Updates

Hey-yo...so I guess it's been a while (again): I would apologize - but then I remembered if you have time to check here for updates, you probably have more time than me...so all of the sudden I don't feel so badly!

So my agency opened up Jan 1. It's been a tumultuous ride, let's just say that. Last update indicated I had my first staffing change...and I am soon to embark upon my third.

I hired Fernando right before we opened and he has proven to be an absolute diamond in the rough. Last month he sold over 40 apps alone! Fantastic.
Meanwhile Ryan is still working for me (the guy who had planned to open his own agency, backed out, and is killing time working for me until he can get a job at the regional office). Of course he is blessing - how can you go wrong with a candidate who has had as much training as the agent? You can't.

I also hired a young girl part-time who is a student at UT. She is so smart - and so sweet and innocent (or so it seems). We closed down early tonight to have a celebration (we hit over 100 apps last month which is nearly unheard of - setting records for Austin!!). I brought in some champagne and told her she could just have a sip (she's not legal you see) and turns out it was her first sip of alcohol intentionally! She says she's tasted her dad's beer and mom's strawberry daquiri, but never really had her own. So I promptly took away her glass (after our toast) and told her she had to ride wiht me to dinner. haha

I took Ryan, Fernando, Christine, their spouses, and my lovely honey all out to PF Changs to celebrate our fantastic start. I'm really still awestruck at how we have started with such a strong 2 months. It's not normal - and I guess I'm not normal. I just keep waiting for it to turn around, but we've already gotten this month off to an amazing start as well! It's only the 4th and we have 23 apps (compared to our record-setting 115 for the month of February). So if we keep up this pace...well...you get the picture. Let's not count our chickens before the eggs hatch, right?

Chris invested in some used home gym equipment and created the "Manrage". He put it all in the garage and is out there working out as we speak. It's nice in this weather - we'll see how bearable it becomes once summer starts. Meanwhile I'm cheering him on from the couch. haha

We finally hired a cleaning lady. That has been the best investment we've made for years. We were both coming home absolutely exhausted...and something had to take the hit in terms of tasks we have time to complete. Litterbox is a must therefore the toilets, tubs, floors, etc have been sadly neglected. That is until Linda came in to our lives. Ahhh Linda - the heavens sing upon you. :)

We are finalizing plans for my friend Vicki's wedding in Akumal, Mexico this May. We plan to head down May 7th and stay until that Sunday. I can't wait for a vacation!!

This week is pretty busy. Tomorrow night we are going to a dinner for "Travel Club" - which is comprised of all the agents in Austin who intend to at least try to sell enough to earn next year's Hawaiian vacation. They are putting it on at Cool River and picking up the tab (they being Austin management people). Free dinner - sweet! Then Thursday I'm helping fund/volunteer/put on the Shattered Dreams program for Akins HS. Thursday night will be a student sleep over and Friday will be the program. If you haven't heard me talk about htis it is very similar to the drunk driving education I drove back to College Station for late last year. I feel priveleged to help share this with Austin high schools. I'm working in conjunction wiht the Travis County Sherrif's department - so if you ever get in trouble here give me a call - I've got "peeps". ;)
Friday we are doing a charity poker tournament (to benefit March of Dimes - if you haven't donated to Chris' page yet do it!) with some folks from his work. Saturday we are going out to eat and then to a comedy club called Esther's Follies wiht Chris' family. Sunday I am presenting the awards on behalf of State Farm (the major sponsor) at the Austin rodeo (again - I'm honored - I got awarded this opportunity based upon my life production from last month). Then Sunday night I'm flying out to New Orleans for a Million Dollar Round Table conference on Monday and Tuesday (prestigious industry awards - my management thinks I might get there someday and I'm starting to believe them!). I finally get some rest next Wednesday. I think I might call in sick. Oh wait. I can't do that anymore! :(

Well that's all the updates for now folks. I'll get you pics some time soon (I know that's what the blogs are really for but my camera battery is dead).
Oh speaking of pics - my friend Carrie is starting up her own photography business. She bribed me in to putting my wedding dress back on and letting her take pictures on the St. Edward's University campus. Check out her website at www.carrieme.com

Love you all and hope you are having a great week!

