Occupy Windom.

Talk about a holiday weekend...although Thanksgiving was a mere few days ago, it's hard to remember since 3 more "holidays" follow so closely after--Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. 

During Small Business Saturday, River City Eatery offered to give away a free soda or coffee to anyone who brought in a receipt from a local downtown business in order to encourage shopping local.  So I celebrated one of these holidays following Thanksgiving, I guess.  I have also vowed to do my Christmas shopping right here in Windom...and it can be done because I have almost everyone checked off my list already, only a few people left...

Well anyway, I caught a little bit of the late news on Black Friday and one story grabbed my attention.  A group in Seattle, WA, called "Occupy Seattle" was peacefully demonstrating to the public to remember what the holidays are really all about.  Let's just say shopping isn't high on the group's priority list and they weren't afraid to remind the public about how out of hand these crazy shopping "holidays" can be.

After watching the story, of course the first thing that ran through my mind was that Finding Windom is similar to "Occupy Seattle" because we are a group of people with opinions and ideas about our community and not afraid to voice these opinions and ideas in order to make the quality of life in our community a little better than we found it...and of course I was relieved to know that I'm not the only crazy person insanely passionate about the community in which I live.

And then I thought about how ironic it is that here "Occupy Seattle" was discouraging people from spending money on Black Friday, and that I would love nothing more than to see a crowd of people in downtown Windom frantically shopping the stores around the downtown square to make sure they get the best deals.  I mean, wouldn't that be a fun sight!  Of course I wouldn't wish pepper spray or stampeding or for anyone to get hurt, but a little hustle and bustle in beautiful downtown Windom during the holiday shopping season would be nice...

So, yeah, go ahead and Occupy Windom...Happy Holidays!

it's finally off my chest...

Today between lunch and dinner at River City Eatery, I got a chance to swing by the Cottonwood County Commissioners' meeting to talk about some things that have been on my mind.  If I'm good at anything, I'm good at giving my 2 cents (pun possibly intended).  I, along with some others, got a chance to talk about utilizing our beautiful courthouse chimes in order to make the downtown Windom experience that much better during the holiday shopping extravaganza.  We asked if the Commissioners would help us to get Mr. Jim Austerman's gift he wrote for our lovely town, "The Christmas Bells of Windom" song, along with other holiday tunes, to be played on the chimes during the most wonderful time of the year.  I couldn't be more happy to know that we have the Commissioners support in this matter, and I couldn't be more excited about how receptive they were to our voices.  I really hope their support will work to make this happen, since this is year number 2 that I, along with others, have tried to make this happen.  Thank you to those who have also voiced their opinions in this matter--you are so appreciated because it is easier with more than one voice!

And I know you are dying to know if I brought up the "No Loitering" signs on the courthouse lawn at the Commissioners' meeting as well...and you'll be happy to know...I did.  They are also looking into changing the signs to something a little more welcoming than "No Loitering."  YAY!!!!  I don't know if I'm ready for such big changes downtown, what will I write about?  **enter sarcasm here**  It feels good to get this stuff of my chest...

Happy times,

just another day.

Let me just tell you it is 2am, and I'm sitting in the office of the eatery finally sitting down for the night.  I'm still trying to get used to juggling business, family, time, finding windom, me, and well, business again.  I can't even begin to describe how wonderfully tired I am from River City Eatery.  It feels good to be exhausted from doing what I love all day--I'm just hoping that soon I will be able to balance the other very important joys in my life, like little Mr. Henrik.  He has been so patient with me, but his growing older is anything but patient. He is something else, I tell you, what a gift I have been given. 

Today I had the opportunity to speak with the senior economics class about business--it felt good to step out of the cave of River City Eatery for a bit to chat, well, about the Eatery.  I'm hoping at least one of them got something out of the discussion--I had fun anyway.  I've also been helping two seniors with their Eagle Achievement projects, and I'm very much enjoying it.  I got to put my English degree to work this afternoon helping these students outline their big research papers (part one of the Eagle Achievement project).  One is focusing on small businesses in rural communities and the other is focusing on teen volunteering--right up my alley.  My, we have some very talented youth in our community!

Well, I think I'm going to head two blocks north to my cozy bed and get a few short hours of sleep before I return to the smell of fresh brewing coffee, ready to start another day in beautiful downtown Windom...

Moving right along.

I know it has been awile since I have posted--my days keep getting shorter for some reason.  I've been fully immersed in River City Eatery, trying to get a foothold on being a business owner and juggling all the awesome things that come with being an entrepreneur.  I still need to pinch myself every once in awhile to know that I'm not dreaming, especially since I've been so exhausted.

We had our monthly Finding Windom meeting last night, and I'm fired up, ready to go!  We are starting to make our new year's resolutions by setting some achievable goals for 2012.  We will continue to be in close contact with the city council to ensure we work together because I think our goals are very similar. 

And speaking of the city council...as of January 1, River City Eatery will be serving STRONG BEER (or what I like to call "real beer").  My letter to the council worked, and the ordinance change has passed and now we are going through all the formalities of changing an ordinance.  I couldn't be more excited!  But it just goes to show how busy it has been around here--it has taken me this long to sit down and tell you about this crazy fun news.