If you aren’t addicted to ICanHasCheezburger.com, please for the love of everything good, GET HOOKED, it makes every day brighter!  If you don’t speak LOL Cat, it doesn’t take long to pick up.  Below is my favorite LOL Cat and a great representation why April and I are addicted:

I was told recently that we’re coming up on the time of year where we begin writing resolutions and evaluating our progress for the year about to pass. We scribble goals on napkins (uh 1. go to gym 2. don’t eat cheetos on way to gym 3. work out while at gym, don’t just watch plasma tv in fancy dressing room 4. don’t eat cheetos in parked car at gym after workout), we realize our shortcomings (1. could have spent more time on marketing 2. could have written more thank you notes 3. could have eaten less cheetos) and by looking backward, we look forward.

I understand the mentality of a calendar year ending, but I firmly believe that if 01/01/0x is the only time you seriously evaluate yourself, your business, your relationships, or your health, you’re in trouble. I was once told that my success would be due to my never being satisfied. That doesn’t mean I’m never happy (I’m actually an extremely upbeat person) but that I know there is ALWAYS room for improvement. Therefore, these are the self evaluations I run constantly:

1. After every real estate transaction, I take notes on how others (lenders, other brokers) did and learn from their mistakes while writing down how well we did and what we can do differently next time. Business becomes stale without constant case-specific evaluation. Too many people believe that they’re perfect.

2. Monthly, I make sure I’ve called or written the people most important to me. I never get to December 31 and say “I should have could have.” When my brother died this fall, I didn’t have the regret of “we should have talked more” because I am always cognizant of those around me and if I neglect them, I’m fully aware of it and aim to do better immediately.

3. Quarterly, business goals are written down so they are tangible. They are based on the wins and losses of the previous quarter. These goals transcend the “I will make X dollars” but encompass “I will try X new social networking tools,” “I will call X previous clients and check on them,” etc. Having specific, tangible commitments to yourself makes evaluation easy- did I succeed or fail at my various goals? How can I do better and build on those goals this coming quarter?

4. How is my health? I’m the worst at this, so I’ll take my own advice here. Get your annual check ups and never ignore a festering pain or oddity. With modern medicine, a variety of problems may be caught early with screening and diagnostics. Try some new health foods, even if you’re like me and think of them as “hippie foods”- healthy eating doesn’t mean you have to burn patchouli incense or vote for (insert whoever I’m not voting for here). Push yourself in your exercise regimen just a tad harder.

How do you set your goals? Are you a decemberthirtyfirster or are you constantly evaluating yourself?

So, the oversaturation of social networking has hit the Internet led strongly by MySpace and Facebook while WE are all left to scramble. Where do we advertise?  Which network should we join (we can’t join them all)?  What types of ads work on these networks?  What is the actual demographics of these networks?  Should we brand our person or our company?  Jeez.

Just because I know how to turn this ol’ laptop on and I can whip out a WordPress theme in a matter of seconds doesn’t mean that I have the golden ticket for advertising on social networks- I’m just as overwhelmed as you are.  In studying, I found this article by Mashable.com to be the best analysis  of branding on these networks.  The result?  These social networking sites aren’t as important for advertising as we thought! 

This has been quite an interesting fall for many of us and even before my brother was killed, I was already stressed.   I’m not the only one.  Whether it’s the challenges in the real estate market, family drama (this applies to everyone!), being sick for a freakishly long time, dealing with stupid people in general and even just simple time management, fall is always stressful.

I have many friends that have expressed that they too have been stressed.  People meet me in person and I’m not a chipper chick per se, but people always think I have it soooo together.  And to be honest, I do- I’m rarely knocked down too far.  Want to know why? My faith.  Whether you share my beliefs or not, I’ll share with you what keeps ME strong, thankful and faithful.

*(FIRST) Jeremiah 29:11-14—”For I know well the plans I have in mind for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare, not for woe, plans to give you a future full of hope.  When you call me, when you go to pray to me, I will listen to you.  When you look for me, you will find me.  Yes, when you seek me with all your heart, you will find me with you, says the Lord.”

This verse was the foundation of the eulogy at my brother’s funeral.  I rarely experience anger (uh, irritation is totally different!), nor do I question God’s will for me- this is what makes people think I’m so held together.  Okay, let’s be honest- I’m not held together, I’m just given calm by the words in Jeremiah… think about it- He already has a plan for you and the plans are good!  Even if they don’t feel good right now, they ARE good, I promise!

*(SECOND) Luke 18:9-14—“Jesus addressed this parable to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised everyone else.  “Two people went up to the temple area to pray; one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.  The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity — greedy, dishonest, adulterous — or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week, and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed, ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’ I tell you, the latter went home justified, not the former; for whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Being humble keeps you centered, no matter what your religion.  When you have treasure, NEVER forget those who don’t.  When you are in grace with God, NEVER forget those who aren’t.  Life is much easier for me since I let someone else drive (you know, the big guy in the sky).  I encourage you to find the center of your faith- Christians, Muslims, Hindus, EVERYONE! 

