Quick little note here! I'm applying to be a vendor at the infamous Summertime by George festival every Wednesday evening through the summer out by Lake George in St. Cloud. I'll be doing henna tattooing from 5-9pm out there as well as selling some of my homemade jewelry. (NOTE: on the 4th of July, the festival will run from 3-7pm.) Please stop by to say hi or to get drawn on! :) A small portfolio of my henna work can be found here.
There is also great food, live music, other artisan vendors and goods for sale. Make sure to check it out, it's really a fun time!
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Birth Center developments
Life's been a whirlwind of possibilities, opportunities, and movement lately! What a crazy week. For those of you who haven't quite caught up with me and my birth center plans, here's a little recap of my week:
Monday - visited Morning Star Birth Center in St. Louis Park, MN and met with the founder. She is now my new mentor/joint venture partner! :) Her name also happens to be Paula, I think that's a good sign.
Tuesday - visited the women at the Natural Source to meet my new office-mate and signed a 6 month contract for office space. I plotted out office hours and hope to gain some more exposure for my coaching/doula work as well as generate interest in the birth center project.
Wednesday - Paula came up to St. Cloud and we went scouting for properties. We discussed other business development topics/ideas and tentative next steps. I am trying to keep from getting overwhelmed! Then I took my mom canoeing down the Sauk River. It was awesome.
Thursday - discussed recent developments at my networking meetings and got a lot of positive feedback. Then I spent the rest of the day outside fulfilling my passions for outdoor activities: I went golfing for the first time (and didn't do half bad!), played volleyball in a local bar league and actually won 2 of the games, then played ultimate frisbee. I was still full of energy at the end of the day!!!
Friday - met with my sister's friend, Larissa, to fill her in on what I'm planning and hope to get her involved. I also did my first women's empowerment workshop that evening out at my friend's hair salon and felt like it was a great success!
I am now creating a survey to send out to my contact list (and hoping they forward it on) to gather information on the geographic region I plan to serve with my birth center. I am also researching the demographics and birth stats of the surrounding counties, as well as grant opportunities. I need to learn as much as I can about my service area as well as the city government I'm going to have to deal with...
I'm continuing to connect with people, network, share my dreams, and instigate conversation. Meanwhile... I'll just keep sending energy into the universe to send me the funds or the means to obtain funding since I didn't win the lottery on Wednesday.
Monday - visited Morning Star Birth Center in St. Louis Park, MN and met with the founder. She is now my new mentor/joint venture partner! :) Her name also happens to be Paula, I think that's a good sign.
Tuesday - visited the women at the Natural Source to meet my new office-mate and signed a 6 month contract for office space. I plotted out office hours and hope to gain some more exposure for my coaching/doula work as well as generate interest in the birth center project.
Wednesday - Paula came up to St. Cloud and we went scouting for properties. We discussed other business development topics/ideas and tentative next steps. I am trying to keep from getting overwhelmed! Then I took my mom canoeing down the Sauk River. It was awesome.
Thursday - discussed recent developments at my networking meetings and got a lot of positive feedback. Then I spent the rest of the day outside fulfilling my passions for outdoor activities: I went golfing for the first time (and didn't do half bad!), played volleyball in a local bar league and actually won 2 of the games, then played ultimate frisbee. I was still full of energy at the end of the day!!!
Friday - met with my sister's friend, Larissa, to fill her in on what I'm planning and hope to get her involved. I also did my first women's empowerment workshop that evening out at my friend's hair salon and felt like it was a great success!
I am now creating a survey to send out to my contact list (and hoping they forward it on) to gather information on the geographic region I plan to serve with my birth center. I am also researching the demographics and birth stats of the surrounding counties, as well as grant opportunities. I need to learn as much as I can about my service area as well as the city government I'm going to have to deal with...
