1. The things my mother has somewhat unknowingly taught me-kindness and carin, going the extra step and doing the little things to make other people smile.
2. My father’s humor, wit, and sarcasm. That I always be his friend, not just his daughter
3.Presley – the smartest dog in the world and my best confidant – she can’t talk back to me and never judges me, and she runs slow when she knows I’m tired and fast when we’re almost to the end of the road.
4. Happy friends who always share their happy lives with me
5. My friends babies, who although precious and sweet, may very well be the best form of birth control available.
6. Wine and Vodka, although not mixed.
7. Chocolate!
8. My great groups of girlfriends that are so fabulous, lovely and classy and who care for me like family, who are comfortable enough to call me out when needed, cry with me when the drama gets too out of control and hold my hair if I puke.
9. All the friends I’ve made this past year with all the new happenings in my life.
10. My new job – that I was lucky enough and persistent enough to keep my head up this past summer when things weren’t looking too good.
11. Razorback Tailgating and all it’s glory!
12. MZ – he’s a great boyfriend (of course) but he’s a great ally and friend to me and wonderful support not only for me but also for his family and friends whenever they need him. AND he puts up with all my crazy!

addendum to the thankful list – I’m thankful that my parents are who they are and are still together after all these years. I know there are many of you out there who are also thankful for your parents the love they have for you and your own special relationship. So no matter your inspiration for thoughts and words of thanks – remember what it’s really all about.

SOOOOO I’m emailing back and forth with this “sales rep” today at work. She’s been bugging me for about 3 weeks and I’ve been avoiding her as I don’t care to buy the crazy she’s selling. I know I need to go ahead and renew said wares but I’ve been waiting quietly and patiently for her to drop my rates down since I think I deserve that!
Anyway, clearly she’s trying to end out her quota for the month and apparently is leaving today until the end of the month. Well that’s not my problem, but she really wants my commitment today. At this point my hands are tied because too many people up the line that have to sign off on what I ask them to are also subsequently on vacay till 12/1.

So the issue lies in the fact that she’s been emailing me pretty much every hour on the hour and each time today she’s misspelled my name…
Thusfar today, I’ve been called:
· Tracie
· Cacie
· Laciy
· Tacy
No Gracies in the mix. She’s been emailing already so I know she knows my name… what is going on here! She’s not helping in her quest to meet her quota – let me assure you of that!

Ok, I’ll have to update with words later but… here are just a few of the pictures from this weekend, most of the ones that can be shown in public! =)
Let me tell you, there was a lot of WOOOOing going on!
More to come, check back later.

… and no, those aren’t strippers, they are real marines…total randomness!

So I’m coming up on 1 year of blogging… what should I do to celebrate? You can start at the beginning if you’d like from here…..

Should I do some sort of give-a-way? Any tips on how to conduct one?

Like Birthdays, I think Anniversaries of all types should be celebrated – they are important!

Also, all you out there with blackberries – can you post from them? I can’t figure out how…I kinda want to be able to post a few things while I’m in NYC in a couple of weeks so it’s not a HUGE list of posts when I get back. Any tips would be great.

Have a fabulous weekend!

When I went to Charlotte, I watched people in focus groups who watched a couple of animated options for some new commercials. They were very beginning stages of creative so they were basically flip books of cartoon characters. But even at that stage, they were so much better than those stupid commercials that remained cartoons – I hate those!!!
Anyway, it was a very interesting experiment in people watching which is one of my favorite past times. It was about an hour long session of moms watching the options then talking about them in full detail. I did learn alot about the ways “moms” think, but I also saw how the economy is really taking a toll on people – during breaks most all of them talked about how they could get into other focus groups and how they could do multiple studies a night to make a few extra bucks.
It came down a draw in the research – there was no clear winner and both came out with very positive reactions over all. You would think that would be super exciting, but really it just proved that we had two good commercials and neither was extremely strong. So today our team came to a decision all on our own. I must say I am VERY pleased with the choice but I feel like there may some “I told you so’s” should this commercial not drive sales the way some people want – of course then, how would we know the other options would have been any stronger? That we will never know.
So look for a new commercial coming soon – unfortunately I will not be staring in it – if I were an option in the mom groups you know damn good and well there would be no question that I would win – DUH! =)

In this world of Tivo and DVR I know most people don’t watch commercials. MZ is totally one of those who does not. However, I love commercials and often don’t even fast forward through them.

What are some of YOUR favorite commercials? Past or Present and WHY?
When it’s produced and cut I’ll make sure and show it!!!

Good morning! I’m up so super early so I though I would going to do a post about all the retail stores that are closing… and then I JUST got this email that ties all together.
So check out this list of stores closing around the country and beware if you buy gift cards to these places that may not be used before the stores themselves close.

Everyone knows I am very liberal when it comes to my political views but I definitely believe the retail sector of the world drives a majority of our economy. (Nothing new there really…) I have always worked in some sort of retail whether it’s been actual sales or in marketing – my paycheck depends on YOU buying stuff I promote in some form. I do think our markets are extremely saturated and that consumers are getting confused more easily these days and so they just give up. I know I do that – just the other day I had a minor freak out in Walmart because there were 93 types of toothpaste and I can never remember which type I buy so I had to look at each one. It was disastrous.
Anyway, not just with items but also with the stores too, for instance we have 4 Gap stores here – we don’t need that… promise. I don’t think our local economy is the peril that the rest of the country is facing – after all, we are in the heart of Walmart world. That being said – I do like to shop at local stores and eat at local resturants and it’s always sad when a locally owned establishment has to close up shop.

But back to the point, here is the list of stores closing nation wide.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards
around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be
honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after
Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though
the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them
from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as ‘Bankruptcy
Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be
cautious about.
Here’s the link http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp

· Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
· Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
· Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
· Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
· Cache will close all stores
· Talbots closing down specialty stores
· J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbot’s)
· Pacific Sun wear (also owned by Talbot’s)
· GAP closing 85 stores
· Footlocker closing 140 store s mo re to close after January
· Wickes Furniture closing down
· Levitz closing down remaining stores
· Bombay closing remaining stores
· Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
· Whitehall closing all stores
· Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
· Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
· Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
· Macys to close 9 stores after January
· Linens and Things closing all stores
· Movie Galley Closing all stores
· Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
· Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
· JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
· Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
· Wilson Leather closing down all stores
· Sharper Image closing down all stores
· K B Toys closing 356 stores
· Loews to close down some stores
· Dillard’s to close some stores