And another year has officially begun for "Me and The Girls"

All I can say is Wow.  I didn't have to be patient very long!  In the past few days I've gained 2 team members!  I am now officially a team captain that actually has a team.  I am really glad to welcome Pam Naumann and Lauren Fair to Me and The Girls.  It's a wonderful feeling to know that I will once again have people to share this difficult but extremely rewarding journey with.

On of the auction table from last year

Also 2 days ago I met with the Buffalo Wild Wings marketing manager to set up our 2nd annual silent auction.  I must say it was so much nicer to meet with her this year, since I wasn't nervous at all.  And she was very willing to help us with everything once again.  More than that, she was excited to help again.  She told me she wanted everything to be even bigger and better this year, that she will once again give us a BWW basket to raffle off, and once again give us 15% of sales (minus alcohol sales), and she even wants her servers to have pink ribbons on their shirts for the night.  She is also checking to see if she will be able to hand out flyers in take out orders to help us promote our night!  Her excitement was infectious, and has definitely rubbed off on me and my husband. In fact Andy has already started sending emails out again to try and get those big money items.  Love you hubby!  I have made a wish list for what I want most for the auction this year, now we just have to go out and get it all!

Another personal fundraiser I'm attempting is a "penny war" at my daughter's school.  This is where each competing class, team, or grade will have a collection jar in their classroom to collect pennies that the students bring in.  Students can also bring in other coins and dollar bills and put them in other classroom's jars, which will subtract and equal number of pennies from it.  For instance if a child puts a dollar in another classroom's jar, it will subtract 100 pennies from that classes' jar.  And then at the end of the fundraiser the class with the most pennies wins a pizza party.  To start the ball rolling I've written a letter to the principal of my daughter's school explaining my proposal.  Crossing my fingers that he will give a positive response.

I've also started planning a fundraiser to be held either in our town's mall, or in front of a popular store, though because it's still cold I really want it to be in the mall!  I have a friend that is willing to lend me her treadmill for a day, and I plan on walking 12 miles on the treadmill while collecting donations, and possibly selling bracelets, etc. if my teammates or my daughter want to man a table for me.  Haven't worked it all out in my head yet, but the wheels are turning...  Next step is writing a letter to the mall to ask permission, and hopefully have a meeting with my new team members to see if they are interested in this fundraiser too.  I could always change it a little to have at least one of us walking at all times for 8 hrs, or something to that effect...

And lastly, tonight is the night I am going to send out my first batch of fundraising letters, this year's theme being "Every 3 minutes one more reason to walk."  I remember last year how vulnerable it made me feel to send out letters, though I'm not exactly sure why.  So I think I'm more nervous about that than any of my other plans-in-the-works!  Crossing my fingers that I have a good response this year!

So another exciting year has begun...  Hope I can keep this enthusiasm and motivation up for the whole year!  Wish me luck...