I'm continuing to connect with people, network, share my dreams, and instigate conversation. Meanwhile... I'll just keep sending energy into the universe to send me the funds or the means to obtain funding since I didn't win the lottery on Wednesday.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Written in the stars
I am writing today about writing. This blog, in part, has reminded me how much I love writing. I've been a writer since I was very young - dabbling in poetry, song lyrics, short stories, incessant exchanging of notes with friends, and attempting to start a longer novel on more than one occasion.
Back when I started this blog, I was undergoing a 5 week business building course called "Profitable Signature Advantage" which was all about helping me find my edge, my special 'sauce', and then bottling it up in a message to my ideal clients. As part of that process, I began looking through testimonials and feedback from clients to help me pick out what they saw in me. Given I haven't had a ton of clients, I brainstormed other places to get "feedback" and realized that I had a yearbook from nearly every year of jr. high through high school with lots of feedback from people who watched me grow up. In my search, I stumbled across my 6th grade autobiography I'd saved. It is a thick binder full of chapters I wrote about my life at that time. They were structured chapters to fit an assignment, of course, and I had a whole page of feedback from my teacher in addition to two pages of little comments from my 6th grade peers.
Nearly every single comment from my classmates was in regards to how good of a writer or artist I was. Almost every... single... one. My teacher also included a "prediction for my future" and told me she thought writing was still an untapped area for me. She suggested I get a group of students together and request an advanced writing group the next year. How had I lost sight of my writing?
Well, school was part of it. I lost sight of my joy for reading, as well, in high school. From 9th grade through all of college, I scarcely wrote much outside of the required papers and essays and I read next to nothing for fun. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this boat.
Three years after college, I'm rediscovering the value of journaling, blogging, storytelling, and writing song lyrics as a way of expression, clarification, and internal reflection. Despite being quite self-aware, I wonder if I'd have fared better getting through high school and college if I'd taken more time to write about what was really going on inside (and outside) of me.
What's going on inside me now is a rumble of grumbles! I need some more raisin bran with coconut milk.
Back when I started this blog, I was undergoing a 5 week business building course called "Profitable Signature Advantage" which was all about helping me find my edge, my special 'sauce', and then bottling it up in a message to my ideal clients. As part of that process, I began looking through testimonials and feedback from clients to help me pick out what they saw in me. Given I haven't had a ton of clients, I brainstormed other places to get "feedback" and realized that I had a yearbook from nearly every year of jr. high through high school with lots of feedback from people who watched me grow up. In my search, I stumbled across my 6th grade autobiography I'd saved. It is a thick binder full of chapters I wrote about my life at that time. They were structured chapters to fit an assignment, of course, and I had a whole page of feedback from my teacher in addition to two pages of little comments from my 6th grade peers.
Nearly every single comment from my classmates was in regards to how good of a writer or artist I was. Almost every... single... one. My teacher also included a "prediction for my future" and told me she thought writing was still an untapped area for me. She suggested I get a group of students together and request an advanced writing group the next year. How had I lost sight of my writing?
Well, school was part of it. I lost sight of my joy for reading, as well, in high school. From 9th grade through all of college, I scarcely wrote much outside of the required papers and essays and I read next to nothing for fun. I'm guessing I'm not alone in this boat.
Three years after college, I'm rediscovering the value of journaling, blogging, storytelling, and writing song lyrics as a way of expression, clarification, and internal reflection. Despite being quite self-aware, I wonder if I'd have fared better getting through high school and college if I'd taken more time to write about what was really going on inside (and outside) of me.
What's going on inside me now is a rumble of grumbles! I need some more raisin bran with coconut milk.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
A picture is worth 1000 words
Today, I'm going to photo blog. Yup, photos to depict my various interests. (You can click on the photo to view a larger image.) The cool part? These are all photos I've taken since yesterday!
