It seems like I was just getting ready for the new year!

Here we are the 7th of May. What have I accomplished so far? Seems like I have been very busy & what have I accomplished? Where do I stand with what my plans were for the year?

I like to take this time to take an inventory & to reset my course if needed. One of my major goals was to revamp CBC & bring it up to date & make it a site that inspires my clients. Not just a site that is for information gathering only. I am about a month behind on that and have taken action with a good start. I am refocusing my plan to have the site completed by the end of May. I want to start fresh in June.

My other desire was to build my graphics business & bring my creativity to a new level. I feel that is being better than I knew to wish for. I am very excited with my graphic endeavors! No to push my creativity to a whole new level! Thank you Lynda.com for your wonderful training videos that support me. I have taken my skill levels to places I never thought possible from working with Lynda’s training videos from adobe products to how to full use my Mac products…

Now my first project next week is to take my understanding of the hosted WordPress to a whole new level for a client… How exciting & scary!!!!

Create a wonderful day!

Tim

This is a fun process that can change quite radically during the creation. Here is a recent example.

Here is the original that we started with. We work with you from your napkin designs to an old logo as in this case…

Our 1st look from our clients original sample:

Here is what we ended up with for now… As with any creative process, we are constantly in transition & growth…

I love to integrate your branding with your website to create a seamless look for you on the web…

Create a wonderful day… Tim

Toni & I spent the weekend creating a new logo & updating the CBC website & content. Well, we are still working on the content!

I have wanted to do this for months & finally I took the time to do it. Love to get your feedback!

Create a wonderful day, TnT

Health for US ALL

In the process of formatting the book for PDF & ePub distribution, I have had the chance to really read this book. Wow! Dr. Mary you have covered the subject completely & clearly that even a layman like me can really understand there cause & effects of our health care program in this country! You also give us some very clear guidelines on how to solve these problems & create a health care system that works for everyone.

I will let you know when we have Dr. Mary’s book available on iBooks, Amazon & Barnes & Noble for your eReaders. Dr. Mary is one of the most dedicated people I know. Let’s support her in making a difference.

I am sharing this video to support you to live your success…

In centuries past, wassailers went from door to door, singing and drinking to the health of their neighbors. The concept actually harkens back to pre-Christian fertility rites — only in those ceremonies, villagers traveled through their fields and orchards in the middle of winter, singing and shouting to drive away any spirits that might inhibit the growth of future crops. As part of this, they poured wine and cider on the ground to encourage fertility in the crops.

Eventually, this evolved into the idea of Christmas caroling, which became popular during the Victorian era, and is still seen today in many areas. If you think your family or friends might enjoy starting up a new, musical tradition, why not gather them together to go out a-wassailing for Yule? The following are traditional, secular wassailing songs which were performed back as early as the days of King Henry VIII. Although some are Christian in background and make references to “God” in their original form, I’ve made Pagan-friendly substitutions in some places. You can always change these to accommodate a particular deity of your tradition.

After you get home from your night of singing, relax by your fire with a pot of spiced wassail.

Wassail was originally a word that meant to greet or salute someone — groups would go out wassailing on cold evenings, and when they approached a door would be offered a mug of warm cider or ale. Over the years, the tradition evolved to include mixing eggs with alcohol and aspersing the crops to ensure fertility. While this recipe doesn’t include eggs, it sure is good, and it makes your house smell beautiful for Yule!

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours
Total Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 Gallon apple cider
• 2 C. cranberry juice
• 1/2 C honey
• 1/2 C sugar
• 2 oranges
• Whole cloves
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• Allspice
• Ginger
• Nutmeg
• 3 cinnamon sticks (or 3 Tbs. ground cinnamon)
• 1/2 C — 1 C brandy (optional)

 Preparation:

Set your crockpot to its lower setting, and pour apple cider, cranberry juice, honey and sugar in, mixing carefully. As it heats up, stir so that the honey and sugar dissolve. Stud the oranges with the cloves, and place in the pot (they’ll float). Add the diced apple. Add allspice, ginger and nutmeg to taste — usually a couple of tablespoons of each is plenty. Finally, snap the cinnamon sticks in half and add those as well.

Cover your pot and allow to simmer 2 — 4 hours on low heat. About half an hour prior to serving, add the brandy if you choose to use it.

 We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:

 Dear Editor—

I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, “If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.” Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?

 Virginia O’Hanlon

 Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.

 Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The eternal light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished.

 Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that’s no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world.

 You tear apart the baby’s rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.

 No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.

 About the Exchange

 Francis P. Church’s editorial, “Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus” was an immediate sensation, and went on to became one of the most famous editorials ever written. It first appeared in the The New York Sun in 1897, almost a hundred years ago, and was reprinted annually until 1949 when the paper went out of business.

