Happy New Year to You All

Happy New Year! I don't know about you all but I am ready to kiss 2007 good-bye and I am sooo ready for 2008. This will be my year. I can tell. I have more opportunities at my feet than I have ever had. I paid the price of learning lessons the hard way and my kids are turning out to be wonderful people. Yes, it's time that my life begin to excel and I know this will be the year that it all comes together.

In my new job with Primary Residential Mortgage/Lending Tree, I am not seeing the real estate slump in the Pacific Northwest that I am constantly hearing about on the news. I am seeing a large request for home loan information for such an unpopular home buying season. I am taking this as good news for my new sideline and am looking forward to assisting you (if you live in Oregon or Washington) in getting the best deal possible for your new home purchase.

I continue to receive requests for web design through About Time Internet Marketing, LLC and now that I am working with the Joomla! system, I am able to provide dynamic, professional web designs that include hosting, domain and an email bundle at affordable prices.

I continue with PR for the Latimer Group and look forward to a busy season with them as well. I am currently freelancing on an event I will be telling you about shortly with CoCommunicationsPR.

My son and I met with a holistic healer yesterday and meditation will be on the to do list on a daily basis. Once I get my internal energies firing on all signals, then my external energies will provide well for me.

Yes, it will be a great year. I will not temp fate. I will (and am) be grateful for every morsel of well being that comes my way. My New Years Resolution? Be happy and have fun! What a great year it will be!

Merry Christmas

Yes, I am wishing you a Merry Christmas! I'm not one of those (and never have been) who tears down my tree the moment Christmas is over. I don't thrust into the season and it takes me awhile to ween myself off of it. In fact, I consider myself ahead of the game if my tree comes down before mid January.

My Christmas was superb. And continues to be so. I have both of my children with me and I am happy to say that we had a white Christmas with a current blizzard warning in effect. Yippeee! It can snow til the end of February and that would be alright with me. We have settled into the house with wrapping paper reminents still hanging around, a cozy fire in the fireplace and plenty of red wine on hand. Just as I thought work and life would allow me no breaks or time, it has afforded me the happiest of Christmas' and I will be forever grateful. So settle in with those that mean the most to you and continue to reap the magic of this once a year feeling. I wish you happiest of continued peace this season and always.

Figgy Pudding Carolers Support Art Walk

Ask most people what figgy pudding is and they’ll have an idea that it’s somehow connected to Christmas and that it surely contains figs. But this holiday season, it’s also the name of a brand new event happening in downtown LaGrande – the Union County Figgy Pudding Caroling Contest.

On Thursday, December 20, caroling teams of five people or more will sing between 6 pm and 7 pm adjacent to the art galleries and businesses open late for the monthly art walk. Teams will be judged by celebrity judges in two categories:
Best Wild and Wacky Performance
Best Choral Performance

The audience will be able to select their favorite team, too, in a Peoples Choice Award, by voting with cans of food, which will be donated to Union County food pantries.

Seven teams have committed to the event, thus far, including U.S. Bank, La Grande City Council, Northeast Oregon Physical Therapy, Eastern Oregon University, John Howard & Associates, ODOT and the Alleluia Bells.

Organizers Christy Barber and Kelly O’Neill expect more teams to sign up and say the competition will be tough, with both silly and serious groups.

One team is made up of motorcycle enthusiasts who are planning to wear their leathers while caroling. Another team is writing custom lyrics to traditional tunes.

“Expect to be entertained,” says Barber. “It’s another great reason to come downtown and do some last minute holiday shopping, too,” she says.

Teams have until December 17 to register and the first 10 teams to sign up avoid paying a $25 “Figgy Fine” that will be donated to Mt. Emily Safe Center, a local non-profit that provides coordinated and compassionate medical services for children who may have been victims of child abuse.

Just come up with a fun name for your team and call Christy Barber at 541-786-1613 or Kelly O’Neill at 541-663-6117 to enter. Everyone is invited to participate including employers, churches, clubs, friends and families and individuals of all ages and voices.


The Union County Figgy Pudding Caroling Contest is sponsored by the Union County Chamber of Commerce.

Happy as a Pig In....