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| I had some fun henna-doodling on my hand last night. I went to the St. Cloud Art Crawl downtown and drew on a couple other people, too! |
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| My favorite dish in the entire world: Khao Soy. It's a Thai coconut curry soup, and I finally found a good recipe to make it! |
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| I spent a couple hours yesterday morning starting to draft the wedding script for a ceremony I'm officiating in July. |
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| Hot summer days are upon us, and cold salads are just what I'm looking for to hit the spot. I made this Mango Avocado Salad yesterday from spring greens, diced mango and avocado, cilantro, and a raspberry vinaigrette. I've made it before with strawberries, too. Red onions might be a good addition as well! |
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| The start of my library! I just got a few books in the mail and am excited to start reading! |
Friday, June 15, 2012
The exciting news REVEALED!
I am laying low this morning - I slept in until almost 10am and then spent a couple hours writing a wedding ceremony script for two of my close friends who will be wed this July by ME!
I'm laying low because I've just had the most exciting 72 hours of my life and need to re-cooperate.
This past Tuesday, I sent out an email to the Central MN birth network to proclaim my decision to start a birth center in the St. Cloud area. I wrote a little about myself and my company. I rewrote my mission statement and goals as well as my intentions for the future. I included my request for volunteers as well as a business partner. Then, I sent out my energy into the virtual world with the click of a button. Well, as fate would have it, some women responded enthusiastically and some forwarded it on to other contacts they had. Meanwhile, in the actual world, I went to the Holistic Mom's Group Meeting on Tuesday night and networked with some live people. (You have to do both these days.) I expanded my contact list some more.
On Wednesday morning, I went to a holistic wellness center called The Natural Source with my cousin. My cousin was getting EDS done and I wanted to learn more. I got to talking with the receptionist and the EDS technician about my birth center and company mission, and they let me leave a sign up sheet for more contacts at their front desk.
When we got home, I had a voicemail from a woman named Paula. She was forwarded my email by a mutual contact and was very interested in talking to me. She said it was very interesting that I'd come forward at this time, as she had been pondering opening a birth center in St. Cloud for nearly a year. She founded one in Menomonie, WI in 2003 and another in St. Louis Park, MN in 2009 and was looking to open a third location! The St. Cloud area was her top priority. She thought we should collaborate and work together! I am really excited to meet her and tour her facilities soon!
On Thursday morning, I attended the local chapter of the La Leche League (for breastfeeding moms) and raised some more awareness about my project. I got a couple more names added to my email list, too. I had the goal to grow that list by 50 names every two weeks, and I'm well beyond my goal for June already! I will easily be able to double my expectations by the end of the month.
Early that Thursday afternoon, I got a call from the owner of The Natural Source saying it was very interesting that I had dropped off my information at the wellness center, because she'd been looking for "me" for a month now... She is an intuit and believes very strongly that I am supposed to become an affiliate of their center. She says they have no one who specializes in prenatal care, and that my coaching/massage/doula services would be a perfect fit under the umbrella of The Natural Source. Their mission is also about empowering women! I was pretty overwhelmed by all of this, but agreed to meet her that afternoon and tour the new facilities they were moving into.
I stopped in around 3:30 yesterday and got to check out the huge 22 room space they are moving into. The Natural Source will quickly become Central MN's go-to place for holistic/natural information. It's growing rapidly and the women collaborating to make this happen are incredible! I am not sure how to financially make this work yet, but I am arranging to join forces with them and move into a public office space.
I am reminded again of a quote by Margaret Mead from my doula dvd, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Perhaps my graduating class was right when they elected me most likely to change the world... I just don't have to do it alone! :)
I'm laying low because I've just had the most exciting 72 hours of my life and need to re-cooperate.
This past Tuesday, I sent out an email to the Central MN birth network to proclaim my decision to start a birth center in the St. Cloud area. I wrote a little about myself and my company. I rewrote my mission statement and goals as well as my intentions for the future. I included my request for volunteers as well as a business partner. Then, I sent out my energy into the virtual world with the click of a button. Well, as fate would have it, some women responded enthusiastically and some forwarded it on to other contacts they had. Meanwhile, in the actual world, I went to the Holistic Mom's Group Meeting on Tuesday night and networked with some live people. (You have to do both these days.) I expanded my contact list some more.
