<p>Tonight is prom night. Younger D and her date and “group” are so disorganized. Please send good thoughts our way for a successful “up-do”, pictures, little traffic, and a safe night with wise choices. Meanwhile, I don’t think I should have taken a whole Xanax this early in the moring.</p>
<p>happy Birthday to NM and Fall girl. its always lovely to have the kids home but not too long. hehe
I am being lazy on the couch watching the last of Barbra Walters. she is an amazing woman i cant believe she is 84. My Mil is 84 and would have her body if her mind was not completely gone. We spent the weekend at the lake with her. Then some of H’s family came. One BIL was absent as he"had other plans" just as he did on Easter. he has been making noise about how he is mad at my MIL for some minor things growing up, I am like"really" get over it. put you big boy pants on and be a man. good grief. We all have baggage.
Taking care of an elderly sick parent is so confusing. the feelings are so confusing. anger, sadness, etc… it is hard as they are adults and want and insist on making their own decisions but dont think of the impact on their supporters. D2 came to the lake and we had an amazing talk. I am so impressed with her insight, and empathy. she is just 20. an old soul. I think she will be a wonderful nurse.
I attended an info session for grad studies i texted my H"I must be crazy" he texted back 'follow your dreams" its hard however all the insecurities, “am i smart enough” do i have the energy. shouldnt I just retire and rest? why cant i do that? then i try to just let it go and say “let it be” . Ahhhhhhh!
We were in Mikonos and Crete loved it. The beach in Crete was the best. still loved Sicily the best although I know its not greek. My children went to a school with a 92 foot schooner both went to the Carribean for a week on it. i have never been on that particular Island only the Bahamas which I did not like.
I am doing ok, although I think I did too much, (which wasnt alot) I am hoping everyone recovers form illness, Moda finds her home, people find the right legal advice. shaw has safe travels. I know I missed some . You are all lovely and I love hearing your stories. Eddie write more often</p>
<p>I just love all of you.</p>
<p>Me, too!!!</p>
<p>Can I just say, as a parent of the class of 2011 and 2014 threads, I stumbled onto this thread by mistake and think you have the best, most active thread of all. </p>
<p>Happy belated birthday Fall Girl and NM. Been trying to keep up – work has been very busy lately.</p>
<p>Ah, RM, it’s monsoons and drought, I believe. My practice is sooo slow (with having to fire the big client and another whose business model was flawed) that I am sick with worry over my future. I am out virtually every day for coffee, lunch or dinner trying to drum up business. I have sown such seeds of integrity, competence and good will over the past 29 years that I feel like SOMETHING big has to come up…but it’s very very worrisome.</p>
<p>Missy’s post of early am xanax made me laugh out loud, and at EddieO’s I teared up with the feeling of “Me too!!” </p>
<p>OK… we wrote the offer, there were a few changes I felt were due (like, they specifically excluded the washer and dryer and she added it to the offer. Yes it was a very nice washer and dryer, seemingly very new as well, and so I felt if we were going in low, I was going to respect her love of her washer and dryer. As I told the Realtor, my first though would be “they give a low offer and want my washer and dryer too?? The nerve!” So I suppose we’ll soon see if they even counter! I wish I was more comfortable going to the max of what I think someone should be willing to pay, but I am not and as of now, no one has. So we’ll see what happens. </p>
<p>I too am watching Barbara Walters… it’s a mixed bag but I do know for certain I have seen the majority of these interviews!!!</p>
<p>S’s flight delayed 1.5 hours. Very glad he’s flying in to the tiny airport 10 minutes from our house. They just started offering flights fairly recently.</p>
<p>Good morning!
Moda, I’m sending ya the offer mojo!