Once again there are changes in my life. Good changes! As my marketing business continues to grow and expand, I am now happy to announce yet another new avenue in my career. I have been asked to and have accepted a position with Primary Residential Mortgage under Lending Tree as a Loan Originator!

I am THRILLED beyond words at my new position. I will continue to build websites and market regionally and nationally. I love my job and am not prepared to leave it. The beauty of this new position is that it affords me to do both.

So please, consider me to assist you in building your business as well as to finance your home or commericial property in the states of Oregon or Washington. And...as always, I'll keep you posted!

Media - Stop Glamorizing Killers

Unbelievable. Once again some sicko has open fire on a group of defenseless innocent people. And again, his name and photograph are all over the news stations.

When is the media going to figure out that by doing this, it only encourages more violence? The killer said in his apparent suicide note that at least now he would be famous. Of course. And he is. By making that statement it reinforces that this killer has seen other murderers get their moment of fame after their killing sprees and subsequent suicides. Now my question to you is would he have been so willing to commit the crimes he committed if the media hadn't so glorified his predecessors?

I even heard this recent killer described on the radio as "a lost puppy that no one wanted". I couldn't believe my ears. This "lost puppy" opened fire yesterday on a group of unsuspecting citizens changing the lives of their families forever and inciting fear into countless others who will now be looking over their shoulders as they shop this holiday season. He has again robbed this country of it's innocence and by his constant new found fame through the national media, instilling the glory of his actions on yet another "lost puppy" in society to entertain thoughts of doing the same. Sickening.

I am begging the media to take his photos off the air. Stop reciting his name. Focus on the lives that are now forever changed by his selfish, horrific, indescribably ill mind. He is not a hero. He is not to be pitied. He is not a celebrity. All the facts are there. He would not have done what he did if did not think it would lead to notoriety. These random (or not so random) acts of violence on our innocent will not end until we stop glamorizing these sick, disturbed criminals. Get them off the air.

Don't Forget Customer Service About Holiday Stress

I belong to this great group call Success by Referral. Candy Bowman, as mentioned below, is also a member of the group and gave us and educational brief that I know I have kept in mind and maybe it will be of service to you as well.

In this time of the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, it's easy to get wrapped up in your private affairs and engagements and neglect the common courtesies that need to remain in place during the holidays. Take the time to put a smile on your face before answering your phone. It may sound silly but it does make a world of difference to the person calling on the other end of the line.

Another member of the group said that the definition of a professional is bringing your A GAME to your business at all times regardless as to what is going on in your personal life.

It's your business that has been their the other 11 months of the year and your business will be there after Santa Claus is long asleep after his journey. So take a moment to leave the stress of the holiday behind when working with a customer. Chances are that in doing so, you will find that you begin to feel better yourself!

Candy Bowman Specializes in Senior Real Estate

Candy Bowman, real estate agent for John J. Howard & Associates has recently earned her Real Estate Specialist for Seniors Certification (CRS).

After attending two and a half days of live class training and completing the certification test, Bowman was recognized as a certified member of the CRS network. In achieving this recognition, Bowman is now specialized in serving the real estate housing needs of the senior citizen community.

“What most seniors do not always realize is that planning needs to begin way before a Baby Boomer or senior needs it,” says Bowman. Bowman makes reference to those who hope to maintain their home, leave a family home to their children as they age, or enter assisted or retirement facilities.

According to Bowman, this planning often needs to take place three to five years prior to a senior actually needing the arrangement to be in place. “The time to plan isn’t when those hard family decisions need to be made,” says Bowman emphasizing that assisting a family now with their options could save money and heartache down the road.

Bowman also stresses that even though you may be looking at retirement doesn’t mean you have to sell your home. “Options are everywhere,” says Bowman. “Anything from Reverse Mortgages to proper estate planning can leave the control in the homeowner’s hands.”

When asked why this was a priority for Bowman to achieve CRS Certification, her answer is simple: “It’s always been important for me to help people,” she says.

Bowman has recently joined the John J. Howard & Associates Real Estate Team located in downtown La Grande. She can be reached at www.CandyBowman.com or call 541.663.9000.