thinking

it's all yours to remember...

visiting with the auntie and uncle

I went over to my aunt and uncle's house tonight and had a super dinner (as always). He made this really yummy dessert...They know my weakness and we shared photos and had a lot of fun talking about what's happening lately with everyone. It was so good to see them! Above are photos from Christmas in 2004. They are the holiday hosts for our family. Thanks Auntie and Uncle!

Big thanks to Cousin Lanie who supplied the feather boa today for the bridal shower I attended...Pictures to come soon. Had a lot of fun helping To get things ready and enjoyed watching Barbara take it all in.

strolling down memory lane

meeting the anton's in 2004

breakfast before the big engagement party in oct. 2003

the girls at todd's 40th in 2005

mr. wonderful and rockstar mom lubing orlando

it's our "BFF" birthday party!

he's my only one

found this photo tonight and couldn't help but want to send some big love to my baby brother who just happens to be one of my favorite people in the entire world and he's super hilarious!

(photo taken the night before my wedding)

Magic Night in Tennies

Chris and I at the

2007 Black Tie and Tennies Gala

Chris and the Magic Dancers

Stuph the Magic Dragon and DragonFly

on the blue carpet

Grant Hill and MJ

Pat Garrity and Chris

PT from Universal and me

Otis and his two not so little ones

Chris and his new buddy, Godfrey

this photo is hilarious

this photo is funny since it shows me actually using an oven and oven gloves.

for those of you who know the truth, i do not cook and this is not even my oven and those are not my gloves. is that even really me?

And we're back!

Mr. Wonderful and I returned home on Sunday. Fave brother and his girlfriend surprised me with a birthday cake and lots of hugs from the cutest nephew ever! It was so nice to see them all and to be back in the Florida sunshine.

I have many photos to share from our journey to the Nation's Capitol.

I'm back AND I'll BE back to blog more about being back!

miss you china girl

thanks for the birthday call!

always good to hear your voice.

Fun In DC!

and many more...

in DC for the big one -- every birthday is abiggie now. mr. wonderful brought cards from so many friends and family so i could have them with me on my trip. i've created a little birthday shrine in our room. thanks to all who thought of me and sent the very best! i am having a great birthday!!

one of the above photos was obviously taken at the station in DC that Scott works at...we headed that way after dinner. lil B and i did the 11 o'clock news together...well, okay, maybe not BUT we thought about it. got to see the latest at channel nine (my fave number of course) and took lots of pictures around the station.

my birthday in DC rocks! thanks Scott, Mike, Lil Bufus, Cactus Cantina and of course, Mr. Wonderful for making it extra special! here's to another year of being grateful for what Life has given and what Life will give!

enjoyed the beacon in DC

award winning crew

all the awards given that night...

debbie from chicago who rocks!

love a pretty table -- here's one!

fi and dragonfly at the beacons

the weather channel had these

centerpieces made...so cool!

CTPAA to ACC

in DC at the annual forum for cable television public affairs people. so far so good. learning lots about the industry, networking, staying at the ritz! mr. wonderful arrives tomorrow night. so excited!

j. would love this...last night, i sat next to a figure skater who was with the icescapades for ten years. so cool! he's friends with oxana b. and other famous skaters i didn't know. you just never know.

anyway, i'm here to sunday so i hope to post again about all the things that are happening.

until them, i'm enjoying the dc air...especially what it does for my hair!

the VOODOO at Ale House

in today's paper - Thanks Bud!

OTHER VIEWS MY WORD
In defense of public relations
Bud Brewer

The Orlando Sentinel editorial board's relentless bashing of the public-relations profession has become a bit tiresome. Frankly, it smacks of the same kind of hypocrisy the newspaper shows when it rants against billboards.

Let's be clear for a moment. One form or another of public relations may be responsible for half or more of what appears in every edition of every daily or weekly newspaper. Left to their own devices, a newspaper's overworked and underpaid staff of reporters might never organically uncover much of what finds its way into print each day without input from public-information officers, sports-information directors, publicists and other professionals who serve the interest of their clients or employers.

It seems some at the Sentinel have decided that PR professionals are the enemy and/or are not to be trusted. (I'm referring to a recent editorial, "Halfway There: Toll-Road Agency Reforms Should Ax PR and Lobbying Posts.") Sorry, but nothing could be further from the truth. Our role is simply to help our client or organization identify and articulate key messages to an audience. We facilitate communication. We don't lie. If we did, we'd lose our own credibility and in so doing our ability to work with the media, and that's the lifeblood of our profession.

We do our job in two ways. First, on behalf of our clients, we introduce information that you might not know or to which you otherwise might not have access. We do this with press releases, story queries, brokered interviews and those treasured "exclusives." Second, when negative information shows up in the media or elsewhere in the public square, we help tell our client's side of the story.I'm not here to defend or attempt to indemnify our profession or its members from the occasional uncomfortable situation. Just as you find a need to regularly correct your own missteps or misstatements, so does a member of our profession occasionally and unwittingly become a part of the story instead of simply facilitating information.

When the Orlando Sentinel editorially rails against billboards, it's odd. Both are advertising media, and both have a role in sharing news from the marketplace. Let's not forget that the Sentinel uses billboards to promote itself, so editorializing against them seems at best confusing and at worst hypocritical.

Likewise, before you taint the entire public-relations profession as unnecessary or unsavory, please consider carefully (if grudgingly) the role we play in helping you fill the space between all of those revenue-producing ads.

