Arielle is home from UGA for the holidays.
We promptly put her on a plane to go work in Cincinnati for a week as a brand ambassador – just as every good parent should.
Keeping ’em outta trouble
Homecoming
This weekend is homecoming at Auburn,
and I spent the day there today at an advisory board meeting.
Driving home, I came to the simple realization:
Auburn is one of my favorite places on earth.
Read The Auburn Creed.
Commercial Break
We try not to talk too much business here. Pretty sure you get enough of that stuff all day long. But we are excited to share the news that our PR firm has been named agency of record for Farm Rich. And since this new client has “farm” in its name, we figure it’s just fine to give them a nice plug here. Learn more about their products at Farm Rich Fun, follow them on Twitter, or “like” them on Facebook. First up, a really cool promotion we’ll be doing in Cincinnati starting at the end of this month…then we’ll roll into 2011 handling national PR for this great brand. (Their famous cheese sticks and the mini quesadillas are our kids’ favorites so far.) So friends, next time you pass your grocery’s freezer cases, please look for the Farm Rich logo and buy plenty! 🙂
Buyer’s Remorse-less
Buyer’s Remorse: The feeling of regret after a purchase. It is frequently associated with the purchase of higher value items such as a car or house. It may stem from a sense of not wishing to be wrong, of guilt over extravagance, or from feeling that one has been persuaded by a salesman. (Wikipedia)
When Mike and I bought the farm last year, we suffered from weeks of anxiety, accompanied by frequent bouts of sheer panic, followed by so many thoughts and reactions like:
Oh God, what have we done?
We don’t know the first thing about running a farm.
Alabama? What?!
The horses will surely die under our care.
Let’s Google “rattlesnakes.”
We’re gonna go broke fixing up this dump.
Do you think there are wild boars out here?
Mike, wake up! What’s that noise??
Today, we still suffer from a little heartburn. And whenever something goes wrong, which happens a lot, Mike and I usually scowl at each other like it’s the other one’s fault.
But then a day like today comes along, when the sun lights up the pastures where horses graze peacefully, when bluebirds fly casually by and crows caw loudly overhead, when Adrian and his friends run barefoot all around, talking a-mile-a-minute, happily arguing over what to do next—play Xbox LIVE, swim, hit the creek, or take target practice with Airsoft artillery—when Mike’s off working quietly away on one project or another, when the dogs lie snoozing under rays of sunshine, and here I sit drinking coffee on the deck, gazing out at the land, reading and writing this note—somehow knowing that all will be well. That all the worry and frustration and fear matter nothing in the face of such happiness in this glorious place.
Our Green Acres…One Year and Counting
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It’s now been one year since we “bought the farm.” And while we’ve made lots of progress on this little country fixer-upper, we still have a very long way to go. In fact, people tell us that we’ll never really get to the end of it, and I’m beginning to understand what they mean. Of course, we still have absolutely no idea what we’re doing half the time, but we laugh our way through…together… and there are lots of kind and patient folks who are helping show us the way. To all of them, thank you. And to you—we’re so glad you take time out of your busy life to follow this silly ole blog. But most of all, to Mike D’Avanzo—thank you, thank you, thank you…for coming on this crazy adventure with me and for making this once-little girl’s dreams come true.
Papa’s farm, ca. 1982
