December
2005 Newsletter
In this issue:
- 'Tis the Season to BE!
- My Story Part V
- Attention Artists
- Attention Business Owners
- Upcoming Events
- FACES & PLACES
- Free Monthly Drawing
______________
'Tis the Season to BE!
I get tired of trying to be what I think other people want me to be. Do you know what I mean? Whenever I hear my inner voice saying "I should do this" or "I should do that" - I get a big knot in my stomach. Just who created all these "shoulds" anyway?
I say enough! It"s time to get rid of the "shoulds" and the "musts" and the "have tos!" Let's just BE!
What d'ya think?
Hey, by the way - how did you like that snow we had last week? Here is a photo of George just after we finished shoveling the first big snowfall of the year (at our new house.)
______________
MY
STORY PART V
(if you missed the previous newsletters, go to www.NewHopePennsylvania.com - in the right hand column you will find links to previous newsletters.)
It was spring of 2000. I had recently recovered from breast cancer and out of a job. I didn't want to go back into traditional corporate sales. I knew a lot about what I DIDN'T want to do but not much about what I DID want to do. One thing is that I wanted to get involved in New Hope. I had lived in New Hope for six years and didn't know much about the town or its people.
In March or April of 2000, I drove up to Allentown, PA to visit some friends. Just before I left, they gave me the book "The Wisdom of Florence Scovell Shinn." I had never heard of this person but I was assured that this book would change my life.
When I got home I started reading the book and was totally intrigued. Florence Scovell Shinn was this amazing woman who was an artist and metaphysics teacher in the early 1900s. She wrote several books - "The Wisdom of Florence Scovell Shinn" is actually a compilation of four of her books. Each book is short, yet quite profound. She talks about following one's intuition, about teaching the unconscious to believe what the conscious wants, about keeping a positive attitude, and much more.
Well, I decided to live one week by following my intuition alone and dismiss what my mind said I "should" do! It was during that week that, while sitting at my computer doing on-line research, I got the idea to develop a website for New Hope. (Keep in mind here that I had never created a website. Nor did I know the first thing about getting one started.) I called a friend on mine who is an Internet Service Provider in Doylestown. I asked him how I would go about setting up a new website for New Hope. He gave me the name of Keith David who, at that time, owned the domain and website NewHopePennsylvania.com. The site was woefully outdated and Keith knew it. I set up an appointment with Keith to talk about my idea.
Essentially, I wanted a website that would: be updated at least monthly, offer a Free Monthly Drawing, offer monthly articles about local people, places, and events (the FACES & PLACES section), send out a monthly newsletter, provide a comprehensive Calendar of Events, and offer free and paid business listings to and for the community at large.
Keith was wonderful. He loved the idea and paid his current webmaster to redesign the site per my specifications. The agreement was that I would do all the updates. I wouldn't get paid, but, if I could figure out a way to make money off of the site, I could keep the income.
Next step, of course, is that I had to learn how to update the site! I got some lessons on website development. I read and studied a lot. I found out early on that it takes a lot of time to keep a website current and interesting. I interviewed people for FACES & PLACES. Meeting and interviewing new people each month introduced me to the New Hope community VERY quickly! I got businesses to sponsor the free monthly drawing. I sent out the first newsletter in September of 2000.
The website has changed a bit over the last five years - I redesigned it to make it more search engine friendly and I added new features - but, basically, NewHopePennsylvania.com still has the basic format it started with!
The good news is that, during the process of updating the site, I discovered that I loved doing this kind of work. I had sold omputers for almost 20 years and loved working on them. However, as a sales person, I found myself limited creatively. My college degree was in art and I had over 20 years of business and marketing/sales background. Web work was and continues to be a delightful way for me to bring all the pieces of my life together. I am still a salesperson - but for my own business and for New Hope and Lambertville! Working on NewHopePennsylvania.com set me on the track for a new career as a web designer and got me involved in the community I have grown to love.
(PS Since 2000 and that one week of intuition stuff, I try to listen to my heart more and my head less. It always works out for the good! Also, as I announced in last month's newsletter, Keith very recently turned the domain name over to me - so I now own the site entirely. All this from following through on the spark of an idea almost six years ago.)
______________
ATTENTION ARTISTS
The Sculpture New Hope 2006 Application is now available. Go to www.NewHopeArtsInc.org
______________
ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS
NewHopePennsylvania.com is due for a big update. This week I am sending out forms to apply for and/or renew your business listings on the website. Even if you recently signed up for a listing, please ill out the form and send it in - there are additional features for paid listings and free listings include a 10 word description.
DON'T FORGET! New Hope and Lambertville businesses qualify for a free listing (name, address, phone, and short description only) so EVERYONE should be filling out this form and sending it in!
If you do not receive the application in the mail or if you lose it, you can download it on the List With US page on NewHopePennsylvania.com
______________
UPCOMING EVENTS
(Refer to the Calendar of Events or the Press section for more information on the events listed below.)
This is only a partial listing:
Dec
14, 7 pm to
midnight. John & Peter's Annual Holiday Art Show
and Sale
Dec
18 - Christmas Open House at the John Prall Jr. House, Stockton,
NJ
Dec18 - Chuck Kumnick and Chris Craig going away party and art sale
- New Hope Arts building, 2 Stockton Ave. New Hope
Dec
25 - Washington Crosses the Delaware at 1 PM (weather permitting)
Dec
28, 7 pm, Kehilat HaNahar's Annual Chanukah Celebration featuring
puppeteer Jonathan Geffner.
Jan
14, 2006 is " Invite a neighbor to dinner day!" For
more information, go to
www.dinnerday.com
Feb 1-5, 2006 - Winter FestivaL
If you have any other events to be posted, please email them to editor@bullockmarketing.com
______________
(click on the Faces & Places logo to be taken directly to the Faces & Places page)
(Not
So) Local Color - a NEW humorous look at living
outside the US - from Kristin Perkins, former New Hope resident,
now living in Switzerland
more...
Local
Color - A Letter from your friendly Editor!
more...
Art & Artists -Don't
miss the going away party for local artists, hris Craig and Chuck
Kumnick. They are moving soon to
Michigan and are having one last local showing of their artworks.
more...
Around
Town -
Al
Stewart is the featured performer for the Annual Lambertville New Hope
Winter Fest Friday evening performance event. Tickets on sale now.
more...
Recipe
of the Month: Aha! My own recipe for Holiday Sugar Cookies.
Mmmmmm
more...
___________
FREE MONTHLY DRAWING!
This month's Free Monthly Drawing is two tickets to the Lambertville New Hope Winter Festival Chili Cook Off - a $70 value.
The November Winner of a two tickets to a Roxey Ballet event was Lynn Reimer.
Congratulations Lynn!
Note: If
you are signing up for the Free Monthly Drawing, make sure you bypass
your spam filter and allow email to come through from editor@bullockmarketing.com -
otherwise you may miss receiving the notice that you have won.
___________
Happy, Joy-full, Healthy Holidays!
Your friendly editor,