Oops, it's been a while!

Hello again - sorry about that long break!

Still getting ready to open my doors at the agency - just 3 more business days!

I've already had some staffing changes. The 2nd hire I made didn't work out for reasons I won't go in to on here. Sooo instead I hired a young man named Fernando. He just graduated from St Ed's Univ and speaks fluent Spanish. He's got tons of energy and I think once he gets trained he will work out nicely!

Chris and I are watching Lord of the Rings right now - the 3rd one. I got Chris the 3 movies for Christmas. He wanted to wait until we had a big screen tv before we watched any of them. Well, we got the big screen like 4 years ago but are just now getting around to the movies. Pretty good stuff!

We had a good Christmas with the Langans. We had a Christmas Eve Dinner with John, Jan, Jenny, Abby, Jenny's boyfriend Matt, his parents, and his sister at Texas Land and Cattle. He's got a great family and he's really growing on Jenny. We're hoping things work out there!

After dinner we went back to their house, each opened one present, then hung out for a while. Chris and I stayed hte night on the couch and Jenny and Abby slept upstairs. It was neat all being under the same roof over there again...but I gotta say I missed my family! I can't wait to spend our Christmas together in a little over a week.

I'm attaching a couple other pics also.

There are a couple from the Packers/Cowboys game. We met a nice couple in the parking lot but I can't remember their names.

Then a couple of pics from when we got to babysit 8-Minute Abs a couple weeks ago. then our friends Kenny and Nancy hanging out playing the Newlywed game. Lastly some of me and Chris at Christmas opening presents. He got me a Dwight Bobblehead!! That I promptly brought to work and deposited in a prominent spot on my desk. Great present!

Voy a usar esta:

Ok folks - I've picked a business card picture. You will all get a copy shortly (probably by mail - because I expect you to be customers).

I had a very famously talented photographer - if you do not already know her know name please ask (by comments).

What do you think (que crees de esta foto)?

My gusta mucho (I like it a lot)!

Hey ya'll. Don't have much time to write but I want to leave a quick update.

This week I "graduated" from the agent training program. The first picture you see is of some friends from agency. Carrie (the blonde) was hired at the same time as me for the same position. She was actually offered the agency I have now while I was in Mexico but declined. She wanted to take her chances that something else would open up soon a little closer to home (she lives further north than we do). Next to her is "Coach". His initials are TB - we call him Terry Bradshaw, TB, or Coach. He's a former high school football coach and absolutely hysterical. Provides endless hours of entertainment I'm going to miss being in the classroom wiht these folks. Our training group is spread all around the state from El Paso to Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc. Hopefully we'll get together again on the Ambassador Travel trip when we all make amazing sales numbers next year!

Wednesday afternoon I drove to College Station. That night I got to see Aurean for about an hour, then went to my friend Adrienne's house so I could see her kids before they went to bed. Michael was in 3rd grade when I met him - now he's a freshman! Adrienne claims she can never get him to smile for pictures but looks like he eeked one out for me. Lexi her youngest is in 3rd grade at South Knoll now. That just seems so strange!! Anyway Adrienne and I hung out on her front porch. She had a couple glasses of wine but I wasn't drinking. Chris and I are on a drinking hiatus until Thanksgiving for health, money, time, purposes. I made up for what I lacked in alcohol by chain smoking. haha It was great seeing her and goofing around again.

Thursday morning I went to an assembly at Consol (my old high school). This week is DEAD week (Drinking Ends All Dreams) where they do various presentations to educate the teens on the dangers of drinking and driving. Thursday morning they had 4 guest speakers. 2 were teachers - one lost a student, and the other lost her father. He was a police officer who was killed by a drunk driver in the line of duty. Another was a mother. She had a daughter in my class...and her son was killed 4 days after my friend Hollie. All 3 were very moving - lots of tears.

After they were done the MC came back and said "this next speaker requires some very special guidelines. No photos, no video, and no direct contact". His name is Kyle Johnson and he is the guy who killed my friend Hollie. I sat next to Hollie's dad, stepmom, and little sister. And we all got pretty emotional. It was such a strange sensation to finally see him and hear him. He gave a good message to the kids I think. Spoke about how he was just a normal kid just like them...and thought he was invincible UNTIL.

