Looking to Cook

I think my own love of cooking began when I was in high school.  Back then I primarily focused on sweets.  But today it is more of the everyday meals that I focus my attention on.  It has taken time to build up my confidence in the kitchen.  But with the help of e-mealz.com I have increased my menu possibilities drastically.

I learned about e-mealz.com while in labor at the hospital.  Literally.  My doc started the pitocin, said he was going home to have dinner with his family and then he would return in a few hours to check on me.  Making conversation I asked what was for dinner.  He told me that his wife used e-mealz.com every week to determine their menus.  Five meals a week, with all the recipes, and easy to make.  And it even provides your grocery list.  Grant and I were sold right then and there.  The week after LB was born we signed up and started cooking regularly ever since.

E-mealz.com was perfect for me because while I enjoyed being in the kitchen I was not very confident.  I knew that I was good at about 5 different things.  But after you have those a few weeks in a row you get tired of them and so its just easier to say lets order in or go out for dinner.  However, with a baby at home and trying to get out of debt we knew that our food budget needed to change.  And we saw lots of opportunities to save in that area.  And in our first month with e-mealz.com we saved hundreds of dollars.

Now, after a year and a half of regularly cooking in the kitchen I'm looking for more.  I want to learn the ins and outs of the kitchen.  I want to know how to properly chop.  I want to know what you get when you mix x, y and z without having to look it up.  I just want some basic knowledge to improve in the kitchen.  I would love it if there were a continuing ed class I could take.  Or maybe even an all day Saturday class.  I'm going to start doing a little research on this one and I'll keep you posted.

Anyone else interested in taking a cooking class?

Failing Forward

FAILING FORWARD By Jon Gordon Like most people I have failed more times than I care to remember. I’ve struck out playing baseball, I’ve failed to win the client, I’ve lost the big opportunity at work, I’ve had to close two of my restaurants, I lost my race for city council of Atlanta when I was 26, I was fired once, I was once a month away from bankruptcy, I was initially rejected by over 100 publishers, I’ve made mistakes as a parent and boss and the list goes on and on and on. Yet, when I look back I realize that every failure has moved me forward. Every failure taught me a lesson and made me stronger, wiser and better. I failed many times but I failed forward (I first heard this term from John Maxwell). Failing to win a client taught me what not to do so I could start winning more business. Shutting-down restaurants taught me to be smarter about picking the right locations. Losing the race for city council led to me leaving Atlanta, moving to the beach in Florida and doing the work I do now. I’ve realized that sometimes we have to lose a goal to find our destiny. Sometimes we have to fail to move forward. I know some of you might be saying, “Well that’s you Jon. You’re just lucky. It doesn’t work that way in my life. You have no idea what failure has done to me.” I hear these comments often and I always respectively disagree. I believe there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who fail and those who fail forward. We all fail but what we do with our failures is our choice. At any moment we can stop being someone who fails and become someone who fails forward. Through each challenge and failure we must stay hopeful and know that failure always leads to a better future if we have an attitude of faith, are open to the possibilities and trust that new and exciting opportunities are coming our way. We have to look at failure not as a dead end but rather as a detour to a better outcome than we could have ever imagined. If you are experiencing a failure right now at work or home please know you are not alone. If you haven’t failed, you haven’t lived. It’s time to ask what you can learn from your failure. What is it teaching you about yourself and your team? Don't be afraid to fail, just make the choice to fail forward. Use it to learn, grow and become the you who you were meant to be. www.JonGordon.com

Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my! Our First Trip to the Zoo

"Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh my," Anna Ryan chanted as we all rode to the Montgomery Zoo yesterday.  What a fun-filled, exhausting day it was.  What I thought would be a half-day excursion turned into an all-day adventure.

It started out with a comedy of errors.  Dogs getting out, rearranging car seats, pilling in the strollers, needless to say, we left a little later than we had planned.  But by 9am we were rolling down the highway headed to the zoo.  9 kids, 4 moms, 2 cars and a partridge in a pear tree.

Every animal was gazed on with utter amazement as the kids pressed their noses to the glass.

We managed to keep all the kids together as a group.  One point for the moms.  No tantrums.  Another point for the moms.  And everyone seemed to get along beautifully.  Moms win.  Top it off with sunny 78-degree weather, and it was a wonderful trip.

I love these pictures of LB and Mason.  So cute!

And daddy might have to keep an eye out on this little girl.

Kids are so fun to watch when they are on adventures like these.  Everything is amazing and awesome to them.  LB could not stop saying whoa whoa whoa all day long.  I look forward to our next adventure down the road.

Recap

Hi!  Its been a long week since I was last here.  There is no way I can recap it all, but there are a few highlights worth mentioning.