Many PR professionals started out on the media side, present company included. We don't paint the media with a broad, negative brush. Please do us the same courtesy.

Bud Brewer is the president and CEO of MPB Communications Inc.

remembering her

today is her birthday. it's the little things you miss. i miss her so much especially on days like these.

meeting after meeting - what to keep in mind

have you ever been in a meeting that seems to be going on forever and is going absolutely nowhere? probably so. i know i have. how about conference calls that feel like a conversation with yourself? hello! is anyone even listening? depending on the topic, the purpose of the meeting and all of the junk people have distracting them from sharing anything whatsoever, meetings/calls can be the death of any kind of creative process. it's almost like being a server at a restaurant...stay with me now...everyone should do it once in their life. after you've been a server, you develop a sensitivity to what may be going on with a night of bad service or a slow kitchen. you learn that sometimes it's just an off day. same thing applies to meetings or calls, once you lead them, you begin to understand how important it is to participate or acknowledge that you're even there. not everyone is going to be sending in a million dollar idea every second but once you've experienced the uncomfortable silence of a meeting/call, you recognize the value of paying attention and participating in the conversation. otherwise, you're leaving the fearless leader out there in a lonely abyss of uncertainty and frustration. typically, i repeat, typically, a meeting is called to bring together a group of people to exchange information and my all time favorite, share ideas. if you're not sending anything out there, then you have to ask yourself -- why am i here? tomorrow morning, i lead one of my favorite meetings with one of my favorite groups of people. i am committed to bringing a dynamic group of people together with the purpose of moving the profession of public relations forward in the central florida region. that motion comes in many different forms -- quality programs, membership benefits, professional development, accreditation, networking, opportunity, etc. not too long ago, i had lunch with PBJ who told me that every meeting should have a PAL -- a purpose, an agenda and a length. that was by far one of the best takeaways in terms of being clear about how quickly a meeting can go south if any of the PAL are missing. so, tomorrow morning, we collectively have a purpose and the agenda has been set and distributed to everyone. the length is typically an hour...as the "lead" of the meeting, i am very respectful of the time people give. i do what i can to keep the meeting at the agreed to length. so far, i've had great success with my commitment. it's event/meeting planning 101 -- end early and they'll always love that they were there. of course, if the creative juices are flowing, no need to bring it all to a halt because the time is ticking away. everyone is valuable and so is their time. i keep that in mind at all times. to bring this outpour to a close, i recall the days when i would have to attend meetings, to just attend meetings. there was no real value of getting together but for the sake of the same old people, listening to the same old things that they were saying. seriously, some people love the sound of their voice. this nonpurpose driven gathering usually leads to ineffective time and resources spent. so, all this to say, before you meet, be sure it's necessary. when you do meet, make sure you're clear about why, when and for how long. post-meeting, send everyone a little recap, a general thanks and if they contributed something that created a quality conversation, thank them for sharing. it's challenging to find good, creative ideas in that kind of environment. all the more reason to be grateful when you discover a diamond in the rough. alrighty, thanks for reading...i'm off to my next great meeting!

funny thing about guilt

True guilt is guilt at the obligation one owes to oneself to be oneself. False guilt is guilt felt at not being what other people feel one ought to be or assume that one is.
-- Ronald David Laing

come on over!

so, today was a catch your breath kind of day. had a nice brunch. enjoyed some down time. chris mcwyatt came by the new place to check it all out. haven't seen him since china girl was in town. always good to see him. to think, we were in the same american history class together back at chs. that was nearly 14 years ago. back then, i would've never guessed he would be among one of my closest friends today just because we were so different in high school. so, anyway, my aunts stopped by on their way back from mommie-glow's house. instead of using a rest area, why not head over to my house that's about five or six miles off of the interstate? it worked out perfectly for them. the visit was quick but really nice since i probably won't see them for another month or so.

mr. wonderful talked to the z's today in the uk. so, hey to the zabi's! i will try and post photos of the new place soon. until then, maybe i'll try and post photos of what i think it will eventually look like once things are all painted, flooring is all changed out and the pool has water in it.

these days...the slow ones, are just what i needed after the last 17 busy ones. i'm getting ready to head out of town next weekend so to be able to just sit back and enjoy the time is incredibly reviving. i read a little. wrote a little. relaxed and sat thoughtless a little. mr. wonderful and i talked about anniversary plans. even though they're not until october, we like to kind of decide where to go so we can go ahead and make reservations. he's such a good planner for us. we also discussed the upcoming holiday season. where we're going to be. if we shoud have something here at our place or go up to jax? we'll see how it all goes. anything's possible. if there are going to be changes, i truly believe this is the year it's all going to happen.

party at epcot

tonight, mr. wonderful, heidi and i all headed to the hfuw's chef's gala at Epcot. the red carpet. red roses and food a plenty. the entire experience took me back to the Taste of the NFL event i went to back when the superbowl was being held in j-ville. the food was unbelievable. the company was wonderful. had such a blast. so glad it worked out for everyone to attend, especially mr. w. there was a possibility he was going to have to work. ran into many people i haven't seen in such a long time. truly, a night to remember!

happy march!

today i wish a friend a fantastic 50th birthday! we're heading out to dinner tonight and will celebrate together. i just hope that when i turn 50, i am as cool as he is.

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in addition, another wonderful person in the world turns a year older. her mom and dad are so sweet. they were among one of the two couples who sent mr. wonderful and i a congrats on the new home card. yes, we will need help with painting and wall paper tearing down. thanks for the offer to help. happy birthday c.h.!!