Congratulations Jackie and Jason!

We just returned last night from visiting Maui - another lighting fast weekend trip. We had a nice time as always and a lot of fun at our friends' wedding.

They were married Saturday evening at the beach by the Maui Sunset...it was lovely of course. I even helped out a little here and there.

We didn't really have time to go to the beach or to relax, to be honest, but it was nice to see all of our friends and to celebrate J&J's marriage which has been a long time coming! :)

I'll post pictures once I find time to do so...and then everyone can see my new hair do as well.

So, quick recap - Friday we arrived in the morning and to our surprise Mark's dad was waiting for us. There was apparently some confusion over whether we were going to rent a car or what not. I suppose we should have called when we made the reservation but I've been pretty busy lately and little things that aren't work-related seem to slip my mind easily (like forgetting that I'd given Mark's shoes to his dad...at the wedding - we spent a good amount of time calling around looking for those!).

We had lunch with his parents and then headed over to rent Mark's tux. I made a nice connection at the tux shop and will be referring my destination Maui clients there. They're also going to pass my info along to those who might wish to be married in SF. Once we had Mark's tux we rushed home for a quick shower and then really rushed to get out the door when we discovered (at about 4:30) that rehearsal was at 5...

Stayed at the rehearsal location for a good little bit conversing with various friends and the bride and groom's family members. Then went to visit our friend Keola who has, unfortunately, experienced the loss of his mother recently. Please keep him and his family in your prayers.

Saturday we spent running a few errands and then getting ready and attending the wedding. Fun was had by all and I have some new great contacts and a new tasty drink as well. :) New contacts include the president of the Maui Wedding Association who owns the catering company as well as a DJ services, table, linen and and tabletop company, etc. Also, I met a couple from the Bay Area (Sacramento and Manteca areas I believe) who just got engaged. They're looking to plan a nice luau reception which hopefully I'll be able to be a part of. As for the drink - when Shirley Temple isn't in the house, a nice mix of sprite and strawberry daiquiri mix does the trick! :)

Sunday we spent running around trying to find Mark's medications (which I'll have to refill today along with getting one of my own). Then we headed out for our flight...and oh what a fligh it was.

There was this little girl who screamed the entire time minus maybe 1/2 an hour. This was before we left the airport to after we landed. I was doing my best not to take Mark's can and whap her upside the head. Seriously. Sounds bad, I know, but I think it's safe to say 80% of the passengers on the plane agreed with me.

So, this week, I am going to keep up with my business stuff...especially calling people about my services (and sending email communications as well). I'm also going to look into maybe doing a little bit of tax prep services just to help us sustain ourselves a bit longer while I'm working on brining my business to life. We thank everyone for their prayers as we do our best to make everything work out! :)

Mark, on the other hand will be taking tests and working in the clinic...it's pretty much the same story every week for him. :)

And, finally, on the island of Maui there is much celebrating today as a very sweet lady turns another year older - Happy Birthday Mom Rocco! :)

Startin' It Up!

My thanks to all of you who voted for my elevator pitch - I'm pleased to say your efforts were worthwhile and I am now on to round 2! It was looking a bit scary yesterday...the window washing system guy from Quebec was closing the gap by leaps and bounds (I'd dropped to 3rd by that time)...but in the end, I'm in! :)

So, next show is supposed to be recorded in just a few minutes and will air this coming Saturday at 4 p.m. on KNEW here in the Bay Area or, of course, you'll have the opportunity to listen online and then vote for me again. :) Hopefully this free exposure will help me with my marketing efforts!

Thanks again!

The Home Stretch...

Well, we're still doing well in the polls...still in 3rd place (we were in 2nd for quite some time but were inched out); however, we have window washing guy from Quebec about to over-take us so we need your vote (if you don't mind!).

Please go to http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/registration.asp

and sign up for an account at SUN's community. Then go to http://www.startupnation.com/pages/community/forum_posts.asp?TID=1266

and vote prior to midnight today (you can try later than that, but I figure it's a good safe margin)!

Thanks for your support! :)
Me

Imagine That - The Pitch Is Good!

