Daddy Daughter Dance!

Maryn and James attended their first Daddy Daughter Dance this year, a huge benefit event for our Habitat for Humanity organization.  Maryn loved the whole idea of the dance, and we talked about it all year (after I did not buy tickets last year, thinking she was too young, but somehow she found out about it and got super mad she didn't attend.)  We picked out a dress, new jewelry, and then did curls and make up for the dance.  She loved getting ready!

And then pictures.  Oh  my goodness. I just love to see her sweet smile with her Daddy.  She practically floated to the car to leave for the dance.

But then....the dance...girlfriend did not enjoy that part of the whole event.   She gets a little overwhelmed with lights, loud noises, and crowds.  After seeing 400 little girls flood the dancefloor when the doors opened, she immediately decided that she had enough and cried to go home. (They had carpooled with her little bestie, Libby, who could have danced all night!)

I hope this is not her last Daddy Daughter Dance, but - if it is - we'll still celebrate these two's sweet relationship with a Daddy Daughter Date next year.  

Also, a funny side story.  JB came home on the day of the dance and informed me that MC (his nickname for his friend, Mary Catherine) would be attending the dance. He slipped his Daddy a sheet of paper and asked him to give it to her.

Now, remember, there were 800 people at this dance and James did not know this child or the father!  I quickly texted MC's mom, who sent me a picture of her husband and MC before they left.  I texted the pic to James, who - lo and behold - was standing behind them in line at the entry!  What luck! So he gave her the note, from JB  :) She told her Dad that JB tries to kiss her (omg...I hope that is not true.)  Later that night I got this picture back from her mom.  Our sweet little Romeo!

 

StoryBranding in Nashville

Seriously, if you're in a leadership role in any type of organization, you need to be listening to Andy Stanley's (secular) monthly podcast on Leadership.  I almost always purchase the book from his guest speaker, and they always leave me a lot to think about in our business (and life).  These include Excellence Wins, by Horst Shultz, The Road Back to You, by Ian Morgan Cron, and StoryBranding by Donald Miller.  (I also just got How to Lead in a World of Distraction, by Clay Scroggins, who joined him this past month. Looks great!)

This past week, James and I had the opportunity to attend a 2 day workshop with Donald Miller and his team to really understand how to use the StoryBranding in articulating our message at GovStrive.  Although we were there as business owners, there were many people from other types of organizations - churches, non-profits, self-employed, etc - who all wanted to understand how to better build their brand and "script" their message in a way that resonated and interested customers, clients, parishioners, etc.

Because it's Nashville, nothing like starting off the conference like this:

And also getting to enjoy some of this:

Had to take advantage of a photobooth each morning!

So a very productive 2 days, and also a fun 2 days (with James, and Joe who joined us). Hope this is not our last trip to Nashville!  Huge shout out to our slew of babysitters who kept the kids alive and happy back home in Middle GA.

Congrats, James - Businessman of the Year!

The annual Chamber event each year is always the best party. Probably one of my favorite local ones of the year.  They always have a theme, people (try to) adhere to the theme for their dress, they bring in a wonderful band, and all our friends are there to dance.  I look forward to it!

This year's theme was "Into the Future", which is where we want to drive our community towards.  No one pushes for that more than James Sasser.  And what a honor that the Chamber recognized him this year as their Businessman of the Year!!

James was shocked.  (I was not, I had been one of the only people who knew, so I could help them prepare the introduction). When it became obvious that the man they were speaking about was him, I caught the surprise in his face and the moisture in his eyes (though he won't admit it...)  Our GovStrive table went wild!  And the whole crowd stood up to clap.

On the fly, James gave quite the speech.  The rest of the night he spent receiving congratulatory hugs handshakes. Quite the evening!

I'm so, so proud of him. More than most anyone, I am able to see how he lives, breaths and embodies all the principles of a business and community leader.

I'm pasting the below press release that announced his award:

DUBLIN, Ga. and ARLINGTON, Va. (PRWEB) February 11, 2020

GovStrive, a leader in managed services, management consulting, and workforce solutions that helps federal human resources leaders effectively manage their organizations, today announced that James Sasser, president and CEO, has been awarded the Dublin-Laurens County Business Man of the Year. GovStrive’s headquarters are in Dublin.

The award is chosen by the county’s Chamber of Commerce and granted to the person that it feels best exemplifies the following characteristics:

• demonstrates professionalism and leadership skill
• has business community impact and involvement
• is a role model and mentor to others
• demonstrates commitment to a highest level of ethics in business practices.

The chamber recognized that Mr. Sasser has demonstrated all these characteristics, while leading GovStrive to rapid growth. Founded in 2013, GovStrive is an important employer and community citizen. GovStrive’s national headquarters is in the historic Henry Building in the heart of downtown Dublin and GovStrive client operations center campus is located off Hillcrest Parkway. The company continues to expand and grow rapidly, with offices now in 4 cities across the United States and employing over 150 people. Over 70 employees are in Dublin.

“I’m extremely humbled and honored to be recognized by the chamber,” said Sasser. “Since moving to Dublin-Laurens County, my wife Jennie and I have fallen in love with the area, and quickly realized this was a great place to build a business and raise our family. A great business environment with an exceptionally supportive community, it’s the perfect place for GovStrive to continue to grow and thrive.”

