25th Annual Business Awards & Hall of Fame

Thursday night we celebrated the 25th Annual Business Awards and Hall of Fame at the Holiday Inn Select! An event put on by Junior Achievement of Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Business Report, it was the biggest event I’ve ever worked in my 7+ years I’ve been at Business Report. 

We spent two days decorating the ballroom with beautiful silver table cloths, silver chargers, black cloth napkins, fresh flower arrangements as table centerpieces, and much more. My co-workers and I helped polish all 1,000 chargers for the tables among other things! It’s all in the details! The room was absolutely beautiful and the credit goes to three amazing ladies:  Sherry Melara, Teeta McCollister and Nicole Rovere. It was so cool to see the wives of Rolfe and Julio (the owners of Business Report) pitching in to make this event unforgettable.  The three ladies have a great talent for decorating, as you can see in the pictures below. Kudos also goes out to the two top ladies at Junior Achievement, Kathy Arnes and Pud’n Waller for all their hard work, Tara Jeanise (Rolfe’s assistant), and Lee Domingue’s assistant, Liz Willson.  And of course the event wouldn’t have been as great without Meghan Ortte, our Marketing Coordinator.  She is amazing at what she does!

We had almost 1,000 people in attendance and guest speakers, Governor Bobby Jindal and Sen. John McCain! Their speeches were great, as well as my favorite award recipients of the night, Lee Domingue (CEO of AppOne) and Louis DeAngelo (owner of DeAngelo’s Pizzeria).  Lee’s was awarded “Business Person of the Year” and Louis DeAngelo was arwarded, “Young Business Person of the Year.” That was kind of funny to me because they are only a few years apart!  But both have made wise business decisions and credit their family, who has stood by them through tough times, for their success. Lee said it perfectly when he said, we are here to make an impact on our community and world, and that is our purpose…it’s all about giving back! The event was a huge success, and I felt incredibly proud to be a part of such an excellent organization!

Here are a few pics from the night…hope you enjoy!

Teeta, Nicole and Sherry

 

 

Mission Impossible: Rescue cat stuck in fence!

As I drove into my driveway Saturday night around 11:30 after spending a great evening with one of my close friends, I discovered a wild cat hanging from the wood fence behind my condo!  The fence separates my condo from the house next door.  The cat had apparently tried to climb over the fence but his leg got stuck! It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen! I have never had a cat, nor do I like them very much, so I ran upstairs to get my roommate, Mollie. We went outside together to see if we could help it, but as Mollie got closer to the cat, it started freaking out…like it was possessed! Seriously! It started hissing and trying to claw her, but she wasn’t close enough for the cat to reach her, thank God! We started screaming (he really was so scary and of course he was scared) and ran into our house. So I called Animal Control which of course was closed for the night, so I called the sherriff, and they said they would page Animal Control. A little while later, I had a voicemail on my phone from the guy with Animal Control telling me he couldn’t find our condos and had the wrong address! Ughhhh!!  So I called the sherriff back to verify they had our correct address and he did, and then he proceeded to tell me in a not-so-nice way that he had given the guy with Animal Control our address three times already and couldn’t do anything further!

So I just tried to settle down and prayed that they would show up eventually during the night. I had to go to bed since I have to be up at 5:30 a.m. on Sunday. I never heard a peep all night from the cat, so I figured they had come some time during the night to rescue him. But when I left the next morning for church…the cat was still hanging from the fence! As much as I don’t like cats…I was angry that no one came to rescue him. The poor cat hung from the fence all night long! Aweful! So Mollie and I tried to find someone at the church who could come help him, and Mollie succeeded! The Dinkles came over that morning and rescued him! They had to go behind the fence (in the neighbor’s yard) and brake the board for the cat to get loose. He ran off as fast as he could. Thank God for the Dinkles!! I know this story is unbelievable, so here is proof - a picture Mollie took when he was stuck!

American Idol Gives Back

Hey guys! So as most of you know, I don’t own a TV (my roommate does have one), and we don’t have cable, but my mom called me the other night to tell me about this year’s American idol Gives Back show.  She told me the finalists sang “Shout to the Lord.”  I was totally shocked!  What an amazing choice!!  Well, I had to look it up on You Tube and well…that was probably one of the best performances I’ve ever seen on that show…and they performed the song so passionately.  I had chills the entire time I was watching it…and David Cook…wow!! To me, he stood out the most on the song, as well as Carly and Jason.  So, I’ve posted the video below.  And I honestly do not know who will win…they are all so incredibly talented. But I’m thinking David Cook will win.  Who do you think will win?

 

Governor’s Prayer Breakfast

On Wednesday, I had the privelege of attending the Governor’s Prayer Breakfast (thanks to my great boss, Julio), my first one. What an amazing event! There were probably 1,000 people there–community leaders, government officials and business men and women. I thought the program was outstanding. David St. Romain, a friend since high school, gave one of the most moving performances of the old hymm, “How Great Thou Art” that I’ve ever seen. Just him and his acoustic guitar. That’s all you need when you have a great song. He received a standing ovation and as I looked around the room, there were women as well as men with tears in their eyes. He is truly an amazing person with a heart of gold, fulfilling God’s purpose for his life. He deserved the standing ovation no doubt. Then he sang “Amazing Grace” to intro the speaker. Another great performance.

The guest speaker was Eric Metaxas, the author of Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery which was turned into the movie, Amazing Grace. Eric has also written children’s books such as, Squanto and the First Thanksgiving, God Made You Special (Veggie Tales), The Gardner’s Apprentice, and many many others. He is also a writer for the Veggie Tales series and was one of the voices on my personal favorite, Veggie Tales- Esther…The Girl Who Became Queen!

Eric’s spoke about his book, Amazing Grace, and told the story of Wilberforce, who helped put an end to slavery. Eric had a great sense of humor, so he kept the audience laughing throughout his speech. His main point, though, was what hit me hard, and I just can’t seem to get it out of my head. He talked about Wilberforce who sacrificed much, knew what his purpose was on this earth, and obeyed His Lord by fulfilling that purpose. Eric said, “All we are supposed to do is what GOD HAS CALLED US TO DO.” I can’t get it out of my head! He pleaded with the audience to find whatever it is that God has called each of us to do, no matter how big or small (in man’s eyes), and walk in obedience to fulfill that calling.

We are all put on this earth for a purpose, and even though it can be a scary thing to lay down your will, maybe even sacrifice great things, to accomplish God’s purpose for your life, in the end, that is what is going to matter. In the Bible it says that God will either say, “Well done, thy good and faithful servant!” or He won’t. I don’t want to stand before God Himself one day and say, “Sorry, I never got around to it,” or, “Sorry, I was too scared.” I don’t even want to know what His response would be.

So, I’ll leave you with this. What is your purpose on this side of Heaven? What steps are you taking to complete your assignment? If you’re not taking steps, what is holding you back? If it’s fear, just remember this:  God is with you every step you take. He will never leave you. If He’s called you to do something, then He will direct your steps. Pastor Dino said this a while back, “When God calls you to do something, and you’re scared, DO IT ANYWAY. Because YOU’RE NEVER ALONE!”

If you haven’t rented the movie, Amazing Grace, you should. Seriously. What are you waiting for? GO…NOW!!

Healer

So this is my new favorite song…it’s called “Healer” by Planetshakers…check it out!