DTE, glad to hear you’re on the mend but take good care and strongly encourage those around you to spoil you 
Nice to see updates from everyone!</p>
<p>Missy, way back in 2002, our tiny business had one very large, growing (and disorganized) client who used virtually all our hours on retainer and had been doing so for several years. That year, they were bought out by a giant entity who moved all the work we did in-house. Nothing short of disastrous for us. I had just joined mch the year prior, and had never been in business for myself prior.</p>
<p>I learned two things from this brush with total collapse. The first is I now never leave the pipeline unseeded. The second is I pay very close attention to the client mix, aiming for a combo of smaller start ups, mid sized, and medium well-aged companies. I pass on super-large clients (don’t even bid) and am exceedingly careful not to allow a singe retainer to represent more than about 25% of annual revenue (and even that feels risky…though I do have a client now who constantly seeks to be my sole preoccupier – and he’s one I TOLD six years ago I didn’t want to go that route and why ;).</p>
<p>This is a very tricky balance. It also means I take new work when I don’t want it and it likely means I work a little harder than I might otherwise have to at this stage of the game. But you can and will rebuild It just takes time. </p>
<p>Just yesterday I had a meeting with a sole prop who loves our work. She outright asked “Am I too small for you guys?” (Which is crazy, because we’re very small, but she was asking because someone very successful in her industry is a client of ours and she doesn’t have the kind of budget they do.) I told her no and I told her why. So this has come to mind!</p>
<p>As you rebuild, the thing about taking on a larger number of smaller clients is that when you build a good relationship they will refer you to other companies like them. This is the vitality, or energy, that is lost when one is “golden handcuffed” to a larger client.</p>
<p>So my wish for you is to have many new smaller clients to get your practice snowballing in this phase of reinvention and that you find some good referral sources to make the time you spend on new business development more rewarding. While it doesn’t happen overnight, it can manifest that way with a bit of time and attention.</p>
<p>I know personally how terrifying this can be, but I also know how rewarding it can be to reorient yourself as a networker, which is a shift from always focusing on the whims of a single, powerful and dominant client :)</p>
<p>It becomes more fun, and you start to find clients you really enjoy helping. So I’m sending you heaps of good mojo through this transition. Being unstoppable helps 
Hugs!</p>
<p>i am looking into organizational psychology, I find it interesting. </p>
<p>Thank you Renaissance Mom this a unique group of guiders and encouragers. such valuable information practically and emotionally.
MP it breaks my heart how stressed you are, is it more hopeful with the real estate market improving?
I am wishing what KMc wishes , so you have a happy and productive life. </p>
<p>MP, sending hugs your way…been there and done that with DH.</p>
<p>I’m just catching up (again) – I wish I liked the new site more. I don’t. Blech.</p>
<p>Came back from San Diego right before the fires started – good timing, but very scary given how bad the fires were in that same area about 10 years ago. When you know the names of the streets that are closed, it is way too close. Got my uncle buried (just two years and four months after he died) and had a great visit with SIL and my brother. My SIL is amazing. My cousins have some challenges. </p>
<p>MP – sending you the good mojo vibes on getting new, nice clients, and on juggling everything else in your life. Kmcmom13 (as usual) makes some very good observations. I worry about whether one client is becoming too big, too. It is a challenge.</p>
<p>Moda – good luck on the offer front. </p>
<p>Work here has been really busy, despite this supposedly being a slow month. Meanwhile, I’m also planning a NYC sojourn to meet up with D in early June and do totally touristy things. Luckily, the show of Charles James Ball Gowns is on at the Costume Institute at the Met – though we won’t be there with the star-studded attendees from the gala last week, I can pretty much promise you that you won’t see elevator footage of us duking it out with each other. Not that TMZ would be paying the big bucks for that in any event. </p>
<p>MP, is there an option to go in-house with an active RE developer?</p>
<p>After physical therapy, we went to a memorial service for a friend – a very talented and well-known painter who died of ALS at 65 – yesterday. Then worked on revising my proposal for my prospective client in Germany, then to an opening for another show ShawWife is in, and then to dinner with a really interesting couple (he’s a professor of government and she’s a senior government and now think-tank person). Today, ShawWife kept it up – stopped at Home Depot for something, dropped off a piece that is going to be in a show at a local museum, went to a baby shower for the daughter of some friends (the daughters really look up to ShawWife and have sought her advice), then took down her piece in the show she curated. Then I made chicken and asparagus with chili black bean sauce and she made a salad we’d had at a local restaurant arugula, spinach, avocado and grapefruit with an incredible dressing that included pureed green onions. Wild weekend, especially for her as she was just diagnosed with a partial tear of her achilles tendon and is walking with one of those boots.</p>
<p>Hi Ararab! Close call in San Diego. Glad you are safe. Will you check out the 9/11 museum during your trip to NYC? Just wondering. H wants to go as he was in the city that day but I really don’t think I could. </p>
<p>Fingers crossed for some new business MP. You deserve it.</p>
<p>Sounds like a nice weekend, Shaw.</p>
<p>Good to hear from you,arabrab. I don’t like the new format much either.