On Wednesday morning, I went to a holistic wellness center called The Natural Source with my cousin. My cousin was getting EDS done and I wanted to learn more. I got to talking with the receptionist and the EDS technician about my birth center and company mission, and they let me leave a sign up sheet for more contacts at their front desk.
When we got home, I had a voicemail from a woman named Paula. She was forwarded my email by a mutual contact and was very interested in talking to me. She said it was very interesting that I'd come forward at this time, as she had been pondering opening a birth center in St. Cloud for nearly a year. She founded one in Menomonie, WI in 2003 and another in St. Louis Park, MN in 2009 and was looking to open a third location! The St. Cloud area was her top priority. She thought we should collaborate and work together! I am really excited to meet her and tour her facilities soon!
On Thursday morning, I attended the local chapter of the La Leche League (for breastfeeding moms) and raised some more awareness about my project. I got a couple more names added to my email list, too. I had the goal to grow that list by 50 names every two weeks, and I'm well beyond my goal for June already! I will easily be able to double my expectations by the end of the month.
Early that Thursday afternoon, I got a call from the owner of The Natural Source saying it was very interesting that I had dropped off my information at the wellness center, because she'd been looking for "me" for a month now... She is an intuit and believes very strongly that I am supposed to become an affiliate of their center. She says they have no one who specializes in prenatal care, and that my coaching/massage/doula services would be a perfect fit under the umbrella of The Natural Source. Their mission is also about empowering women! I was pretty overwhelmed by all of this, but agreed to meet her that afternoon and tour the new facilities they were moving into.
I stopped in around 3:30 yesterday and got to check out the huge 22 room space they are moving into. The Natural Source will quickly become Central MN's go-to place for holistic/natural information. It's growing rapidly and the women collaborating to make this happen are incredible! I am not sure how to financially make this work yet, but I am arranging to join forces with them and move into a public office space.
I am reminded again of a quote by Margaret Mead from my doula dvd, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Perhaps my graduating class was right when they elected me most likely to change the world... I just don't have to do it alone! :)
Friday, June 1, 2012
Passionate about insecurities!
I am actually surprised I haven't written about my passion for music yet! For those of you who grew up with me, you may be thinking, "It's about time!" I am blessed to have grown up in a musical family. My parents encouraged music and participated in a community choir which sang for masses at local churches, nursing homes, and retirement centers. All of my siblings and I participated in this mission choir for many years as we became old enough to join. It was an incredible lesson in harmonies, blending old and young voices, and singing from the heart. We sang to bring joy to people's ears, not to impress or perform.
Despite playing trumpet for nearly 10 years and being the band president (yes, I was band president), my true love is singing. I sang in nearly everything I could in high school: concert choir, chamber choir, solo/ensemble competitions, variety shows, and a musical. I turned petty high school dramas and relationship pain into song lyrics and created an artist profile on Purevolume.com. I was determined to create a cd someday. When I got to college, I decided to get a voice minor. I struggled with written theory and learning piano so late in life, but kept at it. I'd joined the gospel choir immediately upon arrival and sang my little heart out. Unfortunately, I may have sang my vocal chords out, too. After a bout of tonsillitis my first semester of college, I ended up having surgery over winter break to have my tonsils removed. After that, my voice was never quite the same. I will never know if it was the surgery or the belting in gospel choir or simply overuse, but my vocal chords wimped out. I proceeded to go through three semesters of vocal therapy and dropped my voice minor. My voice had now become a major insecurity for me.
Finally, during my senior year of college when I was running for Homecoming Queen, I decided it was time to face my fears and try singing in public again. I auditioned for Varsity Night Live (the campus talent show and Homecoming announcements) and was selected to perform as one of the 6 or 7 acts. I was so honored. You can listen to that performance on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=558031992846&set=t.59506078&type=3 if you're curious.
