Off And Running!

Happy Monday!

January is almost half way over, okay a third of the way but today is the 11th and that's darn close to the 15th which to me is half way. Just two weeks until we leave for Denver for the SIA trade show. I can't wait! I just know this is going to be a huge success for us. We will have some challenges this time because we weren't blessed with a corner booth and being so new, we don't have a strong database of retailers to market to. That list is precisely the reason you do a trade show like this one! Next year we will have the list of attendees and we can market heavily before the show. I'm not worried, between Dave, Mike, and me, we can pull those buyers in and get the orders. After the ABC show in September, we have high expectations. I'll let you know how it goes when we get back that first week in February.

This weekend was a nice mix of uneventful and productive. Saturday, Dave played in a game tournament all day and Mike came up to the house and installed a replacement stove top for us. Thanks Mike, you're the best! Katie came to see us (up visiting from Monterey), and Cris and Taylor came for a visit, too. I had planned to clean, but visiting was just so much more fun! I even had time for a little nap. Sunday found Dave in Mason's room giving it a complete overhaul. Out with the old, broken, and no-longer-loved, and in with the vacuum, dust cloth, and all purpose cleaner. We also gave our closets and drawers the once over, and I easily gathered up two garbage bags of holiday stuff for GoodWill. I feel another round of "Give Away Ten A Day" coming, and it's a welcome feeling. I took Mason to get a haircut and he needed new pants, he's grown an inch and a half and gained six pounds just since October! (Dave's gained 8 pounds and hasn't grown an inch! Dave)

Today Dave and I are starting a local Biggest Loser contest here in Auburn. Dave is doing it more to support me, but I know he wants to get back on the exercise bandwagon, too. It's a twelve week program and the person who loses the biggest percentage of body weight wins. We will meet and weigh in every Monday night and if you gain weight, you have to pay $1.00 per pound. At the end of the twelve weeks, there will be a first, second, and third place loser, or winner. I feel like, here we go again! But I also know that different things motivate us at different times. We work every day to get that hour of exercise in, or eat more healthful foods, but some days we succeed more than others. If nothing else, this will be a fun way to get back in the swing of exercising and being more aware of how and what we are eating. We all plan to ski after the SIA show in Denver, so building some strength and dropping a few pounds can't hurt! I hope you are all off to a great start for the new year and if there is anything I can do to inspire or motivate you, please do speak up! I want us all to have the best year of our wonderful lives!