.. most of you know the story by now.. the reason I've been absent from the blogosphere is that my Jeep had taken a turn for the worse, and I was scrambling to get to meetings, appointments, and trading back and forth with our ford F150 and Nick's Grand Prix. Finally, after a week of doing that, I decided enough was enough, and stumbled upon this gorgeous lil creature:

ceesversa.jpg

And I *do* have stuff to talk about.. I've just been running around like mad working. I'll post something worth reading soon.. maybe in a picture post!!

So.. my day didn't go according to plan, but I suppose it going the way it did prevented me from a huge dramatic escapade later this week. First off, I woke up, had a nice quick breakfast and got to work... emails, phone calls, the usual. As I'm getting ready to go to Favorite Client's office, I get a phone call from Old Colleague saying his ex's father is ill, and Oh, I forgot about appointment and can you please watch the kids?
A wrench in my day, but yes, fine, sure. A friend in need, etc etc, right?
So I spend three aggravating and homicide inducing (due to the environment, not the children) in the Chuck E Cheese. Why is there not a warning about places like that? Where the music is so loud you can't hear yourself think and the parents who come up to you and are like "Your kid hurt my kids feelings!" and the way the place turns the most amazing kids into screaming, greedy, crazed maniacs who will lie, cheat and steal to gain the 10,0000 tickets needed to redeem for an eraser that one could easily find at the dollar store, FOR A DOLLAR, and certainly in a pack of 10!
I was unprepared. But I digress.
On the way to return Lovely Children (who really are lovely, I swear) I hear Insanely Loud Screech coming from my beloved Blue Machine (aww, Jeepie<3) I drive cautiously and scared out of my mind to the appointment so he can pick them up. Turn off the Jeep, unbuckle Lovely Children and take a look at the Blue Machine as we're saying goodbye, and yep, there it was.
A puddle. Oh yes! A PUDDLE, coming from my Jeep, pouring onto the ground.
Old Colleague looks down and then at me and says "Yeah, you're not going ANYWHERE."
Oh, great.
So now, my beloved Jeep in stranded in Scottsdale at a clients, while Nick takes me home and I stress the entire way and a good bit into the night as well. I know what the car being stranded in Scottsdale means. NO CAR = NO BUSINESS and then, of course NO BUSINESS = NO MONEY.
Breathe calmly, breathe calmly.
So now, it's 1030 at night, and 2 conference calls later, I'm sketching out site ideas for a foundation as part of a volunteer thing. It will really help get my company name out there. More on that later.

Until then, wish that my car sitch gets resolved by the weekend, or things will REALLY get rough.

Couldn't be more on target!

It was formally announced yesterday, and I couldn't be prouder...

Nick Coons Announces Run for Congress in 2010 - 03/11/2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

TEMPE, AZ - This week, small business owner and Phoenix native Nick Coons (L) has announced he'll be running for the US Congress in District 5 in 2010, a seat currently held by Rep. Harry Mitchell (D). Coons has been a long-time holder of libertarian ideals, which focuses on limited government, a fiscally conservative budget, and personal freedoms. "There are so many problems at the federal level of government," commented Coons, "that it can be hard to set specific goals as there's just so much to choose from in the way of problem solving. While the big picture would be to work on getting government out of our everyday lives, and let us live as we see fit, I would focus on legislation towards that end, such as limiting congressional power with the Enumerated Powers Act, and the One Subject At a Time Act." Details of these acts can be found at the campaign's website, http://www.nickcoonsforcongress.com.

Nick Coons will be running on the Libertarian Ticket, and if elected, will be the first US Representative to serve in Congress as a Libertarian. "That's one of the reasons I'm waiting until 2010 to run," said Coons. "There's a lot of work to do in the form of gaining name recognition and getting the issues out there. Everyone knows who's running for President, but few people pay attention to congressional races and they just vote along party lines. Being a Libertarian presents an additional challenge." The congressional hopeful goes on to joke, "Plus, have you seen the website? It looks great, but we'll need another two years to make it as content-rich as we need it to be."

"The goal is certainly to win," he says, "but even short of that, I'm hoping that publicly discussing issues and showing people that the freedom solution, not the government, is the best answer to our problems will have a positive impact."

My amazing, wonderful lovely husband. Oh, swoon!

I redid my home office. I've been spending so much time there, I thought it was time to get it to look decent. That, and since Franci is always here, it makes more sense to have 2 good sized workspaces. The problem was, though, that my office room is quite small... but I think we did a good job, It isn't completely done, but it's about 75% of the way done. Furniture is courtesy RedSeven Computers in Tempe.

The old office:

Workspace for one, big yucky chair, oversized desk with much less useable space than youd think. Big hutch, etc.
And now, the new office:

1. Spending the evening talking work with amazing women in amazing fields. My dear friend Erica invited me to a "Women in Design" networking group tonight and I met women from all different aspect of business, and the common thread was design and a desire to move forward. How refreshing!

2. My business cards. They were a great conversation starter. Remind me to post a picture of them, they are such a cute way to break the ice!

3. Going to a new restaurant. There are so many here in the Valley, it's lovely!

4. Chai. It's freezing out, and nothing warms you up like a steaming cup of Starbuck's Chai tea.

5. Busy days. I can't believe it's 20 to 9 already. I have been up/out since 8am and I didn't even feel the time go by!

1. Be Likeable, Excited and Enthusiastic

   I have met some really talented people who I would never want to work with, simply because I didn’t really like them. The people who are going to hire you are … well, people. And like any other people, they are going to like someone who is nice, friendly, warm, interested in them and interested in their project.

   It’s often the little things that make a big difference in this area. Cyan likes to tell a story about a photographer she knows who takes cups of coffee with him to photo shoots for his clients, and has noted that a few times this has been the deciding factor in winning him future jobs. A friendly tone in emails, a genuine interest in people, enthusiasm about work, it all helps!

More: http://freelanceswitch.com/designer/the-secret-to-getting-a-lot-of-web-design-work/

*and this does NOT only apply to web work!!

... thanks again for your patience with the lack of updates. I did want to post a bit about what I've been working on. My company, Outside the Cube Marketing is sponsoring a referral marketing webinar on Friday, so we've been doing gobs and gobs of promotion. Outside of that, I'm working on designs for some email campaigns and making quotes for websites. I'm also working on re-designing the cubes information on the site - making them a bit more user friendly.. and you can expect the return of CrystalCoons.com in the next few days.

Oh, so much!

Re the webinar: If you have some time and want some good info, here's the link to signup:
https://www1.gotomeeting.com/980559850
And if you work for a small business, pass it on to your manager/superior. It's geared towards small businesses, so just about every industry can benefit from it.

Okay, back to the grind!