Recently, I have been singing again. I have been singing while cleaning my apartment complexes. :) Sometimes people hear me... (makes me think of Julia Roberts singing in the tub in Pretty Woman and Richard Gere's on the phone, telling his friend it's just the cleaning lady - remember that scene?!)
Anyway, a guy who lives upstairs was doing his laundry one day and inquired if I was a musician. I turned off the vacuum, and said, "Uh, yeah, you could say that." He proceeded to tell me about his kid's incredible talents and the band he was trying to manage. They were looking for the "right" female vocalist to fit their sound. I was dumbfounded. Over the next few weeks they got me some raw tracks and invited me to their studio in a nearby town. I loved the idea of sitting down with music and writing lyrics, vocal tracks, and harmonies... but boy was I rusty. It just didn't flow like it used to.
I decided to spend time listening to the female vocalists I admire to inspire me. :) I've been digging Emeli Sande, A Fine Frenzy, Keri Noble, Ellie Goulding, Missy Higgins, Kimbra, Florence & the Machine, MoZella, and Janelle Monae. I admire these women for their incredible vocal talents as well as their empowering lyrics. I really get the impression that they have found their unique style and "voice"and know how to use it.
So with June right around the corner, and ultimate frisbee season coming to a close this weekend, I'm hoping to get out to the studio more and spend some time delving into my right brain. Who knows, maybe some good music will come out of it!
Despite playing trumpet for nearly 10 years and being the band president (yes, I was band president), my true love is singing. I sang in nearly everything I could in high school: concert choir, chamber choir, solo/ensemble competitions, variety shows, and a musical. I turned petty high school dramas and relationship pain into song lyrics and created an artist profile on Purevolume.com. I was determined to create a cd someday. When I got to college, I decided to get a voice minor. I struggled with written theory and learning piano so late in life, but kept at it. I'd joined the gospel choir immediately upon arrival and sang my little heart out. Unfortunately, I may have sang my vocal chords out, too. After a bout of tonsillitis my first semester of college, I ended up having surgery over winter break to have my tonsils removed. After that, my voice was never quite the same. I will never know if it was the surgery or the belting in gospel choir or simply overuse, but my vocal chords wimped out. I proceeded to go through three semesters of vocal therapy and dropped my voice minor. My voice had now become a major insecurity for me.
Finally, during my senior year of college when I was running for Homecoming Queen, I decided it was time to face my fears and try singing in public again. I auditioned for Varsity Night Live (the campus talent show and Homecoming announcements) and was selected to perform as one of the 6 or 7 acts. I was so honored. You can listen to that performance on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=558031992846&set=t.59506078&type=3 if you're curious.
Recently, I have been singing again. I have been singing while cleaning my apartment complexes. :) Sometimes people hear me... (makes me think of Julia Roberts singing in the tub in Pretty Woman and Richard Gere's on the phone, telling his friend it's just the cleaning lady - remember that scene?!)
Anyway, a guy who lives upstairs was doing his laundry one day and inquired if I was a musician. I turned off the vacuum, and said, "Uh, yeah, you could say that." He proceeded to tell me about his kid's incredible talents and the band he was trying to manage. They were looking for the "right" female vocalist to fit their sound. I was dumbfounded. Over the next few weeks they got me some raw tracks and invited me to their studio in a nearby town. I loved the idea of sitting down with music and writing lyrics, vocal tracks, and harmonies... but boy was I rusty. It just didn't flow like it used to.
I decided to spend time listening to the female vocalists I admire to inspire me. :) I've been digging Emeli Sande, A Fine Frenzy, Keri Noble, Ellie Goulding, Missy Higgins, Kimbra, Florence & the Machine, MoZella, and Janelle Monae. I admire these women for their incredible vocal talents as well as their empowering lyrics. I really get the impression that they have found their unique style and "voice"and know how to use it.
So with June right around the corner, and ultimate frisbee season coming to a close this weekend, I'm hoping to get out to the studio more and spend some time delving into my right brain. Who knows, maybe some good music will come out of it!
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