Thursday, January 22, 2009

Noteworthy

You might have heard.  Something special is in the air.  Highlowaha is 27 days away from celebrating our One Year Anniversary  - and in a big way!  Though the celebration will peak on Wednesday night, February 18 at 8:00 p.m.  CST, we have festivities planned for the week leading up to our anniversary and for the week following our celebration.

Anniversary fun begins February 2-7 when we spend the week wrapping up unfinished highlowaha business, so we can start  the new year with a clean slate.  February 9-14 will be RED HOT!  We'll use the week to prepare for February 18th's big gala, as well as the much anticipated Valentine's Day.  Five o'clock a.m. on Thursday, February 19 brings BIG, BIG changes to Highlowaha - an announcement you won't want to miss.  The fun won't stop abruptly on Thursday, February 19, as we have one final week of fun planned for February 23-27.  Mark your calendars now.  You won't want to miss a single day.

As noted yesterday, The People's Choice Awards, scheduled for Wednesday, February 18 at 8:00 p.m. CST can't get underway until each of you (veteran readers and newbies, posters and lurkers) does your part.  Yesterday I introduced three of the nine categories for which awards will be presented at our celebration.  Today I will present another three and tomorrow we will wrap up the week with the final three award categories.

Yesterday Julie asked some good clarifying questions about the nomination process, so let me provide additional details.  (1) You may wait until all nine categories are shared before submitting nominations.  (2) There is no limit to the number of awards for which a person may be nominated.  (3) Nominations must be submitted to me, via email, by Monday, January 26, at midnight (your time).  (4) Please place the words, "People's Choice Awards" in the subject line of your email.

Yesterday's award categories were: (1) Sliced Bread Award, (2) Raising the Bar Award, and the (3) Good Neighbor Award.  Check out yesterday's post for descriptions of each award.  Today's award categories are as follows...

Energizer Bunny Award
This People's Choice Award goes to the adventurous reader who is up for anything and actively participates in daily activities.

Spirit of #218 Award
This spirit of Highlowaha means making time for interactions and experiences, in spite of the busy, fast-paced lives in which we live.  This People's Choice Award goes to the person whose life seems to most encapsulate Highlowaha's Spirit of #218.

Home Run Award
This People's Choice Award goes to the reader who whacked an idea so hard, he or she knocked it out of the park.

Today's Creative Idea.  Since we are busy recognizing notable people, I thought I would share a "notable" gift idea.  I gave myself this great gift for Christmas.  For $35.00 I hired Peggy Robinson, long time reader and card maker extraordinaire, to make me a greeting card each month for the year.  Monthly, Peggy will hand make me a card and then mail it, along with an envelope, to my address.  Once received, I make a date with myself at Starbucks and spend 30 minutes in solitude thinking about and writing to the recipient of that month's card.  Yesterday I sent January's card, reaffirming what a great idea this was.  

Let's review.  I get guaranteed snail mail at least once a month for an entire year.  I get a handmade card, that if purchased in a store would be $5.00 - easy (!), for the very reasonable price of $2.00.  A quiet date at Starbucks at least once a month (alright, who am I kidding?).  And, as if not already good enough, next year at this time I will have committed a minimum of twelve random acts of kindness.  Pretty good for $35.00.

Final Note.  Anonymous, thank you for helping to keep me on track.  The winner of this months Highlowaha t-shirt(s) are...

Heather and Cassie P. 
(If I am correct, it so happens that neither already has a shirt!)

Signing off until tomorrow...

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

YAY YAY YAY! Heather, we won shirts!!! SWEET!

I like the idea of one card a month! Thats fun. I have decided to do at least one random act of kindness per month this year. Be it something very little, or mailing a package of goodies, I found RAK a lot of fun the few times I did it last year. So each month, I am doing at least one! January was a package of bath&shower goodies in a small basket sent to my great friend and roommate from my study abroad time in London, who goes to the University of Kentucky. Next month...undecided! Money in a block of ice?! WHO KNOWS!

And I am going to wait until all the categories are up before doing any nominations!

Anonymous said...

Cassie P...We won and amazingly we are the first two comments today!!! WOOHOO!!!
I was wondering about the shirt draw so thanks to Anonymous for bringing it up!

As far as today's creative idea I just have to say...if you haven't seen Peggy's creative creations you DEFINITELY need to check out her blog and order a card or two...they are great!!!

I'm also excited about nominating some of my fellow readers for these awards...it will be nice to finally recognize the role we have all come to play in one another's lives.

Yay for turning 1!!!!

On another note:

Maureen...where are you? Peggy? Chaotic? We miss you guys!!!