MP - I hope business picks up.
Sorry to hear about your friend, shaw. I lost a brother to ALS several years ago. And sending healing wishes to shaw wife.
Busy weekend, D came home so the 4 of us went out to dinner on Friday, then came home and watched a movie together. H and I were up early on Sat. to travel about 2 hours west of here to a farm that grows produce for local food banks. Spent the morning planting potatoes. Later that day we attended a party honoring D’s BFF who just earned her Master’s in Education. Did a lot of chores on Sunday and shopped with D. I found a dress to wear for S’s graduation, so cross that off the list.</p>
<p>Good morning, all! I think I could spend the entire day on Facebook, looking at everyone’s Prom and Graduation pictures from the weekend! So fun! If it wasn’t creepy I would love to just hang out at the local botantical gardens every prom night, just to see all the dresses.</p>
<p>Younger D’s night went very well. She looked beautiful. Her gay date’s boyfriend was with us taking pictures. She said she had a very good time at prom.</p>
<p>Shaw, you put me to shame with your cooking. I didn’t cook or clean a bit, but about 50% of the landscaping has been trimmed and more importantly, both photo books are finished and on order. At least I’ll have something to give D as a graduation present because she says that all she wants for graduation is money for the next tattoo!</p>
<p>Kmc, thank you for the pep talk and thanks to everyone for the good karma. The real estate market has definitely picked up, but competition is really stiff. Most firms of any size now have a Dallas or Houston office, so many of the deals are being handled by firms based out of state. I know things will pick up…so many people think highly of my work. But it’s sort of a race against time, as far as compenstation is concerned.</p>
<p>Working in house for a developer is a special kind of hell. There is a “developer personality”…big picture guys (99 % guys), most are quite ADD/executive function disordered. In house counsel tries to help make the dreams come true, but spends a lot of time cleaning up messes.</p>
<p>D is getting close to putting in an offer on a house. Hard to figure out what to tell her as far as offer price. Our area is currently a seller’s market. Some houses are selling before they even come up on the websites. Pretty much I think she is going to have to offer whatever they are asking. Ugh.</p>
<p>Hello all! Had a nice weekend - although it was POURING rain when I got up on Saturday, it stopped and totally cleared up by the time H & I arrived at WPI. We attended the ROTC Commissioning Ceremony before graduation – pretty much it just made me sad to think back to a year ago when S was commissioned. He was over-the-moon excited and so gung-ho. Now he’s not. I worry about him SO much, all the time. We almost never hear from him, and when we do he doesn’t have much to say. Every time I start to think he’s feeling better about things, it seems like the next time he’s back down in the dumps. Sigh … Graduations was very nice – we scored reserved front row seats since H is now a “VIP.” Plus, they tented the entire Quad, so even if it had been raining, we would have stayed dry.</p>
<p>Chipping away at all the spring clean-up chores in the planting beds here in RI. We specifically asked the landscape architect for a low maintenance scheme – but I’m not sure we got one. Some people enjoy puttering in the garden, but I’m not one of them.</p>
<p>Good to hear from everyone, including the “irregular” posters. Love this group! And, yes please – send the bus! If Greece is too far, have the bus come to the beach in RI – we pour some great wine!</p>