To Give is Better than to Receive

This particular post is dedicated to Autumn and Dan Soyka. Autumn, Dan and I met in Dunedin middle school and we would walk to school together.

We remained friends throughout the school years and eventually I ventured off to explore the world. Facebook has been a wonderful tool for everyone to reconnect. I have reconnected with the wonderful group of girls that call themselves "the Clams".

The picture shown is Autumn and Dan taken on her 31st birthday, October 1, 2011. Tragically - Autumn was killed by a drunk driver October 30, 2011. The world stood still when Autumn was taken from us. I was so looking forward to coordinating the 2012 reunion in New York City with her and the Clams.

The Clams

Dixie, Kaitlin, Autumn, Lisa, Jami and Kerri (from left to right)

Autumn had started this amazing charity, Our Friend Dan, before she passed. To our sadness, Dan has been diagnosed with ALS/Lou Gerhig's Disease. Dan's speech became slurred around Fall last year (2010) and his speech became unintelligible June 2011. Dan married his beautiful wife, Lisa, June 4, 2011. I am in awe of how amazing Lisa is for Dan. I have not yet met her in person, but communicating with her through email & Facebook - I can sense and feel her wonderful warmth and spirit.

Lisa and Dan Soyka, June 4, 2011

I am motivated and dedicated to helping Dan and Lisa fight ALS. Not only in loving memory of my sweet friend Autumn Soyka but also because of the love I have for the Clams that supported me through my important years in high school.

As mentioned, the name of Autumn's charity is Our Friend Dan. Our Friend Dan is hosting a silent auction January 28, 2012 at the Dunedin House of Beer in Dunedin, FL

Today I shipped out my box of donations for the auction and it felt SO good to give.

In my eyes, it truly is Better to Give than to Receive.

If anyone is interested in donating to Our Friend Dan, please check out https://www.facebook.com/ofdsoyka

Here is Autumn's last wishes...

http://autumnsoyka.last-memories.com/

Autumn was passionate about helping her brother in his fight against Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). In lieu of flowers, the family has requested donations be made to “Our Friend Dan” - a fund to support the family with medical expenses. Please click the "Donation" tab on the left side of Autumn's Last Wishes page to donate directly to the fund.

Molding Cocktails & Cheese

A few girlfriends and I had bought a Groupon for Wine pairing class a few months ago. We finally decided to go today. All excited about being kid free for 2 hours, have some cocktails and learn some entertaining ideas.

We walk into the building and get smacked with a disgusting smell of mold, to the point your eyes start to tear. We continue our walk to the basement where the bartending school is located and finally walk in, trying to keep optimistic and BAM! It looks like a crime scene with a weird science experiment going on in the corner of the bar. The ceiling tiles were missing or half on, brown liquid drippings from the ceilings looking like blood draining down the walls. Old nasty bar towels in buckets collecting something weird and big plastic containers with strange liquid in them. EW EW EW!

Do they not use real alcohol in their bar training? I was once a bartender and I learned on the job. I've never seen such a thing! But I will tell you, I was trained to clean the pour spouts, wipe the counters every night and top the bottles to prevent fruit flies from going in the bottles. None of that was apparent. There was even mold or something of black fungus growing in the stir straws!

Needless to say.. WE BOLTED! $25 down the drain. And off to the Cheesecake Factory we went and enjoyed every minute of it!

In My Eyes I See the need to KEEP CLEAN!

Turn the Music Up

Boys' dance is consuming our schedule. Wait until it's time for baby GiGi to start dance.. and that's right around the corner (2012) and at that time, I may as well get an apartment upstairs of the dance studio.

We attended an awesome dance convention last week.

Here are pics of the boys (officially nick named by their selves - GIO and GYO) with their dance instructors and we had to get a pic of baby girl in the moment.

In my Eyes, life is a dance. Turn the music up!

My Wall

{{AD}} VENTURE
Years ago, I'm not sure I would've seen myself as a business owner or even having the opportunity to own a business. Here I am, co-owner of one business, wife of a successful business owner - AND now, it's time to move on to a new venture.

What is the venture?
I want to it to be something that I can do with my beautiful children in the same room. To be able to sit at my desk and not have to scream at my children to be quiet while I work. (of course I will scream at my children to be quiet..what mother doesn't?*smile*) What I mean is not have pressure or stress of completing a time sensitive task; a task I can walk away from for 15 - 20 minutes and tend to the needs of my babies without anxiety.

I met a wonderful person who is in the industry I want to be apart of... she is wonderful and has given me an opportunity to try something new. She is willing to help and guide me with products etc...ITS FABULOUS! Now the Start Up plan for my new wonderful venture!

THE "THING"
I have this amazing, intelligent, successful husband. A husband that is protective, loving, supportive and all the great things you look for in a man.. not saying he's perfect, but perfect for me! The "THING" is, I hate having to ask for his help. And with this new venture... I TOTALLY need his help. I have this drive inside of me to succeed (always have)! I want to do this completely by myself. Some"THING" that he can say "WOW - look at you - you did it! I didn't even know you were working on this!" ****IN MY DREAMS*** Truth is, business is hard work, you're practically a slave to it.. especially new, start up businesses. You have to be prepared for the expenses of a running a business, how are you going to make money to pay those expenses and so on. Definitely not something that can't be seen with his own eyes :)

So here I have to ask my husband for help because my husband is so awesome with naming a business, building a website, a logo, a brand, business planning etc. Everything it takes to be successful; he CAN do it! And then there is little ol' me...his "Administrative Assistant" as I like to title myself. ***sigh****

THE WALL
I finally did it.. the other night, I broke down and asked for his help! I wanted to crawl under the blankets and hide when he started asking me questions of how is it going to work..what's the plan?
And after some good conversation (and whining on my behalf) he said to me "Let me be the man" and he says that often which I normally scoff it off, roll my eyes..blah blah blah.....

I realized - I'm the one with the issue (yes-we all have "ISSUES") So here's my wall, the wall that was built with over 30 years of life.. the girl who came from broken homes. the girl who was on her own at an early age.supporting herself at 17 years old, buying a condo at 18 yrs old and the girl who never thought she would own a business.

My emotional wall that was built with bricks such as: never trust a man, a man will always leave, there isn't a man that will worship you, there doesn't exist a man that wants the best for you. Those Bricks---THAT WALL, MY Wall!

After 6 years of marriage, I am learning that my husband is pretty amazing and that it's O.K. to ask for his help. He's my partner, my best friend and the best thing in my life besides my children.

**In my eyes**Life is great! Don't let anything hold you back and don't let pride get in the way...

A New Adventure ..Venture

Blogging. I am new to blogging.. This is my new ADVENTURE! Please bear with me as I learn "HOW TO" :)