Going, Going, Gone

This afternoon I was given notice that as of Wednesday at 4 pm I will be laid off from my part-time, on-going, contract job. This is with a company that I have worked with since 1998 in various capacities. For those who do not know, I am a freelance/contract writer for this company and others as the need arises. I do anything from press releases, website copy, media kits, magazine or newsletter articles, product bulletins, and sales kits to media relations and speech writing. Basically if it needs written I do it.

All contract employees for my division have been laid off. This decision is final and they cannot say the longevity of this. I do not work full time and we do not depend on any money that I make to survive. I work from home, make my own schedule and am able to stay home with the kids. Frankly, I have been very blessed. I cannot imagine what some of the others given this news are feeling. Frankly I think it is pretty sad that they have been given a 2 days notice, especially right before Christmas. While I can understand with the tough economic situation our country is in, it still just isn't fair.

To be honest, for me it is a pride issue. When I give so much to my kids and to my husband, this is the one thing that is mine and mine alone. And right now when I feel like I am giving so much to everyone else, this was the one constant thing I have that is just "mine". It did make me feel better that one of my co-workers not affected by the layoff called this afternoon and told me how much he enjoyed working with me, how sorry he was and how I am on the top of the list when/if they are able to bring people back. He said it is always sad when good people are let go for reasons beyond their control.

It is not often that I have a pity party for myself, but I have been parenting 3 kids for the past 2 months alone, I am moving 7,412 miles away, I haven't seen my husband in 2 months, all my belongs will be packed and on a boat starting Thursday not to be seen for 6 - 8 weeks, my kids are grating on each other and myself, my oldest child hates me on most days, Sami hasn't slept through the night in months, I still have a huge list of things to do and pack before Thursday, 3 of my close friends are going through things that are breaking my heart and it hurts that I will not be here to hold their hand, I am not near ready for Christmas, I miss my daughter even more during the holidays, frankly I am tired and now I have been laid off. I think I am entitled to have a pity party for just a few minutes. But I promise it will be just a few minutes. I know that God has a plan, and I know that the plan will be great. Maybe I will get that book written after all.

So to those who have been affected by this downturned economy my heart goes out to you. For those who received bad news today my heart breaks for you. I pray this recession is short-lived and that our nation will soon be on its way to being even better than before.

Operation Press Conference a Success

And I can breathe again. All of the media relations and press kit and magazine writing over the past 3 months led up to today –– The launch of X's new poultry division. I have been the person in charge of the PR, which all became unveiled to the media at a press luncheon today. And I am very, very very excited to say it went over better than I hoped. The media were very receptive, the clients were extremely happy and the press materials were awesome.

I left the house early yesterday and drove with 3 people from the marketing agency I am working with to Atlanta for the 2008 International Poultry Expo. We helped with a few things for the trade show booth and then headed to our hotel in downtown Atlanta. It was definitely different from the plain old Hampton's I usually stay at when traveling. We then met one of our clients from Pfizer and went to dinner at Trader Vics. If you ever have a chance to eat at a Trader Vics it is a MUST. It has to be one of the best meals I have eaten. They cooked my steak in a big basket! Drinks, an awesome dinner and a nightcap –– I could get used to this treatment.

Today we made our way to the Expo early and while the others set up the room I made my way to "smooze" with the media. Then came the big press conference. The food was perfect, the speakers did awesome (with the outline I provided of course) and we have already gotten interviews completed and more scheduled. We also have several requests for some prewritten articles. So between that and some other PR work it looks like I will be playing with chickens and eggs a bit longer. That's okay. I've missed the ag market.

No sooner did I get in the car to head towards Greensboro, NC for the evening I started to sneeze. And sneeze and sneeze. I went through 2 travel packs of Kleenex in the past 6 hours and now I can't get my nose to stop dripping. So I am at a hotel and sick and on the verge of a migraine. I really shouldn't be surprised. Between getting all the work done for this project, some Cat work, the holidays and my trip to Vegas I have been asking for it.