It is the key to the calm in my life, no matter how treacherous the storm!

Humble April would never tell you, and she may not even know yet, but she is the third ever blogger to win the Nacho Blogger Award.  Make sure to leave your congratulations (in Nacho Libre speak) to April- I’ve had countless emails from people suggesting that THEY win the award, but April could easily have been the first recipient, she’s just that good!   Congrats, BBF!!!

Baby McKenzie is home.  She is banged up, bruised, and swollen, but she is with her family, comforted in her mother’s arms.

Some of the financial support you all are so graciously providing has is already getting to the family.  Lani wanted me to let you all know how deeply thankful she and her family are for your beautiful outpouring of affection.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to do so, the ribbon is over there on the right.

Blogging is not a common thing in my neck of the woods.  We have a few that I really enjoy – Chris Cree, Anne Hart, The Paragon Muse, and Creative Coast are my most visited.  But, blogging is still cutting edge, so, many folks don’t “get” blogging.

If they had seen what happened around here this week – they would.

People who are virtual friends – only a few face to face – rallied around one of our own.  Lani’s family needed us, and we were there.  We are still here.

• Jay Thompson (who complied the original list)
• Greg Swann
• Michael Price
• Shailesh Ghimire
• Sellsius
• Kris & Steve Berg
• Drew Meyers
• Morgan Brown
• Carnival of Real Estate
• Brian Brady
• Athol Kay
• Jim Duncan
• Jonathan Dalton
• Kelley Koehler
• Roberta Murphy
• Todd Carpenter
• Liz Strauss
• Jeff Brown
• Inman News
• Chris Lengquist
• Daniel Rothamel
• Point2 RELiberation
• Michael Wurzer
• Mary De Luca
• Rick Cockrum
• Joel Burslem
• Mathew Collinge

I want to say thank you to all these kind people who posted, supported, gave, and honored. 

I want to encourage you to continue to support this young family.  The green ribbon is at the top to your right.

Lani has been here at The Chaos for a brief time.  But before that, she was my friend.  During that time, she has become one of my best friends, my closest confidant, and you guys seem to like her being here too.

I usually write the way I talk…but I have no words…

Lani’s wonderful baby brother was killed yesterday in a car wreck.  Her words can be found here…

Mine are lost…

This article is a MUST READ from beginning to end, and comments are highly encouraged: 

————
Each Saturday, my husband and I head to mass because we’re both hard wired to sleep in on Sundays. Well, sleep in until 7:30am at least. Recently, I began taking RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) to become officially Catholic. I say “officially” because I was raised in the Episcopal faith (Catholic faith minus the Pope and consequences to actions) and have been going to my church for five-ish years now- it’s time to be confirmed! I tell you all of this to introduce you to my current mindset. When taking classes of any kind, it is natural for anyone to desire sharing their newly learned information.

Today’s readings focused on social justice and caring for the people on the margins of society. Regardless of your religious preference, we can all agree that we should strive to care for those that are abused, impoverished and hopeless. After spirited debate, I wanted to share with you two things I learned:

First:
Ezra Taft Benson noted that “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”

I love this quote. It really touches on what is the focus of my husband’s current Micro-Financing Challenge (Micro-Financing is a fancy word for charitably donating money even if just $25 to give loans to small business owners to give them the ability to strengthen their suffering communities). I really want you to check it out!

Secondly:
People of need (most notably starving people) used to be called “anaweim.” The Book of Amos was written in 721 BC and in that time, one of the ways communities cared for their “anaweim” by “gleaming.” During the harvesting process (of wheat, for example) with the dull blades of their tools, many stalks of wheat would be bent over instead of cut cleanly, while others would be only partially cut down with leftover remaining. The tradition was that all farmers LEFT those broken and bent pieces behind for the anaweim. The theory is that God provided that crop for the farmer and it wasn’t the farmer’s to begin with, so with that in mind, gleaming shouldn’t be a difficult practice.

————
Which practice do you think YOU could most easily adapt to promote social justice- Micro-Financing or gleaming?

A lot of tips fly around April’s Beautiful Chaos about how to increase your productivity and Lifehacker found this amazing list of the Top 100 Foods To Improve Your Productivity!  It looks like every food on earth is included except for my favorite food- BEEF (I couldn’t call myself a Texan if I didn’t chomp a cow at at least twice daily).

Good news- cheese, milk, green tea (mmm Arizona Tea), potatoes and dark chocolate made the list!  No wonder I clean the house like a productive person crackhead!