Kyle is still serving time in Lockhard. Hollie's parents speak before the parole board every year in hopes that htey will continue to deny his request for parole. He was wearing a white prison jumpsuit and shackles on his legs. They walked him in from the back entrance (with deputies) as soon as he was introduced and then escorted him directly back out when he was done. As soon as the back door shut Sam (Hollie's dad) got up and followed them out with a picture of Hollie htat he wanted Kyle to have. He wasn't allowed to talk to Kyle directly but gave the picture to a deputy and asked him to pass along a message.

There has been no resolution for this family. Kyle gave them a psuedo-apology during the speech, saying he wasn't sure if they were out there or not but he wanted them to know he was sorry ( we were sitting in the 2nd row - right in front of him).

Anyway it was a very draining day emotionally. I'm glad I got to see it - it was healing in some ways and gave some closure. I'm not sure if I will put myself through it again next year if he were to speak a 2nd time. I have to commend him on his efforts to let these young students learn through his mistake. I think it was a very powerful way to show them the other side of the destruction.

Afterwards Meg, Katy, Allen and I brought lunch to mom's office and ate with her. It was great seeing her! Katy was in such a good mood all day too. She is adorable. Then Meg and I took a final stab at capturing a good shot for my business card picture. I think we got several this time around - we are practically expert photographer/models now! haha

Anyway gotta get back to work now. Love you guys and talk to you soon!

Staying Busy...

Hey ya'll. So Chris and I have been staying pretty busy. Thursday and Friday of last week I was in a planning conference with some agency folks. We stayed at the Barton Creek Resort (yes, even though I live in Austin and the conference was IN Austin, I still managed to snag a room at a pretty smooth hotel).

Chris came in on Thursday night and got to meet some of my agency friends for the first time. As I've explained to him these are the people who I've been in training with since June. We started with 19 and are already down to 18. Most of us are opening our doors on January 1st, some decided to go in December, and some are waiting until February. Anyway they are about as close to family as I'm going to get for the next couple of years. I'll see and hear more from them (griping to each other, sharing ideas, etc) than I will from my flesh and blood probably. Gotta love it... That's ok - ya'll can do without me for a little...especially once I start buying huge Christmas gifts and paying for college educations, etc. :)

This weekend we stayed pretty busy. On Friday night my good friend Ellen (bridesmaid) and Chris' good friend Sam (groomsman) who both live in Houston both decided to come in for a visit (separately). We had lots of fun hanging out with them on Friday night. Just sat at the house and talked and caught up. Good times!

Saturday Chris and I played in our flag football game again. We just barely squeaked out a win this time - 25 to 26. We scored with just 46 seconds left on the clock.

Chris and I also both got matching left quad injuries. I think I injured it in our last game, it got a little better over the next 2 weeks, and then reared its ugly head again this week. I got TOASTED running to the end zone by a girl about 1/2 my height! haha I couldn't hardly lift my left leg off the ground while I was running. So I did the team a favor and spent most of the rest of the game on the sidelines cheering them on. I didn't want to be the reason we got scored on again. It's a really fun league though! I think I'll sit next week out just to be sure that I give my leg plenty of time to get better.

Here is a pic of the team in action:

And just to make you laugh...our photographer Steve coached me and Chris in to posing like you would in a high school homecoming picture. Ha!

Saturday night our friends Nick and Nallely came over and we watched the first 2 discs from Season 2 of The Office. Hysterical!! I freakin' love that show now. We fell asleep fairly early on Saturday.

Sunday we woke up and met John, Jan, Jenny, baby Abby, and our friends Kenny and Nancy at Ihop for breakfast. That turned in to a 3 hour affair. Uggh. Ihop on Sunday mornings should be against the law. Will we ever learn!?

Afterwards we went to our friends Ben and Steve's house to watch football. Chris works with Ben (he's on our flag football team - you can see him in the forefront of that picture in the dark blue and red shorts). Ben and his girlfriend Bethany grilled steaks and squash for us to eat for dinner. They were from Wal-Mart but surprisingly delicious!