So tomorrow I should take it easy and just relax until I have to meet Kate and Matty at the airport and then make the 90 minute drive back to Fuquay. Maybe hit the bookstore. Maybe hit a few stores and play with some cameras. Maybe grab some lunch and just veg out. Yeah... wishful thinking. After not checking my email for 36 hours I fired up the computer to find 4 (yes FOUR) projects for Cat (including a conference call for tomorrow morning) and an email asking for a new business proposal for a company in California. **thud** This weekend is booked full with Kate and Matty visiting, Matt leaves Monday for a week and I have those frightening 6 shots. I'm not complaining. Really I am not. I'm just for once, well, tired. Not physically because we all know I don't sleep, but mentally I am just exhausted.

Thanks for all the well wishes for this Atlanta project. I know the big man upstairs was listening.

Georgia On My Mind

Tomorrow I leave for my press conference in Atlanta. Yikes. I will be leaving here around 7:30am and driving to one of the client's offices in Greensboro and then riding with them and all the trade show and press materials to Atlanta. All in all it should be a 6.5 hour drive.

We will be driving back to Greensboro late Wednesday night where I will stay overnight and then drive to the local airport to pick up my good friend Kate and her daughter Matty for a weekend visit.

I am really, really nervous. I am the liaison between the media and the client and need to do whatever possible to get positive coverage on the unveiling of the new division. I will be the person "working the press conference." Over the weekend I had to write up a strategic proposal on what all the press conference will entail and what the main goals of the trip were. They must have liked it because it was forwarded to the VP. I am not used to people looking to me for advice and direction.

After this trip my project with this client comes to an end. If I am lucky there will be more work that develops out of this trip and future projects. But it is hard to say. So I guess it will be back to the "new business drawing board" next week.

I'll be taking my laptop and since I cannot sleep in a hotel (even with a big King bed all to myself) I am sure I will be checking in. Until then, have a great week!

Notes From My Trip

Monday night DH called and asked how my trip was going thus far. I told him that we were hanging out and playing Wii and he laughed and asked me just how old we were. Secretly I think he was jealous that I was playing my air guitar and bowling while he was at home with the kids. But hey, I deserve a few days away, don't I? I would post pictures of Jamie, Mark and myself playing the guitar but they are pretty scary and I would hate to terrify the younger ones that may read my blog.

Hannah rocking out while we played Guitar Hero.
Jamie and I hanging out like old times. (Well except we never wore PJs)
Hannah and I.

Tuesday and today I spent the morning and part of the afternoon at Cat. It was a very good visit. I managed to sit in on some meetings, got another plant tour, caught up with the team that I work with, and most importantly walked out of there with alot of work. A-lot. I won't think about that too much because it will stress me out right now and I am trying to relax and enjoy the rest of my visit.

Last night I caught up with a few people and then Jamie and I went to see August Rush. Very good movie, however I do have to warn you it is definitely a romantic movie and with that comes alot of cheese. But who can dislike a movie with Keri Russel and rugged sexy men with Irish accents?

Tonight Val and I met for supper and then we went on the town's holiday walk through town. It was so cool to be back to Val and my "restaurant" for supper. I wish Robbie's delivered to NC. Maybe I can look into some type of real estate franchise for them.
Me and Val in front of Robbie's. We would look cuter, however the frigid weather made us bundle up like snowmen.

Then afterwards we met Heather and Val's mom for the holiday walk. We went into just about every store downtown and got some yummy treats, good wine and great buys.

Val and Heather inside Giggles retail store.

Speaking of good buys... I am so excited about two purchases I made on this trip. First is this Nine West bag. And those who know me, know that a) This is a very nontraditional type of purse for me. I mean come on it will not match everything and it isn't black or brown. And b) I no where paid regular price. In fact I paid $12. Man am I good.

My cool new purse.

And my second buy is this mug. I saw it tonight and just had to buy it for myself. It will look so cool sitting on my desk while I am knee deep in writing about poultry vaccinations or large mining trucks. I am a huge tea drinker so I think it fits nicely.


