2010 - Day Forty Nine...

Well, the tiara (Pat) is proudly being sported today on the head of David, my friend and colleague in Austin. David was seen with the tiara earlier this week when I was at the Board, and he graciously agreed to being 'used' as a prop for Pat. David was also at the Board offices last night for the Chili Cook-Off, and I expect to see him over the weekend at the Texas Association of REALTORS Winter meeting. David is VERY active with both the Austin Board and the Williamson County Association of REALTORS, as well as the Texas Association and the National Association of REALTORS. He is one busy guy, and thanks for appearing in today's post!

I may be talking about the Chili Cook-Off for another day or two in this blog. There was also an appearance last night by the Spice girls. I thought they were a 'has-been' British girls-band from the late nineties, but alas, there is a new incarnation in the world of fabulous chili. They made a very good pot of chili, and they were passing out bags of their special seasonings! Thanks very much for that! I have spent a lot of time thinking about the Cook-Off since last night, and it was really a lot of fun, but it was also a lot of hard work to make this whole fund raiser come together. Kudos to all those folks that worked in the background to make it all look and feel like it just came together with no effort. Those are the kind of functions that have the most work and effort involved. It was great!

Was there any way you could think the day would be anything less than excellent after this mornings' sunrise? It was absolutely beautiful! It is always interesting to think about what I will see when I walk into the garage to get in the car and head out for the day. AND, compared to the day I complained about yesterday, this has been a great day. A tremendous amount of wonderful and positive things were accomplished. It could have only been better if someone had deposited a million dollars in my bank account ON PURPOSE. Okay, well, any amount of money deposited into my account on purpose would have made the day better, but it was pretty darn good just the way it was!

Something that also made my day even better...I got a lovely note in the mail today from my NEW FRIEND Pam (Hey, Stinky!). That makes me laugh. What a wonderful new friend she is, we met on the MCE Cruise (I think our paths had crossed before) and we really became friends almost instantly. Isn't it interesting how that happens. I feel like I have know here for a really long time, not just a few weeks. When things click, they click! So, it was wonderful to get her note in the mail today, along with some drink tickets for Southwest (can you say Merlot?) and a ten-spot. That is really kind of a complicated tale, but I will let all of you just use your imaginations about the tenner! THANKS FOR LETTING ME IN YOUR WORLD, PAM!

I will be attending the Texas Association of REALTORS winter meeting tomorrow and all through the weekend, concluding on Tuesday. Always a wonderful learning experience! I will be reporting more about the goings-on as they develop. I wonder if there will be any tiara moments at the meeting? We shall see...

Okay, I am going to make this comment in this entry, only because I think I need to document it. I don't want it to be too much of a downer, but it needs to be included. Months or years from now, it will be interesting to put today and this incident together. Today, it seems an unhappy person flew his (or maybe someone elses) small plane into a building in Northwest Austin, ON PURPOSE, allegedly because he had an issue with the IRS. It is really amazing to my how creative people can become when they want to harm themselves and others. As I said above, tomorrow (and through Tuesday) I will be in meetings in a high-rise Austin Hotel, and we are not safe. We can only hope for the best. I hope no one had a bad meal in the Hotel...goodness-gracious knows what the offended person might do. I think many of our neighbors are out of control. I sometimes think I am out of control, but then I just think of my business partner, and try to decide...'What would Carrie do?'...or I think of Jody and think...'What Would Jody Do?'. And then I am calm, and I can go on. I am just lucky that way. I will not talk too much about the man that took his revenge and harmed others who were innocent. I do not intend to give him any glory. Heaven help all those that were affected by this unhappy human being.

Deeds, Actions, REMAIN CALM, Changes, Kindnesses, Whirled Peas, FUN!