Well, I apparently have impressed enough people with my pitch. Unless things go utterly crazy with the voting in the next few days, it looks like I will actually be moving on to round two in the "pitch-off." How exciting, huh? And, nerve wracking...I gotta get to practicing my new pitch. At least it is written.

So, yesterday I had a bit of a disappointment, but that whole elevator pitch thing mellowed it out. It turns out that the BNI group I wanted to join doesn't want me. Boo hoo hoo. Or perhaps the more appropriate response is "eh, whatever." It appears that they like me but that they prefer people who have at least a year's experience with their business. I don't have this, of course, but I'd think that with the rest of my background they might have made an exception. Ah well...you win some, you lose some (look at that closely and you might get what made me chuckle ever so slightly when I wrote it). ;)

They're trying to set me up with a few other groups to meet and see if they'd work for me. These groups are all composed of people who haven't been in business very long. I'm not sure what I think about that. It seems that if they aren't established, much like me, they may not be bringing the clients to my door that I'm looking for. So, I'm going to go, but I'm kind of sceptical about what I'm planning to do in the end.

In other business news, I am now caught up with my calls from the Santa Clara show. Dearest Mark put some of his 24 hour Fitness call skills to work and ripped through the list. Way to be! :) That leaves me free to start calling brides from Pleasanton tomorrow evening.

Finally, it looks like I will have an ad in print very soon. I have just signed on with The Wedding Guide to have my ad printed in a number of regional directories. It was pretty affordable and should give me good exposure. Beginning shortly, I will start receiving leads from this source as well. I am hopeful that it will be worth my while...we'll soon see! I did go ahead and pay extra for a preferred listing on the website as well so I'll be prominently displayed...

And, now, onto non-business news...

We had a nice little visit from Mark's brother this evening. He was down from Tahoe for training for his new job. He's working as a mortgage broker for BWC Mortgage. We ventured over to the Hawaiian restaurant for some tasty kalua pig and conversation. It was an enjoyable time...

Other than that, we went to church this past weekend. Mark dragged me, to be honest (isn't that a funny piece of imagery). He apparently knows that I need it in my life to function best. He's right. I do. I felt so much better after going, though, to be honest, I was just trying my best not to cry through the whole service. We're going through a pretty scary time here with all the changes that are taking place and I'm a wee bit fragile at times. I guess I'm allowed...

As much as I hate to relate going to church to business (I guess it's still part of God's plan, but it seems out of place to me), it was good to go for that too. Not only did the readings and the sermon give me renewed hope that the Lord will provide for us, our outing provided the opportunity for me to speak to our priest, Fr. Rob, about my services, especially the newlywed financial planning, and how I'd really like to meet with clergy members to tell them more about it and maybe even improve it. I'd also like to maybe see if they can direct me to a few of their newlywed parishoners because I'd love to have a couple of couples to go through the process with to work out any bugs. I'm actually thinking, too, that I may check about offering this as a series of group classes in addition to the couple + me format. I think it could make it more affordable for those just getting started (because I could reduce my fees) and also, I believe it would allow me to help more people than I might be able to now. I think it would also make this portion of the business a great franchising opportunity.

I can't really think of anything else. I need to start working on bath salt bundles or other goodies for my next bridal show which is in about a month. I also need to arrange for a booth sign for a couple of them. It's an exciting time here and hopefully all my hard work and effort will pay off very soon! Please keep us in your prayers - we need all that we can get! Oh, and if you're into crafty stuff and want to volunteer to help with the gifties for the show, just give me a call...I can always use a bit of help!

Here's the Pitch!

So I promised that I would post the link once the Elevator pitch contest was up at Startup Nation so that you can hear just how I did. I have to say that upon hearing myself yesterday I did much better than I originally thought. When on the phone with the show hosts, I felt like I had totally bit the dust, but no...no, I just faltered a bit here and there. My nerves were in full-on *aaaaarrrrggggghhhh* mode given all that was going on that day.

For this was the day, my friends, that I discovered my brochures had been folded backwards, that I was late (because of the contest) for an appointment with Mark's retinal doctor, that I had learned that my business cards and magnets and other items were not going to be there in time for the bridal show I was doing the next day. To say the least...it was the worst possible day and I still did just fine! :)

So, enjoy the pitch, forgive my slight stumbles and, oh, did I mention? Vote for me! Just hit the discuss this radio show button at the top and join the community to cast your vote.