Tomorrow I am going to go to breakfast at Cracker Barrel and finish up some Christmas shopping. Then Val and I are heading to Bloomington to do some gabbing and drinking Starbucks before I have to catch my flight back home.

It has been a great visit. I am already counting down the days until I get to come back again. Thanks for an awesome visit everyone!

Brrrrrr...

Well I made it to Illinois! Yeah! My flight left a 57 degree North Carolina at 6:45 am and headed towards the 19 degree state of Illinois. I love flying but the anticipation really gets me anxious. Once we are flying at a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet I love looking out the window and seeing the beautiful clouds and the different land below. How can someone look outside a plane window and see everything and still not believe in God, I will never know. I was reflecting yesterday at how different it is just between NC and Illinois. The ground below in NC is all green and the ground up north is like a patchwork quilt with all the browns of the fields below. It almost made me miss living up here... well until I stepped out into the cold weather.

Anyways, I was lucky enough to sit on the runway at O'hare listening to some guy yap on his phone about real estate flipping while our gate was occupied for almost 30 minutes to run (and I mean run) to my connecting flight to Bloomington, only to find out we were delayed so they could change the planes tires. But even after all that I managed to make it only an hour late into Bloomington where Jamie and I spent the day shopping, eating and catching up. It is like I haven't even been gone these 15 months.

Today I will be at Caterpillar all day for meetings as well as tomorrow. But I will still find lots of time to catch up with old friends, drive past our old house and go on a Christmas shopping walk and dinner with Val before flying back late Thursday night.

Have a great day!

Thursday's Thoughts

Sometimes it is just easier to put everything in bullets.

• I have my first meeting today with the job I got last week. After today I should have a better handle on what the project entails and how much work will be involved.
  
• I have placed my Pottery Barn desk on hold. If my meeting gets out by a certain time today, then it is a sign to get it. If not, then I will wait. (Yes, I am still justifying the silly desk)
• We reorganized my office last night and now I wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
  
• I really, really, really need to finish 4 of my CAT projects. I means real-ly.
  
• Some jerk parked out by me in tim-buk-tu at Wally World and dinged the door on my 3 month old van. I hope it won't cost too much to pull it out.
  
• We painted the walls up the stairs and in the upstairs hallway. We dislike it. No, honestly we hate it. Matt decided to go some crazy shade that looks horrible with the carpet and seems like a cross between a purple and a gray. It looks hideous. In the process of painting for 8 hours, Matt managed to spill paint on the carpet, then accidentally bleached those spots. I told him that I would call a carpet dying company to fix them. But no that would be too simple. Instead he decided to "fix" them himself. Now it looks like my dog took a huge poop on the floor and we didn't clean it. So until Matt calls the carpet company to have that section replaced a sign that says "My dog didn't do this, my husband did" will be placed above the section. So now we are in the process of repainting the hallway –– again.
  
• I may have some exciting news soon. Stay tuned! (have to leave you hanging to keep reading my blog)

Getting Back Into the Swing of Things

Now that Sam is gone three mornings a week **sniff sniff** I have decided that it was time to get back into the swing of trying to find some new clients. For those who may be new to my blog, I am a freelance writer/public relations consultant. Basically anything that a company may need written or help promoting I do, from websites to press releases and kits to brochures and other documents. I have one longstanding client but now that I have the extra time it is time to find some more.

So this morning I ordered new business cards. So what, right? Well the ones I have now still have my Illinois information on them so it was time for a change. I am in the process of working on a new logo so I just need something for in the interim. Can I say how much I love looking online at business card designs, letterhead, personalized stationary and even wedding invitations. A company even makes the cutest "family" design note cards that you can represent each person in your family with a different character, even the dog. I may just have to order me some of those as well.

So my business cards should be here in the next 7-14 days. I can't wait. Now if I can just find some additional work... or maybe even start on that book I have been dreaming about. Wish me luck!