March 14th thru the 17th I was at Lakepoint Resort State Park in Eufaula, AL.  The event was our GM Rally where we bring together all of our General Managers, District Managers, Office Staff, Vendors and Corporate Personnel for breakout sessions, team building and an awards night to celebrate the previous year's successes.  Almost nine months in the making, this is an event that takes a lot of planning to pull off. This year was my 4th Rally and probably one of my favorite things to do all year.  Our theme was Today is the Day.  With this theme in the forefront for 2011 I hope that our managers and office staff will strive to answer one question - What are you going to do today to build your business?

So after months of planning coming to fruition in the amount of four jam-packed days, I packed up my car and headed home to my sweet little girl and wonderful husband who I missed dearly.  They survived the week with lots of thanks to my mom and mother-in-law and baby-sitters.  The afternoon I got home, LB took a 3 hour nap and I took a 2 hour nap; God is so good.

The tulips are sadly coming to an end in our neck of the woods.  Thankfully, I managed to snap a few pictures around town last week.

On a whim I purchase a little doggie bubble machine.  LB loves bubbles.  I'm sorry, I mean she LOVES bubbles.  I thought this might be answer to my prayers.  Let me back up.  I'm not a huge fan of bubbles.  It never fails that there are spills (usually on me) and we get sticky and yep that sums it up.  So this was to be my answer.  Well, a word to the wise, don't buy bubbles on the sales aisle.  They are there for a reason.  This little guy leaks out the bottom.  So what happens?  There are spills and we get sticky again.  Oh well.

Isn't she getting so big!  Almost 19 months old and she rocks my world.

What color is your luggage?

What color is your luggage?  Do you stand out?

BLACK BAGS AND STANDING OUT

As I stood outside in a puddle of slush and snow a few weeks ago at Chicago's O’Hare airport looking for my carry-on luggage, two questions filled my mind.

First I wondered why one of the busiest airports in the world would make passengers deplane outside during a snow storm. You would think the airport would be prepared for snowy weather and would have ways for passengers to deplane into the terminal instead of outside it. : )

I also wondered, as I saw people struggle to find their black carry-on bag in a cart filled with black carry-on bags, why so many travelers buy a black bag.

After all, they have a choice. Go to any luggage store and you'll see green bags, red bags, yellow bags, blue bags and even pink bags and yet most choose black.

They have an opportunity to buy a color that stands out and yet they don't. They conform. So when it comes time to find their bag it’s not easy to distinguish their bag from others.

It’s the same way in business and life. We have a choice. We can stand out in traffic or we can choose to conform and be like everyone else.

If you don't stand out and simply conform, when customers are given a choice they won't be able to differentiate you from the competition. You’ll be like a black bag in a pile of black bags.

People and organizations and brands that stand out in traffic are the ones that thrive. They are easy to find and everyone knows there’s something different about them.

Can the same be said for you? Do you stand out at work? Do you stand out to your customers? Do you stand out to your team?

Reprinted from Jon Gordon's newsletter.  Find out more at www.JonGordon.com

Seaside Race Weekend Recap

They made it!  Each of our guys survived and even thrived in last weekend's Seaside Half Marathon.  With little to almost no training for a few who shall remain nameless this was a huge win.

We spent the weekend in a condo with the Sharps and all the Faulks.  It was loads of fun.  And a tradition that I'm sure will continue

Jason took home the gold from our condo - coming in under 2 hours!!

We braided hair

I found a gown for my friend Jackie's wedding

Detachment and Devotion

Book Club met last week to discuss tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom.  It was a very easy read with several great life lessons.  Since we met, one topic has stayed on my brain - the idea of detachment.  And it came up in two different forms.  


One way to detach yourself is once something happens and is over you completely detach yourself.  You don't hang on to all the words said or not said.  You don't relive the moments over and over in your head.  You were there, it happened, it was said and now you detach yourself and move forward.  You take that piece of your life with you, but it just becomes a part of your past.


The second idea of detachment we discussed had to do with living in the moment, detaching yourself from all the noises and distractions around you and only focusing on where you are in the moment, who you are talking to in that moment, and what you are doing in that single moment.  


There are so many things in our society that jockey for our attention - TV, books, magazines, phones, blackberries, the Internet, sports, school, work, kids, family - and on and on.  It is so easy to be distracted, but almost hard to focus.  And with all the choices, decisions, opportunities out there its no wonder that we can't focus.


So, how do we go about detaching ourselves?  And how do we decide what to detach ourselves from?  Morrie put it very simply when he discussed getting meaning in your life.


"So many people walk around with a meaningless life. They seem half-asleep, even when they're busy doing things they think are important. This is because they're chasing the wrong things. The way you get meaning into your life is to devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." (p.43)


I guess one way to look at detachment is through the avenue of devotion.  Some things in my life could probably use less of my attention while others could definitely use more of it.  By detaching myself from certain things I will have more time, energy, and a greater ability to focus and in turn the ability to devote my mind, heart and soul to the things in my life that truly matter.


I hope this idea of detachment and devotion continues to stir in my soul because I like the direction it is taking me.