Wow - I Must Have Been Busy!

I just realized I never posted anything about what we did for our anniversary. On July 31, I know you all remember. :)

For that matter, I noticed upon looking at pictures in my camera that I've just totally not been the best recapper lately. There are pictures I never even shared with the world like our walk in the "perfect for a horror movie" woods tha we like to walk through. So named, by the way, because one time when we went walking there I was feeling a little "scardy catish" and it was right at dusk and there were lots of shadows and stuff. Yeah, I'm a bit paranoid sometimes. At any rate, here's a little pic of that place. As you can see, it isn't terribly scary....in fact is has birdies. Of course because blogger is inherently evil, I have to post the pictures elsewhere. I think mark-n-melissa.com is the place. Go here. And yes, I do know that I shouldn't be taking pictures while driving...trust me, these were all lucky shots given that I wasn't really focusing on aiming or anything...

I've added a couple of bonus photos from Santana Row in San Jose as well. I figured you all might enjoy seeing them...especially the Grand Marnier vehicle and the license plate. How cool are they?

Then there was the "I'm bored again" day in San Franscisco. I had one of these a few weeks back and did a little picture tour for a few select friends (I know I'm playing favorites - sorry). :) To make it up to you, the most recent version of said tour with pictures is on the mark-n-melissa site of course. Maybe I'll even hunt down the old tour...

And now onto our Anniversary....

It was a pretty nice day on Sunday, July 30 (which is when we celebrated which was good because Mark came home around 8 on our actual anniversary). We didn't go too far away from home this time around since we are trying to watch our finances given that there's no $$ coming in at the moment. Still, though, it was a great day.

We started it off with a little jaunt to Santa Rosa. While here, we grabbed a ton of infomration on fun touristy things to do all over the Bay Area at the Visitor's Center. We also began our quest to see as many Woodstock statues as we possibly could. I think to avoid the annoyance that is blogger, I may just post these pictures to a little photo service and let you all take a peek because, well, Mark is a loon and made many of the pictures quite fun to look at. I especially like the one where he's trying to eat Woodstocks marshmallows...and am sort of giggling thinking about it since he kind of bent in a bit too far the first time (bad guide wife!) and bonked his nose. I was afraid we were going to break the statue or something, but no. The disco woodstock is pretty cool, too. Which are your favorites of the ones we've seen?

We enjoyed lunch at a little restaurant called Checkers. Highly recommended if you get the opportunity to go. We had salads that were very yummy (and allergy free!). :)

Then we headed back down toward San Francisco for a tour of Sausolito, but we took a detour. We thgouht it was a short one to Stinson beach, but no. We ended up going through a good chunk of the Muir Woods (including past the Pelican Inn where MeLissa had once attended an off-site meeting with the Capital Recovery group at PG&E (very cool place!). We took a little bit of a break half-way through to enjoy a scenic overlook. As you can see from the beautiful pictures (also in the yahoo folder), it was a great idea stopping! Once we'd traipsed around a bit, we kept on toward Stinson beach. We finally go there and man, it's definitely a nice (and busy!) beach. We took a little stroll and then jumped back in the car to go to Sausolito.

In Sausolito, we enjoyed wandering and taking photos (on the other site of course) and we even bought our yearly anniversary Christmas ornament. This year we bought a cute little lighthouse. Last year it was a cool little glass ball with sand and shells from Monterey.

Now, at the end of the Woodstock, Stinson, Sausalito slideshow, there's an added treat - a couple of pictures from when my friend Lucie and I went to the Brides Magazine launch party and pictures from my last bridal show. I didn't have time to get flowers this time around so I brought our big martini glass and flled it with lemon drops. It was a simple table decoration and people loved it. :)

I think that is pretty much the recap. Head on over to the pictures for the fun part of the post. :)

Another One Down - Three to Go

The bridal show this past weekend was great. I got a lot of great survey answers in exchange for bath salts. Good stuff that should be very helpful when I call the bridely types back. I have about 25 who I need to call from the looks of it.

