Some of the "Big Picture"

With a 5-year story to tell, I’ve pondered where to start this blog. Never blogged before so here I go. Why not start with today. Karen Lueck and I are in sunny New Orleans with a temperature around 50 degrees. It looks nice out even though I’m held up here in our motel room. Karen is off to board meetings and I chose to stay here and work on the computer. Yesterday my friend asked me how it was that I could go to New Orleans to sell jewelry. That’s a good question.
For eight years now, I’ve been the administrative assistant to our Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Community Action Partnership of Mid Nebraska. Karen happens to be on the national community action board which requires her to travel a lot to attend meetings, trainings and conferences. BINGO! That creates an opportunity for Beads in a Box. When it works, I travel with her and set up our business for other community action employees to enjoy and if we are lucky, we get to be in a spot that gets outside traffic, too. That is why, my friends, I’m here and there and little bit of everywhere. I grab onto her shirt tails and off I go. I’ve traveled to Orlando, Miami, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Tucson, St. Louis, Kansas City to name a few cities.
Last year was my first time to come to New Orleans. Next year at this time we’ll be at Miami Beach which sounds so much warmer as I sit here fully clothed also wearing a warm, fuzzy bathrobe freezing.
I’ve found that I love to travel except that I hate to pack. Short trips, 4-5 days, is the best for me. I can’t stand to be away from my family much longer than that. Are you wondering about my family when I’m gone so much? They seem to handle it very well. It has taught my children responsibility and accountability. They’ve learned to think things through and not count on Mom to do everything for them. Sage, my baby, is in 6th grade, and Sydney is in 8th grade. They have to use the bus to get to school and count on rides to get everywhere else. Dad is their taxi when I’m gone. Ryan is 20 and Sadie is 21. They are off to college now but they were home when I started traveling so much. It’s given them great independence and I have a great support system in my husband, parents, and in-laws. AND, we communicate a lot by cell phone!!
Seeing the world through my job is probably the only way I’m going to see much. Traveling is not in our financial picture at the moment and it is hard for my husband to get away from the ranch for great lengths of time. I love to see a glimpse of another world and then really appreciate getting home. I’m very grateful for the opportunities that my job has afforded me.
Today I’ve been researching on the internet. Janice Cash, our Development Coordinator, has taken beautiful pictures of our one-of-a-kind Beads in a Box line and it is my job to explain them. Sometimes it is hard to get passed, “It’s just plain beautiful, as you can see.” They want more out of me than that. *smile* Janice is in the process of creating a whole new website with a whole new look for our Beads in a Box line. The Something For Everyone site she just completed is phenomenal and somehow we need to figure out how to drive traffic there and get sales going. I’ve been collecting email addresses everywhere I can find them to use in email blasts for the new site.

Tootles for now, Kyla Martin