After watching a couple of games (Packers vs Chiefs - Chris is obviously a Packers fan and Ben is from Kansas - great game! followed by Colts vs Pats...dang it Colts, wish you would have pulled it out!) we went home. Pretty exhausting weekend, but good fun.

Monday and Tuesday of this week we've just been working. I showed the house to a woman who thought she might want to rent it but it looks like that's not going to work out. :( Too bad. So we're still just laying low in terms of living situations. It's not imperative that we move closer to my office but it sure would be nice! The way I see it I'll be driving in at 6:30 am and leaving at 7pm every day anyway so I should miss the high traffic times. haha

No more news...hope ya'll are all doing great!

Love,

Amy

Halloween at my house:

3 posts in one day - aren't ya'll lucky?

Thought I would give ya'll a little taste of what Halloween at our house has been like. I have obviously been on the computer for a while working and playing with the blog and my new digital camera. BTW - the main reason I started blogging is becuase I finally got a camera and can share some cool pictures with you.

So tonight behold Chris - the Halloween Master. He bought $30 worth of candy (next year I will either supervise his candy purchases or do it myself), donned a fireman cap and dressed Beau (aka the good dog) up in a policeman costume. Cute, huh? He's been bringing this massive bowl of candy to the door and telling the kids "just take a handful!". haha They love our house. In fact we heard some of them say "I remember this house from last year!" before we opened the door. Cute. Greedy, but cute.

So here a couple of pics - of what Chris and I have been doing. Hope you all are having a fabulous Halloween! Here's to hoping you have some candy left over for lunch tomorrow! More importantly here's to hoping all the little chitlins out there have been safe and had a blast tonight.

Love,

Amy

My Office

This is Chantal - she is running my office right now until I can get in there. She worked for the agent that was there previous to me and we are discussing possible employment offers for her to stay on as my 2nd team member. This picture is taken from the vantage point as you first walk in the front door.

This the front of the office. You can see Chantal's desk to the right and the front door to the left. I am absolutely in LOVE with those window treatments. Aren't they cool!!?? I won't be changing them for sure.

As for the paint color...eh, I could go either way. However when you tell me that I'd have to actually perform the physical labor required to change it myself it looks much more warm and inviting. When you see the rugs up close you can see they have the same color green as a stripe and it really ties in together nicely.

This is the other front desk. It is to your right when you walk in the door. The glass divider you see there on the left of the picture is between Chantal's desk and this other desk (where Erin will sit).

I need to find a print to put there on the wall. There was a really cute one there before but the old agent took it with him. Mom - do you feel up to painting one for me? I could send you a copy of the picture! Or I could just leave this wall open to hang your work for sale...keep it in mind!

Wow - now that's blue, huh? This color WILL be changed. I'm thinking on painting it a rust-color...kind of a mix between burnt-orange and maroon. Very symbolic of my "wearing an Aggie ring in a town of Horns" situation. Maybe. Anybody have other suggestions on what I could paint my office? Oh maybe I should mention this room is my office. It's HUGE and has tons of natural light. That's my desk - where I will be writing every single one of my reader's auto, home and life insurance, as well as funding retirement accounts and possibly financing your vehicles, home equity loans and mortgages... ;)

Now we are looking at the view I have from my chair. The door across from my desk leads to a "bat escape" if you will. Jerry would be so jealous!! When I need to escape or hide I can sneak out this door and not have to walk back through the front. I park right on the other side. The table here will be used for team meetings, laid-back policy discussions, etc. The pictures you see are some black and white prints of old Austin (1900's) I purchased last week. I have my own little half-bath just to the right of the bookcase you see there too. WOOHOO!!

So that's the office. What'dya think? I can't wait to get in there and put my own touches on it. I could always use some help - creatively and manual labor-ally so if you should get the bug to come visit me I wouldn't object! In the mean time virtual suggestions (based on the pictures alone) will be accepted. If I can figure out how to get my video camera footage on here I will post a real tour of the office. I walked around and taped everything this afternoon (including the back room and a little part of my commute home...I know, probably not safe to be video taping while driving but traffic was practically at a stand-still).