 Thirty-six years after her letter was printed, Virginia O’Hanlon recalled the events that prompted her letter:

 “Quite naturally I believed in Santa Claus, for he had never disappointed me. But when less fortunate little boys and girls said there wasn’t any Santa Claus, I was filled with doubts. I asked my father, and he was a little evasive on the subject.

 “It was a habit in our family that whenever any doubts came up as to how to pronounce a word or some question of historical fact was in doubt, we wrote to the Question and Answer column in The Sun. Father would always say, ‘If you see it in the The Sun, it’s so,’ and that settled the matter.

 “ ‘Well, I’m just going to write The Sun and find out the real truth,’ I said to father.

 “He said, ‘Go ahead, Virginia. I’m sure The Sun will give you the right answer, as it always does.’ ”

 And so Virginia sat down and wrote her parents’ favorite newspaper.

 Her letter found its way into the hands of a veteran editor, Francis P. Church. Son of a Baptist minister, Church had covered the Civil War for The New York Times and had worked on the The New York Sun for 20 years, more recently as an anonymous editorial writer. Church, a sardonic man, had for his personal motto, “Endeavour to clear your mind of cant.” When controversal subjects had to be tackled on the editorial page, especially those dealing with theology, the assignments were usually given to Church.

 Now, he had in his hands a little girl’s letter on a most controversial matter, and he was burdened with the responsibility of answering it.

“Is there a Santa Claus?” the childish scrawl in the letter asked. At once, Church knew that there was no avoiding the question. He must answer, and he must answer truthfully. An

d so he turned to his desk, and he began his reply which was to become one of the most

memorable editorials in newspaper history.

 Church married shortly after the editorial appeared. He died in April, 1906, leaving no children.

Virginia O’Hanlon went on to graduate from Hunter College with a Bachelor of Arts degree at age 21. The following year she received her Master’s from Columbia, and in 1912 she began teaching in the New York City school system, later becoming a principal. After 47 years, she retired as an educator. Throughout her life she received a steady stream of mail about her Santa Claus letter, and to each reply she attached an attractive printed copy of the Church editorial. Virginia O’Hanlon Douglas died on May 13, 1971, at the age of 81, in a nursing home in Valatie, N.Y.

I have just completed the 1st phase of a project with Glenda. We created a beautiful website, Christ Blessing that is a showcase for the beautiful gifts Glenda brings to all of us through Jeshua and her skill as an artist & author.

As I said in an earlier blog, I am so lucky to work with the wonderful people that come to me. Thank you Glenda!

Sitting here on a beautiful Sunday morning, I have been thinking about how lucky I am. First, another day to live this wonderful life experience. My amazing family & friends… My daughter Zöe & her boyfriend made it home safely after an adventurous trip in our friendly skies.

I started thinking about my clients & how lucky I am to have these wonderful people as friends & clients. Most people want to separate their professional life from their personal life. That’s the way we have been trained. Also when you have a job like being in law enforcement, government or some form of responsibility for others, sometimes you want to separate those worlds. ‘I don’t want to bring the stress of my job home’ is a common saying. Unfortunately, this is impossible & that is why family & friends are so important for us. If we want to separate our lives that means we are stuffing our feelings & emotions. There is an old adage, ‘What we resist, persists.’ So the more we stuff, the more our emotions & feelings come out and most of the time not in a way that is conducive to keeping a relationship.

I am blessed in that I have no separation between who I am & what I do.

How is this working out in your life?

What do you think?

What do I mean when I say ‘Follow Up’ & why is it important.

In this modern world, we are all inundated with information and audio/visual noise. Many of us have learned to insulate ourselves from this noise and we call it ”Cocooning”. This is why ‘Word of Mouth’ or ‘Direct Sales’ has become so successful. This is also why ‘Social Media’ can be successful. Unfortunately, much of it now falls into the noise category.

So what does this have to do with Following Up?

Everything has to do with following up.

When you meet someone at an event, the grocery store, on Facebook, you want to follow up with them to create a connection. If you just hand someone your card without following up, you just end up in a drawer with hundreds of others. You may even just end up in the trash can. So much for fancy business cards.

A great habit to get into when you meet someone that is a good connection for you is to set up a follow up date. Make sure you keep this date. That way you get someones permission & they will be looking forward to talking with you. This meeting can be in person or in cyber space. Relationship is the heart of life and that includes business.

By following up with people is the way to create relationships that supports you in building a successful business. It is the root of life and you see the fruits of your labor quickly when you follow up.

What are some of your experiences around following up or not. Have you been successful in following up?

Thanks for joining me here today… Tim