Dancing Queen

This winter has passed by in a fairly painless way for me. I feel like I am finally keeping my head consistently above water instead of drowning in the uncontrolled chaos that has been our life since we started this business. It's a little more like controlled chaos these days. Rob is just as busy as ever but we have enough help now that I have been able to focus on the stuff about the business that I enjoy. Paperwork! "Enjoy" may be too strong of a word but I like my color-coded files and my Excel formulas and I've been able to keep everything much more organized and caught up than ever before.

However, now that summer is looming over us, I have to physically and mentally prepare myself for the coming onslaught. We ended up being triple-booked on Saturday and I didn't have any time to fret over it since it was all pretty last minute. We also had Kurt's help so I really didn't have to do much. And. . . the first "event" was just a speaker on a stand with a mic for a clown so maybe that doesn't count. . .

The second event was a fancy-schmancy art auction/fundraiser. We brought the kids along to "help":

It is pretty handy to send Gloria under the stage to transport cables. . .

This set-up was also a pretty easy one (especially since Rob and Kurt did all the work). It's a "stacks and racks, set and forget" deal. Basically, we provide the stage, speakers, amps and cables and the DJ runs the show.

Gloria is always very interested in stuff going on around her. She is usually a welcome addition to any event coordinators decorating team at these kinds of events.

The theme they were going with was right up her alley. Her "job" was to dress the Barbies they had on display:

It was a tough job but someone had to do it. . .

The third and biggest event of the day was a disco party/fund raiser downtown. Once again we put the kids to work:

Gloria had another stage to crawl around under to transport cables, but she doesn't seem to mind. . .

The band is one of our favorite's: Soul Purpose.
The set-up went very smoothly and the sound check was short and sweet.

The party started off with high energy and plenty of disco dancing that lasted the full three hours (9-midnight). Gloria danced the night away. . .

She was even invited up on stage and handed a tambourine. . .

I see the future and I'm a little scared. . .

Mary introduced her to the crowd and thanked her for "helping out". . .

After the show, Gloria mingled with the band while we took everything down and packed it away in the truck. . .

She really has such a difficult life. . .

Among other things, she nabbed a new tie-dye shirt and. . .

. . . a huge balloon bouquet. . .

. . . Just what we needed. . .