Laynie how's your Dad doing? Brian how's opening been for you? Melanie how's pregnancy treating you? Tera and Treye...what's new in your world? Kelly Montana are you surviving the cold snap that has been your life the past month? What's new in everyone's world?

Kristen Giger said...

I like the note idea as it kills three birds with one stone 1)supports a fellow HLA reader 2) gives you a monthly starbucks date 3) makes someone smile :)

I am the lucky recipient of a card of thr month from my sister this year. I get it on the 8th of the month, as my birthday is July 8. It is fun!

Creative ideas from me are flowing like molasses in January right now as our nearly 10 month old daughter is cutting teeth and has thus forgotten how to sleep through the night!

Peggy said...

Thank you Claudia **blush**


OMG! or as a blogger on another card site I frequent... Oh my heck!!!

My long winded comment response track record preceeds me! Thanks for noticing I didn't comment yesterday.... mmmm.... I'm really thinking hard to figure out how I am going to go through 200 blog posts and over 1,000 comments to find who said what! All ideas are worthy, all efforts and thoughts need to be reviewed carefully...
the first award should go to Claudia (lifetime achievement) or the award they give to Steven Spielberg.... for coordinating/directing this huge project and promoting all good ideas!!!! (Love fest)

You can check out my blog:
htt;://prdesigns.blogspot.com

Creative Greetings!! a party on a card! (hee hee)

Cheryl Houston said...

It's been a fun year and another fun year on the horizon! :)

Congrats on the shirts ladies. (whisper: Claudia- we need to talk.)

Hope everyone has a great day!

maureen said...

Heather... I am here just been busy and pre-occupied with my daughters "Sweet 16" (mini-wedding. Also with Dad sick I have been trying to help Mom out. I am a lurker though!!!!

Peggy I would love you to make cards for my 11 year old daughter. She has a pen pal now (thanks to Claudia) and she cant find cards she likes. Are you interested in the job?

Anonymous said...

Maureen, glad to know you are out there...I understand busy so we'll cut you some slack.
Hope your Dad feels better soon....and I can't wait to see pictures of Kristen's Sweet 16!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Hi everyone! I'm excited to see the last three award categories.

Heather, things are alright here in our world. It's COLD...and by cold I mean negative degrees! I know, you're loving the weather down south...must be nice :) I'm so glad you sold the house in KY. I know that was a big stress for you. My big stress is STILL not having a job. It's really taking a toll on me in so many ways. Other than that, no complaints. Married life is wonderful and Treye loves his job!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Katie said...

Hello everyone!

Just checking very quickly before I'm off to class for the afternoon.

Congrats to Cassie and Heather on their t-shirts!

Peggy, I LOVE the cards you sent me last semester and those receiving them have loved them too! I will be ordering from you again soon!

I can't wait to celebrate the one year anniversary! Hard to think that one year ago we were sitting in the Prospect Starbucks (imagine that!) as I gave you a tutorial on blogs.... oh, how things change!

Anonymous said...

Thanks all for the nice comments! I'm at work and will respond to you after work and school activities later today. I'm here to help with you creative greeting!! card needs.
TTYS
Peggy anonymous at Work @@

@@ are my little eyes since I work for an eye doctor

Cheryl Houston said...

It's a LUMINOUS day in Dallas.

What is it like where you are?

Peggy said...

***shameless plug***

Anyone wanting to order creative greetings!! you can view most of the cards I make on my blog.
http://prdesigns.blogspot.com

If you notice on the right side of the blog, I've catergorized all my cards, just click to view.
i.e. Birthday card, valentine card, blank card etc...

These cards or a similar card are available for sale, at $2.00 (plus shipping). Most of the cards have a description, and state if there is a sentiment inside.

I can create cards on special requests, we can talk about individual orders, gift paks and other paper type gifts and prices.

My cards are unique for the special someone in your life, when a grocery store card just wont do!

Katie said...

Today in Harrisonburg, VA it is so warm for January! I believe our high today was 46....so nice after the 8 degree start I had to my day yesterday! And the sun was out all day...hopefully tomorrow will be more of the same!

Julie said...

Checking in from Surprise, AZ :)

Its been a warm 75 (I use "warm" cautiously ... I find it hot, my friends and family back in the north east are jealous, but people out here say "warm") .... temperature is such a relative concept for something so definitively measured. However, its overcast and there was MINOR precipitation over night.

I'm disappearing tomorrow and Friday as I am driving to CA (luxury of being in AZ) for a wedding this weekend!

Have a great end to your work week and weekend, HLA!