And, I have one that I emailed today who is intersted in Day-Of Coordination so that's quite good. I'll be following up with her and the bride who's considering my full-service planning this evening. They both seem like great ladies - I hope I am able to work with them. I have a lot of follow-ups to do today...including finishing up with the San Jose crowd.

Yesterday I also signed myself up for 3 more bridal shows. Most Sundays in the month of September are now occupied with things to do. At least I'm finally getting this process down so it doesn't really take too much effort.

Mark is really going crazy with the clinic stuff at school. Some of his instructors are actually asking him if maybe he's going a bit too crazy. I'm sure he'll be fine, but I sure don't see much of him what with meeting clients and his weekend review courses. At least the latter should finish up once he takes his 2nd board exam in September.

Other than that, there hasnt' been too much to speak of around here. We're just plugging along and making due. :) Hope you're all having a great week.

Weekly Recap....

This was a busy week around here! Mark had tons of tests and I had lots of phone calls to make and even a couple of meetings!

My favorite "meeting," though was Thursday night. On that night, Brides Magazine/Brides.com had a launch party for their new Northern California magazine which I'm actually contemplating advertising in. My friend Lucie, a photographer who's work will be sprinkled on my website (www.winsomeevents.com) very soon, and I went to the city to see what it was all about. It was a great party with lots of goodies - alcohol (and Shirley Temples for me!), chocolate fountains, Sherri's Berries, and lots of vendors who LOVED me! :)

Not to brag, but networking with top notch vendors is easy when you have those six little letters behind your name (you know, MBA, CPA!). I even had one man who had heard about me from someone else apparently chase me down and ask "Are you the wedding consultant?" Turns out he owns a nice little establishment perfect for intimate weddings, receptions, rehearsal dinners and the like. And, then of course, there were all the photographers that I met through Lucie, etc., etc.

My favorite "hook up" of the evening, though, happened over the berries. I happened to go for a smackeral at the same time as one of the New York ad executives. She and I chatted for several minutes about my services, especially the newlywed financial planning services which were such a hit, and we also talked about maybe setting up a little something with the Association of Bridal Consultants networking group which I am a co-director of. I told her that I'd be more than happy to provide quotes or whatever they needed if they ever did have articles on budgeting or finances in their magazines (Brides, Modern Bride, Elegant Bride). Now we'll just see if they take me up on the offer. :)

My other activity this week was phoning all the brides who entered to win the bride's emergency kit at the last wedding faire I participated in. I have had some positive responses from a couple of people so I'm pretty happy about things over all. Tomorrow, I have another show and will add to the list of people I need to follow up with hopefully.

For that show, I am doing things a little different. I have made up some yummy jasmine bath salt favors which I plan to give to brides who kindly fill out a little survey I've created on wedding planning. I figure it is a great way to show them some *love* and get some help with marketing plans, etc. I'm still going to have a Bride's Emergency Kit to give away as well.

Final bit of excitement for my business - I finished my trademark application today. I need to call and make a couple of corrections and forward a copy of my mark to the filing firm as well as a brochure I use and possibly a screen shot of my website once we have it dressed and ready to go which should be very soon. Very exciting stuff.

As for Mark, as usual, he's studying like a madman. What is unusual is that he rarely comes home before 8 p.m. because he has to work in the clinic on his patients now. It's kind of a bummer. Since he's also in a review class for his next board exam (in November, I think), I hardly see him. I'm fortunate that I have lots to keep me busy with my business and what not. I can't imagine not seeing him very much and having nothing to occupy my time with!

Oh, we also got our tickets purchased for our friends' Jason and Jackie's wedding. It will be taking place on August 26 in Maui. Exciting stuff...and perhaps an opportunity if Jackie needs some help on the wedding day for me to get a little more experience. :) If not, at least I'll get to enjoy a beautiful wedding with two sweet people who are finally taking the plunge!

I think that is about it for now. I need to get back to finishing stuff up for the bridal show. I have to run to the store to finish up an Emergency kit and I need to go get some clipboards for the survey I'm going to have people fill out. I haven't decided if I really want to deal with printing it at Kinko's or not. I may just print it on our computer. It sure seems like it would be easier given the fiascos that run rampant in that place!

Until next time then!