.

Join us to show your neighbors who officed in the Echelon building and complex that you are here for them, to listen to them and to console them when they are awake for hours on end because of nightmares they have from being in the building.

Join us for a moment of silence at sunset on Research Boulevard in front of Manny Hattens in the large grassy area as we look across to the building as it stands a week after the Austin, Texas Plane Crash.

Thankfully Those Days Are Past

A dear friend of mine, we'll call her Alisha, told me that she recently filed for divorce. It was years in the making. I've been aware of trouble, not necessarily to the extend that finally brought them to divorce. Isn't there always a string of events that causes the demise of a marriage?

In speaking with another friend, we'll call her Casey, a few weeks ago, she is now in the final stages of her divorce. She's moved on. Actually, she's moved cities, found someone old and made him new and is working on rebuilding her life.

Alisha is at the very, very beginning stages of understanding what divorce feels like. She grew up in church and was taught and believed that marriage is forever. She and her husband have been involved in church in various capacities and I'm certain she thought this would never happen to her.

I can totally empathize. Both friends' experiences bring me back to my first marriage and ultimate divorce. I was married on paper longer than I was in person. I married a man that I had known and dated on and off for over 15 years. I should have known that if we broke up as often as we did, then the likeliness that we could make a marriage work would be a pipe dream. It was a horrible experience. I mean the majority of it. The marriage had a super brief honeymoon and then it just got dramatically worse.

And still, I was devestated to watch it unwrap. I tried with everything in my being to convince him not to end it. I finally had to give in because as soon as he decided he wanted out he never turned back.

My heart hurts for my friends. Alisha, has three children under the age of 10. I see her updates on social networks and there are words like depression, not wanting to get up in the morning, trying to just make it through the day. And my heart breaks.

My other friend, Casey, seems more ready to move on. She too has children, two of them under the age of eight. I think part of where she's been able to get to emotionally also stems from the new guy she's found and how unhappy she'd been for so long. But I hurt for her as well. I know that her family has their thoughts on her new life and the support for her simple is not there.

I want to make a point to reach out to both women and to remind them and encourage them that their feelings of loss will subside, that there will be a better day and that the sun will eventually shine again. It's so much easier to live in the moment of the sad times and I remember all too well how I'd find myself wallowing in the grief of the loss and wondering what I could have done differently or better.

In reading this post let me ask you one favor. Please keep both Alisha and Casey in your prayers. Keep their kids in your prayers. Pray that their tomorrow's will be amazing as they both begin to reshape and begin their new lives.

New year - new goals

I've been pondering what to write about as the new year approaches for the last week. When looking back at this post at the end of 2010 what would I like to say I've accomplished? The goals are almost always the same, lose weight, live healthy, etc. That won't change.

Mostly I know that this coming year will have more challenges that I'm expecting to tackle than in year's past. So, I don't feel all together capable of even knowing what goals will surround those challenges.

This past year has been event-filled for certain. Charles and I married in May. Charles was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer in September and had his prostate removed in October. Just the last few months alone have been a whirlwind in our personal lives.

At work, still loving my job, we've laid off more people than we hired and our hiring goals at the beginning of 2009 was pretty hefty. Not a big surprise here. Seems like everywhere you go you hear something negative about the economy and how difficult it has been for so many.

I think I'll take a few more days before declaring what I'd like to accomplish in 2010.