“I’ve been with James from Day One of GovStrive, and I’ve seen him demonstrate the qualities the chamber recognizes every day since,” said Clyde Thompson, senior vice president at GovStrive. “While James has proven he can build a strong company with the highest-quality people that embrace high standards of professionalism, what’s more impressive is the never-ending commitment he shows for the Dublin-Laurens County community and the GovStrive employees. He is dedicated to giving back.”

More information about GovStrive can be found at http://www.govstrive.com.

And now it's February!

This January went quickly, and (for me, at least) it didn't feel like the 74 day month that most Januarys feel like.  Even though we did a lot.  Best way to remember is a photo dump from my phone.

JB keeps losing teeth without his new ones coming in. It's a wonder he consumes as much food as he does!

Speaking of food, the boys are loooooooving our church's Wednesday night suppers lately. (Maryn is in a picky stage, and consisting of carrot sticks and ranch, fruit, toast, and treats that she sneaks.)

I mean, how can you go wrong with Southern cooking like this?

Maryn has put her make-up kit from Christmas to good use. We get a lot of good makeovers around here!

Just love this one of the two of them. We just turned my home office into a piano room with James' grandmother's baby grand, and I love the way it has turned out.  I hope we start to use it more, because it's too beautiful a room to waste.  We've actually made lots of home improvements this month, but I've failed to properly document!

Enda celebrated a birthday!!  She turned 8 years old.  Gone are the days when I would have made her sit through a photoshoot to document the year. The kids picked out a new toy for her, which is about all we did to celebrate. Sorry, first born furbaby....

Our sweet neighbors, Keerthi and Aditi, traveled to India for 6 weeks - and we missed them so much!!  The girls spend nearly every afternoon together, and they felt the absence more than anyone. The day she returned we surprised them with a Welcome Home sign.

And, this little guy, sporting his croc flip flops and socks.  I mean... :)

Maryn and I have a new Saturday afternoon routine (while the big boys are away at the land, doing whatever it is they do all day!)  First, she "rests" on the couch while I read (for a good 5 minutes, before she's just "sooooo bored" and needs me to pay her some attention). Then, we build puzzles and play games while eating popcorn. When in the world did she get this big?

I need to write more about the land, with some pictures.  It's really the highlight of JB's life right now.  He absolutely adores everything about the time with his Daddy!

One day this month, Maryn and I were "twinsies" (as she called us), in our matching black and pink. 

Wesley wanted in on the picture, too, even though he was not sporting magenta :)

P-Week the little ones enjoyed pizza, pancakes, and pajama day!  Is there anything more exciting than wearing pajamas to school??

I've been falling behind in my Sunday photos with the three coordinated kids.  I tried to capture one while we ate our pizza after church (our new routine since the kids threw one too many fits at the formal County Club), but this is the best I got!

Maryn got a pair of glitter pink Uggs that she wants to wear with everything. Pair it with this velour pink heart jacket from Walmart and her life is now complete.

The boys needed a haircut in December but just now got one at the end of January.  THANK GOODNESS!!!

One of our biggest "events" this January: we hosted a 50+ person fundraiser at our house for our dear friend Meg Greer Evans, who is running for Probate Judge in Laurens County.  I got ONE SINGLE PICTURE from the night, and didn't even capture our house (which was beautifully transformed leading up to this event!)   So proud of Meg!

I feel like I just blink and a week has gone by.  And now we're in mid-February!?  Slow down 2020, no need to rush through!

Celebrating with our DC Teams

Previously GovStrive would bring in the entire company for our annual December holiday party in Dublin, GA, which was a lot of fun but a lot of logistics. Obviously we're not a big town, and a trip from Point A to here requires multiple modes of transportation.  Since we've grown so much across the country, we made the difficult decision to split up our holiday party. (Difficult because, well, change is hard!)

However, it then meant two wonderful parties to celebrate our great people!  One in Dublin in December, and then a second this past weekend up in Washington, DC. Many from the management team here in Dublin came, too, and it was one big party.

Now, DC and NOVA holds a special place in our hearts, mostly because it's where I lived when I started my career and young professional life, where James and I met, it's where we fell in love,  etc etc.  So no trip to DC is complete with a walk down memory lane. For us, "memory lane" is one street: King Street in Old Town Alexandria.  So of course that is where we ended up on Friday night. :)

Where we got engaged!

Saturday morning I got to spend a whole lot of time with one of my favorite friends from long ago, Andrea. I could catch up with her for hours!  Love this lady.  Also had a fabulous brunch and waaaaay too much coffee.

Then one of my favorite people from my new life here, Lindsay (who's husband is part of GovStrive) joined me for a blow out at Dry Bar Georgetown.  I have to take advantage of all these big city luxuries when I'm away. And gotta look good for the party!

After that I spent approximately 7 minutes typing and printing out my speech at the business center of the Keybridge Marriott. Because there is really nothing like the last minute (but fortunately I write better under pressure....)

Everyone had a BLAST at the party. We rented out what used to be this smokey dive bar in Rosslyn, which is now a very upbeat, fun hang out with a great beer selection and food. Speeches, give aways, raffles, and fun with friends - can't ask for much more when you kick off a new year.

The next day I found some delicious overpriced avocado toast (which I can't resist at a big city brunch) and we headed back to the kiddos.

Big "thank you!" to my parents for watching these rascals for us so we could enjoy a wonderful weekend away!