After 2 months of waiting, we finally have our new logo!

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

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Mike and I talked about running the Chicago Marathon this year, but unfortunately it filled up before we registered. But that's okay. Notre Dame has a 6 mile run in September called the Domer Run. We ran it last year, and it was the first time in my life I had ever run 6 miles! This year I'm running it with the goal of 54 minutes, which is a 9 minute mile pace and about the time Mike ran it in last year. On top of the jogging I've been doing, training starts today!

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Jade

This is the promised picture of the dieing Jade!
It looks so sad!


Jade

Jade Plant CPR

This is my recently acquired Jade plant. When my friends Heather and Paul moved to Seattle, they put their plants up for adoption. After resuscitating Mike's "Wandering Jew" (is that PC?), I thought I was ready for the responsibility. Unfortunately, first the basil and now this sickly looking Jade plant are proving me wrong! First the leaves started to fall. The leaves are now almost completely gone, and a few days ago the branch on the side collapsed. I bought some fertilizer for it - those sticks you put in the ground. They're 6-12-6, if that means anything to anyone (I vaguely remember from my botany class that the numbers have to do with the chemical levels), and I put them in a couple days ago, but unfortunately they haven't yet proven to be miracle workers.

Can anyone help me? I would really like to keep this plant alive!

(picture coming soon)

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Moth

This cool moth has been hanging out outside my door for 2 days. He's been in the exact same spot, but he fluttered when I took the picture, so I don't think he's dead. Does anyone know anything about him?

Market Research

Mike got a job offer today! Hooray!

If he takes it, he'll be based in Chicago, working for Price Waterhouse Cooper, one of the big 4 accounting firms, in their treasury consulting department. That means lots of travel and a wide array of experience for Mike, and would be great for me to be so close. I'll keep you posted.

As for me, I've spent most of my day trying to find out what percentage of shoppers who choose in-store pickup would prefer to pay a premium to have things delivered on the same day. If you have any advice on where to find some research on that subject, feel free to post it!

East Race Waterway

Exciting times in South Bend this weekend! On Friday night Mike and I stumbled across "Enshrinement Weekend" at the College Football Hall of Fame, where they inducted 8 people, including LaVell Edwards, who was the coach at BYU when I was there, and apparently won more games during his tenure at BYU than all other BYU coaches combined! I think they named the stadium after him.




On Saturday we woke up to rain, and thought our plans were foiled; however, it cleared up just in time to meet up with some MBA friends Alana and Ted and brave the rapids of the East Race Waterway. The East Race is the first man-made whitewater course in North America. It's about a half mile long and is the home of some pretty big whitewater kayaking competitions. For 2 months in the summer, 2 days a week, you can rent rafts and ride down it. A helmet, a life jacket, and about 30 seconds of instruction (not the least helpful of which was: "don't hit the white barriers or your raft could get pinned and flip") are all you need to be on your way!
Note the intense look of concentration on Mike's face.




After the rafting, we said goodbye to our friends and headed out to make some elephant ears at the New Paris Speedway. We arrived, whipped up a batch of dough, and opened our doors just in time for the rain to start. Soon after, the races were canceled, so we ate a couple elephant ears, threw out our dough, cleaned our bucket, and went to visit Grandma. She made us a wonderful dinner of Teriyaki Shrimp and pecan pie, and we had a great visit. We finished the evening by looking through some of Grandma's photo albums, and Mike got to see some great pics of me in those really awkward Junior High days, when i was into MC Hammer pants and crooked hair. (sorry, no digital copy!)

Weekend

As I wrap up my week, here are some thoughts:
1. Deleting Solitaire from my computer was one of the smartest decisions I've ever made!
2. It's awfully lonely living alone. I'm glad Mike will be around this weekend and Judy and Rudy will be back towards the middle of next week. Then I'll probably miss being alone!
3. It's amazing how quickly marketing costs escalate when you expand from a city of 250,000 to a big place like Chicago. Gosh, Auntie Em. We're not in Kansas anymore!
4. Marketing is definitely more fun than finance. Tougher, but a lot more fun.
5. I've finally figured out the planning part - now it's time to have trial by fire - how well can i execute on this plan as we expand into Chicago? I'm scared to death I'll prove inadequate, but I'm excited for the challenge. Bring it on! Chicago, here we come!

Frogs

I have the same guilty feelings that I get when I start a journal and stop after a week! I'll do better. Mike has inspired me with his blog!
Things are progressing with LicketyShip. Partnerships are progressing, funding should be closing soon, and we're moving our operations (though not our office) to Chicago very soon. I'm in charge of marketing, of course, and have got some crazy stunts planned for the Chicago launch - keep your eye out for a green frog! My sister was visiting last weekend, and reminded me that I have always had a bit of a frog fetish, so now i'm nurturing that in a socially acceptable manner - long live the amphibians!
I have three stuffed frogs here, and I'd like to open things up for a vote. Which is your favorite?