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What a fabulous event I attended last night! The 5th Annual NAWBO Chocolate Affaire. It was held in downtown Lexington, KY at Bakers 360.

Fabulous food, lots of chocolate, including chocolate martinis!

Awesome prizes! I was absolutely, without a doubt, blown away to win a gorgeous print and then my jaw dropped when they announced my name as the Grand Prize Winner! Wow! That’s all I can say. I have been pinching myself all day to make sure I wasn’t dreaming everytime I walked by that huge Grand Prize poster (thanks to the creativity of McEwen Creative!).

Many, many hours of planning and work went into the event.

It was the annual membership drive for the Lexington Chapter of NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners).

If you are a woman-owned business in Lexington, KY, I encourage you to become involved in one of the best networking groups in town! Visit http://www.lexnawbo.org for more information.

We have moved into our new office next door! It is so cool to have officeS now. We were all in one room before. Can’t wait to see what 2010 brings!

Update 2/26/10 – Well we are STILL waiting on some window blinds to be installed. We want to have an Open House and invite everyone over as soon as they come in! Come on blinds!

When my iPhone slid out of my pocket and into the toilet last Thursday, at first I did panic! But I scooped it out of the water as soon as I saw it. I took it out of the leather case I had it in.

I turned the phone off and dried off outside water.

I called iPhone support (on a friend’s phone) and couldn’t figure out how to get the SIM card out. I couldn’t find the small hole in the top to stick a paper clip into.

I was trying to poke a paper clip into the earphone jack hole!

A friend was able to get the SIM card out.

I kept the phone turned off.

Another friend suggested putting it into a Ziplok bag of dry rice overnight.

I thought, “What the heck. Can’t hurt!” so that is what I did.

Next morning (probably about 12 hours later), with baited breath, I put the SIM card back in, tapped the phone to remove all the rice, and turned it on.

IT WORKED!

I don’t know if it was the quick action of removing it from the water, or the dry rice or what – but I don’t care – I didn’t have to buy a new phone!

Usually when one hears that statement, one thinks “bad”.

In my case, it is very GOOD! Wow! What a week I have had.

Monday:
The van in front of me at McDonald’s blesses me by paying for my order!

Then at lunchtime, I had Christmas lunch with my Christian Business Women United friends (www.cbwu.org).

Tuesday:
We were invited to eat supper (our whole family) with some Veterans at their Christmas party at Golden Corral.

Wednesday:
I am sure something good happened Wed. also, but I just can’t remember what it is right now.

Thursday:
I was honored to received the Heart of WROCK award at the annual 2009 WROCK Starz Celebration! http://www.wrock.ws

Note: Also at that same event, as soon as I arrived, I went to the restroom and promptly dropped my iPhone in the toilet! With some help from my friends, I did as I had been told and put the phone in a bag of rice overnight. I also removed the SIM card. Friday morning when I opened the bag and put in the SIM card (with baited breath) I turned the phone on and it worked!!! I don’t know if the rice worked and drew out the moisture or what, but I don’t care! I didn’t have to buy a new phone!

Friday:
A very dear friend had a gorgeous live Christmas arrangement delivered to my office, and a new search engine/internet marketing colleague brought a wonderful gift of a new candle warmer. Since I already had one at the office, I brought this one home and my home office has smelled delicious all day!

All these things, and the fact that it was probably the best week financially I have had in years, made this one heck of a week! I just had to write it down to share it for future reference when things are going so well.

Don’t forget to count your blessings and make the most of even the small ones!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Visit http://www.wrock.ws to learn more about Women Republicans of Central Kentucky (WROCK).

Since this chili slowly simmers all day long, the flavors blend together to make each bite satisfying and delicious.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) Campbell’s® Condensed Tomato Soup (Regular or 25% Less Sodium)
1 can (about 14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
2 cans (about 15 ounces each) red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup chili powder
2 tsp. ground cumin

Directions:

Cook the beef in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until it’s well browned, stirring often. Pour off any fat.

Stir the beef, onion, garlic, soup, tomatoes, water, beans, chili powder and cumin in a 3 1/2-quart slow cooker.

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours.*

*Or on HIGH for 4 to 5 hours.

Serving Suggestion: Serve with slices of cornbread and a Romaine salad tossed with fresh chopped basil and chives and Italian salad dressing. For dessert serve caramel or vanilla flan.

Nutrition Information

Using Campbell’s® Condensed Tomato Soup : Calories 390, Total Fat 13g, Saturated Fat 5g, Cholesterol 67mg, Sodium 863mg, Total Carbohydrate 39g, Dietary Fiber 11g, Protein 31g, Vitamin A 39%DV, Vitamin C 29%DV, Calcium 9%DV, Iron 32%DV

Using Campbell’s® Condensed 25% Less Sodium Tomato Soup: Calories 390, Total Fat 13g, Saturated Fat 5g, Cholesterol 67mg, Sodium 789mg, Total Carbohydrate 39g, Dietary Fiber 11g, Protein 31g, Vitamin A 39%DV, Vitamin C 29%DV, Calcium 9%DV, Iron 31%DV

Stir-fried pork strips, celery and onion added to a creamy sauce featuring Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup, that crowns a bed of rice for a satisfying family supper.

Ingredients:

1 lb. boneless pork loin
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 stalks celery, sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. dried thyme leaves, crushed
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup (Regular or 98% Fat Free)
1/4 cup water
Hot cooked regular long-grain white rice

Directions:

Slice pork into thin strips.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in skillet. Add pork and cook until browned, stirring often. Set pork aside.

Heat remaining oil. Add celery, onion and thyme and cook until tender, stirring often.

Add soup and water. Heat to a boil. Return pork to skillet. Heat through. Serve over rice.

Nutrition Information

Using Campbell’s® Condensed Cream of Celery Soup: Calories 267, Total Fat 15g, Saturated Fat 2g, Cholesterol 67mg, Sodium 593mg, Total Carbohydrate 9g, Dietary Fiber 3g, Protein 25g, Vitamin A 6%DV, Vitamin C 5%DV, Calcium 4%DV, Iron 9%DV

Using Campbell’s® Condensed 98% Fat Free Cream of Celery Soup: Calories 248, Total Fat 13g, Saturated Fat 3g, Cholesterol 69mg, Sodium 421mg, Total Carbohydrate 8g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Protein 25g, Vitamin A 2%DV, Vitamin C 5%DV, Calcium 2%DV, Iron 9%DV

Today I drove a BMW Coupe for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer research. I love doing this! BMW is such an awesome company for donating to the research, too! This drive had a special meaning for me this year since my 39 year old niece, is overcoming breast cancer right now! So I gladly participate in this very worthwhile event.

The 2008 Hometown Hero is Stephanie Stanland. She is a 3 year breast cancer survivor.  A mother of two young boys, she has gone through a lot with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation.  But, she has had a very strong faith and support system with her family, friends, and church members at Immanuel Baptist.  Stephanie heads up the Thursday Group which is a long time organization for breast cancer survivors.  She also has participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life and  the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Race for the Cure.  She has also created a comedic character called Miss Petunia where she entertains many organizations talking about her battles with breast cancer.  She feels that laughter can be the best medicine in fighting this disease.